Hearing Meng Fan's stern words, Li Xuerou could only reluctantly put away the demon core.
Then Meng Fan turned to Liu Yanping and said, "Don't feel it's unfair, you'll get the next high-grade demon core."
Liu Yanping glared at Meng Fan discontentedly and said, "You make it sound like I'm envious or something."
Meng Fan took out the bull demon's core and tossed it to Liu Yanping.
Liu Yanping instinctively wanted to decline, but seeing Meng Fan's indifferent gaze, she swallowed her words and accepted the core without further ado.
Meng Fan then showed a hint of satisfaction; he didn't like wasting time on idle chatter.
"Let's keep moving."
After starting to absorb the Spiritual Essence from the demons, Meng Fan became much more proactive.
***
Half an hour later, the trio halted in their tracks.
They saw a disciple from the Shu Mountain Sword Sect being besieged by three bull demons.
"It's Senior Brother Wang, Wang Jiuyuan!" exclaimed Liu Yanping.
He was an Inner Sect Disciple of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, ranked between twentieth and thirtieth.
Li Xuerou also recognized Wang Jiuyuan, having just become a Core Disciple herself after being an Inner Sect Disciple.
"This guy is alone and surrounded by three bull demons; that's some bad luck," Meng Fan shook his head.
"Shall we go help?" Liu Yanping asked Meng Fan.
Unknowingly, Meng Fan had become the de facto leader of their small group.
Li Xuerou, being Meng Fan's sister, naturally followed his lead.
Liu Yanping, having received many pointers from Meng Fan and knowing she was not his equal, also subconsciously obeyed him.
So, whenever there was a question, they both thought to ask Meng Fan first.
"Being besieged by three bull demons, Wang Jiuyuan might find it tough, but he's capable of overcoming them. It'll just take more time, and at most he'll suffer some injuries, but nothing too serious. So, whether we help or not, we should ask him first. If we rush to help without a word, he might think we're stealing his kill, and our good intentions could be met with ingratitude. It's not worth it!"
Meng Fan didn't mind helping fellow sect members, but he didn't want to be a pushover; after all, there were all sorts of people out there.
Sometimes when you help others, they think you're meddling and might even hold a grudge against you.
Meng Fan naturally didn't want to be on the losing end of such a deal.
"You make a good point. I didn't expect someone as young as you to be so experienced!" Liu Yanping said, clearly agreeing.
Meng Fan rolled his eyes at Liu Yanping in silence.
Young? If added up his age from both his lives, it wouldn't be too much to call him 'Dad'.
Meng Fan stepped forward and called out to Wang Jiuyuan, "Senior Brother, do you need help?"
Wang Jiuyuan gave Meng Fan a cold look and said nothing.
That attitude…
Alright then, goodbye!
"Let's go," Meng Fan said decisively to Liu Yanping and Li Xuerou.
The two women didn't hesitate and followed Meng Fan.
Just a few steps past Wang Jiuyuan, they saw him get kicked away by a bull demon.
Meng Fan's eyes showed genuine surprise, not feigned at all.
It seemed he had overestimated Senior Brother Wang.
"Help, and I'll give you one of the demon cores!" Wang Jiuyuan, having been kicked by the bull, called out for help as he saw Meng Fan and the others leaving.
Meng Fan smiled, thinking that if Wang had spoken up sooner, he could have avoided that kick.
"Who's going in?" he asked Liu Yanping and Li Xuerou.
Li Xuerou glanced at Liu Yanping and suggested, "One each?"
Liu Yanping replied, "No problem."
With that, the two women drew their swords and charged at the bull demons.
On the other side, Wang Jiuyuan quickly got up and attacked the last bull demon, fearing that Meng Fan and his group would outdo him. If all three bull demons were slain by them, it would be too embarrassing.
He had been in a tough spot because he was surrounded by three bull demons, but now with the help of Liu Yanping and Li Xuerou, Wang Jiuyuan's fighting spirit surged. He unleashed a powerful strike that decapitated the bull demon, finally venting his frustration.
Then he turned around to see two bull demon corpses lying in front of the young ladies, their speed no slower than his own.
"Xuerou, give him the demon core from your bull," Meng Fan instructed Li Xuerou.
Li Xuerou quickly extracted the demon core with her sword and tossed it to Wang Jiuyuan.
"How could I take this core when you helped me and you killed those two bull demons?" Wang Jiuyuan threw the core back.
"We agreed to share one core, so naturally, we can only take one. If we took both, wouldn't that be breaking our word?" Meng Fan said to Wang Jiuyuan.
Wang Jiuyuan took the core from his own bull demon and then stubbornly turned to leave, declaring, "I only killed one bull demon, so I'll only take one core. If you don't want that core, then throw it away, but I won't take it!"
He quickly walked away, not giving Meng Fan a chance to speak again.
Meng Fan shook his head with a wry smile, not insisting further.
"Are we really going to throw this core away?" Li Xuerou frowned, looking worriedly at the core.
Meng Fan gave Li Xuerou a look and said irritably, "Why throw it away? Are you silly? Keep it!"
Then he began to absorb the Spiritual Essence from the two bull demons, cultivating the Supreme Dominance Body.
In less than a minute, Meng Fan had absorbed the Spiritual Essence from all three bull demons.
A smile appeared on his face.
The Supreme Dominance Body, third level, achieved!
He had been on the cusp of reaching the third level of the Supreme Dominance Body, having just absorbed the Spiritual Essence from two fox demons, plus that from the four bull demons.
Breaking through to the third level of the Supreme Dominance Body was a logical progression.
After clearing the forest of demons, Meng Fan might even reach the fourth level of the Supreme Dominance Body.
Even if not, he estimated he wouldn't be far off.
"What's with the big grin?" Liu Yanping glanced at Meng Fan.
"Nothing much, just made some progress with my body cultivation technique," Meng Fan casually replied.
"I should have cultivated a body technique too," Liu Yanping said enviously.
"Are you sure? If you end up looking like a bulky strongwoman, no man will want you!" Meng Fan teased.
"Then forget it!" Liu Yanping shuddered at the thought, feeling a chill run down her spine.
Having reached the third level of the Supreme Dominance Body, Meng Fan felt invigorated.
Now, his physical strength was such that even the peak realm disciples of Shu Mountain might not be able to match him.
After all, sword cultivators were notoriously frail.
Just as Meng Fan was feeling quite pleased with himself, Wang Jiuyuan, who had been gone for a while, came running back, looking even more disheveled than before!
"Run! Run for it!!!" He sprinted towards Meng Fan and the others, shouting frantically.
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan
Recheck: Lotas