After the trial ended, many people began to leave, letting the elders take care of the remaining matters.
"Grandfather, can I hold on to Wu Wei's body, and Wu Haoyu, for the time being?"
Wu Han spoke up before their bodies could be seized.
"Why?" Wu Zhen asked, curious.
"I want my master to heal her first," Wu Han said coldly, "so she can feel the punishment, every last bit of it." Every word dripped with rage; a sign of the aggression built up from being abused by that abhorrent whore for days.
"As for Wu Wei," he continued, "I want her to know what she's done, to relive her crime before the ultimate end."
The reason was simple: to make her face her deceased husband's corpse, to see and absorb every bit of the hatred he must have felt in his final moment, hatred so strong that even in death, his eyes remained open, brimming with everlasting rage.
"You're her victim, so you may do as you please. As for Wu Wei…" The Second Elder paused, thinking.
It was still the corpse of a clan leader and hadn't done much wrong, it was mostly Haoyu who committed the vile acts. So, he would still pass for a family burial.
"Let him," Wu Zhen decided. "He deserves it."
Other elders had their own opinions, but Wu Zhen was now the clan leader, and they had to listen. In the end, Wu Wei and Haoyu had both committed crimes and brought shame upon their family.
At the very least, the victim should decide what to do with them.
"Understood, fir—Clan Leader," the Second Elder corrected himself, bowing before leaving the hall. One by one, the other elders followed.
Some still doubted whether Wu Wei deserved to rest in peace within the clan's yard, but none dared to speak up, because now, Wu Zhen was the strongest within the clan.
"But I want you to return me a favor too. Someday, I'd like to meet your master and greet him properly," Wu Zhen asked kindly with a smile. He was proud of what his grandson had become. He always knew the potential of a cunning man was there, but to see his plan and resolve reach this point—the fact that he endured so much and still laid a trap for the family to become leader after so many years—it was all thanks to him.
"Thank you, Grandfather. I promise that when the time is right, I'll introduce my master to you. But he's currently very busy," Wu Han gladly accepted and thanked his grandfather for his understanding.
"Haha, I'm sure the Miracle Doctor is busy. Still, I'm glad to hear it. Now, shall we celebrate this occasion?"
"I think not yet," Wu Han humbly declined. "I know you must have noticed, but my power is already at the peak of the 5th stage. I want to make a breakthrough, but my resources are very limited."
"What about your master?" Wu Zhen asked.
"He's a doctor, not an alchemist. He can heal any injury, but he can't help with cultivation, Grandfather," Wu Han said.
"I see. Then why don't we take a little shopping trip through our clan treasury? Everyone already saw your strength against Meiyi, so no one should question us." Wu Zhen proposed the idea with an interested smile. This might be the perfect opportunity to strengthen his bloodline's legitimacy.
"Can we do it tomorrow? I feel a bit tired after being soul searched," Wu Han said.
"Of course! I'm not exactly free myself. Picking up after Wu Wei isn't an easy task. I think I might not even get to go home today, haha!" Though he spoke about the monumental work ahead, Wu Zhen still wore a wide smile, and why wouldn't he?
His dream had literally come true.
"Thank you, Grandfather. See you soon!"
Wu Han collected both Wu Wei's body and head into his storage ring, then walked up to Haoyu, still lying on the floor, her speech unintelligible.
"Time to go now."
Wu Han picked her up and carried her in his arms.
Haoyu looked at him with innocent, thoughtless eyes and tried to hug him, but he blocked her hand and leaped out of the building, heading back to his room.
In his room, he used his clothes to tie her to a pillar.
Her mind was now that of a newborn child and leaving her unattended would only cause harm to herself. She might have outlived her use, but this carcass of hers could still be salvageable.
"Because you said it yourself, didn't you? To make use of your beauty before it fades."
Wu Han smiled sinisterly as he inspected Haoyu's face. She tried to smile and kiss him out of instinct; her mind might have broken, but her body had already been branded.
"Now, let's make our final preparations."
Wu Han summoned Wu Wei's corpse onto the floor, pulling the head and body together before casting a healing spell.
The detached parts realigned, the split reversed, and the body became whole again.
But this wasn't resurrection magic, he was still dead. His body was simply restored to perfect condition.
"The hard part is after this. If I'm lucky, I might get five minutes out of it."
He called out Ming to the other side of the corpse, then began setting up an illusion array to conceal both sound and image from the outside world before preparing the ritual.
Ming was a perfect undead, but Wu Wei's body, though a suitable material, couldn't be turned into another undead, because unlike Ming's case, he didn't have a fine material like her husband's corpse with equal power lying around.
However, there was still a shortcut to make it useful.
Because the undead wasn't the only thing one could create from a dead body.
A puppet was also a viable option.
By synchronizing his energy with the corpse and using Ming as the medium, he cleansed Wu Wei's body of all traces of life, leaving only an empty husk ready to be claimed.
'This is all I have left. It should be enough.'
He drew out the Yin Qi he had stored from Luo Lan, the last of it, and infused it into Wu Wei's body, seizing control.
A dark mark appeared on his forehead, spreading through his body in glowing lines.
"Ugh!"
The force rebounded, making him cough up blood, but he continued.
Finally, the marking string was complete.
Now all he had to do was refuel it for the entire night.
The next morning, the power within Wu Wei's body had been restored to only a tiny amount, showing the difference between the 5th stage and the 7th stage of Qi Condensation.
'If it wasn't for time constraints, I would have engraved a Qi-gathering rune into him…'
Wu Han had engraved the rune into Ming's body as well, that's why she could help him forge this one. But since she mostly stayed inside the storage ring, she couldn't take advantage of its restorative power.
Still, without her, a single night wouldn't have been enough to power the Wu Wei puppet.
Oh well, I'll just make do with what I have.
Wu Han shrugged. It might not be a perfect outcome, but according to his calculations, everything he prepared should be enough for today.
The last day of the Wu Clan and the day he would make his first mark on this world!