The previous traces had long been buried under the chilling frost of Yin energy.

After nightfall, the Yin energy thickened, making it difficult to spot any marks on the ground.

Fortunately, Wen Jiu had left a special mark, so after searching for a short while, he managed to find the burial site.

Digging a deep pit, Wen Jiu once again saw the male corpse. He began searching it thoroughly, running his hands over the body and even lifting the clothes to check the still uncorrupted skin. Yet, he found nothing.

At the same time, he used his divine sense to probe the corpse's body.

Still, nothing unusual.

"That leaves only this talisman and the Soul-Devouring Blood Pearl." Wen Jiu didn't bother studying the talisman—he lacked the knowledge to decipher its mysteries. He simply scanned it with his divine sense.

After confirming there was nothing strange about it, he turned his attention to the Soul-Devouring Blood Pearl.

And the moment his divine sense touched it—

A flood of information surged into his mind like leeches latching onto flesh.

Though startled, Wen Jiu was not overwhelmed. He had already experienced something similar once before when the memories of his predecessor poured into his mind.

As the new information gradually unfolded, his expression darkened under the suffocating Yin aura.

"The Ancient Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body!"

"Created in the 37,223rd year of the Yuan Yang calendar by the Yin Fiend Daoist, this is a heretical body-refining technique. It consists of thirteen levels and requires a combination of cultivators' blood essence and vast amounts of Earth Yin energy for cultivation. Once perfected, there is a 70% chance of successfully forming a Foundation Establishment, a probability comparable to those with supreme spiritual roots!"

Wen Jiu was deeply shocked.

Though he had no clear concept of a 70% Foundation Establishment success rate, he did understand the significance of supreme spiritual roots.

With mid-tier spiritual roots, one could directly enter Dead Man's Peak as a disciple.

With high-tier spiritual roots, even the elders of Dead Man's Peak would take notice and personally accept them as disciples.

As for supreme spiritual roots—

He had never heard of anyone possessing them.

They existed only in myths and rumors.

"So that's what they were after!"

Muttering to himself, Wen Jiu immediately set to work reburying the corpse, resolving never to return to this burial site again.

Fifteen minutes later—

The corpse was once again buried.

He tossed a few other remains on top, waiting for the Yin frost to settle and erase any signs of disturbance.

After finishing, Wen Jiu swiftly departed.

He walked leisurely back to his residence, yet his heart was both anxious and elated.

——

Though he knew little about the world of cultivation, just looking at Dead Man's Peak alone was enough to understand how difficult it was to acquire a cultivation method.

Right now, he couldn't even obtain the third level of Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art, let alone a supreme body-refining technique like the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body, which reached thirteen levels of refinement.

Compared to this, even a first-tier high-grade magical artifact like the Soul-Devouring Blood Pearl seemed insignificant.

"They must have been after this, without a doubt."

Wen Jiu reread the details of the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body several times, gaining a comprehensive understanding of it.

The more he read, the more excited he became.

Cultivating this technique required a large amount of cultivator blood essence, but in truth, Earth Yin energy was the real key.

However, Earth Yin energy damaged lifespan upon entry into the body, which was why the technique's creator substituted it with large amounts of cultivator blood essence.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

But Wen Jiu wasn't afraid.

He could cultivate primarily using Earth Yin energy.

And supplement it with cultivator blood essence.

He still had plenty left.

"It's as if this technique was tailor-made for a corpse nurturer like me."

Wen Jiu was ecstatic.

But he quickly calmed down, forcibly suppressing his urge to start cultivating.

He couldn't practice it.

At least, not yet.

If he did, it would bring about his death.

After all, someone was already searching for it!

"I may not be able to cultivate the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body yet, but I can still use Earth Yin energy for body refinement. That way, I'll achieve similar effects."

Every day, he chanted the Corpse Nurturing Mantra to draw in Earth Yin energy and nourish the corpses.

Now, he could absorb a portion of that energy himself for body refinement.

Lay a solid foundation first.

Then, in the future, when the time was right, he could cultivate it properly.

——

The next day.

With an anxious heart, Wen Jiu returned to the land of corpses.

Everything was as usual.

There was no sign of the Night Patrol Division.

Only then did Wen Jiu finally relax.

After nightfall—

He decided to give it a try.

As he chanted the Corpse Nurturing Mantra to draw in Earth Yin energy for the corpses, he sat cross-legged atop the burial ground, competing with the Black Ghouls for the Earth Yin energy.

Following the method recorded in the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body, he guided the Earth Yin energy into his flesh.

This process was painful.

But Wen Jiu could endure it.

After the hour of Hai passed, Wen Jiu was drenched in sweat, his body aching and numb beyond belief.

Dragging his exhausted and sore body home, he gulped down several mouthfuls of cold water, only for an overwhelming hunger to crash over him.

But even with money, there was nowhere to buy food at this hour.

With no other choice, Wen Jiu had to endure the hunger and wait for the daily settlement, planning to see the results before forcing himself to sleep.

[Daily Settlement Panel Lv1 (81/100)]

[Today's Settlement!]

[Chanting the Corpse Nourishing Incantation for one hour, cultivating the Yinzhou Corpse Nourishing Technique for one hour: Panel EXP +1, Yinzhou Corpse Nourishing Incantation EXP +10, Yinzhou Corpse Nourishing Technique EXP +1]

[Burying corpses in a death zone for three hours, seeking Yin souls for three hours, continuously absorbing corpse energy and death energy: Panel EXP +1, Corpse Energy +6, Death Energy +6]

[Guiding Earth Fiend Yin Energy, using a large amount of fresh cultivator blood to nourish corpses in a corpse cultivation ground for twelve hours: Panel EXP +1, Undead Mutation EXP +3, +18, Corpse Cultivator EXP +1]

[Consuming two bowls of inferior spirit rice, one piece of non-ranked demonic beast meat, and refining the body with Earth Fiend Yin Energy for one hour: Body Refining EXP +10.1]

"Undead Mutation dropped by 3 points, but Body Refining EXP increased by 10! Just one hour had such an effect!"

After the initial surprise, Wen Jiu drank a few more gulps of cold water.

"This is worse than not eating for days."

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to sleep.

The next morning, when his sister Wen Ya brought him food, Wen Jiu devoured a bowl of rice in three bites, swallowing the demonic beast meat in one gulp.

Yet he was still hungry.

With no other option, after his sister left, he ate three more bowls of coarse noodles before he finally felt somewhat full.

But it was just enough to stave off hunger.

The soreness and weakness in his body remained.

"Could it be that body refining requires a large amount of spirit rice and demonic beast meat?"

Wen Jiu's expression changed.

There was no way he could afford that.

His monthly wages were only three taels.

...

When he arrived at the corpse disposal site again, Wen Jiu originally planned to ask Wang Nian if there were any other ways to make money. If not, he'd have to put body refining on hold.

But instead of Wang Nian, he ran into Fang Zheng and his two companions.

This time, the three of them were noticeably more polite, their attitudes much improved.

"Fellow Daoist, have you given it more thought? If you still find it unappealing, we can personally guarantee to double the monthly payment we promised earlier."

Double.

That meant two hundred taels.

To be honest, that was tempting.

But Wen Jiu had no interest in getting involved with them just for money.

If he couldn't afford body refining, he would just put it on hold.

No big deal.

"Not interested," Wen Jiu said, shaking his head.

Fang Zheng smirked and continued, "Fellow Daoist, we've done our research. Your sister hasn't officially married yet—she's not even Steward Xu's concubine. If Steward Xu returns and decides not to take her in, to be blunt... you won't have a single person backing you on Dead Man's Peak."

Wen Jiu shot him a cold glance, not even bothering to respond.

Seeing this, Fang Zheng almost lost his temper, but remembering that his brother-in-law had said Wen Jiu had already stepped into the first layer of Qi Refining, he wisely unclenched his fist.

Though the three of them said nothing more, their eyes turned completely indifferent.

The other corpse buriers also started looking at Wen Jiu differently.

Wen Jiu didn't care.

So what if they ostracized him?

It made no difference.

He had never intended to waste time on pointless socializing or maintaining meaningless connections.

Just then, Wang Nian arrived.

The corpse buriers immediately got to work.

"Wen kid, hold up."

Wen Jiu stopped, then heard Wang Nian speaking in a low voice once the others had moved away.

"For the time being, stop coming to the corpse disposal site at night to cultivate corpses."

"Why?"

Wen Jiu was momentarily stunned.

What had happened now?

Wang Nian continued in a hushed tone, "Fang Zheng's brother-in-law is that same Night Patrol officer who gave you trouble the other day. He knows you've stepped into the first layer of Qi Refining. Now that you've refused Fang Zheng's offer again, the people from Juyi Hall will likely start targeting you. That much isn't a big deal—with me around, they won't dare go too far. But that Night Patrol officer, Li Ye, is narrow-minded and ruthless. He'll probably try to ensure Fang Zheng and his group secure the top three spots, even if it means having someone eliminate you in the shadows."

Saying this, Wang Nian stomped the ground beneath him.

"If they take you out in secret here… they could easily pin it on that spy who killed over a dozen disciples from Dead Man's Peak."

"Thanks for the warning, Brother Wang."

Wen Jiu quietly memorized the name Li Ye.

No wonder he was singled out that day.

So it had nothing to do with his unconventional cultivation path.

But if he couldn't come at night to chant the Corpse Nourishing Incantation, his daily settlement would lose a significant amount of experience.

That was really frustrating.