Sensing the displeasure in Wen Jiu's expression, Wang Nian spoke again. "You should endure when necessary—I don't need to explain that to you. And the reason you shouldn't come to the Land of Mangled Corpses at night isn't just because of Li Ye."

"Then what else?" Wen Jiu asked, confused.

Wang Nian glanced around cautiously, as if afraid someone might overhear. "Lately, the number of Night Patrol disciples being killed has been increasing. They're always attacked and murdered at night. At first, the Night Patrol suspected that something in the Land of Mangled Corpses was responsible, but now disciples are dying all over the various peaks. We suspect it might be a long-planned act of revenge. If you act alone, you could easily become a target."

"Revenge?" Wen Jiu wanted to ask more, but Wang Nian cut him off.

"No need to ask further—there are too many grudges involved. Death Peak has stood for a thousand years, and many things remain unclear and unresolved. Just be careful." Wang Nian let out a deep sigh, his tone helpless. "I hope this isn't just the dark clouds before a storm… We've only had a few months of peace."

Wen Jiu didn't press the matter, but he could see the worry in Wang Nian's eyes, revealing more than words alone.

After some thought, Wen Jiu decided to put his plan to cultivate a Black Ghoul on hold. Losing some experience was better than taking unnecessary risks.

Wang Nian suddenly patted Wen Jiu's shoulder. "Since you can't come here at night to raise corpses, handle it during the day as you see fit. If necessary, shorten the corpse-moving time by an hour or two. I'll take responsibility."

Wen Jiu was momentarily stunned by this, then quickly bowed in gratitude. A warmth spread through his heart. "Brother Wang!"

He knew that, at first, Wang Nian had been kind to him because of his extraordinary talent in unorthodox techniques.

But now, it seemed that wasn't the only reason.

Wang Nian truly saw him as one of his own.

After all, burying corpses was a task assigned by the Peak Lord of the Side Peak. Even the overseers only had the authority to supervise and manage the work. If the Side Peak deacons found out about this leniency, Wang Nian wouldn't get any benefits from it—he'd probably be in trouble instead.

"Go on, get to work."

With that, Wang Nian gave him a smile and walked away from the Land of Mangled Corpses.

Wen Jiu watched his departing figure, feeling deeply grateful.

But the feeling didn't last long.

As soon as he stepped into the Land of Mangled Corpses to move bodies, a doubt quickly filled his mind.

Was it really a long-planned revenge?

If he hadn't obtained the Yin Fiend Bloodcurse Body, he would have believed Wang Nian's speculation without question.

But now that he had it, Wen Jiu didn't believe it.

Such a method of revenge…

Only an idiot would do something so reckless.

Clearly, there was another agenda at play.

"The Land of Mangled Corpses… I absolutely can't come here at night."

Wen Jiu made up his mind on the spot.

A sense of unease crept into him.

Fortunately, avoiding the Land of Mangled Corpses at night would only slow down his Black Ghoul's cultivation; it wouldn't affect his body-refining practice too much. After all, the Yin Earth Qi wasn't exclusive to this place—it was present everywhere. The only difference was that the Land of Mangled Corpses had it in greater abundance.

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Time passed quickly.

By the end of the day, before heading home, Wen Jiu sought out Wang Nian again. He wanted to borrow some money to buy spiritual rice or beast meat to aid his body refinement.

Ordinary human food no longer provided him with the energy he needed to replenish the Yin Earth Qi consumed in his training.

Wang Nian wasn't stingy. He generously lent Wen Jiu a hundred taels. When he learned that Wen Jiu wanted to buy beast meat for cultivation, he even offered to purchase it for him—since Wen Jiu couldn't enter the trading market himself.

A hundred taels could buy twenty jin of low-tier beast meat.

Enough for half a month.

—

In the following days, Wen Jiu dug a pit where he lived. It was half a zhang deep, allowing him to better channel the Yin Earth Qi when chanting the corpse-nurturing incantation.

Each day, he supplemented his training with one jin of low-tier beast meat. By the end of the day, he could consistently gain twenty points of body-refining experience.

The progress was astonishing.

But there was one thing Wen Jiu hadn't expected.

After just a few days of refining his body with Yin Earth Qi, he could feel his body gradually becoming colder.

Even under the blazing sun, when he touched his own skin, he could sense the chill seeping from within.

Not freezing, but definitely cool.

If anyone were to touch him and notice this unnatural temperature…

They would immediately brand him as a practitioner of unorthodox arts.

By the fifth day of refining his body with the Earth Fiend Yin Energy, the changes in the mana stored in his dantian left Wen Jiu both shocked and delighted. Not only did he accept the fact that his body was growing colder, but he even started to look forward to truly cultivating the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body.

Sitting cross-legged in the pit, Wen Jiu chanted the Corpse Nourishing Mantra. The strands of mana within his dantian quickly softened as they fused with the Earth Fiend Yin Energy, eventually turning into a pool of sludge—dark, cold, and utterly abnormal.

But his total mana had increased by ten percent!

Its purity had also improved significantly!

The transformation was astonishing.

Following this, Wen Jiu tested his Finger Flick spell, releasing a burst of mana from his fingertip to attack an object.

A normal Finger Flick spell would cause the mana to shoot out like a water balloon, exploding upon impact with the ground.

But Wen Jiu's wasn't like that.

When his Yin-infused mana struck an object, it didn't just impact—it erased. And wherever the Yin energy landed, it continued to spread and corrode.

It couldn't be cleaned up.

It would keep spreading.

Only when Wen Jiu actively reabsorbed it would it disappear.

"If I use this in combat after further cultivation, it'll be terrifying..." Wen Jiu couldn't help but be secretly alarmed.

At the same time, his resolve to climb higher in power only strengthened.

If he were just a lone wanderer cultivating this Yin Art, the so-called righteous cultivators would surely treat him like a pariah.

After all, a normal Finger Flick spell simply exploded.

Why does yours have corrosion and a spreading effect?

You're clearly practicing some demonic, unorthodox technique!

You deserve to die!

As for his body growing cold, Wen Jiu didn't care. Perhaps this was just part of walking the unorthodox path.

As long as he remained on Dead Man's Peak, surely there were others who had even turned against their own sect brothers over such matters.

If he climbed even higher in rank...

Heh.

Then he wouldn't be called an outcast.

Then he wouldn't be considered an aberration.

Then he wouldn't be some damned "unorthodox cultivator."

He would be a true master of the Left-Hand Path.

But...

The climb wouldn't be easy.

Take Li Ye, for example.

—

The next day, at dawn.

As usual, Wen Jiu arrived at the Land of Broken Corpses.

He immediately noticed that Wang Nian had arrived before them once again. This time, there were also several disciples from the Night Patrol Division, as well as Li Ye. Above the Land of Broken Corpses, cultivators soared through the sky on their swords, seemingly searching for something.

"Could it really be what I think it is?"

A thought surfaced in Wen Jiu's mind, making his heart tighten.

The patrolling cultivators were visibly tense, some even looking lost.

If something were to happen again, and they got caught in the crossfire, their lowly status wouldn't save them.

Time passed, minute by minute.

Sunlight had already spread across the Land of Broken Corpses. On any other day, they would have started collecting and burying the bodies by now.

But today, no one moved.

Another hour passed.

Finally, Wang Nian walked over, his expression severe, seemingly displeased. He even shot an extra glance at Wen Jiu.

"Last night, several disciples from the Night Patrol Division died here again. For your safety, from now on, the Night Patrol disciples, as well as Supervisor Li Ye, will be assisting me in overseeing this place."

The moment he finished speaking—

Fang Zheng and his two companions beamed with joy, their grins practically splitting their faces.

The rest of the corpse buriers, however, were filled with unease. Another death in the Night Patrol Division? That was no small matter.

Wen Jiu felt the same.

But his concern was more about Li Ye.

With both Li Ye and Wang Nian in charge...

Would the trade he worked so hard to establish be taken away?

Or worse—

Would Li Ye deliberately make things difficult for him?

Wen Jiu didn't know what Li Ye would do. But he had a bad feeling about this. No wonder Wang Nian seemed irritated and had given him that extra look earlier.

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