As a surge of Yin energy poured into the Corpse Eye, it began refining the demonic corpses stored within.
Though he couldn't see it with his own eyes, his spiritual sense clearly perceived the gradual disappearance of the demon bodies and the birth of corpse blood. The process itself was nothing extraordinary, but the demonic flesh, after being refined through blood essence and then further processed by the Corpse Eye, had undeniably transformed into something entirely different—dark, inky corpse blood.
In just a short while, half a demon corpse had been completely refined, leaving behind half a jin of corpse blood in the Corpse Eye's storage space.
The moment his spiritual sense probed it, he was overwhelmed by a frenzied and violent aura of corpse energy and blood. Even a brief touch of it made his mind waver, his emotions surging with irritability—completely unlike what he had encountered before.
"So this is corpse blood?"
Only now did Wen Jiu truly understand why ghouls nurtured with corpse blood were so prone to breaking free from their master's control.
Retracting his spiritual sense, he continued using the Corpse Eye to refine more blood. However, by the time he had exhausted all the Yin energy in his dantian, he had only managed to refine a single demon corpse. Still, gaining a full jin of corpse blood was a satisfactory outcome, so he remained patient.
The next morning, Wen Jiu set off for the Land of Shattered Corpses, retrieving the dark corpse blood from the Corpse Eye and feeding it to the ghoul.
The moment the ghoul saw the corpse blood, it reacted as if a cat had caught the scent of catnip—letting out low, guttural growls as it frantically devoured the blood.
If Wen Jiu hadn't restrained it, the ghoul might have swallowed the entire Corpse Eye itself.
At that moment, Wen Jiu caught sight of a single drop of corpse blood slipping from the ghoul's mouth and falling to the ground.
The instant it hit the earth, it spread like his own corrosive Yin arts—except even more aggressive. In just a few breaths, it had polluted and corroded an entire zhang of land around it. If more of this were spilled, it could very well contaminate the whole Land of Shattered Corpses.
"Looks like I can't let anyone find out about this corpse blood… Otherwise, I'll just be giving people another reason to label me a heretical demon cultivator."
Wen Jiu chuckled helplessly.
—
Shortly after midnight.
Wen Jiu finally saw how much experience a single jin of corpse blood could provide.
Previously, even after nurturing corpses for a full twelve hours in the heart of the Land of Shattered Corpses, he had only gained six experience points. His mastery of the Corpse Nurturing Incantation allowed him to squeeze out an additional three points, but altogether, he could only earn nine experience points per day.
But now, just one jin of corpse blood had granted him fifty experience points, while his Blood Transformation Body had improved by another twenty points.
The increase was staggering.
Still, considering that a single demon corpse typically weighed at least a hundred jin and was valued at over a hundred low-grade spirit stones, it made sense that its refined corpse blood could yield seventy experience points. It wasn't an unreasonable trade.
For the next few days, Wen Jiu continued refining both corpse blood and nurturing his ghoul. In six days, he had fully processed six demon corpses, yielding three hundred experience points for the ghoul and a hundred and twenty points for Blood Transformation Body.
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The ghoul's experience had now surpassed four hundred.
[Ghoul — In Nurturing (Upper Realm 426/2000)]
Meanwhile, Blood Transformation Body had reached six hundred experience points.
[Ghoul Skill: Blood Transformation Body, Third Layer (600/2000)]
At this rate, with the current daily experience gain of nine points from regular corpse nurturing, the ghoul would need approximately one hundred and eighty-five days to fully mature, while Blood Transformation Body would take nearly sixty days to reach its fourth layer.
Under normal circumstances, Wen Jiu would have been quite satisfied with this pace.
But the growing tensions at Fei Xian Peak were putting him under pressure. The sooner he could evolve the ghoul into a fully-fledged walking corpse, the better.
As things stood, one jin of demon blood accelerated the process by five and a half days and boosted Blood Transformation Body by an entire day. The cost? Nearly a hundred low-grade spirit stones. But it was worth it.
After all, he was now earning spirit stones by selling Soul-Seizing Talismans.
Ever since his proficiency in crafting them had reached mastery, his success rate was no longer a mere twenty percent. Over the past few days, he had been testing himself.
Now, he could achieve a success rate of forty or even fifty percent.
Not only that, but the quality of his talismans had also improved. What used to be a rare stroke of luck—creating high-grade talismans—had now become a regular occurrence. A well-crafted Soul-Seizing Talisman capable of injuring a second-layer Qi Refinement cultivator could easily sell for four or five low-grade spirit stones per piece.
Wen Jiu could now produce eight or nine talismans per day. If he was in peak condition, he could successfully craft ten. Before long, he would be able to sustain his corpse blood production solely through selling talismans.
The only downside? Now that he had reached mastery, each successful talisman only granted a single point of experience.
Failure means no more experience points. The Soul-Seizing Talisman requires 500 experience points to reach full capacity. Over the past few days, Wen Jiu successfully crafted a total of fifty-one talismans.
[Soul-Seizing Talisman (Mastery: 51/500)]
…
Early the next morning, the lockdown on Feixian Peak was finally lifted.
The investigators from the Supervision Hall had interrogated Feixian Peak's stewards, deacons, and elders for a full six days. One could only imagine how meticulous their questioning was—it was likely that they had even resorted to some special means.
However, in the end, it seemed they had found nothing. None of the seven elders had been imprisoned or apprehended by the Supervision Hall.
On this very day, Wen Jiu was summoned to the Night Patrol Division once more for a private meeting with Liu Xiao and Mu Canglong.
After seven days of relentless interrogation, both men looked utterly exhausted.
"Brother Liu, Deacon Mu…"
Wen Jiu retrieved two bottles of pills from his storage pouch—medicinal pills that replenished stamina and vital energy. He had acquired them after killing Chen Feng.
But Mu Canglong didn't accept them. Instead, he asked, "Do you know why we called you here alone?"
"I do not," Wen Jiu answered honestly.
Mu Canglong continued, "The investigators from the Supervision Hall will not be leaving. In fact, they will be intensifying their efforts to uncover the true cause of the Peak Lord's death. Elder Gong volunteered to assign us to their command, meaning that we will be leaving Feixian Peak for a while… perhaps for a month, maybe even two."
"This…" Wen Jiu's expression tensed.
One or two months would be more than enough time for him to cultivate his Blood Transformation Body to the fourth level.
Liu Xiao added, "Don't worry. We know you don't want to leave the sect, so Deacon Mu won't involve the apprentice disciples in this mission. The reason we called you here is for something else—both Deacon Mu and I believe that this journey is fraught with danger, so before he departs, Deacon Mu wants to take on a disciple to pass down his teachings."
"I am willing!"
With such a clear hint, Wen Jiu would have to be an absolute fool not to understand.
He wasn't sure if Mu Canglong was connected to the Bloodrobe Tower, but he did know one thing—the man was genuinely good to him.
Becoming his disciple would be no bad thing.
Besides, Wang Nian had once told him to showcase his talent for Yin talismans in front of Mu Canglong. There had to be a reason for that.
"You're quite sharp." Mu Canglong smiled with satisfaction before shifting the conversation. "But I won't be taking you as my own disciple. Instead, I will pass down these teachings on behalf of my father—the creator of the Yinzhou Corpse Cultivation Method."
"Master Mu's father?"
Wen Jiu's expression changed slightly.
He had heard of Mu Canglong's father—he had passed away more than ten years ago.
Could it be that the man Mu Canglong had once mentioned, the one who only lived to the age of fifty-seven and was at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, was his father?
Mu Canglong continued, "I had originally planned to wait until you reached the third level of Qi Refinement before teaching you. But after witnessing your exceptional talent in corpse cultivation, combined with the uncertainty of whether I will survive this mission, I have decided to teach you the complete Yinzhou Corpse Cultivation Method now."
Upon hearing this, Wen Jiu immediately knelt.
To be granted such a profound inheritance—
This was a debt of immense gratitude.
He had to bow in respect!
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