"Maybe."

Wen Jiu forced a smile.

But deep down, two words surfaced—"No way."

If the main peak assessment hadn't been moved up so much, if the elder of the main peak from the Hall of Supervision wasn't personally coming to Fei Xian Peak, there might still be room to maneuver.

But now, with the assessment rescheduled earlier and a main peak elder overseeing it personally, Li Ye would definitely feel threatened. No matter how much he looked down on unorthodox methods, he couldn't deny Wen Jiu's talent in them.

With all these factors piling up, plus the fact that Wen Jiu was currently the top-ranked apprentice disciple, Li Ye was probably already sharpening his blade.

Of course, Wen Jiu couldn't say any of this to Wang Nian. Even though Wang Nian treated him well, some things just couldn't be shared. It wasn't a matter of trust—it was simply that Wen Jiu didn't want to take risks on something so critical just to test human nature.

So he reassured Wang Nian again. "Brother Wang, don't worry. If anything really happens, I'll break the signal talisman immediately."

"Alright then."

Wang Nian sighed and nodded, feeling helpless. If he had any talent in alchemy and could follow Second Master to become an alchemist, Li Ye would have no choice but to show him some respect. Unfortunately, reality was cruel—he was far too ordinary.

Lately, because of Wen Jiu's unorthodox talent, he had managed to create the Golden Spear Talisman. But this wasn't something he could brag about. If word got out, people would only mock him—it was, after all, an item associated with the art of pleasure.

So even if he wanted to help Wen Jiu reach the main peak safely, there was nothing he could do.

After exchanging a few more words, Wang Nian left reluctantly.

Wen Jiu returned home, but no sooner had he stepped through the door than a few familiar faces from the Night Patrol Division came by to congratulate him.

There was only one reason—

He was now the number one apprentice disciple.

Even though his path was unorthodox, an official announcement made all the difference.

The indifference of the past had suddenly turned into enthusiasm.

Perhaps in their eyes, even if Wen Jiu, as an unorthodox cultivator, wouldn't live long, as long as he became a disciple of the main peak, he was worth befriending.

Having a friend in the main peak would make life much easier once they left Fei Xian Peak.

Wen Jiu found their attitude incredibly realistic.

But he had no intention of associating with such people. After a few perfunctory responses, he shut his door and refused to see anyone else.

It didn't matter who came knocking.

…

Meanwhile.

At the Night Patrol Division.

Li Ye was interrogating several ghost cultivators from the same sect.

Lately, nearly all ghost cultivators on Fei Xian Peak had been rounded up and locked in the Night Patrol Division. Those he couldn't arrest, he was investigating in secret.

But no matter how much he dug, he found nothing. No one had any motive to kill Fang Zheng and the others—not even under the influence of Illusion Pills.

With the division officers urging him for results and the unexpected announcement from the Hall of Supervision, Li Ye was growing more and more agitated.

"Are you going to talk or not?"

Irritated and angry, he struck a Qi Condensation First Stage ghost cultivator square in the chest.

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Bang!

The ghost cultivator was sent flying, crashing against the stone wall and spitting out blood, his face filled with terror.

A nearby officer quickly stepped forward to check on him and pulled Li Ye out of the cell. He initially wanted to reprimand him, but seeing Li Ye's foul mood, he could only sigh. "Who would've thought fate would favor that brat so much? With his current strength, passing the assessment and entering the main peak is practically guaranteed… Brother Li, maybe we should just take a step back. Why not bury the hatchet and make peace?"

"Bury the hatchet? Impossible! If I let him go to the main peak, it won't be long before he's stepping all over me. And when that happens, if he wants to crush me, what can I do?"

Li Ye couldn't take that risk.

He wouldn't gamble his life on Wen Jiu's mercy.

So Wen Jiu had to die.

That's right.

He had to die.

Mu Canglong and the others protected Wen Jiu only because of his unorthodox talent. But if Wen Jiu was dead—

What would they protect then?

Would they really go after him just for a dead man? Everyone had a backer—why would they take that risk?

"We need to take him out while he's still weak," Li Ye transmitted via divine sense.

The officer beside him stiffened but wasn't surprised—he knew Li Ye would make this decision.

Li Ye then transmitted a message through divine sense, "However, we must find the right opportunity to kill him. It's best to do it outside the sect. But if I take him outside, he definitely won't go. Fellow Daoist Mu… would you be willing to lend me a hand?"

"Sure, for a low-grade magical artifact."

"You really dare to ask for that."

"He may be weak now, but who knows what he'll become in the future."

"Fine, one first-tier low-grade magical artifact."

Li Ye nodded, murderous intent surging in his eyes.

…

Midnight.

Wen Jiu checked his daily settlement panel.

Previously, raising corpses in the Land of Dismembered Corpses, even with a second-level settlement panel, only yielded six experience points every twelve hours.

With the Corpse Nurturing Curse, he could gain an extra three points.

That totaled nine points per day.

But now, after using the Corpse Nurturing Coffin along with the Three Fiends Corpse Nurturing Method for six hours, the black ghoul gained twelve extra experience points in a single day.

It wasn't an overwhelming amount, but the personal information panel on the black ghoul suddenly changed—showing a new evolution path.

Before, it was just a wandering corpse.

Now, it had become a Three Fiends Wandering Corpse.

[Black Ghoul – Corpse Nurturing in Progress (Upper Realm 489/2000) PS: Evolution Path – Three Fiends Wandering Corpse. The Three Fiends Wandering Corpse is a postnatal fiend corpse, immensely powerful, fearing nothing and restrained by nothing. It can even awaken innate corpse law divine abilities.]

"It can awaken innate corpse law divine abilities?!"

Although he wasn't sure how these innate corpse law divine abilities compared to normal corpse techniques, the term "divine abilities" clearly signified their extraordinary nature.

Divine abilities.

Was that a term that should even appear at this stage?

At that moment, Wen Jiu finally understood the true value of the Three Fiends Corpse Nurturing Method and why a mid-stage Three Fiends Corpse could tear apart a sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivator with its bare hands.

It must be because of those innate corpse law divine abilities.

"There's no way this technique was created by Deacon Mu's father. He couldn't possibly have developed a corpse-nurturing method that grants divine abilities… It must have originated from that 'Yinzhou Corpse Nurturing Record.'" Wen Jiu was filled with yearning.

The main peak.

He had to go!

"Using the Three Fiends Corpse Nurturing Method, I can gain twelve extra experience points per day… In just seventy-one days, the black ghoul will evolve into a Three Fiends Wandering Corpse!"

Wen Jiu was overjoyed.

However, despite his excitement, the Three Fiends Corpse Nurturing Method consumed a great deal of resources. In six hours, the Corpse Nurturing Coffin had used up three Blood Fiend Crystals and two bottles of Heaven Fiend Water—equivalent to sixty-two spirit stones.

That was the same as a Night Patrol Division disciple's salary for thirty-one months.

"Good thing I had foresight and learned the Yin Talisman Technique." Wen Jiu sighed in relief, feeling immensely satisfied.

The next night.

Wen Jiu checked the Heaven Fiend Water he had brewed. As expected, all five bottles were successfully refined.

No wonder yesterday's settlement didn't even grant experience points.

Turns out, it wasn't that difficult.

But in the end, it was all thanks to the Land of Dismembered Corpses. After all, gathering yin spirits outside wouldn't have been so easy.

Without a yin-rich location like the Land of Dismembered Corpses, refining Heaven Fiend Water would have required killing people to cultivate yin spirits—just like the scar-faced old cultivator had recorded in his notes.

This realization suddenly made Wen Jiu reluctant to part with the Land of Dismembered Corpses.

No.

Before heading to the main peak, he had to harvest all the blood energy and yin spirits here.

If he wasted even a little, he'd regret it so much that he'd wake up in the middle of the night slapping himself.

And so,

A few more days passed.

Everything remained calm.

Gong Chi was still in seclusion, recovering from his injuries.

Meanwhile, the elders of the other six peaks held an elaborate funeral for the peak master. Every cultivation family under Feixian Peak sent representatives, as did the subsidiary peaks surrounding Feixian Peak. The funeral lasted for seven days and seven nights before finally concluding.

The day after the funeral, a Night Patrol Division disciple suddenly came looking for Wen Jiu, summoning him to the division.

There was a mission assignment.

This made Wen Jiu uneasy, so he didn't immediately follow.

He wanted to visit the Land of Dismembered Corpses first and bring the black ghoul along. However, the disciple who summoned him insisted the matter was urgent.

It seemed as though he didn't want Wen Jiu out of his sight.

With no other choice, Wen Jiu used his connection with the black ghoul to cast Blood Corpse Escape and return to his room.

Something about this mission felt off.

Without the black ghoul by his side, he was worried about unforeseen dangers.