Chapter 164 – Mysterious Corpse
Of the four major sects, only the Corpse Sect returned to Hou Fen after the rank 4 cultivation countries came and cleared out the fire beasts.
This move confused many. Although the fire beasts had been removed, the spiritual energy there was too strong to cultivate. As a result, the entire land became a dead zone for cultivators.
The Corpse Sect didn’t give any explanation and simply disappeared one night.
The Corpse Sect was extremely mysterious in the eyes of the other three sects. Although they didn’t have many Nascent Soul cultivators, whenever Nascent Soul cultivators gathered, they could sense the terrifying power within the Corpse Sect’s Nascent Soul cultivators.
Taking that into consideration, the three major sects just kept quiet and didn’t try to stop them.
In the western part of Hou Fen, beneath an erupting volcano, lies a large cave that leads to a network of interconnected tunnels and caves that form its own underground world.
Compared to the Zhao Corpse Sect, the structure is quite similar, only slightly larger.
The current head of the Corpse sect, Zhao Chuanliang, knelt before an irregularly shaped crystal made of many intersecting crystals.
Zhao Chuanliang was extremely respectful. A look of fear appeared on his face from time to time, then vanished. He whispered, “Shang Zong, please give me a few more days, and I promise I’ll find out what happened to soul number 4876.”
“If I give you a few days, then who will give me a few days? Soul number 4876 is a disciple of the Tian Gang Sect in Tian Gang, where I serve, and now they have come looking for him. According to calculations, soul number 4876 should have finished possessing that body. What am I going to tell them?”
Zhao Chuanliang cursed silently. His face revealed a panicked expression, and he immediately said, “Shang Zong, I’ve already found some clues and found out where soul number 4876 disappeared. From analyzing these clues, it seems like a disciple of the War God Temple named Ma Liang is involved. I’ve received news that he recently appeared in Xuan Wu, so I’ve sent someone there. As long as you give me ten days, I’ll definitely be able to find out the truth.”
The face of the person inside the crystal relaxed slightly as he looked at Zhao Chuanliang and sighed. “Chuanliang, I’ll give you ten days to find it since it’s “that” body. However, if you still don’t show any results within ten days, don’t blame me for reporting this to the rank 5 cultivation country division. With their way of working, they’ll definitely take away your right to choose a body after you’re possessed.”
With that, the face in the crystal slowly disappeared.
Zhao Chuanliang sat limply on the ground and smiled bitterly. “If soul number 4867 is someone from Tian Gang, then wouldn’t it be better for him to possess a body there? Why did he have to be thrown to me, ah?!” However, in his heart, he understood that when someone needed to possess a body, they would always do so in another country.
A cold voice sounded from Zhao Chuanliang. “Forget your chance to choose a body, Zhao Chuanliang. You seem to be in a bad situation!”
Zhao Chuanliang sighed and asked, “Ye Zizai, what should I do?”
“What should we do? I don’t know either, but as the former sect master of the Zhao Corpse Sect, I’ve been in a similar situation. My junior disciple’s situation is similar, but also slightly different. The soul lamp of soul number 4876 hasn’t gone out, meaning he’s still alive. If you can find him, that would be best, but if not, you’ll be in danger.”
“However, I’m very curious. Shang Zong said he would give you ten days because this body is his. What is your relationship with the body’s former owner?”
Zhao Chuanliang said calmly, “That is my younger brother. We both entered the Corpse Sect 400 years ago. His talent is better than mine, so he was chosen by Shang Zong.”
Ye Zizai sneered. His voice was filled with dissatisfaction. “If it weren’t for the fact that the perfect body I had prepared for myself was discovered by a rank 5 cultivation country and taken from me, I would have already recovered my cultivation and completed the possession.”
Zhao Chuanliang took a deep breath as he placed the piece of jade on his forehead. After a moment, he threw the jade away.
“All Core Formation cultivators and above, follow me on my way to Hou Fen Union!” With a single command, all the Corpse Sect disciples opened their eyes. A ghostly light appeared in their eyes.
As for Wang Lin, although the Divine Path was indeed extraordinary, it wasn’t suitable for him to cultivate. He pondered for a moment before sighing and starting to leave. What surprised Wang Lin was that the Divine Path now remained in his head instead of disappearing as usual.
However, when Wang Lin tried to copy it, he still couldn’t. It felt as if an invisible force was preventing the Divine Path from being recorded.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment before giving up writing it down. He looked around towards the mirrored door. Everything was dark and looked exactly the same.
He pondered for a moment before spreading his divine sense, but it seemed that there was a protective layer on the water mirror door that would reflect back his divine sense. Wang Lin’s eyes sparkled and he looked towards the entrance. The red-faced old man might be outside that door.
He jumped and landed in front of one of the water mirror doors. He reached for the water mirror door with his hand and felt a cool sensation. Soon, he reached a stone wall.
Wang Lin withdrew his hand and began to think. He immediately took out the jade slip containing the refining method of the War God Temple and began to search through it.
The three main parts of the War God Temple’s refining method are extraction, melting, and smelting. All magic treasure refining follows these three processes. Wang Lin quickly discovered something called reverse refining in the jade.
Reverse refining was originally intended for cultivators to exchange refining methods, to reverse-engineer magical treasures to learn how they were made, and then recreate the same magical treasure.
Long-term practice of reverse refining can improve one’s refining ability. To refine other people’s products, study their methods and use them to refine your own treasures.
However, this kind of reverse refining can only be used on treasures produced through extraction, smelting, and merging.
Wang Lin carefully observed the process before putting the jade away. He brought his hands together in front of his chest and channeled spiritual energy into them. As he moved his hands, threads of spiritual energy connected his palms.
Wang Lin shouted, “Forward!”
The threads were cut in the middle. The broken ends drilled into the water mirror door, with the other ends still connected to Wang Lin’s hands. As Wang Lin poured spiritual energy into his hands, more and more threads appeared until they were enough to wrap around the entire water mirror door.
The fusion part of the refining process is similar to balancing the spiritual and formation energies within a magical treasure to achieve a mysterious balance.
The reverse purification process requires the opposite, as the first step is to destroy this balance. Once successful, the balance will be shattered. Wang Lin continued to pour in spiritual energy with a calm expression, but his gaze was locked on the water mirror door.
Her expression suddenly changed as the thread extending from her hand began to vibrate, and a brilliant ring of light appeared in the center of the water mirror door. The ring made a soft crackling sound until it shattered completely. As it shattered, the light spread to the edge of the temple and disappeared.
The water mirror door dimmed. Wang Lin knew that the balance within it had been broken. The next step was to separate the materials and spiritual cores used to create the door during the smelting process.
Wang Lin’s expression was serious as he slowly pulled out the thread of spiritual energy.
As the thread was pulled, the water mirror door began to vibrate and the edge of the temple began to glow. The light slowly moved away from the edge of the temple and transformed into a ball of light.
There were countless threads on the ball of light, all connected to Wang Lin’s hand.
Wang Lin shouted, “Step back!”
The ball of light was pulled out of the door as Wang Lin quickly shook his hand and the thread disappeared back into his body.
Wang Lin looked at the ball of light with a smile. He had completed the second step of reverse refining, which was separating the smelting process. The spirit essence had been separated from the other treasure materials.
Wang Lin took a deep breath and looked back at the entrance. He didn’t know how long he had been here, but this water mirror door cut off divine sense and spiritual energy, so no matter how much noise he made here, no one outside would notice.
Moreover, the red-faced elder didn’t believe that Wang Lin was capable of breaking the water mirror door with just Core Formation cultivation, so he didn’t wait inside.
This gave Wang Lin an opportunity, but he knew he had to act quickly, or the red-faced elder would suddenly arrive. Everything would be in vain if he did.
Thinking of this, he immediately took out the reaction furnace he had created in the 14th valley. He carefully placed the spirit core inside the reaction furnace and placed a seal on it. Then, the reaction furnace immediately began to rotate. At first, it was slow, but then it accelerated.
After sending the seal, he walked towards the door.
This water mirror door was made of two parts: the stone door device core and the spirit core. Now that he had removed the spirit core, the only thing standing in his way was the stone door device core.
Wang Lin raised his hand and pressed the door. His divine sense quickly went in. After sweeping the door with his divine sense, his expression immediately became strange.
Inside the stone room was a corpse, possessed by an invisible force that prevented it from decaying. The corpse sat there, its finger pointed at the ground. A trail of black aura flowed from its finger into the ground.
Wang Lin’s divine sense carefully examined the interior of the room before retracting it. What he saw inside made him rub his chin. He reached out toward the reaction furnace, causing it to stop and release a spirit core. The spirit core was now dimmer than before.
Wang Lin looked at it before throwing it back into the reaction furnace. The furnace began to spin again with the spirit core inside. His gaze fell on the next stone chamber. After opening ten more water mirror doors, his expression became even stranger.
Wang Lin muttered to himself, “What exactly is the War God Temple doing? Could this place be a tomb?” Every stone room contained corpses and nothing else.
Wang Lin looked around and began to ponder. He immediately opened the water mirror door, checked the inside, then returned the spirit core to return the water mirror door to its normal state. After examining each stone chamber, he finally found something unusual.
One corpse was distinctly different from the others. Instead of sitting, it floated in the air. Black gas sputtered from the walls and into the body.
Wang Lin’s heart immediately tightened.
This man was not dead; there were signs of life in him, and the amount of life in that body would surprise anyone.
Wang Lin was about to leave the room when he noticed a black silk bag beneath the body. This was clearly a storage bag. Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed after looking at it for a moment. After pondering for a moment, he didn’t act rashly but instead retracted his senses and retreated.
After leaving the room, Wang Lin looked at the reaction furnace. The reaction furnace’s rotation speed had slowed, and the spirit core had melted into a clear liquid. Without a second thought, Wang Lin reached for the liquid.
He took a piece and reshaped it into a ball before throwing it back into the first door he had opened. The door immediately returned to its original state.
After that, he showed a hesitant expression. The bag containing the items looked completely different from any he had seen before. However, this was the War God Temple. They had allowed him to see the Divine Path, so it was hard to justify taking anything from here as well.
If only the stone room contained refining materials, he wouldn’t mind taking some, but only this stone room was different from the others.
After pondering for a moment, Wang Lin suddenly gained a bit of insight. Could it be that all the corpses in the stone room were actually used to cultivate with the person in that abnormal space?
As he thought about this, a thought crossed Wang Lin’s mind. The black gas that had entered that person’s body was the same as the black gas emitted by those corpses.
Wang Lin’s face was filled with fear. He was now 80% or 90% certain that his guess was correct. This person was definitely cultivating some kind of technique. He had seen over 100 stone rooms. The corpses inside must have been prepared for this person’s use.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment. He began to suspect that this person wasn’t a member of the War God Temple. Most likely, the War God Temple didn’t even know this person, or else the red-faced elder wouldn’t be so relaxed here, and more importantly, he wouldn’t have left Wang Lin alone here.
Of course, there was a possibility that the red-faced elder had malicious intentions, but after thinking about it, Wang Lin’s death wouldn’t bring any benefit to the War God Temple. There was no need to go to such trouble.
The more he analyzed it, the more certain he became of his own speculation. This place must be the resting place of the ancestors of the War God Temple. For some reason, it attracted this person to cultivate his techniques here.
Thinking of this, Wang Lin took a few steps back. He felt a wave of cold air pass by. It felt like a pair of eyes had been staring at him for the past few days.
However, his eyes soon returned to the storage pouch. He released spiritual energy, and the crystal sword appeared.
The flying sword cut through the bottom right corner of the door, punching a hole through it. Wang Lin held his breath. His entire body tensed as he used the attraction technique to remove the black bag holding him from the hole.
He didn’t notice it as he pressed it against his chest and immediately retreated. His hands moved very quickly to quickly return the spirit core to the door. In the blink of an eye, the door returned to normal. However, there was a subtle hole in the bottom right corner.
Wang Lin didn’t pause for a moment before quickly exiting the temple. As soon as he left, he saw a red-faced elder cultivating outside.
The red-faced elder stared at Wang Lin and said in a deep tone, “You stayed inside for seven days. Do you understand?”
Wang Lin shook his head and smiled bitterly. “The Divine Way is too strange. I keep forgetting what I’ve read and can’t understand it. Senior, I want to ask, what exactly is inside that stone room sealed by the water mirror door? Can you tell me?”
The red-faced old man looked at Wang Lin and said, “All the ancestors of the War God Temple were placed in the stone chamber after they died.”
Wang Lin’s expression remained the same, but his heart trembled. He was now certain that his guess was correct. He clasped her hands and said, “Junior won’t bother you anymore. Farewell!”
The red-faced old man nodded and walked into the temple. As the red-faced old man walked to the water mirror door, Wang Lin quickly flew out of the mountain.
In the blink of an eye, he left Hou Fen Union Mountain and saw the old man sitting on the cloud. He opened his eyes as Wang Lin approached and snorted. “If you stay there any longer, I’ll come inside to look for you.”
Without a word, Wang Lin flew away. The old man moved his body and the clouds quickly disappeared, revealing the gourd beneath. He immediately followed behind Wang Lin.
Wang Lin stepped onto the gourd and disappeared into the sky with the old man.
The gourd’s speed was extremely fast. Even faster than Wang Lin’s Earth Escape Technique. They could slowly see the border between Xuan Wu and Hou Fen coming into view.
Along the way, neither of them spoke a word. Wang Lin could feel the bag he was holding in his clothes, but he didn’t check what was inside, and he didn’t use his senses to investigate.
After all, the old man was right next to him. If he made any unusual movements, there would likely be more trouble.
It didn’t take long for the gourd to reach the Xuanwu border and cross into Hou Fen. A day later, they arrived at the border of the Demon Sea. The Demon Sea was completely covered by a thick, rolling fog. Occasionally, one could see wild beasts appearing and disappearing within the fog.
Outside the Sea of Demons, the old man slapped the gourd, making it shrink. The gourd landed in his hand. Wang Lin jumped off the gourd and landed on the ground. The old man pushed the gourd away and said, “We will wait here for a few days for one more person. Once that person is here, the three of us will leave together.”
After that, he sat in the lotus position and closed his eyes.
Wang Lin stared at the Sea of Devils. Layers of mist rolled before him, emitting waves of cold energy. He pondered for a moment before sitting down to cultivate.
Not long after, Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes. A mysterious scene occurred above the Sea of Devils. Eight rays of purple light suddenly appeared out of thin air. Each ray of light condensed into a wooden pillar, making a total of eight pillars. The pillars intersected to form a circular formation. The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from them were so powerful that all the surrounding fog was pushed away, revealing the whirlpool beneath.
Many strange symbols and images were carved into the eight wooden pillars, making them a truly astonishing sight. Interconnected rays of light formed rings within the eight wooden pillars. Upon closer inspection, there were 49 rings in total.
The old man opened his eyes, snorted, and said, “That’s the Corpse Sect’s special teleportation formation. I wonder what made those freaks dare to come here.”
Wang Lin was very familiar with the Corpse Sect. Even this formation looked familiar. It was the same formation he had seen in Zhao, only many times larger.
At this moment, the halos began to shine one after another until all 49 were shining brightly. Over 30 dark figures appeared. Although their spiritual energy was somewhat unstable, their eyes all contained a ghostly light. Each of them was at least at the late Core Formation stage, with five of them having reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Apart from the five people at the Nascent Soul stage, everyone else had a black coffin floating behind them.
Zhao Chuanliang was one of the five Nascent Soul cultivators. He stood in the center of the formation, his gaze lingering on the old man for a moment before shifting to Wang Lin.
He hesitated for a moment before extending his hand. His hand transformed into a giant cloud of black smoke that shot toward Wang Lin.
Wang Lin sneered. Instead of dodging, he continued sitting there as if nothing had happened. As the black smoke approached Wang Lin, he could feel the cold air coming from it. Just as the smoke was about to touch Wang Lin, the old man’s face darkened and he waved his right hand. The black smoke disappeared without a trace.