Chapter 96 – Furnace
As the loud voice rang out, it transformed into a strong wind that caused the surrounding fireballs to dim. The loud sound echoed through the cave, exuding a feeling of divine punishment.
Wang Lin took a deep breath. He clasped his hand and said respectfully, “Greetings, senior Ye.”
The figure slowly solidified and transformed into a man around forty years old. This man was extremely handsome. His eyes sparkled like stars, and his skin was as smooth as jade. He looked at Wang Lin emotionlessly and said, “Mu Rong, you may leave.”
Mu Rong, who was kneeling on the ground, immediately stood up, charged towards one of the caves, and disappeared without a trace.
Ye Zi waved her left hand, and a curtain of light suddenly appeared surrounding them. She sighed and said with a melancholy expression, “Wang Lin, you’re not a disciple of the Corpse Sect. There’s no need to lie. My junior apprentice-brother Wu Yu must have encountered some trouble. Wang Lin, there’s no third party here, so tell me.”
Wang Lin straightened his back. He had already thought about it on the way here. There was no way he could lie to a Nascent Soul cultivator like Ye Zi, so he decided to tell the truth.
After pondering for a moment, Wang Lin recounted everything that happened in the ruins.
Ye Zi listened silently and didn’t say a word. She sighed after Wang Lin finished speaking, then closed her eyes and thought, “What Wang Lin said should be true. When Brother Wu Yu left, he said that his corpse puppet was about to advance, and what Wang Lin said fits his personality. A corpse puppet that rebels. What a pity, junior apprentice brother, how can a mid-stage Nascent Soul corpse puppet rebel as easily as you say? Even if I go, I can’t help you at all.”
“Since you asked Wang Lin to deliver the message, you must have other ideas…” With that, Ye Zi spread out her divine sense and was shocked. The method Wang Lin cultivated was very similar to the Corpse Sect. It was filled with Yin energy. After pondering for a moment, Ye Zi understood Wu Yu’s intentions.
This was Wu Yu’s way of sending out a distress call when dispatching the Corpse Sect disciples. After observing Wang Lin, he looked at Adai. After pondering for a moment, he completely understood Wu Yu’s intentions. Adai’s body was created to cultivate the Corpse Sect’s cultivation methods.
After Ye Zi withdrew her gaze, she slowly asked Wang Lin, “Is that Adai, who accompanied my junior high school sister all these years?”
Wang Lin nodded.
Ye Zi took a deep breath and said firmly, “Wang Lin, I checked your spiritual energy and it contains a lot of Yin elements. If you cultivate here, you will have a much easier time. Wang Lin, are you willing to become a disciple of the Corpse Sect?”
Wang Lin had already guessed everything that might have happened on the way here. Ye Zi’s recruitment was within his expectations, so he respectfully said, “Disciple willing.”
Ye Zi nodded again and said, “Very well. Since you’re fortunate enough to meet my junior brother Wu Yu, then you might as well become his true disciple. From now on, you’re a second-generation disciple of the Corpse Sect.”
After that, he pointed at Adai and said, “I’ll take Adai with me.” He saw Wang Lin’s uncertainty and said, “Don’t worry. He has such a deep relationship with my little brother, I wouldn’t dare to harm him. I’ll take him as my personal disciple.”
With that, he waved his right hand and threw out a dark blue jade. Then, he grabbed Adai with his hand. Adai screamed as they disappeared into the cave.
Wang Lin caught the jade. He scanned it with his divine sense, and his expression became strange.
There were only a few simple techniques and no traces of the Corpse Sect’s cultivation methods. This must have been because Ye Zi was worried, so Wang Lin didn’t press the issue.
While he was examining the jade, Mu Rong peeked out from one of the caves and walked out. After he saw that Ye Zi had left, he flew over to Wang Lin and was about to speak when he saw the jade in his hand. He was shocked and quickly took a few steps back while saying, “Disciple Mu Rong greets the ancestor.”
Wang Lin was surprised and looked at the jade and said, “Brother Mu, there’s no need to be like this. Does the color of the jade mean anything?”
Mu Rong looked at the jade in Wang Lin’s hand with envy, then smiled bitterly and took out a light blue jade and said, “Ancestor, before you didn’t have the jade, so we could talk to each other as if we were peers, but now that you have the jade, the Corpse Sect has strict rules regarding rank, so how could I dare to call you Brother Wang anymore…”
“Look at the color of my jade. Jade is the only form of identification in the Corpse Sect. The first ancestor’s jade is green, the ancestors’ jade is dark blue, the elders’ jade is light blue, and all the disciples’ jade is white.”
Wang Lin put away the jade and was about to speak when the fireball on the pillar suddenly flashed a few times, emitting green smoke.
Mu Rong’s expression changed slightly. His hands formed a seal and he said, “Collect!”
Green smoke quickly came towards Mu Rong and entered his forehead.
Mu Rong closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them again and said, “Ancestor, first ancestor Ye Zi has prepared a room for you. I’ll take you there soon.”
Wang Lin was very surprised by the Corpse Sect’s technique. It was just like the technique he had just used to use smoke to convey messages. He rubbed his chin and nodded.
Mu Rong flew toward one of the caves. Wang Lin jumped in and followed behind him.
The two of them moved quickly through the caves while Mu Rong spoke to Wang Lin about the Corpse Sect. As the young man explained this, Wang Lin now had a certain understanding of the Corpse Sect.
The Corpse Sect was one of the four demonic sects of Zhao. They had over a thousand followers, all of whom lived underground. Each had their own cultivation chamber. All but a few followers would go out to purchase goods, while the rest cultivated in their chambers.
However, calling them a demonic sect isn’t quite accurate when compared to the Tian Dao Sect’s demonic flames, the He Huan Sect’s evil Yin, and the Wu Feng Valley’s murderous aura. Although the Corpse Sect has corpse puppets, everyone there is actually just a cultivation maniac.
Every disciple cultivated like crazy, and the reason was because of the Corpse Sect’s cruel requirements. If one failed to reach the 10th layer of Qi Condensation within 10 years, Foundation Establishment within 30 years, or Core Formation within 100 years, they would be refined into a corpse puppet.
This cruel system was like a whip that caused all the followers of the corpse sect to cultivate like crazy.
Every year there are several people who are refined into corpse puppets, and every time, all the disciples witness the process.
Similarly, every year there are disciples who are sent to find worthy mortals to complete the missing disciples.
It’s not that the disciples don’t want to rebel, but all accepted disciples will have a portion of their soul taken and sealed within a jade. The jade is divided into four levels. The first ancestral green jade can control any disciple in the sect. The ancestral dark blue jade also has the same effect, and then the elder light blue jade.
Under the layers of control, no one dared to rebel. Mu Rong also told Wang Lin that this Corpse Sect was merely a branch of the true Corpse Sect. He had once seen an envoy from a rank 5 country. Even that envoy’s slave was at least at the Nascent Soul cultivation level.
The more Wang Lin heard, the more surprised he became. He wondered why when Ye Zi gave him the jade, she didn’t seal a part of her soul inside.
The same question came from Ye Zi’s body after she returned to her own cave.
“Why didn’t you seal a part of his soul into that jade?” asked a hoarse voice that sounded like two metal plates rubbing against each other.
Ye Zi slapped Adai’s forehead with her palm and sealed his consciousness. Then, she turned and sat cross-legged on the black bed. She pointed to her forehead, and her body trembled as an illusory figure appeared next to her.
The figure was very blurry. It couldn’t be clearly seen what it looked like. It hovered around Adai, observing him, then reached out its hand toward Adai’s head.
Ye Zi frowned. She waved her right hand and spewed out blue Yin flames. As the Yin flames appeared, they formed a wall that blocked the figure’s hand.
Ye Zi said coldly, “Luo Sha, this person is my junior apprentice sister’s personal disciple. You cannot hurt her.”
The figure laughed. He hovered in the air with both arms wrapped around his own shoulders and said in a high-pitched voice, “Ye Zizai, you and your apprentice-brother are just furnaces to us. Your brother left early, before Tuan Zi could wake up, and now he’s calling you for help. He’s truly thrown himself into a net. Ye Zizai, since you already know his location, why don’t you help Tuan Zi devour Wu Yu?”
Ye Zizai’s face darkened. He stared at the figure and sneered. “Before you actually devour me, don’t think I’ll listen to your orders. As for Master Zi, I won’t help him or my junior apprentice. Whether he can devour my junior apprentice is entirely up to him.”
The figure laughed sinisterly. He didn’t seem to mind and said, “If you don’t want to go, I won’t force you, but the next wave of corpses has been prepared by a rank 5 country. This time, there are 10 of them. You must choose your furnace carefully. Remember, you are only an outer disciple of the Corpse Sect. Also, what are you going to do with this Adai brat?”
Ye Zizai pondered for a moment and silently sighed. 400 years ago, he entered the Corpse Sect and, thanks to his talent, was able to reach the Nascent Soul stage in 400 years. However, right at that time, his corpse puppet gained self-awareness and began devouring his consciousness. This process was extremely slow, and it allowed him to learn some of the Corpse Sect’s secrets.