To be safe.
Shen Fan did not leave in a hurry.
Instead, he wandered around the complex market-stall area for quite some time.
Then he bought a few daily necessities.
No one came to the Waste Elixir Chamber; he was all alone.
Shen Fan bought some wine and other such things, without spending much.
The Supreme-Grade Spirit Rice had been exchanged for fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
The medicinal herbs cost three, the Flame Serpent Art cost two, and he spent one on a pound of low-grade spirit rice.
He had spent a total of six and still had nine on him.
Shen Fan did not spend them all, saving them for a rainy day.
While in the stall area, Shen Fan took several twists and turns as he bought some clothes and cloaks.
After rounding a corner, he changed into them.
Even then, he did not leave in a hurry.
Instead, he continued browsing around.
He then reached the shantytown and, at a certain corner, changed into another cloak and put on a mask.
Only then did he leave the market.
Old Man Duan had warned him more than once about the dangers of the market while they were at the Spirit Field.
He had been at the Heavenly Xuan Sect for over a decade.
He had visited the market many times. During his first few visits, he had also been stopped and robbed, with all his valuable belongings taken away.
Fortunately, those people feared the Heavenly Xuan Sect and did not kill him, a Miscellaneous Disciple, to silence him.
Therefore, although this was Shen Fan's first visit to the market, he vigilantly followed Old Man Duan's method. He bought several sets of clothes and changed multiple times, only daring to leave after making sure he had no tail.
"Where is he?"
In the market's shantytown, several people Baishitong had called over looked at one another.
Biaozi was among them.
"We saw him just a moment ago. Where did that brat run off to?"
Meanwhile, Shen Fan had already returned to the Heavenly Xuan Sect, while that group was still searching for his trail.
"Boss, we lost him!"
Biaozi said awkwardly.
"Lost him?"
Baishitong walked up and slapped him hard across the face.
"That brat was clearly a first-timer at the market, a complete rookie. And you still managed to lose him?"
"That kid didn't seem like a rookie. He first went around the stall area a few times, then headed to the shantytown, taking twists and turns everywhere. He was practically an old hand!"
Baishitong sank into thought, then narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Looks like some old fossil must have been guiding this fellow!"
He was certain that brat was a rookie.
Otherwise, he would not have spent two spirit stones buying the most worthless Flame Serpent Art.
However.
None of that had anything to do with Shen Fan anymore.
Upon returning to the Waste Elixir Chamber, Shen Fan immediately found five or six of the ingredients required by the Corpse Refining Art among more than a hundred kinds of medicinal herbs.
He then ground them into powder and evenly spread it over the dead Golden Silk Monkey beast.
With that, the first step of corpse refinement was a complete success.
With the corpse preserved, Shen Fan next needed to use the special method from the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art to circulate spiritual energy and inject it through the corpse's acupoints, thereby activating its dead spiritual veins.
Unfortunately, Shen Fan's talent was poor. With a fifth-grade Five Elements spiritual root, the spiritual energy stored within his body was simply insufficient to support the activation of the corpse's spiritual veins.
Again and again, he repeated the process.
Shen Fan spent an entire day before finally activating the corpse's spiritual veins completely.
He even consumed one Low-Grade Spirit Stone along the way.
It made Shen Fan's heart ache terribly.
Yet even so, every effort bore fruit.
Looking at the corpse puppet that could now move, Shen Fan revealed a gratified smile.
"The corpse puppet has been activated. Next, I need to nourish it with essence blood and achieve the union of soul and spirit. Only then can the corpse puppet provide cultivation feedback!"
Shen Fan thought to himself.
He had not refined this corpse puppet so it could fight and kill for him.
He had refined it to help him cultivate.
So even if it was a demonic art, Shen Fan did not believe he had stepped onto a crooked, wicked path, since his purpose was different.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Shen Fan finally succeeded in refining the corpse puppet.
Looking at the Golden Silk Monkey beast before him, its eyes hollow like those of a puppet.
Shen Fan could clearly sense the beast's current aura.
Judging from it, this Golden Silk Monkey beast had likely possessed strength around the third layer of the first rank while alive.
That was equivalent to the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
Now, however, its demon core had been dug out.
Combined with the damage to its corpse, after being refined into a corpse puppet, its strength had fallen to around the second layer of the first rank.
"Begin cultivating!"
With a thought from Shen Fan, he controlled the corpse puppet and began cultivating.
As he circulated the Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Art, the corpse puppet slightly opened its mouth as well, inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, gathering it within its hollow dantian.
But in the next moment, Shen Fan frowned.
"Why did the spiritual energy gathered by the corpse puppet suddenly disappear?"
Shen Fan immediately stood up and began examining it.
After a careful inspection, Shen Fan discovered that this corpse puppet could not actually gather spiritual energy.
"Looks like its demon core was dug out, which is why the spiritual energy cannot condense. Doesn't that mean all my efforts were for nothing?"
At that thought, Shen Fan's heart sank.
After several days of effort and such a heavy price, it turned out he could not use it at all.
Looking at the creation he had made with his own hands, Shen Fan truly could not bear to toss it into the incinerator and burn it.
"I wonder if installing a demon core in it would have any effect?"
At that moment, Shen Fan's eyes suddenly lit up.
Over the past two days, he had found a shattered first-rank, fifth-layer demon core in the ruins.
Because it was shattered, all the spiritual power inside had dissipated.
That was why it had been thrown here.
Thinking of this, Shen Fan immediately took out the shattered demon core and excitedly placed it into the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl.
At this moment, inside the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl.
There was actually some soil within it, along with a flowering spirit herb.
This was precisely the result of Shen Fan's experiments over the past two days.
He had placed spirit medicine seeds into the soil and planted them.
The next day, the seed had actually taken root and sprouted inside the bowl, then grown and flowered.
However, if he wanted to wait until it bore fruit, he would need another full day.
Thus, the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl's current functions were replication, enhancement, and acceleration of growth.
Looking at the spirit herb that had already flowered, Shen Fan plucked it, poured out the soil inside, and washed the bowl clean.
Then he placed the shattered demon core inside.
Early the next morning, Shen Fan eagerly took it out.
Looking at the brand-new first-rank, fifth-layer demon core brimming with dense spiritual energy, Shen Fan grinned in satisfaction.
"This demon core is at the fifth layer of the first rank, while the corpse puppet is at the second layer of the first rank. I wonder whether they are compatible?"
Shen Fan thought to himself.
The corpse puppet's spiritual veins had now been completely activated.
Once Shen Fan embedded the demon core within it, the spiritual veins immediately formed a connection with the demon core.
"I've screwed up!"
After finishing everything, Shen Fan suddenly slapped his forehead and inwardly cried out in alarm.
"The attributes don't match!"
This was also Shen Fan's first time doing something like this.
Moreover, he had only just stepped into the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
When it came to cultivation, no one had taught him much basic common knowledge, so he simply did not know.
Only after doing it did he realize something was wrong—the attributes counteracted one another.
Before you continue