These two corpses had been preserved extremely well thanks to the timely use of the rare medicinal herbs recorded in the Corpse Refining Art.
Even in this furnace-hot environment, they showed not the slightest sign of decay.
Shen Fan locked the door tightly behind him, his gaze falling on Biaozi's corpse as he began refining a corpse puppet.
Shen Fan circulated his spiritual power and activated the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art. His spiritual power, like nimble threads, slowly seeped into the corpse's acupoints.
In a unique and mysterious manner, it cleared the blocked spirit veins one by one. Then, like a babbling stream, the spiritual power flowed into the deathly silent dantian, breathing a trace of life back into it.
Finally, Shen Fan bit his fingertip and dripped in his blood essence. Using it as the guide, he gained complete control over the corpse.
Thus, a corpse puppet was refined.
Biaozi's corpse was intact, and the dantian and spirit roots within him were as flawless as before.
Shen Fan immediately activated the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art and began cultivating alongside Biaozi.
In an instant, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth seemed to answer some kind of summons and slowly gathered toward Biaozi.
Biaozi possessed a second-grade Four-Attribute Spirit Root, a talent far superior to Shen Fan's.
Even after becoming a corpse puppet, his talent had not been affected in the slightest.
While cultivating, his absorption speed for spiritual energy was clearly much faster than Shen Fan's.
Next, Shen Fan used his blood essence as a guide and controlled Biaozi to feed the absorbed spiritual power back to him.
That spiritual power surged into Shen Fan's body like a raging tide. Starting from his acupoints, it raced along his spirit veins before finally flowing into his dantian. After being absorbed by his earth spirit root, it split into his other four spirit roots.
To Shen Fan's immense delight, the spiritual energy Biaozi fed back still resembled that of a demonic beast, carving out a unique passage beside Shen Fan's spirit roots and allowing him to absorb it with ease.
"It really works!"
Shen Fan was overjoyed, his face brimming with delight.
Afterward, Shen Fan repeated the process and refined Baishitong's corpse into a corpse puppet as well.
Unlike Biaozi, Baishitong's talent had actually reached the level of a fifth-grade Four-Attribute Spirit Root. While cultivating, the spiritual power he fed back to Shen Fan far exceeded Biaozi's.
At this moment...
Inside the storage room of the Waste Elixir Chamber, the furnace lid below burned red-hot, radiating scorching heat.
Shen Fan sat cross-legged in the center, with the two corpse puppets, Biaozi and Baishitong, hanging before and behind him.
Streams of scorching spiritual energy could clearly be seen flowing from the two of them into Shen Fan's body, fine as threads.
Within Shen Fan's body, together with the spirit vein belonging to his own spirit roots, three spiraling currents of spiritual power, like three agile flood dragons, flowed into his dantian, circulated through the heavenly cycle, and were gradually absorbed by Shen Fan.
The difference was that Shen Fan's own spirit vein was as thin as a gossamer thread, while the spiritual power from Biaozi was like a cotton cord, and Baishitong's was thick as a root.
This disparity existed because Shen Fan possessed a first-grade Five-Element Spirit Root, Biaozi had a second-grade Four-Attribute Spirit Root, and Baishitong had a fifth-grade Four-Attribute Spirit Root.
With spirit roots of different thicknesses, their absorption speeds were naturally as far apart as heaven and earth.
At this moment, Shen Fan was essentially having Biaozi and Baishitong cultivate for him together.
His cultivation speed was visibly increasing.
After cultivating continuously for five hours, Shen Fan could clearly feel the spiritual power within his body becoming increasingly solid. He had completely consolidated his foundation at the third level of the Qi Refining Stage.
Given time, once his foundation was stable, he could attempt to break through to the fourth level of the Qi Refining Stage.
More importantly, after Shen Fan finished cultivating, apart from the fire toxin he himself had absorbed, all the fire toxin absorbed here by Biaozi and Baishitong had been taken in by them.
In other words, the spiritual power they fed back was perfectly pure.
Not only were the two of them like tireless cultivation machines, they were also like highly efficient filters, filtering out everything poisonous and harmful.
"What fine treasures!"
Shen Fan secretly marveled. No wonder the four immortal sects of Great Li could not tolerate the existence of the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect with such a heaven-defying cultivation method!
Shen Fan was in Great Li Kingdom, within Eastern Flowing Cloud Continent, one of the four great spirit continents of the Xuanqiong World.
Eastern Flowing Cloud Continent was home to many nations, including Great Li Kingdom, Jiang Kingdom, Great Xia Ancient Kingdom, the Cloud Dragon Dynasty, and Fusang Ancient Kingdom.
Within Great Li Kingdom, four immortal sects shook the land in all directions: Heavenly Xuan Sect, Spirit Sword Sect, Icefire Sect, and Spring Farmer Valley.
Besides them, there was also the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect, hated by everyone.
The Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art Shen Fan cultivated came from the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect, which the four immortal sects regarded as a thorn in their side.
With such a heaven-defying cultivation method, it was no wonder the four immortal sects had joined forces to suppress it, and it had not appeared in the world for three hundred years.
The sky gradually darkened, and night quietly descended.
After dinner, Shen Fan prepared to continue cultivating.
Having set foot on the path to immortality, he did not dare slacken for even a day. The humiliation Lu Qingzhu had brought him was like a blazing fire, the driving force behind his day-and-night pursuit.
What was more, with the corpse puppets assisting him, Shen Fan wished he could spend all twelve double-hours of every day cultivating.
"Knock, knock, knock—!"
Just then, someone lightly knocked on the door of the Waste Elixir Chamber.
Shen Fan's expression immediately tightened. He promptly placed the Supreme-Grade Universe Pouch in the storage room and made preparations to burn it at any moment.
"Who is it?" With everything in place, Shen Fan called out in a deliberately groggy voice.
Yet outside the door, all was silent. No one answered.
Shen Fan cautiously approached the door and, through the crack, saw Old Man Duan standing outside.
"Why are you here?" Shen Fan opened the door and immediately let Old Man Duan inside.
Seeing that Shen Fan was safe and sound, Old Man Duan also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Seeing that you brat are fine, I'm relieved!"
"By the way, where did you hide the four corpses?"
As Old Man Duan said this, he narrowed his eyes and asked with a hint of teasing.
"I burned them," Shen Fan replied without hesitation.
"Is that so?" The corners of Old Man Duan's mouth lifted slightly as his eyes swept around the room, as though searching for something.
Gulp!
Shen Fan nervously swallowed.
He naturally knew what Old Man Duan was looking for. The old bastard had given him the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art, so he was probably now suspecting that Shen Fan had brought those two corpses back and refined them into corpse puppets.
But after finding nothing, Old Man Duan turned back and warned him.
"You brat, do you know who those people you killed were?"
"Who?" Shen Fan asked, pretending not to know.
"The leader was called Baishitong. Though he was a Rogue Cultivator, he was the biological elder brother of a Core Disciple of Heavenly Xuan Sect who made money in the marketplace."
Old Man Duan explained, "Baishitong's disappearance has turned the marketplace upside down. The law enforcement team is searching everywhere. If they find you, not even an immortal can save you!"
Shen Fan secretly rejoiced and said, "Don't worry. I burned them clean. They won't find anything!"
"What about the Universe Pouch on him?" Old Man Duan asked, staring fixedly at Shen Fan.
"Universe Pouch? What Universe Pouch?" Shen Fan asked with a blank look.
"You don't know?" Old Man Duan frowned tightly, his eyes seeming as though they wanted to pry open Shen Fan's heart and see it clearly.
"The cloth pouch at his waist!"
"What cloth pouch? You said the law enforcement team was coming. After I burned the corpses, I buried them right there and ran!"
Shen Fan insisted that he had not taken it.
Now that this Universe Pouch had been enhanced into a Supreme-Grade Universe Pouch, how could he possibly take it out?
Even the elders of Heavenly Xuan Sect might not possess a Supreme-Grade Universe Pouch. If he handed it over to Old Man Duan, Shen Fan did not dare imagine the consequences.
"Brat, I saved you! You can't forget my kindness over some tiny Universe Pouch!"
Old Man Duan still did not quite believe Shen Fan.
"Why would I lie to you? Besides, I gave you so much Supreme-Grade Spirit Rice. What would I need some Universe Pouch for?"
Hearing this, Old Man Duan's gaze toward Shen Fan relaxed somewhat.
Indeed, a single grain of Supreme-Grade Spirit Rice was worth one Low-Grade Spirit Stone.
With so much Supreme-Grade Spirit Rice, even everything inside Baishitong's Universe Pouch combined probably would not compare.
Old Man Duan said, "It's best if you didn't take it. I was worried that it might bear the divine sense imprint of his younger brother, that Core Disciple. If he tracked it and found you, you'd be in trouble!"
Shen Fan's heart immediately tightened, but he kept his face calm and said, "Really? Then it's fortunate I didn't take it! If I had, wouldn't I be completely done for?"
Shen Fan was certain there was no such thing.
If that Core Disciple's imprint truly existed, he would probably have come knocking long ago.
"Oh, right!" Old Man Duan suddenly said. "Two people came to the Spirit Field today!"
"Who?"
Shen Fan's expression turned grave, and an ominous feeling rose in his heart.
Before you continue