Corpse King

Inside a corpse cavern in the Mass Burial Forest, Fang Mu battled the skeleton monster, stirring up a cloud of dust as earth and stones flew everywhere.

In the end, Fang Mu used the Golden Sword, transforming it into a streak of golden light that slashed toward the skeleton monster.

As the golden light flashed again and again, the skeleton monster was cut into several pieces that scattered across the ground.

The golden light faded, and Fang Mu stored the Golden Sword inside the Demon Refining Mirror.

Qi Zhu had not seen the Golden Sword in Fang Mu's hand. She had only seen streaks of golden light flash by, after which the skeleton monster had turned into a heap of shattered bones.

"Fang—Fang Mu?"

Looking at the figure approaching, Qi Zhu asked in surprise and uncertainty.

Then she felt a pain in her neck, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.

Seeing Qi Zhu unconscious, Fang Mu secretly let out a breath of relief. He hurriedly activated the Demon Refining Mirror and refined the skeleton monster's remains.

As the golden light flashed, the skeleton monster turned into a pool of blood.

Essence Bone Pill, formed from the bones of the Corpse King. Consuming it could strengthen the bones.

Bone Spur, obtained by refining the Corpse King's bones. Fusing it into a certain part of the body could transform the bones there and grant the ability to attack with bone spurs.

Looking at the pill and palm-sized piece of bone that had suddenly appeared, Fang Mu was somewhat surprised.

It seemed that he had refined another good item this time. However, this was not a good time to cultivate and fuse with them, so he hurriedly put away the pill and Bone Spur.

He then checked the surroundings and found several people who had fainted from excessive blood loss.

Fang Mu treated them, then moved the unconscious Qi Zhu into the pile of corpses.

After smearing some blood over her body, Fang Mu smeared some on himself as well, then lay beside her and pretended to be dead.

He did not know how much time had passed. Fang Mu had pretended to be dead until his whole body was stiff and numb, and he had nearly fallen asleep.

At last, more than a dozen Demon Slayer Envoys arrived. Carrying torches, they saw the cave littered with corpses and immediately cried out in alarm.

"Miss Qi Zhu!"

The dozen or so Demon Slayer Envoys were startled when they saw Qi Zhu covered in blood, and hurried forward to examine her.

"Quick! Search for any survivors. We can't stay here long."

After a frantic search, Fang Mu was finally discovered as well.

Soon, he and the several other survivors, including Qi Zhu, were carried away.

Pretending to wake up along with the unconscious people, Fang Mu discovered that he was already in the main hall of the Demon Slayer Division.

Wen Xuan, Tu Qing, and the others were all there. As for Qi Zhu, she had already been carried away for special care.

After being questioned, Fang Mu naturally claimed to know nothing about anything.

The others merely said that they had encountered a skeleton demon and had passed out after being attacked by bone spurs.

After questioning them without uncovering anything, they released Fang Mu and the others.

Only after leaving the Demon Slayer Division did Fang Mu secretly let out a breath of relief. Tu Qing had not been in the mood to cause him trouble; he and Wen Xuan had both been injured in the battle this time.

The Bronze Toad Envoy Chen Mu, whom Fang Mu had met once, had even had the bad luck to perish alongside the Corpse King.

Fang Mu was quite surprised when he learned the news. That had been a Martial Realm Third-Rank expert, yet he had actually been killed.

After refining the skeleton monster, Fang Mu obtained some fragments of its memories.

That skeleton had actually been the Corpse King as well. That century-old Corpse King had been formidable indeed—it had actually separated its fleshly body from its corpse, turning them into two parts.

But now both had been killed, and one of them had died a particularly gruesome death, leaving not even bones behind.

Shaking his head, Fang Mu returned to the Slums.

After returning home, he discovered that Fang Jing had already regained consciousness, which made him let out a long breath of relief.

"Brother! I want to cultivate!"

"Why do you suddenly want to cultivate?"

"I want to protect you. I don't want to drag you down."

"Silly girl! Your brother isn't tired. As long as you're well, everything I've worked for will have meaning."

"Mm. I want to cultivate!"

Looking at the burning determination in Fang Jing's eyes, Fang Mu finally nodded.

Then, somewhat helplessly, he said, "I don't know any cultivation method either. I rely on pills to strengthen my body."

"Your body is too weak. It would be best for you to strengthen your body first as well. Once your body is strengthened, your own cultivation realm will naturally break through when the time comes, like water flowing into a channel."

After speaking, Fang Mu handed several Essence Blood Pills to Fang Jing and instructed her, "You can only take pills gradually, step by step!"

"Start by taking some ordinary pills. Once you've strengthened your body, I'll give you higher-grade pills."

After giving Fang Jing a few more instructions and reminding her of some cultivation precautions,

Fang Mu looked at Xixi sleeping on the bed and the clone cultivating beside her.

Without disturbing them, he turned and entered the room where he lived.

Taking out the Essence Bone Pill, Fang Mu swallowed it and began refining it, absorbing its medicinal power to strengthen his bones.

Amid a series of cracking sounds, the bones within his body began to tremble on their own.

As his bones trembled and hummed, a faint layer of bone membrane covered them, gradually enveloping all the bones throughout Fang Mu's body.

He rose and clenched his fists, throwing several punches into the air. To his surprise, they produced sonic booms that tore through the air.

Both the speed and power of his attacks seemed to have increased significantly.

After lowering his hands, Fang Mu continued sitting cross-legged and took out the Bone Spur and Bat Wings.

Fang Mu fused the Bone Spur into his left hand, while the Bat Wings were refined after he dripped blood onto them and acknowledged them as his masters.

As the Bone Spur and Bat Wings fused into Fang Mu's body together, he groaned and gripped his fists tightly, only barely preventing himself from crying out.

Bead-sized drops of sweat fell from Fang Mu's forehead. He had not expected fusing with the Bone Spur and Bat Wings to hurt so much.

After the Bone Spur fused into his left hand, it began transforming it.

His hand bones would suddenly bulge from time to time, growing one bone spur after another. Those bone spurs gradually softened and writhed as they absorbed the blood qi within his body.

The Bat Wings hurt the most. A pair of pitch-black wings slowly forced their way out of Fang Mu's body.

Enduring the pain, Fang Mu felt that he had acted too rashly. He had actually turned into a birdman.

As the pain gradually faded, the black bat wings on his back flapped. To his surprise, he could control them freely, just like his arms.

He slowly flapped his wings, and Fang Mu flew crookedly into the air.

But he soon crashed into a roof beam and fell with an "Ow!"

Fang Mu rose from the ground. Fortunately, he had not suffered any injuries.

He tried the Bat Wings and found that he could retract them freely.

When they were not needed, he could shrink them to the size of a thumb and conceal them inside his body.

This made Fang Mu secretly let out a breath of relief. He had truly feared that the Bat Wings could not be retracted. If that happened, he would have had to endure the pain and tear them off.

Glancing at his left hand, Fang Mu controlled the power of the Bone Spur.

Countless sharp bone spurs instantly burst through his flesh and grew out.

Fang Mu sucked in a cold breath and hurriedly withdrew the ability. This was too much of a trap—before hurting others, it hurt himself first!

Looking at the many bloody holes that had appeared on his arm, he felt like crying without tears. Unless he was fighting someone for his life, he felt that he still could not use the Bone Spur technique casually, lest he fail to kill the enemy and cripple his own hand first.

Glancing at the sky, Fang Mu did not sleep. He sat cross-legged and began cultivating.

His cultivation had already reached Martial Realm Seventh-Rank and had remained there for a very long time.

He had been suppressing his cultivation and refusing to break through. Now that he had the time, he might as well break through, which would make things more convenient for him in the future.

At the very least, after narrowly surviving such a calamity, breaking through a minor cultivation stage should not arouse suspicion.