As if sensing the displeasure between Wen Jiu's brows, Wang Nian spoke again. "You have to endure when it's time to endure. I'm sure you understand that without me spelling it out... And there's another reason not to come to Dead Corpse Land at night besides Li Ye."
"What else?"
Wen Jiu was puzzled.
Wang Nian glanced around a few times, as if afraid someone might overhear. "The number of Night Patrol Division disciples killed over the past few days has been growing. They've all been attacked at night. At first, the Night Patrol Division suspected there was something in Dead Corpse Land, but now disciples have died all over Side Peak. So we suspect this might be revenge that's been a long time in the making. If you act alone, you could easily draw their attention."
"Revenge?" Wen Jiu was about to ask more, but Wang Nian cut him off.
"No need to ask. There are far too many grudges involved. Corpse Peak has stood for a thousand years; there's too much that can't be explained or sorted out. In any case, it's best to be cautious." Wang Nian let out a long breath and sighed helplessly. "I hope this isn't the dark cloud before a storm. We've only had a few months of peace..."
Wen Jiu asked no more.
But he could read a great deal in Wang Nian's worried eyes.
After thinking it over,
Wen Jiu could only put off cultivating the Black Zombie for now. So what if he lost a little experience?
It was better than putting himself in danger.
Wang Nian suddenly patted Wen Jiu on the shoulder. "Since you can't come raise corpses at night, arrange your own schedule during the day... If it comes to it, shorten your corpse-moving hours by one or two. I'll take responsibility!"
Wen Jiu froze at those words, then hurriedly bowed in thanks. A warmth welled up inside him. "Brother Wang!"
Wang Nian had been kind to him before because he'd shown exceptional talent in the Unorthodox Path.
But now,
it seemed there was more to it.
Wang Nian truly regarded him as one of his own.
After all, the corpse-burier's work had been assigned by the Side Peak Master. Even the steward only had the authority to supervise and manage it. If the Side Peak Steward found out Wang Nian was bending the rules like this, he probably wouldn't get off lightly.
"Go on and get to work."
With that,
Wang Nian gave him a smile and strolled away from Dead Corpse Land.
Wen Jiu watched him go, quietly grateful.
But that feeling lasted only a moment. As soon as he entered Dead Corpse Land to move corpses, a question quickly took over his thoughts.
Was this really revenge that had been a long time in the making?
If he hadn't obtained the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body, he would have believed Wang Nian's guess for sure.
But after obtaining the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body, Wen Jiu didn't believe it.
Revenge like this—
it was something only a fool would do.
Clearly, the real target lay elsewhere.
"I absolutely can't come to Dead Corpse Land at night anymore."
Wen Jiu made up his mind at once.
He couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive.
Fortunately, staying away from Dead Corpse Land at night would slow the Black Zombie's cultivation, but it wouldn't affect his body-tempering preparations too much. Dead Corpse Land wasn't the only place where he could draw out Earth Fiend Yin Energy.
Earth Fiend Yin Energy was everywhere, after all. Dead Corpse Land was simply richer in it.
Soon,
the day was over.
Before heading home, Wen Jiu found Wang Nian again to ask if he could borrow some money to buy Spirit Rice or monster beast meat to help temper his body.
Ordinary mortal food could no longer replenish the energy he burned through while tempering his body with Earth Fiend Yin Energy.
Wang Nian didn't hesitate. He generously lent Wen Jiu a hundred taels. When he learned Wen Jiu wanted to buy monster beast meat for body tempering, Wang Nian offered to buy it for him. After all, Wen Jiu couldn't enter the trading market.
A hundred taels bought twenty pounds of monster beast meat that hadn't reached the first rank.
It would last him half a month.
Over the next few days,
Wen Jiu dug a pit where he lived, half a zhang deep. That way, when he chanted the Corpse Nurturing Incantation, he could draw out the Earth Fiend Yin Energy more effectively.
He also ate a pound of monster beast meat that hadn't reached the first rank each day. When the daily tally came around, Wen Jiu gained twenty points of body-tempering experience.
It was incredibly fast.
But one thing caught Wen Jiu completely off guard.
He'd only been tempering his body with Earth Fiend Yin Energy for a few days, yet he could already feel his body growing colder.
Even under the blazing sun, when Wen Jiu touched his skin, he could feel a chill coming from within.
It wasn't icy,
but it was cold.
If someone touched him now and found out, the label of Unorthodox Path would stick to him for good.
But on the fifth day of tempering his body with Earth Fiend Yin Energy, a change in the mana stored in his dantian left him both shocked and delighted. Not only had he accepted the fact that his body was growing cold, he even began to look forward to truly cultivating the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body.
Sitting cross-legged in the pit, Wen Jiu chanted the Corpse Nurturing Incantation. After the wisps of mana in his dantian merged with the Earth Fiend Yin Energy, they quickly softened, eventually turning into a pool of mud, cold and utterly unlike anything ordinary.
And yet, there was a full ten percent more of it!
The purity of his mana had also increased considerably!
The change was enormous.
Next, Wen Jiu tried snapping his fingers with mana, shooting it from his fingertips to attack an object.
With ordinary mana, once it shot from the fingertip, it landed on the dirt and burst like a water balloon.
But Wen Jiu's didn't.
When his Yin Mana struck an object, it erased it outright, and Yin Qi spread from the point of impact, corroding everything around it.
Even cleaning it away was impossible.
It just kept spreading.
It only disappeared when Wen Jiu actively drew it back in.
"If I cultivate spells and use them against enemies in the future, they'll be even more terrifying." Wen Jiu couldn't help feeling shaken.
At the same time, he became even more determined to climb higher.
If he became a Rogue Cultivator, a lone wanderer out in the world, this Yin Mana would have every so-called Righteous Path cultivator baying for his blood.
My mana snap only bursts.
Why does yours have the special effect of spreading corrosion?
You Unorthodox Path scum!
You deserve to die!
As for his body growing cold, Wen Jiu didn't care. Perhaps that was simply what he had to endure for cultivating the Unorthodox Path.
As long as he stayed on Corpse Peak, surely there were people who'd killed their own fellow disciples over things like this.
And if he climbed higher and took a position of power—
Heh.
Then it was remarkable.
Then it was special.
Then he was a great cultivator of the Unorthodox Path.
Not some damned practitioner of the Unorthodox Path!
Still,
the climb would probably be full of obstacles.
Li Ye, for instance.
The next day,
as soon as the sky had brightened,
Wen Jiu went to Dead Corpse Land as usual.
He found that Wang Nian had arrived before them again. There were also Night Patrol Division disciples around, along with Li Ye. From time to time, cultivators flew overhead on their swords, seemingly searching for something.
"Could it really be as I suspected?"
A thought suddenly came to him.
Wen Jiu felt his heart tighten.
The other corpse inspectors were all visibly tense, too.
Some of them didn't know what to do.
After all, if something else happened and they were caught in the crossfire, people of their standing wouldn't get the slightest benefit.
Time ticked by.
Sunlight had already fallen around Dead Corpse Land. On an ordinary day, they would have started moving and burying corpses by now.
But today, they still hadn't started.
Another hour passed.
Only then did Wang Nian walk over to them, his expression stern and seemingly displeased. He glanced toward Wen Jiu a little more than the others.
"Several Night Patrol Division disciples were killed here again last night. For everyone's safety, starting today, the Night Patrol Division disciples and Steward Li Ye will manage this area of Dead Corpse Land together with me."
At those words,
Fang Zheng and the other two looked delighted.
Their grins stretched almost from ear to ear.
The other corpse-buriers, however, were full of worry. After all, more Night Patrol Division disciples had died. That was no small matter.
Wen Jiu felt the same.
But most of his worry came from Li Ye.
Li Ye would be managing the area alongside Wang Nian.
Would Li Ye take away the arrangement Wen Jiu had worked so hard to secure?
Or—
would Li Ye deliberately make things difficult for him?
Wen Jiu didn't know what Li Ye would do, but he had a bad feeling about this. No wonder Wang Nian had seemed displeased and glanced his way a couple of times earlier.
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