After the Night Patrol Division left.
The corpse buriers all breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the matter had nothing to do with them, being questioned by so many disciples of the Night Patrol Division had still put them under considerable pressure.
After all, they were only lowly corpse buriers. If they were wrongly accused—or tortured into confessing—they'd be doomed.
"Everyone, break it up."
Wang Nian spoke.
The crowd breathed a sigh of relief and gradually dispersed.
Then Wang Nian patted Wen Jiu on the shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. You think he's the only one who can pull strings? I've got connections too. Steward Wang Qing, who oversees the Alchemy Room on the side peak, is my second granduncle! Push me too far, and I'll make sure he gets no pills next month. We'll see who's tougher then."
At those words,
Wen Jiu froze.
Well, would you look at that.
He was another Immortal Second Generation.
You really couldn't tell from how he usually acted.
"Thanks, Brother Wang." Wen Jiu thanked him again, and resolved to cling tightly to Wang Nian's coattails.
Though Wen Ping had little experience of the world, he knew that cultivation encompassed a hundred arts, including talisman-making, artifact refining, and alchemy.
The Corpse Raising Method counted among the hundred arts, too.
But it was also classed as an Unorthodox Path.
That left it at the very bottom of the hundred arts, while artifact refiners and alchemists were another matter entirely.
Cultivators couldn't do without either. Unless you were going to die tomorrow, you could never get around needing an alchemist.
Wang Nian's second granduncle was a steward in the Alchemy Room, so his standing had to be considerable. If Wen Jiu wanted to rise through the ranks as a practitioner of the Unorthodox Path, he might really need to catch this tailwind.
With Wang Nian putting in a good word for him, his trainee status would be secure.
It looked like he'd have to show off his skills again.
Otherwise, he wouldn't catch an alchemist's eye.
Especially with his Unorthodox Path background.
"Enough. Head back. Take this Signal Talisman... If that kid Li Ye comes looking for you again, crush it at once. I'll be able to sense your location." Wang Nian pulled a cloth bag containing thirty jin of demon beast meat from his Storage Bag, then took out a talisman.
"Thanks, Brother Wang."
Wen Jiu clasped his hands in salute.
Then he carefully put the talisman away.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
The Night Patrol Division continued investigating Fang Zheng and the other two's deaths, and began gathering leads on ghost cultivators across the side peak.
Yin Soul Ghost Cultivators most likely wouldn't dare come within five li of the side peak. There were too many cultivators there, and the place brimmed with yang energy. Ordinary Yin Souls wouldn't come there to feed; they were more likely to go to places where mortals lived.
So the Night Patrol Division judged that the one who killed Fang Zheng, the other two, and the Night Patrol Division disciple was most likely some ghost cultivator.
Yet,
they still found no leads.
Even offering a reward didn't help.
Meanwhile, inside a Hua Mansion in the side peak's trading market, Li Ye listened to his subordinate's report.
The more he heard, the angrier he became.
"That's enough. Get out!"
After driving his subordinate away, Li Ye smashed the stone table beside him with one palm, startling the handsome woman in thin clothes nearby.
But the beautiful wife hurriedly leaned against him again, her slender hands stroking his chest.
"Husband... don't be angry. It's not worth damaging your health. Perhaps my younger brother simply wasn't fated to have that chance..."
Li Ye glanced down at the pale expanse of her chest, and his expression eased a little, though displeasure lingered. "Who was it? Who just happened to ruin my plans and let Wen Jiu, that practitioner of the Unorthodox Path, benefit for nothing?"
He couldn't make sense of it.
It just didn't add up.
Why had the timing been so perfect?
Could it really be that his brother-in-law was fated to miss out?
No.
He didn't believe it.
He had to keep investigating Wen Jiu!
"No. I can't let that kid get away with this. I'll have to visit my master. If he speaks against it, Wen Jiu won't be able to join the side peak... My master detests the Unorthodox Path, too!"
As he spoke,
Li Ye seized the beautiful wife's hand.
A twisted smile crept across his face. As long as he kept Wen Jiu down, he could arrange for one of his own people to take the spot.
The Xu Family.
The news that Wen Ya had ties to the Gathering Righteousness Hall had already reached the household.
That evening, as soon as Wen Ya returned from delivering food, several beautiful women from the Hua household came sauntering over. They certainly had lovely figures, but the mockery and glee on their faces were so ugly that they were hard to look at without feeling disgusted.
Yet no one dared show it.
The three of them were Steward Xu's Concubines, after all.
In the Xu Household,
they were the law.
They blocked Wen Ya's path.
The nearby servants' expressions shifted, and they all looked worried.
Sure enough, one of the women stopped Wen Ya and sneered. "Xiaoya, if a maid like you wants to fly up a branch and become a phoenix, you'd better keep your eyes open. Our Xu Family has a blood feud with the Gathering Righteousness Hall... And you still dared to associate with them. When the old madam found out, she was absolutely furious!"
The others joined in with gleeful, mocking laughter.
Wen Ya's expression shifted slightly, but she didn't dare talk back to the three women. The difference in their status was plain to see.
Besides, she couldn't be bothered to argue.
All she wanted was to hurry and explain things to the old madam.
If she went too late,
the consequences would be unthinkable.
But just as Wen Ya tried to leave, another woman blocked her. "Don't bother. The old madam doesn't want to hear your explanation right now."
Just then,
the Xu Family's Old Madam's voice rang out from the nearby corridor as she saw off a guest with a smile. "Fellow Daoist Wang, come visit again when you have time."
Wang Nian cupped his hands. "Certainly, certainly."
"I'm grateful for your help today, Fellow Daoist Wang. If you hadn't come in person to explain, I might have wrongly blamed that girl Xiaoya."
"Even without me, you would have figured it out." Wang Nian cupped his hands, then took his leave of the Xu Family's Old Madam.
As soon as Wang Nian left,
Old Madam Xu's expression turned solemn. Her eyes settled on Wen Ya in the distance, and a flicker of surprise crossed them.
She had assumed Wen Ya had no one to rely on at Corpse Peak.
She hadn't expected Wang Nian to come in person and speak up for her.
Who was Wang Nian?
He was Master Alchemist Wang's grandnephew.
"Xiaoya, come here... I've simmered some First-grade Snow Orchid. It nourishes yin and improves the complexion. Come have a little with me."
At those words,
the beautiful women's expressions turned solemn.
Wen Ya froze, surprised and bewildered.
What was going on?
Death Corpse Land.
Wen Jiu practiced body refinement as he waited for the daily settlement.
Once today's settlement rewards came through, Black Zombie would advance to the middle stage.
He just didn't know if he'd obtain a ghost art. During the day, he'd found an Yin Soul comparable to the Qi Refining Second Layer. The previous Yin Soul hadn't helped Black Zombie gain a new ghost art.
If this one didn't work either,
that would prove Black Zombie couldn't obtain ghost arts from Yin Souls, but needed a ghost cultivator—or an Yin Soul Ghost Cultivator.
Soon,
midnight arrived.
The daily settlement began.
[Daily Settlement Panel Lv2 (21/1000)] [Today's settlement!] [Chanted the Corpse Nurturing Incantation for two hours. Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Incantation experience +20.] [Buried corpses in Death Ground for three hours; searched for Yin Souls for three hours; continually absorbed corpse qi and death qi. Panel experience +1, corpse qi +12, death qi +12] [Used Yin Qi and the blood of many cultivators to nurture a corpse in a Corpse Nurturing Ground for twelve hours; devoured a First-grade low-tier Yin Soul Ghost Cultivator. Panel experience +1, Dead Body Mutation experience +36, +60, Corpse Nurturer experience +2, Blood Transformation Body experience +24, death qi +300.] [Consumed two bowls of inferior Spirit Rice and two jin of ungraded demon beast meat; refined the body with Earth Fiend Yin Energy for two hours. Body-refinement experience +40]
"I didn't obtain a ghost art."
"Looks like my judgment was right."
But
he'd gained quite a lot of death qi.
After the settlement doubled, it came to a full three hundred points.
That was quite a haul.
Wen Jiu immediately checked his remaining death qi.
Death qi: 300, plus the 100 from the last Yin Soul, made 400. Add in what he'd gained from his daily routine over the past few days...
His remaining death qi exceeded his expectations.
[Death qi remaining: 956]
He glanced at the experience progress for the Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art.
[Technique: Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art (First Layer 61/1000) +]
"If I wanted to..."
"I could break through to the Qi Refining Second Layer right now!"
Wen Jiu was overjoyed.
Honestly,
he wanted to press that plus sign immediately.
But he hesitated.
Wouldn't such rapid progress draw too much attention?
Then he remembered that Li Ye was still watching him like a tiger, and if he wanted to earn Wang Nian's second granduncle's favor and join Corpse Peak as soon as possible,
perhaps reaching the Qi Refining Second Layer was the only way.
At that thought,
Wen Jiu pressed the plus sign without hesitation!
In an instant, he entered the Qi Refining Second Layer.
[Technique: Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art (Second Layer 0/2000)] [Death qi remaining: 17]
But right at that moment,
Wen Jiu suddenly sensed a spiritual disturbance from Death Corpse Land. Someone had dug up the place where Black Zombie was buried!
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