Xue Mo San Qian

As for the Spirit Stones needed to buy talisman paper for grinding experience, he could now earn them by selling unranked Soul Seizing Talismans.

Unranked Soul Seizing Talismans didn't fetch much. One sold for around a hundred taels, and it took ten to be worth a single Low-grade Spirit Stone.

But their costs were low.

One Low-grade Spirit Stone could buy thirty sheets of unranked talisman paper.

Even after factoring in the cost of unranked demon blood ink, one Low-grade Spirit Stone could still make twenty unranked Soul Seizing Talismans.

With a ten-out-of-ten success rate, twenty unranked Soul Seizing Talismans reliably earned him one Low-grade Spirit Stone.

The only drawback was that they weren't easy to sell.

Flying Immortal Peak didn't have many ordinary people, and Corpse Peak forbade trade with them. Even if they had money, they couldn't buy any. Only the offspring of cultivators had money and were willing to spend it on Soul Seizing Talismans.

Early the next morning.

Wen Jiu tucked his unranked Soul Seizing Talismans into his clothes and headed to the trading market. After setting up his stall in a corner, he quietly listened to the others chatting.

To be honest.

After listening a few times,

Wen Jiu realized he rather enjoyed gossip.

Most of the cultivators who set up stalls in the trading market were old. Their talents and cultivation levels were average, but they'd lived long lives and had seen more things and made more friends. They always knew something Wen Jiu didn't.

"Have you heard? Steward Zhao from the Demon Suppressing Division hasn't been seen in a while."

"Who?"

"Zhao San Dao."

"You mean the steward who could slay a demon in just three strikes? Maybe he's out on a mission."

"But there's no record of him being sent on a mission, and he's nowhere in the Dead Corpse Land. Besides, my nephew works at the Demon Suppressing Division, so I suspect Zhao's a spy. The peak master must've secretly dealt with him!"

"Those bastards have even infiltrated the stewards!"

Listening to the old cultivators whispering, Wen Jiu wasn't surprised.

That was how it had been at the Night Patrol Division.

Anyone suspicious was taken away on the spot.

After that, they were never heard from again.

"Who are the people after the corpse and the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body?" To be honest, Wen Jiu really wanted to cultivate the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body.

If he had the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body, he wouldn't need to cultivate the Yin Talisman Art at all. He wouldn't have to worry about capturing the bandits by first capturing their ringleader.

But he definitely didn't dare cultivate it now.

That left him itching with curiosity.

He was also eager to find out who those people were.

After sitting there for an hour or two, Wen Jiu sold all forty of his unranked Soul Seizing Talismans.

He bought twenty ranked sheets of talisman paper from another stall, then returned to his lodgings.

He continued tempering his body with Earth Fiend Yin Energy while storing spells inside his Corpse Eye. Over the past dozen days, he'd stored a great many Yin spells in it—more than ten times the total number of Yin spells in his dantian.

Yet the Corpse Eye was only half full.

Wen Jiu had no idea how powerful it would be when he unleashed its full force after filling it with Yin spells.

Could it instantly kill a cultivator at the Qi Refining Third Layer?

He continued cultivating until dusk.

As night fell, Wen Jiu suddenly felt a vast, surging wave of Yin Qi and corpse energy burst outward.

It spread like ripples, reaching twenty or thirty miles. Ordinary people and cultivators might not be sensitive enough to notice much beyond a chill wind. Only cultivators familiar with corpse energy and Yin Qi could identify it at once.

For Wen Jiu,

it was no different from the water he drank every day.

The moment it spread, he sensed it.

"So much Yin Qi and corpse energy bursting out all at once. If my Black Zombie got a taste, wouldn't it burst from eating too much?"

But once his amazement passed, suspicion took over.

What had happened?

Wen Jiu had been about to go take a look, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw sword-riding cultivators streaking overhead one after another.

There were also flying boats carrying magical artifacts.

More than a hundred in all.

That instantly killed any desire he had to investigate.

Half an hour later, Wang Nian suddenly returned. The moment he arrived, he hurriedly called Wen Jiu into his room.

"Something huge has happened! Huge!"

Wang Nian shut the door.

Then he activated a Soundproofing Talisman.

Wen Jiu hurriedly asked, "Brother Wang, what happened?"

Wang Nian took a sip of water, his eyes full of excitement. "While exploring the Dead Corpse Land, the peak masters found the corpse of Blood Robe Tower's master, Xue Mo San Qian, in an underground cavern!"

"Blood Robe Tower? Xue Mo San Qian?"

Wen Jiu looked puzzled.

But he could tell from Wang Nian's expression that they were no ordinary figures.

Wang Nian stood up, exhilarated. "Five years ago, Blood Robe Tower swept through three mortal kingdoms around Corpse Peak. From county magistrates to emperors, they had people everywhere. Corpse Peak couldn't do a thing about them... The Dead Corpse Land is where Blood Robe Tower fought the cultivators of Corpse Peak!"

"I see."

Wen Jiu straightened up.

He listened closely.

From Wang Nian's account, Wen Jiu learned about Blood Robe Tower, a terrifying Wicked Heretic faction that at its peak had seven thousand Qi Refining cultivators, five hundred thousand mortal followers, and a leader at the Qi Refining Perfected Stage.

If the peak master of Corpse Peak hadn't reached Foundation Establishment on the eve of his final days, during that battle at Flying Immortal Peak,

the ten thousand corpses would have belonged to Corpse Peak's disciples,

not the people of Blood Robe Tower!

After that battle, Corpse Peak's surviving disciples had searched the battlefield seven or eight times, and their Spiritual Sense had scoured it more than a dozen times. Yet they'd never found the corpse of Blood Robe Tower's master, Xue Mo San Qian.

Though plenty of people had seen Xue Mo San Qian take a Spiritual Sense attack from a Foundation Establishment Immortal Master of Corpse Peak,

and others had seen him fall, barely alive,

nobody had found the body, so no one could be sure he was really dead. After all, Wicked Heretics always had a way to stay alive.

Who would have guessed that, after the spy from Flying Immortal Peak stirred up trouble and the ground was excavated, they'd discover Xue Mo San Qian—now a Yin Corpse—in an underground cavern? The spy from Flying Immortal Peak had come for him!

Xue Mo San Qian had possessed Blood Robe Tower's strongest secret art. It was the reason he'd reached Qi Cultivation Great Perfection at the age of fifty-six.

Qi Cultivation Great Perfection at fifty-six.

That was a full eight years faster than even the most astonishing patriarch in Corpse Peak's history, three hundred years ago!

One could imagine how powerful that secret art was!

"Brother Wang, did Xue Mo San Qian really reach Qi Cultivation Great Perfection at fifty-six?" Wen Jiu asked.

If he remembered correctly,

the corpse's bones had been fifty-six years old.

And it had been at Qi Cultivation Great Perfection.

Wang Nian nodded. "Pretty incredible, right...? Your talent for the Wicked Heretic path is strong, kid, but it's nowhere near his."

"Was he the only one at Qi Cultivation Great Perfection in Blood Robe Tower?" Wen Jiu asked again.

Wang Nian looked baffled by the question. "Of course. You think reaching Qi Cultivation Great Perfection is that easy? After the trouble with Blood Robe Tower, it seems Corpse Peak's main peak has only managed to produce two cultivators at Qi Cultivation Great Perfection."

After hearing Wang Nian's answer,

Wen Jiu understood at once.

The story was almost certainly false.

And the corpse was almost certainly fake too.

If there hadn't been another cultivator at Qi Cultivation Great Perfection, then the body buried underground would have been Xue Mo San Qian's.

Wang Nian continued, "Now that Xue Mo San Qian's corpse has been dug up, it'll probably shake all of Corpse Peak."

Wen Jiu listened beside him.

He remained silent.

To be honest, he caught a whiff of conspiracy.

The vast wave of corpse energy and Yin Qi that had spread across the sky earlier.

And now news of Blood Robe Tower's master's corpse—a story even Wang Nian had heard.

How could he believe it hadn't been spread on purpose?

Wang Nian went on enthusiastically, telling him more about Blood Robe Tower, some of it with admiration, some with anger.

Wen Jiu listened quietly.

But all he could think about was Xue Mo San Qian.

That secret art had to be the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body.

Thinking of that, Wen Jiu couldn't help touching the Storage Bag at his chest. The thing was inside it now.

Luckily, he hadn't rushed to cultivate it back then.

Otherwise, he would've been the first to die.

"It looks like things won't be peaceful for a while." The peak master of Flying Immortal Peak had staged such an open spectacle. He must have been after something big.

After thinking that, Wen Jiu felt fortunate.

Luckily, he was only an Apprentice Disciple.

He couldn't get caught up in the power struggle at the bottom of Flying Immortal Peak.

He wasn't even qualified to get involved.

Over the next three days,

people at Flying Immortal Peak talked constantly about Blood Robe Tower. Even the odd-job disciples almost all knew that Xue Mo San Qian's corpse had been dug up.

At that very moment, the ban on the Dead Corpse Land was lifted.

The corpse tenders could go back to work.

And he could return to cultivate there.

Unfortunately, the central area of the Dead Corpse Land was shrouded by a formation, so Wen Jiu couldn't enter and absorb its blood and qi.

That very day,

the Black Zombie's experience reached its limit.

It broke through to the upper stage!