[Black Zombie—Corpse Raising (Upper Realm 0/2000)]
After reaching the Upper Realm, Wen Jiu could clearly feel the Black Zombie's corpse energy steadily rising through their bond, even from outside the Dead Corpse Land. The Yin Qi around the burial site where it lay surged along with it.
In an instant, the Yin Qi within a hundred zhang of its burial site reached its peak.
It was enough to rival the central area of the Dead Corpse Land.
One corpse stood against hundreds, even thousands, of Corpse Remnants!
Fortunately, they were in the Dead Corpse Land, where no Night Patrol Division disciples were on patrol.
If they'd been anywhere else, that terrifying aura spreading out would surely have startled Night Patrol Division cultivators into drawing their swords and pinching talismans.
Then—
Something Wen Jiu hadn't expected suddenly happened.
The terrifying corpse energy and Yin Qi, which had spread outward like ripples, were abruptly sucked back into the Black Zombie.
Within a hundred zhang—
The Black Zombie's aura had vanished without a trace.
"Is this aura concealment?"
He'd only heard of Qi Refining cultivators concealing their aura and holding their breath.
Unless cultivators of the same realm, or one minor realm higher, used Spiritual Sense to probe carefully, they couldn't detect the concealed cultivator's location or true realm.
He hadn't expected the Black Zombie to learn this on its own after entering the Upper Realm.
That was good, too.
He could raise corpses discreetly.
And hide them discreetly.
"After reaching the Upper Realm, the next step is to raise it into a Walking Corpse." The Yinzhou Corpse Raising Method flashed through Wen Jiu's mind.
Raising a Black Zombie only required nourishing it in a Corpse Nurturing Ground, but turning it into a Walking Corpse was no longer so simple.
It was like a cultivator at the Qi Refining Third Layer breaking through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. The difference might seem like just one layer, but it was the difference between the early and middle stages. Breaking through that one layer was harder than all three previous layers of cultivation combined.
That was one of the reasons why the Night Patrol Division had more than a dozen stewards but only three executive stewards.
The Yinzhou Corpse Raising Method recorded that to raise a Black Zombie into a Walking Corpse, the first requirement was a large amount of blood.
And a large amount of Earth Fiend Yin Energy.
Blood could nourish its spirit.
Once the Corpse Spirit reached a certain level, it could produce a Corpse Soul. But unlike a human soul, a Corpse Soul wouldn't give a Walking Corpse intelligence. It would only give it a body that could move like a human's—walking, running, and crouching.
Earth Fiend Yin Energy, on the other hand, would stabilize its spirit.
After all, a Corpse Soul was nothing like a human soul. It was born after death and had no intelligence at all.
So it needed Earth Fiend Yin Energy to stabilize it. Otherwise, a cultivator could scatter the Corpse Soul with a casual Spiritual Sense attack.
Earth Fiend Yin Energy was easy enough to obtain; the Corpse Nurturing Incantation could draw it in.
If he needed a large amount, he could simply improve the Incantation's level. Wen Jiu immediately glanced at its experience.
[Art: Corpse Nurturing Incantation (Beginner 484/500)]
"I can reach Minor Accomplishment in the next couple of days."
The Corpse Nurturing Incantation would be able to draw in more Earth Fiend Yin Energy after reaching Minor Accomplishment.
But blood was hard to come by. He wasn't a Wicked Heretic who could slaughter mortals, and the central region of the Dead Corpse Land was now sealed off by a formation. That left only one option: cultivating corpse blood.
Wen Jiu definitely wouldn't touch the Cultivator's Essence Blood he'd saved.
He was keeping that for cultivating the Yin Sha Blood Curse Body.
"I'll see how much the experience increases at tomorrow's settlement first..." If the increase was decent, he'd put off cultivating corpse blood for now.
After all, he didn't have enough Spirit Stones to buy demon beasts and use the Corpse Eye to cultivate corpse blood from the flesh of demon beasts and fiends.
A pound of flesh from an in-rank demon beast or fiend cost one Low-grade Spirit Stone.
He couldn't afford it right now.
Early the next morning.
Wen Ya, whom he hadn't seen for half a month, suddenly appeared, bustling in with a bundle of food. It was a kind of rice ball wrapped in special green leaves, filled with all sorts of meat and vegetable fillings. It looked a little like zongzi.
When he asked, he learned that it was a holiday.
Flying Immortal Peak didn't celebrate it.
But mortals did.
Spring had passed, and summer was about to begin, so mortals called this day the summer solstice. They ate qingtuan to welcome the new season.
It was for good luck.
And for a good harvest.
"Big Sister, have some too." Seeing his sister come in and immediately start cleaning the room, Wen Jiu quickly tried to stop her.
Wen Ya ignored him. "Look at this room of yours! You leave things lying around everywhere... You don't even know how to fold your quilt!"
Hearing her fuss over him like this,
Wen Jiu felt a hint of warmth in his heart.
Living far from home, he'd thought he'd never hear such nagging again.
"Big Sister, keep busy. I'll take some to Brother Wang next door." After sampling a qingtuan, Wen Jiu immediately took a dozen or so and headed out.
Just as Wen Jiu had expected,
cultivators didn't celebrate the summer solstice.
That made sense. Cultivators didn't need to seek good omens or pray for a good harvest like mortals did.
When Wen Jiu returned after delivering the qingtuan, Wen Ya had already tidied the room. The clothes he'd scattered on the bed had all been put away in the wardrobe.
When he came in, Wen Ya said, "I think I need to find you a wife. Otherwise, how can this place look like a home?"
"Trying to marry me off?" Wen Jiu laughed helplessly.
Then Wen Ya changed the subject, her expression shifting as well. "By the way, Old Madam Xu wants to invite you to the Xu Family for a home-cooked meal. She's probably trying to win you over. Are you going or not?"
"I'm not going. Maybe another time." Wen Jiu shook his head. "Just tell her I've been too busy with my Night Patrol Division duties and cultivation to get away. Once things calm down, I'll pay her a visit in person."
If he went now, he wouldn't have the standing to speak to them as an equal.
If he let on that he wanted to take his sister away, he'd undoubtedly offend the Xu Family.
He'd have to wait until he was in a position to speak with them as an equal.
Then, with Steward Mu's status to back him, he might be able to bring his sister away from the Xu Family.
"Mm."
Wen Ya nodded.
She didn't say anything more.
She'd guessed what her younger brother meant by "another time."
After seeing his sister Wen Ya off, Wen Jiu began drawing non-in-rank Soul Seizing Talismans. When he'd finished thirty, he headed to the trade market.
This time, the trade market surprised him. It was unusually noisy and lively.
He sat down and listened. It turned out that an affiliated cultivation family outside Flying Immortal Peak had been attacked the previous night. Of more than three hundred people, only three or five had survived by sheer luck. Everyone else had been killed by Gu insects.
Their deaths had been horribly gruesome.
"Could this have something to do with the Blood Robe Tower?"
"Almost certainly. Who else but those remnants would dare attack a family affiliated with Flying Immortal Peak?"
"Ordinary Wicked Heretics or rogue cultivators might kill a few people at most. Who would wipe out an entire family?"
"Flying Immortal Peak has already sent quite a few disciples over, but I bet the attackers have fled. There's no point going now."
Hearing the rumors, Wen Jiu's heart tightened.
Well.
Things were getting more and more chaotic.
How long had he even had to enjoy a peaceful life?
Fortunately, as an Apprentice Disciple, he didn't have to go on missions. Otherwise, there was no guarantee he wouldn't be attacked.
"I'm afraid this is only the beginning." Wen Jiu sighed inwardly. After selling his Soul Seizing Talismans, he left.
When he got home, Wen Jiu began drawing in-rank Soul Seizing Talismans, planning to make a few extra and save them for emergencies.
Whether he sold them
or used them,
he could choose freely.
The worst thing would be needing one and not having it.
Soon,
Midnight arrived.
The settlement began.
Just as Wen Jiu had expected, even with a first-tier, low-grade Corpse Nurturing Bead and a Level 2 panel, the Black Zombie gained only six experience after spending twelve hours in the Corpse Nurturing Ground once it reached the Upper Realm. If it continued at that rate,
it would take nearly four hundred days to gain two thousand experience.
That alone wasn't too bad. Compared to an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, who might need several years or even over a decade to advance from the Qi Refining Third Layer to the Fourth, four hundred days was nothing. But given Flying Immortal Peak's current situation, he couldn't afford to take it slow.
Slow meant having no sense of security.
What if something happened?
A cultivation family of more than three hundred had nearly been wiped out just now. Surely there had been Qi Refining Second Layer cultivators among them, just like him.
"Looks like I need to find a way to sell in-rank Soul Seizing Talismans." Wen Jiu pondered for a moment, then suddenly heard knocking at the door.
At Midnight,
someone was knocking?
Knock, knock, knock!
Wen Jiu instinctively gripped the Corpse Eye.
The next moment,
a voice called out.
"Fellow Daoist Wen, Steward Mu sent me to summon you to the Night Patrol Division."
When he heard it was Mu Canglong,
Wen Jiu put away the Corpse Eye and was about to get dressed and open the door, but Wang Nian opened it first and greeted the visitor.
Seeing Wang Nian chatting with the visitor,
Wen Jiu finally relaxed completely.
He was deeply grateful.
Wang Nian must have done that to help confirm that the visitor was one of their own.
[Please vote for monthly tickets!
Please vote for recommendations!
The book's been holding steady around seventy-fifth place on the new-book chart.
But I feel like we're only just getting started. We've only reached the second round of recommendations, after all. Fellow Daoists, help me push it up!
Goal—the top ten!
I've started building up a stock of chapters, ready to unleash them when it goes on sale!]
Before you continue