Night fell.
Daily settlement.
[Daily Settlement Panel Lv1 (20/100)] [Today's Settlement!] [Chanted the Corpse Nurturing Incantation for one hour and cultivated the Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art for one hour. Panel EXP +1, Yinzhou Corpse Nurturing Incantation EXP +10, Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art EXP +1] [Buried corpses in the Death Ground for six hours, continuously absorbing corpse qi and Death Qi. Panel EXP +1, corpse qi +6, Death Qi +6] [Gathered Earth Fiend Yin Qi and used a large amount of cultivators' blood to nurture corpses for two hours. Panel EXP +1, Dead Body Mutation EXP +6, +1, Corpse Nurturer EXP +1, Blood Transformation Body EXP +1] [Used one bowl of inferior Spirit Rice and one piece of unranked demonic beast meat. Body Tempering EXP +0.1]
"Excellent!"
Wen Jiu was overjoyed.
Two hours for one point of EXP.
Twelve hours would make six points of EXP.
Add the six points of EXP gained from chanting the Corpse Nurturing Incantation.
That made twelve points a day.
In less than twenty days, the White Zombie could become a Black Zombie!
By then, he would be a true cultivator—because the Yinzhou Corpse Nurturing Record stated that a Black Zombie could stand against cultivators.
Once his excitement settled, Wen Jiu noticed the words "Blood Transformation Body" in the daily settlement. "What's this Blood Transformation Body?"
As soon as he said it,
Wen Jiu immediately opened his status panel.
[Wen Jiu] [Age: Twenty-three] [Lifespan: 23/73] [Cultivation: None] [Art: Yin Province Corpse Nurturing Art (First Layer 55/1000)]+ [Lv1 Corpse Nurturer (6/100)] [Secret Art: Mutate Corpse] [White Zombie—Being Nurtured (7/200)]+ [White Zombie Skill: Blood Transformation Body, Beginner (1/100)+] [Death Qi Remaining: 0] [Corpse Qi Remaining: 6]
"Is this the corpse's body?" Wen Jiu noticed a plus sign beside Blood Transformation Body, too, and tried tapping it.
His corpse qi decreased by one.
Blood Transformation Body EXP increased by one.
"Blood Transformation Body only needs a hundred EXP, so I'll level that up first." Wen Jiu immediately spent all five of his remaining points on it.
Blood Transformation Body EXP instantly reached seven.
The next day.
Wen Jiu continued burying corpses.
No matter how hard or exhausting it was, he didn't mind. When he saw those three whose aptitude far surpassed the others, and who were practically guaranteed to become Apprentice Disciples, Wen Jiu remained unmoved. There was no such thing as fairness in this world.
Was a little backroom dealing really so unusual?
Overnight, his whole mindset had changed.
Your aptitude's good?
You've got connections?
I cultivate an Unorthodox Path.
No matter how fast you are, can you outrun me?
Wen Jiu had thought it through, too. If he wanted to climb the ranks and become an Apprentice Disciple, he could make a move in front of Wang Nian. After all, Wang Nian's attitude yesterday had made it clear that he was quite displeased with the three's behavior.
Perhaps he could bypass the one-year assessment.
After turning it over in his mind again and again, Wen Jiu decided to take the path of making a show of himself.
Keeping a low profile was the right thing to do.
If he wanted to survive in the cultivation world, keeping a low profile was essential.
But if he wanted to rise through the sect and cling to a powerful patron, he couldn't think only of keeping his head down. At crucial moments, he had to show what he could do in front of others.
He just had to get the measure right.
Once he'd figured that out, Wen Jiu began waiting for an opportunity.
But no opportunity came.
Instead, the Yin Qi surged.
When he had cleared away the Corpse Remnants yesterday, the Yin Qi in the area had been no more than a thin mist, not much of an issue for ordinary people. But after one night, the Yin Qi there had suddenly increased by forty or fifty percent.
At this level, anyone who let it enter their body would feel awful for several days at the very least; in the worst case, they'd fall seriously ill.
"Don't go in there."
Wang Nian called everyone to a halt.
Then, his expression grave, he walked inward. The Yin Qi parted wherever he went, as if something were holding it back. Wen Jiu looked closely and saw a mass of Spiritual Qi swirling around Wang Nian.
It was protecting Wang Nian, keeping the Yin Qi at bay.
A few breaths later, Wang Nian emerged from the area where the Yin Qi had surged. He reached into his robes and pulled out a black cloth pouch. It was small, only about the size of a fist, yet Wang Nian took a Silver Longsword out of it.
"Is that the legendary Storage Bag, with a Mustard Seed Space inside that can hold all kinds of things?" Wen Jiu stared at it.
If he took that back to Blue Star and got into logistics,
wouldn't he make a fortune?
As Wen Jiu marveled at it, Wang Nian suddenly drew the sword and tossed it into the air. With one hand forming a seal, he sent the sword dancing through the air as if it had come alive.
Wang Nian then took a yellow talisman from the Storage Bag and tossed it up as well. It landed squarely on the Flying Sword's blade. The next moment, the sword rang out and carried the yellow talisman into the Yin Qi.
Boom!
A deafening crash rang out.
A Yellow Qi Wave swept through the Yin Qi, scattering it across an area thirty zhang wide.
Watching this, Wen Jiu couldn't help but feel shaken. So this is what a cultivator can do?
"Made me waste a Yin Dispelling Talisman. What a pain... What are you all staring at? Get to work!" After the sword returned to the bag, Wang Nian retreated to a distance as usual, unwilling to go near the place. His face was full of displeasure. "Move it!"
At that, everyone hurried inside.
No one wanted to incur his wrath.
Wen Jiu followed slowly, feeling the Yin Qi, now made exceptionally thin by the talisman, and couldn't help feeling a little regretful.
But just then, something suddenly occurred to Wen Jiu, and he began digging through the corpses.
He also made a point of edging toward the areas where the Yin Qi was thickest.
Before long,
Wen Jiu had cleared the area in front of him.
Then, while Wang Nian sat meditating, Wen Jiu started clearing the area where the Yin Qi was thickest. In a short while, he had cleared another patch there, too.
Just then, Wang Nian came out of his meditation.
He had been about to urge the corpse buriers to work faster, but when he swept his gaze around, he spotted someone who had ventured into the thick Yin Qi.
"Er Shazi?"
Wang Nian hurried to his feet.
Irritated, he was about to shout for him to come out.
But when Wen Jiu efficiently pushed out a handcart loaded with Corpse Remnants, Wang Nian was left stunned.
Looking again at the area thick with Yin Qi, he saw that Wen Jiu had cleared a patch there, too. Wen Jiu seemed completely unaffected: his face was rosy, like a young man's, and his energy was even better than that of an average corpse burier.
Wang Nian suddenly remembered. "That's right... This is the kid who chose to cultivate an Unorthodox Path that day."
With that, Wang Nian acted as if he hadn't seen a thing and continued watching from afar.
And so it went.
He watched from afar until dusk.
Looking at Wen Jiu, who had spent half the day clearing Corpse Remnants in the area thick with Yin Qi, and seeing not the slightest change in his expression, Wang Nian couldn't help sighing inwardly. "This kid has an inferior Spiritual Root. Who'd have thought he'd have some talent for cultivating an Unorthodox Path... In just a few days, he's already reached the point where he doesn't fear Yin Qi."
That level of Yin Qi would leave any other corpse burier who worked in there for half a day seriously ill for at least two days.
But Wen Jiu showed no sign of being affected.
Such talent for cultivating an Unorthodox Path was truly rare.
"This kid might actually accomplish something on the Unorthodox Path," Wang Nian thought with a sigh.
Corpse Nurturers followed an Unorthodox Path.
But it was still a path of cultivation.
If he achieved something,
then even setting aside everything else,
just having him do the corpse-burial work would save Wang Nian a great deal of trouble. The sudden surge in Yin Qi was caused by the corpses of cultivators who had possessed high cultivation while alive.
Once Wang Nian located them with his Spiritual Sense, if someone who wasn't afraid of Yin Qi could clear them out, he would save himself the trouble of using talismans like Yin Dispelling Talismans.
A Yin Dispelling Talisman cost one Low-grade Spirit Stone, while Wang Nian earned only thirty Low-grade Spirit Stones a month for his work as supervisor of the corpse buriers.
Every time he used one, it made his heart ache.
But he couldn't do without them.
Before you continue