Side Peak Steward

Early the next morning.

A drizzle fell without end, and the Yin Qi in the Death Ground thickened once more.

For Wen Jiu, that was a good thing. The heavier the Yin Qi, the better.

Wang Nian, however, wore a troubled frown and had no choice but to use another Yin Dispelling Talisman, scattering the surrounding Yin Qi.

This time,

Wang Nian was even more irritable.

The corpse buriers were so frightened that they hardly dared breathe.

"You, that kid... Come here!" Wang Nian waved, then pointed. "Yes, you, kid!"

Wen Jiu quickly set down his handcart and went over. Respectfully, he said, "Senior, what would you have me do?"

"What's your name?"

"Wen Jiu."

"Old Wen's son?"

"Mm-hm."

Wen Jiu nodded.

"Old Wen" was the nickname his father had in his memories of Corpse Peak.

"Come with me."

Wang Nian strolled away from the Dead Corpse Land.

Wen Jiu hurried after him.

He waited for Wang Nian to continue.

After they had walked a hundred paces, Wang Nian stopped with his hands behind his back and got straight to the point. "Do you still remember what Elder Chen said at the Dharma Transmission Tower? 'The Unorthodox Path harms the body when practiced and shortens one's life. Even if your cultivation ranks first, there's still a nine-in-ten chance you won't qualify as an apprentice.'"

When he finished,

Wang Nian looked Wen Jiu up and down.

Wen Jiu nodded. His face showed no unnecessary emotion, neither disappointment nor distress.

"I remember."

Wang Nian studied him and asked again, somewhat surprised by his reaction. "You don't want to become an apprentice at Corpse Peak?"

"I do," Wen Jiu answered without hesitation.

Hearing his answer, Wang Nian grew even more puzzled. "Then why do you look like you don't care at all?"

Wen Jiu replied, "If I get it, it's my good fortune. If I lose it, it's fate!"

When he finished,

Wang Nian froze.

He rolled Wen Jiu's words over and over in his mouth.

The more he thought about them, the more profound they seemed.

He couldn't help but regard Wen Jiu more highly.

"You've got a decent disposition..." Wang Nian praised him, then added, "How about you and I make a deal?"

"A deal?"

This time, it was Wen Jiu's turn to be surprised.

A deal required equality.

But he and Wang Nian were not equals.

He had thought that showing a little of what he could do might earn Wang Nian's approval, and that alone would be plenty.

Wang Nian waved a hand. "If it weren't for your sister, do you think you'd be qualified to make a deal with me?"

"My sister?"

Wen Jiu was taken aback.

But before he could say anything more, Wang Nian continued, "You're lucky. You've got a sister who's good-looking, good-natured, and decent in how she treats people. A few days ago, while doing menial work, she caught the eye of the Xu Family matriarch. She plans to bring her into the Xu Family as a concubine for her son... Once Steward Xu returns, your sister's status will be entirely different. Even I will have to address her respectfully as Sixteenth Madam Xu."

Wang Nian's words contained a lot of information, which made Wen Jiu very glad. He had wanted to ask in detail about Steward Xu's background and character, but realizing it would be too presumptuous to ask Wang Nian to judge someone behind his back, he only asked about Steward Xu's cultivation method.

"Senior, may I ask what cultivation method this Steward Xu practices?"

Hearing this, a satisfied smile appeared on Wang Nian's face again. "I didn't expect your first reaction to be asking about Steward Xu's cultivation method instead of being happy or excited. You're a decent fellow. Don't worry, Steward Xu is one of the Side Peak Stewards and is at the Qi Refining Mid-stage. He practices a normal Qi Refining Method..."

Wang Nian suddenly trailed off.

Wen Jiu hurriedly pressed him. "Please tell me honestly, Senior. I swear to keep it to myself, and I'll repay you generously in the future."

"It's only because you're loyal and true-hearted that I'm telling you this. If it were someone else, I wouldn't say another word." Wang Nian hesitated before continuing. "A Qi Refining Method is a Qi Refining Method, but Steward Xu is capricious, greedy, and lecherous. He'd only been a Side Peak Steward for a year, yet he'd already taken seventeen concubines... I bet you're wondering why your sister is the Sixteenth Madam. It's because two others have died. I heard they displeased him, and he slapped them to death."

"Th-this..."

Wen Jiu's heart tightened.

If his sister married a man like that, wouldn't she be jumping straight into a pit of fire?

"Thank you, Senior." Wen Jiu came back to himself and hurriedly expressed his gratitude, while secretly making up his mind.

No.

He had to improve his cultivation quickly.

He would see if he could find a way to stop his sister from marrying into the Xu Family.

So Wen Jiu quickly asked, "Senior, aside from ranking among the top three in cultivation a year from now to become an apprentice, is there any other way?"

"There is, of course, but it's not something an ordinary person can manage. I advise you not to bother thinking about it."

Wang Nian seemed unwilling to say more.

Wen Jiu bowed again, bending at a full ninety degrees. He was nothing if not respectful. "Please enlighten me, Senior."

"You... Fine, I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Once you know, you'll realize it's beyond you and give up anyway. You have to kill a disciple from a rival sect, and they must be at least at Qi Refining Second Layer. Cultivating through the Unorthodox Path may be faster than ordinary Qi Refining, but to kill a Qi Refining Second Layer cultivator, you'd need to reach at least Qi Refining Second Layer Perfection. Qi Refining Second Layer Perfection... will probably take you another five or six years."

With that,

Wang Nian said no more.

He waved a hand, signaling Wen Jiu to leave.

Wen Jiu bowed respectfully.

As he turned to leave, he made up his mind right then and there: if the first route wouldn't work, he'd take the second.

Qi Refining Second Layer?

Fine.

He'd remember that!

By evening,

Wang Nian handed the Corpse Nurturing Bead to Wen Jiu.

The previous night, Wen Jiu had already thoroughly looked into the Corpse Nurturing Bead. Just as Wang Nian had said, it was an excellent auxiliary treasure for a Corpse Nurturer. Even an unranked Corpse Nurturing Bead had a powerful effect.

Its first function:

Gathering Yin Qi.

As long as the White Zombie held the bead in its mouth, Yin Qi from the surrounding thousand zhang would automatically gather and draw near.

Its second function:

Purification.

The White Zombie could only absorb Yin Qi at a limited speed. The Corpse Nurturing Bead could automatically purify it. In other words, in the same amount of time, the White Zombie could absorb more Yin Qi.

After getting it, Wen Jiu immediately compared the experience gained in his daily tally. The results were surprisingly significant.

[Gathering Earth Fiend Yin Qi, supplemented with a large amount of cultivators' blood, nurturing the corpse with Yin Qi for twelve whole hours, panel experience +1, Corpse Raising Experience +6, +13.5, Corpse Nurturer experience +1, Blood Transformation Body experience +12]

"I gave the Corpse Nurturing Bead to the White Zombie as soon as I got it... By the time experience is tallied at Midnight, exactly three hours will have passed."

Three hours had yielded an extra 1.5 experience!

In other words,

twelve hours would yield an extra six experience.

The efficiency of nurturing a corpse with corpse Qi had risen by a full fifty percent!

"Showing a little of what I could do was indeed the right choice." After seeing the results, Wen Jiu was very pleased with his decision.

If he hadn't shown his abilities,

would Wang Nian have made a deal with him?

Would he have gotten this Corpse Nurturing Bead?

Perhaps he could have bought one in the future.

But that would have been after he became an apprentice.

How long would that take?

Probably three to five years.

Getting the Corpse Nurturing Bead early meant less time needed to become an apprentice.

Of course,

becoming an apprentice wasn't the goal.

Wen Jiu's goal was to climb higher and gain more resources. Having lived two lives, he knew all too well that vast resources were concentrated in the hands of a small minority.

Besides, since he had chosen to cultivate the Unorthodox Path, he had to climb higher and find a powerful patron. That way, he wouldn't be mistakenly killed by the "Righteous Path."

"Still, if I want to stop my sister from marrying Steward Xu, this cultivation speed probably isn't fast enough."

Wen Jiu's expression grew serious.

He decided to visit Wang Nian again the next day.

He needed Yin Souls!

But at night, Yin Souls were too powerful and too dangerous.

Yin Souls.

They belonged to Yin.

And at night, the Yin Qi was at its heaviest.

Yin Souls formed in the Death Ground were even fiercer at night.

Sending the White Zombie to search at night, or accompanying it himself, were both far from ideal.

What if a powerful Yin Soul tore the White Zombie apart?

Raise another one from scratch?

So he had to look for Yin Souls during the day.

In daylight,

Yin Souls were weak.

They hid in dark places.

Ordinary people had trouble finding them, but the White Zombie could.

Though the White Zombie feared sunlight, the Dead Corpse Land was shrouded in Yin Qi, Death Qi, Blood Qi, and other such forces, so sunlight couldn't penetrate it.

That made going during the day the best choice.