Immortal Maiden Corpse Puppet—What on Earth Did I Refine?!

When Li Yan cast the Heavenly Capital Corpse Refining Technique, he never expected it to trigger the Side Effect Normalization System as well.

Didn't that mean...

A bold idea sprang into his mind. He formed a hand seal with two fingers and activated the corpse refining technique, using the Spirit Liquid imbued with sinister yin energy to power the spell.

Blood-colored runes seeped across the female corpse's pale skin, making for a rather hair-raising sight.

Yet under the refinement of this wicked art, the female corpse's shriveled skin began to fill out.

As the wicked technique was normalized, the corpse's blue-gray complexion gradually turned snow-white, even gaining a faint flush of color.

Under Li Yan's astonished gaze, the corpse slowly regained the appearance she had possessed in life.

The only difference was her dry black hair, which gradually turned silver-gray.

System text appeared before his eyes as well.

[Heavenly Capital Corpse Refining Technique Side Effect: Converts corpses into sinister yin creatures born of Dead Embryo Blood.]

[After Side Effect Normalization: Revives the corpse, gradually restoring its cultivation from life, with the possibility of advancing even further!]

[Unknown Effect: Although the corpse has been revived, the living corpse contains a vast amount of Yin Yin energy, which is currently merging with its fleshly body.]

Li Yan glanced over the consequences brought by the normalized side effect.

"Others use corpse refining techniques to refine corpses, while I'm using one as a resurrection technique?"

He could not help but sigh.

As for whether the female corpse would revive, Li Yan was not afraid at all.

The female corpse's soul was gone. Even if she revived, she would only have a physical body without a soul.

Looking at the fair-skinned, beautiful immortal maiden before him, Li Yan's lips curled upward as he began to covet her body.

"With the body of a Blood Pill Realm cultivator, even without any blood vitality, she can still withstand attacks from that old monster Xuan Wang!"

"If I can continue refining her, this shell will definitely become the strongest trump card in my hand!"

What Li Yan coveted was the immortal maiden's bodily strength, not her beauty.

His eyes held only a pure, unadulterated thirst for power.

Although the immortal maiden had regained flesh and blood, making her look far better than she had as a dried corpse—

A lone man and a lone corpse were living together in this cave dwelling. Between a living corpse with its own natural fragrance and a stinking dried corpse, the choice needed no explanation.

Looking at the immortal maiden with her peerless bearing, Li Yan waved a hand and took a sword case from his Storage Ring.

"This sword case was yours in life. Now that you are dead, carry it on your back."

"Go guard the cave entrance. If anything unusual happens outside, notify me immediately."

Refined corpse puppets could understand some relatively simple commands.

Only now did Li Yan begin carefully examining the immortal maiden he had "revived."

The corpse puppet had a graceful figure, her dark azure immortal robe outlining her exquisite curves.

She had an oval face, a high nose bridge, cherry-like lips, and grayish-white pupils with hollow, lifeless eyes.

When her silver hair fluttered, she looked cold and dazzling. Black robes and white hair gave her a unique immortal air.

With a Blood Pill Realm corpse puppet protecting him, Li Yan felt considerably more at ease.

At present, the female corpse had no blood vitality left and was nothing more than an empty shell, but that was enough.

"This corpse puppet possesses the physical strength of a Blood Pill Realm cultivator. With her, moving through Broken Sword Valley will be much easier."

Following Li Yan's command, the corpse puppet slowly walked to the cave entrance and stood guard there without moving.

Judging from her every movement, aside from being somewhat wooden, one could barely tell that she was a corpse puppet.

Li Yan withdrew his gaze from the corpse puppet and looked once more at the ring on his hand.

When the female corpse, Su Mo, had fled the Su Family, she had brought with her a large number of mid-grade and high-grade Cultivation Methods.

Any one of them would surely be much better than the Cultivation Methods in Jingxu Temple.

The Su Family was a cultivation clan, not something an old charlatan like Xuan Wang could compare to.

Raising his hand, Li Yan summoned dozens of Cultivation Method manuals from the Storage Ring.

With a wave of his hand, the manuals spun like a roulette wheel, allowing Li Yan to choose among them.

"Is there any spell that pairs well with the Lamp Burning Method...?"

As he flipped through them one by one, the name of one Cultivation Method piqued Li Yan's curiosity.

Su Family Secret Scroll

"This is the Su Family's unique secret art? Let's see what kind of secret technique allowed the Su Family to dominate one region of Mount Bugui."

He picked up the Su Family Secret Scroll, while the other books floating in midair returned to the ring.

The moment he opened it, Li Yan immediately understood why the Su Family had been able to dominate a corner of the perilous Mount Bugui.

"Blood Soaked Shadow Method?"

"Let a cultivator's shadow soak in Dead Embryo Blood, activate the secret technique, and silently recite ancient immortal script to drive the blood shadow..."

"Using one's shadow as a Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation?!"

This was Li Yan's first time seeing a method that used blood to soak one's shadow and cultivate that shadow into a Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation.

After reading the Su Family Secret Scroll, Li Yan could not help but marvel. "The patriarch who created this secret art of cultivating blood shadows was definitely a peerless genius!"

"Still, the cultivation method isn't difficult. But where am I supposed to find Dead Embryo Blood?"

As Li Yan pondered, the corpse puppet suddenly turned around and, without a word, drew a flying sword from the sword case.

She stood in front of him!

The corpse puppet directly sliced open her hand, leaving a glaring wound across her snow-white wrist.

Dark purple blood dripped down, spilling over Li Yan's shadow.

"This!?"

Li Yan was slightly taken aback. He knew that corpse puppets would obey their master's commands unconditionally.

But he had not expected that after he casually mentioned wanting Dead Embryo Blood, this immortal maiden would immediately bleed herself to feed Li Yan's shadow.

This corpse puppet was a real one. She did not even furrow her brows while bleeding herself—she truly did not treat herself like an outsider.

Seeing blood already pooling across the ground, Li Yan hurriedly said, "That's enough."

He had merely been worried that the corpse puppet would bleed dry and turn back into a dried corpse.

But the corpse puppet pointed blankly at the porcelain bowl, seemingly wanting to drink the remaining corpse-refining Spirit Liquid inside.

In that instant, it was as though Li Yan had opened a new train of thought.

"You can recover by absorbing this Spirit Liquid?"

The corpse puppet nodded dumbly.

That made Li Yan begin to wonder whether this corpse puppet possessed intelligence.

"Strange. Corpse puppets refined through corpse refining techniques generally cannot possess self-awareness."

"Could it be because the side effect was normalized? The corpse puppet is caught between life and death, making her different from ordinary corpse puppets?"

"No soul, yet a tiny bit of self-awareness? Interesting."

Li Yan was not worried that this corpse puppet would betray him.

He had refined the corpse puppet himself. She would obey his commands one hundred percent.

Moreover, the dazed, wooden manner she currently displayed showed that her self-awareness was still incomplete, giving her a hazy, indistinct feeling.

For instance, she clearly wanted to drink the corpse-refining Spirit Liquid in the bowl, but since Li Yan had not given the order, she did not dare take it herself.

"Go drink it."

When he indicated that she could drink the half-bowl of Spirit Liquid, a childlike smile unexpectedly appeared on the corpse puppet's face.

He watched her gulp down the half-bowl of Spirit Liquid with greedy glug, glug sounds, only to reveal an unsatisfied expression afterward.

Li Yan, meanwhile, admired the "masterpiece" he had refined with his own hands, still unaware of what terrifying existence he had created.

An Abyssal Creature caught between life and death!