The Classics (Seeking Recommendations!)

"Excellent. It seems my previous experiment was correct. If I don't enter a Quest World, time in the outside world passes incredibly quickly—almost in the blink of an eye!"

A flash of lightning passed, and countless zombies collapsed. A bolt of lightning as thick as a python shot straight at Daoist Qingping, striking its target.

A glint flashed through Wu Ming's eyes.

He had naturally returned to the Main God Hall just moments ago and spent more Merit to retrieve a Minor Heavens Thunder Talisman.

The cost of bringing it out, added to the original price, meant the actual expense was naturally higher than if he had searched for this talisman in Great Zhou. But in a moment of danger, how could he worry about that?

To save his life and kill a powerful enemy at the same time was a fantastic bargain by any measure.

"Zombies are Evil creatures, after all. Thunder is their natural bane!"

Seeing the many zombies sprawled on the ground, twitching, Feng Han immediately rushed forward. His long blade flashed repeatedly, slicing off their heads one by one.

Squelch!

The Bronze Corpses and Iron Corpses, which had been hard as iron and impervious to blades and spears, now had flesh and bones rotted through. They broke apart like deadwood, spilling foul-smelling blood, some thick and black, some dark green.

"Young Master, that demonic Daoist is dead!"

Feng Han struck as swiftly as the wind, then went over to where Daoist Qingping had fallen. Seeing the charred corpse, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Daoist Qingping... is dead..."

Even Steward Yu, lying nearby with both legs severed at the knees, was dumbstruck.

He could never have imagined that the carefree, dashing Daoist who seemed to have seen through the ways of the world and done as he pleased would fall just like that beneath the thunder talisman!

"Keep an eye on him!"

Wu Ming pointed at Steward Yu, and Feng Han immediately understood. He approached with a sinister grin.

"What are you doing... I'm..."

Steward Yu had a bad feeling. He scrambled back two steps, only to see a dark blur swing toward him and smack him hard across the face, knocking a mouthful of bloodied teeth out.

"Hm? No poison hidden in his teeth. Looks like he's not one of the Death Warriors!"

Feng Han gripped Steward Yu by the throat, dislocated his jaw, and inspected it carefully. His tone carried a note of disappointment.

"Stop his bleeding. Be careful not to kill him!"

Wu Ming gave the order, then left the man alone and went over to Daoist Qingping.

The Minor Heavens Thunder Talisman had unleashed tremendous power. The Daoist had been reduced to a charred corpse, with wisps of blue smoke still rising around him.

"Thunder magic truly is the foremost offensive art! So this is the power of a Minor Heavens Thunder Talisman. I wonder how mighty a true high-level thunder art would be!"

Wu Ming reached out and touched the body. Layer after layer of charred ash fell from it.

"After all that, there probably isn't any spoils left... Hm?"

He prodded the corpse a few more times, and an iron box dropped out. It was sealed tightly, clearly meant to preserve something important.

"Tsk, tsk..."

The iron box felt cool in his hand. Its seams were so tight that it seemed to have suffered no damage at all from the thunder talisman.

Wu Ming's eyes shifted. He found a piece of cloth to wrap the box in, then glanced at Qingshi Village, which was in an uproar, and said to Feng Han, "Sorry for the trouble, Master Feng. Take Steward Yu away and interrogate him. Make sure you find out who was behind this. As for the Daoist... well, Heaven sent him to take the blame..."

"Young Master Ming!"

Before long, several household servants who had remained in the village arrived with the village guards.

"Mm... He was a demonic Daoist. He used magic to cause the earlier murders in the Wu family, and now he tried to harm me as well. I killed him."

The dead couldn't defend themselves, so Wu Ming freely piled the blame on him.

"So he really was a demon!"

The Iron Corpses and Bronze Corpses lying all around were the best evidence. Add Wu Ming's "prestige," and the villagers naturally believed him without question.

"Sigh... Uncle Wu and Brother Wu have both passed away one after the other. It truly grieves me. We should adopt a son from a collateral branch to carry on the family line!"

Wu Ming glanced at the village head. "In that case, take ten mu of land from the Wu family, and I'll contribute another ten mu, to serve as communal farmland for the village. Sorry to trouble you again, elder. Please handle the funeral at the Wu residence. All expenses can be drawn from the Wu Family Fortified Village!"

"How could we possibly accept..."

The village head offered a token protest, a smile appearing in his eyes as he agreed. He and Wu Ming understood each other without needing to say more.

The Wu family's disgrace obviously couldn't be made public, and Wu Ming wanted to keep the matter quiet. By offering twenty mu of land as communal farmland, he was buying the villagers' silence.

And there was plenty of room to line one's pockets when it came to funeral expenses.

With such a generous cut for everyone, if any villagers still made a fuss, the village head could put them down.

Besides, Wu Ming himself was a major landowner. Few would dare take that risk.

"Excellent... But those two members of the Wu family were killed by demonic magic, and this Daoist even practiced corpse refining. I'm worried they won't rest in peace after death, so I'll have to trouble the village head."

Wu Ming spoke with a smile, but his meaning was clear: he wanted the village head to burn the two corpses and bury only their ashes, destroying all evidence.

"Of course..."

The village head's heart turned cold. Seeing the chill in Wu Ming's eyes, he didn't dare say another word and nodded at once.

Once the two men had reached an understanding, the rest was simple.

With the ironclad evidence on the ground, and Wu Ming and the village head telling the same story, Daoist Qingping was immediately branded a demon. They even planned to soak his corpse in a cesspit after death. The villagers were simple and honest, but they loathed those who manipulated corpses, and their fear only made their hatred worse. That very night, they burned the body.

Moonlight flowed like water.

Inside the Wu Family Fortified Village, Wu Ming sat on his Cloud bed. The day's spoils lay on the redwood table before him as he sank into thought once more.

"It looks like someone wanted to harm Sister Wu Qing! So I became the weak spot..."

Wu Ming propped his forehead with one hand, a cold smile on his lips. "...They really took me for a soft persimmon... Strength! I need strength!"

His desire for power had only grown stronger.

Great Zhou was collapsing, warlords were rising everywhere, and even a tiny county town was rife with such fierce strife. How could he stay out of the turmoil and protect his family without strength?

"One Innate expert... is nowhere near enough..."

He had already examined the iron box several times. Now he held it and slowly pressed the mechanism.

Click!

Metal struck metal, and gears meshed. A narrow gap appeared in the iron box. Wu Ming opened it, and a hint of jade caught the corner of his eye.

"Is this... the Silver Seal Jade Book?"

There were only three things inside the iron box. Each was covered in tiny, closely packed writing. One was a jade tablet inscribed with dense silver seal script. The ancient characters carried a Daoist resonance, immediately reminding Wu Ming of the patterns on the Minor Heavens Thunder Talisman.

"I didn't expect this to really exist... I heard Sister Wu Qing say that materials like this were used to preserve high-level Classics. Could I have struck gold?"

Wu Ming was secretly excited, but then he noticed the jade book contained only one page, and even that was incomplete at the end. He couldn't help feeling a little regretful.

After setting aside the jade book, he found an iron tablet beneath it, inscribed with writing in the same way. But these characters were blood-red and radiated a ghastly, terrifying aura.

"Taiyin Corpse Refinement Art?"

Wu Ming turned over the iron tablet and saw a portrait of a flying Yaksha on the back. Evil seemed to leap from the image, and his expression changed. "Evil magic! So this must be where Daoist Qingping got his Iron Corpses?"

Farther down in the iron box were only a few thin sheets of yellow paper. They recorded some travel experiences and casual notes, which revealed Daoist Qingping's origins to Wu Ming.

According to his notes, he had originally been nothing more than a hunter from the mountains. When he was twenty, he saw five-colored treasure light rising from the back mountain near his home one night, with a red glow surging three feet into the air. Sensing something strange, he followed the light and dug into the ground. Only after digging about ten feet did he find the Silver Seal Jade Book.

Though badly damaged, the jade book recorded an exceptionally profound method. Relying on it, Daoist Qingping had somehow managed to enter the path of cultivation and achieve minor success in the arts. After that, he traveled everywhere, seeking patrons to support him while also hoping to decipher the jade book and complete its method.

His travels greatly broadened his experience. Then, by a twist of fate, he acquired the Taiyin Corpse Refinement Art and treasured it as if he'd found a priceless gem, devoting himself to its cultivation.

One had to understand that the Silver Seal Jade Book was not only incomplete, but contained methods without techniques. The Taiyin Corpse Refinement Art made up for this weakness perfectly. With it, Daoist Qingping's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. Not only did his ability to fight with magic grow vastly stronger, but he also awakened the spiritual eye and mastered the arts of fengshui and metaphysics without a teacher. He could read the fengshui of burial sites and improve the fortune of residences. At last, he had been appointed an Attendant on the strength of his abilities, securing a life free of want.

Unfortunately, he had fallen into Wu Ming's hands today.

"Tsk, tsk... I never expected him to be a genius in metaphysics!"

Wu Ming didn't understand these things, but he could still admire the pride between Daoist Qingping's lines. "To think he could gather scraps and fragments and comprehend the spiritual-eye method on his own, then arrange grand fengshui layouts. Too bad... he ran into me. Tough luck!"

"Main God Hall!"

Wu Ming's thoughts stirred, and he tucked the iron box into his robes.

[Request from Main God Apostle detected. Authority verified. Beginning transfer!]

In an instant, Wu Ming arrived in the empty Main God Space. The magnificent, immense buildings of the Main God Hall appeared among the clouds, like a celestial palace in the ninth heaven.

"So I can bring it here without spending Merit... Could it be because these items can't immediately increase my strength?"

He looked at the iron box in his hands, thoughtful. "Appraise!"

Two beams of light descended, enveloping the iron tablet and the jade Classic. A moment later, a screen of light unfurled.

[Taiyin Corpse Refinement Art (incomplete): A method of the Corpse Refining Sect. It uses the aura of the Nine Hells to refine corpses into puppets that are impervious to blades and spears, can fly through the sky and burrow underground, and are invincible wherever they go. It is divided into five ranks: Bronze Corpse, Iron Corpse, Silver Corpse, Golden Corpse, and Flying Yaksha. This incomplete fragment contains methods only up to the Silver Corpse rank. Completing it requires 500 Great Merit. Complete it?]

[Yellow Court Yin Talisman Scripture (Mage chapter): Observe the Dao of Heaven and carry out its course. The Dao of nature is still, and so all things between Heaven and Earth are born. The Dao of Heaven and Earth advances, and so yin and yang prevail. Yin and yang push against each other, and change unfolds in due order... The foundational Daoist method, the foundation of becoming an Immortal. The text is incomplete. Completing the Mage section requires 150 Great Merit. Completing the True Person section requires 500 Great Merit. Completing the Celestial Master section requires 1,000 Great Merit. Complete it?]

"One is a method, and the other a technique?"

Wu Ming first browsed the Main God's exchange list and found information on the Taiyin Corpse Refinement Art and the Corpse Refining Sect. He wasn't particularly surprised, but when he searched for the Yellow Court Yin Talisman Scripture, the corner of his eye twitched.

"Yellow Court Yin Talisman Scripture—Immortal chapter: Observe the Dao of Heaven and carry out its course. The teachings of the Immortals are complete! A complete Daoist method that can cultivate one all the way to the peak of Immortalhood! Exchange requirement: 200 Heavenly Merit."