Divine Concealment Sect, Corpse Refining Courtyard:
Rows of black-clad academicians, sabers at their sides, stood neatly in formation on either side. An invisible aura of murderous solemnity immediately spread beneath the night sky.
They stared coldly at the room ahead. If anything unexpected happened, they would rush in at once to suppress it.
"Where is this?"
Li Ye blearily opened his eyes. Beside him lay a corpse, its blood staining the white Corpse Wrapping Cloth a vivid red.
A gloomy feeling instantly crept through Li Ye's heart.
How the hell am I in a morgue?!
Li Ye sprang upright, and a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into his mind.
"I transmigrated—and I even share the same name as the body's original owner?"
He sat there in a daze.
Li Ye: Divine Concealment Sect's Holy Son, eighteen years old. Two years of Body Tempering, two years of Qi Gathering, and three years at the Object Manipulation Realm Great Perfection. A blazing star, the foremost prodigy of the south.
The Body Tempering Realm was the first stage of cultivation. It focused on tempering the skin, flesh, bones, organs, and meridians, laying the foundation for the Qi Gathering Realm that followed.
Qi Gathering Realm: comprehend heaven and earth, absorb Spiritual Qi, and obtain tremendous power.
Object Manipulation Realm: the third great cultivation realm. At this level, one could control objects from a distance, soar through the sky and burrow underground, and kill with flying weapons.
Other people grew stronger the more they cultivated. But half a year ago, Holy Son Li Ye had gone the other way. His cultivation had plummeted, eventually falling below the Body Tempering Realm.
His status had also gone from Divine Concealment Sect's Holy Son to Elite Disciple, then ordinary Inner Disciple, Outer Disciple, and Menial Disciple.
In the end, he had become the lowliest kind of Corpse Incinerator.
Just moments ago, the proud Holy Son had died of despair before he even got the chance to begin working at the Corpse Refining Courtyard.
"I don't want this accou—"
After learning about the body's original owner and his current predicament, Li Ye's vision went black. He nearly fainted.
Other people transmigrated as useless young masters, useless sons of noble families, or useless Imperial Princes. Even at their most miserable, they still had a pretty maid to dote on them.
And what did I get? A crematorium?
Li Ye was about to break down. This guy's account was so thoroughly ruined there was no way to play:
"Wait, how did I die?"
Li Ye tried hard to recall the memories of his previous life.
He came from a blue planet, where he'd been an ordinary college student. After catching COVID, he'd burned with a fever until his vision blurred, then successfully picked the one drug he shouldn't have out of several: cephalosporin.
Then he'd mistaken half a cup of baijiu his roommate had left behind for plain water.
Cephalosporin with alcohol... and that was how he'd ended up here.
"Li Ergou, I'll never forgive you!"
Li Ye roared in his heart.
Suddenly, he saw the corpse beside him twitch.
Li Ye froze. Remembering something, he hurried over to the body and pulled back the Corpse Wrapping Cloth, revealing the sturdy body of a middle-aged man.
About a centimeter of red hair had grown on the corpse.
Li Ye's heart turned cold. "...It really did undergo Corpse Transformation!"
This was a bizarre world of cultivation, teeming with humans, demons, monsters, and ghosts, with countless powerful beings.
Mortals defied fate by absorbing the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, gaining tremendous power and living as long as heaven and earth.
Everything had its price. When these people died, their cultivation could easily merge with their resentment, obsessions, and the like, causing a mutation—what was commonly known as Corpse Transformation.
Once a corpse mutated, it might lash out and injure people at best, or bring calamity to an entire region at worst.
Some of the more powerful ones could even develop spiritual awareness and remain in the Human World by another means. They formed a group known as the Corpse Cultivators!
Corpse Cultivators were rejected by heaven and earth, despised by both gods and men.
Fierce Corpses absolutely could not be buried. That would only provide them with a place to metamorphose.
And so, in this world, the profession of Corpse Incinerator came into being, dedicated to dealing with all kinds of Fierce Corpses.
The corpse before him was one of them.
Li Ye didn't dare delay. If it rose, his body as it was now wouldn't be able to handle it.
Looking at the crimson furnace, its flames already burning bright—presumably lit by the Holy Son before he died—Li Ye summoned every last ounce of strength to haul the middle-aged man onto the corpse rack and shove it into the furnace.
Just what had this body been through? How could it be such a struggle for someone who'd once been a master at the Object Manipulation Realm Great Perfection—the Holy Son, no less—to move a single corpse?
Li Ye wondered as he panted heavily.
The flames roared. The middle-aged man soon blended into the blaze. In a daze, Li Ye saw images drift out of the fire, seemingly scenes from the man's life, blossoming like slides in a projector.
But they vanished almost as soon as they appeared.
A corpse held the traces of a person's entire life, proof that they had once come to the Human World.
Li Ye felt as if he had witnessed a Life Imprint unravel, and his heart was filled with emotion.
Unfortunately, the images burst forth all at once, then quickly disappeared. Li Ye only caught a glimpse of the beginning and the end.
A chubby, fair-skinned baby, innocent and pure, coming into the world—and a middle-aged man lying in a pool of blood.
Buzz!
Suddenly, a wisp of white mist shot out of the Corpse Incineration Furnace and swiftly burrowed into Li Ye's body, flowing along his meridians.
Wherever the mist passed, Li Ye's body crackled. His organs and limbs trembled in unison, shaking out a little black, viscous liquid.
It seemed to be impurities from Li Ye's body.
"What is this?"
Li Ye was stunned by the astonishing sight.
Had that light been extracted from the corpse?
Huh, his body seemed much stronger now—about as much as the Holy Son would have gained from half a month of hard Body Tempering.
A dense killing intent shrouded the Corpse Refining Courtyard.
It came from the group of academicians with sabers, who had noticed that the smoke from the huge chimney on the roof had stopped.
"Stay alert!"
The black-clad academician in charge said gravely, ordering someone to go open the door.
They were all experts from the Corpse Refining Courtyard.
Every one of them was powerful. If the incineration failed and something went wrong, they would be the first to rush in and suppress it.
A black-clad academician stepped forward to unlock the door. As it slowly swung open, he looked surprised.
It worked?
The room was dimly lit by candlelight. A young man stood before the Corpse Incineration Furnace, lost in thought.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Not bad, kid. You got it done on your first try."
The black-clad academician in charge praised him, but the approving look vanished after just a second.
The head black-clad academician had inspected the corpse. There was a high chance it would undergo Corpse Transformation, and even many seasoned workers might not have survived it.
Yet this boy had succeeded on his very first day.
The Corpse Refining Courtyard was an institution contracted out by the Divine Concealment Sect. Each year, the sect paid its manager a sum of money and cultivation resources, and in return, the manager took full responsibility for handling every Fierce Corpse.
After speaking, the black-clad academician in charge tossed a few copper coins into the room. They were Li Ye's wages for the day.
Then he left with the others.
The Corpse Refining Courtyard was gloomy and inauspicious. No one wanted to linger there.
When Divine Concealment Sect disciples returned, they usually took a detour around the Corpse Refining Courtyard to go up the mountain, worried it might affect their luck and harm their cultivation.
If their luck took a hit and they missed some opportunity in the future, it would hardly be worth it.
"Chief, yesterday Furnace No. 3 in that courtyard exploded and killed the Corpse Incinerator. Who'd have thought the busted old furnace we picked up would work pretty well once we installed it today?"
"Yeah, it looked ready for the scrap heap, but it should hold up for a while longer. We've saved the money for a new furnace. Come on, let's go drinking..."
The black-clad academicians chatted and laughed as they gradually walked away.
"The white mist was the remnant essence of the corpse's cultivation?"
In the Corpse Incineration Room, Li Ye seemed to understand what had happened. He grew unbearably excited.
Corpses were delivered to the Corpse Refining Courtyard every day, and the Corpse Incineration Furnace could refine the cultivation essence within them...
Then wouldn't I be able to gain boundless cultivation in no time?
Li Ye stared at the furnace as if it were a priceless treasure. Suddenly, his expression shifted. "...It's this thing!"
Wasn't this the oversized red-furnace pendant I'd bought online for 9.9 yuan with free shipping?
Had I bought a divine artifact, and had it transmigrated here with me?
Before you continue