A roast chicken sat by the door, along with a jug of Daughter's Red.
Li Ye had been here for more than ten days, and had eaten nothing but steamed corn buns the whole time.
This was his first roast chicken.
It really was plump.
It had to be delicious.
What sort of fierce corpse would make the Corpse Refining Courtyard send him a roast chicken?
"Am I definitely going to die tonight?"
Li Ye murmured, then grabbed the chicken and started tearing into it.
The roast chicken was still hot, plump and juicy. Maybe it was because he'd eaten so many steamed corn buns, but it didn't taste any worse than the food packed with chemicals back in his previous life.
"Chicken so fine, basketball so dangerous. Hey, what are you doing..."
Li Ye happily gnawed away, humming a catchy little tune from his previous life as he ate.
Every now and then, he took a sip of wine.
The alcohol in this world wasn't very strong, only around ten or twenty proof, but it still gave his throat a slight burn. Li Ye wasn't too fond of it.
Night fell, and waves of Black-Clad Academicians hurried toward the courtyards under their charge.
After heating the furnace, eating the roast chicken, and washing his hands, Li Ye saw two Corpse Deliverers carry a body covered in a Corpse Wrapping Cloth into the Corpse Incineration Hall.
He keenly noticed that both men's backs were soaked.
Sweat kept streaming down them.
After placing the corpse in the Corpse Incineration Room, the two men hurried off.
Right afterward, the Black-Clad Academicians assigned to Li Ye poured in. They shut the main doors and stood on either side, their steel sabers held half-drawn.
The sight made Li Ye's heart tighten, and sobered him up by a third.
He clasped his hands toward them, but before he could say a word, he turned and went into the Corpse Incineration Room.
Someone immediately stepped up behind him and locked the door.
Wine gave a coward courage. Li Ye still had most of his drunkenness left.
So he sang, "Chicken so fine, basketball so dangerous..."
A lovely song drifted out of the room.
"Boss, this one's got no chance, right?"
One of the Black-Clad Academicians asked.
"He's already eating roast chicken. What chance could he have?"
The leader gave his answer without expression.
Though he'd grown a little fond of Li Ye over the past few days, that didn't mean anything.
Corpse Incinerators were replaced far too often. What Li Ye and the others didn't know was that the Corpse Refining Courtyard would never send a roast chicken unless there was at least a chance of survival.
This was the thirteenth one the courtyard had sent out this year. The previous twelve were all dead.
"Stay alert!" the leader barked.
Li Ye decisively lifted the corpse onto the rack of the Corpse Incineration Furnace and was about to push it inside.
But his drunken curiosity still got the better of him.
This seemed pretty peaceful.
Was a roast chicken really necessary?
If a fierce corpse had earned him a roast chicken, wouldn't he regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't see what it looked like?
Li Ye lifted the Corpse Wrapping Cloth.
Beneath it lay the corpse of a girl around seventeen or eighteen years old.
Her eyelashes were long, her features lovely as a painting, her nose high and delicate, and her small cherry-red lips were touched with pale rouge, bright and alluring.
The girl had defined features and fair skin, a graceful neck and a slender figure. She wore an ice-blue dress that spread around her like a lotus in bloom. Her sleeves, ribbons, and hem were all perfectly smooth, without a single crease.
A classical beauty.
The corpses Li Ye had dealt with these past few days had all been filthy, hideous, or wrapped in killing intent. This was the first one as clean and beautiful as the girl before him.
Her face was beautiful even in death. She must have been a beauty when she was alive.
Just as Li Ye was letting his imagination run wild, the female corpse's long eyelashes trembled. Her eyes suddenly opened.
"Hey, girl, wanna play basketball?"
Li Ye's face went pale. All traces of drunkenness vanished as he spoke and retreated at lightning speed.
Confusion flickered across the female corpse's face, then her gaze turned sharp.
She rose to her feet, her sash fluttering and her hair streaming as an astonishing aura burst through the room.
Rolling waves of Corpse Qi formed a layer of astral wind around her body.
Astral meant fierce and unyielding, able to shatter anything in its path!
"A Corpse Cultivator!"
Looking at the woman's expression, a word surfaced in Li Ye's mind.
This wasn't a fierce corpse at all. She was a Corpse Cultivator.
How long had they left her at home?
They really didn't give a damn about a Corpse Incinerator's life.
Fierce corpses and Corpse Cultivators were fundamentally different.
The former were like beasts with unopened minds, dim and confused.
The latter had already gained intelligence. They might even fuse with fragments of their bodies' former owners' memories, becoming a continuation of the dead person's life.
Corpse Cultivators were just like ordinary people. They could speak and think, but one thing hadn't changed: they were bloodthirsty, violent, and cold-blooded.
Their blood ran cold, and they couldn't help pouncing on the living when they saw them.
That was why Corpse Cultivators were rejected by both humans and gods, and tolerated by neither heaven nor earth.
Corpse Cultivators had rejected all living things from the moment they were born.
Put simply, fierce corpses were lowly creatures, while Corpse Cultivators were primates.
The woman strode forward on a pair of long legs, her figure swaying gracefully. In a cold voice, she said, "Men are all scum."
Her voice was delicate and pleasant, with the crispness of a young girl's.
Whoosh!
The woman's body flickered, leaving a faint afterimage as her iron-hard, razor-sharp nails shot toward Li Ye's forehead.
This woman had definitely been at least fifth level in the Qi Gathering Realm when she was alive.
Li Ye watched the faint astral energy swirling around her nails. It was clearly the last trace of her Qi Gathering Realm cultivation left in her body after death, fused with her resentment to form corpse power.
Whoosh!
At the critical moment, Li Ye's tongue glowed. The forty-nine words of the Corpse Suppressing Incantation formed in an instant, and faint golden light struck the female corpse in the face.
Caught off guard, the female corpse was hit by Li Ye's spell. Her movements abruptly stopped, and she froze on the spot.
It worked?
Even Li Ye could hardly believe it. She was a powerful Corpse Cultivator, yet the Corpse Suppressing Incantation had still held firm.
Bang!
Before he could enjoy his success for long, killing intent surged inside the female corpse. It shook loose a spray of tiny golden lights, and she actually broke free of the Corpse Suppressing Incantation.
Roar!
The female corpse regained control of her body and let out a rolling, furious screech. Its piercing sound shook the room's doors and windows.
Li Ye took the brunt of it. Blood streamed from his seven orifices, and his head throbbed as though it would split. Clamping both hands over his ears, he quickly retreated.
If not for the support of his third-level Body Tempering Realm physique, he might already have passed out.
When a Corpse Cultivator emerged, strange signs appeared in the heavens.
The moment the female corpse opened her eyes, dark clouds crowded overhead outside. Howling winds whipped through the night, laced with flashes of lightning.
A gloomy, ominous, and uncanny presence filled every corner.
The Black-Clad Academicians standing guard outside changed expression.
Then they heard a terrifying screech come from inside the room.
The rolling sound waves seemed ready to tear their souls apart.
"Get ready!" the leader said gravely.
The Corpse Incinerator inside was probably dead.
Now it was their turn.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Every Black-Clad Academician drew the steel saber at his waist and gripped it in his hand. Their faces were more than a little tense.
The signs in the sky were too strange. The fierce corpse inside might be no ordinary one.
Inside the room, Li Ye said, "You can't kill me."
The female corpse abruptly stopped moving.
Li Ye continued, "I'm very strong!"
A trace of fear appeared on the female corpse's face.
Li Ye went on, "Before me, you have only one choice: surrender."
The female corpse untied her sash and used it to bind herself.
Li Ye said, "Don't resist, or I'll make sure you never reincarnate."
The female corpse trembled with fear, cold sweat pouring down her.
Li Ye picked her up and tossed her into the furnace.
As he spoke, a faint sheen flowed across his tongue.
Whatever you said, women believed—Words Manifest Reality.
Before you continue