Lu Chen glanced at the single year of Demon Devil Lifespan he had left, pondered for a moment, and decided to test things out first.
"Invest one year of Demon Devil Lifespan to begin the infusion."
[Command confirmed. Beginning simulation...] [Year One: You tried to understand the twisted runes, but had no clue where to start. Every day, you doodled on scrap paper, going through tons of cheap cinnabar. Only once, at the end of the year, did you absentmindedly draw a line containing an almost imperceptible trace of spiritual energy.]
The feedback on the panel made Lu Chen's eyes suddenly light up.
There was a way!
Although the process was frustratingly slow—one year of hard work had yielded just a single line—it proved that this path was possible!
But his Demon Devil Lifespan had run out. If he wanted to continue the simulation, he would have to wait for more to come in.
Early the next morning, Foreman Wang's "support" arrived right on cue.
Two strongmen carried a corpse radiating a dense, ominous aura and dumped it into the Corpse Handling Room.
"Foreman Wang says they dug this up from a mass grave outside the city. He wants you to get some practice, kid!"
Pinching their noses, the strongmen tossed out those words and hurried off, as if staying a second longer would bring them bad luck.
Lu Chen stepped forward and lifted the tattered straw mat covering the corpse.
A foul stench of decay mixed with sinister baleful energy hit him in the face.
Beneath the mat lay the long-dead corpse of a human. Yet it had not rotted. Instead, it looked unnaturally fresh.
Its skin was an abnormal blue-gray, and its body was stiff as iron.
Most horrifying of all, a layer of fine black hair, an inch long, had grown across its body. The nails on its ten fingers had also turned pitch-black and sharp, like beast claws.
A Sha Corpse!
The words leaped into Lu Chen's mind.
It was a human corpse corrupted by the baleful energy of the earth's ley lines. After being nourished by it for a long time, it had transformed into the lowest grade of demon.
It had no reason, only the instinct to devour the vitality and blood of living beings. It was more ferocious than an ordinary zombie, and even harder to handle.
"Kid, how's it feel?"
Foreman Wang's voice came through the crack in the door, dripping with mockery. He did not even dare enter the room.
"This is good stuff. Its baleful energy is concentrated, making it top-grade material for crafting certain sinister magical artifacts. Be careful. Don't damage the material, and don't get yourself killed."
"Thanks for your concern, Foreman Wang."
Then Lu Chen put on leather gloves, picked up his tools, took a deep breath, and began processing the Sha Corpse.
"Hiss—"
The moment his dissection knife touched the Sha Corpse's skin, a bone-chilling wave of baleful energy surged along the blade, trying to invade his body.
It was not as domineering as Black Claw Heart Rot Sha, but it was even colder and more viscous.
Lu Chen's heart tightened. He immediately began circulating the Turtle Breath Meditation Method.
The inner energy in his dantian flowed through his entire body, forming a faint but resilient barrier.
At the same time, the tiny bit of resistance he had gained from enduring Black Claw Heart Rot Sha earlier also came into play.
The baleful energy that had entered his body seemed to have met its natural enemy, its power weakened by at least thirty percent.
Even so, Lu Chen still felt cold all over, and his movements grew somewhat stiff.
He deliberately made himself look even worse.
Sometimes he "slipped" and dropped a tool on the ground; other times he staggered backward a few steps, gasping for breath, looking so terrified that he could barely withstand the baleful energy.
Outside the door, Foreman Wang listened to the commotion, the corner of his mouth lifting in a scornful sneer.
As expected, the kid was a useless good-for-nothing. It seemed his good luck from last time had run out.
Yet beneath Lu Chen's clumsy, slow movements, the Sha Corpse's skin, bones, sinews, and flesh were being separated perfectly and methodically.
With his superb knife skills, he avoided the nodes where the baleful energy was most concentrated. Every cut landed precisely in the gaps between its pulses.
The whole process looked fraught with danger, but in truth, he was never in any real danger.
When he had peeled the last black-haired bone from the corpse, he was so exhausted that he collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale.
Then the system's wonderful notification rang out in his mind.
[Processed one Sha Corpse. Gained 15 years of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [Through long-term exposure to and resistance against baleful energy, the host's resistance to this type of energy has increased slightly.]
Fifteen years!
A single lowest-grade Sha Corpse had provided fifteen years of lifespan!
Lu Chen's heart once again began pounding wildly, beyond his control.
Foreman Wang pushed open the door. Seeing the perfectly separated materials on the ground, still wreathed in baleful energy, a greedy glint flashed in his eyes.
Then he saw Lu Chen looking as if he were about to die, and the last trace of suspicion in his heart vanished completely.
The kid really had been relying on some unknown stroke of dumb luck, doing the work by burning through his own life.
"Mm, not bad. As long as you didn't die." Foreman Wang grunted with satisfaction, ordered his men to take away the materials, and left without so much as another glance at Lu Chen.
Lu Chen sprawled on the ground, feeling his lifespan replenished and his resistance to baleful energy strengthened by another tiny sliver. The corner of his mouth curled into a smile no one noticed.
He hoped this kind of "support" would keep coming.
Late at night, with everything quiet, Lu Chen sat cross-legged on the cold stone bed and carefully took the two remaining Qi and Blood Pills from his shirt.
Their rich medicinal fragrance seemed completely out of place in the frigid surroundings.
Without the slightest hesitation, he tossed one into his mouth.
The pill dissolved as soon as it touched his tongue, turning into a torrent far more powerful and scorching than before, which surged through his limbs and bones!
Bring it on!
Lu Chen's mind stirred, and he immediately circulated the Turtle Breath Meditation Method with all his strength.
The wisp of inner energy in his dantian, which had only just grown stronger, was driven by the vast medicinal power. Like a flame fed with hot oil, it suddenly surged in size!
He guided the scorching energy along the perfected route the system had filled in, again and again flushing and tempering his meridians.
With every cycle, a trace of the domineering medicinal power was refined and absorbed into the inner energy in his dantian, making it purer and more abundant.
Under the fierce flushing and nourishment, his meridians kept widening and strengthening, giving off a series of faint crackling sounds.
After an unknown amount of time, the last trace of medicinal power was finally refined and absorbed. Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes.
He opened his mouth and exhaled a white stream of breath half a foot long. It held together without dispersing, and when it struck the stone wall opposite him, it made a faint, muffled thud.
He peered into his dantian. The inner energy had grown from the thickness of his little finger to that of his thumb. It coiled within, slowly rotating, brimming with explosive power.
The Turtle Breath Meditation Method's astral energy was just one step away from the Minor Mastery Realm!
Lu Chen could clearly feel that his strength, endurance, and even his five senses had all made another qualitative leap under the nourishment of his abundant inner energy.
"What a pill!"