The Sha Corpse's "Gift"

Lu Chen glanced at his remaining Demon Devil Lifespan of just one year, pondered for a moment, and decided to test the waters first.

"Invest 1 year of Demon Devil Lifespan to begin infusion."

[Command confirmed, commencing deduction...]

[Year one: You attempt to comprehend those twisted runes, but find no clue. Day after day, you doodle on scrap paper, consuming tons of low-quality cinnabar. Only at the end of the year, during a moment of absent-mindedness, do you unconsciously draw a single stroke containing a faint, barely perceptible trace of spiritual energy.]

The feedback on the panel made Lu Chen's eyes light up sharply.

There was a way!

Though the efficiency was abysmally low—a whole year of bitter cultivation yielding just one stroke—it proved this path was viable!

But his Demon Devil Lifespan was already exhausted. To continue the deduction, he could only wait for new income.

Early the next morning, Foreman Wang's "nurturing" arrived right on schedule.

Two Warriors carried a corpse radiating a thick, ominous aura and tossed it into the Corpse Handling Room.

"Foreman Wang says this was dug up from the mass grave outside the city. Let you, kid, get some practice!"

Pinching their noses, the Warriors dropped the line and hurried off, as if staying one more second would taint them with bad luck.

Lu Chen stepped forward and lifted the ragged straw mat covering the corpse.

A foul stench mixing rotting flesh and yin balefulness rushed at his face.

Beneath the mat lay a human corpse long dead, yet it hadn't decayed—instead, it showed an eerie freshness.

The skin was an abnormal bluish-gray, the body stiff as iron.

Most horrifyingly, its surface was covered in a layer of fine black hair an inch long, and the nails on its ten fingers had turned pitch-black and sharp, like beast claws.

Sha Corpse!

The word instantly sprang into Lu Chen's mind.

This was a human corpse tainted by earthly Killing Intent, nourished over a long time until it transformed into the lowest grade of demonic creature.

It had no intelligence, only the instinct to devour the lifeblood of living beings—more vicious than ordinary zombies, and far harder to deal with.

"Kid, how do you feel?"

Foreman Wang's voice came through the crack in the door, dripping with sarcasm. He didn't even dare step into the room.

"This is good stuff—condensed balefulness, excellent material for making some sinister Magic Items. Be careful not to damage the material, and don't get yourself killed."

"Thanks for your concern, Foreman Wang."

Lu Chen then pulled on leather gloves, picked up his tools, took a deep breath, and began processing the Sha Corpse.

"Sss—"

The moment his scalpel touched the Sha Corpse's skin, a bone-chilling, icy Killing Intent shot up along the blade, trying to invade his body.

This Killing Intent wasn't as domineering as the Black Claw Heart Rot Sha, but it was even more yin-cold and viscous.

Lu Chen's heart tightened, and he immediately activated the Turtle Breath Meditation Method.

The inner qi in his dantian circulated through his whole body, forming a weak but resilient barrier.

At the same time, the trace of resistance he'd developed after weathering the Black Claw Heart Rot Sha now came into play.

The invading Killing Intent seemed to meet its nemesis, its power reduced by more than thirty percent.

Even so, Lu Chen still felt chilled to the bone, his movements growing stiff.

He deliberately exaggerated this struggle.

Sometimes he "slipped" and dropped his tools on the floor; other times he staggered back a few steps, gasping for breath, putting on a trembling, terrified act as if he might collapse from the Killing Intent at any moment.

Foreman Wang, listening from outside the door, curled his lips in a contemptuous sneer.

Sure enough, a useless waste. Looks like his luck last time ran out.

Yet beneath Lu Chen's clumsy, slow motions, the Sha Corpse's skin, bones, sinews, and flesh were being perfectly separated with methodical precision.

With the most exquisite knife skills, he avoided the nodes where Killing Intent was densest, each cut landing exactly in the gaps of its flow.

The whole process seemed fraught with danger, but in truth, it was perilous without real harm.

When he finally stripped the last bone, covered in black hair, from the corpse, he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, his face deathly pale.

And in his mind, the system's beautiful chime rang out.

[Processed one Sha Corpse. Harvested 15 years of Demon Devil Lifespan.]

[Host has been in prolonged contact with and resisted Killing Intent. Resistance to this type of energy has slightly increased.]

Fifteen years!

Even the lowest grade of Sha Corpse provided fifteen years of lifespan!

Lu Chen's heart once again pounded uncontrollably.

Foreman Wang pushed open the door, saw the perfectly separated materials on the floor still wreathed in Killing Intent, and a glint of greed flashed in his eyes.

Then he saw Lu Chen's pathetic, half-dead state, and the last shred of doubt in his mind vanished completely.

This kid really was relying on some unknown stroke of luck, working by draining his own life force.

"Mm, not bad. As long as he's not dead, it's fine." Foreman Wang grunted in satisfaction, ordered the materials taken away, and didn't spare Lu Chen another glance before turning and leaving.

Lu Chen lay sprawled on the ground, feeling the fullness of his lifespan within and the faint, yet slightly strengthened, resistance to Killing Intent. A barely perceptible curve tugged at the corner of his mouth.

This kind of nurturing—he hoped for more of it, as much as possible.

Late at night, in the dead of silence.

Lu Chen sat cross-legged on the cold stone bed, carefully taking out the remaining two Qi and Blood Pills from his bosom.

The rich, medicinal fragrance felt utterly out of place in this cold, gloomy environment.

Without a moment's hesitation, he tossed one of the pills into his mouth.

The pill dissolved instantly upon entering, transforming into a torrent far more surging and scorching than before, crashing violently into his limbs and bones!

"Just what I needed!"

With a thought, Lu Chen immediately activated the Turtle Breath Meditation Method at full force.

The wisp of inner Qi that had just grown stronger in his dantian, driven madly by this vast medicinal power, exploded like a flame doused in oil!

He guided this blazing energy along the perfect route the system had completed, washing and tempering his meridians over and over again.

With each cycle of circulation, a sliver of the domineering medicinal force was refined, merging into the inner Qi of his dantian, making it purer and denser.

His meridians, under this violent scouring and nourishment, were continuously widened and strengthened, emitting faint crackling sounds.

After an unknown span of time, when the last trace of medicinal power had been fully refined and absorbed, Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes.

He parted his lips and exhaled a white arrow of breath half a foot long. The arrow condensed without dispersing, striking the stone wall opposite with a faint, muffled thud.

Looking inward at his dantian, the inner Qi had grown from the thickness of a pinky finger to that of a thumb, coiled within, slowly rotating, brimming with explosive power.

The True Qi of the Turtle Breath Meditation Method was only a step away from minor mastery!

Lu Chen could clearly feel that his strength, endurance, and even his five senses had all undergone a qualitative leap under the nourishment of this dense inner Qi.

"What a fine pill."