Grind to the Death

The next evening.

Zhou Yan spent the entire day thoroughly cleaning and organizing the residence, discarding what was useless and burning what was not, while preparing the yin soil, blood barrels, ritual incense, and other necessities for corpse refining, waiting only for the arrival of the corpse to begin.

Under normal circumstances, given his novice cultivation level, refining a zombie would not be so easy.

However, the Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique possessed a certain profound mystery, allowing even a beginner practitioner like Zhou Yan to refine and command zombies.

This was the unique nature of heterodox paths; while they lacked the power and completeness of orthodox sects, they relied on unconventional, edge-cutting methods.

Zhou Yan practiced the Mystic Yin Art, refining the energy of profound yin to condense his own profound yin essence blood.

His essence blood held a particular allure and benefit for zombie-type evil spirits; the final step of refining a zombie involved casting a spell to inject his profound yin essence blood into the corpse's body to establish ultimate control.

With the corpse yet to arrive, Zhou Yan first practiced the Mystic Yin Art, his complexion turning increasingly pale, taking on a jade-like hue.

[Mystic Yin Art proficiency +3]

[Mystic Yin Art proficiency +1]

[Mystic Yin Art proficiency +2]

[...]

By the time he finished a full cycle, his body was ice-cold, feeling nothing like that of a living person.

The faster the Mystic Yin Art was practiced and the more yin energy absorbed, the more severe this condition became.

It could be said that the faster one's cultivation improved, the more easily the body would collapse.

At such times, nourishment from large quantities of blood-replenishing medicinal herbs was required to mitigate these drawbacks.

Note that it was only mitigation, not total elimination.

The more precious the blood-replenishing herbs, the better the effect.

This was the reason Taoist Ma had spent decades struggling within the Essence Blood Realm; most of his wealth was spent on replenishing blood, dispelling corpse miasma and yin energy, and even the zombies he refined were merely passable.

Zhou Yan had discovered this problem shortly after beginning his practice.

However, besides blood-replenishing herbs, he had another method: martial arts.

But not the practice of Spring Leg.

Martial arts training also required blood and energy; practicing an external skill like Spring Leg would only cause even more severe depletion of his internal blood and energy.

Zhou Yan practiced the Five Animal Frolics, a discipline brought over from his previous life that provided him with significant benefits.

Over the past three years, he had relied on the Five Animal Frolics to bring his Spring Leg to a minor success stage.

Now, he was relying on the Five Animal Frolics to accelerate the recovery of his internal blood and energy, increasing the frequency of his practice and thereby promoting the improvement of his cultivation.

After these days of practice, coupled with Zhou Yan's reckless spending on blood-replenishing herbs, he had successfully condensed his third drop of profound yin essence blood.

The first drop had taken half a day, the second over a day, and the third two days... the speed of condensing essence blood would only grow slower, while his body's strength and resilience would continuously increase in tandem.

[Five Animal Frolics proficiency +5]

[Five Animal Frolics proficiency +6]

[Five Animal Frolics proficiency +3]

[...]

With the bright moon hanging high, Zhou Yan's movements in the Five Animal Frolics suddenly paused.

The next moment, his movements became even more fluid, seemingly imbued with a touch of spiritual charm.

The Five Animal Frolics had broken through.

After a while, Zhou Yan slowly finished his practice and summoned the system.

[Name: Zhou Yan]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation: Essence Blood Realm (Profound Yin Essence Blood: 3)]
[Technique: Mystic Yin Art (First Layer) (Novice 57/100)]
[Skills: Cart Pulling (Major Success 238/1600), Five Animal Frolics (Minor Success 11/800), Spring Leg (Minor Success 279/800), Corpse Refining (Novice 1/100), Corpse Controlling (Novice 1/100).]
[Items: Soul-Fixing Lamp, Soul-Suppressing Bell, Corpse-Suppressing Stone.]

A faint smile appeared on the corner of Zhou Yan's mouth; the breakthrough in the Five Animal Frolics had further accelerated his blood and energy recovery.

This not only reduced the consumption of medicinal herbs but also increased the time available for practice.

The essence of the Heavenly Dao Diligence System lay in one thing: grinding.

As long as the body could hold out, he would grind until he dropped.

Every session of practice brought a tangible improvement, a sensation that was deeply addictive.

Why do so many people give up? Ultimately, it is because their efforts are not proportional to their gains; those who can endure the most hardship often end up with endless suffering.

If effort always yielded results, the people of the Rabbit nation would surely out-compete everyone.

Seeing that Ma Yan had yet to arrive, Zhou Yan prepared to grind through the Mystic Yin Art once more.

Just then, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

"It's me."

Ma Yan's voice drifted in.

Zhou Yan quickly stepped forward and opened the door. It was indeed Ma Yan, and he was pulling a rickshaw with a figure completely wrapped up on it.

"Heh, brother-in-law, since when did you become a rickshaw puller?" Zhou Yan teased.

Ma Yan pulled the vehicle into the courtyard and shut the door before speaking: "I originally wanted to use a flatbed cart, but it wasn't secure enough, so I just grabbed a rickshaw to deliver the corpse. Hurry and see if it's usable."

Zhou Yan stopped joking and quickly moved the corpse into the inner room. After removing the burlap covering, he carefully examined it under the candlelight.

Ma Yan followed behind, watching Zhou Yan inspect the body with meticulous detail.

The serious, almost sinister look on Zhou Yan's face, combined with the gloomy atmosphere of the room, made his skin crawl.

If the person before him weren't his brother-in-law and childhood friend whom he had watched grow up, Ma Yan would have left the moment he arrived.

It was just too creepy...

Zhou Yan used the knowledge and experience of corpse refining he had gained from books to thoroughly probe the body. He confirmed that there were no missing parts and that the internal organs still retained a degree of vitality; clearly, the time of death had not exceeded three days.

Although it didn't compare to a top-tier specimen that had been dead for less than a day, it could be considered mid-tier, which was more than enough for a beginner like him.

One had to understand that not just any corpse could be used to refine a zombie.

Beyond the fact that incomplete corpses were unusable, those who had committed suicide or died of illness were also unsuitable for refining.

Naturally, corpses that had died from lightning strikes or fire were strictly forbidden.

Part of this was due to the taboos of the practice, while another part was due to practical, realistic reasons.

There was no need to mention incomplete corpses, but corpses that died of illness were essentially hollowed out; even if they were successfully refined, they would be inferior products.

Thus, Zhou Yan suspected that over time, corpses of those who died from illness were simply discarded.

As a result, the number of corpses suitable for refining into zombies was incredibly scarce.

Furthermore, corpses with peculiar fates or birth charts could not be used for refining either.

Zhou Yan had flipped through the Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique many times before he finally understood that there were so many taboos and precautions to consider when it came to corpse refining.

A moment of carelessness could lead to failure...