The Final Refinement

As the saying goes, "He who travels a hundred miles finds the halfway point at ninety."

Zhou Yan did not want any unexpected accidents to ruin his hard work at the very final stage of the refining process.

Having seen such tropes countless times in movies and television shows in his past life, he became even more cautious and prudent as the critical moment approached, determined to avoid any regrets.

Seeing Zhou Yan's resolute expression, Ma Yan stopped trying to persuade him, merely advising him to pace his cultivation and not to push himself until he was physically spent.

Even if he did not care about himself, he should at least think of his mother and his two younger siblings at home.

If he were gone, the pillar of the family would collapse, and the family itself might even fall apart.

After Ma Yan left, Zhou Yan closed the door and instinctively wanted to head into the inner room to cultivate.

But as he took a step, he remembered his current condition and let out a soft sigh.

Even if he wanted to keep grinding, the circumstances simply wouldn't allow it!

"Forget it, I need to balance tension and relaxation; I shouldn't actually wreck my body."

Zhou Yan muttered to himself, practiced a round of the Five Animal Frolics, and then picked up the Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique to study.

As for rest, that was out of the question.

Five hours of sleep a day was already a luxury, sufficient for the body's needs.

It was just that Zhou Yan had completely forgotten that in the modern era, he used to sleep a full nine hours every day, and even when he was pulling a rickshaw, he made sure to get eight hours of sleep.

Perhaps it was something he had subconsciously pushed out of his mind.

Soon enough, the forty-ninth day finally arrived.

After getting off work at the police station, Ma Yan headed straight here. He didn't even bother to eat at home, rushing over with two pounds of pig head meat and some braised offal he had picked up on the way.

How could he possibly miss such an important moment?

If Zhou Yan truly succeeded, it wouldn't just be his own life that changed; both the Zhou and Ma families had a chance to turn their fortunes around.

This was the reason Ma Yan had been running around for Zhou Yan, busy to the point of exhaustion.

While familial affection was certainly a factor, profit was also an inseparable part of the equation!

"How is it?"

After Zhou Yan opened the door, Ma Yan's first words were to ask about the progress of the corpse refining.

"Only the final step remains before it is complete," Zhou Yan said.

Ma Yan's eyes lit up. "That's great."

Immediately, he handed the pig head meat and braised offal to Zhou Yan.

"Eat up quickly, you need your strength to get things done."

His mindset remained simple: as long as one was well-fed, there were no problems that couldn't be solved.

Not to mention, this was all meat.

Zhou Yan didn't waste words; he truly needed to nourish himself.

Over the past half-month, he had eased the intensity of his cultivation, allowing his body to recover, and his appearance was no longer as terrifying as it had been two weeks ago.

However, he was still noticeably thin, and his face lacked any healthy color.

Complete recovery would not be easy.

Zhou Yan wolfed down the food, finishing the two pounds of pig head meat and three pounds of braised offal in less than ten minutes, leaving Ma Yan, who was watching from the side, secretly clicking his tongue.

After one began practicing, to say nothing of other consumption, the daily cost of food alone was a massive expense.

"How much longer do we have to wait?"

Seeing that Zhou Yan hadn't made a move after finishing his meal, Ma Yan couldn't help but ask.

Zhou Yan said calmly, "We must wait until the first quarter of the Zi hour, when the Yin energy is at its peak and the bright moon hangs high; that is the time for the final step of the refining. There is no rushing this."

"The first quarter of the Zi hour? Isn't that still two or three hours away?" Ma Yan was stunned.

Zhou Yan shrugged slightly. "So, you can go back and reassure Big Sister first, so she doesn't worry. Just come back when the time is right."

"You could have said so earlier."

Ma Yan stood up, grumbled irritably, and left the house.

Only after Ma Yan was far away did Zhou Yan softly reply, "You didn't ask."

This was the first time Zhou Yan had been alone for such a long time, and he felt a certain amount of pressure and unease.

By speaking just now, he had vented some of that internal pressure, and his heart gradually calmed down.

For the remaining time, he did nothing but sit cross-legged in meditation, focusing his mind to adjust his state to its peak.

As the Zi hour approached, Ma Yan returned.

This time, he was visibly more nervous, to the point where he couldn't even speak.

The closer it got to this moment, the more nervous he felt.

Zhou Yan, on the other hand, was incredibly calm, his heart as still as an ancient well.

He and Ma Yan were like two extremes; the closer they reached the final moment, the calmer he became, forcibly suppressing all the restlessness, unease, and worry he had felt before.

Neither of them spoke. After locking the main gate, they headed straight into the inner room.

Zhou Yan and Ma Yan worked together to move the coffin into the courtyard, and at Zhou Yan's signal, Ma Yan retreated far away.

As for Zhou Yan himself, he was calculating the time and sensing the density of the Yin energy between heaven and earth.

At a quarter past midnight, Zhou Yan abruptly flipped open the coffin lid, brushed away the Yin soil from the corpse's face, and exposed its head to the moonlight.

As the moonlight shone upon the corpse's face, the once-dead silence of the creature began to stir.

Its limbs trembled incessantly, and its mouth opened from time to time, revealing fangs that grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the corpse's hands also sprouted nails, turning black and sharp.

"Rise."

Zhou Yan cast a spell on the corpse, his right hand forming a sword-finger, and tapped lightly on its forehead.

The next moment, the corpse stood straight up, its aura beginning to surge as massive amounts of Yin energy gathered from all directions into its body.

Following Zhou Yan's spellcasting and the illumination of the moonlight, the corpse's movements became increasingly vigorous, and the aura within it grew ever stronger.

Soon, a large amount of white hair appeared on the surface of the corpse's skin.

This was the first stage of a zombie: the White Zombie.

At this stage, the corpse was white, its movements sluggish, and it feared light, fire, water, livestock, and even humans.

It was like the lowest-level wandering ghost, fearing the three fires of life on a living person.

If that were all there was to it, Zhou Yan would not have gone to such great lengths to refine it.

Under the influence of the talismans and the moonlight, those white hairs quickly began to transform into black, becoming a mix of white and black.

Watching this scene, a flash of brilliance crossed Zhou Yan's eyes.

To reach such a level on his first attempt at refining a zombie was already quite impressive.

Yet, he still felt it wasn't enough; he could do even better.

The next moment, Zhou Yan stepped forward, bit his index finger, and forced out a drop of Profound Yin Essence Blood.

Catching the scent of the Profound Yin Essence Blood, the zombie moved even more violently, its eyes snapping open to stare greedily at the drop of blood with a sickly green gaze, as if it might pounce at any moment...