Water Ghost

After Zhou Yan and Ma Yan walked out of Tianhong Medical Hall, Ma Yan couldn't help asking, "How is your cultivation of the health method coming along?"

"I've already learned it." Zhou Yan nodded slightly.

Ma Yan immediately let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."

After returning to the house, Zhou Yan went straight to check on the Zombie, which was being nurtured inside the coffin.

Once a Zombie reached the Black Zombie stage, advancing further became extremely difficult. However, the Yin energy here greatly benefited Zombies, and when combined with the secret methods of the Corpse Refining Technique, it could help them grow quickly.

The Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique focused on refining and controlling corpses. It contained many methods for improving a corpse, as well as numerous techniques for controlling one.

With Zhou Yan's current cultivation, he couldn't yet use the more profound methods, so he practiced only the basic techniques.

Now that everything was on track, Zhou Yan finally let his lingering worries ease.

Having lived two lifetimes, he quickly regained his composure and continued his diligent cultivation and meditation as before.

During the day, he practiced the Five Animal Frolics and studied the Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique. At night, he cultivated the Mystic Yin Art and practiced Corpse Controlling.

Thanks to that drop of Profound Yin Essence Blood, Zhou Yan found it quite easy to handle the first Zombie he had refined. He soon controlled it with ease and felt no backlash at all.

Besides that, he practiced the Shennong Health Cultivation Method once each morning and evening to help his body recover as quickly as possible.

While recovering, he also took care to disguise his condition before returning home, so his mother and younger siblings wouldn't worry...

Inside the new house.

Zhou Yan sat cross-legged, with the Zombie behind him.

He wasn't absorbing the Zombie's corpse energy or Yin energy. Instead, he was directly absorbing the Yin energy between heaven and earth and refining it.

The lesson from before was still fresh in his mind. Until his body had fully recovered, Zhou Yan wouldn't push it any further and risk irreparable damage.

"Exhale..."

A while later, Zhou Yan slowly opened his eyes, sensing that he had successfully condensed another drop of Profound Yin Essence Blood.

By now, he had condensed twenty-five drops of Profound Yin Essence Blood in his heart.

Including the drop he had used to refine the Zombie, Zhou Yan had condensed twenty-six drops in total.

Even though he followed an unorthodox path, and even with the system's assistance, this speed still seemed astonishingly fast.

Taoist Ma hadn't specified how long it had taken him to condense his Essence Blood, but the fact that he had cultivated for decades and was still stuck in the Essence Blood Realm said it all.

Even without the system's help, Zhou Yan reckoned that condensing one hundred and eight drops of Essence Blood to break through to the Qi-Inducing Realm wouldn't be difficult.

It seems my cultivation talent isn't bad. I might even be a genius, Zhou Yan thought to himself.

The thought brought a hint of joy to his heart.

After finishing his cultivation, Zhou Yan grew restless from sitting still and suddenly felt like going outside for a walk.

The sky was already pitch-black. It seemed peaceful, yet endless darkness filled the night.

Before he began cultivating, even when his Spring Leg skill had reached the minor-achievement stage, he would never have gone out at night.

After all, no matter how skilled you were, you still had to fear a butcher's cleaver.

Even a minor injury could leave him unable to work for days, and it might even become infected.

People at the bottom of society couldn't afford to take such risks.

But now, he really did want to go outside and feel the loneliness and quiet of the night, along with its deep darkness.

He felt as if he were becoming more and more a part of the darkness.

Once the thought occurred to him, Zhou Yan acted on it. He draped the Zombie in a thick cloak, covering even its head completely, and then went out.

The house was in a remote area, with few homes nearby. A river ran not far away.

Zhou Yan reached the riverbank and walked slowly along the stream. Without realizing it, he began to relax, and his mind felt much clearer.

He had spent all this time cooped up in the house. He hadn't thought much of it until today, when he realized that he had been feeling a little stifled.

Not much, but the feeling might build up over time and affect his state of mind.

Of course, more likely, it would simply fade away one day without his noticing.

People sometimes got caught up in their own thoughts, but sometimes they also learned to forgive themselves.

Life was short. Without that, it would be too hard to get through it!

"Hm? Someone's there?"

Zhou Yan suddenly noticed a child of about eleven or twelve by the river in the distance. The child held a fishing net and stood on the bank, looking around as if searching for something.

He was about the same age as Zhou Chuan, but much thinner—nothing but skin and bones.

"Fishing this late at night?"

Zhou Yan instinctively furrowed his brow.

What kind of unlucky kid would go fishing at a time like this? Didn't he know how dangerous it was?

The river didn't look like much, but every year at least a hundred corpses were thrown into it.

Most had been murdered and dumped in the river, while a few people had met their end in the water. So the local families rarely let their children play near it.

Even so, three to five people drowned in the river each year.

Just then, as an undercurrent suddenly surged beneath the water, a clump of black hair shot up and wrapped around the child's feet.

The child stumbled and fell straight into the river.

"Ah..."

Caught completely off guard, the child was dragged beneath the water. Before long, a floating corpse would appear on the surface.

"Help..."

The child flailed and managed only half a cry for help before rapidly sinking beneath the water.

Just as he was about to drown, a shadow suddenly appeared. It grabbed the child's arm and hauled him back up.

The force was tremendous. The child was yanked so hard that he cried out in pain, feeling as though his body had been torn in two.

Fortunately, he was finally pulled out of the water and had his life spared.

"San Kuazi, it's you! Are you trying to get yourself killed? How dare you come here at night?" Zhou Yan finally recognized the child's face. He knew him.

Or rather, after living here for more than a decade, he knew everyone from the nearby streets.

San Kuazi was still shaken. He stood frozen for a long time before noticing Zhou Yan.

He looked him over for quite a while, then called out uncertainly, "Big Brother Zhou Yan?"

"Who else would it be, besides me?" Zhou Yan gave him a hard slap on the back of the head.

He had been the neighborhood kids' leader since childhood. At thirteen, he had already taken on the responsibility of supporting his family. Many nearby families praised him as "someone else's child," so he held a great deal of authority over the younger kids.

Of course, half that authority had been earned with his fists.

Xiao Qi, who pulled carts, and San Kuazi here had both been his underlings.

Seeing Zhou Yan gave San Kuazi a lot more courage. He stopped trembling and quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Big Brother Zhou Yan, there's a Water Ghost in the river. I was nearly dragged under just now..."