Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique

When Li Deyou came out with his guards, he happened to witness the scene. He was so terrified that his eyes went wide and his legs went weak, leaving him rooted to the spot.

He wasn't the only one. The guards beside him were just as badly frightened.

Many of them had trained in martial arts and firearms, and some had even killed before. Yet they were all shaken by the ferocious expression on Zhou Yan's face as he killed the zombie. They could only think that this young man was a true menace.

Even the zombie, which had looked so terrifying before, seemed somewhat pitiable now, like a helpless creature being brutalized.

But no one dared speak. They could only stare blankly as Zhou Yan continued to stab the corpse.

Only when its chest had been nearly pierced to shreds and the Peach Wood Sword snapped from the force of his blows did Zhou Yan gradually come back to his senses...

When faced with danger, some people were so terrified that they lost control of their limbs and could only wait helplessly for death.

Others hit rock bottom and rebounded, falling into a hysterical state, even descending into madness.

Zhou Yan was much like the latter, except that a sliver of clarity remained deep inside him, so he gradually began to recover.

He checked his condition. It seemed all right.

Aside from feeling a little drained, he had no other problems.

"Master, thank you for saving my family. Please come inside and have some tea," Li Deyou said, bowing respectfully to Zhou Yan.

He completely ignored the rickshaw nearby and Zhou Yan's outfit as a rickshaw puller.

In his eyes, the man before him was either an expert who concealed his abilities among ordinary people or a disciple of some other master.

The rest didn't matter.

Zhou Yan quickly collected himself and nodded slightly. "Master Li, please have some firewood prepared at once. Peach wood branches or lychee wood would be best. Burn the zombie along with the Daoist who was killed.

"There is corpse poison on the zombie. Anyone killed by one can easily turn into a zombie, so the body must be burned as soon as possible..."

Li Deyou hurriedly replied, "All right. I'll have someone prepare it right away."

At the same time, he couldn't help feeling secretly relieved.

Fortunately, he had stopped the expert. Otherwise, his family might have died without even knowing what had killed them.

The expert's words and bearing only confirmed his suspicions.

How could an ordinary rickshaw puller have such bearing and grace?

Laboring under his mistaken assumption, Li Deyou became even more respectful toward Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan deliberately spoke vaguely and glossed over many details, even tossing in a few empty words, making Li Deyou find him increasingly unfathomable.

It wasn't that Zhou Yan meant to deceive him. He simply understood human nature all too well.

Especially someone like Li Deyou, a combination of landowner and businessman. Though he looked kind, he was really an old fox.

To survive in such troubled times and expand his family business, he couldn't possibly be as simple as he seemed.

He would never entrust his own safety and that of his family to another person's whim.

After their conversation, Li Deyou was convinced that Zhou Yan was probably the disciple of some master.

It was only after speaking with Li Deyou for a while that Zhou Yan learned what had happened at the Li Residence.

It turned out that the chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep at the Li Residence had been dying one after another, all drained of blood.

Li Deyou was no ordinary man. He immediately suspected that an evil spirit had infiltrated his home, so he hurriedly invited a well-known master to drive it out.

At first, everything had gone smoothly. They found the zombie hiding in the Li Residence and successfully killed it.

But just then, the zombie controlled by the master suddenly turned on him and severely wounded him.

The master and the zombie fought desperately. In the end, the master was killed by the very zombie he had been keeping...

Zhou Yan was speechless when he heard the story.

So the Daoist had been a practitioner of the unorthodox arts, and he had cultivated the extremely dangerous art of Corpse Controlling.

Worse, at a crucial moment, he had been killed by the zombie he himself had raised.

That... was incredibly unlucky!

"Master, these are the things that belonged to Master Ma. Please see if there's anything else that needs to be destroyed."

Just then, a servant brought over a tray. On it lay a booklet, an oil lamp, a bronze bell, several black stones, and some coins.

Zhou Yan's eyes flickered. He picked up the booklet first. Five bold, sweeping characters—Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique—were written on the cover.

"He carried it with him. Either his cultivation was poor, or this was extremely important."

He thought this silently, then opened it.

It contained many cultivation methods and annotations, making Zhou Yan's eyes widen slightly.

At that moment, he was almost certain.

This was a cultivation technique, and a very precious one at that.

As for the oil lamp, bronze bell, and unidentified black stones, they were all related to Magic Artifacts.

Zhou Yan glanced at the coins, then graciously gave them away. "Master Li, these are Five Emperors Coins. String them together, and they'll protect you and ward off evil and misfortune."

Li Deyou accepted the Five Emperors Coins, delighted, and thanked him profusely.

Zhou Yan put away the rest of the items, and Li Deyou acted as if he hadn't seen a thing.

Those things were quite sinister. He felt more at ease with Zhou Yan taking them.

Even if they had stayed in his hands, he would have thrown them away or destroyed them. He absolutely wouldn't dare keep them in his home.

Master Ma had been killed by his own zombie just moments ago. How could he dare keep the man's things in his residence?

Before long, Master Ma and the two zombies had been completely burned. Only then did Zhou Yan take his leave.

As he was leaving, Li Deyou gave Zhou Yan two bundles of silver dollars.

One bundle held fifty silver dollars, so the two bundles amounted to a hundred.

Zhou Yan was delighted by this unexpected windfall.

After politely refusing for a moment, he quickly pocketed the money.

After Zhou Yan had gone a short distance, he swiftly turned his rickshaw around and headed toward Zhouli Alley.

Before leaving, he had casually asked for Master Ma's address.

Now he was going to claim the man's belongings.

Master Ma was dead, and he had lived alone. If Zhou Yan didn't take those things, someone else would only end up with them.

Besides, if there were any evil spirits in the man's home, he could deal with them in time.

After giving himself a few words of reassurance, Zhou Yan hurried on without stopping.

This unexpected turn of events made the flame that had never quite gone out in his heart suddenly begin to swell.

Making a fortune from the dead was secondary to him. More than anything, Zhou Yan wanted to use this chance to embark on the path of cultivation.

That way, he could protect himself and his family, improve their living conditions, and perhaps even escape the lowest rungs of society.

Just as Zhou Yan had told himself that morning, he absolutely refused to spend his whole life at the very bottom, living from one day to the next.

He would make something of himself...