Borrowing Yin Lifespan

"Is this... an Eyeless Bodhisattva?"

He Ping felt a trace of surprise. There were few temples in the North, though Taoist shrines were plentiful. He was unfamiliar with this Bodhisattva statue carved from black stone, especially when he discovered that the Eyeless Bodhisattva was sitting in the lotus position with its hands spread wide, each palm embedded with an eyeball.

"What a strange Bodhisattva statue."

He did not reach out to touch it, his expression turning vigilant as his gaze quickly shifted elsewhere.

"This is?"

He Ping's expression was slightly startled.

As it turned out, the female corpse nearby was undergoing a corpse transformation. White fuzz had been growing slowly, but the moment this Bodhisattva statue was brought out, the growth of the white hair ceased instantly.

The head and face quickly reverted to the appearance of a normal corpse.

"Is this the effect of the Eyeless Bodhisattva? Still, it's a bit of a pity..."

He Ping had been somewhat disappointed, as this black stone Bodhisattva was likely not a treasure for extending life and thus held little value to him. However, since it could suppress corpse transformation, it was still a treasure of sorts, and taking it away wouldn't be a bad thing.

"Perfect. I'll take the corpse, this person, and the statue all together."

He Ping did not leave the sedan. He first used the "Eight-Origin Bone-Locking" technique to seal the corpse—which had been on the verge of transformation—and the statue, then commanded a few paper puppets to carry them away.

The paper puppets quickly lifted the sedan. Sitting on the chair, he silently regulated his breathing. By now, because the Screaming Soul Blood Silk Array had been broken, the surrounding ghost village and the entire domain had undergone drastic changes.

The village houses vanished in the blink of an eye, and the mountain hollow transformed into a desolate, overgrown potter's field.

As for the ghosts that had infested the village, most had fled into the Nether Realm, never to appear again.

Only a few corpses of men and horses remained on the potter's field—the remains of the Hu Ma Gang members.

"Hu Ma Gang... I suppose this is the end for them."

He Ping said this calmly, then shook his head and lowered the paper curtain. Freed from the constraints of the ghost domain, the paper sedan puppets lifted the carriage and transformed into a mass of shadowy ghosts, flowing rapidly along the tree lines before fading into the void, leaving no trace behind.

Several days later, the Hu Ma Gang's second-in-command, Chenxing Stone, went missing without a trace, and the numerous men sent to track and assassinate Xie San were all found dead in a potter's field thirty miles outside Suian City.

Undoubtedly, the news of Xie San's death and Chen Er's disappearance sent shockwaves through the region.

The Hu Ma Gang was a major power in the Northern Desert, and Xie San was a renowned figure in the martial arts world. He had extensive connections throughout North Prefecture and the North, and was a household name beyond Lingbei Pass. His death was bound to stir up a storm in the underworld.

Xie San and Chenxing Stone were the pillars of the entire Hu Ma Gang. With both the leader and his second-in-command gone, the adopted sons under Xie San were likely to turn on each other, causing the entire gang to collapse.

If the Hu Ma Gang truly fell to internal strife, it would signify a massive reshuffling of the various factions in the North Prefecture martial arts scene.

The power vacuum left by the Hu Ma Gang would be filled by other forces, and the situation around Suian City would change accordingly... yet, none of this seemed to have anything to do with He Ping.

Although Xie San died at the He Family's banquet, it had little impact on a wealthy and influential family like the Hes.

While the He Family dabbled in the martial arts world, they never delved too deeply, and with their official status, they always maintained a detached, transcendent attitude.

As for He Ping himself, he had spent the last few days behind closed doors, studying the items he had seized from Wandering Soul Village.

In a secret chamber of the He estate, protected by the Immortal Puppet Sect's forbidden techniques, he was shielded from magical tracking or the prying eyes of outsiders.

"I truly didn't expect that my greatest gain this time would be this black umbrella..."

He Ping opened the black umbrella in his hand. After the fierce ghost guarding the Screaming Soul Blood Silk Array was killed, it had left behind this large black umbrella. Upon bringing it back for inspection, he discovered that it held hidden mysteries.

The umbrella's design was archaic and appeared quite ancient. Its ribs, shaft, and handle were made of an unknown material; it had the texture of bamboo, yet rang like metal when tapped.

The style of the black umbrella resembled a ceremonial canopy used by nobles, though the canopy itself was damaged, making it look like an ordinary black umbrella now.

He Ping opened the umbrella, gripped the handle, and spun it once above his head.

Hum...

As the black umbrella rotated, a low, whistling wind echoed in the air, sounding like the wailing of ghosts.

The umbrella held by the fierce ghost in the Screaming Soul Blood Silk Array was itself a magical artifact.

However, He Ping did not know the refining method for the umbrella, nor did he understand its purpose. Still, the fierce ghost guarding the ancestral hall had used a powerful forbidden technique with it, catching him off guard.

"That wasn't the power of the Screaming Soul Blood Silk Array, but a technique similar to a restriction. It wouldn't be bad if I could master it."

He had pondered it for several days, trying various methods, until he finally discovered something about the inner side of the canopy.

"It seems the inner side is inscribed with several cultivation techniques using a special method. They aren't visible through ordinary means, but with a medicinal wash, the true marks appear..."

After applying the solution to the inside of the umbrella, text resembling ghost-drawn talismans began to emerge.

"These aren't true Taoist scriptures, but rather heterodox arts mixed with sorcery, prayer, and witchcraft. Still, there is something here that is of great use to me!"

The Formless Secret Treasury in He Ping's possession was far more profound than the techniques recorded in the umbrella, such as 'Tracking Souls via Footprints,' 'Creating Straw Men as Substitutes,' 'Crossing Passes and Warding Off Baleful Intent,' or 'Tongue-Sore Curses'...

Tricks like these, used by shamanesses and witch doctors, were too trivial for He Ping. However, he noted that these techniques recorded a spell called "Borrowing Yin Lifespan."

"Borrowing Yin Lifespan" consisted of two parts. The first, "Five-Child Peach-Plucking Method," also known as the Immortal Peach Corpse Pill, required finding five pregnant corpses. These corpses had to be full-term, and the fetus must have died before birth, forming a Mother-Child Corpse Baleful Intent.

If one dissected the abdomen to remove the infant corpses, one could use them to nourish a peach tree. By burying the five infant corpses beneath the tree, it would eventually bear five Human-Face Fruits. Once plucked, they could be refined into an Immortal Peach Corpse Pill.

A single such pill was enough to borrow ten years of Yin lifespan. However, after consuming the Yin pill, one would fear the sun, become gaunt and withered, and turn into a half-human, half-ghost creature, requiring a Yin coffin to maintain a sliver of vitality.

After all, the Immortal Peach Corpse Pill could not truly extend life; it only forcibly prolonged it, unable to increase a living person's Yang lifespan. This was because humans possessed only Yang lifespan, not Yin; only ghosts possessed Yin lifespan. Borrowing Yin lifespan meant using the Yin lifespan of spirits and ghosts to supplement one's own—a taboo practice.

"What a wicked method. The refining process for this Immortal Peach Corpse Pill is quite cumbersome and time-consuming."

"To be honest... I don't have much time left myself, but where would I find the time to slowly locate Mother-Child Corpse Baleful Intents, grow Human-Face Fruits, and refine them into Immortal Peach Corpse Pills?"

He Ping shook his head. Compared to the refining method of the Immortal Peach Corpse Pill, he was far more interested in the techniques found in the second part of "Borrowing Yin Lifespan."