Seventh Senior Brother's Shenanigans!

A Slick Move from Seventh Senior Brother! "Please instruct me, Senior Brother."

Zhao Hao gave Shi Lei a slight cupped-fist salute, not a trace of fear on his face.

He strode forward, stepping straight into the passage formed by the ten refined corpses.

The instant he stepped in, the refined corpses on either side were activated by an invisible force and opened their hollow eye sockets in unison.

A pressure mingled with brutality, icy cold, and bloodlust came crushing over him like a raging tide!

Zhao Hao's body abruptly sank, his bones letting out groans as if they could not bear the burden.

"Roar—!"

A refined corpse let out a low growl, and a foul, fishy gale blasted into his face.

Zhao Hao's expression did not change. He continued forward.

To resist that pressure, the spiritual energy within his body was rapidly consumed, and the aura of his cultivation at the second level of Qi Refining also "just so happened" to reveal itself.

"Hm? Second level of Qi Refining?"

Inside the hall, aside from that taciturn Sixth Senior Brother, Chen Mo, a trace of surprise flashed across everyone's faces.

In just one night, he had broken through from a mortal to the second level of Qi Refining?

Was a Heavenly Spiritual Root truly this terrifying?

A strange look also flashed across Third Senior Brother Shi Lei's face, but it quickly returned to indifference.

If one only had cultivation speed but lacked temperament, one was still trash all the same.

Zhao Hao bore the immense pressure and advanced step by step, walking extremely slowly, yet each step was exceptionally steady.

Because of the depletion of his spiritual energy, his face had turned slightly pale. Fine beads of sweat had seeped out on his forehead as well, and his body trembled faintly. He looked as if he had already reached his limit.

Yet his eyes remained calm from beginning to end.

This little bit of pressure, compared to the dual mental oppression of facing the Party A boss and the client while staying up all night in his previous life to rush a proposal, was simply a small shaman meeting a great shaman.

The temperament of one who had lived two lives was far beyond what these current pressures could compare to.

When he reached the final pair of refined corpses, one refined corpse at the early second rank suddenly lunged forward, its sharp claws nearly slashing across his face!

That pressure belonging to the Foundation Establishment Realm crashed down like a mountain pressing upon his head!

Lin Yaoyao cried out in alarm on instinct.

Zhao Hao's steps did not even pause for an instant.

On that youthful face of his, there was not the slightest trace of panic. It was so calm it made one's heart palpitate.

Just like that, under the varied gazes of the crowd, he walked out of the refined corpse formation completely unharmed and came to a stop in the center of the great hall.

In the eyes of that Third Senior Brother, Shi Lei, a trace of approval finally flashed, and he nodded.

Just then, a voice sounded faintly from the main seat of the great hall, as if it had come from beneath the Nine Netherworlds.

"Not bad."

Zhao Hao abruptly raised his head.

At some unknown point, an emaciated old man in black robes had appeared on the previously empty main seat.

He was like a dried corpse, sitting there quietly, merged with the shadows of the entire great hall, and was currently sizing him up with great interest.

True Person Corpse Heart!

The people inside the hall immediately bowed in salute.

"Greetings, Master!"

Zhao Hao also hurriedly followed suit and saluted, alarm bells ringing loudly in his heart.

So this was the Golden Core Realm old devil, coming without a shadow and leaving without a trace. He had not even sensed when the man appeared.

"From today onward, you are my ninth personal disciple."

True Person Corpse Heart slowly spoke, his turbid eyes falling on Zhao Hao, as if he could see through everything.

"Since you have already entered the sect, as your master, I naturally ought to bestow a greeting gift."

With a flick of his finger, three streaks of flowing light flew before Zhao Hao.

A deep-blue jade slip, a black short sword, and a black cloth bag.

"This is the unpassed secret of my corpse-refining lineage, the Mystic Corpse Spirit Control Art. When cultivated to profound depths, it can allow your refined corpse to develop spiritual intelligence, greatly increasing its power."

"This sword is called 'Ghost Bone,' a top-grade first-rank magical artifact."

"Inside this refined corpse bag is an iron corpse at the late first rank. I bestow it upon you for protection."

"Go to Ten Thousand Corpse Mountain and find yourself an ownerless cave dwelling."

After he finished speaking, True Person Corpse Heart's figure slowly dissipated from the throne like green smoke.

"Many thanks, Master!" Zhao Hao gave thanks at just the right moment.

"Hahaha, congratulations, Little Junior Brother!"

Lin Yaoyao was the first to jump out, stuffing a mid-grade magic artifact armor that flickered with spiritual light into Zhao Hao's hands.

"In the future, don't be like Fifth Senior Brother and get stabbed to death by someone's sword!"

Third Senior Brother Shi Lei gave a light snort as well and tossed over a corpse-refining bag.

"Inside is also a late-stage first-rank iron corpse. Cultivate properly, and don't disgrace Master."

Fourth Senior Sister Han Shuang was even more direct, tossing over a storage bag.

"Inside are all the materials needed to refine a late-stage first-rank iron corpse, so you won't have to gather them yourself later."

When it was Sixth Senior Brother Chen Mo's turn, a trace of embarrassment appeared on his face, and he took ten porcelain bottles from his robes.

"Senior Brother, I... have been gathering materials for a Foundation Establishment Pill recently, so I don't have anything good on hand. Take these ten bottles of Qi Gathering Pills for now. Early cultivation is still very important."

Zhao Hao accepted them one by one and thanked them repeatedly.

Finally, it was that Seventh Senior Brother Wu De's turn.

He chuckled and took a "person" out of his own corpse-refining bag.

It was a woman dressed in thin gauze, with a bewitching figure and an incomparably beautiful face.

Only, the woman's eyes were vacant, and there was not the slightest breath of the living on her body.

"Little Junior Brother has only just entered the sect. How can it do for him not to have someone at his side to serve him?"

Wu De said with waggling brows and leering eyes.

"Senior Brother will give you a maid. At night... she can also help you do some things within her ability."

As soon as those words came out, Fourth Senior Sister Han Shuang and Eighth Senior Sister Lin Yaoyao both gave dissatisfied cold snorts at the same time.

Zhao Hao looked at that "maid," his face filled with astonishment.

After the disciple ceremony ended, Lin Yaoyao took the initiative to bring Zhao Hao to choose a cave dwelling.

On the way, she leaned close to Zhao Hao's ear and exhorted him over and over:

"Little Junior Brother, you absolutely mustn't let that maid from just now bewitch your soul!"

"That's a living corpse refined by Seventh Senior Brother!"

"The Mystic Corpse Spirit Control Art bestowed by our master—aside from Master himself, in our entire lineage, he's the one who practices it best!"

Zhao Hao's heart gave a jump. This just happened to resolve his earlier doubts.

"Seventh Senior Brother is... very powerful?"

"More than powerful!" Lin Yaoyao curled her lip, her face full of disgust. "The reason he could gather enough resources to break through to Foundation Establishment faster than Sixth Senior Brother wasn't through magical combat, nor through doing missions."

"He didn't refine powerful combat corpses. Instead, he went against the grain and specifically refined more than a hundred female corpses like the one just now, ones that look no different from living people and only have early-stage Qi Refining cultivation."

"Then..." Bai Jingjing's voice dropped even lower. "In the three market towns under the sect's jurisdiction, he opened three brothels and made those female corpses go... go help him earn spirit stones!"

"Among those female corpses, there are even more than twenty who were originally female menial disciples of our Extreme Yin Sect who had committed offenses!"

Zhao Hao listened until his eyes and mouth hung wide open, his whole body frozen in place.

Using refined corpses to open a brothel and make money?

This operation was way too fantastical, way too demonic-sect!