"Bleurgh..."
Having just returned to his cave dwelling, Song Wen could no longer hold it in. Though he had not eaten all day, he had no idea where it came from, but his stomach churned like rivers and seas overturning.
Song Wen vomited continuously for half an hour. It felt as though he was about to throw up his bile before the nauseous, stomach-turning sensation eased slightly.
He was so exhausted that he wanted to collapse into bed, but the stench of blood and corpses all over him made him retch again.
He could only go out and fetch two buckets of clean water, wash himself thoroughly, then clean up the vomit in his cave dwelling before finally falling into bed.
The next day, Song Wen rose very early.
He first went to the servants' cafeteria for breakfast, then arrived at the Corpse Dissection Cave before the hour of the dragon. If he did not come early today, then after dissecting a hundred corpses, he might as well begin the next day's work directly rather than returning to his cave dwelling to rest.
Fortunately, the Corpse Dissection Cave was also at the foot of the mountain, not far from where he lived.
He was the first to arrive at the Corpse Dissection Cave that day.
After receiving his share of corpses from Yuan Cheng, Song Wen impatiently began dissecting them.
By now, he could dissect one corpse in roughly a little less than half a quarter-hour. By the time he had finished a hundred corpses, another six hours had passed.
He was still the last corpse dissector to leave. When he stepped out of the Corpse Dissection Cave, the sky had already turned dark, just like the day before.
After returning to his cave dwelling and rinsing himself off, Song Wen went to the cafeteria.
At that time, only a scattered few servant disciples remained in the cafeteria, eating.
Song Wen forcibly suppressed the nausea in his heart and made himself eat a great deal of food.
He knew that under such intense pressure, if his body could not replenish enough energy, both his mind and body might develop problems and collapse.
Still, he was a cultivator of demonic arts after all. The strength and endurance of his body were beyond what ordinary people could compare with, and nothing went wrong with it.
After dinner, Song Wen returned to his cave dwelling and examined his body inwardly.
He discovered that although he had not drawn the blood essence from corpses these past two days, the dense blood qi in the Corpse Dissection Cave, as well as the blood essence he occasionally swallowed by accident, had fully replenished his previously depleted vitality and blood.
At that moment, he had once again become a vigorous young man brimming with vitality and blood.
That night, Song Wen did not choose to cultivate. He still went to sleep.
Sleep could relieve his mental exhaustion and discomfort to the greatest extent.
Although corpse dissection was unpleasant work, there was no fighting and no complicated interpersonal relationships. Thus, time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a month went by.
Song Wen had gradually adapted to dissecting corpses and become a qualified corpse dissector.
He only needed to spend four hours each day in the Corpse Dissection Cave, yet he was still the last corpse dissector to leave.
Song Wen had long since resumed his daily cultivation. With the blood qi he plundered from the Corpse Dissection Cave, his Corpse King Blood Refinement Art advanced by leaps and bounds, and he silently raised his cultivation to the Qi Refining Second Layer.
However, just after finishing his seated meditation, Song Wen discovered an awkward problem.
Because his cultivation speed was too fast, he found that the Corpse-Baleful Qi supplied by the Corpse Well in his cave dwelling could no longer meet his cultivation needs.
While dissecting corpses, he could secretly steal and devour enough vitality and blood for cultivation, but the Corpse-Baleful Qi in the Corpse Well was not inexhaustible. It was supplied in a fixed quantity.
Naturally, only Song Wen would ever encounter a shortage of Corpse-Baleful Qi. It was absolutely impossible for the cave dwellings of other Qi Refining Early Stage disciples to lack Corpse-Baleful Qi.
"What should I do? Where am I supposed to find enough Corpse-Baleful Qi?"
When everyone encountered advertisements such as "Are you a True Person?", there was no need to pay attention to them. Just close them. Do not scan codes or send text messages!
Song Wen immediately ended his meditation. Outside, the sky was already faintly bright. It was another sleepless night of cultivation.
Today was the day monthly stipends were issued. Song Wen planned to collect his stipend and visit the market not far from the foot of the mountain to see whether he could buy Killing Intent.
After finishing today's corpse dissection work, Song Wen received this month's stipend: twenty low-grade Spirit Stones and ten Corpse Blood Pills. Fasting Pills were no longer issued.
The sun was still high, and there was time to browse around. Song Wen hurried back toward his cave dwelling. The bloody stench on him was far too strong; going to the market like this would easily draw attention, which did not suit Song Wen's habit of keeping his head down and developing quietly.
After washing up, Song Wen did not go directly to the market. He first went to the sect's Transmission Hall. His Corpse King Blood Refinement Art had reached the Qi Refinement Second Level, so it was time to find a way to strengthen his combat ability.
Traveling at full speed, Song Wen spent nearly half an hour before reaching the Transmission Hall halfway up the mountain.
After presenting his disciple token, Song Wen entered the Transmission Hall without issue. However, he was informed that disciples like him, who were in the Qi Refining Early Stage, could only move about on the first floor of the hall.
There were many books in the Transmission Hall, encompassing everything and arranged by category: cultivation techniques, combat spells, Corpse Puppet Refinement Arts, spirit herb cultivation, spirit material identification...
Naturally, everything on the first floor of the Transmission Hall consisted of beginner cultivation techniques and books on low-grade spirit herbs and materials.
Song Wen went straight to the spell section. There were not many spells suitable for Qi Refining Early Stage disciples—only a little over thirty in total.
Song Wen roughly looked through them. Having already cultivated the Fireball Technique and Shield Technique, he found ordinary spells held little appeal for him.
Yet several spell arts unique to demonic sects caught his attention.
For example, there was a spell called the Blood Sacrifice Technique. Once cast, it could temporarily and greatly increase a cultivator's spiritual power, but the price was burning the cultivator's blood essence.
If others used this spell, the lightest consequence would be depleted vitality and blood, while the worst would be death on the spot. It was generally used only as a final desperate measure.
But Song Wen had no such concern. Over the past month, through repeatedly devouring others' blood essence, he had gradually uncovered some of the secrets behind his body's ability to consume blood essence.
Perhaps his strengthened body had raised the limit of how much blood essence it could contain. Or perhaps his body had gradually adapted to devouring others' blood essence. Now, when he consumed blood essence, he no longer suffered the discomfort of his vitality and blood surging wildly.
No matter how much blood essence he devoured, his body could rapidly absorb and digest it.
Of course, it was also possible that Song Wen had been fairly restrained over the past month, and the blood essence he had devoured had yet to reach the limit of his current physical strength.
In short, Song Wen now stored more than ten times as much blood essence in his body as ordinary people. Casting the Blood Sacrifice Technique would be as easy as turning his hand over; he had no need to worry about severe blood essence depletion at all.
Even if his blood essence became depleted, he could devour more blood essence to replenish it quickly.
Just as Song Wen's heart stirred, he noticed the price of the Blood Sacrifice Technique and could only put it down awkwardly in the end.
The Blood Sacrifice Technique cost one hundred low-grade Spirit Stones, far beyond what he could afford right now.
At his current income, he would need to save for five months without spending a single Spirit Stone before he could afford it.
Song Wen then saw a Blood Escape Technique. It was an art that burned one's own blood essence to increase speed. It cost eighty Spirit Stones, and Song Wen could not afford it either.
After putting down the Blood Escape Technique, Song Wen went to the Corpse Puppet Refinement Art section.
As a major sect renowned for making Corpse Puppets, the Corpse Demon Sect had more than a dozen Corpse Puppet arts that Qi Refining Early Stage disciples could cultivate.
Perhaps it was to promote Corpse Puppet arts, or perhaps low-level Corpse Puppet arts had already become as common as cabbages around the Corpse Demon Sect, but most Corpse Puppet refinement arts were very cheap, ranging from a few low-grade Spirit Stones to more than twenty.
There were also many types of Corpse Puppets. Some were advanced techniques that refined the soul and corpse together, while others were low-level techniques that refined only the corpse.
Corpse Puppets with souls inside them were also called living corpses. They were more flexible to control and stronger in battle. If suitable yin-attributed spirit materials could be found, their grade could even be continuously raised.
Corpse Puppets without souls were called walking corpses. They were stiff and rigid to control, and they had no potential for growth. Because they were cheap to produce, they were generally used as disposable cannon fodder.
If you cannot find a book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead.
Perhaps it was merely renamed!
Before you continue