The Eerie Female Corpse

Holding the jade bottle, Song Wen sensed the pure, flawless essence blood within.

He was very satisfied.

This was the only way he could currently think of to earn spirit stones quickly.

Yesterday at the market, Song Wen had noticed that refined essence blood sold for a considerable price.

The essence blood he had forced out was pure and singular, without the slightest impurity or any mottled aura. Anyone who examined it would believe it was the result of completely refining the essence blood of a late-stage Qi Refinement righteous cultivator.

Song Wen estimated that if he set up a stall at the market, this half-bottle of essence blood could sell for at least eighty to a hundred spirit stones.

Putting away the jade bottle, Song Wen took out the corpse baleful aura he had bought yesterday. At the same time, he swallowed a Corpse Blood Pill and began cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art.

As for the Soul-Banishing Technique, he planned to cultivate it only after the soul fragments in his sea of consciousness neared saturation again.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. With ample vital energy, corpse baleful aura, and the aid of Corpse Blood Pills, Song Wen's cultivation advanced at an astonishing pace. He had now entered the middle stage of the second layer of Qi Refinement.

Even within the demonic path, where early cultivation progressed rapidly, such speed could be called a meteoric rise.

Over these past ten-odd days, Song Wen had continuously stolen essence blood from the Corpse Dissection Cave. However, he no longer dared devour it as wildly as he had on the first day. Each day, he kept his vital energy within a range he could freely control.

Even so, he had already condensed three full bottles of essence blood.

He planned to go to the market after finishing today's corpse dissection and quietly dispose of those three bottles.

At the third quarter of the hour of the Monkey, Song Wen finished today's corpse dissection. Carrying the proceeds from it, he went to Yuan Cheng's cave.

After handing over the storage bag, he was about to leave when Yuan Cheng called him to a stop.

"Extreme Yin, wait a moment."

"Senior Brother Yuan, what are your instructions?"

Song Wen had no choice but to stop. He put on a respectful smile and spoke.

"I have a corpse here that needs to be dealt with quickly. Junior Brother Extreme Yin, trouble yourself to dissect this corpse first."

As he spoke, Yuan Cheng handed over a storage bag.

Though Song Wen was unwilling, he did not dare show it.

A man under another's eaves had no choice but to bow his head!

He nodded with a smile. "No problem, Senior Brother Yuan."

Song Wen accepted the storage bag and turned toward the corpse dissection platform.

"Junior Brother Extreme Yin, be careful and thorough when dissecting this corpse."

Yuan Cheng's voice sounded behind Song Wen. Suddenly, Song Wen felt that he had agreed too quickly. It seemed he had overlooked something important.

If it were an ordinary corpse, Yuan Cheng would not be in such a hurry to have it dissected today. It could have waited until tomorrow.

If it had to be dissected today, that meant something unexpected might happen if the corpse were left until tomorrow.

But what could happen to a corpse?

Could it rise from the dead?

Even if it did, within the Corpse Demon Sect, where they specialized in handling corpses, what kind of waves could a freshly reanimated corpse possibly stir up?

Unable to understand the reason, Song Wen could only turn back and look at Yuan Cheng in puzzlement.

Yet Yuan Cheng said nothing further. He had already closed his eyes and begun meditating in his cave, as though that warning had not come from him at all. He no longer paid any attention to Song Wen's movements.

Seeing that Yuan Cheng was unwilling to say more, Song Wen could only continue toward the corpse dissection platform with unease in his heart. However, he had become wary of this corpse.

At the same time, he felt somewhat annoyed. If he had not been the last person to finish dissecting a corpse, Yuan Cheng would not have seized upon him to handle this one.

Song Wen did not immediately open the storage bag. Instead, he took a pair of leather gloves and a leather apron from his own storage bag.

This was experience he had gained from nearly two months of work in the Corpse Dissection Cave.

When certain veteran corpse dissectors handled particular corpses, they wore gloves and aprons for protection. Some even used artifact-grade gloves and protective gear.

Artifact-grade gloves and protective gear were beyond Song Wen's means, so he could only make do with leather ones.

Even if Song Wen sold those three bottles of essence blood and could afford the lowest-grade artifact gloves and protective gear, he would not dare buy them. Otherwise, he would surely attract attention.

He was a newcomer with no one to rely on, and he had joined the sect less than three months ago. Where could he have gotten the spirit stones to buy artifacts?

Wealth must not be flaunted; one's true self must not be revealed!

This was the foremost rule of survival Song Wen had set for himself in this dangerous world.

Seeing the corpse that appeared on the dissection platform, Song Wen did not begin immediately. Instead, he examined it closely.

The corpse belonged to an old woman. She appeared extremely aged, her figure somewhat hunched, the wrinkles on her skin deeply pronounced. She looked like the body of an ordinary elderly person who had died of old age.

The corpse was covered in a large amount of moisture, left behind by melted ice crystals. A few unmelted ice crystals still clung to it.

The fatal wound was on the back of her head, where there was a hole as large as a bowl's mouth. It looked as though someone had crushed her skull with a single claw.

Within that hole at the back of her head, there were also many ice crystals that had not fully melted.

Clearly, she had been frozen with an ice-type spell after she was killed.

Since the other party had already been killed, why waste spiritual power freezing her body?

The question could not help surfacing in Song Wen's mind.

If the old woman had been frozen while alive, the ice crystals would certainly not have appeared inside the hole at the back of her head. They would only have formed upon the surface of her body.

Song Wen took out his boning knife and carefully began cutting open the old woman's clothes.

The seemingly thin ice crystals covering the corpse were extraordinarily tough, creating immense resistance for Song Wen.

Following the areas that had already thawed, Song Wen finally managed to cut open the clothes and peel them off.

Could these ice crystals have been left behind by a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator? Song Wen thought in shock.

A small, skeletal, bloodless corpse appeared before him. It resembled the body of an elderly person who had suffered long-term hunger and severe malnutrition.

Of course, Song Wen would never believe that someone killed by a Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouse had gone hungry.

The old woman's body looked more as though something had been feeding on her essence blood for a long time, leaving her severely deficient in vital energy.

There were not many ice crystals on the corpse, and they had not formed into a continuous layer. Song Wen could still find gaps between them and dissect the body.

However, the low temperature had frozen the corpse until it was extremely rigid. Furthermore, the old woman had possessed an exceptionally high cultivation while alive. Song Wen estimated that she had been a Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouse. The corpse itself was also extremely durable. All of this greatly increased the difficulty of dissecting it.

By rights, this corpse should have been excellent material for refining a corpse puppet. Yet for some unknown reason, it had been sent to the Corpse Dissection Cave to be carved up for essence blood.

Song Wen found this quite incomprehensible.

If only I could refine this corpse into a corpse puppet.

After obtaining the Ghost Corpse Technique, he had yet to find a suitable corpse to refine into a corpse puppet. Now, having to dissect such an excellent body, he could not help feeling regretful.

However, Song Wen, whose cultivation was only at the second layer of Qi Refinement, knew exactly how much he was worth. The decisions of the Corpse Demon Sect's upper ranks were not his to speculate on. He only needed to follow instructions and dissect the corpse.

Given all the abnormalities surrounding this corpse, Song Wen did not dare devour its essence blood. He began the dissection with the utmost care, hoping only that nothing unexpected would happen.