The Price of Cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art
Time flies when you're on a spiritual journey; a year and a half has passed in the blink of an eye.
Although Song Wen is no longer the slowest corpse dissecter, he still habitually arrives at the Corpse Dissection Cave early.
Today, the first corpse he dissected was a young female Rogue Cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage.
As he peeled off the female cultivator's clothes, revealing her slender, fair body, a sudden impulse surged within him—a bloodthirsty impulse.
He wanted to tear the beautiful corpse apart, like a wild beast tearing apart its prey.
His skin gradually turned increasingly grayish, with a somewhat iron-gray appearance. His fingernails became sharp and long, and two fangs gradually grew from the corners of his mouth.
A thick, heavy Corpse-Baleful Qi emanated from his nostrils.
In the blink of an eye, Song Wen transformed into the appearance of a century-old zombie.
His eyes began to roll back, and all human reason was gone, replaced only by primal, bestial madness.
Suddenly, Song Wen bent down and bit into the female corpse.
The unusual situation on Song Wen's side attracted the attention of the surrounding corpse exorcists, who all turned their heads, looking at him with indifference, pity, or interest.
Perhaps sensing the gazes of the many corpse exorcists, Song Wen, who had lost his mind, noticed something amiss, raised his head, and roared to the sky.
"Roar!"
Song Wen's movements resembled those of a wild animal protecting its prey after hunting.
Among the group of corpse exorcists, there was a female corpse exorcist with a bloated figure, a face full of fat, and an extremely ugly appearance. Her eyes shone brightly, and her eyes were clear and calm like autumn water.
She murmured softly, "I never imagined that the usually timid and submissive Extreme Yin would have such a bold and volatile side. I couldn't help but be captivated!"
Ugly as a pig...
No! The female corpse dissecter, who was as ugly as an old sow, suddenly blushed, her expression became unusually excited, she opened her mouth wide, revealing her yellowed front teeth, and roared excitedly.
"Extreme Yin, continue, I... um..."
The woman's roar was like a thunderclap, exploding in Song Wen's ears, the enormous sound wave making his eardrums ache.
Like an enraged beast, Song Wen's breathing suddenly became heavy, as if he might burst out at any moment.
Just when many corpse interpreters thought Song Wen was about to make a ruthless move and were preparing to watch the show,
Song Wen's eyes suddenly cleared, his mind returned instantly, and the corpse-like phenomenon began to subside.
This disappointed many corpse interpreters, who shook their heads in dismay; there was no more excitement to be had.
The work of dissecting corpses is tedious and depressing. Sometimes, the corpse dissecters go crazy and lose their minds in the Corpse Dissection Cave, which is one of their few forms of entertainment.
However, this kid probably won't live much longer. If he falls into this kind of madness again, he might not be able to come to his senses.
Looking at the dissecting corpses who turned away in disappointment, Song Wen spotted a different figure among them.
That bloated and unrestrained female corpse dissecter.
The female corpse exorcist gave him what she thought was a seductive wink, which in reality would scare away even ghosts and gods.
Song Wen felt a shiver run through his body and a deep chill ran down his spine.
He turned his head away, no longer looking at the female corpse dissecter, and continued dissecting the body.
Although Song Wen's dissection of the corpse was not slow, his mind was not on the dissection at all; he was thinking about the problem of his own physical body turning into a zombie.
Everyone in the Corpse Dissection Cave, including Yuan Cheng, believed that he, like the other insane corpse-dissecting practitioners, had become mentally deranged due to years of pollution from the turbid air and remnant souls within the Corpse Dissection Cave.
But Song Wen knew that this wasn't the case at all; his problem stemmed from his cultivation, not from the Corpse Dissection Cave.
Just now, it was because of the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> that his mind was not simply corrupted.
This is because of the long-term and excessive refinement of Corpse-Baleful Qi, which enters the body and strengthens the physical body, but also causes the body to become excessively corpse-like. This is the price of cultivating demonic Cultivation Method.
This wasn't the first time he had experienced excessive zombification. However, during the previous instances when zombification led to mental confusion, he relied on his powerful mental strength, comparable to that of someone at the eighth level of Qi Refinement, to force himself back to his senses.
This time, however, perhaps influenced by the female corpse, his bloodthirsty instincts after zombification were triggered, causing him to completely lose control of his mind.
Cultivation Method existence of various side effects is a common characteristic of cultivating demonic Cultivation Method. While rapidly enhancing one's cultivation level, various strange symptoms will always appear.
However, the consequences of cultivating the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> manifested far too early. Before even breaking through to the Late Qi Refinement, one was already facing corpse transformation. Who would dare to cultivate it then?
Moreover, this Cultivation Method doesn't even record a way to deal with corpse transformation, which is the most fatal flaw.
Demonic Cultivation Method are ultimately still Cultivation Method for immortality, created for the purpose of achieving a longer lifespan. However, it now seems that the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> is more like a short-lived Cultivation Method.
"Shi Shou secretly taught me the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> back then; he really had ulterior motives," Song Wen muttered to himself.
Song Wen felt resentful, but he knew he had no other choice, so there was no room for regret. Whether he cultivated the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> or not, he couldn't escape Shi Shou's targeting.
The immediate priority is to find a way to solve the problem of zombification as soon as possible.
The <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> that Shi Shou passed on to him was mostly abridged, and the methods for dealing with corpse transformation must have been erased.
When the first instance of zombification occurred, Song began to consider how to resolve the problem.
The reason for this is that when cultivating the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art>, too much Corpse-Baleful Qi was refined, leading to corpse transformation.
To resolve the issue of corpse transformation, one must find a way to harmonize the Corpse-Baleful Qi within the body.
After making inquiries from various sources and spending a considerable Spirit Stone, Zhang Xiaofan finally learned from Chen Yi, Zhang Xiaofan's Golden Core stage master, that a spirit medicine called Sky Cicada Wood had the effect of harmonizing the Corpse-Baleful Qi.
However, using the Sky Cicada Wood to harmonize the Corpse-Baleful Qi is ultimately only a temporary solution. To completely resolve the problem of corpse transformation, one must start with the Cultivation Method.
Given Song Wen's current strength, it's clearly unrealistic for him to ask Shi Shou for the complete <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art>.
Therefore, he decided to first find the Sky Cicada Wood to solve the immediate problem, and then gradually work on the complete version of the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art> later.
Sky Cicada Wood is a relatively rare spiritual material, growing only one inch every hundred years.
Given Song Wen's current state of corpse transformation, a three-hundred-year-old Sky Cicada Wood would be needed to completely harmonize the corpse energy.
Song Wen searched the entire market but could not find the Sky Cicada Wood.
He had seen this item four months ago at an annual auction held by a large spirit medicine shop controlled by the Corpse Demon Sect.
That Sky Cicada Wood was already four hundred years old and had medicinal value, which perfectly met Song Wen's requirements.
However, it was eventually acquired by a Foundation Establishment elder of the Corpse Demon Sect for a high price of 2300 Spirit Stone.
After much deliberation, Song Wen ultimately lacked the courage to compete with Foundation Establishment expert for the treasure.
He knew that even if he won the bid, he wouldn't be able to keep that Sky Cicada Wood.
Once outside the auction house, even in the market where fighting is prohibited, Foundation Establishment expert could easily kill him without being detected by anyone.
Three hours later, Song Wen finally finished dissecting the corpse. The reason he dared to continue dissecting the corpse even after losing his mind was because he knew that the recent corpse transformation had consumed some of the corpse energy in his body.
His physical body once again uncontrollably turned into a corpse. He would have to wait for the corpse energy to recover. If he did not actively refine the Corpse-Baleful Qi for cultivation, this process would take about half a month.