Corpse-Nurturing Bag

Just as Xiao Liang was leisurely inspecting the shops along Spirit Treasure Street with interest,

the storage bag hanging from his waist suddenly bulged twice in restless agitation.

Xiao Liang pressed a hand over the writhing storage bag, sending a thread of spiritual sense inside.

The storage space was a void, without the slightest trace of daylight, and extremely cramped.

Pandora lay inside in an awkward position, her cheeks puffed out as she punched the inner walls of the storage bag with both hands and feet.

"Pandora, what are you doing?!"

Upon hearing Xiao Liang's question, even more emotional fluctuations immediately came through their mental connection.

Pandora grew even angrier, pounding the storage bag with greater force. She even used both wings, stretching the bag into a taut arc!

To avoid attracting attention, Xiao Liang had stuffed this exotic beauty into the storage bag.

Though she did not need air and did not suffer from claustrophobia, being shut inside for too long was still uncomfortable.

Xiao Liang sighed. A zombie having intelligence that was too high was not always a good thing.

But seeing that his low-grade storage bag was about to burst, he hurriedly promised,

"Bear with it a little longer. I'll get you a Corpse-Nurturing Bag as soon as I can. I promise you'll be satisfied then!"

Pandora's movements slowed slightly. She expressed some confusion through their mental connection; she lacked much of the common knowledge of the cultivation world.

Xiao Liang pinched his other flimsy storage bag and said irritably, "It's for raising you. I guarantee you'll be able to lie down comfortably!"

Only after hearing Xiao Liang's promise did the other party's emotions finally calm down through their mental connection.

Pandora folded her wings and curled into a ball half-convinced. The storage bag at his waist also settled down.

Since he had promised Pandora, Xiao Liang acted swiftly. Before long, he and Xu Qingfeng found a shop that sold completed magical artifacts.

"Low-grade magical artifact, the Clear Wind Sword, forged entirely from refined iron with a trace of Azure Gold Steel mixed in. It leaves no sound when drawn and is exceptionally sharp!"

"Shopkeeper, how much?"

"Three hundred Spirit Stones!"

"Take them!"

Xiao Liang had just stepped into this shop, named the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion, when he saw a woman in fitted white attire holding a sword-shaped magical artifact and getting accustomed to its feel.

She flicked the blade with a bent finger, making its edge ring sharply. With a casual flourish, she formed several sword flowers, their cold gleam biting and her bearing effortlessly graceful.

She clearly possessed a deep foundation in mundane swordsmanship.

However, mortal martial artists could not use magical artifacts, nor could they produce three hundred Spirit Stones. She was presumably a cultivator.

Xiao Liang stared at the flying sword artifact, then touched the storage bag containing Pandora and could not help feeling a trace of regret.

Raising Pandora would require plenty of resources in the future. He wondered when he would be able to afford his own flying sword.

Perhaps he could use Pandora as a mount and ride her through the air?!

Pandora was connected to Xiao Liang's mind. Sensing that he was entertaining crooked ideas about her again, she immediately squirmed in displeasure, making the storage bag shake once more.

Xu Qingfeng discreetly glanced at Xiao Liang's storage bag, wondering if it contained some demon beast.

But demon beasts were living creatures and could not be stored in storage bags.

"Shopkeeper, I'd like to buy something!"

After seeing the white-clad woman who had bought the flying sword leave, Xiao Liang stepped forward and spoke to the elderly shopkeeper.

Seeing another customer, the old shopkeeper chuckled, put the Spirit Stones in his hand into a storage bag, and came over.

He first gave Xiao Liang's cultivation a brief appraisal. Once he had a rough idea, he said, "What magical artifact does this fellow Daoist wish to purchase from the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion?"

"May I ask if your shop has any Corpse-Nurturing Bags for sale?"

Xiao Liang watched the man's expression closely. Although a Corpse-Nurturing Bag was not even a low-grade magical artifact, its buyers were often cultivators who had refined zombies.

Generally speaking, such cultivators naturally made others wary.

Those who nurtured and refined zombies were either practitioners of crooked, heretical arts or devil cultivators with established inheritances.

Hearing that Xiao Liang wanted to buy a Corpse-Nurturing Bag, Xu Qingfeng was slightly startled and subconsciously glanced at the storage bag that had been moving earlier.

As for the old shopkeeper, though he took an extra look at Xiao Liang's graying hair, his expression remained unchanged. He merely tapped the counter twice with his fingers and assumed a thoughtful look.

"A Corpse-Nurturing Bag? Not many people want such a thing. I'll have to check the storeroom first!"

The old shopkeeper then rubbed his lower back, lifted the curtain behind the counter, and entered the back room.

Xiao Liang relaxed slightly, then looked at Xu Qingfeng with interest and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu, are you worried that I'm a devil cultivator?"

Xu Qingfeng gave a dry laugh, cupped his hands, and said, "You overestimate the matter, fellow Daoist. For independent cultivators, everything is for the sake of cultivation. What distinction is there between righteous and demonic paths? I'm not that pedantic!"

Xiao Liang nodded. His attitude, no different from that of an ordinary person, made Xu Qingfeng relax a little.

"Customer, your luck is not very good. The shop does have one Corpse-Nurturing Bag left, but it has some unusual aspects, so you'll need to consider it carefully yourself!"

Before long, the old shopkeeper returned carrying a Corpse-Nurturing Bag sewn from black beast hide. Its specifications seemed different from the ordinary Corpse-Nurturing Bags Xiao Liang had seen in the sect.

"Shopkeeper, this is...?"

Xiao Liang frowned slightly. He only needed an ordinary Corpse-Nurturing Bag.

Yet this one produced by the old shopkeeper was a full size larger than normal, and its strange texture in his hand indicated that its material was quite special.

"What kind of beast hide is this?"

Xiao Liang was puzzled. As he stroked the special Corpse-Nurturing Bag, he saw natural patterns across its black hide surface. Looking at them for too long even made him feel dizzy.

The old shopkeeper spread his hands and said, "Don't look at me. I don't know what kind of demon beast this hide came from either."

"This Corpse-Nurturing Bag was pawned to me by an independent cultivator several years ago. Later, I heard he died in the jaws of a demon beast, so I ended up making another losing deal. Sigh!"

"So if you want it, customer, I'll sell it to you cheaply. Fifty Spirit Stones at cost, just hoping to recoup some of my losses."

The market price of a Corpse-Nurturing Bag was generally between forty and sixty Spirit Stones, so fifty was not an inflated price.

However, Xiao Liang weighed the unusual Corpse-Nurturing Bag in his hand and asked suspiciously, "Shopkeeper, there isn't something wrong with this thing, is there?"

The old shopkeeper grinned and said calmly, "What could be wrong with it? This Corpse-Nurturing Bag is of exceptional quality. Its internal space is enormous. If it weren't a little old and if so few people bought such things, I wouldn't be willing to sell it to you!"

Xiao Liang neither agreed nor disagreed. He extended a thread of spiritual sense into the Corpse-Nurturing Bag and indeed discovered that its internal space was nearly twice as large as an ordinary model.

But a moment later, Xiao Liang discovered the problem. Rolling his eyes, he said speechlessly, "Where are the array patterns? Why doesn't it have a Yin-Gathering Array Pattern? Shopkeeper, you're too shady!"

Although Corpse-Nurturing Bags and storage bags were both spatial artifacts, their purposes differed.

The former was for nurturing zombies, and Yin-Gathering Array Patterns were usually inscribed within its internal space to benefit them.

The latter was for storage, with array patterns that isolated the inside from the outside. Even items that would ordinarily spoil easily could remain fresh for a certain period when placed inside a storage bag.

A Corpse-Nurturing Bag without array patterns was basically like buying a house that leaked drafts from every side, or buying a fine carriage with only its shell.

If a zombie were placed inside, after a long time it would likely lose yin energy and risk a decline in cultivation.

Seeing that the other party was no novice and had clearly seen proper Corpse-Nurturing Bags before, the old shopkeeper could not help looking troubled as he said,

"If it had array patterns, how could it possibly have remained available for you? Just look at its internal space—you can tell it's definitely a Corpse-Nurturing Bag at the level of a graded magical artifact, worth over a thousand Spirit Stones!"

Xiao Liang shook his head and was about to toss the Corpse-Nurturing Bag back and check another shop.

But Pandora sent an unusual emotion through their mental connection, changing his mind.

(End of Chapter)