Corpse-Nurturing Bag

Corpse-Nurturing Bag

Just as Xiao Liang was looking over the shops on Spirit Treasure Street with great interest.

A storage bag hanging at his waist suddenly bulged twice in agitation.

Xiao Liang reached out and pressed down on the writhing storage bag, sending a thread of spiritual sense inside.

The storage space was nothing but void, without a trace of daylight, and it was extremely cramped.

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

"Pandora, what are you doing?!"

At Xiao Liang's question, even more emotional fluctuations immediately came through their mental link.

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 drawing attention, Xiao Liang had stuffed this exotic beauty into the storage bag.

Though she did not need air and had no claustrophobia, staying inside for too long was still uncomfortable.

Xiao Liang sighed. The Zombie's intelligence being too high was not always a good thing.

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 guarantee you'll be satisfied then!"

Pandora's movements slowed somewhat, and a trace of confusion came through their mental link. She lacked much of the common knowledge of the cultivation world.

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

Upon hearing Xiao Liang's promise, the emotions from the other end of the mental link finally calmed down.

Pandora folded her wings and curled into a ball doubtfully. The storage bag hanging at Xiao Liang's waist also settled down.

Since he had promised Pandora, Xiao Liang acted swiftly. He and Xu Qingfeng soon found a shop that sold finished magical artifacts.

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

"Shopkeeper, what's the price?"

"Three hundred Spirit Stones!"

"Take them!"

Xiao Liang had barely stepped into this shop, called the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion, when he saw a woman in fitted white attire holding a sword-shaped magical artifact and testing its feel.

She flicked the blade with a bent finger, making its edge ring sharply. With a casual motion, she spun several sword flowers, the cold gleam of the blade flashing fiercely as she moved with effortless grace.

She clearly had a deep foundation in mundane swordsmanship.

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

Xiao Liang stared at the flying sword artifact, then touched the storage bag containing Pandora, unable to suppress a feeling of regret.

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

Or perhaps he could use Pandora as a mount and stand on her to fly?!

Pandora was mentally connected to Xiao Liang. Sensing that he was entertaining another crooked idea about her, she immediately wriggled in displeasure, making the storage bag shake again.

Xu Qingfeng quietly glanced at Xiao Liang's storage bag, wondering whether it contained some demonic beast.

But demonic beasts were living creatures. They could not be stored in storage bags.

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

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

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

He first briefly assessed Xiao Liang's cultivation, then, once he had some idea of it, asked, "What magical artifact does Fellow Daoist wish to purchase at the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion?"

"Does your shop happen to sell Corpse-Nurturing Bags?"

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

Generally speaking, cultivators of that kind naturally made others wary.

Those who raised and refined corpses were either practitioners of crooked arts or demonic cultivators with established inheritances.

Hearing that Xiao Liang wanted to buy a Corpse-Nurturing Bag, Xu Qingfeng was slightly startled and instinctively glanced at the previously restless storage bag.

The old shopkeeper, however, only gave Xiao Liang's salt-and-pepper hair an extra look. His expression did not change as he lightly tapped the counter twice with his fingers, appearing thoughtful.

"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 and looked at Xu Qingfeng with amusement. "Fellow Daoist Xu, are you worried that I'm a demonic cultivator?"

Xu Qingfeng gave a dry laugh and cupped his hands. "You think too highly of it, Fellow Daoist. For independent cultivators, everything is for cultivation. Where is there any distinction between righteous and demonic? I'm not that rigid!"

Xiao Liang nodded. His perfectly ordinary attitude made Xu Qingfeng relax a little.

"Customer, your luck is not very good. The shop does still have one Corpse-Nurturing Bag, but it is somewhat unusual. You'll have to consider it carefully yourself!"

Before long, the old shopkeeper returned holding 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.

But the one the old shopkeeper had brought out was not only a size larger than normal, its strange feel in his hand also showed that its material was quite unusual.

"What kind of beast hide is this?"

Xiao Liang was puzzled. As he stroked this unusual Corpse-Nurturing Bag, he saw natural patterns on its black hide surface. Looking at them for too long even gave him a faint sense of dizziness.

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

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

"So if you want it, customer, I'll sell it to you cheaply. Fifty Spirit Stones at cost, just hoping to recover a little 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 possibly 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 wanted this thing, I wouldn't be willing to sell it to you!"

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

But a moment later, Xiao Liang discovered the issue. Rolling his eyes, he said speechlessly, "Where are the array patterns? Why is there no Yin-Gathering Array Pattern? Shopkeeper, you're far too unscrupulous!"

Though Corpse-Nurturing Bags and storage bags were both spatial magical artifacts, their functions were different.

The former was used to nurture corpses, and Yin-Gathering Array Patterns were often engraved inside to benefit Zombies.

The latter was used for storage, with array patterns that isolated the inside from the outside. Even items that would normally rot and spoil easily could be kept somewhat fresh inside a storage bag.

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

If a Zombie were placed inside, over time it might lose yin energy and even suffer a decline in cultivation.

Seeing that Xiao Liang was no novice and had clearly seen proper Corpse-Nurturing Bags before, the old shopkeeper's face immediately fell as he said:

"If it had array patterns, how could it possibly be left for you to buy? Just looking at its internal space tells you that this is definitely an artifact-grade Corpse-Nurturing Bag, worth more than a thousand Spirit Stones!"

Xiao Liang shook his head and was about to toss the Corpse-Nurturing Bag back and look elsewhere.

But an unusual emotion came through his mental link with Pandora, changing his mind.

(End of Chapter)