Old Acquaintance

The blazing sun hung high.

Deep summer had arrived.

On the official road of Great Jing, a line of carriages and horses moved slowly forward.

Hundreds of guards accompanied them, all mounted riders.

Every man was a sturdy fellow bearing blades and swords, their movements orderly and disciplined—clearly trained in martial arts.

Over twenty carriages stretched more than half a li, with one central carriage pulled by eight black stallions.

The eight horses bore not a single patch of other color, and the carriage's adornments were plain. Yet upon closer inspection, whether the wood or the craftsmanship, it exuded an air of quiet nobility.

Great Jing's laws decreed the Son of Heaven rode with nine horses, a prince with six—this already far exceeded the prescribed limits.

Let alone ordinary travelers; even the carriages of wealthy households gave wide berth.

"This is the Chen Family's convoy."

"Which Chen Family?"

"In all the realm, is there a second Chen Family?"

"So it's them. They truly raised a fine daughter."

"Watch your tongue! Watch your tongue!"

"Thank you for the warning, Brother Liu."

The vanguard scout ahead of the carriages turned back to seek the master's orders: night was falling—should they rest?

By noon tomorrow, they could reach the capital.

From the carriage came a voice, aged and commanding: "Press on. We must enter the capital today!"

"As you command!"

The cavalryman shook his reins and shouted the relay: "Press on! Press on!"

Inside the carriage.

A lavishly dressed elder woman was Chen Jinyu.

With her were a pale-faced youth and four maidservants in four different colors.

Despite the summer heat, the boy was wrapped in a brocade quilt, shivering now and then.

"Grandmother, can Grandfather really cure my illness?"

"Rest assured, Nian'er. Your grandfather is the greatest in the world. He will surely cure you, and he'll teach you the ways of cultivation. In time, you'll become an immortal."

"Grandfather is an immortal?"

Hope flickered in Zhou Nian's eyes: "Grandmother, are immortals powerful?"

"Of course. The Immortal Wine House spans the realm, and nine-tenths of its influence relies on your grandfather's renown. What do you think?"

As Chen Jinyu spoke, her eyes reddened, tears threatening to fall.

The four maids beside her, long accustomed to this, quickly offered an embroidered handkerchief.

At the matriarch's command, the convoy quickened its pace, reaching the capital's gates only after night had fully fallen.

The one welcoming the Chen Family was none other than the Crown Prince of Great Jing, Li Zhu.

Months unseen, Li Zhu had shed his scholarly frailty. His skin was bronze, and he wore gleaming silver armor.

A spear in hand, a blade at his waist, a bow on his back—he cut the figure of a handsome general.

Two hundred guards accompanied him, standing at attention left and right of the capital's gates, backs straight, eyes forward. A chilling aura of slaughter kept all from daring near the North Gate.

"Greetings, Master's Wife." Li Zhu dismounted upon seeing Chen Jinyu and stepped forward to bow.

"How could an old commoner like me bear such a grand salute from the Crown Prince? You flatter me to death."

Chen Jinyu managed the Immortal Wine House, along with the Wine God Trading Company, the Wine God Farm, and Taibai Tower—from grain cultivation to brewing to taverns, it had become a vast conglomerate across the southern prefectures.

At least a million people depended directly or indirectly on the Chen Family for their livelihoods. In terms of sheer influence, she was no less than Crown Prince Li Zhu.

Months earlier, Emperor Li Yu had sent Eunuch Chu with a secret edict and Zhou Yi's letter to the Immortal Wine House in the south to demand funds. Even they had been stunned by the Wine House's reach.

Chen Jinyu had not believed the imperial edict at first. She sent people to investigate first, only acting after confirming that Zhou Yi had become Grand Tutor.

Eunuch Chu had hauled ten million taels of silver from the treasury as initial funding to establish the Imperial Guard Directorate. But Chen Jinyu had demanded a position as Vice Director of the Imperial Guard—a second-rank official.

Ordinary second-rank posts meant little to Chen Jinyu, but the Imperial Guard commanded the realm's intelligence—that was no small matter.

Even if she never stole royal secrets, being able to relay information in a crisis could save her family from life or death.

After seeing Eunuch Chu off, Chen Jinyu had immediately traveled north to the capital to find Zhou Yi.

Li Zhu dared not presume on his status. It wasn't just because of his master Zhou Yi—Chen Jinyu herself was a woman unmatched in five centuries.

Half the funds for the royal family's rebuilding of the Imperial Guard had come from his master's wife.

"Please, Master's Wife. I've specially cleared Prince Guangyang's Mansion for you. There are winding streams and bridges, much like the scenery of the south. My master is at a critical moment in his alchemy and cannot break away for now."

"Hmph! When is he ever not either training or practicing techniques?"

Chen Jinyu gave a light snort and followed Li Zhu into the capital.

The plaque of Prince Guangyang's Mansion had been changed three days ago. It was originally going to be replaced with Zhou Mansion, but Zhou Yi ordered it changed to Chen Mansion instead.

At this moment, Zhou Yi was indeed at a critical juncture.

Eighteen thousand army corpses were buried in five separate Five Elements Corpse Nurturing Grounds, then nourished by Heavenly Corpse Sect disciples using Profound Yin Qi.

In the first month alone, corpse mutations occurred, producing dozens of Walking Corpses.

The Heavenly Corpse Sect disciples followed procedure—killing the Walking Corpses, refining the corpse qi, and continuing the nourishment.

After that, dozens to hundreds of mutations happened daily. The Heavenly Corpse Sect disciples couldn't keep up with the cleanup, so the new army used them for training.

Although Walking Corpses were the lowest tier of zombies, slow-moving but immensely strong and impervious to blades and arrows.

Any soldier in the new army who could solo kill a Walking Corpse could become a Squad Leader. Killing ten earned the rank of Centurion, and killing a hundred earned Chiliarch.

Of course, those bitten to death by Walking Corpses were thrown back into the corpse pits, waiting to turn into Walking Corpses themselves so they could kill others for revenge.

Through this continuous筛选, the怨煞尸气 in the five Corpse Nurturing Grounds grew increasingly dense, until a Spirit Corpse emerged a month ago.

Spirit Corpses were not like ordinary zombies—they possessed innate techniques and a measure of intelligence.

It wasn't until over a dozen soldiers hunting zombies inexplicably drowned in the Yin Cold Pool that the Spirit Corpse's trail was discovered.

After that, it was simple. Zhou Yi went straight into the Yin Cold Pool, grabbed the Water Spirit Corpse, and used his formidable Divine Sense to obliterate its newly awakened intelligence.

The Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Technique contained three methods of corpse refinement.

Artifact Refinement—using an artifact to control the corpse. Most corpse refiners in the Heavenly Corpse Sect used this method.

Its greatest advantage was that even if the cultivator died, the refined corpse could be inherited. After all, an Innate Grandmaster's lifespan was only a hundred and fifty years, while ordinary Iron Corpses and Bronze Corpses had lifespans of two to three hundred years.

Blood Refinement—the refined corpse was blood-bound to the caster, responding like an extension of their own arm.

The third was Soul Refinement—the soul merged with the corpse, allowing the soul to command the corpse.

Old Ancestor Tai Yin combined Soul Refinement with Soul Possession to reincarnate as a zombie. As long as his soul did not scatter, he could continuously swap zombie bodies—a form of alternative immortality.

Zhou Yi chose Blood Refinement. He had no need to pass anything down, nor did he want to transform his own body. He was only after the innate techniques of the Five Elements Spirit Corpses.

He infused his heartblood into the Water Spirit Corpse and refined it with secret techniques for seven days and seven nights, until it became like an avatar.

The disturbances in the Five Elements Corpse Nurturing Grounds grew more frequent. At most, five hundred Walking Corpses mutated in a single day, with Iron Corpses mixed in among them.

The Heavenly Corpse Sect disciples captured and refined the Iron Corpses, while five thousand soldiers fought the Walking Corpses to sharpen their courage and combat prowess, simultaneously undergoing Sha Qi Tempering.

After that, the Gold Spirit Corpse, Wood Spirit Corpse, and Earth Spirit Corpse emerged one after another. Only the Fire Spirit Corpse in the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb remained stubbornly absent.

A single Five Elements Spirit Corpse, if obtained by an ordinary person, was already a tremendous asset.

Evasion techniques could only be cultivated by Innate Grandmasters. Refining a Spirit Corpse was equivalent to acquiring an innate technique ahead of time.

But Zhou Yi was already an Innate Grandmaster. He didn't lack techniques, nor did he need a single evasion art.

The only thing he found worthwhile was recorded in the Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Technique—commanding the Five Elements Spirit Corpses to perform the Lesser Five Elements Evasion Technique.

The Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb not only failed to produce a Spirit Corpse, but even Walking Corpses were rare. And the ones that did mutate were sickly and weak, becoming easy military merits that soldiers scrambled over.

Zhou Yi had already maxed out his Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Technique, and he quickly found a solution.

Feed the corpse with fire-attributed spiritual objects!