Five Elements Spirit Corpses

Fire Spirit Objects.

Mostly found in deserts and volcanic regions.

They condense the fire-attributed spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and cultivators who consume them can rapidly grow their True Essence.

Not just plants and ores—fierce beast bones, clouds, mists, and even vapors can become spirit objects.

The Thousand-Year Tree Heart Zhou Yi once swallowed was a top-tier wood-attributed spirit object. Otherwise, as a new Innate Realm cultivator with thin True Essence, how could he have matched Ku Bu Luohan in Magical Combat?

The Great Jing imperial family hoards many spirit objects, tributes of auspicious omens offered by prefectures across the realm during their heyday.

This world truly has auspicious omens—not pigs painted gold to pass as Kirin, but strange things born from absorbing spiritual energy.

Zhou Yi had planned to spend a fortune buying from the imperial clan.

Li Yu needed money to train the Imperial Guard Directorate and recruit soldiers, and Zhou Yi happened to be the one with the most cash to spare.

But unexpectedly, an elder of the imperial clan received Zhou Yi, led him into the secret vault, and took out three fire-attributed spirit objects.

Fire Ganoderma.

Purple Fire Bronze.

Yang Fire Essence Stone.

He had to admit—Great Jing had ruled the realm for three hundred years. Even in decline, their foundations were extraordinary.

If Zhou Yi had tried gathering these himself, who knew how many years it would take? It was all luck.

He placed the three fire-attributed spirit objects into the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb. Yang Sha Qi surged skyward. Any ordinary soldier who got close would be set ablaze by the yang fire, losing reason and slaughtering each other.

Yet, despite the overwhelming Yang Sha Qi, not a single Walking Corpse emerged from the Yang Corpse Ground.

Corpses are lifeforms born from yin-sha condensation. For the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb to produce Walking Corpses at all required accumulated resentment and the stimulation of Profound Yin Qi.

Now, with Yang Sha Qi soaring, any corpse attempting to undergo corpse transformation would fail, dispersing all its yin qi and dying for good.

"Ancestor, Fire Spirit Corpses are already rare in this world. The reason the Five Elements Spirit Corpses are so hard to assemble is mostly because Fire Spirit Corpses are scarce."

Yang Bai, also skilled in corpse refinement, took the initiative to suggest: "The dead monk Ku Bu carries immense resentment. Why not place him in the tomb? He might become a Fire Demon Silver Corpse!"

"Hmph! This Seat swore by his Dao heart not to refine Ku Bu's corpse. Are you trying to curse me into qi deviation, to avenge Tai Yin?"

Zhou Yi snorted coldly, scaring Yang Bai's face pale. His legs went weak, nearly dropping to his knees.

In just a few months, Zhou Yi's authority had thoroughly crushed the Heavenly Corpse Sect.

Three sect elders had once tried to resist, attempting to reclaim the inherited silver corpse. They were thrown straight into the corpse pit to become refining materials.

"Ancestor, spare my life! I truly meant it for your good. That monk Ku Bu's corpse is already showing signs of spontaneously transforming into a Demon Corpse. Ku Bu Luohan died by your hand in life. After his corpse transforms, nine times out of ten, he'll come seeking revenge. Ancestor, you'd only gain another enemy!"

Yang Bai wasn't wrong. After corpse transformation, all past memories vanish, but the body instinctively seeks to destroy its killer.

The mystery of cause and effect is no ordinary thing.

"Ku Bu Chan Master is about to fall into demonhood? Heaven's Dao is truly unjust!"

Zhou Yi's face was full of pity, as if Ku Bu Luohan were his dearest friend. He said mournfully: "Ku Bu Chan Master's lifelong reputation must not be ruined by a Demon Corpse."

"But I swore not to refine his corpse. I cannot break that oath. Go find an Iron Mill, grind his corpse to dust, and scatter it into the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb."

Yang Bai stared dumbfounded. Only after a moment did he react, hurrying off to fetch Ku Bu's corpse and find an Iron Mill.

One day later.

Ku Bu Luohan's corpse became fertilizer, merging into the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb.

Fuel added to the fire—the sha qi shot into the sky, condensing into a Sha Qi Smoke Signal.

"Excellent!"

Zhou Yi sensed the changes within, his face full of delight.

The Walking Corpses in the tomb were nearly annihilated by the Yang Sha Qi. But after devouring the Luohan's remains, they could withstand the yang sha, gradually evolving toward something unknown.

Ninety-nine percent of the transformations failed, the corpses spontaneously igniting and burning to ash.

Of the two to three thousand bodies in the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb, only one managed to devour all the Luohan's remains and complete the transformation.

The Fire Spirit Corpse was born!

Zhou Yi instructed Li Zhu: "While your master is in seclusion, no one is permitted to enter the camp. All matters wait until after seclusion!"

With that, he went to the center of the Imperial Guard Camp, dug three zhang into the earth, and carved out an underground chamber.

With all Five Elements Spirit Corpses assembled, Zhou Yi would comprehend the Lesser Five Elements Evasion Technique.

This was different from other techniques, which could be turned into experience with Origin Points.

The Five Elements Spirit Corpses were gifted with the Five Elements Escape Technique. Zhou Yi needed to achieve unity of mind with them, making the cycle of the five elements smooth and seamless. Then, naturally, nothing would be beyond his evasion.

Inside the chamber, he arranged stone walls, wooden stakes, bronze pillars, a pool of water, and blazing flames—each corresponding to one of the five elements. These were for practicing the Five Elements Escape Technique.

Refining the Fire Spirit Corpse took seven days. With all Five Elements Spirit Corpses assembled, they stood around Zhou Yi in their elemental positions.

"Earth Escape!"

Zhou Yi willed it, and the Earth Spirit Corpse activated its innate skill.

The five corpses and one man immediately dove ten zhang into the earth, encountering a metal object. Zhou Yi once again used the Gold Corpse technique to pass through the metal.

The Five Elements cycle turned with extreme slowness.

In Magical Combat, a single moment of delay could mean death. Without the aid of Origin, Zhou Yi could only practice relentlessly until it became instinct.

At first, Zhou Yi's transitions between the Five Elements were extremely awkward.

After all, manipulating a spirit corpse to execute escape techniques was never as smooth as doing it himself. Being able to ensure accurate execution—rather than, say, a water escape in fire—was already thanks to the Blood Refinement Method.

In the mornings, he swallowed the Morning Sun Purple Qi to cultivate True Essence.

The rest of his time was spent endlessly practicing the transitions between escape techniques, until they became as natural as instinct, executed without a moment's thought.

The depths of winter.

A blizzard raged.

The Imperial Guard Camp was blanketed in silver.

Shouts rang out in waves, shaking the falling snowflakes into fine mist.

In such weather, the soldiers still wore only thin garments, their skin a mottled blue-purple, hard as stone.

For martial experts with talent, ten years of external Stance Training could achieve this.

Crown Prince Li Zhu was no longer satisfied with ordinary training methods. He had combined the corpse-refining techniques of the Heavenly Corpse Sect's Daoists to turn the Imperial Guard under his command into Living Zombies.

This not only solved the Lifespan problem but also made the soldiers, as if bound to their master, obey only Li Zhu's commands.

The only flaw was that the soldiers grew increasingly dull-witted, only capable of charging and killing on command. In their spare time, aside from ever-harsher training, they simply lay in bed staring blankly.

In Li Zhu's eyes, this was hardly a flaw—it was the mark of the finest professional soldiers.

Because of their success in training the troops, the Heavenly Corpse Sect had become military sorcerers, no longer holding empty titles but official government posts.

Crown Prince Li Zhu discovered that after taking command of five thousand Imperial Guards, he now had a voice in the court.

Unlike the power he had before—which was merely the borrowed authority of his father, the Emperor—this was a blade firmly in his own hands.

Appointing the Heavenly Corpse Sect's Daoists as officials had severely violated ancestral laws. The hundred officials obstructed him, their resentment boiling over.

Great Jing already had one Imperial Preceptor and one Grand Tutor, which was already an exception—after all, those two were inhuman beings that mortals dared not provoke.

But a bunch of corpse-refining heretics from the Heretical Demonic Paths becoming officials? Where did that leave the scholars of the realm?

Yang Bai of the Heavenly Corpse Sect secretly drove vengeful spirits to uncover evidence of crimes by several officials, even searching out a few yellow robes.

After learning of this, Li Zhu made his own decision: the Imperial Guard directly destroyed their homes and wiped out their families, charging them with treason.

Execution of the nine clans!

Emperor Li Yu turned a blind eye, neither opposing nor supporting.

Some elders of the imperial clan remarked that Li Zhu was like the Great Ancestor reborn.

With no one to restrain him, Li Zhu successively raided and annihilated three households, seizing ten million taels of silver. After that, no one dared to defy the Crown Prince's will.

And then.

The Heavenly Corpse Sect's Daoists received their official posts.