Five Elements Spirit Corpses

Fire Spirit Objects.

Most grew in deserts and volcanic regions.

They gathered fire-aspect spiritual energy from heaven and earth, and cultivators who consumed them could rapidly increase their True Essence.

Not only plants and minerals—beast carcasses and bones, clouds, mist, and haze could all potentially become Spiritual Objects.

The Thousand-Year Tree Heart Zhou Yi had once consumed was a top-tier wood-aspect Spiritual Object. Otherwise, having only just entered the Innate Realm, with such sparse True Essence in his body, how could he have fought Ku Bu Luohan in magical combat?

The Great Jing imperial family possessed many Spiritual Objects, auspicious treasures contributed by provinces throughout the realm during the dynasty's prosperous years.

This world truly had auspicious treasures, not pigs dressed in gold foil and called kirin. Most were strange objects formed by absorbing spiritual energy.

Zhou Yi had originally planned to spend a great sum purchasing them from the imperial clan.

Li Yu needed money to train the Imperial Guard Directorate and recruit soldiers, while money was precisely what Zhou Yi lacked least.

Unexpectedly, an elder of the imperial clan received Zhou Yi, led him into the Secret Vault, and brought out three Fire Spirit Objects.

Fire Ganoderma.

Purple Fire Bronze.

Yang Fire Essence Stone.

It had to be said that although Great Jing had declined after ruling the realm for three hundred years, its foundations were still far from ordinary.

If Zhou Yi had searched for them himself, who knew how many years it would have taken? It would have depended entirely on luck.

Once the three fire-aspect Spiritual Objects were placed in the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb, Yang Sha Qi surged into the sky. Ordinary soldiers would be consumed by Yang fire the moment they approached, lose their minds, and slaughter one another.

However, the Yang Sha Qi was too heavy, and not a single Walking Corpse appeared in the Yang Corpse Ground.

Zombies were special lifeforms formed from condensed Yin Sha. The fact that the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb could produce Walking Corpses at all was already due to accumulated resentment and the catalysis of Profound Yin Qi.

Now that Yang Sha Qi soared into the heavens, Walking Corpses could not even complete their corpse transformations before all the Yin Qi in their bodies scattered, leaving them truly dead.

"Ancestor, Fire Spirit Corpses are already exceedingly rare in the world. The reason it is so difficult to gather all five Five Elements Spirit Corpses is largely because Fire Spirit Corpses are scarce."

Yang Bai was also proficient in corpse refinement and voluntarily suggested, "After Ku Bu's death, his resentment is extremely heavy. Why not place him in the tomb? Perhaps he may become a Fire Demon Silver Corpse!"

"Hmph! I swore upon my Dao heart that I would not refine Ku Bu's corpse. Are you trying to curse me into qi deviation so you can avenge Taiyin?"

Zhou Yi snorted coldly. Yang Bai's face turned deathly pale, and his legs went weak as he nearly fell to his knees.

Over the past several months, Zhou Yi's authority had thoroughly cowed the Heavenly Corpse Sect.

Three sect elders had once attempted to resist and seize back the inherited Silver Corpse. In the end, they were thrown directly into the corpse pit and turned into refined corpses.

"Ancestor, spare my life! I truly meant this for your sake. Ku Bu's corpse already shows signs of transforming into a Demon Corpse on its own. Ku Bu Luohan died at your hands, and after his corpse transformation, there is a ninety-percent chance he will come seeking revenge. You would only be making another enemy, Ancestor!"

Yang Bai was right. After a corpse transformation, all memories of its previous life would be lost, yet it would instinctively seek to destroy its enemies.

The mysteries of karma were far from ordinary.

"Venerable Ku Bu is actually about to fall into demonic corruption? The Heavenly Dao is truly unjust!"

Zhou Yi wore a sorrowful expression, as though Ku Bu Luohan were his closest friend. He said mournfully, "Venerable Ku Bu enjoyed a lifetime of glorious renown. It must not be ruined by a Demon Corpse."

"However, I promised not to refine his corpse and cannot break my oath. Go find an iron mill, grind his corpse to pieces, and scatter it throughout the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb as fertilizer."

Yang Bai stared dumbly for a moment before finally coming to his senses. He hurried off to move Ku Bu's body and find an iron mill.

One day later.

Ku Bu Luohan's corpse had become fertilizer, blending into the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb.

Adding fuel to the flames, Sha Qi shot into the heavens and had already condensed into a Sha Qi Smoke Signal.

"Good!"

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

The Walking Corpses in the tomb had originally been close to annihilation by the Yang Sha Qi. Yet after devouring the Luohan's remains, they were unexpectedly able to resist the Yang Sha Qi and gradually underwent unknown transformations.

Ninety-nine percent of them failed, then burst into flames out of nowhere and burned into ash.

Among the two or three thousand corpses in the Sun-Charging Fiend Tomb, only one devoured every scrap of the Luohan's remains in the tomb and successfully transformed.

The Fire Spirit Corpse was complete!

Zhou Yi instructed Li Zhu, "While I am in seclusion, forbid anyone from entering the camp. All matters can wait until I emerge!"

Having said that, he dug downward three zhang in the center of the Imperial Guard Camp and carved out an underground residence.

With all five Five Elements Spirit Corpses gathered, Zhou Yi intended to comprehend the Lesser Five Elements Evasion Technique.

This differed from other arts, which could be mastered through Origin Points.

The Five Elements Spirit Corpses possessed the Five Elements Escape Technique as an innate talent. Zhou Yi needed to become one with them in heart and mind, allowing the five elements to cycle and transform smoothly. Then, naturally, there would be nothing he could not evade through.

The residence contained stone walls, wooden stakes, bronze pillars, a pool of water, and blazing flames, each corresponding to one of the five elements. They were meant for practicing the Five Elements Evasion Techniques.

Refining the Fire Spirit Corpse took seven days. Once all five Five Elements Spirit Corpses had gathered, they stood around Zhou Yi according to the positions of the five elements.

"Earth Escape!"

At a thought from Zhou Yi, the Earth Spirit Corpse activated its innate art.

The five corpses and one man immediately sank ten zhang underground. Upon encountering an object of metal and iron, Zhou Yi then controlled the Gold Corpse's technique and passed through the metal.

As the five elements cycled, the process was exceedingly slow.

In magical combat, a moment's hesitation could mean death. Without the help of Origin Points, Zhou Yi could only practice without pause until it became instinctive.

At first, Zhou Yi's transitions between objects of the five elements were extremely clumsy.

After all, controlling Spirit Corpses to use escape arts was ultimately different from doing so himself. Being able to accurately perform the escape arts instead of using Fire Escape underwater was already thanks to the Blood Refinement Method.

Each morning, he consumed Morning Sun Purple Qi to cultivate his True Essence.

The rest of the time, he endlessly practiced switching between escape arts until he could accurately perform them without thinking, as naturally as instinct.

In the bitter depths of winter.

The wind and snow raged.

The Imperial Guard Camp lay covered in silver.

Shouts rang out in waves, shaking the falling snowflakes into sprays of powder.

Even in such weather, the soldiers still wore only thin garments. Their skin was bluish-purple and as hard as stone.

Among martial artists, even those with talent required ten years of External Forging Stance Training to reach this level.

Crown Prince Li Zhu was no longer satisfied with ordinary training methods. Combining the Heavenly Corpse Sect's corpse-refinement arts, he refined the Imperial Guards under his command into Living Zombies.

Not only did this solve the issue of lifespan, it also made the soldiers under his command obey only Li Zhu's orders, as though they had acknowledged him as their master.

The only flaw was that the soldiers became increasingly dull-witted. They could only charge and kill according to orders. Aside from ever-harsher training, they spent their days lying quietly on their beds in a daze.

In Li Zhu's eyes, this was not a flaw at all, but the finest kind of professional soldier.

Because of its contributions to training troops, the Heavenly Corpse Sect had become the army's official corps of cultivators, no longer holding empty titles but genuine official posts.

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

This differed from the power he had possessed before. That had been his father emperor's authority, borrowed power. Now, he held a genuine blade in his own hands.

Appointing Heavenly Corpse Sect cultivators as officials had gravely violated ancestral law. The civil officials opposed it fiercely, and resentment boiled over.

Great Jing already had an Imperial Preceptor and a Grand Tutor, which was exceptional enough. After all, those two were no ordinary humans, and mortals could not afford to provoke them.

How could a group of heretical demonic corpse refiners also become officials? Where would that leave the scholars of the realm?

Yang Bai of the Heavenly Corpse Sect secretly commanded wandering souls and uncovered the crimes of several officials, even finding several yellow robes.

After learning of this, Li Zhu made his own decision. The Imperial Guards directly raided their homes and exterminated their families, convicting them of treason.

Exterminate nine clans!

Emperor Li Yu neither acknowledged nor opposed it.

Some elders of the imperial clan declared that Li Zhu resembled the Great Ancestor!

With no one to restrain him, Li Zhu raided and exterminated three households in succession, seizing ten million taels of silver. No one dared defy the Crown Prince's will again.

Then.

The Heavenly Corpse Sect's cultivators received official appointments!