Qing Chen did not use the Demonic Lotus Karmic Fire to refine Chang Zhan's corpse directly. He had a more meticulous plan.
He planned to use the Mysterious Yin Corpse-Refining Secret Technique to refine some hairy jiangshi and armored corpses first, to get some practice.
Hairy jiangshi were divided into white, gray, and black jiangshi, corresponding to the Qi Refining Stage.
Copper-armored corpses were what he truly wanted.
Armored corpses were divided into copper-, silver-, and gold-armored corpses, corresponding to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
For the Qi Refining Stage corpses that failed to become hairy jiangshi, Qing Chen planned to let the Demon Mara Banner devour their bones and flesh-and-blood essence. This would further increase the banner's power while also yielding high-quality blood vitality.
As for Foundation Establishment cultivators such as Chang Zhan, if refining them into armored corpses failed, their corpses would be handed over to the Demonic Lotus Karmic Fire for refinement, increasing the demon fire's power.
Only by increasing its power could the demon fire meet the requirements for refining his magic power nine times and improve Qing Chen's chances of Core Formation.
He knew very well that after devouring cultivators, the White Bone Demon Mara Banner could produce high-quality blood vitality matching the demonic banner's current grade. This was undoubtedly an enormous aid to his cultivation.
Moreover, as long as the demonic banner refined enough Qi Refining Stage cultivators' corpses, they could fully replace the blood vitality of Foundation Establishment cultivators for the Brahma Demon-Refining Art to devour and consume.
As for those cultivators' divine souls, the White Bone Demon Mara Banner would capture and torment them all, refining them into second-tier grudge soul threads.
These grudge soul threads were excellent materials for setting up formations.
This way, Qing Chen could have Su Zixuan begin refining