Almost at the same moment, within the Condensed Jade Sect countless tens of thousands of li away, Qing Chen, who had just ended his seclusion, received a sect briefing delivered to his desk.
It mentioned several recent raids carried out by the Snake Spirit Thieves, including the attack on the Feng Household's fleet.
This increasingly rampant force had already become a dark cloud hanging over the hearts of many sects, including the Condensed Jade Sect.
Qing Chen sat cross-legged in the center of the secret chamber, nine Bronze Corpse Lamps burning dimly around him.
Since forming his Golden Core three years ago, he had begun practicing the Seventh Layer essentials of the Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Mystic Art at the hour of the Tiger each day, cultivating for four hours.
At this moment, Qing Chen's hands were forming the Mysterious Yin Corpse Control Seal and the Corpse Suppression Token.
Veins throbbed on his forehead, and cold sweat dripped from his jaw onto the pitch-black stone slabs.
The Flying Yaksha stood like an iron tower in the corner, its blue-gray skin covered in black hair as dense as steel needles.
Horns grew from its forehead, bat wings sprouted from its back, and its eyes were blood-red. Its aura was somewhat stronger than it had been on Immortal-Severing Island twenty years earlier.
As a living corpse, it possessed the potential to grow stronger still, and Qing Chen occasionally fed it corpses to maintain its ferocity and fighting strength.
"Worthy of being one of the Twelve Heavenly Arts. It really is difficult to cultivate. After breaking into the Golden Core realm, cultivating a Heaven Grade Cultivation Technique like the Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Mystic Art has become far slower than before. Even now, I've only just entered the seventh layer."
Qing Chen opened