The Black Bone Reappears

"These thieving bastards, what kind of immortality do they cultivate?!"

With another sigh, Kang Dabao ignored the objects on the ground and instead examined the coffin in front of him.

The coffin itself was unremarkable, except that the Mountain Barbarian Script on the front of the coffin, formed from the boy's pus and blood, was still glowing with Golden Light.

The main material used for this coffin should be ironwood, and the lacquer used is made from the bark of common black oak trees, both of which are quite common First Tier materials.

A coffin of this caliber would fetch at most ten Spirit Stones on the market, which is not even as good as the one used by Master Kang Dabao. It seems somewhat inconsistent with the tomb owner's status as "Grand Mountain Rong Kingdom" as mentioned by this poisonous woman.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that great care was taken in crafting this coffin; the deceased had employed a rare Yin-Yang alchemy technique during his lifetime.

Its coffin is in the open, and any Qi Refining cultivator with slightly stronger Qi Refinement can easily open the coffin lid.

Inside was a set of yellow Daoist robes, draped with a Hunyuan scarf and cloud- Primordial Unity shoes, all neatly arranged in a row.

Beside the Daoist robe were a First-Tier Lower-Grade black shield and a First-Tier Middle-Grade silver axe. These were common items found in the cenotaphs of wealthy Qi Refinement cultivators, and were nothing unusual.

Meanwhile, the Yin Coffin, hidden in the shadows, was refined into a mustard seed- Law Artifact, storing the relics of True Cultivator.

If someone else wants to open the tomb, they must meet two requirements: first, the person opening it must be a descendant of the tomb owner; second, the person's cultivation level must be at least at the Late Qi Refinement.

Of course, if you are a False Core cultivator or even True Cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, you can easily break through the methods left behind by the tomb owner before his death, so there's nothing to say about them.

However, for low-level cultivators, there are few ways to break through this.

Considering that the Daoist Wu has produced no late-stage cultivators for generations, it's clear they've become "the swallows that once graced the halls of the wealthy and powerful."

Even for a True Cultivator descendant, cultivation is extremely difficult, which explains why he valued the Breakthrough Pill that Niu Gui'er had given him so much back then.

As for that wicked woman's family, it took two whole generations to research such an Outer Dao method that was intolerable to heaven and earth, barely managing to open the coffin lid.

According to the original intention of the tomb owner, the entire tomb chamber was quite simple in terms of layout and arrangement, which was the standard for an ordinary Late Qi Refinement Refining cultivator.

If an outsider were to fortuitous opportunity stumble upon the Yang Coffin, and if they possessed even a modicum of skill, they could easily take the two Law Artifacts, search the other secondary tomb chambers, and likely leave satisfied. Normally, they wouldn't give it much thought.

The reason is that although it is not difficult to make a coffin into a mustard seed Law Artifact, most people would probably not imagine that there is a hidden world inside the simple coffin in front of them.

Things largely went as expected.

A rogue cultivator like Lü Wen, who had no lineage, even though he accidentally entered the tomb last time, didn't even see a coffin. He ate a lion- Grass Stone Pill Lion Insect thinking it was a medicinal pill and then returned home satisfied.

The poor tomb owner had deliberately made the coffin look ordinary and had almost no means of trapping or killing outsiders in the cave abode, all in order to pass on his legacy safely to his descendants. However, he couldn't resist the great fortune that Sect Leader Kang Da experiencing today.

Thinking of this, Kang Dabao first picked up the important items on the ground, which were shaped like Six Harmonies True Yang Jujube, and put them into his own Storage Bag. Then he took the woman's Storage Bag. He had accumulated quite a few Storage Bag these days through his risk-free business, and he was much better prepared than that poisonous woman. So he could fit all the treasures in the entire stone chamber.

But there must still be some things left inside the coffin!

The gap between the coffin lids was too small. Kang Dabao pondered for a moment, then assumed the stance of the "Ape Demon Cannon Hammer" Technique Method. Although he had only just mastered the "Ape Demon Cannon Hammer" to the basics, making it utterly useless in actual combat, it was still perfectly capable of hitting impenetrable targets.

With a loud bang, the coffin lid flew off and smashed into the thin partition wall of the tomb chamber.

A huge hole was smashed in the partition wall, and low-grade blue bricks refined with spiritual fire shattered and fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

Kang Dabao carefully walked to the coffin to examine it, and a look of joy appeared on his face. It turned out that the treasure that the thieving woman had taken out did not contain all the essence!

"A talisman?! The inscription is powerful and vigorous, like dragons leaping from the ground. According to the sect's records, it's at least a top-tier Second Tier talisman! Or even Third Tier! Such a treasure is likely refined by Golden Core cultivator! What a wonderful treasure! It's a pity that a Qi Refining Realm cultivator would have difficulty using it. Keep it, keep it. Patriarch Zhang might not have had this treasure back then."

"The Water Moon Light-Splitting Art, a low-grade Cultivation Method of the Cosmos Rank, Lower Grade! It can be cultivated up to the Golden Core Early Stage! It's a pity that Daoist Master doesn't have Spirit Root, nor does the Third, and even the Second. Pei Yi, on the other hand, can cultivate it and we'll see."

"What is this? Second Tier Law Artifact weapon prototype? No, that's hardly a good thing for Foundation Establishment Late Stage True Cultivator; there's no need to hide it until the end. Could it be a prototype Law Treasure?! If it really is a prototype Law Treasure, that's incredible! Dingnan Niu Household and the Han City Yue Household combined probably couldn't afford one!"

"This is... this is Foundation Establishment Pill! It's Foundation Establishment Pill! And there are even two!"

By the end, Kang Dabao swallowed back the gasp he was about to vomit. His composure was far superior to that of the wicked woman, but he was still nearly driven to madness by the joy of this windfall.

This is because there are simply too many treasures here, and Kang Dabao cannot use his rather limited mathematical knowledge to calculate how much these treasures would be worth in Spirit Stone.

"This is an immense fortune, but it can also turn into a catastrophe that destroys a family and clan in an instant!" With this thought in mind, Sect Leader Kang Da finally calmed his mind and regained his senses.

Kang Dabao had never experienced a wealthy life in either of his lives, which was a sign of his deep-seated fear of poverty. When suddenly becoming rich after being poor, one is most prone to acting impulsively and doing foolish things.

"If this news leaks out, even the poorest Golden Core cultivators might come looking for my life." Kang Dabao began to consider this, becoming wary.

He had thought it through and decided not to tell anyone what he had gained here.

It's not that I think my junior brothers and disciples are untrustworthy, but rather that I need to eliminate the risk of information leaks as much as possible. This matter concerns the life and death of the entire sect, and there is no room for the slightest negligence.

Thinking of this, Sect Leader Kang Da rearranged the coffin, planning to explain things to his two junior brothers when they arrived.

"What is this?" Kang Dabao calmed himself down, carefully put away the artifact prototype that looked like a Law Treasure, and then explored the deepest part of the coffin's space.

An object, about ten feet long and five feet wide, tightly wrapped in Second Tier spiritual brocade, came into his view.

"Hmph, I should have thought of that." Kang Dabao deftly unfastened the brocade, revealing a neatly dressed, undecayed barbarian corpse.

This barbarian was at least nine feet tall, with a robust physique; if he stood up, wouldn't he be as large as a small hill?

"It's at least the physical body of Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator!" Kang Dabao thought for a moment, then pondered, "If this falls into the hands of those Evil Cultivators who have methods for refining zombies, wouldn't they be drooling with envy?"

The Mountain Barbarians and the cultivators of Cloud Horn Prefecture are sworn enemies, having fought and killed each other for hundreds of years, making it difficult to determine who is right and who is wrong.

It's nothing more than the former criticizing the latter for being ignorant and base, and the latter criticizing the former for exploitation and cruelty.

The Chongming Sect was founded on the experience of its founder, Patriarch Zhang, serving in the army to quell the barbarians. From this perspective, Kang Dabao felt no guilt whatsoever when he decided to deal with the bodies of the Mountain Barbarians cultivators in exchange for some benefits.

"Could it be sold to the Two Instruments Sect?" Kang Dabao suddenly recalled the notice posted in Xuanwei City a hundred years ago, in which the Two Instruments Sect sought to purchase the bodies of barbarian cultivators.

It was from that time onward that the already dwindling forces of the Mountain Barbarians within Cold Crow Mountain were almost completely wiped out by wave after wave of cultivators from various states who came into the mountain to earn rewards.

Since that notice was posted, not only have the barbarian cultivators who are barely surviving in Cold Crow Mountain suffered, but the lives of ordinary people in the Mountain Barbarians tribes have also become even more miserable.

Even if not all cultivators of the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty would stoop so low as to attack ordinary Mountain Barbarians, once they lose the protection of cultivators, the ordinary mortals in the Mountain Barbarians tribes would be nothing more than food for the Demon Beast and birds of Cold Crow Mountain, and it's hard to say what kind of good end they would have.

And this was indeed the case. As Two Instruments Sect claimed to have done, "From then on, there were almost no traces of barbarians in Cold Crow Mountain, and the world was at peace."

This is also why the Chongming Sect and a few other families were able to live peacefully on the outskirts of Cold Crow Mountain despite their weak strength.

As for the notice posted by the Golden Core Xuanwei City, a major Two Instruments Sect, the Dingnan Niu Household naturally dared not remove it without the former's explicit instructions. In any case, Kang Dabao had seen it when he went to Xuanwei City last time.

However, it is worth mentioning that since the last barbarian chaos, the Two Instruments Sect has claimed that several of its Golden Core cultivators are either traveling or in seclusion, allowing the Mountain Rong barbarians to wreak havoc in three prefectures and forty-one counties. At the same time, it has also begun to intermittently purchase large quantities of barbarian cultivators' bodies from cultivators in Cloud Horn Prefecture.

According to rumors circulating among gossipers, this was because the Grand Elder of the Two Instruments Sect had recently met an Evil Cultivator achieved the Golden Core stage, and they hit it off immediately and became sworn brothers.

After that, the Grand Elder invited the Evil Cultivator to join his sect and make them his disciples. That's why a new lineage was established in Reed Creek Mountain of the Two Instruments Sect two or three hundred years ago, specifically to teach the method of refining zombies.

Whether what the idle people in the marketplace said was true or false, Sect Leader Kang Da couldn't tell. Even if he racked his brains, he couldn't have imagined the methods of those high-level cultivators.

Perhaps the Two Instruments Sect acquired the bodies of barbarian cultivators as a catalyst for one of their sect's patriarchs to refine pills.

"Sold to the Two Instruments Sect? But there's no market price for that?" Of course, there are records of transactions involving the corpses of barbarian Foundation Establishment cultivators, but henchmen like Kang Dabao have never heard of such things.

Sect Leader Kang Da didn't dwell on it for long; he immediately slapped himself across the face without holding back.

"He really hasn't woken up yet. Doing business with Golden Core sect, you surnamed Kang have quite the nerve." Kang Dabao chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Then why not just sell him to the Feng Prefecture Ge Household?"

"Slap." Another slap. "Damn it, are you still not awake? Isn't this the same principle?"

Kang Dabao was amused by his own words. The Two Instruments Sect might still have some semblance of the demeanor of a higher sect, and would try to cover up their dirty deeds.

But if Lineage of Feng Prefecture Ge Household, a truly unorthodox clan, were to harbor wicked intentions, they might just arrest you and send you to be refined into oil.

If Mountain Barbarians True Cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage were to truly possess a physical body and fail to gain sufficient benefits in return, it would infuriate Sect Leader Kang Da to the point of death.

Then he had a sudden thought, "Doesn't Zhao Gu have a Desolate Rank, Supreme Grade 'Guo Mountain Corpse Refining Method' in his Storage Bag? Why don't I just use it myself?"

The idea suddenly popped into his head, and after a moment's thought, Kang Dabao found it quite feasible.

Anyway, the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty doesn't really care about anything these days. Since a thousand years ago, many heretical Evil Dao have openly granted land and titles, and recruited many disciples.

If I were to cultivate some unorthodox methods solely for self-defense, the Demon Correction Office probably wouldn't have time to meddle in this matter, right?

If Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator were to successfully refine a zombie, I'd probably be able to put myself to the test against even Foundation Establishment cultivator in person.

By then, what will we have to fear from the Demon Correction Office? Demons? Who are the demons? The Daoist priest might even be a distinguished guest of the Demon Correction Office!

Kang Dabao was deep in his daydream when suddenly a strange yet familiar tremor came from his Storage Bag.

Before he could react, the Black Bone shot out of the Storage Bag again, hitting the barbarian corpse right in front of Kang Dabao.

"Pfft." Before Kang Dabao could dodge, he was covered in dust.

"Pah!" Kang Dabao's face instantly turned ugly. "Damn it! I think I just swallowed quite a bit! Oh well, if the physical body is gone, so be it. We can't waste the rest!"

With a grim expression, Sect Leader Kang Da carefully put away the brocade used to wrap the corpse.

Even more gratifying than this harvest is the fact that this precious Black Bone, suspected to be a spiritual treasure, has finally shown signs of life again.

But what does this mean? Kang Dabao has taken many lives these days, and the Chongming Sect's series of battles left behind countless corpses, yet Black Bone remained unmoved.

Is it because these barbarians have stronger bones and muscles, more chewy texture, and better taste?

Or is this broken skeleton only interested in the so-called Grand Marshal Gu Huntong and his descendants?

That doesn't make sense! Wasn't that boy who just died also a barbarian cultivator, and also a descendant of the Gu Huntong bloodline?!

Could it be that the boy became a cultivator because he was given potent drugs, and Black Bone thinks he's a fake?

The Black Bone floating in the air remained its ordinary, dark appearance. Its Gu Huntong drained, yet no Spirit Transformation Black Bone a Saintess's avatar emerged from it to guide Sect Leader Kang Da's cultivation.

Kang Dabao was furious. The corpse of Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator wasn't enough? How many Spirit Stones could that be exchanged for?!

What should I gnaw on next? The Golden Core Ancestor? Don't even think about it! I've never even seen a living Golden Core cultivator in my two lifetimes, let alone go looking for those who are dead!

Fortunately, it wasn't entirely unchanged. Kang Dabao grabbed the Black Bone standing upright in the air, held it in his hand and examined it closely. He noticed that a silver seal script appeared intermittently at the tail of the Black Bone.

"Hey, is this the character?" Kang Dabao looked puzzled, his eyes zooming in to examine the silver seal script repeatedly, pondering for a long time.

After staring at it for an unknown amount of time, Sect Leader Kang Da finally sighed and said, "Damn it, I don't recognize this character!"

Thank you to Brother Hashimoto for the 5,000 coins.

Thank you TKehc and HEHHE for the two monthly Extended Net Moon, and thank you Jiulan Qianye for the Extended Net Moon.

Thank you all for your subscriptions and support! (This chapter was typed on my phone while I was at work, so it's not very well written.)