Subjugation

Crafting two Essence-Devouring Awls from the black tiger's remains had been an unexpected delight. Shopkeeper Wu had also admitted frankly that had he not made rapid strides in the art of artifact crafting lately, it would have been utterly impossible to produce two. These two Essence-Devouring Awls were nearly identical in might to the previous one, though devoid of the venomous viper's fangs, they lacked those treacherous, sinister tricks that caught victims off guard. Even so, Qin Sang was thoroughly satisfied. Afterward, Qin Sang stayed in Wenyue Cultivation Market for several more days and attended a gathering of the secret shop. The secret shop's members did not show up for every gathering; this time, counting Qin Sang, there were only eleven present. Among them were three Foundation Establishment cultivators—one rogue cultivator and two from other cultivation sects—while the Qi Refinement cultivators, much like Shopkeeper Wu, mostly possessed an impressive, specialized craft of their own. Qin Sang made himself a familiar face. After making inquiries with Shopkeeper Wu, he found that every single one enjoyed a decent reputation free of past misdeeds, which made him wonder all the more why Granny Jing had let him join so easily. Shopkeeper Wu explained, "Among the various sects across the Yuncang Great Marsh, Shaohua Mountain, as one of the Eight Righteous Sects, is widely praised. Granny Jing probably thought that with your sect's rules keeping you in check, Fellow Daoist Qin would never dare step out of line." Qin Sang pondered this and found it reasonable. His background was out in the open, easy to verify at a glance. Shaohua Mountain considered itself an orthodox righteous sect. If its disciples committed evil acts, the sect might look the other way if all loose ends were tied up cleanly; but if anyone ruined the sect's reputation in the cultivation world, Shaohua Mountain would purge its own house long before Granny Jing ever needed to lift a finger. At the secret shop gathering, some members sought helpers to hunt demons or explore for treasures, while others sought to purchase valuable treasures or magic tools. One Foundation Establishment cultivator invited Qin Sang to journey deep into the Yuncang Great Marsh to track demons and hunt, but Qin Sang politely declined. In the end, Qin Sang asked several fellow daoists to help look for dried-up spirit spring objects, promising a handsome reward. Then he departed Wenyue Cultivation Market and made a trip back to the sect. This time, he finally met Senior Brother Wen and, just as he had done earlier, asked him to inquire among familiar fellow disciples for any related news, adding that price was negotiable. *** Dichen Cave. Surging yin baleful qi continued to relentlessly batter the restrictions everywhere, yet the atmosphere within Dichen Cave remained choked with deathly stillness and desolation. Familiar with the route, Qin Sang skirted the restrictions and slipped inside through an inconspicuous subterranean fissure. A sweep of his spiritual sense revealed that the cave dwelling's restrictions were activated, indicating someone was cultivating within. He had come to gather earth fiend qi to refine corpses, and avoiding alerting others was for the best. Thus, he concealed his presence and drifted toward the most secluded corner in his memory. Before long, Qin Sang arrived before a stone wall etched with tiny fissures barely visible to the naked eye. Pressing a hand against the wall, he confirmed the location, silently channeled his evasion technique, and his figure blurred into an illusion before "squeezing" into the cleft. To his surprise, deep within the stone wall, the fissure grew wider and wider, eventually large enough to allow two or three people to pass abreast. Moreover, the chasm led straight down into the depths of the earth. Upon emerging, Qin Sang did not pause for a second, plummeting swiftly downward. The further down he fell, the thicker the yin baleful qi became, and the bone-chilling cold grew ever more piercing. Still, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator now, he could easily withstand this degree of chill. Finally breaking through the yin baleful qi, he found a patch of open space between the yin baleful qi and the earth fiend qi. The two chilling baleful qis remained as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers, refusing to merge. This was because yin baleful qi was merely formed from an immense gathering of death qi, resentment, and yin qi, evolved over years and months; in essence, it was simply a more perilous variant of yin qi. Earth fiend qi, on the other hand, was the ultimate yin and baleful qi conceived by Heaven and Earth. The two were not of the same caliber; should yin baleful qi encounter earth fiend qi, it would inevitably be swallowed up with ease. Qin Sang swept his gaze around, landed on a stone platform, and activated the Warm Yang Bead along with several other body-warming magic tools. Once he felt some warmth return, he retrieved a dozen-odd long-necked silver bottles from his mustard seed bag. These silver bottles were known as Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles—a specialized magic tool that could not be measured by standard grades. A magnetic glow formed within the bottles, capable of drawing in and placating violent earth fiend qi so the bottles would not burst from the pressure. Naturally, the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles could do more than just collect earth fiend qi; they held a variety of marvelous uses. Qin Sang had discovered the method for crafting the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle at Pagoda Peak. Only one type of special lodestone was difficult to find; the other spiritual materials were not particularly precious. He had bought out all the lodestones at Tianhen Tower and asked Shopkeeper Wu to forge a dozen-odd bottles in one go, all with the intention of harvesting as much earth fiend qi as possible. After returning from the subterranean crypt, Qin Sang had pored over ancient texts to study earth fiend qi in detail, only then learning that such baleful qi was actually exceedingly rare. It required specific conditions to form, making it even harder to find than the Five Elements yin materials. If he did not prepare some earth fiend qi in advance, he would have to waste focus searching for it after entering the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, and whether he could even find any remained entirely unknown. Lining up the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles in front of him, Qin Sang grabbed one, opened it, and let his spiritual power form a hand behind him that plunged toward the pitch-black curtain below. A wisp of earth fiend qi was wrenched out by the spiritual power hand, violently thrashing like a living creature as it battered the hand. Immediately afterward, a dreadful, sinister chill crept through the connection between Qin Sang and the hand of spiritual power, invading his body. Qin Sang's expression shifted slightly. Only now did he truly experience firsthand how terrifying earth fiend qi was. He hastily channeled the Warm Yang Bead and his other tools with all his might, then wasted no time casting restriction after restriction onto the wisp of earth fiend qi. Under the weight of multiple layers of suppression, that wisp of earth fiend qi finally grew docile, condensing into a cluster of black vapor. Yet Qin Sang still dared not make physical contact with the earth fiend qi. Waving his hand, he suspended the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle and aimed its opening at the ball of earth fiend qi, drawing it inside. A streak of silver-white magnetic glow flashed within. Once the earth fiend qi entered the magnetic bottle, the vessel wobbled faintly before quickly settling into calm. Qin Sang waited patiently for a moment. After confirming that the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle could subdue the earth fiend qi, he repeated the process, collecting the earth fiend qi bit by bit. Time drifted by. Qin Sang sat motionless on the stone platform like a statue. After more than half a day had passed, he suddenly opened his eyes and summoned the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle back into his grasp. Peering through the mouth of the bottle, he saw a field of silver-white magnetic glow, with faint black vapor discernible deep within. Although the magnetic bottle was not yet completely filled, Qin Sang decided against taking in any more, wary of courting mishaps. By this point, his complexion had turned slightly bluish. He hastily leaped upward, returning only after dispelling the chill within his body to resume gathering earth fiend qi. Ten days later. From a fissure in Dichen Cave, an illusory figure suddenly slipped out. The disciple guarding Dichen Cave was still sequestered in closed-door cultivation within the cave dwelling, utterly oblivious. Qin Sang had filled all dozen-odd Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles. Once his corpse-refining technique became proficient enough to guarantee success every time, a single bottle of earth fiend qi would suffice to refine two or three baleful corpses. As long as he did not refine living corpses, this supply would last him a very long time. After all, the corpse of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was not so easy to come by.