He placed the young man in martial attire onto the wooden bed.
When he captured the young man alive, Qin Sang had already completed the first layer of restrictions.
The young man's physical body and origin soul were both sealed, yet in outward appearance, he looked hardly different from when he was alive. Only his skin bore a faint bluish-black tint.
Even after being refined into a corpse, there would not be much change—this was one of the differences between a living corpse and a baleful corpse.
To others, it was almost impossible to tell from outward appearance that a living corpse was a type of refined corpse.
Especially right after refinement, it was virtually indistinguishable from when it was alive, only gradually changing as time passed.
Just like the living corpse he and Baiyun Shanren had encountered in the Heavenly Corpse Sect's sub-altar: after so many years, aside from sprouting fangs and long nails, its appearance had not undergone any earth-shattering changes.
Of course, its dense corpse qi would still expose its true nature.
Yet that was not without a remedy.
The greatest difference between a living corpse and a baleful corpse—and the reason a living corpse's strength far surpassed that of a baleful corpse—lay in the fact that a living corpse could retain one incantation spell learned during its lifetime, while the refiner could also imbue another incantation spell into it via the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.
Qin Sang had long made his choice, deciding to imbue it with the Spirit Concealment Art.
The Spirit Concealment Art could not only hide one's cultivation level, but also conceal abnormal auras such as demonic energy, demon qi, and corpse qi. Back then, Gu Tiannan and his disciple had relied on this very technique to mask the demonic energy born from practicing the Corpse Core Secret Art, deceiving Qin Sang's perception.
With the Spirit Concealment Art, the living corpse's corpse qi could be concealed as much as possible, only being exposed during combat, or seen through by cultivators whose realm far exceeded the living corpse's former level when alive.
Though it could not immediately enhance its strength, at times it would produce wondrous effects.
The young man in martial attire lay quietly on the wooden bed, completely oblivious to everything.
Qin Sang pondered for a moment, summoned the Heavenly Corpse Talisman to rest in his palm, and cast countless restrictions. Some fell onto the talisman, while others drifted toward the young man.
Gradually, an inexplicable connection seemed to form between the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and the young man in martial attire.
As the final restriction was completed, Qin Sang's movements paused slightly. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and with a flip of his palm, he abruptly pressed the Heavenly Corpse Talisman toward the center of the young man's brow!
"Seal!"
With Qin Sang's loud shout, the Heavenly Corpse Talisman suddenly flared with eerie light and flashed out of sight, sinking into the young man's body and entering his origin soul space.
Immediately afterward, Qin Sang felt an extraordinarily powerful force of resistance surge back through the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.
Battered by the impact, the Heavenly Corpse Talisman trembled incessantly.
Qin Sang's spiritual sense was even stronger than that of typical cultivators in the same realm. Facing such resistance, he showed no fear, carefully protecting the Heavenly Corpse Talisman as he carried on with the secret art step by step.
Ultimately, the resistance vanished completely.
The Heavenly Corpse Talisman seal was complete!
At that moment, Qin Sang stopped abruptly. Exhaling a breath of turbid air, he looked down at the young man in martial attire.
Whether or not to erase this person's consciousness was an open choice, left to the refiner. If he did not erase it, once refined into a living corpse, the corpse would possess greater spirituality and slightly superior strength.
In the end, Qin Sang decided to wipe the man's consciousness clean.
That way, the man was essentially dead; only the vitality of the origin soul was preserved by the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.
With the origin soul sealed, next was refining the physical body. Only when the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and all the restrictions were interconnected into a seamless whole would the refinement be complete.
This step was no less difficult. Because the refined corpse's vitality had to be maintained, its sea of qi had to be preserved and could not be completely filled with earth fiend qi; if the earth fiend qi battered and damaged the sea of qi, all previous efforts would go to waste.
Therefore, although Qin Sang was well-versed in building foundations with the five elements, he did not dare be careless.
The young man had cultivated a metal-element cultivation method during his lifetime, so Qin Sang started with blue nether metal and, following the order of mutual generation among the five elements, drove the Five Elements yin materials into his body.
Sure enough, the consumption of Five Elements yin materials was several times that of a baleful corpse. Fortunately, Qin Sang had prepared more than enough.
Whoosh!
Spiritual power swept up one of the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles, flying it into Qin Sang's palm.
The magnetic bottle opened, and earth fiend qi "flowed" out. Under Qin Sang's control, it entered the living corpse's dantian, where it was instantly met with resistance from the spiritual power in the sea of qi.
This was completely different from refining a baleful corpse—a baleful corpse's dantian was empty!
At this moment, the spiritual power in the living corpse's sea of qi launched a fierce counterattack, like a tempest upon the open ocean. Earth fiend qi and spiritual power violently clashed, neutralizing each other without either yielding an inch.
Fortunately, having been reinforced by the Five Elements yin materials and the restrictions of the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art, the dantian was spared from ruin.
Seeing an entire bottle of earth fiend qi exhausted without managing to drive even a single wisp into the living corpse's dantian, Qin Sang's expression darkened slightly. The difficulty was far greater than he had anticipated.
The second bottle of earth fiend qi.
It remained the same!
With the third bottle, there was still no glimmer of success.
Qin Sang gave up, aborting the refinement and resealing the body. It seemed a trip to Shaohua Mountain was unavoidable, though that would have to wait until the troubles here were resolved.
Clearing away the lingering aura in the cave dwelling, Qin Sang sat cross-legged in meditation and began cultivating.
On the fifth day, the restriction before the cave dwelling's entrance was suddenly disturbed. Sensing it, Qin Sang awoke from his meditation, summoned the voice transmission talisman into his palm, and smiled with joy upon reading the message left on it.
Leaping out of his dwelling, Qin Sang instructed Tan Hao to wait inside while he flew by escape light into Yinshan Pass.
Spirit Elixir Pavilion.
Qin Sang saw Yunyouzi once again.
His appearance had not changed much, but his complexion looked somewhat better than before; it seemed the Nine Splendors Azure Frost Grass was indeed effective.
Now, Yunyouzi's aura was also far more formidable than four years ago. He was likely at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, touching the bottleneck of the middle Foundation Establishment stage.
Yet he had not managed to break through, and had instead been overtaken by Qin Sang.
However, judging solely by appearance, Qin Sang could not tell whether the hidden wound on Yunyouzi's divine soul had healed.
While Qin Sang was sizing up Yunyouzi, Yunyouzi also noticed that Qin Sang had already broken through to the middle stage. Puzzled, he asked, "Brother Qin, did you refine the Blood-Dripping Ghost Mushroom as well?"
Qin Sang smiled wryly and slowly shook his head.
Yunyouzi's face fell. Without refining the Blood-Dripping Ghost Mushroom, breaking through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage so quickly could only mean one thing: the Xuanwen Heyun Pill had failed to heal Qin Sang's injury, and he had been forced to use its medicinal potency solely to advance his cultivation.
"This old Daoist doesn't even know whether to congratulate you or not."
Yunyouzi sighed with emotion, then consoled Qin Sang, "Still, Brother Qin, breaking through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage is always something worth celebrating. You're doing much better than this old Daoist."
Qin Sang furrowed his brows and hurriedly asked, "Did the Nine Splendors Azure Frost Grass not work for you?"
Even thousand-year-old Nine Splendors Azure Frost Grass could not cure Yunyouzi.
Could the hidden wound on his divine soul be even more severe than Qin Sang's damaged foundation?
Yunyouzi sighed. "It had some effect, but it's merely better than nothing! In truth, I never expected the Nine Splendors Azure Frost Grass to fully cure the hidden wound, but I thought it could at least heal a portion of it so I wouldn't have to worry about it before Core Formation. Who could have known that this herb's efficacy would be even worse than anticipated? I am still trapped at the early Foundation Establishment stage, unable to advance an inch."
Chapter 340