Once again, he repeated the scene from the very beginning, evading pursuit in frantic succession.
Two breaths later.
*Bang!*
The ebony sword had just flown out from between Qin Sang's brows, and the sword array had barely begun to deploy when a punch slammed into the blade. Driven back by the heavy blow, it collided into Qin Sang.
*Boom!*
Qin Sang felt a sharp pain in his chest and a sweet taste in his throat as his torso curled like a shrimp, crashing violently against the wall.
Fortunately, the ebony sword was made of magic treasure materials and was sufficiently hard not to be shattered by the Flying Yaksha. Relying on the ebony sword to block this punch, Qin Sang was spared from death.
Utterly battered, Qin Sang fell to the ground. Just as he tried to get up, his vision suddenly darkened; moving like a ghost, the Flying Yaksha closed in once more.
By this time, Qin Sang's spiritual sense had finally recovered enough to affect the Heavenly Corpse Talisman again. Shouting in fury, he exerted all his power to control the Heavenly Corpse Talisman within the Flying Yaksha.
The Flying Yaksha stalled slightly!
Qin Sang naturally did not miss the opportunity he had bought for himself. In an awkward, half-reclining posture, he slid out of the ice hall at maximum speed.
Fifteen breaths!
As if crossing some boundary, the pervasive sense of urgency vanished, and the Flying Yaksha was nowhere to be seen.
Having finally left the baleful corpse's range of activity, Qin Sang could not help feeling as if he had escaped from the jaws of death, the taut string in his mind finally relaxing.
"Hoo... hoo..."
Qin Sang panted like an ox, sharp cramps twisting his belly.
Gritting his teeth and clutching his dantian, he sat half-upright.
From the moment he entered the ice hall until now, a mere fifteen breaths had elapsed. To keep the Flying Yaksha pinned down and prevent it from attacking Yunyouzi, he had pushed himself to the limit, overdrawing his sea of qi twice in succession.
The second time, he had even used the crudest means to refine medicinal pills before running dry once again, inflicting severe damage on his sea of qi.
All along, Qin Sang had been mentally counting the seconds.
He had fulfilled his mission—fifteen full breaths, without coming up short by even a sliver!
With the Flying Yaksha gone, Qin Sang fixed his gaze toward Yunyouzi's direction. There were no sounds of combat, which meant Yunyouzi had succeeded, bringing a sigh of relief to Qin Sang.
He believed an experienced and prudent person like Yunyouzi would not aim without a target; fifteen breaths was certainly enough.
Next, Qin Sang turned his attention toward the other side chamber.
Yunyouzi's errand was accomplished; now it was time for his own affair.
Through the soul imprint, Qin Sang sensed that the living corpse had already entered the side chamber and was speeding down a narrow passage. Fortunately, the passage was not long; before breaking Qin Sang's sensory range, it reached the end.
Suddenly, the living corpse's figure froze.
The vanished Flying Yaksha was currently sitting cross-legged in the hidden chamber.
Just moments ago it had been locked in fierce combat with Qin Sang in the ice hall, yet in the very next instant it had already returned to its lair—even faster than the living corpse that had been sprinting without pause. Such was the bizarre mastery of its evasion technique.
Recalling the strange scene from earlier, Qin Sang steeled his resolve and commanded the living corpse to walk slowly toward the side chamber.
Hearing the movement, the Flying Yaksha turned its neck.
*Crack, crack...*
The Flying Yaksha stared over, its pitch-black pupils devoid of any emotion, exceptionally cold.
Incomparably tense, Qin Sang guided the living corpse forward in slow steps.
One step, two steps...
The living corpse drew closer and closer. The Flying Yaksha merely watched in silence, never making a hostile move, and in the end, it even closed its eyes.
His gamble had paid off!
Qin Sang was overjoyed. Though he did not know why this change had occurred in the Flying Yaksha,
to him, it was undeniably the best possible news.
Fearing delays would breed complications, Qin Sang had the living corpse walk to the entrance of the hidden chamber, immediately scanning left and right to search for any remains or relics that might be present.
The side chamber was not large and was in utter disarray, littered with shattered ice blocks. Countless claw scratches marred the walls, leaving it unclear whether a grand battle had once taken place here or if the Flying Yaksha had caused it in a frenzy.
All these ice fragments had fused together over time, showing that an immense period had elapsed.
Standing at the entrance of the side chamber, Qin Sang searched with his sight and was greatly disappointed; aside from ice blocks, there was nothing inside.
Unwilling to retreat just like that, Qin Sang hesitated for a moment before commanding the living corpse to step inside!
The Flying Yaksha sat cross-legged atop the largest ice block in the center of the side chamber, completely motionless.
With its back pressed tightly against the ice wall for fear of provoking the Flying Yaksha, the living corpse circled cautiously along the perimeter from right to left, closely inspecting every corner.
The right side: nothing.
The innermost side: nothing either.
The left...
Suddenly, the living corpse seemed to spot something and halted, its gaze fixing intently on a section of the ice wall in the corner.
All around it were chaotic claw gouges, but in this inconspicuous corner alone, dense lines of text were actually carved!
The living corpse—or rather, Qin Sang through it—felt a surge of joy upon seeing the writing, knowing this was likely the only valuable thing here. He hurried to examine it closely.
Qin Sang's true body sat cross-legged outside the ice hall, having just ingested some healing pills to recover from his injuries.
By this time, his expression grew stranger and stranger before turning into sheer shock and astounded awe, as if what was recorded on the ice wall was something truly extraordinary.
Inside the side chamber.
Having finished reading the contents on the ice wall, the living corpse slowly turned around, gazing at the Flying Yaksha seated on the ice block with a deeply conflicted look.
At this moment, Qin Sang understood completely.
No wonder there were no remains of a Heavenly Corpse Sect cultivator here.
Because this Flying Yaksha was not the Heavenly Corpse Sect cultivator's refined corpse—it was the man himself!
This person was named Wu Shang, a disciple of the Heavenly Corpse Sect!
In life, a cultivator of the False Core stage.
The text on the ice wall was a record left by Wu Shang, as his name was inscribed at the end. At the time, he seemed to have encountered an extremely urgent crisis; his handwriting grew increasingly scrawled, and Qin Sang could barely distinguish the final signature.
The contents were divided into two parts.
The first part included what Qin Sang had obtained from the Heavenly Corpse Token: how to imprison cultivators and refine living corpses.
In addition, there was a secret method to elevate a living corpse into a Flying Yaksha—precisely the secret technique Qin Sang was desperate to obtain.
Refining a Flying Yaksha was extremely difficult, and the secret technique was extraordinarily complex.
Most of the requirements were not overwhelmingly difficult; with patience in searching, one could assemble them. However, two mandatory elements made even Qin Sang inwardly groan at the difficulty.
First: a living corpse refined from a False Core stage cultivator.
Second: a Golden Core or demon core!
Only with both prepared would it be possible to elevate that living corpse into a Flying Yaksha, creating a refined corpse on par with the Golden Core stage.
Yet what shocked Qin Sang most was not this secret method, but the second part of the inscription.
In the second part, the bulk of it was Wu Shang's personal account, narrating all the details of how he had refined himself into a living corpse and then elevated himself into a Flying Yaksha.
In life, after trying countless means and realizing Core Formation was hopeless,
Wu Shang was unwilling to let his immortal path end there. Thinking of that secret art of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, a bizarre idea struck him.
Since a living corpse could transform and elevate into a Flying Yaksha, if he refined himself into a living corpse, could he also...?
No sooner had the thought occurred to him than he acted upon it.
He researched for a long time and made thorough preparations.
He planted the Heavenly Corpse Talisman into his own soul.
He refined himself into a living corpse.
Then he refined a demon core into his body...
Among the written words was a single sentence—
"Hear the Dao in the morning, die content at dusk!"
Chapter 386