Refining Himself

For such an order to be issued so abruptly, there had to be a reason. Considering the upcoming auction at Tianyou City in half a month, it was safe to deduce that the Sect Master of the Qingyang Demonic Sect had already left the sect! Opportunity knocked but once. Qin Sang knew this was a once-in-a-millennium chance and that he could delay no longer. Decisive as always, he resolved to immediately launch the next stage of his plan. By now, Yunyouzi had already entered Wuya Valley. Qin Sang quietly slipped out of Qingyang Market and arrived at a desolate mountain. He had chosen this barren mountain long beforehand. A cavern had been carved into its depths and fitted with restrictions and a Spirit Gathering Array, making it every bit a superior cultivation cave. Stepping inside, he sealed the restrictions behind him. Qin Sang cast spirit stones into the Spirit Gathering Array, waiting until the cave grew rich with spiritual power. Then, taking a deep breath, he opened his mustard seed bag. *Whoosh, whoosh...* Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles, Five Elements yin materials, and Heavenly Corpse Talismans flew out in succession, instantly arranged across the ground before him. Having long made up his mind, he felt not the slightest hesitation. With a crook of his finger, he drew a Heavenly Corpse Talisman into his palm, looking down to inspect it. Once he verified there were no errors, he struck his palm against his forehead, guiding the talisman into the space of his origin soul. Under Qin Sang’s conscious will, the jade Buddha did not reject the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, allowing it to enter his origin soul without interference. As the past repeated itself, Qin Sang was noticeably much more proficient than before. However, the last time had been during a life-and-death crisis when he had no other choice. This time, he was undertaking it voluntarily for a sliver of hope, testing a path toward Core Formation. Because Qin Sang willingly accepted the Heavenly Corpse Talisman without any inner resistance or rejection, he completed the first step of refining a living corpse with ease. What came next, however, was unprecedented. Even demonic cultivators hailing from sects devoted to refining corpses would likely never be insane enough to refine themselves into living corpses. Qin Sang raised his arm and looked down. With the Heavenly Corpse Talisman inside him, influenced by the restrictions, his physical body had already begun to alter. His skin turned faintly pale, and his veins showed a pale bluish hue, though it was not yet obvious on the surface. Qin Sang himself, however, could sense that this was the sign of corpse qi gradually taking form. A primal, bloodthirsty craving surfaced from the depths of his mind. But because the corpse transformation had only just begun and was far from advanced, he could easily suppress it even without the jade Buddha’s protection. Pressing his pale skin, Qin Sang looked away and turned his gaze toward the Five Elements yin materials on the ground. The *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* possessed no innate elemental affinity of its own. Having cultivated all the way following the *Nether Scripture*, Qin Sang had always relied primarily on water-attributed spiritual power. Without delay, he pointed a finger toward the yin spirit water. He was thoroughly familiar with the corpse-refining restrictions. Unstopping the vial, he extracted a globule of yin spirit water, cupped it in his palm, and slowly refined it. Once the refining was quickly complete, Qin Sang pondered briefly, then wrapped the yin spirit water in spiritual power and slowly guided it toward his dantian. The moment the yin spirit water touched his flesh, an icy chill instantly spread through him. Qin Sang furrowed his brow slightly, but his movements remained steady. Directing the yin spirit water into his dantian, he immediately began inscribing corpse-refining restrictions upon himself, coordinating them with the water to stabilize his sea of qi. The Five Elements generate one another. Next came the moon locust heartwood, the ghost eagle feather, the nine-aperture stone, and finally the blue nether metal. Under Qin Sang’s own restraint, the spiritual power within his sea of qi remained exceptionally docile. The step of laying the foundation with the Five Elements was completed smoothly without any mishaps. Now, only one step remained: drawing the earth fiend qi into his body. Qin Sang put away the remaining Five Elements yin materials, leaving only a large pile of Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles on the ground. Ordinarily, drawing the fiend qi into the body was best done in Dichen Cave, where the earth fiend qi could be replenished at any time if too much was depleted. However, Dichen Cave was far too distant, and Qin Sang did not have that kind of time. Wu Shang had experienced it firsthand: once the fiend qi entered the body, it would begin uncontrollably assailing the flesh, causing the corpse transformation to progress at a startling speed. If Qin Sang refined himself into a living corpse back at Dichen Cave, his flesh would completely lose its vitality beyond recovery long before he could journey all the way to Qingyang Market. Fortunately, according to Wu Shang’s experience, refining oneself differed from refining someone else. Refining another person required control through a soul imprint. Operating through that intermediate layer inevitably degraded one’s perception speed, reaction time, and degree of control. Doing it to oneself was different. One could effectively restrain their inner spiritual power from rejecting the earth fiend qi and immediately respond to any subtle shift. This drastically increased the odds of successfully drawing the fiend qi into the body and wasted far less of it. The same principle would apply later when advancing a Flying Yaksha. However, this step presented a new challenge. When the earth fiend qi entered the body, it would deal a terrifying shock to the sea of qi, inflicting agonizing pain. Furthermore, as the refining progressed, the deepening corpse transformation would increasingly affect the mind. With both factors compounding each other, maintaining a steady mental state throughout the refining process was extraordinarily difficult and required tremendous willpower. If his mind wavered and a single mistake occurred, all his prior efforts would be undone. Back then, Wu Shang had prepared pills for healing and stabilizing the mind, never expecting the mutation to strike with such ferocity. In the end, he had gambled everything on a dao heart that would rather die than harbor regret, finally achieving success. Qin Sang naturally had no fear of the corpse transformation corrupting his mind, but whether he could endure the torment of his turbulent sea of qi depended entirely on his own willpower. Without a trace of fear on his face, he swallowed several healing spirit pills and drew forward a Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle. *Pop!* The magnetic bottle opened. A wisp of earth fiend qi drifted out. After a brief contemplation, Qin Sang examined his sea of qi. Confirming that nothing had been overlooked, he guided that wisp of earth fiend qi and tentatively channeled it inside. *Hiss...* A chill countless times more freezing and baleful than the yin spirit water caused even Qin Sang to shiver slightly. He quickly steadied his body and mind, focusing entirely on the shifts within that wisp of earth fiend qi. *Boom!* A tempest abruptly erupted in his sea of qi. As the earth fiend qi plunged inside, even Qin Sang's own spiritual power was momentarily unable to restrain it, slipping entirely beyond control. Seeing the chaos within his sea of qi as the two opposing energies clashed sharply against each other, Qin Sang did not immediately expel the earth fiend qi as he had done in the past. He could clearly perceive every minute change within his body, and matters had not yet truly spiraled out of hand. The conflict grew increasingly fierce. Qin Sang felt as though he had fallen into a pit of ice, his entire body frozen stiff, while his sea of qi roiled like a boiling cauldron. Fortunately, the barrier formed by the Five Elements yin materials made his dantian exceptionally sturdy, leaving no fear of it collapsing in the short term. Qin Sang gritted his teeth and held on for three full breaths before finally expelling the wisp of earth fiend qi. While waiting for his sea of qi to recover, he carefully reviewed the process, gleaning considerable insight. A short while later, Qin Sang drew out another wisp of earth fiend qi. This time, applying the experience he had just gained, he made a few adjustments and proceeded steadily. The second attempt still ended in failure, yet yielded fresh experience. He tried again. Though he failed time and again, his progress was visibly far faster than when refining living corpses before, and the tension on Qin Sang's face eased more and more. Finally, after exhausting merely a single Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle, Qin Sang successfully incorporated a wisp of earth fiend qi into his sea of qi!