The first wisp of earth fiend qi was successfully integrated into his sea of qi, marking the completion of the most critical step of the corpse refining restriction.
With Qin Sang's extensive prior experience in refining corpses, combined with his formidable control over his own body, everything proceeded smoothly.
Yet he did not dare let down his guard, for the difficulties still lay ahead.
Patiently, Qin Sang slowly channeled wisps of earth fiend qi into his body, progressively completing the corpse refining restriction.
As the restriction grew closer to completion, his physical body showed little change, but the sensations transmitted to Qin Sang became increasingly distinct—blood turning gradually icy, a craving for blood...
None of this could sway him in the slightest.
The jade Buddha kept his heart as still as water, rendering him utterly immune to desire.
Only the excruciating pain radiating from his dantian forced even someone of Qin Sang's iron willpower to grit his teeth and endure, swallowing a healing medicinal pill at regular intervals to alleviate it.
Fortunately, with the experience left behind by Wu Shang, Qin Sang was thoroughly prepared and could bear it.
As another wisp of earth fiend qi was successfully integrated into his sea of qi, a flicker of joy appeared on Qin Sang's face, only to be promptly replaced by solemn gravity.
Next came the final restriction for refining a living corpse.
Although the refining process had gone without a hitch up to this point, a faint worry lingered in Qin Sang's heart.
Would the restriction—tampered with after Wu Shang had poured painstaking research into it—truly proceed smoothly without unforeseen accidents, just as described in the written records he left behind?
If this step failed, refining the core into his body later would be entirely out of the question.
Now was the moment of truth!
Qin Sang's expression tightened slightly. His hands formed incantation gestures, his fingers blurring in a dizzying display. Innumerable exquisitely intricate seals formed before him, then drifted toward his body under his guidance.
At last, the final seal was complete!
"Merge!"
Qin Sang suddenly flipped his palm and slammed it down against his dantian without hesitation.
The restriction sealed shut!
*Boom!*
Qin Sang's face abruptly drained of all color. The agonizing pain tearing through his sea of qi made his body shudder violently. A muffled groan escaped his lips as he clutched his dantian with a death grip.
Inside the sea of qi, the clash between spiritual power and earth fiend qi stirred up a raging tempest. A terrifying storm swept through the entire sea of qi in an instant, spinning beyond Qin Sang's control. The barrier constructed from the Five Elements yin materials immediately showed signs of instability.
Fortunately, their presence afforded Qin Sang a moment of breathing room.
Taking a deep breath, he snapped upright, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes. Wholly focused, he drew upon his past experience in corpse refining to suppress the wild, unruly earth fiend qi.
At first, the restrictions upon his body showed faint signs of collapsing, and the earth fiend qi at his dantian resisted with fierce violence. But as time passed, the fluctuations across Qin Sang's body gradually settled, and his expression grew increasingly calm.
In a single fleeting instant, the pain radiating from his dantian abruptly vanished.
Qin Sang froze for a moment before hurriedly turning his inner vision toward his dantian. He discovered that the tempest in his sea of qi had subsided, steadily stabilizing. The earth fiend qi and spiritual power coexisted peacefully, each occupying half of the sea of qi.
With a slight nudge of his intent, a stream each of earth fiend qi and spiritual power separated out, merged together, and placidly entered his meridians, beginning their circulation.
It worked?
Delight rose in Qin Sang's heart. He stood up from the ground, moved his limbs a few times, and carefully sensed the changes in his fleshly body.
Before long, Qin Sang opened his eyes, his gaze a mixture of joy and worry.
The good news was that not a single word in Wu Shang's writings was false; every claim had been verified in Qin Sang's own body. The man had truly recorded his secret arts without holding anything back.
Qin Sang had successfully completed this step. The moment the restriction settled into place, the corpse transformation of his physical body accelerated sharply, yet compared to an actual living corpse, the extent was far shallower.
This was thanks to Wu Shang's modifications to the restriction—and it was only because Qin Sang was applying it to himself, with sufficiently precise control, that it could be barely pulled off.
In the short term, the corpse transformation could be kept within an acceptable degree.
As long as he removed the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and the corpse refining restriction in time, recovery would not be difficult.
The bad news was that the circulation route of the earth fiend qi and spiritual power within his body was no longer the path dictated by the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter*, but was rigidly constrained to a fixed route by the corpse refining restriction.
No matter how Qin Sang tried, he could not alter it.
With a thought from Qin Sang, spiritual power and fiend qi surged simultaneously from his palm, their might actually proving superior to before he became a living corpse.
It seemed that utilizing them in combat was unaffected, but he could no longer cultivate.
Even though he had not lost his sanity, being unable to practice his cultivation method meant his cultivation base could not advance by another shred—it was frozen at this exact moment.
To make matters worse, with the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* restricted, the two divine abilities from the technique—Unity of Man and Sword: Shadowless Concealment, and Sword Qi Thunderclap—naturally could no longer be used either.
Sword Qi Thunderclap in particular could be called Qin Sang's greatest reliance. Losing Sword Qi Thunderclap would drastically weaken both his combat prowess and his escaping speed.
Fortunately, the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* was merely restricted, not replaced by another cultivation method.
Though the divine abilities were temporarily unusable, the ebony sword remained Qin Sang's life spirit sword, and he had not lost control over it. With its material qualities as a magic treasure in its own right, it was still a great asset.
Furthermore, having wielded the two divine abilities for so long, Qin Sang was not without insights of his own; in the way of swordsmanship, he was certainly far stronger than other cultivators.
He wondered, however, whether there would be any change once he refined the corpse core.
After all, back then Wu Shang had only drawn earth fiend qi to assail the core, whereas Qin Sang intended to rely simultaneously on both earth fiend qi and Qiantian astral qi. Their paths differed, and their future outcomes were bound to be different as well; Wu Shang's experience might not necessarily apply to him.
This was precisely why Qin Sang dared to make the attempt.
Pondering for a moment, Qin Sang turned his palm and took out the corpse puppet pouch. His expression flickered with uncertainty as he looked at it. Having never been a refined corpse, he did not know what it felt like to be stowed away inside a corpse puppet pouch.
Hesitating briefly, Qin Sang abruptly opened the corpse puppet pouch and pointed it at himself.
A moment later, a look of suspicion crept onto Qin Sang's face. Nothing had happened.
Could the corpse puppet pouch not contain him?
Or was it because of the jade Buddha?
Or was it because Wu Shang had made substantial modifications to the corpse refining restriction, so that he did not count as a true living corpse, resulting in a conflict with the restriction of the corpse puppet pouch?
Wu Shang had never tried stowing himself into a corpse puppet pouch after refining himself into a living corpse either. With no prior precedent to go by, Qin Sang could only make wild guesses.
It was likely not because he had retained his sanity; back then, when Senior Sister Qingting placed Senior Brother Jiang into the corpse puppet pouch, Senior Brother Jiang had not been dead yet.
However, Senior Brother Jiang had first been placed into the crystal coffin; perhaps that crystal coffin had some connection to the Heavenly Corpse Sect.
Unfortunately, the crystal coffin had already been given to Tan Hao, leaving him with no way to verify.
Refining a corpse puppet pouch was exceptionally difficult. While the corpse puppet pouches of the Heavenly Corpse Sect appeared ordinary on the outside, they were in fact unique to the sect and capable of containing living corpses.
The corpse puppet pouches of other corpse-path sects were even less capable of doing so.
Within the Heavenly Corpse Sect, only high-ranking members or those who had performed great merits could receive a corpse puppet pouch as a reward, and the first half of the *Heavenly Yin Corpse Art* did not include the refining method for corpse puppet pouches.
Qin Sang was at a loss about this. After trying several times and failing each time, he had no choice but to give up, taking out a corpse coffin from his mustard seed bag.
Chapter 513