A So-Called Fortuitous Encounter?

"Forget it!" Qin Sang shook his head. He had no desire to sightsee from inside a corpse puppet pouch anyway. The *Heavenly Yin Corpse Art* detailed two types of vessels for storing refined corpses. The first half described only the corpse coffins used by low-ranking disciples. Their major drawback was being far too conspicuous: one had to carry a massive coffin on one's back, making it impossible not to draw attention. Even ordinary corpse puppet pouches were extremely difficult to purchase, however, so the vast majority of demonic corpse cultivators relied on corpse coffins instead. This included any disciples from the Qingyang Demonic Sect who might buy his refined corpse; upon purchasing a corpse, they would conveniently buy a corpse coffin magic tool as well. Anticipating this scenario long ago, Qin Sang had already prepared a corpse coffin. The tedious preparations he had made earlier were all safeguards against precisely this possibility. He stood the corpse coffin upright. Opening the lid, Qin Sang stepped inside. The coffin flashed with black light and shrank slightly, conforming perfectly to Qin Sang's frame. After getting a feel for it, Qin Sang stepped out and returned to the spot where he had just been meditating. He opened his mustard seed bag and retrieved the jade casket containing Daoist Jiupao's Golden Core. Here, he needed to complete the first two steps of refining a Flying Yaksha: Guiding the Core into the Body, and Unification of Man and Core. This was because he planned to sneak into the Qingyang Demonic Sect disguised as a refined corpse. Apart from the ebony sword hidden within his origin soul and the Xutian Thunder that few would recognize, he could carry no outside possessions. Not the Ten Directions Yanluo Array, nor the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners... Even the Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman in his dantian had been removed early on and stowed away in his mustard seed bag, ready to be hidden not far outside the sect's mountain gates before he infiltrated the Qingyang Demonic Sect. This time, he was essentially going in barehanded. No amount of caution was excessive. Had the Flying Yaksha not been gravely wounded, his chances of success would have been higher. But opportunities were fleeting; he could not wait indefinitely for the Flying Yaksha to recover. Even after being in his possession for so long, Daoist Jiupao's Golden Core remained exquisite and enchanting, radiating an extraordinary luminescence as though it were alive. Qin Sang unraveled the restrictions on the jade casket and took the Golden Core into his hand. Of the two steps, Guiding the Core into the Body was the most perilous. If his dantian failed to withstand the Golden Core's violent impact, it could cause his sea of qi to spiral out of control, tearing his physical body apart and killing him in a violent explosion. Gripping the Golden Core, Qin Sang sensed the fluctuations of power within it while recalling every detail of when he had refined the Flying Yaksha before. He remembered clearly that the most dangerous phase last time had been the earth fiend scouring of the core. But that was a matter for later; for now, his priority was figuring out how to infiltrate the Qingyang Demonic Sect. Though Guiding the Core into the Body had involved twists and turns back then, it had gone relatively smoothly. Now that he was performing it on himself, it ought to be even easier to control. The second step would be even easier, posing the least concern of all. As he pondered, Qin Sang continuously attuned himself to the Golden Core. In truth, he had been doing this ever since acquiring the core. Thus, without taking much time, he held the Golden Core aloft on an invisible cushion of energy and slowly guided it toward his abdomen. Throughout the process, Qin Sang activated the restrictions on his body, establishing a connection between himself and the Golden Core to reduce its rejection of him. Time ticked by as the Golden Core drew closer and closer to Qin Sang's dantian. A familiar scene unfolded: the Golden Core was gradually wrapped in restrictions. Though it resisted at first, it progressively quieted down as time wore on. "In you go!" Letting out what sounded like a sigh, Qin Sang pressed the Golden Core toward his dantian. *Whoosh...* Fiend qi billowed as the Golden Core sank into it. A surge of agonizing pain struck abruptly. Qin Sang knitted his brow, gritting his teeth against the pain. Only when the turmoil inside his dantian reached its absolute peak, nearing the point of collapse, did he shift his mind and pull the Golden Core back out. Experienced and exceedingly patient, he attempted the process again and again, quietly observing the subtle changes. Because this was taking place within his own body, his progress was far swifter than when he had refined Yu Hua. At last, the Golden Core entered his sea of qi completely, settling firmly in its center. In that instant, the Golden Core suddenly unleashed a terrifying surge of power, sweeping out in all directions. No wonder Yu Hua, who was already a dead vessel at the time, had let out a cry laden with such sheer agony at this very juncture. Such pain was truly difficult to endure. Prepared well in advance, Qin Sang opened his hands and instantly drew two objects into his palms, gripping a large handful of spirit pills in one hand and a Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle in the other. He poured his full strength into suppressing the Golden Core, consuming spirit pills whenever his spiritual power ran low and drawing from the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle whenever the earth fiend qi was exhausted. Everything proceeded smoothly. The chaos gradually subsided, and the Golden Core's radiance withdrew into itself, leaving it floating suspended in the sea of qi. Qin Sang let out a breath of relief. He discovered that seventy to eighty percent of his spirit pills and the earth fiend qi inside the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle had been consumed. Fortunately, during the next step of scouring the core, Qiantian astral qi would replace half of the earth fiend qi, drastically reducing the consumption, so he would not need to prepare too much. An hour later, Qin Sang moved on to the next step: Unification of Man and Core. Examining his sea of qi with inner vision, Qin Sang willed the Golden Core to slowly rotate. It appeared completely at one with him, but Qin Sang knew he could not mobilize it in the slightest; everything was merely an illusion maintained by the restrictions. When he finally finished, Qin Sang noticed that bright daylight had already broken outside the cave. It was early morning. After inspecting himself and confirming that the Golden Core inside him would not rebel for the time being, Qin Sang rose and left the cave. He looked around, completely erased all traces of his presence from the cave, and flew straight toward the Qingyang Demonic Sect. Along the way, he produced two mustard seed bags. One was his own, containing treasures such as the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners, which he intended to hide somewhere near the Qingyang Demonic Sect. The other was one he had prepared beforehand. Apart from the Xutian Thunder, it was filled with Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles, magic tools, spirit stones, and spirit pills, all of decent quality, roughly equivalent to the net worth of a middle Foundation Establishment cultivator. Having lost the ability to use the divine ability Sword Qi Thunderclap, Qin Sang felt unsettled. After weighing his options over and over, he ultimately decided to bring the Xutian Thunder along, just in case. The exterior of the Xutian Thunder was unremarkable. When unprompted, it looked like an ordinary gray bead, and the lightning across its surface did not constantly flash. Qin Sang tossed the Xutian Thunder into a pile of miscellaneous sundries inside the mustard seed bag, nestled among several similar-looking beads. The Xuling Sect had not crafted a Xutian Thunder in ages, to the point where even their own disciples might not recognize what one looked like, let alone outsiders. Such a formidable magic tool had practically become a thing of legend; had Granny Jing not pointed it out to him, Qin Sang would never have recognized it either. In addition to these items, there was a jade slip recording the corpse refining art of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, though Qin Sang had altered it in numerous places. The most critical portion—the part detailing the elevation of a living corpse into a Flying Yaksha—had been changed so that earth fiend qi was paired with Qiantian astral qi. Furthermore, Qin Sang had depressed the stated strength of a fully refined Flying Yaksha to merely the False Core stage. This was because he had erased the warnings about the refined corpse turning on its master, ensuring that whoever obtained the secret art would practice it without reservation. A Flying Yaksha was simply too powerful. Even if no risks were explicitly mentioned, anyone obtaining the secret art would inevitably grow suspicious, and Qin Sang could not afford to drag things out indefinitely. The False Core stage, however, was within an acceptable realm of belief. Indeed, he had no intention of selling himself off at a market, as there were far too many variables. He intended to bestow a "fortuitous encounter" upon a disciple of the Qingyang Demonic Sect! Having prepared the mustard seed bag, Qin Sang retrieved the corpse of the Kuiyin Sect remnant he had set aside.