A Straw

This woman was named Shi Ying. Though she looked young, her actual age was not as youthful as she appeared. Years ago, when Qin Sang had mingled in Qingyang Market, he had heard about Shi Ying from many disciples there. Before their vital energy began to decline, cultivators possessed abundant qi and blood, making them far less prone to aging than mortals. Furthermore, certain unique cultivation techniques worked wonders for preserving one's youthful appearance. On top of that, Shi Ying was a rare ascetic cultivator. Ever since childhood, she had engaged in bitter cultivation inside her cave dwelling day and night, untouched by worldly affairs. Thus, it was hardly surprising that she still looked like an innocent young maiden. Her reputation had come about precisely because of this. Young people possessed unsettled temperaments. Regardless of gender, very few who entered an immortal sect at a young age could endure loneliness and monotony, remain undisturbed by external distractions, and cultivate with relentless diligence. Even mighty cultivators who attained great accomplishments usually had to undergo a process of tempering their hearts first, only later awakening through some fortuitous turning point to clarify their Dao hearts and devote themselves wholly to the Dao. Most cultivators might spend their entire lives without ever understanding or achieving this. Had Qin Sang not lived two lives and experienced life and death, he likely would not have held out either when faced with the temptations of power and beauties years ago. Shi Ying, however, was different. When she joined the Qingyang Demonic Sect in her youth, she had displayed astonishing willpower; in her eyes, there seemed to exist only two words: cultivation. She was remarkably pretty, with a demeanor that naturally evoked fondness and pity. Several fellow disciples harbored great affection for her, yet Shi Ying never gave anyone a kind look or pleasant word. Aside from the chores required by the sect, she remained cooped up in her cave dwelling cultivating. Through winter cold and summer heat, day and night, year after year. Among the cohort of disciples who had entered the sect alongside her, she was an utter outlier. It was from those admirers that Qin Sang had learned of Shi Ying. Though he had never seen her in person, he had once viewed a portrait of her from a disciple of the Qingyang Demonic Sect. Qin Sang had possessed no interest in prying into a female Qi Refinement cultivator, so his understanding of Shi Ying was limited to this. *So it's her?* Qin Sang muttered inwardly. Shi Ying rarely descended the mountain. Even when leaving the Qingyang Demonic Sect, it was usually to train in Wuya Valley. Wuya Valley lay east of the Qingyang Demonic Sect, yet Shi Ying had come from due south this time. Looking at her, she seemed to have just wept bitterly. What could possibly cause a cultivator with such iron resolve to grieve like this? Shi Ying's temperament was diametrically opposed to Yu Batian's—the two stood at complete extremes. Qin Sang had chosen Yu Batian as his target after careful consideration. Now that she had replaced him unexpectedly, he was unsure whether this was for better or worse. All he could do was watch quietly and see what choice Shi Ying would make. The corpse coffin opened. Shi Ying tightly gripped her defensive magic tool, wide-eyed as she stared at the refined corpse within the coffin, terrified of a backlash. The refined corpse remained as quiet as ever, showing no sign of rising. After waiting a while without any unusual occurrences, Shi Ying pressed her lips together and was about to step toward the coffin when something occurred to her, and she hurriedly sank her spiritual sense back into the jade slip. A moment later, Shi Ying attempted to form a hand seal, casting a soul imprint toward the refined corpse. Without meeting the slightest resistance, the soul imprint sank into the refined corpse's skull. Within his origin soul space, Qin Sang completely opened up his origin soul, allowing Shi Ying's soul imprint to penetrate deep into it. This was tantamount to placing himself under the control of the woman before him. Only because he relied on the jade Buddha—which could purge the soul imprint at any time—did he dare do such a thing. Were it any of those mighty cultivators, none would have possessed the sheer audacity of Qin Sang to let another person plant a soul imprint into the depths of their origin soul. Even if they could rely on formidable cultivation to break free from the imprint's control, it would be exceedingly difficult to completely erase it without lingering consequences. If even the faintest trace of the soul imprint remained, it could later become a breach for inner demons to exploit, turning into a source of disaster. Qin Sang, however, had no need to worry. The jade Buddha could even expel the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, let alone a mere Qi Refinement cultivator's soul imprint. Once the soul imprint entered his body, Qin Sang silenced his mind and completely relinquished control of the physical vessel. Seeing that her soul imprint had successfully gained control over the refined corpse, Shi Ying's expression finally relaxed. She darted over to the coffin, eyes slightly narrowed, and inspected the refined corpse's condition. A moment later, a thought rose in Shi Ying's mind. *Whoosh!* The refined corpse stood bolt upright, moving at her command as effortlessly as her own limbs. She knew from the jade slip that this refined corpse was unfinished, lacking the final step: surging astral and fiend qi into the core. Before that was accomplished, the refined corpse could not be used in battle; otherwise, before it could even strike, the corpse would explode and die because it could not suppress the golden core within its dantian. It was precisely for this reason that when the corpse-path demonic cultivator died in battle, the refined corpse had remained unscathed. "He came here seeking our sect's Qingyang astral essence, didn't he? I wonder what powerful enemy he provoked to end up losing his life instead of obtaining the Qingyang astral essence..." Shi Ying muttered under her breath. Cultivating the Qingyang demonic fire herself, she naturally knew how rare Qiantian astral essence was in the world. The facts lay right before her eyes. The corpse, the mustard seed bag, the refined corpse, the golden core, the earth fiend qi... Everything was genuine, and her soul imprint had met with not the slightest rejection, leaving her without a shadow of a doubt. "To think such a method of corpse refinement exists in this world..." Shi Ying's heart stirred. Reopening the mustard seed bag, she brought out a small pile of Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles. Uncorking them, she discovered they were filled to the brim with earth fiend qi. "As long as I use Qingyang astral essence to complete the final step of refining the corpse, I will gain a refined corpse comparable to a False Core stage expert!" Shi Ying's eyes went wide and round. She clutched the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle tightly, her voice trembling with excitement. Suddenly, her eyes reddened. Two streams of clear tears rolled down, and she broke into bitter sobs. "Father, Mother... your daughter can finally avenge you..." Keeping his mind turned inward did not prevent Qin Sang from hearing the outside sounds. Hearing this, Qin Sang was secretly surprised. This woman seemed to have been carrying deep, bone-deep hatred all along. No wonder... A disposition like hers truly had not formed without reason. Human nature being what it was, youth was supposed to be a time of innocence and carefree romance; how could anyone normally resist the allure of the mortal world? The next words he heard shocked Qin Sang even more. Shi Ying suddenly fell to her knees, kowtowing nine times toward the south as she spoke with venomous hatred, "Father, Mother, please protect your daughter so that I may slay that villain Wen Yanjie with my own hands to avenge you!" The enemy who had murdered her parents was actually Wen Yanjie, her sect uncle! When selling the refined corpse to Wen Yanjie a few days ago, Qin Sang had noticed that the man said one thing and did another; it wouldn't be surprising no matter what he did. What kind of tangled grudges and vengeance lay behind this, Qin Sang did not know. After learning of Shi Ying's hatred, Qin Sang instantly realized that Shi Ying was an even more suitable candidate than Yu Batian! Shi Ying's talent was decent, but Wen Yanjie's was better. By the time she reached Foundation Establishment, Wen Yanjie might have already formed his core. Even if Wen Yanjie failed Core Formation and remained trapped at the False Core stage, Shi Ying would still need decades of bitter cultivation just to match him. It was far more likely that she would never catch up to Wen Yanjie in her lifetime, leaving her with no chance for revenge. His "refined corpse" was the only straw she could clutch at!