These cave dwellings were as crude as the stone balustrades, concealed only by stone slabs. Every one of them was tightly shut, its surface glowing with the flowing light of restrictive spells.
Shi Ying had no friends and did not seek idle chatter with her sectmates; she flew straight into her own cave dwelling.
The place looked nothing like a woman's residence. The furnishings were so sparse and the layout so monotonous that it rivaled Qin Sang's own cave dwelling.
After sealing the entrance, Shi Ying unslung the black coffin and placed it gently in a corner. She slid the lid open, glanced at the refined corpse inside, and finally broke into a satisfied smile. Settling onto the stone bed in a w-sitting posture, she opened the mustard seed bag.
In her eyes, no treasure could compare to this refined corpse, so she merely refined the few higher-quality magic tools.
As for the rest—the inferior items or those whose purposes she could not immediately discern—she set them aside, having no patience to study them for now.
Then Shi Ying sat cross-legged before the black coffin, linking her spiritual sense to the soul imprint, eager to familiarize herself with the refined corpse.
Although she had not refined this corpse herself, she encountered not the slightest resistance when manipulating it, quickly achieving fluent control.
Opening her eyes, Shi Ying turned her gaze toward the refined corpse's lower abdomen.
She had hardly dared to believe it; only after inspecting it multiple times with her spiritual sense was she certain that a golden core truly lay within. She could only wonder how much painstaking effort that demonic corpse cultivator had spent to assemble all the requisites for this refined corpse, lacking only Qiantian astral qi.
"Astral and fiend clashing upon the core..." Shi Ying murmured hesitantly to herself.
She had previously feared that her modest cultivation would hamper the refinement's success rate. But while familiarizing herself with the corpse just now, she discovered she could command its power at will, channeling it smoothly without the slightest hindrance.
It merely placed a somewhat heavier strain on her, but so long as she prepared spirit pills and spirit stones to restore her spiritual power, she could surely hold out.
This outcome gave Shi Ying immense confidence, and she decided to give it a try first.
Little did she know, this was the result of Qin Sang's active cooperation.
Utterly oblivious, Shi Ying had no idea that her refined corpse possessed full sentience, concealed seamlessly.
A sentient refined corpse willingly submitting to control and letting its handler implant a soul imprint was something not just Shi Ying, but even demonic cultivators well-versed in corpse arts, had likely never heard of.
Qin Sang was truly unprecedented.
Shi Ying sat motionless through the night, familiarizing herself with the refined corpse's power. By the following morning, her worries were completely dispelled. She sealed her cave dwelling and flew toward Divine Astral Peak.
Her cave dwelling was not far from the peak, and she soon plunged into the green mist.
***
The cave dwelling fell into darkness.
The lid of the black coffin silently slid open, and the refined corpse within slowly sat up with eerie stillness.
His pitch-black eyes shifted, gradually regaining their intelligence and vitality. Qin Sang isolated Shi Ying's soul imprint, rolled his neck, and surveyed the cave dwelling.
He had successfully infiltrated the sect, yet he had not subdued Shi Ying immediately according to his original plan. Her behavior had given him a new idea, prompting him to adapt to the situation and wait a little longer.
As for why Shi Ying was in such a rush, Qin Sang deduced the reason with a single thought.
Wen Yanjie was already in late Foundation Establishment, and the False Core stage was just around the corner. If Shi Ying did not seize the moment and dragged her feet until he broke through, then even if she finished the refined corpse, killing a true False Core cultivator would still be exceedingly difficult.
Vengeance would remain hopelessly out of reach.
That his tampering with the secret method had driven Shi Ying to act without delay was something Qin Sang had not anticipated.
This was a good thing.
Cultivators of the Qingyang Demonic Fire could carry a wisp of Qiantian astral qi out of Divine Astral Peak for their cultivation. Since Shi Ying was willing to help, he might as well accept the favor.
Sneaking into Divine Astral Peak was an extremely risky endeavor, and Qin Sang was not yet certain whether Wu Shang's secret technique was feasible. After all, the concept of astral qi clashing against fiend qi had merely been Wu Shang's conjecture.
No predecessor had provided any precedent for Qin Sang to reference.
If Shi Ying brought the Qiantian astral qi out of Divine Astral Peak and he hid in her cave dwelling to test it bit by bit, he could still calmly depart the Qingyang Demonic Sect if the method proved unworkable.
Trespassing onto Divine Astral Peak carried immense risks. If the secret method failed and he inadvertently exposed his presence, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
The corpse qi within his body could still be suppressed for now; there was no pressing hurry.
Qin Sang floated horizontally toward the cave entrance without touching the ground. As he passed the stone bed, his eyes flickered toward the mustard seed bag resting on it.
According to disciples of the Qingyang Demonic Sect, the origin energy atop Divine Astral Peak was intensely chaotic, growing increasingly turbulent near the summit. Even on the lower tiers, low-realm disciples struggled just to protect themselves and dared not linger, hurrying back to their cave dwellings to temper their demonic fire the moment they absorbed a sliver of Qingyang Divine Astral Qi.
If an accident occurred on Divine Astral Peak, one could only exert all their might to stay alive and await rescue. Items carried on their person, such as mustard seed bags, could easily be destroyed in the chaos while they had no attention to spare.
A mustard seed bag was a cultivator's lifeline; none dared take unnecessary chances. Low-realm disciples thus left their bags behind in their cave dwellings before heading up the mountain.
Outside their cave dwellings were unique restrictive spells left by the sect, so there was little fear of theft.
Qin Sang's gaze swept over the mustard seed bag. Both the Qingfu coin and the Xutian Thunder were inside. Qin Sang had specifically forged several similar magic tools to blend in with them, and Shi Ying had indeed failed to notice anything unusual about them.
Qin Sang was in no hurry to retrieve these two magic tools. Floating up to the stone door, he held his palm out to sense the restrictive spell upon it.
*Whoosh!*
Faint flecks of cyan light emerged across the door and swiftly converged toward the center of the stone slab.
A moment later, a tiny cyan flame flickered before Qin Sang. Though minuscule in appearance, it exuded an exceptionally violent aura.
This flame was the Qingyang Demonic Fire Shi Ying had left behind, sharing the exact same origin as the soul imprint within Qin Sang's origin soul—it belonged uniquely to Shi Ying.
Qin Sang concentrated his senses and found that the Qingyang Demonic Sect's restrictive spells possessed a distinct brilliance.
When a Qingyang Demonic Sect disciple infused their cultivated Qingyang Demonic Fire into the restriction, not even fellow disciples practicing the same flame could forge or mimic it.
Should anyone attempt to breach the restriction, a clash of demonic fires would instantly trigger an alarm.
Though Qin Sang saw through the mechanics of the restriction, he dared not rashly disturb the demonic fire.
Pondering for a moment, Qin Sang devised a solution: he channeled Shi Ying's soul imprint to contact the restriction.
The distance between them was great enough that Shi Ying could not perceive the imprint's activity right now. Sure enough, the Qingyang Demonic Fire mistook Qin Sang for its master, displaying not the slightest rejection.
Qin Sang did not step outside; he simply nudged the stone door open a crack and gazed toward Divine Astral Peak in the distance!
What a towering heavenly peak piercing the clouds!
Qin Sang marveled in his heart. Among all the mountains he had seen, its majesty was second only to Heaven-Pointing Peak; even Shaohua Mountain paled in comparison.
Truly a sky-reaching titan of a mountain—no wonder it could draw Qiantian astral qi down from the highest heavens to nurture astral essence!
From base to peak, Qin Sang inspected it closely, verifying each detail against the intelligence he had previously gathered.
Beneath that dense, lingering green mist was where the Qingyang astral essence resided; the closer to the summit, the more abundant the Qingyang astral essence grew, and the purer the astral qi became.
Chapter 519