Tang Peng grabbed the robes that was left behind by Lai Qing, and tried to feel the material. It was a purplish material that felt like silk. However, there were golden characters that was sewed onto the robes.
Since it was worn by such a powerful cultivator, it must have some use. Tang Peng wore it on top of his original robes, since he did not want to directly wear it on his skin. After all, the person wearing it just now was a corpse.
Next, he took the dark book and observed it. Normally, someone would die upon contact with this book, since it was loaded with thousands of Yin Toxins just on the cover alone, but Tang Peng's unique soul negated all the effects of the Yin Toxins.
"Yin Gathering Art?" Tang Peng read the title of the book out loud. The title seemed like a promising start, so he opened the book to read more of its content.
As he flipped to the first page, he saw a drawing of a mountain of corpses. "Death, murder, slaughter..." Upon seeing the corpses, Tang Peng was reminded of the gruesome scene he had seen. The voices in his head also started acting up again.
He quickly flipped to the second page to avoid seeing that image. Now, there was a wall of words explaining the Yin Gathering Art on the second page.
"Everything in the world has spirit. Spirit is the medium in which all cultivators cultivate. They absorb the spirit of the world, using it to advance the world inside of them."
"However, what happens when a cultivator or generally something with intelligence dies? This normally results in their spirit becoming part of the world, but with enough grudges and inner demons, their Qi and spirit will become Yin Qi. This is the technique I have formulated for myself, and it will help to propel me through the heavens!"
As Tang Peng read out the preface, he had more understanding of this book. This book was clearly written by the old man which he had killed, and this was probably his cultivation method.
He also understood the basics of the cultivation method. It was to take in the Yin Qi from dead cultivators or demonic beasts, to cultivate the same way as other cultivators does. The Qi would be stored in the head, along with the soul, where the soul would refine it into spiritual soil, or be used to unlock meridians in the body.
Tang Peng could not help but do a double take after learning it was coming from dead creatures. He had been taught from young that violating the dead was a cruel and sacrilegious act to do. Now, this book was telling him uprightly to directly steal their essence.
He felt conflicted inside, but upon remembering his goal of resurrecting the dead, the goal was not all that different from the cultivation method. He would violate the natural laws either way, so he hardened his heart and carried on.
"Of course, there are some limitations to this method I discovered. Mainly, the natural Yin Qi produced is not a lot. This means that in order to accelerate my cultivation, I will have to create more strife among the various factions in the Five Stars Continent, which is extremely dangerous. Not only that, I have also become increasing vulnerable to pure Yang skills."
"Still, this method of cultivation allows me to harbour lots of different Yin Toxins, which is extremely useful against Yang cultivators. As long as I take the necessary precautions, all cultivators are a piece of cake for me!"
Tang Peng felt like the sentence at the end was a bit arrogant, but considering that the old man had really reached such a high realm that he did not even know of, he really deserved every right to be arrogant.
Tang Peng flipped to the next few pages. He skimmed through them, and found that he needed to use the Yin Gathering Art and get a cultivation base before he even started to learn the basics of the technique that was listed on these pages. The name of the technique was called Ghost Refinement Process. It was, well, about refining ghosts.
Tang Peng then settled down on the ground, and started to breathe in the method that was described to him. A deep breath, followed by a quick exhalation. This created a powerful rotation within his body, which drew in the thick Yin Qi that surrounded him.
Inside the book, the old man recorded down that the perfected method he had eventually developed still had a failure rate of 90%. It was extremely hard to cultivate using this method.
However, the moment Tang Peng did the breathing cycle, the Yin Qi flowed freely in his body, rotating frequently in a cycle. Tang Peng knew that he had an affinity with Yin Qi, but he was still shocked that he did it on the first try.
The Yin Qi flowed into his body through all of his orifices, once he developed the cycle inside his body. Tang Peng could feel all the Yin Qi go to his head freely after they completed one cycle in his body. It seemed like the Yin Qi had a strong attraction to his soul in his head.
Now, it was time for him to refine the Yin Qi into spiritual soil. Tang Peng drew the sigils on the ground using his fingers. As the sigils radiated with each other, Tang Peng could feel the sigils and an unknown existence imprinted onto his mind, as the sigils turned into nothing. It caused pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt when everyone in his village died.
Since the sigils were now set in place, Tang Peng closed his eyes, and started directing the cycling Yin Qi to enter his soul. There was no resistance at all, as he started to convert the Yin Qi into spiritual soil.
However, the voices of the dead and their grudges started to ring in Tang Peng's head as soon as he started converting Yin Qi. The reddish Yin Qi showed up again, as it combined with the Yin Qi that was coming in.
Tang Peng's body appearance started to flicker. The sigils that he had drawn flared up on his arm, and his arm was going through a significant change. Then, as the spiritual soil was processed, Tang Peng opened his eyes, revealing a chaotic aura within them.