Translator: Cinder Translations
---
Song Wen once again observed another Corpse Dissector. He stayed in the Corpse Dissection Cave until the last Corpse Dissector left, before finally departing himself.
According to his observations, each Corpse Dissector dissected approximately between 100 to 150 corpses, taking about two to three hours each time.
After leaving the Corpse Dissection Cave, Song Wen returned to his cave, designated as No. 97.
After receiving their tasks, Wu Xiu, Zhang Xiaofan, and others had already moved out of their outer disciple caves near the foot of the mountain to better caves allocated by the Yin Sha Hall and the Spirit Plant Hall.
Since the Corpse Dissection Cave was not suitable for habitation, and no new caves were provided for the Corpse Dissectors, Song Wen could only continue living in his original cave.
Upon returning to his cave, Song Wen immediately took out his bone-cleansing knife and began refining it.
Although the bone-cleansing knife was only a lower-grade magical device, Song Wen's spiritual power was extremely weak. It took him several hours just to initially refine it.
Song Wen had intended to test the power of the bone-cleansing knife, but refining it had drained all his spiritual power. Now, he could not muster even a trace of spiritual power and had to abandon the attempt.
Feeling his empty stomach, Song Wen stood up and headed towards the disciples' canteen.
The cultivation pills given to him upon entry had already been consumed, and his monthly stipend from the Corpse Dissection Cave would only be distributed at the end of the month. During this period, Song Wen could only rely on the nearest disciples' canteen for meals.
There were a large number of miscellaneous disciples, and at any given time, there were over a thousand people present in the canteen.
Most miscellaneous disciples had inferior spiritual roots, limited resources, and shallow cultivation techniques. Throughout their lives, most could only cultivate to the middle stage of Qi Refining, with few managing to break through to the later stage of Qi Refining.
Once a miscellaneous disciple broke through to the later stage of Qi Refining, they would automatically be promoted to outer disciples of the Corpse Demon Sect.
This was the striving goal of most miscellaneous disciples.
When Song Wen, dressed in the blue outer disciple attire, arrived at the canteen, many miscellaneous disciples looked at him with envy.
After all, the Corpse Demon Sect was a sect for cultivating immortality. Although miscellaneous disciples were not highly regarded, the food was still decent.
After eating three large bowls of rice and a plate of meat, Song Wen left the canteen satisfied.
It wasn't until now that Song Wen realized his appetite had grown significantly since he started practicing the "Corpse King Blood Refining Technique." It was almost equivalent to several grown men.
After the meal, Song Wen returned to his cave to recuperate and restore his spiritual power cultivation.
The next day, in the Corpse Dissection Cave.
Having cultivated all night, Song Wen arrived early at the Corpse Dissection Cave.
When he arrived, only one Corpse Dissector had already arrived. Yuan Cheng was distributing corpses to this Corpse Dissector.
Seeing Song Wen arrive, Yuan Cheng said, "Today is your first day of dissection. I'm assigning you fifty corpses to practice with. Tomorrow, it will be a hundred, and thereafter, it will be the same as the other Corpse Dissectors. Do you have any objections?"
Song Wen clasped his fists and said, "Thank you, Senior Yuan, for your guidance. I have no objections."
Yuan Cheng nodded and handed Song Wen four storage bags.
From yesterday's observations, Song Wen knew that one of these four bags contained corpses, while the other three contained bones, flesh, and organs after dissection.
"Go to Dissection Table No. 73. It's currently vacant."
Song Wen thanked Yuan Cheng again, took the storage bags, and walked to Dissection Table No. 73.
He placed all four bags on the table and took out the first corpse from one of the bags.
It was the corpse of a young man under twenty, likely a corpse of a wandering cultivator.
Song Wen stared at the male corpse on the dissection table, silently contemplating.
"I'm sorry, but blame the cannibalistic world of cultivation for not letting your corpse rest in peace. I hope in your next life, you'll be born into a world without cultivators."
However, Song Wen couldn't be sure if he had a next life, but there was a great possibility that his soul had already been seized by the demonic cultivator who killed him.
Song Wen steadied his mind, pushing aside any feelings of reluctance or pity. He repeatedly warned himself that to survive, he must be ruthless and merciless enough.
Following the dissection procedure he observed yesterday, Song Wen first removed the clothing from the corpse.
However, he overestimated his control over the bone-cleansing knife.
Although he had already refined the bone-cleansing knife, significantly improving his control over it, his skill in using it was far from the level of the experienced old Corpse Dissectors.
Either too heavy-handed or too light, every move either tore or barely scratched the corpse's flesh in some places, leaving some areas of the body's skin pierced and others untouched by the blade.
Struggling to remove the clothing, Song Wen started peeling away the skin and flesh from the head.
After an extremely unskilled operation, it took him nearly two hours to barely complete the dissection of the corpse.
However, after his dissection, the corpse was far from being completely separated like those dissected by other Corpse Dissectors.
There were still traces of flesh and blood on the bones, and many organs were damaged. Even the bones were accidentally cut off in a few places due to his distracted mind.
Despite many shortcomings during the dissection process, he persisted and finally finished dissecting the body.
Several times during the process, he almost couldn't bear it and wanted to give up, feeling nauseous enough to vomit, but he forced himself to suppress these urges.
There were even moments when his body began to devour the essence and blood of the corpse, which he forcefully interrupted.
He knew he could control his body's consumption of others' essence and blood. He had already tried when devouring the essence and blood of Guo Hang and two others' corpses. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to apply for being a Corpse Dissector.
If all the corpses in his hands turned into dried corpses, it would certainly attract the attention of the higher-ups of the Corpse Demon Sect, and he would likely be subjected to intense scrutiny.
Without any rest, Song Wen immediately took out the second corpse.
This was the corpse of a young woman.
Undressing, peeling, and removing flesh...
With the experience of the first corpse, the dissection of this corpse was much faster. In just over an hour, Song Wen completed the dissection of this corpse.
It took Song Wen more than six hours to dissect all fifty corpses.
By the time he finished dissecting these corpses, his spiritual power had long been exhausted, and he relied entirely on physical strength to dissect the corpses. At this point, his hands and feet were also sore.
His greatest fatigue was not physical but mental.
Corpse dissection consumed a great deal of mental energy, and he had to forcefully suppress feelings of discomfort, which rapidly depleted his mental strength.
Song Wen felt his thoughts becoming sluggish at this moment.
He picked up the four bags containing dissected corpses and slowly walked to the entrance of the cave.
"Senior Yuan, I've come to submit today's corpses," Song Wen said wearily.
Yuan Cheng took the storage bags, probed them with his spiritual awareness, and nodded.
"Good job, Ji Yin. You're naturally suited to be a demonic cultivator. Rest up and tomorrow, the dissection quota will double."
By this time, all the Corpse Dissectors in the Corpse Dissection Cave had already left, so Song Wen didn't linger. He bowed and took his leave.
(End of the Chapter)