Translator: Cinder Translations
---
Before leaving, Elder Shen rewarded Song Wen with 500 spirit stones as a reward for his contributions to the sect.
After leaving Elder Shen's place, before it got dark, Song Wen headed towards the market square.
He sold the unused scrolls, the "Profound Poison Scripture," and eight unused storage bags to shops, totaling 1650 spirit stones.
The eight scrolls sold for 850 spirit stones, eight storage bags for 200 spirit stones, and the "Profound Poison Scripture" for 600 spirit stones.
Song Wen also signed a soul contract with the shop that purchased the cultivation techniques. Besides personal cultivation or teaching close relatives, Song Wen couldn't pass on the "Profound Poison Scripture."
Although the shop's prices were low, it saved Song Wen a lot of trouble.
At this point, Song Wen had over 6,000 spirit stones on him, undoubtedly a huge sum for a Qi Refinement cultivator.
With such a large amount of spirit stones, Song Wen naturally planned to purchase some cultivation resources.
After browsing the market square, Song Wen bought Qi Gathering Pills and Corpse Qi Elixirs necessary for cultivation.
He also purchased items like Bright Silver Stones, Purple Moon Orchid, and Green Spirit Grass for nurturing Gu, which had greatly contributed during his recent outing. This further strengthened Song Wen's determination to cultivate Gu, hoping one day to breed the Sacred Gu that even Foundation Establishment cultivators coveted.
Additionally, he bought some poisonous spirit herbs.
From Yan Feng's storage bag, he learned that "Ten Thousand Poison Body" could roughly be divided into four stages: Entry, Proficiency, Minor Completion, and Major Completion.
Yan Feng had cultivated this technique to the Proficiency stage, allowing him to ingest and refine poisons.
As a newcomer who had yet to start, the best way for Song Wen to cultivate "Ten Thousand Poison Body" was through poison baths.
He also bought a Black Iron Coffin to use for the poison bath. Originally, he wanted to buy a tub or a bronze furnace, but either the materials didn't meet his requirements or the price was too high. In the end, he settled for the most common coffin in the market square, suitable for use as a tub.
After all, the Corpse Demon Sect was a sect of corpse cultivation, and coffins were the most common tool, used for cultivating and training corpses.
Song Wen had initially wanted to buy some emergency life-saving items but ended up empty-handed. Even the Thunder Talisman he bought last time was a stroke of luck. Emergency life-saving items were things that every cultivator kept hidden and rarely brought out for trade.
Lastly, Song Wen purchased materials for cultivating corpses before returning to his cave dwelling.
These materials cost him over 600 spirit stones in total, enough for him to cultivate for a period.
The Corpse Puppet was heavily damaged and needed to be remade. Its current strength was somewhat inadequate for him. With sufficient spirit stones, Song Wen planned to enhance its power.
Back at his cave dwelling, Song Wen placed the Corpse Puppet into a large red coffin used for nurturing corpses.
He then added Yin Yellow Soil, Yin Ming Grass, Corpse Qi Elixirs, and other refining materials, along with the blood essence stolen from the Corpse Dissecting Cave. Song Wen began to perform the corpse refining technique, forging and refining the Corpse Puppet.
In just a moment, the large red coffin emitted a black corpse qi, gradually becoming denser and enveloping the Corpse Puppet completely.
Although the Corpse Puppet's physical body was now repaired after an hour, its aura had not fully recovered to its strongest state. Similar to cultivation, refining the Corpse Puppet couldn't be achieved in one go; it required long-term nurturing and repeated refining.
Song Wen closed the lid of the large red coffin, letting the Corpse Puppet rest inside.
He then took out the Black Iron Coffin, filled it with clear water, and according to Yan Feng's instructions in the jade slip, added various poisonous spirit herbs. Song Wen dug a hole beneath the Black Coffin, placed wood inside, lit a fire, and began brewing the poison bath.
After three quarters of an hour, the liquid in the black coffin boiled vigorously, bubbles bursting one after another, and a faint toxic gas evaporated, permeating the cave dwelling.
At this point, the medicine is considered to be preliminarily brewed.
"Extinguish the fire!"
Song Wen took off his clothes and jumped into the black coffin.
"Hiss!"
The scalding hot liquid made Song Wen involuntarily gasp for cool air. His originally pale skin instantly turned red, as if being boiled alive.
Gritting his teeth, Song Wen took a deep breath and fully submerged himself into the coffin, where the faint green liquid gradually engulfed him.
With the high temperature, the toxins in the liquid began to corrode his flesh. Tiny bloodstains appeared all over his body, and the toxins seeped into his internal organs through these wounds.
Enduring immense pain, Song Wen struggled to maintain his consciousness. Following the techniques of the "Ten Thousand Poison Body," he circulated his mana, guiding the toxins inside his body along the prescribed routes, gradually strengthening his physical body.
"Ah!"
Several minutes later, the unbearable pain almost made Song Wen lose his grip. He surfaced, emitting a painful roar.
Without giving up, Song Wen took another breath and submerged himself again in the liquid.
Half an hour later,
The faint green liquid in the black iron coffin became clear, and its temperature cooled down.
Song Wen climbed out of the coffin, countless long wounds covering his entire body, making him look as if he had just undergone severe torture, a terrifying sight.
He glanced at the residual liquid in the coffin that had lost its medicinal properties, feeling lingering fear.
No wonder there are so few body-refining cultivators in the cultivation world; this refining process is too painful, almost self-destructive.
Previously, when he cultivated the "Blood Refinement Art of the Corpse King," he had thought it was painful enough, but compared to the "Ten Thousand Poison Body," the pain of cultivating the former seemed insufficient.
The most painful aspect of body refining for cultivators is swallowing precious materials or foreign blood essence, absorbing their essence, and refining their own internal organs and bone marrow to enhance their vitality.
Although Song Wen absorbed the essence of others' blood directly to increase his vitality, it was still much less painful than the extreme agony he had just experienced.
Having just experienced extreme pain, Song Wen knew he couldn't continue cultivating the "Ten Thousand Poison Body" today.
In martial arts, one must alternate between exertion and rest.
If he disregarded his physical limits and continued cultivating the "Ten Thousand Poison Body," there might be a risk of physical collapse.
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a bit regretful; it wasn't something everyone could afford to cultivate. The spiritual herbs consumed in the recent bath alone were worth eight spirit stones, which could compare to the monthly salary of some outer disciples.
After taking a healing pill, Song Wen began to adjust his state using the "Blood Refinement Art of the Corpse King," partly to heal his wounds and partly to recuperate.
A night passed quickly in cultivation.
The next morning, Song Wen arrived at the Corpse Dissecting Cave on time.
Having completed the sect mission and now free from confinement, he needed to continue his daily work of dissecting corpses.
Seeing Song Wen, who had been absent for many days, suddenly appear, Yuan Cheng didn't ask much and directly handed him over a hundred corpses, then ignored him.
(End of the Chapter)