Translator: Cinder Translations
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Cultivation knows no years, and in the blink of an eye, a year and a half had passed.
Although Song Wen was not the slowest corpse dissector in the profession anymore, he still habitually arrived early at the Corpse Dissection Cave.
Today, the first corpse he dissected was a young female wanderer in the Foundation Building stage.
As he peeled away the woman's clothes and exposed her slender and fair body, a sudden impulse surged within him—a bloodthirsty impulse.
He wanted to tear and shred this beautiful corpse apart, just like a wild beast tearing into its prey.
His skin gradually turned ash-gray, resembling iron-gray in places. His fingers and nails became sharp and elongated, and two fangs gradually protruded from the corners of his mouth.
A thick and intense corpse aura billowed in his breath.
In the blink of an eye, Song Wen transformed into the appearance of an aged zombie.
His eyes also began to roll back, devoid of human rationality, filled only with primal madness.
Suddenly, Song Wen bent down and took a bite out of the female corpse.
Song Wen's abnormal behavior attracted the attention of the surrounding corpse dissectors, who turned their heads one after another—some indifferent, some pitying, and some watching with interest.
Perhaps sensing the gazes of many dissectors, the irrational Song Wen felt something unusual and raised his head to the sky, roaring.
"Roar!"
Song Wen's actions resembled those of a wild beast protecting its food.
Among the dissectors, there was a corpulent and ugly female dissector, her face full of horizontal flesh, looking extremely ugly. Her eyes shone brightly, filled with a clear and radiant water-like light.
She murmured softly, "I never thought that the usually submissive Ji Yin would have such a bold and irritable side. It's irresistible to me!"
The female dissector, as ugly as a pig—no, as ugly as an old sow—suddenly blushed, her expression unusually excited. She opened her mouth wide, revealing yellowed large teeth, and excitedly shouted,
"Ji Yin, continue, I... hmm..."
The woman's roar was like a thunderclap in Song Wen's ears, causing his eardrums to ache.
Like an enraged beast, Song Wen's panting suddenly became deeper and heavier, as if he could erupt at any moment.
Just as many dissectors thought Song Wen was about to act recklessly, preparing to watch a good show.
Song Wen's eyes suddenly cleared, his consciousness instantly restored, and his corpse transformation began to fade away.
This left many dissectors disappointed, shaking their heads. There was no more spectacle to behold.
Dissecting corpses was tedious and depressing work, and it was a rare entertainment for them when a dissector lost their sanity.
But this kid probably won't live much longer. If he falls into such madness again next time, he may not be able to come back to his senses.
Song Wen looked at the disappointed dissectors around him and saw a different figure among them.
That corpulent and bold female dissector.
The female dissector threw him what she thought was a charming glance, but it actually made him shudder deeply.
He turned his head away, no longer looking at the female dissector, and bowed his head to continue dissecting corpses.
Although Song Wen's dissection was not slow, his mind was no longer on dissecting corpses. He was pondering the problem of his own body's corpse transformation.
Including Yuan Cheng within, everyone in the Corpse Dissection Cave thought he, like other mad dissectors, had been confused due to the murky qi of heaven and earth and the residual souls within the cave.
However, Song Wen knew it was not like this at all. His confusion stemmed from the effects of cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique, not from problems within the cave itself.
Just now, it was due to the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique that his consciousness was polluted, not a simple contamination.
It was due to the long-term excessive refinement of corpse aura during cultivation, enhancing his physical body while causing excessive corpse transformation. This is the price of cultivating demonic dao techniques.
This was not the first time he had experienced excessive corpse transformation, but in previous instances where corpse transformation clouded his mind, he had relied on his formidable spiritual power comparable to an eighth layer Qi Refinement cultivator to forcibly regain clarity.
However, this time, perhaps influenced by the female corpse, it triggered a bloodthirsty ability, causing his mind to completely lose control.
Demonic dao techniques inherently come with various side effects; one of their characteristics is that while cultivation progresses rapidly, various strange symptoms often appear.
However, the consequences of cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique erupted prematurely. Facing corpse transformation before breaking through to the later stages of Foundation Building, who would dare to cultivate it?
Moreover, above this technique, there seems to be no record of how to resolve the issue of corpse transformation, which is the most fatal flaw.
Ultimately, demonic dao techniques are still immortal cultivation techniques created for the sake of prolonging life. However, it now seems that the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique is more like a short-lived technique.
"When Shi Shou entrusted me alone with this Corpse King Blood Refining Technique, he must have had ulterior motives," murmured Song Wen in his heart.
Song Wen harbored many grievances, but he knew he had no other choice and thus harbored no regrets. Whether he cultivated the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique or not, he couldn't avoid Shi Shou's targeting.
As a temporary measure, he needed to find a solution to the corpse transformation problem as quickly as possible.
Shi Shou must have omitted parts of the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique, including methods to deal with corpse transformation.
Since the first manifestation of corpse transformation, Song had been pondering how to resolve the issue.
The root cause was the excessive refinement of corpse aura during cultivation of the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique, leading to corpse transformation.
To solve the problem of corpse transformation, efforts must be made to harmonize the internal corpse aura.
After inquiring from various sources and spending a considerable amount of spirit stones, he finally learned from Chen Yi, through Master Zhang Xiaofan in the Golden Core stage, that a spiritual medicine named Hollow Cicada Wood could effectively harmonize corpse aura.
However, while Hollow Cicada Wood could harmonize corpse aura, it was ultimately only a symptomatic treatment, not a fundamental solution. To completely resolve the issue of corpse transformation, one had to start with the technique itself.
With Song Wen's current strength, it was unrealistic to demand the complete Corpse King Blood Refining Technique from Shi Shou.
Therefore, he decided to first find Hollow Cicada Wood to address the current issue. As for the complete version of the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique, he would slowly pursue it in the future.
Hollow Cicada Wood is a relatively rare spiritual material, growing one inch every hundred years.
Given Song Wen's current state of corpse transformation, he needed a Hollow Cicada Wood that was at least three hundred years old to completely harmonize the corpse aura.
Song Wen searched the entire market district but couldn't find Hollow Cicada Wood.
Four months ago, at a large spiritual medicine shop controlled by the Corpse Demon Sect, during an annual auction, he had seen this item.
That Hollow Cicada Wood was already four hundred years old, meeting Song Wen's requirements.
However, it was ultimately taken by a Foundation Building Elder of the Corpse Demon Sect for 2300 spirit stones.
After much consideration, Song Wen ultimately didn't have the courage to compete for the treasure with the Foundation Building expert.
He knew that even if he succeeded in bidding, he wouldn't be able to keep that Hollow Cicada Wood.
Once outside the auction house, even though violence was prohibited in the market district, Foundation Building experts could easily kill him without anyone noticing.
Three hours later, Song Wen finally finished dissecting the corpse. After his recent confusion, he dared to continue dissecting because he knew that the recent corpse transformation had consumed some of the corpse aura within him.
For his body to regain control over corpse transformation, he needed to wait for the corpse aura to recover. If he didn't actively refine and cultivate corpse aura, this process would take about half a month.
(End of the Chapter)