Translator: Cinder Translations
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Song Wen walked through the bustling market area, preparing to return to his cave residence.
Suddenly, he heard Senior Xu's voice.
"Junior Brother Ji Yin, wait a moment!"
Song Wen stopped and smiled slightly. Senior Xu was the one who had introduced him to the underground ghost market. In that sense, his successful acquisition of the Hollow Cicada Wood was partly due to Xu's favor.
"Senior Xu, is there something up?"
Senior Xu said, "Aren't you buying any corpse energy today? I have two bottles of excellent quality here. Aren't you interested?"
Song Wen shook his head. He hadn't resolved his corpse energy issue yet, so he didn't need the corpse energy for now.
"Senior Xu, I must take my leave."
Song Wen turned to leave, but to his surprise, Senior Xu walked directly out of his stall and stuffed the two bottles of corpse energy into Song Wen's hands.
Song Wen looked at him in confusion and asked, "Senior Xu, what is this for?"
"These two bottles of corpse energy are a gift for you," Senior Xu said.
"Unwarranted gifts are not accepted!" Saying this, Song Wen tried to return the two jade bottles to the stall.
"Junior Brother Ji Yin, wait a moment. I have a small favor to ask of you," Senior Xu quickly said.
Song Wen hesitated for a moment but eventually put the jade bottles back on the stall and asked, "What is the favor? Since Senior Xu previously introduced me to the ghost market, I owe you a favor. If it's not too troublesome or dangerous, I'm happy to help."
Song Wen's words implied that, given Senior Xu's previous help, he was willing to assist with a minor favor, but if it was too troublesome or dangerous, he would prefer to decline.
Seeing Song Wen's response, Senior Xu smiled.
"Rest assured, it's not a difficult task. I just need you to make a trip to the mundane world for me. Also, there's no rush. You can go whenever you have free time or happen to be passing by."
Song Wen asked in confusion, "What does Senior Xu need me to do in the mundane world?"
Senior Xu's expression suddenly became serious. He stopped speaking and instead communicated via spiritual transmission.
"No matter what, I hope you will keep what I say next confidential."
"I want you to visit my hometown, check on how my elderly mother is doing, and see how my younger sister, whom I left behind when I was young, is faring now."
Song Wen was even more puzzled and responded via spiritual transmission, "Since it's a visit to your hometown, why don't you go yourself, Senior Xu?"
Senior Xu's eyes showed a hint of melancholy, and he continued via spiritual transmission.
"Once you become a cultivator and enter the Demon Realm, you must sever ties with the mortal world for the benefit of both them and yourself. Letting you make this trip is merely to alleviate their years of concern."
Senior Xu's demeanor suddenly changed from melancholy to resolute and determined.
"Moreover, I have more pressing matters. This trip might very well be a final farewell."
Song Wen's expression became serious as he recalled that Senior Xu had previously mentioned being at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. This visit was likely related to foundation establishment.
Thus, before his imminent departure, Senior Xu entrusted Song Wen—who had no personal stakes or grievances with him, and whom he owed a favor—to visit his hometown.
Given that Senior Xu's family were ordinary mortals with nothing significant, he was not worried about Song Wen causing trouble for them from a thousand miles away.
After receiving the two bottles of corpse energy, Song Wen left the market.
He couldn't help but feel a bit melancholic. Cultivators, especially those of the demonic path, indeed had to be heartless and unfeeling.
Once one enters the path of immortality, they bid a permanent farewell to the mortal world.
Even close family must be forsaken; if one cannot sever these ties, family members may become obstacles on the path of cultivation and could even bring disaster upon the cultivator.
Senior Xu's request for Song Wen to make this trip was merely to let his family know through Song Wen that he was still alive and well, easing their long-standing concerns.
This also revealed the lack of compassion among demonic cultivators. Despite having practiced in the Corpse Demon Sect for twenty or thirty years, knowing hundreds or thousands of sect disciples, Senior Xu chose Song Wen—a person with no significant connection to him—to carry out this task.
Back in his cave residence, Song Wen prepared to refine the Hollow Cicada Wood.
After sitting in meditation to calm his mind and adjust his spirit for an hour, Song Wen took out the Hollow Cicada Wood.
He held the Hollow Cicada Wood in his hands and closed his eyes to channel his technique.
Under the influence of his spiritual power, the unique void-mingling energy of the Hollow Cicada Wood entered Song Wen's body, flowing through his limbs, bones, and meridians, finally reaching his dantian and sea of qi.
According to Zhang Xiaofan's Master, the energy from the Hollow Cicada Wood could harmonize the filth of the world, extracting the essence while discarding the dross. This would heal Song Wen's corpse transformation symptoms without affecting his cultivation.
The process of refining took seven days.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt refreshed, with the corpse energy in his body harmonized, and the crisis of corpse transformation naturally resolved.
The Hollow Cicada Wood in his hands had changed from its original jade-like appearance to a grayish color. With a slight squeeze, it turned into small fragments scattered on the ground.
As Song Wen was about to stand up and stretch his limbs, he felt a disturbance within his body.
It was the beetle Gu.
Song Wen had forgotten to release them before refining the corpse energy. These little creatures had been confined within him for several days and were becoming restless, crawling around in his abdomen.
Song Wen opened his mouth and released all the beetle Gu.
The thirty-four beetle Gu instantly fluttered around the cave residence.
Song Wen suddenly remembered something. Inside the cave, the beetles had consumed the small crystals from the bone worms.
He had initially thought that those crystals would help improve the beetles' cultivation. However, it now seemed that their aura had not noticeably strengthened.
"Could it be that I was mistaken? The crystals from the bone worms might not actually enhance the beetles' abilities; perhaps they were merely food."
"Impossible. I've never lacked spiritual materials or essence blood for the beetles. Their active consumption of the crystals must have some reason."
"Could it be that they ate too little? It's not enough to enhance their strength."
Song Wen's gaze shifted to the storage bag at his waist.
He had collected quite a few bone worm corpses in the cave, totaling no fewer than a hundred.
Song Wen took out a crystal from the bone worm corpses and examined it closely.
The crystal's aura was very complex, containing spiritual energy, demonic energy, corpse energy, and ghost energy—a sort of amalgamation of worldly impurities.
Unable to understand it clearly, Song Wen decided to experiment with one of the beetles.
He selected the strongest beetle among them.
He fed the crystal to the black-bellied beetle.
The black-bellied beetle, upon seeing the crystal, became eager and impatient to devour it.
(End of the Chapter)
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