Translator: Cinder Translations
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Song Wen packed up his stall and turned to the square-faced man who had not yet left.
"Senior Brother, I'm taking my leave."
With that, he turned and walked towards the edge of the market.
The square-faced man watched Song Wen's departing figure for a while, his expression dark and contemplative.
After a moment, he started following Song Wen from a distance.
He trailed Song Wen closely but maintained a distance of two to three hundred meters, waiting to see where Song Wen would go. The location was too close to the sect for him to take action.
Suddenly, Song Wen increased his speed significantly, moving much faster than what would be expected from someone at the fourth level of Qi Refining.
The square-faced man's eyes lit up with realization.
"Using the Blood Escape Technique! You think you're the only one who has practiced this escape art? I happen to have practiced it as well. Let's see whose technique is more refined and whose blood is more potent."
The more urgently Song Wen tried to escape, the more convinced the square-faced man became that Song Wen was hiding something important.
After a little over a quarter-hour, the two arrived at a lake several dozen miles from the sect.
To the square-faced man's shock, Song Wen's speed suddenly surged and he disappeared into the darkness.
The square-faced man rushed to the spot where Song Wen had vanished, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
"How did he suddenly disappear?"
The square-faced man paced back and forth, meticulously searching the surrounding area for any clues.
Suddenly, a black iron spike, about a foot long and exuding a strong aura of death, shot towards him.
"Hmph! A petty trick."
Though the black iron spike was a mid-grade magical weapon, the attacker's strength was evidently insufficient to fully utilize its power.
The square-faced man was certain that the attacker was the same Qi Refining fourth-level cultivator who had just disappeared.
He waved his left hand, releasing a Qi Refining fifth-level corpse puppet.
The corpse puppet charged directly at the Soul-Breaking Awl.
The square-faced man's gaze was fixed on a clump of bushes about fifty meters ahead. The iron spike had come from there, and the cultivator was likely hiding among those bushes.
He conjured a black short blade in front of him and shot it toward the bushes with lightning speed.
Just as the square-faced man smiled, anticipating the sight of his foe lying severely wounded, several grayish insects silently crawled up his pants.
"Ah!"
The square-faced man suddenly felt excruciating pain in his lower body, his face contorted in agony.
At this moment, he found that a few insects had crawled onto his body at some point.
The insects had burrowed into his body and were frenziedly tearing at his insides.
After a few breaths, the square-faced man fell to the ground, lifeless.
Song Wen emerged from the bushes, holding the square-faced man's short blade.
Without its master's spiritual power to activate it, the short blade's effectiveness was greatly diminished and posed no threat to Song Wen. The corpse puppet stood still, frozen in place.
Song Wen approached the square-faced man's corpse and inserted his right hand into the chest of the still-breathing corpse.
Although most of the square-faced man's flesh had been devoured by the beetle, Song Wen could still consume the man's soul to prevent any potential use of necromantic magic that might summon his residual soul. He wanted to see what the square-faced man had witnessed before his death.
Song Wen removed the storage bag and corpse-raising bag from the body, and a flame erupted from his hand, flying towards the now-dried corpse of the square-faced man. After a moment, it turned into a pile of ashes.
He then used the Wind Blade Technique to scatter the ashes.
He opened the square-faced man's storage bag, collected the over four hundred spirit stones inside, and cursed silently, "Pauper."
There were also more than fifty bone beetle corpses in the storage bag, which Song Wen collected as well.
He returned the short blade to the storage bag and did not touch the other items inside. Using the corpse-raising bag, he collected the corpse puppet.
After checking around to ensure nothing was left behind, Song Wen used the Blood Escape Technique to quickly leave the area.
After traveling for more than ten miles, he found a spot and buried the storage bag and corpse-raising bag.
Every cultivator's corpse puppet and magical items have unique personal traits, and he worried about being recognized when selling them. To be safe, he buried them.
Although corpse puppets can be reprocessed to alter their aura and appearance, the Qi Refining fifth-level corpse puppet was of little use to Song Wen now. It was better to bury it than to keep it.
Having completed this task, Song Wen headed back to the sect.
...
For the next ten days, Song Wen remained in his cave dwelling, focusing on cultivation and not leaving.
Whether the sudden death of the square-faced man had attracted the sect's attention or if the Law Enforcement Hall was investigating his death, Song Wen did not inquire, acting as if the death had nothing to do with him.
During these ten days, Song Wen diligently cultivated to improve his strength and attempted to refine the Qi Refining ninth-level corpse puppet.
The refinement process was not smooth because the corpse puppet's strength was far superior to his own, so it had to be refined slowly.
The black-bellied beetle that had been in its cocoon for some time showed no signs of movement, so Song Wen temporarily ceased feeding it the bone worm crystals, waiting to see the changes in the cocoon before making further decisions.
Ten days passed quickly, and Song Wen's routine returned to dissecting corpses, cultivating, and raising Gu.
When he reappeared at the dissecting cave a month later, he surprised Yuan Cheng and many other dissecting practitioners.
Song Wen was one of the rare dissecting practitioners who had returned alive after suffering from mental confusion.
Yuan Cheng and the others did not ask about how Song Wen had resolved his mental confusion.
Only the stout female dissecting practitioner approached Song Wen, eyeing him up and down with interest before speaking in a low voice.
"Junior Brother Ji Yin, my cave dwelling is No. 74 in District B. You're always welcome to visit."
After speaking, the two-meter-tall female practitioner, whose physique was several times stronger than Song Wen's, swayed her massive body and turned to leave.
Suddenly, she turned back, flashing a smile.
"Junior Brother, remember, Cave No. 74 in District B, I'll be waiting for you."
Song Wen watched her retreating figure, deeply doubting himself. With his slender arms and legs, would he even have the strength to crawl out of her cave dwelling?
...
On the fifteenth day after the beetle's cocooning, it emerged.
The newly evolved beetle had no significant changes in size but had gained terrifying strength, reaching Qi Refining eighth level. This was a pleasant surprise for Song Wen, though he felt a tinge of disappointment. He had hoped the beetle might advance to a Sacred Gu.
The new beetle was black except for its head, which remained gray.
"Maybe when its head turns black too, it will become a true Sacred Beetle," Song Wen thought to himself.
To distinguish it from other beetles, Song Wen named the new beetle 'Black Beetle.'
As soon as the Black Beetle emerged from its cocoon, it signaled its hunger to Song Wen.
Song Wen immediately took out a shiny silver stone for it and squeezed out a few drops of his own blood.
After consuming half of the silver stone and eight drops of blood, the Black Beetle was finally full.
Song Wen couldn't help but click his tongue in dismay. Just for one feeding, it consumed half a silver stone, equivalent to fifteen spirit stones, and eight drops of blood. How could he afford this?
He could only hope that the Black Beetle's high consumption was due to its first feeding after emerging from the cocoon.
(End of the Chapter)
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