Translator: Cinder Translations
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Early the next morning.
Song Wen arrived at the corpse dissection cave early in the day.
When he left before, he had taken a one-month leave from the steward Feng Deng. Even though he returned two days early, he still needed to report to Feng Deng.
Feng Deng, seeing Song Wen who had disappeared for nearly a month, said nothing more. He understood the importance of keeping a low profile better than Yuan Cheng. Aside from arranging the corpse dissection matters, he rarely spoke to the corpse dissection personnel.
"Ji Yin, since you took a one-month leave, according to the rules, you need to make up for the number of corpses you missed during this month over the next three months."
"Recently, you'll be assigned two hundred corpses per day. Do you have any objections?"
Feng Deng acted according to the rules, and Song Wen had no objections.
"All decisions are up to Steward Feng. I have no objections."
Feng Deng nodded, handed Song Wen four storage bags, and then closed his eyes, saying no more.
Song Wen went to Dissection Station No. 73 and began to dissect the corpses at a slow and steady pace.
After nearly six hours of dissection, Song Wen had gone from initial disgust and resistance to eventual adaptation and numbness.
Now, Song Wen had even started to enjoy the dissection process.
It was similar to how Taoists recite scriptures daily to cultivate their hearts and natures, or how monks strike the wooden fish and recite Buddhist scriptures to purify their thoughts and eliminate karma.
During corpse dissection, Song Wen could achieve a similar effect.
His mind was as calm as still water, serene and peaceful!
Dissecting corpses helped Song Wen clear his mind, cultivate himself, and enhance his state of mind.
TL Note: WTF
Song Wen no longer merely pursued speed in dissection but aimed for a state of mastery akin to carving meat like a skilled butcher.
With each corpse he dissected, he sought the completeness of the tendons, bones, blood vessels, and muscles.
To him, the dissected limbs and organs were like artworks to an artist or verses to a poet.
They were the artistic creations of his hard work.
It took Song Wen over four hours to dissect two hundred corpses. When he exited the dissection cave, it was already approaching evening.
After leaving the dissection cave, he did not head to his cave residence but instead went to the Transmission Hall on the mountain.
The "Corpse King Blood Refining Art" he cultivated was only a Qi Refining period technique. If he wanted to continue advancing his cultivation, he either needed to find the subsequent techniques for the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art" or switch to other Foundation Establishment techniques.
Moreover, now that he had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, he also needed to improve his techniques and skills, and learn some techniques suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The Corpse Demon Sect's Transmission Hall consisted of three ancient buildings, each corresponding to the techniques and secrets for Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Gold Core cultivators.
Without a Foundation Establishment Elder token, Song Wen could not enter the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building.
He stood several hundred meters away from the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building. In front of the building sat a middle-aged woman with an enduring charm. She had her eyes closed, sitting cross-legged as if in meditation.
This woman was the elder in charge of the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building.
Unlike the bustling Qi Refining Transmission Building, the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building was deserted, rarely visited.
The Corpse Demon Sect had publicly announced that there were over two hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators. Most of them would come to the Transmission Hall once after their Foundation Establishment, and rarely visit afterward.
In Song Wen's perception, the middle-aged woman had at least mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation. It was clearly impossible to sneak past her into the Transmission Building.
Furthermore, he was unsure if there were other hidden guards in the Transmission Building.
Sneaking in recklessly would be akin to seeking death.
Holding the Elder token and entering the Transmission Hall openly was the best strategy.
The disciples of the Corpse Demon Sect and the elders both use their respective tokens to match the aura of the token with the cultivator's own aura to verify identity.
Song Wen's physical control over his aura allows him to mimic someone else's aura.
This means that as long as he has an elder's token, he can smoothly enter the Transmission Hall.
Of course, the elder he mimics must not be someone too familiar to the staff, or even the best imitation would reveal flaws in his behavior and mannerisms.
Standing outside the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building for a while, Song Wen pretended to sigh lightly and then turned to walk towards the Qi Refining Transmission Building. He acted like a low-level disciple longing for Foundation Establishment, imagining the day he would step into the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building after reaching that stage.
As a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, Song Wen had lingered outside the Foundation Establishment Transmission Building for a long time. If he didn't make some deceptive moves, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
At the Qi Refining Transmission Building, he casually picked a secret technique and then descended the mountain towards the market.
Entering the market, Song Wen headed straight for the underground black market.
In the black market, he could try to obtain some information about the Corpse Demon Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators.
As soon as he entered the underground black market, Song Wen noticed something unusual.
There were noticeably more Foundation Establishment cultivators among the crowds in the black market than usual, and most of these were scattered cultivators.
"Where did so many Foundation Establishment scattered cultivators come from?"
"I haven't heard of any major auctions in the market recently, and there are no rumors of secret realms or relics around the Corpse Demon Sect. What are these scattered cultivators gathering here for?"
Song Wen sensed an unusual atmosphere among these Foundation Establishment scattered cultivators.
But after some thought, he felt it was irrelevant to him.
Anyway, he was focused on hiding in his cave for cultivation, dissecting corpses, and extracting a bit of essence blood to exchange for cultivation resources. He was quite satisfied with the current situation.
It would be even better if he could eliminate the threat posed by Shi Shou.
Unless one day, the essence blood obtained from dissecting corpses could no longer meet his cultivation needs, he might consider leaving.
Song Wen walked straight to the central counter of the underground black market hall and addressed an old man behind the counter.
"I want information on the Corpse Demon Sect's recent Foundation Establishment cultivators. How many spirit stones will it cost?"
The old man lifted his murky eyes, staring at Song Wen, and spoke in a hoarse, gravelly voice.
"Recently, many people have been buying information about Corpse Demon Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators. I didn't expect a Qi Refining Seventh Layer kid like you to join in the fun."
Song Wen's appearance was that of a Qi Refining Seventh Layer young scattered cultivator.
"In the past few years, there have been seven people who achieved Foundation Establishment in the Corpse Demon Sect. To get information on these seven, it will cost two thousand spirit stones."
Song Wen's expression changed slightly. "So expensive?"
The old man smiled sarcastically, "With so many people buying Foundation Establishment cultivator information recently, prices have naturally gone up. Some things are not meant for a Qi Refining little cultivator like you."
The old man's words seemed to hint at something more.
Song Wen didn't think much of it, believing these matters were not significant to him and chose not to dwell on them.
He took out two thousand spirit stones from his storage bag and handed them to the old man.
The old man looked at Song Wen with an odd expression, seemingly surprised that a Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivator would casually produce two thousand spirit stones.
The old man tossed a jade slip to Song Wen and then lowered his head, saying nothing more.
Song Wen took the jade slip and turned to leave the black market.
He had a vague sense that something was off about the atmosphere in the black market and decided it would be better to avoid this place in the future.
(End of the Chapter)
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