Translator: Cinder Translations
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With the continuation of the "Corpse King Blood Refining Technique," Song Wen could resume his cultivation.
He obtained three bottles of Yin Fiend Dew from Shi Shou's storage ring. This was a Yin-attribute treasure, condensed from high-purity corpse fiend aura, perfectly suited for Song Wen's current cultivation needs.
Suppressing his urge to start cultivating immediately, Song Wen headed to the Corpse Dissection Cave. It was almost dawn, which was the time he visited the cave every day.
Today, Song Wen slightly increased the speed of corpse disposal and finished by the afternoon's fifth hour.
After leaving the Corpse Dissection Cave, Song Wen returned to his cave, performed the Water Mirror Technique, and began disguising himself.
TL Note: Previously called "Mortal Realm's Disguise Technique" in chapter 67.
Unlike his casual disguises in the past, today he had a specific target: he needed to make himself look like Shi Shou.
After several attempts, Song Wen had perfected this disguise technique to a high degree.
In just fifteen minutes, his appearance and physique closely resembled Shi Shou's. He adjusted his body shape using control over his muscles and bones.
Next, Song Wen began to adjust his aura. Since both he and Shi Shou practiced the "Corpse King Blood Refining Technique," mimicking Shi Shou's aura was not too difficult. Once his aura was matched to Shi Shou's as closely as possible, he was satisfied and donned a black cloak.
Ensuring no one was outside the cave, Song Wen exited, used his flight technique, and soared towards the Transmission Hall.
In fact, the best way to imitate Shi Shou would be to use sword control for flying.
However, Song Wen did not know sword control, and Shi Shou's storage ring did not contain any sword control techniques. Therefore, Song Wen had to use his flight technique.
After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, the flight technique's effectiveness had greatly increased, making him several times faster, and quite graceful, resembling wind-walking.
Moments later, Song Wen landed outside the Foundation Establishment Transmission Hall. After calming his nerves, he held Shi Shou's elder token and walked towards the female cultivator at the hall entrance.
The female cultivator glanced at Song Wen's cloaked figure and scanned the elder token and Song Wen with her spiritual sense before tersely stating a few words.
"Do you know the rules?"
Song Wen's heart skipped a beat.
Rules?!
What rules?
Were they similar to those of the Qi Refining Transmission Hall, or were there additional rules for the Foundation Establishment Transmission Hall?
The rules for the Qi Refining Transmission Hall were simple: no destruction of any items in the hall; no taking away the true copies of techniques; hand over the selected transmission jade slip to the steward, who would make a one-time jade slip copy for the disciple; a soul oath was required, and techniques were not to be shared with anyone.
Fearing exposure, Song Wen did not dare to speak recklessly and simply nodded, remaining silent.
Seeing Song Wen nod, the female cultivator assumed he understood the rules, returned the elder token to him, and said.
"Go in."
With a bit of anxiety about what the so-called 'rules' might entail, Song Wen entered the Transmission Hall.
Since he was here, he should make the best of it!
Song Wen calmed himself and began to examine the Transmission Hall.
The hall was empty, with hundreds of stone platforms neatly arranged inside. Each platform had a different technique placed upon it.
These techniques ranged from books, jade slips, to unknown desiccated bones, all peculiar and diverse.
Unlike the Qi Refining Transmission Hall, where techniques could be freely handled, each technique in the Foundation Establishment Transmission Hall was covered by a miniature formation, allowing for observation but not direct handling.
On the edges of each stone platform, there was a small booklet.
Song Wen picked up one of the booklets at random. It contained a brief introduction and outline of the technique, along with its price.
The technique he held was a corpse path cultivation method priced at five thousand spirit stones. This price was quite low for a complete Foundation Establishment technique.
If this technique were outside, its price would be at least doubled.
After setting the booklet down, Song Wen picked up and reviewed each booklet on the stone platforms.
Out of the over a hundred techniques in the hall, more than half were cultivation techniques, with fewer than half being spells and secret methods.
Song Wen could not cultivate all the techniques due to his limited cultivation level, so he chose only three techniques: the advanced techniques of "Blood Sacrifice Art" and "Ghostly Claws," as well as a flying sword technique.
He Most Wanted to Cultivate the Advanced "Blood Escape Technique," but Could Not Find It.
Song Wen couldn't find the advanced technique for the "Blood Escape Technique," which was what he wanted to cultivate the most. It was unclear whether the advanced technique didn't exist or if the Corpse Demon Sect simply didn't include it here.
Feeling a bit dissatisfied with only selecting these three techniques despite the significant risk of entering the Transmission Hall, Song Wen also picked up a secret technique for refining corpse puppets called "True Explanation of Corpse Puppets."
The corpse puppet refining technique he had previously practiced was a basic one, but this "True Explanation of Corpse Puppets" was far more profound.
It even included a method called "Corpse Explosion Technique," which could trigger the self-destruction of a corpse puppet.
With the techniques chosen, Song Wen now needed to find the middle-aged female cultivator to make copies of the techniques. He was somewhat unsettled as he still did not fully understand what the so-called rules were.
Holding the four booklets, Song Wen approached the hall's exterior and spoke in a hoarse voice.
"I have made my selection. These four."
The female cultivator glanced at Song Wen but did not speak, taking the four booklets from him.
She flipped through the booklets and then extended her hand.
Seeing her outstretched hand, Song Wen felt a pang of anxiety. He was unsure what she was asking for.
Could it be spirit stones?
The thought crossed his mind, and he quickly retrieved a storage bag containing ten thousand spirit stones, which was the price for the four techniques.
The female cultivator took the storage bag and used her spiritual sense to check the number of spirit stones inside. After confirming everything was correct, she extended her hand again.
Seeing her hand extended once more, Song Wen grew increasingly nervous and impatient. He genuinely didn't know what else to give!
However, Song Wen maintained a calm expression, appearing indifferent as usual.
Fortunately, the female cultivator, noticing that Song Wen hadn't moved, spoke up with a hint of annoyance.
"Give me your identity token."
Song Wen, without showing any emotion, handed over the elder token. He was now even more puzzled about what the token was needed for.
The female cultivator took the elder token and placed it into a round disk about the size of a bowl, which had a slot perfectly matching the size of the token.
She inserted the elder token into the slot.
Immediately, the disk emitted a burst of white light.
After a moment, the white light faded.
The female cultivator looked up at Song Wen and said,
"Your sect contribution is insufficient. You only have nine hundred and ten contributions, but these four techniques require one thousand contributions, so you are short by ninety."
Song Wen's mind raced.
Sect contribution?
What is that?
He had heard about it before!
Could it be a specific requirement for Foundation Establishment elders?
Fortunately, it was only a shortfall of ninety!
Moreover, the middle-aged female cultivator hadn't recognized his disguised identity and only mentioned the contribution shortage, which was actually good news for Song Wen.
A smile appeared on his face as he continued with his hoarse voice,
"It was my oversight. Could the steward make an exception?"
Saying this, Song Wen took out another storage bag containing ninety spirit stones and handed it over.
The female cultivator looked at Song Wen with a half-smile, making him feel uneasy. He couldn't help but wonder if he was expected to bribe her.
(End of the Chapter)
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