Chapter 209: Tell Me Where You're Cultivating the Remaining Yin Corpses
Pingcheng.
This was a rather ordinary city within the jurisdiction of the Taishan Prefecture.
Nearby, there was a rocky hill and a small lake.
The city's residents followed the rhythm of sunrise and sunset, working by day and resting by night.
There were no elders stationed here, only a few Foundation Establishment-level deacons from the Jade Cauldron Sect.
Since Pingcheng lacked any significant cultivation resources, even these deacons spent their days idling away.
However, in recent months, Pingcheng had been far from peaceful.
Cases of live people disappearing had been frequently reported.
Farmers who left the city early in the morning to work in the fields outside would vanish by evening.
Young people who went out in groups to enjoy the countryside would also fail to return by nightfall.
In just half a year, over a hundred people had disappeared.
At the same time, nearby cities around Pingcheng had also experienced disturbances caused by yin corpses.
Such malevolent creatures immediately drew the attention of the Jade Cauldron Sect.
As a result, they dispatched over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators to search through these cities.
However, the one controlling the yin corpses was exceptionally cunning, evading capture each time.
In the end, the Jade Cauldron Sect could only place a bounty on this so-called "Corpse Taoist."
But despite the bounty hanging in the air for half a year and several increases in the reward, no one had managed to capture him.
It was now nearly dusk.
Outside Pingcheng, beneath a tree.
A young man in simple clothing, carrying a bundle on his back, was waiting anxiously.
He looked up at the darkening sky, feeling both nervous and scared.
At the same time, terrifying rumors surfaced unbidden in his mind.
If one lingered outside after nightfall, they could encounter something dreadful.
And disappear forever.
Yet he couldn't leave this place.
Because he couldn't abandon that person.
Not long after, a familiar figure, also dressed in coarse cloth, came running toward him.
Like him, she also carried a bundle.
The two saw each other and smiled with joy.
In the next moment, they embraced tightly.
The young man inhaled the fragrance of her hair.
The young woman, in turn, reveled in his strong, masculine presence.
Entwined in each other's arms, they had no wish to separate.
"I never imagined you'd abandon your life of luxury and elope with me."
The man was overwhelmed with emotion.
The woman covered her mouth with a smile, "You're my everything. Without you, what's the point of enjoying a life of wealth and status?"
They held hands.
"I've already thought it over. We'll go to Jade Sea City."
"It's the most prosperous place in the Taishan Prefecture. When we get there, we'll open a bun shop. You'll knead the dough, and I'll make the buns!"
Imagining a future filled with boundless happiness, the young man's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"Yes, as long as we're together, I don't care what we do."
The young woman looked at him, her eyes full of joy.
"Since you're willing to do anything, then come to me. Let's become a pair of doomed lovers!"
A raspy, sinister laugh suddenly sounded behind them.
Startled, the two spun around.
There stood a hunched, eerie-looking figure.
Beside the strange man was a figure wrapped in a black robe, broad and muscular, with a straw hat on his head.
The black-robed figure exuded a menacing aura, clearly no ordinary person.
"You... you…" The young man was so frightened he couldn't speak.
"You're the Corpse Taoist?!" The young woman steadied herself, speaking in a tone filled with both terror and shock.
"Hahaha, not bad. You, a mere mortal woman, guessed who I am in an instant. How clever."
"Let's see if your body can withstand the wash of the Yin Fiend's energy."
The eerie man laughed chillingly.
With a pointed finger, the black-robed figure pounced like a savage beast!
In that instant, his straw hat flew off, exposing his hideous face.
Rotting skin, reeking of decay, blood-red eyes, yellowed teeth.
It was a yin corpse!
The young woman was petrified with fear, unable to move.
The young man clenched his teeth, charging forward to shield her from the yin corpse, "Run! I'll buy us some time!"
However, he had overestimated the gap between himself and the yin corpse.
In an instant, the corpse tore both his arms off, causing him to faint from the pain.
The corpse then threw the severed arms, hitting the fleeing woman, making her cough up blood before she, too, lost consciousness.
"Tsk, how many times have I told you—don't damage the bodies," the Corpse Taoist frowned.
"Hurry up and take them away."
The yin corpse stiffly nodded, hoisting both of them onto its shoulders.
Just then, the Corpse Taoist turned around and saw a young man dressed in black standing twenty paces behind, staring intently at him.
The man's gaze didn't look at him like he was a person, but rather as if he were a treasure.
The Corpse Taoist's body stiffened immediately.
It was usually he who looked at others this way; never had he imagined someone would look at him like that.
"Who are you? Don't get in my way," he said in a low voice.
"I'm not someone you can take from!"
Though he didn't know the young man's identity or power, the fact that he had managed to approach him so silently suggested considerable strength, likely equal to his own, around the late stage of Core Formation.
A life-or-death fight with someone like this would not be worthwhile.
The Corpse Taoist had survived over three hundred years and had encountered such situations many times. No one knew better than he how to adapt on the fly.
The man in black let out a sinister chuckle. "I'm not here to take your belongings—I want you."
The Corpse Taoist was taken aback, his expression darkening. "We're both in the same business. Can't we work something out?"
He took a few steps forward, spreading his hands with a sincere expression as though to offer peace.
However, just as he finished speaking, two clouds of dark green powder shot out from his sleeves, surrounding the man in black!
The Corpse Taoist summoned a skull-shaped spirit tool into his palm, channeling his spiritual energy and slamming it.
A cloud of dark green poisonous mist appeared, surging toward the man in black.
Meanwhile, the yin corpse carrying the couple gently set them down and charged straight at the man in black!
In an instant, three layers of attacks surrounded the man in black, leaving him no room to escape.
The Corpse Taoist gave a slight smile.
That dark green powder was crafted from the remnants of his yin corpse refinement, laced with corpse poison. Once it infiltrated the body, it would cloud the mind and harm internal organs.
The skull spirit tool was even deadlier, forged from the skulls of forty-nine Core Formation cultivators, and infused with corpse, miasma, and yin poisons. The green poisonous mist was a mix of several lethal toxins.
As for the full-force attack of this fourth-grade yin corpse, it was terrifyingly powerful.
Caught off guard, his opponent would surely be severely injured by this onslaught.
"Dare to go against me, will you? I'll turn you into a yin corpse myself!" the Corpse Taoist sneered.
But in the next instant, the yin corpse was sliced cleanly in half by a single sword strike.
The blade's lightning-infused shadow cut through the powder and poisonous mist, headed directly for him!
The Corpse Taoist's pupils shrank in terror.
Panicking, he tried to summon his defensive techniques.
But his speed was nothing compared to the swift-and-slow rhythm of the Lightning Shadow Sword Technique.
In the blink of an eye, his right arm was sliced off!
"Ah!" the Corpse Taoist screamed in agony.
His opponent continued with three more swift strikes.
Within moments, both his legs and his remaining arm were severed.
In the blink of an eye, he was reduced to a helpless torso.
The Corpse Taoist's face filled with terror.
He understood now—he had encountered a true powerhouse!
The young man approached him slowly, revealing a face that looked almost unnaturally youthful.
The man grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.
"Tell me, where are the rest of your yin corpses being cultivated?"
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