Cultivation

Before he departed, Elder Shen rewarded Song Wen with five hundred Spirit Stones, a bounty for his meritorious service to the sect.

After leaving Elder Shen's quarters, Song Wen made his way toward the market district before darkness fell.

He sold off his unneeded magical artifacts, the Profound Poison Scripture, and eight spare storage bags to a shop, taking in a total of 1,650 Spirit Stones.

The eight magical artifacts fetched 850 Spirit Stones, the eight storage bags brought in 200, and the Profound Poison Scripture sold for 600.

Song Wen also signed a soul contract with the shop purchasing the cultivation scripture. Aside from cultivating it himself or passing it down to his closest kin, he was strictly forbidden from disseminating the Profound Poison Scripture to outsiders.

Though the shop's acquisition price was meager, the arrangement saved him a great deal of trouble.

At present, the Spirit Stones on his person exceeded six thousand. For a Qi Condensation cultivator, this was undoubtedly a massive fortune.

With such wealth in hand, Song Wen naturally intended to procure some cultivation resources.

After browsing the market district, he purchased the Qi Gathering Pills and corpse aura required for his cultivation.

He also bought silver brilliant stones, purple moon flowers, azure spirit grass, and other materials to nurture his beetle Gu. The beetle Gu had proven invaluable during his recent excursion, further solidifying his determination to raise it. He hoped that one day, he might nurture the Holy Armor Gu that the old woman had so deeply coveted-an entity comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Following that, he bought several toxic spirit herbs.

From the jade slip recovered from Yan Feng's storage bag, he had learned that the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body was roughly divided into four realms: Novice, Proficient, Minor Accomplishment, and Grand Accomplishment.

Yan Feng had already cultivated this technique to the Proficient realm, allowing him to directly swallow poison to temper his body.

For a beginner like Song Wen who had yet to even reach the Novice realm, the best method to cultivate the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body was to soak in venomous medicinal baths.

He also went out of his way to purchase a black iron coffin to serve as his brewing vat. He had initially looked for a proper tub or copper furnace, but their materials were either insufficient or the prices were too exorbitant. In the end, he settled for the most common item in the market district to serve as his tub: a coffin.

After all, the Corpse Demon Sect walked the path of corpses. Coffin-type magical artifacts were incredibly abundant, serving perfectly for both raising corpses and personal cultivation.

Song Wen had originally hoped to find some life-saving items for emergencies, but naturally turned up empty-handed. Finding the Heavenly Lightning Talisman last time had been a stroke of incredible luck. Items that could save one's life in a critical moment were closely guarded trump cards for any cultivator; they were rarely put up for trade.

Finally, Song Wen bought a batch of corpse refinement materials and returned to his cave dwelling.

These materials cost him over six hundred Spirit Stones, providing enough resources to sustain his cultivation for quite some time.

His corpse puppet had sustained heavy damage and needed to be re-refined. Furthermore, its current strength had become somewhat lacking for his needs. Since he now had an abundance of Spirit Stones, he naturally intended to elevate the corpse puppet's power.

Back in his cave dwelling, Song Wen placed the corpse puppet into the large crimson coffin used for nourishing corpses.

He tossed in refinement materials such as Yin yellow earth, Yin underworld grass, and corpse aura, followed by the essence blood he had stolen from the Corpse Dismemberment Cave. With everything prepared, Song Wen executed his corpse refinement technique to temper the puppet.

Within moments, a black corpse aura began to billow from the crimson coffin. It grew increasingly dense until it completely swallowed the corpse puppet.

As the broken body absorbed the dark aura, it gradually began to mend.

An hour later, the corpse puppet's physical form was fully restored, and Song Wen ceased casting his arts.

Although the body was repaired, its aura had yet to return to its peak. Refining a corpse puppet was much like personal cultivation; it could not be rushed in a single bound. It required extended periods of nourishment and repeated refinement.

Song Wen sealed the lid of the crimson coffin, leaving the corpse puppet to recover within.

Next, he brought out the black iron coffin and filled it with clean water. Following the formula recorded in Yan Feng's jade slip, he added various toxic spirit herbs. He then excavated a pit beneath the iron coffin, piled in firewood, and sparked a flame, beginning the process of brewing his medicinal bath.

Three-quarters of an hour later, the medicinal water within the black coffin was violently boiling and churning. Bubbles burst in rapid succession, releasing a faint, toxic mist that slowly drifted through the cave dwelling.

At this point, the medicinal bath was ready for its preliminary stage.

He extinguished the fire.

Stripping off his robes, Song Wen leaped into the black coffin.

"Hiss!"

The scalding medicinal liquid caused Song Wen to draw in a sharp breath. His typically iron-blue skin instantly flushed a violent red, as if he were being boiled alive.

Gritting his teeth, Song Wen took a deep breath and lowered his entire body into the coffin until the pale green liquid completely submerged him.

Driven by the searing heat, the toxins within the liquid began to erode his flesh. Tiny, bloody fissures were corroded into his skin, allowing the poison to seep directly into his body.

Enduring the excruciating agony, Song Wen fought to maintain his clarity of mind. He circulated his Magic Power according to the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body. Guided by his Magic Power, the invading toxins began to flow along the technique's designated pathways, gradually tempering and strengthening his physique.

"Ah!"

A few minutes later, unable to bear the torment any longer, Song Wen breached the surface and let out a roar of absolute agony.

Yet, he did not give up. After snatching a hasty breath, he plunged himself back into the venomous bath.

Half an hour later.

The pale green liquid within the black iron coffin had turned completely clear, and the water had grown cold.

Song Wen crawled out of the tub. Countless thin, bloody lacerations covered his entire body. He looked as though he had just endured the torture of a thousand cuts-a truly horrific sight.

He cast a glance at the depleted water in the coffin, a lingering sense of dread clutching his heart.

No wonder body-tempering cultivators were so rare in the cultivation world. The process was far too agonizing; it was practically self-mutilation.

Previously, he had found cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refining Art to be quite painful. But compared to the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body, that pain was almost negligible.

The most torturous aspect of body tempering for orthodox cultivators was the process of swallowing heavenly treasures or external essence blood, extracting their essence, and violently grinding their internal organs and bone marrow to increase their vitality.

In contrast, Song Wen devoured the essence blood of others to directly increase his own blood and Qi, passively nourishing his physical body in the process. Naturally, the pain was significantly lesser.

Having just endured such extreme agony, Song Wen was in no condition to cultivate the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body again today.

The path of cultivation required a balance of tension and relaxation.

If he ignored his physical limits and forced himself to continue with the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body, his body would run the risk of total collapse.

At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Indeed, not everyone possessed the capital for body tempering. The spirit herbs consumed in a single medicinal bath were worth a full eight Spirit Stones-an amount comparable to the monthly stipend of some outer sect disciples.

Swallowing a healing pill, Song Wen began to circulate the Corpse King Blood Refining Art. This served to regulate his condition while accelerating the recovery of his gruesome wounds.

The night quickly passed in quiet cultivation.

The next morning, precisely at the hour of Chen, Song Wen arrived at the Corpse Dismemberment Cave.

His duty to the sect was complete, and his house arrest had been lifted. It was time to resume his daily labor of dissecting corpses.

Seeing Song Wen suddenly reappear after a multi-day absence, Yuan Cheng didn't ask any questions. He simply handed over a hundred corpses and went about his business, paying him no further mind.

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