The Cost of Cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refining Art

Chapter 73 The Cost of Cultivating the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art"

Cultivation knows no time; in the blink of an eye, a year and a half passed.

Although Song Wen was no longer the slowest Corpse Dismemberer, he still habitually arrived early at the Corpse Dismemberment Cave.

Today, the first corpse he dismembered was that of a young female Rogue Cultivator at the Qi Condensation Realm.

When he stripped away her robes, exposing her slender, pale flesh, a sudden urge welled up in his heart-a bloodthirsty impulse.

He wanted to bite and tear apart this beautiful corpse, like a wild beast rending its prey.

The skin across his body rapidly darkened, taking on an iron-gray hue. His fingernails elongated into sharp talons, and two fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth.

Dense, heavy Corpse Sha Qi flowed in and out with his every breath.

In the blink of an eye, Song Wen transformed, taking on the appearance of a hundred-year-old zombie.

His eyes rolled back, turning entirely white. All traces of human reason vanished, replaced only by the madness of a primitive beast.

Song Wen suddenly lunged down, snapping his jaws toward the female corpse.

This sudden abnormality drew the attention of the surrounding Corpse Dismemberers. They turned their heads, watching him with apathy, pity, or morbid curiosity.

Perhaps sensing their collective gaze, the mindless Song Wen felt a disturbance. He threw his head back and roared at the cavern ceiling.

"Roar!"

His posture perfectly mimicked a wild beast guarding its fresh kill.

Among the onlookers was a fiercely ugly, obese female Corpse Dismemberer with a face full of flabby flesh. Her eyes lit up, shimmering with unexpected autumn waves of desire.

She murmured softly, "To think that Jiyin, who always acts so meek and submissive, has such a wild and violent side. It makes this old lady lose control!"

Ugly as a pig...

No! The female Corpse Dismemberer, ugly as an old sow, suddenly flushed red. Overcome with feverish excitement, she opened her maw, exposing large, yellowed teeth, and screamed in agitation.

"Jiyin, keep going, this old lady... ahhh..."

Her shriek exploded like a clap of thunder beside Song Wen's ears, the sheer volume of the soundwave sending a sharp spike of pain through his eardrums.

Like a provoked beast, Song Wen's breathing grew ragged and heavy, as if he were ready to lash out at any moment.

Just as the crowd of Corpse Dismemberers braced for him to attack, eager to watch a bloody spectacle...

Song Wen's eyes suddenly cleared. His consciousness snapped back, and the signs of Corpse Transformation began to recede.

Disappointed, many of the Corpse Dismemberers shook their heads. The show was over.

The work of corpse dismemberment was dull and oppressive. When a Corpse Dismemberer lost their mind to madness, it provided a rare source of entertainment for the rest.

Still, this kid likely wouldn't live much longer. The next time he fell into such a frenzy, he might not wake up at all.

Song Wen watched the disappointed crowd turn away, his gaze catching upon one distinct figure among them.

That obese, unrestrained female Corpse Dismemberer.

She threw him a wink she likely thought was endlessly seductive, but was horrifying enough to make ghosts and gods retreat in terror.

Song Wen jolted, a deep shudder running down his spine.

He hurriedly averted his eyes and lowered his head, forcing himself back to the task of dismemberment.

Though his hands moved quickly, his mind was no longer on the corpse. He was entirely consumed by the problem of his bodily Corpse Transformation.

Everyone in the Corpse Dismemberment Cave, Yuan Cheng included, assumed he was just like the other madmen-driven insane by years of exposure to the cavern's turbid Qi and the pollution of lingering resentful souls.

But Song Wen knew the truth. His condition had nothing to do with the cave; it was a direct result of his cultivation.

That episode just now was triggered by the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art", not mere spiritual pollution.

By absorbing and refining excessive amounts of Corpse Sha Qi over a long period, his physical body had grown stronger, but at the terrible cost of over-transformation. This was the true price of cultivating demonic path arts.

This wasn't his first time experiencing excessive Corpse Transformation. However, during previous episodes, he had managed to rely on his powerful spiritual sense-comparable to the eighth layer of Qi Condensation-to forcibly drag his mind back to reality.

This time, perhaps influenced by the fresh female corpse, the bloodthirsty instinct of the transformation had been fully ignited, causing him to lose complete control.

Side effects were a common trait of demonic path cultivation. While they granted rapid increases in power, they always brought bizarre and deadly afflictions.

But the backlash from the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art" had erupted far too early. If one faced full Corpse Transformation before even reaching late-stage Qi Condensation, who would ever dare cultivate it?

Worse yet, the manual contained absolutely no record of how to cure or suppress the transformation. This was a fatal flaw.

At their core, demonic path arts were still Cultivation techniques, created for the ultimate purpose of extending one's lifespan. Yet, as it stood, the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art" seemed more like a shortcut to an early grave.

When Shi Shou singled me out to pass down the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art", he truly harbored malicious intentions, Song Wen whispered in his heart.

Though anger simmered within him, Song Wen knew he had no other choice, and thus, no room for regret. Whether he cultivated the art or not, he could not escape Shi Shou's targeting.

His current priority was to find a solution to the Corpse Transformation as quickly as possible.

The version of the "Corpse King Blood Refining Art" that Shi Shou gave him was almost certainly incomplete. Any methods for suppressing the transformation had undoubtedly been erased.

Ever since his first bout of Corpse Transformation, Song Wen had been searching for a cure.

The root cause lay in the excess Corpse Sha Qi refined during his cultivation.

To stop the transformation, he had to find a way to harmonize the chaotic Corpse Sha Qi within his body.

After extensive inquiries and spending numerous Spirit Stones, he finally learned a secret through Chen Yi, originating from Zhang Xiaofan's Golden Core Realm Master: a spiritual medicine known as Empty Cicada Wood could harmonize Corpse Sha Qi.

However, relying on Empty Cicada Wood was only treating the symptoms, not the disease. To permanently resolve the issue, he needed the complete technique.

Given his current strength, demanding the full "Corpse King Blood Refining Art" from Shi Shou was little more than a death wish.

Therefore, he decided to secure the Empty Cicada Wood first to survive the present. The complete manual would have to wait until he had the means to slowly scheme for it.

Empty Cicada Wood was an exceedingly rare spiritual material, growing a mere inch every hundred years.

Based on the severity of his current condition, completely harmonizing his Corpse Qi would require a piece of Empty Cicada Wood over three hundred years old.

Song Wen had scoured the entire market, yet failed to find even a sliver of it.

He had, however, seen it four months prior at an annual auction hosted by a large spiritual medicine pavilion controlled by the Corpse Demon Sect.

That specific piece of Empty Cicada Wood boasted a medicinal age of four hundred years, perfectly suiting his needs.

But in the end, it was won by a Foundation Establishment Elder of the Corpse Demon Sect for the exorbitant price of 2,300 Spirit Stones.

After agonizing over the decision, Song Wen ultimately lacked the courage to vie for the treasure against a Foundation Establishment expert.

He knew all too well that even if he won the bid, he would never be able to protect it.

The moment he stepped out of the auction house-even within the market's safe zone-a Foundation Establishment expert could swat him like a bug without leaving a single trace.

Three hours later, Song Wen finally finished dismembering the corpse. The only reason he dared to continue working after nearly losing his mind was because the recent flare-up had burned through a portion of his internal Corpse Qi.

For his body to undergo another uncontrollable transformation, his Corpse Qi would need to replenish. As long as he refrained from actively refining Corpse Sha Qi to cultivate, this buffer period would grant him roughly half a month of peace.

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