Senior Brother Xu's Request

Song Wen walked through the market stalls, preparing to return to his cave dwelling.

Senior Brother Xu's voice suddenly rang out.

"Junior Brother Jiyin, wait a moment!"

Song Wen paused, a faint smile appearing on his face. He had only been able to enter this underground ghost market thanks to Senior Brother Xu's recommendation. By that measure, smoothly acquiring the Empty Cicada Wood meant he owed the man a favor.

"Senior Brother Xu, is there a matter you need?"

Senior Brother Xu said, "Are you not buying Corpse Fiend Qi today? I have two bottles of top-tier quality right here. Care to take a look?"

Song Wen shook his head. He still had not resolved the issue of his corpse transformation, so he had no temporary use for Corpse Fiend Qi.

"Senior Brother Xu, farewell."

Song Wen turned to leave, but unexpectedly, Senior Brother Xu walked straight out from behind his stall and stuffed two bottles of Corpse Fiend Qi into his hands.

Song Wen looked at him in confusion and asked.

"Senior Brother Xu, what is the meaning of this?"

"These two bottles of Corpse Fiend Qi are a gift for you, Junior Brother," Senior Brother Xu said.

"I cannot accept a reward without contributing any effort!" As he spoke, Song Wen moved to place the two jade bottles back onto the stall.

"Junior Brother Jiyin, wait a moment. I do have a small favor that I must trouble you with," Senior Brother Xu hurriedly said.

Song Wen hesitated for a moment, but he still placed the jade bottles back onto the stall before speaking.

"What matter? Senior Brother should tell me first. You previously recommended me into the ghost market, which is a favor unto me. As long as it is not an arduous task, I will naturally lend my aid."

The underlying meaning of Song Wen's words was clear. On account of the recommendation, he would help with a minor task. However, if the matter was too troublesome or dangerous, the other man should save his breath.

Seeing Song Wen respond this way, a smile appeared on Senior Brother Xu's face.

"Rest assured, Junior Brother, it is absolutely nothing difficult. I merely wish for you to make a trip to the mortal realm on my behalf. Naturally, you do not need to make a special journey right away. Whenever you have free time or happen to be passing by, simply going there once will suffice."

Song Wen asked in confusion, "What does Senior Brother need me to do in the mortal realm?"

Senior Brother Xu's expression suddenly turned solemn. He spoke no further, choosing instead to transmit his voice using his Spiritual Qi.

"No matter what, I hope you will not spread what I am about to say."

"I want you to visit my hometown. Go see if my elderly parents are still alive and well, and see how the little sister I left behind is living now."

Song Wen grew even more puzzled. He transmitted back, "Since it is a visit to your hometown, why doesn't Senior Brother go himself?"

Senior Brother Xu's eyes turned somewhat melancholy as he continued his voice transmission.

"Since I have chosen to cultivate and stepped onto the Demonic Path, I must sever my worldly ties. It is better for both me and them. Asking you to make this trip is simply to ease their decades of longing."

Suddenly, Senior Brother Xu's aura shifted, his melancholy transforming into resolute determination.

"Furthermore, I have far more important matters to attend to. Once I leave this time, it may become an eternal separation between the living and the dead."

Song Wen's expression turned stern. He recalled how Senior Brother Xu had previously revealed that his cultivation was already at the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

This impending departure was most likely related to Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, before leaving, he entrusted this task to Song Wen-someone who owed him a favor and had no conflicting interests or grievances with him.

His family members were nothing more than destitute mortals. He was not worried that Song Wen, harboring no enmity, would travel thousands of miles just to cause trouble for them.

A moment later, Song Wen accepted the two bottles of Corpse Fiend Qi and left the market.

He could not help but sigh inwardly. Cultivators, especially those of the Demonic Path, truly had to sever their emotions and discard their morals.

Once one steps onto the path of cultivation, immortals and mortals are eternally divided.

Even one's closest kin had to be forsaken. If a cultivator could not sever their familial ties, their family would become an obstacle on their path, and the cultivator themselves might bring catastrophic disaster upon their mortal relatives.

By asking Song Wen to make this trip in his spare time, Senior Brother Xu merely wanted to use Song Wen's mouth to inform his family that he was still alive and living well despite his years of silence, thereby easing the burden of their mutual attachment.

This matter also proved that there was no such thing as camaraderie among Demonic Path cultivators. Senior Brother Xu had cultivated in the Corpse Demon Sect for twenty to thirty years and knew hundreds, if not thousands, of Sect disciples. Yet, he chose to entrust this task to Song Wen, a person with whom he had very little connection.

Song Wen returned to his cave dwelling, preparing to refine the Empty Cicada Wood.

He sat in meditation for an hour, calming his mind and focusing his will. Once his vital energy, essence, and spirit were adjusted to their absolute peak, he finally took out the Empty Cicada Wood.

Resting the Empty Cicada Wood in his palms, he closed his eyes and circulated his cultivation technique.

Driven by his Spiritual Qi, the unique Empty Nether Qi of the Empty Cicada Wood entered Song Wen's body. It flowed through his limbs, seeped into his bones and Meridians, and finally pooled within his Dantian's Qi Sea.

According to his Master, Zhang Xiaofan, Empty Nether Qi possessed the profound ability to harmonize the turbid qi of heaven and earth, absorbing the essence while discarding the dross. It could cure the corpse transformation afflicting Song Wen's body without damaging his cultivation.

Song Wen cultivated in this manner for seven full days.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt thoroughly refreshed and invigorated. The Corpse Fiend Qi within his body had been perfectly harmonized, naturally resolving the crisis of his corpse transformation.

The Empty Cicada Wood in his hands was no longer pristine and jade-like. It had faded into an ashen grey. When he applied a slight pressure with his grip, the wood instantly crumbled into a pile of fine dust.

Song Wen was just about to stand up and stretch his body when he felt a strange movement from within.

It was the Beetle Gu.

Before refining the Corpse Fiend Qi, he had forgotten to release them from his body. Trapped inside him for several days, these little creatures had grown impatient and were currently scuttling around within his abdominal cavity.

Song Wen opened his mouth, releasing all the Beetle Gu.

Thirty-four Beetle Gu immediately swarmed out, buzzing through the air of the cave dwelling.

Song Wen suddenly remembered something. Back in the underground cavern, the Beetle Gu had feasted on the small crystals found inside the White Bone Insects.

He had originally assumed those crystals would help elevate the Beetle Gu's cultivation. Yet looking at them now, their auras did not appear noticeably stronger.

"Could it be I was mistaken? The White Bone Insect's crystals cannot enhance the strength of the Beetle Gu. To them, is it nothing more than food?"

"Impossible. I have never starved the Beetle Gu of spiritual materials or Essence Blood. There must be a reason why they actively devoured those crystals."

"Could it be they ate too little? Was it not enough to trigger an increase in their strength?"

Song Wen's gaze fell upon the Storage Bag at his waist.

While in the underground cavern, he had collected no less than a hundred White Bone Insect corpses.

Song Wen extracted a crystal from a White Bone Insect corpse and examined it closely.

The aura emanating from the crystal was incredibly complex. It contained traces of Spiritual Qi, demonic qi, corpse qi, and ghost qi-like a physical manifestation of the turbid qi of heaven and earth.

Unable to comprehend its nature, Song Wen decided to conduct a direct experiment using a Beetle Gu.

Among the swarm, Song Wen selected the strongest one.

He offered the crystal in his hand to this Black-bellied Beetle Gu.

The moment it saw the crystal, the Black-bellied Beetle Gu became frantic, practically vibrating with the urge to devour it.

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