Chapter 171: Dark Corpse Technique

Wu Yuesheng's 'corpse' stirred slightly, then silently raised its head. His face was still smeared with blood, and his skin was unusually pale from blood loss. Yet, he didn't appear too weak, indicating that his injuries were not as severe as they seemed.

Seeing Qin Sang still sitting on the ground, seemingly unaware and about to perish by his sword, Wu Yuesheng revealed a complacent smile.

However, as his gaze swept past Qin Sang and landed on the Ten Directions Yama Array, his expression froze.

"What a powerful flag array..." Wu Yuesheng murmured, his eyes burning with intensity. Just as he was about to rise, he was violently slammed into the ground by a sudden, immense force. Excruciating pain immediately flared in his back and chest.

Filled with deep astonishment, Wu Yuesheng painfully lowered his head to look. He saw a glowing green spiritual sword solidify from transparency, piercing through his heart and impaling him to the ground.

"Heh..." Wu Yuesheng suddenly understood. He knew without looking that his own sword strike must have missed its target. He gave a self-mocking laugh, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed, life fading from him.

The Scarlet Flame Sword missed its mark, and without anyone to wield it, it lost momentum, clattering against the wall with a crisp clang. The red glow on its blade slowly extinguished, as if mourning its master.

Swish!

The Ebony Sword moved again, piercing through Wu Yuesheng's skull. Only then did Qin Sang's figure slowly materialize beside Wu Yuesheng. His breathing was ragged and heavy.

Dealing with two treacherous companions in such a short time, successively manipulating several magical artifacts, and unable to reveal any flaws, even with his strong spiritual sense and organized maneuvers, he felt overwhelmed.

In fact, Qin Sang wasn't entirely certain if Wu Yuesheng was dead. He had personally witnessed Wu Yuesheng's ability to conceal his aura, making it easy to feign death. Furthermore, remembering how Wu Yuesheng had previously tracked him, Qin Sang naturally harbored suspicion and felt no trust for him. This led him to take extra precautions and never reveal the Ebony Sword's existence.

He even suspected that Wu Yuesheng's injuries were not severe, and that he might have intentionally feigned being trapped. Wu Yuesheng's cautious movements when tracking him earlier were still fresh in his memory.

However, Qin Sang did not attempt to test Wu Yuesheng.

If Wu Yuesheng was feigning, and remained unconscious even after Qin Sang killed Bai Yunshan, he must have harbored malicious intentions. A hasty test would inevitably lead to a direct confrontation with Wu Yuesheng. Qin Sang's foundation was damaged, and his cultivation was inferior to Wu Yuesheng's. Even if he could win with a few magical artifacts, such a powerful adversary couldn't be dealt with quickly. Any further delay would result in both of them being engulfed by the Earth Fiend Qi, unless he used the Profound Yin Lightning.

The Soul-Devouring Cone had been used to kill Bai Yunshan, leaving the Profound Yin Lightning as Qin Sang's sole trump card. They hadn't even reached the core of the Heavenly Corpse Sect branch, yet such a powerful Fiend Corpse had appeared. It was hard to say what they would encounter next, so he had to consider an escape route.

Qin Sang simply chose to use himself as bait.

He used the Soul-Devouring Cone to kill Bai Yunshan, seeking a quick resolution to prevent Wu Yuesheng from benefiting from the conflict. Then, feigning urgency and pretending to fully exert his power to activate the Water Fiend Thunder Incantation, he exposed his unguarded back to Wu Yuesheng, successfully luring him to strike.

The 'Man-Sword Fusion, Shadowless Evasion' technique, this divine ability was truly a potent tool for sneak attacks and assassination.

While Wu Yuesheng was secretly delighted by Qin Sang's apparent vulnerability, and fully concentrated on concealing the Scarlet Flame Sword's fluctuations, intent on ambushing Qin Sang, he never imagined an invisible spiritual sword was silently approaching him, like a venomous snake in the shadows, delivering a fatal bite.

Once he confirmed Wu Yuesheng's death, Qin Sang's tightly strung nerves finally relaxed a little. He felt utterly exhausted and let out a soft sigh.

He popped a spiritual power recovery pill into his mouth, then activated the Ebony Sword to engage the Fiend Corpse. Qin Sang himself flashed, appearing beside the skeleton in the great hall.

Several items had been disturbed by Bai Yunshan. Qin Sang inspected the skeleton, finding nothing unusual, then picked up all three items.

Unexpectedly, both the black cloth pouch and the cracked iron stake were magical artifacts, yet neither possessed any special properties. The cracks on the iron stake, in particular, were not inherent to the artifact but caused by damage.

The iron stake seemed out of the ordinary, but its cracks were too dense, so Qin Sang dared not use too much spiritual power to test it, fearing it would be completely destroyed upon contact with spiritual energy.

That left only the silver token.

Qin Sang held the token, examining it and touching it with spiritual power, but it showed no reaction. He couldn't help but frown slightly. Just then, he suddenly remembered something and quickly probed the token with his spiritual sense.

Boom!

A passage of text appeared in Qin Sang's mind!

It was indeed similar to a jade slip, something used to store information.

Qin Sang thoughtfully glanced at Bai Yunshan's corpse. Had he risked so much just for this text? Since it was sealed within the Heavenly Corpse Token, could it be the inheritance of the Heavenly Corpse Sect?

The Fiend Corpse, being jointly suppressed by the Ebony Sword and the Ten Directions Yama Array, couldn't cause much trouble. Its demise was only a matter of time.

Furthermore, Qin Sang had a hunch that the contents of the Heavenly Corpse Token were likely related to corpse refinement. There might even be a way to easily defeat the Fiend Corpse, so he began examining it carefully.

A moment later, Qin Sang withdrew his spiritual sense from the Heavenly Corpse Token, his expression peculiar.

The token didn't contain cultivation methods; instead, it was the Heavenly Corpse Sect's inherited corpse refinement techniques, named the "Heavenly Yin Corpse Art." It included complete methods for refining Zombie Puppets and Fiend Corpse Puppets.

The Zombie Puppet refinement method was not significantly different from other corpse refinement techniques Qin Sang had heard of. It also primarily used Yin Fiend Qi. However, the Heavenly Corpse Sect's method could draw in a wisp of Earth Fiend Qi to temper the puppet's physical body, making the refined Zombie Puppets somewhat more powerful than other zombies.

The method for refining Fiend Corpse Puppets, however, was completely different from others. It entirely used Earth Fiend Qi for refinement, and required the corpse of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, with extremely complex steps.

Furthermore, the "Heavenly Yin Corpse Art" astonishingly contained a method for refining living corpse puppets!

After reading this method for refining living corpses, Qin Sang's expression changed. He felt a chill down his spine and gasped.

Living corpses, astonishingly, were created by forcibly refining the souls of living Foundation Establishment cultivators using a secret art called the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, thus turning them into 'living' corpse puppets.

After a cultivator was refined into a living corpse puppet, its sentience far surpassed that of other Fiend Corpses. Not only was it extremely obedient, but its strength was also greater, barely weaker than when it was alive. Furthermore, it could use incantations, making it a truly perfect puppet.

Was this Fiend Corpse a refined living corpse?

Qin Sang looked up, secretly observing the Fiend Corpse within the Ten Directions Yama Array. A realization dawned on him: no wonder it possessed such high sentience and could use the "Xuanhuang Armor" and mysterious evasion techniques.

And these were not the entirety of the "Heavenly Yin Corpse Art."

The general outline described further methods for refining corpse puppets stronger than Fiend Corpses, and even a secret art that could enhance living corpses to achieve strength comparable to a Flying Yaksha.

However, this Heavenly Corpse Token did not contain those records.