Chapter 340: Heavenly Corpse Talisman

The remaining two Soul-Guiding Grass leaves were resealed.

Next, Qin Sang drew a surge of spiritual power to envelop the leaf, simultaneously activating a secret technique from the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art. Streams of spiritual power surged like rivers, converging before Qin Sang to form countless mystical runes. The spiritual light illuminated the cave dwelling, making it sparkle.

Eventually, these runes merged, and at the very center of the spiritual power, a faint, dark light suddenly appeared. Upon closer inspection, it was a tiny flame.

The flame gradually grew, developing into a fist-sized ball of fire that burned fiercely. The runes seemed to transform into a furnace, with Qin Sang's spiritual power acting as its fuel. The flame remained dark, burning directly before Qin Sang. However, he felt no heat; instead, a chilling cold emanated from it.

This was Yin Fire, cultivated using a secret technique from the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art, specifically for refining Soul-Guiding Grass.

Activating the Yin Fire consumed spiritual power rapidly, but Qin Sang, being at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, felt little pressure and had no concerns about his spiritual power running out during the refining process. He glanced at the Yin Fire, then at the Soul-Guiding Grass. After a moment of contemplation, he didn't rush to throw the grass in, but instead focused on manipulating the Yin Fire.

Under Qin Sang's control, the spherical flame began to transform, at times elongating, at others compressing. Initially, the transformations were slow, and Qin Sang's brow furrowed, feeling a slight strain. Gradually, the changes accelerated, forming vivid shapes of birds and beasts, while Qin Sang's expression became increasingly relaxed.

"Go!" Qin Sang gestured, guiding the Soul-Guiding Grass into the Yin Fire.

The Yin Fire suddenly expanded, completely enveloping the Soul-Guiding Grass. Clusters of tiny flames began to scorch the grass.

In the blink of an eye, an hour passed. The Soul-Guiding Grass remained still within the Yin Fire, seemingly unchanged except for a slight dulling of its surface luster.

There was no trace of anxiety on Qin Sang's face. He sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, eyes closed, his entire being focused intently on the flame before him.

As time progressed, the first crack finally appeared on the Soul-Guiding Grass. Then, more cracks began to proliferate, crisscrossing it densely, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch. In fact, the Soul-Guiding Grass shattered on its own without any external touch. More accurately, it melted, transforming into a mass of black spiritual liquid.

The Soul-Guiding Grass had finally been refined by the Yin Fire!

Qin Sang quietly sighed in relief but couldn't relax yet. Refining the Soul-Guiding Grass was only the beginning; next was to purify it, extracting all impurities and leaving only the essence.

Under the scorching of the Yin Fire, the volume of the spiritual liquid gradually diminished. What was once the size of a baby's fist was now reduced to a single drop, its color growing increasingly profound, like ink.

From start to finish, this process lasted a full three days, finally reaching completion!

All impurities from the Soul-Guiding Grass had been thoroughly refined, yet its inherent patterns remained perfectly intact. This was crucial for the subsequent crafting of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman. This step demanded extremely high precision from the refiner, requiring not only immense patience but also exceptionally fine control; a single oversight could lead to complete failure.

Withdrawing the Yin Fire, Qin Sang opened his eyes and gazed at the drop of spiritual liquid. A hint of fatigue was in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by excitement. He hadn't expected to succeed at the most difficult step on his very first attempt at crafting the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

After a brief rest, allowing his spiritual sea to recover slightly, Qin Sang immediately resumed refining.

The spiritual liquid floated before Qin Sang. His expression slightly solemn, he cast aside extraneous thoughts, raised his hands, and formed various hand seals. His fingers danced with increasing speed, leaving behind a dazzling blur of afterimages.

As his hand seals changed, countless profound runes came into being and were immediately infused into the spiritual liquid. The spiritual liquid seemed to come alive, wriggling continuously. It began to shed its black color, becoming progressively lighter, while its shape grew increasingly regular...

Finally, a rectangular Heavenly Corpse Talisman was on the verge of taking shape! However, this was not yet the end. Qin Sang's movements were unceasing. Simultaneously, he performed two tasks at once: splitting a wisp of his divine soul from his Nascent Soul, quickly condensing it into a soul imprint, and embedding it into the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

It was done! Qin Sang let out a long breath, his face a little pale. More than half of the spiritual power in his spiritual sea had been expended, clearly demonstrating the difficulty of crafting a Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

The Heavenly Corpse Talisman was no longer black, but glowed with a transparent gray hue. It was as thin as paper, like grey jade, and only thumb-sized. It exuded a profound aura, with mysterious radiance flowing in accordance with a certain pattern. It resembled a faint, mesmerizing galaxy in the night sky.

Qin Sang held the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, which felt weightless in his palm, examining it closely. Outwardly, the Heavenly Corpse Talisman was beautiful, yet few would know it was an extremely yin and evil object used for crafting living corpses! This stark contrast made Qin Sang secretly sigh with emotion.

Qin Sang didn't rush to craft a living corpse. Instead, he took out a jade box, sealed the first Heavenly Corpse Talisman within it, and prepared to strike while the iron was hot, continuing with the refining process.

"Doesn't seem too difficult..." Qin Sang muttered to himself, easing his own mind.

However, his self-congratulation didn't last long before a lesson arrived: the second Heavenly Corpse Talisman failed to be crafted. Of course, the failure wasn't due to Qin Sang's complacency or oversight. Failure was actually normal, as crafting the Heavenly Corpse Talisman was exceptionally difficult. Qin Sang's initial success was simply a matter of good luck.

Knowing this, Qin Sang felt no despondency. He waved his hand, obliterating the remnants of the Soul-Guiding Grass, then summarized his experience from the failure and continued to craft the third talisman.

Three days later, another Heavenly Corpse Talisman was successfully crafted!

From one Soul-Guiding Grass, two Heavenly Corpse Talismans had been refined, and Qin Sang was very pleased. After these three attempts, he had gained sufficient experience and believed his future success rate would be higher.

Crafting the Heavenly Corpse Talismans alone had taken a full eight days.

Calculating the time, Qin Sang estimated that Wandering Cloud Master was likely to arrive soon. He decided not to continue, instead taking out the living corpse embryo he had prepared earlier from his Corpse Puppet Bag.

According to the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art, there was a significant difference between living corpses and fiend corpses, and the Heavenly Corpse Talisman was only one requirement. Since a living corpse's spiritual sea was intact and not depleted, more five-element yin materials and Earth Fiend Qi were required for the Foundation Establishment stage. The exact amount would vary depending on the specific circumstances, but it would be at least several times that needed for refining fiend corpses.

Although five-element yin materials were expensive, they weren't difficult to acquire, and Qin Sang had prepared a sufficient quantity. However, his supply of Earth Fiend Qi was running low. Earth Fiend Qi was an extremely yin substance in the world, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators feared it like a tiger. It was rarely used in artifact refining, except for some ancient inheritances or very rare special artifacts.

Over the years, Qin Sang had seen several yin-attuned places in the ancient immortal battlefield that produced Earth Fiend Qi, but none were comparable to the Sunken Cave on Mount Shaohua. Therefore, his Earth Fiend Qi had been steadily consumed without replenishment. Moreover, refining fiend corpses wasn't always successful, leading to inevitable waste, and he now had only three bottles left.

Qin Sang took out the three Lesser Yin Magnetic Bottles, thinking to himself, "If the Earth Fiend Qi isn't enough, it will be time to return to Mount Shaohua."