Chapter 341: Goodbye, Wandering Cloud

He placed the youth in the tight-fitting attire on the wooden bed.

When he captured the youth alive, Qin Sang had already completed the first layer of the restriction.

The youth's physical body and nascent soul were both sealed, but outwardly, there was little difference from when he was alive. Only his skin had a faint bluish-black tint.

Even after being refined into a corpse, the changes wouldn't be significant. This was one of the differences between a 'living corpse' and a 'fiend corpse'.

From their appearance, others could barely tell that a living corpse was a refined corpse. Especially when newly refined, it bore almost no difference from its living state, only slowly changing with the passage of time.

For instance, the living corpse he and Old Man Baiyun encountered at the Heavenly Corpse Sect's branch hall, despite many years passing, had not undergone drastic changes in appearance, save for the growth of fangs and claws.

Of course, a strong aura of corpse qi would still expose its true nature.

However, there was a way around this.

The biggest difference between a living corpse and a fiend corpse, and the reason why the former's power far surpassed the latter, was that a living corpse could retain one spell it had learned in life, and the refiner could also imbue it with another spell via the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

Qin Sang had long made his choice, deciding to imbue it with the *Spirit Evasion Art*.

The *Spirit Evasion Art* could not only conceal one's cultivation level but also mask unusual auras such as demonic qi, monstrous qi, and corpse qi. Years ago, Gu Tiannan and his disciples relied on this very art to hide the demonic qi generated from cultivating the *Corpse Pill Secret Art*, thereby eluding Qin Sang's perception.

With the *Spirit Evasion Art*, the living corpse's corpse qi could be concealed as much as possible, only being exposed during combat or to cultivators whose cultivation level far surpassed that of the living corpse in its former life.

Though it wouldn't immediately boost its strength, it could sometimes yield surprising results.

The youth in the tight-fitting attire lay silently on the wooden bed, completely unaware of everything.

Qin Sang pondered for a moment, then summoned the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, placing it in his palm. He then conjured countless restrictions, some landing on the talisman, others drifting towards the youth.

Gradually, an inexplicable connection seemed to form between the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and the youth.

As the final restriction was completed, Qin Sang paused slightly, his eyes suddenly widening. With a flick of his wrist, he abruptly pressed the Heavenly Corpse Talisman onto the youth's forehead!

"Seal!"

With Qin Sang's shout, the Heavenly Corpse Talisman suddenly emitted a faint, ethereal glow, vanishing in a flash as it submerged into the youth's body, entering his nascent soul space.

Immediately afterward, Qin Sang felt an exceptionally strong resistance emanating from the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

The Heavenly Corpse Talisman was assailed and vibrated incessantly.

Qin Sang's divine sense was even stronger than that of cultivators at the same level. Facing such resistance, he showed no fear, carefully protecting the Heavenly Corpse Talisman as he meticulously continued the secret art.

Finally, the resistance completely vanished.

The Heavenly Corpse Talisman's sealing was complete!

Just then, Qin Sang suddenly stopped, exhaled a cloudy breath, and looked down at the youth in tight-fitting attire.

Whether to erase the person's consciousness was optional, left to the refiner's discretion. If not erased, the living corpse would possess higher spirituality and be slightly more powerful after refinement.

Qin Sang ultimately decided to erase the person's consciousness.

This way, the person was essentially dead, with only the nascent soul's vitality preserved by the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

With the nascent soul sealing complete, the next step was the refinement of the physical body. The process would only be considered complete when the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and all restrictions were seamlessly interconnected, forming a cohesive whole.

This step was also considerably difficult because, to maintain the refined corpse's vitality, the Qi Sea had to be preserved and not entirely filled with fiend earth qi. If the fiend earth qi were to damage the Qi Sea, the entire effort would be in vain.

Therefore, even though Qin Sang was skilled in building foundations with the Five Elements, he dared not be careless.

During his life, the youth in tight-fitting attire had cultivated a Metal-attribute cultivation technique. Qin Sang began by injecting Blue Nether Gold into his body, followed by other Five-Element Yin objects, in the order of the Five Elements' mutual generation cycle.

As expected, the consumption of Five-Element Yin objects was several times that for a fiend corpse. Fortunately, Qin Sang had prepared adequately.

Whoosh!

Spiritual energy wrapped around one of the Lesser Yin magnetic bottles, drawing it into Qin Sang's palm.

The magnetic bottle opened, and fiend earth qi 'flowed' out. Under Qin Sang's control, it entered the living corpse's dantian, immediately encountering resistance from the spiritual energy within the Qi Sea.

This was completely different from refining a fiend corpse, whose dantian was empty!

At this point, the spiritual energy in the living corpse's Qi Sea began a fierce counterattack, like a storm at sea. The fiend earth qi and spiritual energy collided violently, neutralizing each other, neither yielding.

Fortunately, thanks to the reinforcement from the Five-Element Yin objects and the restrictions of the *Heavenly Yin Corpse Art*, the dantian was spared from damage.

Seeing an entire bottle of fiend earth qi nearly depleted without a single wisp successfully entering the living corpse's dantian, Qin Sang's expression slightly darkened. The difficulty was far greater than he had imagined.

A second bottle of fiend earth qi.

Still the same!

Even after a third bottle, there was no hope of success.

Qin Sang gave up, interrupting the refinement process and re-sealing it. It seemed a trip to Mount Shaohua was imperative, but he would have to deal with the current troubles first.

After clearing away the lingering auras in the cave dwelling, Qin Sang sat cross-legged in meditation and began cultivating.

On the fifth day, the restriction at the entrance of his cave dwelling was suddenly triggered. Qin Sang sensed it, awoke from his meditation, and summoned the message talisman into his palm. Seeing the message, his face lit up with joy.

Leaping out of the cave dwelling, Qin Sang instructed Tan Hao to wait inside while he flew into Yin Mountain Pass on his escape light.

Spirit Elixir Pavilion.

Qin Sang met Yun Youzi again.

Yun Youzi's appearance hadn't changed much, but his complexion looked slightly better than before, indicating that the Nine-Splendor Azure Frost Grass was indeed effective.

Now, Yun Youzi's aura was also much stronger than four years ago. He was estimated to be at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, having touched the bottleneck of the middle Foundation Establishment stage.

However, he hadn't yet broken through, instead being surpassed by Qin Sang.

Nevertheless, Qin Sang couldn't tell from Yun Youzi's appearance alone whether his hidden soul injury had been cured.

As Qin Sang observed Yun Youzi, Yun Youzi also noticed that Qin Sang had broken through to the middle stage. He asked with some doubt, "Brother Qin, have you refined the Blood-Dropping Ghost Mushroom as well?"

Qin Sang smiled wryly and slowly shook his head.

Yun Youzi's expression darkened. Not having refined the Blood-Dropping Ghost Mushroom, yet breaking through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage so quickly, could only mean one thing: the Profound Rune Harmonizing Pill couldn't cure Qin Sang's injury, and its medicinal power had to be used solely for cultivation advancement.

"This old Taoist doesn't know whether to congratulate you or not," Yun Youzi remarked with a sigh. He then consoled Qin Sang, "Still, it's always a joyous occasion that Brother Qin could break through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage. You're much stronger than this old Taoist."

Qin Sang frowned and hastily asked, "The Nine-Splendor Azure Frost Grass was ineffective for you?"

Even the thousand-year-old Nine-Splendor Azure Frost Grass couldn't cure Yun Youzi.

Could his hidden soul injury be even more severe than his own damaged foundation?

Yun Youzi sighed, "It had some effect, but barely! I didn't actually expect the Nine-Splendor Azure Frost Grass to completely cure my hidden injury, but I thought it would at least heal a few tenths, enough to not worry about it before forming a Core. Who would have thought that its effect was even worse than expected? I'm still stuck in the early Foundation Establishment stage, unable to advance an inch."