Chapter 512: News at Last

During this period, Qin Sang had sold several refined corpses, and had repeatedly asked to exchange them for this particular type of spiritual herb. Anyone paying attention would have guessed that the master of corpse refinement had likely suffered a backlash, which explained his desperation, so much so that he seemed willing to bankrupt himself for medicine.

For demonic cultivators of the corpse path, being devoured by their own corpse refinements was a common occurrence. It was entirely reasonable.

Precisely because of this, no one would suspect Qin Sang’s true intentions.

A single stalk of Firethorn Grass was certainly not worth a late-stage Foundation Building corpse refined into a malevolent corpse. But in the world of immortal cultivation, trades were always based on need rather than equality; true equivalents were rare.

Wen Yanjie was clearly trying to take advantage of the situation. Holding up the Firethorn Grass with a composed smile, he looked at Qin Sang with an air of confidence and certainty.

Qin Sang had already made up his mind to sell. Even if there had been no Firethorn Grass involved, Wen Yanjie was still an ideal candidate for his goals.

Suppressing his feigned anger, Qin Sang stood where he was, fists clenched, head slightly bowed. It was clear he had been tempted, but was hesitating, reluctant to part with his treasure.

Seeing this, Wen Yanjie smiled faintly and offered some gentle persuasion. "For a cultivator capable of raising so many refined corpses, Daoist, you are clearly no ordinary man. A malevolent corpse is, after all, just a tool. Compared to your own path toward the Great Dao, surely you know which matters more. As the saying goes, gold spent will return. As long as you remove the hidden danger of backlash, what kind of malevolent corpse could you not refine again? This Firethorn Grass is not something easily acquired, especially considering your current predicament..."

"Hmph! Easy for you to say. Do you really think refining malevolent corpses is that simple? Do you know how much effort I poured into it? If not for a moment’s carelessness, I—"

Qin Sang ground his teeth in frustration, glared at Wen Yanjie, then suddenly waved his hand and summoned the malevolent corpse crafted from Luo Xiao’s body. He said coldly, "Count yourself lucky for striking at my weakest spot! Give me the Firethorn Grass and this malevolent corpse is yours!"

Wen Yanjie glanced sideways at the corpse, sweeping it with his spiritual consciousness. After confirming that it was indeed more formidable than the one from earlier, a glimmer of surprise flickered in his eyes.

His skill in corpse refinement was far inferior to that of Manager Bao, so he couldn't possibly detect the flaw in the dantian.

Of course, unless he were facing an old cultivator with vast combat experience, such a flaw would hardly make a difference.

Even for someone as powerful as Wen Yanjie, he had to admit that this malevolent corpse would be a formidable ally in battle.

Just as Qin Sang reached out to take the Firethorn Grass, Wen Yanjie suddenly withdrew his arm, speaking with a teasing tone, "Daoist, perhaps you’ve misunderstood. I did say I’d trade for your malevolent corpse but I never said it would be just this one. The earlier one wasn’t bad either. I’ll reluctantly accept both."

"You’re taking advantage of a crisis!"

Qin Sang flared up in fury.

He had truly underestimated Wen Yanjie’s greed. The man had already gained a tremendous deal by exchanging a single stalk of Firethorn Grass for one malevolent corpse, yet he still wasn’t satisfied!

If he agreed to such unreasonable terms now, Wen Yanjie would surely grow even more audacious. Should the situation spiral out of control and disrupt his plans, that would be unacceptable.

"Even if I die from this poison today, you won’t get your way!"

Qin Sang would rather not make the deal. Without hesitation, he withdrew the malevolent corpse and stormed toward the door, consumed by rage.

Judging by his stance, if Wen Yanjie dared block his path again, it might very well come to a fight to the death.

Seeing that Qin Sang wasn’t bluffing, Wen Yanjie’s expression changed slightly. His eyes flickered, and then he suddenly broke into a broad smile, his tone softening. "Daoist, I was only joking, no need to get so worked up... I’ll go along with your proposal. One Firethorn Grass for that malevolent corpse."

To show his sincerity, Wen Yanjie tossed the Firethorn Grass to Qin Sang first.

"You didn’t look like you were joking, Daoist Wen..."

Qin Sang halted, his voice still cold. He turned the Firethorn Grass over and over in his hands, scrutinizing it for a long while before finally summoning the malevolent corpse again. After wiping away his soul imprint, he instructed Wen Yanjie on how to control it, then left without so much as a backward glance.

...

A short while later...

At the edge of Qingyang Market, in a property owned by the Demonic Qingyang Sect, Wen Yanjie had quietly left the Treasure Tower at some unknown point and arrived here.

The malevolent corpse stood before him. Wen Yanjie had his eyes half-closed, sensing and familiarizing himself with the corpse’s strength. A smile lingered on his face. He was clearly very pleased with the acquisition.

Suddenly, a flurry of hurried footsteps approached. The door swung open, and three people stepped inside.

"Senior Brother Wen, that guy’s gone."

The three halted before Wen Yanjie, speaking in an urgent tone.

Wen Yanjie frowned. "Where did you lose him?"

One of them replied in embarrassment, "We lost his trail back at the market. We had people stationed at every exit, but none of them reported seeing anyone suspicious."

Wen Yanjie shot him a sharp glare. "You lost him in our own market? Useless!"

The three of them looked down, shamefaced. The one on the left offered a quiet explanation, "We split up and covered all directions, acted with caution, and made sure not to reveal ourselves. But that man seemed even more familiar with Qingyang Market than we were. He twisted and turned through the alleys and then just vanished. I suspect someone was helping him. The major merchant associations are all harboring their own agendas. Without an order from a senior uncle or aunt, we couldn’t search inside..."

Wen Yanjie listened to the report in silence, then snorted. "Seems he’s extremely cautious. He must’ve scouted the area in advance and prepared an escape route. A pity. I’d already tested him—he only had one malevolent corpse of this level, and he’s suffering backlash from his corpse refinement. The corpse poison has already entered his body, so this should be the weakest he’ll ever be... Forget it. Pull back. Let him keep his life."

...

In an unnoticed corner of Qingyang Market, Qin Sang quietly emerged, watching coldly as the men following him withdrew.

Having seen through Wen Yanjie’s true nature, he had stayed alert after leaving the Treasure Pavilion, and sure enough, he had discovered someone was tailing him.

These people were highly skilled. Had he not been so cautious, he might not have noticed.

Qin Sang was no benevolent man. At any other time, had Wen Yanjie dared to plot against him, he would have made sure the man remembered the lesson for life.

But now, the bigger picture took priority. Qin Sang chose to endure.

...

Later, he found another opportunity to sell the middle-stage Foundation Building malevolent corpse to a cultivator from the Demonic Qingyang Sect. With that, his initial objective had been achieved. All that remained now was to watch how events unfolded.

From then on, Qin Sang settled into his role as an artifact refinement master, quietly working at a certain shop.

He didn’t reveal any outstanding skill in refinement, and the people he dealt with daily were mostly low-level Qi Refining cultivators, exactly the type easiest to get talking, without drawing attention.

Naturally, his focus was on those who had purchased his refined corpses.

In the blink of an eye, over ten days passed.

During this time, Qin Sang deliberately struck up conversations with disciples of the Demonic Qingyang Sect and finally managed to obtain two pieces of information.

First, both Wen Yanjie and the other disciples who had bought refined corpses had behaved completely normally during this period, entering and leaving the sect with their refined corpses without issue.

The Demonic Qingyang Sect didn’t seem to care about their disciples using refined corpses, and none of the elders appeared to intervene.

Second, just a few days ago, they had all received warnings from their elders. Unless necessary, they were to avoid straying too far from the sect grounds.