Chapter 514: Various Changes

The successful integration of the first wisp of Earth Malevolent Qi into his Qihai marked a critical milestone in the corpse refinement barrier.

With Qin Sang’s extensive prior experience in refining corpses and his exceptional self-control, everything had gone smoothly so far.

But he dared not let his guard down. The real challenge was still ahead.

Patiently, Qin Sang continued drawing strands of Earth Malevolent Qi into his body, step by step completing the corpse refinement barrier.

As the barrier grew more complete, his physical body showed little change on the surface, but the sensations transmitted to him grew sharper: blood gradually turning cold, a deepening thirst for blood...

None of it wavered him in the slightest.

With the Jade Buddha suppressing all desires, his mind remained calm like still water, untouched by cravings.

The only thing that tested him was the searing pain radiating from his dantian. Even someone with Qin Sang’s powerful will could only grit his teeth and endure, relying on healing pills to relieve the agony at regular intervals.

Fortunately, with Wu Shang’s experience as a guide, Qin Sang had prepared meticulously and could bear it all.

Another strand of Earth Malevolent Qi merged successfully into his Qihai. A flicker of joy surfaced on Qin Sang’s face but it was quickly replaced by solemn caution.

What came next was the final barrier to complete the living corpse refinement.

Though everything had proceeded without incident thus far, Qin Sang couldn’t shake a subtle unease.

The final barrier had been personally altered by Wu Shang after painstaking research. Could it truly work as stated in his notes, ensuring the process concluded smoothly without incident?

If this step failed, there would be no point in even thinking about forming a core afterward.

Now was the moment of truth.

Qin Sang’s expression darkened slightly. He formed hand seals at lightning speed. His movements blurred the air as an endless series of complex seals took shape before him, each one more intricate than the last.

At last, the final seal was completed.

“Fuse!”

He abruptly flipped his palm and pressed it without hesitation against his own dantian.

The barrier closed.

Boom!

Qin Sang’s face turned pale in an instant. The intense pain from his Qihai made his body shudder violently. He let out a muffled groan and clutched his dantian tightly with his palm.

Within his Qihai, a storm erupted as spiritual power and Earth Malevolent Qi clashed in full force. The terrifying surge raged across his entire Qihai, spiraling out of his control. Even the barrier constructed from the five-elemental yin materials showed signs of instability.

Thankfully, their presence gave Qin Sang a moment to breathe.

He took a deep breath, straightened his back, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. Focusing his full attention, he drew on his prior corpse refinement experience and began trying to subdue the wildly rebellious Earth Malevolent Qi.

At first, his body’s barriers looked ready to collapse. The Earth Malevolent Qi in his dantian resisted violently. But as time passed, the turbulence gradually eased. The fluctuations on Qin Sang’s body began to settle, and his expression grew calmer by the moment.

Then, in a flash, the pain from his dantian suddenly vanished.

Qin Sang froze briefly. He immediately turned his consciousness inward and found that the storm in his Qihai had calmed, gradually stabilizing. Earth Malevolent Qi and spiritual power now coexisted peacefully, each occupying half the Qihai.

As Qin Sang stirred his thoughts, the two types of power sent out a strand each. The streams merged smoothly and entered his meridians, circulating in harmony.

Did it succeed?

A surge of joy rose in Qin Sang’s heart. He stood up and moved his body a few times, then carefully examined the changes in his physical form.

After a short while, he opened his eyes, a mixture of joy and concern flickering within them.

The joy came from the fact that not a single word in Wu Shang’s writings had been false. Everything had proven true through his own experience. Wu Shang had indeed recorded his secret art without reservation.

Qin Sang had successfully completed this crucial step. At the moment the barrier was sealed, his body’s corpse transformation had sharply accelerated, but compared to a true living corpse, it was still far less severe.

This was thanks to Wu Shang’s alterations to the barrier. And more importantly, because Qin Sang was using it on himself, he could control every detail with precision, just barely pulling it off.

For now, the corpse transformation could be kept within acceptable limits.

As long as he untethered the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and lifted the corpse refinement restriction in time, recovery would not be difficult.

What concerned him, however, was that the flow of spiritual power and Earth Malevolent Qi within his body no longer followed the path of the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

. Instead, it was locked into a fixed circulation route by the corpse refinement barrier.

No matter how he tried, Qin Sang could not alter this route.

With a shift of thought, Qin Sang summoned both spiritual power and Earth Malevolent Qi into his palm. The force they produced now surpassed what he could muster before becoming a living corpse.

It seemed that while he could still wield these powers in battle, he could no longer continue cultivating.

Though his mind remained intact, without the ability to cultivate any arts, his cultivation level was completely frozen at this point—there would be no further progress.

To make matters worse, the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

had been restricted. The two supernatural abilities it granted—Formless Sword Merger and Sword Qi Thunderclap—were now rendered unusable.

This was especially devastating in the case of Sword Qi Thunderclap, which had long been Qin Sang’s strongest weapon. Without it, both his combat power and evasion speed would suffer greatly.

Fortunately, the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

had only been restricted—it hadn’t been replaced by some other cultivation art.

While his supernatural abilities were currently sealed, his ebony sword was still his life-bound spiritual sword. He hadn’t lost control of it. Thanks to its material as an astra, it remained a potent asset in its own right.

Moreover, having wielded those supernatural abilities for so long, Qin Sang had gained deep insights. His swordsmanship still far outstripped that of most other cultivators.

But what changes would occur after refining a corpse core?

After all, Wu Shang had only used Earth Malevolent Qi to charge his core, while Qin Sang was attempting to use both Earth Malevolent Qi and Celestial Gale Qi. Their paths were completely different, so their outcomes were bound to differ as well. Wu Shang’s experience might not apply to him at all.

And that, too, was one of the reasons Qin Sang dared to take the risk.

After a moment of reflection, Qin Sang flipped his hand and took out the Corpse Puppet Pouch. His expression shifted between hesitation and doubt as he stared at it. Having never been a refined corpse himself, he had no idea what it would feel like to be stored inside.

He hesitated briefly, then abruptly opened the pouch and aimed it at himself.

Moments passed. A look of puzzlement crept onto Qin Sang’s face. Nothing happened.

Is the Corpse Puppet Pouch unable to store me?

Is it because of the Jade Buddha?

Or perhaps because Wu Shang had drastically altered the corpse refinement barrier that I don't count as a true living corpse, and thus conflicted with the pouch’s barrier?

Wu Shang had never tried storing himself inside the pouch after becoming a living corpse, so there was no precedent to follow. Qin Sang could only guess wildly.

It likely wasn’t due to retaining his consciousness—back when Senior Sister Qingting had stored Senior Brother Jiang in a Corpse Puppet Pouch, he hadn’t been dead yet.

However, Senior Brother Jiang had first been sealed inside a crystal coffin. That coffin might have been related to the Heavenly Corpse Sect.

Unfortunately, the crystal coffin had already been gifted to Tan Hao, so there was no way to confirm this theory.

Corpse Puppet Pouches were extremely difficult to craft. Though the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s pouches appeared ordinary, they were unique to the sect, capable of storing living corpses.

Other corpse-refining sects’ pouches couldn’t compare at all.

Within the Heavenly Corpse Sect, only high-ranking members or those who had rendered great service could receive one as a reward. The first half of the

Heavenly Yin Corpse Art

did not include the method for crafting Corpse Puppet Pouches.

Faced with this mystery, Qin Sang couldn’t make sense of it. He tried a few more times, but each attempt failed. In the end, he gave up and pulled out a coffin from his Mustard Seed Pouch.