Chen Gensheng was no stranger to killing, or even the concept of "eating" people in this world. But to take five living human beings, refine them like herbs until they died in agony, and then roll their flesh and souls into a pill to swallow...

  This exceeded his previous understanding of evil. The method was too venomous, too sinister.

  But he didn't care.

  He remembered the sky over Maple Red Valley—the towering Nascent Soul Avatar that touched the clouds. He remembered the corrosive black light spat from that toad. He remembered fleeing like a stray dog, rolled up in blood-worms. If not for Jiang Guixian’s sacrifice and Lu Zhaozhao’s inexplicable sword strike, he would already be dust.

  In the Qi Condensation stage, one was eternally an ant. Today he met a Bai Jingzi; tomorrow it would be a Black Jingzi or a Yellow Jingzi. He couldn't always count on luck or traps. As long as he didn't establish his foundation, he was just a piece of fat meat in the eyes of others—a "furnace" to be harvested at any time.

  "Heh."

  What a fascinating world. It wouldn't stop until it pushed you to the very brink. Either you were refined into dross, or you refined others into pills. Did he have another choice? No. This was a world that ate people.

  Gensheng carefully tucked the manual into his storage ring. Then, he turned his gaze back to Bai Jingzi’s remains.

  As an evil cultivator specializing in "Harvesting and Supplementing" (Dual Cultivation), Bai Jingzi’s storage bag was filled with jade slips and maps detailing potential "furnaces." Gensheng quickly unearthed a finely drawn beast-hide map. It covered the entire Abode of Ten Thousand Pills and the surrounding hundreds of miles.

  Marked in various shades of cinnabar were dozens of locations: rogue caves, beast dens, and mortal villages. Beside several spots, tiny script noted: “Qingfeng Temple, young nun, Pseudo-Root, 16 years old, harvestable.” “Black Stone Fort, Barbarian woman, Pseudo-Root, robust physique, fierce, difficult to capture.”

  Looking at these notes, the last of Gensheng’s discomfort evaporated. He didn't want to stay in the Abode for another second. Carrying the coffin, he stepped back into the dark tunnel leading to the Endless Swamps.

  Back deep within the swamps, on an inconspicuous isolated island.

  Gensheng laid the coffin flat. All six arms exerted force, pushing open the heavy lid. He took a deep breath and pressed the black jade slip containing the 《Triple Yin Soul-Refining Manual》 and 《Map of a Hundred Ethereal Apertures》 to his forehead.

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  He pressed two hands onto Li Simin’s dantian area. The other four arms reached out in a bizarre posture, tapping four vital acupoints on her body.

  The Map of a Hundred Ethereal Apertures. The first aperture: The Corpse Gate. Located three inches below the dantian, it was the gateway to all apertures and the source of all myriad evils. To unlock the subsequent 107, this gate had to open first.

  Gensheng closed his eyes and piled ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones around him. Vast spiritual power surged through his six arms. Without a hint of stinginess, he converted all that power, condensing it into a thread of spiritual energy as fine as silk yet incredibly resilient.

  He steered this thread into the dead zone below Li Simin’s dantian. A living person’s meridians were clear; a corpse’s were a mess of stagnant silt. He was like a brute holding an embroidery needle, trying to carve a flower into a block of thousand-year-old frozen mud.

  Day turned to night, then back to day. The light of the spirit stones dimmed until they crumbled into gray dust.

  Pop.

  A faint sound, like a bubble bursting, echoed from inside Li Simin. Gensheng’s spirit jolted. A weak but incredibly sinister current began to swirl below her dantian, slowly flowing through her stagnant meridians. He could feel her body becoming heavier. Every inch of skin and bone was being nourished by that sinister current, becoming denser and tougher.

  He tapped her arm with a finger. Bang. It no longer sounded like dull flesh, but like striking petrified wood.

  Gensheng pulled out the green flying sword captured from Bai Jingzi. Though its spirituality was gone, it remained razor-sharp. He gripped the hilt and slashed down at Li Simin’s forearm with all his might!

  Screeech! A white mark. The blade that could easily cleave gold and stone only left a shallow trace on her snowy skin. It hadn't even broken the surface.

  This was just the first aperture. If all 108 were opened, how terrifying would her physical strength become?

  With the physical issue addressed, next was the Soul. He sat cross-legged and began to circulate the Triple Yin Soul-Refining Manual. This technique sought one thing: The Connection. Binding his own consciousness to the soul-shell of another.

  He sent a wisp of his soul-sense into her brow. Inside was a dead darkness. Her soul had long since vanished, leaving only an empty shell. But the brilliance of the Triple Yin manual lay in its ability to forcibly ignite a spark in that void—using the cultivator’s soul-sense as a guide and the corpse’s resentment as fuel.

  Gensheng injected his soul-sense and began to visualize. He didn't visualize mountains or stars, but a coffin—the exact same Corpse-Nurturing Coffin on his back.

  Time flowed. The miasma gathered and dispersed. Gensheng sat motionless like a stone statue.

  Finally, a ripple appeared in his mind. It was a strange feeling—not his own thought. It was faint and blurry, like touching a hand through a thick layer of ice. A pure, deathly cold that originated from the depths of Li Simin’s body.

  Gensheng snapped his eyes open.

  Li Simin’s arm slowly rose. This time, he wasn't forcibly manipulating her joints. The moment the thought appeared in his mind, her body moved on its own. It was as if the thought of raising her hand was her own.

  "Interesting."

  Li Simin’s corpse sat up and clumsily climbed out of the coffin, standing before him. Gensheng stared into her hollow Void-Watching Eyes, and an even bolder idea formed. He pointed to a pool of dark green poisonous water.

  Li Simin tilted her head, seemingly confused. But she obeyed, squatting by the pool. She opened her mouth toward the foul-smelling liquid.

  A wisp of dark green miasma was sucked from the water, snaking into her nostrils and into her body.