There were lots of corpse refineries on Corpse Peak, even some at the base of the mountain.
That was exactly where Bai Xiaochun needed to go to accept his assigned mission. Even from a distance, he could see the corpse refinery that was his destination. It was a huge building, cylindrical and pitch black. Noxious black smoke belched out of the top of the building to rise up into the sky.
There were numerous entrances and exits to the building, with Inner Sect disciples going in and out of them constantly. Grave expressions could be seen on the faces of the disciples who left the building, and their skin was pale, as if they hadn’t seen the light of day in years. They were people who, unlike Bai Xiaochun, had taken the initiative to accept corpse-refining missions from the sect for the purposes of cultivation and study.
As he walked up to the corpse refinery, he suddenly caught sight of someone familiar. It was Xu Xiaoshan, who stood there at the main gate leading to the refinery, his hands clasped behind his back. His cultivation base emanated the fluctuations of Earthstring Foundation Establishment, and he had three grim-looking bodyguards standing behind him as he reprimanded several of the Inner Sect disciples. 1
“Do you know how much I paid to buy this corpse refinery from the sect, fools?
“This place is mine! I had to sell all of my other properties to afford it. If I don’t make enough profit to buy paper talismans, you people are going to be sorry!
“I can’t believe you destroyed one of my corpses! It might have been nothing more than an ordinary corpse, but it was still worth something. I’m warning you, the lot of you had better pay me back, otherwise I’ll turn you into corpses to be refined!” The Inner Sect disciples were trembling, their faces pale as they immediately admitted their failures. Finally, Xu Xiaoshan waved his hand in irritation to dismiss them.
A dark expression on his face, he glanced around the area and caught sight of Bai Xiaochun.
“What are you doing here? You can’t just come and go as you please around here!”
Bai Xiaochun took a moment to compose himself. If Xu Xiaoshan had dared to talk to him in such a way in the Fallen Sword Abyss, he would have made short work of him. But now, all he did was wave his right hand, sending the mission jade slip flying toward him.
Xu Xiaoshan frowned as he examined the jade slip. Then he looked back at Bai Xiaochun.
“I remember you. You were there when we were all fighting Bai Xiaochun. So, you made it out alive after all!” His expression softened a bit. He had mixed feelings about everything that had happened in the Fallen Sword Abyss. He still admired Bai Xiaochun from the Spirit Stream Sect, and when he thought about how they had fought and conned each other, he couldn’t help but sigh.
“That guy is definitely the jewel of the Spirit Stream Sect now,” he thought, shaking his head.
“Alright, come on inside. Considering we’re both veterans of the Fallen Sword Abyss, I’ll give you a few tips about corpse refining.” As Xu Xiaoshan led the way, Bai Xiaochun put a sinister expression onto his face and followed.
Before long, they were in one of the private rooms inside the corpse refinery, which was usually referred to as a corpse cave.
The cylindrical chamber wasn’t very large. Nine oil lamps emanated a mysterious light that nevertheless failed to dispel the grim darkness. In the middle of the room was a deep cistern.
The water was the color of blood, and looked bizarre and fantastic. Floating there in the water was a dead person!
The corpse belonged to a burly man with a vicious expression on his face. He didn’t look like a kind person in any way, and there was a fatal wound on his forehead. The skin around the wound had withered significantly, transforming into a pattern that resembled a plum blossom.
Xu Xiaoshan wasn’t familiar with all of the corpses in all of the corpse caves, but as soon as he saw this one, he whispered, “This guy got killed by that shrew Xuehai. The fact that he died fighting her indicates that he must have had an extraordinary cultivation base when he was alive.”
Bai Xiaochun peered over at the corpse, and the mark on its forehead. Immediately, his heart went cold.
“Obviously, on Corpse Peak, we focus on corpses,” Xu Xiaoshan continued. “Generally speaking, the corpses start out ordinary and slowly advance through the levels until they reach the pinnacle. The levels are as follows: pallid zombie, shadow zombie, flying ghoul, grand lich!
“Your mission is to get this corpse to grow white hair. Then it will turn from an ordinary corpse into a pallid zombie!
“The method to do so is explained in this jade slip. Considering you’re in the tenth level of Qi Condensation, and have been around for awhile, you’ve probably heard a bit about how it works. Use your cultivation base to catalyze the blood cistern, and then sink the corpse down inside. Of course, there are a lot of other details you have to master.
“If you work quickly, you can accomplish the task in half a year.” With that, he handed Bai Xiaochun two jade slips. One of them contained information about the corpse refining methods, and the other could be used to control the corpse itself. Then, he turned to leave.
Bai Xiaochun didn’t want to waste that much time, though. Looking over at the corpse, he asked, “Is there any way to get it to go faster?”
Xu Xiaoshan chuckled coldly. “Faster? Of course! If you give the corpse enough spirit medicine, then naturally the process will go faster. In fact, if you’re good enough, maybe you could make a Nine Serenities Blood Pill. With one of those, you could finish within ten days. Plus, the corpse would be a grand lich, about as powerful as a patriarch!
“I forgot that you can actually do a bit of medicine concocting. Maybe you should give it a shot.” He chuckled again. Blood Stream Sect disciples usually spent their time fighting, and most viewed medicine concocting as a waste of time. Xu Xiaoshan flicked his sleeve and left Bai Xiaochun alone in the corpse cave.
Bai Xiaochun looked down thoughtfully at the corpse floating in the cistern, and soon, his eyes lit up.
“They didn’t like me concocting pills in the Spirit Stream Sect, but now I’m in the Blood Stream Sect. I can finally do some pill concocting again….” Becoming a grand apothecary really was proving to be a big headache. He sighed.
1. Bai Xiaochun befriended Xu Xiaoshan in chapter 152
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Chapter
189: Hair Transformation
“Years from now, I can proudly tell my descendants that Bai Xiaochun walked a long, winding path. He raised beasts in the Spirit Stream Sect, and concocted medicine in the Blood Stream Sect!” Bai Xiaochun really felt proud of himself. Considering how hard he was working, if he didn’t become a grandmaster apothecary and concoct a Live-Forever Never-Die pill, it would be really unfair.
“However, I need to be careful. This isn’t the Spirit Stream Sect. These people are brutal. If I provoke them because of my medicine concocting, they probably won’t just throw rocks, they’ll attack with magical items.” That thought got him so nervous that he began to hesitate.
After more thought, he gritted his teeth, and his eye shone with determination.
“If I want to become the greatest apothecary in the world, if I want to live forever and exist for all eternity, then how could I let this trifling Blood Stream Sect stop me? I’m definitely gonna concoct some pills!
“Bring it on! When the Dao of medicine is involved, Bai Xiaochun isn’t afraid of anyone!” Although his expression seemed cold and sinister, he was really gritting his teeth and throwing caution to the wind.