Gateway of Immortality-Chapter 341: Reunion with Wandering Man

Qin Sang placed the young man in black onto the wooden bed.

When capturing the young man, Qin Sang had already completed the first layer of the barrier, sealing both his physical body and primordial spirit. From the outside, the young man appeared almost no different from when he was alive, except for the faint bluish-black hue on his skin.

Even after being refined into a corpse, the changes would remain minimal. This was one of the key distinctions between a living corpse and a malevolent corpse.

A living corpse could almost perfectly disguise itself.

Especially right after refinement, it would be nearly indistinguishable from its appearance in life. Only as time passed would it gradually exhibit the characteristics of corpse refinement.

For instance, the living corpse Qin Sang and Hermit Baiyun encountered at the branch of the Heavenly Corpse Sect had, over the years, only grown fangs and claws without undergoing drastic changes in appearance.

Of course, the unmistakable corpse qi it emitted was still a telltale sign of its nature.

However, this could also be mitigated.

The most significant difference between living corpses and malevolent corpses—and the reason why living corpses were far more powerful—was that living corpses could retain a spell they had mastered in life. Additionally, the refiner could imbue the living corpse with a spell through the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

Qin Sang had long made his choice, deciding to imbue the Spirit Evasion Art into the living corpse.

The Spirit Evasion Art not only concealed cultivation but could also mask abnormal qi signatures, such as demonic qi, corpse qi, or yin qi. Years ago, Gu Tiannan and his disciple had used this very technique to conceal the demonic qi generated from cultivating the Secret Technique of Corpse Core, successfully eluding Qin Sang’s spiritual perception.

With the Spirit Evasion Art, the living corpse's corpse qi could be hidden until combat revealed its true nature.

Only an immortal cultivator whose cultivation far surpassed the living corpse's lifetime cultivation would be able to see through its disguise.

Although it wouldn’t immediately enhance the corpse’s strength, the art could prove invaluable in certain situations.

The young man lay silently on the wooden bed, oblivious to everything around him.

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Sang summoned the Heavenly Corpse Talisman into his palm and began weaving a series of barriers. Some were cast into the talisman, while others were directed at the young man.

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

When the final barrier was completed, Qin Sang paused briefly. Then, with a sudden motion, he flipped his palm and pressed the Heavenly Corpse Talisman onto the young man’s forehead.

"Seal!"

With a resounding shout, the Heavenly Corpse Talisman emitted a faint ghostly glow that flickered momentarily before sinking into the young man’s body, embedding itself within his primordial spirit space.

Immediately, Qin Sang felt a surge of intense resistance emanating from the Heavenly Corpse Talisman. The talisman trembled violently under the impact.

Though Qin Sang’s spiritual consciousness was stronger than that of most cultivators at his level, the resistance posed no small challenge. Undeterred, he carefully shielded the talisman and methodically advanced the secret art.

Eventually, the resistance completely dissipated.

The Heavenly Corpse Talisman had successfully sealed the young man's primordial spirit!

At this point, Qin Sang paused and exhaled a heavy breath, lowering his gaze to the young man.

Whether or not to erase the young man’s consciousness was a choice left to the refiner.

If the consciousness was left intact, the resulting living corpse would possess higher spiritual intelligence and slightly greater strength.

In the end, Qin Sang decided to erase the man’s consciousness.

This effectively rendered the young man dead, leaving only the vitality of his primordial spirit intact, preserved by the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

With the primordial spirit fully sealed, the next step was refining the physical body. Only when the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and all the barriers were perfectly interconnected would the refinement be complete.

This step posed its own challenges. To maintain the corpse’s vitality, the Qihai had to remain intact and could not be completely replaced with Earth Malevolent Qi. If the Earth Malevolent Qi damaged the Qihai, all the effort would be wasted.

As experienced as Qin Sang was with building foundations with the five elements, he didn’t dare to be careless.

The young man had cultivated a metal-based art in life. Qin Sang began by introducing Blue Nether Gold into his body, following the order of the five elements, cycling through the five-elemental yin objects.

As expected, the consumption of five-elemental yin objects was several times that required for a malevolent corpse. Thankfully, Qin Sang had prepared adequately.

Swoosh!

A Lesser Yin Magnetic Bottle was swept into Qin Sang’s palm by his spiritual power.

Unsealing the bottle, he released a stream of Earth Malevolent Qi that flowed under his control into the dantian of the living corpse. The Qihai immediately resisted the invasion with its remaining spiritual power.

This was entirely different from refining a malevolent corpse, as the dantian of a malevolent corpse would be empty!

The spiritual power in the Qihai of the living corpse began to fiercely counterattack, like a storm in the vast ocean. The Earth Malevolent Qi clashed violently with the spiritual power, neutralizing each other in a relentless standoff, with neither side yielding.

Fortunately, thanks to the reinforcement provided by the five-elemental yin objects and the barriers of the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art, the dantian avoided a disastrous collapse.

As the first bottle of Earth Malevolent Qi was completely consumed, not a single strand of it managed to infiltrate the living corpse's dantian. Qin Sang's expression darkened slightly—the difficulty was far greater than he had anticipated.

The second bottle of Earth Malevolent Qi met with the same result.

And even with the third bottle, there was still no hope of success in sight.

Qin Sang decided to abandon the process for now and sealed the living corpse once more. It seemed that a trip to Shaohua Mountain was inevitable. However, he needed to resolve his current issues before setting off.

After clearing the lingering traces of qi in the cave dwelling, Qin Sang sat cross-legged and entered a meditative state to cultivate.

On the fifth day, the barrier at the entrance of the cave dwelling was suddenly activated. Sensing this, Qin Sang awoke from his meditation. He summoned a Sound Transmission Talisman into his palm and, upon reading the message left within, his face lit up with delight.

Leaping out of the cave dwelling, Qin Sang instructed Tan Hao to wait inside while he rode his evasion light to Yinshan Stronghold.

At the Spirit Pill Pavilion, Qin Sang once again met Wandering Man.

Wandering Man’s appearance had changed little, but his complexion looked healthier than before, suggesting that the Ninefold Azure Frost Grass had indeed been effective.

Moreover, Wandering Man’s aura had grown significantly stronger compared to four years ago, now nearing the peak of early-stage Foundation Building Realm and brushing against the bottleneck of the middle stage.

However, he had yet to break through, whereas Qin Sang had already surpassed him.

Despite his keen observation, Qin Sang could not determine whether Wandering Man’s hidden primordial spirit injuries had fully healed.

As Qin Sang examined him, Wandering Man noticed Qin Sang’s advancement to the middle stage of the Foundation Building Realm. Puzzled, he asked, "Brother Qin, did you refine the Blood Dripping Ghost Mushroom?"

Qin Sang shook his head slowly, a wry smile on his face.

Hearing this, Wandering Man’s expression darkened. If Qin Sang had not refined the Blood Dripping Ghost Mushroom, yet had advanced to the middle stage so quickly, there could only be one explanation: the Dark Patterned Heyun Pill had failed to heal Qin Sang’s injuries and had instead been used to boost his cultivation level.

"I’m not sure whether to congratulate you or not," Wandering Man sighed, offering Qin Sang some consolation. "But still, Brother Qin, advancing to the middle stage of the Foundation Building Realm is a significant achievement, and one worth celebrating. You’ve surpassed me by far."

Frowning slightly, Qin Sang immediately inquired, "Was the Ninefold Azure Frost Grass ineffective for you?" fгeewebnovёl.com

Even the thousand-year-old Ninefold Azure Frost Grass has failed to heal Wandering Man.

Are the hidden injuries to his primordial spirit even more severe than my foundation's damage?

Wandering Man sighed and replied, "It was somewhat effective—better than nothing. I never expected the Ninefold Azure Frost Grass to completely heal my injuries, but I had hoped it would at least heal them to a certain extent, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it before reaching the Core Formation Realm. Who could’ve guessed its effects would fall so far short of expectations? I remain trapped at the early stage of the Foundation Building Realm, unable to advance a single step."