Chapter 729: Heavenly Corpse Daoist, cause and effect (Seeking monthly votes)

From the moment those Foundation Establishment corpse refiners appeared, Song Song Qingming already knew that they had all run out from behind the wooden boxes, and he immediately expressed his agreement with Chen Guo Yuting's words.

However, it was not yet known if there were other dangers in the cave dwelling, so for the sake of safety, Song Song Qingming still let Luo Li and her companion not approach there first, waiting for him to check the situation clearly before speaking.

After carefully searching behind the wooden boxes, Song Song Qingming soon found a very hidden secret door on the wall. After opening it, a small cave only wide enough for one person to pass through was revealed behind the secret door.

After finding the entrance, Song Song Qingming patted his waist spirit beast bag and released two "Golden Illusion Butterflies," ordering them to enter the cave directly.

After a while, after sensing the information transmitted from the cave by the "Golden Illusion Butterflies," Song Song Qingming beckoned to Luo Li and her companion to the side and entered the cave with them.

Following the small cave, they walked for about dozens of feet before Song Song Qingming soon jumped into a cave that was several times wider than the outside.

This cave was much cleaner and tidier than the outside, without too many messy things. Except for some daily necessities, there were only a desk and a few wooden shelves filled with various books.

Just after walking into this place, Song Song Qingming felt a rich spiritual energy coming from around him, seemingly having reached the standard of a third-grade spirit vein. After walking a few steps forward, he discovered that this rich spiritual energy came from a spring eye.

"So there is a 'Spirit Spring Eye' here. No wonder a Jin Dan cultivator would choose this place as a cave dwelling." Chen Guo Yuting, who followed Song Song Qingming in, saw the spring eye not far away and could not help but sigh.

The spiritual energy emitted from this "Spirit Spring Eye" was already close to the third-grade mid-tier, which was enough to accommodate a Jin Dan cultivator's daily cultivation needs. This item was something that some Jin Dan rogue cultivators outside would be jealous of.

It was a pity that this "Spirit Spring Eye" could not be moved. Chen Guo Yuting looked at the spring eye before her and could not help but sigh with some regret.

Seeing this, Luo Li also stepped forward to look and then smiled: "Sister Chen, don't worry about this thing that can't be moved. Let's hurry up and look for other spirit items. A Jin Dan senior's cave dwelling must have many good things."

Hearing Luo Li's comfort, Chen Guo Yuting immediately came back to her senses and began to search in the cave dwelling with her.

Song Song Qingming walked to the desk position and checked some classics placed on it, wanting to try to see if he could find information about the owner of the cave dwelling from here.

Before coming in, Song Song Qingming had already carefully explored the cave dwelling with the "Golden Illusion Butterflies" and found no strange aura, having long since ruled out the danger here, so the actions of the three were much bolder than before outside.

After scanning around, Song Song Qingming found that these books on the table were basically classics related to learning alchemy and artifact refining, which showed that the owner of the cave dwelling was also very studious and talented.

Not finding anything useful to him on the table, Song Song Qingming put his gaze on the wooden shelves behind and scanned through all the books and secret methods he could see.

It was not until he picked up a circle of relatively ancient bamboo slips that Song Song Qingming's originally very plain expression finally became somewhat serious.

"Corpse refining technique, there really is this kind of thing." After Song Song Qingming used his spiritual sense to explore the secret method in the bamboo slips, he picked it out and put it to the side.

"Senior Song, come quickly, we found a secret room here!"

Just as Song Song Qingming was about to check other books, he suddenly heard Luo Li call him from not far away and hurriedly put down the books in his hand and walked toward her.

Luo Li and Chen Guo Yuting were standing in front of a mountain wall. Song Song Qingming, who had just walked over, saw a crack on the wall and immediately understood that there should be another secret room here.

After letting the two women step back, Song Song Qingming took out the "White Dragon Ruler" to protect himself, then stepped forward and pushed hard.

Soon, with a "creak" of stone rubbing, a stone room four or five feet wide appeared before Song Song Qingming's eyes.

Looking inside, Song Song Qingming discovered that there were still a few figures standing not far away with their backs to him, which made Song Song Qingming somewhat nervous, and he poured magic power into the magic treasure before him.

However, what made Song Song Qingming somewhat surprised was that these few figures just stood there blankly without moving, and there was no powerful aura emitting from their bodies.

Realizing that the other party seemed to be "corpse refiners" as well, Song Song Qingming felt relieved, beckoned to the two women behind him, and walked directly into the stone room.

Luo Li and her companion were also startled when they entered the door and saw the "corpse refiners" standing inside.

However, when they saw Song Song Qingming approaching those "corpse refiners" and they still did not move, and there was no aura emitting from their bodies, they immediately understood and walked into the stone room with peace of mind.

"This place should be where that person made corpse refiners. These corpse refiners should be semi-finished products that haven't been fully refined yet, otherwise, they should have gone out to deal with us just now."

Hearing Song Song Qingming's explanation, Chen Guo Yuting and her companion hurriedly nodded, and then their gazes searched in the stone room again.

Besides the few "corpse refiners" near the door, this stone room also had a huge artifact refining furnace, as well as many various materials and ores used for artifact refining.

Located in the innermost place, there was also a golden cushion with a trace of brightness, which immediately attracted the attention of Song Song Qingming and the three.

Just as the three stepped forward to collect this spirit item, Luo Li, who had a sharp eye, saw a circular jade pendant covered in dust placed behind the cushion and hurriedly ran over to pick it up.

After wiping the dust off the jade pendant, Luo Li hurriedly shouted to Song Song Qingming, who had come to her side: "Senior, look, this seems to be a storage magic tool."

Taking the jade pendant handed over by Luo Li, Song Song Qingming tried to wrap the jade pendant with his own magic power and immediately felt a trace of spatial spiritual energy coming from it, and a happy smile immediately appeared on his face.

"We are truly lucky; this is indeed a storage magic tool that only Jin Dan cultivators can use."

"Oh! It really is a storage magic tool. That is truly great. We haven't found the owner of the cave dwelling all along, and I thought there would only be these few gains. I did not expect the storage magic tool to be hidden here."

"It is just somewhat strange. We have found the storage magic tool, why don't we see the remains of the cave dwelling owner? Could it be that he really didn't pass away in this cave dwelling?"

Seeing Song Song Qingming confirm that the jade pendant before him was a storage magic tool, Chen Guo Yuting was happy first, and then she spoke out the doubts in her heart.

Besides the storage magic tool found by the few, there were no other things around the cushion, and basically everything in the entire stone room was in full view.

Since the three entered, they had searched the entire cave dwelling and had not found the most important remains of the cave dwelling owner, which made Chen Guo Yuting somewhat worried, fearing that the storage magic tool before her was something abandoned by the cave dwelling owner and had nothing good in it.

Hearing what Chen Guo Yuting said, Song Song Qingming also smiled and nodded slightly: "This matter is indeed somewhat strange. However, since we have obtained this storage magic tool, let's open it and see! Even if there are no other spirit items inside, just this jade pendant can be exchanged for many spirit stones. This trip we came in, although somewhat dangerous, also had some gains. Next, it depends on fate."

"Senior is right. Since we found a storage magic tool, let's open it and see. If it is truly a stroke of fate that we should obtain, there will naturally be things inside."

"This trip to seek treasures, we can be considered to have done our best. If the things inside this cave dwelling are truly something we are not blessed enough to consume, then it can only be that our stroke of fate is not enough." Just as Song Song Qingming finished speaking, Luo Li to the side also followed up.

Song Song Qingming and Chen Guo Yuting smiled slightly upon hearing her words.

Although both of them knew that strokes of fate could not be forced, they still held a trace of expectation for the things inside the storage magic tool. On this point, both were not as open-minded as Luo Li.

After casting a spell to burn and destroy the few "corpse refiners" in the stone room, Song Song Qingming arrived at the side of the "Spirit Spring Eye" outside, and with the help of the rich spiritual energy here, began to cast a spell to break the restriction on the storage magic tool jade pendant.

This storage magic tool had not been used by anyone for at least a few hundred years, and the restriction placed by the original owner had automatically weakened quite a bit. Song Song Qingming only spent less than a day to successfully break the restriction on the jade pendant and successfully open this storage magic tool.

Seeing Song Song Qingming probe his spiritual sense into the jade pendant, Chen Guo Yuting and Luo Li, standing to the side, also showed a trace of nervousness.

After a while, seeing Song Song Qingming open his eyes with a calm expression, Chen Guo Yuting hurriedly asked: "Senior Song, how is it? Are there any spirit items inside? Is this the storage magic tool of the cave dwelling owner?"

Song Song Qingming smiled and nodded at the two: "I just took a rough look. There are many spirit items inside, as well as tens of thousands of spirit stones and other sundries. It should be the cave dwelling owner's, no mistake."

"Haha! It really is so. Then we haven't made a wasted trip this time." Hearing Song Song Qingming's words, Luo Li and Chen Guo Yuting immediately hugged each other with excitement.

Seeing the two women so happy, Song Song Qingming smiled and said nothing more, directly casting a spell to take out all the spirit items in the jade pendant.

Seeing the spirit stones piled up like a mountain before Song Song Qingming, as well as various high-tier spirit items, Luo Li and her companion were dazzled for a time, somewhat unable to believe that all these things before them were what they had just found.

Seeing Song Song Qingming put the jade pendant to the side and begin to count the spirit items before him, Luo Li and the two also immediately took the initiative to help. The three spent a full quarter of an hour to count all the spirit items inside. The more valuable spirit items in this storage magic tool were a total of three magic treasures, five third-grade spirit talismans, and a third-grade mid-tier flying boat, as well as over twenty thousand spirit stones.

Besides this, there was also a pile of cultivation classics, classics for learning cultivation techniques such as artifact refining and alchemy, as well as some materials for artifact refining and other sundries.

In the process of organizing these cultivation classics, Song Song Qingming accidentally flipped through a few secret methods about the corpse refining technique and picked them up to look at them carefully.

Unexpectedly, Chen Guo Yuting beside him, glancing at the words "Heavenly Corpse Decision" written on the secret manual in Song Song Qingming's hand, suddenly showed a look of surprise.

"How could this person have the Heavenly Corpse Decision cultivation method? Could it be that he is the Heavenly Corpse Daoist who has been missing in the Red Rao Xinghai for over six hundred years?"

"Heavenly Corpse Daoist? What is this person's background?" Hearing Chen Guo Yuting's words and seeing that the other party recognized the origin of the cave dwelling owner, Song Song Qingming immediately asked somewhat curiously.

Chen Guo Yuting, seeing this, paused for a moment to organize her thoughts before answering: "Senior Song might not know, but this Heavenly Corpse Daoist was a Jin Dan rogue cultivator who shook our Red Rao Xinghai several hundred years ago."

"This person not only had a cultivation that had reached the peak of Jin Dan but also cultivated a very powerful corpse refining technique. Although he was a rogue cultivator, he was a figure that the surrounding major sects did not dare to provoke at will."

"However, the Heavenly Corpse Daoist suddenly disappeared from the Red Rao Xinghai six hundred years ago. Some people say he went to another cultivation world to seek the stroke of fate for breaking through to Nascent Soul because his lifespan was nearing its end, and others say he fell in a secret realm outside."

"This Heavenly Corpse Decision is the unique corpse refining technique he cultivated. If I am not mistaken, it seems that this cave dwelling should be the Heavenly Corpse Daoist's. No wonder so many corpse refiners appeared to attack us just now."

"Oh! You mean his cultivation had reached the ninth layer of Jin Dan. Could it be that the Jin Dan late-stage corpse refiner who fought with me outside just now was this person?"

Hearing Chen Guo Yuting's introduction, Song Song Qingming suddenly remembered the gray-robed old man he had fought with before and could not help but feel that this person was somewhat similar to what she had described as the Heavenly Corpse Daoist.

"Senior Song saying so, it is indeed somewhat similar. However, this Heavenly Corpse Daoist was a figure who became famous six hundred years ago. I only heard about him from the classics left by the family and did not have much understanding of him."

"It is just that I heard that the Heavenly Corpse Daoist's conduct was also abnormally cruel back then. In order to cultivate the corpse refining technique, he took action to slay several small sects in the Red Rao Xinghai."

"Later, several major Jin Dan sects in the Red Rao Xinghai jointly pursued him, and even invited Nascent Soul sects nearby to take action. As a result, the Heavenly Corpse Daoist also had extraordinary supernatural powers. On White Wall Island, he was surrounded by five Jin Dan ancestors. After a great battle, he was still seriously injured and escaped."

"In the end, it only forced the Heavenly Corpse Daoist to disappear for a period of time. Not long after, he returned to the Red Rao Xinghai, but his evil behavior was much more restrained than before, and very few people had seen him again."

"It is truly surprising that the Heavenly Corpse Daoist had been hiding next to the Red Rao Xinghai all along. However, it is still too early to say these things. Whether it is this person or not, I am not very certain now."

"No matter! Whether it is him or not, I will know after checking."

Song Song Qingming replied softly, then waved his hand to take out the flying sword magic treasure that had just collected the gray-robed old man and placed it together with the few magic treasures found in the jade pendant.

Afterward, he cast a spell to carefully probe the cultivator's mark remaining on it with his spiritual sense and discovered that it was indeed exactly the same as he had thought, which also proved that these few magic treasures were refined and used by the same person.

"Not bad, these few magic treasures all have this person's aura remaining on them. It can be confirmed that the person who fought with me just now was the Heavenly Corpse Daoist."

Having entered for so long and not finding the owner of the cave dwelling, unexpectedly this person had already turned into a "corpse refiner," which also made the three of them show a trace of surprise.

"This thief cultivated for hundreds of years and did many evil things. In the end, he turned into a corpse refiner himself and could not enter reincarnation. This is truly cause and effect!"

"The reincarnation of the heavenly Dao in the world, cause and effect all have fixed numbers. It is just that we cannot feel it in ordinary times. Cultivators still need to correct their conduct to achieve the Great Dao." Hearing what Luo Li said, a trace of thoughtful expression also appeared on Song Song Qingming's face.

Through previous observations, as well as the corpse refining technique Song Song Qingming had seen before, Song Song Qingming could also roughly guess why this "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" had turned into a corpse refiner himself.

This person's lifespan was nearing its end, and he was unable to break through to the Nascent Soul realm for a long time. It is estimated that he relied on this corpse refining technique to take some evil path, wanting to extend his own lifespan, but something went wrong, and he eventually turned himself into a "corpse refiner" with incomplete intelligence.

Otherwise, he would not have even carried his own storage magic tool with him and was thrown to the side like an ordinary spirit item.

To verify his guess, Song Song Qingming opened the "Heavenly Corpse Decision" left by the Heavenly Corpse Daoist and scanned it carefully. Sure enough, he found a secret method similar to refining himself into a corpse king from it.

According to the records above, if this method could be successful, one could directly switch to cultivating the path of corpse ghosts, allowing oneself to become a "Corpse King" with intelligence no different from ordinary people.

The so-called "Corpse King" and the "Jin Dan Ghost King" Song Song Qingming had seen years ago belonged to the path of corpse ghosts that was not tolerated by righteous cultivators.

Cultivating this path, although one could enjoy much more lifespan than normal cultivators, after all, the physical body had already turned into a corpse ghost, and the path of advancement was far slower than that of general normal cultivators, and it was also very difficult for one's luck to be favored by the heavenly Dao.

Except for people like the "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" whose lifespan was nearing its end and who were unwilling to reincarnate and recultivate, ordinary normal cultivators would not have the idea of taking this path of corpse ghosts abandoned by the heavenly Dao.

This "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" attempted to refine himself into a "Corpse King," wanting to switch to the path of corpse ghosts to survive, but eventually failed, turning himself into a "corpse refiner" with incomplete intelligence.

Because of this, the "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" who turned into a corpse refiner, although he still had supernatural powers not weaker than a Jin Dan cultivator, because of the lack of intelligence, could not even open the restrictions he had originally set up, which was why he was trapped in the cave dwelling for hundreds of years.

It was not until Chen Guo Yuting, by coincidence, brought Song Song Qingming here together that he finally ended his life and released his primordial spirit to escape into reincarnation.

However, having said that, the "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" had supernatural powers that were so powerful during his lifetime. If he had encountered him in his peak state, Song Song Qingming would probably not have been able to take advantage of him in a fight.

Fortunately, the other party had already turned into a "corpse refiner" with incomplete intelligence and could not even exert half of his supernatural powers during his lifetime, otherwise, Song Song Qingming would not have been able to solve this "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" so easily just now.

Thinking of this, Song Song Qingming also felt some comfort in his heart. This could also be considered the greatest fortune among their misfortunes.

While flipping through the "Heavenly Corpse Decision" left by the Heavenly Corpse Daoist, Song Song Qingming's gaze was suddenly attracted by a secret method above. After checking it carefully, a trace of joy could not help but appear on his face.

"Heavenly Corpse Puppet Formation! No wonder those Foundation Establishment corpse refiners could form a formation to resist Jin Feng for a short time just now. It turns out it was because of this Heavenly Corpse Puppet Formation."

According to what was recorded on the "Heavenly Corpse Puppet Formation," after cultivating this secret method, one could combine the controlled corpse refiners to form a joint force to fight the enemy. As long as the number of Foundation Establishment corpse refiners was sufficient, one could even fight against ordinary Jin Dan cultivators across levels, and its power was not inferior to the formations controlled by ordinary cultivators of the same level.

Moreover, this "Heavenly Corpse Puppet Formation" was not limited to controlling corpse refiners; things like corpse puppets and puppets similar to this could all be used to cultivate this formation.

Seeing the refining method of the "Heavenly Corpse Puppet Formation" in his hand, Song Song Qingming could not help but start to fantasize.

If he could improve this formation of the "Heavenly Corpse Daoist" and replace the Foundation Establishment corpse refiners with Jin Dan corpse puppets or puppets to control, the power it displayed would probably make even Nascent Soul cultivators fear it by three points.

Although Song Song Qingming currently only had one Jin Dan corpse puppet, "Jin Feng," on his body and could not use this method to form a formation, as long as he had spirit stones in his hand, he would always have the opportunity to use this secret method in the future.

After thinking for a while, Song Song Qingming directly collected the "Heavenly Corpse Decision" in his hand and several other cultivation methods about the corpse refining technique, then turned to Chen Guo Yuting and the two:

"These few sets of cultivation methods are somewhat useful to me, so I will collect them first. Later, you two can take a larger share of the other spirit items."

Seeing Song Song Qingming collect the "Heavenly Corpse Decision" in his hand, Chen Guo Yuting thought he was afraid that the two of them would try to cultivate it in the future and wanted to take it away in advance, so she immediately replied with a smile: "These evil cultivation methods are of no use to us. If senior finds them useful, just take them. There is no need to be so polite. Let's still follow what we agreed before: senior takes half of all spirit items first, and the remaining half will be divided equally between Luo Li and me."

This time, the three experienced dangers exploring the cave dwelling. Chen Guo Yuting also knew deeply at this moment that without Song Song Qingming coming, even if they could come in, they would not be able to take away any spirit items, and it was highly likely that they would lose their lives in vain.

When it came to dividing the spirit items, Chen Guo Yuting naturally did not dare to let Song Song Qingming, the greatest contributor to this trip, suffer a loss, even if she was willing to take less herself.

However, besides the "Heavenly Corpse Puppet Formation" that had already been collected by him, Song Song Qingming did not really look at the other spirit items before him. Hearing what Chen Guo Yuting said, he immediately waved his hand: "This place was found by you after all. Such a division method is also somewhat unfair to you. I think it should be like this: all spirit items, we each take four parts, and the remaining two parts will be divided for Luo Li."

"Hmm! Then let's follow senior's proposal." Hearing the spirit item division proposal actively put forward by Song Song Qingming, Chen Guo Yuting did not say much and immediately nodded in agreement.

It was Luo Li to the side who felt somewhat embarrassed. Her main purpose this time was to come out for training, and she had not wanted to divide any spirit items from the beginning, nor had she made any contributions in the just-concluded actions.

Hearing that Song Song Qingming and the others wanted to divide two parts of spirit items for her, Luo Li immediately wanted to refuse, but because both Song Song Qingming and Chen Guo Yuting were very insistent, she eventually had to give up and nod in agreement with the division proposal they had set. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 730 =====