Chapter 162: 【Grave Mound: lv2】——Returning as an Undead from the Land of Death

Among the various cities surrounding Yunyu Marshlands, Hongye City was one of the more chaotic ones.

Ji Yuan had purchased the most cultivator corpses here, so once again, for the purpose of acquiring a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s body, he came to this Hongye City.

"Zhu-head。"

After arriving at a secluded alley, Ji Yuan familiarly greeted the shopkeeper there.

The man, originally engrossed in his bookkeeping, heard the nickname and raised his head angrily, just about to lash out with a few curses.

But once he clearly saw the person’s face, his expression immediately changed into a smile.

"I was wondering why magpies were chirping nonstop this early morning—so it’s Brother Qiu visiting. No wonder。"

"You figured I’m here to give you money again, didn’t you。"

With a different face and a changed aura, even his cultivation dropped back to Peak Qi Refining Stage, Ji Yuan took a seat opposite the man.

This man’s name was Zhu Ji, also a cultivator at the Peak Qi Refining Stage.

Ji Yuan found him by tracing the path through Old Boatman Wang.

After all, Tu Yue had been bought from Old Boatman Wang. A few months ago, in order to acquire more corpses, Ji Yuan obtained his supplier’s contact from Old Boatman Wang.

That was how he found this man named Zhu Ji.

"Brother Qiu, how could you say that? This is clearly mutually beneficial—what do you mean, giving money。"

Though Zhu Ji feigned displeasure, he smoothly pulled out a jade box from beneath the counter and smiled. "Here, this is spirit tea I had someone procure from Medicine King Valley. It’s in limited quantity, Brother Qiu, take it and try some。"

To Zhu Ji, the person before him, Qiu Qianhai, was undoubtedly a big client.

Others came to purchase one or two corpses at a time, but Qiu Qianhai asked for dozens at once.

Such a massive demand for bodies—and he was back again—clearly meant he needed more.

A client like this was certainly worth cultivating a relationship with.

Ji Yuan took the jade box without even looking at it and tucked it into his storage pouch.

Seeing this, Zhu Ji smiled and asked, "How many this time, Brother Qiu？"

"Not many this time。"

Ji Yuan shook his head.

"Oh？"

Zhu Ji was momentarily surprised, but quickly understood—if not many, then the quality must be higher.

"Peak Qi Refining？"

Zhu Ji asked tentatively.

Ji Yuan lightly tapped the table with his finger. "Higher than that。"

"What, Brother Qiu, you're asking for Foundation Establishment stage materials? This—"

"What, can’t handle it？"

Ji Yuan followed up.

Zhu Ji shook his head outright. "Brother Qiu, you can tell I’m just a Qi Refining cultivator. I can’t manage Foundation Establishment stage materials. But if you need them—I can introduce you to someone。"

An introduction meant introducing him to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

So Zhu Ji didn’t say it directly, instead leaving the decision to Ji Yuan.

A Qi Refining cultivator going to make deals with a Foundation Establishment one was already rare, not to mention for this sort of shady business. Ji Yuan even once suspected this Zhu Ji was a Demonic Cultivator.

He also figured Zhu Ji probably thought he was one too.

Otherwise, there was no way they could be so chummy.

By extension, the person Zhu Ji was introducing him to was likely a Foundation Establishment Demonic Cultivator as well. Honestly, Ji Yuan didn’t have any particular prejudice against Demonic Cultivators.

As long as they didn’t offend him personally, he thought anyone was acceptable.

As for demonic methods, Ji Yuan himself knew a few. In fact, his very reason for coming this time was to enhance his demonic techniques.

"That’s fine, but this Foundation Establishment senior———"

Ji Yuan furrowed his brow, as if slightly concerned.

Zhu Ji immediately smiled and said, "You can rest assured, Brother Qiu. We’re all businessmen here—integrity is our priority. Besides,

in our Immortal Material Society, there’s a clear hierarchy. If anyone dares to eat a customer, all of us would eat them first。"

Immortal Material Society—it sounded like an organization. Seemed like a group had banded together for this trade. Ji Yuan looked up at Zhu Ji.

Just a Foundation Establishment Demonic Cultivator—not enough to make Ji Yuan panic.

Besides, this place wasn’t far from Water Dragon Sect. Even if a Golden Core cultivator ambushed him, Ji Yuan could hold out until Hua Yaoyue came to save him.

"If that’s the case, I’ll trouble you, Zhu-head。"

"Heh, no need to be so polite, Brother Qiu—we’re brothers here。"

Then Zhu Ji did a bit of tidying up, closed the shop, and led Ji Yuan on their way.

At first, Ji Yuan thought this Foundation Establishment cultivator was within Hongye City as well, but after Zhu Ji led him westward and out of the city, he realized—the man was outside.

The two each rode their own flying boat, flying south for over two hours.

Eventually, they landed in a market town by the riverside.

Shanghe Market.

Ji Yuan silently committed the location to memory. Zhu Ji then brought him to a rather ordinary courtyard.

Zhu Ji knocked—three long and two short—like a coded signal.

Ji Yuan sensed Divine Sense sweep across his body, and then the door opened.

"Come in。"

A male voice rang beside Ji Yuan’s ear.

A short while later.

Ji Yuan stood in the main hall of the house, facing a bizarre man in a purple robe. The man had makeup on, even lip rouge.

Demonic Cultivator—truly a legitimate Demonic Cultivator. Ji Yuan hadn’t expected a Demonic Cultivator to be so brazen even in a market town like this.

But then again, it made sense. In a mountain market town like this, the highest cultivation might only be Late Qi Refining.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator hiding here—who would ever notice？

The man in purple robe glanced Ji Yuan up and down, then turned his gaze to Zhu Ji. "One of ours？"

"Precisely so。"

Zhu Ji quickly stood up and responded.

"Greetings to Senior Hu。"

Ji Yuan followed with a bow. Before arriving, Zhu Ji had already introduced this senior, saying his name was Hu Li.

Ji Yuan found the name suspiciously similar to “Fox” and thought it was either a pseudonym or held some hidden meaning.

"Since you’re one of us, no need for such formalities。"

Before Hu Li’s words finished, Ji Yuan already sensed a strand of Divine Sense circling him, weaving back and forth, seemingly attempting to scrutinize him thoroughly.

A mere early Foundation Establishment stage Demonic Cultivator acting so unruly—Ji Yuan hesitated briefly, then chose to respond with his own Divine Sense. Along the way, he directly pierced through Hu Li’s Divine Sense defenses and transmitted a message into his mind:

"Fellow Daoist, using Divine Sense to probe others—isn’t that a bit too much？"

Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense, enhanced by the 【Meditation Room】, naturally far surpassed that of cultivators at the same stage.

And this Hu Li, being only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, was instantly overpowered by Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense.

Hearing the voice in his mind, Hu Li froze on the spot.

He looked at this “Peak Qi Refining” Qiu Qianhai with disbelief.

He perceived him as only Peak Qi Refining, yet his Divine Sense vastly exceeded his own. What did this mean?

It meant his actual cultivation likely far surpassed his own!

Ji Yuan just smiled at him without speaking. Hu Li took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Zhu Ji, you may return first. I... I need to speak privately with this fellow Daoist。"

"Mm？"

Zhu Ji didn’t expect to be cast out right after the introduction.

But since it was Hu Li who said it, he naturally couldn’t object. He simply stood and offered a bow.

"I shall take my leave。"

Only after Zhu Ji had completely left the small courtyard did Hu Li hurriedly rise and come before Ji Yuan with a deep bow.

"Greetings to Senior Qiu. I didn’t recognize your esteemed identity earlier. I ask for your forgiveness。"

Ji Yuan casually summoned Hu Li’s tea, poured himself a cup, but didn’t drink it. He just toyed with it in his hand.

Letting Hu Li stew for a good while, he finally spoke slowly:

"If this had been a few decades ago, with my temper, I’d have slapped you into the wall with one hand already。"

"Yes, yes, yes。"

Cold sweat broke out on Hu Li’s back instantly, and he didn’t dare lift his head.

"Enough, stand up。"

Naturally, Ji Yuan wouldn’t drink tea from a Demonic Cultivator. After setting the teacup on the table, he casually said.

Still, Hu Li didn’t dare move. Ji Yuan’s tone dropped.

"What, do you want me to help you up myself？"

"No, no。"

Only then did Hu Li believe Ji Yuan wasn’t speaking sarcastically. He quickly stood and moved to stand respectfully to the side.

"So, hiding out near Water Dragon Sect... Not easy, is it？"

Ji Yuan asked pointedly.

Hu Li hesitated for a while before answering, "Reporting to Senior, in this Shangdong region, it’s hard for any Demonic Cultivator to get by. Most days, we’re like rats on the street... sigh。"

"Doesn’t seem that tough to me. Didn’t you people even establish an Immortal Material Society？"

"That—Senior may not know. Our Immortal Material Society is actually under the protection of certain so-called orthodox cultivators. Without them, we’d never dare operate so openly。"

"Oh? Who？"

Ji Yuan had already suspected there was backing on his way here. Otherwise, these Demonic Cultivators couldn’t be so semi-open in corpse trade. Even Yunyu Marshlands had been compromised.

"Rumor says some Golden Core Real Persons are involved. Like here in southern Water, Water Dragon Sect, Medicine King Valley, and Joy Palace—all supposedly have Golden Core Real Persons dabbling in this business. But we, as subordinates, don’t know exactly who they are。"

Hu Li didn’t dare conceal a single detail.

Three orthodox sects? As expected. Righteous or demonic—they were just colors of disguise. In the end, it was always about profit.

"Moreover—and—Senior should’ve heard about the west, right? Our Demonic Cultivator’s good days are finally coming。"

Hu Li bowed as he said this.

The west, good days for Demonic Cultivators—Ji Yuan actually hadn’t heard anything about it.

But that didn’t stop him from learning now. He gave a snicker and glanced mockingly at Hu Li. "You really think it’ll be that easy？"

Hearing “Senior Qiu” say that, Hu Li calmed considerably.

"True, Shangdong’s Six Immortal Sects still have deep roots, especially Sword Ruins atop Shang Mountain. It won’t be easy for us Demonic Cultivators to breach it。"

From the sound of it, the Demonic Cultivators were planning an invasion from Shangxi?!

Ji Yuan’s mind stirred—this was indeed news to him. Not only that, even Li Changhe probably didn’t know.

Otherwise, when they met a few days ago, Li Changhe would’ve at least mentioned it.

"Of course. Take Water Dragon Sect as you see it now—its foundations are deeper than you can imagine。"

As he spoke, Ji Yuan suddenly sat upright and leaned slightly forward toward Hu Li.

The latter was so startled by the serious gesture that he instinctively stepped back half a pace.

"Where did you learn this news? Normally, someone at early Foundation Establishment like you shouldn’t be aware of such things。"

"This—"

Hu Li seemed hesitant.

Ji Yuan chuckled. "Relax, I’m just curious. If you won’t say———"

"I’ll say! There’s nothing I wouldn’t tell Senior." Hu Li hesitated for less than a breath before replying quickly, "There’s a late Foundation Establishment Demonic Cultivator in Medicine King Valley who is... close to me. She told me. As for how she learned it, I do not know, Senior。"

"Oh, I see。"

Ji Yuan nodded in understanding.

So it seemed the Demonic Cultivators truly were preparing to launch a full-scale attack on Shangdong.

This wasn’t unprecedented. On the contrary, righteous-versus-demonic conflicts had long been recurring. A major assault from Demonic Cultivators, with the Six Immortal Sects rallying atop Shang Mountain to block them, had occurred several times in history.

Each time wasn’t too intense and was ultimately thwarted by Shangdong’s defenses.

It now appeared that another wave of invasion was about to begin.

Ji Yuan hadn’t expected that while out to buy a corpse, he would overhear such news.

He once again looked at the Demonic Cultivator before him. "I came here mainly because I heard about this Immortal Material Society and wanted to take a look. The second reason was indeed that my cultivation required a few corpses——"

Upon hearing this, Hu Li was struck with inspiration and immediately took out from his storage pouch two Foundation Establishment Stage corpses, along with over a dozen Peak Qi Refining Stage corpses.

"Reporting to Senior, these are all the top-tier Immortal Materials I currently possess. If more are needed, I’ll go look for them right away on your behalf。"

Hu Li wasn’t foolish—if he didn’t promptly offer all his Immortal Materials now and ended up offending this senior, he might be killed and used as an Immortal Material himself—

To put it bluntly, if there were no corpses, they might just turn a living man into one.

That would be troublesome.

Ji Yuan gave a casual glance—these were already enough to upgrade the 【Grave Mound】. With a wave of his hand, he collected all the corpses.

"No need. Just a small technique—I won’t need that many。"

Having received the corpses, Ji Yuan prepared to leave. But just as he turned, a sudden thought came to him, and he sharply looked back.

Hu Li was startled again.

"I just arrived from the north and don’t have many in my service here yet。"

Ji Yuan spoke while extending his right hand.

Hu Li hurriedly offered his Messaging Talisman with both hands—it was a golden one. "Junior Hu Li, at Senior’s service at any time。"

Ji Yuan reached out and took the Messaging Talisman.

"Remember, Zhu Ji merely brought a Peak Qi Refining cultivator to meet you today。"

As he spoke, Ji Yuan summoned his Upper-Grade Flying Boat and slowly departed.

"Yes, yes, yes。"

Hu Li bowed deeply, only exhaling in relief once Ji Yuan’s figure completely vanished.

Half an incense stick’s time later.

Ji Yuan, concealed by Breath Concealment within the surrounding mountains, saw a flying boat rush out from Shanghe Market, speeding directly westward.

Its speed was extremely fast.

As if afraid a moment’s delay would cost its pilot their life.

Ji Yuan hesitated briefly, but ultimately chose not to pursue and kill. Better to avoid unnecessary trouble—after all, he hadn’t used his real face or aura today. No matter how much they searched, they wouldn’t trace it back to him.

If Hu Li had spoken truthfully, then this trip west was likely to find his backer in Medicine King Valley for protection.

With Hu Li gone, Ji Yuan didn’t linger. He immediately summoned his Spiritual Artifact-grade Flying Boat and headed straight north.

As the Flying Boat passed through the sky, a Messaging Talisman burned to ash and scattered into the vast mountain range below.

One day later.

Ji Yuan safely returned to Misty Island.

With two Second-Tier Formations as protection, his sense of security was fully restored.

It was already deep into the night when he arrived home. Tu Yue, following his instructions, lay quietly sleeping in the coffin.

Ji Yuan didn’t disturb her. He simply began digging and burying corpses alone.

To upgrade the 【Grave Mound】 to Level 2,

he needed to bury 100 Qi Refining corpses, 10 Peak Qi Refining corpses, and 1 Foundation Establishment corpse.

Ji Yuan estimated he was now just one Foundation Establishment corpse short.

But he didn’t worry. He dug a large pit and dumped all the corpses he had obtained during the trip into it.

After all, the structure was called 【Grave Mound】. If it didn’t involve mass burial, it would dishonor its name.

Along the way back, he had also examined the corpses with Divine Sense, confirming no Demonic Cultivator methods were left on them.

Besides, once buried on Misty Island, the formations would isolate any probing.

Surely, no early Foundation Establishment methods could be that ruthless.

Once the burial was done, Ji Yuan’s Panel refreshed.

Behind the 【Grave Mound】, a new option appeared—Upgradeable.

There was no hesitation. This whole trip had been for this purpose. With a thought, Ji Yuan immediately chose to upgrade.

The Panel refreshed.

Before Ji Yuan could check the effects of Level 3 【Grave Mound】, a movement caught his eye.

From the corner of his vision, he saw a part of the 【Grave Mound】 ground stir.

Before he could send out his Divine Sense—

a pale right hand suddenly broke through the soil, sprouting up like a bamboo shoot.

Then the right hand, then the entire body emerged from the ground.

It was a male corpse, appearing to be a man in his fifties or sixties, his figure somewhat stocky—quite fitting Ji Yuan’s image of a steward. As for his cultivation———Qi Refining Layer 8.

So this was the Spiritual Effect 1 of Level 2 【Grave Mound】—it could trigger corpse transformation, turning a corpse into a Corpse Servant to be controlled?

Just as Ji Yuan thought of this, he felt a new connection form between him and the corpse.

With a thought, the Corpse Servant immediately dropped to both knees.

"It really works。"

"With this, I now have two Corpse Servants. Tu Yue’s burden can finally ease a bit. And over time, I’ll surely have more and more Corpse Servants. Perhaps I could form an entire Corpse Servant army。"

With that thought, Ji Yuan considered when those two early Foundation Establishment corpses he just buried would undergo corpse transformation.

If he could gain a Foundation Establishment Corpse Servant, that would be a great boost.

Moreover, Ji Yuan could now sense a faint chill within the 【Grave Mound】.

He also noticed the surrounding fences visibly decaying—truly resembling an old, neglected mass grave. Even the air began to fill with wisps of mist.

Level 2 【Grave Mound】 came with phenomena.

After choosing to disable the phenomena, all environmental changes vanished.

Everything returned to its original ordinary appearance.

"Spiritual Effect 2, ‘Return as Undead from the Land of Death,’ allows consuming corpses within the Grave Mound to raise a Corpse Servant’s cultivation level。"

Wanting to test this, Ji Yuan woke Tu Yue from her sleep.

With the two Corpse Servants standing side by side, Ji Yuan immediately saw the difference.

Tu Yue looked no different from a living person, whereas the new Corpse Servant clearly looked like an undead corpse.

Ji Yuan figured this was likely related to time of death.

Tu Yue had died recently and was refined soon after into a Corpse Servant. This new one had clearly been dead for quite some time.

Naturally, Ji Yuan chose to upgrade Tu Yue.

She had followed him for so long—if not with merit, at least with toil.

Tu Yue was currently at Qi Refining Layer 6. One upgrade would raise her to Layer 7.

As soon as he thought it, the Panel responded.

To raise Tu Yue to Qi Refining Layer 7, he would need to consume two Qi Refining Layer 7 corpses—not bad, quite manageable.

Ji Yuan selected upgrade.

Immediately, waves of Yin Energy rose from the ground of the 【Grave Mound】, floated upward, and gathered into a Yin Cloud above Tu Yue’s head before descending into her.

Tu Yue’s body stiffened instantly.

Yin Energy swirled around her.

After less than half an incense stick of time, Ji Yuan sensed that Tu Yue’s cultivation had risen from Layer 6 to Layer 7.

What about another upgrade?

The Panel showed it required three Qi Refining Layer 8 corpses.

Increasing step by step?

If so, upgrading lower-stage Corpse Servants would be inefficient.

Ji Yuan then tried upgrading the Qi Refining Layer 8 corpse. The Panel required four Qi Refining Layer 9 corpses.

So it wasn’t progressive—it had fixed consumption rates for upgrades.

Then—keep upgrading!

The corpses would just sit there otherwise. If they ran out, he’d buy more.

Soon, after consuming three Qi Refining Layer 8 corpses, Tu Yue reached Qi Refining Layer 8.

This rapid cultivation boost made Ji Yuan burn with envy.

"Damn it, if only my own cultivation could rise this fast—damn, that’d be too damn good."

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