Chapter 318 - 314: Corpse Puppet Advancement

Chapter 318: Chapter 314: Corpse Puppet Advancement

"What a pity!"

"Indeed!"

Watching Zhang Chi leave, none of the other cultivators dared to stop him this time, feeling only a tinge of regret.

"That Elder Xiao already has a Nascent Soul Spiritual Object? Does he really have a chance at Nascent Soul Formation?"

Mo Xue couldn’t help but see Zhang Chi in a new light once again.

"This elder is certainly not simple, but achieving Nascent Soul Formation is incredibly difficult."

"Exactly. Nascent Soul Formation isn’t that easy. Even for us Sect cultivators, it’s hard to gather enough resources, let alone for a Loose Cultivator like him!"

"True. Even if he’s powerful, it doesn’t really change anything. In fact, being too strong might make him overconfident, leading him to take risks during Exploration and die even sooner!"

The other cultivators were not very optimistic about Zhang Chi’s prospects.

"That’s also true!"

Hearing this, Mo Xue’s Dao heart stabilized considerably.

If Zhang Chi really did reach the Nascent Soul realm, she might truly come to regret unhesitatingly refusing her grandfather’s arrangement back then.

Meanwhile, Zhang Chi quickly arrived at Xuan Yang Oasis, went straight to Luming Immortal City, and left aboard a Floating Airship.

Before this, he had once again changed his appearance, aura, and attire. This way, not even Mo Xue and the others would be able to recognize him.

After all, he had revealed the Cyan Scale Fruit this time, so it was obviously safer to assume a new identity.

Furthermore, his perception was powerful, so he knew the cultivators from before hadn’t been lying; they truly didn’t possess any Nascent Soul Materials.

This made him even more aware of how rare Nascent Soul Materials were, strengthening his resolve to return to Beichen Oasis.

He could, in theory, also travel to other medium, large, or even super-sized oases.

But the opportunities for Nascent Soul Formation in medium-sized oases were certainly limited.

As for the large and super-sized oases, they were extremely far away. Using ordinary means of travel, it could take decades to reach them.

Therefore, he didn’t have many choices.

The Beichen Sect, however, was said to have a Teleportation Array that could directly connect to other large and even top-tier oases. But one needed to have at least a Nascent Soul Early Stage Cultivation or a powerful background to use it.

「Three years later.」

The Floating Airship successfully arrived at the edge of Beichen Oasis. However, Zhang Chi didn’t linger, nor did he head to Huixing City. Instead, he spent another two years traveling to Beichen Immortal City, the heart of the oasis.

Beichen Immortal City was larger and more prosperous than Huixing City. It was even said to be guarded by a Nascent Soul Late Stage powerhouse.

As soon as Zhang Chi entered, he found that the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was much richer here, and the city was teeming with cultivators.

Zhang Chi then went to the Marketplace, but after looking around for a while, he couldn’t help but shake his head slightly.

The largest shop in the Marketplace was undoubtedly Beichen Tower, run by the Beichen Sect. Although it had a vast inventory, the items were Tier Three at best, with no Nascent Soul Spiritual Objects to be found.

Furthermore, the next auction wasn’t for another two years.

Afterward, Zhang Chi visited the City Lord’s Mansion, but there too he found no missions that would allow him to obtain a Nascent Soul Spiritual Object, especially a Nascent Soul Pill or its ingredients.

’Forget it. I’ll go check out the black market. But before that, I need to upgrade my Corpse Puppet.’

However, Zhang Chi wasn’t too disappointed.

After all, Nascent Soul Spiritual Objects were inherently rare, and the Nascent Soul Pill and its main ingredients were even more so.

So, he immediately found a random inn in the city and settled in for the time being.

His cultivation had already reached the Golden Core Limit, so he didn’t have high requirements for the Spiritual Vein of his lodging. Thus, there was no need to spend a large amount of Spirit Stones to rent a Tier Three Cave Mansion.

In the following days, Zhang Chi began gathering information while selling off his goods in batches, always in disguise.

Over the years, he had consistently engaged in Alchemy and Artifact Refining. Aside from Spirit Talismans and some elixirs, he had barely used up any of his other items.

Therefore, this round of sales earned him a fortune.

It took a month before he finally sold all his accumulated elixirs, Magical Treasures, and the Tier Three Demon Beast Materials he had acquired.

However, he didn’t touch items like the Black Sand Profound Snake Hide.

Materials of this level were too high-grade. Selling them directly would be a huge loss, and even Beichen Tower couldn’t afford them.

Besides, the appearance of such a material would undoubtedly cause a sensation. Even Nascent Soul True Monarchs might be tempted to make a move.

Even while selling his other goods, he had been targeted more than once. However, relying on his powerful Divine Thought, he was always able to detect trouble in advance and shake off those ill-intentioned cultivators.

After selling everything, Zhang Chi couldn’t help but reflect that coming to Beichen Immortal City was indeed the right decision.

If he had been anywhere else, even in Huixing City, it would have been difficult to sell off his goods so quickly, and he would have certainly attracted the attention of a Nascent Soul Powerhouse.

But things were different here. Not only was it easy to sell his goods, but doing so in batches didn’t attract any attention from Nascent Soul Powerhouses at all.

After all, while he had a lot of goods, it was a drop in the bucket compared to the total daily transaction volume of the entire Beichen Immortal City Marketplace.

’Alright, it’s time to find a place for my Corpse Puppet to break through to Tier Four!’

That night in the inn, Zhang Chi looked at the massive amount of Spirit Stones in his Storage Ring, his heart filled with anticipation.

It had been 110 years since he came to this Endless Desert Sea. During this time, he had consistently practiced Alchemy and Artifact Refining, and had also received a large share of profits from the micro-oasis.

But aside from what he spent to maintain his cultivation and purchase some raw materials, he had only upgraded the Eye of the Spirit Spring and his Corpse Puppet once. After that, he had barely spent any Spirit Stones at all.

Because of this, he had accumulated an enormous amount of Spirit Stones, all for the sake of helping Corpse Puppet No.1 advance to Tier Four as soon as possible.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Chi finally decided to conduct the breakthrough in the wilderness.

This was because a Corpse Puppet’s breakthrough was different from a cultivator’s Nascent Soul Formation. The resulting celestial phenomenon would be different, and a Nascent Soul Powerhouse could easily see through it.

If that happened, a Nascent Soul Powerhouse would definitely covet his Corpse Puppet and try to snatch it.

An ordinary Nascent Soul Early Stage powerhouse would be manageable, but if a Nascent Soul Middle Stage or even Late Stage powerhouse from the Beichen Sect made a move, he could only curse his luck.

Going into the wilderness wasn’t as covert as the deep desert, but he had a Tier Four Array to help conceal the process. If he found a good spot, it shouldn’t be a problem.

He didn’t consider going deep into the desert or finding another micro-oasis, as those options were too far and would waste too much time.

SWOOSH...

Later that same night, Zhang Chi left Beichen Immortal City and ventured deep into the wilderness.

That’s right—even Beichen Oasis had desolate, uninhabited areas. The oasis was enormous, equivalent in size to ten Great Abysses, so naturally, not every place had a Spiritual Vein.

「Half a month later.」

Zhang Chi finally found a suitable location. It was deep within a range of rolling, barren mountains. Since there was no Spiritual Vein, there were no cultivators present.

Even if there were Demon Beasts in the mountains, they were few in number and low in level.

Zhang Chi chose a deep valley and immediately summoned his Flying Sword to dig a ten-thousand-foot-deep underground cave mansion. Afterward, he set up the Gold Fiend Gale Array outside the cave.

To be safe, he also deployed several Tier Three Formations that he had refined himself.

After some thought, he also took out the Bluestone Slab and placed it over the cave entrance. Finally, inside the cave mansion, he brought out the Black Coffin and poured a massive amount of Spirit Stones into it like a flowing river.

BOOM!

Light instantly swirled within the Black Coffin, frantically pouring into Corpse Puppet No.1’s body.

Corpse Puppet No.1 let out a series of mighty roars as the pressure emanating from its body rapidly intensified.

Soon, this pressure broke through its limits, reaching Tier Four Low Grade and spreading out violently.

In that instant, a massive pillar of black light shot toward the sky, piercing through the layers of arrays and the bluestone slab in a flash.

However, in the process, the black light and the pressure were greatly concealed, only detectable by beings within a few hundred miles.

There were no powerful beings within that range, and the few Demon Beasts present were suppressed by the black light and immense pressure, forced to prostrate themselves on the ground, trembling.

’Excellent! It wasn’t all for nothing!’

Zhang Chi had expected this outcome, but he was still overjoyed.

At this point, he had almost no Spirit Stones left. Even the Demon Pills he had obtained from the Beast Tide a few years ago when he left Bailu Oasis had long since been fed to Corpse Puppet No.1.

Fortunately, the Demon Pills combined with the Spirit Stones were indeed enough.

Furthermore, the restriction that the Celestial Corpse Coffin placed on Corpse Puppets did not manifest in Corpse Puppet No.1.

Apparently, he had broken this restriction during his refinement of the Celestial Corpse Coffin all those years ago.

At this moment, the Corpse Puppet hovered in mid-air, rapidly transforming. Both its physical body and its Corpse Evil underwent a qualitative change.

After three full days and nights, the celestial phenomenon finally dissipated, and the Corpse Puppet completed its breakthrough.

Now, the Corpse Puppet looked no different from a human cultivator on the surface.

But Zhang Chi knew this disguise could at most fool a Golden Core Cultivator; a Nascent Soul True Monarch would still easily see through the facade.

Fortunately, this was more than enough for Zhang Chi.

Because what Zhang Chi valued most was the Corpse Puppet’s combat power.

POW!

Zhang Chi retrieved the arrays, the slab, and the Celestial Corpse Coffin. He flew into the sky with the Corpse Puppet, then unleashed a punch with the full power of his Celestial Net Evil Body Technique.

Corpse Puppet No.1 was struck, but it didn’t move an inch.

He then activated the Asura Blood Burning Technique, equipped his set of Middle Grade Armor, and attacked again. This time, he managed to send Corpse Puppet No.1 flying, but it still suffered no obvious damage.

He threw another punch and had the Corpse Puppet meet it with a punch of its own.

The next instant, their fists collided. The sound was like a clap of thunder, and a powerful shockwave spread out violently. The result was that Zhang Chi was sent flying back several thousand feet, crashing through a small mountain and nearly sustaining severe injuries.

But this time, the Corpse Puppet stood firm, completely unmoved.

’Not bad. A Tier Four Corpse Puppet lives up to its name!’

Zhang Chi was extremely satisfied and filled with a sense of security. He then recalled the Corpse Puppet and returned to Beichen Immortal City.

A few more days passed. One night, Zhang Chi left the city again, quickly arriving at a hidden valley several thousand li away.

Mist swirled at the valley’s entrance, but upon entering, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a marketplace.

The people coming and going in the marketplace were all cultivators, and the roadside was lined with stalls and shops.

The cultivators here had at least Foundation Establishment Cultivation, and Golden Core Cultivators were a common sight.

However, without exception, they all wore masks or similar items; very few showed their true faces.

This was the largest black market near Beichen Immortal City, the one Zhang Chi had learned about long ago.

This black market only opened once a month, on the night of the last day.

Cultivators could sell anything they had here.

Within the black market, safety was absolutely guaranteed. Not only were there guards on patrol, but it was also said to be overseen by a Nascent Soul Middle Stage powerhouse.

But once they left the black market, whether the cultivators lived or died was up to them.