Chapter 1 : Corpse Refinement Path, Fairy and Sachet

Chapter 1: Corpse Refinement Path, Fairy and Sachet

The moon was dark, and the wind was high.

The village was poor and desolate. Wooden and thatched houses had collapsed everywhere, and corpses littered the ground.

Crackling sparks suddenly burst as flames flared. In front of a dilapidated house, firelight stretched outward, and under its flickering glow, two elongated shadows appeared.

Fang Chang used a tree branch to stir the unburned firewood at the bottom. Ash surged and swirled upward along with the rising flames.

He rubbed his nose.

The heat seemed to disperse some of the stench of blood.

Beside him, the corpse of an old farmer leaned against a coffin.

Its head tilted back, one leg crossed over the other, with a piece of cogon grass stem still dangling from its mouth—looking carefree like a landlord.

Fang Chang raised the softened dried meat in his hand toward it.

“Want some?”

The old farmer’s cloudy, grayish-white pupils showed no reaction, nor could they possibly.

Only that, at this very moment, blood happened to trickle from the corner of its mouth.

“Little glutton.”

Fang Chang chuckled and stuffed the dried meat into the old farmer’s mangled mouth, while he himself gnawed on a flatbread.

The flatbread was dry and tasteless, but he did not mind, slowly swallowing it with water.

Amid the drifting smoke and ashes, something gathered above the old farmer’s head, forming a faint, blurry face that seemed to smile in gratitude.

After a short while.

Footsteps approached slowly—steady, composed, and unhidden.

The figure stepped into the firelight.

It was a woman, dressed in a blue-and-white gradient gown. Her wide sleeves hung gently, and her demeanor was graceful and refined.

Her eyes were like autumn waters, with a tear mole at the corner. Even the way she looked at a dog seemed affectionate, like a spring breeze brushing past.

She glanced indifferently around the village.

Corpses covered the ground, with severed limbs scattered everywhere. The stench of blood was so thick it blanketed the night. The method was crude and reckless—clearly the work of demonic paths.

And the man before the fire—his aura was sinister, dining alongside corpses, with a coffin covered in talismans leaning beside him...

“Corpse Refinement Path?”

The night wind brushed past. The crystal ornament on her forehead reflected the cold gleam of a sword being unsheathed.

Fang Chang set down the flatbread and spoke politely.

“Greetings, fellow cultivator. I am Fang Chang. I happened to pass by this place and merely borrowed some yin energy here for cultivation.”

The woman’s expression remained unchanged.

“You mean to say this atrocity has nothing to do with you?”

Fang Chang pointed into the distance, where two black-robed corpses lay sprawled in pools of blood.

“Those two cultivated the Blood Demon Path. Their method of killing for blood… well, everyone understands. Fellow cultivator, you only need to inspect the surrounding corpses to know this is not the method of our Corpse Refinement Path.”

Fang Chang recognized the female cultivator before him.

A disciple of Canglan Mountain, one of the Twelve Orthodox Paths—Cheng Hua.

In fact, he had come here specifically to wait for her.

Before transmigrating, Fang Chang had been playing a grand open-world cultivation game called Fallen Immortal.

It claimed extremely high freedom—every NPC had a story, and every cultivation method that appeared could be attempted by players.

Fang Chang had found it fascinating and chose to specialize in the Corpse Refinement Path.

From time to time, he would refine all the NPCs in an entire city into yin corpses.

Then he would watch as they cried and struggled while slaughtering their own friends and relatives.

A true great villain.

Later, after pushing his character’s level to the peak,

he refined most of the top female cultivators from the Twelve Orthodox Paths into yin corpses and kept them by his side.

Surrounded by beautiful corpses, he indulged in endless pleasure.

Just as he was figuring out how to bypass the 16+ restriction to allow the female characters to “express themselves” better,

one day, too lazy to remove the electrode patches, Fang Chang wore his gaming helmet straight to the balcony to eat instant noodles.

And it just so happened to be a once-in-twenty-years thunderstorm...

Fang Chang only remembered a flash of white light, striking straight down from the clouds.

When he woke up again, he had already transmigrated into the game.

Since he was here, he might as well settle in.

Naturally,

he brought the Corpse Refinement Path cultivation system from the game with him.

[Affiliation: Corpse Refinement Path]

[Yin Corpses: Jia-1 (severely injured), Jia-2 (severely injured), Jia-3 (lightly injured).]

[Talent: Soul-Link]

The so-called Soul-Link

was the act of stealing a portion of a living person’s soul and placing it into a yin corpse. This not only accelerated the corpse’s refinement but also increased the feedback to the master.

This talent had been a key reason for Fang Chang’s rapid rise back then.

Even so,

it still took him a full month just to officially enter the initial stage of cultivation—Qi absorption.

The main reason was that he had grown up in a modern city.

Without the nourishment of spiritual essence, his body’s aptitude could only be described as utterly terrible.

On top of that, he lacked a good Soul-Link target—there was no way his progress could be fast.

Fang Chang was helpless.

When the game became reality, there was a major problem—he simply could not encounter powerful NPCs.

Even though they had been everywhere in the game...

Left with no choice, he could only recall famous quests and go wait at their locations.

Right now, this was one such fortuitous quest...

Meanwhile,

after hearing his explanation, Cheng Hua frowned slightly and did not lower her guard easily.

She stepped forward and examined the corpses, confirming that they were indeed victims of the Blood Demon Path.

Not only that,

the two Blood Demon cultivators’ corpses were surrounded by yin energy and corpse poison—it was clear they had been killed by yin corpses.

So, Fang Chang of the Corpse Refinement Path had just happened to arrive and killed fellow demonic cultivators?

That was rare.

Regardless, the corpses covering the ground indeed had nothing to do with him.

Cheng Hua was not someone who panicked at the mere mention of danger. Since he had done no evil, she had no intention of provoking conflict.

She suppressed her killing intent.

The tense atmosphere at the scene eased.

Only then did she notice that Fang Chang was eating flatbread himself while stuffing dried meat into the old farmer’s corpse. Her gaze became somewhat strange.

Fang Chang sat back down and continued eating, smiling.

“Fellow cultivator need not look at me that way. I am someone with principles. Since I borrowed everyone’s yin energy, I repay it with a meal to fulfill their lingering wishes and bring balance.”

The wishes of mortal farmers were simple—often just the word ‘full.’

To a cultivator, dried meat was worth little, but such sincerity was indeed rare.

Cheng Hua pressed her lips together, her impression of the young Corpse Refinement Path cultivator improving slightly.

She sheathed her sword and cupped her hands.

“Canglan Mountain disciple Cheng Hua. My apologies for the disturbance.”

With that, she turned to leave without looking back.

In the game, this female cultivator had always been decisive and swift.

But since Fang Chang had come to wait here, he did not intend to just exchange greetings.

“Fellow Cultivator Cheng, please wait.”

Cheng Hua stopped and turned back.

Her indifferent expression now carried a trace of caution.

“What is it?”

“There is something I am unsure whether I should say.”

“Speak freely.”

Fang Chang paused for a moment, then shook his head and sighed.

“The white sachet at your waist seems to carry methods of the Gu Path.”

Cheng Hua shook her head faintly and instinctively refuted him.

“Do not speak nonsense. This was a gift from a close fellow disciple.”

“I cultivate corpse refinement and have some understanding of the Gu Path. While I do not know what kind of Gu insect is inside the sachet, its presence is indeed real. You may wish to examine it.”

Fang Chang spoke calmly, appearing confident.

In truth, he was just making it up.

He knew nothing about the Gu Path.

Even if he did, as someone who had just entered the Corpse Refinement Path, how could he detect something from the Gu Path, which specialized in concealment?

What he relied on

was his prior knowledge of this quest.

In the original storyline,

after Cheng Hua killed the Blood Demon cultivators who massacred the village, she would be ambushed and killed.

However, if the player appeared beforehand and warned her about the Gu insect in the sachet, making her vigilant, she could escape with severe injuries.

Moreover, it would increase her trust toward the player.

Even if they were strangers before, it could raise the relationship to level 2 [Familiar ~ Acknowledged].

There was even a chance to receive an invitation to become a disciple of Canglan Mountain!

That was one of the Twelve Orthodox Paths.

Important characters were everywhere—one walk through the sect could encounter several.

At that point, wouldn’t opportunities for Soul-Link be everywhere?

Cheng Hua checked the sachet with some doubt.

After a moment, her expression changed slightly.

“......”

“At first, I thought it might be your doing. But upon hearing that you are a disciple of Canglan Mountain, I knew that was impossible.”

“Perhaps there is some misunderstanding. My close friend would not harm me.”

“I think the same. Perhaps it was not your friend, but those Gu Path practitioners acting in secret.”

Fang Chang pretended to comfort her.

For an item as personal as a sachet, even if the scent before and after opening did not differ much,

it could not deceive a cultivator.

Once it had been given, tampering with it afterward would be troublesome and complex.

It was easiest to act during its creation.

Whoever gave it had the greatest suspicion—something anyone could understand.

Cultivators were all sharp.

This would not escape Cheng Hua.

“That does make sense.”

However, after hearing Fang Chang’s comforting words, Cheng Hua’s expression actually stabilized, and she no longer harbored suspicion.

“Ah…?”

“It seems someone is trying to frame my close friend.”

“......”

She looked at Fang Chang. Most of her caution had faded, and a trace of softness appeared in her indifferent eyes.

“Thank you for the reminder. When I return, my friend and I will discuss this matter carefully. We will certainly prepare a generous gift in return.”

“There is no need to mention me.”

Fang Chang broke into a slight sweat.

If it truly was your close friend who did it, wouldn’t that mean I just exposed myself?