Ch97 – Escape From Death

　　The three forged stones were about to disintegrate into ashes. When his soul force was about to be exhausted, Lin Xuanzhi casually picked up a Gathering Qi pill that he had placed by his side and threw it into his mouth, then quickly threw the three forged stones that had been used up away and tossed three new top-grade forged stones into the air to replace them.

　　His soul force was restored in an instant.

　　When Soul Bead saw this, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

　　Even though a Gathering Qi pill can replenish a craftsman’s soul force in a very short period of time, its after effects can be seen immediately.

　　“Kid, that’s the third Gathering Qi pill you’ve consumed. In the future, your cultivation may advance by one realm, but this kind of ‘helping the shoots grow by pulling them upward’ advancement will definitely cause your foundation to be unstable. The road ahead of you will become even more bumpy.”

　　Soul Bead said sincerely and earnestly as he watched on anxiously.

　　It wasn’t easy for him to see someone who had such unlimited prospects in the crafting path, so he deliberately reminded him. But he didn’t expect him to destroy his own future like this!

　　Yet Lin Xuanzhi didn’t seem to mind it too much. What should be, shall be, so he didn’t say anything more and only concentrated all his attention on crafting the All-encompassing bottle.

　　At night, Yan Tianhen ran to Mass Graves Ridge again. This time, he didn’t wait until the Zi period was over, but ran over to Mass Graves Ridge the moment the sky turned dark.

　　There were a few more fresh corpses in Mass Graves Ridge, but Yan Tianhen realised that most of these corpses belonged to mortals. Cultivator corpses were rare, and even if there was a cultivator, their corpses would have broken limbs or lack an arm or leg. At his present level, he had no way of repairing those corpses.

　　Yan Tianhen returned once again in disappointment.

　　On the night of the third day.

　　Yan Tianhen retracted his hand seals. He lied down in the midst of the comfortable Yin quality spiritual Qi and stretched lazily. He first stood outside Lin Xuanzhi’s door and observed it for a moment before he brought Ah Bai and Hu Po along as he rode the Chasing Sun horse to Mass Graves Ridge. New corpses were sent to Mass Graves Ridge everyday, but it’s a pity that Yan Tianhen still could not find a suitable corpse that night.

　　“Ai, looks like this Imperial Corpse path isn’t that easy to walk on either.” Yan Tianhen sighed. He was about to leave when he heard Ah Bai and Hu Po suppress their voices simultaneously as they cried out with their guards up.

　　Through the contract he had with Ah Bai, he immediately understood that these two amethyst tiger cubs had sensed danger approaching, so they were warning him.

　　Yan Tianhen immediately jumped into a huge neighbouring tree with dense foliage to hide.

　　In just a moment, three cultivators adorned in purple robes appeared in Mass Graves Ridge.

　　They had a strong smell of blood on them, and one of them was carrying something that looked like a corpse on his shoulder.

　　That person might be dead, or might have just fainted.

　　Yan Tianhen held his breath so as not to let them discover his presence too easily.

　　He…should be dead ba, Yan Tianhen’s heart was thumping.

　　“Are you sure that this is the last Ling person who got away?”

　　“He should be. I didn’t expect him to be able to run this far — he actually ran all the way from Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital to this small mud ball of a city. Ling Chigu is also quite a character; people in the Ling family are such loyal people, but it’s too bad that they didn’t support the right person.Since they stood on the wrong team and bungled the golden opportunity of the one above, they deserved to die.”

　　“Tear the weeds out by its roots, Ling Chigu is thoroughly dead; there’s no possibility of revival for him.”

　　“Now, the crown prince will probably be able to rest easy.”

　　“Our task here has been accomplished. I’ve had enough of this place with such sparse spiritual energy!”

　　Even though the dialogue between the three men had been brief, it had disclosed a lot of information.

　　Unfortunately, Yan Tianhen couldn’t understand them.

　　Yan Tianhen watched the three men prepare to leave. As he was about to heave a sigh of relief, he was suddenly pulled down from from the tree by a tremendous force!

　　“Aiyo!” Yan Tianhen fell flop on his face and landed on the ground in a wretched state.

　　“He, there was actually a sparrow who was eavesdropping in a corner. Third Bro, I’ll leave him for you to kill.” The cultivator who had carried the corpse before casually swept a glance across Yan Tianhen’s face and decided on his death for him.

　　Yan Tianhen quickly crawled up and begged without regard for his image, “All you Dao masters, I don’t know anything! I just came here to take a quick look to see if there were any valuable items on these corpses. I promise I won’t say anything!”

　　One of the cultivators saw Yan Tianhen’s face clearly and immediately revealed a disgusted expression, “You look so ugly, I’ve never seen anyone uglier than you.”

　　Yan Tianhen really wished that he could look even uglier right now. He whispered with a trembling voice, “It’s, it’s because I look this ugly that when I was born, my dad didn’t want me and my mum didn’t want me, and even my family’s dog didn’t want me. No one wants me to work for them either, if…if it wasn’t because I wanted to fill my stomach, why would I come to this kind of place? Oh yes, one of my legs is crippled too — because I fought with a wild dog for food before and I got bitten by that wild dog!”

　　As he spoke, Yan Tianhen began to wail wuwuwuwus loudly and looked extremely miserable.

　　When the three cultivators saw this, they didn’t sympathise with him, but they didn’t doubt his words either.

　　One of the cultivators swept a cold gaze over Yan Tianhen and sensed that there wasn’t a lot of Qi in his body, so he said, “You’re but a mere Refining Qi Stage fourth layer cultivator. No matter how down and out the Ling family gets, they would never mix with this kind of trash.”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at him with a bewildered face as snot dripped down from both his nostrils.

　　Cultivators, “…”

　　The three cultivators revealed a disgusted expression on their faces at the same time.

　　One of them suddenly said, “But the clothes you’re wearing now aren’t too bad.”

　　Yan Tianhen quickly used his sleeves to wipe his snot, then nodded, “These were taken off the corpses here. I still have a few stashed somewhere, if the Dao masters like it, I’ll take it over for the Dao masters immediately.”

　　“Fuck you, who wants to wear clothes that were taken from the dead.” The cultivator felt like he had been humiliated, so his killing intent rose up a notch.

　　Yan Tianhen quickly bowed and scraped, “It’s definitely not suitable for a Dao master like you, only someone like me who will sleep in Mass Graves Ridge will use this kind of clothing that was taken from the dead.”

　　When the cultivator saw Yan Tianhen’s unusually ugly face and heard his voice that sounded as horrible as a duck’s quack, he observed his form again and concluded that he was definitely not lying.

　　“There’s no benefit in killing him, but there’s no harm if we don’t either.” The cultivator who had carried the corpse pondered for a moment before he said, “Since he’s so miserable, let’s just spare his dog life!”

　　“Even if he talks about what had happened today, it wouldn’t matter.” Another cultivator said, “Let’s hurry back and report the completion of our task ba, our superior’s probably impatient from waiting.”

　　The three cultivators had probably treated Yan Tianhen as a nonliving thing, and thought that it wouldn’t matter if he were dead or alive, and that his life or death would have no impact on them in any way. Thus, they quickly flew on their swords as they left Mass Graves Ridge.

　　Yan Tianhen collapsed onto the floor on his butt.

　　His heart had almost stopped beating. Those three cultivators had discovered him right from the beginning, and they must be at least of the primary-level or above!

　　To have three primary-level cultivators show up at the same time — if something like this was leaked out, it would probably cause an uproar in Qing city.

　　Primary-level cultivators are powerful enough to be a family elder; you must know, the most amazing cultivators in the Lin family, the first and fifth elders, were only about to break through to the profound level!

　　It was only in this moment that a sense of fear arose in Yan Tianhen; fortunately, he was clever enough, or else he might have not been able to see his Dage ever again!

　　“Aoaoao!” Ah Bai had jumped off the tree as well and was anxiously licking Yan Tianhen’s palm.

　　Yan Tianhen picked Ah Bai up and entered a trance for awhile, then suddenly scolded Ah Bai with a black face, “What happened to protecting me in times of danger?”

　　Ah Bai whimpered guiltily, then explained in their shared consciousness: if those few bad guys had known about his and Hu Po’s existence, the cultivators would have realised that Yan Tianhen was lying and would have definitely killed him!

　　Yan Tianhen pinched Ah Bai’s ears and gave it a twist, “You little ingrate.”

　　Aowu ao!

　　Ouch ouch ouch!

　　Hu Po jumped down too and had ran over to the corpse. He used his nose to nudge the corpse’s body.

　　Yan Tianhen stood up, patted the dust off his butt and walked over to the corpse that was fresh out of the oven. He squatted down to check if he was thoroughly dead.

　　No heartbeat, no pulse, and even his soul had scattered.

　　“Thoroughly dead, and he didn’t die too long ago. His body hasn’t even stiffened up yet.”

　　As Yan Tianhen murmured, he stretched his small hand out and patted the pale face of this corpse called “Ling Chigu”, then used a《Imperial Corpse Technique》method to check for his cultivation level.

　　After he checked, Yan Tianhen was taken aback, “He actually reached the primary-level’s Condense Pulse stage! Isn’t…isn’t this a bit too amazing?!”

　　Yan Tianhen’s heart was thumping loudly; he looked around his surroundings like a thief, and after ensuring that there was no one in the vicinity, he carried this corpse on his small back and put the corpse onto the Chasing Sun horse, then mounted the horse and rapidly rode it back home.

　　After Yan Tianhen left, a man who wore a ghost mask landed on the ground with a light step.

　　“Tsk, pretty smart. He’s adaptable, has a terrifying reaction speed, quick-witted, his skin is thick enough, no wonder he’s my…hehe, but who knows how long you can hide it from that good Dage of yours who’s covered in secrets from head to toe.”

　　Ghost Masked Man let out a comforted laugh, then vanished with a flash.

　　Yan Tianhen used a Lin family entry permit and rushed through an unguarded side door that only had a restriction array that could be dissolved with the entry permit.

　　He had never thought of placing the corpse in the yard that he and Lin Xuanzhi were staying in. Yan Tianhen thought for a bit before he brought the corpse to the dilapidated yard that he and Lin Xuanzhi had been “exiled” to before.

　　This small yard that was situated at the bottom of the most secluded back mountain was purely used by Madam Bai to torture Lin Xuanzhi, so even though Lin Xuanzhi didn’t live there anymore, no one would usually pass by this place.

　　As such, it was quite safe here.

　　Yan Tianhen huffed and puffed as he dragged the corpse into the cellar of the small yard. The moment he entered the cellar, Yan Tianhen shivered from the cold. Yan Tianhen laid the corpse flat on a metal platform in the wine cellar. He lit up a fire crystal, then moved closer to illuminate the man’s face.

　　“You’re pretty good-looking, but you’re still a bit lacking compared to me.” Yan Tianhen enviously looked at the lifeless yet handsome face in front of him, then rubbed his face and sighed, “When can I look as handsome as you?”

　　He looked for a bit longer before Yan Tianhen thought that he was being funny. He pinched this guy’s face, “Forget it, why am I getting jealous of you? There are so many people who’re better looking than me. You’re actually quite pitiful. But, I will try my best to let you continue living in this world through an alternative way.”

　　After Yan Tianhen spoke, he took out a thin golden needle from his storage bag.

　　According to the instructions in《Imperial Corpse Technique》, a corpse has 72 acupoints. As long as you prick these acupoints accurately, the corpse would be able to maintain its fresh state for a period of time and wouldn’t decay. But, if you want the corpse to never decay, you would still need to work on it a lot more.