369 Corpse Refining Technique

"What are you staring at? Quickly send the signal and get Lord Xing here!"

Although Fang Yuan could deal with the mosquitoes himself, he would rather not. With that, he shouted at the startled Pink Deity.

"I understand!"

Pink Deity snapped out of her trance and quickly activated her piece of jade. "Guardian Xing, I am Pink Deity. We have discovered a node at the East of the lake! We are now under mutant beasts attack, so please send help!"

"Oh? You've found it!?"

Xing Yunzi's excited voice was heard from her piece of jade. "Hold it a little longer, I'll be there in a jiffy!"

'There shouldn't be any problem!'

Fang Yuan glanced at the dream masters in his group.

Other than Pink Deity who had such an encounter, the rest who died were mostly Wu Zongs.

These Blood Mosquitoes seemed to prefer martial artists. Therefore, without the protection from the dream masters, these martial artists suffered severe injuries from the mosquitoes.

"Buzz! Buzz!"

Seeing that they were unable to penetrate any further, the Blood Mosquitoes started to fly into a different formation, forming a twisted shape which vaguely resembled a human's face. It had a sinister look and suddenly, the face let out a shrilling voice.

"Ah! Ah!"

A piercing female voice was heard; it was akin to the scratching sound of a fingernail on a piece of glass. Everyone's hair stood on their ends and all of them started to have goosebumps.

"What's this..."

As soon as Fang Yuan focused, he could see an invisible vibration spreading out. Accompanying the vibration was a powerful force, and the nearby dream masters were all affected. Their eyes turned white and blood started to flow out of their ears. Some of them even fell straight to the ground, and it was unknown if they were dead or not.

More importantly, their defences were immediately crippled as soon as the powerful force reached out to them!

"Buzz! Buzz!"

At that moment, the lady's face started to disperse. Groups of mosquitoes started to spread out towards their defenceless preys, as though a hungry wolf had found a piece of meat in front of it.

"Thunder, strike!"

Fang Yuan shook his head. As he waved his hands, streaks of lightning appeared everywhere, striking the air. Ashes began to fall to the ground.

"Chi! Chi!"

As the mists of blood exploded, his depleted dream elemental energy was quickly restored.

"This is not bad... I'm afraid that even normal dream masters in the 4th Tier of Illusionary Divine will not be able to take them down!"

Fang Yuan commented before striking another sword out. "Wind Sword, go!"

"Whooo! Whoo!"

A hurricane started to pick up speed and the Blood Mosquitoes around him were blown about, losing all control.

In fact, these mosquitoes were likely to find out that this enemy they were facing was not an ordinary enemy. They would have no chance to suck his blood and might even risk their proboscises. However, even so, Fang Yuan would not want to reveal his unusually strong physical body.

Just as the tables were being turned, a few streaks of light appeared. It was the arrival of Xing Yunzi, Zhou Tian and a few others.

"Who would know that there would be so many Blood Pitched Mosquitoes?"

Xing Yunzi stood in front. As he evaluated the scene before him, he stretched his palms out.

An invisible force started to increase in strength and Fang Yuan suddenly felt as though his body had become heavier.

"Bang!"

"Pa! Pa!"

With that, the Blood Mosquitoes in the surroundings started to fall to the ground like raindrops.

"Ha!"

Xing Yunzi shouted as his head started to transform into that of a beast. He now had a sharp and pointed mouth with a long and red tongue. With that, he swung his tongue out.

"Whoosh!"

The Blood Mosquitoes on the floor were swept clean.

"Is this... an anteater?"

Fang Yuan was speechless.

There was the Ultimate Segregation Array in the 9 Extremes Mountain. Therefore, anyone who wishes to enter would be required to have an extremely strong physical body. It was normal for the guardian of this place to be a dream beast master.

After all, even if they were to deplete all their dream elemental force, he could still rely on his transformed beast form to survive for long periods.

What Xing Yunzi had displayed was a partial transformation, which was an extremely high-levelled technique.

After all, the magical beast which he was to transform to had to have the ability to eat up all these blood mosquitoes. In order for him to manage the Blood Mosquitos in his stomach, he needed to transform his stomach to that of another magical beast - Wenkong!

Of course, Fang Yuan felt uneasy as he looked at Xing Yunzi.

"Elder Xing, you're finally here!"

However, he could only keep his thoughts to himself. After all, Xing Yunzi was the strongest dream master here that was from the Realm Alliance. Therefore, Fang Yuan had to be humble in front of him.

"Hmm! Who would've thought that there would be a nest of Blood Mosquitoes here!"

Xing Yunzi transformed his head back into that of a human as he licked his lips. "Who are the casualties?"

"We have about 6 to 7 dead, and the rest are injured by the high-pitched vibration..."

Fang Yuan reported honestly.

"The more Blood Pitched Mosquitoes there are, the more powerful their high-pitched sound will be. We can do nothing about it!"

Looking at the crypt, Xing Yunzi nodded his head. "Who would've thought that there would be such a restriction over this node. Zhou Tian, Peng Xuan, Fang Yuan, follow me as we enter this crypt. As for the rest of you, prepare a campsite here and form a protective array!"

Now that all the Blood Pitched Mosquitoes were gone, the crypt became visible to everyone as it laid in the middle of the messy stone array.

The black fog which spewed continuously from the crypt resembled the mouth of a weird looking beast, as though it was prepared to swallow a person whole.

"This is giving off a sinister vibe!"

As Zhou Tian arrived at the side of the crypt, he examined the wide opening and was speechless. "I'm afraid that normal humans or even dream masters might be affected after coming into contact with this corrosive black fog!"

"Let's go!"

With a long face, Xing Yunzi activated a layer of yellow scales around his body in an attempt to protect his vital parts. He led the group of them as they walked towards the crypt.

The crypt was extremely large and the tunnel ran deep. After a few yards, everything became pitch-black.

At the same time, glows appeared on the ancient coins in their hands, illuminating the entire place. This was a sign that they were getting closer and closer to the node.

The wall was not made of soil or rock. Instead, it was a wall of crystals, and in these crystals, there were red glitters.

"This is..."

Fang Yuan took a few steps towards the wall and started to examine it.

"Hehe... I see that you realised what it is. This is the larvae of the Blood Pitched Mosquitoes. This entire tunnel is, in fact, the nest of the Blood Mosquitoes... No wonder we can feel a sinister vibe everywhere."

Zhou Tian sighed. At this point in time, the thick black fog started to surround them and now, there was already a visible layer of fog.

What surprised Fang Yuan was the fact that there were no longer any dangers along the way in the tunnel. The 4 of them made it to the end smoothly as they arrived at a huge pool. In the middle of the pool, there was a pitch-black liquid which bubbled continuously.

"Ahh, this node is indeed within an extremely perilous land!"

Xing Yunzi shook his head and started to examine the surroundings.

On the other hand, Fang Yuan started at the pool of black water and was lost in his thoughts.

His physical body was already as close as the level of the 100th Refining Stage and he should be fine even if he were to take a swim in this pool. On the other hand, in the refining process, he might require a few poisons which can only be obtained in crypts like this for him to attain the 100th Refining Stage.

"What are you thinking about? Are you interested in this poisonous water, Fang Yuan?"

Peng Xuan gazed over with a look of anticipation as though he had found someone with similar interest. " This pool of black water is one of the most poisonous waters in the world, and even elemental force would corrode in it. However, it would be a good resource to use to refine corpses! Even if I were to throw in a most normal corpse, I might be able to get a Yaksa[1] in return!"

"Refine a corpse?"

Zhou Tian seemed to have understood something as he tugged at Fang Yuan's sleeves. "I remember something. This Daoist Peng Xuan has a nickname, the 'King of Corpses'. It was rumoured that he had stumbled upon an extremely powerful corpse refining technique in one of the small realms. Obsessed with this, he went on to modify it and refined a few Iron Corpses and Golden Corpses as his bodyguards, but unfortunately..."

Fang Yuan knew why Zhou Tian sighed at the end.

The Bronze Corpse and Iron Corpse were powerful and impenetrable. However, the same could be achieved with highly-skilled martial artists. In fact, martial artists were even agiler than the corpses.

With the Wu Zongs as servants, who would need to refine corpses?

"That's not true! Not true!"

Peng Xuan waved his whisk. "The technique of refining corpses is a study on its own. Even the refining of the Golden Corpse is only elementary. If I can really refine a Yaksa, then I will really be skilled. After all, the Golden Corpse has a simple mind but the Yaksa has the mind comparable to a normal human being. If I am lucky and I am able to refine and create the Drought Beast, then keke... it will cause a drought in a 3,000-mile radius, and I'm not lying!"

"Dream on!"

Zhou Tian rolled his eyes. "What Drought Beast do you think you are talking about? That is only in the novels..."

"That's not true! The Drought Beast exists..."

Peng Xuan started to look serious. "I don't think I'll ever achieve the 7th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage in my life. However, if I am able to reincarnate into a Drought Beast, I will be able to lengthen my lifespan to live even longer than a Sage!"

"Forget about it! You've told this story to almost everyone you meet, and you're just finding new people to trick!"

Zhou Tian immediately rebutted. "Fang Yuan, don't take his word. Everything he said was imaginary. In our world, we can at most refine a Golden Corpse!"

"Previously it is because I have limited resources!"

Peng Xuan gazed at the pool of black water and his eyes glistened. "If I can make use of this treasured place, I can surely refine the Yaksa!"

"Alright!"

Xing Yunzi, who was examining the entire place, turned his head around. "Don't make too much noise... As long as we succeed this time, in the future, no matter how long you guys like to stay here, you will be able to do so!"

With that, he flicked a purple-coloured ancient coin into the pool.

The ancient coin was made of gold, but this particular one was even more unique. It was translucent like a crystal and as soon as it fell into the pool of black water, it disappeared in a splash.

As Fang Yuan focused, he could see a purple figure floating about at the bottom of the pool. After a while, it stopped at a particular spot.

"It's here!"

Xing Yunzi seemed extremely excited. "Let's go!"

With the wave of his hands, a purple streak of light appeared. In the streak of light, there was a long needle. The needle flew into the water and through the hole in the middle of the coin which laid at the bottom of the pool.

"Rumble!"

It felt like hallucination as the entire crypt shook at the moment where the needle entered the hole!

'This is using the Dragon Searching Acupuncture Technique to search for the core of the node in the earth meridian...'

Fang Yuan started to think to himself. 'After this, we should be building an altar directly above this place to keep it under control and to detect anything from it, right?'

...

At the same time.

Outside the 9 Extremes Mountain, in an isolated room.

The room was extremely spacious and there was a bronze cauldron in the middle of the room. On the cauldron were 8 golden dragons facing in different directions.

"Pa!"

At this point in time, one of the dragons opened its mouth, spitting out a golden pearl which landed in the mouth of a golden toad below.

"Are the earth meridians changing?"

One of the old daoist guarding the place opened his eyes and moved his fingers in an attempt to predict something. "It's from the 9 Extremes Mountain... Since the dragon meridian is injured we will have to remedy it within 9 days. Otherwise, all hope would be lost!"

[1]: A Yaksa is a type of human-eating ghost.