Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chapter 113: Chapter 109 Corpse Refinement

The Autumn Woods Mountain Range was not very far from Yu County, but neither was it very close. By the time Chen Mu followed Xu Hongyu across and reached the foot of the Autumn Woods Mountain Range, the sun had already passed noon and was gradually leaning toward the western bank.

"It seems we will have to rest in the mountains for the night."

Xu Hongyu glanced at the sun and estimated the pace of the group.

Xiao He hesitated slightly, "Is spending the night in the mountains a bit…"

"No matter,"

Xu Hongyu shook her head, "There are no dangerous demons in the Autumn Woods Mountain Range, and entering the mountains we can also conveniently hunt some meat. In fact, traveling through the night wouldn't be an issue, but in that case, once we reach An Yu County, we would need to rest in the city for a night."

For martial artists in the Tendon Changing Realm, as long as there was meat and water, staying awake for two or three days was no issue. However, since this trip involved dealing with demons, it was essential to maintain a state of abundant vitality and Qi-Blood before reaching the destination.

Chen Mu had no objections to Xu Hongyu's proposal.

Although sleeping in the wild and barren hills seemed somewhat poor and meager, having two women by his side, both pleasing to the eyes, mattered a lot; he had grown somewhat bored of his days in the city over the years.

Seeing that Chen Mu and Xiao He had no other objections, Xu Hongyu then set off into the Autumn Woods Mountain Range, with Chen Mu and Xiao He following closely behind.

As their figures disappeared into the mountain range,

from within the bushes,

some grey insects lying on the dry rotten wood noiselessly flapped their wings and vanished into the woods.

...

The sky gradually darkened.

The group had ventured deep into the heart of the Autumn Woods Mountain Range.

Along the way, they hadn't encountered any demons, and they had seldom seen any beasts. Only Chen Mu always had a faint feeling of being watched, but climbing up the trees to look around, he saw no trace of any person or demon, as if it was just an illusion upon first entering the dense forest.

"Let's stop here."

Xu Hongyu glanced at the sky, slowed her pace, and then drew her sword from its sheath, casually swinging it a few times, cutting down several nearby trees as thick as bowls, which fell with a loud crash.

Seeing Xu Hongyu efficiently setting up a temporary shelter, Chen Mu said, "I'll go hunt some meat."

With that,

he leapt up and disappeared among the trees.

After Chen Mu had left, Xiao He looked toward Xu Hongyu and smiled lightly, "He still follows Miss Xu's commands as always, without any different proposals all day."

Xu Hongyu appeared calm, "This is his first time leaving the city, he doesn't know much about the outside and lacks experience dealing with demons, so he naturally wouldn't interfere in unfamiliar situations. He knows how to act appropriately."

Youthful frivolity was never seen in Chen Mu.

This was one of the reasons she only brought Xiao He and Chen Mu to carry out this mission—Xiao He was inevitably obedient to her, and Chen Mu knew how to measure his actions, ensuring he wouldn't act rashly or burden the team.

...

Away from where Xu Hongyu was,

Chen Mu looked up and spotted the tallest tree, swiftly leaping onto its top, his gaze surveying the area below. Even though dense leaves obscured his view, he could still see some movements.

Soon, his gaze settled on a direction in the distance, and he promptly leapt from the tree, quickly reaching the spot. Raising his right hand, he fetched a stone and flung it downward.

Crack!

In the woods below, a gray bear foraging for food was struck directly in the skull by the stone in his hand.

"Not a demon…"

Chen Mu dropped from the tree and examined the bear's corpse, shaking his head slightly.

While demons were great evils that plagued mankind, they were also full of preciousness. Even lower-rank demons had valuable skins and bones, and the Qi-Blood contained in their flesh far exceeded that of normal beasts.

If one regularly consumed the fresh flesh of demons, their own Qi-Blood would be much more vigorous than others, potentially accelerating the Body Refining process and making it easier to reach the Tendon Changing and Bone Tempering Realms.

Xu Hongyu had previously hunted demons before reaching Tendon Changing Perfection after a period of quiet cultivation, which was also due to the frequent occurrences of demons during that time; they served both as practice and a means to accumulate Qi-Blood, aiding her rapid progression.

However,

demons weren't commonly seen under normal circumstances.

Although not as intelligent as humans, demons were somewhat sharper than regular beasts and were very good at concealing themselves; they usually only appeared frequently when some anomaly occurred in the natural world, making them somewhat agitated.

Like during the previous winter, it was due to changes in the celestial phenomena that many demons were affected.

The gray bear weighed seven to eight hundred pounds.

Chen Mu reached out and lifted it with one hand, as his physical strength after reaching the limit of the Tendon Changing Realm far exceeded ordinary human imagination.

"Mmm… what is that?"

Just as Chen Mu was about to carry the gray bear back, his gaze suddenly sharpened, looking toward a direction not far off.

He didn't see anything specifically, but as his Qi-Blood circulated, he faintly sensed a decaying, corrupt aura from that direction, causing him an uncomfortable sensation.

Chen Mu furrowed his brows, and after a moment of pondering, he put down the gray bear and headed in that direction.

A short while later,

a marshland appeared before him.

The marshland emitted a thick, putrid stench, with some eerie gray insects fluttering above it, buzzing loudly, making Chen Mu increasingly uncomfortable, furrowing his brow even more. He turned to leave.

But suddenly, a thought struck him; he stepped back a few paces, drew his Fine Iron Knife, and swung it out.

Whoosh!

A few gray bugs were torn apart by the strong wind picked up by the knife, while the putrid swamp exploded all at once, splashing countless decaying mud and murky water.

As soon as Chen Mu swung his knife downward, he leaped into the air and landed atop a tree, untouched by the filthy water and decayed mud, while his gaze turned toward the rotten swamp, and immediately he slightly narrowed his eyes.

"As expected..."

His complexion turned somewhat ugly.

In the exploding putrid mud, a corpse appeared startlingly upright in the mire, its entire body covered in filth and sludge.

No wonder he felt extremely uncomfortable, vaguely sensing something off about that stench. It turned out to be the smell of a corpse!

His sudden action was because he recognized those strange gray bugs as a species known as Corpse Bugs, which he had seen in a 'Record of Bugs.' These bugs, considered lowly monsters, often lurk near corpses.

Additionally, having worked as a constable for many years and frequently handled corpses, he was extremely sensitive to the smell of decay. Now, with his increased realm and abundant Qi-Blood, his senses were much sharper than before. Even the corpse stench mixed with the mire and filth could still be keenly detected by him.

That a body was buried in the swamp in the deep mountains was indeed surprising, especially as it appeared not yet to have rotted.

Chen Mu examined the body carefully before shaking his head.

In the depths of the Autumn Forest Mountains, an ordinary person would not venture, and he was no longer a constable required to investigate a case just because of a corpse. Hunting monsters was more important.

With this thought.

Chen Mu prepared to leave the tree.

But he suddenly thought something was amiss, turning his head back, squinting at the corpse in the swamp about to be submerged again, and suddenly took out a pebble and threw it with force.

Clang!

The pebble hit the corpse's head, but instead of exploding, a strange clang of metal echoed as if it didn't strike a corpse but rather a metal-cast statue!

Watching this strange scene, Chen Mu immediately narrowed his eyes.

A corpse hard as metal reminded him of a sorcery from the forbidden records of the Da Xuan, known as the 'Corpse Refinement Technique,' which could render a corpse impervious to weapons and immensely strong. However, this technique was forbidden by the Da Xuan, with its practitioners condemned to severe punishment, including being cut at the waist!

"Corpse Refinement Technique..."

Chen Mu murmured, recalling a passage.

——In the year 458 of the Da Xuan Calendar, the Monster Sect 'Heavenly Corpse Sect' emerged. Its disciples caused chaos around the world through Corpse Refinement. Later, the Da Xuan Dynasty Court reacted, ordering the Azure Dragon Army and White Tiger Army to obliterate it, broadcasting a decree that anyone found refining corpses would be severely punished; their deaths need not be reported...

This was a record he had seen in the annals of the Da Xuan.

Though merely a brief mention, each incident in these annals shook the world, and this so-called 'World Chaos' was surely no trivial matter, likely causing great turmoil and leading the entire Da Xuan to send an army to obliterate it completely.

After all, being meticulously recorded, the direct extermination of a sect by the Da Xuan Dynasty Court and even issuing such a decree was extremely rare in over a thousand years of history.

Swish!

Chen Mu's figure flickered, landing from the tree next to the corpse and suddenly brandished his Servant's Knife, chopping down fiercely.

A clang resounded, another loud metallic sound, but this time Chen Mu's blade momentum ferociously beheaded the corpse's head.

The whole corpse was indeed not a metal-cast statue but truly a body, yet its insides shone with a bizarre black luster, akin to raw iron.

This was an Iron Corpse.

Reportedly, within the Heavenly Corpse Sect's Corpse Refinement, Iron Corpses were the lowest quality but still retained bodies as tough as iron, and once refined, could be manipulated through secret techniques much like puppets.

"Who would be so bold as to refine corpses here?"

Chen Mu said to himself as he looked at the corpse.

In these times, with the weakening of the Da Xuan Dynasty Court's might, indeed various demons and creatures had begun to emerge. He had already encountered the forbidden 'Corpse Poison Jade' several times in Yu City, and now, even more forbidden, came across Corpse Refinement.

It was said that 'Corpse Poison Jade,' apparently also a relic of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, was somehow not completely eradicated by the court, which later specifically decreed to strictly ban its production, punishing violators with death. Now, it seemed, this substance did not appear in Yu City by chance.

Thinking of this, Chen Mu shook his head again.

The Heavenly Corpse Sect had been destroyed for hundreds of years, yet some remnants had reemerged, further indicating that the deterrent power of the Da Xuan Dynasty Court no longer existed. In the future, amidst chaotic times, perhaps the past forbiddances could reappear.

"I wonder if Xu Hongyu is aware of this."

After briefly pondering, Chen Mu no longer went to retrieve the hunted gray bear but discerned the direction and quickly returned the way he came.

...

The sky was growing dark.

In the dense forest, a clearing that had been chopped down appeared. The clearing was formed by thick tree trunks stacked against each other to make a somewhat rough but spacious shed.

A fire was burning in front of the shed, and Xu Hongyu stood quietly in front of it.

Meanwhile, Xiao He busied herself covering the shed with leaves to complete its construction.

Suddenly.

Xu Hongyu shifted her gaze to one side, hearing some noises.

"He's back... no, that's not right."

At first, she looked on calmly with her hands behind her back, but soon detected something, her expression changing as she swiftly placed her hand on the sword at her waist and sternly called out to the woods, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Chen Mu was alone.

But at this moment, the approaching footsteps in the forest were numerous and exceedingly heavy.