I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 975: Chapter 269: Corpse Refiner

“Xiao Shiba was one of our own, his untimely and inexplicable death demands that I seek justice for him!”

With a slight lift of his hand, Gu Han summoned a gust of energy that lifted the young man and moved him to the side, “Step aside and let me see who had the audacity, the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard, to kill a spy from Blood Tower!”

A corpse does not lie; to some extent, the information a body can convey is far more than what the living can impart.

And for the Corpse Monk, a body was not just something that could speak; with a gentle beckoning from Gu Han, the corpse slumped against the wall rose to its feet and stiffly walked over to him.

The Corpse Monk placed his hand onto the corpse’s crown, and a green light illuminated within Wu Shiba’s brain. This light emerged from the Baihui point and traveled into the palm of the great monk.

This eerie and indescribable scene filled the onlooking young man with terror, yet he bit his lips, curbing his curiosity and not making a sound.

After a long while, having sensed all the information within Wu Shiba’s remains, Gu Han turned to the young man with a smile, “You are indeed well-behaved, aren’t you afraid?”

“No… not afraid!” Even though his voice trembled, the young man resolutely said, “As long as I can avenge Brother Wu, I am not afraid of anything!”

“Such a loyal and righteous lad.”

Gu Han mused to himself with a flash of surprise in his eyes, “What is your name, and how old are you this year?”

“My name is Yan Luoyu, and I am eighteen years old.”

“Eighteen? How long have you been practicing martial arts?”

“Ever since joining the Taibao gang, Brother Wu taught me Foundation Building, and this is already the sixth year!”

“Oh!?”

Gu Han’s eyes lit up again; as a master of martial arts, he naturally understood that for a child to start from nothing and complete the thirty-six figures of the Innate Dao Map, it would take at least four or five years, and that’s with the advantage of being young and supple. Although starting martial arts at twelve isn’t late, as the body has already begun to develop, the Dao Map is not so easy to cultivate, and Foundation Building requires much more energy and tenacity. It seemed that the disciple Wu Shiba had taken in may indeed be a talent with extraordinary innate potential.

With this thought in mind, the Corpse Monk then asked Yan Luoyu, “When did you first manage to observe internally?”

Yan Luoyu pondered before answering, “I reported to the master that it was only last year during the twelfth lunar month that I completed Foundation Building and could observe internally.”

At this point, Yan Luoyu’s face couldn’t help but darken somewhat. He had once dreamt of being a martial prodigy, unlike those mentioned in stories who would complete Foundation Building in just two or three years and then ascend to transcend Mortal Realm after only five or six years of cultivation. Having trained for a full six years and not even reaching the peak of Mortal Realm, he had let go of his fantasies.

However, the Corpse Monk, being a master of martial arts, viewed the issue from a more objective and insightful perspective than the young man. Why do prodigies always emerge from noble families? Because only the resources of noble families can set a youth on the right path to martial greatness from an early age.

Even if a commoner’s child possesses the Innate Dao Map, completing Foundation Building is out of reach for them. In the final analysis, it’s because they lack adequate nutrition.

The children of noble families can begin to try and cultivate the Innate Dao Map as early as four or five years old. But if a commoner’s child were to train at the same age, they would only damage their foundation and deplete their Primary Qi, unless they could eat Spiritual Food and Rice at every meal. This is the reasoning behind the saying, “It is difficult for those from humble backgrounds to become nobility.”

As one ages, the difficulty of Foundation Building increases geometrically. For someone like Yan Luo Jade, who started Foundation Building at the age of twelve, completing it in five years is considered fast, let alone in just half a year. His Spiritual Power now stands in the upper echelons of the Mortal Realm, which shows without a doubt that this child possesses extraordinary martial talents.

The Corpse Monk, who had intended to just get the information and leave, suddenly had other ideas. After pondering for a long while, he said to Yan Luo Jade, “Old monk asks you, do you wish to continue your martial cultivation?”

Upon hearing this, Yan Luo Jade was overjoyed and quickly knelt down, saying, “Master above, your disciple Yan Luo Jade, wishes to follow the master to cultivate the righteous path!”

“Hold on,” the Corpse Monk said, lifting the corner of his robe lightly and raising Yan Luo Jade with a gust of wind, he said indifferently, “The old monk’s method is a fusion of the two paths of Buddha and demon, integrating the willpower and the technique of corpse shas, which is profoundly difficult to understand, extremely obscure, and even now, the old monk is unsure of the path ahead, with no intention to pass on the mantle, so I cannot take you as a disciple!”

Yan Luo Jade, hoisted by the wind, said with a gloomy face, “It’s my lack of fortune.”

“However, you might consider joining the Blood Tower to continue your martial cultivation.”

Gu Han continued, “I believe you have also seen the wrist blade technique of No. 18. That is merely the tip of the iceberg of the Blood Tower’s martial skills. As long as you join the Blood Tower, you will surely become a more outstanding warrior than No. 18 in the future.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Luo Jade was again overjoyed and said, “Master, where is this Blood Tower located, and how may I enter its gate?”

“There is no kindness without a reason in this world, you better think it through.” Gu Han said indifferently, “Entering the Blood Tower means serving the Blood Tower for life, becoming the Blood Tower’s assassin or spy, obeying the Tower Master’s orders, but as long as you can complete your missions, top secret techniques and the strongest skills will be at your disposal!”

“So, think carefully before you answer, do you wish to join the Blood Tower?”

Yan Luo Jade’s expression changed for a moment—in the tavern, he had already figured out that Brother Wu had another, even more secretive identity besides being the chief bodyguard.

But when he thought of Brother Wu’s 18 wrist blade technique, which seemed almost magical, he could not stop thinking about it. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see the blade shimmering in the dark space.

In the young man’s rudimentary understanding of the martial path, this represented the pinnacle of martial arts. If he could master this technique, what would it matter if he spent his life as an assassin!

“I have thought it through; I want to join the Blood Tower to cultivate the same technique as Brother Wu!”

Yan Luo Jade, with fierce determination in his eyes, answered without hesitation.

“Good!” Gu Han nodded in satisfaction and placed his hand again on the crown of No. 18’s head.

A stream of black qi flowed from the Corpse Monk’s body into No. 18’s corpse and, to Yan Luo Jade’s disbelief, No. 18 opened his tightly shut eyes, revealing two blood-red irises.

As the corpse sha entered the body, No. 18’s corpse quickly stiffened. His teeth became sharply pointed, his nails turned black and elongated, and white hair began to grow all over his body.

In just a quarter of an hour, the Corpse Monk Gu Han had used No. 18’s corpse to refine a Sixth-Rank white stiff. If other cultivators who practiced Corpse Refinement saw this, their eyes would bulge with amazement. Yet the young Yan Luo Jade did not understand the magnitude of the technique before him.

A Sixth-Rank white stiff is the peak of walking corpses, impervious to knives and guns, with boundless strength, and the intense corpse poison poses a threat even to martial artists at the peak of the Mortal Transformation.

And with further advancement, it can transform into a Fifth-Rank flying stiff, known among the populace as a flying yaksha, an adversary beyond the reach of those in Mortal Transformation!