What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

"Oh? Even the senior thinks this is strange?"

I gave a verbal reply, but a sense of curiosity arose in my heart.

Lu Yan once explained to me that Tiangong was the top weapon crafting and formation master in the General Administration.

What strange and unusual magical artifacts and array patterns hasn't a master of his level seen?

The fact that he found it strange and came all the way to me, the corpse stitcher, to have my opinion is definitely not simple.

"A couple of days ago, the field team raided a stronghold of an underground cult in a remote village in northern Hebei."

As Tiangong spoke, he gestured for me to follow him forward.

I carried my backpack and walked alongside him, listening quietly.

"There aren't any big shots in that stronghold; they're all just low-level fry."

However, when the field team was cleaning up the site, they unearthed a black stone tablet about half a person's height from under the altar where the people worshipped.

The stone tablet was covered in a jumble of runes that the field team's appraisers couldn't decipher, so they transported it back to headquarters and handed it over to me.

Tiangong stopped and turned to look at me, his eyes filled with a hint of inquiry.

"The material of that stone tablet is very ordinary, just common bluestone."

I've studied the runes on it carefully; they're complete nonsense, just randomly carved.

but……"

Tiangong emphasized his words.

"The aura emanating from inside that stone tablet is extremely strange."

"Is the energy strange? Is it carrying malevolent energy or yin energy?"

I asked aloud.

"Neither."

Tiangong shook his head, his brows furrowing slightly.

"If it's just simple malevolent energy or yin energy, there are plenty of people in the headquarters who can handle it."

The energy within that stone tablet is alive.

More accurately, someone forcibly sewed together several completely different fragments of a living soul using a very barbaric and cruel method.

Then it was sealed inside that stone.

Upon hearing the word "seam," I paused slightly, and the evil core within my body involuntarily accelerated its circulation.

"I've seen Taoist methods of capturing and commanding souls, Buddhist methods of delivering and suppressing spirits, and even the sorcery from Southeast Asia—all methods for dealing with souls."

Tiangong continued.

"But this is the first time I've ever seen a method that forcibly pieces together fragments of a soul like shredded cloth, using a sinister energy as thread to weave them together."

The feeling was like a centipede with a hundred legs clinging desperately to the internal structure of the stone tablet.

Tiangong looked at me, his tone becoming very serious:

"I know that your lineage of corpse sewers not only sews up the physical body, but also has the secret technique of sewing up the spirit body."

You've dealt with quite a few evil cultivators, both big and small, in Jiangcheng, and witnessed many insidious methods.

I want you to take a look at that stone tablet and, using your lineage's professional expertise, identify the origin of that "stitching together of qi" technique.

After hearing Tiangong's description, my heart stirred slightly.

Forcibly stitching together fragments of a living soul?

This method sounds a bit like the Ghost Needle technique, doesn't it?

Thinking about this, the image of that mysterious masked man involuntarily appeared in my mind, and at the same time, a sense of curiosity arose in my heart.

Besides, doing Tian Gong, this bigwig in the General Administration, a favor would be entirely beneficial to me.

After clearing my thoughts, I said, "I understand."

Since you trust me, I'll go and take a look at your case.

Let's see what kind of demons and monsters are hidden inside this stone tablet.

"That's great! I love your decisive and straightforward style."

Tiangong slapped his thigh, and a smile returned to his previously serious face.

He turned around, put his hands behind his back, and walked with a pigeon-toed gait toward a heavily guarded gray building deep inside the compound.

"Come with me, that broken stone is now in my private appraisal room."

If you can figure this out today and help me solve this problem, I'll consider it a favor I owe you.

I didn't say anything more, I just silently followed behind Tiangong.

A hot breeze swept through the General Administration compound, rustling the leaves.

I touched the cold, black bone needle in the inside pocket of my coat. It seems my plan to return to Jiangcheng immediately will have to be postponed a little.

The gray building behind the headquarters is quite inconspicuous from the outside.

But as soon as I got close, I could feel the faint fluctuations of the array in the surrounding air.

It was a very uncomfortable feeling of oppression, as if countless eyes were staring at you from the shadows.

Following Tiangong through two heavy metal security doors, and after undergoing a double verification of iris and fingerprints, we finally entered his private appraisal room.

As soon as the door was pushed open, a strong smell of metallic rust mixed with the scents of cinnabar and rosin wafted out.

The space here is large, but it's crammed full.

The shelves against the wall were piled with all sorts of strange metal parts, broken compasses, and charred wooden swords.

There were even a few dried-up animal bones from an unknown era.

The room didn't look like the laboratory of a top master; it looked more like a large junkyard.

In the very center of the room, there is a circular array plate cast in brass.

On the array plate, a black stone tablet, about half the height of a person, stands quietly.

"This is it."

Tiangong stepped forward, pointed at the stone tablet with his pipe, and then turned to look at me.

"Go and take a look."

Don't touch it directly with your hands. This thing has a heavy yin energy on its surface; an ordinary person would fall seriously ill if they touched it. Even though you have protective energy, you still need to be extra careful.

"Okay, let me take a look."

I responded, put my backpack on the table next to me, and walked to the edge of the array plate.

Upon closer inspection, the material of this stone tablet is indeed very ordinary, just the bluestone commonly found in northern Hebei.

The surface of the stone tablet is pitted and uneven, with some twisted lines engraved on it, which look like some kind of runes.

However, the strokes are messy and lack the flowing elegance of Taoist talismans; they look more like something a child would scribble on with a nail.

I stood half a meter in front of the stone tablet, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

The jade-colored evil pill within my body began to slowly rotate, and a baleful aura carrying a faint dragon's might flowed along my meridians, eventually converging at my fingertips.

At the same time, the mysterious, cool aura that had been lingering between my eyebrows was also awakened by me and spread outwards along with my senses.

I didn't touch the stone tablet directly with my hands. Instead, I sent a wisp of jade-colored evil energy through the air and gently placed it on the surface of the stone tablet.

The moment they made contact, a cold, viscous resistance was transmitted back along with the malevolent energy.

I did not force my way through, but instead controlled the evil energy, peeling it like an onion, and gradually letting it seep into the stone tablet through the texture of its surface.

With the aid of the cool air, my senses were amplified several times over, and the scene inside the stone tablet gradually became clear in my mind.

The craftsman was right; the energy inside this stone tablet is "alive."