Burial Furnace

Lu Muyao looked down at Zhang Yuan and said coldly, "Old man, you mustn't reveal a single word about the cremation of so many corpses, or about me spending the night here. Otherwise, you'll die a horrible death."

Zhang Yuan looked into her clear yet cold eyes and nodded: "Don't worry. I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Goodbye." Lu Muyao turned and walked out, but stopped at the door and added without turning back, "No, never again."

After saying that, she pushed open the door and went out.

Soon, a sharp whooshing sound came from outside—it was the sound of a sword taking off.

Zhang Yuan walked to the window, pushed it open, and looked up.

A white figure streaked across the sky, flying towards the direction of the Sunset Mountain Range. It grew smaller and smaller, farther and farther away, until it finally turned into a point of light and disappeared into the horizon.

But in my mind, I recalled the beauty and wonder of last night.

It was truly unforgettable.

He then walked to the dressing table and examined himself in the bronze mirror.

Life expectancy has increased by a full two hundred and forty years.

Adding in all the bits and pieces he had accumulated over the years, his total lifespan was approaching three hundred years.

For a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining, this is simply an unbelievable number.

For ordinary Qi Refining cultivators, living to 120 years old is considered a long life, but his current lifespan is already comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The wrinkles on my face have become much shallower.

The skin around her eyes and brows was firmer than before, radiating a long-lost glow. Although her hair was still white, upon closer inspection, many black strands were now mixed in, like patches of black soil peeking out from a snow-covered field.

Obviously, while increasing lifespan can make people look younger, it cannot completely change the appearance of aging.

To regain your youthful vigor, you need the "Yin Yang Rejuvenation Technique".

Moreover, it takes several years, or even more than a decade, to gradually erase the signs of aging.

Zhang Yuan didn't care.

Being an old man is pretty good too.

Moreover, he is never short of beautiful women around him.

He sat cross-legged and practiced the Evergreen Technique for a while.

His talent has indeed improved, but not by much.

Clearly, as talent improves, further improvement becomes increasingly difficult.

It's like a river that has already been widened quite a bit; if you want to widen it further, you'll need even more effort and more time.

This is normal—it's like this with everything; the further you go, the harder it is to make progress.

But he wasn't in a hurry. As long as he continued to cremate corpses and obtain the power of origin, one day his talent would be no less than that of those geniuses with a single spiritual root.

He drew three more invisibility talismans.

It was more relaxing than yesterday.

As the pen tip touched the paper, the runes seemed to flow out on their own, incredibly smoothly.

Clearly, with increased lifespan and improved talent, mental strength will also be enhanced accordingly.

This is incredibly good news.

Now, drawing talismans every day can earn you a steady two and a half mid-grade spirit stones.

Of course, he couldn't sell two of them to Zhou Lie—that vampire would only offer half price.

He planned to find an opportunity to sell it to independent cultivators, hoping to get a full price.

He washed up, changed into clean clothes, went out, ate a bowl of noodles at Old Man Xia's shop, and then wandered around the town.

Upon turning around, he discovered that there were indeed many more cultivators in the town.

The streets were bustling with people, several times more lively than usual.

There were even many Golden Core cultivators, each with an extremely terrifying aura, walking with a gust of wind, making people afraid to approach.

They all flocked to shops selling talismans, rare and precious materials, and magical artifacts.

Some of them were covered in wounds, their robes stained with blood, and their arms wrapped in bandages, but their eyes still shone with excitement.

Clearly, they had gained something from the secret realm and were eager to replenish their equipment and trump cards in preparation for the next exploration.

"You can fight to the death all you want. In the end, you'll all end up in my crematorium."

Zhang Yuan muttered to himself.

He passed by Liu Boyuan's house and saw the old man sitting outside, basking in the sun.

His face was lined with deep wrinkles, as if carved by a knife; his hair was sparse and gray; and his hands were withered and thin.

But his eyes were still clear, and his thoughts were also very clear.

Zhang Yuan couldn't resist walking over, sitting down on the stone stool next to him, and chatting with him.

"Zhang Yuan, your crematorium upgrade is very timely," Liu Boyuan said slowly, squinting his eyes. "Now you should be able to cremate Nascent Soul corpses, right? Hurry up and promote it. Your business will be much better."

He paused, then lowered his voice and said, "The Xuanhuang Ruins are vast and expansive. It will take at least a year and a half to explore them thoroughly and determine their ownership. Therefore, many terrifying battles will break out during this period, and many Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators will die."

"Even if someone dies, they won't all be cremated, right?" Zhang Yuan asked tentatively.

"You wouldn't know this," Liu Boyuan shook his head, a glint of light flashing in his cloudy eyes. "The corpses of Golden Core cultivators and Nascent Soul cultivators are extremely difficult to burn. Even with ordinary flames, it might take three days and three nights to burn them completely. Using true fire would be too wasteful of true essence. Using high-grade cremation talismans costs several mid-grade spirit stones per talisman, and burning one Nascent Soul corpse would require more than a dozen, making the cost too high."

He paused, then continued, "But if we don't burn it, there will be endless troubles. First, the wounds on the corpse might attract the attention of enemies. Second—if the corpse is left unattended, it might absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, slowly revive, and become a corpse cultivator. A powerful corpse cultivator might even regain their memories from their previous life, and they too will come to seek revenge."

"Corpse cultivator?" Zhang Yuan's eyes lit up.

He had lived for eighty years and had heard of the legends of corpse cultivators, but he had never seen one.

He always thought it was fake, a story made up by country folk to scare children.

Unexpectedly, it's actually true.

"When I was young, I saw a corpse cultivator with my own eyes. That was more than a hundred years ago, in Black Wind Ridge in the west. A corpse cultivator at the Golden Core stage crawled out of his grave and killed people from several nearby villages. It took several small sects working together to suppress it."

Zhang Yuan listened with great interest, his heart burning with enthusiasm.

That's great, now my crematorium won't have to worry about business anymore.

After killing their enemies, the cultivators of those major sects would definitely choose to cremate the bodies to destroy evidence and avoid future troubles.

In the entire town of Qingmu, and even within a radius of a thousand miles, his was the only crematorium.

This is practically a monopoly business.

After chatting for a while longer, Zhang Yuan took his leave.

Back at the crematorium, he found a calligraphy brush, dipped it in ink, and added a line of text to the blackboard on the outer wall:

"New service: Cremate a Nascent Soul stage corpse, one top-grade spirit stone per corpse."

Then, he went back behind the counter, took out the communication jade pendant, and input his true essence.

The jade pendant warmed slightly, and Qi Jiaojiao's voice came from within, filled with surprise and mischief: "Old man, you missed me?"