Chapter 221: Jiangshi

It was amazing how one person could turn the tide of war. It was also very shocking that one person could alter the tides of war. Wars were not battles of glory and valor. They were grinding mechanisms designed for one side to destroy another side's human resources.

However, all rationality and logic were destroyed with the addition of Peng Yun's participation. It was akin to the straw that broke the camel's back.

Daoyi watched with complicated feelings as the Skybrush Sect was being systematically overwhelmed. She knew that personal strength in the Huang Realm could reach an absurd degree—just look at Tianyi—but she had never personally witnessed a battle with the addition of such a factor.

Since entering the Buzhou Immortal Sect, she had been surrounded and interacted only with elites. Even if the top disciples weren't as strong as Tianyi, their numbers would rarely reach the level of an army, so she never witnessed such a scene. Not to mention, few dared to challenge the hegemony of the Buzhou Immortal Sect.

"Life is so fragile," Daoyi said with a sigh. She recalled the days during the apocalypse. A single death was catastrophic, but once it reached the millions or even thousands, it was just a number. In the Huang Realm, it seemed that the most worthless thing was life.

"Is this your first time witnessing such as battle?" Ling Haitang asked.

Daoyi nodded.

"This is a war between cultivators. Compared to this, the number of deaths in mortal wars is more than a hundred times higher. They may be smaller in scale, but the frequency is something that this war can't compare." Ling Haitang said. "Still, the Skybrush Sect is so useless. Ling Lihua didn't even take action yet, and they are already crumbling. It seems that the mastermind behind the chaos is too worthless."

Just as Ling Haitang said those words, a change occurred on the battlefield. From the Skybrush Sect, a powerful demonic qi emerged. Unlike the demonic qi Daoyi felt in the Demon Cage Realm, this qi was subdued and stagnant, like rotten water.

The demon had abruptly appeared in the midst of the Skybrush Sect's core area, but none of the leaders were shocked. The demon had a simian body, the claws of a tiger, a snake's tail, and the face of a human. Its limbs, ankles, and neck were sealed by black shackles made of unknown metal glowing with strange symbols.

"I never expected them to have a demon and a venerable-level one at that. But why does its state seem so strange?" Ling Haitang's eyes took on a confused note as she studied the shackled demon.

Daoyi's eyes turned serious as she studied the strange demon. She wasn't just using her eyes to observe but her soul. "That's a corpse."

"That's a corpse?" Ling Haitang said in surprise. "How can a mere Skybrush Sect attain a venerable-level demon's corpse, much less control it?"

It was true that the Skybrush Sect was too weak to attain such a powerful corpse, but what was more concerning was where the corpse came from. Demons hardly appeared in the Huang Realm after the Human-Divine Beast War. The only demons above the venerable level were all spiritual beasts owned by powerful cultivators. Even in the demon cage realm, venerable level demons were rare.

This brought the question of who the mastermind exactly was. They must have a deep background to be able to gift such a powerful demonic corpse.

"Why have they brought a corpse out, and why is its qi still so potent?" Ling Haitang asked. When a soul disappeared from the body, the qi would also start to evaporate. Of course, this depended on the power of the flesh. Some powerful immortal monarch's bodies were full of qi even after a hundred thousand years.

Daoyi's expression suddenly changed as the demon began to move. Its movements were stiff and jumpy, almost the point of being comical, but there was a horrifying pressure that was emitted. She faintly felt the fluctuations of an incomplete soul. "It's a jiangshi!"

"Jiangshi?" Ling Haitang's expression became severe. "Did the Nihility Sect betray us?"

Jiangshi's were corpses that were treated with unique methods in order to give them combat abilities. The users of jiangshis were known as corpse controllers, and the materials used to create jiangshis were the corpses of powerful experts.

A soul is composed of three parts soul and seven parts spirit. To create a jiangshi, the corpse controller will divide a complete soul and use the incomplete soul to animate the corpse. Depending on the grade and splitting of the soul, jiangshi can be split into several grades. Their grades were white-haired, black-haired, jumping, flying, plague, and devil.

For a corpse controller, the highest level of jiangshi they can control is the plague grade because once a jiangshi becomes a devil grade, it would automatically regain its free will. A devil-grade jiangshi resembles devils in the aspect that they are agglomerations of a living being's negative emotions. However, unlike a pure devil, since a jiangshi were created from incomplete souls, they weren't beings of pure malice.

Still, the act of creating a jiangshi was seen as an immoral act, so most cultivators would exterminate any sect or force that had corpse controllers. As a result, the lineage of corpse controllers was extremely sparse, and acupoint opening master level jianshis were extremely rare. The only exception was the Nihility Sect. The outside world had rumors that the Nihility Sect controlled immortal level corpses, but disciples like Daoyi and Ling Haitang knew this was a fact.

So for a venerable level jiangshi to appear was very concerning.

"We should report it to the sect." Ling Haitang nodded. Using their communication talisman, both of them sent the qi signature, appearance, and all relevant information back.

"Should we take action?" Daoyi asked.

Ling Haitang observed the situation before shaking her head. She didn't know what sort of technique Peng Yun used, but he was able to stall the venerable level jiangshi. Because of this, the situation hadn't been completely overturned, but it was evident that Peng Yun was struggling. Without Peng Yun's aid, the Fu Dynasty's army was increasingly disadvantaged.

"No," Ling Haitang heartlessly said. "If the situation really reaches the point of no return, we can interfere then. But before that, we should allow the Fu Dynasty to act as canaries for us."

Daoyi gave a wry smile. She didn't reject Ling Haitang's proposal since it was beneficial for her too.

The situation continued for another month, and by then, the Fu Dynasty's army was reduced by nearly forty percent. All of the Fu Dynasty's reserve experts had already been sent out, but that wasn't enough as the Skybrush Sect had a second venerable level jiangshi. Thankfully for the Fu Dynasty, the quality and strength were slightly poorer, and ten grandmasters could fight it to a standstill.

Daoyi shook her head. Somehow, fifty grandmaster experts were worth less than one Peng Yun. If the Fu Dynasty won the war, Fu Xiuyi would use all his efforts to win over Peng Yun, maybe even titling him a king like how the Xi Emperor titled her a princess of the second rank.

Still, that was only if the Fu Dynasty defeated the Skybrush Sect. How can Fu Xiuyi title Peng Yun a king if he was no longer the country's ruler? It was precisely this situation that Ling Haitang wanted to see.

"Sister, I know you and I have disagreements, but you are also a citizen of the Fu Dynasty. How can you watch our homeland be destroyed?" Ling Lihua asked, begging Ling Haitang.

It seemed that Fu Xiuyi could no longer keep his calm and tasked Ling Lihua to play the sisters card. Although Ling Haitang and Daoyi were both nascent soul grandmasters, their masters were immortals. How could their master not prepare any means for them to deal with venerables?

Ling Haitang sneered. "Oh, now you recall that we are sisters. However, it is too late."

"Sister!" Ling Lihua cried out her heart unwilling, but recalling Fu Xiuyi's pained expression, she steeled her heart. "As long as you can help the Fu Dynasty, I promise that I will leave and never return!"

Ling Haitang's sneered deepened. "Such good calculations. Discarding a useless tool for a better one. Tell me, Lihua, what did that man do to you for you to willingly sacrifice yourself to this extent?"

"Haitang! You can besmirch me, but you can't slander his majesty!" Ling Lihua yelled out. "Besides, as a woman, I am very willing to sacrifice myself. It is both my honor and duty."

At this, even Daoyi had a strange gaze at Ling Lihua. Was this woman for real?

"Enough, no wonder you had to count on a Unity Pill to enter the Unity Realm. Your talent is greater than mine, but your willpower is so poor. Let me guess. You cultivate for that scum and not yourself, isn't that right?" Ling Haitang mocked, the disdain evident in both her tone and eyes.

"Ling! Hai! Tang!" Ling Lihua said as thoughts of teaching her sister a lesson entered her mind.

Ling Haitang waved her hand, not fearful of Ling Lihua's strength at all. "Enough, tell Fu Xiuyi that I won't take action. Don't think I don't know about the formations and trump card in the capital."

"We have a trump card hidden in the capital?" Ling Lihua repeated in disbelief.

Ling Haitang gave a pitying look towards Ling Lihua. Compared to when Ling Lihua hadn't married the emperor, she wasn't so dull or stupid. At the very least, their father did everything to support her and not treat her as a pure tool.

Ling Lihua only reluctantly left after Ling Haitang threatened to attack Fu Xiuyi. After that, Daoyi asked, "What is the trump card in the capital?"

Ling Haitang had no desire to conceal the secrets of the Fu Dynasty and told Daoyi directly. "I'm not sure, but it should be a puppet or a formation that can unleash the power of an immortal for a short time."

Daoyi's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Where would the Fu Dynasty get such a treasure?"

"I don't know, but it should be less than fifty or so years ago." Ling Haitang said.

Since then, both of them continued to observe the war with no intention of intervening at all.

Peng Yun gasped as he swallowed a pill, and an hour later, a breath full of death qi was exhaled. Only then did the nasty gash on his torso heal.

Even with his martial body, a single casual strike from the jiangshis was enough to cause him serious injury. As reanimated corpses, jiangshis were filled with death qi, yin energy that was harmful to those full of yang energy, aka the living.

Furthermore, jiangshis absorbed yang energy to grow stronger, so a strong spiritual and martial cultivator like Peng Yun was the perfect source of food for them.

"Big Brother Peng, are you okay?" Bai Weiwei asked with worry at the side. "Don't fight anymore. Let's just leave. You aren't their soldier. Why should you have to sacrifice so much for them?"

Peng Yun smiled. In truth, he felt that it was a perfect place to cultivate. He feels that as long as he grasped the right opportunity, he would make a breakthrough and enter Crystal Nascent Soul Stage. However, he didn't want to break the image he had cultivated in front of Bai Weiwei.

"How can I do such a cowardly thing. I already promised to help the Fu Dynasty, and I don't want to go back on word. Plus, I feel that those Skybrush Sect people aren't good. If we leave them, they might cause more chaos in the Heaven Continent." Peng Yun righteously said.

"Big Brother Peng," Bai Weiwei said as she felt her heartbeat increase. After the incident with Tianyi, Peng Yun's vow of keeping his words moved her heart.

Seeing Bai Weiwei's awed look, Peng Yun felt embarrassed and quickly found a reason to excuse himself.

Name: Peng Yun

Law/Concepts: Space Concept, Explosion Concept, Blaze Concept, Frost Concept, Accumulation Concept, Gust Concept, Shatter Concept, Wealth Concept, Whirlwind Concept

Cultivation: Glass Nascent Soul Realm, Fleshly Soul Nourishing Realm

Cultivation Method: Chaos Heavenly Scripture (Incomplete), Kunpeng Divine Transformation (Incomplete)

Physique: Twelve Heaven Meridians (Intermediate Rank)

Spiritual Vein: Dao Chaos Spiritual Vein (Intermediate), Perfect Fire Spiritual Vein, Perfect Water Spiritual Vein, Perfect Earth Spiritual Vein, Perfect Wood Spiritual Vein, Perfect Metal Spiritual Vein

Soul: Flawless Soul

Comprehension: High

Inheritance: Dragon Emperor's Inheritance (Incomplete), Divinelight Inheritance, Fivelotus Lord's Inheritance, Caisheng's Inheritance, Houtu's Inheritance, etc

Inventory: Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir (1), Random Item Box (1), Soulpiercing Awl Talisman

Wealth: 1,265,546 SP

There was another reason that Peng Yun didn't mention to Bai Weiwei, and that was the treasures he got from the war. For a mere unranked sect, they sure had a lot of treasures. Peng Yun originally planned to save his points up, but now it seemed that he needed to increase his lifesaving abilities.

"System, upgrade my physique." Peng Yun ordered.

"[One million system points required. Proceed to upgrade?]" The system asked.

Peng Yun cursed the greedy system for ten straight minutes but complied in the end. Immediately, he felt a boiling heat spread throughout his body. It was as if lava had replaced his blood, but at the same time, there was a minty coolness that was extremely refreshing.

When the upgrade was done, Peng Yun felt the shackles preventing him from entering the mid Soul Nourishing Realm slacken.

Name: Peng Yun

Law/Concepts: Space Concept, Explosion Concept, Blaze Concept, Frost Concept, Accumulation Concept, Gust Concept, Shatter Concept, Wealth Concept, Whirlwind Concept

Cultivation: Glass Nascent Soul Realm, Fleshly Soul Nourishing Realm

Cultivation Method: Chaos Heavenly Scripture (Incomplete), Kunpeng Divine Transformation (Incomplete)

Physique: Twelve Heaven Meridians (High Rank)

Spiritual Vein: Dao Chaos Spiritual Vein (Intermediate), Perfect Fire Spiritual Vein, Perfect Water Spiritual Vein, Perfect Earth Spiritual Vein, Perfect Wood Spiritual Vein, Perfect Metal Spiritual Vein

Soul: Flawless Soul

Comprehension: High

Inheritance: Dragon Emperor's Inheritance (Incomplete), Divinelight Inheritance, Fivelotus Lord's Inheritance, Caisheng's Inheritance, Houtu's Inheritance, etc

Inventory: Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir (1), Random Item Box (1), Soulpiercing Awl Talisman

Wealth: 265,546 SP

"System, how much would it be to upgrade my martial cultivation by a stage?" Peng Yun asked.

"[Two hundred thousand system points.]"

Peng Yun inhaled and exhaled slowly ten times and got his temper under control. "What about two stages?"

"[Five hundred thousand system points.]"

"So cheap?" Peng Yun expected the system to fleece him by saying one million or something. Why was upgrading his cultivation so much cheaper than upgrading his physique or spiritual veins? "What about spiritual cultivation?"

"[Two million system points.]"

Peng Yun frowned. Perhaps it was related to his talents, such as spiritual vein or physique. If he had a perfect Twelve Heavens Physique, the price might be much higher.

After long consideration, Peng Yun ultimately decided not to take a shortcut. Things others give you are ultimately not as good as things obtained by yourself.