Chapter 385 - Night Exploration of the Corpse Refinery Sect (1/2)

Su Lianyue looked at him and then at the roasted goose in her hand. She smiled. “Nothing exists outside the heart? Well, let’s take this goose as an example. The two of you didn’t know each other and yet you scorched it on your first encounter. How can you say that nothing exists outside the heart…?”

“Nonsense!” Xiao Chen flicked his sleeves. He believed that she would be giving him a proper and reasonable explanation but his anticipation was repaid with babbling nonsense.

Su Lianyue said earnestly, “What I’m saying is that if you treat me like the Senior Sister we met today, would you still care if you’re sharing a goose with a Devil’s Practice follower? This goose doesn’t belong to the Devil’s Practice. What crime did it commit?”

Xiao Chen shivered. Suddenly, all his past memories emerged in his mind like old dreams and he remembered that woman following the Devil’s Practice: Hua Weiyang.

Back then, he didn’t know Hua Weiyang’s true identity. By the time he found out, he was already too deeply in love with her.

Xiao Chen took a deep breath. Had he ever treated Weiyang like a Devil’s Practice follower? Perhaps, his current self was just unwilling to face this dilemma in his heart.

Be it the Devil’s Practice or the Orthodox Path, what did either matter? His lover was gone. If Weiyang was in front of him now, would he distance himself from her? If Weiyang was revived, would he… Wait!

Xiao Chen’s body shook as an abrupt idea surged into his mind. Someone defied heaven and resurrected him. What about Weiyang? Why couldn’t the same happen for Weiyang? Why couldn’t people defy heaven and resurrect her?

That bud of an idea blossomed into extreme turbulence in his mind. His confusion about what happened all those years ago had only deepened. His clearest memory was of his Master protected his soul under everyone’s nose after he was executed at the Mystic Cyan Sect.

Was that all to it? The Samsara Jade was the world’s most valuable treasure, known to be immortal. Not even gods can destroy it. But why did it break into four pieces? It must have suffered an unimaginable hit…

“Young Master?”

The gentle voice calling his name finally knocked Xiao Chen out of it. Without missing a beat, he leapt and started weaving back and forth toward the end of the night. He crossed countless mountain tops without knowing his destination. The night was bleak and desolate. Gusts of cold wind brushed past his ears and rustled loudly next to eardrums. He pushed his speed to the extreme.

Xiao Chen finally stopped when he was about a hundred miles away, where he could vaguely make out moving silhouettes nearby. He landed on a treetop soundlessly and watched the people moving furtively under the moon and the stars.

What he saw was two people clad in red moving some intact corpses under a large tree. There were twenty or so pale-faced corpses in varying outfits arranged neatly.

Xiao Chen’s heart jumped. Corpse Refinery Sect disciples! The battles between the Devil’s Practice and Orthodox Path cultivators had gotten more intense. Many had died in the vicinity of the Ghost-wailing Hill. Now the Corpse Refinery Sect disciples were running around, picking up the corpses at night. But what did they need these corpses filled with grievances for? Was it purely for refining Corpse Puppets? Or perhaps the Corpse Refinery Sect was a bunch of necrophiliacs?

Now that he thought about it, the Corpse Refinery Sect was the most mysterious faction among the four main Devil’s Sects. No one knew when the sect was established. Even stranger was the fact that they would never interact with other Devil’s sects. The sect was so mysterious that the only thing people knew about them was that the Corpse Puppets they refined were very powerful, and nothing about their origin.

Neither did anyone know the purpose of their existence. Aside from Ye Wuxin’s recent ambitions, the sect tended to keep a low-profile. What they were up to was entirely a mystery.

Xiao Chen watched the two disciples arrange the corpses, count them, and then take out the “Corralling Pouch” that the Corpse Refinery Sect used for stashing corpses. They rested under the tree after corralling the twenty or so corpses, seeming to be discussing something.

The distance, coupled with the wheezing wind, made the conversation inaudible to Xiao Chen. He shed off his aura and sneaked over. In the dark, he made no noise jumping and landing. The two disciples noticed nothing.

When Xiao Chen came close, he heard one of them sigh. “We’ll probably be able to become third-rank disciples after bringing so many corpses back, right?”

The other replied, “Forget it. Wang’er has been here for ten years but only became a third-rank disciple last year. I fear we’ll have to wait for another three to five years…” He heaved a deep sigh. “But speaking of this, we’ve been bringing so many corpses back in the past two years. What are they for? Don’t they tell me they’re really trying to revive that Divine Corpse…”

Their expressions changed when they mentioned the Divine Corpse. Xiao Chen’s expression did, too. He heard the disciple on the left whisper, “Speaking of the Divine Corpse, can it really resurrect someone? I, for one, don’t believe it…”

The one on the right sneered. “You’re not the only one! Who in the sect believes that? No one’s seen that so-called Divine Corpse! We don’t even know if it exists. The Elders, and perhaps even Ye Wuxin, are probably fooled…”

His sect mate glared at him before he could finish. “You dare call the Sect Leader’s name! Do you want to die?”

The one on the right sneered. “That heartless creature conspired to kill his own Master for his personal matter. The way I see it, the Corpse Refinery Sect will one day fall to ruins in his hands. Either way, he’s just a puppet under someone’s control and a slave obeying someone’s orders. What’s there to fear? That day, I heard someone say he’s been preoccupied ever since he returned from the rear mountain. It’s as if he’s been frightened out of his wits…”

He continued to blab, his words like an unceasing torrent pouring out of his mouth. The one on the left hastily looked around and said solemnly, “Won’t you shut that mouth? Do you really want to die? What if someone hears you? Not only will you die, but your soul might even be sent to that place, never to reincarnate…”

His sect mate’s disdainful expression faltered the moment he heard the words “that place”. He couldn’t help shivering and dared not to continue.