Chapter 419 - 400: Refined in an Instant

Chapter 419: Chapter 400: Refined in an Instant

Even Su Ling’er, who was accustomed to the murderous ways of this demonic sect, was taken aback. This sudden "head delivery" had startled her.

’He’s the one who killed you, not me! If you can’t rest in peace, go glare at him, don’t look at me!’

"AHHHHH—!!!"

A belated scream erupted from the crowd behind her!

A timid young girl’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted on the spot, foaming at the mouth.

More people instinctively scrambled back, bumping into and trampling one another, desperately trying to get away from the head that was just a few feet away.

Their minds went blank. All they could hear was the frantic pounding of their own hearts and the endlessly echoing THUMP... THUMP... THUMP... of the rolling head.

’This... What the hell kind of sparring match was this? This was clearly... a sadistic slaughter!’

’Not only did he crush his opponent in battle, but after the man was severely injured, he used the pretense of "healing" to inflict inhuman torture, driving him to a mental breakdown until he personally sliced off his own head!’

’This... This isn’t anything like the path of Cultivation I imagined! It’s too bloody! Too cruel!’

The faces of the undercover agents from the righteous sects were ashen.

’The Demonic Path! So what the seniors in our sect said was true all along—this is a truly evil, demonic sect! Sparring matches between fellow disciples that result in accidental, severe injuries happen in the righteous path, too, but the injured are always treated afterward. Even if someone were to strike a killing blow, they would do it secretly. If discovered, they would be severely punished. Who would ever... torture a fellow disciple to death in front of everyone?! Such an act is unheard of!’

’Now I finally understand... I understand the kind of treacherous situation the sect sent me to face as an undercover agent!’

As for the undercover agents from the other demonic sects, they were trembling with excitement, feeling a thrill like they had returned home!

’Whoa! The Guixi Sect really is a true demonic sect! And here I was, naively thinking they were a righteous immortal sect in disguise!’

’Heh heh heh heh... Now *this* is the true style of the Demonic Path! It’s not enough to just win a sparring match. You have to torture your opponent to death under the guise of healing them! Make them willingly offer up their own head! These methods are even more wicked than our own sect’s! Maybe I should suggest to the Sect Leader that we send more people to the Guixi Sect for advanced studies?’

Su Ling’er looked at the head that had rolled to her feet, then at the complicated expressions on the faces of the new recruits behind her, and sighed.

The process had been bizarre and convoluted, and even she had been startled.

’But... the objective has finally been achieved.’

Su Ling’er gazed at the area ahead where the "sparring match" had just concluded.

’This time, you all should understand just how sinister this demonic sect is, right?’

’Sigh. I wonder how many of you will see this and have the sense to back out...’

She had grown used to such things since joining the Guixi Sect. If not for her Eldest Senior Brother’s constant "protection," she might have become one of the headless corpses on the ground on some long-forgotten day.

However, the matter was far from over!

The senior brother who had dealt the fatal blow, OneSlashPerKid, ambled over with a look of regret.

"Aiya! I was truly confident I could’ve improved your condition in two days! How could you just die like that? So disrespectful! Well, since you’re already dead, let’s not waste the materials."

First, he pulled out... an abacus from his bag?

He squatted down and began flicking the beads on the abacus while pointing at the corpse.

"Hmm... let me calculate this."

"Fake Core Realm, majored in Thunder Skills, minored in Body Techniques. Practiced Body Tempering with Thunder Spiritual Power year-round, so the bone density should be pretty good. It can be used for the spine of a sword to increase its resilience."

"The blood contains Thunder Spiritual Power. If I purify it and use it to enchant a weapon, the effect should be quite good."

"As for... well, never mind. That other thing has no recycling value."

As he spoke, he furiously clacked away on the abacus, finally arriving at a conclusion.

"The spine can be the main material, the skull a supplementary one... Hmm. Although my medical skills didn’t improve much this time, your body of materials is worth at least a few hundred Spirit Stones. Not a bad deal, not bad at all!"

This brazen behavior, this act of appraising a recently deceased fellow disciple like a pile of goods, made the three hundred-plus new recruits behind Su Ling’er feel as if their worldviews were being viciously ground into the dirt.

’What... What is he doing? Is he... settling an account? He’s treating a living person... like a pile of materials with a price tag?! He’s not actually planning to pay, is he? Did he really take what that senior brother said before he died seriously?’

’Why the hell would you need to settle a bill when you’re already dead! Are you going to spend money in the underworld? Shouldn’t people be burning Netherworld Currency for that? Is burning Spirit Stones the new trend in the Cultivation Realm?’

Just when the crowd thought things couldn’t get any crazier, OneSlashPerKid did something even more baffling.

He actually took out several hundred Spirit Stones from his storage bag and forcibly stuffed them deep into the flesh of the headless corpse.

"Bro, we had a deal. The corpse is mine, the Spirit Stones are yours. Even though you’ve logged off, we still have to complete the transaction process!"

As his voice fell, a flash of system light flickered over the corpse, and a line of text visible only to players appeared in OneSlashPerKid’s vision:

[Transaction complete. Funds will be automatically transferred to the other party’s account upon their next login.]

The minds of the new recruits behind Su Ling’er had ground to a halt; they were simply unable to process what was happening.

’After... after killing someone... you have to seriously... pay them?’

’You have to be... so formal with a dead guy? Can he even receive the money?’

’My... my brain... I think it’s short-circuiting...’

The man then placed his hands on the still-warm corpse.

Blood Drawing and Bone Refining!

With a sharp CRACK, the spine of the headless corpse was violently forced upward by an immense power, bending into a horrifying arc!

Then, under everyone’s horrified gaze, an entire ghastly white spinal column—dripping with flesh and blood and still twitching slightly—was ripped out from the corpse’s back, vertebra by vertebra!

The scene was utterly gruesome.

"Don’t worry! Your death won’t be in vain!" he chuckled at the now-cold corpse. A ball of black demonic fire ignited in his hand, instantly refining away all the flesh and blood. The Spirit Stones had also vanished.

The crowd watched in shock. ’Were the three hundred Spirit Stones he stuffed inside also refined? No, wait, then what was the point of giving them to him in the first place? Couldn’t you have just refined them yourself? Was it to use the Spirit Stones to improve the quality of the refined body?’

The demonic fire then began to burn the spinal column directly. The remaining flesh rapidly melted away in the flames with a SIZZLING sound.

Under the tempering fire, the stark white bones gradually became translucent and crystalline, their surface even faintly revealing arcane, rune-like patterns.

A moment later, a menacing bone sword, its blade adorned with natural bone spurs, had taken shape.

But he didn’t stop there.

With a flick of his wrist and a sucking motion, the head at Su Ling’er’s feet, its eyes still wide open, flew into his hand with a WHOOSH.

Then, he once again enveloped the entire head in the flames from his palm.

Skin, hair, eyeballs... all were refined away in the ghostly fire, leaving only a skull with two points of ghastly green soul-fire burning in its eye sockets.

Having done all this, he satisfactorily put the bone sword and the skull into his bag. The entire process had been as smooth as flowing water.

Only then did he look toward the group in the distance: the new recruits, whose faces were pale with terror, and Su Ling’er, who looked none too pleased herself.

The senior brother, however, waved his hand nonchalantly and grinned, revealing teeth that looked exceptionally stark and white under the blood-red sunset. "Yo, little Junior Sister, bringing the newbies for a tour of the martial training grounds?"

He even enthusiastically showed off the bone sword in his hand, which was still dripping with some unknown fluid.

"What do you think? Wanna try out this freshly-forged spinal sword? Your senior brother here made it with his entire body. It’s fresh, piping hot, and guaranteed to feel first-class in your hand!"

"N-No, thank you, Senior Brother..." Su Ling’er shook her head repeatedly, terrified.

"Tsk, you don’t know a good thing when you see it." The player senior brother pouted and put away the bone sword. "Alright, my business here is done. You can continue with the newbies. I’ve got high hopes for you!"

With that, he sauntered off, humming an unfamiliar tune.

On the field, all that remained was a group of new recruits, some of whom were already leaning against the walls, dry-heaving violently.

Su Ling’er watched the player senior brother’s retreating back, and a thought suddenly sparked in her mind.

She decided to add more fuel to the fire.

She took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing all her emotions, and turned to face the new recruits, many of whom were on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Her expression was now a solemn mask, filled with a sense of "honor."

"Did you all see that?"

"This is the supreme Great Path of our Guixi Sect!"

"If you wish to join this sect, you must be prepared at all times... to dedicate your entire being to our immortal sect!"

"Just like that senior brother moments ago!" Her voice suddenly rose. "He, under the ’tempering’ of his fellow disciple, broke through the profound barrier of life and death! After death, his well-tempered body was forged into a sharp sword, and his undying soul became an Artifact Spirit! Though his flesh has decayed, his will lives on in a higher, nobler form in the hands of his fellow disciple, continuing to fight for the glory of the sect! What an immense honor this is!"

’Did you hear that? After you die, you’ll be turned into someone else’s weapon, to be held and used by them every single day! Are you worthy of such a great fortune?!’

"Here, there is no such mundane thing as camaraderie between disciples, only the struggle for the Great Path! The weak are prey for the strong, survival of the fittest—this is the ultimate principle of heaven and earth! Every step of progress you make will require you to step on the bones of the fallen, absorbing their essence to climb higher! And every moment of laziness will lead to you... having the honor of becoming ’sustenance’ for a fellow disciple’s advancement!"

’That’s right, I’m throwing you into the rat race! A fight to the death! If you can’t win, you die, and even in death, the winner will devour you, leaving nothing behind! Are you scared yet?!’

She scanned their deathly pale faces, seeing the unconcealable terror in their eyes.

"My Guixi Sect does not accept cowards who lack even this small bit of ’dedication’! If you don’t even have the courage to witness the cycle of life and death, how can you even speak of cultivating against the will of the heavens?!"

"Now, I welcome you once again... to the Guixi Sect!"