Chapter 283: Chapter 191: Corpse Refining
"What? Corpse Refining?!"
Claire Chapman did his best to keep his voice down, but it was still thick with shock and disbelief. He looked at Sean Raines with an expression that screamed ’Are you insane?’, completely unable to understand why the esteemed eldest disciple of the Taoist Association’s head would do something so sinister.
Sean Raines had an ’I knew it’ expression, but his eyes dimmed slightly.
When he had happened upon this Cultivation Technique during his travels, he had hesitated and struggled with the decision for a long time. Astorians had always held the belief that the dead should be respected and laid to rest. Even in the apocalypse, people would bury the dead whenever conditions allowed.
Corpse Refining was, without a doubt, an act that challenged the very limits of human morality.
However, he was used to training alone, which was highly dangerous. Though it hadn’t happened often, he had been besieged by Mutant Beasts and had brushed with death several times.
If he didn’t want to die, fighting solo was no longer an option.
And he had no desire to join any Hunting Parties—it couldn’t be helped, he was just too used to being a loner. On the surface, he was friendly with everyone, but deep down, there was much he found disagreeable.
He needed to increase his safety but didn’t want to force himself to team up. After thinking it over and over, he finally set his sights on the Corpse Refining Technique.
’If I can make those dead Superpower Users rise again to fight Zombies... First, my own safety as their creator would be greatly guaranteed. Second, the more Mutant Beasts or Zombies they kill, wouldn’t that, in a way, be saving more people?’
Having found his justification, he finally took the plunge.
He had guessed that others would certainly object, so he had kept it a secret. If he hadn’t been careless and been discovered by May Joyce today, and then cornered by Claire Chapman and Paige Summers, he would never, ever have revealed it!
The more Sean Raines thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. "If you don’t like it, you can pretend you don’t know. If you still can’t stand it, whatever. I’ll just leave after we’re out of The Foundry!"
Claire Chapman let out a breath. "That’s not what I mean. I may have said some harsh things just now, but if I didn’t consider you a friend, why would I waste my breath?! I just don’t think you need to do this at all. Even though you’re not a Superpower User, you’re already far stronger than many who are! Why must you resort to... to this kind of thing?" He licked his lips, ultimately swallowing the damning phrase on them. "Why don’t you just give it up?"
’That first part almost sounded human!’ Sean Raines shot him a sideways glance. "Do you think this is like shopping, where you can just get what you want with some Crystal Cores? It took a massive effort just to refine one! Just selecting the corpse requires finding a Superpower User with a yin-attribute constitution who died on an inauspicious day or at a yin hour. Do you have any idea how hard that is? It took me a full two months just to find one! And after that, there’s corpse preservation, corpse washing, corpse nourishing, and then the actual Corpse Refining..."
He paused, then lowered his voice and muttered, "You think I enjoy messing with a corpse all day? I just need a helper!"
Claire Chapman frowned. "What are we, chopped liver? If you need something, just say the word. We’ll definitely help you keep an eye out for it. At worst, we can all go look for it together and treat it like a mission!"
A flicker of light crossed Sean Raines’s eyes. He knew Claire Chapman’s personality well enough to know he was serious. To be honest, Sean was touched.
But...
"That idea isn’t the least bit realistic!" Paige Summers cut in, hitting the nail on the head. "What he needs, if I’m not mistaken, is probably blood for painting on talisman paper, jade for his Cultivation... hmm, or maybe other things that can increase his strength; I wouldn’t know about those. These are all long-term consumables for him. The total quantity is considerable. None of the members of Bloodfall could accompany him long-term to collect all this, and you and I certainly can’t either."
"Yes, it’s exactly as you said. So what I need right now isn’t partners who might go their separate ways at any moment, but a tool that will never leave my side, will obey my commands, and has combat strength."
Claire Chapman was speechless. In the end, this wasn’t a problem he could solve.
Paige Summers gave him a meaningful look before turning to Sean Raines. "It’s not actually that big of a deal. Corpse Refining might sound like it has no moral bottom line, but first, you’re using the dead, not the living. And second, all you want is a bodyguard. It doesn’t harm anyone else. So, there’s no need to carry such a heavy psychological burden. However, most people will definitely have doubts or concerns when they suddenly hear about this. May Joyce found out today, but more people will find out the next time you use it. Are you sure you’re mentally prepared to face the criticism?"
Sean Raines stared at her for a long moment, then suddenly broke into a smile. "What about you? Are you prepared for that?"
A look of understanding appeared in Paige Summers’s eyes. "So you did figure it out."
"I did," Sean Raines said frankly. "I couldn’t quite believe it at first, but once I was sure, I could only say one thing: you’re really something else, to be able to tame a High-level Zombie like that. Do you have any non-secret techniques you could share?"
Paige Summers let out a laugh. "Ben has his own thoughts. He’s following me voluntarily. I didn’t ’tame’ him, so what technique could there be!"
Sean Raines raised his eyebrows in surprise. This was different from what he’d imagined. He originally thought Paige Summers had used some sort of method to bind Ben to her side, but it turned out that wasn’t the case at all!
’But an intelligent Zombie has evolved... Is that really a good thing?!’
"Alright, anyway, don’t let your guard down completely. It’s hard to say what level he might eventually evolve to."
Paige Summers smiled. "You haven’t even sorted out your own mess. You should worry about yourself."
Sean Raines patted the corpse bag at his waist. "My guy is different from yours. When I perform Corpse Refining, I create a wooden token. If it stops obeying my commands, I just have to shatter the token."
"That’s good."
Paige Summers nodded, not wanting to discuss the topic any further.
Her main concern had been that Sean Raines had guessed Ben’s identity. Now that it was out in the open, she could let it go.
As for Corpse Refining, she really didn’t see it as a big deal.
After all, you saw countless corpses and remains outside every day. Rather than let the dead end up in the mouths of Zombies or mutated plants and animals, it wasn’t so bad for Sean Raines to make use of them.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen this kind of thing in her previous life.
Corpse Refining, raising ghostly familiars... some disciples of The Taoist Sects just liked to dabble in the unorthodox.
As long as they didn’t use them for malicious, harmful schemes.
Her tolerance for such things was quite high.
In contrast, some of the current Superpower Users would go on killing sprees at the slightest disagreement, just because they had superpowers. Compared to them, Paige Summers felt Sean Raines was actually quite kind.
There was one thing, though... "Sean Raines, you can do this yourself, but you absolutely cannot teach it to Erin Quinn!"
Sean Raines said, "So after all that talk about it not being a big deal, it was all just to placate me!"
"It’s not. But anyway, just remember this, or I won’t let you off the hook!"
"..."
Having delivered her warning, Paige Summers dusted off her clothes and left.
Sean Raines pursed his lips behind her back. "Who’d want to teach that brat? She’s already enough of a headache as it is..."
