Chapter 1694: Chapter 978: Japan Arc Begins (Part 2)
Upon hearing Yang Xiao’s intentions, Professor Cui didn’t say a word, directly made a phone call, and within half an hour, two boxes were delivered. Upon opening them, he saw the magic artifacts used by Bone Burning Taoist back then.
A pale thigh bone and half of a broken cane, with the rotting foot of a dead person still attached to the bottom of the cane.
Yang Xiao quickly recounted his desire to learn corpse refining, hoping that the well-experienced Professor Cui would give him some advice. After their initial escape from Myanmar and Thailand, their relationship changed, and he knew his uncle was a reliable person.
After listening to Yang Xiao, Professor Cui pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said solemnly, "Impossible. Whether it’s Dragon Tiger Mountain or Bone Painting Tower, they are not suitable places for you at this stage. Rash contact will only bring trouble."
"Firstly, let’s not talk about Dragon Tiger Mountain. These guys are always arrogant, believing they are the true orthodox Taoist sect, the leaders of all Taoist sects. As an outsider, if you inquire, they would never admit to practicing corpse refining, which they consider heretical. It’s good enough if they don’t kick you out."
"Now, about Bone Painting Tower. Their corpse refining technique is the most authoritative in the martial world, with almost everyone owning corpses, and puppets outnumbering their disciples."
"Members of this lineage, though part of the Ten Great Sects of the martial world, do not follow the righteous path. It’s said that many experts who mysteriously vanish from the martial world are captured by them and secretly refined into high-level living corpse puppets, just without evidence."
"You are part of the Patrol Defense Office; associating with them is detrimental to your future development."
Seeing Yang Xiao about to speak, Professor Cui raised his hand to interrupt, "Little Yang, I know what you want to say. You want to say you won’t make a big fuss of it but conduct it secretly, right?"
"But I’m telling you, you can’t do it. Let alone Dragon Tiger Mountain and Bone Painting Tower, you can’t even get past Hong Anguo. Any slight movement on your end and Hong Anguo will know immediately, not to mention Wu Qingcang and Vice Commissioner Zhao are also watching you."
"Remember, this is Qinglan City, not your Rongcheng. You have to sleep with one eye open here." Professor Cui warned.
After Professor Cui weighed the pros and cons for Yang Xiao, the latter temporarily dismissed the idea. He wasn’t planning to directly contact Dragon Tiger Mountain or Bone Painting Tower, just wanted to ask someone to inquire.
But since his uncle said so, Yang Xiao temporarily suppressed the thought. It can’t be rushed, and he believes there will be an opportunity in the future.
"Be cautious of Ku Daoist; that old guy has lots of tricks." Professor Cui reminded before leaving.
After a night’s rest, Yang Xiao went to work the following morning. In the afternoon, at the same time, Yang Xiao drove to the experimental base and met Ku Daoist again.
Following Ku Daoist’s directions, Mirror Ghost moved the broken foot and the thigh bone back to Bone Burning Taoist’s body.
But unfortunately, there was no effect. Under Yang Xiao’s control, this puppet could only use the thigh bone to smash but couldn’t use the magic artifact’s power.
Seeing this scene, Ku Daoist wasn’t surprised and instead consoled Yang Xiao, saying it takes time. It took him nearly a year to refine his first living corpse puppet capable of using magic artifacts.
After trying several times, Yang Xiao finally gave up. It seemed like this wasn’t a matter to be resolved overnight. He found a chair, sat down, and took a wrinkled book from his pocket, "This is an ancient book on corpse refining. I want you to translate it for me."
This book was left by the young Sect Master, who was also good at corpse refining. Many experts who disappeared from the Yin Temple’s Exoteric Sect were captured by him and refined into puppets, as he heard from Elder Sheng.
Ku Daoist reluctantly took the book. In his view, teaching Yang Xiao this was futile; corpse refining can’t be rushed. The Bone Burning Taoist’s puppet was swiftly formed due to the ghost and that strange short stick, not because of Yang Xiao himself.
But upon glancing at the book, Ku Daoist’s face suddenly changed, staring intensely at the pages, quickly flipping through them at a few seconds per page. Soon, he looked up, almost fearfully eyeing Yang Xiao, "This... where did you get this book?"
"It was given by family." Yang Xiao replied with his usual line, but this time Ku Daoist refuted him, "Impossible! This ’Corpse Supplement and Life Cutting Scripture’ is Bone Painting Tower’s secret, stolen ten years ago by a mysterious expert from their treasury. It disappeared from the martial world after that, and this... it’s the real deal! It even has Handwritten notes by the young OP from Bone Painting Tower!"
To verify his words, Ku Daoist turned to the last page, which bore a strange mark, like a tattoo.
Ku Daoist explained that this was Bone Painting Tower’s mark, known as the Painted Bone Seal in the martial world.
Yang Xiao didn’t expect this book to have such an extensive provenance. Now he roughly guessed that the mysterious expert who infiltrated Bone Painting Tower to steal treasures was likely the young Sect Master. That guy really had poor moral character, always sneaking around others’ valuables, truly despicable!
"Ming Emperor, this ’Corpse Supplement and Life Cutting Scripture’ is extremely profound. It’s difficult for me to understand it in a short time. How about you leave the book with me, and once I grasp it, I’ll... I’ll explain it to you." Ku Daoist held onto the book tightly.
