Gateway of Immortality

As Hermit Baiyun's transformation made him look more and more like a zombie, Qin Sang suddenly stopped and interrupted the technique.

He shifted his gaze to the Corpse Puppet Pouch. With a quick gesture, he summoned the grayish-white qi composed of assembled demonic souls into his hand. With a slight movement of his spiritual consciousness, he drew out a demonic soul from within.

The demonic soul twisted in Qin Sang's grasp, at times taking on the form of a fish—the soul of a fish demon.

The creatures Qin Sang hunted were all low-level demons in the Ordinary Demon Realm, lacking intelligence. Their resistance was weak, posing no trouble during the corpse refinement process. However, as a result, he required a greater number of demonic souls, which prolonged the refinement process. Since it was Qin Sang’s first attempt at corpse refinement, he had chosen to proceed cautiously.

Now came the second step of corpse refinement: infusing these souls directly into the refined corpse, skipping the lengthy process of nourishing it with yin qi, and forcibly granting it a semblance of spiritual awareness.

Holding the demonic soul in his grip, Qin Sang formed a hand seal. This time, the barrier he created differed significantly from the previous one. As it took shape, the demonic soul was gradually encased by it, until it finally dissolved, merging entirely with the barrier.

With a flick of his finger, Qin Sang released the transparent barrier, which hovered in front of him, a faint wisp of gray-white qi drifting within.

Unexpectedly, he succeeded on the first attempt.

Encouraged, Qin Sang quickly seized another demon soul and repeated the process. But just as the barrier was about to solidify, the demonic soul shattered.

Success wasn’t guaranteed every time, but given his strong spiritual consciousness and growing familiarity with the secret art, he estimated a roughly seventy percent success rate—an acceptable efficiency.

Time passed unnoticed in the cave dwelling as Qin Sang focused intently on refining the barriers. Eventually, the mass of gray-white qi was nearly depleted, leaving a dense collection of tiny barriers floating before him.

At last, he completed the final barrier. Qin Sang clenched his hand, causing the barriers to coalesce in a brief moment of disorder before they arranged themselves in an orderly manner, forming a faint, humanoid shape in midair.

The next step involved splitting off a strand of his soul, which, following the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art, would forge a soul imprint that would grant him control over the refined corpse. This imprint would fuse with the barrier and be engraved onto the corpse.

Once the refinement succeeded, he would use the soul imprint to command the refined corpse, deploying it to fend off foes.

Although splitting his soul would slightly harm his primordial spirit, a few days of meditation would restore it. Qin Sang had long since grown accustomed to the devouring pain of sword qi, so this minor discomfort was negligible. Quickly, he split off a wisp of his soul and concentrated on forming the soul imprint.

Once it was completed, Qin Sang embedded the soul imprint onto the humanoid barrier before engraving it onto Hermit Baiyun.

As the barrier merged, Hermit Baiyun began to undergo new changes. His once-closed eyes opened, revealing pitch-black pupils without a trace of white, which moved with unsettling agility.

His deep, black pupils stared straight ahead, brimming with an intense hatred of the living and an insatiable lust for killing—a disturbing sight.

At this point, he had fully transformed into a zombie!

After gathering the remaining demon souls back into the Corpse Puppet Pouch, Qin Sang cast a glance at Hermit Baiyun. Pausing for a moment, he commanded it to move.

Hermit Baiyun obeyed without hesitation. Qin Sang instructed him to turn left, then right, and each time he followed the command precisely, showing no signs of struggle or resistance.

Thud!

'Hermit Baiyun' clawed a chunk of stone from the wall and, on Qin Sang’s command, handed it over, standing perfectly still before him.

Qin Sang’s expression grew more and more astonished, as this behavior deviated entirely from what was described in the Heavenly Yin Corpse Art.

The Heavenly Yin Corpse Art warned corpse refiners that the newly refined corpse, having just acquired intelligence, would instinctively resist its controller, sometimes even attacking.

At that stage, refiners were to stabilize the soul imprint on the corpse and subdue it, remaining wary of sudden attacks until full control was achieved.

Many had died to corpses they had refined, caught off-guard despite their success.

Though Qin Sang did not fear an ordinary zombie, he had planned to proceed with the usual precautions. Yet, before he had even begun to act, Hermit Baiyun displayed complete obedience, showing not the slightest hint of rebellion.

This unexpected development left Qin Sang both surprised and thoughtful, as he pondered the possible reasons.

The Heavenly Yin Corpse Art was the secret art passed down through the Heavenly Corpse Sect, a method refined and verified countless times, leaving little room for error.

The art clearly stated that a refined corpse’s resistance to its controller stemmed from instinct and was unaffected by the controller's cultivation level. Even a cultivator of higher standing could, at best, only subdue the refined corpse momentarily.

Yet, somehow, his own process had produced an anomaly…

Aside from the Jade Buddha, Qin Sang didn’t consider himself particularly unique compared to others.

The soul imprint was merely a fragment split from the primordial spirit. Could it be that this fragment also inherited the Jade Buddha’s abilities, becoming as unshakable as his original primordial spirit?

Could it mean that anything—anyone—once under his control, would be unable to resist, destined only for servitude?

Qin Sang’s eyes lit up, and a sudden surge of excitement arose within him, as though a path to transcendence lay right before him.

In the world of immortal cultivation, corpse refinement wasn’t the only art of control. The Yuling Sect had methods to command demonic beasts, and even the demonic sects possessed sinister arts to enslave cultivators directly.

With the Jade Buddha’s boundless mystery, if I can find a similar secret art, one aligned with enslavement, I can seize control of a cultivator in the Golden Core Realm. With such a servant, I will have access to limitless spiritual pills, astras, and cultivation arts!

No, wait!

A flicker of excitement had just crossed Qin Sang’s face when it quickly vanished.

He carefully inspected the soul imprint, noticing a faint layer of yellow light on its surface—weak, almost indiscernible unless closely observed. And unlike the Jade Buddha itself, this glow lacked the same indomitable quality.

Seeing this, Qin Sang began to contemplate.

It seemed that the strength of the soul imprint had its limits. Hermit Baiyun had only just become a zombie and had yet to be infused with malevolent qi, meaning his power was roughly equivalent to that of a cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm, leaving him unable to resist.

As Qin Sang understood it, the Yuling Sect’s beast-taming art required that the demonic beast’s power not exceed the controller’s by too great a margin; otherwise, the beast would turn on its master.

He couldn’t yet determine the exact strength limit of his soul imprint, but he was certain it surpassed what others could achieve. Qin Sang felt quite confident about the Jade Buddha’s capabilities.

Additionally, his thoughts drifted back to the time he’d been at the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s branch, where he had attempted to forcefully subdue a living corpse through secret arts and had failed. Clearly, the Jade Buddha could indeed enhance the strength of the soul imprint, but only if he could first mark his target with it—a feat that was often the most challenging step.

Though not as overwhelmingly powerful as he’d first imagined, it was still a pleasant surprise.

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