Starting with the consumables of the Demonic Sect, one can barely achieve immortality.

The strange staring contest lasted for quite a while.

The Moon Pot Seal under Yan Cheng's sleeve had already secretly transformed into the Moon Wheel Seal, and he was wholeheartedly accumulating true power, just waiting to deliver a fierce blow to the law enforcement corpse cultivator.

Even if this full-force Moon Wheel Seal can't defeat the physically powerful Corpse-Eating Yin Puppet, surely it can't defeat you?

Mid-stage cultivators can connect the coccyx and spine, gather their Qi in the chest to form the middle elixir, and their true Qi can circulate freely throughout their bodies. Their physique is indeed far superior to that of early-stage cultivators.

Even the seemingly delicate and frail silk weaver was, in theory, someone who could defeat Yan Cheng in a head-on confrontation.

Otherwise, why would Yan Cheng need to display the Star Flame as a deterrent?

However, the person in front of him had neither magical artifacts nor any puppet strings hidden on him.

Compared to the ghoul-eating Yin puppet in the coffin behind him, it was naturally seen as an easy target by Yan Cheng.

Just as Yan Cheng mentally prepared himself to violently resist arrest, the law enforcement corpse cultivator suddenly chuckled, a cold smile playing on his lips:

"The higher-ups see right through what you're all up to."

"That scene was meant for you cowards who have the desire to steal but lack the courage to actually escape."

"We are on the fourth floor, and we can see your cowardly and pathetic behavior clearly."

"You all...you'd better take care of yourselves!"

After saying that, he turned and left, dragging the heavy black coffin, wrapped in steel chains, behind him, the rattling sound gradually fading into the distance.

Yan Cheng slammed the door shut with a grim face.

"He was just bluffing! That son of a bitch!"

"Those old dogs in the enforcement team, nominally under Tian Tong's jurisdiction, rely on Huang Tong as their backer. They're fine when they don't show their faces, but when they do, they're incredibly arrogant."

The incident with the silk weaver gave Tiantong a reason to release the corpse-eating puppet.

"With precedents set, even an unknown cultivator from the enforcement team dares to carry a Yin Puppet and intimidate people!"

Taking advantage of the silk weaver incident, Huang Tong's faction has benefited greatly, and it is no surprise that their arrogance is even greater than before.

If Yan Cheng wants to avoid their dark aura, the only way is to break through to the mid-stage as soon as possible and demonstrate sufficient value in the eyes of the upper cultivators.

He leaned against the coffin lid, looking down at the excess silk threads that the silk weaver had been spinning over the past few days, which he had collected under the lid. The purple light that had been hidden in his eyes shone again.

……

On the fifteenth of this month, on the first floor of the Hall of Longevity.

After a long period of "seclusion," Huang Tong sat on the roof beam, still swinging his strong and fleshy wheat-colored legs, treating the group of corpse cultivators as if they were nothing.

Unlike when they first met, this time, accompanying her into the hall were twelve enormous coffins that had been carried in upright.

Yan Cheng looked around and found the faces in the coffins unfamiliar. He thought the miniature bodies of the corpses lying in the giant coffins looked rather comical.

But once Huang Tong uttered his first words with a smile, no one in the hall found it funny anymore:

"Everyone, let's say goodnight to these fellow disciples."

"These twelve junior brothers and sisters were all killed on the first night of the month when they believed the rumors spread by malicious people and secretly ran outside the hall."

"I dug three feet into the ground and finally managed to exhume their remains and properly place them in coffins."

Huang Tong's eyes crinkled into crescents, and her smile was incredibly sweet.

"Logically speaking, they are so foolish as to believe a ridiculous rumor on a tattered piece of paper that they are not worthy of my help."

"But these fellow disciples are, after all, only at the initial stage of perfect cultivation, and are surrounded by yin energy and full of murderous aura."

"How could I bear to waste such fine talents and ruin their opportunity to contribute to the sect?"

A cunning smile played on her eyes behind the mist.

"Perfect for crafting a corpse-eating Yin puppet."

Upon hearing these four words, the fear in the eyes of all the cultivators could no longer be concealed.

Perhaps few of them have personally witnessed the terror of the Corpse-Eating Shadow Puppet.

But many people heard the sounds of eating that echoed in the corridor that night.

Tian Tong even generously showed the remains of the "Gallows" to all the cultivators. Not a single corpse cultivator was willing to imagine that such a terrifying monster could very well be their future.

Only Yan Cheng, who already knew the inside story, remained silent with a cold expression.

According to the information shown in the Hidden Immortal Mirror, the Corpse-Eating Yin Puppet is transformed from the Yin Soil after the death of a fully-fledged early-stage corpse cultivator.

Its intelligence had long been lost when its soul was extracted, and it acted solely on the instinct to hunt and devour the flesh and blood of the underworld.

As for what yin earth nourishes?

Yan Cheng felt a chill run down her spine when she thought of the pairs of skeletal arms that had broken through the ground in the cemetery.

Under Huang Tong's watchful eye, who would dare to spread rumors recklessly?

The gold paper cranes that were sent to the group of corpse cultivators at that time, even if they were not sent at her behest, must have been tacitly approved by her.

The purpose was to use the Silk Weaver incident to lure out and deal with the worthless corpse cultivators in her eyes.

In the eyes of these advanced cultivators, what kind of person is a corpse cultivator who has reached the initial perfection but does not attempt to break through to the middle stage?

They either lacked the courage to do so, or they were simply unable to accumulate the resources needed for a breakthrough.

In either case, Huang Tong clearly sees them as hopeless cases with no way forward and no way to be repaired.

Why not harvest them as soon as possible, or are we going to save them for the New Year?

By sacrificing an early-stage, fully-fledged corpse cultivator, one can obtain a corpse-eating Yin puppet with combat power equivalent to a mid-stage cultivator.

With such a profitable deal, why wouldn't Huang Tong do it?

As for those who borrowed from Yin Corpse Loans, possessing cultivation but knowing their foundation was unstable and not daring to break through to the early stage of perfection, they were Huang Tong's main targets for harvesting.

Regardless of the methods used, and ignoring the praise or criticism of others, they seek to maximize their own interests in everything they do.

The ethos of the Immortal Sect was truly embodied in Huang Tong.

In comparison, even the loan sharks who planted talismans in the spines of borrowers, truly exploiting them to the bone, paled in comparison.

Huang Tong's intention in moving these twelve coffins in front of the cultivators was quite obvious.

With a gentle wave of her hand, she sent people to carry the twelve coffins away.

The female cultivator, looking down at him, had a deep, unsettling gaze.

"If you find this distressing and wish to contribute to the sect in another way, then you'll have to be even more determined than you are now."

"As far as I know, there is no shortage of people in the palace who have reached the initial perfection of cultivation but have not dared to break through due to various concerns."

"At a time when Your Majesty is eager for talent, I hereby announce that anyone whose cultivation has reached perfection can borrow baleful energy from Junior Brother Tiantong in advance to exchange for the resources needed for a breakthrough."

"If you all successfully break through and reach the mid-stage, you will naturally not have to worry about those mere wisps of evil energy."

"What if we unfortunately fail..."

She narrowed her eyes slightly and smiled:

"It's still better than turning into a ghost puppet, isn't it?"

"Now that we have come to this point, it is up to you gentlemen to decide whether to proceed or retreat."

Yan Cheng didn't know what others thought after hearing these words, but he certainly thought they were experts.

Isn't this just a direct quote from that fat loan shark on the third floor?

No wonder the cultivators of Huang Tong's lineage constantly advise everyone against taking out loans from Yin Corpses.

So they're trying to steal business from their competitors!