Becoming a martial arts god starting from the mortician.

"Sir, have you forgotten my livelihood?" Shen Qi smiled and touched the box on his back.

"I've been working in the morgue since I can remember. I've seen more dead people than living people with these eyes."

He continued to explain.

"Logically, when a person dies in a fight, their blood and qi stagnate, and their limbs become stiff and difficult to bend. They would never collapse to the ground like they did just now, as if their bones had been separated."

"Although I don't understand the wonders of martial arts, I think that a martial artist wouldn't be much different from an ordinary person after death. Seeing that he was paralyzed and had no stiffness at all, I mustered up my courage and shouted."

Zhou Wenyuan knew absolutely nothing about the unorthodox practice of corpse preparation.

Hearing Shen Qi's reasonable explanation, his doubts immediately dissipated by eight or nine tenths.

He nodded slightly, and when he looked at Shen Qi again, his eyes were full of admiration.

This young man not only possesses exceptional martial arts skills, but he also managed to maintain composure and demonstrate keen insight at such a critical moment of life and death. He is truly a remarkable talent!

"Okay." Zhou Wenyuan nodded, letting the matter drop completely.

Seeing that Shen Qi's gaze was still fixed on the mangled corpse, he assumed that Shen Qi was intimidated by the martial arts techniques and explained with his hands behind his back:

"This evil cultivation technique is called the 'Hidden Netherworld Technique,' a scourge left behind by the remnants of the previous dynasty. This technique does not cultivate oneself but relies solely on stripping the martial veins of others to elevate one's natural talent. In the end, without exception, those who practice it all become insatiably greedy monsters, driven by this evil technique to kill and seize meridians, harming both themselves and others, and are extremely vicious."

"Although the imperial court has explicitly banned it, there are always madmen in the world who do not believe in evil and do not accept their fate."

"There's always someone lurking in the shadows..."

At this point, Zhou Wenyuan seemed to have touched on some secret, his brows furrowing slightly. He then waved his hand and said, "Forget it, the implications behind this are too deep to explain in just a few words."

"Once you come with me to the prefectural government and enter the Observatory, someone will naturally teach you these things."

Shen Qi lowered his eyelids and remained silent.

But his gaze remained fixed on the corpse of the heretic.

A strand of pure black life force came into Shen Qi's view.

The life thread of the Precious Body Realm!

Shen Qi's heart tightened suddenly, and his breathing became heavy.

This is a life thread that is even thicker than Wang Laosan's crimson life thread!

It was left behind by a powerful expert who had transcended the Body Tempering and Qi Fiend stages and reached the third realm of Treasure Body!

If he could seize it and peel away and assimilate it bit by bit, his body would probably undergo a complete transformation!

But as soon as the greed arose, a chill shot straight to the top of his head and extinguished it.

He took another closer look.

Something is wrong!

This pure black life silk is too eerie.

It seemed to be alive, wriggling and twisting. As its master died, countless fine, grayish-white wisps gradually floated out from its periphery, peeling off strand by strand. The wisps were of varying shades and did not seem to belong to the same person at all.

The life threads are the embodiment of destiny, but this evil cultivator relies on killing and seizing life veins to accumulate cultivation, defying destiny. His own fate is intertwined with the fates of others, and his life threads have long been corrupted beyond recognition.

If you were to actually weave this thing into your own lifeline, you would probably end up like him, driven by greed and reduced to a walking corpse.

Although he was afraid of death, he longed to obtain the life-saving threads of the strong and change his fate.

But I'm not stupid enough to risk my life.

Shen Qi clenched his fists and turned his head away.

Seeing Shen Qi staring blankly at the corpse, Zhou Wenyuan assumed he hadn't recovered yet, so he reminded him in a deep voice:

"This evil cultivator has already reached the Treasure Body Realm, and his blood and qi have long been integrated into his bones and flesh. Once he dies, the yin poison and evil qi that he cannot suppress will soon dissipate and leak out. If left unchecked, the area within dozens of feet will become a dead zone that no living person can approach."

Shen Qi, who was just looking for an excuse to get away from the corpse, immediately feigned fear upon hearing this, taking three large steps back to create distance: "Sir, what should we do with this corpse?"

Zhou Wenyuan frowned.

Although he was at the Golden Body Realm, his protective aura shielding him from the corrosive influence of malevolent energy, he had no means to dissipate the malevolent energy dissipating after the death of a Treasure Body Realm martial artist. This kind of dirty work was traditionally the job of the military's malevolent energy suppressors.

But right now, he was in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest city, Chengping Prefecture, was two hundred miles away. He had no time to find the Suppressor of Evil.

With a helpless sigh, Zhou Wenyuan flipped his wrist and pulled a porcelain bottle, about the size of a thumb, from his sleeve pocket. He popped the cork with his thumb, took two steps forward, tilted the bottle slightly, and dripped a few drops of murky, viscous liquid onto the evil cultivator's chest.

"Sizzle—"

A sharp, strange noise.

A pungent, thick yellow smoke billowed from the corpse. The liquid, falling onto the flesh, was like boiling oil poured on snow, instantly corroding through the evil cultivator's powerful body that had withstood Zhou Wenyuan's punches and kicks.

Shen Qi stood at a distance, watching helplessly as the corpse rapidly decomposed in the yellow smoke, eventually turning into a pool of charred pus.

With the death of the physical body.

The pure black life threads suspended above the corpse also became water without a source.

It twisted violently a few times, as if trying to break free from something.

But as the yellow smoke rose, the black threads began to break off inch by inch from their ends, eventually turning into specks of ash.

Clean and tidy. Nothing was left behind.

Shen Qi watched this scene with a sense of loss.

If it weren't for this incident, I probably would never have come into contact with a master of the Treasure Body Realm in my entire life. And that life thread is gone just like that.

But he only sighed inwardly and swallowed the thought.

What you can hold onto is called opportunity; what's fatal is called calamity.

"There is no other way at the moment, so we have to resort to this last resort."

Zhou Wenyuan stepped back a few paces, avoiding the pungent, foul-smelling yellow smoke: "While the evil energy hasn't dissipated yet, use this corpse-dissolving water to destroy the physical body and sever the source of the evil energy. Although the residual evil energy won't dissipate completely in a short time, it's still better than letting it spread."

He clapped his hands and turned to look at Shen Qi.

"I will send a message to the local magistrate later, instructing them to fence off this wasteland and prohibit the people from approaching. After a year or two, the wind and sun will naturally dissipate the evil spirits."

Shen Qi nodded silently.

The autumn wind swept across the open fields, completely dispersing the last wisp of yellow smoke.

Only a bubbling, charred stain remained on the ground.

The bizarre murder case that had been causing widespread panic in Qingping Town for days came to an end in this silent manner.

Zhou Wenyuan walked up to Shen Qi, his sharp gaze completely softened, replaced by the demeanor of a gentle elder.

He patted Shen Qi on the shoulder, looking at the outstanding young man before him, his tone full of expectation: "The scourge of Qingping Town has been eliminated, and I can't wait to see your martial arts shine in the prefecture."

"Today I'm going back to pack my bags and say goodbye to the relatives and friends I need to say farewell to."

"We'll set off as soon as the city gates open tomorrow morning," Zhou Wenyuan said firmly, his hands behind his back as he faced the wind. "We'll go to the prefectural government and show them what a true genius is."