Ghost Immortal

The booklet also mentions that the cultivation level of corpse carriers is divided into nine levels, from the lowest level, "Touching the Corpse," to the highest level, "Corpse Liberation."

Each level has its own corresponding methods and taboos that must be followed.

The bald old man wrote in the booklet that his cultivation level was at the "Corpse Qi Condensation" stage, which was equivalent to about five inches of spiritual root in the Daoist sect, similar to Li Feng's current level.

But the methods of the corpse carriers were far more insidious than those of the Taoist cultivators.

For example, the vengeful spirits of the three hundred-year-old corpses sealed in the body bag are equivalent to the combat power of three spirit root stage cultivators, which is the bald old man's trump card.

Unfortunately, he encountered a steady player like Li Feng, which caught him off guard.

Li Feng closed the booklet and fell into deep thought.

The cultivation system in this world is far more complex than what he had read in the book.

Taoist cultivators are not the strongest. With the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism standing side by side, even those from unorthodox sects can cultivate to become top experts.

A corpse carrier like the bald old man is only of the lower middle class among the nine classes, but as long as he cultivates to a high level, he can still subdue demons and monsters and overturn rivers and seas.

Li Feng carefully put the booklet away, then rummaged through the old man's other belongings and found several pieces of parchment with rough maps drawn on them, marking places he had never heard of before.

Huangshi Town, Qingyan City, Heifengling, Baigu'ao...

He decided to leave as soon as possible.

The dilapidated temple was no longer a safe place to stay.

The bald-headed old corpse lay on the ground, like a piece of withered old tree root.

Li Feng squatted in front of him and rummaged through the things he needed for a long time, taking everything he could, when he suddenly remembered carrying a body bag.

Li Feng walked over and picked up the bag; it was lighter than he had expected.

Li Feng carried the body bag and the box back to the temple, sat down on the straw pile, and opened the thin booklet he had found on the bald old man.

The booklet contained detailed information about carrying body bags, enough for him to understand the ins and outs of this thing.

The body bag is a ritual implement passed down through generations of corpse carriers, used to seal the vengeful spirits within the corpses.

Once the vengeful spirit is sealed in the bag, it will gradually lose its former mind and become a purely malevolent entity, obeying only the owner of the bag.

The old bald man's claim that the bag contained the vengeful spirits of three centuries-old corpses is an absolute exaggeration.

Even if they aren't centuries-old corpses, these vengeful spirits are not to be underestimated.

Each one is equivalent to a cultivator at the Spirit Root stage, meaning there are three Spirit Root stage fighters.

Unfortunately, the bald old man died too quickly, and only two of the three vengeful spirits were released. The remaining one was still sealed in the bag and was never used.

Li Feng placed the body bag on his knees and reached to untie the black rope at the opening of the bag.

The moment the rope was untied, the bag bulged, and a chilling aura poured out of it, even colder than the two previous plumes of black mist.

Black energy surged out of the bag and coalesced into a human shape, with the outline of facial features vaguely discernible: a sunken nose, sunken eye sockets, and a mouth stretched to the ears.

The vengeful spirit floated in front of Li Feng, its two empty eye sockets staring at him, scrutinizing and examining him.

It did not attack immediately, but it also showed no sign of submission.

Like a venomous snake probing its prey, cold and cunning, making no attempt to conceal its hostility.

"You're disobedient, huh? Then I'll beat you until you submit."

Li Feng stared expressionlessly at the vengeful spirit, lightning crackling in his right palm.

"roar!"

Sensing the presence of lightning, the vengeful spirit twisted violently, opened its hollow mouth and roared, baring its fangs and claws as it lunged at Li Feng.

It was extremely fast, at least 30% faster than the previous two vengeful spirits.

Three-inch-long fingernails emerged from the black mist, like five rusty iron nails, aimed straight at Li Feng's face.

Li Feng did not dodge. Lightning exploded in his palm, and bolts of electricity as thick as a thumb shot out, slamming into the vengeful spirit's claws.

Lightning is extremely yang and strong, and it is especially effective against yin and evil spirits. When a vengeful spirit's hand is struck by lightning, it hisses and emits white smoke.

The fingertips shattered, and wisps of black energy dissipated into the air.

"what!"

The vengeful spirit cowered and screamed, trying to escape back into the body bag.

Li Feng wouldn't give it that chance. He had already prepared a talisman in his left hand and slapped it directly onto the vengeful spirit's forehead.

A dark red light flashed, and the vengeful spirit's body froze in mid-air.

After being immobilized, the vengeful spirit shrank into a black sphere the size of a fist, hovering in mid-air.

Li Feng reached out and grabbed the black ball, examining it in his palm.

The surface of the black sphere was icy cold, and he could feel a sinister aura circulating inside it.

The bald old man wasn't exaggerating; this vengeful spirit did indeed possess strength approaching five inches of spiritual root. However, because it had been sealed for too long, its power had diminished, and Li Feng's lightning was precisely what countered it, which is why it was defeated so quickly.

If we can harness the power of this vengeful spirit, it will be a great help.

The tattered book records a spirit-refining technique that can refine a spirit into an object, making it an object spirit.

This spirit refining technique has extremely demanding requirements: it requires a sufficiently sturdy container and the refiner's own cultivation level to suppress the backlash from the spirit.

The remains of the Iron Guard serve as a ready-made container.

The armored corpse's body had been tempered by the bald old man's evil magic, making it far tougher than ordinary steel. Moreover, as a corpse refiner, it had a natural affinity for yin energy, making it easier to integrate.

Li Feng's current cultivation level is five inches of spiritual root, while the vengeful spirit's strength is about four inches of spiritual root, which is enough to suppress it.

The dilapidated temple is located deep in the mountains, and there is no human habitation for dozens of miles around. As long as he controls the fluctuations of spiritual energy during the refining process, he should not attract any trouble.

Li Feng remembered that it was recorded in the tattered book.

"The art of refining spirits is the orthodox method of Taoism. It uses righteousness to control evil and can transform yin into yang."

This means that by using orthodox Taoist spirit-refining techniques to control evil, malevolent entities, one can transform malevolent energy into masculine power.

The Iron Guard, who uses Taoist magic to modify evil magic, can retain the defensive power and strength of the Ironclad Corpse, while also possessing the spirituality and combat power of a vengeful spirit.

He himself was somewhat looking forward to what they could create by combining the two.

Just do it.

Li Feng put the black ball aside and walked to the remains of the Iron Guard to examine them.

Iron Guard's limbs and joints were shattered by the palm strike, and a large hole was blasted in his chest armor, exposing his internal bones and withered muscles. Overall, the damage was about 70%.

Fortunately, the Iron Guard's spine and skull were relatively intact, and although the armor on his torso was damaged, the basic framework was still intact.

Repairing the Iron Guard required materials, so Li Feng searched through everything left behind by the bald old man and found several pieces of dark red ore.

These ores were used by the old man to weigh down the lid of his cauldron when he was refining pills; they contained a faint amount of fire-attribute spiritual energy.

They also found a roll of dried animal sinew, which was extremely tough and could be used to replace the broken cowhide rope to connect the armor plates.

There was also half a jar of black ointment, the very thing the bald old man used to apply to Zhao Yuanshan's body. It emitted a pungent, putrid smell, and when applied to Tie Wei's wounds, the withered muscles slowly twitched, as if they were healing.

Li Feng spent two whole days restoring the Iron Guard's remains to about 80%.

The joints of the limbs were reconnected with animal sinews, and they became even more flexible.

The hole in the chest was patched up with pieces of iron armor, and black ointment was applied to the gaps. After the ointment solidified, it formed a hard black shell, even harder than the original iron armor.

Iron Guard's face was the most severely damaged; his iron mask had long been shattered, revealing his withered face underneath.

Since Li Feng couldn't repair the face, he simply found a complete piece of iron armor, reforged it into a crude iron mask, and put it on the Iron Guard's face.

The new mask is more rugged than the original, revealing only the gaps between the eye sockets and the mouth, making it look like an iron-cast statue.

After the restoration was completed, Li Feng took two steps back to examine his work.

Iron Guard stood against the wall, his massive seven-foot-tall frame making him appear even more ferocious than before.

It's just an empty shell right now, without any Yin energy to drive it. It can only move a few times by Li Feng forcibly activating it with his spiritual power, and it's no different from a pile of scrap metal.

The next step is the most crucial one: refining the spirit into the body.