Gateway of Immortality
Chapter 510: Selling Corpses

Chapter 510: Selling Corpses

In the blink of an eye, several months had slipped by in Qingyang City.

During this time, Qin Sang had not been idle. He frequented major auctions, focusing on three main objectives.

First, he combed through the treasures in his Mustard Seed Pouch, selling off any artifacts that were ill-suited to him and trading them for ones more compatible with his needs, thereby enhancing his overall strength as much as possible.

Second, he gathered various pills used to treat corpse transformation.

Back then, Wu Shang had gone all in, turning himself into a living corpse without hesitation. He had no method to unravel the secrets of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and paid no mind to the changes in his flesh. He only cared about forming a Golden Core.

But Qin Sang had the Jade Buddha with him, which resolved the greatest hidden danger of this secret art. As such, he wanted to mitigate the other risks as much as possible and avoid truly becoming a living corpse.

Foremost among these was the corpse transformation of the flesh.

Before he could refine the Golden Core into his body, he would first need to refine himself into a living corpse.

According to Wu Shang’s blueprint, once protected by the Celestial Gale Qi, this process wouldn’t risk true transformation.

However, before that point, when drawing Earth Malevolent Qi into his body to begin the transformation, his flesh would already suffer from the corrosive force of that energy, initiating a severe corpse transformation.

Such transformations could still be treated in their early stages, but if allowed to persist too long, recovery would become impossible. He would have no choice but to abandon his physical body entirely.

Wu Shang had already listed in detail the types of pills that could treat such conditions. While they were not extremely rare, they were still valuable. Now that Qin Sang had some wealth to his name, he spared no expense in preparing a sufficient stockpile.

Third, he searched for two specific spiritual materials: Perpetual Camphor and Heavenrock.

These were the two components still missing from the materials needed to restore the Primordial Unity Ring.

Perpetual Camphor sounded like a type of spiritual wood, but it was actually a jade-like treasure. It was said that a peculiar kind of spiritual jade could grow like a living organism, and after ten thousand years of gestation, would sprout into a tiny jade tree resembling a camphor tree.

This mature jade camphor tree was known as Perpetual Camphor.

Its name might be a touch exaggerated, but that was common, and it only further illustrated its rarity.

Heavenrock, on the other hand, was a rare spiritual rock. Though less valuable than Perpetual Camphor, it too was not easily found.

Di Que had obtained the Primordial Unity Ring long ago, but was never able to refine it precisely because these two materials were missing. All the other materials had already been gathered.

Qin Sang was only a step away from forming his core. Though that step was as wide as a chasm and incredibly difficult to cross, it did not stop him from beginning the search for these materials in advance.

If he could restore the Primordial Unity Ring, then after forming his core, he would have three different astras at his disposal—something even experienced Golden Core cultivators might not possess.

Unfortunately, both Perpetual Camphor and Heavenrock were exceedingly rare and had yet to appear.

Aside from this, Qin Sang hadn’t forgotten to search for spiritual items that aided Core Formation.

Though these items were valuable, they often appeared in auctions as final highlight treasures. Yet even the best of them barely surpassed the Kanli Golden Pill in quality, and most fell short of it.

They were of no use to Qin Sang.

Items like the Snow Spirit Lotus, Iris Flower, or even second-tier pills like the Profound True Pill had not surfaced a single time.

With this in mind, Qin Sang felt rather fortunate to have obtained a matched pair of core-forming items in the past. It was only his own meager talent that held him back.

...

Outside Qingyang City.

Wearing a wooden mask and dressed in Daoist robes, Qin Sang suddenly left his cave dwelling and flew toward a nameless barren mountain.

Upon arrival, he saw someone already standing atop the peak. It was Wandering Man.

"These past few months must have troubled you, Senior, staying at Tianyou Stronghold for so long."

Suppressing his evasion light, Qin Sang cupped his hands with a slightly apologetic tone.

He hadn’t expected the sect leader of the Demonic Qingyang Sect to remain so composed. Even with so many rare treasures appearing at the auctions, the man still hadn’t left his sect. And now, with just over two years left before the opening of the Ziwei Palace...

If the sect leader chose to wait until the palace opened to act, Qin Sang would be left with no choice but to take a massive risk. The odds of success would be less than ten percent.

"Looking out for one another is only natural," Wandering Man replied with a shake of his head, "Besides, this trip hasn’t been for nothing. I’ve gathered most of the items I need for the Ziwei Palace's expedition at Tianyou Stronghold. Now all that’s left is to wait for it to open."

Qin Sang visibly relaxed. "Good to hear. Did you summon me because you’ve received some news?"

Wandering Man nodded and waved his hand, setting up a simple barrier before speaking. "My sect also operates a Taiyi Core Pavilion at Tianyou Stronghold and maintains ties with various demonic sects. While I was there, I heard that three months from now, the demonic saint—Demon Lord Tongyou—will personally host an auction at Tianyou Stronghold. Not only will many Spiritual Infant experts from the demonic sects attend, but also the leaders of several major sects. The sect leader of the Demonic Qingyang Sect, being a peak Core Formation cultivator and closely tied to this network, is also among those invited. I’ve already asked my people to keep an eye out... Didn’t you say you needed more time to prepare? Well, now’s your chance!"

"Demon Lord Tongyou... The one whose fame rivals that of the red-haired grandmaster from the Cunyang Sect?"

Seeing Wandering Man nod slightly, Qin Sang’s heart surged with joy.

Demon Lord Tongyou’s reputation was immense—said to be the strongest figure among the demonic sects, second only to the red-haired grandmaster. An auction personally hosted by him was bound to be filled with treasures. Anyone invited would be hard-pressed to decline.

It turned out that the righteous path was also hosting a similar auction in Chungang City, led by none other than the red-haired grandmaster.

These auctions had become customary. With the Ziwei Palace soon to open, all factions were making preparations—trading for what they lacked, bolstering their strength, and hoping not only to survive the expedition but also to claim as many treasures as possible.

Rumor even had it that after these two major auctions, there would be an exclusive trading conference for Spiritual Infant cultivators alone, with participants not limited to just those from the Small Cold Domain.

For Qin Sang, this was nothing short of fantastic news. With experts from all over the Small Cold Domain converging on the two strongholds, the Demonic Qingyang Sect wouldn’t need to worry about sneak attacks on their sect, and they wouldn’t be on edge from imagined threats.

Seizing the opportunity, Qin Sang immediately departed with Wandering Man, heading straight for Qingyang Market.

...

As soon as he arrived at Qingyang Market at top speed,

Qin Sang carefully calculated the timing, altered his appearance, and entered the market to begin executing his plan.

He was already thoroughly familiar with the various forces within Qingyang Market and their complex entanglements. After interacting with them one by one, he ultimately chose a merchant guild called Treasure Tower and handed over two zombies, entrusting them to be auctioned.

Three days later, the two zombies were successfully sold.

They were just low-level zombies, quite common in demonic sect territory. Apart from drawing a bit of attention from a few observant individuals, they didn’t stir up much of a reaction.

But soon after, another two zombies appeared in Qingyang Market.

This time, far more people took notice—especially cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm, among whom were quite a few disciples from the Demonic Qingyang Sect.

Even some Foundation Building cultivators began paying close attention.

It was clear that a cultivator well-versed in corpse refinement was selling refined corpses in the market. These zombies might merely be a prelude. There was a real chance that this person had malevolent corpses in their possession!