Yuan Ming glanced at the iron nail a few times, and soon stopped paying attention to it, his gaze shifted to the last jade scroll.

He activated his Divine Sense to delve into it, and a pleased expression appeared on his face as he finally found something useful.

This jade scroll contained a cultivation technique known as "Ghost Spirit Skill," which, according to the description at the end, was a splendid inheritance of the Black Fire Sect. The scroll recorded mnemonics from the Qi Refinement Realm to the peak of the Foundation Establishment, having significant value.

The "Ghost Spirit Skill" also included some secret techniques for refining corpses and insights into corpse control, presumably written by the Bone Map. Yuan Ming truly broadened his horizons with the subtle refinements detailed within, and gained a preliminary understanding of the Black Fire Sect's corpse control secret techniques.

The corpse control secret technique of the Black Fire Sect, strictly speaking, was quite similar to the Corpse Control Divine Ability of the Moonlight Technique, both involving the sealing of a part of one's Divine Soul within the refined corpse to manipulate it.

However, the starting point for the Corpse Control Divine Ability of the Moonlight Technique was very high, requiring one to cultivate the Moonlight Technique to the second layer and possess an exceptionally strong Divine Soul to use it; whereas the threshold for the Black Fire Sect's corpse control secret technique was much lower, accessible even if the Divine Soul was not too weak.

The entry-level threshold for the Black Fire Sect's method of corpse control was low, but to control a refined corpse, it required a long period of sacrificial refining and adaptation. In the initial stages, it was very prone to backlash, far less convenient than the Moonlight Technique, which allowed immediate control.

Yuan Ming, without time to study in detail at this moment, put away the jade scroll and began to examine the storage bags of Sang Yan and the three others.

All four individuals were Qi Refining Stage Cultivators and seemed to lack powerful backgrounds within the Black Fire Sect, using only Low Grade Magical Artifacts with rather modest power, except for Sang Yan's pair of black gloves, which had some distinctive features.

These gloves were significantly different from ordinary magical artifacts; they contained an internal space about a meter in size, filled with a lot of Black Mist, which was actually dense corpse qi with strong toxicity.

Yuan Ming had seen Sang Yan use these gloves before to release the corpse qi within and attack enemies.

The structure of the black gloves was somewhat similar to that of storage magical tools, but unlike storage magical tools, the space in the gloves was very fragile and could only store gases such as mist and smoke.

These gloves could indeed be put to good use, but the toxicity of the corpse qi inside was too weak; it all needed to be discharged later to fill it with Black Toad poison mist instead.

Yuan Ming then took over the storage magical tools of Sang Yan and the three others, activating his Divine Sense to inspect them.

The four of them were not wealthy, their Spirit Stones totaling less than three hundred, and the other contents of the storage magical tools were quite ordinary too.

Yuan Ming's expression suddenly changed as he found a palm-sized grey pouch in Sang Yan's storage magical tool. The pouch, woven from special materials, emitted no trace of spiritual power, and was bulging with contents.

He untied the hemp rope of the small pouch, and a chicken egg-sized white mineral tumbled out, radiating a faint white light. Inside the mineral, a flame-like radiance floated, visible from the outside and rather magical.

His face lit up with joy; could these minerals be the White Flame Gold mentioned by the Three Cave Masters?

From its appearance and characteristics, it was very possible; the Three Cave Masters mentioned that Sang Yan had acquired some during the last alliance meeting at White Deer Hill, so it was not surprising to find them on him now.

After carefully putting away the White Flame Gold, Yuan Ming collected the items from the others and began to examine their Corpse Nourishing Bags.

The black-clothed woman, the youth with sword-like eyebrows, and the rugged man's Corpse Nourishing Bags all contained ordinary refined corpses, with combat power comparable only to Qi Refining Middle Stage Cultivators—not comparable to the two Green Steel Corpses of the Bone Map, and thus of no great value.

Yuan Ming took over Sang Yan's Corpse Nourishing Bag, his Divine Sense indifferently probing inside, but his expression suddenly changed dramatically.

The Corpse Nourishing Bag contained a towering corpse about a meter high, covered in green fur, much like a Human Demon.

There were nine talismans attached to the green-furred corpse's body, which judging from their aura, should have effects similar to the Sealing Spirit Talisman.

However, the aura of the green-furred corpse was extraordinarily powerful, obviously far surpassing the existence at the Core Formation Stage; these talismans could not completely seal it.

Yuan Ming was shocked. Could this green-furred corpse be that of a Core Formation Stage cultivator? Sang Yan and the others sneaked into Snake King Valley, laboring to break the array inside that ancient castle—could it have been related to this green-furred corpse?

Now, combining the various behaviors seen earlier, it somewhat made sense; the Black Fire Sect was a Corpse Refining Sect, and they would only value corpses that contained potent powers.

Yuan Ming examined the green-furred corpse, his Divine Sense suddenly focusing on its forehead, where there was a thumb-sized blood hole, with the adjacent scalp stained with black-green slime.

This wound...

He took out an object, which was the iron nail magical artifact with black-green slime on it.

The size of the nail and the slime on it matched the green-furred corpse; could it be that this nail was previously embedded in this Core Formation Stage corpse?

Just then, the aura of the green-furred corpse suddenly began to strengthen, a powerful surge of Corpse Qi raging outward, the nine talismans fluttering and their runes brightening and dimming rapidly, quickly fading, unlikely to hold much longer.

The control measures applied to the green-furred corpse were all Sang Yan's doing. Now that she was dead, those measures naturally failed, and relying solely on nine Corpse Suppressing Talismans could not restrain this green-furred corpse.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming was secretly anxious, and he quickly took out the Bone Map's jade scroll, rapidly perusing the contents about controlling corpses, hoping to find a solution.

However, the corpse control secret technique of the Black Fire Sect was profound and inscrutable; Yuan Ming could hardly master it briefly, and moreover, many corpse controlling techniques required auxiliary items, none of which he possessed.

As the aura of the green-furred corpse grew increasingly powerful, the nine Corpse Suppressing Talismans were already on the verge of collapse.

With a grit of his teeth, Yuan Ming took a desperate measure, releasing a soul crow into the Corpse Nourishing Bag, plunging it into the eyebrow center of the green-furred corpse as he employed the Corpse Control Divine Ability.

The aura of the green-furred body abruptly paused, swiftly retracting, and its tightly shut eyes slowly opened, revealing eerie green pupils.

Yuan Ming was both shocked and delighted; the Corpse Control Divine Ability of the Moonlight Technique was indeed mysterious—he had only tried it as a last resort, and to his surprise, he had actually managed to control this Core Formation Stage corpse!

He performed a gesture, and the green-furred corpse flew out of the Corpse Nourishing Bag, landing on the ground, motionless.

Yuan Ming circled around the corpse twice, his mind urging it on.

The green-haired corpse let out a beast-like low growl, and its green-black fist covered in green hair smashed forward.

The air in front exploded, a visible blast of fist wind erupted, easily tearing through the Barrier laid down by the Four Directions Sealing Spirit Talisman and striking the cave wall.

With a thunderous roar, a huge pit about ten feet deep appeared in the mountain wall, spiderweb-like cracks spreading from the pit across the entire cave, small and large stones cascading down.

Yuan Ming's mouth slightly agape, he knew this Core Formation Stage corpse contained astonishing power, but he hadn't imagined it would be this terrifying, a light punch almost collapsing the cave.

After his surprise, delight surged in his heart.

After the soul crow's possession, he had already thoroughly investigated; this Core Formation Stage corpse had transformed into a being similar to a Human Demon, unable to wield any more Magic Power Divine Abilities, leaving only its physical strength.

Even so, this corpse still represented a tremendous and formidable combat force.

Yuan Ming closed his eyes and circulated the Corpse Control Divine Ability to become familiar with various aspects of the green-haired corpse for future use.

Time ticked by, quickly encompassing a quarter of an hour.

Yuan Ming was still sensing the situation of the green-haired corpse and did not notice a surge of ink-black qi suddenly emerging from its gloomy green eyes.

An aura of evil suddenly seeped from deep within the corpse and wrapped around the soul crow, then ventured into Yuan Ming's Sea of Consciousness through it.

Yuan Ming's body shook violently, and a thought of murderous bloodlust suddenly surged, several times stronger than the backlash from the Fur Cloak Skill.

Startled, he circulated the Moonlight Technique on one side to suppress the bloodthirsty thought while retracting the soul crow on the other.

However, the evil aura within the green-haired corpse seemed like tentacles, clutching the soul crow and refusing to release. It took Yuan Ming the strength of nine bulls and two tigers to barely pull the soul crow out, dispersing the thoughts of bloodlust and slaughter immediately.

However, without the soul crow's control, the aura of the green-haired corpse exploded again, all nine Corpse Suppressing Talismans shattered.

The green-haired corpse broke all constraints, its aura wildly surging, and its originally hollow gaze seemed to regain a hint of vitality.

Yuan Ming was both shocked and anxious, about to grit his teeth and use another soul crow to control the corpse again.

Just then, a buzzing sound suddenly emerged, originating from the black iron nail he was holding.

The black iron nail hummed and trembled, and its tip pointed toward the green-haired corpse's head.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming resolutely inserted the iron nail into the blood hole on the green-haired corpse's forehead.

The burgeoning aura from the green-haired corpse immediately subsided and rapidly disappeared.

A few breaths later, the powerful aura from the corpse completely dissipated, leaving only a trace, barely stronger than an ordinary yin corpse.

Yuan Ming heaved a sigh of relief; this iron nail was indeed for the sealing of the green-haired corpse, and looking at the old aura on the nail, it should have originally been on the corpse, not the doing of the Black Fire Sect.

His interest in this green-haired corpse grew; such a powerful entity could not have appeared out of thin air.

Yuan Ming retrieved Sang Yan's and the Bone Map's storage magic tools and examined them carefully, soon finding a fragmentary map from Sang Yan showing the terrain right here in Snake King Valley, with some text written on the back of the fragment.

After going through the map and text, he finally understood the origin of the corpse, which was originally named "Heavenly Snake Master," no wonder it chose to be buried in Snake King Valley.

There were many secrets in Snake King Valley, including that ancient castle and the black stone pillar deep in Snake King Cave, all were quite peculiar.

However, he had no immediate intention to explore these.

Yuan Ming placed Heavenly Snake Master's corpse into the Bone Map's Corpse Nourishing Bag and turned to walk out, quickly reaching near the entrance to Snake King Valley.

"Goo goo…"

Inside the Spiritual Beast Bag, the Black Toad made a series of anxious sounds, sending a thought of unwillingness to leave this place.

"Do you want to stay here to cultivate?" Yuan Ming communicated with the Black Toad through his Divine Thought.

After the Black Toad's breakthrough to the Second Level, its spiritual intelligence had improved significantly, and it nodded repeatedly.

Yuan Ming looked towards Snake King Valley, which was warm and moist, indeed a suitable environment for the Black Toad. Although the two Snake Kings had perished, there were still plenty of Golden Flower Poison Pythons in Snake King Valley, which were great nourishment for the Black Toad.

Moreover, with the Black Toad's current Divine Skills, there was no need to worry about safety issues.

"All right, you may stay here for this period, and I will come to fetch you when needed," Yuan Ming said, releasing the Black Toad.

The Black Toad called out twice to Yuan Ming, hopping into Snake King Valley, its figure quickly disappearing into the dense miasma.

Yuan Ming did not linger and swept towards Biluo Cave.

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