Chu Xuan's interest piqued. "Boss Zhao? And who might that be?"

Tang Hu blinked, caught off guard, but answered quickly. "Boss Zhao is Zhao Hong! He's the leader of the Spirit Dog Gang, the biggest faction in Donghu City!"

Chu Xuan nodded slowly. "Tell me everything about the surrounding area. Leave nothing out."

Not daring to refuse, Tang Hu spilled every detail he knew.

Chu Xuan gave a satisfied nod. "Excellent."

Tang Hu forced a desperate, fawning smile. "Big brother, please. For the sake of my brother-in-law, and since I've been so cooperative... you'll spare my life, right?"

Chu Xuan smiled warmly. "What I meant was, your physique is excellent. You'll make a perfect flesh vessel for my corpse refining."

Tang Hu froze.

Corpse refining?

Before his brain could even process the words, the Blood Steel Wire coiled in Chu Xuan's palm lashed out like a viper, instantly binding the man's hands and feet.

Tang Hu thrashed wildly, desperate to break free, but the blood-red threads were harder than industrial steel. They didn't yield an inch.

"Big brother, you... what are you doing?!" he shrieked, terror finally clawing at his throat.

"Corpse refining," Chu Xuan repeated patiently, already turning his attention to a collection of medicinal vials. "You're strong and sturdy. Perfect catalyst material. Once I stimulate all that lovely resentment of yours, you'll make a wonderfully durable Corpse Soldier."

He was employing the Vajra Corpse Refining Method, a secret art originating from the Corpse Puppet Sect. Unfortunately for them, the Corpse Puppet Sect hadn't been particularly formidable and was eradicated early on by a coalition of Righteous Sects. The lion's share of their legacy had been hypocritically hoarded by those same Righteous Sects, while the scraps were quietly absorbed by the Wuji Sect.

Regardless of the specific technique used, the lowest tier of refined undead was known as a Corpse Soldier.

Above them ranked Corpse Generals, Corpse Marshals, Corpse Kings, and beyond.

A Corpse Soldier corresponded to the Qi Condensation stage.

A Corpse General corresponded to the Foundation Establishment stage.

And so forth for the higher echelons.

Each realm was further divided into nine levels, mirroring the Cultivation stages of living beings perfectly.

However, the refining method dictated the undead's unique traits. The Vajra Corpse Refining Method, for instance, focused entirely on tempering the physical vessel. Once completed, these Corpse Soldiers became impervious to mundane blades and possessed immense, crushing strength—more than enough to tear a Qi Condensation Cultivator limb from limb.

Chu Xuan had previously found this art too impractical to practice. The process was agonizingly slow and highly prone to lethal accidents. Furthermore, his constant need to stay on the move in the Cultivation world had forced him to shelve the idea entirely.

Now, however, he had all the time in the world.

Chu Xuan retrieved a massive wooden barrel from his Storage Bag, filling it with a noxious blend of medicinal liquids. Without a second thought, he hoisted the elaborately hogtied Tang Hu and tossed him in.

The dark liquid swallowed him whole, submerging even his head. Tang Hu's muffled, frantic screams bubbled to the surface before gradually fading into a wet, suffocated silence.

With clinical precision, Chu Xuan sliced open his own palm. He forced out two heavy, glowing drops of essence blood and let them fall into the vat.

His complexion immediately paled. Essence blood was the very foundation of a Cultivator's vitality. Even with the Blood Transformation Spirit Stealing Art accelerating his recovery, condensing those two drops was not something he could replicate in a mere day or two.

Now, we just wait, he thought. According to the records in the Vajra Corpse Refining Method, it should take three days at most to see results.

Dusting off his hands, Chu Xuan settled into a nearby recliner and popped open a can of tuna he'd scavenged during his earlier Zombie hunt. Miraculously, it hadn't expired.

"Damn, modern industrial preservatives really hit the spot," he muttered, shoveling the meat into his mouth with unabashed glee. "What the hell was I even eating back at the Wuji Sect? Bland garbage."

Chu Xuan let out a long, satisfied sigh to the ceiling. After years of choking down tasteless spirit grains and bitter pills, he was finally eating food fit for a human being.

***

Three days later.

Chu Xuan stood expectantly before the vat, admiring his handiwork.

A massive, pitch-black, rock-hard figure loomed within the drained barrel. Tang Hu's original physique had bulged with unnatural muscle mass, expanding a full size larger. Dense, jagged bone armor had erupted through the skin, plating his chest, joints, and spine.

The defensive capabilities looked downright astonishing.

Chu Xuan flicked a flying dagger at the creature's chest. Clang. The blade sparked against the bone armor, leaving behind nothing but a shallow white scratch.

A cold smile spread across his face. He had succeeded.

The undead monstrosity standing before him had officially crossed the threshold of a Corpse Soldier, placing it on par with a Qi Condensation Cultivator.

I just wonder what its aptitude is, Chu Xuan mused.

An undead's aptitude was strictly categorized into four tiers: Top Grade, High Grade, Middle Grade, and Low Grade. The higher the quality of the living resource and the medicinal bath, the higher the resulting grade.

A Top Grade specimen would awaken with an innate mastery of four spells upon refinement. A High Grade would possess three. Middle Grade and Low Grade specimens were left with two and one, respectively.

Back in the Wuji Sect, rumors spoke of a certain Golden Core Patriarch who, during his lowly Qi Condensation days, had struck the lottery by refining a Top Grade corpse with four innate spells. That Patriarch had ridden the coattails of that single, overpowered summon all the way up the Cultivation ladder, eventually forming his Golden Core.

Chu Xuan reached into his robes and withdrew a miniature, pitch-black pagoda.

This was a Corpse Nurturing Tower—a Magical Artifact specifically forged to house and nourish the undead. Every Corpse Nurturing Tower came enchanted with a built-in Appraisal Art to identify an occupant's realm and aptitude.

He had bought this particular tower for a bargain from a washed-up, middle-aged disciple. It was merely a Low Grade Magical Artifact, utterly devoid of offensive or defensive capabilities, serving only as a portable kennel for the dead. He had kept it on him for years, just in case.

Now, it was finally time to put it to work.

With a mere thought, Chu Xuan commanded the Corpse Soldier into the tower.

The interior was saturated with thick, heavy Yin energy. The Corpse Soldier practically shivered with excitement upon entering, greedily gulping down the dark miasma.

Chu Xuan injected a thread of spiritual power into the artifact, triggering the Appraisal Art. A beam of black light swept over the creature. Instantly, a wisp of golden light bloomed from the crown of its head.

Chu Xuan raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise. "A Middle Grade? And a Level-Two Corpse Soldier right off the bat? Not bad at all."

For his very first attempt at corpse refining, using relatively cheap medicinal liquids, yielding a Middle Grade was a fantastic return on investment. He had struck gold.

He continued channeling the Appraisal Art, quickly deciphering the two innate spells etched into the creature's dead mind: Bloodlust Art and Golden Light Mantra.

The Bloodlust Art was a berserker skill, instantly throwing the user into a frenzied state that drastically spiked their combat power. The drawback was its short duration—a mere fifteen minutes—followed by a grueling ten-hour period of severe weakness.

The Golden Light Mantra, true to its name, coated the user's body in a dense, defensive golden aura upon activation.

Combined, these two spells turned the Corpse Soldier into an absolute meat shield. Even though its base stats were only at Level-Two—equivalent to a second-layer Qi Condensation Cultivator—activating both spells simultaneously would allow it to briefly trade blows with a fourth-layer Cultivator.

Whether deployed as bait to draw enemy fire or used as a vanguard to secure his own escape, it was a highly efficient tool.

Chu Xuan chuckled, thoroughly pleased. This apocalyptic planet was a veritable paradise. In just three days, he had forged a loyal Corpse Soldier to serve as his trump card, effectively doubling his overall combat strength.

"Shame that high-quality living resources are so hard to come by, otherwise I'd mass-produce these things," Chu Xuan muttered, smacking his lips.

He gave a casual wave of his hand.

The Corpse Soldier lumbered out of the tower, bowing stiffly before him to await its orders. This absolute obedience was the return on his investment of essence blood. As long as the Corpse Soldier was kept fed with Yin energy and flesh, it would remain a perfectly docile weapon, utterly incapable of betrayal.

"A Level-Two Corpse Soldier shouldn't have any issue sweeping the trash out of this shopping mall," Chu Xuan said, waving his hand dismissively. "Go. Have fun."

He sank back into the plush cushions of his recliner.

The Corpse Soldier let out a guttural, rattling roar and launched itself into the corridors.

A moment later, a symphony of terrifying shrieks, the wet tearing of flesh, and the violent crashing of shattered storefronts echoed through the mall.

Unfazed by the slaughter happening just outside his door, Chu Xuan scooped another bite of canned tuna into his mouth and lazily flipped open an ancient Cultivation text. He sighed in absolute comfort.

After all, wasn't unbridled, bloody freedom the entire point of being a Demonic Cultivator?