Chapter 367: A Hopeless Case, Just Like Your Sect Master

The three players were so scared they didn’t dare log off.

They had only just started the game. All they’d had time for was activating their Spirit Roots. They hadn’t added any other players as friends, and they didn’t have any points to send messages.

There was no way to do an online points conversion.

But soon enough, they were tossed out.

"RUMBLE..."

The three of them felt like they’d been dumped out of a burlap sack.

A sycophantic voice laughed. "Master, these are three top-quality medicinal ingredients I found for you outside!"

The three players opened their eyes to find themselves in a dim cave.

A small cauldron floated before them.

Behind the cauldron, a white-haired old man with a face covered in dark patterns was meditating with his eyes closed.

A strange, unpleasant odor hung in the cave’s air, like some kind of long-fermented traditional medicine.

And the person standing beside them was a shifty-eyed Cultivator.

’He does not look like a good person!’

The three players stared at the old man, their faces filled with terror.

After a moment, the old man took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

They were a cloudy pair of eyes, which seemed to be all whites.

It was a rather frightening sight, and you could sense the malice deep within his pupils.

He looked at the three players before him, a smile spreading across his bark-like face. "Excellent, excellent. These three are truly not bad. They possess Spirit Roots but haven’t even begun their training. So pure. Indeed, the best medicinal ingredients!"

"Right, Master? I was just lucky. I never expected to just run into the three of them outside, all neatly together like this."

The three players: "..."

’Aren’t you even a little suspicious about this?!’

’The three of us... are we really going to die just like this?’

The three players looked at each other, full of regret. ’If I’d known this would happen, I never would have f*cking chosen Taixue Sect!’

The shifty-eyed man added with a grin, "Master, you were missing just three ingredients. Now that you have these three, you’ll surely be able to refine Heavenly Grade Corpse Bones!"

"It is not yet time to refine Heavenly Grade Corpse Bones," the old man said slowly. He then raised his hand and, without a glance at the players’ reactions, made the three of them float into the air.

The three players nearly screamed.

Immediately after, red threads bored directly into their bodies.

The threads seemed to be forged from blood. Once they entered the players’ bodies, they vanished without a trace.

This should have been an excruciatingly painful process, yet the players had no reaction.

After all, the system had largely blocked their sense of pain.

The player [Jiang Shan] asked the system in terror, "System, what is this stuff? Is there any way to save me?!"

’Can I be saved?!’

’Save me!’

The system observed for a moment, then suddenly said, "You guys are pretty unlucky."

A chill went down Jiang Shan’s spine. ’What’s that supposed to mean? Am I really a goner?’

System: "Hard to say if you’re a goner or not. This is a very low-level Corpse Refining Technique. The downside is that it’s *so* low-level it can’t even enter your souls; it can only directly control your physical bodies. This stuff is so rudimentary I can’t even be bothered to deal with it. You might be able to keep your minds, but I have no idea how you’ll survive."

Actually, there was another way: changing into a puppet body.

But switching to a puppet body wasn’t that easy.

At this stage, the system didn’t make this feature available to ordinary players.

The system would only perform a body swap if it was necessary for major events, rewards, entering a Secret Realm, or specific quests.

The process consumed energy—and a considerable amount at that—which was why it wasn’t open to players.

And you couldn’t call the system pragmatic for it; if average players could use this at will, it would be like giving them an extra life, making them even more reckless. The system couldn’t be responsible for that.

Hearing this, Jiang Shan was both happy and worried.

Happy because there might be a chance to survive.

Worried because it looked like he definitely wouldn’t be able to enjoy this game to the fullest anymore.

After all, how could he have fun when someone else was controlling his body!

Meanwhile, the old man controlling the three of them was gradually revealing a look of astonished doubt.

"Hmm?"

In the past, when he refined these corpse bones, the living subjects were usually in unbearable agony.

Why were these three showing no reaction at all?

However, the old man couldn’t dwell on it.

Because they didn’t react or even resist, the refining process was exceptionally smooth.

The blood threads entered their bodies, and three new low-level corpse bones were freshly produced.

In an instant, dense, mysterious patterns appeared all over the players’ bodies, even on their faces.

It was a particularly sanity-draining sight.

When the three landed, they looked at each other, a little bewildered.

"That easily—"

The elder of the Corpse Bone Sect looked at the three of them again.

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. "You’re still sentient?!"

Not only was the refining process unusually smooth, but these subjects who should have been mindless clearly still possessed their own consciousness.

"Hmm?"

The shifty-eyed man also looked at the three in disbelief, his face suddenly paling. "Could it be... they’re natural-born Extreme Yin Corpse Bones?"

Jiang Shan: "..."

’Buddy, even if we don’t know what that is, it sounds a lot like you’re just trying to stir up hype.’

Sure enough, the Corpse Bone Sect elder was led astray by that one sentence.

A normal person might have wondered if there was something fishy going on.

But people in the Cultivation World were rarely normal, especially low-Level ones who walked a crooked path.

Greed and delight instantly flared in the elder’s eyes. "That’s right... they’ve already become Corpse Ghosts under my control, yet they can still maintain their sentience. Could they really be Extreme Yin Corpse Bones?"

This was the stuff of legends in their Corpse Bone Sect.

Their Corpse Bone Sect had always been scorned by other Sects, mainly because their cultivation methods were too vile.

They would refine their enemies or other Cultivators into mindless corpse bones for them to control.

But there was a legendary type of corpse bone that, after a successful refinement, not only retained its sentience but could also grow into an extremely powerful existence.

In the future, forget Heavenly Grade Corpse Bones—they could even become Saint-grade!

Even though this Corpse Bone Sect elder was currently only at the Late-stage Golden Core realm.

But a man has to have a dream to pursue.

The shifty-eyed man immediately prostrated himself on the ground. "Congratulations, Master! A thousand congratulations! With these three Extreme Yin Corpse Bones, the position of Sect Master will surely be yours in the future!"

The old man suddenly let out a raspy, triumphant laugh. He crooked his finger, and the three players’ bodies knelt uncontrollably.

"You three, you truly are still sentient?"

The players didn’t dare lie; after all, it was far too obvious. Jiang Shan, ever the pragmatist who adapts to the situation, was afraid but still mustered the courage to call out, "Yes, yes, Master!"

’As long as I can survive and keep playing, I’d call him Dad or Grandpa, let alone Master!’

The other two players scorned Jiang Shan for submitting so quickly, but they also followed suit, pressing their foreheads to the ground in a full kowtow and shouting with particular loudness, "Yes, Master!"

’This is a game, after all. There’s no room for integrity.’

’Who needs integrity? That stuff is useless.’

System: "I knew I wasn’t wrong about you. You’re all so adaptable! Just as hopeless as your Sect Master."