Chapter 67: The Demon Hide Is Complete

On Muyu Island, order was swiftly restored under Cao Banshan’s direction after Wang Yuan returned with a boatload of supplies. In the small courtyard, Jiang Chen paid no heed to these happenings, remaining wholly absorbed in his cultivation.

“The iron corpse is dead. Even if it possesses a storage pouch, it cannot be kept for long. The longer it’s held, the more its strength fades,” Jiang Chen mused. He activated the Flaying Technique, peeling off An Yuxuan’s skin. The iron corpse was a precious resource, but before attempting to refine it, Jiang Chen decided to practice on An Yuxuan’s body.

Once the flaying was complete, he summoned the True Flame of Blood Fiend, enshrouding An Yuxuan’s remains. Though he had not studied this spell for long, his understanding of Bloodflame was profound, and his foundation was solid, allowing him to grasp the essentials in a short time.

The flames roared. As time passed, An Yuxuan’s flesh and bones melted away under the True Flame of Blood Fiend, dissolving into streams of blood energy that merged into the flayed skin. The withered hide swelled and filled out before his eyes as it absorbed the blood essence.

Seeing the moment was right, Jiang Chen gathered his energy into threads, preparing for the final step. But then, an unexpected change occurred: the Blood Fiend Flame abruptly raged out of control, burning An Yuxuan’s skin to ashes in an instant.

Jiang Chen frowned at the sight, but he was not angered by the failure. Instead, he quietly reviewed every detail, searching for his mistake.

Moments later, with new insight, he took out the Corpse Daoist’s remains. Flaying, blood burning, and sewing—the sequence of steps yielded a flawless hide.

It looked lifelike, exuding a faint spiritual aura. Jiang Chen smiled with satisfaction. Though it was not a true demon skin, it served as the foundation for crafting one.

“Compared to cultivators at the Spirit Sense level, the skins of Qi Refining cultivators are more nourished by spiritual energy and are, in fact, easier to refine,” he reflected, comparing the two processes.

“Human skin cannot be made into demon skin, but this hide can be kept for now—perhaps it will be useful later.” After admiring it briefly, he stored away the Corpse Daoist’s hide.

Human cultivators differed from demon beasts. The latter stored most of their power in their bloodlines. Because of this, cultivators who cultivated the Skinning Technique could use secret arts to preserve some of a beast’s power in the hide, refining it into so-called “demon skin.”

But for humans, once a cultivator died, their power dissipated—at least for those in the Qi Refining stage. Moreover, the Minor Formless Sutra repeatedly warned that refining demon skin from human cultivators was forbidden and taboo.

Though Jiang Chen did not know the reasons, he had no intention of trying. Aside from possible dangers, he was simply incapable of it for now.

“The iron corpse’s original body was human, but after becoming a zombie, it transformed into a genuine monster. It can be used to refine demon skin,” he thought. Shaking his head, he produced the iron corpse’s remains.

This time, he approached the task with greater care. From his storage pouch, he retrieved various metals and spiritual sand—metals seized from the River Marauder’s warehouse, and spiritual sand provided by the Corpse Daoist.

As a Qi Refining cultivator, the Corpse Daoist had accumulated a fair amount. There were two pecks of spiritual sand in his pouch, about ten catties in all. By the currency of the Southern View Kingdom’s cultivation world, one mace of spiritual sand equaled one spirit stone; one tael was ten maces, one catty ten taels, so a catty of spiritual sand equaled a hundred spirit stones, and ten catties, about a thousand.

Jiang Chen did not know how this compared to other cultivators’ fortunes, but for himself, it was abundant, as he owned none. Until now, he had mostly relied on slow and steady absorption of the world’s spiritual energy.

“Let’s hope for success in one try.” Channeling his true energy, Jiang Chen began to arrange the metals and spiritual sand into a simple refining array, as described in the records.

The array, optimized and simplified by the Unchanging Sect, was as basic as could be. With the right method, any Qi Refining cultivator could lay it out, regardless of experience. Its sole purpose was to reduce the cultivator’s energy expenditure and sustain the operation of the Blood Fiend True Flame. If one’s cultivation and mastery of the spell were high enough, the array would be unnecessary.

As the refining array took shape, Jiang Chen began to refine the iron corpse into demon skin, moving far more carefully than before.

Time slipped by. As the sun leaned westward, the Blood Fiend True Flame surged, engulfing the iron corpse like a towering bonfire.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

“The Skinning Technique is both a spell and an artifact. The stronger the demon skin, the longer the refining time. Though this iron corpse is only at the Qi Refining stage and not especially powerful, it should take about seven days to complete,” he estimated.

Thus, seven days passed quietly.

“It’s time for the final, most crucial step.”

With bloodfire blazing, Jiang Chen gazed at the iron corpse’s hide—now void of flesh and blood, only the skin remained. His expression grew solemn.

“Blood essence refined by the Bloodflame spell contains the lingering consciousness of living beings. This I have already verified. The Blood Fiend True Flame shares this trait, but with the added power to annihilate these remnants. In fact, this is one way the Blood Fiend True Flame can be strengthened.”

As his soul power recovered, Jiang Chen’s perception sharpened; what once appeared only as vague impressions now became clear. He sensed the iron corpse’s lingering consciousness—howling, raging.

“Normally, to avoid backlash and facilitate control, cultivators would use the Blood Fiend True Flame to dispel some of the remnants. But as a result, the demon skin’s power and potential would both be diminished,” he mused.

Instead of immediately erasing the iron corpse’s will with the Blood Fiend True Flame, Jiang Chen chose another path.

“There’s a better way,” he thought, and triggered his innate ability.

In the next instant, his formidable soul power burst forth, condensing into a giant hand that forcefully suppressed the iron corpse’s lingering will, sealing it together with the blood energy inside the hide.

At that moment, the once lifeless iron corpse’s skin suddenly came alive, as if it had revived, standing tall amidst the blood flames like a true iron corpse.

Jiang Chen knew he had succeeded in refining this demon skin.

As he immersed himself in cultivation, digesting his gains, outside, a bowstring was quietly drawn, its aim now fixed on the River Marauders.