These disciples' bodies were already covered in copper-colored markings of various sizes. It was clear the copper poison had penetrated deep into their internal organs and was on the verge of erupting at any moment.
Jiang Ziang and several other disciples stood silently by the stone platforms, their eyes bloodshot.
Mo Yuan raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.
"Fellow Daoist Jian, Miss Piao, you wished to know the truth behind the copper poison and how my Corpse Soul Sect deals with it. Today, you shall see it with your own eyes."
His gaze fell upon the platform.
In one corner, several inner disciples were bound to stone slabs. Their faces bore the sickly pallor of advanced copper poison, their breathing faint; they were clearly terminal.
Yet, their eyes were exceptionally bright, filled with a resolute determination to face death.
Jiang Ziang and the others stood silently by these stone platforms.
Before the first platform lay a senior sister who, in the past, had been the most fastidious about cleanliness. She was gentle and prone to laughter; after every sparring match, she would scold him while handing over healing pills.
But now, she had been tortured beyond recognition by the copper poison, her delicate face devoid of its former grace.
Jiang Ziang gently smoothed the corner of her robe and tidied her hair, which had become stiff from the poison's encroachment, preserving her last shred of dignity and decorum.
Next was a senior brother who always loved to lecture with a stern face. Jiang Ziang didn't remember much about him, only that he seemed exceptionally patient when teaching techniques.
"Senior Brother, have a safe journey..."
Jiang Ziang’s voice choked up. 'These senior brothers and sisters infected by the copper poison are beyond saving.'
Their physical bodies were about to be completely eroded, at which point they would become calamities, spreading even more copper poison.
But now, they chose a different path—to contribute their final bit of strength to the sect and Kushi County.
Jiang Ziang also knew that perhaps one day, he too would lie here, bidding farewell to his fellow disciples.
The senior brother wanted to comfort Jiang Ziang and pat his head, but his body had long been bound by secret techniques. Forget raising a hand; he couldn't even speak.
He could only manage a smile, his lips twitching slightly before he peacefully closed his eyes.
Mo Yuan spoke slowly, beginning to show Jian Huaishuang and Piao the process of creating knocking ghosts.
"The copper poison is a strange toxin that appeared suddenly several years ago. The Pursuing Soul Envoys are the cornerstone of my Corpse Soul Sect’s resistance against it.
"The method of their creation can be described as defying heaven and harming the natural order. However, if not for this, Kushi County—and indeed the entire Cangzhou Commandery—would have long since been doomed for eternity."
He pointed to the bound inner disciples. "These disciples were unfortunately infected during previous missions to suppress the spread of the poison.
"The poison spreads, eroding vitality, and there is no cure. Rather than letting them waste away, it is better to transform their bodies into a more meaningful existence."
Mo Yuan concealed the helpless sorrow deep in his eyes.
These disciples were all pure of heart, the pillars of the sect, yet now they could only reach the end of their lives in this manner.
Several elders stepped forward. Holding short blades etched with talismans, they precisely sliced open wounds at the disciples' foreheads, chests, dantian, and other vital points.
No blood flowed out. The blood had already been assimilated by the copper poison, turning into a non-flowing semi-solid that curdled at the edges of the wounds.
"Live refinement of the living. Using their unyielding will to temper the physical body, and then supplementing with secret techniques to extract their remaining vitality and cultivation, we transform their forms into vessels to carry vengeful souls."
Jian Huaishuang watched all this with a heavy brow.
He could clearly feel the immense agony those inner disciples endured during the live refinement process.
Their bodies convulsed violently, veins bulging, but their lips remained tightly sealed, unable to make a sound.
Only their eyes betrayed an unspeakable pain, alongside a steadfastness that transcended life and death.
With solemn righteousness, they went gallantly to their deaths.
Mo Yuan and the elders laid out an array around the stone platforms, chanting incantations.
As the chants rang out, the disciples' bodies began to shrivel, then collapse, reorganize, and stitch together.
The entire process was shocking to behold, yet their auras did not completely dissipate; it seemed the final shred of their living consciousness was still imprisoned within the husks.
Immediately after, several knocking ghosts were summoned from somewhere within the tower.
As these knocking ghosts approached the stone platforms, their bodies began to emit a bizarre suction, pulling several wisps of invisible vengeful souls from within themselves.
"These vengeful souls are all innocent spirits who died from the copper poison, brought here by the knocking ghosts," Mo Yuan’s voice held no trace of emotion.
"By infusing them into these refined disciple bodies, we can create new Pursuing Soul Envoys."
As the vengeful souls were forcibly injected into the shriveled remains, the corpses began to swell, and their skin gradually regained elasticity.
Their features, covered in stitch marks, became hideous. Soul fire ignited within their eye sockets, and at that moment, new Pursuing Soul Envoys were born.
Throughout the entire refinement process, Jian Huaishuang could clearly sense the aura of Nie on Sect Master Mo Yuan becoming heavier.
It was a weight composed of resentment, pain, and helpless karma, almost entirely enveloping him.
It was enough to drag someone into the depths of hell at any moment.
Yet, the determination in his eyes did not waver in the slightest, as if he had long grown accustomed to bearing such sins.
Once the refinement was complete, the newborn knocking ghosts stood vacantly in place, awaiting orders.
Jian Huaishuang’s brow remained furrowed. Such a secret technique was far too sinister. Were the lives of the living merely consumables?
How could any immortal sect's method be so treacherous?
The remaining vengeful souls, which were insufficient to be made into knocking ghosts, were driven by the disciples toward the incinerator in the center of the tower.
Mo Yuan said, "These souls do not have deep enough resentment, or their wills were not strong enough in life to carry the body of a full Pursuing Soul Envoy. However, their resentment still has its uses."
Jiang Ziang silently waved his Soul-Summoning Banner, driving dozens of tattered vengeful souls into the roaring incinerator.
"A final send-off for the heroes," Jiang Ziang’s voice was low and sorrowful.
Inside the incinerator, the flames radiated a ghostly chill. When the souls were cast into the furnace, they did not dissipate; instead, they let out shrill screams.
They struggled and twisted in the flames, their bodies constantly scorched, yet they were not completely burned away. Instead, they existed in a state of eternal torture.
"This furnace is called the Soul-Refining Furnace." Mo Yuan’s tone remained devoid of emotion, as if stating a long-accepted fact.
"The souls suffer fire torture in this furnace to stimulate their deepest levels of resentment and pain. This extreme resentment is the core power my Corpse Soul Sect uses to suppress the thing beneath this tower."
Jian Huaishuang looked at the agonizing souls in the furnace, his brow furrowing even tighter until it was practically a knot.
What he saw and heard matched perfectly with the records he had found in the inner city of Kushi, confirming that the Corpse Soul Sect’s ghost path techniques indeed had their unique merits.
However, this method of refining the living and using souls as sacrifices for the furnace was diametrically opposed to the righteous path he believed in.
Specfically, the Way of the Sword sought clarity of mind and spirit, the mastery of intent to strike down all injustice in the world.
Yet the Corpse Soul Sect’s actions were using deeper resentment and Nie to suppress a deeper evil—fighting poison with poison, meeting evil with evil.
This caused a violent clash within his Dao heart.
He did not know if this method was salvation or a descent into depravity.
Meanwhile, Piao stood quietly from beginning to end, her expression unchanging.
She simply watched. She was not human; her thoughts were simple, and she was entirely unable to comprehend such complex human choices and moral dilemmas.
Fiends only followed instinct. If one had to make a painful choice, it only proved that they were not strong enough to simply crush everything.
However, the moment Jiang Ziang drove the last batch of souls into the Soul-Refining Furnace and the flames surged as the screams reached their peak, Piao’s pupils suddenly contracted.
A faint resonance was transmitted to her perception from the depths of the Soul-Suppressing Tower—from the Locust Mother suppressed at the bottom.
It was a primal hunger that had been suppressed for hundreds of years.
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