Gateway of Immortality

The space within the thumb ring far surpassed that of a Mustard Seed Pouch.

Qin Sang stored all his items inside, and even then, they only occupied a small portion.

A sudden idea struck him. He opened the Corpse Puppet Pouch and summoned the last remaining malevolent corpse, only to find, to his surprise, that he had successfully stored it within the thumb ring.

Then what about living corpses?

He had no living corpses on hand to test this, but he thought of the Blood-Winged Ghost-Headed Wasps. Reaching to the side, he grabbed the Spirit Beast Pouch.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz...

A blur of crimson burst from the Spirit Beast Pouch. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Blood-Winged Ghost-Headed Wasp, no larger than a fist.

These were still larvae from the first hatching, showing no signs of metamorphosis.

Not only that, their growth rate remained painfully slow. The one now in Qin Sang's hand was about the same size and strength as the ones he had encountered back in the Endless Valley.

But this seemed to be their limit. Qin Sang had tried various methods to raise their strength, yet none had any effect.

He had even risked returning to the wasps' breeding grounds to uncover the cause of their mutation, only to find the nest destroyed and overrun by ghostly beasts. The original swarm of Blood-Winged Ghost-Headed Wasps had long vanished.

Qin Sang was still completely clueless about how to cultivate them. All he could do was feed them sacrifices to keep them alive.

Though these wasps were naturally aggressive and recognized no master, his prolonged feeding had at least achieved one thing.

At the very least, they would not go berserk and attack upon sensing his aura.

But that was all. He still couldn't control them in battle. If not for the fact that Ghost-Headed Wasps were rare and unusual spirit insects, Qin Sang would have discarded them long ago.

The Blood-Winged Ghost-Headed Wasp hovered before him. It was just one of many.

He had once taken an entire hive and managed to hatch over two hundred of them. While their individual strength was mediocre, releasing all of them at once from the Spirit Beast Pouch could easily overwhelm a careless early-stage Foundation Building cultivator.

Qin Sang circulated his true essence to bind the Blood-Winged Ghost-Headed Wasp and sent it into the thumb ring.

After a moment, he summoned it back, only to find that it had died completely.

"Seems like I still can't do without the Corpse Puppet Pouch or Spirit Beast Pouch."

Shaking his head, Qin Sang swept away the wasp's corpse and the clutter in the cave. Absent-mindedly, he rotated the thumb ring on his right thumb, lost in thought.

After a while, he collected himself and once again sat down cross-legged to meditate.

This time, he focused inward, "gazing" at the corpse core. Then his consciousness retreated into the primordial spirit space, where he decisively unsealed the Heavenly Corpse Talisman within his primordial spirit.

Crack!

Buddha-light surged forth as the Heavenly Corpse Talisman shattered with a crisp sound.

Qin Sang's heart leapt into his throat as he anxiously monitored changes in his Qihai.

The instant the Heavenly Corpse Talisman broke, all the corpse refinement barriers on his body, like rootless duckweed, crumbled apart. Even the five-elemental yin objects that had stabilized his Qihai began to show signs of instability.

Qin Sang was startled.The first to react are the yin objects?

He had embedded the five-elemental foundation before sealing his soul with the Heavenly Corpse Talisman. He hadn't expected the talisman's shattering to trigger a chain reaction, and one that progressed at an alarming pace.

With the yin objects growing unstable, keeping them in his Qihai would no longer help. Worse, they might cause harm. Without delay, Qin Sang expelled them and turned his focus back to the corpse core.

In the span of a single breath, the corpse refinement barriers across his body had nearly all dissolved. Qin Sang clenched his fists tightly, eyes fixed on the corpse core.

The worst-case scenario hadn't come to pass.

He could still feel it. The sense of closeness between him and the corpse core remained unchanged, even though the Heavenly Corpse Talisman had shattered and the barriers had dispersed. His theory was right!

Still, it was far too soon to celebrate.

The final barrier on his body shattered!

Boom!

In that instant, his Qihai surged with true essence.

The corpse core suddenly lit up, then began to quake violently. Even the true essence in his Qihai churned like boiling water, seething with turbulence.

A sharp, piercing pain radiated from his dantian.

Qin Sang's expression changed drastically.

Although he had not been severed from the corpse core, when he tried to circulate his true essence to stabilize it, he was met with a strange resistance. It had become sluggish and unresponsive, as if a child were trying to wield a massive blade, completely unable to handle it.

His face shifted between shades of uncertainty. He couldn't say whether this outcome was a blessing or a curse.

Without access to his true essence, he had no means of calming the corpse core.

Still, the fact that it hadn't shattered outright or turned against him suggested there was hope for recovery.

Qin Sang grew solemn. After a moment's contemplation, he decisively poured all his spiritual consciousness into his Qihai, racing against time to connect with the corpse core, only to realize that his spiritual consciousness was too feeble. Without the support of true essence, it was simply insufficient to pacify it.

Unwilling to give up, he immediately used his spiritual consciousness to activate the ebony sword, guiding it into his dantian to reveal the astra's aura. But this proved to be of little use as well.

Qin Sang then tried to draw upon the power of the barriers. He recalled the barriers from theHeavenly Yin Corpse Artthat aided the fusion between human and corpse core. Relying on his own understanding of the barriers, he modified a few and sent them one by one into the corpse core. This finally began to yield some results.

However, it still wasn't enough to subdue it. If things continued this way, he would inevitably lose control of the corpse core entirely.

Even so, through this process, his connection with the corpse core became more tangible. A realization gradually dawned in his heart.

The cause of this instability was likely not because the corpse core was trying to break free.

Rather, it was because he himself was too weak, and currently, he could only rely on spiritual consciousness. Without the assistance of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman andHeavenly Yin Corpse Art, it was impossible for him to truly control the corpse core. That was why the corpse core became unstable, and his true essence sluggish.

But their bond hadn't been severed. Qin Sang could confirm this as the corpse core did not reject him.

If he could stabilize it, it would return under his control!

Of course, this didn't mean he had to overpower the corpse core directly. He just needed to use minimal force to maximum effect, leveraging its affinity with him and the barriers of theHeavenly Yin Corpse Artto rein it in and prevent it from spiraling out of control.

Otherwise, if the corpse core wasn't even stronger than his own strength, what use was it?

Wait, spiritual power!

Qin Sang suddenly remembered that with the release of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, he had regained something. ThePrimordial Spirit Sword Nourishmenthad returned to him. He could now use spiritual power to stabilize the corpse core.

However, his own cultivation was still only at the Fake Core Realm, far from enough to exert full control.

After all, this corpse core was strong enough to rival true Core Formation cultivators!

Ideas flashed rapidly through his mind, and eventually, he arrived at only one viable solution: he would have to deliberately release a portion of the corpse core's power.

By his estimation, if he weakened it to the level of a flying yaksha, he should be able to control it, using it as an External Core from then on.

It was a shame. With that, he would no longer be able to clash recklessly with Core Formation cultivators over treasures.