Chapter 124: Designating the Yin Name

Li Hao did not end up sharing a dorm with the Corpse Demon after all. He was placed among the four grave robbers, and the faces of all five beamed brightly at the time.

As for Chen Xiyi, he obtained that ancient book—such an important item, he certainly carried it with him at all times.

After briefly flipping through it, he stuffed it into his Pixiu Pouch.

The book contained the diary of a craftsman involved in building the Shu King Palace. It was written in a mystifying tone; he was likely a part-time feng shui practitioner as well, albeit not a very knowledgeable one. Besides, he was not the head of the construction project, so many of his entries reflected only a partial understanding.

As for the claim that the guqin inside Lady Shu Mausoleum could pacify the rodent tomb guardian—that was sheer nonsense. If the guqin were still a Ritual Implement, it might have been possible, but by the time Chen Xiyi acquired it, the ancient instrument was no longer a Ritual Implement—it was just an ordinary guqin.

Ultimately, the craftsman fled, believing the Shu King likely would not let them leave alive what was called the Shu King Palace but actually served as the Shu King’s tomb.

After escaping, he still recorded the location of the Shu King Palace somewhere in this ancient diary. The map was quite detailed, even documenting certain traps and routes inside the tomb. However, since he had not participated in the complete construction and ran off early, what he knew was actually limited.

“The Shu King Palace—longevity and riches? People actually believe such rumors?”

Chen Xiyi couldn’t help but glance at Li Hao. It was just a tomb, after all—unless gaining longevity meant turning into a corpse.

Riches, though, were a possibility. From the diary, Chen Xiyi learned that this Shu King seemed to possess considerable wealth. If one were to dig up his tomb, they would surely obtain abundant treasures.

It was just that gold, silver, and jewels weren’t particularly useful to Chen Xiyi.

“Still, I might as well go take a look. Perhaps I could dig up some legacy or other—consider it broadening my horizons.”

Going was an option, but not right then. It would be fine to go later when he had free time.

Others might find it somewhat difficult to enter, but for Chen Xiyi, it simply meant taking a pickaxe and digging relentlessly.

At that moment, his focus was on further refining his Formless Astral Energy. This spell held significant potential.

“The Pi Xiu provided me with wealth energy—though I’m not sure what use that is. Still, it increased my passive cultivation speed quite a bit.”

Chen Xiyi discovered that the Qi Mechanism bestowed by the fairies or spirits could also enhance cultivation speed. Of course, it might also be because Tongmu had grown a lot over those days.

After handling that, Chen Xiyi brought out the Corpse Demon and proceeded with secondary experiments on its Corpse Body. This round of experimentation was relatively serious—it involved creating a coexistence structure within the Corpse Demon.

He attempted to embed coexistence structures into its Corpse Body, but the failure rate was extremely high. Halfway through, the entire body couldn’t withstand it, and Chen Xiyi had no choice but to halt the experiment. Continuing further would likely kill the Corpse Demon.

Watching Chen Xiyi drag the Corpse Demon—now without a single patch of intact flesh—back to the Prison, then draw sufficient blood from the Tiger Demon, Water Monkey, and some soldiers to force-feed it, he finally stopped.

Then, Chen Xiyi’s gaze swept over the group. Every time his eyes landed on someone, they couldn’t help but shudder.

Du Nan, in particular, had been on the experimental table once. Although he had been physically anesthetized, hearing the remaining three grave robbers describe his miserable state afterward left him feeling utterly terrible. So, especially when Chen Xiyi’s gaze fell on him, it felt as though his skin were being peeled off by a sharp blade.

The three grave robbers who had witnessed Chen Xiyi’s methods, while not reacting as strongly as Du Nan, still hunched fearfully, lowering their heads and not daring to meet his eyes.

As for Li Hao, he didn’t feel much—though he was a bit scared—and then looked disdainfully at the four grave robbers and the frightened demons and monsters, thinking how cowardly each of them was.

Finally, Chen Xiyi’s eyes settled on a strong, sturdy soldier.

“You, come with me. You’re not from a grave-robbing background, right? Never had a Yin Name designated?” Chen Xiyi looked at the soldier, opened the Prison door, and asked.

The soldier’s expression changed abruptly, and he hurriedly replied, “I haven’t, I haven’t—no, I have, I have!”

Regardless of the truth, if the other party needed someone without a designated Yin Name, then to avoid being taken out, he had to claim he had one.

Chen Xiyi naturally saw through the soldier’s thoughts and couldn’t help but smile. “How perfect—just the kind of person I need.”

He pinned the man down in one move, dragged him out like a dead dog, and casually closed the Prison door behind him.

Of course, the wooden-barred Prison’s opening and closing mainly worked for Chen Xiyi. For others, even if the Prison were open, without exit permission they couldn’t leave—they would be blocked by the Home Protector’s Air Wall.

After tying the man up, Chen Xiyi took out the materials needed for designating a Yin Name. These items weren’t particularly rare, but after his adjustments, they became quite interesting.

The process of designating a Yin Name was also simple: mix the materials into a paste and dab it between the eyebrows.

For this, he made a large bowl of it.

At first glance, it seemed unchanged—a messy, mushy bowl. But in his Qi Sensitivity, the Qi Mechanisms of the various materials continuously mixed and entangled.

When he dabbed it between the soldier’s eyebrows, the Human Qi and Yang Qi in his body suddenly halted, as if frozen.

Then they seemed to dim considerably, and Yin Qi actually flowed into his body instead of being nullified by Yang Qi and Human Qi, gradually forming a coexistence structure.

This made Chen Xiyi smile—he had found the reason.

“So, why dab it between the eyebrows? Is there some significance to the space between the eyebrows?”

“And why does this bowl of materials have such an effect?”

Chen Xiyi’s questions only grew, but that was fine. As long as he proved it successful, he would have a starting point to trace things back to their origins.

What followed naturally was targeted testing. By identifying the causes and effects, Chen Xiyi could further modify his Formless Astral Energy.

The current Formless Astral Energy was built upon designating Yin Names and the Corpse Body. Naturally, the bugs also arose from these two parts.

Chen Xiyi had already researched the Corpse Body part quite thoroughly. Now he needed to find the necessary data from the coexistence structure of the designated Yin Name, then proceed with experiments and refinement.

In Chen Xiyi’s eyes, the technique of the Yin Name designation ritual was quite sophisticated. Though it merely involved mixing materials and dabbing them between the eyebrows, the principles involved were profound. The fact that such a complex structure could be simplified to this extent clearly indicated that the legacy behind these grave robbers was no simple matter.

Unfortunately, those four grave robbers knew nothing of any legacy. And in their line of work, few managed to live peaceful lives.

It could be said that the legacy of their branch was already severed. Perhaps remnants existed somewhere, but these four certainly didn’t know.

Even specialists like those from the Touching Gold and Opening Mounds factions, who relied on knowledge of feng shui, burial sites, etc., received their legacy through oral tradition from the previous generation rather than systematic study.

At most, they might read books like the I Ching or burial classics.

Moreover, in their trade, theoretical knowledge wasn’t very useful—real skill came from practice. Otherwise, one might talk a big game but end up completely lost in practice. Not finding the tomb would be fortunate; the real fear was entering a tomb only to find their practical skills lacking, costing them their lives.

Take, for example, Lady Shu in the bronze coffin within this Lady Shu Mausoleum. If anyone other than Chen Xiyi had opened the coffin, she would have transformed into a jiangshi immediately, catching them off guard.

The reason her transformation was so slow was partly due to Chen Xiyi’s suppression, but also to allow her zombie potential to grow greater, facilitating his research.

And that was just a relatively simple case. If they encountered a grand tomb buried in a fiercely baleful location, without true capability, handling such delicate work would be truly difficult.

Without the suppression of Human Qi and Yang Qi, demons and monsters were absolutely unbeatable by half-baked grave robbers.

Unless they were someone like Cheng Zhen—a person with both legacy and substantial foundations—they stood a chance. Wang Jiu was not on that level; his spells and Ritual Implements were worlds apart from Cheng Zhen’s, practically from different social strata.

If Cheng Zhen applied the Pure Yang Single Breath Golden Light Talisman, Wang Jiu’s Sheepskin Concealment Art and Illusion Art would be instantly torn apart by the golden light.

Wang Jiu could only fight evenly with the fox demon whose neck Cheng Zhen had once snapped. He couldn’t even match the graveyard fox demon Chen Xiyi had encountered earlier, which could cast area Illusion Art.

Among Chen Xiyi’s experimental subjects, probably only the strongest—the Tiger Demon and the Corpse Demon—could stand against Cheng Zhen.

As for the rest, whether Water Monkey or Water Ghost, none could compare to Cheng Zhen armed with the Pure Yang Single Breath Golden Light Talisman. Moreover, Cheng Zhen didn’t only possess that one talisman—his greatest strength lay within his Manor. If the fight took place there, even the Tiger Demon and Corpse Demon combined would not be his match.

“It’s actually different from what I imagined?”

Chen Xiyi had assumed it was peaceful coexistence, but it turned out to be coexistence born of stalemate.

The entangled negative Qi Mechanism within grave robbers served as a targeted protective measure. When they descended into tombs, they often encountered supernatural entities they couldn’t handle, so this measure concealed their Human Qi and Yang Qi, allowing them to escape.

“But that doesn’t align—the structures inside those four grave robbers are different. Did they evolve into peaceful coexistence only after numerous tomb descents?”

Peaceful coexistence meant you mind your business, I mind mine, with minimal interaction.

Coexistence born of stalemate meant neither could overpower the other, forcing them to coexist.

“It must be because the Yang Qi and Human Qi in a person are too abundant initially, requiring reduction to a level the negative Qi Mechanisms can mask. That’s why it appears this way early on. Once Yang Qi and Human Qi drop to a certain level, the situation transforms. Quite fascinating—this might be part of the Qi Refinement and Spirit Cultivation methods, hence the tradition of veterans guiding newcomers.”

Chen Xiyi had previously studied mature coexistence structures, leading him to expect peaceful coexistence. This newly formed structure still needed time to develop.

This realization made him both amused and exasperated.

Fortunately, the entire Yin Name designation process provided Chen Xiyi with considerable data, enough to fix many bugs in his Formless Astral Energy.

Moreover, with the complete process of designating a Yin Name, Chen Xiyi could later deduce the Qi Refinement and Spirit Cultivation methods of the four major factions from this point.

In Chen Xiyi’s view, these four factions likely originated from the same source but diverged for unknown reasons.

Sadly, these groups had long lost systematic structure—some died young, others went mad. Tracing their legacy seemed rather hopeless.

Chen Xiyi didn’t insist on it, though. Not everything could belong to him. Besides, he still had many projects to convert into tangible strength. He simply didn’t have time to run around everywhere. If potential wasn’t converted into strength, it remained mere potential, offering no substantial benefit to Chen Xiyi.