The moment that white light touched Xiao Bai, it flared up intensely, appearing as if it were growing out of his very body. No matter how Xiao Bai surged his spiritual energy to resist or slammed against the pit walls in struggle, the white light remained unshakeable.

  His soul was the last thing to be decomposed. The orb of light carrying his lifelong cultivation and memories struggled desperately within the white glow before finally shattering, crumbling into a sky full of fine powder.

  The white light within the human-shaped depression reached the pinnacle of its power after devouring Xiao Bai. A moment later, all the radiance ceased to scatter and instead constricted inward, gradually condensing into a solid form.

  In the dead center of the pit floor, a speck of light formed from pure energy first manifested. The speck slowly elongated and extended, immediately outlining a skeletal frame as translucent as crystal. Following closely, countless threads of energy, like a dense spiderweb, shuttled and wove rapidly across the skeleton, soon weaving distinct meridians. Within these meridians, a shimmering luster flowed gurglingly, maintaining a state of continuous, unending vitality.

  Finally came the flesh and the skin. A layer as thin as a cicada's wing, existing between the virtual and the real, covered the exterior of the meridians, ultimately forming a flawless male physique. Though his facial features were filled with ugliness, his stature was straight and upright, without a hint of a slouch. More remarkably, upon every inch of his skin, Dao-rhymes flowed slowly; the fusion of these two qualities made him appear all the more bizarre and anomalous.

  Chen Gensheng walked to the edge of the pit and leaped down without hesitation. He crouched and extended one of his lowermost hands, lightly pressing against the chest of this Dao-body. It felt warm to the touch, yet possessed a peculiar texture that was neither metal nor jade.

  Through his Void-Gazing Eye, the internal energy structure of this body was so perfect that not a single flaw could be picked out. The meridians were like rivers, the bones like mountain ranges, and the flesh like fertile soil, constituting a complete and self-consistent small world. Alas, this world was empty; without a soul to preside over it, it was merely an exquisite prison, a magnificent empty shell.

  He stood up and paced a couple of steps beside the Dao-body. Suddenly, he remembered something. One of his lowermost hands reached into his storage ring and rummaged for a while, eventually dragging out a massive, shriveled object. It was the dried corpse of a crimson centipede. Its carapace was dark red and its segments were ferocious; though it had long since lost the breath of life, that aura of fierce malice still rushed at him.

  Chen Gensheng laid the centipede corpse beside the Ethereal Dao-Body. On one side was a body possessing a sacred and perfect Dao-rhyme yet an ugly countenance. On the other side was a hundred-legged form, already fierce and terrifying, now appearing even more daunting.

  "Master, you and I have no formal title of master and disciple, yet we have the reality of it. Back then, you passed your cultivation method to me and gifted me the insect swarm; this kindness is something your disciple has always kept in his heart. Now that your remains have no resting place, I imagine it must be quite lonely."

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  He turned to look at the perfect Dao-body, the smile on his face growing thicker. "Look at this skin. Today, your disciple shall lend you a hand, letting you change your way of living. Consider it repayment for your grace of teaching the Dao back then."

  Having said that, his middle pair of hands pinched a series of dharma seals. Black threads of corpse-qi, finer than spider silk, extended from his fingertips, writhing like living things. He leaned down; his uppermost hands pinned the Dao-body, while his lowermost hands hoisted the massive centipede corpse.

  He intended to stitch this centipede onto the back of the Ethereal Dao-Body like a coat. The black threads of corpse-qi pierced into the flesh of the Dao-body without encountering any resistance. That skin, comparable to a magic treasure, was as soft as tofu before this technique specifically targeting flesh and blood. The black threads passed through the flesh and pierced into the hard carapace of the centipede corpse, stitching it inch by inch to the Dao-body's spine.

  The light sound of chi-chi echoed continuously. Chen Gensheng’s technique was skillful and his expression focused, like an embroiderer rushing to finish an exquisite bridal gown. Through his right eye, he clearly saw the stagnant resentment within the centipede corpse flowing slowly along the black threads, seeping bit by bit into the empty meridians of the Dao-body. Meanwhile, the pure vitality inherent in the Dao-body was inversely nourishing the shriveled remains. Two diametrically opposed energies, under this crude stitching of his, began a cycle of symbiosis.

  Chen Gensheng’s hands did not stop for a second. As he stitched, he babbled in a low voice. "They say we are master and disciple; you won't feel that I am being disrespectful to your remains by acting like this, will you?"

  His fingertips were nimble, pressing an overturned bone spur back into the Dao-body’s flesh and securing it firmly with black thread. "Actually, I see that your centipede avatar isn't indestructible either. Look, even with my crude methods, I can still manipulate you at will. I imagine when you were alive, you had already been beaten bloody. Since the 'Heavenly Pool Lightning-Tribulation Flea' can no longer be found, this body will serve your disciple well enough."

  He tied a dead knot with the final black thread on the Dao-body's spine; the thread then vanished, leaving not a trace behind. "However, the techniques within your Flesh and Blood Nest-Vestment are indeed good things. Your disciple has learned well."

  After finishing, he clapped his hands and knelt to perform three kowtows. Upon the back of the Ethereal Dao-Body crouched a ferocious, ugly, hundred-legged centipede. The centipede's segments fitted perfectly with the Dao-body's ribs, appearing like pairs of pitch-black wings grown naturally upon it. The pure vitality of the Dao-body was nourishing the shriveled centipede remains through those invisible seams, while the malice and sha-qi accumulated within the centipede over countless years inversely added a lingering ferocity to this otherwise hollow shell.

  The more Chen Gensheng looked, the more satisfied he became. He paced over to Li Simin, appearing somewhat at a loss. "This Void-Gazing Eye of yours is a gargantuan benefit. As your Senior Brother, I shouldn't have taken your eye."

  His voice was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something. "But it is precisely because of it that I feel keeping you, a dead person, by my side isn't entirely useless. At the very least, it allows me to avoid suffering many losses!"

  He nodded to himself, seemingly very much in agreement with his own reasoning. "Don't worry, Senior Brother won't mistreat you. From now on, you shall accompany me to watch the rising and falling tides of this world."

  He stood up and pondered for a moment. Then, Chen Gensheng opened his mouth. Eight Soul-Devouring Corpse-Wasp queens, significantly larger than their kin, led nearly a hundred of the most elite corpse-wasps as they filed out from his throat.