Cheng Hui had a remarkable trait: adaptability.

Just how adaptable was he?

Well, even if you threw him back into ancient times, he’d figure out how to farm and clear land, doing whatever it took to survive.

Not only survive, but thrive, living comfortably.

Even if he lacked the skills, he’d at least maintain the right mindset.

So, even though he was now a corpse, a walking one at that, who could barely speak and only mutter incomprehensible sounds, he was still living happily every day.

Due to his unique nature, as a walking corpse with intelligence far surpassing the average, he managed to gather quite a bit of information at the Thirteen Peaks.

The Thirteen Peaks housed many people.

Besides Wu Youzi’s seven disciples, there were numerous low-level disciples.

These disciples, lacking in talent and unwilling to give up cultivation as they aged, became attendants on the peaks.

They worked for the formal disciples, and even a slight favor from them could be a great opportunity.

If a disciple who enjoyed teaching was willing to explain some cultivation problems to them, it would be even better.

People would often fight fiercely for such chances.

Zhang Yifan had also brought people to the courtyard, asking Lin Qingyang to choose some attendants, but he refused.

Cheng Hui eavesdropped on many conversations from the places where these attendants gathered.

Don’t underestimate them; they roamed all over the peaks daily and occasionally exchanged information with attendants from other peaks.

While they might not know the major secrets, they certainly discussed plenty of rumors.

These rumors were a mix of truth and falsehoods, and Cheng Hui didn’t bother to distinguish them for now, treating them as intelligence gathering.

Through this information, he gained a rough understanding of the structure of the Corpse Puppet Sect.

After organizing all the information about the Corpse Puppet Sect, Cheng Hui felt a bit overwhelmed.

He had always thought that despite the sect’s bad reputation, the atmosphere within was decent.

But after seeing those rumors, he realized it was all nonsense!

The concepts of the Mysterious Corpse Faction and the Puppet Faction were completely at odds, and they even had severe disagreements on fundamental beliefs, which was a huge problem.

The Xuanheng Realm was a relatively large middle realm, with some fame among the myriad worlds.

The balance of power between the righteous and demonic sides barely favored the righteous.

Why barely?

That brings us to the Left Path Eight Sects.

The term “Left Path” comes from the phrase “side paths,” and the sects classified under the Left Path Eight Sects had unique cultivation methods.

For example, the Corpse Puppet Sect used corpses for cultivation.

Their reputation wasn’t great, with accusations of disturbing the dead and desecrating corpses.

But in reality, the corpses they used were either bought or belonged to enemies.

Righteous disciples could scorn them but couldn’t accuse them of falling into demonic ways based on this alone.

Of course, the secretive actions were another matter.

For instance, actively attacking cultivators and using their corpses to refine corpse puppets certainly happened, but without evidence, it was hard to judge.

Similar to the Corpse Puppet Sect was the Hehuan Sect.

Just hearing the name, you could guess they practiced dual cultivation techniques.

Some righteous disciples even formed dao partnerships with Hehuan Sect disciples.

The techniques themselves weren’t inherently good or bad, but human nature was unpredictable.

Some people liked shortcuts, turning dual cultivation into a method of exploiting others, which was detrimental to one party.

There was an incident where an outstanding disciple from a righteous sect was exploited by a female disciple from the Hehuan Sect, ruining his foundation and causing a huge uproar.

The Hehuan Sect almost got labeled as a demonic sect.

The then sect leader of the Hehuan Sect had the courage to conduct a thorough investigation, rooting out those secretly practicing exploitative techniques and expelling them.

The situation involved so many people, even elders from the Hehuan Sect, that after leaving, they formed a sect called the Joyful Sect, openly focusing on exploitation and becoming a genuine demonic sect.

Some of the Left Path Eight Sects were like the Corpse Puppet Sect and Hehuan Sect, leaning towards righteousness in mindset but having techniques that leaned towards demonic ways.

Others, like the Spirit Beast Valley and Tianji Pavilion, were clearly neutral, uninterested in the conflicts between righteousness and demonic paths, forming the Left Path Eight Sects.

The internal split in the Corpse Puppet Sect was mainly because the Puppet Faction believed they had the potential to dominate the Xuanheng Realm.

After all, corpse puppets could be refined as long as there were corpses, so there was no need to adhere to righteous rules.

They believed that if they could obtain a body at the Great Ascension stage, they could suppress both righteous and demonic sects and become the overlord of the Xuanheng Realm.

However, the Mysterious Corpse Faction didn’t want to cause trouble.

They were relatively laid-back, and their life-bound corpses were often their own relatives.

Cultivating life-bound corpses not only enhanced themselves but also held the hope of reviving their relatives.

Of course, life-bound corpses started off ignorant, needing to relearn everything.

So, when they eventually gained full intelligence, whether they were still the same person was uncertain, but there was hope.

To the Mysterious Corpse Faction, the Puppet Faction’s ideas were nothing but daydreams.

Why cause trouble when you can live peacefully?

If their secret actions were exposed, they’d not only be labeled as demonic but also hunted by the entire Xuanheng Realm.

Did they really think it was easy to dig up the ancestral graves of those major sects?

Yes, you couldn’t even imagine what those lunatics in the Puppet Faction were thinking.

They wanted to refine a Great Ascension stage mysterious corpse, but finding a Great Ascension stage cultivator, who was just a step away from ascension, was no easy task.

So, they set their sights on the ancestral graves of major sects.

When Cheng Hui first heard this, he was dumbfounded.

Seriously, Puppet Faction, are you out of your mind?

Not only did you not keep such suicidal plans a secret, but even the sect’s attendants could guess a thing or two?

The Corpse Puppet Sect was doomed!

Cheng Hui almost told Lin Qingyang, “Let’s run away; we can’t stay here.”

But after hearing similar rumors multiple times, he observed for several days and realized that the attendants treated it as a joke, not believing the Puppet Faction could do such a thing.

Apparently, a crazy elder from the Puppet Faction had said something similar long ago, but no one took it seriously.

Cheng Hui: …

The attendants thought it was a joke, but Cheng Hui didn’t dare to think so.

With his fragile little body, he was most afraid of getting involved in such matters.

Moreover, even without such suicidal plans, the Corpse Puppet Sect was unstable.

The conflict between the Mysterious Corpse Faction and the Puppet Faction was barely concealed, and the tension was palpable, which was not a good sign.

“I hope this peace continues, at least until little Qingyang becomes accomplished in his cultivation. Otherwise, if the sect encounters problems, his future path will be difficult.”

Cheng Hui, though not a native of the cultivation world, knew that relying on a big tree for shade was universally applicable.

Not to mention, when the attendants chatted, they spoke of rogue cultivators with a certain arrogance.

Even though the rogue cultivators they mentioned were far more powerful, the attendants had a strange confidence that, even as mere attendants of the Corpse Puppet Sect, they were not inferior to those rogue cultivators.

The plight of rogue cultivators was evident!

“Huihui, let’s go cultivate,” Lin Qingyang’s voice snapped Cheng Hui out of his thoughts.

He put down the shovel in his hand and obediently followed him back to the bedroom.

There was no choice; this kid had learned to manipulate him, knowing he couldn’t resist a soft approach.

Whenever something happened, he’d show a pitiful expression, and Cheng Hui couldn’t help but soften.

As a result, he was now used to this little rascal clinging to him all the time.

Cheng Hui: … Ugh, habits are terrifying.

The two sat cross-legged on the bed, palms pressed together.

Warmth spread through their hands, and Cheng Hui almost greedily absorbed the sensation.

The biggest downside of becoming a physical entity was probably the lack of body heat.

Walking corpses weren’t supposed to fear the cold or heat, but Cheng Hui, perhaps due to childhood trauma, hated his cold body and was all the more attached to warmth.

Along with the warmth came a trickle of spiritual energy.

Cheng Hui instinctively guided the energy to circulate within his body, eventually settling in the sea of consciousness in his brain.

As a newcomer to the cultivation world, he didn’t know that spiritual energy should be stored in the dantian.

Even as a walking corpse, after cultivating the Corpse Life Profound Luo Skill with Lin Qingyang, a pseudo-dantian had formed in his lower abdomen.

Theoretically, spiritual energy should be stored in this pseudo-dantian, but all his spiritual energy was absorbed by the sea of consciousness in his brain.

If he had any common sense, he’d know this was abnormal.

Unfortunately, as a transmigrator, he never received this information.

After all, it was common knowledge, and who would discuss such things in everyday conversation?

It seemed it was just meant to be.