Life in the True Heaven-Valve Sect was, surprisingly, more comfortable than Chen Gensheng had imagined.

  After a few months, he had fully settled into his role as an Elder. He taught only one class a week: Introductory Corpse Refining. His methods differed drastically from the Ghost Elder’s. The lectures were held in a gloom-drenched side hall, where he made Li Simin stand beside the podium as a living textbook.

  He lectured with absolute gravity, while the thirty or forty disciples below turned green in the face. These disciples were either desperate rogue cultivators or eccentric outcasts; they thought they were sinister enough until they met Elder Chen. Compared to him, they were as pure as blank paper.

  "You, the fat one," Gensheng glanced at a nodding disciple. "Tell me, if the heat is too high during refining and the corpse-oil dries out, how do you fix it?"

  The fat disciple jolted awake, stammering for an eternity without producing a single word.

  "Pure trash," Gensheng remarked. "If you can't handle a question this simple, perhaps the corpse you’ve chosen would be better used as fertilizer—with you inside it."

  The disciple hit his knees instantly, blubbering in terror.

  "If I catch you dozing off again, I'll refine you into snacks for the toad at Li Simin’s feet."

  This "Terrorist Pedagogy" was remarkably effective. From then on, no one dared to slack off.

  After class, Gensheng would return to the Spirit Herb Garden. The massive Sap-Heavy Tree had become an all-you-can-eat buffet for his insects. Over three thousand wasps—Soul-Devourers and Corpse-Miasma alike—clouded the canopy, feasting on the nutrient-rich leaves and branches. They were growing sleek and starting to breed. Meanwhile, the Ashen-Blue Butterflies drifted gracefully among the exotic flowers below, sipping nectar and gathering phosphorus.

  After a few months of steady meals, the insects hadn't evolved in rank yet, but their individual power was far greater than it had been in the Endless Swamp. Li Simin stood guard, and even the Essence-Marrow Toad was growing plump under her constant irrigation of corpse-qi.

  This stable life—watching his assets grow without constant bloodshed—gave Gensheng a sense of peace he had never known. Between lessons, he occasionally audited other classes. Though the True Heaven-Valve Sect was a "lapdog" organization, it was well-equipped. Alchemy, Talismans, Arrays, and Beast Taming—every Elder had some real skill.

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  One day, after finishing his lecture, he wandered over to the Beast Taming Hall. An old man with a goatee, Elder Wang, was teaching the General Syllabus of Spirit Beast Ranks.

  "To summarize," Elder Wang shouted, "the spirit beasts and insects of our Tianwu Continent are divided into ten ranks. Ranks one and two are merely sentient creatures, corresponding to our Qi Condensation stage. Ranks three and four possess significant combat power. As for anything above rank five... those are the legendary Great Demons."

  Gensheng leaned against the doorframe, calculating. His Soul-Devouring Wasps were low-tier Rank 3, and the Ashen-Blue Butterflies were high-tier Rank 3. In a backwater like the Central Plains, he could walk sideways with such power. But in the context of the whole continent? He was likely bottom-tier.

  As class dismissed, Gensheng noticed a scrawny disciple in the corner, huddled over a blue-covered book, a look of obsessed fascination on his face. When the disciple realized the "Infamous Elder Chen" was standing over him, he nearly threw the book into the air.

  "Elder... Elder Chen!"

  Gensheng ignored his terror and looked at the title: 《The Tianwu Continent Registry of Exotic Insects》.

  "Give it here."

  The disciple obeyed instantly. Gensheng flipped through the pages. The book categorized thousands of insects by rarity and potential.

  Rank 72: Soul-Devouring Corpse Wasp. Evaluation: Condensations of death-qi, scavengers by nature. Dangerous in swarms.

  Rank 68: Ashen-Blue Butterfly. Evaluation: Capable of creating "Ashen Winds" that annihilate flesh. Fragile and difficult to breed.

  Gensheng’s eyebrows twitched. When he reached the top fifty, the entries became cryptic rumors.

  Rank 13: Void Mantis . Evaluation: Legend says it dwells in spatial cracks and feeds on void storms. One ancient text claims a great master once saw this insect swallow a minor world in a single bite.

  Gensheng closed the book. "This is quite an imaginative read."

  The disciple forced a smile. "Elder is too kind..."

  "To prevent you from wasting your cultivation on such pipe dreams," Gensheng said, tucking the book into his storage ring, "I shall safeguard this for you."

  "Yes! Thank you for the guidance, Elder!" The disciple vanished like a ghost.

  A common registry had piqued his interest, but the thought took root. The fact that his wasps and butterflies were even on the list proved they were not ordinary.

  The true benefits of being an Elder were finally manifesting. He made his way to the Scripture Pavilion, an ancient tower deep within the sect. Disciples bowed from a distance and scurried away as if he were a plague god.

  Inside, massive bookshelves divided the space into a labyrinth of jade slips, beast skins, and yellowed scrolls. This was the "foundation" of the True Heaven-Valve Sect—a sect that survived by being a dog for others, yet possessed a staggering collection of stolen or traded arts.

  Gensheng walked to a wall where a directory was written in cinnabar: Orthodox Arts, Curious Techniques, Body Tempering, Alchemy & Arrays.

  And at the very bottom, a single line:

  "The Outer Paths".