Chapter Seventy-Six: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

Wang Changsheng’s brows immediately knit together upon hearing Zhang Cunzhong’s words.
“What are you trying to do?” Wang asked.
“Steward Wang... well... it’s just... we’ve held back for too long...” Zhang replied with some anxiety.
Though Zhang Cunzhong’s cultivation far surpassed Wang Changsheng’s—he could easily crush Wang with a single finger—Wang’s position was unassailable. Before their departure, the sect master had given explicit instructions: listen to Wang Changsheng!
Moreover, after what happened since they set out, Zhang Cunzhong had grown somewhat wary of Wang. It wasn’t just a matter of cultivation; the circumstances combined made Zhang hesitant to act rashly.
Wang Changsheng saw that not only Zhang, but all the disciples of the Corpse Refining Sect—except for Chen Shangyi—were staring at him with glowing, greedy eyes.
He knew at once that these were not looks of anger, but of avarice.
“Honestly…” Wang said, at a loss, glancing at the group, “your tastes are far too extreme.”
“No, they are downright appalling!” he added.
“Steward Wang, you misunderstand!” Chen Shangyi interjected, embarrassed. “They... well, the Corpse Refining Sect’s cultivation resources are terribly scarce. So when everyone saw those two...”
After Chen’s explanation, Wang Changsheng’s face darkened further. If his initial suspicion had been correct, it would have been better.
He remembered well why he’d appeared in the Corpse Refining Sect in the first place, so he was deeply averse to such matters.
“No.” Wang said flatly.
These disciples, clearly, wanted to use the two living captives for a ritual sacrifice.
Could he allow that?
Absolutely not.
“Why not?” Zhang Cunzhong immediately demanded.
“Or do you all want to go back to being hunted like rats, for everyone to attack on sight?” Wang said coldly. “Have you forgotten why the Corpse Refining Sect had to seal its mountain in the first place?”
“Do you want to go into hiding again?” Wang’s voice was stern, his face growing grim.
“We don’t!”
“We don’t want to! Sealing ourselves away was miserable!”
“But, Steward Wang, this is our sect’s cultivation method. We’ve always...”
The Corpse Refining Sect disciples, except for Chen Shangyi, began to grumble, each voicing their opinions.
“So if you don’t have living people for sacrifice, you can’t cultivate?” Wang asked, his tone severe.
“We can, but it’s much slower...” Zhang Cunzhong admitted.
“That’s enough,” Wang interrupted, his face growing darker.
“But...” Zhang tried to continue.
“No buts!” Wang declared. “If you don’t want the Corpse Refining Sect to be cast out again, you must change this habit. Stop using living beings as sacrificial tools for cultivation!”
Seeing Wang’s resolute expression, the others could tell his mind was made up. They all turned to Chen Shangyi, knowing full well that, in this group, his word carried more weight than Wang Changsheng’s.
Chen Shangyi nodded thoughtfully, then spoke to Wang. “Steward Wang, are you trying to change the Corpse Refining Sect’s traditions?”
“This isn’t tradition,” Wang said darkly. “It’s a malignant custom—a perverse wind corrupting the sect.”

“There is no good or evil in cultivation itself; everyone struggles along the path,” Wang continued. “It was the Corpse Refining Sect itself that ruined its reputation! This evil custom must be abolished!”
“Steward Wang, it’s difficult... extremely difficult,” Chen responded. “Without ritual sacrifices, our disciples cultivate far more slowly—even slower than ordinary cultivators...”
“What of it if progress is slow?” Wang countered. “Even so, isn’t the Corpse Refining Sect now at the pinnacle of the Shentian Realm?”
“As long as the sect master stands, time is on our side. If ten years isn’t enough, then a hundred; if a hundred fails, then a thousand... That is how the Corpse Refining Sect can advance and endure!”
The disciples’ faces showed deep thought, clearly weighing his words.
Before long, many shook their heads, unable to agree with his perspective. Only Chen Shangyi remained contemplative, still considering the merits.
Seeing this, Wang Changsheng could only shake his head in resignation.
In the cultivation world, might makes right. The Corpse Refining Sect’s disciples were raised with the belief that more living sacrifices meant rapid ascension in power. With strength, the sect would flourish.
But Wang Changsheng was different. Once the unrivaled master of the martial world, he understood what allowed a sect or a power to truly rise and endure. The sect’s recent forced seclusion proved the old path was a dead end.
“They’ve already battered themselves bloody and still refuse to turn back,” Wang murmured.
Clearly, they could cultivate without living sacrifices, yet they insisted on this path, setting themselves against the entire cultivation world.
Wang knew that for these disciples, such practices were deeply ingrained. Change would not come overnight.
“Let them go,” Chen Shangyi said at last.
“Senior brother...” Zhang Cunzhong was anxious.
Letting these two go would mean that as long as Wang Changsheng remained with them, the use of living sacrifices was forbidden.
This meant a prolonged cultivation process and a drain on resources.
“Obey Steward Wang,” Chen ordered, his eyes glinting with emerald light. “Have you forgotten the sect master’s instructions before we set out?”
Zhang Cunzhong’s expression flickered, but at last, he bowed to Wang Changsheng. “Yes.”
“Release them.”
His tone was heavy with unwillingness.
“Wait,” Wang Changsheng interrupted.
The disciples, including Chen, looked at him in confusion.
If not to sacrifice them, then surely to let them go?
“Kill them.” Wang’s voice was cold. “Do it cleanly.”
At this, the two vagrant cultivators turned ashen, despair written across their faces.
“Don’t kill us! Please, let us go! We’ll vanish, never to be seen again!”
They pleaded desperately.
To them, the recent events were a rollercoaster of hope and terror. First, they’d thought these black-robed cultivators meant to defile them, but soon realized from the conversation that it was something far worse—a living sacrifice.
They didn’t know precisely what that meant, but the name alone hinted at horror.

They’d thought themselves dead, only for Wang Changsheng to sway the others, giving them hope—only now for him to order their deaths.
The turn of events was dizzying.
Not only the condemned, but even the disciples were baffled by Wang’s command.
Not to spare them, but to kill them?
Seeing their confusion, Wang explained, “We are neither philanthropists nor saints. If they dared provoke us, they must be prepared to die.”
With that, Wang ignored the two, his words a death sentence.
“Be thorough—leave no trace,” he ordered.
Chen Shangyi personally handled the matter.
“Why?”
Afterward, Chen approached Wang, puzzled. “Steward Wang, what are you thinking? Killing them is a waste—why not at least use them for sacrifice?”
To him, either way, the result for the victims was the same: death. At least a ritual would benefit the disciples.
Wang sighed deeply. “There’s a vast difference between killing and sacrificing.”
“In the cultivation world, countless die every day—killing is not an issue. If not from conflict, then from vendetta.”
“But ritual sacrifice carries a distinct purpose; it sets you against the world, making you a target for annihilation.”
The disciples, including Chen, nodded, some understanding dawning on their faces.
They’d thought Wang soft-hearted for blocking Zhang’s ritual, but now saw otherwise.
Surely, a man who’d survived so long could not have been merciful by nature.
Wang was simply upholding a bottom line, striving to steer the Corpse Refining Sect back onto the path of a proper cultivation order.
“These are troubled times,” Wang thought to himself.
With the sect’s re-emergence, many great powers in the world already knew. Old grudges would soon be rekindled.
Wang had killed the two to ensure their own secrecy and safety.
If he’d let them live, their whereabouts would soon be exposed—and then, it might be Wang who died instead.
Better the strangers than oneself.
He acted purely out of self-preservation.
“Steward Wang, I think I’m starting to see... why you’re the one leading us,” Chen Shangyi mused. “It seems the Corpse Refining Sect truly wishes to change. But is it really possible?”
“In this world, nothing is easy—not even turning your hand over,” Wang replied with a smile. “If a powerful man seized your hand, could you flip it so easily?”
“How much happens by fate, and how much by our own doing?”
He smiled again. “Come. Let’s head to the Southern Region.”