Poison Corpse puppet / Jiangshi

Within an underground room, Ki stood before a table with a body on it.

It was the body of the grand elder that had previously died, Ki held several tools as she worked on the body to stitch up the wounds and mend the body to its former condition.

After finishing the stitching up of the heart and the insides over the days, Ki had finally finished stitching up the body to its former condition.

Nearby was a large metal barrel large enough to hold several people and inside was a mixture of some kind of bubbling and toxic looking liquid that was inside of the barrel.

After using her own silkworms silk to close the wounds to the best of her abilities and put the body back to its original state Ki coldly looked upon the corpse of the grand elder with appreciation.

Although the body was old it was still in a decent condition after the stab wound had been fixed, after all it was the body of an unrestrained realm martial artist so of course it was one of the best bodies she could have ever expected to appear before her so close to its death.

Unrestrained martial artists are even rarer than transcendent powerhouses and even more difficult to kill so it was a surprise to see one being killed by a ten year old child by surprise.

An unrestrained realm martial artist can solidify their qi and create a qi shield to defend against attacks but the grand elder left her back unguarded towards her disciple which lead to her losing her life in the end.

Although the body could not compare to a devil or demonic body art or a diamond body art user, it was the best Ki could find that was well preserved and still in a good condition.

After inspecting the body a look of relief passed her eyes as she held a small jar in her hands containing a small Gu worm.

She placed the jar by the ear of the corpse and urged her silkworm Gu to begin to follow her commands and as she opened the lid of the jar the Gu worm followed the commands given and entered the ear of the corpse.

Ki waited and inspected the body for any changes, after a couple of minutes passed the body began to show some signs of shaking as if experiencing muscle spasms cause by a problem with the bodies brain.

Then the body stopped shaking and then remained completely still as if dead once more, the bodies eyes opened mechanically and began to slowly sit up unlike a normal human but as if it was being controlled like a puppet being controlled by strings.

Ki nodded upon seeing the corpse responding according to how her memories of the Gu clans technique worked, she witnessed this sight more than once during the invasion of the eastern lands and it was one of the more forbidden techniques only to be used during an invasion.

The brain Gu or otherwise known as the corpse or puppet Gu worm was mostly known to be used on a corpse or to control a living person as a puppet after it parasitised the brain and takes control of the body.

While the brain Gu was a forbidden art for Gu users they still had their limits and were only limited to one brain Gu used per Gu user.

During the time of the invasion in the eastern lands the Gu clan used the brain Gu to better defend themselves against attackers since they were not able to defend themselves besides using their other Gu in subtle ways or tactics to enter and harm their enemies bodies and get them under their control like putting their Gu in the drinking water within the land or sending someone to infiltrate and compromise the enemies drinking supply.

Seeing that her experiment had been successful she turned towards the metallic barrel full of the strange liquid and issued an order in her mind.

After the order was given the body clumsily got up to stand on its two feet and began to walk in a slow, stiff, and uncoordinated manner.

It slowly walked to the barrel and began to enter it and slowly slid its body downwards until the head and body were completely submerged within the liquid and the it began to bubble more frequently as if having a reaction between the body and the liquid solution.

After seeing everything was completed, Ki sighed filled with relief and placed a lid on top of the barrel sealing the body inside. "If I followed the recipe correctly then the medicinal solution will work according to plan. Not only can it preserve the body and stop it from decaying and creating an unpleasant smell but it will also harden the skin, muscles and bones to become tough like metal. This can only be brought out if I encounter a big enough problem in the future or if I need a bodyguard during my travels but I need to completely cover up the bodies skin and facial features to avoid detection."

Within the central lands the practice of creating zombies or otherwise known as jiangshi are forbidden practices which are strictly outlawed after their appearance in the past and caused many serious incidents but they can come in many forms.

The use of mystical arts from the Gu clan was one of them and spirit possession of a dead body with the help of an artefact was another.

Then finally there was the most dangerous and volatile version which involved a forbidden devil art to raise the dead to create an infectious jiangshi, a person injured by a jiangshi is infected with the corpse qi, corpse poison or virus and gradually changes into a jiangshi over time as a result of being infected.

The body of those scratched or bitten by the jiangshi begin to break down after being infected and the infected dies and reanimates as a corpse that attacks anyone who is still living.

Even the devil sect refused to use this technique because of its volatility and dangerous nature that spreads fast and does not distinguish between friend and foe.

One thing that each type of corpse puppet or jiangshi had in common was that once their heads or brains were destroyed or they were set on fire they would be completely destroyed.

Since they are forbidden arts capable of bringing to life a dead body they need to be strictly hidden from the eyes of the martial alliance to avoid being targeted by them so when Ki brought it out with her she needed to hide anything that would expose it to the public.

The liquid solution Ki placed her Gu corpse puppet inside helped to preserve and harden the corpse to increase its defences but most of all it helped to decrease the bodies flammability so the only way someone could destroy it would be to deal heavy damage to its head.

The recipe was highly violent and poisonous to the human body but helps to increase its hardness and because it was used on a corpse it did not have any after effects to deal with so Ki increased the effects and toxicity to its maximum potential and after being soaked in the solution the corpse would become a deadly weapon built with the techniques of both the poison clan and the Gu clan.

If anyone came into contact with it or was scratched then they would be immediately poisoned and would die soon after if they did not have an antidote.