On the other hand, this zombie—if the blood sacrifice method works—could immediately become his hidden trump card, so the sooner he refines it, the better.

Very soon, William Carter carefully recalled and pondered for a while, then, with a thought, released a Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse from the corpse-nurturing ring.

The Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse stood three meters tall, its arms nearly reaching its toes, its whole body seemingly cast from bronze and iron. As soon as it appeared, its shadow enveloped William Carter completely, making him feel a strong sense of gloom and oppression.

Relying on Henry Clark's residual memories, William Carter found two runes exuding a strange aura on the chest and the back of the head of the Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse.

Next, William Carter found a chipped bowl and a worn-out brush in the Daoist temple, cleaned them, then lit a fire to sterilize his dagger, cut his wrist, and collected more than half a bowl of fresh blood.

Blood-sacrificing a zombie is quite different from refining a corpse-nurturing ring; the ring only requires a few drops of blood. The zombie, however, needs the runes on its chest and the back of its head to be repeatedly traced, allowing it to slowly absorb the blood, which then spreads throughout its body—far more than just a few drops.

In fact, the true method of refining a zombie requires the owner to repeatedly draw runes on the zombie with their own blood at intervals, so that the zombie can establish a close connection with its master. One can imagine how much blood this would consume.

There was also a soul imprint left by Henry Clark on this bronze corpse. If William Carter's theory was correct, he wouldn't need to repeatedly draw runes with blood every few days; just once would be enough to establish a close connection and control it with his mind, just like the corpse-nurturing ring.

Even though William Carter was a martial artist, after losing more than half a bowl of blood, he still felt dizzy and his face turned a bit pale.

However, at this moment, William Carter was extremely excited and expectant. He dipped the brush in blood and began repeatedly tracing the two runes on the zombie's chest and the back of its head.

Since the zombie's body was poisonous, William Carter didn't dare to touch it directly with his fingers.

Soon, the bowl of blood was nearly empty. He had already traced the two complex runes eight times, but William Carter still didn't feel any change in the connection between himself and the bronze corpse—there was only a faint sense of mental connection and familiarity.

He still couldn't control the bronze corpse with his mind.

Unwilling to give up, William Carter drew a bit more blood and continued tracing along the runes.

Very soon, the blood in the bowl was about to run out again. As William Carter hesitated about whether to draw more blood, he suddenly felt a tremor in his mind, as if something new had appeared in his head. When he looked at the bronze corpse, he actually felt a sense of being physically connected to it.

"Take three steps!" William Carter suppressed his wild joy and excitement, and willed the command.

Then, a bizarre scene occurred.

The Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse actually took three steps forward, then stopped.

"Pick up that stone and throw it outside the Daoist temple!" William Carter's gaze fell on a large stone in the backyard, and he willed another command.

Sure enough, the Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse stretched out its long arms, picked up the large stone, lifted it over its head, and hurled it forcefully.

The stone whooshed over the courtyard wall and landed with a heavy "boom" more than thirty meters away, making the ground tremble slightly.

William Carter's mouth hung wide open, unable to close for a long time.

After a while, William Carter finally swallowed hard.

From Henry Clark's fragmented memories, he knew that the bronze corpse was equivalent to a martial artist at the Jinli (Force) Realm, but he never imagined that this Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse would be this powerful!

A stone weighing at least a ton—not only could it easily lift it, but it could also throw it more than thirty meters away with ease.

William Carter could hardly imagine what would happen if he were struck by a slap from this bronze corpse.

Next, William Carter tried giving the bronze corpse a few more commands.

Very soon, William Carter discovered that as long as the bronze corpse was more than ten meters away from him, their connection became very weak, making it difficult to control effectively. Moreover, the more commands he issued, the more he felt a sense of mental exhaustion and dizziness.

William Carter was not at all surprised by these limitations.

After all, this Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse had been refined multiple times with Henry Clark's blood, and later branded with Henry Clark's own soul imprint. William Carter had only, by chance, merged with a portion of Henry Clark's remnant soul. Being able to successfully blood-sacrifice the Tongbi Spirit Ape Bronze Corpse with more than half a bowl of his own blood was already extremely lucky—how could he possibly command it as easily and naturally as Henry Clark did?

In fact, William Carter was already very satisfied with this result. At last, in this chaotic world where the strong prey on the weak, he saw a glimmer of hope for self-preservation and self-empowerment.

"Blood-sacrificing the bronze corpse consumes too much blood, and right now I can barely control one bronze corpse. There's no need to rush to blood-sacrifice the other two for now. The most urgent thing is to quickly cultivate the 'Indestructible Star River Visualization Method.' If I can master it and split off my own divine sense to condense a soul imprint on the bronze corpse, then I should be able to control it freely. Besides the 'Indestructible Star River Visualization Method,' I also need to speed up my martial arts training. Corpse-refining techniques are considered heretical by the Great Qi Dynasty. If anyone discovers I can control bronze corpses, it will mean the extermination of my entire family—so I must never reveal this in front of others. The key is still to improve my own strength; the bronze corpse can only be used as a trump card."