The Secret Way of Immortality

Within the classroom were a dozen or so Daoist novices. Apart from the one with the Innate Immortal Root at the Foundation Establishment stage, the rest were at the Qi Refining stage.

They sat cross-legged on prayer mats, with wooden desks in front of them.

Besides the writing implements and books on the desks, there was also an abacus. However, the beads of the abacus were made from human eyes.

Ren Qing not only deliberately lowered his presence but also sent out some ghost shadows to follow Wu Liangzi, mainly to investigate the true strength of the Wuwei Daoist Temple.

"What the hell? Does the Daoist sect now teach arithmetic?"

He casually fiddled with the abacus a few times and suddenly felt a stinging pain in his fingertips, almost breaking through the skin reinforced by the Substitute Ghost.

Ren Qing didn't expect the abacus to be a magic tool. If he used it so carelessly, his fingers would probably be minced into flesh in an instant.

He had already noticed the unusual nature of the Wuwei Daoist Temple. Just as he was about to continue his inspection, footsteps approached from outside the door and entered the classroom.

It was a middle-aged female Daoist in her forties. Her limbs had varying degrees of deformation, and her cultivation was at the Perfected Foundation Establishment stage.

There was no need for the female Daoist to remind them; the sound of chanting spontaneously arose in the classroom.

"Hurry up, arrange the names and characters of all things, different from the multitude."

"Separate them by category, not mixed together, using them daily to be concise and pleasant."

"Strive hard and you will surely rejoice..."

Ren Qing raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He immediately realized that the class was studying the "Rapid Script," a primer for literacy and etiquette.

Although the Rapid Script was far less famous than the Hundred Family Surnames, it was indeed an ancient textbook for literacy, usually recited daily by young scholars.

However, the Wuwei Daoist Temple had made some modifications to the Rapid Script, specifically adding various silver and coin conversions, which likely corresponded to the magic tool abacus.

Ren Qing simply regarded it as an introduction to arithmetic.

But for him, having to study literacy with a group of children in the classroom was really uncomfortable. He might as well go into the mountains for secluded cultivation.

Two hundred years of lifespan was almost enough; it was time to advance to Shadowless Ghost.

Ren Qing hadn't expected the Daoist novices to be at least at the Qi Refining stage, yet unable to even read.

He suspected that the Wuwei Daoist Temple had already instilled the content of the Heavenly Worm Technique into their memories through some means when recruiting them.

Ren Qing immediately lost interest and focused his attention on Wu Liangzi.

Due to his loss of control from the aberration, Wu Liangzi's temperament was slightly eccentric, but he was obviously controlling himself after distancing himself from the crowd.

He sat cross-legged like a corpse. He claimed to be cultivating, but in reality, he remained motionless.

Located in the center of the Daoist Temple was a statue of the Heavenly Daoist, even the Three Daoist Ancestors could only be placed on the right side, showing the founding patriarch's status.

On the left was a large stone platform with a large number of memorial tablets placed on it, as many as hundreds or thousands, engraved with various Daoist names.

Ren Qing initially thought the memorial tablets were for commemorating the dead, but he soon discovered that the Daoist names were emitting faint traces of spell power.

These Daoist names should have been stained with the soul aura of the Wuwei Daoist Temple disciples who had gone out, to confirm whether they had died.

Wu Liangzi knelt in front of the Heavenly Daoist statue, the distracting thoughts on his face slowly disappearing with meditation, and his expression became devout.

Ren Qing rubbed his temples. It would have been better if Wu Liangzi had eaten a few people; such tranquility made him feel at a loss.

The ghost shadows split again, wandering around the Daoist Temple on the mountain.

As a result, the entire Wuwei Daoist Temple only had Wu Liangzi at the Core Formation stage, the rest were all at the Foundation Establishment stage, and the number of people was also less than he had imagined.

Feeling puzzled, Ren Qing decided not to waste time.

He could completely monitor the Wuwei Daoist Temple with the Soul Butterfly Projection, why bother attending a literacy and arithmetic class with a group of children?

The ghost shadows under his feet scattered, silently enveloping the classroom, lest the aura of the spell accidentally leak out.

Ren Qing tapped on the desk, the noise causing the surrounding Daoist novices to stop abruptly.

Amidst the surprised gazes of the crowd, he walked towards the middle-aged female Daoist and asked, "Daoist, what is your name?"

The middle-aged female Daoist's expression flickered for a few moments, and she replied, "Tian Fuzi, I am Wu Liangzi's junior sister. I cultivate the Azure Fall Technique, integrating true essence into my limbs and torso..."

"Alright, alright."

The Daoist novices didn't know who the sudden appearance of Ren Qing was, so they could only sit tremblingly on the prayer mats.

"When does the sect recruit disciples?"

Affected by the spell, Tian Fuzi said like a puppet, "The fifteenth of every month, mainly from nearby farmers and some merchants in the city."

"Why teach arithmetic?"

"Arithmetic is the foundation of our sect, established by the previous headmaster, Qiankunzi..."

Ren Qing roughly understood what Tian Fuzi meant. The disciples of the Wuwei Daoist Temple actually used arithmetic as a means of livelihood after leaving the sect, which couldn't help but evoke a strong sense of absurdity in his heart.

"Doing business?"

"Benefiting others is benefiting oneself."

He could imagine what kind of business it was. Since it involved aberrant cultivators, it was probably something heretical and wicked.

In a sense, it was indeed similar to the Forbidden Corps.

"Forget it, just continue," Ren Qing's eyes flickered with light. The Daoist novices and Tian Fuzi recited the Rapid Script, but their memories had some gaps.

"I wonder what the Heavenly Daoist would think of this scene..."

"But I can let the children who practice the Nether Heavenly Worm Technique infiltrate the Wuwei Daoist Temple."

Ren Qing walked out of the classroom. Others would only feel a subtle change in the light, unable to detect anything unusual.

The Wuwei Daoist Temple was truly declining. To cope with the current situation of the heroes vying for supremacy in Jing Prefecture, the chosen measure was to break up into smaller units.

Even if the sect was destroyed, it wouldn't matter, because the disciples were scattered everywhere.

Ren Qing left some Soul Butterfly Projections in the Wuwei Daoist Temple, and then planned to find a secluded place in the mountains to cultivate in seclusion.

He had been in Jing Prefecture for a long time, but he hadn't carefully sorted out his own spells yet.

Even though his mindset was very stable, he still felt a little tired, so he could take advantage of cultivation to relax his mind.

Ren Qing walked along the path through the mountains, a large number of farmers working in the fields, cultivating the unique crops of Jing Prefecture.

When Ren Qing came, because his body was fused with the ghost shadows, he hadn't deliberately checked the fertile fields, but now he noticed that the grain yield was extremely high.

The crops were somewhat similar to rice, but the ears of rice were more plump, and the time it took to mature was also shorter.

He picked a rice stalk.

The unripe ears of rice emitted a subtle, imperceptible true essence. If consumed for a long time, it would have a significant effect on the physique of the people of Jing Prefecture.

The farmers were holding crudely made hoe magic tools. With their cultivation not even at the Qi Refining stage, they could only manage to barely control them.

Ren Qing couldn't help but sigh. In order to survive in Jing Prefecture, the Wuwei Daoist Temple was truly unscrupulous, even resorting to farming.

Just as he was about to leave, a young man from the nearby field came over, looking at Ren Qing with reverence.

The young man had dark skin, and the擬蟲異化 (Mimic Insect Aberration) was not obvious. Although he didn't have any cultivation, it could be seen that he had developed considerable strength in the fields.

He scratched his head and asked, "Daoist, are you a disciple of the immortal sect on the mountain?"

"What's wrong?"

"I heard that the Wuwei Daoist Temple is good at 'snatching chestnuts from the fire', is that true?"

"Snatching chestnuts from the fire" refers to making money, after all, Qingyan Town is full of hidden dangers, almost cutting off the possibility of advancement for mortals.

As soon as the young man finished speaking, he was dragged away by the farmer grabbing his neck, the latter constantly apologizing to Ren Qing, fearing that he would blame them.

Ren Qing shook his head.

He realized that the Wuwei Daoist Temple was still living off the ancestral business left behind.

No wonder the Wuwei Daoist Temple was so populous, recruiting disciples every month. It seemed that the source was in the nature of the sect's business.

But how is this different from lambs waiting to be slaughtered?

Ren Qing shook his head, and then disappeared into the mountainside with a few flashes.

He found a hidden cave on the neighboring mountain, blocked the entrance with rubble, and began to cultivate in peace.

When the seclusion ended, the Immortal Market would be able to show the tip of the iceberg.

The Wuwei Daoist Temple had no idea that Ren Qing, who had disappeared without a trace, was still there, and the sound of reciting the Rapid Script still came from the mountain gate every morning.

From time to time, disciples of the sect who had completed the Foundation Establishment stage went down the mountain, and it could be seen that the entire mountain gate had no intention of retaining too many cultivators.

Ren Qing closed his eyes and meditated on his spells, spending a few days calming his restless mind.

Then he took out the gourd magic tool and weighed it, nodding with satisfaction.

All the peach wine had been poured into the flesh and blood furnace. As the firewood evaporated the wine, his face couldn't help but turn a little red.

The peach wine stored during this period was as large as a pond. Apart from the part placed in the Great Dream Pavilion, not a drop of the remaining wine was left.

He had never tried drinking a large amount of wine to extend his life before, basically focusing on tasting it, because the intoxication of peach wine was impossible to resist.

"Burp~~~"

Ren Qing only felt that the primary and secondary souls gradually lost consciousness, but his lifespan was increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He let the ghost shadows protect him, and then fell drunk in the cave.

Snores rose and fell.

Ren Qing's body and soul seemed to turn into a soul butterfly, traveling through mountains and rivers, and in the blink of an eye, he returned to Xiangxiang, thousands of miles away.

When this dream woke up, he didn't know how long had passed.

Ren Qing covered his head with his hands, his memory had a moment of interruption, and it took a long time to recover, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After drinking, not only was his body relaxed, but his soul also showed an upward trend.

He learned through the ghost shadows that more than half a year had passed.

The original early summer season now felt a trace of coldness drilling into the cave from the rock walls, and the Wuwei Daoist Temple was covered in snow.

Ren Qing quickly checked the Soul Butterfly Projections placed in various places, and the result was that the sect was peaceful, but the number of memorial tablets was dozens fewer.

He learned from the information retained by the Soul Butterfly Projections that the sect seemed to have been involved in a struggle between aberrant forces not long ago, resulting in casualties.

But the damage was not severe, and the Wuwei Daoist Temple still managed to escape successfully.

But next time it won't be so easy.

Snatching chestnuts from the fire is indeed snatching chestnuts from the fire.

Ren Qing summoned the information stream, and as soon as his eyes swept across the lifespan column, he was startled and thought he had seen it wrong.

[Lifespan: Four hundred and seventy-five years]

What exactly happened, suddenly more than nearly four hundred years of lifespan.

According to Ren Qing's original estimate, peach wine would extend his life by at most a hundred years, and the remaining two hundred years were probably from the Xiangxiang Ghost Market.

After hesitating for a moment, he simply stripped the Nether Essence in his dantian and gave it to the ghost shadows, taking the initiative to return from the Crescent Moon layer to the New Moon layer.

The cave was still the same cave, but the Wuwei Daoist Temple outside was gone.

Ren Qing recalled the Dream Butterfly Technique and descended his consciousness to the sky above the Ghost Market.

As soon as he appeared, the Great Dream True Person appeared beside him. After confirming that there was no problem, he disappeared quietly without even saying hello.

Ren Qing helplessly looked at the Ghost Market, and found that the number of Forbidden Corps had almost doubled, and the Aberrant Fetus Refining Tool Technique had also spread.

Although not everyone had an Aberrant Fetus Tool, at least one-third already possessed it, almost all of which were Aberrant Fetus Tools related to the Gluttony Technique.

It could be seen that the Forbidden Corps' strategy was steadily advancing, gradually popularizing the Gluttony Technique.

Ren Qing, as a beneficiary, was somewhat emotional. He and the Forbidden Corps benefited each other, and the efficiency of extending his life in the future would only increase.

So he had to find a way to get the Forbidden Corps involved in the game of Jing Prefecture.

Even if those aberrations were more like pseudo-Yang God realms born from spells, they could definitely be of great use to Song Zongwu and other Yin Envoy realms.

The more Forbidden Corps advanced to the Yang God realm, the more resources Ren Qing could use.

Ren Qing looked at the Feng City in the corner, and the stalls inside were obviously not enough.

Seeing this, he communicated with the Soul Butterfly that had turned into the Ghost Market, and then his body became more and more solid, and soon spread out.

The Forbidden Corps in the Ghost Market stopped, seemingly noticing something, and looked at the sky incredulously.

From some time ago, a message had been circulating within the Forbidden Corps.

The Lord of the Ghost Market was severely injured in the swamp, and his body and soul were aberrated and out of control, and he had closed the gate of death somewhere in Xiangxiang.

The facts seemed to prove this.

But now, the Lord of the Ghost Market announced his return to the Avici Hell.

A huge phantom tens of meters high was undoubtedly revealed, with mysterious double pupils in both eyes, and three eyes transformed from dream seeds on his forehead.

A faint halo enveloped his body.

Just in terms of momentum, even the Great Dream True Person could not compare.

Huang Ziwan stood in the center of the street, the joy of preparing to break through the third aberrant transformation vanished, and a thought arose in his heart.

"Ren Qing is not going to advance to the Yang God realm, is he?!"

Impossible, even a Heavenly Aberrant realm reincarnation could not reach such a level.

But no matter how he looked at it, such a spell was not something that could be displayed by someone who had just entered the Yin Envoy realm, at least it was Soul Fusion Yin God, or Soul Release Yin God?

Ren Qing swept over the Forbidden Corps, then reached out and slapped hard.

The Dreamland Spell tried to modify the Ghost Market, but it was a bit difficult to rely solely on the Soul Butterfly magic tool, and could only make a small part of the fine-tuning.

At this time, the Great Dream True Person appeared again, and the light and shadow enveloped Ren Qing.

With the help of the Yang God realm, the branches of the Dream Tree grew, and the area of the Ghost Market gradually expanded, and the number of stalls in Feng City also increased several times.

Ren Qing took a deep breath, almost revealing his secret, but fortunately the Great Dream True Person took action in time.

When the Immortal Market of Jing Prefecture is completely established, he can discuss with the Great Dream True Person to connect the two markets together.

After Ren Qing completed the expansion of the Ghost Market, he felt that his consciousness was becoming weak.

But he did not immediately return to his body, but went to the Great Dream Pavilion and prepared several copies of the required materials.

Then, with the help of the connection between consciousness and the prison in his abdomen, he transferred the materials into the small world in his body.

Ren Qing incidentally put the peach wine that he had deliberately left on the shelves of the Great Dream Wine Shop in the Ghost Market, to restore the lifespan harvested by the Forbidden Corps.

With everything ready, it was time to advance his cultivation.

Four thousand and one chapters, there is one more chapter, wait a moment