The Secret Way of Immortality

Song Zongwu ripped apart the upper half of his robe, revealing his bare back, covered in dense Buddha tattoos.

Each Buddha was lifelike, as if an angry Arhat trying to break free from his skin, yet tightly bound by Buddhist energy.

All the Buddhas were depicted as old monks riding deer, creating a strange and unsettling feeling.

Ren Qing's pupils constricted.

He was certain that Song Zongwu didn't have such exaggerated tattoos before, likely involving Buddhist techniques, and he wondered about their significance.

Song Zongwu took a deep breath, completely retracting the emitted Buddhist energy.

His gaunt body became full at a speed visible to the naked eye, but his face took on a grayish-black hue, clearly indicating he was not long for this world.

“One step to life, one step to death, or every step to life, every step to death?”

Song Zongwu stood in place, waiting for the corpse elephant to arrive, the earth trembling in response, birds and beasts fleeing in droves.

Even the demons on the distant mountain peaks couldn't help but feel terrified.

They secretly speculated about Song Zongwu's identity, who was familiar with the Demon Immortals and "suppressed" by Buddhist energy within the White Bone Great Sage's body, likely another Demon Immortal who had descended.

Stimulated by the Buddhist energy, the corpse elephant's speed suddenly increased.

The ground shook more and more violently, cracks spreading like spiderwebs, the stench of corpses turning all vegetation withered.

Comparable to the legendary drought demon.

Only after the corpse elephant approached White Bone Mountain did Ren Qing see its full appearance, and couldn't help but gasp, fine beads of cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

The corpse elephant was covered in long hair, its flesh completely rotten, carrion birds nesting in various parts of its body, and maggots swarming everywhere.

What shocked him the most was that the corpse elephant's exposed bones were light golden.

Had it been converted by Buddhist energy?!!

Could there be other Buddhist cultivators in Jing Prefecture?!!

Compared to the corpse elephant of a few years ago, it had undergone earth-shattering changes, its intelligence almost nonexistent.

Roar!!!

The corpse elephant's trunk let out a piercing cry, causing the surrounding dark clouds to dissipate.

Then, countless sharp screams echoed from within its body.

“Save me…”

“Save me, ah…”

“Why don't you come to save me?”

“Why, ah…”

Ren Qing's expression was strange, the source of the sound was on the corpse elephant's back.

“Could it be that spine?”

He suddenly realized that before the great change in the world, he had gone to the corpse area and even crawled into the corpse elephant's body to study the structure of the demon patterns.

At that time, Ren Qing casually refined the corpse elephant's spine into a Strange Womb artifact…

Soon the answer was verified, only to hear shrill screams ringing out one after another, the corpse elephant's tailbone actually breaking away from the flesh.

Most of the spine was exposed to the air, the screams becoming even more piercing.

Each vertebra was connected to a half-human, half-elephant demon cultivator, supplying each other with nutrients, forming an extremely strange situation.

They should have been those corpse elephant cultivators from the corpse area back then, but now they were covered with blood vessels and meridians, with the brain being the most tightly connected.

It was difficult to determine whether they were human or already part of a flesh artifact, becoming a kind of alternative life.

The corpse elephant cultivators preserved their consciousness by relying on the spine, and controlled the corpse elephant's movements.

At that time, during the Jing Prefecture's upheaval, they likely discovered that the spine had separated from the corpse elephant's body, so they wanted to survive in this world by using this Strange Womb artifact.

They probably tried to refine the Strange Womb artifact, but were instead devoured.

But Ren Qing had to admit that it was also because of the demon cultivators' actions that the Strange Womb artifact became complete, filling in its defects.

The spine absorbed demon energy, which the demon cultivators used to store, and the demon energy could accumulate over time.

In the end, it even allowed the corpse elephant to break through the Blood Moon's restrictions on strange beings by chance, truly stepping into the Yang God realm.

The corpse elephant demon cultivators opened their mouths, shouting in unison: “Save me, I beg the Buddha to save me from this sea of suffering, save me, ah…”

Song Zongwu's face was slightly complex, and he murmured to himself: “Even the Buddhas cannot cross the sea of suffering, how can they save the world?”

Ren Qing narrowed his eyes, his heart beating faster.

Why did the corpse elephant chase Buddhist energy, and how did they know of the existence of Buddhism?

It seemed that since Song Zongwu started seeking opportunities by listening to the so-called relics, it was as if a large hand was secretly manipulating everything.

Even Ren Qing, as an observer, felt a sense of inexplicable palpitations.

Could it be that Buddhist forces were really involved?

Song Zongwu seemed to have some misgivings, and didn't reveal any Buddhist energy in the face of the corpse elephant, only constantly squeezing his body with the Imprisoned Corpse Method.

Ren Qing pinched the bridge of his nose with a headache.

Even if Song Zongwu maintained his peak state, he was still no match for the Yang God realm corpse elephant, this trip was likely to be fraught with danger.

Ren Qing was full of helplessness, already thinking about choosing a retreat.

The corpse elephant used its trunk to wrap around Song Zongwu, wanting to force out the Buddhist energy within his body, but the latter nimbly dodged the attack.

Song Zongwu let out a low shout.

The sound of bones expanding rang out from his body, and then he swelled to more than four meters tall, his skin taking on a bronze color like a Vajra statue.

Light black, strange patterns covered his skin, and his fangs grew longer and longer.

Even the Hundred Buddha Picture on his back underwent changes, each Buddha actually becoming a hideous ghost, the Buddhist energy suppressed by the Netherworld.

The corpse elephant completely felt no Buddhist energy, its cries filled with despair.

It kept stomping on the ground with its feet, the nearby hill collapsing in an instant, and patches of trees being uprooted.

Song Zongwu displayed the supernatural power of the Yin Spirit realm perfection, similar to gaining some kind of physique enhancement, showing that his techniques were all applied to his body.

He took a heavy step, creating a momentum even more terrifying than the corpse elephant.

Countless gravel flew into the air, as if suddenly losing gravity.

Song Zongwu appeared above the corpse elephant's head, his fist swung out fiercely like a pendulum, the sound of mutual impact lingering endlessly.

Bang!!

A pit caved in the corpse elephant's head, rotten flesh splattering everywhere.

Although the injury seemed extremely severe, it was nothing to the corpse elephant, knowing that its whole body was covered with similar wounds.

It then swung its trunk to form a hurricane, flattening hundreds of meters into ruins.

Song Zongwu met the attack head-on, his fists hammering down continuously, the two colliding like Mars hitting Earth, even those a hundred miles away could faintly hear it.

Ren Qing retreated to a safe range, his mind filled with thoughts.

He could see that Song Zongwu was already拼命了, urging his supernatural powers in a dying state, forcibly squandering his own life.

But at the same time, Song Zongwu tried his best to restrain himself from using Buddhist supernatural powers, appearing unusually contradictory.

Ren Qing couldn't find any possibility for Song Zongwu to break through the bottleneck, the other party seemed to be seeking death, his vitality dim, and death pervading.

He wanted to help Song Zongwu several times, but was met with resolute eyes from the latter, clearly prepared for death.

“If you can't break through, you can't break through, even if your body is damaged, you can survive for decades with術法, maybe you can find an opportunity.”

But Ren Qing also knew that there was no turning back from breaking through the Yang God realm, once Song Zongwu gave up, his essence, energy, and spirit would be unloaded and there would be no possibility.

But he really didn't want to watch Song Zongwu die.

Ren Qing tried to communicate with the corpse elephant's spine that had been refined into a Strange Womb artifact, and actually came into contact with the mixed consciousness within.

Dozens of demon cultivator souls were forcibly kneaded into a ball, constantly suffering the erosion of demon energy, no wonder it was so painful.

“Save me… save me… save me…”

Ren Qing searched the demon cultivator's memory for the reason why the corpse elephant was chasing Buddhist energy.

It turned out that it had once encountered a mountain made of glass, the mountain emitting Buddhist energy that suppressed the demon energy in the corpse elephant's body, allowing the demon cultivator's soul to have a moment of peace.

Since then, the corpse elephant had been looking for traces of Buddhist energy.

Ren Qing gasped.

He had previously come into contact with the Glass Mountain, wanting to explore it with information flow, but as soon as the ghost shadow wrapped around the mountain, the Glass Mountain disappeared abruptly.

Ren Qing only thought that the Glass Mountain had been accidentally pulled into the depths of Jing Prefecture, but now it seemed that the Glass Mountain might have its own consciousness?

Or rather, does Buddhist energy have its own consciousness?

The Glass Mountain helped the corpse elephant, could it be for the sake of encountering Song Zongwu at this moment…

Ren Qing couldn't imagine it, the Buddhist methods made him break out in cold sweat.

Bang!!!

The corpse elephant's trunk landed on Song Zongwu's chest and abdomen, the latter flying hundreds of meters directly, smashing a human-shaped hole in the stone wall.

Song Zongwu stood up covered in blood, breathing heavily.

He rushed towards the corpse elephant again, but was knocked away again, his injuries becoming more serious, and even his consciousness began to blur.

Countless voices murmured in Song Zongwu's heart, as if as long as he accepted Buddhist energy, the bottleneck of the Yang God realm could be broken in an instant.

The Hundred Ghost Picture on his back became clearer and clearer, the evil ghosts transformed from Buddhas seemed to come alive, their expressions becoming more and more hideous.

There seemed to be only one path left in front of Song Zongwu.

Choose Buddhist energy to reach the Yang God realm.

A wisp of Buddhist energy drilled out from between his eyebrows, and a fierce ghost in the Hundred Ghost Picture immediately transformed into a compassionate Buddha, his aura began to soar.

Song Zongwu's injuries healed in a few breaths, and the bottleneck of the original Yin Spirit realm perfection actually showed a subtle loosening.

He became evenly matched with the corpse elephant, even faintly suppressing the other party.

Ren Qing seemed a little at a loss, wanting to use consciousness to stop the corpse elephant, but Song Zongwu suddenly showed signs of breakthrough again.

Making him hesitate for a moment.

“How dare you!!”

At this moment, Song Zongwu's six eyes widened, stabbing a finger into his brow.

Ren Qing immediately made a decision, transmitting part of the content of the Strange Womb Refinement Method to the corpse elephant cultivator's soul, the corpse elephant froze in place.

He constantly communicated with the corpse elephant, wanting to let the latter stay away from White Bone Mountain, and quietly leave a Soul Butterfly projection.

Roar!!!

The corpse elephant roared to the sky, the demon cultivator's soul seemed to see a method of transcendence from the Strange Womb Refinement Method, and no longer entangled with Buddhist energy.

It turned and ran away, the mountains and rivers shaking.

Song Zongwu fell into the bushes, the opportunity for breakthrough vanished, he finally gave up the blessing of Buddhist energy on himself.

Ren Qing hurried forward.

Song Zongwu was helped up by Ren Qing, then took a few sips of Peach Wine, his face becoming much rosier, and his Qi and blood stabilized.

“Senior Song…”

“Accompany me on a trip.”

Ren Qing nodded, Song Zongwu seemed to be in good condition, but in fact he was relying entirely on Peach Wine to support him, but the ambition for the Yang God realm still existed.

It was a pity that he couldn't break through……

Song Zongwu pointed to the distant mountain, signaling the two to go together.

There is another chapter, wait a moment.