The Secret Way of Immortality

Ren Qing's pupils constricted upon hearing this. The information in the old Taoist's words was overwhelming, leaving him momentarily unable to react.

Was it because the other party had been trapped in the dead man's forbidden zone for too long, leading to madness, or… was Ling Xiao Taoist truly as the other party claimed?

Impossible, the Natal Golden Core contained Ling Xiao Taoist's memories.

With the profundity of the Dan Poison Art, trying to find and modify Ling Xiao Taoist's memories alone within a heap of tangled memories would be too difficult.

Even Ren Qing had spent a great deal of time sorting things out after Ling Xiao Taoist's death.

If the mastermind wanted to change Ling Xiao Taoist's memories without a trace, their cultivation would have to reach at least the Heavenly Aberrant Realm.

Ren Qing glanced around. Then why didn't they change the Taoist and Buddhist cultivators outside the door?

Moreover, from the old Taoist's words, they were stationed outside the Immortal Gate more like to prevent things inside from coming out, not to attain immortality.

More than a dozen cultivators flew towards Ren Qing, their expressions betraying apprehension.

"Exuviae Hermit, you must be mistaken. How could Ling Xiao have entered the Immortal Gate?"

The speaker was a lion-headed monk named "Zong Qing." From the white stubble on his lips, it was clear that he was quite old.

"Impossible, I could never be mistaken, unless he isn't Ling Xiao…"

Exuviae Hermit continued to mutter. Old Monk Zong Qing shook his head, wanting to explain, but suddenly, a faint Buddhist aura emanated from his body.

Fine hairs sprouted all over Old Monk Zong Qing's body, instantly transforming him into a lion-man. The detached Buddhist aura became as substantial and heavy as reality.

The Buddhist aura instantly transformed into the shape of lions and tigers, fiercely pouncing towards Ren Qing.

The silent insect-man Taoist also didn't hesitate. The cool True Essence cultivated by his Insect Hive Art carried a chilling coldness.

The air cracked, and the ground was instantly covered with thick frost.

The Yang God Realm cultivators further away didn't hesitate either, all choosing to attack, creating a huge commotion that caused the houses to collapse into ruins.

Ren Qing looked up, some cultivators spewing out suns from their mouths, some manipulating mountains and rocks, and others conjuring semi-real waves of water.

Dark clouds, mountains and rocks, blazing suns, waves of water…

Exuviae Hermit finally came to his senses. Old Monk Zong Qing's words were clearly meant to paralyze the opponent.

Dozens of them had traveled to the Immortal Gate together back then. They had watched with their own eyes as the group entered, and they had not returned for hundreds of years.

Therefore… Ling Xiao Taoist was definitely not the real person.

He spat out a cloud of poison mist, immediately enveloping Ren Qing, causing a sizzling sound.

From the moment Exuviae Hermit made contact with Ren Qing to the subsequent siege, it only took a few breaths.

This showed that the town usually encountered creatures heading to the Immortal Gate, probably those cocoon people and zombies transformed from hibernations, as well as various types of enormous beasts.

Fortunately, although they were united against outsiders, they were still wary of each other, resulting in their attacks inevitably holding back a bit.

Especially the Taoist who intentionally lagged behind, resembling a hyena, with a necklace made of human heads hanging around his neck, his eyes greedily fixed on the exposed skin of the cultivators in front of him.

They were clearly salivating over flesh and blood, and were almost unable to restrain themselves.

In this resource-scarce dead man's forbidden zone, cultivators could barely survive by relying on cultivation techniques, but if they wanted to satisfy their appetites, they could only treat the people as food.

The reason why only three forces remained was because the other cultivators had been completely eaten.

From the corners of the town's temples and Taoist temples, one could see a lot of leftover flesh and blood, gradually being dried into jerky.

Bang!!!

The Taoist threw out the blazing sun, hitting Ren Qing's body directly. The light scattered and then instantly retracted, distorting the air.

Immediately afterwards, mountain-like rocks fell to the ground, followed closely by waves of water. All kinds of spells acted on Ren Qing almost simultaneously.

Smoke and dust spread out, making Ling Xiao Taoist's body faintly visible.

They didn't continue to cast spells, standing dozens of meters apart from each other, their eyes locked on the opposing cultivators, the atmosphere becoming increasingly tense.

In their opinion, Ling Xiao Taoist could no longer be alive.

The most important thing now was to replenish the spell aura consumed in their bodies. Without resources, they could only rely on flesh and blood.

The hyena cultivator grinned, saliva dripping down his sharp teeth, his movements restless.

"Exuviae Hermit, disperse the smoke and dust."

Old Monk Zong Qing ignored the tense cultivators, turned to look at Exuviae Hermit, and said with a solemn expression.

Exuviae Hermit nodded. Compared to the confused cultivators, he had a more direct understanding of Ren Qing's existence.

When his identity was exposed, Ling Xiao Taoist was only slightly surprised, and didn't feel nervous at all because of the siege.

And the giant he brought, his surface was rotten, but his height was over a thousand meters. Was he a Heavenly Aberrant Realm cultivator before he died?

Everything revealed strangeness.

Exuviae Taoist summoned a gust of wind, and the smoke and dust disappeared immediately.

Ren Qing was still standing in place, his eyes closed on the surface, but in reality, he was using Ghost Shadow to silently contact the cultivators and confirm their information.

From the spells they mastered, they completely matched Ling Xiao Taoist's memories.

Ren Qing also looked at the information stream of the leading Yang God Realm cultivator.

【Exuviae Hermit】

【Age: Eight hundred and fifty-three】

【Lifespan: None】

【Art: Exuviation Art (White Bone Exuviation Realm)】

【Exuviation Art】

【Created by the Exuviation Ancestor, cultivation requires planting bitter wood seeds in the three inches of the brain's heart, until the bitter wood sprouts and extracts the internal organs, and the bitter wood roots replace the internal organs, then it can be cultivated】

【Zong Qing】

【Age: Six hundred and seventy-two】

【Lifespan: None】

【Art: Laughing Buddha Forgetfulness Sutra (Great Enlightenment Realm)】

【Laughing Buddha Forgetfulness Sutra】

【Created by the Laughing Lion Arhat, cultivation requires the Laughing Lion Arhat to leave a little Buddha light in his dantian, and use his own flesh and blood to stimulate it, then it can be cultivated.】

The insect-man Taoist was called "Tai Han Zhenren", and he did indeed master the same Insect Hive Art as Yu Hua Zhenren.

The Insect Hive must have participated in matters related to the dead man's forbidden zone, but Yu Hua Zhenren didn't know about it.

Ren Qing found that although their spells had inexplicable drawbacks, they were far less difficult than the Jailer Law in advancing to the Yang God Realm.

Exuviae Hermit widened his eyes and shouted in disbelief: "Ling Xiao, no, who… who are you?!"

All the cultivators stared at Ren Qing, and from the latter's slightly torn Taoist robe, they could see that he had forcibly taken several spell attacks.

Ren Qing shook his head. He had originally wanted to obtain the Dead Man Sutra and leave quietly, but now it seemed that he would inevitably be involved.

But he was fearless about this, and didn't even bother to use spells to conceal himself.

After all, the dead man's forbidden zone was completely closed, and the various forces couldn't contact the outside world at all, so there was no need to worry too much.

Ren Qing still maintained the image of Ling Xiao Taoist. As long as he didn't expose himself, it didn't matter who the revealed identity was.

He lowered his voice and asked: "How long have you been here?"

No one answered. The cultivators dared not hold back any longer, and tried their best to accumulate spell aura, waiting for Ren Qing to show a flaw before attacking.

"How long have you been here?"

Ren Qing said in the language of the Insect Hive, causing Tai Han Zhenren to frown and look aside.

But still no one answered. The air crackled, and a dozen Yang God Realm cultivators turned all the nearby bones into powder.

Ren Qing looked at everyone, and then locked his eyes on the hyena cultivator on the periphery.

The forces involved in the Immortal Gate were too many. Even if they seemed like abandoned pawns, Ren Qing didn't want to cause any trouble because of this.

If he really wanted to establish his power, he could tell from the cultivators' facial expressions that the hyena cultivator was the least liked in the town.

The hyena cultivator seemed to have noticed Ren Qing's malice and let out a wanton laugh.

They didn't think that Ren Qing could kill them under the eyes of a dozen Yang God Realm cultivators. He wasn't a Heavenly Aberrant Realm cultivator…

Ren Qing took a step forward, and the cultivators tightened their muscles like startled birds.

Just as a war was about to break out, suddenly, a huge shadow covered the sky, and a foul stench rushed into their mouths and noses.

Boom!!!

A purple-red poisonous liquid palm slapped down forcefully. The air waves spread out like ripples, and no cultivator could react in time.

The hyena cultivator who was still laughing just now had now turned into minced meat.

Even if the minced meat wanted to reassemble, the corrosiveness of the poison was very terrifying, and it turned into pus steaming with heat in a moment.

Exuviae Hermit turned his head in astonishment, only to see the decaying giant stretch out his right arm, the poisonous liquid growing like branches, forming a giant palm that crushed the hyena cultivator to death.

The palm brushed past them by a hair's breadth, and the threat of death enveloped their hearts.

After the Giant Corpse Buddha's Black Arm Skill advanced to the Yin Messenger Realm "Hundred-Armed Poison Tree", it could already exert more than 40% of the power of the Earth Immortal corpse, and dealing with the Yang God Realm was like facing no defenses.

The cultivators were facing a great enemy, and the palm above their heads brought great deterrence.

Ren Qing repeated again in the Insect Hive language: "How long have you been here?"

The other cultivators looked at Tai Han Zhenren, who trembled and said: "Returning to Immortal Guest, two hundred and thirty-six years and eleven months."

Ren Qing thought for a moment, and it was no different from the time in Ling Xiao Taoist's memory.

He perceived the truthfulness of Tai Han Zhenren's words through the Disease Seed, and then said again: "How many cultivators were traveling together?"

"Uh… it seems like thirty or forty people."

"Who was the leading cultivator?"

"Zong Wu from the Lion Buddha Temple."

Ren Qing kept asking, and also mixed in some seemingly unrelated questions, and found that compared to Ling Xiao Taoist, their impressions of the Immortal Gate were slightly different.

Ling Xiao Taoist believed that immortality could be attained behind the door, while they were purely guarding the Immortal Gate.

Ren Qing learned that Tai Han Zhenren called him "Immortal Guest", which referred to the Heavenly Aberrant Realm.

It came from "Heavenly Gate's Four Directional Guests, Sooner or Later Towards the Immortal Ranks", after all, Immortal Guests were about to be ranked among the immortals, and the Heavenly Aberrant Realm was one step away from the Earth Immortal.

Except for the Buddhist sect, the forces belonging to Taoism all knew about the Heavenly Aberrant Realm, which showed that there must be some connection with the Jailer Law.

After Ren Qing carefully confirmed the situation, he jumped up and landed on the head of the Giant Corpse Buddha.

He ignored the cultivators and drove the Giant Corpse Buddha to the edge of the town, close to the territory of the Insect Hive Taoist.

Ren Qing let Ghost Shadow be responsible for guarding, and then copied the Dead Man Sutra on the surface of the Immortal Gate.

He already had a rough guess in his heart, but he had to contact the Immortal Gate to verify it with the information stream, and observe for a few days first.

There's one more chapter, wait a moment