The Secret Way of Immortality

For ancient mortals, there were four major natural disasters that could lead to the devastation of nine out of ten households: floods, droughts, famines, and locusts.

The Forbidden Prison Hall perfectly illustrated the horror of a locust plague.

"Quick, leave!!!"

An old Daoist with the vigor of youth but hair as white as snow stood on a Dharma artifact shaped like an island, frantically urging his disciples to stay away from the Heavenly Court cultivators.

Unlike the fallen forces, they had not been detected due to the effect of their Dharma artifact.

The island emitted a faint mist, and the surrounding clouds concealed the artifact.

However, the old Daoist knew that if they could not get away from Jing Province as soon as possible, they would face an encirclement by tens of thousands of Heavenly Court cultivators.

He opened the four eyes on his forehead, three of which were double pupils, and the remaining one was a white pupil.

Just as the old Daoist was observing, a disciple in brocade robes approached, his soul almost scattered by the Heavenly Court cultivators' ferocity.

"Master, what exactly is this Heavenly Court?"

"With your years of prestige, can't you persuade the Heavenly Court to spare us?"

"Master, why not fight? Let's carve out a bloody path..."

The four-eyed old Daoist pinched the bridge of his nose, his disciples chattering around him. He couldn't help but roar with red eyes, "What are you thinking? The Heavenly Court is so unscrupulous; there must be immortal guests overseeing them. Don't forget the Four Sea Dragon Kings."

"Master, the Four Sea Dragon Kings... that should just be a legend..."

The disciples exchanged glances, suddenly realizing that disaster was imminent.

Although the four-eyed old Daoist was only at the Yang God realm, he could see the strange objects within living beings due to the characteristics of his spells.

He knew one thing: cultivators sought stability when mastering spells. Even if there were drawbacks, they would try to avoid them as much as possible during cultivation.

But the Heavenly Court cultivators were the exact opposite.

The reason he was so afraid was because he discovered that within the so-called Heavenly Soldiers were twisted and ferocious strange objects.

Many of these strange objects were on the verge of losing control.

The four-eyed old Daoist even noticed that some cultivators were no longer human at all, their bodies half-human and half-corpse, relying on Yin energy to sustain their lives.

Only a madman would cultivate his subordinates in such a way.

"They're truly a bunch of madmen..."

The four-eyed old Daoist murmured incredulously, blood tears flowing from his double pupils, soon turning white, indicating that he had used too many spells, exceeding his body's capacity.

The surface world became barren at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The four-eyed old Daoist could clearly see that the Heavenly Soldiers were coordinated and had no intention of sparing a single blade of grass.

"Roar!!!"

A corpse ghost let out a loud screech, rushing towards the island's direction on all fours.

The four-eyed old Daoist cursed inwardly, his double pupils shooting out scorching rays, but they were blocked by a crab-man parasitizing the corpse ghost's spine.

Forbidden Prison Hall cultivators also swarmed over, rushing towards the island Dharma artifact like a tidal wave.

He was dazed, recalling the scene of encountering locusts when he was still a mortal, which even a hundred ghosts walking at night could not compare to.

The four-eyed old Daoist signaled his disciples to launch a counterattack, and various spells smashed towards the ground, but the Heavenly Soldiers didn't dodge or evade at all.

Sen Sheng took the lead, after all, spells couldn't break through hundreds of layers of human skin, but could instead be used to temper the resistance of the Human Skin Book.

"Hahahaha, Heavenly Court Cocoon Division, my name is Impervious to All Laws."

He took a deep breath, each layer of human skin filled with the aura of spells, and his body instantly swelled to over a hundred meters, allowing the spells to attack him.

"Monster..."

The four-eyed old Daoist couldn't help but take several steps back. For the first time, he felt an indescribable threat from a cultivator of a lower realm.

The disciples' movements of releasing spells stagnated. With the four-eyed old Daoist, their backbone, falling behind, where did they get the motivation?

The four-eyed old Daoist's face was ashen. He understood that if he didn't get rid of Sen Sheng, he would definitely be finished in Jing Province.

With the Heavenly Court's ferocity, they probably wouldn't deliberately leave anyone alive.

He tore open his Daoist robe, revealing a fist-sized double pupil on his chest, with veins connecting to blood vessels, constantly transporting blood.

Immediately afterward, light continuously gathered within the double pupil, and the aura of the Yang God realm was exposed. Before Sen Sheng could react, the light directly struck his body.

The four-eyed old Daoist's "Annihilation Spell" was known for its speed and accuracy, and even Heavenly Gu realm cultivators couldn't track the light when caught off guard.

Bang!!!

Dust filled the air, and Sen Sheng flew backward. It could be seen that his chest and abdomen had been completely penetrated, and his internal organs had been severely damaged.

The four-eyed old Daoist breathed a sigh of relief, glancing at his disciples with his peripheral vision. Their morale had obviously recovered, cheering as they repelled the Heavenly Soldiers.

He stared at the corpse ghost waiting for an opportunity, intending to continue striking while the iron was hot.

Just then, Sen Sheng's mocking voice rang out: "Old Daoist, good trick. You almost injured my flesh and bones. It's a pity your spells aren't refined enough. Go into seclusion for a few more years."

The four-eyed old Daoist's pupils shrank, and then he groaned, obviously suffering a backlash to his body and soul from unexpectedly interrupting the spell.

Sen Sheng shed the skin on his body like clothes, and his injuries completely healed in the blink of an eye, only his face was slightly pale.

"You destroyed thirty-two layers of my human skin..."

"Please keep it up, I still have five hundred layers."

He thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure brought by the destruction of his skin. Under the effect of the spells, the remaining human skin was significantly enhanced.

As a notorious masochist in the Cocoon Vein, Sen Sheng was known for his love of battle and would even actively ask others to attack him.

Sen Sheng was the best of the Cocoon Vein, cultivating the Human Skin Book in new ways every day.

The four-eyed old Daoist was at a loss for a moment, and the Daoist disciples immediately launched an attack upon seeing this.

Their bodies merged with ghost shadows, transforming into shadow Jiaolong snakes, shuttling through the clouds and spitting corrosive black fire.

Mixed in with the Daoist disciples were scattered Fengkong people.

Ren Qing did not put the Fengkong people into his stomach world. Currently, they were stationed in the Bottomless Abyss near Jing Province, but their consciousness was connected to Dream City, making them honorary members of the Forbidden Prison Hall.

After noticing the Dream City mission, some Fengkong people came to Jing Province specifically to join in the fun, and their performance was fairly satisfactory.

Feng Ye did not follow. He spent most of his time in the Little Heavenly Court, and only occasionally went to Dream City, which was formed by the "descendants of the Heavenly Court."

The corpse ghost exerted force with its limbs and soared into the sky, landing heavily on the island's Dharma artifact.

The crab-man on its back released threads of insect silk, and the remaining cultivators climbed along the threads towards the island, even faster than the Daoist disciples.

From exposure to falling, the island Dharma artifact only lasted a moment.

The aura of death came over them, and the plants planted on the island gradually withered due to the Yin energy.

The four-eyed old Daoist's expression collapsed, and he shouted hysterically: "Don't kill me, let me live, please..."

"Please spare me!"

He kowtowed, blood dripping from his chin, looking extremely pathetic.

The disciples watched their master burst into tears, without a trace of ancient Daoist demeanor, as if he were a prisoner about to be pushed to the execution ground.

The corpse ghost smiled coldly, signaling the cultivators to dismantle the island Dharma artifact.

Although the other party was not strong, they had a population of over a hundred thousand, most of whom were inside the island, responsible for driving the Dharma artifact.

The corpse ghost was annoyed by the four-eyed old Daoist's direct surrender and contacted Ren Qing.

Ren Qing hesitated for a moment, then used Heavenly Demon Possession, directly allowing the ghost shadow to descend on the surface world, enveloping the entire island.

Amidst the four-eyed old Daoist's dejected pleas, the cultivators above the Yin Difference realm disappeared.

They were all imprisoned in the third layer of the Underworld, first squeezing out the value in their memories, and then considering whether to recruit them.

As for the remaining hundred thousand people, Ren Qing simply threw them into the desert of the stomach world.

Whether they lived or died depended on their luck. If they could breed a prosperous civilization, they would naturally come into contact with the Forbidden Prison Hall in hundreds of years.

The stomach world needed a large number of different cultivation civilizations to enrich the Forbidden Prison Hall's foundation.

Ren Qing gave extra rewards to the cultivators who participated in the mission, and let them handle the island Dharma artifact themselves. Everyone made a fortune.

Then he allowed the cultivators to plunder the resources of the surface world.

In just half a month, the surface world was completely barren, and the Forbidden Prison Hall cultivators returned to the stomach world contentedly.

Other gains didn't matter, but Ren Qing was very satisfied with the tens of thousands of strange objects.

Ren Qing looked up. Compared to the surface world, the inner world would only have more resources, and the number of strange objects would be the same.

He didn't know where the mastermind got tens of thousands of strange objects.

Now it wouldn't hurt the Forbidden Prison Hall to benefit, after all, from the perspective of relationships, the mastermind could barely be considered the founder of the Forbidden Prison Hall.

Ren Qing placed the strange objects in the Heavenly Palace, and the Mycelial Soul was constantly reverse-engineering the spells.

According to his estimation, after removing the duplicate spells, there would be at least a thousand more spells. It seemed that the Great Dream Spell Pavilion would have to expand again.

The Forbidden Prison Hall came and went without a trace, and the surface world returned to calm.

Later, several rogue cultivators came to Jing Province, but they felt terrified when they found the devastated surface world.

They originally thought that changes in the Immortal Position rules had caused it, but later they found an ordinary flag on the highest peak of the surface world.

The flag was not a Dharma artifact, but it was embroidered with the pattern of the South Heavenly Gate and the words "Heavenly Court."

Not long ago, the Heavenly Court's reputation was still spreading on a small scale, but now, after such a disturbance, almost everyone knew about it.

They discussed the secrets of ancient times, and didn't know what role the Heavenly Court played.

It is said that three men make a tiger. When all forces know of the existence of the Heavenly Court, whether it is true or false is no longer important.

Ren Qing secretly waited for the situation in Jing Province to continue to ferment.

At the same time, he began to send Forbidden Prison Hall cultivators into the inner world, but the inner world was not as safe as the surface world, there must be Heavenly Gu realm cultivators, so the number of people participating in the mission decreased a lot.

Han Li decided to go into seclusion to digest the resources, while Gu Zhenren chose to descend to the inner world.

Gu Zhenren only had Yin Difference realm cultivation in Jing Province. He had to seize the remaining opportunities to pursue more blood crystals.

Ren Qing did not pay attention to the movements of the inner world.

It was impossible for him to pay attention to the life and death of all the cultivators, even if someone had extraordinary talent, it was fate if they died because of bad luck.

Opportunities and dangers coexist, and besides, Ren Qing simply had no time.

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Pilgrimage was approaching, and with Ren Qing's life-saving methods, he naturally wanted to intervene, and besides, he could explore with the Mycelial Soul first.

He was very curious, obviously the mastermind was a Buddha Son of the Tathagata fruit position, but his power was difficult to suppress the Earth Immortals, and even allowed the Lunar Star Lord to turn the tables.

What would happen if he summoned the Corpse Immortal, and the Earth Immortals were in a three-legged standoff?

Ren Qing then used Heavenly Demon Possession, but it was indeed the Mycelial Soul that descended, and the main body's body and soul were still in the Dragon Blood Sea.

At the same time, the deep world was becoming more and more lively, and every day people could be seen giving alms to the monks preparing to go to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pilgrimage.

The currency of the deep world was similar to the silver coins of Xiangxiang, and almost every monk received at least hundreds of taels of gold.

The surface was calm, but in fact, dangers were hidden in the dark.

As long as Pig Daoist had free time, he would wander around the temple, trying to find out information about the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pilgrimage, but even the Buddhas didn't know.

He couldn't help but feel anxious, always feeling that he would be pitted to death if he rashly entered the game.

An old man with a slight beard smiled and stopped Pig Daoist, pointing to the noodle restaurant he opened and asked, "Master Wuneng, you will meet the Fortune Tathagata in a few days, come and write a sign for our small shop?"

Pig Daoist smiled wryly, writing a sign usually earned a lot of money, and other monks would have agreed before it was too late.

But he really didn't want to leave too many traces in the deep world.

You know, the fruit position Buddha is too evil, Pig Daoist wouldn't be surprised even if he had the ability of remote curse killing.

Moreover, he understood that the Buddha who laid out Jing Province was at least a Bodhisattva fruit position.

No matter how much water there was in the Jing Province Buddha, it was not something he could easily deal with.

What made Pig Daoist most headache was that they hadn't set off yet. Tang Sheng and the others could stay in the house for a long time, but when they officially went to the Fortune Tathagata, how would they hide the incompatible Heavenly Court cultivators?

"The consequences of offending the Heavenly Court are probably worse than death?"

Pig Daoist's expression was bitter, and he walked towards his residence, intending to discuss countermeasures with Mu Snake Daoist.

If it really didn't work, he could only be sorry, he didn't want to die inexplicably in the deep world.

As Pig Daoist approached the entrance of the temple, he suddenly noticed an inconspicuous paper crane perched on a tree branch not far away.

His eyes were ecstatic, and he kept muttering "There is hope."

Pig Daoist had a strange personality, but he was not without connections. Some time ago, he contacted many forces, wanting to borrow them to figure out the situation.

The paper crane was a spell to transmit information, very secretive.

He looked around, his palm trembling as he picked up the paper crane, and when he opened it, a wave of divine thoughts poured into his mind, adding some memories.

Pig Daoist's face became stiff, and the content contained in the memory made him shudder.

"The Heavenly Court suddenly attacked the surface Jing Province, and wiped out all forces with overwhelming force..."

He had to believe it, because the memory also included a large number of pictures, and the Heavenly Court cultivators plundered the surface world like locusts.

The picture should have been recorded by a Dharma artifact, and cultivators could not have survived in the locust plague.

Pig Daoist slumped to the ground. Judging from the strength shown by the Heavenly Court, he had been eaten to death, so let's be a death squad honestly.

He sighed and quickly stepped into the side door of the temple.

Woof woof woof...

Urgent dog barks rang out, and the monks chanting scriptures stopped abruptly, plunging the originally noisy temple into silence.

The Pig Taoist paused slightly, his heart beating uncontrollably.

He looked towards the corner, where a common Jing Prefecture mongrel was barking incessantly, its abdomen writhing as if something was churning inside.

When the mongrel could no longer endure, it spat out a long snake from its mouth.

The long snake, with draconic features, struggled frantically, while the mongrel whimpered and ran away, leaving only the long snake with its constantly growing flesh and blood.

The Pig Taoist swallowed hard. How could he not know that it was another arrival of a being from the Heavenly Court?

However, this time it was clearly different, with a terrifying aura emanating.

The Pig Taoist could sense that the newcomer possessed the strength of the Heavenly Aberrant Realm, but it seemed somewhat illusory, creating a very contradictory feeling.

The bones of the long snake combined with each other, and then formed a human shape, but its skin shimmered with brilliant light and shadow, tearing the surrounding air.

After a moment, the draconic limbs transformed into the appearance of Ren Qing.

Since it was the inner world where the fungal soul had descended, the clone was mainly based on the Toe Severance Art, which was why it resembled the Great Dream True Man.

"I wonder… which Celestial Venerable from the Heavenly Court is this?"

Ren Qing took out a Taoist robe and put it on, gradually restraining his own techniques, and then said, "A star of the Heavenly Court, the Polaris Sovereign."

He possessed five Heavenly Aberrant Realm techniques, so he could naturally create multiple identities to highlight the Heavenly Court's immense strength.

"Polaris Sovereign…"

The Pig Taoist nodded with a forced smile, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

Currently, the Heavenly Court had revealed more than four Heavenly Aberrant Realm cultivators, and it seemed that they were still holding back, which made him shudder at the thought.

In contrast to their strength was the Heavenly Court's unspeakable ambition.

The Heavenly Court's intervention in Jing Prefecture must be part of some plan. What could interest such a behemoth? It shouldn't be the opportunity to come into contact with the Heavenly Dao; that's a bit unrealistic.

Besides the Heavenly Dao, what else is left in Jing Prefecture? Isn't it the Earth Immortals?

Could it be that the Heavenly Court wants to attack the Earth Immortals and seize the immortal positions for attaining immortality? Are they not afraid of inciting the wrath of the Corrupted Immortals?

The Pig Taoist's mind was full of questions, but he also deeply understood a principle.

The more you know, the more dangerous your situation becomes.

"Polaris Sovereign, what do you think of me? Can I contribute to the Heavenly Court?"

The Pig Taoist said ingratiatingly as he leaned over, his heart filled with pain. Once he boarded this pirate ship, he was afraid he wouldn't even know how he died.

"Forget it, Pig Wu Neng."

Ren Qing refused bluntly. Although the Impoundment Hall had already begun to recruit Heavenly Aberrant Realm cultivators, they all had to be imprisoned in the Underworld first.

Like the Snake Heretic Taoist, who knew very little about the true details of the Impoundment Hall, and whose Yin energy was restrained by the Corpse Emperor of Fengdu, he could be used with confidence.

Even so, after the Jing Prefecture incident ended, the Snake Heretic Taoist would still have to return to the Yellow Springs.

The Pig Taoist wanted to cry but had no tears. He felt that before long, he would be disposed of by the Heavenly Court and buried in a foreign land.

With the Heavenly Court's terrifying abilities to appear and disappear without a trace, it would be impossible to escape.

Ren Qing supplemented as he walked, "However, Pig Wu Neng, you have a connection with Buddhism. You can join the seat of the Tathagata of Mount Meru."

"…"

The Pig Taoist hesitated, thinking of the mountain range piled up with Tuntian flesh and blood, and the means to give birth to countless Buddhas in a short period of time. No matter how he looked at it, it was difficult to associate it with Buddhism.

He did not immediately agree, and looked at Ren Qing's back as he came back to his senses.

Although Ren Qing had restrained his aura, he still exuded a colorful halo, which was extremely conspicuous in the temple full of mortals.

"Polaris Sovereign, be careful of being detected by the Buddhas."

"It's fine."

Ren Qing glanced at the Pig Taoist and walked unceremoniously towards the depths of the temple, the sound of chanting reading from all directions again.

He walked among the monks, and even though the fungal soul was mainly based on the Toe Severance Art, the Heavenly Demon Tribulation also acted on the soul, so it could exert 80% of its power.

The Pig Taoist's scalp tingled. Ren Qing was only a few hundred meters away from the nearest Buddha, but such a obvious technique aura was completely unnoticeable.

He understood how he was going to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pilgrimage next.

With the Polaris Sovereign's supernatural powers, it was too easy to conceal a few people, which also showed that the Heavenly Court's plan was extremely complete.

Ren Qing simply instructed the Pig Taoist a few words, and then randomly found a room to stay in.

With the Heavenly Demon Tribulation protecting him, only the Earth Immortals could see through his flaws, but the problem was that the Earth Immortals of Jing Prefecture all had varying degrees of trouble.

Ren Qing noticed that Tang Sheng's aura had become somewhat unstable.

He didn't expect the environment of the deep world to be so suitable for the Vajra Body cultivation. Tang Sheng would be able to reach the perfection of the Yin Messenger Realm in a few months.

He originally wanted to let Tang Sheng return to the stomach world, but now he was not in a hurry.

Currently, the deep world was still within a controllable range. Buddhism had absolute discourse power, and the extraterrestrial demons could only wait for an opportunity.

The Snake Heretic Taoist was always in a state of meditation, seemingly recalling his past experiences.

Since Ren Qing had come to the deep world, he didn't intend to continue idling.

The ghost shadow silently went to the Golden Gate Temple in the Little Buddha Heaven. The temple had recovered some vitality, with thousands of elderly, weak, sick, and disabled monks.

The Great Buddha Heaven had clearly redeployed Buddhas to guard the Golden Gate Temple, but no matter how they arranged it, they could not change the fact that the Tathagata of Mount Meru had invaded the Little Buddha Heaven. The Buddhas were still Ren Qing's eyes and ears.

He felt that the cultivators of the inner world should soon ascend to the deep world, which might lead to chaos in the Little Buddha Heaven.

It would be better to control the Little Buddha Heaven now, which would also be convenient for carrying out the plan next.

Ren Qing controlled the Tathagata of Mount Meru, and his consciousness communicated with tens of thousands of Buddhas.

The Little Buddha Heaven suddenly boiled, after all, the Tathagata of Mount Meru had been out of contact for a long time, and many believers thought he had been destroyed by the Great Buddha Heaven.

A large number of Buddhas knelt on the ground, devoutly looking at the sunlight in the sky.

Because they contained the Buddha energy of the Tathagata of Mount Meru in their bodies, their souls could not give birth to the slightest rebellious thought, and their expressions were extremely fanatical.

Ren Qing asked them to send the heretical believers to the Golden Gate Temple to completely convert to the Tathagata of Mount Meru.

One by one, the Buddhas opened their eyes, and then unhesitatingly attacked their companions.

The number of Buddhas who believed in the Tathagata of Mount Meru was already several times greater than that of ordinary Buddhas, making the battle completely devastating.

The ghost shadow came to the hinterland of the Golden Gate Temple, forming a vortex-shaped dark passage.

The first batch of Buddhas was escorted to the Golden Gate Temple, their bodies entangled by the ghost shadow, and their lower bodies submerged in the passage, actually in the Western Buddha World.

The Tathagata of Mount Meru stretched out tentacles to devour their Buddha energy. After advancing to the Heavenly Aberrant Realm, his efficiency in dealing with the Yang God Realm Buddhas was extremely high.

Before the Great Buddha Heaven had time to pay attention to the changes in the Little Buddha Heaven, the Buddhas had already changed their allegiance.

The Impoundment Hall cultivators successively descended into the inner world. Unknowingly, Ren Qing had occupied most of Jing Prefecture, and even presented a siege.

The various forces could not find the traces of the Heavenly Court, but the Heavenly Court was everywhere.

[I had the flu and a fever before, but this time I really got the Covid. Today my fever reached 38.6, and I coded while I was in a good state.]