The Secret Way of Immortality

Ren Qing wasn't sure where the souls that disappeared from the brains went. Perhaps their consciousness was still trapped inside?

The three of them were silent. Ten thousand brains were placed before them. Judging from the neural activity, the brains seemed to still be thinking.

But the souls had disappeared without a trace, heading to the ambiguous "Outer Heavens."

Where did the Peach Blossom Spring people disappear to after turning into smoke and dust? Where did the flesh and blood of the Four Gate Town people go after climbing along the spine?

Ren Qing's expression was solemn. He turned to look at the Corpse Ghost and asked, "Corpse Ghost, you didn't try to hide your tracks on the way here, did you?"

The Corpse Ghost nodded with a grim face, also realizing that there might be a mastermind behind the ascension, and that he might have already been exposed.

"Leave immediately and return to the surface the way you came. Keep heading south, and I will guide you to Four Mountains Town."

"Alright, then I'll leave without delay."

The Corpse Ghost quickly got up and strode out along the passage.

Ren Qing stared at the Corpse Ghost's back in silence. He wasn't worried about the latter's safety, since it was just a supernatural projection in the mortal world.

But the matters involved in ascension reminded Ren Qing of a chilling theory from his previous life called "Brain in a Vat."

The so-called Brain in a Vat is when a brain is removed and kept in a container, with its nerve endings connected to a computer, giving the brain the illusion of a completely normal existence.

The question it poses is, how can you guarantee that you are not a Brain in a Vat?

Ren Qing felt a moment of unease, but quickly suppressed the distracting thoughts.

He believed that he truly existed and could not be trapped in a false illusion. The mastermind's actions were traceable.

However, those who ascended were not necessarily so fortunate. Even if their bodies and souls had indeed disappeared, it didn't mean they had truly reached the upper realm.

Putting all hope of survival on the indescribable Three Daos Ancestors seemed unreliable to Ren Qing no matter how he looked at it.

Following his memory, Ren Qing put the sorted corpse brains back in their original places, allowing the Mycelial Souls to observe their reactions at all times.

Compared to the ignorant Corpse Ghost, the Brain in a Jar vaguely guessed Ren Qing's concerns, and its expression became uncertain.

After hesitating for a long time, it finally asked, "Could it be that the Outer Heavens recorded in the classics truly exist? Can they be used to escape the world's disasters?"

Both Daoism and Buddhism have always had the idea of ascending to the upper realm, but there have been no examples in the last few thousand years, and self-cultivation to immortality is even rarer, which is why there is the saying that the path to immortality is broken.

The Brain in a Jar's Dao heart was changing. It had only just reached the Perfected Yang God realm, and it still had to go through a life-and-death gate to reach the Heavenly Guile realm.

Even if it advanced to the Heavenly Guile realm, it would need luck and accumulation to survive the lightning tribulation in the Stomach World, and the odds were less than twenty percent.

Since even Lady White Bone, whose path to the Great Dao was promising, was obsessed with ascension, didn't that mean there truly were Outer Heavens in the world?

"If this is truly a shortcut..."

The Brain in a Jar's thoughts had just emerged when they became uncontrollable, as if a voice was constantly urging it in its ear.

It stared at the crystal-clear liquid in the glass jar with the corner of its eye, subconsciously moving closer to check it out, wanting to figure out how to prepare it.

Ren Qing sighed. After all, ascension involved the Heavenly Dao.

The Brain in a Jar had only just come into contact with it, and demonic thoughts were already rampant. If it wasn't careful, even its body and soul would be alienated and go out of control.

While Ren Qing was guessing the use of the human brains, he couldn't help but feel a ripple in his heart.

"Senior, just pretend this never happened."

Ren Qing didn't give the Brain in a Jar time to react. The Toe Separation Art was activated, and the latter fell to the ground, immediately falling into a deep sleep.

"Ascension? There's no such good thing. I'm afraid they'll become food for the Three Daos Ancestors."

Ren Qing threw the Brain in a Jar into the Stomach World, and at the same time used the Toe Separation Art to modify its memory, completely erasing all information about the corpse brains.

He came to Lady White Bone's cavern and interfered with her brain.

Lady White Bone's memories flashed before his eyes.

With the Heavenly Demon Tribulation, Ren Qing's every move was deeply hidden. Lady White Bone had probably been detected as soon as she appeared in the outside world.

It would have been fine if Lady White Bone had normal intelligence, but because her temperament was relatively extreme, and her Heavenly Dao assimilation was more than thirty percent.

If she stayed in the Immortal Position Forbidden Area, under the suppression of the spiritual energy of Mount Spirit, her Heavenly Dao assimilation would not continue to increase.

As a result, Lady White Bone took the initiative to leave the Immortal Position Forbidden Area, and her intelligence was naturally affected by the Heavenly Dao assimilation.

Ren Qing couldn't find any useful clues from Lady White Bone's memories. The method of ascension appeared in her brain out of thin air.

It should have been the mastermind using Lady White Bone to absorb Yin energy and quietly instilling it.

After Lady White Bone noticed the cave, it contained a large number of Peach Blossom Spring people who had been severely alienated, obviously left for her to ascend.

In the end, Lady White Bone became a mixture of grease.

Ren Qing didn't plan to stop Lady White Bone's ascension, because he might expose his existence, so he patiently waited in the cave.

He waved his hand and released countless Mycelial People, spreading them to every corner of the cavern.

The Mycelial People carefully cleaned the underground cavern, completely erasing the traces of Ren Qing and the others, creating the illusion that only the Corpse Ghost had come, and the bone wall was repaired again.

Lady White Bone's ascension would definitely attract the attention of the mastermind.

Ren Qing prepared to take the opportunity to see what the mastermind's purpose was and whether the ascended upper realm truly existed.

At the same time, the Mycelial Souls he released were approaching the gathering places in various parts of this world.

All kinds of information about the gathering places gradually converged to Ren Qing. The mortals in the towns had indeed undergone severe alienation.

The gathering places were shrouded in magic circles. Except for the head of the Mother of All Things above Peach Blossom Spring, the remaining towns all communicated with the Heavenly Dao, causing the mortals to undergo alienation and ascend to the upper realm one after another.

In a place called "Snake Mouth County," the alienation of the mortals manifested as shadows.

They transformed from flesh and blood bodies into flat shadows, eventually disappearing completely. The brains they left behind were imprinted on the walls, forming a pattern that looked as if it was painted with blood.

Once the rain washed over it, the brain pattern would gradually fade.

The brains left behind by the mortals who ascended from Four Mountains Town were piled up in mass graves and cemeteries. The ashes contained the remains of brain tissue.

Mortals didn't have the means to leave a way out like the undead, so there weren't many complete human brains that could be found. They were basically all used without reservation.

Ren Qing felt that the reason why the mastermind was guiding all living beings to "ascend" was either for profit or to avoid disaster.

He was more inclined to believe it was for profit.

Ren Qing didn't choose to confront them head-on, but secretly deduced the ascension magic circle, trying to find a way to break it.

His only advantage now was that the mastermind hadn't discovered him.

Even if Ren Qing wanted to destroy the magic circle, he had to have sufficient certainty, preferably forcing the mastermind to show himself and then kill him with one blow.

He closed his eyes and thought about the trade-offs.

During this period, the cultivators in the Immortal Position Forbidden Area successively reached the stage of Creating All Things, and they were probably not far from becoming immortals.

The birth of the twelve Guile Immortals represented the chaotic prelude to this world.

No, that's not right...

Ren Qing glanced at Lady White Bone. After the latter had devoured all the Peach Blossom Spring people, her alienation had reached the limit that her body and soul could withstand.

It shouldn't be long before Lady White Bone would follow in the footsteps of ascension.

Ren Qing sat cross-legged not far away, extracting Lady White Bone's Heavenly Immortal duty, causing the speed of Heavenly Dao assimilation to suddenly accelerate.

Lady White Bone stretched out her arms, grabbed the few remaining lumps of flesh, and stuffed them into her mouth.

"I want to become an immortal, I want to become an immortal!"

"Primal Heavenly Lord, I am willing to worship you for all eternity!!"

Lady White Bone let out a heart-wrenching howl. The vaporized flesh and bones in her pores enveloped the cavern, and even the Yin energy was driven away.

Ren Qing forcibly resisted the urge to escape and watched the smoke without letting go.

He seemed to be experiencing the Immortal Ascension Ladder, his body uncontrollably breaking out in cold sweat. In the smoke, streams of light were slowly gathering.

Pop, pop, pop...

The sound of bubbles breaking rang out, and the smoke suddenly surged towards the center.

Ren Qing suddenly saw that the Blue Star he had been longing for was in the smoke, and his relatives and friends from his previous life were sitting in front of his grave.

Lady White Bone interrupted the confusion in Ren Qing's eyes: "I saw the Outer Great World!!"

She murmured in disbelief, and then her eyes revealed pity, as if she felt sorrow for the living beings trapped in this world.

Ren Qing woke up because of this. After all, the smoke was just a false illusion.

He was only immersed in the illusion for a few breaths, but the Heavenly Dao cracks had increased by a large amount, and converting it into lifespan consumption would be at least five thousand years.

Lady White Bone's human brain fell, and her body and soul disappeared without a trace.

The Immortal Position of the Giant Force Ghost King turned into an ordinary stone. The Heavenly Dao assimilation of the Immortal Position was already complete, indicating that Lady White Bone had completely become a Turbid Immortal before ascending.

Ren Qing frowned, staring at Lady White Bone's brain. The neural activity was obviously increasing, and he barely saw some clues.

How should he put it? It gave him a very pleasant feeling.

Lady White Bone had the Heavenly Guile realm before her death, so even if her corpse brain was not immersed in liquid, it would not shrink in a short period of time.

Ren Qing didn't plan to continue staying at the intersection of the north and south. He looked around and confirmed that the Mycelial People had completely cleaned the inside and outside of the cavern.

Then he used the Heavenly Demon Seizure and returned to the casino in Four Mountains Town.

The Corpse Ghost replaced Zhou Zuosan's position, honestly doing the work of a bookkeeper, and the zombie waiter was also managed by him.

Ren Qing once again transformed into an insignificant spectator in the corner of the casino, deducing the magic circle while waiting for Lady White Bone's subsequent fermentation.

People came and went in the casino, and there were many gamblers with severe alienation.

Some people's exposed spines were growing towards ten meters, indicating that they would soon ascend and become lucky ones who didn't know whether they were alive or dead.

The six magic circles had the same characteristics.

Ren Qing found that using the Mycelial Souls to deduce all the magic circles at the same time was actually faster. Many key points could be understood by analogy.

Even so, it had been fifty years since Ren Qing had grasped the superficial knowledge of the ascension magic circle. During this period, hundreds of mortals had ascended to the upper realm.

No matter what method Ren Qing used to set up hidden hands in the bodies and souls of mortals, he could not sense the reality of the upper realm.

What surprised him the most was that this world seemed to have entered the Age of Dharma Decline.

All the cultivators had already ascended, and the Guile and Turbid Immortals were even more nowhere to be found. On the contrary, Ren Qing discovered three ownerless Immortal Positions.

The Heavenly Immortal duties nurtured by the Immortal Positions were silently affecting the Stomach World.

Ren Qing could feel that the Heavenly Dao rules of the Stomach World were gradually being perfected. In particular, the reincarnation of souls had already taken initial shape.

After the mortals in the Stomach World died, their souls would fall into the Yellow Springs.

Under the nourishment of the Yellow Springs water, there was a small probability of nurturing vitality, and then they would be washed to the human world by the water and reincarnated as living beings.

Ren Qing estimated that it would be possible to deal with the reincarnation of souls in more detail after the Incense Fire Immortals successively inherited the Divine Dao Imprint.

He had unknowingly left the Immortal Position Forbidden Area for a hundred years.

A hundred years outside was equivalent to five hundred years in the Immortal Position Forbidden Area. With the blessing of the Immortal Positions, the cultivators' advancement in spells would only be rapid.

The first to become an immortal was the Grand Dream True Man, but the one who first left the forbidden area was not him.

The Grand Dream True Man had to sit in the Immortal Position Forbidden Area to ensure that the remaining cultivators would not fight among themselves, so it was the "Multiple Daoist" who inherited the Well Sea Water God who couldn't wait to go to the outside world first.

The Multiple Daoist used the Mirror World as a transfer station and instantly appeared at the edge of the sea.

Ren Qing didn't inform the Multiple Daoist of the situation outside in advance, but the latter still made some concealment, and his aura was not obvious.

He was just about to contact the Multiple Daoist when he suddenly sensed through the Heavenly Earth Creation that the other party had become unusually frightened, as if he had encountered something.

Ren Qing's consciousness descended on the Multiple Daoist's body.

But he saw the Multiple Daoist standing blankly on the beach, in front of him was a towering wave of thousands of meters, and human faces were faintly visible on the surface.

The water flowed apart, and a bizarre Buddha with goat horns on his head and traces of black goats everywhere emerged from it.

If Ren Qing wasn't mistaken, it was the one who participated in the siege of the Supreme Heavenly Demon back then...

Manjushri Bodhisattva.