The Secret Way of Immortality

Ren Qing stayed in the Fire Worker Hall for a full seven days before venturing out.

Occasionally, there were a few tragically deceased corpses, all of which were handled by the Li brothers and Xiao Wu, who were already adept at the task.

Ren Qing mainly focused on figuring out the cultivation methods of the Human Skin Book and experimenting with the effects of various animal eyes.

Unlike the No-Eyed Method, which relies on visualization, the Human Skin Book requires external stimulation, the simplest method being to beat the body.

If a specialized medicinal bath could be concocted, it should also have miraculous effects.

Of course, the Human Skin Book definitely has more bizarre cultivation methods, but Ren Qing would naturally not try them by skinning himself.

As for the eyeballs, the larger the volume, the better the effect, and pig eyes are indeed the most cost-effective.

At the same time, he secretly considered the matter of advancing to the Heavy Pupil state, although he had already prepared to consume another year and a half of his lifespan.

However, he was still somewhat apprehensive about such a bizarre power system.

Ren Qing thought of the words that Song Zongwu had intentionally or unintentionally said in the prison cell and decided to verify his guess.

He made some preparations, hiding a sharpened short knife in his waist and carrying some pig eyes with him, then headed towards the training ground.

Ren Qing had originally planned to take Xiao Wu with him, but many areas of the yamen were off-limits to the aides, including the training ground.

The training ground was shared by the four districts of the southeast, northwest, and covered a vast area.

From afar, Ren Qing could see a considerable number of constables wielding swords and spears, while the surrounding yamen servants cheered.

His appearance caused the constables to glance sideways, as fire workers rarely came here.

However, they quickly lost interest.

The constables' attention was focused on the two people sparring in the open space.

The two wielded blunt wooden swords, their movements intricate and precise, displaying sword techniques that were both offensive and defensive.

After watching for a few moments, Ren Qing found it uninteresting.

He walked towards the martial arts building beside the training ground, which housed many body-tempering martial arts techniques, but only yamen staff could learn them.

Ren Qing opened the door, and a musty odor emanating from damp books wafted out.

He couldn't help but cough a few times, drawing dissatisfied glances from others inside.

Looking around, Ren Qing was slightly disappointed with the so-called martial arts manuals, which looked no different from ordinary bookstores.

Three rows of bookshelves were scattered around, the books on them extremely old, with some even damaged.

Ren Qing casually picked up a book, and the cover clearly read "Gentle Breeze Swordplay".

After flipping through a few pages, it could only be described as mediocre, with detailed descriptions of the techniques, but it was not the kind of internal and external cultivation martial art he had imagined.

Without much hope, Ren Qing summoned the information stream, but the result was unexpected.

【Gentle Breeze Swordplay (Fragmented)】

【Created by Taoist Gentle Breeze, containing a total of thirty-six stances, known for speed and stability. Combining it with internal energy cultivation makes the swordsmanship more agile.】

【The Gentle Breeze Swordplay lacks the internal energy chapter and cannot be mastered by consuming lifespan.】

Ren Qing's muscles tensed slightly. He stubbornly picked up one manual after another, but the results were similar.

Without exception, the manuals in the martial arts building were marked as (Fragmented). Could it be that the yamen deliberately redacted the martial arts?

Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and pondered. What did this mean?

The styles of martial arts and spells were vastly different. According to normal logic, shouldn't the popularized techniques be those that strengthen the body?

It wouldn't be appropriate to say that bizarre cultivation methods can lead to immortality either.

Even Song Zongwu only had a lifespan limit of over three hundred years, and compared to the risks involved, the increase in lifespan was too small.

And how many people can die peacefully in their sleep?

Ren Qing rubbed his temples with a headache. He felt like he had inadvertently come into contact with the bizarre truth of this world.

Unfortunately, he still had no clue.

Ren Qing calmed his mind. What Song Zongwu wanted him to see shouldn't be these, after all, no one else knew about the information stream.

Ren Qing patiently flipped through the manuals one by one in the order of the bookshelves, putting them back whenever he saw the information stream's prompt.

His actions seemed strange, naturally making the other constables in the room increasingly dissatisfied.

But before a constable could step forward to warn him, Ren Qing grabbed a thick book and went to a corner to read quietly.

The book was called "Grass Cottage Travelogue", and its content described some absurd ghost and god legends, but the stories were rather tedious.

After searching around, Ren Qing found that this was the only book that was not a cultivation manual.

He carefully read each line of text, and unknowingly several hours had passed.

It wasn't until the evening sunset shone in through the window that Ren Qing raised his head, a hint of surprise on his usually calm face.

Around page one hundred, the content of "Grass Cottage Travelogue" suddenly changed, using myths and legends to allude to the bizarre and the cultivators.

From this, Ren Qing learned about the realms of cultivation, which consisted of Martial Practitioner, Half-Corpse, Ghost Messenger, Underworld Officer, Yang God, and Heavenly Abomination.

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Like him, after mastering spells, the body gradually undergoes alienation but has not yet transcended the mortal, and is in the realm of "Martial Practitioner".

Once the first alienation is completed, one reaches the "Half-Corpse" state.

Furthermore, different cultivation methods lead to vastly different directions of alienation.

The No-Eyed Method alone has three types: "Hundred-Eyed", "One-Eyed", and "Heavy-Pupiled", not to mention other spells.

"Grass Cottage Travelogue" also explained the question that Ren Qing had been wondering about for a long time.

"To cultivate bizarre spells, one usually has to pay a great price. With such a high threshold, is there no shortcut?"

In fact, there is a shortcut, and the shortcut lies in the Martial Practitioner realm.

After cultivators die, they produce bizarre objects, and mortals can use these bizarre objects to master spells.

However, this is only limited to the bizarre objects produced after the death of Martial Practitioner realm cultivators. There is a greater risk with Half-Corpse realm and above.

For example, if a No-Eyed Method Martial Practitioner realm cultivator dies, their eyes will turn into bizarre objects, and as long as they are consumed, forty-nine days can be saved.

However, if such a cultivator wants to advance their spells, they have to rely on the bizarre objects of the next realm, which is equivalent to losing their potential.

Spells mastered independently do not have this restriction.

What surprised Ren Qing the most was that forbidden areas were closely related to bizarre objects.

When cultivators in the Half-Corpse realm and above die, bizarre objects will develop intelligence and move within a certain range, thus forming forbidden areas.

Ren Qing subconsciously touched his eyes, feeling a chill down his spine.

So, the prison forbidden area was actually caused by a cultivator who practiced the "Human Skin Book" dying inside.

Wait.

Since the level of bizarreness in the forbidden area is related to the realm, how terrifying would a forbidden area formed after the death of a high-realm cultivator who has mastered multiple spells be...

Unimaginable.

Ren Qing finally understood why Song Zongwu would guide him in this way.

The transformation he showed in the prison was closely related to the Human Skin Book. Song Zongwu mistakenly thought that Ren Qing had accidentally eaten a fragment of human skin, thus entering the Martial Practitioner realm.

Ren Qing put himself in Song Zongwu's shoes. A Martial Practitioner realm cultivator whose lifespan was nearing its end, and who had reached that point by relying on bizarre objects, had no potential at all.

There was no need to recruit him into the jailers.

Song Zongwu's actions were already benevolent and righteous, preventing Ren Qing from being noticed by certain people by unknowingly exposing his Martial Practitioner realm cultivation.

For Ren Qing, the lower his profile, the better, so that his breakthrough to the Half-Corpse realm would not be noticed.

Signing the contract still has to wait two days, my mentality is exploding