The Secret Way of Immortality

Ren Qing chatted with Huang Ziwan for a long time.

As night fell, the two got up and left the teahouse, Huang Ziwan striding off with a light step, presumably to another house of pleasure.

The city of Sanxiang at night was shrouded in a hazy light.

The Qing River encircled the west of the city, with flickering paper boats carrying candles drifting on the water, revealing the people's hopes for the New Year.

Because of the large crowds in the streets, they huddled together for warmth, and even the cold brought by winter was dispelled.

Ren Qing couldn't help but sigh.

Xiangxiang might not be as prosperous as Jingzhou once was, but at least it could maintain stability for a long time, and the people had not become parasites of the Heavenly Dao worms.

Ren Qing quickly returned to the yamen. The decorations in the Firecraft Hall were almost complete, and couplets were hung everywhere.

Bo Feng squatted in the courtyard, smoking his dry tobacco pipe, his eyes slightly reminiscent.

For someone in their forties like him, the New Year also represented a gradual march towards death, but it was indeed something that had to be experienced.

Unless one cultivated immortal techniques like those extraordinary people in the Forbidden Guard Hall.

Bo Feng noticed Ren Qing's figure and quickly got up to greet him, "Master Ren, you're back."

He felt that the other party had changed quite a bit.

A few months ago, he was as sharp as a unsheathed sword, but now he had a more restrained aura, easily overlooked by others.

Bo Feng didn't know that, in addition to the influence of the Immortal in the Mirror, Ren Qing's main reason was that the days in the Stomach Within a Stomach had removed his impetuosity.

Ren Qing's mentality was unhurried and calm.

With the resources of the Forbidden Guard Hall and the Wuwei Taoist temple, not to mention the Yin Messenger Realm, even the Yang God Realm was just around the corner.

As long as the Netherworld Art advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, he could use the Fire Refining Palace to refine magical artifacts.

By then, with the Ghost Market to obtain lifespan, the fifty-year lifespan limit brought by the Blind Eye Art's raw consumption of eyeballs would no longer be a restriction.

It could be said that he was leaping over the dragon gate.

Ren Qing was thinking of going to An'nan Town after the New Year, so he focused on relaxing.

He had a premonition in his heart.

As a cultivator seeking longevity, the relatives and friends around him would inevitably experience birth, old age, and death, and the lively Spring Festival would definitely become less and less.

By the Little New Year the next day, the city of Sanxiang had an even greater festive atmosphere.

Pre-dried bamboo sections were placed in the fire to burn, making crackling sounds.

Food was being prepared all over the city.

The aroma of rice, bamboo, and wine…

Ren Qing bought a few jars of Zhu'er Qing, planning to drink it on the Little New Year.

This kind of wine was sealed in jars from the moment the bamboo shoots broke ground, and could be drunk when they grew into bamboo forests. It had a mellow taste and a unique aroma of rice.

When he returned to the courtyard of the Firecraft Hall, he found a large table had been added, filled with all kinds of dishes, plus Zhu'er Qing, it was all set.

Bo Feng and others were sitting around the big table, and also brought their families, showing how much they valued the Little New Year, and the main seat was naturally reserved for Ren Qing.

Ren Qing looked around and couldn't help asking, "Where's Xiao Wu?"

Bo Feng frowned and quickly ran to check the surrounding厢房 (xiāngfáng, wing-rooms), but indeed could not find Xiao Wu's figure.

Li Mian thought for a moment and said, "He should be back soon. He said he was going to pick up his younger brother, Xiao San'er, from the martial arts gym."

Seeing this, Ren Qing stood up, "I'll go out for a while, I'll be back soon."

"Hey, wait…"

Bo Feng just wanted to remind him that the east of the city was crowded and complicated, but Ren Qing disappeared in the blink of an eye after walking out of the courtyard.

Ren Qing lightly tapped the ground with his feet, quickly traveling across the rooftops.

As he adapted to the terrain at high altitude, his speed became faster and faster, and it only took a moment to go from the west of the city to the east.

Compared to the prosperous west of the city, the poor east of the city was indeed much quieter.

Ren Qing used his double pupils to scan the streets.

Soon he noticed several Jianghu (江湖, martial arts world) fake Taoists with their eyes covered. These people mainly told fortunes and read faces, often stopping passersby.

Nearby were also members of gangs dressed in blue, whose physical characteristic was that they were blind in one eye.

Ren Qing quickly found Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu was standing in front of a martial arts gym, wanting to go in, but was stopped by a dozen strong men dressed as gangsters, but because they were afraid of Xiao Wu's status as a yamen runner, they didn't dare to attack.

This martial arts gym obviously had a gang background.

Seeing this, Ren Qing directly passed through the strong men and came to Xiao Wu.

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Wu said with a wry smile, "Brother Qing, I want to take my younger brother back, but the martial arts gym won't let me, and they've also brought in a lot of Jianghu people."

How could he know the background of the martial arts gym? He just wanted his young brother to strengthen his body.

Ren Qing ignored the gang members and prepared to break into the martial arts gym with Xiao Wu, but he didn't expect to be stopped by someone reaching out.

A burly man walked forward. His right eye was covered with a black cloth, obviously blind, "I'm sorry, Yamen Runner, just wait a moment…"

Ren Qing's eyes sized up the martial arts instructor and the gang members. Although there were no traces of cultivation techniques, their eyes were all damaged.

I'm afraid it involved the Blind Eye Art, a trouble left over from Song Rong.

From this, it could be seen that the Forbidden Guard Hall had been busy dealing with Zhang Mu's affairs recently, and there were indeed more demons and monsters in the city of Sanxiang.

Ren Qing patted Xiao Wu's shoulder and said, "You go back first."

Xiao Wu left the vicinity of the martial arts gym because of his trust in Ren Qing.

The strong man did not stop him. If it weren't for the orders from above, how would he dare to offend a yamen runner.

"What's your gang called?"

The strong man seemed to be bewitched by Ren Qing's words, and immediately replied, "River Mud Gang, the gang leader is Fat Dragon."

After hearing this, Ren Qing nodded.

Don't look at the fact that the River Mud Gang and the Rotten Mud Gang have similar names, but in fact the latter is a gang recognized by the Forbidden Guard Hall, and their natures are completely different.

The River Mud Gang should have originally been an organization formed by boatmen.

Ren Qing recalled the cultivator he killed during the first battle. The other party mastered the Blind Eye Art, and was probably also from this River Mud Gang.

"Let's go, lead the way."

The strong man walked towards the inside of the martial arts gym on his own, without even raising an objection.

They quickly reached their destination.

It should have been a martial arts training ground, and many people could be seen entering and leaving along the way, but without exception, they all lacked eyeballs.

They should have been eaten as resources by the practitioners of the Blind Eye Art.

Ren Qing curiously asked, "Your River Mud Gang's Fat Dragon, should he like to devour human eyes very much?"

As soon as these words came out, the strong man suddenly came to his senses. His eyes looking at Ren Qing became extremely shocked, as if he was a ferocious beast.

"You…"

The shadow of the ghost flickered slightly under the light, and then the strong man felt a sharp pain in his body.

Most of his bones shattered in an instant, and he coughed a few times, all blood.

The movement attracted the attention of the gang members, but the first thing they did was to stay away and look at a person not far away.

A man in his early thirties walked quickly. His eyes were still intact, but his forehead was wrapped in a torn cloth.

"Who are you? Don't you know that this place is the territory of the River Mud Gang?"

The man tore off the torn cloth. The extra eye made the surrounding gang members tremble, and they didn't dare to look directly at it.

Compared to the other party, Ren Qing's appearance looked more ordinary, and he didn't carry any weapons, so his aura was inevitably three points weaker.

"Your courage is really big."

Ren Qing's expression was calm, and he didn't even glance at the man.

He just waved his hand, and the ghost shadow spread from the ground, making the man seem to fall into a deep pit. After his body sank, he disappeared without a trace.

The gang members looked extremely panicked when they saw this, but before they could react, they felt an illusion appear in front of them.

They all fell to the ground neatly and fainted.

Ren Qing walked into the central building as if no one was there. There were only a few people inside.

A fat middle-aged man was sitting in the house, who was the leader of the River Mud Gang, Fat Dragon.

There was a porcelain bowl on the wooden table in front of him, with blood remaining in it, indicating that he had been devouring human eyes to practice the Blind Eye Art not long ago.

But what made Ren Qing strange was that Fat Dragon's body was not severely alienated, with only seven or eight eyes on his cheeks.

But according to the number of eyeballs he had swallowed, he could at least cultivate into a Hundred-Eyed person.

Similar gangs that eat people are strictly prohibited in Sanxiang City.

Seeing that Ren Qing knocked down all his subordinates without making a sound, Fat Dragon couldn't help but feel fear in his heart, and his body trembled.

"Sir, I don't know what the River Mud Gang is responsible for."

"You should have recruited martial arts apprentices before, where are they all locked up?"

Fat Dragon slapped himself hard. He knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, "It's in the backyard. Sometimes I can't help but want to eat human eyes. I really shouldn't…"

The ghost shadow left the main body and touched the backyard.

After a while, the ghost shadow brought seven or eight boys, all with damaged left eyes.

Ren Qing's expression was slightly angry.

Fat Dragon raised his eyes in fear, feeling a familiar aura from Ren Qing.

He thought about it and couldn't help but ask, "Sir, are you also practicing the Blind Eye Art? If so…"

Before he could finish speaking, the Dragon Snake Spine in Ren Qing's palm drilled out and directly nailed him to the wall, no matter how hard he struggled, it was useless.

When he pulled back the Dragon Snake Spine, his brain had already become paste.

Ren Qing checked Fat Dragon and found a black and gray thin line on his abdomen, from the throat to the stomach.

It reminded him of Zhang Mu's note, and the lines on it were somewhat similar.

Could there be any connection between the two?

Ren Qing contacted the Forbidden Guard Hall with Ming Yu, and soon a Forbidden Guard came.

The yamen sealed off the vicinity, and the gang members were arrested and taken away, and usually they would be confiscated for labor service.

The Forbidden Guard who came was Xu Shilin, who had worked with Ren Qing in the Disaster Elimination Restricted Area before, and his spells were related to smoke.

Xu Shilin's eyes were a little complicated. He cupped his fists and said, "Ren Qing, long time no see. I heard that you were in the Stomach Within a Stomach a few days ago?"

"There was no serious alienation in the first place, so I came out not long after."

Ren Qing directly admitted it. There was no need to hide his clumsiness in the Forbidden Guard Hall, and it would be more convenient to act.

Xu Shilin was a little shocked by the speed of Ren Qing's strength promotion. It only took at most half a year from the Half-Corpse Realm to the Ghost Envoy Realm.

Could this be the seed of the Yin Messenger Realm?

"I have something to do, I'm leaving first."

After Ren Qing handed Fat Dragon over to Xu Shilin, he returned to the Firecraft Hall. After going back and forth, the dishes on the table were still warm.

However, after Bo Feng and others learned about the situation, they had no appetite.

They could only be thankful that Xiao San'er's life was safe.

Ren Qing returned to Bazicun the next day, mainly to bring New Year's goods to Chen Shi, and Chen Shi did not force him to stay for a few days.

Even if you enter cultivation, it doesn't mean you have to be detached from emotions. Even the Wuwei Taoist Temple doesn't force this.

The New Year had just passed.

Ren Qing received a notice from Huang Ziwan, so he prepared to go to An'nan Town.

The journey was not too far, but the husky finally had a use.