The Secret Way of Immortality

By the time Ren Qing reached the border fortress, it was already noon.

He could clearly feel the heatwave assaulting him, far hotter than the summer temperatures in Xiangxiang, making it unbearable for ordinary people.

Ren Qing quickly adapted, but the husky's condition was clearly off.

The husky was constantly panting, its thick fur hindering heat dissipation, and it soon began to struggle for breath.

Seeing this, Ren Qing took the husky back into the prison within his abdomen and collected some Ze Sha along the way.

However, he couldn't help but feel regret; the wind blowing towards him carried very little Ze Sha, and the remnant souls within had long been obliterated.

It seemed that collecting Ze Sha in Xiangxiang wouldn't be very efficient.

Ren Qing considered that the Sandman aberration didn't discriminate in its diet, so he simply opened the aberrant mouth on his palm, and all the yellow sand within fifty meters rushed into his stomach.

He quickly hurried along the mountain road and saw the newly built fortress in the distance.

The towering city walls, nearly twenty meters high, were extremely majestic, lined up like the Great Wall, stretching until they merged into the stone walls on both sides.

There were quite a few jailers within the border fortress, but since it had been uneventful recently, some had chosen to go to the Abyssal Hell.

As Ren Qing got closer to the swamp, remnant souls gradually began to appear within the Ze Sha.

However, even he could only confirm the situation of the remnant souls by the extent of his body's growth after the Sandman devoured them.

The remnant souls seemed to be naturally fused with the sand, showing no flaws whatsoever.

Ren Qing arrived at the city walls of the border fortress and didn't even need the jailers to open the gate; he lightly tapped his feet and scaled the walls with ease.

"Who's there?!"

The jailer guarding the city was startled and was about to use magic to alert his surrounding companions, but Ren Qing had already pulled out the jailer token from his waist.

The elderly jailer frowned and said, "You should have gone through the city gate; otherwise, it's difficult for us to confirm your identity."

Lu Xiaoyu was also patrolling not far away, initially thinking which jailer was so bold, but she didn't expect it to be Ren Qing, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.

"Wait, I recognize this person."

She quickly rushed over, simultaneously loudly stopping the others from starting a conflict with Ren Qing.

The elderly jailer sighed and was about to say something, but he saw a figure arrive on the city wall; it was Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng greeted enthusiastically, "Cough cough, two years have passed, and your cultivation is indeed becoming increasingly unfathomable."

"I've just been in seclusion."

Ren Qing subconsciously sized up Jiang Feng, and the expression on his face couldn't help but become solemn.

Jiang Feng's skin was slightly tanned by the sun, but his lips were faintly pale, and his eyes had a subtle cloudiness.

Those few coughs just now were also very strange.

Ren Qing's gaze swept over the other jailers, and he also greeted Lu Xiaoyu.

They didn't have this problem, indicating that Jiang Feng had been frequently outside during this period, leading to a lot of wind and sand entering his body.

Ren Qing's divided soul left his body.

Even if he couldn't display the strength of an Underworld Official realm, it wasn't something a Ghost Envoy realm could see through.

But even with the main and secondary souls, he only noticed that Jiang Feng's lungs were slightly weak.

There wasn't a trace of Ze Sha, let alone remnant souls.

Ren Qing secretly smiled wryly; even the Dark Nightmare Lord couldn't be sure whether sand had entered the body, so it was no wonder Song Zongwu hadn't discovered it.

Jiang Feng wasn't aware that his body was being constantly scanned by the double pupils; he waved his hand, signaling the jailers guarding the city to leave first.

He softly asked, "Ren Qing, what exactly happened in Crane Mountain Town that caused Lord Li to be in such a hurry?"

Ren Qing smiled and said, "Brother Jiang, let's find a place to talk in detail."

"That's right."

Jiang Feng led Ren Qing towards the camp, and they soon disappeared.

The jailers guarding the city began to discuss; their gazes turned to Lu Xiaoyu, and they couldn't help but curiously ask, "What's his background?"

Lu Xiaoyu glanced at them, said Ren Qing's name, and turned to leave.

"Ren Qing?!"

"Such inconspicuous signs of aberration, and relatively young, it is indeed Ren Qing."

The elderly jailer thought of Ren Qing's illustrious reputation, said to have overwhelmed many Ghost Envoy realms during the Earth Treasury King's soul summoning; he didn't expect to have the honor of seeing him.

The female jailer said with a flirtatious smile, "It's said that Ren Qing has mastered many spells, but you can't tell at all from his appearance; it's really..."

The elderly jailer said quietly, "The surface may be human, but the essence may not be."

Everyone felt a chill down their spines.

They stopped talking and dispersed to patrol in various places.

The news of Ren Qing's arrival at the border fortress soon spread, and it became increasingly bizarre as it was passed down by word of mouth, his image directly demonized.

Lu Xiaoyu even began to doubt whether it was the same person.

Ren Qing wasn't aware of this; he and Jiang Feng were in a house built of rock, discussing the events that had occurred in Crane Mountain Town.

Taking advantage of the moment when Jiang Feng was thinking, he slightly borrowed the power of the Dark Nightmare Lord, pulling him into a dream that was both real and fake.

"Sorry for the intrusion."

Three dream seeds grew on Ren Qing's forehead, and he carefully examined Jiang Feng's flesh and bones, trying to find the Ze Sha hidden within.

But Jiang Feng's situation seemed more complicated than he had imagined; at most, there was some pulmonary edema, and he couldn't find any signs of aberration.

Ren Qing even suspected whether the other party hadn't absorbed Ze Sha at all.

He snapped his fingers, waking Jiang Feng up; the latter only felt distracted for a few breaths and didn't realize he had already slept.

After hesitating for a moment, Ren Qing directly told Jiang Feng his guess about Ze Sha.

To control the situation at the border fortress, it was almost impossible to bypass Jiang Feng; after all, he was generally responsible for communicating with all the jailers.

After hearing this, Jiang Feng felt a bone-chilling coldness rise in his spine.

He subconsciously looked towards the swamp; those sand grains were like souls trying to escape from the boundless hell, filled with despair.

However, Jiang Feng quickly calmed down; knowing in advance meant there was still room to maneuver.

The Jailer Hall had many methods and could definitely cope with the erosion from Ze Sha; the most important thing now was to take protective measures.

Jiang Feng said, "I'll immediately have the jailers wrap their mouths and noses with cloth; that should prevent most of the sand."

"That's all we can do; also, try to keep them away from the border."

Jiang Feng nodded and said, "Then I'll have the jailers who are prone to contact with wind and sand come over, and you, Brother Ren, can check for signs of aberration."

Ren Qing replied with a strange expression, "There's no need anymore..."

Hearing Ren Qing say this, Jiang Feng couldn't help but smile wryly, "I understand; is the matter about Ze Sha to be kept secret?"

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"Senior Li Tiangang's intention is to maintain the status quo first and investigate thoroughly."

"There's no time to delay; I'll go take care of it immediately."

Seeing Jiang Feng turn to leave, Ren Qing suddenly had an idea and said, "This matter has already been reported to the Jailer Hall; ordinary cloth definitely can't completely isolate the dust from the swamp."

"Also, here's this for you; try taking it a few times and see how it works."

Ren Qing threw the bottle containing the aberrant dust to Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng was a little surprised after taking it; this item could suppress aberration and loss of control and was extremely expensive in the Jailer Hall.

Currently, several jailers with Stomach Within Stomach had already escaped because of this, but they were still staying in the Abyssal Hell to observe the subsequent situation.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing; pass it down as soon as possible."

After Ren Qing waited for the other party to leave, his consciousness looked at the three tombstone furnaces in the prison within his abdomen; the remaining tombstone furnaces were still in the Wuwei Taoist Temple, being slowly stripped away by the ghost shadow's water grinding technique.

He considered that since he wanted to resist wind and sand, it would be better to directly refine magical artifacts; blood crystals were secondary, and he could also earn some lifespan from it.

Ren Qing's mind was constantly conceiving, and soon a prototype of the magical artifact was already in place.

The materials didn't need to be too expensive because it was enough for the magical artifact to block the wind and sand.

Ren Qing then came to the Great Dream Pavilion in the Ghost Market, selecting from the countless materials, while constantly recounting the situation at the border fortress.

Although Great Dream True Person definitely already knew, it didn't completely prevent him from asking for credit.

In the end, Ren Qing chose a translucent human skin material, which was extremely tough; sealing the facial features with spider silk could resist Ze Sha.

Great Dream True Person didn't collect blood crystals, obviously paying attention to it.

Ren Qing quickly returned to the Great Dream Forging to pretend to refine it.

The ghost shadow controlled the two tombstone furnaces, injecting Nether energy while precisely making the human skin activate and fuse with the materials.

The refining technique was becoming increasingly superb.

One by one, human skin magical artifacts with residual warmth were refined, constantly dripping with blood, like they had just been peeled off.

Ren Qing was about to hand over the prepared human skin magical artifacts to Great Dream True Person when the sound of countless Stygian crows chirping rang out.

They broke through the walls and rushed into the Great Dream Forging, grabbed the human skin magical artifacts, and disappeared.

The jailers in the Ghost Market looked at each other, a little unsure of what was going on.

Ren Qing then returned to the outside border fortress; the Stygian crows were already hovering in the sky, showing how skilled Sun was in using spells.

The Stygian crows slowly landed, handed the magical artifacts to the jailers, and turned into meat paste.

Even Ren Qing obtained a human skin magical artifact and a note with writing on it, meaning that he must wear the magical artifact at all times.

He summoned the information flow to check; his lifespan had increased by a full seven or eight years.

Ren Qing placed the human skin magical artifact against his face; the appearance showed no trace, but touching the skin was indeed slightly uncomfortable.

The jailers put on the magical artifacts one after another, but there was still one Stygian crow left in the air.

The Stygian crow tracked the jailers' aura to go, it was impossible to stay unless the other party's current state was unable to receive the magical artifact.

Jiang Feng's face turned ashen upon seeing this.

There were as many as dozens of jailers at the border fortress, and he couldn't check them all clearly in a short time, but he had indeed notified them all through magic.

How could there be one missing?!!

The jailers began to count each other, which instead made the scene a little chaotic.

Ren Qing flashed to the high point of the city wall and looked towards the swamp; he saw five watchtowers extending to the end.

With the blessing of the three dream seeds, the things in his eyes gradually magnified, and he could even vaguely see the Xiangxiang border.

A jailer climbed down from the watchtower closest to the swamp and was rushing towards the desert, stopping only half a step away.

The jailer stood in front of the yellow sand, seemingly waiting for something.

After a while, a naked woman walked out of the swamp; the two slowly stepped into the desert and then disappeared into the boundless yellow sand.

Ren Qing couldn't help but look at the broken corpse in the prison within his abdomen, carefully sizing up the head that didn't have much flesh left.

He could vaguely distinguish that the woman in the swamp was Xiao Ying.

Xiao Ying, resurrected from the dead.

Thanks to Alliance Master Ou Jinjin daisiki, awesome.

Also thanks to Heath Ice Tea for his continued support, awesome.

Thanks to Hua Bing You Qisi, Chichi Na, especially far and especially close, Zhao Kuo, Su Fang, book friend 151110073253486, Infinite Little Empty, Yu Yu Yu for the reward.