The Secret Way of Immortality

After walking a few miles from the village, one could see the official road paved with gravel.

A dozen figures were traveling on the official road, mostly merchants, and a few scholars seeking knowledge, making it seem ordinary overall.

It's hard to imagine that Jizhou was still shrouded in the shadow of true immortals a hundred years ago.

The current Jizhou appears perfectly normal on the surface, but the reason for its development to this point must be attributed to the influence of the Immortal Position.

Ren Qing could cross a hundred meters with each step. Due to the Heavenly Demon Tribulation concealing his presence, the surrounding passersby could hardly notice him.

He carefully observed the people while using Toe Separation to extract their memories.

The memories were chaotic, but there were no flaws, as if they were genuine traces of people living their lives, experiencing joys and sorrows.

An old beggar walked past Ren Qing, his flesh and blood withered, his skin covered in sores, and his steps staggering.

"I can't die here… cough, cough, cough…"

Although the old beggar's lifespan was the same as that of the people of Jizhou, with a hundred days left, his body was plagued with illnesses, and he was clearly nearing his end.

His last thought before death was to return to his old home in the north, order a coffin for himself, and finally be buried under the banyan tree in the courtyard.

"Cough, cough, cough…"

The old beggar spat out dark red blood, barely regaining some energy, but it was obviously a brief resurgence.

"Are you alright, old man?"

A kind-hearted scholar helped the old beggar up. The latter kept his head down, but his breathing gradually stabilized. When he looked up again, his cloudy eyes had a glimmer of light.

"Thank you… thank you…"

The old beggar continued walking, his steps as swift as if he weren't weak at all, but he kept muttering about the banyan tree in his hometown.

The scholar scratched his head, feeling doubtful but choosing not to delve deeper.

Little did he know that before the old beggar was about to die, his soul had been seized by Ren Qing's fungal soul. Although the memory remained unchanged, Ren Qing's thoughts were implanted into his subconscious.

Ren Qing glanced at the old beggar, who was just a casual move to him.

On the way along the official road, he had repeatedly used the Heavenly Demon Tribulation, seizing thirteen people in total to collect clues about the Immortal Position.

The dream flower previously attached to the human worm had returned to Ren Qing's Niwan Palace with its memories after the human worm was absorbed and died by the mother egg.

The clues obtained were negligible.

Ren Qing's targets for seizure were either those on the verge of death or bandits from the Green Forest.

It was more like the fungal soul was supporting the original owner's soul, allowing them to live until their lifespan was exhausted without any problems.

The reason Ren Qing chose his seizure targets was mainly to ensure that they acted according to their original trajectory. Solitary individuals were more suitable.

The situation in Jizhou was too strange, involving several true immortals. Even if Ren Qing had many life-saving methods, it didn't mean he could act recklessly.

The millions of people who appeared out of nowhere, with their own consciousness and memories that didn't seem fake, were not something ordinary people could accomplish.

Unless a Buddha of the Bodhisattva level took action, directly creating living beings with souls.

But Ren Qing's assumption was almost impossible. The intelligence of a Bodhisattva-level was very rigid, making it unrealistic for the Buddhist sect to cooperate with true immortals.

He narrowed his eyes, becoming increasingly curious about the identity of the mastermind.

Ren Qing, as a variable in Jizhou, didn't necessarily have conflicting goals with the mastermind. He simply wanted to arrange a backup plan for the Immortal Position.

After all, under normal circumstances, it was impossible for him to approach the half-turbid immortalized Earth Immortal of Fortune, let alone the Lunar Star Sovereign standing in the clouds.

The sudden change in Jizhou was undoubtedly an opportunity.

If he encountered danger, Ren Qing could also retreat at any time.

The Heavenly Demon Tribulation's Heavenly Demon Seizure; the Toe Separation's Dream Realm Travel; the Corpse Fengdu's Death Without Life, were all rare life-saving methods.

"Hey, hey, hey, move aside! The Xiangwu Escort Agency is on the move, bystanders make way!!!"

The sudden shout interrupted Ren Qing's thoughts.

A team of escorts was rushing towards the direction of Xiangxiang Town, and the surrounding passersby quickly dodged, as the carriage galloped past without stopping.

Amidst the merchants' grumbling, Ren Qing's figure disappeared.

He appeared in the cargo compartment, his eyes locked on the chief escort, whose right arm had an unspeakable mutation.

The chief escort looked to be in his middle age, but his hair and beard were completely white, the flesh of his right arm was sunken, and the bones seemed to be wriggling slightly.

Ren Qing summoned the information stream. The chief escort's name was Zhang Qi, and his arm was due to a Gu worm infestation.

【Iron Centipede Gu】

【The arm parasitized by the Iron Centipede Gu is as hard as iron and increases the host's lifespan consumption. It needs to be nourished by applying poisonous insect juice to the arm.

【It can be nourished by orally ingesting highly poisonous substances to advance the Iron Centipede Gu into the Armored Iron Arm Gu.】

Ren Qing discovered that the chief escort's Iron Centipede Gu was refined with extremely crude techniques, somewhat like the human worm of the insect nest, so the drawbacks were enormous.

He could imagine the steps of refining the Gu, probably directly cutting open the wound on the arm and forcibly implanting the Gu worm until a parasitic relationship was formed.

Let alone the Forbidden Soldier Method, even the Body Cultivation of the Eternal Life Forbidden Zone was hundreds of times more profound.

According to the information Ren Qing collected, similar cultivators were called Insect Warriors, which should have emerged not long ago, the specific reason unknown.

He drilled a dream flower into Zhang Qi's Niwan Palace, wanting to obtain his memories.

As a result, he found that Zhang Qi's soul was unusual, actually equivalent to a Ghost Envoy realm cultivator, and even not far from the Yin Messenger realm.

Why would an ordinary escort have such a powerful soul?

The methods of Insect Warriors using Gu worms, except for the part of the physique added by the Gu worms, were completely disadvantageous, leading to a weakened soul at best.

The Gu worms would absorb the nutrients in the body every moment until the host died, and there was no possibility of nourishing the soul at all.

Just as Ren Qing was about to use Toe Separation, he found that Zhang Qi's soul was vaguely related to something, and he immediately realized that it might come from the Immortal Position.

The cracks on the surface of the tortoise shell also increased by one, and he canceled Toe Separation before it disappeared.

Strange…

Jizhou is too strange…

Ren Qing didn't alert the enemy. He had enough patience to delve into the secrets of Jizhou.

The escorts discussed the gains of this trip, but Zhang Qi remained silent, his tightly knit brows revealing deep worry.

Even if others asked Zhang Qi, he wouldn't answer, just looked at the sky and shook his head.

Under the escorts' rapid pace, the team arrived in the territory of Xiangxiang in half a day. The official road was even more lively, but Insect Warriors were rarely seen.

Ren Qing felt increasingly familiar, the distribution of the towns was exactly the same as before the destruction of Xiangxiang. The north was Crane Mountain Town, the south was An'nan Town, and the center was the most prosperous Sanxiang City.

He had a feeling of time confusion, as if he was in the hundred years ago.

Before long, the several-meter-high city walls of Sanxiang City came into view. The attire of the soldiers in front of the gate was similar to what Ren Qing remembered.

The team went unimpeded all the way and drove directly into Sanxiang City.

Ren Qing jumped out of the carriage, stood on the bustling street and looked around. The familiar local accent came, but his expression became more solemn.

The layout of Sanxiang City was basically the same as the real Sanxiang City.

The locations of the market and the yamen were almost identical, and so were the streets, only the shops and residences were significantly different.

Perhaps the mastermind had been to Sanxiang City, but some details showed that the town didn't seem to be deliberately imitated.

Ren Qing couldn't help but close his eyes, his consciousness looking at the world in his stomach.

Since the Forbidden Soldier Hall withdrew from the Eternal Life Forbidden Zone, the towns of Xiangxiang had been moved into the world in his stomach, almost preserving their original appearance.

Ren Qing scanned Sanxiang City, observing the traces of hundreds of years ago, then his consciousness returned to his body, and he slowly walked towards the city gate.

He squatted down, stroking the dents with a strange expression.

The traces of time left by the two towns were consistent, as if the town where Ren Qing was located came from a long-forgotten history.

At that time, Chen Changsheng had not yet crawled out of the dry well.

The several locations in Jizhou should all originate from the former towns. The time span may exceed a thousand years, and it is unknown what happened.

The mastermind seemed to use some means to reproduce the ancient times of thousands of years ago.

When the lifespan of the people is exhausted, a strange and inexplicable phenomenon may occur, involving the source of chaos in this world.

Ren Qing increasingly didn't understand the mastermind's plan. Even if it was to plot to become an immortal, the result was only a temporary resurrection of the ancients?

While he was thinking, he shuttled through the streets, finding that there were many martial arts halls and escort agencies in the city, as well as a number of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples.

What made Ren Qing feel strange was that the various forces in the city seemed very low-key and didn't contact the outside world at all, as if they were afraid of something.

Martial arts halls and escort agencies were fine, they were open for three years, but why were Taoist temples and Buddhist temples closed.

Ren Qing walked around Sanxiang City and noticed that Zhang Qi's situation was not an isolated case.

All forces had existences whose souls were far higher than their own. There were not a few Yin Messengers, and even the two people in the yamen were already in the Yang God realm.

Contrary to the soul, their use of Gu worms was extremely crude.

Ren Qing's Niwan Palace's diseased tree communicated with the fungal souls located in various parts of Jizhou, and found that the other towns were the same.

Not only were there a group of Insect Warriors with souls above the Ghost Envoy realm, but the forces they belonged to were also extremely cautious, making the situation in Jizhou shrouded in thick fog.

It could be seen that the Gu worm system was very abrupt. Gu worms similar to the Chuu worm Gu were extremely common. The number of Insect Warriors could not be so small.

On the contrary, it could better explain that the memories of the millions of people in Jizhou came from ancient times, after all, at that time, magic was the mainstream.

Ren Qing raised his eyebrows.

He finally realized in what aspect he was hindering the mastermind.

If the third Immortal Position associated with the Jizhou Forbidden Zone at this time was the Wind God Boqiang, I am afraid that what is popular is definitely not the imperfect Insect Warrior, but the Body Cultivation with bacteria as the medium.

After all, the Wind God Boqiang Immortal Position also has the core elements of plague and disease.

In this way, the Eternal Life Forbidden Zone should be a game set up by the mastermind, concentrating a large number of people in the Forbidden Zone, thereby developing Body Cultivation.

Another ancestor of the Forbidden Soldier Hall?

As a result, seeing that the melon was ripe, Ren Qing directly took the Immortal Position of the Wind God Boqiang.

How could the mastermind have time to spend hundreds of years again, naturally developing magic based on Gu worms...

Wait, wouldn't guiding the insect nest to Jizhou just be to steal its magic, but the insect nest realized that something was wrong and stopped the loss in time.

Most of the insect nest people in Jizhou are human worms, and Ren Qing has also seen the means of controlling insect bodies, and the crudeness is simply inherited from the same line.

He noticed that the number of human worms outside has increased sharply, and it is estimated that they are all Insect Warriors.

The Heavenly Dao Insect Man is probably hidden somewhere, waiting secretly.