The Secret Way of Immortality

In just half a day, many bamboo tubes appeared in the courtyard, filled with various insects, but all were common, non-toxic species.

Ren Qing didn't care, as he wasn't trying to refine highly poisonous Gu worms, but rather wanted to test the rules of the inner world.

When it came to refining Gu, Li Yaoyang of the Forbidden Corpses Hall was definitely the most knowledgeable.

Li Yaoyang had once improved upon a Gu worm targeting insect nests based on the Heavenly Dao Worm, using a disease strain for its refinement.

Ren Qing didn't have a better method at the moment, so he simply tried the disease strain Gu worm.

He first found an earthen altar and put all the insects inside. Because they lacked aggressiveness, the insects were at peace with each other.

Ren Qing then allowed the Mad Dog disease strain to infect the many insects, causing them to become listless.

According to Li Yaoyang, disease strains had extraordinary characteristics, allowing certain pathological changes to be passed down through generations.

Many diseases are hereditary, yet can be cured after birth.

Even dragon blood couldn't compare, after all, dragon transformation was irreversible and thoroughly eroded the body and soul.

Ren Qing had originally wanted to find an opportunity to mix genetic diseases into the Heavenly Dao Worm's genes, but later simply handed it over to Gu Zhenren for processing.

Gu Zhenren's second life clearly wasn't successful. Whether there would be a third life depended on his own luck.

If his soul after death was safe and sound in the inner world, without any suicidal thoughts, then it was estimated that he couldn't be counted on in the short term.

Ren Qing unscrupulously influenced the insects' bodies, causing abnormalities to appear in their brains.

The insects clearly became more ferocious, and then began to tear at each other, devouring the corpses of their own kind, even though they were originally herbivores.

Even if Ren Qing removed the Mad Dog disease strain, it still couldn't change the fighting within the earthen jar.

He didn't wait for the insects to die off completely, but directly smashed the earthen jar, releasing the insects with rabies-like characteristics into the narrow courtyard.

The insects fled in panic, quickly disappearing into the dense grass.

Ren Qing didn't continue to stay in the inner world, but chose to return to the surface world, thinking about how to launch a counterattack.

And to prepare for the advancement of the Toe Separation Art.

However, he was already breaking through the Heavenly Gu Realm for the third time, so there were no risks, more like a routine matter.

He also placed the entrance to the Stomach World in Xiangxiang, so Li Yaoyang and other Forbidden Corpses Hall cultivators could return to the Heavenly Palace at any time to cultivate their techniques.

Ren Qing immersed himself in seclusion, and the passage of time was silent.

Jing Prefecture was in a state of no-man's-land, and the various forces had no intention of causing trouble, each planning how to obtain opportunities.

They didn't know that everything was a futile effort, benefiting the person behind the scenes.

After waiting for half a year, Ren Qing once again descended his consciousness into the inner world, and the Mycelium Soul immediately sensed densely packed, diseased insects.

The insects' reproduction rate was imaginable. Even if they only spread out a few miles, their numbers had already grown to hundreds of thousands.

With generations of reproduction, the characteristics of the diseased insects became obvious.

Their habits had undergone earth-shattering changes. Now, their habitats were mainly concentrated in cemeteries and mass graves.

At this time, the disease had penetrated deep into the insects' bones, making it almost impossible to remove from their flesh and blood.

Even if the Heavenly Dao Worm suffered from genetic diseases, using various methods to remove them, there would inevitably be some residue deep in the flesh, blood, and bones.

Ren Qing's Toe Separation Dream Immortal controlled the diseases of the world. As long as the Heavenly Dao Worm had diseases in its body, it could be easily manipulated after becoming an immortal.

With a slight thought, the diseased insects swarmed towards the village.

Ren Qing looked around the village. The half-year that was short for Heavenly Gu Realm cultivators must have been full of changes for mortals.

Ma Shan had already gone to town, and the other children were busy with household chores.

Ren Qing looked at Black Water Taoist's courtyard. The latter should have returned a few times, mainly to offer incense to his wife and children, and to tidy up the eaves.

Looking hurried, Black Water Taoist must have had a lot of things to do.

He set the insects' target on the open space behind the village.

As the moon had just risen to mid-air, tens of thousands of insects had quietly stopped there, without making any sound, like a black fog.

Ren Qing used his Mycelium Soul to incubate a Mad Dog disease strain, and then threw it into the swarm of insects.

Immediately afterwards, the swarm of insects became frantic, and a fishy smell mixed with green plants spread out, causing birds to chirp.

A moment later, from the corpses of countless insects, a strange Gu worm was born.

The Gu worm should have originally been a grasshopper, but now, after absorbing the Mad Dog disease strain, its body had undergone alternative changes.

Not only did its size increase dozens of times, as big as a fist, but its head was more like a canine, gradually breaking away from the category of insects.

It let out a deafening cry, and the birds immediately flew away in droves.

Ren Qing summoned the information stream to check.

【Corpse Hound Gu】

【After refining, it can digest corpses and carrion, but it will be eroded by zombification and requires two and a half pounds of carrion to feed it daily.】

【The Corpse Hound Gu can be nourished with fresh corpses to advance to the Corpse Devouring Gu.】

It seemed that no matter how deep he went into Jing Prefecture, the Gu worm system still existed, so he didn't have to worry about accidents when going to the inner world.

Ren Qing looked at the Corpse Hound Gu for a moment, and then let the Gu worm drill into it, forcibly erasing the Gu worm's consciousness with ease.

After taking over the Corpse Hound Gu, he finally had a usable body.

Although the Mycelium Soul had reached the Yang Soul Realm, because it had no body to protect it, it was like water without a source, and might weaken over time.

Supplying the Corpse Hound Gu could rely on the Dream City associated with the Mycelium Soul. Now that he had taken over the Gu worm, it was perfect.

Of course, the soul could also enter the Dream City, but without a body as a medium, the Mycelium Soul could not smoothly return to the real world.

Ren Qing casually exchanged some corpse meat flowers cultivated from corpse veins. The appearance of the corpse meat flowers was like skinned palms, and they also emitted a faint Yin energy, but in reality they were plants that grew beside the Yellow Springs.

After eating a few petals, the Corpse Hound Gu immediately felt full, and its size showed a subtle increase.

Ren Qing was slightly surprised, and couldn't help but carefully observe the Corpse Hound Gu.

He found that even if the Corpse Hound Gu digested all its food, its volume was still constantly increasing, but the speed was very slow.

Ren Qing knew that in Jing Prefecture, which was affected by the Immortal Position, any abnormality might be a hidden rule.

He controlled the Corpse Hound Gu to return to Black Water Taoist's courtyard, and let the Gu worm drill into the ground, planning to dig out a suitable cave.

During this time, Ren Qing had been observing, and found that even if he didn't provide food to the Corpse Hound Gu, even if it was starved for a few days, its volume was still increasing.

Finally, when the Corpse Hound Gu was about to starve to death, he re-fed it corpse meat flowers.

Ren Qing didn't know whether it was due to the characteristics of the Corpse Hound Gu, or the rules brought by the Immortal Position. If he wanted to explore further, he could only continue to observe other types of Gu worms.

However, the efficiency of refining Gu was too slow, and there might not be any progress for several months.

After Ren Qing waited for the cave to be dug, he simply took some strange objects from the Dream City, but only the remains of the strange objects.

In a few breaths, the strange objects began to transform in the direction of Gu worms.

Ren Qing quickly branded them with the Mycelium Soul, to prevent the Gu worms from rebelling, and then created a cave for raising Gu worms in the inner world.

After his observation, all Gu worms would more or less increase in size.

It seemed that as he got closer and closer to the core of Jing Prefecture, the Immortal Position rules were indeed changing, and he still needed a few fellow practitioners to help him explore the way.

Ren Qing expanded the breeding of Gu worms, adding from ten caves to fifty.

If it weren't for the fact that with the time flow rate of the Stomach World, the growth of strange objects was not slower than that of Jing Prefecture, he could even refine Gu on a large scale.

The Corpse Hound Gu successfully advanced to the Corpse Devouring Gu.

Its volume soared to more than two meters, and its appearance became more and more like a skinless dog, but its limbs showed varying degrees of degeneration, and it usually moved in the soil like a python.

The Corpse Devouring Gu in the surface world was a Gu worm that parasitized the abdomen of corpses, and two meters in size was definitely abnormal.

【Corpse Devouring Gu】

【After refining, it can accelerate the recovery of injuries by eating carrion, and its nails contain violent corpse poison, but it will be eroded by zombification and requires ten pounds of carrion to feed it daily.】

【The Corpse Devouring Gu can be nourished with fresh corpses to advance to the Corpse Controlling Ghost Beast Gu.】

During this period, many people in the inner world couldn't stand the blow and chose to commit suicide.

Ren Qing could feel that once the number of deaths reached a critical value, the Insect Warriors would descend into the surface world again.

He communicated with the disease strain hidden in Black Water Taoist's body, and found that the latter was still alive.

Black Water Taoist no longer fished, but found a job in Sanxiang City, mainly helping grocery stores transport supplies to various places.

Although life was poor, it was considered fulfilling.

Black Water Taoist lived in no fixed place, so he temporarily lived in the home of distant relatives.

As a result, not long after, the local ruffians who had robbed him came to his door again. Wu Shan was obviously not prepared to let Black Water Taoist go, and directly killed him, and his family of three lost their lives.

Only Black Water Taoist happened to be out transporting goods.

When Black Water Taoist returned after finishing everything, the house was surrounded by yamen runners, and he could see several corpses covered with white cloths.

He knelt weakly on the ground, his expression only despair.

After the yamen runners tidied up the corpses, Black Water Taoist belatedly realized and helped the relative's family with the funeral.

Wu Shan appeared seemingly kindly and brought Black Water Taoist a message.

"I had my disciples find those villains a few days ago, and they have been sent to the yamen..."

While speaking, Wu Shan had been observing Black Water Taoist's face, and saw that the latter thanked him repeatedly on the surface, but his eyes did not show any anger.

He understood that Black Water Taoist's last use value was gone.

Wu Shan shook his head, thinking that this person had a strong character and could bring the merit of several relics, but he didn't expect to misjudge him.

He was too lazy to pretend anymore, and turned to leave as soon as possible.

"Wu Shan..."

Wu Shan heard Black Water Taoist's muttering, but didn't care and soon walked away.

Black Water Taoist picked up a few blank memorial tablets, carving the names of his dead family members, from his wife and children to the distant relative's family of three.

The memorial tablets were placed next to the coffin, but he didn't stop there.

Black Water Taoist picked up an unformed wooden tablet and削了起来 with a small knife, his expression like a madman, his eyes full of bloodshot.

There were many people coming and going from the Yizhuang, but no one noticed his behavior.

The wooden tablet quickly turned into a human shape, barely able to make out the appearance of a dragon-headed human body, and on the throne at the bottom, the six characters were vaguely engraved.

"Heavenly Court·Four Seas Dragon King"