Ren Qing spent the next few days without any ripples. Every morning he went to Qingfeng Hall to train in martial arts, but he felt that he was always missing the right timing to reach body martial arts.
However, his own strength had not stagnated. Relying on the Nether Yuan within the jade pendant artifact, the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method successfully stepped into the late stage of Qi Refining.
He estimated that at most in half a month, he would be able to attempt to break through the bottleneck of the Foundation Establishment stage.
The reason the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method progressed so smoothly was mainly because under the effect of the insect veins, Ren Qing's physique had completely transformed into an insect body.
His appearance also changed as a result.
First, his skin became increasingly tough. Although it did not reach the hardness of externally attached insect armor, it possessed the toughness of Heavenly Dao insect skin.
Second, bone spurs grew out along his spine, used to protect the insect root within the spinal column.
Because it was difficult to control his strength, he needed to spend more effort restraining himself. As a result, the commotion produced by his martial training instead became lighter.
Ren Qing assumed a horse stance posture, his spread hands gripping two stone balls weighing seventy to eighty jin each, maintaining the posture for a long time.
The training ground of Qingfeng Hall was deathly silent, with only occasional whispers being heard.
Even Zhao Liangxin did not dare disturb Ren Qing. When he guided his junior brothers, he deliberately lowered his voice, let alone the others.
The pressure brought by Ren Qing was practically tangible.
Even when half-squatting in a horse stance, his height already surpassed that of Xu Tu and the other children. It was like a wild rabbit beside a black bear, the visual contrast was beyond description.
What shocked them the most was that aside from loosening up during the noon meal, Ren Qing maintained the lifting of stone balls at every other moment, and there was not the slightest trace of sweat stains on his clothes.
For ordinary people, holding a horse stance for half an hour would already cause obvious stabbing pain in the legs.
Even trained martial artists could at most last an hour. Who treated training like eating and drinking the way Ren Qing did? One could see just how terrifying his talent was.
Zhao Liangxin could see Ren Qing's slightly trembling hands and feet, showing that he was completely relying on willpower to endure. He truly did not know what to say.
What he did not know was that Ren Qing was also distractedly cultivating the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
Because of Ren Qing's influence, Qingfeng Hall disciples' attitude toward martial arts became noticeably more upright, and Xu Fu's visits to the training ground also decreased.
The sky gradually deepened, the golden sunset shining over Weian Town.
When the sunset fell upon Ren Qing's trembling eyelids, he suddenly opened his eyes, and an intangible aura abruptly spread out.
Xu Tu staggered and fell to the ground, but he felt no anger at all. Instead, the look he cast toward Ren Qing became reverent.
Sounds of bones colliding came from Ren Qing's entire body, as if, after accumulating for a whole day, it could no longer wait to release its hidden might.
He moved his wrist joints, then threw the two stone balls off to the side.
Sweat from the pores of Ren Qing's skin burst forth all at once, exaggeratedly turning into dense smoke and dust that filled the training ground.
Zhao Liangxin could not help but smile bitterly and mutter to himself, "Even if I watch a hundred more times, Senior Brother Shanlu will still make my heart tremble with fear."
The other junior brothers showed expressions of agreement.
Martial artists did not have fixed realms, but every Martial Instruction Hall had the saying of the three basic layers: "controlling force," "releasing force," and "withdrawing force."
Xu Tu was in the controlling force stage of tempering the body; the slightly older disciples practiced the explosive releasing force stage; only Zhao Liangxin was attempting the withdrawing force stage of lifting heavy objects as lightly as possible.
But what Ren Qing displayed was somewhat outrageous. There was no saying that withdrawing force could close all the pores of the body and lock sweat inside.
The smoke and dust gradually dissipated.
Ren Qing loosened his muscles and bones, then came beneath the banyan tree beside the courtyard.
There stood a half-meter-tall wooden barrel, filled with tea brewed from medicinal ingredients such as ginseng and blood velvet, a great tonic.
Xu Fu said all disciples could drink it, but no one ever touched the medicinal tea.
On the one hand, with their physiques, if they drank medicinal tea daily, over time it would bring only harm, and might even stimulate the growth of latent disease types.
On the other hand, Ren Qing hugged the wooden barrel with both hands, revealing sharp fangs inside his opened mouth.
As his Adam's apple moved, more than ten jin of medicinal tea was gulped down wholesale into his stomach, and the unpleasant medicinal smell immediately spread.
Burp-
Ren Qing could feel the cells of his body pulsing, showing how much capital Xu Fu had invested.
His current height had shrunk slightly, compressed from the two-meter-two Confucius template down to just over two meters, and his muscles had also retracted somewhat.
It was not that the disease types regressed without progress, but rather that the insect body possessed a strange ability allowing Ren Qing to exert a certain degree of control over himself.
If Ren Qing removed the restrictions, his height should already have exceeded Confucius.
As night approached, Qingfeng Hall disciples successively bade Ren Qing farewell and left. He too walked toward home.
As Ren Qing moved through the secluded alleys, he would also consume meat to supplement nutrition.
Unfortunately, the food carried by the ghost shadow had already been exhausted. Next, the growth of the various disease types would inevitably slow down, there was no helping it.
Ren Qing felt that if he still could not obtain body martial arts, it would be necessary to take the risk of advancing disease types to ensure his growth in strength did not stagnate.
He walked very quickly, and in a short while was already nearing the courtyard.
At this moment, Ren Qing suddenly slowed his pace, his right hand reaching behind his back to secretly store power.
He saw that not far ahead, three people were actually walking straight toward him. None of them were ordinary people, they definitely mastered some kind of body martial arts.
However, when Ren Qing saw Xu Sanliang among them, his expression relaxed somewhat, and the ghost shadow at his feet silently spread out.
An elderly man in his seventies or eighties had arms that displayed a strange inky black color. When they touched the stone brick walls, metallic collision sounds could be heard.
[Xu Shiwang]
[Age: Eighty-one]
[Lifespan: Thirteen years]
[Disease Types: Treeman disease type, Wind-Cold disease type]
[Body Martial Art: Tree Stele Palm Technique (Ghost Envoy)]
If Ren Qing remembered correctly, Treeman Syndrome should cause limbs to grow hard masses resembling tree roots; the cause of the disease was unknown.
The other man was at most forty years old, wearing an ill-fitting loose robe. He had no obvious abnormalities, except that the whites of his eyes were covered in bloodshot veins.
[Lu Changlu]
[Age: Thirty-seven]
[Lifespan: Thirty-nine years]
[Disease Type: Red-Eye disease type]
[Body Martial Art: Hundred-Step Penetrating Vision (Half-Corpse)]
Xu Sanliang nodded toward Ren Qing. The expressions of the other two were somewhat complicated, especially Xu Shiwang, who kept sizing him up.
Ren Qing brushed past the three of them, not stopping his steps as he walked toward the courtyard.
When he came within ten meters of the courtyard, a faint rotten stench drilled into his nose. It seemed Wang Qi had already suppressed his injuries.
Ren Qing opened the main gate. Sure enough, Wang Qi was sitting on a stone stool.
Wang Qi had aged at least ten years. White hair appeared at his temples, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were denser, and the leprosy was no longer obvious.
Even though, due to Xu Sanliang, he was mentally prepared for Ren Qing's changes, he was still startled by the latter's burly physique.
Wang Ling stood timidly at the side. When she saw Ren Qing, her eyes immediately lit up.
Wang Qi said in a deep voice, "Shanlu..."
He shook his head and raised his hand, signaling Ren Qing to sit around the stone table.
As soon as Ren Qing sat down, he heard Wang Qi ask with a bitter smile, "Shanlu, I know you are not from Weian Town. Have you recalled your original name?"
Ren Qing used his index finger to write the two characters "任青" on the tabletop.
Wang Qi said with relief, "It's good that you remembered, good that you remembered. A person living a lifetime must know who they are..."
He rambled on for quite a while before finally saying, "I will no longer stop you from coming into contact with body martial arts, but there is one matter I need to ask of you."
Ren Qing nodded slightly.
"As for me, I am half-dead already, but Ling'er is different..."
"She is still young. Accompanying me to the Yellow Springs would be too much of a waste. Do your best to treat Ling'er as your younger sister. If there is danger, lend a hand."
Wang Qi's words sounded like final arrangements, his voice filled with exhaustion.
Ren Qing patiently listened as Wang Qi recounted his experiences, even talking about events from more than ten years ago.
Wang Qi used tea in place of wine, cup after cup without stopping, until he was slightly drunk before continuing, "You should also be careful. What is involved next is immense. Weian Town will not be peaceful."
Ren Qing's eyebrows lifted, thinking of what Xu Sanliang had said about rebuilding Undying Town.
Could it be that after the death of the Peach Blossom Immortal, the Longevity Immortal planned to send other disciples to take charge of this place, and that a new "Peach Garden" would soon be sown again?
"Wang Ling is doing some menial work at Blackstone Hall. I will have her eat and stay within the Martial Instruction Hall, to avoid any accidents."
At this point, Wang Qi looked at Ren Qing with a strange expression and asked, "Shanlu, I have never seen masters from multiple Martial Instruction Halls come forward at once. You are the first."
"You should have run into them just now. They were Xu Sanliang of Qingfeng Hall, Xu Shiwang of Blackstone Hall, and Lu Changlu of Songhe Hall."
"You can choose one Martial Instruction Hall to contact body martial arts..."
Wang Qi could not help but remind him, "Actually, Xu Shiwang has the highest cultivation. Blackstone Hall is also famous for its fist and palm techniques."
"Forget it, decide for yourself."
Naturally, he hoped Ren Qing would go to Blackstone Hall, so he would be closer to Wang Ling, but thinking of Xu Sanliang, he said no more.
Ren Qing considered for a few breaths and still decided to devote himself to Qingfeng Hall.
After all, Xu Fu had shown not the slightest stinginess during this period. Going to another Martial Instruction Hall would easily cause unnecessary trouble.
Of course, most importantly, he felt that as long as he mastered one body martial art, with the increase of strength, more body martial arts would follow in succession.
Seeing Ren Qing make up his mind, Wang Qi began offering pointers on matters of cultivation, emphasizing that body martial cultivators were extremely prone to qi deviation.
However, he had not mastered body martial arts himself, and many things were things he had heard secondhand.
Wang Ling prepared the meal, and Wang Qi chatted until the moon hung high in the sky before stopping.
Because Ren Qing could not speak, he simply diverted part of his mind to circulate the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
After hesitating for a few breaths, Wang Qi said, "In the future, you are very likely to encounter immortals. When that time comes, no matter what cultivation you have, remember, do not offend them."
"Remember..."
After saying this, he staggered into the side room, and shouts soon followed.
Ren Qing's gaze was deep. He would not underestimate things just because he had killed a single longevity species. Within the forbidden zone were hundreds and thousands of aberrant objects, and the number of immortals was far greater than imagined.
Moreover, the Peach Blossom Immortal was a disciple under the Longevity Immortal. The situation with the Fortune and Longevity Immortals was unknown.
He lay on the bed and closed his eyes to rest. Wang Qi left the courtyard in the middle of the night, clearly showing that the situation in Weian Town was extremely complex and changeable.
By the next day, after bidding farewell to Ren Qing, Wang Ling moved into Blackstone Hall.
Seeing this, Ren Qing planned to remain at Qingfeng Hall long-term, and at the same time cultivate body martial arts.