Ren Qing arrived at Qingfeng Hall at the usual time. A menial diligently opened the main gate.
The sky was faintly bright, the sun having only revealed a pale white dot.
The training ground, originally empty of people, now had the figures of Xu Fu and Xu Sanliang present, clearly having waited for a long time.
Compared to the confident Xu Sanliang, Xu Fu could not help but let out a breath of relief.
He had not expected Ren Qing's talent to attract the attention of masters from other Martial Instruction Halls; even Xu Shiwang had personally come to recruit him.
Xu Sanliang led Ren Qing deeper into Qingfeng Hall while sighing and saying, "Shanlu, with your talent, staying in Qingfeng Hall is indeed a bit of a waste."
"Blackstone Hall has at least seven or eight people who have just begun contacting body martial arts. Qingfeng Hall has only you."
Passing through the training ground, dozens of side rooms came into view, though the vast majority were occupied by impoverished disciples such as Xu Tu.
The remaining side rooms were for menials.
Ren Qing had previously also used the ghost shadow to investigate Qingfeng Hall, but had not found any gains. The storeroom where books were kept also appeared utterly ordinary, containing only crude martial arts for tempering the body.
"The body martial art inheritances of the various Martial Instruction Halls are all rather strange. Don't be frightened."
Xu Sanliang stopped in front of a firewood shed. The walls of the building were already drafty, the eaves pitted, and vegetation grew wildly inside.
Xu Fu took the initiative to open the wooden door. Only after Ren Qing and Xu Sanliang entered did he close it.
Ren Qing's gaze swept around, finally landing on a seemingly ordinary Tree Seedling in the corner. The more he looked at it, the more something felt wrong.
The Information Stream flowed.
[Condensed from the Six Afflictions Method, it is formed from out-of-control disease types commonly buried underground.]
Xu Sanliang took out a bottle of pale yellow liquid from his chest and poured a few drops onto the diseased tree, causing the Tree Seedling to begin growing madly.
Very quickly, the branches formed a scale, but the positions of the leaves were replaced by dozens of human heads.
The appearances of the heads were all different, seemingly still retaining their looks from when they were alive, only their skin showing an unnatural deathly pallor.
"Qingfeng Hall's body martial arts emphasize agility, mainly focusing on the lungs. They are not as ferocious as Blackstone Hall, which focuses on the heart."
When Xu Sanliang said this, he glanced at Ren Qing. The disease types the latter displayed were clearly somewhat mismatched, and it was uncertain whether there were suitable body martial arts.
"Each head represents a sacrificed senior."
"You can choose the body martial art you cultivate through the tongue, but the most important thing is compatibility with yourself. There's no need to worry about that."
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes.
The diseased tree should be similar to a Longevity Immortal statue, but there were also differences. One was used to spread delusions, the other to record information.
Xu Fu revealed a look of reminiscence. Back then, he had also obtained body martial arts through this method, yet more than twenty years had passed and he still had not entered the threshold.
Ren Qing reached his hand toward the heads on the diseased tree.
Ka ka ka ka...
The heads' upper and lower jaws opened and closed repeatedly. Then, the vast majority drilled back into the trunk. In the end, two heads were left behind.
Xu Sanliang's lips curved upward. Fortunately, Qingfeng Hall indeed had body martial arts compatible with Ren Qing; otherwise, they would have had no choice but to give him to another Martial Instruction Hall.
"Greed makes one chew poorly. Memorize one body martial art from among them."
Ren Qing pulled out the tongue from the head's mouth. The blue-gray tongue was covered entirely in text. This method of transmitting techniques was truly peculiar.
[Iron-Grinding Sword Method]
[The Iron-Grinding Sword Method is derived from the Six Afflictions Method. It can stimulate the growth of one's own disease types, achieving a barely manageable degree.]
He pretended to examine the contents of the body martial art, while in reality waiting for the information flow.
Xu Sanliang and Xu Fu exchanged a glance. Wang Shanlu's intelligence was indeed not lacking. In this way, the probability of mastering body martial arts greatly increased.
[The Iron-Grinding Sword Method is suitable for bone-related disease types, able to turn all the bones of the body into metallic substance. Upon great completion, the bones are like heavy weapons.]
[Martial Practitioner realm: Disease types absorb nourishment from the main body and gradually grow.]
[Half-Corpse realm: Body martial arts barely control the disease types, causing mutations to appear in the body. A slight mistake will result in falling into a half-human Half-Corpse.]
[Ghost Envoy realm: Disease types begin to take root and sprout, leading to severe mutation. The body is no longer limited by life and death, and lifespan increases.]
[Yin Envoy realm: The diseased tree grows fruits transformed from aberrant objects. The main body's control over the diseased tree becomes as one wishes, but the body no longer possesses yin or yang. Lifespan increases greatly.]
[Ascension realm: The aberrant object nurtured by the diseased fruit takes form. The body turns from yin to yang, faintly sensing restrictions coming from heaven and earth.]
Ren Qing could not help but widen his pupils. Body martial arts were indeed closely connected to the Restraint Officer path. Reaching the Ascension realm was equivalent to a normal Yang Spirit realm.
But with the Yang Spirit realm replaced by the Ascension realm, did that not mean body martial cultivators could escape the restrictions of the Longevity Forbidden Zone and go to the outside world?
A conjecture arose in Ren Qing's heart.
He knew why the history recorded by the Restraint Officers' Hall had such a severe sense of fragmentation. The texts simply did not contain information from several thousand years ago.
They did not even mention the disappearance of the Heavenly Aberration realm...
The Restraint Officers' Hall was very likely not a power passed down generation after generation.
Several hundred years ago, there should have been a body martial cultivator who crawled out of a well. He crossed the desolate yellow sand desert and finally settled in Xiang Township.
The founding ancestor of the Restraint Officers' Hall had no understanding of the outside world, only piecing together a rough picture based on clues.
He then continuously collected old-world Restraint Officer methods through various means, using them to establish a new order, and named it the Restraint Officers' Hall.
The more Ren Qing thought about it, the more it seemed plausible.
Martial Practitioner, Half-Corpse, Ghost Envoy, Yin Envoy, Yang Spirit, these five realms actually had little to do with the Restraint Officer path. They clearly came from body martial arts.
Even the common people of Xiang Township and Water Marsh might be descendants of humans from the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
After all, when one person attains the Dao, even chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Bringing along relatives and friends to the "Immortal Realm" is very normal. Who would have known that what awaited them was a human hell?
Ren Qing could even imagine it.
The ancestor originally thought the Immortal Realm would be spring all year round, everyone able to become immortals, with no need to worry about birth, aging, sickness, and death. But when he looked up, he saw skies full of yellow sand, each grain of marsh sand still containing large amounts of residual souls.
When day and night alternated, the corpse of a Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator appeared overhead.
Perhaps the world had gone mad...
However, for a Yang Spirit realm cultivator, the environment of the Water Marsh desert would not threaten their life, but among those who came together, there would definitely be many buried in foreign lands.
Given the position of the Longevity Forbidden Zone, it was unrealistic for them to travel to Xiang Township in one go.
The ancestor should have stayed in Water Marsh for dozens or even hundreds of years.
He established the prototype of Yellow Sand City within the Water Marsh Gobi, and through the corpse of the Meat and Wine Daoist glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of this world.
The ecology of the Meat and Wine Daoist producing maggots should have originated from the ancestor.
But he ultimately chose to leave Water Marsh, continuing southward with part of the group.
This also explained why Xiang Township could develop steadily for several hundred years, most likely because it had already been destroyed once long ago.
Ren Qing pinched the bridge of his nose with a headache, unable to stop himself from sighing.
Xu Sanliang and the other assumed Ren Qing was troubled by the raw and obscure nature of body martial arts, and so simply walked out of the firewood shed, leaving him alone inside to comprehend the method.
"Why does this world feel even more dangerous... The Restraint Officers' Hall isn't the remnants of a great power at all, it's clearly the fish that slipped through the net..."
Ren Qing had originally thought that after the Restraint Officers' Hall entered Jingzhou, it already counted as a toddler learning to walk. Now it seemed it was still far from that...
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. The most urgent matter was to cultivate body martial arts.
After reaching the Yin Envoy realm, he should be able to use the diseased fruit of aberrant objects to master the Six Afflictions Method. His purpose in coming to the Longevity Forbidden Zone would then be more than half fulfilled.
Can consume twenty days of lifespan to exempt the cost and master it
Ren Qing confirmed without hesitation. It felt as if countless small insects were crawling within his bones, and the growth speed of the Hard Bone disease type suddenly increased.
He bent his index finger and flicked with force. An almost imperceptible sword qi shot out from the gap of his fingernail, leaving a faint mark on the ground.
Body martial arts were indeed derived from the Restraint Officer path. The Martial Practitioner realm was clearly somewhat weaker.
[Advance Iron-Grinding Sword Method, will consume one hundred days of lifespan?]
Ren Qing canceled the information flow. Although his lifespan was currently sufficient to advance the Iron-Grinding Sword Method, he decided to wait until reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
Moreover, the bodily mutation caused by Ghost Envoy realm body martial arts was too obvious. To consecutively master and advance within just over half an hour was truly a bit exaggerated.
He then pulled out the tongue from the mouth of the other head.
[Night Roaming Sword Method]
[The Night Roaming Sword Method is derived from the Six Afflictions Method. It can stimulate the growth of one's own disease types, achieving a barely manageable degree.]
[The Night Roaming Sword Method is suitable for sleep-related disease types. It can absorb moonlight by opening the eyes to gaze at the moon. Upon great completion, a sword is brewed within the eyes.]
Qingfeng Hall's body martial arts were equivalent to sword cultivation. The remaining Giant Transformation disease type, Flesh Growth disease type, and Cancer Disease Tree disease type would likely require searching other Martial Instruction Halls for body martial inheritances.
Especially the Cancer Disease Tree disease type, Ren Qing always felt there was a risk of losing control.
Can consume twenty days of lifespan to exempt the cost and master it
Ren Qing likewise mastered the Night Roaming Sword Method, only feeling a chill brewing within his eyes.
Because the cerebral hemorrhage during the construction of his body had caused blindness in both eyes, his vision actually recovered somewhat under the influence of the Night Roaming Sword Method.
Ren Qing barely saw layers upon layers of illusory shadows within the room.
Then he felt a stabbing pain in his eyes. Tears flowed uncontrollably, and he hurriedly closed his eyes, using the Dream Seed Double Pupils on his forehead to see.
[Lifespan: One hundred ninety-five days]
[Disease Types: Hard Bone disease type, Sleepless disease type, Giant Transformation, Flesh Growth, Cancer Disease Tree]
[Body Martial Arts: Iron-Grinding Sword Method (Martial Practitioner), Night Roaming Sword Method (Martial Practitioner)]
Ren Qing did not leave the firewood shed, instead sitting cross-legged on the ground to rest.
The two people outside were somewhat anxious, fearing that Ren Qing would immediately attempt to cultivate body martial arts, causing turmoil among the disease types within his body.
Only after more than half an hour passed did Ren Qing emerge from the firewood shed.
Xu Sanliang sized up Ren Qing and at the same time asked, "Shanlu, you should have memorized the contents of the body martial arts, right..."
He suddenly widened his pupils. He had clearly discovered traces of sword light in Ren Qing's eyes, but they vanished in the blink of an eye.
Xu Sanliang could not determine whether the other had actually mastered body martial arts. Thinking it over carefully, he felt it was unrealistic, and so forcibly regained his composure.
"These past few days there are too many matters in Weian Town. I estimate I won't be able to free myself. Let Master Xu Fu teach you the matters of body martial arts instead."
Over more than ten years, Qingfeng Hall had only Xu Sanliang who had mastered body martial arts. The older body martial cultivators were long gone from Weian Town.
Xu Fu agreed repeatedly. Teaching Ren Qing would not take much time, and he could also take the opportunity to ask Xu Sanliang about doubts in cultivation.
Ren Qing nodded. Trying out the difficulty of cultivating on his own was also fine. Of course, most of his energy would still be focused on the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.