The faint scent of medicine spread throughout the intestines and stomach.
The Half-Corpse realm cultivators greedily breathed it in, trying to increase their cultivation through the medicinal fragrance. Some even moved their cultivation sites directly into the stomach.
Li Tiangang's closed-door cultivation would continue for quite some time, so they were naturally happy to see it happen.
Even Daoist Taihan's days became much easier, though he was still treated like a prisoner.
The area he could originally move around in had been limited to several streets of the temporary camp, and cultivators constantly followed behind him at all times.
Now at least the range had expanded to the intestines and stomach, and occasionally he could even wander around the internal organ regions for fresh air.
As for Master Yuhua, who had once sworn so confidently, after tricking Daoist Taihan into joining Restraint Officers' Hall, he never paid attention to him again and spent all day building up his own faction.
Master Yuhua could also tell that Daoist Taihan's position within Restraint Officers' Hall was extremely delicate, belonging to the category of an untrusted "one of our own."
He had no desire to create a rift with the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal over this matter, so he simply distanced himself from Daoist Taihan entirely.
As a result, nobody paid any attention to Daoist Taihan at all. He had effectively sat in prison inside the stomach for over a month, to the point where the boredom almost made him nostalgic for the daoist temple.
And during this period of time, his impression of Restraint Officers' Hall had become extremely complicated.
If one said Restraint Officers' Hall was powerful, they didn't even have a single Spirit Division stage cultivator.
But saying they were weak didn't seem right either. Their leader Ren Qing was a suspected "Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal" true immortal, and he controlled a gigantic puppet that was at least at the Heavenly Aberration realm.
Furthermore, the methods practiced by the cultivators of Restraint Officers' Hall resembled demons and monsters.
The system of Insect Nest was similar to Wuwei Daoist Temple, mainly organized in the form of a sect. Aside from the appearance of the insectfolk, they were actually fairly similar to orthodox immortal cultivation.
Yet the "Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal" that Master Yuhua constantly spoke of had subordinates whose cultivation methods became stranger and more sinister one after another.
Daoist Taihan had personally witnessed cultivators digging out their own internal organs directly in order to sell them.
There were also cultivators pouring scorching lava into their mouths without using any technique for protection; or smearing venom across their eyes while the flesh sizzled and corroded; or possessing a hundred layers of skin outside their bodies while continuously hammering themselves.
Not to mention tigerfolk covered in eyeballs, as well as foxfolk without heads yet possessing facial features...
Compared to the cultivation methods of the various factions within the town, Restraint Officers' Hall could only be described as horrifying.
Yet Restraint Officers' Hall truly possessed the inheritance of Heavenly Dao Insects. Those daoists called themselves disciples of the daoist temple, and their Heavenly Dao Insects hid within their shadows.
What frightened Daoist Taihan the most was the speed at which the cultivators increased in strength.
Every day, Daoist Taihan could see large numbers of cultivators breaking through bottlenecks. Even though some died in the process, they still enjoyed it tirelessly.
At first he couldn't understand what was happening, but after the zombies on Ice Island had finished being refined, he discovered that those dead cultivators had rejoined Restraint Officers' Hall under entirely new identities.
If they weren't even afraid of death, no wonder they ignored the risk of cultivation deviation.
The zombies almost seamlessly integrated into Restraint Officers' Hall. After all, the cultivators had more or less heard about the function of Corpse Refinement Method.
Very quickly, they accepted the several hundred zombies who retained their memories from before death, indirectly causing the status of the corpse horde within Restraint Officers' Hall to rise dramatically.
A Restraint Officers' Hall like this possessed potential far beyond what Insect Nest could compare to.
Daoist Taihan had a premonition that if Ren Qing truly was the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal, then the entire Insect Nest would eventually change masters and become a part of Restraint Officers' Hall.
He was powerless to stop it. The newly born insectfolk all called themselves Restraint Officers, and from childhood they cultivated Shadowless Ghost and the Insect Nest methods.
There wasn't even the slightest sense of identification with Insect Nest.
Daoist Taihan sighed. It seemed the only thing he could do was integrate himself as quickly as possible.
That way, when Restraint Officers' Hall descended upon Insect Nest, the insectfolk wouldn't merely serve as cannon fodder.
Daoist Taihan lowered his attitude and learned from how Master Yuhua had behaved before, taking on the lowest-level work within the intestines and stomach.
Of course, a Yang Spirit realm cultivator wouldn't go transport excrement. His main duty was dispersing the dense corpse qi that Ren Qing unintentionally leaked out.
However, as the concentration of corpse qi grew increasingly dense, even Daoist Taihan was beginning to struggle with the workload.
He truly couldn't understand why the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal would cultivate Corpse Refinement Method. Wasn't this damaging his own foundation?
Muttering to himself, Daoist Taihan arrived at the depths of the intestines. He controlled several earthen jar-shaped dharma artifacts that absorbed the corpse qi filling the surroundings.
The efficiency naturally wasn't very high, but he was restricted from using the cultivation of a Yang Spirit realm cultivator.
Bang... bang bang... bang bang bang...
The sound of a heartbeat echoed from the end of the intestines. Daoist Taihan's heart felt as though it had been struck heavily, and dark green blood immediately seeped out from his facial features.
His pupils dilated, and his vision spun. The Corpse Refinement Method he had been looking down upon not long ago was now displaying unimaginable power.
This phenomenon only remained within the intestines, yet it instantly destroyed a vast expanse of forest.
Daoist Taihan tried to suppress the corpse poison within his body using true essence, but all the meridians throughout his body had begun shriveling up, and his limbs became completely powerless.
He barely managed to use his consciousness to control his dharma artifacts and protect himself while attempting to regain control over his body.
Pfft...
Daoist Taihan spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes became unfocused, clearly showing that the corpse poison had already entered his bones.
He never expected to die mysteriously within the intestines. It truly was the mockery of fate, and he deeply regretted not remaining in the town outside.
Just as Daoist Taihan was on the verge of death, the corpse qi within the intestines vanished completely, and even the corpse poison within his body disappeared without a trace.
He opened his eyes in disbelief, then noticed the figure within the shadows.
Ren Qing's head had swollen to over ten times the size of a normal person's. Veins covered his forehead, and one could vaguely see the black-gray brain inside.
He frowned tightly, then his head rapidly shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After returning to normal, there was no visible abnormality in Ren Qing's appearance, though his eyes had become slightly darkened and filled with bloodshot veins.
He tossed several pills to Daoist Taihan, then waved his hand and released an enormous amount of vitality, completely healing the vegetation and wild beasts within the intestines that had been poisoned to death by the corpse qi.
The ghost shadow beneath his feet spread across over a thousand meters, and a gigantic Heavenly Dao Insect flashed past.
Daoist Taihan stared blankly at Ren Qing's departing figure. The aura of a superior Heavenly Dao Insect made him tremble uncontrollably.
Even the broodmother of Insect Nest didn't possess such terrifying pressure.
What he didn't know was that Ren Qing had borrowed the molted shell of the true Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal to simulate a faint trace of Earth Immortal aura.
Ren Qing quickly rushed toward Li Tiangang while simultaneously checking the information on Dead Man's Sutra.
Dead Man's Sutra (Incomplete)
Dead Man's Sutra was still incomplete. It wasn't because his closed-door cultivation had gone poorly. In fact, the exact opposite was true.
Ren Qing revealed a bitter smile. The moment he completed Dead Man's Sutra, he had already understood exactly what it was afraid of.
At the time, the information display had revealed even more content.
Dead Man's Sutra
Created by Corpse Immortal. To cultivate it, one must seal the Laogong acupoint, Yongquan acupoint, Shenmen acupoint, and Yintang acupoint with rivets, then bury oneself underground for three years. Upon great accomplishment, one becomes ageless, unborn, undying, and indestructible.
Once Dead Man's Sutra is mastered, the cultivator's body and soul will gradually move closer to the Corpse Immortal, and they will consequently attract the Corpse Immortal's attention.
Dead Man's Sutra could likewise be mastered independently, but the price was simply too great. Besides, the information flow might very well operate on an installment payment system.
Can consume fifty thousand years of lifespan to exempt the cost and master it
Ren Qing finally understood why it was called an Ascension Method. It truly was ascending to immortality in a single step...
An Ascension Method was like a shortcut to immortality. There was no need to experience all kinds of tribulations. As long as one could successfully break through bottlenecks, one could attain immortality and the dao.
But at the same time, one inevitably became cultivation fertilizer for the original creator. Even if the original creator had already died, the cultivator would still be possessed and reborn by them.
However, all of this was based on the premise that the original owner of the Ascension Method was sufficiently powerful.
Nobody could guarantee whether there might appear an existence with cultivation higher than their own, one who would use the Ascension Method to turn the original creator into a stepping stone instead.
And the Corpse Immortal had probably died long ago, which was why Dead Man's Sutra had spread outward.
Ren Qing always felt that they might have underestimated the Ascension Method, resulting in irreversible changes to body and soul, eventually forcing them to hide within the mirror world.
He feared following in their footsteps, so before the three techniques fused together, he used Stomach World to forcibly strip away the final technique.
The Corpse Core formed by the technique rested in a corner of Stomach World, transforming into a land of white bones filled with dense yin qi.
Ren Qing planned to merge two Restraint Officer methods into Dead Man's Sutra first before anything else.
Only by doing so could he weaken the Corpse Immortal imprint contained within Dead Man's Sutra as much as possible.
As for searching for techniques cultivated by the Corpse Immortal, due to differences in mutation paths and bizarre transformation branches, the final Ascension Method might not necessarily lead to immortality.
The technique Ren Qing split off from Dead Man's Sutra was called Corpse Brain Method. Later, he further improved it toward the direction of Restraint Officer methods.
Corpse Brain Method
Created by Ren Qing. To cultivate it, one must pour corpse water into the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose until the skull is filled, then seal the five senses. If one survives thirty-six days, the cultivation is complete.
Theoretically speaking, Skeletal Corpse Method, Corpse Refinement Method, and Corpse Brain Method all counted as creations of Ren Qing himself, and should be able to avoid the residual traces left behind by the Corpse Immortal.
But the matter involved far too much, so it was better to remain cautious.
He didn't feel any regret. The key to immortality was already in his hands. What remained was simply the continuous experimentation with Dead Man's Sutra.
Ren Qing planned to take advantage of Restraint Officers' Hall's period of recuperation to additionally increase the secondary techniques of Disaster Elimination Method by two more, then find an opportunity to advance to Yang Spirit realm.
Without the information flow, no cultivator could achieve what Ren Qing had done and fuse five techniques to reach Yang Spirit realm.
Ren Qing didn't believe they could be an exception, especially since he currently couldn't even come into contact with them.
After calming down the corpse transformation in his body, he immediately arrived at the temporary camp. The medicinal fragrance in the air had become increasingly dense.
Ren Qing had emerged from seclusion early partly because of Li Tiangang's breakthrough to Yang Spirit realm.
He actually didn't want Li Tiangang to take such a risk. After all, the latter's foundation was far from solid enough, and the slightest mistake would result in death and the dissipation of the dao.
Ren Qing entered Li Tiangang's residence, where quite a few people had already gathered.
Nearly all the Yin Difference realm cultivators of Restraint Officers' Hall surrounded the house, accumulating experience regarding advancement to Yang Spirit realm while also seeing whether they could offer assistance.
When Li Yaoyang saw Ren Qing, he seemed to want to speak yet hesitated. The situation apparently wasn't optimistic.
Ren Qing nodded toward them, then had the ghost shadow carve Moon Patterns across the surface of the house so the medicinal properties of the Golden Core wouldn't leak outward.
Inside the room, Li Tiangang had already transformed into the shape of a book, and his aura appeared extremely chaotic.
The Golden Core hovered above his head, releasing terrifying medicinal potency, though under the ghost shadow's control, the medicinal properties had become much gentler.
Ren Qing recalled the circumstances of his own breakthrough to Yang Spirit realm, then opened the book Li Tiangang had transformed into and found the page corresponding to the brain.
He wrote his insights onto the page while also using dream techniques to stabilize Li Tiangang's state of mind.
Only then did Li Tiangang's condition calm down. After another half hour passed, the aura unique to Yang Spirit realm became unmistakably apparent.
However, after relying on external assistance, it would become extremely difficult for him to advance any further.
Ren Qing gestured for everyone to move away from the courtyard. They couldn't help but feel excited, as though they could already see themselves reaching Yang Spirit realm.
Only Li Yaoyang noticed that Ren Qing was currently playing with the Golden Core, now reduced to merely the size of a walnut.
It seemed Lingxiao Daoist might become the breakthrough point for harvesting leeks.