he Longevity Forbidden Zone had always been relatively calm.
Once the Forbidden World enveloped a town, the cultivators could freely use Restraint Officer techniques and no longer needed to fear the Longevity Species.
Ren Qing did not pay much attention to the Longevity Forbidden Zone. He only knew that it housed several hundred thousand people, unaware that the population had already surged to nearly a million.
The Stomach World continuously supplied food. The Longevity Forbidden Zone no longer even needed farming, because food prices were practically equivalent to being given away for free.
Under such circumstances, Restraint Officers' Hall devoted all its efforts to developing Body Cultivation.
Martial Instruction Halls sprang up everywhere like a hundred schools of thought contending. One could see one every hundred meters along the streets and alleys. After Body Cultivation became widespread, even street vendors could throw powerful punches with impressive force.
Restraint Officers' Hall further subdivided the entry-level Martial Practitioner realm into five stages: Skin Tempering, Blood Tempering, Tendon Tempering, Bone Tempering, and Marrow Tempering.
Skin Tempering and Blood Tempering were roughly equivalent to the Martial Practitioner realm, while Tendon Tempering and Bone Tempering corresponded to the Half-Corpse realm.
As long as one broke through to the Marrow Tempering stage, it was equivalent to touching the Ghost Envoy realm, allowing a smooth transition from Body Cultivation into the corresponding Restraint Officer technique.
For example, the Gale Sword Art related to the pneumothorax disease strain could be converted into the Gale Method, turning one's blood into liquid-like currents of air.
Over a hundred years, Restraint Officers' Hall had already taken root in the Longevity Forbidden Zone. The townspeople no longer rejected it and instead considered joining it a source of pride.
The streets bustled with activity, and low-level Body Cultivators could be seen everywhere.
Because they could not yet fully control the disease strains within their bodies, most looked sickly. Only after reaching Blood Tempering could they completely suppress their disease strains.
A middle-aged man moved through the streets. From the embroidered patterns on his clothes, it was apparent that he was an instructor from a Martial Instruction Hall.
He was deeply respected by the nearby residents, and people constantly stopped him for conversation as he walked.
An old man carrying over a hundred pounds of goods approached and whispered, "Instructor Zhou, Old Chen's son-in-law died young, leaving behind a lonely widow. Do you think..."
Zhou Wu silently shook his head, unable to stop himself from recalling his deceased wife and children, as well as his younger brother Zhou Zuosan, who remained outside in the greater world.
"Oh, Instructor Zhou, you're already a Body Cultivator at the Ghost Envoy realm. Even at over a hundred years old, you're only middle-aged. Why..."
"Thank you for your concern, Elder. There are too many matters at the Martial Instruction Hall, so I'll be going first."
Zhou Wu smiled and hurried away, though inwardly he was thinking about getting Little Third to settle down and start a family as soon as possible. Spending every day obsessed with artifact forging was hardly ideal.
He was no longer the young Wu from Xiangxiang. Over a century of experience had worn away his youthful immaturity, and the lines at the corners of his eyes gave him an air of steadiness.
Zhou Wu quickened his pace toward the Martial Instruction Hall he had established.
His specialty was the Five-Spirit Poison Palm, connected to the Poison Bone Art taught by Huang Ziwan. Though he appeared ordinary, his bones carried a faint black tint.
His bodily fluids were highly toxic. Unless someone also cultivated the Five-Spirit Poison Palm, prolonged contact would inevitably result in death by poisoning.
Bang!!!
A loud crash erupted from the southern city wall, and chunks of stone immediately began falling from above.
Zhou Wu looked toward the source in shock. Forgetting about the Martial Instruction Hall, he hurried toward the city wall while circulating poisonous qi through his meridians.
Under the effects of the Poison Bone Art, his skin turned purplish-red, and a blister-like bulge appeared in each palm, filled with venomous fluid.
The town was built around the central Longevity Tree, and naturally, the city walls were all interconnected.
Restraint Officers' Hall did not establish government offices or constables, but the responsibilities of Martial Instruction Hall instructors were significant. When danger arose, they were required to assemble on their own.
By the time Zhou Wu reached the top of the wall, many instructors were already pouring flaming oil to hinder the Longevity Species from climbing.
He quickly joined them. The tense atmosphere left everyone with no time for conversation.
The number of Martial Instruction Hall instructors soon exceeded five hundred, gathered from throughout the city and practicing a wide variety of Body Cultivation arts.
The previous siege by the Longevity Species had occurred thirty years earlier. That battle had lasted more than ten days, and several sections of the city wall had been destroyed.
But times were different now. Restraint Officers' Hall had continued to grow stronger. The number of Ghost Envoy cultivators from thirty years ago was only a tenth or even less of what existed today.
While preparing for the defense, Zhou Wu took a look at the Longevity Species and immediately felt his pupils contract.
The Longevity Species he had encountered before came in all varieties of birds and beasts. Rumor held that they originated from Strange Objects spawned by Restraint Officer techniques.
But these Longevity Species were different.
Their upper bodies were human, covered in sparse feathers. Their legs had been replaced by numerous snake tails, forcing them to move using their arms.
They possessed a bizarre sense of distortion, as though they had been randomly stitched together.
Though their appearances were grotesque, they moved with extraordinary agility. The burning oil barely slowed them down.
They quickly climbed the walls atop the corpses of their companions and clashed with the Body Cultivators.
The scent of blood filled the air. Chunks of Longevity Species flesh constantly fell from the walls, smashing into the city and creating craters.
Some civilians attempted to seize the flesh chunks and exchange them for resources at Dream City beside the Longevity Tree.
But before they could approach, the flesh suddenly trembled. Countless bubbles formed across its surface before it exploded into violent gusts of wind.
"Not good!!!"
Zhou Wu's expression darkened. He was about to jump down from the wall, only to realize there was no time.
Explosions rang out endlessly.
The flesh chunks triggered a chain reaction, leaving the city wall on the verge of collapse as countless cracks spread outward.
"Sever."
Xu Sanliang arrived with reinforcements. Hundreds of holes opened in the skin of his right arm, compressing streams of air within them.
His arm swung downward heavily. The raging airflow collided with the gale produced by the exploding flesh chunks. Though the forces canceled one another out, the surrounding buildings were reduced to rubble.
None of the instructors had expected the Longevity Species to be so troublesome. Caught off guard, several were severely injured by the explosions.
Just as the city wall was about to fall, a cloud of dark purple-black mist drifted in with the wind.
The Longevity Species immediately began sizzling all over. Their bodies dissolved into pus under the corrosive poison, while the defending instructors remained completely unharmed.
The precision of the technique was evident.
"Ah, troubled times indeed."
Huang Ziwan landed atop the wall while pulling up his trousers. In the distance, the windows of the House of Crimson Delights stood open, and women could still be seen waving reluctantly from inside.
A century had passed, yet Huang Ziwan still looked like a toad spirit that had gained human form. Two thin mustaches hung from the corners of his mouth, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the Ghost Envoy realm.
He took a carefree deep breath. The poisonous mist returned to his nose and mouth, and his body expanded, transforming into a giant venom-covered figure over four meters tall.
The city wall stretched for miles. Huang Ziwan alone was far from enough, so dozens of additional Ghost Envoy cultivators soon arrived.
With the cultivators of Restraint Officers' Hall joining the battle, the defensive line finally stabilized. At the very least, a complete collapse was no longer imminent.
Vines extended from street corners, burrowing into the wall's bricks to reinforce them.
Muyi stared grimly outside the city. Several newly advanced Yin Difference realm cultivators stood behind her, discussing the Longevity Species among themselves.
The Yang Spirit realm forbidden zone suppressed the cultivation of Restraint Officer techniques. Even with abundant resources, only a handful had broken through to the Yin Difference realm over the past century.
Fortunately, judging from the situation so far, dealing with the Longevity Species should not be difficult.
Rumor had it that Ren Qing was already on his way to the Longevity Forbidden Zone. As long as they endured for a while longer, the Longevity Species would naturally retreat.
Muyi clearly remembered that a century ago, the Longevity Species had been creatures that called themselves immortals. Yet as time passed, some inexplicable transformation had occurred, and their appearances had become increasingly bizarre.
She had even organized cultivators to search for the source of the Longevity Species, but after combing through hundreds of miles of surrounding territory, they had found nothing.
The Longevity Species seemed to grow directly from the soil itself, without any warning signs whatsoever.
Their appearance was accompanied by cracks opening in the ground, and powerful winds occasionally blasted outward. As a result, these locations became known as Wind Caverns.
Worry arose in Muyi's heart.
Although the Longevity Species were only at the Ghost Envoy realm and their methods were relatively simple, their overwhelming numbers made them terrifying. Looking into the distance, their ranks seemed endless.
As she was thinking, large groups of Longevity Species appeared along the other three city walls as well.
Muyi dispatched the Yin Difference realm cultivators to reinforce those locations while she herself moved to the Longevity Tree.
Beside it stood a dreamlike street, the entrance to Dream City.
She attempted to contact Ren Qing, but because of the difference in time flow, by the time the message reached him, several days would already have passed within the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Muyi did not remain idle. She continuously reinforced the four city walls with her techniques while saving Body Cultivators on the verge of death.
Days passed.
At every moment, explosions from the corpses of Longevity Species could be heard, and the number of wounded increased dramatically.
Crack crack crack crack...
What Restraint Officers' Hall had never anticipated was that the Wind Caverns would slowly begin expanding.
Eventually, they formed bottomless canyons, with one even cutting directly through the town.
The Longevity Species' arms began transforming into birdlike wings, allowing them to launch aerial assaults. The defensive line shifted from the city walls to the rooftops of various buildings.
Fortunately, decades earlier, Muyi had refined the blue bricks with the most basic methods to prevent underground sneak attacks by the Longevity Species. Otherwise, the town would have been torn apart.
Flocks of Longevity Species filled the sky like dark storm clouds.
Aside from civilians below the Half-Corpse realm who hid in basements, all Body Cultivators fought outside against the Longevity Species while remaining wary of the flesh explosions.
Huang Ziwan cursed repeatedly as he rushed from place to place, using poisonous mist to corrode corpses.
He was beginning to feel exhausted, but he still forced himself onward. They only needed to hold out a few more days to be safe. How could he rest now?
The crying of children and the screams of women irritated him endlessly.
Huang Ziwan kept his head raised, refusing to look at the civilians. If he attempted a rescue and triggered an explosion, the defensive line might collapse instantly.
He concentrated fully on each Longevity Species diving from the sky.
Huang Ziwan continued running about tirelessly, completely unaware that the cultivators around him had gradually stopped fighting and were all staring upward at a certain point in the sky.
The children stopped crying, and the women covered their mouths in astonishment.
"It's..."
Upon hearing them, Huang Ziwan instinctively asked, "Who is it?"
He followed their gazes and saw a familiar figure standing in midair, his daoist robe fluttering in the raging winds.
Dense yin qi poured from Ren Qing's nose and mouth, spreading across the sky in an instant.
Wherever the waves of qi passed, the Longevity Species turned to dust.
Many cultivators recognized Ren Qing, yet they hardly dared believe it. Such terrifying methods were nothing like the Lord of Dreams they remembered.
At that moment, a gigantic illusory figure emerged from Dream City, seeming both real and unreal. Its Double Pupils dragged every remaining Longevity Species within the city into nightmares.
Huang Ziwan watched as Ren Qing drew the yin qi back into his body, leaving behind only a clear sky stretching ten thousand miles.
He could not help muttering to himself,
"What kind of technique or divine ability is that? It feels just like those zombies from the Corpse Vein."
"But damn, that's impressive..."