Reng Qing sat cross-legged cultivating the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, and by then the sky had already brightened. The consciousness of the main soul therefore returned to the body.
After only half a day of meditation he felt soreness in his hands and feet, so he took out a jar of Peach Wine and drank a mouthful, but it still had no life-extension effect.
Reng Qing continued cultivating the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method. Faint Nether Yuan dispersed from within the jade pendant, but was not directly absorbed by him, first it was wrapped by the ghost shadow to prevent any from leaking out.
He had not found any particularly suitable material to refine a demonic-embryo artifact capable of containing Nether Yuan, and insect eggs were too precious, so he was unwilling to waste them inside the forbidden zone.
Thus the jade pendant he refined was of average quality, and it could not store much Nether Yuan.
To save Nether Yuan, Reng Qing did not intend to casually use techniques. The main reason was that the life of the sub-soul was truly worthless; even the Nether Yuan contained in the corpse after death could be reabsorbed through the jade pendant.
The Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method was rather traditional, using one's mind to control the Nether Yuan as it circulated along the eight extraordinary meridians, ultimately returning to the middle dantian. A faint stinging sensation flickered in and out.
At first Reng Qing did not notice, but after several cycles he suddenly felt that some kind of anomaly seemed to have arisen within himself. He hurriedly checked internally, but found nothing amiss.
Reng Qing frowned, his gaze turning toward the "cancer" disease-type displayed in the information stream, very likely the lurking cancer cells were causing trouble. Even so, he had no intention of stopping, and the Nether Yuan continued to grow stronger.
Reng Qing stayed in the ruined temple for several days, and due to the Insect Root his body gradually underwent pseudo-insect transformation; his teeth were becoming increasingly sharp.
The Qi-Refining stage was only the beginning of cultivation and did not require too much time. According to common sense, a Qi-Refining body would adapt to the heavenly-insect Dao and thus, under the transformation of true essence, grow stronger and stronger.
But the moment Reng Qing opened his eyes, he first spat out a mouthful of blackened fresh blood. His sensation was the complete opposite, he felt as if his body had been depleted, or like he had gone several days and nights without eating, his stomach surging with hunger.
Reng Qing ravenously devoured food until his stomach was completely filled, but the hunger still showed no sign of lessening in the slightest. He poured the remaining Peach Wine into his mouth; although it could not extend his life, at least it could alleviate symptoms.
After the symptoms eased a bit, Reng Qing still did not discover the anomaly within his body. However, he knew the cancer cells had already metastasized, merely remaining in a latent period because he had not yet ascended the cancer disease-type.
Reng Qing glanced at his lifespan and, seeing that its consumption speed had not increased, paid it no mind. He was still in the stage of exploring the Longevity Forbidden Zone; the sub-soul would inevitably die, and he had long been prepared for endless sacrifice.
Reng Qing ended his cultivation state.
But just as he intended to stand, a rustling strange sound echoed in the ruined temple, not something made by rodents at all.
Reng Qing's muscles stiffened. Reasonably speaking, with the ghost shadow's protection, no one should be able to approach silently.
The sub-soul had only just arrived in the Longevity Forbidden Zone; he did not want to die inexplicably and waste a great deal of time again.
The Double Pupils on Reng Qing's forehead scanned the surroundings. The ruined temple looked no different, grass piled in the corners, the Three Immortal statues coated in a thick layer of dust.
But he did smell a strange scent of wine, likely drawn by the Peach Wine.
Reng Qing took a deep breath and slowly stood. The "night sweating" disease-type left him somewhat dehydrated, so he took out a gourd and drank some clean water.
At the moment he lifted the gourd, he suddenly felt a chill brush across his nose, as though a face had leaned close to his own.
Reng Qing immediately drew the short blade at his waist, retreating several steps to evade.
"You... why do you not... drink wine..."
At the doorway of the ruined temple appeared a gaunt man, his appearance half-human half-lion, his body covered in fur, only his face exposed. Seedlings sprouted from the man's forehead, the tree-roots being the eight extraordinary meridians and blood vessels.
Reng Qing pressed hard with his legs, and the probing slash of his short blade touched nothing corporeal, passing straight through the man's body.
Immediately the hilt was coated in frost, bone-chilling cold surging up his arm. He instinctively threw the knife away, his head becoming somewhat dizzy.
The previously suppressed "wind chill" worsened, though fortunately Nether Yuan maintained his body temperature, preventing a high fever.
Reng Qing's expression grew grave, but he then noticed the man's face was flushed red, breathing rapidly like a drowning fish.
He understood that this person should be from the medical hall, only those with hysteria could attack.
The man clutched his throat, struggling to speak: "I shouldn't have... left... quickly... take me back..."
The ghost shadow touched the other party and the information stream surged.
[Liu Qian]
[Lifespan: seventy-two years]
[Disease-types: Alcohol-Addiction Tree-Seed, [Deformity, Hysteria]
Among them, hysteria had begun to blur, causing Liu Qian's aura to grow increasingly unstable.
Reng Qing's lips curled into a cold smile. This person had been drawn by the Peach Wine due to the Alcohol-Addiction disease-type, and after leaving the range of the Longevity Immortal statues, the hysteria began to vanish.
He suspected that if a patient lost hysteria, the illness would likely erupt violently and cause death.
Reng Qing could not help observing Liu Qian, the beast-transformation of his body could no longer be suppressed, his appearance becoming more and more like a lion-beast.
Any form of aberration was uncontrollable. Although the cultivation system of the diseased patients was strange, in essence this place was a forbidden zone of anomalies.
Reng Qing let the ghost shadow carry medicinal wine and head toward Undying Town, intending to use this to observe just what existed in the medical hall there.
Liu Qian pursued on all fours behind him; no guards obstructed them, and they passed unhindered into the ruined town.
The guards were alarmed and converged toward the town center.
It was after morning lessons, and all the diseased patients were indoors reciting scriptures.
Liu Qian whimpered; within the range of the Longevity Immortal statues the aberration slowed somewhat, but showed no sign of stopping.
The snarling swiftly silenced the chanting; diseased patients exited their rooms one after another.
"Immortal Lord above, a spirit beast..."
"It must be here to choose disciples to learn medical arts."
They gazed at Liu Qian with reverence, clearly mistaking him for a spirit beast under the Immortal Lord's seat, even kneeling and kowtowing.
They were entirely unaware of the danger.
One patient, like losing his mind, stumbled toward Liu Qian.
Having lost his reason, Liu Qian did not hesitate, he opened his bloody maw and swallowed the patient whole, blood and brain matter splattering everywhere.
The patients felt no fear, instead treating it as an honor, cheering as they surrounded Liu Qian, ready to offer themselves as food.
Liu Qian chewed flesh and bone, his final shred of reason gone.
Bang bang bang...
He rampaged through the street, buildings on the verge of collapse, shattered stone raining down, dust billowing.
Reng Qing used the chaos to enter Undying Town, remaining in a corner to observe.
Liu Qian ate indiscriminately; any patient who came near had their head bitten off, leaving broken limbs scattered across the ground.
Only now did the patients sense fear. They screamed and fled, but the more conspicuous they were, the sooner they died, collapsing into mangled corpses after only a few steps.
Jin Chengxiang shouted with a dark expression: "Forget everything else, one by one, get out of the town!"
The guards turned and ran without hesitation, though a few inevitably fell behind.
Suddenly, every patient and guard within Undying Town froze in place, including the already insane Liu Qian. The scene became deathly silent.
The tightly-shut doors of the medical hall opened, and out walked a seventy- or eighty-year-old elder, his steps staggering.
The elder's appearance was extremely ordinary, but his forehead was swollen like a Longevity Immortal statue, forming a huge fleshy tumor, his expression bearing a kindly smile.
Behind him were two men dressed like apprentices of the medical hall, lowering their heads in fear and unease.
Reng Qing narrowed his eyes to look.
In the world of hysteria, a half-meter-tall red tree grew from the fleshy tumor on the elder's forehead, its branches showing blood vessels and meridians.
Liu Qian, upon seeing the elder appear, became extremely terrified. A bit of clarity returned to his eyes and he could not help kneeling.
"Master... save me..."
Before he finished speaking, his body swelled.
Bang!!
Liu Qian turned into a field of minced flesh, the scattered limbs still twitching.
The elder spoke softly to himself:
"You all... failed to guard the courtyard walls. Could it be that you also wish to cultivate the art of longevity?"
"Master, this disciple is at fault..."
"This disciple also did not know Senior Brother would suddenly rush out, I only thought..."
The two knelt on the ground, but after only a few breaths they too followed Liu Qian's fate, blowing apart into chunks of flesh, the fragments nearly flying ten meters away.
This bloody, horrifying scene did not frighten the patients. Their expressions became extremely fanatical, and they all knelt.
"Hehehehehehe..."
The elder let out a chilling laugh. The seedling on his forehead bloomed a flower-core.
The medicinal fragrance grew stronger, the remaining patients' gazes becoming vacant, and they began stepping toward the medical hall.
They quickly gathered in the open space, Reng Qing naturally among them.
The elder swept his gaze across the crowd, mumbling:
"Not many good enough to be used as fertilizer. I had thought to raise you all a bit longer..."
His brows lifted as he stared at Reng Qing, joy appearing in his expression:
"At least five Immortal Bones upon the body, using you as fertilizer would be a waste. The old man happens to be lacking three disciples, hehe."
With a flick of his hand, the patients all walked into the medical hall.
Though it looked dilapidated from outside, inside it resembled a courtyard, and was actually very spacious.
Undying Town returned to normal, only now devoid of a single figure.
Jin Chengxiang and the other guards had already fled outside the town.
Upon seeing Undying Town become empty, his expression changed dramatically.
"Go inform the authorities to bring eighty... no, at least one hundred people here. Otherwise, if blame falls upon us, we will all die..."
"Chief Jin, why? What happened?"
"You want to die? Do as I say!"
The confused guards hurriedly mounted their horses and galloped along the mountain road into the distance, soon disappearing from sight.
Under Jin Chengxiang's command, the guards repaired the town's houses as best as possible, trying to restore Undying Town's original appearance.
Every morning the town still emitted black smoke, but with no more patients, the density of the smoke gradually weakened.
Jin Chengxiang anxiously waited, his dry-tobacco pipe never leaving his hand.
No one understood better than he what the so-called Medical Immortals truly were, Undying Town was merely their peach-orchard playground.
If displeased, wiping out a city was nothing unusual.
Fortunately, after several days, a large number of prison wagons slowly arrived.