"Looking for death... huh..."
Peach Blossom Immortal's eyes were filled with anger. Then he turned and walked away, casually grabbing patients along the way, transforming them into Pan Peaches, continuously chewing them.
Ren Qing squinted, watching Peach Blossom Immortal's departing figure.
He felt that the so-called "Tree Immortal" mentioned by Peach Blossom Immortal was likely related to the Tree Seedling growing on his head, and there must be something hidden in it.
His own "Sleepless Tree Disease" should not take long to ascend; by then, he would understand what the disease type truly represented.
The ghost shadow beneath Ren Qing's feet quietly dispersed, hiding in shadows throughout the medical hall, preparing to seize an opportunity to obtain information about Peach Blossom Immortal.
He then returned to the guest room.
Next, his separated soul might die, so Ren Qing planned to hide the items he carried so that the new soul could use them when it arrived.
The next morning, Ren Qing found that more than half of the dozens of patients in the medical hall were gone, most having been eaten by Peach Blossom Immortal as snacks.
The remaining patients were not afraid, even willingly offering their lives to Peach Blossom Immortal.
Even if they did not attain the Dao in this life, they hoped to become immortals in the next, thus willingly dying at Peach Blossom Immortal's hands.
Under such circumstances, the medical hall resembled the most insane psychiatric hospital.
The ground was covered in blood, and occasionally a few patients could be seen self-harming, even placing their entrails under the Longevity Immortal statue.
Peach Blossom Immortal was somewhat influenced, and his cultivation frequency accelerated accordingly.
Originally, only a dozen or so people would receive nutrient extraction from the Longevity Immortal statue every five days. Now, under Peach Blossom Immortal's direction, it was shortened to three days, and the number of deaths was visible to the naked eye.
What puzzled Ren Qing most was that the soldiers no longer escorted prisoners, instead retreating to nearby hills outside the town.
He remained calm.
The life of his separated soul was not important; if he could understand the truth of the Longevity Forbidden Zone, even losing it was acceptable.
After numerous patients became mummies, the fleshy tumor on the forehead of the Longevity Immortal statue had swelled more than threefold, like a peach about to ripen, emitting a faint sweet and bloody smell.
This clearly intensified the patients' hysteria, gradually expanding its range.
Ren Qing immediately understood why the soldiers had retreated to nearby hills; if they stayed in their original positions, they would surely go mad.
Even the thickest mask would be useless.
Ren Qing was fine, protected by the Dream Seed artifact. But the constant muttering of other patients, claiming they were "in a fairyland," indicated their hysteria had reached an incurable stage.
He even suspected that, even far from Weiwang Town, the hysteria would not improve.
Peach Blossom Immortal's indiscriminate cannibalism did not continue. When only a dozen or so patients remained, a voice came from the medical hall: "Ah, I ate too much."
As the words fell, Peach Blossom Immortal stepped into the courtyard.
Compared to when he first arrived in Weiwang Town, his body had grown at least three hundred jin heavier, showing just how many lives he had used to fill his teeth.
He spat out the blood and flesh residue, then stepped toward the town's outskirts.
When his feet touched the shadows at the doorway, Ren Qing finally obtained concrete information about Peach Blossom Immortal without him noticing.
[Peach Blossom Immortal Age: 375]
[Lifespan: 567 years]
[Longevity Seed: Peach Monkey (Ghost Envoy)]
Peach Blossom Immortal not only had no disease types but also displayed a special "Longevity Seed," which was at the level of the Restraint Officer method.
"Peach Monkey? Ghost Envoy?"
Ren Qing's heart stirred, focusing on the Longevity Seed section.
[Fetal Monkey Spirit – Created by Peach Monkey Lord; cultivation requires breaking the limbs of an infant and placing it in the mother monkey's womb. The infant must consume the young monkey to cultivate successfully.]
[Longevity Seed – Formed from a mysterious object.]
The information revealed by the Longevity Seed was simple. Ren Qing immediately understood: Peach Blossom Immortal was actually a manifestation of a mysterious object from the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
What was the purpose of the disease type, perhaps as nourishment for the Longevity Seed?
While Ren Qing pondered, Peach Blossom Immortal had already reached outside the town, heading directly for the dozens of soldiers hidden in the mountains.
Jin Chengxiang, drenched in sweat, widened his eyes as Peach Blossom Immortal approached.
"Immortal, I am willing to serve as a physician in the medical hall. Spare my subordinates..."
"Too late."
Peach Blossom Immortal revealed a ferocious smile. The moment he raised his right hand, a hurricane arose in the mountains, making trees crackle.
The soldiers tried to flee, but their bodies floated involuntarily.
Peach Blossom Immortal said in a deep voice: "I accidentally ate too much blood food. It would be too late to prepare elsewhere, so you'll make up for it."
"Anyway, it's all the same."
He removed his Taoist robe, revealing a grotesque monkey face on his chest.
The monkey face, half-human, half-beast, opened its mouth, extending a narrow tongue, wrapping around soldiers and flinging them into Weiwang Town.
Jin Chengxiang was stunned. Compared to Peach Blossom Immortal's head, almost identical to the Longevity Immortal statue, the chest's monkey face seemed his true form.
Soldiers landed in town, many fractured, yet hysteria made them frantically crawl toward the medical hall.
Peach Blossom Immortal put his robe back on, glanced at Jin Chengxiang, and turned away.
Jin Chengxiang collapsed in despair, knowing his life was spared only to guard the medical hall.
There was no escape; only fate remained.
Peach Blossom Immortal dragged the gravely injured soldiers under the Longevity Immortal statue, transforming them into mummies. The air's sweet-bloody smell grew more intense.
"Hurry to pay respects to the Longevity Immortal."
He spoke loudly, and all patients in the medical hall walked toward the backyard, clearly at the most critical moment.
Ren Qing squinted, noting the night and obediently following with the three-meter Tree Seedling on his head.
His lifespan had reached forty-five years, but the Sleepless Tree Disease had yet to ascend, stuck at a strange bottleneck.
As Ren Qing entered the courtyard, he saw Peach Blossom Immortal frenziedly using patients as nourishment for the Longevity Immortal statue.
Yet these patients were unusually eager, wishing to die instantly in devotion.
The statue's head swelled ever larger, especially the massive fleshy tumor, seeming on the verge of bursting.
The tumor emitted the aura of a mysterious object, though weak.
When patient numbers dropped to single digits, Peach Blossom Immortal breathed heavily, his gaze filled with tangible greed.
Crack... crack... crack...
Like a ripe fruit falling, fissures spread along the statue's neck.
Its head fell, caught by Peach Blossom Immortal, who sniffed the break ecstatically.
Ren Qing looked at the statue; the neck showed traces of flesh, bones, and muscle, suggesting it might have been a real person.
A cold wind blew.
The Longevity Immortal statue decayed visibly.
The few remaining patients awoke from their hysteria. Though still affected, the world in their eyes had dramatically changed.
The courtyard was littered with corpses, the stench unbearable. Precious medicinal herbs hung on walls had become dried internal organs.
Peach Blossom Immortal held the statue's head, repeatedly licking its fresh blood with his tongue, eventually swallowing it whole.
Ren Qing did not interfere. His partial ghost shadow could contend with Peach Blossom Immortal, but he was in the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
The patients fell fully into madness, flailing like headless flies, even crashing into walls attempting suicide.
Peach Blossom Immortal's cultivation increased, his aura approaching Ghost Envoy level.
He shook his head in nostalgia, eyes on Ren Qing, and said uncompromisingly: "Good junior brother, the pit awaits."
"If you become a Tree Immortal, you will embody the Longevity Immortal, a great merit; in your next life, you will surely be reborn as an immortal."
After the Longevity Immortal statue vanished, a pit remained, just large enough to bury a person, obviously prepared for Ren Qing.
Ren Qing nodded: "Fine."
Peach Blossom Immortal exhaled long; Ren Qing's calmness confused him. Even a pseudo-immortal with hysteria could not remain so composed.
He hesitated a few breaths, his flesh gradually collapsing into mist, floating in midair, clearly still cautious.
For days, Peach Blossom Immortal had been observing Ren Qing, but the latter behaved too normally.
If not truly suffering hysteria and with the disease type sprouting on his head, nothing would reveal his pseudo-immortal madness.
Peach Blossom Immortal prepared to strike.
Unexpectedly, Ren Qing smiled and walked toward the pit, then jumped in decisively.
Peach Blossom Immortal paused; under his control, the swirling soil buried Ren Qing, leaving only the green Tree Seedling on his head visible.
He relaxed, approaching the Tree Seedling: "You probably guessed. The disease type's purpose is to nourish the Longevity Seed."
Peach Blossom Immortal removed his robe again, revealing the grotesque monkey face.
The monkey face twisted, and after a long while, it spat out a pale tongue.
The tongue, like a green worm, crawled onto the Tree Seedling branch and merged into it. Peach Blossom Immortal relaxed, smiling.
Ren Qing felt peculiar; the Double Pupils of the Dream Seed on his forehead protected his intelligence. The green worm resembled the mysterious object cultivated when mastering Restraint Officer method.
The Longevity Seed clearly separated parts of its mysterious object, "planting beans to grow beans," using disease types to form complete mysterious objects.
They consumed mysterious objects of the same origin to strengthen themselves.
This implied that the mysterious objects in the Longevity Forbidden Zone could self-ascend; Peach Blossom Immortal may have been only at Half-Corpse level in his youth.
Ren Qing's heart raced.
If he found the pattern, he could continuously obtain high-level mysterious objects, and the creation of Yin-Cha level mysterious fetuses would be imminent.
Ren Qing asked: "Humans are born of humans, demons of demons. I want to ask, where did you come from?"
Peach Blossom Immortal heard the underground voice, incredulous: "A tree? How could it retain intelligence?"
"You claim to be disciples under Longevity Immortal; were you cultivated somewhere?"
"Or perhaps you also grew from a tree?"
"I merged into that green worm; if it grows, it will die after fruiting. But what if I hadn't merged?"
The sharp questions made Peach Blossom Immortal repeatedly step back, even instilling fear in his heart.