Ren Qing felt somewhat distressed. Although he could extend his lifespan by over a hundred years using this method, it had already consumed all the Peach Wine.
It should be noted that Peach Wine was in short supply in the Dream Market. He had set purchase limits for cultivators, barely leaving any in reserve.
Ren Qing originally kept it for emergencies, but to gather the full 500 years of lifespan, he had no choice but to expend it entirely.
[Lifespan: 564 years, 78 days]
He examined his four main and auxiliary spells, hesitating on which to ascend to Spirit Release.
The Dark Nightmare Master was the core spell. Once ascended, it could exert influence within the Longevity Forbidden Zone, so ideally it should break through Spirit Release first.
However, considering that the Heavenly Dao Worm constantly absorbed Nether Yuan to grow stronger, the Shadowless Ghost needed to reach Yangshen Realm as soon as possible, lest the main and secondary spells reverse order.
Ren Qing looked at the ghost beneath his feet. The Shadowless Shadow Demon could also indirectly enhance survival capability in the Longevity Forbidden Zone, and the number of secondary spells even exceeded that of the Dark Nightmare Master.
As for Eternal Restraint, it had not reached Yinshen integration.
The Hidden Mysterious Gate in the abdomen was qualified, but only had the Disaster Relief Method and Mirror Immortal. Its foundation was far weaker than that of the Shadowless Ghost.
So it was best to ascend the Shadowless Ghost first.
He no longer hesitated; after all, the temporary lifespan had already diminished several years in just a few moments. Any further delay would drop him below 500 years.
[Choose to ascend Spirit Release, consuming 500 years of lifespan?]
Five hundred years of lifespan passed in an instant. Ren Qing felt as if his flesh were being stripped away. The mutation tree in his mind underwent drastic change.
The mutation tree of the Shadowless Shadow Demon rapidly grew taller, causing the ghost's body to boil, and the formed shadows enveloped the guest room.
Except for the Heavenly Dao Worm that had long become a puppet, the mysterious objects of the Human Skin Book and Bone Armor Technique wailed, attempting to escape the Shadowless Shadow Demon's control, but to no avail.
The ghost's shadow covered Ren Qing's entire body, forcibly merging with his skin and spine.
The activity of the secondary spells' mysterious objects weakened, clearly being completely suppressed. The ghost's aura permeated fully.
Ren Qing could glimpse some of it from the mutation tree.
The Shadowless Shadow Demon's mutation tree had already entwined the secondary spells' mutation trees, countless branches merging within, continuously growing itself.
Ren Qing closed his eyes to meditate, stabilizing the rampaging Shadowless Shadow Demon.
Inside the inn's main hall, the innkeeper sighed while calculating the accounts, suddenly sensing the surrounding cabinets shake. When he attempted to investigate, the movement calmed.
He wiped the sweat from his brow. If this were a wooden structure like those in Xiangxiang, it would likely have collapsed just now.
He did not know which great deity was hidden in the little inn…
Ren Qing spent several days before opening his eyes. Information about Spirit Release surged into his mind, making his expression immediately complex.
He had initially intended to ask Grand Dream Immortal about the completion of Yincha Realm, but upon reaching Spirit Release, he naturally understood.
Spirit Release in the Yincha Realm represented complete mastery over mysterious objects.
Next, he would advance toward the Yangshen Realm, involving the integration of spells, and also touching upon what Song Zongwu called the "prototype of divine power."
Divine power is extremely mysterious. Even if cultivating the same spells, the divergence in mutation paths, branches of weirdness, and physical constitution could result in radically different divine powers.
Upon reaching Spirit Release, the branches of the mutation trees of primary and secondary spells bore fruit. These fruits were formed from the branches of weirdness.
The Shadowless Ghost's fruits were jet black, continuously forming strange human faces.
The Human Skin Book's fruits resembled meatballs, Bone Armor Technique's were bony, and even Nether Sea Breathing Art bore three green fruits.
The fruits of Nether Sea Breathing Art were Ghost Roots, Netherworld Immortal Bones, and Nether Immortal Bodies.
Of course, as a Heavenly Dao spell, Nether Sea Breathing Art did not need to follow the Spirit Release path to ascend to Spirit Division Stage; the fruits on the mutation tree were more like condensations due to the information flow.
Ren Qing's task was to merge the branches of weirdness from all primary and secondary spells, thereby gestating the divine power prototype to achieve completion.
In short, merging all the weirdness branches of the Shadowless Ghost's spells counted as breakthrough to completion.
Theoretically, fewer primary and secondary spells made it easier to reach Yincha Realm completion. However, ascending to Yangshen required a solid foundation, not to mention later Tianwei Realm.
Ren Qing could not help but smile wryly.
The Shadowless Ghost had four primary and secondary spells, totaling twelve weirdness branches.
Without the information flow as a support, ascending would be almost impossible, as merging weirdness only becomes increasingly difficult.
He stared at the fruits on the mutation tree and summoned the information flow.
Whether to choose the gestation of the Shadowless Shadow Demon's weirdness, consuming five years of lifespan
The term "gestation" clearly referred to gestating the divine power prototype.
Seeing such a modest lifespan cost, Ren Qing did not feel relieved, only more helpless.
This indicated that as the number of mergers increased, the lifespan cost would also rise accordingly.
Ren Qing decided to attempt the weirdness fusion first.
His soul entered the ghost body, as if plunging into endless darkness, aiming to locate the consciousness formed by the branches of weirdness.
It seemed simple, but there was no room for carelessness.
Time seemed meaningless; one misstep could lead to soul loss of control.
He did not know how long had passed.
Ren Qing did not feel boredom, wandering repeatedly in darkness while meditating on the Shadowless Ghost's spells.
Only when a gray light floated nearby did he realize its presence.
The surface of the gray light was covered with countless spiritual runes. Upon careful observation, the runes formed the traces of the weirdness branch "Night Roaming."
Ren Qing's soul entered the Night Roaming weirdness, immediately controlling it to continue searching.
With experience, he soon found the weirdness branch "Weird Substitution."
He gradually fused the two weirdness branches. While they resisted little, the spiritual runes were chaotic.
Ren Qing organized the runes and only relaxed after complete fusion.
After fusion, the gray light became an unremarkable dead egg, showing signs of physicalization, but with no visible vitality.
Night Roaming and Weird Substitution completed weirdness fusion, beginning to gestate divine power, without affecting Ren Qing's abilities.
Once all primary and secondary weirdness branches of the Shadowless Ghost were fused, the prototype of divine power would be born; each weirdness acted as nourishment for the divine power.
Ren Qing opened his eyes. This initial weirdness gestation had taken nearly half a month.
Fortunately, previous realm ascensions were mostly completed using the information flow, so there were no hidden dangers, and the mysterious objects did not resist.
Ren Qing nervously summoned the information flow.
Whether to continue gestating the Shadowless Shadow Demon's weirdness, consuming five years and thirty days of lifespan
The stone in his heart finally dropped. Although independent ascension increased lifespan cost via the information flow, the increase was not substantial.
Ren Qing planned to complete part of the weirdness fusion independently, using the information flow only to break through bottlenecks, maximizing cost-effectiveness.
As for what kind of divine power prototype would gestate, he had no certainty.
The branches of weirdness determined the strength of the divine power prototype. Quantity did not directly determine power but more was definitely better.
During this period, Ren Qing's separated soul was reborn.
He rested briefly, cultivating the separated soul in the Ze Immortal Method to perform the Slay Three Corpses technique.
The separated soul's retraining had become proficient; after several days, it was sent to the Longevity Forbidden Zone. Ren Qing did not concern himself with what happened.
The resources in the Longevity Forbidden Zone were sufficient for the separated soul to survive a long time; energy need not be wasted. At worst, it would die and start again.
Ren Qing focused on gestating the weirdness, smoothly fusing the Shadowless Ghost's weirdness branches.
Overall, these three weirdness branches belonged to the Shadowless Ghost and fused relatively smoothly. But the next step was different.
Next was the Shadowless Shadow Demon merging with the Scapegoat Skin's weirdness branch, requiring the two mysterious objects to come into contact, followed by soul interference in the weirdness branch.
The mysterious objects became extremely restless, accompanied by high risk, easily causing the mysterious objects to backfire on the host.
Ren Qing had no choice but to proceed carefully, using his mastery of the Shadowless Ghost for gestating the weirdness.
Normally, Restraint Officers performing weirdness fusion would choose a secluded environment and seek protection from peers.
Ren Qing relied on the information flow for insurance, choosing an inn in the bustling Wuwei City—truly a display of high skill and courage.
This proved how solid the foundation laid by the information flow was; all latent disadvantages from the spells had been eliminated.
If Ren Qing had used only two or three spells for gestation, he would have reached Yincha Realm completion quickly.
He even considered adding another spell to the Shadowless Ghost.
According to his calculation, five primary and secondary spells were optimal; more would result in astronomical lifespan costs.
Moreover, not all spells could merge; sometimes it would have adverse effects.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged, immersed in gestating the weirdness. Half a month passed.
The fourth weirdness branch successfully fused; the gray egg showed some vitality but still showed no sign of hatching.
The branches of the mutation tree intertwined, the fruit forming a placenta-like organ.
But since Scapegoat Skin was only a third weirdness of Ghost Envoy level, the fusion was somewhat superficial, indicating that secondary spells also needed to ascend.
Ren Qing organized what he had obtained, especially the separated soul's recent experiences.
Lacking the energy to attend to the Longevity Forbidden Zone, he let the separated soul choose disease types independently. Unexpectedly, it selected only "Myopia" and "Anemia."
The benefit was a relatively high lifespan, a full twenty years.
The separated soul's choice was logical, focusing on stable cultivation of the Nether Heaven Worm Method, and also traveling to towns in the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Unfortunately, Jin Chengxiang died from fright before the separated soul arrived, so the soul had to explore the town alone.
The separated soul initially planned to follow the prisoner carts along the mountain path. Unexpectedly, whether by intent or accident, a massive fire erupted in the mountains, turning tens of miles around Weiwang Town into scorched earth.
He had to find another route, while also breaking through to the foundation stage of the Nether Heaven Worm Method.
Ren Qing's main body did not choose to continue secluded cultivation.
His consciousness entered the Ghost Market within Eternal Restraint, intending to examine spell manuals and mysterious objects for techniques suitable for him.
Although Ren Qing could not obtain extensive information on the mysterious objects, by comparing with the Restraint Officers' Hall spell records, he expected to gain some insight.
Failing that, he would hunt Longevity Seeds in the Forbidden Zone; the Ghost Shadow could assist in mastering the spells.
The Grand Dream Weird Path appeared ordinary from the outside, but inside concealed caves containing thousands of mysterious objects.
Many mysterious objects possessed spell techniques even Grand Dream Immortal did not know the origin of.