Ren Qing's entire body broke out in goosebumps, and he could not help but subconsciously look around.
Each of the techniques created by him was stranger than the last, completely different in style from Restraint Officer techniques, placing oneself in an absolutely undefeatable position.
He immediately gained clarity.
To prevent similar techniques from acting upon himself, no matter how useful the first two aberration routes were, he could only advance into Storyteller.
The intense sense of crisis in Ren Qing's heart urged him to master it as soon as possible.
[Can consume one year of lifespan, waive the cost to master]
[At the moment Storyteller appeared in Ren Qing's technique list, he directly threw the anomalous object into the Flesh-and-Blood Furnace and burned it to ashes.]
Watching the anomalous object turn into anomalous dust, Ren Qing's gaze flickered slightly.
As for the bodily changes brought by Storyteller, they were optional, but this technique could already use the soul to possess others at the Martial Practitioner realm.
Ren Qing guessed that it should have been created before Mirror Immortal.
Mirror Immortal was actually rather ordinary, merely eliminating the reflection in mirrors and mastering illusions that could pass for real.
But after conceptualizing the Disaster-Elimination Method, it began to feel somewhat like walking an unconventional path.
As for Storyteller, it was definitely a technique created when cultivation had reached the heavens, with a sense of using all living beings as shells, without self, without form, without others, without methods.
Ren Qing pinched his temples. It seemed that the inexplicable gate formed by the Disaster-Elimination Method advancing to the Yang–Yin Difference realm, "Ghost Belly Hiding Gate," absolutely could not be opened.
Ghost Belly Hiding Gate refers to the gate within the abdomen of "Wu Deceit." Behind the gate is a room that isolates everything.
The room inside is extremely special. It cannot be opened from within; once inside, one can only wait for the next person to open the door.
As the first cultivator to come into contact with the world behind the gate, who knows what this madman installed inside...
He shook his head with a bitter smile. To guard against the Storyteller's ability, the only way was to join it. Truly tragic.
[Whether to choose the Storyteller branch, will consume one year of lifespan]
[Ren Qing silently confirmed. He had thought that breaking through to the Ghost Envoy realm would not cause much commotion, but suddenly a deafening sound rang by his ears.]
Pa...
The gavel struck the tabletop.
The atmosphere of worldly smoke and fire lingered in the rafters without dispersing. Although there were no changes in the surroundings, it felt as if he had arrived in a teahouse.
The storyteller moistened his throat and said in a resonant, forceful voice:
"Storytelling and opera persuade men's hearts,
Three great roads lead through the center..."
"Whoever leaps beyond the walls,
That is the immortal path of agelessness!"
Clang clang clang...
"Ageless path!!"
Ren Qing widened his eyes. He knew this was merely a resonance between his soul and the technique, yet he still felt a chilling sensation throughout his body.
All known Heaven-Grade Aberration realms had already perished, for reasons unknown.
Yet he suddenly realized that he absolutely had not died. He was very likely somewhere in this world, listening to tunes from pleasure quarters, tapping his hand with a paper fan, watching prosperity with a playful disregard.
Who knows whether, after seas turned to fields, with all Heaven-Grade Aberration realms of the same era gone without a trace, he had advanced even further.
Go to the land immortal realm to see the scenery?
Ren Qing paced back and forth in the guest room to steady his emotions, feeling like a toad just climbing out of a well, stunned by the sight of a gigantic elephant.
It took him several hours to finally calm down, and he could not help but let out a long breath.
Ren Qing continued sitting cross-legged on the bed, his consciousness observing the aberration tree in his mind.
The aberration tree of Storyteller was overall semi-transparent, and was quickly tightly entangled by the gnarled roots of the Disaster-Elimination Method, thus confirming the hierarchy of primary and secondary.
The Ghost Envoy realm of Storyteller is called "Storyteller."
The ability was indeed as Ren Qing had expected, it could hide body and soul without leaving a trace inside another person, completely undetectable.
However, the cultivator could not control the host, nor could they leave voluntarily. They had to wait for the host to die, like a storyteller sitting and watching winds and clouds surge, untouched by worldly karma.
[Whether to choose the Storyteller branch, will consume ten years of lifespan]
Ren Qing did not hesitate in the slightest. This time, the sound of the gavel no longer rang by his ears, and the advancement process appeared calm and uneventful.
He looked curious. His current lifespan was close to a hundred years, just enough to see what aberration branches the Storyteller possessed.
The Memory-Preserving Spirit Crystal attached itself to Ren Qing's body, placing his mind in a state of absolute calm.
He looked at the tender buds between the aberration tree's branches. Information surfaced, and the abilities of the aberration branches were bizarre and varied, dazzling his eyes.
Some aberrations were similar to lifespan extension, with the effect of subtly increasing the host's lifespan, but at most by fifty years.
Others granted cleverness, greatly increasing the host's comprehension of things.
Naturally, there were also aberration branches with negative effects.
[Short Fate: The host's lifespan rapidly flows away over time. The body gradually shows signs of premature aging, eyes go blind, ears go deaf.]
[Heavenly Lone: Close friends and family of the host will encounter misfortune in everything, until they eventually die due to various accidents.]
[Numb: Emotions are stripped away, and from then on one no longer knows the warmth or coldness of the world.]
Ren Qing felt somewhat helpless. Among the aberration branches, he did not find any that controlled the host's actions. Most merely influenced the other party from the shadows.
In the end, for his first aberration, he chose the relatively conservative No-Thought.
No-Thought: Those without thought are naturally resistant to soul possession and parasitism.]
Ren Qing thus became completely immune to the Storyteller's ability, yet he felt a lingering sense of dread, fearing that after the No-Thought aberration took effect, some indescribable existence might crawl out of his body.
After waiting half a day without seeing any abnormalities, Ren Qing finally let out a sigh of relief.
The No-Thought aberration was quite useful, but he still would not easily attempt to use the Storyteller's ability.
If Ren Qing hid within the body of a mortal, deliberately leaving behind a backup similar to the ghost shadow to deal with the other party, but then lost that backup due to some reason,
He would immediately lose the means to actively intervene with the host.
Even if he used negative aberration branches to cause the host to suffer decline of the five fortunes of heaven and man, or even approach imminent death, it still did not guarantee absolute safety.
What if the host erupted with protagonist destiny, turning danger into safety at every turn, using all kinds of opportunities to break through cultivation, and ultimately ascend and attain the Dao?
Wouldn't Ren Qing then be trapped for hundreds or thousands of years, unable to escape, only able to watch time flow by helplessly? Truly despairing.
The inherent drawbacks left behind by the technique made his hair stand on end. Who knew whether it could lead him into a perilous trap? He had to be cautious.
Unless he encountered a danger he absolutely could not confront, Storyteller would remain a trump card.
Ren Qing's remaining lifespan was insufficient to complete further aberrations, so he planned to meditate for a few days, then continue the aberration fusion of Shadowless Ghost.
However, perhaps because he had been too idle during this period, events suddenly arrived one after another, piling onto him all at once.
First was his split soul far away in the Longevity Forbidden Zone, it had died in a very aggrieved manner.
The split soul had taken more than half a month to find a settlement. It was a town that looked ordinary on the outside, almost no different from Xiang Township.
The people tilled the fields in the mountains, rice stalks swaying in the wind like the surface of a lake.
What seemed like a safe environment actually concealed risks.
As soon as the split soul entered the town, before it could even gather information, it suffered a heavy blow, being inexplicably poisoned unconscious by colorless, odorless smoke and dust.
Those who participated in the plot were ordinary-looking, kind-faced townsfolk.
The split soul had not expected these ordinary mortals to band together to deal with him, and moreover believed that with Nether Yuan upon him, there was no need to worry too much.
In the end, the poison smoke could not even be resisted by Foundation Establishment realm cultivation.
Fortunately, the ghost shadow transferred the split soul to the outskirts. Seizing the moment before death, he advanced into a disease-type, thus not wasting twenty years of lifespan.
After receiving the split soul's memories, Ren Qing was both amused and helpless. This way of dying was truly miserable.
However, it also indicated that there must be secrets hidden within the town, possibly involving longevity species, through which he might come into contact with useful techniques.
Ren Qing replenished thirty years of lifespan, using temporary lifespan to complete one aberration of Dragon-Snake Spine.
The chosen aberration branch was Lightning Command.
[Lightning Command: A dragon pearl is born within the jiao dragon's body, within which lightning can be nurtured.]
At present, Dragon Spine's methods were too limited. With Lightning Command, he would not need to engage in close combat every time, and could at least cast techniques from afar.
Moreover, the ghost shadow also simultaneously gained the Lightning Command ability. However, before undergoing aberration fusion, its power would likely be somewhat weaker.
Once the aberration branch was completed, Dragon Spine emerged from Ren Qing's spinal bones.
The Dragon Spine circled uncomfortably, then began coughing violently, until it spat out streams of flame laced with lightning.
The lightning directly scorched more than half the floor pitch-black, and a foul stench spread through the air.
Seeing this, the ghost shadow seemed to want to inform Dragon Spine that it was the primary technique. Its pitch-black body suddenly condensed together.
Ren Qing could not help but examine the ghost-shadow jiao dragon, discovering many peculiar aspects.
The ghost-shadow jiao dragon used Scapegoat Skin to construct its scales, Heavenly Dao Worm to form its body, Nether Sea Breathing Art as its foundation, and Bone Armor Technique as its bones.
Dragon-Snake Spine's role was more like integrating all primary and secondary techniques into a unified whole.
Thus, the ghost-shadow jiao dragon's appearance was more ferocious and terrifying, completely lacking dragon attributes, resembling an unknown monster.
Its entire body was covered in extremely fine scales, filled with twisted, bizarre patterns. Within its partially ethereal body, bones could faintly be seen.
Though it was a jiao dragon, its head bore a single horn, seemingly meant to pierce others' skin and take the opportunity to burrow inside and devour flesh and blood.
Dragon Spine was clearly extremely afraid of the ghost shadow. After being smug for only a short while, it hid back inside Ren Qing's spinal bones.
The ghost shadow immediately returned to calm.
Ren Qing glanced at the floor that was nearly burned through, and silently used a messenger to contact Little Third, who was also in Wuwei City, asking him to help find a place to stay, somewhere secluded would suffice.
He then opened the letter Li Tiangang had sent not long ago.
The sudden incident was related to the Changyuan Escort Bureau. It was said that they had gone to transport demon beast corpses near Liuli Mountain, and had unexpectedly gone missing.
Mere disappearance would have been normal. The problem was that afterward, a Linggan Temple appeared atop the mountain, crowded with people and flourishing with incense offerings.
However, Li Tiangang could confirm that there was no Yang Spirit realm existence inside. Otherwise, it would not have allowed multiple techniques to take effect simultaneously. Ren Qing also agreed with this assessment.
At present, the demonic qi concentration in Jingzhou was insufficient to sustain a Yang Spirit realm existence. Even the descent of Rabbit-Toad cultivators would take at least another seven or eight years.
Cultivators had used techniques to probe the area, but only the four characters "Linggan Great King" were transmitted back before all contact was lost.
They had not died. Rather, they seemed to be trapped inside Linggan Temple, and should not encounter mortal danger in the short term.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and murmured to himself, "Linggan Great King..."
Liuli Mountain was not far from Wuwei City. To be safe, Li Tiangang wanted to ascertain the truth, and thus hoped that Ren Qing would make a trip there.
Ren Qing could naturally refuse, but with the life-preserving abilities of his various techniques, ghost shadow's real–illusory transformation and erasing his own existence, he should be able to probe more information.
To prepare for what came next: the transformation into the primordial wilderness.
Moreover, he suspected that the Buddhist qi of the Blood Moon would invisibly influence the situation in Jingzhou.
Perhaps he could come into contact with Buddhist techniques?