The Blood Moon's method of breaking the forbidden zones was unexpected, but Song Zongwu had not originally held much hope, and the response was fairly timely.
Ren Qing closed his eyes and sensed the ghost shadow hidden beside the White Bone Throne, yet did not discover the traces of Mysterious Palace Moon nearby.
The demonic beast tide clearly revealed something unusual; its scale was extraordinary.
The demonic beasts covering the mountains and plains were almost without end in sight. The number of Great Demons among them was extremely exaggerated, at least dozens mixed within.
If it were when Wuwei City had not yet finished refining, forcibly holding fast would only have resulted in heavy casualties.
Now they could try to resist, after all there were two Yang Spirit realm cultivators overseeing, and once Wuwei City reached the Ghost Envoy realm it could withdraw on its own.
The aura of spells being cast came one after another, and swaths of demonic beasts were harvested.
However, those at the front were all miscellaneous demons, mainly to exhaust the stamina of the cultivators defending the city, preparing for the Little Demons behind.
Ren Qing even had a premonition that even if the Rabbit-Toad cultivators did not personally come, demon-kind under their command would inevitably participate.
Demon-kind possessed intelligence and were not as easy to deal with as demonic beasts.
Ren Qing took advantage of the situation still being somewhat controllable to hurry and complete the growth of his strength; next it was very likely there would be no leisure opportunity.
The information flow surged.
[Lifespan: one thousand eight hundred thirty-two years]
He could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. The lifespan extension from Nether Sea Breathing Art advancing to the Spirit Division stage had not fallen short of expectations, roughly around one thousand two hundred years.
The Human Skin Book, Bone Armor Technique, and Dragon-Serpent Spine advancing to the Yang Spirit realm required one thousand five hundred years, more than enough to reach "Multitude Yang Immortal."
But unfortunately, the lifespan dividend of the Heavenly Dao Method ended here. After all, the second realm of the Yang Spirit realm, "Ascension Ladder," required strange objects to fuse with one another; at that time Nether Sea Breathing Art would exist in name only.
Ren Qing's Nether Sea Breathing Art was ultimately a secondary spell. Wanting to rely on it to reach Earth Immortal was almost impossible; he could only follow the Restraint Officer method's path.
Bang...
Demonic beasts collided against the city wall.
Seeing this, Ren Qing eliminated distracting thoughts and consumed lifespan according to the original plan.
The process of advancing to Multitude Yang Immortal would by no means be brief, so first he consumed the surplus three hundred years of lifespan, lest there be no time later.
Ren Qing currently had quite a few spells that had not reached Yin Difference realm, but he urgently needed to strengthen survival ability, so Storyteller was the first choice.
Whether to choose branch Lecturing Old Master, will consume lifespan two hundred years
The two characters "lecturing classics" also have the meaning of storytelling, but are broader, usually referring to an old teacher in a school.
Ren Qing silently confirmed.
When Storyteller advanced there was no great disturbance, just like the ability of this spell, hidden in the mundane world, no one knows me.
Lecturing Old Master was not much different from Storyteller. Apart from strengthening aberrant transformation ability, there was not much difference in capability.
Only one point.
After Ren Qing parasitized inside someone, he himself would no longer consume lifespan; instead, the host must provide double the lifespan.
A cultivator could thus continue living, experiencing countless lives.
"Storyteller, Storyteller... taking living beings as books, this spell is truly terrifying, and the one who created it even more terrifying."
Ren Qing's expression was complex.
In a certain sense, Lecturing Old Master already counted as a longevity method.
It was just that after he parasitized, the host's lifespan likely would not be recognized by the information flow; otherwise one could rely on Storyteller to become immortal and attain the Dao.
Ren Qing continued to consume lifespan to advance, then looked toward Dragon-Serpent Spine.
[Choose branch Coiling Dragon Shedding to Python? It will consume lifespan five hundred years]
In legend, a horned dragon cultivates for unknown years before having a slight possibility to transform into a coiled dragon.
Its claws change from three to five, its scales all over the body become as warm as jade, emitting auspicious dragon qi, and beneath its jaw forms a dazzling pearl protecting the vital inch.
Ren Qing threw the Dragon Spine into Eternal Shackles in advance. When the information flow consumed five hundred years, the Dragon Spine had to undergo the pain of rebirth.
The Dragon Spine was forcibly bound by black ropes to avoid causing losses to the stomach world.
The information flow compressed the process of horned dragon shedding into python into a few minutes. The shed scales were like forcibly peeling off dragon skin.
The Dragon Spine was covered in blood, bones cracking crisply one after another, its body gradually lengthening, and the dragon pearl beneath the jaw forming accordingly.
However, possibly influenced by other spells, the dragon pearl was like amber, faintly showing an embryonic young dragon inside.
Song Zongwu and the other stood atop the city wall. They simultaneously looked toward the city interior, their gazes uncertainly sizing up Ren Qing's courtyard.
Why was there again an aura of advancing to the Yang Spirit realm?
Even if that Heavenly Dao Method failed to advance, it would not be possible to break through again in a short time; at least decades of recuperation would be required.
After the Dragon Spine reached the Yang Spirit realm, Ren Qing found that his control over thunder and the five elements further advanced, and he could not help but exhale deeply.
[Choose branch Primordial Fetal Membrane? It will consume lifespan five hundred years]
The advancement of the Human Skin Book required involving the main body. To prevent accidents, Ren Qing simply used the Jailor Possession of Ice Crystal Technique.
He was in a state of absolute calm before beginning the advancement of Primordial Fetal Membrane.
Ren Qing's consciousness instantly sank into an illusion. Before his eyes appeared endless gray-white, as if trapped inside a fetal egg.
Understanding immediately arose in his heart.
There is a saying that at the beginning of the world it was within a gray egg, and finally Pangu held a giant axe to split the gray egg open, thus giving birth to heaven and earth.
The "Primordial Fetal Membrane" of the Yang Spirit realm of course could not involve opening heaven and earth, but its ability indeed encompassed myriad things, appearing incomparably vast.
Primordial Fetal Membrane possessed extremely strong adaptability to any heterogeneous aura, instead making the enhanced skin toughness secondary.
This adaptability would accumulate over time. If Ren Qing stayed in an environment filled with Heavenly Demon aura, gradually his skin would develop resistance to the erosion of Heavenly Demon aura.
For Ren Qing, he had stored quite a few types of heterogeneous aura.
He could completely rely on Dream Seeds to release Heavenly Demon aura, allowing Primordial Fetal Membrane to adapt, without deliberately contacting Supreme Heavenly Demon.
Buddhist qi and demonic qi were the same.
However, developing Primordial Fetal Membrane's ability had to proceed step by step. For now, the enhancement to strength was relatively limited and would have to wait until Jingzhou ended.
Ren Qing waited a moment. After all, the natal magical artifact associated with Bone Armor Technique had already fused with Dragon Spine and had to wait for its metamorphosis to complete.
When Dragon Spine's scales regrew and the dragon pearl became restrained, and the three claws finally turned into five claws, this counted as reaching the Yang Spirit realm.
Dragon Spine lay weakly. Just as it wanted to rise and display its dragon might as a coiled dragon, it suddenly discovered the black ropes were still binding it.
An ominous premonition arose in its heart...
[Choose branch Spiritual Marrow Bone Immortal? It will consume lifespan five hundred years]
Ren Qing's lifespan had just over one hundred years remaining, also representing that the primary and secondary spells of Wuying Ghost had all reached the Yang Spirit realm and were about to step into Multitude Yang Immortal.
Dragon Spine instantly went numb. Just after finishing Dragon-Serpent Spine's metamorphosis, it began Bone Armor Technique's metamorphosis, the degree of pain no less.
Its body, under the effect of Spiritual Marrow Bone Immortal, became increasingly ferocious.
Sharp bone spurs grew from its back spine. The originally black-jade-like dragon horns turned into white bone form. The dragon head was also covered by bone plates, as if wearing a bone helmet.
The ability of Spiritual Marrow Bone Immortal was to turn bone marrow into a magical artifact, which could be summoned to form bone armor or bone swords, extremely flexible.
However, because the natal magical artifact fused into Dragon Spine, all of Ren Qing's bones were sufficient to rival magical artifacts, causing Spiritual Marrow Bone Immortal to manifest in nourishing bones through accumulating bone marrow.
It could completely be called "Undying Bone"; he could even survive briefly separated from flesh and blood.
Taking advantage of the interval of Bone Armor Technique's advancement, Ren Qing summoned his own information flow.
[Lifespan: one hundred thirty-two years]
[Techniques: Shadowless Ghost, Human Skin Book, Bone Armor Technique, Netherworld Method, Dragon-Serpent Spine This-side Yin Spirit, Primordial Fetal Membrane, Spiritual Marrow Bone Immortal, Netherworld Wasted Immortal, Coiling Dragon Shedding to Python Divine Ability: Dragon Roar Within the Casket, No-Eye Method (Dream Butterfly Method, Dream Demon Art, Six Diseases Method), Darkest Demon Lord (Three-Inch Human Realm, Demon Dream True Person, Scattered Disease Plague Lord)]
[Aberrant Transformations: Dream Seed, Soul Garment, Dream Artifact, Butterfly Shedding, Butterfly Attachment, Messenger, Dark Light, Recall, Layered Dream, Layered Dreams, Long Dream, Nightmare Demon, Disaster Dispelling Method (Storyteller, Mirror Immortal), Aberrant Belly Hidden Gate (Lecturing Old Master, Aberrant Mirror Mutual Birth)]
[Aberrant Transformations: Hunger Endurance, Thirst Endurance, Kill Endurance, No-Thought, Parasitic Rearing, Planting Demons, Glazed, Phantom Body, Illusory Reality, The Taotie Method (Food-Consuming Immortal Technique, Wine God Technique, Dao Dao Dao), Eternal Shackles (Fuel King in the Furnace, Wine River Between the Body, Jar-in-the-Stomach Daoist Grounds), Jailor, Boundless, Residual Moon, Furnace Forging, Kindling Sun, Remaining Ashes, Peach Wine, Wine Mine, Wine Cloud]
Ren Qing could see that after the spells related to Wuying Ghost all reached the Yang Spirit realm, the information flow had already grouped the various information together.
As long as he advanced to "No-Birth Immortal," the strange objects would fuse with each other. Ren Qing did not know what kind of unique strange object would be born.
At "Ascension Ladder," the five spells would completely disappear, thereby nurturing the "Ascension Method."
Waves arose in Ren Qing's heart. After all, he had taken a step closer to longevity, and the means to protect the Dao were becoming increasingly abundant.
Dragon Spine completely lost strength. After Bone Armor Technique advanced to the Yang Spirit realm, it simply lay motionless among the mountains within Eternal Shackles.
Ren Qing suddenly clutched his chest, only feeling that five hearts were beating simultaneously inside his body, and subtle connections formed between the strange objects.
He hurriedly concentrated, thereby clarifying the path of strange object fusion.
Although Ren Qing relied entirely on the information flow to raise cultivation, he did not know whether the cheat would have effect on Heavenly Aberration realm, or even Earth Immortal.
The courtyard returned to calm, and Song Zongwu and the other withdrew their gazes.
In their view, the aura emitted by Ren Qing finally became restrained again; he should have smoothly broken through the bottleneck of the Yang Spirit realm.
Song Zongwu's expression was complex, as if the Yang Spirit realm were as easy as taking something from a bag, after all Ren Qing's cultivation process had been too smooth.
He glanced at Great Dream True Person. The light and shadow forming the latter's body were slightly distorted, showing that his heart was likewise not calm.
But no matter what, at least in the current situation, having one more Yang Spirit realm was a good thing and could increase a few chances of victory.
Bang bang bang.
Heavy footsteps sounded from outside the city.
The sound of elephant trumpeting was deafening. Dense demonic qi mixed with corpse stench rushed over.
Thick dark clouds covered a thousand li. As the cold wind swept past, scattered raindrops quietly fell, quickly developing into torrential rain.
Not long ago the ground had still been scalding from being drenched in blood; now the temperature began to plummet.
Faint red mist spread out. One could vaguely see the enormous silhouette approaching in the distance, two dozens-of-meters-long tusks like sharp spikes.
Han Li stood blankly on the city wall. Even as rain soaked his clothes he did not move; the fear in his heart grew wildly.
"Corpse Elephant?"
Air waves rolled up, and within the mist there appeared a vacuum area, also clearly revealing the black shadow, an enormous elephant covered all over in chains.
Like a death row prisoner being escorted to the execution ground.