Inside the Yellow Crane Temple, stone platforms were gradually being erected, precisely in preparation for the Ascension Conference.
Within the city, the major Daoist temples began to stir with undercurrents, especially Green Wind Temple and White Dragon Temple, each force unwilling to yield to the others.
Faced with the opportunity to ascend to the Other-Consumption Realm, how could the Ze People of the Self-Consumption Realm be as calm as they appeared?
They would inevitably attempt to seize it.
What kind of situation would occur during the Ascension Conference was unknown.
However, because Yellow Crane Temple had not specifically stated which day it would be held, Ren Qing could only wait patiently, meanwhile flipping through the newly acquired Water Marsh Method.
The Water Marsh Method was created by a certain cultivator, a technique specifically designed to manufacture slaves.
After cultivation, one would transform into the so-called Ant Immortal, tirelessly circling around the pus-covered old Daoist, raising the Heavenly Dao Worm that parasitized within his body.
It was simply a technique to deceive people, and the fact that the Gobi People could successfully cultivate it still relied somewhat on luck.
Unfortunately, Liu Chuan had not yet reached the Ghost-Consumption Realm, and the contents of the Water Marsh Method still had omissions, causing the information flow to be unable to view its originator.
Ren Qing also discovered that the information regarding the Ghost-Consumption Realm was quite perfunctory; if one truly wanted to rely on it to break through a bottleneck, there would likely be no small amount of hidden risks.
Moreover, the Ghost-Consumption Realm was indeed somewhat similar to Li Yaoyang's gu worms.
The Ze People had to swallow a Supernatural Remnant into their body, and their form would thus undergo uncontrollable aberrations.
Only by completely digesting the Supernatural Remnant could they reach the Ghost-Consumption Realm.
Ren Qing deeply doubted it, how could a Ghost Envoy Realm Supernatural Remnant be so easy to deal with, especially since Li Yaoyang was not yet completely dead?
This should be Li Yaoyang's opportunity; it depended on whether he could grasp it.
The Ghost-Consumption Realm required digesting three kinds of Supernatural Remnants in total; at that time one would reach completion, which in the eyes of the Ze People counted as truly becoming immortal.
However, even the Ghost-Consumption Realm did not at all possess the level of the Yang God Realm, and the limitations of the Water Marsh Method were fully exposed.
In theory, the Restraint Officers' Hall was sufficient to flatten Huang Sand City, provided that the Cloudborne Pure Void Palace did not interfere; otherwise it would be very troublesome.
Ren Qing considered the possibility of cultivating the Water Marsh Method with a split soul, continuously scribbling revisions in the book, attempting to alter the technique.
The main focus was to perfect the conditions for the formation of the Ze People.
Originally, they were born from the main body and only afterward absorbed the body-soul to generate consciousness; he preferred something more akin to swallowing Water Soul directly, transforming the body-soul into a Ze Person with fewer drawbacks.
Ren Qing used Water Soul as the medicinal primer for the entry of the technique, taking out a heap of techniques for reference and forcibly patching the related content onto it.
The result was that in just two days, a new Water Marsh Method had already been created, during which he even went once to Yellow Crane Temple to deal with corpses.
As for what the Water Marsh Method had been called before was unknown, so Ren Qing simply gave it a new name.
[Ze Immortal Method]
[Created by Ren Qing, requiring Water Soul as the medicinal primer, subjected to three days of exposure under the blazing sun, until the body-soul is completely aberrated, only then can it be cultivated.]
[Once one grasps the Ze Immortal Method, before the Other-Consumption Realm one cannot remain long in the outside world.]
Ren Qing prepared to let his split soul grasp the Ze Immortal Method.
Anyway, each time the split soul was destroyed, when reborn it would always return to its initial state.
In the future, if he were to find soul-related techniques, he could simply have the split soul change to cultivate those.
But perhaps because the method of creating the technique was too rough, the initial mastery of the Ze Immortal Method in the Self-Consumption Realm actually required ten years of lifespan.
For Ren Qing's stored lifespan, ten years was more than sufficient, but he still attempted to let the split soul cultivate on its own.
Even if something happened to the split soul, it would not matter.
Ren Qing's split soul appeared within the Prison Within the Abdomen, clutching the Water Soul in both hands without moving, attempting to gradually absorb it with the split soul.
After about two or three hours passed, only then did the Water Soul shrink somewhat.
The split soul seemed unchanged, but in fact its form became more illusory, and occasionally ripples like water patterns emerged.
Ren Qing did not rush to continue absorption, but first recalled the split soul into the Niwan Palace, confirming that it would not affect the main soul before starting again.
One by one, Water Souls disappeared in the hands of the split soul, and it gradually became semi-transparent.
When the aberration of the split soul reached its limit, it could no longer maintain a human form, instead turning into a puddle of clear water upon the ground.
Ren Qing hesitated for a moment, but thinking that even if he lost the split soul, it would not have much impact at present, he brought the split soul into the Flesh Furnace.
The situation of the split soul was different from normal cultivation; judging that sun exposure was of little use, he simply directly grilled it with fire.
The fire was suppressed to the size of a fist.
The split soul floated in midair, several tongues of flame winding up around it.
"Hiss..."
Ren Qing could not help but draw in a breath of cold air in sympathetic pain; the split soul even boiled like water, bubbling violently, its teeth gritted in agony.
But he had no intention of giving up, letting the high temperature sizzle and crackle the split soul.
Parts of the split soul's body began to vaporize, yet by the progress it was still far from finished.
After two hours, the split soul had only shrunk by one third.
Ren Qing thought that prolonged pain was worse than short.
The fire immediately grew fierce, and the main soul at once gave rise to a strange suffocating sensation.
He endured with all his strength until the split soul completely vaporized, forming a humanoid mist of water.
Ren Qing silently recited the content of the Ze Immortal Method, and the split soul began to condense, a Ze Person of the Self-Consumption Realm manifesting within the Flesh Furnace.
The Ze Person split soul still bore traces of the Three Flowers Gathered Above, yet overall it seemed more natural.
Moreover, once the split soul reached the Self-Consumption Realm, Ren Qing's suppression of the Lord of Absolute Darkness Supernatural Remnant became markedly stronger, showing it could even aid the cultivation of The Blindless Method.
Seeing this, he summoned the information flow.
[Promote to the Other-Consumption Realm, will consume twenty years of lifespan]
Ren Qing did not hesitate to choose to consume it; anyway, with more than seventy years of lifespan at present, at most he could complete one aberration, so better to use it here.
The Ze Person split soul underwent a tremendous transformation; normally it required devouring pseudo-Ze People to reach Five Qi Facing the Origin, but now it forcibly created itself out of nothing.
Its aura became more ethereal, the lotuses at its forehead and both ears seeming like real flowers when not blooming.
On the palms of both hands, the five-colored human faces had expressions of profound mystery.
Frankly speaking, the split soul's image was even more imposing than Ren Qing's main body, enough to make uninformed commoners kneel and worship.
In terms of strength, the Other-Consumption Realm was already comparable to the Yin Runner Realm, but its methods were too singular, easily countered by enemies.
It was unrealistic to use it as a trump card, but more than sufficient as a split soul.
The Ze Immortal Method seemed simple to advance, but in fact one had to first completely aberrate the body-soul, then absorb five groups of pseudo-Ze People, and finally digest Supernatural Remnants.
The risks far outweighed the benefits, and one still could not advance to the Yang God Realm.
To prevent Xiangxiang from encountering a situation similar to Huang Sand City, the Ze Immortal Method absolutely could not be spread.
Ren Qing once more checked the information flow, discovering that promotion to the Ghost-Consumption Realm required one hundred years.
He realized the situation.
As for drawbacks, there were not many, since it was the split soul that grasped it, unrelated to the main body-soul.
But for the Self-Consumption Realm, since Water Soul was required as the medicinal primer, it caused ten years of lifespan to be consumed; the Other-Consumption Realm and Ghost-Consumption Realm were the same.
The difficult points of the Ze Immortal Method lay in the materials required for advancement and enduring aberration.
If Ren Qing himself cultivated it, promotion to the Ghost-Consumption Realm should not take too long, but he would wait until leaving Huang Sand City to attempt it.
After ending his short seclusion, he discovered that more than a hundred corpses had been added to the mass graves outside the city, nearly piled into a mountain.
The Ascension Conference was also steadily advancing; at the very least the stone platforms at Yellow Crane Temple had already been completed.
However, Immortal Huanghe likely did not know that Li Yaoyang still retained traces of life; from the subtle gnaw marks on the corpses it could be seen that the latter's consciousness was gradually recovering.
That Changshi Daoist, familiar with Sha Shanzi, had also disappeared, most likely having died silently at the hands of Immortal Huanghe.
While feeling some regret, Ren Qing also conceived a plan, intending to casually offer a favor by having the Ghost Shadow deliberately contact the welcoming Daoists who left Yellow Crane.
After finishing these, he turned his gaze toward the towering Immortal Ascension Ladder.
Ren Qing did not know whether he would ever come to Huang Sand City again, and suddenly felt it necessary to go take a look at the Immortal Ascension Ladder, perhaps to gain another harvest.
He came to the city's northern corner, his appearance gradually changing under the influence of the Immortal in the Mirror, ultimately becoming a stooped old man.
Ren Qing appeared to strain lifting a rock, slowly stepping toward the Immortal Ascension Ladder.
There were quite a few Gobi People traveling alongside.
They were generally over forty years old, all devout seekers of immortality, trading this life's cultivation for the hope of becoming immortal in the next life.
Though in the end all would come to nothing.
Yet it must be said, the mindset of the Gobi People was indeed apt material for cultivating the Restraint Officer Method, they could endure hardship, did not fear death, and possessed a longing for immortality.
If the Restraint Officers' Hall controlled Huang Sand City, within only a few years there would be hundreds more reserves.
Moreover, in this place of water marsh, ordinary Supernatural Remnants could hardly form forbidden zones; the Ze Sand mixed with residual souls was like an ant swarm devouring elephants, easily grinding down Supernatural Remnants.
Ren Qing stepped onto the stone ladder, rocks creaking as they scraped against each other.
Sunlight shone upon him, heat seeping into his pores, the temperature of his flesh, blood, and bones rising ever higher.
The Ze People paid no attention to the Immortal Ascension Ladder, so Ren Qing did not worry about being discovered, and in moments he had already reached the highest point of the entire Huang Sand City.
He gazed northward, wind and sand shrouding his view, making the situation unclear.
But Ren Qing had chosen his timing very well; before long day and night alternated, and the wind and sand abated somewhat.
In his squinting eyes, the Double Pupils turned, and his brows furrowed tightly.
In the direction of Jingzhou, there actually rose a second full moon, moreover blood red, exactly the "Blood Moon" mentioned by Heavenly Daozi.
The light of the Blood Moon caused the edges of the water marsh to show signs of dissipating; this was likely also the reason the Sandification was spreading toward Xiangxiang.
Ren Qing did not stay long, only watching a few breaths before climbing down the Immortal Ascension Ladder.
The situation of Xiangxiang was not optimistic; even with the water marsh as a buffer, it did not mean the calamity of Jingzhou would not spread over.
He returned to the courtyard, continuing to prepare for escape from Huang Sand City, estimating it would only be a few days.
Ren Qing suddenly sensed more welcoming Daoists dying within Yellow Crane Temple, their corpses' flesh all fed to the gu worms.
Inside a sealed room of Yellow Crane Temple, hundreds of black beetles gnawed on corpses.
Yet among them, one beetle lingered at the side, its antennae constantly twitching, as if pondering something.
Just as the corpse was about to be completely devoured, black liquid flowed from the bone marrow, forming faint characters upon the ground.
The beetle hesitated for a moment, then checked it, its body involuntarily trembling.
"Ren Qing..."
Li Yaoyang had finally found a chance at survival amidst certain death, relying only on partial knowledge of the Ze People, how to face Immortal Huanghe?
Originally, he had already planned to perish together, dragging Immortal Huanghe into Avici Hell, perhaps thereby providing clues to the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Li Yaoyang had not expected Ren Qing to also come to the gathering place of the Ze People.
To conceal his whereabouts so well, perhaps his cultivation had advanced faster than himself, already reaching the Yin Runner Realm.
He sighed inwardly, memorizing the content firmly.
Then Li Yaoyang scraped a line of words upon the Ghost Shadow with the legs of the insects, with difficulty, mainly telling Ren Qing not to make a move.
Ren Qing also hinted through the Ghost Shadow at the intrigues among the Daoist temples.
Li Yaoyang continued digesting the obtained information, gradually forming a plan in his mind.
The room returned to darkness, and soon even the sound of gnawing corpses disappeared, after which several Daoists came in to dispose of the remains.
Immortal Huanghe's maniacal laughter echoed, filled with indescribable excitement, brimming with the desire for becoming an immortal.