Lingxiao Daoist's condition was obviously somewhat abnormal.
His expression kept changing, crying one moment and laughing the next, muttering to himself like a madman before suddenly falling silent again.
On the surface, Ren Qing did not act rashly, but secretly began arranging various methods. The disease seeds were slipping into Lingxiao Daoist's mouth and nose along with his breathing.
He wanted to obtain clues about the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone from Lingxiao Daoist.
So he planned to first use brain-type disease seeds to occupy Lingxiao Daoist's brain. That way, he could directly steal his memories and even control his soul.
After all, Lingxiao Daoist was at the Yang Spirit Realm. He definitely possessed methods to protect his soul and would not easily let it fall into another person's hands.
Seeing Lingxiao Daoist desperately suppressing the abnormalities in his soul, switching between calmness and madness, Ren Qing could not be bothered to deliberately stall for time.
At that moment, a faint fragrance spread from Lingxiao Daoist's body.
"Mm."
Ren Qing's pupils constricted. The strange objects inside his body unexpectedly transmitted a feeling of hunger, wanting to divide up and devour the Lingxiao Daoist before him.
Fortunately, his control over the strange objects was extremely strong, and he quickly calmed down.
The strange objects' abnormal reaction should originate from Lingxiao Daoist's Pill Dao Method. Could it be that this technique truly refined the cultivator himself into a medicinal pill, just as the name implied?
Ren Qing asked a few questions, but Lingxiao Daoist continued speaking only gibberish.
The ghost shadow silently came into contact with Lingxiao Daoist, pouring massive quantities of disease seeds into his flesh and bones before lying dormant within.
The information flow surged.
[Lingxiao Daoist]
[Medicinal Age: 735]
[Lifespan: None]
[Technique: Pill Dao Method (Pill Cauldron Realm), Pill Poison Method (Self-Poison Realm)]
[Pill Dao Method]
[Created by Dan Chunzi. Cultivation requires consuming a medicinal catalyst refined from infants, using it to form a Pure Yang Golden Core, then merging one's own soul into the Golden Core before the technique can be cultivated successfully.]
[Pill Poison Method]
[Created by Dan Chunzi. Cultivation requires consuming the brains of Pill Dao Method cultivators, using it to stimulate the mutation of the Golden Core within the body before the technique can be cultivated successfully.]
"Pill Poison Method?"
Ren Qing already had a certain guess regarding the so-called Pill Dao Method. This technique truly treated cultivators as medicinal pills to be refined.
The fact that Lingxiao Daoist's age had become medicinal age made it obvious that the flesh and blood of Pill Dao cultivators were probably like Tang Monk meat from Journey to the West.
He suspected that the faint fragrance leaking from Lingxiao Daoist was the medicinal aroma unique to pills.
As for why Pill Dao cultivators had not become great medicine for certain existences, it was probably because of the effect of that "Pill Poison Method."
The Pill Poison Method gave Pill Dao cultivators a kind of deadly poison that even Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivators would find difficult to resist.
Ren Qing's thoughts stirred. Could Lingxiao Daoist be deliberately pretending to be weak, luring him into eating his flesh and blood so he would be poisoned?
He sized up Lingxiao Daoist. The disease seeds could also sense the disorder within his soul.
It was as though a huge amount of chaotic memories had been stuffed into Lingxiao Daoist's soul, causing his consciousness to show signs of qi deviation.
Ren Qing could not help raising his vigilance. He vaguely sensed that the other party was extremely troublesome, so he secretly activated the aberrated organs.
The various organs simultaneously came alive, releasing the unique aura of magical artifacts.
With Li Tiangang absent, Jiang Feng was responsible for the command and mobilization of Restraint Officers' Hall. After noticing the abnormality in the organs, he quickly informed the cultivators.
Jiang Feng took out an eyeball from his robes. While casting a technique, he crushed it with force.
The eyeballs on the backs of Han Li, Tang Sheng, Hu Wen, Little Third, and the others exploded, allowing them to receive the information transmitted by Jiang Feng.
Their expressions became grave. This action clearly meant they had to end the battle quickly.
Destroying the Dao soldiers was not difficult, but these puppets were extremely troublesome. To play it safe, Restraint Officers' Hall originally had no intention of ending the fight swiftly.
Han Li no longer held back. The blood in his body began to boil, and his body instantly showed signs of petrification, transforming into a giant fungus-stone humanoid.
"Seal!"
After cultivating Blood Fungus Record's Blood Storer, he had advanced into "Filth Within Blood." Every drop of blood was like a tiny world that could be used for sealing.
His blood swallowed the several hundred Dao soldiers fighting the Daoist Temple disciples, temporarily sealing them within.
"Martial Uncle!"
The majority of the disciples led by Qingsongzi rode flying swords toward the Restraint Officer cultivators, while the remaining disciples protected Han Li.
Once the Daoist Temple disciples disengaged from the Dao soldiers, they immediately became fresh combat strength on the battlefield.
"Form the formation. Slaughter demons."
Qingsongzi spat out a few words, his expression turning extremely complicated as scenes from when he had been besieged in Jingzhou continuously flashed through his mind.
At that time, it had been entirely thanks to Wuliangzi holding back most of the enemies that the disciples had survived.
"Dao births Dao, Wuwei Dao."
After Qingsongzi shouted, the other disciples echoed him in unison. Then the shadows beneath their feet spread across their entire bodies.
No matter which aberration path the Shadowless Ghost took, it possessed the ability to let ghost shadows possess the body.
The Daoist Temple disciples' ghost shadows had fused with the black insects of the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, instantly creating a temporary fusion of human and insect.
They immediately transformed into shadow insects over two meters long, treating the shadows on the ground as water and swiftly swimming through them like fish.
The attacks of the shadow insects were extremely covert and possessed the corrosiveness of the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
Daoist Yuhua was utterly astonished. Such a unique method of combining humans and insects was practically unheard of and made his heart stir.
Unfortunately, Daoist Yuhua had attempted to cultivate the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method before, but because the black insects strongly rejected parasitizing the Heavenly Dao Insect, he had failed to cultivate it.
However, it also made him even more convinced that Ren Qing was a Fortuitous Virtue Earth Immortal.
The casualties among the Dao soldiers began to increase rapidly. Once cultivators freed up their hands, they immediately went to support their comrades, causing the situation to snowball.
Ren Qing gave another order to Jiang Feng.
Once all the Dao soldiers were dealt with, Restraint Officers' Hall was to immediately withdraw into the stomach world.
If he and Lingxiao Daoist started fighting, the giant corpse Buddha would inevitably become involved, possibly injuring the cultivators of Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing stared at Lingxiao Daoist for a moment. The latter's condition had stabilized somewhat.
The Mud Pellet Palace could faintly hear battle sounds coming from the blood vessels, mixed with the Pill Dao cultivators calling for help from Lingxiao Daoist.
Lingxiao Daoist paid them no attention, merely twisting his limbs somewhat awkwardly while strange true essence surged through his body.
Ren Qing bluntly asked, "Daoist, what exactly is your purpose in coming here?"
Lingxiao Daoist laughed loudly and stroked his beard, speaking in a lively tone, "First of all, I must thank Fellow Daoist for sparing my life."
"I'm not like them, clinging pitifully to survival while wanting to leave Dead Man Land. I came here to discuss going to the immortal sect with Fellow Daoist."
Lingxiao Daoist's attitude was gentle, as though the people fighting outside were not disciples of the Pill Dao Sect at all.
"They were already dead, weren't they?"
As soon as Ren Qing spoke, the smile on Lingxiao Daoist's face instantly stiffened.
In truth, when the Pill Dao Sect invaded the giant corpse Buddha, Ren Qing had already roughly figured out the situation, though he had not fully understood the Pill Dao Method.
Now that he thought about it, Pill Dao cultivators were essentially intelligent Dao soldiers, and they themselves likely had no awareness of this fact.
After Xuan Chengzi had fallen into the stomach world, the dream technique had roughly examined his body and soul.
Ren Qing had just received feedback from the Dream Butterfly magical artifact and discovered that the souls of Pill Dao cultivators were extremely strange, resembling the Rat Mother of the Rat Plague Technique.
The Rat Mother's ability resembled substitution. It could revive and reincarnate through clone burden rats.
Although the clone burden rats appeared almost identical to the original body, they were actually newborn souls inheriting only the memories. The Pill Dao Sect was the same.
The souls of Pill Dao Sect cultivators had obviously all been born recently. Most likely, Lingxiao Daoist used some method to preserve his disciples' memories before reconstructing their bodies according to those memories.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. The answer was practically ready to emerge.
He calmly asked, "I never expected your sect's Pill Poison Method to have such an effect."
Lingxiao Daoist's pupils constricted. His back unconsciously straightened, and only after several moments did his smile return.
"Fellow Daoist truly has sharp eyes."
"Our Pill Dao Sect uses the body itself as a pill. Inevitably, we become tainted with some medicinal properties. If we did not devise countermeasures, we would probably have long since become medicine slaves."
Ren Qing neither agreed nor disagreed. The poison in Pill Poison Method probably referred to soul poison.
If his guess was correct, after Pill Dao cultivators mastered the Pill Poison Method, the Golden Core within their bodies would transform into something resembling a brain and possess the effect of absorbing memories.
The reason Lingxiao Daoist's soul was in disorder was because his soul contained the memories of every Pill Dao Sect cultivator.
Using countless memories as poison.
Those seemingly living Pill Dao cultivators were merely Dao soldier puppets carrying the memories of Pill Dao Sect disciples. What a "Scatter Beans Into Soldiers."
Ren Qing became even more wary of Lingxiao Daoist and had no intention of cooperating with him.
The Dao soldiers attacking Restraint Officers' Hall had definitely been manipulated behind the scenes by Lingxiao Daoist.
If Restraint Officers' Hall had been unable to withstand the Dao soldiers, Lingxiao Daoist would certainly have chosen to monopolize the giant corpse Buddha. Why would he discuss cooperation with him?
Ren Qing waved his hand as though he did not care, but in reality, he was waiting for Restraint Officers' Hall to withdraw while gathering hundreds of thousands of disease seeds within the narrow Mud Pellet Palace.
The two of them chatted casually like old friends who had not seen each other for years.
The more Lingxiao Daoist interacted with Ren Qing, the more turbulent his thoughts became.
As soon as he entered the giant corpse Buddha, he had felt a gaze fixed upon him, everywhere at once.
At that moment, Lingxiao Daoist realized that Restraint Officers' Hall's control over the giant corpse Buddha was extremely thorough, even more complete than what was visible on the surface.
The combat strength of Restraint Officers' Hall was also difficult to describe. Internally, they were completely united.
The one Lingxiao Daoist could not see through the most was Ren Qing himself.
Ren Qing's appearance clearly displayed zombie traits, but the yin qi he emitted was faint and elusive, proving that his main cultivation technique had nothing to do with corpse refinement.
Lingxiao Daoist intentionally released a trace of medicinal properties. At that moment, he felt several strands of pure malice locking onto him.
It was as though he had accidentally fallen into a wolf den surrounded by starving wolves.
Who knew what kind of monsters were hidden within the man before him.
Lingxiao Daoist even had the illusion that if he continued releasing medicinal properties, the monsters might riot and completely devour him.
He stared fixedly at Ren Qing, seemingly convinced the latter would agree.
"If we go to the immortal sect together, we will definitely obtain the opportunity to attain the Dao and become immortals."
Ren Qing could not help asking, "Daoist, why do you say I came from inside the gate?"
Lingxiao Daoist slightly shook his head and replied in a strange tone, "Ever since the incident two hundred years ago, very few cultivators have dared venture into Dead Man Land."
"Only those from inside the gate would disregard everything to head toward the immortal sect."
"Those from inside the gate?"
Lingxiao Daoist smiled and closed his mouth, seemingly treating the information he knew as bargaining chips to force Ren Qing into cooperating with him.