Ren Qing's appearance was undoubtedly like a massive boulder crashing into a calm lake. On top of that, both his purpose and identity were unknown, leaving the cultivators restless and uneasy.
After several peaceful days passed without incident, they became even more wary instead.
In their eyes, Dead Man Land was no blessed land filled with heavenly treasures. Other than the Immortal Gate, this place held nothing but endless deathly silence.
Or was he trying to enter the Immortal Gate?
But dozens of cultivators had entered the gate over a hundred years ago, and not a single scrap of information had returned since. They had undoubtedly met with disaster.
If not for the fact that their respective factions had demanded they stand guard outside the Immortal Gate, and had even cut off every route of retreat from Dead Man Land, they would never have remained here for two hundred years.
Fortunately, it was said that after three hundred years, replacement cultivators would come take over their duties.
Daoist Taihan glanced sideways toward the giant corpse Buddha.
The thing was simply too close to the daoist temple, making him feel as if he were sitting on pins and needles.
At the same time, however, a thought surfaced in his mind.
The cultivator impersonating Daoist Lingxiao was very likely a Heavenly Aberration realm Immortal Guest. Perhaps he could use this chance to escape this damned place called Dead Man Land.
Daoist Taihan quickly dismissed the idea.
At most, he only needed to endure another hundred years before leaving Dead Man Land. Why risk complications caused by regeneration-related changes? Maintaining the status quo was the safest option.
Just as he was lost in thought, a shadow slipped into the town along the edge of a wall.
The shadow wriggled rapidly before finally stopping in a secluded corner. A half-human, half-insect cultivator slowly crawled out from within.
Daoist Yuhua could not help sweeping his gaze around the surroundings. Not long ago, Ren Qing had informed him about Daoist Taihan's existence.
It had only been fifty or sixty years since he left Insect Nest. Back then, he was already at the Golden Core stage, and his status within Insect Nest had actually been quite high.
Yet Daoist Yuhua had never heard the slightest rumor regarding Dead Man's Forbidden Zone.
After thinking carefully, he did recall that some Insect Nest cultivators had disappeared after going to the surface world, though everyone had assumed they died long ago.
Ren Qing did not say much, but Daoist Yuhua still took the initiative to venture outside.
He wanted to obtain Heavenly Dao Insect eggs from Daoist Taihan and establish an Insect Nest faction within the Restraint Officers' Hall. Otherwise, sooner or later, he would become little more than a subordinate dependent on others.
Daoist Yuhua scanned the streets. All around him were Heavenly Dao Insect people bearing human traits.
Within Insect Nest, the aptitude of Heavenly Dao Insect people was usually judged by how close their bodies resembled humans, as this directly affected whether they possessed sufficient intelligence.
The Heavenly Dao Insect people near the daoist temple all possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation, yet their intelligence resembled wild beasts, making further advancement impossible.
Meanwhile, through the resources of the Restraint Officers' Hall, Daoist Yuhua had already reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. If he had not also been cultivating the Shadowless Ghost, he might already have attempted to break through to the Spirit Division stage.
As he walked through the streets, the other Heavenly Dao Insect people paid him no attention at all. Before long, he arrived at the daoist temple where Daoist Taihan resided.
Daoist Yuhua took a deep breath.
The danger of leaving the giant corpse Buddha alone went without saying. Without Ren Qing's protection, if he truly died here, there would be no helping it.
Using the ghost shadow from the Half-Corpse Mirror to scout ahead, Daoist Yuhua stepped inside.
Daoist Taihan was sitting atop the roof. Only when Daoist Yuhua came within a hundred meters did he notice him, and his expression shifted repeatedly within the span of a few breaths.
He harbored an almost obsessive desire to leave Dead Man's Forbidden Zone.
When he first saw Daoist Yuhua, his immediate reaction was that Insect Nest had finally sent someone to replace him. But the moment he thought of Ren Qing, suspicion immediately arose.
After all, Ren Qing had only just appeared, and immediately afterward, a Heavenly Dao Insect person showed up. There was no way such a coincidence could happen naturally.
"Who are you..."
Daoist Taihan narrowed his eyes and spat out a flying sword condensed from true essence. His tone carried a hint of threat as he stared at Daoist Yuhua.
"Elder Taihan, I am a disciple of the Calamity Rot Insect Mother. My name is Yuhua."
"Calamity Rot Insect Mother... Calamity Rot Insect Mother... Calamity Rot Insect Mother..."
Upon hearing the familiar name, excitement flooded Daoist Taihan's eyes. He even began pacing around helplessly in place.
"If you've come to replace me, then come, come, come. I'll first show you..."
Daoist Taihan rambled on endlessly, but when he noticed Daoist Yuhua remaining silent, his voice gradually weakened.
With a gloomy tone, he asked, "There are no reinforcements, right?"
"In Insect Nest, Elder, you've long been considered dead. We've never heard any rumors about Dead Man Land."
Daoist Yuhua nodded.
Daoist Taihan's body immediately began trembling uncontrollably, and his true essence showed signs of qi deviation.
The other Yang Spirit realm cultivators in town quickly noticed the disturbance. Layman Molting Shell, who was familiar with Daoist Taihan, immediately rushed toward the daoist temple.
Seeing this, Daoist Yuhua hurriedly said, "Elder Taihan, I can take you out of Dead Man Land. More accurately, the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal can take you out..."
Before he could finish speaking, he noticed Layman Molting Shell rapidly approaching. He immediately activated the Shadowless Ghost and temporarily merged into the shadows.
The moment Daoist Taihan heard the words "Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal," his pupils dilated.
As a cultivator of the Heavenly Dao Insect lineage, how could he not know of the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal? That was a true immortal said to govern the earth veins.
Not long afterward, Layman Molting Shell landed and looked at Daoist Taihan in confusion.
"Taihan, are you alright?"
Daoist Taihan regained his composure and forced himself to speak calmly.
"I encountered a bottleneck while cultivating and nearly suffered qi deviation. Fortunately, it's nothing serious."
Layman Molting Shell relaxed and exchanged a few pleasantries before leaving the daoist temple.
The reason the three factions had managed to survive in Dead Man Land for two hundred years was precisely because they had secretly formed an alliance with one another.
Daoist Taihan remained silent for a long while. Only after the town became quiet again did he finally speak.
"Yuhua, have you truly met the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal?"
Daoist Yuhua hesitated for a moment. Previously, Ren Qing had instructed him not to spread information regarding the Restraint Officers' Hall, but there had been no restrictions regarding the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal.
"The one who arrived a few days ago is the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal."
Daoist Taihan opened his mouth slightly. Earlier, he had sensed no true essence from Ren Qing, so naturally he could not fully believe it.
But Ren Qing was right nearby. If the other party truly was the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal, then voicing doubt would essentially amount to challenging a true immortal's authority.
Daoist Yuhua did not realize Daoist Taihan's inner conflict. Since he dared not remain in town too long, he got straight to the point.
"Elder Taihan, how many Heavenly Dao Insect eggs do you have here?"
"Uh... there are still 5,321 left, though some have already turned into Dead Eggs."
Daoist Yuhua borrowed the authority of the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal and declared, "Good. The Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal sent me to collect two thousand of them."
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Daoist Taihan stood there dumbfounded. Remembering that regardless of whether Ren Qing truly was the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal, he was not someone he could afford to offend, he obediently handed over the insect eggs.
The Heavenly Dao Insect eggs of Insect Nest differed from those of Wuwei Daoist Temple.
Their outer shell resembled amber, yet inside was a miniature infant connected by an umbilical cord to a Heavenly Dao larva. The two existed in symbiosis.
As the egg gradually hatched, human and insect would fuse into one.
Daoist Yuhua accepted them with delight. As long as Li Yaoyang helped hatch them, the Heavenly Dao Insect people would soon form a proper force.
"Many thanks, Daoist Taihan. Once I receive news from the Blessed Virtue Earth Immortal, I'll inform you in advance when we're leaving Dead Man Land."
To him, whether Daoist Taihan chose to join the Restraint Officers' Hall did not matter much.
With a Yang Spirit realm cultivator like Daoist Taihan around, the status of the Heavenly Dao Insect people would undoubtedly rise dramatically, though it would also inevitably threaten Daoist Yuhua's own standing.
As for whether Ren Qing accepted the man or not, that had nothing to do with him. With the might of an Earth Immortal, controlling a mere Yang Spirit realm cultivator would be effortless.
After Daoist Yuhua left, Daoist Taihan sank into prolonged contemplation.
Originally, he still had the patience to continue waiting another hundred years. But now that there was a possibility he might remain trapped in Dead Man Land forever, his mind could no longer stay calm.
Daoist Yuhua returned safely to the giant corpse Buddha.
He did not notice Ren Qing's figure. After relaying the situation through an avian Strange Beast, he went to seek out Li Yaoyang to discuss hatching the insect eggs.
After copying the Dead Man's Sutra from the surface of the Immortal Gate, Ren Qing began cautiously approaching it step by step.
The carrion-eating insects gathered in swarms like sandstorms over a marshland, circling endlessly around the Immortal Gate corpse, creating an unbearably noisy scene.
Ren Qing stopped a hundred meters away, then released his ghost shadow to spread forward.
He could not help muttering, "Immortal Gate... anything involving gates naturally reminds one of the Weird Gate from the Disaster-Elimination Method. But what if... this thing isn't a gate at all?"
The ghost shadow touched the toe of the Immortal Gate corpse, which resembled a mountain range, and the information stream surged forth.
Formed from the Mirror Immortal, others may use the Corpse Mirror to enter the mirror world and create substitutes that inherit complete memories.
Ren Qing let out a bitter laugh. If it was truly the Mirror Immortal, then everything could finally be explained.
If nothing unexpected occurred, then the Mirror Immortal's mutation path was the same as his own, the bizarre and unfathomable Strange Mirror Walker.
The Corpse Mirror functioned as a magical artifact possessing the abilities of a Strange Mirror Walker.
Under normal circumstances, after activating Strange Mirror Walker, the cultivator's true body would enter the mirror while a substitute replaced them outside.
The substitute possessed all the memories of the original body. Even the techniques they cultivated were identical, and even the strange entities would temporarily separate and be bestowed upon the substitute.
The substitute remained unaware of its own nature and perfectly inherited everything from the original body.
Only after the substitute died and the technique's effects ended would the strange entities return to the original body, allowing the original body to leave the sealed mirror world.
"So Daoist Lingxiao truly entered the Corpse Mirror. The one outside was merely a substitute."
Most likely, the dozens of cultivators back then were all the same. Yet after whatever happened within the mirror world, only Daoist Lingxiao's substitute returned.
The Corpse Mirror was the entrance to the Mirror Immortal, but the exits likely spread throughout Dead Man's Forbidden Zone. There were probably even exits outside the forbidden zone itself.
The many cultivators guarding the gate were merely disposable pawns meant to prevent accidents.
Ren Qing deeply suspected that quite a few Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators had entered the mirror world. Their substitutes remained outside maintaining appearances while relying on the Mirror Immortal's abilities to prolong their existence.
The current Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva had likely also used the mirror world to avoid passing into nirvana.
If the Buddhist aura came to Dead Man's Forbidden Zone and failed to locate the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva's true body, it would probably leave to search for the substitute in the outside world.
Creatures such as the cocoon people also originated from the mirror world, which was why they instinctively sought to return.
Ren Qing stared at the mysterious memory buried beneath the tree in the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Why did it feel less like a backup left behind by some Heavenly Aberration realm existence?
After all, Daoist Lingxiao's memories had clearly been tampered with by the Mirror Immortal.
That mysterious memory was very likely what Daoist Lingxiao had seen and experienced within the mirror world, except it had been sealed inside the Natal Golden Core by the Mirror Immortal.
He toyed with the Natal Golden Core using his consciousness.
The Pill Dao Method fused the soul into the Natal Golden Core. Theoretically speaking, only by destroying the Natal Golden Core could one truly be considered dead.
"The Daoist Lingxiao inside the mirror world... is he still truly himself?"
To deliberately create a refuge for Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators to avoid calamity, regardless of the intention behind it...
What a terrifyingly grand scheme.