Old Coffin couldn't help but cough, and the mouth at the back of his head spurted dark red blood.
Only then did Ren Qing notice that Old Coffin's recently transplanted right arm had already developed corpse spots, indicating that his physical condition was extremely poor.
He hurriedly supported Old Coffin.
When Ren Qing came into contact with Old Coffin, a stream of information flowed before his eyes.
[Jin Bingtian]
[Age: seventy-eight]
[Remaining Lifespan: thirty-five days]
[Technique: Xuan Tian Method (Nascent Soul Stage)]
[Xuan Tian Method]
[Cultivation requires the absorption of True Yuan to circulate around the meridians until it returns to the Qi Sea acupoint. When one's own blood reverses its flow, only then can it be mastered.]
Ren Qing frowned slightly, Old Coffin's original name was Jin Bingtian.
Although his remaining lifespan was thirty-five days, he could die at any moment.
Old Coffin had already sensed the exhaustion of his lifespan, which explained his somewhat eccentric temperament.
Ren Qing hadn't expected that Old Coffin was cultivating the core technique of the Wuwei Monastery, Xuan Tian Gong.
However, "Xuan Tian Gong" had clearly been modified, no longer requiring a Heavenly Dao Worm to parasitize the body, and it had become more suitable to the Crescent Moon Layer.
Ren Qing couldn't help but desire to obtain the technique from Old Coffin.
Old Coffin's body contained no Heavenly Dao Worm; even though his cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul Stage, comparable to the Yin Runner Realm, it still provided almost no enhancement to his soul.
Unless he extended his lifespan, his vitality would be extinguished.
"Carry your coffin yourself, does this old man need your help?"
Old Coffin pushed Ren Qing away with a trace of anger, wiped away the blood himself, and then quickly strode toward Sanmu Alley.
Ren Qing lifted the coffin and followed behind.
At this time, the street was already completely deserted.
The residents had all hidden inside their homes. Faintly, the sound of screams could still be heard from afar, indicating that the cultivators were showing no mercy in their slaughter.
However, this sort of action would at most cause the death of hundreds, not enough for Morning Street to fall into chaos.
Ren Qing could tell Old Coffin was somewhat gloomy; as soon as he put down the coffin, he was about to close his shop.
Ren Qing tentatively asked again, "Old Coffin, there will probably be a lot of coffins needed after tomorrow. Will there be enough time?"
"Doesn't matter whether your coffin's among them or not."
Of course, Old Coffin understood the meaning behind Ren Qing's words, but with his lifespan nearly at its end, he couldn't be bothered with what came after.
His tone softened slightly as he said, "Go on, don't leave your house these next few days. Just endure through it."
"Old Coffin, farewell."
Ren Qing didn't place all his hopes of obtaining a technique on Old Coffin, after all, there was more than one cultivator on Morning Street.
But to deal with those cultivators, he would likely need to use special methods.
Ren Qing stepped back toward his courtyard, even activating his Heavenly Dao Double Pupils along the way.
He found that no hidden cultivators were watching him; instead, the ordinary people were gradually beginning to suffer casualties.
Ren Qing also sensed that, in the darkest corners of Morning Street, attitudes like Old Coffin's selfish detachment were in fact the most normal.
He deliberately concealed all traces of his aura, minimizing his presence.
"Heh heh heh..."
A strange laughter sounded.
An old man who appeared to be a coachman walked into an alley; not long after he came out again, the corners of his mouth were stained with blood.
Or perhaps a gentle and charming courtesan, who in truth devoured men without leaving even their bones.
For these cultivators, maintaining the order of Morning Street was necessary; on normal days, they would even take the initiative to deal with troublesome matters.
But the appearance of Yinghu gave them an excuse for slaughter.
In theory, as long as they killed all the commoners who knew Yinghu's name, they could stop the crisis.
But in reality, since they themselves already knew, the descent of the Aberrant Entity was certain, a calamity that could not be avoided.
Now, it was merely a feast of madness.
Ren Qing knew that the slaughter would last only about two days, otherwise, the order of Morning Street would collapse, and this place would become a true "prison."
He sat cross-legged inside his side room, pondering how to intervene.
At present, Jingzhou was in the midst of a chaotic struggle between the Blood Moon and the Heavenly Dao Worm. Quietly eliminating a single Foundation Establishment or Core Formation cultivator was not difficult.
But there was plenty of room for maneuvering. If he could construct a Ghost Market, he could even arrange hidden stratagems within it.
"Only two days' time..."
Ren Qing closed his eyes; his split soul, along with a ghost shadow, descended into the Prison Within the Abdomen.
The split soul's Ze Immortal Head was positioned at the center; its form immediately transformed into Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown, Five Qi Returning to the Origin, carrying an aura of strange and unfathomable immortality.
He reached out and pinched the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed, embedding it above his brow.
The ghost shadow then entwined around the split soul, allowing the latter to borrow the Heavenly Dao Worm's Nether Yuan.
Thus, the split soul instantly became a cultivator of the Heavenly Dao Law, exuding an aura far more mysterious than Ren Qing had anticipated.
The "Immortal" of the Ze People, the "Dao" of the Heavenly Dao Worm, and the "Illusion" of the Dream Seed,
The three auras possessed a strange connection, interlinked and inseparable, making the split soul's appearance even more profoundly enigmatic.
Seeing this, Ren Qing's thoughts stirred.
The central Ze Immortal Head blurred, transforming into the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, while the Nightmare Fiend Head on the right turned into the Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerable.
The split soul's aura became even more terrifying, any Daoist-born cultivator wouldn't dare meet his eyes.
The Heavenly Dao Dream Seed between his brows emitted a dim light; immediately afterward, his finger pointed toward the island at the lake's center, where a hazy Daoist temple faintly appeared.
Ren Qing suppressed his distracting thoughts, maintaining the Butterfly Dream Technique as best he could.
Moments later, the Daoist temple took on physical form.
Its white walls and green tiles gleamed; in the courtyard stood a drooping willow, beside which gushed a spring of wine, and above it floated a jade gourd artifact.
The wine gourd had already been refined into an Eerie Fetus Tool, though it had not yet merged with a Supernatural Remnant, it was clearly not an ordinary artifact.
Ren Qing nodded in satisfaction, everything must proceed step by step.
Transforming the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed into a Ghost Market was no easy task; for now, he could only construct a single Daoist temple, but that would be enough to deal with the current situation.
He opened his eyes and stepped from the courtyard into the silent residential area.
The slaughter was nearing its end, so fewer cultivators participated, and a hint of vitality began returning to the streets.
As for whether the source of Yinghu's spread had been found, most cultivators likely didn't care, after all, the deed was already done.
Ren Qing glanced at the sky, there were still three to four hours before nightfall.
He wandered silently around the residential area, secretly observing the restless cultivators and searching for a suitable target among them.
Ren Qing soon found one.
He deliberately entered an uninhabited nearby house, closed the doors and windows, and lit a candle.
The faint glow, like a firefly in the night, naturally attracted attention.
From the shadows emerged a man covered in boils. His appearance was hideous, and his legs were naturally deformed, one long, one short.
Yuan Si swallowed hard, his triangular eyes fixed on the house where the light shone.
Every cultivator who had joined in the slaughter had gained bountiful rewards, except him. He remained thin, his stomach rumbling incessantly.
Yuan Si clutched his belly and muttered, "No one was living in that house a few days ago. Suddenly there's someone now, maybe it's the spreader..."
"Killing him wouldn't be excessive, not excessive at all..."
Yuan Si seemed to be comforting what little remained of his conscience, or perhaps merely finding an excuse.
He staggered toward the house.
But when he reached the door, he hesitated.
Indeed, most people in this world were like Yuan Si, incapable of doing good, yet lacking the courage to do evil, hesitating until they died without even a complete corpse.
The wooden door creaked open slowly, and a chilling fragrance of wine filled the air.
Yuan Si swallowed again, stepping hesitantly inside, and quickly noticed a cup of crystal-clear wine on the table.
The wine evaporated at a speed visible to the naked eye, giving him no chance to react; as vapor, it surged into Yuan Si's mouth and nose.
Bang!
Yuan Si collapsed into unconsciousness, soon snoring loudly.
He felt as if he were dreaming, a very vague lucid dream, but his consciousness was numb, as if his soul had separated from his body.
Yuan Si thought anxiously to himself, This is bad, could there really be a cultivator above Nascent Soul Stage hidden in Morning Street?
Otherwise, how could someone act upon him so silently?
With his Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation, he seemed completely unable to resist.
When Yuan Si regained awareness, he suddenly noticed that his surroundings were a Daoist temple, thick fog enshrouding the heavens and earth.
A willow swayed in the wind, and the crystal-clear wine spring was unlike anything of the mortal world.
What shocked him most was a deafening whale's cry that echoed through the clouds; within the mist, an enormous black shadow faintly appeared.
Light flickered in Yuan Si's eyes, it was as though he had returned twenty years ago.
At that time, he had not yet been trapped within Morning Street, traveling across Jingzhou with his master. It was then that he had heard of countless strange beasts.
"The vastness of the Kun, no one knows how many thousand li it spans. When it transforms into a bird, its name is Peng. The Peng's back, no one knows how many thousand li it stretches..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw the mist part slightly.
A two-headed immortal stepped through the air toward him, celestial cranes circling his sides, as golden branches and jade leaves sprouted from the ground to form divine trees.
"Immortal... there really are immortals in this world..."
Yuan Si had never dreamt of becoming immortal and attaining the Dao, yet at this moment he wept tears of joy, even wishing to offer up his heart and lungs.
The split soul stood before Yuan Si, who knelt devoutly on both knees.
Ren Qing no longer needed any pretense, he paused a few moments before saying, "Yuan Si, are you willing to attain the Dao and transcend?"
"I am willing..."
"This is the Immortal Market. It opens once every thirty days. With this token, you may enter."
Ren Qing touched Yuan Si's forehead, leaving a trace of Heavenly Dao Dream Seed aura within his Niwan Palace.
The aura was almost undetectable, unless someone tampered with Yuan Si's Niwan Palace, it would never be found.
Even if the Niwan Palace were destroyed, the aura could dissipate at any time.
Yuan Si stared at Ren Qing in disbelief, his mind in chaos; under the influence of the Butterfly Dream Technique, his defenses had already completely fallen.
"You may exchange for whatever you desire within the Immortal Market, but you must pay a price."
"Price..."
While Yuan Si was still pondering, Ren Qing directly extracted memories from his now-pliant soul, and a thick book appeared in his hand.
The book was titled "Soil Filth Method," precisely the technique he needed.
The memories thus obtained were complete, there was no need to fear inaccuracy or deceit.
"Yuan Si, what do you want?"
Ren Qing intended to let Yuan Si recruit others for him, so naturally, he would offer some benefit.
But Yuan Si sighed and said, "Immortal Venerable, before my master's death, he never gave me a Daoist title. Might you..."
Ren Qing opened his mouth slightly; since the Ze Immortal Head now bore the guise of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, he simply said, "Then you shall be called Guangchengzi."
"Thank you, Immortal Venerable."
Yuan Si was moved to tears.
Ren Qing flipped through the book, and upon seeing the cultivation method for the revised Heavenly Dao Law, he suddenly became enlightened, giving rise to a bold new idea.