The ghost-shadow beneath Ren Qing's feet unintentionally spread out and came into contact with the man's body.
[Gao Liang]
[Age: Fifteen]
[Lifespan: Seven Years]
[Disease-Type: Hysteria, Deformity]
Ren Qing stared at Gao Liang's disease-types, lingering on "Hysteria" for several breaths.
Gao Liang saw Ren Qing silent and wordless, and said with an eerie gaze: "You should be able to see it, right? Master is about to wake up..."
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes, and couldn't help but ask: "What?"
"Jie-jie-jie-jie..."
Gao Liang let out a hoarse laugh, about to continue speaking, but then saw firelight coming from within the town, and quickly flipped over and slipped into the shadows.
"Hurry and come in, the Longevity Great Dao is right before your eyes."
His expression when he turned his head was exceedingly terrified, as if encountering a fierce beast, completely opposite of the earlier madness he displayed.
With the help of his blurred vision, Ren Qing looked toward the end of the street and saw someone holding a lantern to illuminate their way; judging by the footsteps, at least seven or eight people.
He couldn't help but feel wary, and the gazes secretly watching him became sharper.
But since he had already come here, naturally he couldn't retreat; besides, the sub-soul's life wasn't worth much, so taking some risks was proper.
Ren Qing used the bamboo hat to conceal his appearance again, preparing to enter Undying Town.
But as soon as he approached within ten meters, he discovered that Undying Town revealed strangeness everywhere, even some inexplicable absurdity.
First of all, Ren Qing had never seen such a tattered town; even Yellow Sand City was not as filthy and chaotic as Undying Town.
With the dim moonlight, he saw rotting garbage piled in the street corners, and the residential houses were also extremely dilapidated.
Many walls had cracks of various sizes, and inside one could even see furnishings, as well as residents resembling dried corpses.
Ren Qing felt that Undying Town was more like a slum, having nothing to do with cultivation at all, let alone anything like longevity.
He hesitated for a few breaths, then stepped onto the gray bricks at the town entrance.
Swoosh...
A feathered arrow shot from afar, landing directly in front of Ren Qing's foot.
Those secretly watching him were clearly trying to block him from entering Undying Town, but from the strength shown by the arrow, their power was not much different from that of normal people.
Ren Qing waited a moment, and a group of soldiers wearing chain armor came running toward him.
They were well equipped, their faces covered with thick pure-black masks; aside from concealing their identities, they seemed more like they were filtering bacteria in the air.
The soldier leading them spoke with a low, hoarse voice: "Stop there."
"I've come to Undying Town to learn medicine."
"So that's it,"
The soldiers exchanged complicated glances, then unexpectedly stepped aside and opened a path, allowing him to head toward the town center.
Taking advantage of the dim light, the ghost-shadow beneath Ren Qing's feet silently touched the soldiers, and information-flows appeared before his eyes.
[Chen Lie]
[Disease-Type: Cold Body]
...
[Jin Chengxiang]
[Disease-Type: Dullness]
...
Ren Qing found that the soldiers also had disease-types, but all relatively mild.
Without showing anything, he stepped into the town; the gazes the soldiers cast on him were somewhat strange, like they were watching a beast throwing itself into a trap.
Very soon the soldiers all hid themselves again, but the ghost-shadow had already hidden in their shadows.
Ren Qing quickly noticed that the soldiers had practically surrounded the entire Undying Town, with many archers concealed on the eaves.
They seemed more like they were preventing the diseased townsfolk inside from escaping.
Judging from Gao Liang's terrified expression, many people were probably killed on a daily basis, it didn't look like they left survivors.
The two martial artists that Ren Qing's sub-soul encountered earlier in the ruined temple likely thought he was a patient who had escaped from the town and wanted to capture him for a reward from the soldiers.
Realizing that soldiers were still tailing him from not far away, he turned into an alley.
Ren Qing glanced at the faintly brightening sky, and under the ghost-shadow's effect draped himself in black gauze, disappearing quickly into the maze-like alleys.
Moments later, a light-footed soldier arrived with a confused expression.
He repeatedly examined his surroundings, trying to locate the vanished Ren Qing, and at the same time drew the long sword at his waist.
Just when the soldier felt there was no result and prepared to leave, a figure suddenly appeared behind him, bamboo hat already removed.
Seeing Ren Qing's appearance unexpectedly, the soldier's heart pounded violently with terror.
"Damn it..."
The soldier swung his sword, trying to attack Ren Qing, but suddenly tripped on something, stumbling and crashing into the wall.
The Double Pupils on Ren Qing's forehead blinked, and the ghost-shadow directly covered the soldier's entire body.
The soldier trembled, wanting to struggle but unable to break free from the ghost-shadow, and soon felt drowsiness surging up, immediately falling asleep.
Although Ren Qing's true body was not present and he could not use the abilities of the Darkest Nightmare, simple dream entry was still no problem.
"Why is Undying Town sealed?"
The soldier replied dully: "Because the madness in the town is contagious..."
"What exactly is 'learning medicine'?"
As Ren Qing questioned, he noticed something strange about the soldier's mask, and used the ghost-shadow to take it off, revealing the sleeping face beneath.
The mask was made of wood, stuffed inside with fiery-red flower fluff.
It somewhat resembled the doctor masks of Western medieval times; because of infectious disease, breathable materials were placed at the breathing openings to filter air.
The soldier muttered in his sleep: "Don't know, don't know, I... I..."
His face was exposed to the air, and immediately fine beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead, his expression gradually twisting.
At this moment, the morning sun slowly rose.
Ren Qing barely maintained his Night Roaming state, but estimated he wouldn't last much longer.
Thick black smoke rose from the town center, the foul burnt smell becoming increasingly intense; after inhaling it, the soldier trembled even more violently.
Undying Town grew lively; numerous figures emerged from the shabby houses.
They had deliberately groomed themselves, wore clean clothes, and carried expressions of pilgrimage, completely incompatible with the filthy surroundings.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes.
With the increasing light, this body of his finally noticed that in the direction of the black smoke stood a statue seven or eight meters tall.
It was the Longevity Immortal among the Fortune-Prosperity-Longevity Three Immortals; the iconic tumor on its forehead appeared fleshy, wriggling like a beating heart.
Ren Qing looked at the Longevity Immortal statue.
The outermost people knelt on the ground; those more toward the middle stood with heads lowered.
Those in the innermost circle stared at the Longevity Immortal statue, respectfully asking something, as if communicating with it.
But proportional to their positions was this: the closer they were to the statue, the more severe their illnesses, some even already at the brink of death.
The soldier beside Ren Qing suddenly returned to normal and looked up at the statue.
"So there really are immortals, there really is longevity."
He burst into tears, kneeling and repeatedly striking his head against the ground, blood soaking the chest of his clothing.
"What the hell?"
Ren Qing used the information-flow to check the soldier.
[Chen An]
[Disease-Type: Weak Qi, Hysteria]
His eyebrows lifted; previously the soldier did not have hysteria.
"Could it be..."
A bold guess formed in Ren Qing's mind, and he then actively closed the Double Pupils Dream Seed at his forehead, ceasing its protection of the sub-soul.
That foul burnt smell actually transformed into a rich medicinal fragrance, irresistible to the senses.
Ren Qing felt his throat grow a bit dry, actually developing a strong craving for the medicinal fragrance; the weakness of his body vanished completely with each breath.
He hurriedly summoned his own information-flow.
[Ren Qing]
[Lifespan: Five Years, Ten Months, Two Days]
[Disease-Type: Weak Body, Deformity, Hysteria]
The "Hysteria" characters in the information-flow were somewhat blurry, as if they could disappear at any moment, indicating that he had not fully contracted this chronic disease.
Ren Qing looked toward the Longevity Immortal statue, which emitted an invisible aura capable of turning the surrounding crowd into hysteria sufferers.
The soldiers used masks to block the aura, while Ren Qing previously relied on the Dream Seed for isolation.
At this moment the Longevity Immortal statue in Ren Qing's eyes was utterly different, showing no sign of falsehood, like a true immortal deity.
The Longevity Immortal spoke mysterious, profound words, as if awakening the masses.
And the patients in Ren Qing's eyes, under the influence of hysteria, each appeared ethereal like immortals.
Ren Qing pointed his right index finger at his brow; the Dream Seed Double Pupils opened again.
The medicinal fragrance vanished, leaving only the foul burnt smell in the air, and the patients returned to their half-dead state.
"So-called cultivation is actually hysteria?"
"Then where is longevity?"