Ren Qing planned to use the Natal Golden Core to lure Lingxiao Daoist's true body out of the mirror world, using it to create a sense of crisis among the various factions.
Only by making them understand that failing to change meant death would they actively seek cooperation with Restraint Officers' Hall.
Of course, the most important thing was that the method Dream Butterfly Technique used to obtain lifespan had to be built on the foundation that both parties in the transaction were acting voluntarily.
If Ren Qing rashly sent Restraint Officers' Hall into contact with the various factions, how could they possibly cooperate sincerely?
He glanced back at the room. Li Tiangang was currently stabilizing his cultivation. The pages composing his flesh continuously gathered and scattered apart, appearing incomparably bizarre.
Ren Qing vaguely noticed twisted human faces appearing across the pages.
The medicinal potency of the Alchemy Path was equivalent to refining an entire Yang Spirit realm cultivator into a pill, containing the aura accumulated throughout a lifetime of cultivation.
The protection from Pill Poison Method alone was far from enough. It still could not prevent the covetousness of others, so all kinds of lingering souls were hidden within.
During Li Tiangang's breakthrough, the lingering souls devoured by Lingxiao Daoist had also invaded him, causing his body and soul to become extremely unstable.
A strange expression appeared on Ren Qing's face.
Had it been any other cultivator, the breakthrough probably would have failed completely.
Unfortunately for those lingering souls, Li Tiangang's technique had transformed his body and soul into the form of pages, so the invasion from the lingering souls had become lines of text written across the pages.
After successfully advancing to Yang Spirit realm, the lingering souls inside the Natal Golden Core erupted once again, but by then they were no longer capable of affecting Li Tiangang.
Ren Qing could not help but smile. It seemed everyone possessed their own destined opportunity.
Li Tiangang should also be able to discover the hidden characteristics within his technique through this, and perhaps he might even have a chance to reach Multitude Yang Immortal.
Ren Qing greeted the various Yin Difference realm cultivators, telling them to seize the time to recuperate and recover, before getting up and returning to the intestines for secluded cultivation.
As he walked, Ren Qing released several bacterial soul strands. After merging them into pseudo-dragon flesh-and-blood magical artifacts, they silently slipped into the mirror world.
He was not doing this to contact anyone, but so he could create zombie avatars at any time.
After arriving in the depths of the intestines, Ren Qing had Ghost Shadow stand guard nearby while he began selecting suitable techniques from the Great Dream Technique Pavilion.
If he had not learned about the drawbacks of Ascension Methods, he probably would have used Corpse Body Technique as a secondary technique for Dead Man's Sutra, but now that he thought about it, he decided against it.
[Corpse Body Technique]
[Created by Corpse Immortal. Cultivation requires using an infant born from a pregnant woman on a yin year, yin month, and yin day as a medicinal catalyst. One must consume the infant to successfully cultivate it.]
Corpse Body Technique had also been created by Corpse Immortal, and it was highly possible that it was one of the techniques composing Dead Man's Sutra.
Corpse Refinement Method actually shared some similarities with Corpse Body Technique, except the former required yin qi as a medium and could only be cultivated using corpses.
Ren Qing's reason for integrating techniques was to reduce Corpse Immortal's traces. Naturally, he could not possibly choose Corpse Body Technique again.
He reviewed all the techniques within Restraint Officers' Hall, yet still found none satisfactory.
Ren Qing could only accelerate the speed at which Stomach World deduced techniques from strange objects, while also increasing Restraint Officers' Hall's foundation in the process.
However, it was not entirely without gains. He noticed a technique named Disguise Technique that could be used as a secondary technique for Calamity Elimination Method.
Disguise Technique had been consigned to the Great Dream Technique Pavilion two years ago by a Half-Corpse realm cultivator. As long as someone exchanged for it, the original owner would receive a commission.
Unfortunately, because Disguise Technique's abilities leaned heavily toward support, nobody had shown any interest in it.
Disguise Technique
Created by Hundred-Faced Young Master. Cultivation requires preparing sixteen sheets of human skin and flaying off one's own skin, then implanting the human skins onto the body. Once the human skins gain life, the technique is successfully cultivated.
Disguise Technique could use human skin to transform one's appearance into that of another person, but the sixteen implanted skins would inevitably cover the entire body.
The risk of losing control to mutation alone made cultivators recoil in fear.
Even with the current Restraint Officers' Hall possessing materials and pills capable of suppressing mutation, it did not mean cultivators were willing to endure the agony of mutation.
As a result, the alchemists of Restraint Officers' Hall had split into two factions.
One faction refined pills containing the drawback of aggravating mutation, using this to accelerate technique cultivation.
The other faction refined pills without the risk of mutation spiraling out of control, though their effectiveness was much weaker.
Ren Qing skimmed through the annotations for Disguise Technique and decided to use it as a secondary technique.
The only two mutation paths recorded by Restraint Officers' Hall for Disguise Technique were "Blood-Faced One" and "Faceless One."
After mutating toward Blood-Faced One, although the cultivator could no longer change appearances through human skin, the body would become soft, shapeless rotten flesh, capable of affecting its appearance by directly devouring living beings.
The Ghost Envoy realm for Blood-Faced One was named "Bloodthirsty Savage Beast." Not only could it transform into the creatures it devoured, it could also temporarily gain part of their abilities.
The Yin Difference realm "Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood" became even more bizarre.
Any living creature devoured by Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood would become part of the body, allowing the cultivator to freely use their abilities, though the cultivator themselves would turn into a malformed mountain of flesh made from countless creatures.
Compared to that, Faceless One was not nearly so extreme.
After Faceless One advanced into "Hundred Faces in One Lifetime," merely smelling a creature's aura at close range allowed the cultivator to imitate their appearance.
The Yin Difference realm "Thousand Faces Without Face" could alter the appearances of others across a large area.
The ability seemed useless at first glance, but Ren Qing realized the hidden potential contained within Faceless One. Combined with other techniques, it would become terrifying.
After all, any technique capable of exerting influence over a wide area represented limitless possibilities.
As for the final mutation path, the information stream displayed it as "Soul-Faced One."
Soul-Faced One: Alter the soul, alter the face.
The abilities of Soul-Faced One were likely related to influencing the body by modifying the soul. It might suit dream techniques well, but it was unsuitable for Calamity Elimination Method.
Ren Qing put away the book on Disguise Technique before summoning the information stream.
Can consume thirty days of lifespan to exempt the cost of mastering it.
He restored his body of flesh using vitality. His lifespan immediately changed from zero back to nearly two thousand years, and only then did he silently choose to confirm.
Ren Qing had previously noticed that zombies could temporarily reactivate their internal organs by consuming pills containing vitality.
However, as they deepened their cultivation of Year-Year Technique, vast amounts of lifespan were invisibly consumed, causing corpse transformation within their bodies to worsen and making vitality increasingly ineffective.
Through Dead Man's Sutra, Ren Qing learned that true agelessness, immortality, unbornness, and indestructibility should mean the body remained fixed in a certain state.
The zombies' condition stemmed entirely from the instability caused by incomplete immortality.
Of course, to them, they had already become corpses. Corpse transformation instead aided the cultivation of Corpse Refinement Method, so they simply did not care.
Ren Qing did not want corpse transformation to affect his foundation, so he obediently chose to consume lifespan instead.
The instant he mastered Disguise Technique, a tingling sensation spread uncontrollably through his body, indicating the information stream was forcibly recreating sixteen human skins.
Ren Qing remained calm and closed his eyes to sense the location of the strange object.
The strange object of Disguise Technique adhered to his face like a thin mask.
He controlled the strange object and transferred thirteen human faces from himself to Ghost Shadow. After all, Ghost Shadow could also be considered an extension of Ren Qing's body.
Ren Qing attempted to use Disguise Technique. His face instantly blurred, gradually transforming into the appearance of a certain cultivator within the intestines.
Although the appearance had been altered using a technique, not the slightest trace of technique aura existed.
Ren Qing canceled Disguise Technique, then closed his eyes and focused his mind into the Mud Pellet Palace. Using the Calamity Elimination Method mutation tree, he wrapped around the mutation tree of Disguise Technique, first determining the hierarchy between the techniques.
After receiving nourishment, the mutation tree of Calamity Elimination Method visibly swelled in size.
Ren Qing was fairly satisfied. The compatibility between the two techniques was extremely high, which would also benefit the future nurturing of an embryonic divine ability.
Can consume one year of lifespan to exempt the cost of mastering it.
Can consume ten years of lifespan to exempt the cost of mastering it.
The progression from Half-Corpse realm Faceless One to Hundred Faces in One Lifetime went extremely smoothly, but the three strange transformations at Ghost Envoy realm left Ren Qing somewhat hesitant.
The strange transformation branch abilities of Hundred Faces in One Lifetime were bizarre and varied.
Mask: Human faces transform into magical artifacts that can be nourished by devouring human faces.
Beast Heart: Increase beastly nature through the aura of wild beasts.
Angry Face: Daily anger is absorbed by the human face.
Sorrowful Face: Daily sorrow is absorbed by the human face.
Face Change: Use emotions stored within human faces to temporarily increase one's strength.
After thinking for a moment, Ren Qing decided to continue emphasizing concealment for the strange transformation branch.
Therefore, for the first strange transformation, he chose "Mortal Shedding."
When imitating mortals, the aura leaking from the technique would become restrained.
The second strange transformation was "Role."
It could subtly become the target's most familiar friend or relative.
If the strange transformation Role worked together with Calamity Elimination Method, it could allow him to seamlessly integrate into the social structure of any intelligent species without leaving traces behind.
Naturally, Ren Qing's third strange transformation further strengthened the abilities of Role.
Famous Role: After silently reciting the false identity of the human face in one's heart, the technique would influence the perceptions of all living beings within the range covered by Disguise Technique, allowing oneself to play the false identity.
Even though there was a possibility of failure because of Corpse Immortal, it did not mean the directions of Calamity Elimination Method, Mirror Immortal, and Storyteller were wrong.
By relying on the synergy between techniques, he could thrive in any region with ease, provided he was not discovered by certain existences.
Ren Qing did not rush to advance Disguise Technique to Yin Difference realm.
As long as he completed the three strange transformations, it would not affect the strange transformation fusion of the main technique, so he chose to save those two hundred years of lifespan and strive to gather the five thousand years of lifespan required for Ascension Ladder as soon as possible.
Calamity Elimination Method already had three secondary techniques. It was only lacking the final one.
Ren Qing did not currently have any particularly suitable target in mind and planned to first continue deducing techniques from strange objects.
He felt that techniques suitable for Dead Man's Sutra were comparatively easy to find. Among strange objects, there were indeed many corpse-related techniques.
However, techniques similar to Calamity Elimination Method were extremely rare. If necessary, he could only create one himself.
Ren Qing divided a portion of his consciousness to help Stomach World deduce techniques, then checked on the outside world. The result surprised him somewhat.
Before he even had the chance to release Lingxiao Daoist's true body, zombies had already begun leaving the mirror world one after another during this period within Corpse Mirror.
This meant that all of that existence's attention was focused on maintaining the old monk's seal, causing some true bodies whose substitutes had already died to accidentally escape from within.
Even though the zombie threat was not particularly great, the various factions had truly been frightened by Ren Qing's avatar and had dispatched subordinates to guard against the corpse Buddha.
Once the peace had been broken, the factions within the town naturally began reshuffling themselves once again.
Ren Qing's thoughts stirred. He could begin laying the groundwork for harvesting leeks now.