This Humble Daoist Sees Blackness on Your Brow

Sun Zu rose tremblingly to his feet and began selecting suitable candidates, picking out some young, able-bodied men from among them.

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All the believers had consumed rice porridge mixed with yellow mud. It would not threaten their lives, but it would indeed make it easier for Song Baizhou to digest blood food.

"Benefactor."

Sun Zu tried his best to make his voice sound calm. "The immortal has seen your sincerity and asks whether you are willing to stay the night at the abbey, to listen to the teachings of the Dao?"

The scholar, whom Sun Zu had stopped, wore an expression of incredulous ecstasy. He immediately gave a deep bow. "To receive an immortal's favor is this disciple's fortune for three lifetimes!!"

Sun Zu gave the junior brother beside him a look, but from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a figure in the corner.

That figure was walking out of the main hall for some reason, and looked somewhat familiar.

His heart inexplicably tightened. It seemed he had seen him somewhere before?

Sun Zu unconsciously quickened his pace, but could no longer find the person amid the bustling crowd. He only vaguely recalled that the figure had seemed to head toward the courtyard.

"It must be an illusion. Perhaps some junior brother is wearing similar clothes."

Sun Zu forcibly suppressed his doubts and returned to the main hall amid the believers' flattery.

At this moment.

Ren Qing had already gone around the corridor. He glanced back at the main hall, a cold curve lifting at the corner of his mouth.

Naturally, he had deliberately exposed a flaw just now, silently exerting influence through his divine sense. Since Wish-Fulfillment Abbey could not be kept, there was no need to hold back any longer.

He had just passed through a neatly trimmed patch of holly bushes.

"Mouse Divine General."

Squeak, squeak.

The Mouse Divine General darted out from the shadows and hurriedly stood upright, cupping its paws in salute toward Ren Qing.

"Move those two items to an abandoned alley outside Wish-Fulfillment Abbey."

Ren Qing gave the order as he walked, his tone brooking no doubt. "Be quick. Do not alert anyone."

The Black Rat Dao Child immediately accepted the order, diving into a hole in the ground and vanishing.

"Sparrow Fairy, you go watch over things as well."

Ren Qing had already realized the limitations imposed by Song Baizhou's unhealed injuries. Perhaps the other cultivators participating in the Immortal Ascension Assembly would all have some reservations. As for himself...

This was the perfect chance to root out all future trouble, lest he keep thinking about the great medicine of attaining the Dao every day.

"Without Wish-Fulfillment Abbey, even if there are any unexpected changes at the Immortal Ascension Assembly, this humble Daoist can still sit atop the mountain and watch the tigers fight."

Ren Qing stepped into the courtyard behind the Daoist abbey.

Compared to the main hall, the sight before him was simply a complete mess. The earth had been turned over in utter disorder, while more than a dozen Daoists sweated profusely around the central mound of dirt.

Pits clearly meant for burying coffins were arranged in neat rows.

Ren Qing looked toward the top of the mound. Four burial mounds stood there in lonely isolation. There was not even a proper gravestone atop them, yet swarms of flies buzzed around them.

Two Daoists carried wooden buckets, repeatedly scooping out thick, bloody water and pouring it over the graves.

The bloody water was dark red, mixed with chopped medicinal herbs. It quickly seeped underground. If the believers saw such a bizarre scene, they would likely collapse on the spot.

"Se... Senior Brother."

The young Daoist pointed toward a grave at the edge. "That should be where Zhao Xiaoliu is buried, right? Why does the bloody water seem to be congealing on the surface? Could something have gone wrong?"

The middle-aged Daoist stepped forward to inspect it carefully. The bloody water was clearly seeping in extremely slowly.

Unlike the other burial mounds, where the bloody water seemed to be actively devoured.

"I'm not too sure either." The middle-aged Daoist could not help muttering to himself, "By rights, it shouldn't be like this..."

"How about... we tell Senior Brother Sun Zu?" the young Daoist suggested, unease in his voice.

"Forget it."

The middle-aged Daoist hesitated for a moment, looking at the pits that had already been dug. "Forty-six coffins will be buried soon anyway. One more or one less won't make much difference."

"But..."

"But what?"

The middle-aged Daoist cut him off in a deep voice. "Junior Brother, think this through. If Senior Brother thinks we're incompetent, do you want to go offer worship to Master in the main hall at midnight?"

The young Daoist's face went pale, and he instantly fell silent.

Sun Zu told outsiders that they had received Master's approval to return home, but how could he not know? Those senior and junior brothers had all become Master's blood food.

"Let's go. Leave it alone."

The middle-aged Daoist patted the dust from his shoulder, and the two quickly left the mound.

Neither of them noticed a man passing right by them.

As though no one else were present, Ren Qing reached the top of the mound. He bent over Zhao Xiaoliu's grave and examined it closely, his divine sense passing through the soil to see the coffin buried beneath.

All the burial mounds had been prepared for cultivating the Rebirth Ascension Method.

Without exception, they were all nourishment for Song Baizhou's second ascent to immortality.

Zhao Xiaoliu, however, was an anomaly.

Ren Qing did not know what exactly the yamen was entangled with behind the scenes. He only knew that Zhao Xiaoliu had died long ago, unrelated to the Rebirth Ascension Method. To be precise, he had died suddenly.

Before death, the corpse had clutched its chest, its skin mottled blue and purple.

Since Zhao Xiaoliu had already become a corpse, the Rebirth Ascension Method naturally could no longer be cultivated.

What concerned Ren Qing most was that there was still a hole in the corpse's forehead.

Suddenly.

A bloodshot eyeball peered out through the hole in the corpse. It had already sensed Ren Qing's divine consciousness, and immediately revealed a venomous hatred so intense it seemed tangible.

"It seems the cat-faced monster was not successfully conceived. Could it be because the coffin is underground?"

A thought stirred in Ren Qing's mind, and a wisp of rosy glow slipped into the depths.

Click.

A rivet on the coffin lid melted under the searing heat.

At once, slender fingers stretched out. Their hooked nails tried to tear apart the flesh, but Ren Qing understood that it was not the corpse binding the monster—it was the Niwan Palace.

Although the Rebirth Ascension Method had already been interrupted, it had left a trace of vitality within the corpse's Niwan Palace.

The monster... had suffered a difficult birth.

"Boundless Heavenly Venerable, Song Baizhou, this poor Daoist sees darkness upon your brow."

Ren Qing withdrew the rosy glow. Zhao Xiaoliu had already begun cultivating the Yellow Mud Immortal Ascension Method while alive; he could sense that the monster conceived within the corpse would only be even more terrifying.

He then looked toward another grave mound set diagonally across from it.

An intrigued expression appeared on his face. No one knew who had originally been buried in that grave.

The coffin had clearly been opened before. A corpse utterly devoid of life lay outside it, while inside now lay an old acquaintance.

Su Huo.

Ren Qing had no idea how Su Huo had managed to seize the magpie's nest.

Su Huo had clearly not consumed Yellow Mud, yet he had silently concealed himself in the grave. A thick layer of dead skin had already formed over his body, and he was on the verge of undergoing a rebirth.

"Wonderful. Simply wonderful."

"Old Su, if you were in a mental asylum, you would more than qualify for a private room."

Ren Qing could not help applauding. Su Huo had not chosen the easily accessible Yellow Mud Immortal Ascension Method. Instead, he had used the daily blood-water irrigation of Wish-Fulfillment Abbey to cultivate the Rebirth Ascension Method.

That way, he would neither fall under Song Baizhou's control nor be discovered by anyone.

So long as he completed a single rebirth, he could extend his lifespan and leave.

"But man proposes, Heaven disposes, Old Su. I'm afraid you won't last until you wake up."

To begin the Rebirth Ascension Method, one had to shed skin continuously. Put scientifically, it accelerated metabolism. At Su Huo's age, he simply could not endure until even one rebirth.

"This poor Daoist shall lend you a hand."

Ren Qing opened his mouth and exhaled, sending rosy glow surging into Su Huo's body to support his life force in place of yang energy.

Ren Qing did not mind forging a good karmic bond. Whether Su Huo could ultimately succeed would depend on his own fortune.

Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. However, there was one drawback to taking the initiative against Wish-Fulfillment Abbey: his Corpse-Release Rebirth would inevitably be exposed before the other unorthodox cultivators.

"No matter. This poor Daoist sits upright and walks straight—why should I fear the covetous eyes of others?"