Everyone Is a Blessed Land and Grotto-Heaven

"The path to longevity and eternal sight—the Incense Soul-Nourishing Method is only the beginning."

Ren Qing tapped his fingertips against the table. At the same time, he understood that contact with the Immortal Ascension Sect was unavoidable. Before figuring out just how deep the waters of this world ran, he, a righteous immortal, had to avoid exposing himself before those crooked and heretical paths as much as possible.

He picked up the Ascension Record and was just about to burn it over the candle flame when, after some thought, he tucked it back into his robes.

"The corpse attained immortality in the coffin shop in the end. Even if I burn the Ascension Record, I won't be able to clear myself of suspicion. I should find an opportunity to send the Ascension Record away."

"I can't let the old man get implicated. After all, Ren Shanshi is a great medicine for tempering my Dao Heart, and in the future, he bears the crucial task of carrying on the incense offerings of our Ren family."

Ren Qing pondered for a long while and at least confirmed that he had not been exposed for the time being.

"I need to seek a means of self-preservation as quickly as possible. This Rebirth Ascension Method, which sheds the body seven times, will be of great use to this Daoist. A corpse-liberated immortal abandons the flesh, leaving only the soul to attain immortality. Perhaps I can use it to forge a body of a true immortal."

He did not dwell on it further. While Ren Shanshi was resting, he climbed out through the window and left the coffin shop.

He traveled through the alleys at night. The lights of every household had already gone out; it was so dark one could not see one's own hand before one's face. Only the faint clamor of the main street by the river drifted over from afar.

At a thought, rustling arose at the base of the wall, and eight black rat Dao children crawled out one after another.

Ren Qing currently had ten Dao children in total: eight Rat God Generals, one Frog Immortal Lord, and one Sparrow Fairy.

It was not that there was a limit to how many Dao children he could enlighten. Rather, too many Dao children became a burden. Their intelligence was not high, and if he was not careful, they could easily draw the notice of others.

Frog Immortal Lord had followed him from the earliest days. The fact that it had survived until now showed that it, too, possessed a heart inclined toward the Dao.

Mm. What a pity it was a toad rather than a plump, tender bullfrog.

Ren Qing turned east and west through the streets until he arrived at an abandoned house in the south of the city.

Familiar with the place, he leaped into the dry well in the corner of the yard. The space at its bottom had clearly been expanded before. This was where he had specifically tried to recreate the inheritances of his previous life's Dao lineages.

Unfortunately, all of it had been futile. Using it now to cultivate immortal ascension arts did not count as letting it go to waste.

The eight black rat Dao children spread out beyond the abandoned house, serving as sentries.

Ren Qing used the small knife he carried to prick his index finger. A bead of crimson blood seeped out, carrying a faint medicinal fragrance that drew all kinds of insects into the well, where they buzzed in a thick swarm.

Before he could react, the toad Dao child had already landed at the bottom of the well.

Croak.

For the first time, Ren Qing saw terror in a toad's eyes.

The toad Dao child bowed deeply, then hurriedly began cleaning the cave dwelling, afraid that if it delayed even for a moment, it would become an obstacle that affected Ren Qing's Dao Heart.

"You do have some sense. Mm, as expected, everyone possesses a Dao Heart."

Dipping his finger in the bead of blood, Ren Qing began sketching a talisman on the ground.

This talisman was called Enshrinement. It was the most crucial step in the Incense Soul-Nourishing Method for shaping a divine statue. The Enshrinement Talisman replaced the five viscera, allowing the divine statue to bear incense-offering thoughts.

"Something's wrong..."

After only a few strokes, Ren Qing's brows knitted tightly.

Forget the Enshrinement Talisman—even the talismans known from his previous life had all been tried, yet there had been no response whatsoever.

"Both immortal ascension methods also contain records of talismans. After the Yellow Mud Immortal completes the filling of flesh and bones with yellow mud, talismans must be drawn over the skin's surface. For the Rebirth Immortal, they are drawn both inside and outside the coffin. Collectively, they are called Ascension Talismans."

Ren Qing changed his brushwork. Compared to the incomparably intricate Enshrinement Talisman, the Ascension Talisman was much simpler.

His fingertip blood streaked across the ground, forming the winding, flowing patterns of the Ascension Talisman.

The moment it was completed, the patterns absorbed the blood, then wisps of black smoke emerged. They twisted and entwined like living things, lending the scene an indescribably sinister strangeness.

Ren Qing held his finger poised above it, ready to wipe away the patterns at any moment.

Black smoke spilled in all directions.

"By rights, the Yellow Mud Immortal Ascension Method first molds oneself into a divine statue before inscribing the talismans. This Daoist is doing the opposite. I wonder whether it can succeed."

Inevitably, hesitation stirred in his heart, yet there was not the slightest pause in his movements.

In his previous life, in pursuit of that illusory goal of attaining immortality and realizing the Dao, he had suffered failures too numerous to count. Fortunately, he had finally attained immortality through corpse liberation; otherwise, his previous life would have nearly passed in meaningless mediocrity. Yet his heart toward the Dao had never changed.

He tossed two chunks of yellow mud into the Ascension Talisman, then slowly kneaded them into a human shape.

"Mm."

Ren Qing had only just managed to form a rough human figure when he discovered that the yellow mud was rapidly dissolving again. At the same time, nearly half of it had vanished without a trace, and its volume continued to shrink.

"The yellow mud won't last long. I have to make a choice."

"Forget it. I'll make a half-body statue."

Yet just as he began shaping the divine statue's head, the yellow mud started collapsing once more.

Ren Qing decisively abandoned it again. As his left hand shaped the divine statue, he bit through his right hand and, as though possessed, drew an Enshrinement Talisman around the outer edge of the Ascension Talisman.

The Enshrinement Talisman took only a few breaths to complete.

A strange expression appeared on Ren Qing's face. At that moment, the Enshrinement Talisman produced an unexpected reaction. Its patterns extended of their own accord, directly connecting with the patterns of the Ascension Talisman.

Most of the black smoke drew back, then slowly burrowed into the yellow mud.

After a long while.

The patterns on the two talismans had vanished.

"What... was that supposed to be?"

Ren Qing did not know whether to laugh or cry. He noticed that only a Yellow Mud Eye the size of a grain of rice remained where they had been. Its surface bore simple painted colors, while streams of light seemed to gather deep within its pupil.

He held the Yellow Mud Eye in his palm. Its pupil turned unconsciously.

"Never mind."

"Even if it were refined into an incense-offering divine statue, it would be useless to this poor Daoist."

Ren Qing's greatest gain was confirming that the Daoist lineages of his past and present lives could indeed complement one another. Perhaps this path would allow him to walk a different immortal road.

Naturally, the crucial point was to make the lineage of his previous life the foundation, so he would not be lumped together with heterodox paths and crooked ways.

"Hmm?"

Upon closer inspection, he discovered patterns emerging within the Yellow Mud Eye. Both types of talismans had been perfectly preserved inside.

"This thing seems a little like... a talisman treasure?"

So-called talisman treasures had emerged near the end of the Dharma era in his previous life.

At the time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had nearly dried up. Magical treasures above the rank of magical artifacts had vanished without a trace, so cultivators used the remaining fragments of magical treasures to make talismans, giving birth to talisman treasures.

A talisman treasure could unleash one or two tenths of a magical treasure's power, but it would be damaged after too many uses.

Ren Qing licked his lips, unable to suppress the fervor in his eyes.

He had not been particularly interested in talisman treasures, but a newly ascended immortal like Song Baizhou could actually produce heavenly materials and earthly treasures for refining them. What did that mean?

Infinite Heavenly Venerable above!

Wouldn't every immortal of the Immortal Ascension Sect be a walking, humanoid blessed land and grotto-heaven?!!

"Collect."

The Yellow Mud Eye immediately turned into a glimmer and sank into the flesh of his palm, leaving behind a vertical mark. At first glance, it resembled a closed eye, seamlessly blending with his skin.

"Open."

The Yellow Mud Eye opened accordingly.

Ren Qing was somewhat disappointed. The scene he saw through the Yellow Mud Eye was no different from what he saw with his naked eyes. There was nothing mystical about it; it merely provided a unique viewpoint.

"Having one extra eye doesn't seem all that meaningful. Even if it grew on the back of my head, it could only guard against mortals."

At the same time, a faint crack appeared on the surface of the Yellow Mud Eye.

Ren Qing realized that the Yellow Mud Eye truly resembled a talisman treasure. At most, it could be used seven or eight times before it crumbled into ash and vanished into smoke.

"Still, it's quite flexible."

He smacked his lips as the Yellow Mud Eye continuously traveled beneath his flesh.

One moment it was at his wrist, the next at his shoulder, and the viewpoint it provided shifted with its position.

"I can cosplay Erlang Shen now."

Ren Qing controlled the Yellow Mud Eye and placed it between his brows, then suddenly shuddered from head to toe.

"The fusion of the two lineages really has something to it. The Great Dao holds promise—great promise indeed."

A subtle sensation arose between Ren Qing's brows. His eyes closed instinctively, and with the aid of the Yellow Mud Eye, he vaguely sensed a hazy space deep within his mind.

The space was shrouded in a thin veil. He could not see it clearly, yet it undeniably existed.

"The Niwan Palace?"

Ren Qing's face was filled with disbelief. The moment he became an immortal, he had arrived in this world. His only impression of the Niwan Palace came from the records in books: "the dwelling place of the Primordial Spirit."

The Primordial Spirit was what the three souls and seven spirits transformed into after ascending to immortality. As for what it actually looked like, no one knew.

As a corpse-release immortal, he was ill-suited to the soil and water of this world. The Yellow Mud Eye, a talisman treasure refined by combining the lineages of his past and present lives, counted as his first step toward adapting.

"Since the Niwan Palace exists, then the 'divine sense' recorded in the ancient texts should also exist."

Divine sense was the outward manifestation of the Primordial Spirit's aura. Formed from condensed spiritual power, it could be used to sense the outside world, look inward, and control magical artifacts and magical treasures.

"Open!"

The pupil of the Yellow Mud Eye abruptly opened between his brows.

Wisps of white mist rose around Ren Qing's body. At first, they wrapped around him like gauze, but in an instant they grew thick as milk, enveloping him and lingering without dispersing. They made his robes appear ever cleaner, lending him a detached air untouched by the dust of the mortal world.

When he walked forward several steps, even the sounds he made seemed like the chanting of the Great Dao of heaven and earth.

The corner of his mouth twitched. This sudden phenomenon was an innate effect of divine sense.

The phenomenon only covered half a meter, likewise because his divine sense could barely extend half a meter beyond his body.

"The Yellow Mud Eye alone still isn't enough. The divine sense it releases is merely one thousandth of the total within the Niwan Palace."

"If cultivation of the Rebirth Ascension Method goes smoothly, I won't need the Yellow Mud Eye to use divine sense anymore."

"As for this phenomenon, there was absolutely no mention of it in the Daoist lineage of my previous life. Divine sense is colorless and formless—why would it be accompanied by a phenomenon in this world?"

Ren Qing helplessly covered his forehead, just about to close the Yellow Mud Eye and withdraw the phenomenon of his divine sense.

His three eyes flickered as he raised his gaze toward the night beyond the well.

"No... who is spying on this poor Daoist?"