Taking a Master and the Beginning of the Provincial Examination

Dou Sangu did not dare say another word, crouching to one side and waiting patiently.

He furtively raised his eyes to examine Ren Qing, noticing that the divine consciousness emanating from him drew rosy radiance into his body. Dazzling phenomena swirled around him, utterly unlike the Immortal Ascension Sect lineage Dou Sangu knew. It all felt far too... normal.

Yet when he recalled the desperate look on Black Lady's face before her death, it remained vivid before his eyes.

He hurriedly dismissed the thought. How could he possibly fathom an immortal master's methods?

As he pondered this, the Black Rat Dao Children had already filled in the ground, and the collapsed courtyard walls had been erected anew. Yan Jing's corpse hung from a banyan branch.

The flesh and bones had been stripped from the corpse and used to water the medicinal field, making the four ginseng plants ever more verdant.

A thought immediately surfaced in Dou Sangu's mind. The immortal master's divine consciousness was vast as the sea. According to the Immortal Ascension Sect's cultivation methods, perhaps he usually fed on brains and sucked marrow, or often refined souls to nourish himself.

He swallowed hard. Otherwise, where had the countless voices chanting scriptures come from earlier?

He had heard of evil immortals in the Immortal Ascension Sect who sealed the souls of ten thousand people within their Niwan Palace, forging them into an entire manor. This immortal master must have at least a hundred thousand—perhaps... perhaps a million corpses lying beneath him.

"An immortal master is not someone I can fathom."

Dou Sangu carefully inspected the medicinal field. On the surface, the mouse pack's cultivation methods seemed rather crude, yet even without using divine powers, just the patterns on the ginseng leaves alone—

The medicinal potency was likely already nearing six hundred years.

That proved it was not so simple. One ladle of blood water required at least dozens of human lives.

Only once dawn had fully broken did Ren Qing conclude his qi-feeding cultivation.

The two immortal arts complemented each other. As the Metamorphosis Immortal Art progressed, the Imperial Court Scroll also benefited, noticeably increasing the efficiency with which he absorbed the qi of heaven and earth.

Ren Qing moved a finger, squeezing out a bead of crimson blood.

"Swallow it."

"Thank you, Immortal Master." Dou Sangu did not hesitate in the slightest and tipped back his head to swallow the blood bead.

The next instant, the bestowal divine power silently took effect.

Dou Sangu felt agonizing pain sweep through his entire body, several times fiercer than when he had taken the Self-Dissolution Pill. He could clearly sense the last traces of his meager cultivation dispersing completely.

Yet as his cultivation dissipated, the injuries to his body and soul rapidly healed.

A Daoist robe appeared on Dou Sangu's body from thin air. At the same time, now that he no longer possessed cultivation, his innate divine power was unaffected and could be used freely.

He opened his eyes and discovered that he was already inside the underground cave dwelling.

"Inside are your eldest martial brother, Frog Immortal Lord, and your second martial brother, Fish Immortal."

Croak.

Frog Immortal Lord's enormous body was crammed into the disciples' chamber, with even more female frogs surrounding him.

Fish Immortal leaped from the water. His fish tail, beginning to take on the form of a dragon's, swished as four-colored auras endlessly circulated around it. Sword Qi faintly hummed about his body, brimming with spirituality.

Dou Sangu revealed an admiring expression. His innate divine power might be of great use, but his origins were far too poor. Even taking human form would be fraught with countless hardships; he was utterly incomparable to his two martial brothers.

"This Daoist accepts disciples based solely on their character."

Ren Qing spoke, interrupting Dou Sangu's thoughts. "Your two martial brothers were both mere mortal creatures a month ago. Now, they have laid the foundations of immortality and broken free of mortal shackles."

He currently could not bestow enlightenment upon Dou Sangu a second time, but that did not stop him from dangling a grand promise.

Dou Sangu stood there with his mouth open, unable to speak for a long while.

In his understanding, no matter how diligently an ordinary demon cultivated, it could never compare to the offspring of great demons.

Once Ren Qing saw that Dou Sangu had been thoroughly intimidated, he gave a slight nod. "First familiarize yourself with the cave dwelling. Once your character has stabilized, this Daoist will pass on immortal arts to you."

"Discard the demon name Dou Sangu. From now on, this Daoist will call you Mouse True Person."

Mouse True Person knelt on the ground and did not rise, faintly on the verge of tears of joy.

Yet before long, the innate divine power he had lost and regained again left his mind in turmoil.

Mouse True Person first climbed out through the well and saw a blinding treasure light burst from the medicinal field. It seemed as though ambrosial nectar flowed across the leaves of the four ginseng plants.

Their medicinal potency had already broken through the seven-hundred-year threshold, yet there was no sign of any living creature taking human form.

The moment his ability to seek fortune ended, his ability to avoid calamity immediately emerged.

Even though Mouse True Person knew that an unparalleled true immortal stood beside him, an indescribable unease still wound around his heart, like a festering sore clinging to the bone.

Before he could speak, Ren Qing was already facing eastward toward the city.

Ren Qing poured divine consciousness into his eyes, and the scene before him abruptly warped. The rain gradually turned inky black, falling in a thin, pattering drizzle and forming a layer of black water on the ground that would not dissolve, as though countless insects writhed and thrashed within it.

The official road outside the city was empty, yet a deeply sunken footprint had abruptly appeared.

It could be identified as belonging to a tiger beast.

Then, one footprint after another appeared from thin air, drawing closer to Water Mouth City.

It soon reached the bustling streets. The common people could not see it with their naked eyes; only now and then, several people would collapse just as they brushed past it.

Those people had already become corpses, yet not long afterward, they awoke again as though nothing had happened.

Ren Qing could tell that after going through death and revival, they had become tiger ghosts. To the tiger demon prefect, they were merely ants accidentally crushed beneath its feet.

Patter. Patter.

A great many corpses began falling from midair—yes, corpses were raining down from the sky.

Chaos erupted within the city. The falling bodies struck and injured quite a few passersby, spraying blood, flesh, and bones everywhere. Then, tiger wraiths crawled out through the holes in their foreheads.

The tiger wraiths had already taken on tiger forms, each more than three meters long, crawling on all fours into every corner of the city.

If they had not been invisible to the naked eye, no one knew how many commoners would have fainted from fright.

Ren Qing never released his divine sense. He merely stood quietly in the center of the rear courtyard, while all the Daoist acolytes apart from Mouse True Person had already entered the cavern residence at the bottom of the well.

The tiger demon prefect was on the same level as Three Incense Lady. A True Immortal was not an opponent he could face alone.

Only when the footprints entered the southern part of the city did Ren Qing finally see the prefect's true appearance clearly.

The tiger demon had arrived in a half-human, half-demon form, with three heads—tiger heads on either side and a human head in the center, topped with a gold-trimmed official hat. Its crimson official robe was in tatters, and crisscrossing wounds covered its entire body.

Wax oil dripped from every gash, while incense smoke continually burrowed out from within.

Without looking back, the tiger demon prefect entered the yamen.

Mouse True Person did not need to face the prefect directly, and with Ren Qing beside him, his courage swelled again. "Since the tiger demon has arrived, that means the provincial examination has begun. Immortal Master, if Senior Brother intends to participate as well, we must make plans as soon as possible."

"I know."

Ren Qing had vaguely reached a decision, and he could also tell that the tiger demon prefect's injuries were far from light.

Those injuries had most likely come from Three Incense Lady. No wonder it had taken more than half a month to reach Water Mouth City.

Ren Qing shook his head slightly. Demonic aura filled the city at present, making it the perfect chance to go out and purchase some items—not only to prepare for Medicine Dissolution, but also to attempt cultivation of the Wax Immortal Ascension Art.

He noticed that Ren Shanshi had already risen and washed up. As he left the rear courtyard, he instructed, "Mouse True Person, make sure you protect the two people at home."

Mouse True Person caught the Yellow Mud Eye Ren Qing tossed over, then asked curiously, "Immortal Master, should this disciple keep them under strict watch, or...?"

"No. Keep everything as it was."

The moment Ren Qing left the mouth of the alley and turned a street corner, he could not help frowning.

At the bridgehead stood a woman in green, quietly holding an oiled-paper umbrella. Fine rain dampened the hair at her temples, only making her delicate features appear clearer. Her skin was whiter than snow, and her green robes accentuated her graceful figure, like a mortal immortal who had stepped out from a rainy alley.

I've already kept such a low profile, yet a woman still approaches me of her own accord. She must be a demon, not a human.

Even if she is human rather than a demon, she must harbor designs to destroy my Dao heart.

She should be killed.