Metamorphosis Immortal Art

Li Yao furrowed her delicate brows, noticing that as the immortal revealed itself, the edges of the thangka had begun to scorch faintly brown.

The Duoji True-Seeking Thangka could reflect an immortal's true visage, but the stronger the immortal involved, the sooner the thangka would be destroyed. Still, it could last for at least a quarter of an hour.

She stared fixedly at the thangka as the weakness brought on by blood loss steadily worsened.

Only after her blood had soaked through the thangka did she bind the wound with a strip of cloth. Then the image grew ever clearer, transforming into intertwined painted lines like raised tattoos across skin, carrying an indescribable eeriness.

The oil lamp flickered, brightening and dimming.

Under Li Yao's gaze, the outline of a True Immortal gradually took shape.

"I hope there's a benevolent immortal behind this. Otherwise, even if I enter their sect, I still won't escape death."

She drew in a sharp breath.

A moment later, the immortal's true visage upon the thangka was fully revealed.

The True Immortal wore a purple-gold Daoist robe, yet dense clusters of arms covered its body, stretching from its shoulders all the way down to its waist and abdomen. Every arm was slender as bamboo, and every upturned palm held some unknown object.

Li Yao looked toward the True Immortal's head. Atop it was piled a great string of miniature heads, every one vicious-faced, as though they had been forcibly twisted together.

Its face, too, was pieced together from three different visages: one grief-stricken, one laughing madly, and one utterly indifferent. The skin at their seams had turned outward.

"Three aspects, many heads, a thousand arms..."

Li Yao nodded in relief. "It's the Three Incense Lady of the Immortal Ascension Sect. Mm, she truly is a benevolent immortal. She generally won't treat her disciples as expendable material."

She did not know how many immortals the Immortal Ascension Sect possessed, though most were [Yin Immortals] like Song Baizhou. The Three Incense Lady, meanwhile, was a higher-ranking [True Immortal], likely numbering only three or four hundred.

Anything above that was unknown. Mortals could no longer come into contact with it through any texts.

"All immortals have sect rules. The Three Incense Lady's rule is that her disciples must offer sacrifices every ten days, fulfilling whatever demands she makes."

Li Yao had heard that the Three Incense Lady favored bloody food, but even if she ate people, there would always be criminals and evildoers to offer up.

"The urgent matter is staying alive. The only thing that can save me is attaining immortality and the Dao."

As Li Yao pondered, the Three Incense Lady's true visage was already gradually fading.

She secretly counted herself fortunate. Though peering upon a True Immortal had damaged one or two parts out of ten of the thangka, it was enough that she had confirmed the Three Incense Lady stood behind it.

Li Yao reached out, intending to close the thangka, when a sudden burning pain shot through her.

"Hiss!!"

Li Yao jerked her hand back. A faint scorch mark had already appeared across her fingertips.

Then, something unbelievable happened.

The thangka, which should have fallen silent once more, suddenly burst into roaring flames for no reason, turning to ash at a visible rate. At the same time, the Three Incense Lady's true visage completely dissipated, replaced by another True Immortal.

Li Yao held her breath, disbelief filling her eyes.

Could there be... a second True Immortal at Water Mouth City's Immortality Ascension Assembly?

Impossible.

The immortals of the Immortal Ascension Sect recruited disciples in different places. There had never been such a precedent!!!

And the Duoji True-Seeking Thangka's reaction was nothing like what it should have been when facing a True Immortal.

"This is..."

Li Yao covered her mouth. The immortal upon the thangka had a hazy, ethereal form, giving her the illusion of boundlessness, as though heaven and earth themselves could not contain it.

Behind the immortal lay a mountain cavern abode. Cloud patterns seemed to flow across the inner walls, exuding a Daoist charm that felt wrought by heaven itself.

Its Daoist robe bore no splendid adornments, merely wreathed in a faint white glow.

A great terror arose in Li Yao's heart. Realizing that if she continued peering at its true visage, her soul might scatter and vanish, she hurriedly lowered her gaze into the darkness.

After merely two or three breaths, the Duoji True-Seeking Thangka turned to ash.

Li Yao stood frozen in place. Countless questions exploded through her mind, and for a moment, she forgot even how to think.

"No, all the immortals of the Immortal Ascension Sect have imposing horns and extraordinary features, signs of inborn anomalies. How could there be an immortal that looks so... so human?"

"And the Duoji True-Seeking Thangka couldn't even reflect its complete appearance before instantly crumbling into ashes."

"Just what kind of being is this?!!"

Her scalp prickled. That existence was utterly beyond imagination.

One thing was certain: it was absolutely not an immortal.

Some unspeakably bizarre presence seemed to have slipped into the Immortality Ascension Assembly.

Li Yao came back to herself and realized there were too many variables in the Immortality Ascension Assembly. Since she could no longer count on Song Baizhou's line, she hurriedly poked her head out of the carriage and said, "Uncle Zhang, leave Wish-Fulfillment Abbey at once. We need to make long-term plans."

The moment she finished speaking, a draft swept through the open doorway.

It carried a thick stench of blood.

Li Yao stared toward Wish-Fulfillment Abbey and saw several corpses hanging beneath the eaves of the brightly lit main hall. They were the very martial folk who had surged inside earlier.

She swallowed. It seemed that Song Baizhou, the one with the greatest hope of becoming immortal, had also met with some unforeseen change.

Otherwise, he could not possibly be devouring people so recklessly.

The guards did not hesitate, immediately driving the carriage toward the end of the street.

In the depths of the pitch-black dry well, a corpse lay quietly there.

Its flesh had shriveled like dehydrated bark, clinging tightly to the bones. Its rigid limbs were stretched out, and it had clearly been dead for many days. Even the wound where a sharp weapon had pierced the top of its head held nothing but blackened blood crust.

Suddenly.

An exceedingly faint sound echoed abruptly through the bottom of the well.

It was a heartbeat.

At first, it was as faint as a gossamer thread, but before long, the heartbeat gradually grew clearer, and the corpse's chest began to rise and fall bit by bit.

A hint of color returned to its flesh, and blood once again surged through its body.

Ren Qing's breathing grew increasingly rapid, squeezing the little remaining air dry. His cheeks filled out, and the wrinkles in his skin slowly smoothed away.

The several Black Rat Daoist Boys nearby were startled, shifting about with soft rustling sounds.

Who knew how much time passed.

Ren Qing opened his eyes. There was no longer the slightest abnormality visible across his body, not a trace of corpse transformation remaining. He twisted his neck forcefully, and a string of crisp cracks rang from his bones.

"Almost forgot."

He pulled out the boning knife embedded in the top of his head. The instant its blade touched the air, it corroded away completely.

Yet when he touched the top of his head, there was not a single wound.

"As expected, with this poor Daoist's aptitude, even undergoing corpse liberation once more would not be a problem."

With a thought from Ren Qing, motley light and smoke spilled from between his brows. The instant his divine consciousness extended out of his Niwan Palace, the bottom of the well seemed to overflow with immortal aura.

This time, he had not used Yellow Mud Eye, yet he could still sense the Niwan Palace.

"The first step of shedding the mortal shell to become immortal has succeeded."

After shedding his mortal shell only once, Ren Qing could already wield twenty percent of his divine consciousness. Barring any surprises, after seven transformations, his soul would fully adapt to this world.

"As for the immortal body..."

Sweeping his physical body with divine consciousness, he discovered a great number of profound talismans within and beneath his skin.

The talismans were somewhat incomplete. Presumably, they would only become whole after seven transformations.

Ren Qing took out a small knife and slashed his palm.

The result was still torn flesh and split skin; his physical body was hardly any different from before the first transformation.

He was not particularly satisfied, but soon could not help smiling.

"So that's how it is."

The skin around the wound continued to age, becoming dead skin in the blink of an eye.

With a light scratch, the dead skin peeled away, and the wound vanished without a trace.

"After the method of shedding the mortal shell to become immortal is made one's own, a spell naturally emerges from it."

"Let it be called the Metamorphosis Immortal Art."