Ren Qing

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Ren Qing (任青)
Alias(es)	Primordial Beginning (immortal name); Immortal Elder / Immortal Master
Species/Race	Human; corpse-liberation cultivator
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Primordial Beginning Temple (founder and master); Immortal Ascension Sect (inner disciple) 90 108
Occupation/Role	Daoist cultivator; formerly a coffin maker at Blessed Life Coffin Shop; seventh-rank probationary township magistrate 1 83
Status	Alive; his rapidly advancing Primordial Spirit has begun to destabilize his fleshly body 108
First Appearance	The Corpse-Liberation Immortal of the Coffin Shop 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
First corpse liberation / first Molting	7, 8	Dies through the Liberation by Violence ritual and returns with access to his Niwan Palace, twenty percent control of divine consciousness, and talismans embedded beneath his skin.
Second metamorphosis	13	Completes a second corpse-liberation rebirth and uses the Metamorphosis Immortal Art to recover from its injuries.
Fire Dissolution	19	Achieves a leakless body, gains a lifespan exceeding a hundred years, and brings divine-consciousness control close to seventy percent.
Garment Dissolution and Coffin Dissolution	31	Returns after six days of Coffin Dissolution with over ninety percent mastery of divine consciousness and a clearly formed Primordial Spirit within the Niwan Palace.
Staff Dissolution	43, 45	Refines his Primordial Spirit through an emerald bamboo; both body and soul undergo another transformation.
Medicine Dissolution / immortal body	55	Completes the seventh Medicine Dissolution, forms an immortal body, and gains control over his vitality.
Yin Immortal	65	His body disintegrates into dust and reforms completely, marking his entry into the Yin Immortal stage.
Vapor-Feeding Immortal Art: Yin Immortal	72	Consecrates the Three Pure Ones Seal with his own Primordial Spirit and advances the Vapor-Feeding Immortal Art.
Five Elements Immortal Art: Yin Immortal	92	Advances the Five Elements Immortal Art to Yin Immortal.
Great Yin Corpse Liberation	100	Completes the ritual, gains a crescent moon within his Niwan Palace, and moves a step closer to True Immortalhood.
Primordial Spirit advancement / Dharma Eye	107	His Primordial Spirit advances again; he acquires the Dharma Eye method to better control it.

Background

Ren Qing came from a previous life in the Dharma-Ending Age, where he studied fragmentary Daoist inheritances and spent time enlightening himself in a psychiatric hospital’s Dragon Field. Having already attained immortality through corpse liberation once, he refuses to return to an ordinary mortal life. 2 19

He arrives in Water Mouth City and works at Blessed Life Coffin Shop alongside his father, Ren Shanshi. Song Baizhou’s posthumous ascension into the Yellow Mud Immortal exposes Ren Qing to the Immortal Ascension Sect and confirms that he has reached an Immortal Realm where the incomplete Daoist traditions of his old world may function again. 1 2 5

Ren Qing begins combining his former Daoist knowledge with local immortal ascension methods. His first major result is the Yellow Mud Eye, whose creation lets him perceive his Niwan Palace and establish the foundation for divine consciousness. 3

Appearance

Ren Qing is initially seen as an unremarkable young coffin maker in patched clothing, with red nose and hands from the winter cold. To most observers, he remains gentle-featured and outwardly ordinary even after becoming an immortal. 1 82

• His Fire Dissolution leaves his skin smooth and poreless, with a body described as leakless and immaculate. 19 31
• His projected divine consciousness often produces clouds, rosy light, a halo, and manifestations of the sun and moon. 16 31 72
• His Primordial Spirit wears azure robes and resembles both his present appearance and, faintly, his previous life. 31
• When his Primordial Spirit becomes unstable, immortal light can split from the back of his head and dissolve those who stare into it. 108

Personality

Ren Qing is consumed by the pursuit of the Dao and regards immortality as the only path worth pursuing. He repeatedly insists that he follows an orthodox Daoist path, condemning demon cultivators, the Immortal Ascension Sect’s abuses, and methods that harm living people. 2 12 53 105

His self-image does not always match his conduct. He influences mortals with divine consciousness, uses enemies as cultivation resources, and privately treats Ren Shanshi’s emotional life and martial progress as “great medicine” for tempering his Dao heart. 7 29 60 105

He is cautious and highly pragmatic when danger threatens his cultivation. Ren Qing prefers surveillance, concealment, and prepared escape routes over direct exposure, but becomes decisive once he judges an opponent to be a threat. 27 39 50 100

Abilities & Skills

Corpse Liberation and Metamorphosis Immortal Art

Ren Qing repeatedly kills and revives himself through corpse-liberation rituals, using death as a means of refining both body and soul.

• Completed multiple Dissolutions, including Fire, Garment, Coffin, Staff, Medicine, and Great Yin Corpse Liberation. 19 31 43 55 100
• Regenerates severe injuries through the Metamorphosis Immortal Art; lost flesh and damaged organs can rapidly recover. 13 69
• Medicine Dissolution transformed his body into an immortal body with direct control over vitality. 55
• His body remains a vulnerability: if it is destroyed before his Primordial Spirit can escape, he cannot simply flee as a disembodied spirit. 31

Divine Consciousness and Primordial Spirit

Ren Qing’s divine consciousness is rooted in his Niwan Palace and eventually develops into a powerful Primordial Spirit.

• Senses locations, spiritual materials, Dao Children, and concealed activity at a distance. 3 9 26
• Can project his consciousness into mortals to dull worries or influence decisions. 7 12 24
• His Niwan Palace repelled invasive black qi after Bear Man’s death. 39
• His unstable Primordial Spirit releases lethal immortal light, though the resulting backlash damages his fleshly body. 108

Vapor-Feeding Immortal Art and Imperial Court Scroll

Ren Qing restores the middle dantian through a human-skin painting and uses the Imperial Court Scroll to gather the breaths of heaven and earth.

• Absorbs rosy light, cloud qi, water qi, sunlight, moonlight, and other breaths to cultivate continuously. 31 76 78
• Creates the Sunrise Diagram, an illusory realm that can conceal his residence from hostile divine consciousness. 32 46
• Develops the Imperial Court Scroll into a small grotto-heaven capable of sheltering souls and cultivators. 73 101
• The art reaches Yin Immortal through the Three Pure Ones Seal. 72

Five Elements Immortal Art

Ren Qing develops the Five Elements Immortal Art from Earth Escape and later incorporates other elemental methods.

• Uses Earth Escape to travel underground and establish concealed passages beneath his residence. 50 60
• Cultivates Wood Escape through his left arm and shares compatible methods with Mouse True Person. 60 62
• Escapes attacks and heals injuries through the Five Elements Immortal Art during the conflict over the Yin Immortal Head. 69
• Begins merging the Five Elements and Vapor-Feeding Immortal Arts, believing they may fully combine at the True Immortal stage. 93

Enlightenment Divine Ability

Ren Qing can enlighten animals and transform them into Dao Children, disciples, or spirit attendants.

• His flesh can strengthen compatible Dao Children and grant them new forms or abilities. 9
• Compatibility is inconsistent; an attempt to enlighten Black Rat Dao Children through flesh caused them to die. 9
• Grants Daoist robes that protect disciples’ Primordial Spirits and allow them to conceal or summon the robes freely. 101
• Performs a second enlightenment on Sparrow Fairy, granting it a moon incarnation that can absorb moonlight and eventually affect celestial phenomena. 103

Painting Immortality Method and Great Dao Diagram

Ren Qing refines his own skin into a human-skin painting, recreating the middle dantian and gaining an art able to make falsehood resemble truth.

• Uses his skin painting as the foundation for the Imperial Court Scroll and Earth Immortal cultivation. 19
• The Great Dao Diagram manifests a human figure that destroys cultivators who obsess over it. 73 81
• His paintings can influence the surrounding environment, such as producing cloud, mist, and rain corresponding to the painted scene. 76

Dharma Seals and Temple Immortalization

Ren Qing refines seals through a self-created synthesis of Daoist and Immortal Ascension Sect methods.

• Gives Frog Immortal Lord an ownerless dharma seal engraved with its immortal name. 71
• Creates the Three Pure Ones Seal by consecrating it through worship of himself rather than ancestral masters. 72
• Uses the seal as a core component of Great Yin Corpse Liberation and Primordial Beginning Temple. 96 100

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Imperial Court Scroll — His reconstructed middle dantian, breath reservoir, illusory realm, and developing small grotto-heaven. 31 73 101
• Three Pure Ones Seal — A dharma seal bearing the immortal name “Primordial Beginning” and merged with part of his Primordial Spirit. 72
• Great Dao Diagram — A human-skin painting refined from Ren Qing’s own skin. 19 73
• Yellow Mud Eye — A consumable talisman treasure used for remote observation and perception; it gradually cracked through repeated use. 3 7 12
• Daoist robes — Spirit garments bestowed upon his disciples to protect their Primordial Spirits. 101

Relationships

• Ren Shanshi — His father and former coffin-shop partner. Ren Qing protects and cultivates him, but also views his emotional attachments and martial progress as a means of tempering his own Dao heart. 2 12 60 105
• Frog Immortal Lord — Eldest disciple and toad Dao Child. It guards resources, refines pills, digs underground passages, and receives a dharma seal from Ren Qing. 1 50 71
• Fish Immortal — Enlightened fish disciple that transforms into a dragon-like creature after absorbing the Sunrise Diagram’s power. 24 32
• Mouse True Person — Formerly Dou Sangu; Ren Qing accepts him as a disciple after he disperses his demon cultivation. He commands Mouse Children and manages many of Ren Qing’s affairs. 46 47 101
• Sparrow Fairy — A sparrow Dao Child used as Ren Qing’s scout from the beginning of his time in Water Mouth City. After second enlightenment, it gains a moon incarnation. 2 103
• Daoist Beisu — A cultivator repeatedly intimidated by Ren Qing’s methods. Beisu later provides a spirit talisman pointing toward True Immortal inheritance. 30 90
• Li Yao — A woman Ren Qing protects when a Buddhist scripture parasitizes her soul; he suspects her connection to the Western Regions’ Buddha Children. 102
• Three Flowers / Three Incense Lady — Former adversary who abandons immortal ascension methods to become a Demon Cultivator and Three Rivers Prefect; she recognizes Ren Qing as an Immortal Ascension Sect inner disciple. 108

Story Role / Major Arcs

Water Mouth City and the Immortal Ascension Sect

Ren Qing investigates Song Baizhou’s Yellow Mud Immortal ascension, discovers Zhao Xiaoliu’s connection to the Yellow Mud Immortal Ascension Method, and begins cultivating in secret beneath the coffin shop. 2 3 7

He undermines Wish-Fulfillment Abbey and its Immortal Ascension Assembly while using its members and remains to complete Garment and Coffin Dissolution. His indirect actions convince outside cultivators that a terrifying unknown power stands behind him. 26 29 30 31

Demon Cultivators and Medicine Dissolution

As Water Mouth City falls under increasing demonic pressure, Ren Qing develops the Five Elements Immortal Art and uses the demon cultivators’ White Bone Cauldron to complete Medicine Dissolution. The process kills the demons attempting to refine him into a Transformation Pill. 50 53 55

Yin Immortal and the Move to Three Rivers

Ren Qing reaches Yin Immortal, creates the Three Pure Ones Seal, survives heart-demon tribulations, and leaves Water Mouth City with his disciples for Three Rivers Prefecture. The imperial court appoints him and his disciples as probationary township magistrates. 65 72 81 83

Primordial Beginning Temple

In Three Rivers Prefecture, Ren Qing establishes Primordial Beginning Temple, seeks True Immortal inheritances, and absorbs multiple Dao lineages from Xu’s Brine Shop. He also begins shaping his disciples and temple into a distinct Dao-lineage inheritance. 90 91 93 95

Great Yin Corpse Liberation

Ren Qing completes Great Yin Corpse Liberation, gains a moon within his Niwan Palace, and continues searching for the unrecorded Pure Yang Corpse Release needed to pursue True Immortalhood. 96 100 105

Notable Quotes

“The Great Dao is within reach.” 31

“No matter who it is, anyone who dares plot against this poor Daoist has only one road to death!!” 100