Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art That Tests One's Lifespan

"Go out and buy some vegetables."

Wen Qingkong called out to Li Lan.

Now that they had reached Mingzhou, they no longer needed to be as cautious as before. That was one advantage, at least.

Li Lan nodded, and little Shuang'er hurriedly bounced up and down. "I want to go too, I want to go too."

"Alright."

"We'll go together."

Wen Qingkong rubbed little Shuang'er's head.

The three of them left the house and locked the doors and windows behind them.

"Oh my, have we got new neighbors?"

A rather distinctive voice rang out. Wen Qingkong and the others looked over to see a woman in her forties, cracking sunflower seeds as she beamed at them.

Wen Qingkong nodded in greeting and prepared to leave.

But the woman had already hurried over.

"Where are you going?"

"I know this whole place like the back of my hand."

"My surname is Cai. You can just call me Auntie Cai."

"I've lived here for thirty years."

"Nothing that happens around here escapes me."

"By the way, where did you come from?"

Auntie Cai's mouth was practically a machine gun. Even Li Lan, who had likewise come from an imperial estate, found herself unable to fend her off.

Wen Qingkong smiled and cut Auntie Cai off.

"I'm a second-skin craftsman."

"If you ever need anything, Auntie Cai, you can come find me."

Second-skin craftsman was a relatively nicer-sounding term for a Corpse Seamstress.

Auntie Cai immediately went silent, her face turning a little green. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected a second-skin craftsman to move in just across the road.

At the thought of corpses constantly coming and going from that house in the future, Auntie Cai nearly threw up.

Wen Qingkong smiled. At last, it was quiet.

Li Lan could not help but laugh as well. Her husband really knew how to stop someone in their tracks.

The market was easy to find and not far from their home.

Li Lan carefully picked out some vegetables and even bought a chicken.

Thinking of the spacious courtyard at home, she looked at Wen Qingkong. "Husband, let's buy some chicks to raise. Once they lay eggs, we won't have to buy them anymore."

Wen Qingkong nodded. Li Lan had always managed the household affairs in perfect order, so there was no need for him to interfere.

Li Lan picked out several chicks. Born into a farming family, she knew these things well.

After buying the vegetables, they leisurely strolled home.

By coincidence, they saw Auntie Cai again. She was setting up her stall and talking to a pretty cloth-selling woman beside her.

"Oh my, you'd never guess it—a second-skin craftsman moved in over there."

"Those second-skin craftsmen are downright uncanny."

"I'm telling you, when I was young, I heard my mother-in-law say there used to be a second-skin craftsman in this city. One day, he was stitching someone up and sewed the arm on wrong. That very night, the corpse came knocking and took his life!"

"Tell me, why am I so unlucky? A second-skin craftsman had to move in next door."

"Isn't there still a road between you? That place is its own separate household too."

The cloth-selling woman did not think much of it and smiled as she comforted her.

Auntie Cai slapped her thigh. "That's not the point! He's a second-skin craftsman, someone who eats the dead man's rice. I'm telling you—"

"I'd like some cloth."

Auntie Cai looked as though she had seen a ghost. Her voice abruptly cut off, and she forced out an awkward, fawning smile.

The cloth-selling woman cooperated with Li Lan as she selected fabric, saying apologetically, "Auntie Cai is just a bit loose-lipped. She doesn't mean anything else by it. We're all very happy to have new neighbors."

Li Lan had a favorable impression of the cloth-selling woman. Smiling, she shook her head. "I understand. A lot of people mind such things. We're used to it."

Before Wen Qingkong had bought her, Li Lan had also held many misconceptions about Corpse Seamstresses. But after following Wen Qingkong for this time, she only felt that Corpse Seamstresses truly made a great deal of money. As for all those other legends, she had long since stopped caring.

They had left Yujing City in a hurry and had not brought many clothes.

The White Lotus Sect had already prepared bedding and the like for them, but they still needed to have some clothes made.

After choosing the fabric, they paid.

Wen Qingkong smiled at Auntie Cai. "Auntie Cai, remember to spread the word for me."

Auntie Cai forced out a smile and nodded.

After Wen Qingkong left with Li Lan and her daughter, the cloth-selling woman looked at Auntie Cai with both amusement and exasperation. When she had first moved here, Auntie Cai had been just as loose-tongued.

Now she had been caught red-handed.

"Let's see if you still talk about people behind their backs like that."

"Ah Jing, I didn't mean to."

Auntie Cai was somewhat embarrassed as well.

When Wen Qingkong brought Li Lan and her daughter back to their doorstep, he happened to see a tall, honest-looking man opening the door to the residence diagonally across the road.

The man saw Wen Qingkong too. The two nodded to each other, then each went inside.

Wen Qingkong silently thought that he truly was lucky. He had only just arrived in Mingzhou, yet he had already encountered so many formidable people.

The cloth-selling woman was named Zeng Jing. She had once been Drizzle, the ace assassin of the Black Stone killer organization. Later, when Black Stone wiped out the Zhang family to seize Rama's Remains, she betrayed Black Stone and fled with eight hundred thousand taels of silver and the upper half of Rama's Remains.

After the renowned physician Li Guishou gave her a new face, she became Zeng Jing.

As for the man who had just opened the door, his name was Jiang Asheng, an errand runner. He had married Zeng Jing, but Jiang Asheng was also someone Li Guishou had given a new face.

He had originally been Zhang Renfeng, the young master of the Zhang family that Black Stone had exterminated.

Two enemies had changed their faces and become husband and wife.

It could only be called fate making fools of people.

Since Magician Lian Sheng had already come here, Zeng Jing's identity would presumably be exposed soon.

Wen Qingkong decided to take the initiative. That poor monk Rama had been dead for eight hundred years, yet his perfectly good corpse had been cut into two. It was only right that Wen Qingkong stitch it back together for him—this was a great act of kindness.

Li Lan finished preparing the meal and called Wen Qingkong and Shuang'er over to eat.

After the meal, Wen Qingkong went alone to a room. It had been tidied spotless and stood completely empty; it was his training room.

During the journey to Mingzhou, Wen Qingkong had already begun cultivating the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art.

It was said that upon reaching the ninth revolution of the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art, one's flesh, sinews, and bones would be like iron, and sheer physical strength alone could contend with a master of the unity of man and heaven.

Wen Qingkong was skeptical of that.

Even the White Lotus Heart Sutra, when cultivated to its highest realm, the White Lotus Realm, only produced a master of the unity of man and heaven. If the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art truly possessed such immense power, Mu Yinyao would never have given it to him.

Only after cultivating it did he understand why Mu Yinyao had given it to him.

According to the secret manual, the first revolution of the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art required only one year to enter the gate. But the second revolution required two years, the third four, the fourth eight, the fifth sixteen, the sixth thirty-two, the seventh sixty-four, the eighth one hundred and twenty-eight, and the final revolution required a full two hundred and fifty-six years.

Though the secret manual claimed that those with extraordinary talent could shorten the cultivation time, Wen Qingkong remained skeptical.

The White Lotus Sect had a long history and must have produced quite a few people of exceptional talent, yet he had never heard of anyone achieving anything with the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art.

He had no idea which great genius had created this martial art. A person could not even live that long in one lifetime, much less cultivate it to the seventh, eighth, or even ninth revolution.