Cultivating in a Bizarre World

Ren Qing felt it was a bit absurd, but he quickly came to terms with it.

After all, the threat from a gradually decaying Yang God Realm corpse was too terrifying, like a sword hanging over their heads.

Only by finding the Ksitigarbha King’s corpse or reviving it could they solve the problem once and for all.

"The Soul Summoning Skill is used to call out the souls of the recently deceased. Under normal circumstances, it can’t actually be used for resurrection..."

Song Zongwu’s expression was wary as he slowly began to explain.

Humans have Three Souls and Seven Spirits. The Three Souls are the Celestial Soul, the Earth Soul, and the Human Soul. The Seven Spirits are Corpse Dog, Fu Shi, Que Yin, Tun Zei, Non-Toxic, Chu Hui, and Foul Lung.

At the time, after making preparations, the Forbidden Soldier Hall expended a massive amount of resources. They thought the chances were slim, but unexpectedly, the Soul Summoning Skill actually worked.

However, what it brought the Forbidden Guards was mostly fear.

As the ritual proceeded, the first to be summoned was the "Corpse Dog Spirit."

Among the Seven Spirits, the Corpse Dog Spirit represents vigilance and should have been full of caution.

But it didn’t avoid the living at all. Instead, it spoke strange and baffling words.

At first, it only spoke about Beast Corpses. But after the Soul Summoning Skill brought the "Foul Lung Spirit" to the Forbidden Soldier Hall, the Corpse Dog’s words began to involve the dead.

The Forbidden Guards steeled themselves and continued summoning souls, finally calling forth the "Non-Toxic Spirit."

And that’s where those sinister words about using living people as medicinal primers came from.

What was most shocking was that, according to the Forbidden Guards’ deductions, the contents of its speech were likely true, though no one has verified it to this day.

Ren Qing sucked in a cold breath.

’Does this also mean that as more and more souls are summoned, the Corpse Dog Spirit’s ability to beguile people with its words will also increase?’

’If it mentioned shortcuts in cultivation, even if it required countless murders, some Forbidden Guards would surely take the risk and try it.’

The only fortunate thing is that currently, the Forbidden Soldier Hall only contains the "Non-Toxic Spirit," the "Foul Lung Spirit," and the "Corpse Dog Spirit."

Song Zongwu suspected that these three spirits have nothing to do with the Ksitigarbha King at all. They might be the souls of some unknown existence that were summoned to the Forbidden Soldier Hall.

Ren Qing couldn’t help but ask, "What are the Foul Lung Spirit and Non-Toxic Spirit like?"

"The Foul Lung Spirit wanders endlessly within the Forbidden Soldier Hall. Anyone who sees it will feel an uncontrollable rage that only dissipates after the Foul Lung Spirit is killed."

"The Foul Lung Spirit revives seven days after its death."

"The Corpse Dog Spirit and the Foul Lung Spirit aren’t very harmful. Only the Non-Toxic Spirit has some offensive capability, but it’s locked up somewhere in the Forbidden Soldier Hall."

Ren Qing nodded. He now had a deeper understanding of the Forbidden Soldier Hall, but at the same time, he felt the true danger of this world.

Song Zongwu didn’t say much more. Many secrets of the Forbidden Soldier Hall were not for a probationary member to know.

"Once the tokens for probationary members are made, a Forbidden Guard will come to register you. They will mainly record the primary Magic Technique you have mastered."

After Ren Qing indicated he understood, he steered the conversation to Magic Techniques, asking for information about the "Armor-Wearing Technique."

Song Zongwu didn’t seem to mind. Even if Ren Qing had already obtained the Armor-Wearing Technique’s manual by a stroke of luck, the choice of whether to cultivate it or not had nothing to do with him.

As a guide, his job was to inform Ren Qing about the pros and cons of each mutation path.

A Magic Technique like the Armor-Wearing Technique primarily involves the bones within the body. The entry requirements weren’t actually that strict, and Song Zongwu did know a bit about it.

The Armored Bone User was the mutation path Sun Yishan had taken. After advancing to the Ghost Envoy Realm, the external Bone Armor transforms into a material that is neither bone nor iron.

Not only is it extremely tough, but as long as the core spine isn’t damaged, the Iron Bone can be generated continuously. However, its disadvantage of being cumbersome is further amplified.

After a Bone Armor User advances to the Yin Messenger Realm’s "Leakless Steel Body," all their flesh and blood will turn into steel and merge with their skeleton.

The Bone Maker is more flexible and versatile. A Cultivator can freely control their entire skeleton, making it grow like the branches of a plant.

Under normal circumstances, Ren Qing might have chosen the Bone Maker path.

But then he learned of the Spine User’s potential, and the temptation was too great.

The Spine User path mainly strengthens the skeleton, but allows one to fuse a Weapon into their own spine.

As the spine absorbs the Weapon’s Iron Qi and gradually toughens, the Weapon is also nourished by the spine, forming a material that is half-bone, half-iron.

Through a long period of Nurturing the Artifact, a Cultivator can even achieve an Iron Bone similar to that of a Bone Armor User. The drawback is that damage to the Weapon will indirectly harm the spine.

In a sense, being a Spine User is like gestating a Lifebound Spiritual Artifact.

’Unfortunately, Song Zongwu didn’t know the cultivation methods for the Armor-Wearing Technique’s mutation paths. It seems I’ll have to spend Lifespan to advance.’

’I’ll worry about the Ghost Envoy Realm later. When the time comes, I’ll use my remaining Lifespan to advance the Armor-Wearing Technique.’

"You don’t need to master too many Magic Techniques. Just become proficient in a few."

"Uh..."

Ren Qing gave an embarrassed smile.

He had already mastered five Magic Techniques. He really should settle down and consolidate his skills for a while.

’However, if my guess about the Secondary Stomach User is correct, I might be able to take another path...’

Song Zongwu saw Ren Qing fall into deep thought. He knew the young man had probably come across some opportunity, but he didn’t make the choice for him.

He left the Firework Hall without a sound.

When Ren Qing came to his senses, he only saw a piece of paper that Song Zongwu had left on the table. On it was a crude map showing the location of the Secret Pavilion within the Forbidden Soldier Hall.

It wasn’t far from the prison area, actually.

Ren Qing didn’t plan to head to the Secret Pavilion right away. Before getting the probationary member’s token, many places in the Forbidden Soldier Hall were inaccessible to him.

He focused his energy on accumulating Lifespan, estimating it would only take about three more months to gather enough.

To this end, Ren Qing asked Butcher Zhang to keep an eye out for the eyeballs of various livestock.

Then, he returned to the life of an ordinary Fireworker.

Occasionally, a gruesome corpse would turn up on Tan Street, and Ren Qing would go with Bo Feng and the others to deal with it. Fortunately, none of them involved Mysterious Objects.

Most of the corpses were gang-related. By comparing their clothing, Ren Qing discovered that a total of three gangs were involved in the chaos.

They were the Blood Dog Gang, the Snake Scale Gang, and the Red Flower Society.

It was mainly a fight for territory. The west side of the city was just too profitable, especially after the boost from the marinated-offal business.

However, it hadn’t involved ordinary citizens yet; they were just small-scale conflicts.

On the surface, the Blood Dog Gang had the most power, but judging from the proportion of corpses, Ren Qing figured they were being besieged by the other two gangs.

After warning Butcher Zhang to be careful, Ren Qing decided to wait and see how things developed.

Under these circumstances, he idly passed more than half a month before a Forbidden Guard finally came to register him.

...

「Late at night.」

Ren Qing was sitting cross-legged on his bed, practicing a visualization technique, when a large number of plant roots suddenly flooded in through the cracks in his door and windows, forming a human shape in the blink of an eye.

He instinctively grabbed his Great Miao Blade and almost couldn’t stop himself from swinging it.

He saw Mu Yi step out from the shadows, take out an iron token, and toss it over.

Ren Qing quickly caught it. He couldn’t help but examine the token, which had taken nearly a month to make. The more he looked at it, the less exquisite it seemed.

The front of the Token read "Forbidden Guard," and the back read "Probationary." In the bottom right corner of each side was Ren Qing’s surname. Other than that, it didn’t even have any decorative patterns.

Ren Qing had thought it was some kind of Magical Artifact.

He expertly pricked his finger and squeezed out a few drops of blood, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Mu Yi was looking at him as if he were an idiot.