However, the newcomer was indeed somewhat strange; both legs were bent in an exaggerated manner, making it completely impossible for him to walk normally.
Ren Qing's expression showed a trace of peculiarity; the other party was one of the few wandering Daoists in Qingyan Town.
When he had roughly glanced over before, he had only seen that the man's legs seemed to be naturally crippled, but now he felt something subtly different.
Why did it look like some kind of aberration?
Outside the shop.
Wu Yong's skin showed a gray-brown hue, his eyes turned outward, looking as if he was about to die.
He laboriously leaned on a crutch, his gaze fixed firmly on the signboard of Wuguan Bookstore.
His disability was not caused by bent legs, but because his bones were too soft; over the years, his leg bones had turned into what they were now.
Wu Yong pushed open the bookstore's main door; what entered his eyes was a neat and clean interior. Though the decoration had changed, the general layout was still the same.
He stared at the path leading toward the backyard, his expression twisting involuntarily.
It was an interweaving of regret, relief, resentment, and remorse.
"Fufeng..."
"Why did you come back, why, doesn't this cut off our remaining hopes!!!"
When he spoke the last sentence, Wu Yong almost hissed it through his teeth, the veins on his hands gripping the crutch bulging out.
He panted for a long while before slowly walking into the courtyard, then noticed Ren Qing.
However, in Wu Yong's eyes, Ren Qing's appearance was exactly that of Daoist Fufeng; clearly, he had been unknowingly affected by the spell.
Leaning on his crutch, he walked up to Ren Qing and roared hoarsely, "You turned us into this, why are you still alive?"
Ren Qing stood up and approached Wu Yong, streams of information flowing within his eyes.
[Wu Yong]
[Age: Thirty-five]
[Longevity: Three years]
[Art: Qingfeng Qi Refining Method (Incomplete)]
As expected, the technique passed on by Daoist Fufeng had caused the aberration of Wu Yong and the others, though there must have been some hidden reason within.
Ren Qing probed softly, saying, "Well, haven't I come back now."
Wu Yong's expression turned wary, mumbling under his breath, "You are not Fufeng, you cannot be Fufeng..."
"Who exactly are you?"
Ren Qing looked slightly helpless; it seemed he could only use other means. But since Wu Yong's behavior was deranged, his memories were probably extremely chaotic.
He simply erased the traces of spellwork, appeared before Wu Yong in his true body, and unfolded the dream technique.
Wu Yong's eyes widened, his lips trembling slightly, and finally he forced out a sentence: "You are an immortal, aren't you..."
"What Fufeng said was actually true!"
Ren Qing did not conceal the Heavenly Dao Method; the aura radiating from his entire body became filled with celestial air, just like a true immortal descending to the mortal world.
He knew that ten years ago, Daoist Fufeng must have found clues to the unknown world, perhaps even stepped into it.
Ignoring the pain in his legs, Wu Yong knelt down and kowtowed forcefully, blood flowing from his forehead yet without the slightest intent to stop.
"Immortal Master, please take me into the Dao!!"
"Immortal Master, please take me into the Dao!!"
...
Ren Qing stretched out a finger and pointed; Wu Yong involuntarily stood up, the pain in his legs vanished completely, and his heart filled with fearful reverence.
"Tell me specifically, what exactly was going on with Fufeng?"
"Yes, Immortal Master, I will speak right away."
Wu Yong swallowed his saliva; the ashen color on his face had already faded. After organizing his words, he began to recount haltingly.
Daoist Fufeng had originally been just an ordinary wandering Daoist, making his living by fortune-telling on the streets, living quite a hard life.
Until Daoist Fufeng went insane.
When Wu Yong reached this point, his expression grew fearful, and his breathing became heavy; fortunately, with Ren Qing beside him, he drew some courage.
The fragmented scenes in his mind gradually became clear. The Dream Seed silently entered his Niwan Palace to verify truth from falsehood.
Ren Qing seemed to see a thin, hollow-eyed man murmuring continuously to himself: "I'm going to attain the Dao."
As Wu Yong narrated, things turned rather chilling.
...
After waking from sleep, Fufeng impatiently took up a brush, wanting to record the contents of his dream.
But immediately, his expression turned despondent. The immortal technique that had been crystal clear just moments ago was now growing more and more blurred, impossible to write even a single word.
He could only vaguely remember that a lofty immortal had imparted a technique to him within the dream.
Fufeng firmly believed this was a fated chance and was unwilling to let the rare opportunity slip away, so he locked himself inside his house and did not go out.
At that time, Wu Yong had not yet become a Daoist. By coincidence, having some matter, he knocked on Fufeng's gate.
The Fufeng who came out made him unable to believe his eyes, in just a few days, Fufeng had grown drastically thinner.
Fufeng's head was covered with scratch marks, clearly from clawing at it with his own hands.
Wu Yong opened his mouth and asked, "Daoist Fufeng, you... what on earth happened to you?"
Fufeng grinned hideously and took out a sheet of paper from his chest; it was covered in bloodstained smears, yet not a single character was on it.
"I'm going to attain the Dao; in my dream an immortal taught me immortal arts..."
He pointed at the paper and said, "Look, aren't there immortal techniques here, aren't there?!!"
As he spoke, Fufeng grew more and more deranged; his eyes were bloodshot, and the look he gave Wu Yong seemed ready to devour him alive.
Wu Yong tried to leave, only to find his arm gripped tightly, fingernails piercing into flesh.
"Daoist Fufeng, Daoist Fufeng, calm yourself, ah!!!"
Feeling Fufeng's grip tighten, Wu Yong grew fearful, and could only testingly say, "Why must you record it, can't you cultivate within the dream instead?"
Fufeng released his arm, his expression turned vacant, and he dazedly walked back into the house.
Immediately after, thunderous snores could be heard.
Wu Yong fled in panic, not daring to approach Fufeng's courtyard for more than half a month.
But when he saw him again, Fufeng's once emaciated body had become robust; the white hairs at his temples had vanished completely, he no longer looked like a man in his thirties.
Relying on his effective fortune-telling, he had gained some fame in Qingyan Town and even bought a shop with the silver he earned.
Wu Yong felt something was off, could the immortal who imparted teachings in the dream really have existed?
Unable to restrain the agitation in his heart, he went to question Fufeng, and unexpectedly received an affirmative answer.
Fufeng not only hid nothing, but even transmitted the immortal art to the town's wandering Daoists, and spent time instructing them.
According to his words, cultivating the immortal art could transcend the mundane and achieve immortality.
Wu Yong became one of them; after cultivating, he could clearly feel his body grow stronger, it did seem to be an immortal art indeed.
But before his excitement lasted long, Fufeng suddenly fell ill with a strange disease, his bones deformed, and his skin grew lumps like a toad's.
Wu Yong had personally seen Fufeng's madness before his so-called enlightenment.
He hurriedly stopped cultivating the art, but it was obviously already too late, within a few days his leg bones had turned soft, making him unable to walk.
And whenever he practiced the technique, his body would manifest strange ailments.
Deaths and injuries soon occurred in Qingyan Town, and Fufeng disappeared; the other surviving Daoists joined together to search for him.
Yet Fufeng seemed to have vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace.
To Wu Yong, he would rather believe that Fufeng had indeed transcended and attained the Dao; he still immersed himself in that dream, true or false.
"Recite for me the immortal art that Fufeng told you."
Wu Yong did not hesitate; he began reciting the information concerning the Qingfeng Qi Refining Method, but the latter half grew increasingly strange.
Ren Qing's brows furrowed, it was entirely different from the Heavenly Dao introductory method he knew.
The Heavenly Dao introductory method was meant to allow the body to adapt to the Heavenly Dao Worm eggs.
But this Qingfeng Qi Refining Method of Wu Yong's seemed to forcibly cause self-aberration, though its purpose was inexplicably unclear.
It was as if it sought aberration for its own sake.
Even the display of the information flow differed.
[Qingfeng Qi Refining Method]
[One of Wuwei Monastery's introductory methods; by sensing and absorbing the True Yuan between heaven and earth, it can be cultivated.]
In Ren Qing's understanding, True Yuan had to be absorbed through the Heavenly Dao Worm, how could it be so easily done?
He forced himself to calm down, then took out from the Prison Within the Abdomen materials for strengthening bones, and directly stuffed them into Wu Yong's mouth.
However, the aberration formed by such a technique could only be alleviated, because his body had, in essence, already become different from that of an ordinary person.
Wu Yong only felt his legs regaining sensation; he could actually barely walk again.
The look he gave Ren Qing became even more reverent, only the word "immortal technique" could describe such means; surely he had met a true immortal.
"How many Daoists in Qingyan Town are in the same condition as you?"
"Replying to Immortal Master, four."
"You may leave; after thirty days, bring them to the bookstore."
Wu Yong quickly nodded in agreement.
When he walked out of the bookstore, he was still somewhat dazed, it was simply unbelievable.
In his heart, the thought of attaining the Dao and transcendence arose, but the effect of the material he had just swallowed gradually began to fade, and sharp pain returned to his legs.
With a terrified expression, he knelt on the ground, ignoring the strange looks of the passersby, kowtowing until blood flowed from his forehead before staggering away.
Ren Qing pondered for a long time.
After hesitating a moment more, he used the Heavenly Dao Worm larva within the ghost shadow to control Nether Yuan and circulate it within his body.
At the instant Nether Yuan condensed, the world before his eyes changed drastically.
Drizzling rain fell continuously, the air turning cold and damp; the buildings of Qingyan Town also grew denser, the streets bustling with voices.
Ren Qing could feel his body becoming heavy, as though gradually being pulled into an abyss.
He forced himself to endure the discomfort without dispersing the Nether Yuan, and slowly walked outside the courtyard.
The area of Qingyan Town had expanded more than twice over, and the population had increased fourfold.
What shocked Ren Qing most was that at least one-third of the inhabitants had swollen abdomens, while the rest bore varying degrees of aberration, sending chills down his spine.
He couldn't help looking toward the sky, where a blood-red crescent moon hung.
Buzz, buzz, buzz...
A piercing ringing filled Ren Qing's ears; the blood moon visibly turned into a waning moon, his body growing still heavier.
As if weighed down by a thousand catties.
The raindrops in Qingyan Town fell harder and harder, and the town itself grew dilapidated.
Before Ren Qing could observe his surroundings, a deafening crash erupted.
A human-faced spider hundreds of meters tall stepped through the town, its aura terrifying beyond measure, its thick limbs threading together dozens of people and shoving them into its mouth.
While Ren Qing was still dazed, the blood moon changed from a waning to a waxing phase.
The thunderous strides of a giant a thousand meters tall snapped him back to awareness.
Qingyan Town looked like a ruined wasteland, yet in the distance a massive mountain floated in midair, it was precisely the legendary Wuwei Hall.
The blood moon began again...
Pressed to the ground by the immense weight, Ren Qing could not move; he hurriedly dispersed the Nether Yuan.
Back to silence, welcome back to the ordinary world.