Ren Qing's divided soul had remained in the Longevity Forbidden Zone for only a few short breaths, yet the amount of information contained in the memories was not small at all.
After he closed his eyes, he immediately recalled a great many hair-raising scenes.
.....
Just as the divided soul plunged into the well, he felt a suction force arise from the bottom out of nowhere, and that terrifying aura grew stronger and stronger.
"Longevity? No matter how I look, it doesn't seem related to longevity."
Ren Qing disappeared into the well; the Restraint Officers at the camp subconsciously glanced a few times, and seeing no movement from the well, paid it no further mind.
Darkness filled the divided soul's vision, but soon light returned.
However, for some unknown reason, his eyesight became abnormally blurry, like that of an old man on the brink of death, and numbness spread all throughout his body.
Although Ren Qing could not sense the existence of his main body, the primary and secondary souls shared the same consciousness, so there was no risk of loss of control.
He initially thought it was some kind of illusion affecting him, but the result was beyond his expectations.
With severe presbyopia-like sight, Ren Qing discovered that he was naked in a desolate suburb.
But within the Longevity Forbidden Zone, the sun hanging overhead was extremely dim, the thick layers of clouds looking as though they could drop rain at any moment.
Barely half a breath had passed when the divided soul's five senses began to gradually recover, but his sight and smell remained that of a decrepit seventy- or eighty-year-old.
The surroundings were full of twisted, grotesque banyan trees, withered leaves giving off a stench.
Immediately after, Ren Qing's sense of pain descended onto the divided soul; the body lying on the ground trembled uncontrollably, barely managing to lift an arm.
He then saw that the exposed skin of his arm was covered in pustules, with flies buzzing around it.
Dragging himself with effort to a puddle not far away, the reflection that appeared was not the usual soul-formed appearance, but the image of an actual dying body.
Not only was he covered in pustules, but his limbs were deformed to varying degrees; the secondary heads on his shoulders had shrunk to the size of fists, and the facial features had not fully developed.
It looked like a bizarre tumor.
Ren Qing couldn't help retching, vomiting pus mixed with fragments of internal organs.
He could feel the pathological changes in the body had reached their limit; organ failure was occurring everywhere, and his breathing was growing faint.
Within a few breaths, the divided soul's life came to an end.
Ren Qing fell weakly before the puddle, his gaze landing on the trees, as though seeing flesh-like fruits shaped like hearts hanging from the branches.
The formless pressure of the forbidden zone made him unable to breathe.
The divided soul's life then ceased; the brief memory merged into the main soul, almost causing Ren Qing to instinctively retch.
Sitting cross-legged inside his house in Wu Wei City, it took a long while before he returned to himself.
"According to the Great Dream True Person, even the remnant souls of Ghost Envoy–Realm Restraint Officers can persist in the Longevity Forbidden Zone for half a day, why did my Yin Runner–Realm divided soul survive only a few breaths?"
Ren Qing was thoroughly helpless.
Although he had been mentally prepared, a Yang God–Realm forbidden zone formed from over a thousand kinds of Supernatural Remnants simply could not be inferred with common logic.
It was far too bizarre.
But why was the forbidden zone named after longevity? The Restraint Officers' Hall should also have known that souls could enter the forbidden zone, how had they speculated?
Ren Qing felt completely lost and then noticed a slight stabbing pain in the main soul caused by the loss of the divided soul.
He threw a substantial amount of material pertaining to souls and spirits into the Flesh Furnace to be digested, and only then was the pain gradually suppressed.
Ren Qing refused to accept this outcome; using the soul-butterfly projection, he entered Avici Hell, heading toward a secluded secret pavilion in the corner.
The pavilion's doors were shut; from time to time came the sounds of refining magical tools, along with the Head in the Jar's suppressed roars.
"How did he manage to inscribe runes on the surface of a heart while avoiding the blood vessels?!!"
"Who can tell me why the damn artifact-spirit runes are alive?!!"
Ren Qing wondered whether he had driven the man insane; with the difficulty of the artifact spirit method, this situation would likely become the pavilion's norm.
He simply slipped through the gap beneath the door.
Ren Qing planned to check the books recording forbidden zones again, perhaps he could find more detailed information.
But just as he entered the pavilion, the Head in the Jar's roars abruptly stopped, and the air instantly became deathly silent.
Ren Qing looked up; the Head in the Jar appeared not far away.
Wearing a smile, the Head in the Jar spoke gently: "With the lord of the ghost market gracing us, how could this old man dare to be negligent?"
Ren Qing forced a stiff smile. "Senior... you flatter me..."
The Head in the Jar said softly: "May I ask a few questions about artifact spirits? It shouldn't take too much of your time."
"At most half a year..."
Ren Qing froze for a moment, then decisively said: "I have already refined five artifact spirits for the Restraint Officers' Hall. Although I handed them over not long ago, they certainly haven't merged with their Demonic Embryo Artifacts yet."
"Senior, you know well that the artifact spirit method is poorly suited to verbal instruction, it's better to compare directly while refining."
"That is true."
Hearing this, the Head in the Jar suddenly understood, opened the door, and prepared to head to the ghost market.
Ren Qing hurriedly stopped him and asked: "Senior, do you have records regarding the Longevity Forbidden Zone?"
"You should've said so earlier."
The Head in the Jar opened his mouth and squeezed out a shabby book from his throat, tossing it to the ground before hastily leaving.
Ren Qing controlled a soul-butterfly projection to open the book, discovering it recorded the changes in the Longevity Forbidden Zone over the past century.
There were actually two paths to reach the Longevity Forbidden Zone; passing through the Water Marsh was undoubtedly dangerous, but there was a tunnel underground leading directly there.
And that well would periodically become covered with moss and emit the stench of corpses.
The stench of corpses even spread south of Xiangxiang; even Jingzhou could not avoid it.
Aside from that, the Longevity Forbidden Zone was extremely stable; no matter how the outside world changed drastically, the well itself showed not the slightest change.
Ren Qing realized that the Restraint Officers' Hall had begun exploring a hundred years ago, but after wasting more than ten years, they gave up the futile effort.
A total of seventeen Restraint Officers entered the forbidden zone with their bodies and souls separated, without relying on any technique.
All of them were at the end of their lifespan and wished to seek opportunity within a Yang God–Realm forbidden zone, if they had good fortune, they might break through their bottleneck.
Ren Qing read through the contents, his expression becoming a mixture of surprise and delight.
Because he noticed that among the seventeen, three truly had their lifespans extended, thus the forbidden zone was named "Longevity."
Their souls had still been trapped in the Longevity Forbidden Zone at the time, but their bodies, supposedly drained of lifespan, lived in the outside world for an additional five to thirty years.
"Is there truly a method of longevity?"
Ren Qing placed the book back on the counter, and his consciousness returned to the main body.
He narrowed his eyes in thought; for others, life extension held little meaning, few ever lived to die of old age.
But Ren Qing possessed an information stream, lifespan represented endless possibilities.
If he could take advantage of the vacuum period created by Jingzhou's primordial transformation to advance further in cultivation, the risks he faced would also decrease.
But he then calmed down; the Longevity Forbidden Zone was simply too bizarre.
Ren Qing visualized The Blindless Method, using it to nurture a new divided soul; he didn't think too deeply, longevity was too tempting.
Since the divided soul could explore the Longevity Forbidden Zone, even frequent deaths were insignificant; thanks to its rebirth ability, discoveries would eventually come.
While waiting, Ren Qing considered how to expand the dream market's operational scope.
The Restraint Officers' Hall already spanned three large regions; relying solely on magical tools or walking was too slow, they could indeed sell mounts.
Ren Qing could use Jailer blood to transform beasts into "demon beasts," but ordinary animals were too weak, so the success rate was low.
A few days passed, and the divided soul was reborn.
He immediately set aside his tasks and once again cultivated the Ze Immortal Method; the fast-track Ze Immortal Method was well-suited for the divided soul.
In barely over a month, the divided soul had already recovered most of its cultivation; externally, it displayed signs of three flowers gathering at the crown and Five Qi Facing the Origin.
But Ren Qing hesitated at the threshold of cutting the three corpses.
The so-called cutting of the three corpses referred to the incomplete Water Marsh Method, by devouring Supernatural Remnants and wearing them down, three abnormal heads would grow.
Ren Qing had already perfected the Ze Immortal Method; foreign qi could replace Supernatural Remnants.
In theory, the Ze Immortal Head, Nightmare Fiend Head, and Demon Aberration Head were all formed via external force; as long as the main body's cultivation existed, achieving perfection was easy.
But remembering his previous experience in the Longevity Forbidden Zone, he refrained from continuing cultivation for now.
Under the ghost shadow's protection, the divided soul crossed the wind-swept sands and eventually arrived at the camp, where the Restraint Officers on guard were chatting, their words full of longing for the former prosperity of Xiangxiang.
Ren Qing still did not bring the ghost shadow with him, only a set of ordinary clothes; he estimated that before the death mechanism of the Longevity Forbidden Zone was understood, any means would be useless.
The divided soul cast itself into the well again; the main soul once again lost contact.
Ren Qing closed his eyes to rest while waiting, and during that time, he also taught fabricated techniques to beasts, though he chose only carp and wolves.
Among the current Jailers, it seemed only the Kunpeng and Ghost Wolf were suitable for riding, so the resulting demon beasts should not be bad.
There were hundreds of carp in Wine Lake, but they were merely ordinary freshwater fish.
After cultivating the fabricated technique, they grew to half a meter long, developed fine sharp teeth, and their diet changed.
They began feeding on their own kind, becoming increasingly savage.
As for the wolves, after cultivating the fabricated technique, they were relatively ordinary, just larger in size, with intelligence increased to varying degrees.
Ren Qing fed them Jailer blood; only a few survived, most unable to withstand the invasion of foreign qi.
The final wolf demon appeared somewhat bizarre, its fur shed completely, replaced by an exoskeleton resembling human bone.
But with the Restraint Officers' style, they indeed made fitting mounts.
The carp transformed into crocodile-like creatures, their huge mouths filled with thousands of teeth capable of easily shredding flesh and bone.
Ren Qing felt fish demons were unsuitable for riding and lacked the avian body of Kunpeng for flight, so they could only supplement the Eternal Prison Manacle's ecology, he tossed them into Wine Lake and ignored them.
The wolf demons were better, but they could not travel long distances in the marsh.
After thinking it over, it seemed that the Nether Crow formed by joints was indeed suitable; he planned to find an opportunity to request this technique from Avici Hell.
Ren Qing hadn't been busy for long when the divided soul once again died inside the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
A jumble of bizarre memories immediately surged into his mind.