In Ren Qing's view, the method Zhu Dashuang used to refine corpses was far too crude, and the efficiency was pitifully low. Refining a Purple Zombie was already considered absurdly good luck.
He found a coffin to sit on and carefully flipped through the contents of the Corpse Refinement Method.
The more Ren Qing read, the heavier his expression became, and his brows could not help but knit tightly together.
The Corpse Refinement Method was not merely a technique for absorbing yin qi. It also contained methods for raising corpses and magical artifacts used to control zombies, making it extremely mixed together.
However, Ren Qing noticed that much of the Corpse Refinement Method's content had clearly been patched together from various sources, as if copied from other techniques.
The first thing he thought of was Dead Man's Sutra. Perhaps the town contained clues regarding Dead Man's Sutra?
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and could not help but suspect that the Corpse Refinement Method might be the introductory technique of Dead Man's Sutra, with certain secrets definitely hidden within.
He did not believe that a cultivator capable of creating all kinds of bizarre techniques would deliberately stitch together content to forcibly produce a Corpse Refinement Method.
One had to know that, in the eyes of Ren Qing, a Yang Spirit realm cultivator whose horizons could not be considered particularly broad, the Corpse Refinement Method was not even comparable to his Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
As for magical artifacts used to control zombies.
Zhu Dashuang's Corpse Summoning Bell could at best be considered a crudely manufactured magical artifact.
The other magical artifacts recorded in the Corpse Refinement Method were also tasteless and dispensable. Any cultivator in Restraint Officers' Hall could casually refine them.
The Yin Gathering Formation drawn on the surface of the coffins could not compare to Moon Patterns at all. Ren Qing merely glanced at it a few times before already deducing a perfected version.
Not to mention the methods the Corpse Refinement Method used to absorb yin qi.
Either lie inside a coffin with a Yin Gathering Formation, or consume the flesh and blood of other zombies. The efficiency of utilizing yin qi was horrifyingly low.
Ren Qing could not help but shake his head. It seemed likely that what Zhu Dashuang possessed was only a fragmentary copy, and probably would not gain the recognition of the information flow.
He then summoned the information flow.
Can consume one year of lifespan, waive the price to grasp
Under the stimulation of the Corpse Refinement Method, a soul will be born within the corpse, and through it as a medium, absorb the yin qi of Dead Man's Forbidden Zone to strengthen the body.
Ren Qing fell into brief absentmindedness. Since the information flow had produced a prompt, that meant the Corpse Refinement Method truly came from his handiwork.
And very likely, the Corpse Refinement Method had been created within Dead Man's Forbidden Zone.
After all, Ren Qing noticed that yin qi was a unique heterogeneous aura exclusive to Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, and its source should be the strange object of Dead Man's Sutra.
Yin qi appeared as colorless gray-white, impossible to perceive with the naked eye.
Ren Qing deeply suspected that if zombies came to the outside world devoid of yin qi, their cultivation would definitely be greatly reduced, or they might even disperse into smoke and ashes.
However, yin qi was not the source of corpse transformation. The emergence of corpse transformation was mainly due to the unique rules of Dead Man's Forbidden Zone.
It was difficult to imagine what state he had been in when he created the Corpse Refinement Method back then.
Ren Qing could not help but hesitate inwardly. He subconsciously glanced toward the position of the giant corpse Buddha, and the unexpected discovery made him decide to change his plans and immediately head toward the zombie town.
For some unknown reason, the distance between the giant corpse Buddha and Ren Qing had actually shortened slightly.
He could guarantee that the giant corpse Buddha had not moved, so the ground itself had to be causing it, proving that the forbidden zone was not as peaceful as it appeared on the surface.
Ren Qing looked toward the world in his stomach, planning to make Zhu Dashuang serve as the guide.
However, a corpse raiser like Zhu Dashuang had actually never truly entered the city. Most of the time, they only exchanged Purple Zombies on the outskirts of the town.
Ren Qing prepared to use a disease seed to control Zhu Dashuang. If he relied solely on memories to search for the location of the town himself, there was an eighty percent chance he would get lost.
Moreover, the tunnels seemed to constantly move slightly, though he had no idea why.
Zhu Dashuang had not been sealed within the world in his stomach for long, yet the yin qi within his body had already begun showing signs of dispersing.
If this continued, the White Zombie would regress into a Purple Zombie within at most half a year.
Ren Qing used the Taisui Scripture. The disease tree in his mind immediately stirred, but just as he planned to choose a disease seed type, he noticed something astonishing.
Within Zhu Dashuang's body, which possessed no vitality whatsoever, bacteria actually remained.
Because of the emitted yin qi, and because the bacteria lacked an environment to reproduce, Ren Qing had never noticed them before.
"Wind chill? Why would it be wind chill..."
Ren Qing had considered many kinds of deadly bacteria, but never imagined that zombies could suffer from wind chill. The two had absolutely nothing to do with one another.
He inspected Zhu Dashuang, and the bacteria seemed as if they had appeared from thin air.
Ren Qing frowned and used the Six Diseases Method to stimulate the wind chill bacteria. Watching the bacteria gradually strengthen, they eventually transformed into an even more terrifying disease seed.
He then used Dragon Roar Within the Casket, and the pseudo-dragonized disease seed silently began reproducing.
The dream technique started affecting Zhu Dashuang's soul, and before long altered his memories.
Zhu Dashuang was placed back into the tunnel. He stood blankly outside the tent for a long while before beginning to pack up the belongings scattered across the ground.
He continuously muttered the words "Purple Zombie" under his breath, as though holding some extraordinary obsession.
The Corpse Summoning Bell was shaken by Zhu Dashuang, and immediately the corpses within the coffins reacted, pushing open the coffin lids and leaping out on their own.
Aside from the three cocoon people corpses he had just begun raising, the rest were all pseudo-zombies.
Ren Qing swept his gaze across the many corpses and finally understood why Zhu Dashuang had failed to successfully refine more than a few Purple Zombies over so many years.
It was because most of the corpses were missing arms or legs, and some were even headless. There was not the slightest possibility of advancement.
However, the only way Zhu Dashuang could obtain corpses was by having pseudo-zombies venture outside to search for them.
Usually, corpses appearing at White Bone Mountain Hill had already been buried underground for who knew how long. Having some missing parts was perfectly normal.
Zhu Dashuang failed to notice Ren Qing due to the indirect effects of the disease seed.
He handed the packed bundles to the zombies for transport, then had them carry the coffins on their backs as he shook the Corpse Summoning Bell and headed deeper into the tunnels.
Ren Qing looked toward the pseudo-corpses one by one, then dealt with those missing arms and legs to avoid slowing their progress.
Carried along by Ghost Shadow, he followed behind while once again taking out the Corpse Refinement Method to read through it.
Ren Qing planned to first test the Corpse Refinement Method on corpses, then summarize the changes in the zombies before deciding what method he should use to cultivate it himself.
He directed Dream Flower to absorb the yin qi permeating the surroundings. Very quickly it underwent transformation and became a black-gray fly.
Ren Qing then used the yin qi Dream Flower to randomly infuse one pseudo-zombie with yin qi.
The pseudo-zombie opened its mouth wide and could not help but emit unconscious screams. Its weak soul gave it intelligence no different from ordinary beasts.
Unfortunately, Zhu Dashuang paid no attention whatsoever to outside matters and completely ignored the pseudo-zombie.
The pseudo-zombie's flesh throughout its body began collapsing, and cracking sounds came from its bones. After only a few steps, it turned into minced flesh all over the ground.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and pondered secretly. Could it be due to excessive yin qi?
He then adjusted the intensity of the yin qi and continued selecting pseudo-zombies for experimentation, but the result was still the same explosive death.
Ren Qing suddenly became interested.
He felt that the Corpse Refinement Method was a cultivation system entirely different from the Restraint Officer Method, and perhaps truly was a shortcut to longevity.
If Ren Qing could obtain longevity from the Corpse Refinement Method, then Dead Man's Sutra actually would not hold much significance for him anymore.
"Looks like it really is necessary to head to the town. I also need to test how they react to cultivating the Restraint Officer Method. Just these few are completely insufficient."
Ren Qing's thoughts stirred, and he suddenly remembered the Years Years Method that could consume lifespan.
If zombies used techniques, then theoretically their lifespan was already "none," making it impossible to consume further. Would that not mean there were no drawbacks whatsoever?
Ren Qing secretly made up his mind.
However, relying solely on these foolish low-realm zombies definitely would not work. For them to even understand the concept of techniques would require enormous amounts of time.
At minimum, they had to reach the level of White Zombie before their intelligence could be guaranteed to be sufficient.
Naturally, Ren Qing needed more candidates. Only by going to the zombies' gathering place would there definitely be many existences above White Zombie level.
While he was distracted, several more pseudo-zombies exploded and died.
Seeing this, Ren Qing abandoned forcibly infusing yin qi. He estimated that the zombies' cultivation method involved naturally absorbing yin qi.
He imprisoned a zombie inside a coffin and used Dream Flower to increase the yin qi concentration within.
The pseudo-zombie indeed smoothly absorbed the yin qi, and its rotten body gradually transformed toward a Purple Zombie, though the efficiency remained extremely slow.
The leading Zhu Dashuang had no idea that in such a short period of time, the zombies he had painstakingly collected had already been ruined by Ren Qing by more than half.
The corpse group traveled through the tunnels for over ten days. Their number was eventually reduced to seventeen, though all had transformed from pseudo-zombies into Purple Zombies.
Zhu Dashuang raised corpses outside the city precisely for Purple Zombies, so this could at least count as an acceptable explanation.
Through this period of time, Ren Qing realized that the tunnels truly were moving, though not without pattern, but rather toward a certain direction.
He did not know whether this was a unique rule of Dead Man's Forbidden Zone or caused by some other factor.
However, when Ren Qing saw the nameless town from Zhu Dashuang's memories, he finally realized that the source of the problem very likely lay here.
The town's scale was not large and was enclosed by city walls.
Moreover, the surface of the walls was covered by a thick layer of frost, and from time to time deafening banging sounds echoed out, making one's spine turn cold.
The city wall, over ten meters tall, had an entrance only half a meter wide, guarded by over a dozen White Zombie yamen runners, as if deliberately isolating the inside from the outside.
What shocked Ren Qing the most was that according to the disease tree within the Mud Pellet Palace.
There were a total of 35,672 zombies within the city, and every single one had contracted an extremely severe mutated wind chill, without exception.
The number of zombies was still rapidly decreasing at a rate of five every breath.
Ren Qing was filled with confusion. He even sensed a familiar aura within the town. If nothing unexpected happened, it belonged to some kind of Restraint Officer Method.
"Restraint Officer Method..."
He suddenly reacted. This aura clearly came from the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique.
But what Ren Qing could not determine was why the aura resembled Meat and Wine Taoist's Flesh Furnace, and how the latter had become connected to wind chill.
However, at the very least, Ren Qing had figured out the reality of the nameless town.
More than seventy percent of the city consisted of White Zombies at Ghost Envoy realm, while most of the remainder were Green Zombies at Yin Difference realm. As for Hairy Zombies at Yang Spirit realm, there was only one.