Tian Fang slept for over half a shichen.
For ordinary people, sleep generally required more than three shichen. Over half a shichen was still not enough to recover one's spirit.
But zombies were a sleepless form of life, having never experienced the comfort brought by sleep.
The moment Tian Fang woke up, he fell into a daze. His expression constantly changed, clearly suppressing joy, appearing somewhat at a loss.
For most of the day, he did not dare believe that everything in the dream was real.
The magnificent and grand dream city had tens of thousands of immortals, Buddhas, demons, and monsters passing through it. All kinds of magical artifacts and spells left Tian Fang dumbstruck.
And this was with Tian Fang trapped inside the coffin shop, only able to glimpse a portion through the window.
Coffin Elder had received Ren Qing's message in advance, and felt somewhat helpless about it. But in any case, it was merely one more helping hand, so it did not matter much.
No matter how Tian Fang questioned him, he only instructed the latter to manage the coffins.
And unintentionally, Coffin Elder would also reveal that this place was the Immortal's Dream.
Tian Fang was already over a thousand years old, but his experience truly far lagged behind Coffin Elder. Under the impact of massive amounts of information, he became both surprised and delighted.
He continuously shuffled around the Melting Furnace, his expression uneasy and apprehensive.
Although Tian Fang had always hated the unfairness of fate, when facing an opportunity capable of changing his fate, he did not know what to do.
He recalled Coffin Elder's words. It seemed the opportunity could be shared with others.
Tian Fang quickly walked before Ren Qing. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he realized the other party possessed no intelligence at all, and could not help awkwardly giving a dry laugh.
"I'll go out for a bit. Stay beside the Melting Furnace and do not move around."
Tian Fang hurriedly left, but after only a few steps he turned back again.
He felt this opportunity was somewhat related to Ren Qing after all. If not for the latter being beside him, he would not have drunk alcohol.
After hesitating for several breaths, Tian Fang opened his mouth and said, "If one day I can escape the sea of suffering, this old man will certainly lend you a hand."
After speaking, he disappeared into the silent dark tunnel.
This was also Tian Fang's first time leaving the Melting Furnace in hundreds of years, as though a stone had been cast into still water, creating ripples.
Ren Qing's Spirit Division paid attention to the matters within Corpse City, but his main focus remained on the Corpse Refinement Method.
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
During this period, adding fuel to the Melting Furnace was all handled by Ren Qing. Tian Fang appeared and disappeared mysteriously all day long, and no one knew what exactly he was busy with.
Clearly, he had only instructed Coffin Elder to teach zombies the craft of coffin-making, yet it ended up seeming as though they were coming into contact with immortal techniques reaching the heavens.
Ren Qing did not care much about this, feeling that these zombies had simply been idle for too long.
He immersed himself in improving the Corpse Refinement Method, gradually filling in every detail, ultimately forming a completely new spell.
Corpse Refinement Method
Created by Ren Qing. Cultivation requires the body to be in a half-human Half-Corpse state, and to absorb yin qi as the catalyst, only then can it be cultivated successfully.
Judging from the cultivation conditions, it was definitely much simpler than the original Corpse Refinement Method, and also much closer to the concept of the Restraint Officer Method.
The current Corpse Refinement Method had undergone a complete transformation in its realms.
The pseudo-zombie realm, this process of nurturing a soul, was removed by Ren Qing as dross. After mastering it, one started directly from Purple Zombie.
In Ren Qing's eyes, pseudo-zombie fundamentally could not count as the Martial Practitioner realm. Its strength was entirely in the toughness of the body, completely unrelated to the soul.
Moreover, so long as there was a Yin Gathering Formation, the Corpse Refinement Method fundamentally did not require the corpse-raising process.
Purple Zombie represented the Martial Practitioner realm, White Zombie represented the Half-Corpse realm, Hairy Zombie represented the Ghost Envoy realm, Mao Zombie represented the Yin Difference realm, and Flying Zombie represented the Yang God realm.
The Corpse Refinement Method was actually similar to the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, more like a derivative spell of the Restraint Officer Method. Its aberration routes were singular, the spell itself was extreme, and only high realms would give birth to strange objects.
Because the transformations of every zombie realm were produced through nourishment by yin qi, even Ren Qing himself was not too clear on the exact abnormalities.
But one thing was certain. The Corpse Refinement Method was not the Restraint Officer Method, but rather a unique spell.
He knew that at the Hairy Zombie stage, a "Corpse Core" would condense, equivalent to a strange object, used to stabilize the yin qi within the body.
Ren Qing stretched lazily. Heaven knew exactly how many spell contents he had stitched together in order to perfect the Corpse Refinement Method.
He had created over a dozen defective spells of various kinds, all discarded into the stomach world.
Selling them in Dream City was definitely inappropriate. Even Ren Qing himself could not endure the drawbacks of defective spells. Cultivation deviation was commonplace.
Can consume one year of lifespan, exempting the price to master
Ren Qing restored his vitality to fifty percent, and his lifespan immediately revealed itself.
[Lifespan: 2,386 years]
Although entry into the Corpse Refinement Method only required one year of lifespan, Ren Qing still did not dare attempt to freeload through zombification.
After perfecting the Corpse Refinement Method, he had become even more wary of the "lifespanless" state.
Because the Corpse Refinement Method pushed cultivators toward becoming zombies, rather than the permanently fixed eternal immortality state of the Dead Man's Sutra.
Even if Ren Qing wanted to experiment, he would first use zombies like Tian Fang as guinea pigs.
One year of lifespan instantly disappeared. The corpse qi throughout his body began boiling, vaguely even affecting the strange object of the Parasitic Immortal Scripture.
Fortunately, Ren Qing focused his attention, preventing the aura from leaking out.
The first thing he felt was every inch of flesh and bone undergoing the baptism of yin qi. The surrounding yin qi immediately surged violently toward Ren Qing.
The Nether Sea Breathing Art had already transformed Ren Qing into a Yellow Springs Immortal Body, making him extremely compatible with yin shadows.
The Yellow Springs Immortal Body instinctively began rejecting the zombie body. Just as yin qi was about to clash with Nether Origin, the information flow immediately halted it.
The information flow completely ignored reason, forcibly fusing the two physiques together.
Ren Qing's right hand involuntarily pressed against the Melting Furnace. Intense pain instantly swept through his entire body, making him unable to resist trembling.
Coincidentally, Tian Fang returned to the Melting Furnace. Seeing Ren Qing's abnormality startled him.
He wanted to step forward to inspect, but noticed Ren Qing seemed to be in the middle of transformation, very likely about to advance into White Zombie. It was just that the yin qi being drawn in was somewhat dense.
Ren Qing's shriveled and withered flesh gradually recovered. Traces of rot still remained, but were far less horrifying than ordinary Purple Zombies.
There was even an inexplicable immortal aura mixed within him.
Ren Qing opened his eyes and greedily breathed the air of the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone. Corpse transformation no longer restrained him, but instead made him feel like a fish in water.
Clearly he had only just entered the Corpse Refinement Method, yet it already allowed him, a Yang God realm cultivator, to experience the exhilaration of a skyrocketing physique.
It was not an illusion. The Corpse Refinement Method was a spell that pushed the body's potential to the absolute extreme.
Nor did he need vitality to maintain himself anymore. His vitality stabilized at around thirty percent.
Of course, if Ren Qing continued increasing the proportion of vitality, his body would still separate from zombification and return to an ordinary flesh body.
Seeing this, Tian Fang could not help feeling disappointed. He had thought Ren Qing would advance into White Zombie, but he still remained a Purple Zombie with no intelligence whatsoever.
He turned around, only for another burst of yin qi to erupt.
Tian Fang stared at Ren Qing, his heart full of confusion and incomprehension. Could it be that he had just failed in transforming into White Zombie? Thinking about it, that was impossible.
Little did he know that Ren Qing had chosen to continue consuming lifespan to advance the Corpse Refinement Method.
But merely the White Zombie of the Half-Corpse realm already consumed fifty years of lifespan. It showed the price required to maintain compatibility between the zombie body and various spells.
Advancing into White Zombie will consume fifty years of lifespan
Transforming into White Zombie was another kind of experience. The large number of weaknesses inherent to Purple Zombie gradually disappeared, especially the rot on the skin's surface.
Because of the fusion between Ren Qing's White Zombie body and Yellow Springs Immortal Body, the characteristics of a zombie became even less obvious.
Most White Zombies had extremely swollen flesh, and liquefied corpse water would flow from their pores, resembling corpses soaked in water for a long time.
At most, Ren Qing's skin was pale, displaying an unhealthy gray-white coloration, his eyes faintly red, and his fingernails containing dark green corpse poison.
Placed within a zombie crowd, he actually was not very noticeable. Upon reaching the Restraint Officers' Hall, he would blend in with the masses even more. There were all kinds of bizarre demons and monsters there.
How should it be put? He belonged to the "Corpse Immortal" among zombies.
The more Tian Fang looked at Ren Qing, the stranger he felt he was. But after careful observation, there were no flaws at all. Seeing the other party's dull eyes, he could not help sighing.
"Tian Fang, Tian Fang..."
Lu Liang was calling for Tian Fang in the distance. Clearly, there was some urgent matter requiring the latter.
Tian Fang had no time to investigate Ren Qing's situation, and quickly left the Melting Furnace together with Lu Liang. Their backs appeared extremely hurried.
Ren Qing used Ghost Shadow to sense Corpse City, only to discover that coffins were being refined throughout the entire city, already numbering seventy to eighty.
He immediately realized that when Coffin Elder taught Tian Fang coffin-making techniques, he had probably mixed some artifact refinement knowledge into it.
But this was also good.
Thousands of Hairy Zombies were buried beneath Corpse City's underground, basically all on the verge of collapse.
The purpose of the zombies should be to refine more suitable coffins to imprison the Hairy Zombies, preparing for a slim chance of survival in the future.
Advancing into Hairy Zombie will consume three hundred years of lifespan
Ren Qing took a deep breath, somewhat shocked by the lifespan required by the Corpse Refinement Method. Advancing into the Ghost Envoy realm already required three hundred years of lifespan.
Then what level would the Yin Difference realm reach?
He could only hope that after condensing the Corpse Core, the lifespan consumption would decrease into a normal range. Otherwise, this spell might stop at the Yin Difference realm.
Ren Qing painfully confirmed it inwardly, and his lifespan instantly decreased by three hundred years.
Terrifying yin qi crazily poured into his body centered around him, to the extent that the area near the Melting Furnace temporarily became a vacuum.
Fortunately, Tian Fang had already gone far away from this place, otherwise he would certainly have been shocked by the phenomenon produced by Ren Qing.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged upon the Melting Furnace. Yin qi condensed within his dantian, forming a pill-like body much like the Golden Core stage of the Nether Sea Breathing Art.
At the same time, the swelling unique to White Zombie receded, and flesh and bones became mixed with corpse poison.
Under the maintenance of vitality, Ren Qing's appearance was almost no different from ordinary people. But as long as the lighting became dim, his flesh would emit a dark green glow.
Ren Qing did not inspect what was different about the Hairy Zombie body, and first summoned the information flow.
Advancing into Mao Zombie will consume one thousand five hundred years of lifespan
"Yin Difference realm already requires one thousand five hundred years..."
Ren Qing remained silent for a long while. The lifespan consumption of the Corpse Refinement Method made his scalp tingle. He estimated the Yang God realm would require six or seven thousand years.
He even had the urge to strip the Corpse Refinement Method into the stomach world.
Ren Qing looked toward the Corpse Core in his dantian. Although it counted as a special strange object, it had not given birth to intelligence, merely storing yin qi within.
But after his attention rested on the Corpse Core for a moment, he made an unexpected discovery.
The Corpse Core was growing stronger with the passage of time.
"Could it be that the Corpse Refinement Method can increase cultivation through age?"
"Then wouldn't consuming lifespan to advance other spells be equivalent to cultivating the Corpse Refinement Method?"
Ren Qing stared at the Corpse Core for a long while, discovering that his control over it far exceeded normal.
If the Dead Man's Sutra transformed the Corpse Refinement Method into a secondary spell, then even low-realm strange objects should probably be able to suppress the Corpse Core.
The Corpse Refinement Method was also primarily a spell centered around absorbing yin qi and transforming the body, requiring no adherence to the advancement methods of the Restraint Officer Method.
He guessed that even at the Heavenly Aberration realm, the Corpse Core would still remain inside the dantian. It was just that by then, stripping it away through the stomach world would become extremely troublesome.
Ren Qing also did not wish to take risks and advance prematurely into the Heavenly Aberration realm, but the Corpse Refinement Method undoubtedly gave him another option.