When the flow of time in the stomach world accelerated, Ren Qing could feel the improvement in lifespan extension efficiency.
Aside from the several hundred thousand population of the Longevity Forbidden Zone, all of the Cishi people of Heaven Above Heaven were also pulled into Dream City, and the residents had already reached six to seven hundred thousand.
Even though after Ren Qing's lifespan reached two thousand years, the effects of the Dream Butterfly Method further weakened, the base number of cultivators within Dream City was there.
Unfortunately, transactions by zombies could not obtain lifespan, because the prerequisite for the Dream Butterfly Method to extract lifespan was that the other party possessed lifespan.
He felt that it probably would not take long before he could attempt to advance to No-Birth Immortal.
Ren Qing originally thought Tian Fang would be busy spreading the teachings and simply would not return to Melting Furnace anymore, but unexpectedly he directly brought dozens of Hairy Zombies over.
Dense corpse stench spread through the cave tunnel. If the fire within the furnace were not extraordinary fire, it probably would have ignited the corpse qi and caused a violent explosion.
The Hairy Zombies all came from various places throughout the city, their entire bodies carrying uncontrollable flesh collapse.
They did not approach Melting Furnace, stopping roughly two hundred meters away, then gathering around Tian Fang in the center.
Ren Qing watched from afar without understanding. Just from appearances alone, it looked completely like an evil cult gathering.
Chen Chuan glanced at the motionless Ren Qing and could not help opening his mouth and saying, "Old Tian, since we're cultivating this so-called immortal method, isn't it bad to let a White Zombie watch from the side?"
The remaining Hairy Zombies cast strange gazes over, remaining silent.
Tian Fang refused, "Does it matter? Although he's a White Zombie, he has no intelligence whatsoever, and it's impossible for him to leave Melting Furnace."
Tian Fang's preaching among the White Zombies had gone fairly smoothly, but a minority of the Hairy Zombies remained doubtful and suspicious, fearing there might be hidden dangers within.
They were also extremely resistant toward entering dreams, fundamentally unable to witness the prosperous Dream City.
So Tian Fang simply personally demonstrated cultivation of the Corpse Refinement Method to dispel the concerns of the Hairy Zombies.
Only by obtaining the approval of the Hairy Zombies holding high positions within the yamen could he possess greater authority during the upcoming trip underground.
After these days of exploration, Tian Fang had already gradually approached entry into the Corpse Refinement Method, counting as the fastest among the large number of zombies.
The zombies piled together a sacrificial platform, after which Tian Fang sat cross-legged upon it.
The Hairy Zombies stared deeply at Tian Fang without relaxing their gazes. If the latter suddenly lost control, they would immediately throw him into Melting Furnace for incineration.
Tian Fang calmed his mind and guided the surrounding yin qi into his body.
The differences between the two Corpse Refinement Methods were relatively obvious. The one taught by the immortal revealed extraordinariness everywhere, making it hard to imagine it had been perfected within a short period.
The yin qi above Tian Fang grew denser and denser, drilling into his flesh, blood, and bones through the crown of his head.
Sounds of bones colliding came from throughout his body. Flesh collapse truly was gradually subsiding, but the corresponding traits of the Hairy Zombie were becoming fewer.
The remaining Hairy Zombies looked at each other as they watched Tian Fang transform into a White Zombie.
If the Corpse Refinement Method taught by the immortal merely caused one's realm to fall, then at most it would only prolong a miserable existence, still unable to avoid flesh collapse.
The moment Tian Fang mastered it, he closed his eyes and felt the comfort throughout his body.
Chen Chuan's mouth opened slightly, just about to say something, when Tian Fang unexpectedly emitted an extremely restrained aura that caused her scalp to tingle.
The aura was far beyond what a White Zombie could compare to. Even Hairy Zombies were difficult to mention in the same breath.
Tian Fang immediately stomped forcefully, collapsing the sacrificial platform into ruins, his gaze becoming gloomy as it swept across the Hairy Zombies who had fallen in disarray.
Although zombies did not possess high intelligence, they were by no means kind-hearted. They could even be described as bloodthirsty and warlike. It was only because they had lived in Corpse City for too long that their instincts had been suppressed deep within their hearts.
"As expected of teachings bestowed by the Immortal Venerable. How could dead things like us possibly fathom them."
Chen Chuan could sense Tian Fang's killing intent and immediately became the first to show goodwill. The remaining Hairy Zombies also reacted, repeatedly echoing in agreement.
At the same time, they already believed more than half of the rumors about the dream city.
Tian Fang looked toward Ren Qing with a complicated expression. If he had not guessed wrong, Ren Qing had mastered the immortal's Corpse Refinement Method earlier than any zombie.
He did not speculate too deeply, only suspecting that his ability to travel to Dream City was likely due to Ren Qing's inadvertent actions.
Ren Qing should have accidentally come into contact with the dream immortal. No wonder he could advance to White Zombie despite possessing no intelligence whatsoever. Clearly, he had obtained no small opportunity.
Little did Tian Fang know that the dream immortal was right beside him.
The final obstacle of the Corpse Refinement Method disappeared, and very quickly the seven to eight thousand zombies within the city all entered dreams and headed to Dream City.
Tian Fang truly did not possess too many selfish motives. He taught both the Corpse Refinement Method and the Year-Year Technique to the zombies.
Ren Qing secretly observed the zombies' cultivation of spells, obtaining a relatively deep understanding of the "eternal life" of zombies.
First was the difference in zombie constitutions. Corpse transformation almost spread through every inch of flesh and bone, making concurrent cultivation of Restraint Officer methods even worse than for the Cishi people.
Simply put, aside from the Corpse Refinement Method, it was difficult for zombies to master other spells.
Even relying on various resources that assisted cultivation, Restraint Officer methods could at most be cultivated to the Ghost Envoy realm level, and it was difficult to progress further.
This could be seen from the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique mastered by some Hairy Zombies. Being able to cultivate to the Half-Corpse realm was accumulated over hundreds or thousands of years.
As for where the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique came from, there was no way to verify specifically. It was probably also casually taught by , perhaps wanting to observe the aptitude of zombies cultivating.
Unfortunately, for beings like zombies, perhaps after returning from death, their potential had already dried up.
Even cultivating the Corpse Refinement Method was not necessarily fast for them. Tian Fang wanting to complete recultivation would require at least around ten years.
Ren Qing even suspected that zombies' eternal life also had drawbacks. Otherwise, some zombies would not possess defective intelligence.
He estimated that if he himself consumed lifespan while in a state without lifespan, it would very likely subtly affect the soul.
Ren Qing did not feel too much regret. In plain terms, the Corpse Refinement Method was merely used to assist the Dead Man's Sutra. Using it to achieve longevity was clearly unrealistic.
Therefore, he did not place the Corpse Refinement Method within the Great Dream Technique Pavilion, and even forbade zombies from teaching this spell to cultivators of the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing feared cultivators would take shortcuts and choose to transform into zombies.
The prosperity of the Restraint Officers' Hall was built upon a large population. Once transformed into zombies, it represented the loss of reproductive ability.
He informed Li Tiangang about the situation in Corpse City, letting the latter warn the other cultivators.
Fortunately, all along, the cultivators of the Restraint Officers' Hall had never possessed Ren Qing's level of obsession toward lifespan that could easily be replenished.
After seeing the rigid appearances of zombies and learning that it was difficult to concurrently cultivate spells, most had already abandoned thoughts of zombification.
Only a portion of cultivators still retained interest and even invested effort into it.
However, what they considered more was whether after their deaths, they could transform into zombie constitutions while preserving awareness of their souls.
Ren Qing did not stop them. As long as it did not shake the foundations of the Restraint Officers' Hall, they could do as they pleased.
The mutation of the giant Corpse Buddha also continued. At present, the overwhelming majority of organs had already fused with Ghost Envoy realm strange objects.
Naturally, Ren Qing hoped for more time for the Restraint Officers' Hall to develop, and the accumulation of his own lifespan was also steadily increasing.
He simply remained at Melting Furnace, playing the role of a corpse burner.
However, as the zombies successively mastered the Corpse Refinement Method, the wind-cold bacteria could no longer harm their bodies, and their dependence on Melting Furnace naturally began to decrease.
Ren Qing enjoyed the leisure. Very quickly, even Melting Furnace became rarely visited.
Only Tian Fang would occasionally come to visit Ren Qing, taking out that bottle of corpse wine that had been drunk for who knew how many years, taking a few sips with either worry or joy.
Without realizing it, more than half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Taking advantage of the peak development period of the Restraint Officers' Hall, Ren Qing's own lifespan exceeded three thousand years, and he was already not far from four thousand years.
Once he gathered enough lifespan for No-Birth Immortal, presumably while advancing the spell, he could also drive the Corpse Refinement Method to break through to Hairy Zombie.
During this period, although the distance between Corpse City and the giant Corpse Buddha had widened somewhat, it was at most only around a dozen li, still within controllable range.
Meanwhile, Tian Fang and the other zombies had finally gathered enough thousands of coffins to imprison the Hairy Zombies.
They placed the coffins at the grave mounds in the center of Corpse City. Looking up, there were densely packed coffins everywhere, causing yin qi to condense without dispersing.
The Hairy Zombies sealed underground all had flesh collapse that was already difficult to suppress, and could only prolong their miserable existence through such methods.
Tian Fang prepared to use the coffins to alleviate the condition of the Hairy Zombies before teaching the Corpse Refinement Method.
Under the mobilization of several thousand zombies, they began excavating one grave mound after another, with large amounts of soil and broken stones dumped outside from the city walls.
No wonder Ghost Shadow could not find clues. It truly was the literal deep underground.
As the zombies excavated, coffins deeply buried within the grave mounds were immediately revealed one after another, though the coffin wood had all decayed to varying degrees.
Ren Qing slipped out of Melting Furnace and stood atop the city wall observing the center of Corpse City.
He saw that many coffins were more than half damaged, with nothing inside. Clearly, the Hairy Zombies had long since completely transformed into corpse water at some unknown time.
The remaining coffins were opened one by one, revealing the Hairy Zombies sleeping within.
But what deeply astonished Tian Fang and the other zombies was that these Hairy Zombies were covered in tentacles, which were absorbing the collapsing flesh.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. That Yang God realm zombie truly was still alive and well, and seemed to have formed coexistence with Melting Furnace.
Most likely the other party was using the characteristic of undying fuel to barely maintain itself.
His thoughts moved slightly, and Ghost Shadow gathered toward the center of Corpse City from all directions.
As long as this zombie displayed the slightest abnormal movement, it would suffer Ren Qing's thunderous methods, instantly removing the hidden danger within Corpse City.
But Ren Qing had not expected that the tentacles wrapped around the Hairy Zombies would retract underground.
Such behavior was absolutely not because the Yang God realm zombie sensed the threat of Ghost Shadow. After all, the Calamity Elimination Method had already been exerted as much as possible.
It was more like actively expressing goodwill.
Seeing this, Ren Qing withdrew Ghost Shadow. Wanting to find the true body of the Yang God realm zombie would probably require turning Corpse City upside down.
He still wanted to gather the five thousand years of lifespan for No-Birth Immortal within Corpse City.
Tian Fang and the other zombies fell silent for a moment, then cautiously replaced the coffins and taught the spells by reciting the contents aloud.
Seeing their extremely slow efficiency, Ren Qing directly pulled the consciousnesses of the Hairy Zombies into Dream City.
The zombies noticed it was the dream immortal taking action, and immediately shouted his title.
Only Tian Fang belatedly looked toward the distant city wall. It seemed there was a familiar figure standing there, but in a daze it disappeared again.
Ren Qing returned to the secluded Melting Furnace and discovered that the flames within had dimmed considerably, so he casually tossed some flesh into it.
Within the stomach world, spring passed and winter came.
Within the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone where neither life nor death existed, time seemed to be the cheapest thing.