Cultivation: Tax Evasion!

Ren Qing sensed that beneath the surface calm of Xiangxiang, turbulent undercurrents were brewing. If disaster erupted, no one would be spared.

He decided to complete the first aberration of Prison Within the Abdomen as soon as possible, and once his strength was sufficient, attempt to claim the opportunity of the Wuwei Daoist Altar.

The Wuwei Daoist Altar was likely tied to the corpse of a Yang God realm cultivator.

Even if only five years of remaining lifespan were left, the resources he could obtain from it would still be considerable, perhaps enough to advance to the Yin Runner realm.

The imperial examination concluded smoothly.

Though a fatality had occurred during the process, it didn't cause widespread panic and was quickly suppressed by the yamen.

As for the examination results, they would take two or three months to be released, at which point the successful candidates would step onto the path of officialdom.

Ren Qing paid no attention to the examination. He shut himself away, ignoring all outside affairs.

Originally, the aberration had already been scheduled, but due to completing Dao Births Dao, which cost him lifespan, it had been delayed.

He calmed his heart and focused on visualization techniques and mastering artifact refinement, spending each day in the newly built courtyard of the Corpse Burners' Hall.

Ren Qing clearly felt the growth of his strength.

It wasn't just an improvement in spell techniques but an all-around enhancement in his foundation, laying a solid groundwork for reaching the Yin Runner realm.

He was immersed in cultivation and when he finally came to his senses, over a month had passed.

During this time, Sanxiang City remained relatively quiet. Only a few gangs stirred up minor trouble, but restrained by the Restraint Officers' Hall, nothing serious occurred.

Ren Qing naturally wouldn't miss the ghost market that had opened in mid-month.

However, he didn't rush to talk to the Great Dream True Person about the token imprint, fearing that once he became an official Restraint Officer, he would no longer have such freedom.

Ren Qing verified his artifact refinement skills at a shop and found that he had indeed improved significantly.

However, he still lacked a variety of techniques, so customers were only allowed to choose from the reserve pool, crafting artifacts to make up for flaws, so as not to reveal his true level.

Originally, Ren Qing was a bit worried that rumors might spread and affect the Great Dream True Person.

But to his surprise, the most credible explanation among the Restraint Officers was that Great Dream Artifact Crafting mainly catered to the reserve force, and that's why formal officers weren't considered part of its scope.

Ren Qing earned handsomely this time, and his lifespan increased a little faster too.

His Blood Crystals had accumulated to fifty stones.

But he didn't have a habit of saving. As soon as he made money, he spent it on a large amount of materials.

Stone Eyes had the best cost-performance ratio, but that didn't mean they were the most effective for extending lifespan. Naturally, money should be converted into power, otherwise it was useless.

With the buildup of resources, Ren Qing took less than two months to increase his lifespan to fifty-three years.

The reason for leaving three years' margin was mainly out of fear that he might die from exhaustion of lifespan after the aberration.

Ren Qing also figured out the downside of prolonging life by swallowing eyes, it likely had to do with the natural human limit of fifty years.

Once lifespan reached fifty, the effect of eye consumption dropped significantly. No matter what kind of eye was consumed, it yielded little improvement.

Ren Qing estimated that the ceiling was probably around sixty years.

From this it was clear: if he wanted to ascend to the Yin Runner realm, he'd either have to find alternative methods or focus on running his shop and fleecing customers.

Ren Qing didn't hesitate further and immediately prepared for the aberration of Prison Within the Abdomen.

He deliberately chose the dead of night.

Cicadas chirped endlessly in the grass, and a fine drizzle fell.

Ren Qing sat cross-legged indoors. Fifty years of lifespan slipped away like flowing water. His head of black hair turned silver-white in an instant.

Suppressing the weakness in his body, he stuffed some eyeballs into his mouth, and was quickly overwhelmed by the searing pain brought on by the aberration.

Ren Qing's entire body trembled involuntarily, especially his churning stomach, as if knives were stirring inside.

Aberration, put simply, was controlled mutation. Though not as dangerous as breaking through a realm, it was by no means safe.

The space within Prison Within the Abdomen expanded continuously.

Ren Qing imitated the posture of the Taotie, lying prone and breathing to lessen the pain through technique.

The pain came fast and left fast.

Ren Qing gradually came back to his senses and climbed to his feet. His body showed no obvious changes, rather, due to the near depletion of lifespan, he appeared weakened.

Thankfully, once his lifespan recovered to ten years, he should recover.

His consciousness touched Prison Within the Abdomen, discovering that its internal space had reached over a hundred cubic meters.

Of course, Ren Qing knew that the most important part was the aberration branch. The Prison Guard enhancement would allow his spell techniques to transform completely.

The aberration branch Prison Guard allowed him to imprison his own Supernatural Remnant within the Prison Within the Abdomen and drive it to attack any lifeform pulled in.

Currently, the number of Prison Guards was only one, but it was certain that this number would increase with cultivation, that much was undeniable.

With a thought, Ren Qing selected Divine Leg Sutra for the Prison Guard vacancy within Prison Within the Abdomen.

Even though he didn't want to admit it, this technique was indeed becoming somewhat of a burden.

Its passive enhancements focused on the legs, but now that he had mastered Dragon-Snake Spine, he no longer needed a way to close distances.

The active beast transformation was also tied to the Blood Dog Gang, making it hard to explain to the Restraint Officers' Hall why he possessed this technique, since Divine Leg Sutra had rather complicated cultivation requirements.

The strange mouth on his palm opened.

Immediately, the skin of his legs began to writhe like living creatures. The Supernatural Remnant formed by the technique resisted being absorbed into Prison Within the Abdomen with all its might.

But how could Divine Leg Sutra compete with the Taotie Method?

Within a few seconds, the Supernatural Remnant was swallowed by the strange mouth, and the effects of Divine Leg Sutra on his legs diminished significantly.

Ren Qing focused intently. The faint white wolf hair on his legs had completely vanished, and the information stream no longer listed the technique.

This proved that after the Prison Guard imprisoned the Supernatural Remnant, it could also contain the associated mutations, as if the source of a river had been blocked by a dam.

Ren Qing finally felt at ease.

His consciousness checked Prison Within the Abdomen and found that a two-meter-long white wolf had appeared inside, pacing around in circles.

The white wolf seemed to sense Ren Qing's presence, sniffing the air constantly.

Ren Qing noted that the Divine Leg Sutra Supernatural Remnant looked somewhat like a husky, and silently allocated part of the space as a special cell for it.

Noticing its limited range of movement, the white wolf became irritable and bared its teeth at the walls of flesh.

But after a while, it calmed down, curling up in the corner of its cell and licking its fur with its tongue.

"In a way, I guess this counts as raising a spirit beast...?"

Ren Qing stroked his chin.

Once Mirror-Faced advanced to the Ghost Envoy realm, he should be able to summon a projection of the white wolf.

The third aberration of Immortal in the Mirror would certainly include enhancements in this area. Perhaps by then he could bring the actual Supernatural Remnant into the physical world.

He then returned Divine Leg Sutra to his body. The effect of Wolf-Footed manifested again, and sparse wolf fur regrew on his legs.

Ren Qing took out over a dozen jars from Prison Within the Abdomen, each about the size of a fist, all filled with viscous wolf blood.

"Seventeen kinds of wolf blood, this should be enough."

If Ren Qing's theory proved true, then once he had enough trump cards, he could begin to seek out the Blind Daoist.