Immortal Cultivation and Life-Saving Guide

Chapter 366 Leather Painting (Thanks to Carmen for the donation!)
"I almost died on this icy plain!"

This is Qin Feng's summary of this failed speculative operation.

At that time, Wei Xi and his two companions ran for ten miles in one breath and barely reached the edge of the defense line.

As the saying goes, "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," the three of them almost perished here because the crash site was not far from the defense line of Chongxiao City.

Wei Xi gained a clearer understanding of the size of the Black Abyss—no, the Rift—and became even more curious about the magical artifact [Dawn and Dusk].

It is simply unbelievable that they were able to move a group of people twenty or thirty miles away from their original location without lifting a finger, especially in an environment rife with yin and yang energy.

Wei Xi, looking like a beggar, plopped down on the ground—she finally couldn't hold on any longer. The slightly safer environment allowed the pain to overflow, and the pain that swept through her body had nowhere to hide.

Even so, Wei Xi's mind remained clear. Taking another breath, she struggled to get up and tried to determine the specific direction of the defensive line.

"We should be on the first line of defense..." Wei Xi said with a frown, "Why aren't we seeing the carnivorous ants' corpses?"

Logically, when the beast tide breaks out, the first to be hit should be the outermost defensive line of Chongxiao City. Even if the corpses of the man-eating ants are burned multiple times, there should still be many corpses left behind.

Ironically, there wasn't a single carnivorous ant corpse in the area. If it weren't for the scorched earth and the sword marks on the fortress walls, Wei Xi would probably have thought he was still dreaming.

The cautious Wei Xi tucked his "id" into his sleeve, hoping that this magical piece of wood could create another miracle.

The fact that his id showed no reaction at all made Wei Xi relax slightly.

"...Where did all those heads go?" Qin Feng asked painfully, leaning against the wall. "Did we put in all that effort for nothing?"

"That guy surnamed Xia has already attacked us directly. Even if we have the brains of an ant and use every trick in the book, we still can't get in!"

Lian Gouyan, who was nestled inside the scroll, opened his eyes. "But how are we going to get to that auction like this?"

Wei Xi remained silent, cast two cleansing spells, then took out his water pouch and drank two mouthfuls. He looked wearily at Chongxiao City, which had reappeared in the distance.

“…Xia Xin is a member of the Chamber of Commerce,” Qin Feng swallowed a handful of blood-replenishing pills, “We’re really wanted criminals now…”

Upon hearing this, Wei Xi instructed Ling Yin to reply, "Given that something has happened in the Black Abyss, this debt, though unclear, will most likely be attributed to the beast tide..."

"Link Hook, are you able to use [Thousand Faces] now?"

“Unless I get out of this leather painting,” Lian Goulong’s voice came from the scroll, “but without the leather, I can’t get out…”

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng asked doubtfully, "What is leather painting? And you said you wanted to use human skin made in the City of the Dead, so why did Fan Shan say you wanted to use the craftsmanship of Nanjiang?"

Lian Gouyan sighed, "Fine, I might as well tell you two!"

"The city lord of Baoxiang City was so eager for a son that he insisted on creating this... monster, unaware that he was being tricked by that man from Nanjiang!"

“A painting is just a painting, how can it give birth to a person?” Lian Gouhan’s tone was full of disgust, and the scroll trembled violently with the fluctuations of his emotions. “This old geezer is daydreaming!”

"There is a forbidden technique in the City of the Dead Immortals. I don't know how it works, but I know that this forbidden technique can extract the yin and yang energy of an infant, giving them a bit of the shield of the Great One, allowing them to evade the gaze of the Heavenly Dao... In short, it is a sinister technique, and who knows how many children it will harm if it is used once..."

Lian Goulong paused, calming down most of his emotions, before continuing, "Children whose life essence has been extracted are either severely injured and become mentally impaired after waking up, or they die before they can even get rid of their diapers." "This forbidden technique has always been passed down only within one family, until one year when two troublesome individuals emerged from the sect, single-mindedly pursuing immortality and ascension, and actually both set their sights on this evil technique."

"There are too many versions of what happened in between, and I didn't find out anything when I was in Baoxiang City... I only know that one of them stole the forbidden technique and ran to Nanjiang to practice this evil art!"

The last sentence, Lian Gou Lang, was extremely sarcastic, which gave Wei Xi a vague sense of unease.

"In short, the techniques of Nanjiang and Wangxian City are fundamentally from the same lineage. This kind of sinister method is different from others, and it won't change much for hundreds of years. Now it's benefited me!"

That makes sense. After all, unlike ordinary techniques, cultivation methods, magical artifacts, and elixirs, it is really difficult to develop this kind of thing, which uses living people (or dead living people) to explore the way.

“That’s how I was brought into this world. A lot of children died because of it.” Lian Gouhan said with a solemn expression. “Later, something went wrong and I actually regained consciousness… After leaving the city lord’s mansion, I was adopted by my foster father.”

"Who is the current city lord of Baoxiang City...?"

Lian Gouyan scoffed, "Only heaven knows what kind of jerk he really is!"

"But I'm not afraid to tell you two: I'm not human, and the one sitting high in Baoxiang City is even less human!"

These words were spoken with such conviction that even Wei Xi did not believe he was lying.

"So your..." Wei Xi hesitated for a moment, "...is derived from forbidden techniques? What consequences will it have if you peel off your skin this time?"

"I stole that human skin from the city lord's mansion. Although it's not as good as this scroll, it still allows me to walk around in the world."

"My true form... is this scroll. Since there's no suitable cover, I'll just suffer a bit inside this painted cover."

"What crime?" Qin Feng couldn't help but move forward. "Why is this painting restricting you?"

"I wasn't created by heaven and earth, so isn't it normal for me to suffer?" Lian Gouhan's tone was full of self-mockery. "I guess this forbidden technique is related to yin and yang energy. This scroll was made from the hides of hundreds of kinds of demonic beasts. It really took a lot of effort!"

Wei Xi stroked his chin, his gloomy gaze falling on the trembling scroll, and said, "You mentioned animal hides earlier? I have an idea!"

"what?"

……

Three hours later, Lian Gou Lang got used to the rabbit's skin, and kept pinching the rabbit's face with its paws.

"Can't we catch a valiant and strong rabbit?" Lian Goulang's three-lobed mouth kept busy. "This rabbit is too ugly! Its fur is filthy! If it has fleas, I'll fight you to the death!"

Wei Xi rolled his eyes and replied, "We've walked in for so long and finally caught a living creature. You don't want to suffer inside the leather painting forever, do you?"

The hooked rabbit twitched its ears, wishing it could use all four legs to pinch its face.

Qin Feng, who was standing next to her, was already laughing so hard she couldn't stand up straight. She had received revenge from Lian Gou Rabbit—the little rabbit had deliberately made her face look ugly when it pinched her cheeks.

The smile then shifted to Wei Xi's face.

To summarize the Lian Gou Lang incident: The forbidden technique of the Immortal City (the artificial consciousness version) split into the Immortal City and Nanjiang factions → The old city lord of Baoxiang City prayed for a child → The shirtless painter of Nanjiang deceived the city lord → Following the map, they found the city lord's wife → The "Beauty Painting" was created (it was the forbidden technique; both paintings were leather paintings, and the "Beauty Painting" split into the Lian Gou Lang animal skin scroll version) → The old city lord was terrified and put both paintings in his study → The young city lord saw the paintings and felt a fever → The conscious Lian Gou Lang (the awakened version) ran away.