Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 458 is now available. (Second update!)

On the bustling street, Zheng Que noticed something amiss and immediately stopped.

The moment he stopped, the cacophony of hawkers' cries, the haggling, the clattering footsteps... all the noise abruptly ceased, all the passersby froze, and the entire market seemed to fall into stillness for a single instant.

clack clack...

The many monks on the street turned their heads in unison, silently looking at Zheng Que.

Their eyes were indifferent yet focused, exuding a strong inhuman aura.

Seeing this bizarre scene, Zheng Que's expression changed. Just as he was about to make a move, the bodies of the people around him suddenly began to twist and writhe rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, these people's clothes, attire, appearance, and temperament... suddenly became exactly the same as his!
They maintained their posture of staring intently at Zheng Que, and their expressions and details were exactly the same as Zheng Que's.

From a distance, it looks as if several Zheng Ques are standing here, creating an indescribable sense of grotesqueness and horror on this crowded street.

As these figures changed, Zheng Que's eyes became slightly confused. His thoughts seemed to sink into a quagmire, becoming stagnant and heavy. Every thought was extremely difficult to form.

The anomaly of the figure transforming into his likeness spread rapidly from him outwards to the surrounding crowd.

It's as if the same color of dye suddenly begins to spread on the originally mottled patches of color, and the long street is silent as the number of "Zhengque" (a type of Chinese character) increases.

If this trend continues, it won't be long before the entire market is filled with densely packed "Zheng Que" (a type of slang term for a person who is honest and upright)!
Looking at the scene before him, Zheng Que felt a strong sense of crisis rise up from the depths of his heart.

For a moment, he couldn't tell who was the real him here!
When this thought arose, Zheng Que immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. He desperately concentrated his mind and relied on the powerful spiritual energy he had accumulated through the Book of Life and Death to barely suppress the chaos in his mind.

In this critical moment, without a moment's hesitation, Zheng Que immediately raised his finger and pointed at a figure next to him that looked exactly like himself.

A burst of condensed black energy shot out, instantly piercing the figure's chest.

In an instant, blood splattered, and a sweet, metallic scent quickly filled the air.

At the same time, Zheng Que felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw that there was a hole in his chest, which had been pierced through. Blood was gushing out, soaking his clothes in an instant, and dripping down.

This……

His own [Netherworld Finger] hit himself?!

Zheng Que was startled. His increasingly chaotic thoughts left him no time to think. He immediately took out the Soul-Summoning Banner and summoned the Soul-Summoning Wind.

huh... huh... huh...

A chilling wind howled, its force overwhelming, like countless sharp, invisible steel blades, carrying a fierce coldness, sweeping towards the numerous figures around them.

The summoning wind can forcibly draw the surrounding ghosts into the banner.

However, the powerful wind swept past the surrounding figures without causing any reaction.

These closely packed figures don't seem to be ghosts!

Zheng Que flipped his hands and unleashed the Soul-Seizing Wind once again.

The soul-capturing wind was silent and invisible to the naked eye; only a chilling cold swirled and spread, and the ground was even faintly covered with a thin layer of dark gray frost.

This kind of soul wind is specifically designed to deal with cultivators; it can capture a cultivator's soul into the banner.

However, the soul wind swept over the many figures around them without causing any reaction. These figures were neither ghosts nor cultivators!
Just as Zheng Que continued to make moves, the figures around him that increasingly resembled him finally moved.

The figures that had transformed into Zheng Que's likeness all raised their hands and reached out to grab him. Zheng Que hurriedly tried to dodge, but his confused state of mind made him react a step too late. A familiar hand snapped onto his shoulder.

In an instant, Zheng Que felt as if he had forgotten something. Without thinking too much, he hurriedly fled when a second hand reached for him.

Whoosh!
Zheng Que's figure appeared instantly on one side of the long street. However, at this moment, the street was filled with countless people, so many that it was almost impossible to move.

The moment he stood still in the corner against the shop wall, the figures of the people nearby seemed to transform into his likeness, as if water had been stained with ink.

One by one, "correct" statements emerged, further confusing the previously correct way of thinking.

Even though his soul was far stronger than that of cultivators at the same level, it was beginning to falter.

"Offensive spells will hurt myself."

"If I get touched by these things, I will lose a part of my memory."

"Even the Golden Cicada Armor can't defend against it!"

"Is this the 'law' within this 'strange' thing?"

"We can't delay it any longer!"

"We must use 'law' to deal with 'law'!"

In the blink of an eye, Zheng Que's gaze swept over the crowd in the distance, who had not yet transformed into his appearance, and immediately locked onto a young female cultivator who was the most outstanding in appearance within his line of sight and was accompanied by a young male cultivator.

The young female cultivator was dressed in a peach-pink palace gown, her hair styled in a flying fairy bun, adorned with a pearl hairpin, her face beautiful and her figure graceful.

Zheng Li immediately used the [Phantom Escape Technique] to escape towards him.

He moved with lightning speed, appearing beside the female cultivator in her peach-pink palace attire in the blink of an eye. Before her body could begin to change, he grabbed her head and kissed her directly...

※※※

In the cold, gloomy shop, Yin Congyi stood beside a dark coffin, with a female cultivator in crimson robes close by, her gaze shifting as she warily surveyed her surroundings.

Suddenly, Yin Congyi opened his mouth and uttered a hoarse, suppressed voice: "There is another kind, which is a ghost transformed from a human!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his entire head suddenly rolled to the ground with a "thud" without warning.

The female cultivator in crimson robes immediately changed her expression, forgetting Yin Congyi's earlier instructions, and hurriedly called out, "Young Master!"

As she spoke, she quickly walked toward Yin Congyi's head, which had fallen to the ground.

Yin Congyi's body remained standing upright, his head on the ground moving his lips, continuing to say, "You're very lucky!"

"Now, you have a chance to become a ghost!"

The female cultivator in crimson robes was in a panic and paid no attention to what Yin Congyi was saying. She quickly picked up Yin Congyi's head, then returned to his body and placed it on his neck.

She had no idea how Yin Congyi's head had just fallen off.

However, the vitality in Yin Congyi has not dissipated, which means that Yin Congyi is still alive for the time being!

She had to take advantage of Yin Congyi's still-breathing breath and quickly reattach his head, hoping that the life-saving elixir secretly kept in the Duke of Dingguo's mansion could bring him back to life...

(End of this chapter)