Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

The red thread tightened the hidden compartments inch by inch, while the black pages unfolded to meet it, like a funeral invitation awaiting a signature.

Li Ping did not extend his hand.

"Senior Brother Fang, please clarify first: who has this booklet been used to identify?"

Fang Cheng lay on the stone platform, his right hand hanging down toward the narrow ladder.

"The living"

With a creak, the iron door bulged inward again, a half-inch blade chipping from the crack in the bolt, repeatedly sawing along the door seam. The friction of iron filings produced a burnt smell, which fell into the stone chamber with a soft rustling sound.

Uncle Qin squatted beside the hidden compartment, his fingers pressed against his knees, his knuckles gradually turning white.

"The Department of Life Extension calls this booklet the Book of Life."

"Uncle Qin, have you seen the original, or only a copy?" Su Wan asked.

"When the old furnace was turned on, I saw that copy. The first record recorded where it was going, and the second record recorded how long it could be used. After the adults sealed the furnace, I thought it had been burned long ago."

Fang Cheng sneered.

"What was burned were the copies; the original copy followed Inojin all along."

The red thread on Ren Jun's arm tightened again. He braced himself against the stone wall, blood dripping from the back of his hand onto the steps.

With a rustling sound, the black book automatically flipped open the first page.

任俊

The name is followed by "Jia Yao, Wei Gui".

The second page featured Su Wan, followed only by the character "符" (talisman). The red markings on her neck lit up as the page was turned, and her left hand went limp, the tip of her sword striking the stone steps.

Li Ping supported her elbow.

"Can you get down the stairs by yourself, or do you need my help?"

"Noh"

She used her sword as a support, straightening her body inch by inch. Just as she pressed the sword hilt back down, a ring of fresh blood seeped from her right shoulder.

The pages rustled as they turned, one after another, without stopping.

Pei Xing's name was also in the register, the ink was newer than the previous two, and next to it was written "Jade, South of the City".

Li Ping stared at the three lines of small print.

"The old list won't be updated; it records the entry points for the new seals and is still tracking people."

Qin Bo raised his hand to close the book.

Su Wan's sword reached his wrist first.

"Touch me, and I'll chop off your hand."

"Can you stop me? Can you stop it from continuing its search for people?"

"It was too late. As soon as the door opened, the red markings on Senior Brother Ren and my body lit up."

Li Ping took out a piece of cloth, wrapped it around half of the cloud-patterned black nail, and reached for the red thread.

The nail tip was still half a foot away from the red line when the black book trembled violently. A dense scraping sound immediately came from the depths of the hidden compartment, and more red threads squeezed through the brickwork, emerging close to the ground.

This thing is in the register.

"If the black nail can't break the red thread, should we still take this book?" Ren Jun asked.

Whether it can break depends on who owns the nail.

Li Ping turned the half-cloud pattern at the end of the nail towards the hidden compartment.

The red line stopped moving.

Fang Cheng fixed his gaze on the nail.

"The Si family's men are chasing after you with book-opening nails; it seems they don't know how far along the life register is either."

"They're not chasing people, they're chasing two ledgers."

Li Ping used a black nail to lift the outermost red line.

"They don't care how many people died; this account cannot fall into the hands of outsiders."

With a snap, the bolt broke completely at the crack.

The iron gate was flung open a crack, and the blade grazed the stone surface as it probed in, sending sparks flying, before slashing horizontally at Li Ping's hind leg.

Ren Jun kicked the spine of the blade, causing it to deflect with a clang and rebound, traveling straight up his leg bone. He staggered two steps, his back slamming heavily against the stone wall. The two people outside the door used the momentum to push the door open, widening the gap by a hand's breadth.

"Hurry up!"

Su Wan retreated down the narrow staircase, guarding the entrance with her sword in her left hand.

Li Ping did not accept the nail.

The black book had only a few blank pages left, the old ink resting in the center of the paper, while the four corners were glaringly clean, like a few thin, unmarked tombstones.

Fang Cheng pulled the chain.

"You haven't been inside the old house, so your name won't be in the register."

Li Ping glanced at him.

Fang Cheng had previously listed introductory medicines, jade talismans, and cultivation methods, leaving room for interpretation in his tone. This statement, however, was too definitive, revealing a flaw: he had seen the register of newcomers and knew that there was another seal-based cultivation method besides the old one.

Li Ping didn't voice this point, but Fang Cheng brought it up himself, making it even more suspicious than the appearance of names in the register.

"You answered too quickly without even looking at the booklet."

Fang Cheng's right hand retracted slightly.

despair

In the very center of the last blank page, a tiny black dot, no bigger than a pinhead, slowly seeped out.

The black dot extends to the right in a horizontal stroke, pauses, and then dips downwards in a vertical stroke.

The character "李"

Ren Jun stood below, his chest heaving twice, the air he inhaled getting stuck in his throat.

"Junior Brother Li, don't wait until it's all written!"

"Watch before you leave"

The black-clad man with half a shoulder armor squeezed through the crack in the iron gate, turned sideways, and forcefully stuffed his chest and abdomen into the stone chamber. As soon as his toes touched the ground, the short knife pierced the armor plate close to his waist.

Su Wan dodged the blade, her left hand plunging the sword into the seam of her soft armor, the tip only half an inch in before the wound on her right shoulder suddenly burst open, hot blood flowing down her arm, and her sword strike momentarily halted.

The man in black raised his arm and slammed it down towards her neck.

Ren Jun lifted the bronze shield from below, the edge of the shield slamming heavily into the black-clad man's forearm, causing the arm to bend outwards. Ren Jun's own injured arm also trembled. The soul imprints of both men lit up simultaneously, and the three array lines on the narrow staircase wall glowed red.

The ink on the black book suddenly sped up, the strokes bursting out of the paper one after another.

"Li Ping"

The two characters have now fully appeared, and the ink continues to spread outwards. First, "Mountain Twelve" appears after the name, followed by "Earth Element".

Uncle Qin stared at those four words

"Mountain Twelfth, indeed refers to the twelfth outermost point of the myriad mountains."

Li Ping felt a sudden burning sensation in his chest, as if a red-hot needle had pierced through the old scar.

The earth elemental spiritual energy in his dantian began to circulate uncontrollably. Every time the spiritual energy completed a full cycle along the meridians, the black book would draw a wisp of heat from his chest, and the ink on the paper would darken accordingly.

abandoned mine

remnants

The martial arts technique hidden in the stone box

The abandoned mine was the hook, the remnant formation was the connecting thread, and the cultivation technique in the stone box was the bait swallowed. Only when the book of life was written did this thread stretch from the Twelve Mountains all the way back to the Well Formation.

"Let's go now!" Ren Jun shouted.

The second pursuer slipped a long hook through the crack in the door, the tip scraping against the stone surface before snapping it into the cover of the book and yanking it out the door.

Li Ping twisted his wrist, the black nail breaking the outer red thread. The red thread coiled towards the pursuers, freeing the black book from its entanglement, and slipped out of the hidden compartment.

Uncle Qin reached out his hand to take it

Li Ping first used his outer robe to cover the booklet, tucking it under his arm. He protected the booklet with his left hand, then stepped onto the narrow staircase.

"Senior Brother Ren, take Su Wan downstairs."

"There are at least two people outside the door. How can you guard it alone?"

"No need to guard it"

Li Ping stepped back to Fang Cheng's side and pressed the black nail against the thin tube below his right wrist.

Close the door.

Fang Cheng looked at the two booklets

"Take me away, and I'll close the door for you."

"You still have three rings that you can't untangle now."

"If the pursuers get in, I'll fall back into the hands of the Si family."

"So you should close the door even more."

The man in black, who had squeezed into the stone chamber, drew his dagger, turned around, and pounced.

Fang Cheng raised his withered right hand and pressed his five fingers against the red light on his chest.

"Jing San, close the door!"

slam-la-

Beneath the stone platform, the chains were taut, link by link.

The narrow staircase entrance began to close.

Li Ping leaped downwards, the tip of the knife grazing the hem of his clothes. The man in black tried to give chase, but Fang Cheng swung the chain on his right wrist, binding his ankle.

The stone slab slammed shut, blocking both the flashing blade and Fang Cheng's gaunt figure from above.

Fang Cheng's voice pierced through the last remaining sliver of light.

"Li Ping, the birth register can't be wrong. Every breath of spiritual energy you cultivate is helping the well array find its way!"

In the darkness, the talisman ignited on the ground, its acrid smell spreading along the narrow staircase. The firelight illuminated a patch of wet red on Su Wan's right shoulder.

Li Ping landed at the bottom of the narrow staircase, the burning pain in his chest still lingering. He lifted his outer robe; the black book was turned to its last page.

The newly formed ink continued to spread along the paper.

Li Ping, Shan Shier, Di Yuan, Wei Gui

As the final stroke touched the paper, the old mark on Li Ping's chest contracted, and the burning pain, like a fine hook, sank deeper into his flesh.