Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

The twelve battle lines on the round gate were gleaming hot; even from half a step away, scorching heat still wafted up at Li Ping's gate.

Li Ping's chest tightened suddenly, and the spiritual energy in his dantian surged towards the center of the door. He took half a step back, and his shoes had barely left the yellow line when the crisp sound of chains striking the stone wall came from the narrow passage behind him.

Shen Zhu pressed his right hand against the bronze door, the blood dripping from his wound being absorbed by the bronze patterns.

"Give me the copper core," Li Ping said, reaching out his hand.

"Your Qi Sea has already been bitten by Shan Twelve. Once it gets its hands on the copper core, it will strike you first."

"Your right arm can't hold on any longer. If you don't hand over the copper core to me, no one can withstand it once the pursuers arrive."

Shen Zhu glanced at him, gripped the copper core with his left hand, and pulled it out inch by inch. The dark blue spiritual energy had just been severed when his right arm slid off the door. The back of his hand brushed against the copper patterns, and half of his sleeve, hanging by his side, was already soaked in blood, with drops of blood dripping down the cuff.

Li Ping pulled up the hem of his outer robe, folding it twice to wrap the copper core. He gripped the corner of the cloth tightly and slowly guided the copper core into the twelve grooves of the mountain. As soon as the first two touched, all twelve array lines on the door lit up simultaneously, then eleven went out in the blink of an eye, leaving only a yellowish-brown light moving along the copper core.

Two small characters emerged from the ochre line.

"Borrow my life"

Qin Shoushan's expression changed.

"Don't treat it as an escape route. Once the outer perimeter loses pressure, the main array won't be relying on spiritual energy, but rather on the lifeblood of the nearest living person."

Ren Jun held the bronze shield at an angle against the narrow passage, his shoulder pressed firmly against the shield's back. With each impact from the chains, the crack in the soul mark on his arm tore upwards by half a step, blood dripping from his elbow onto the stone steps.

"Whose life will I need to open this door?"

Qin Shoushan looked at Li Ping

"Mountain Twelve only recognizes Li Ping; once the gate is opened, he'll borrow his life first."

Su Wan, sword in her left hand, stood between Li Ping and the door.

"Take another route"

"We can't replace it," Shen Zhu said, leaning against the door. "Once the copper core leaves the array's core, the pursuers will arrive; but once the door opens, the old wires left by Fang Cheng will also be exposed."

Li Ping pressed down on the armor through the collar.

Booklet is heating up

The heat penetrated his clothes, pressing against Li Ping's palm repeatedly. Fang Cheng didn't have the Armor Record in his hand, but the old thread he borrowed when entering the Mother Array was still the one left behind by the Armor Record. Since this thread could send him into the Mother Array, it was also possible that when the Round Gate opened, it could be used to pull him back along the same mark.

"How much do you want to borrow?"

"If the door is opened a little, we can borrow a little more. Nobody can predict how much we'll need to borrow to get five people through."

"I don't need to open it fully; I'll stop once one person can clearly see the door."

Li Ping pressed the copper core into the groove.

The earthen-yellow lines immediately wrapped around his wrists, the earth energy rushing into his meridians, then drawing away even more spiritual power. The book in his chest also vibrated. He bit his tongue, using the pain to steady his hands, only allowing the copper core to rotate half a circle.

A crack appeared in the round door

There is no passage behind the door crack

Black water slowly seeped from beneath the door, its surface churning gently. A chilling, damp aura seeped out from the cracks. Twelve copper chains hung above the water, each disappearing into the darkness in a different direction. The twelve copper chains closest to the door were taut, their ends wrapped around a gaunt human figure.

Ren Jun stared at that person

"Shen Zhu?"

Ren Jun's gaze first fell on the face reflected in the water, then shifted to Shen Zhu by the door.

The two faces bore no resemblance whatsoever, yet the old scar on the brow bone of the corpse in the water, and the sunken left ear, clearly belonged to Shen Zhu from his memory. Moving his gaze further down, the corpse's chest was reduced to a bowl-sized hole, and the joints of its limbs were riddled with blackened, fine nails.

Shen Zhu's breathing became erratic.

"The body in the water is my old body; it died three years ago at Mountain Twelve."

Su Wan turned the tip of her sword towards him

"What exactly are you now?"

Shen Zhu raised his left hand, his five fingers casting shadows in the bronze light.

"A stolen living body"

The crack in the door widened further, and the corpse in the black water opened its eyes. It didn't look at Shen Zhu, but instead raised its right hand towards Li Ping. The twelve copper ropes tightened, and Li Ping's Qi Sea instantly emptied by ten percent.

Li Ping gripped the wrapping cloth tightly with both hands, forcefully twisting the copper core back in the opposite direction. The yellowish-brown thread dug into his wrist bone, the friction against the door crack producing a piercing metallic clang, before finally stopping inch by inch.

"First tell me how the old corpse died, then tell me where this living body of yours came from."

"Back then, when Fang Chengqiang activated the Mother Formation, I guarded the mountain for him. The power of the twelve formations entered my body, and my physical body died on the spot; what didn't die completely was my soul imprint, which was bound by copper chains."

Shen Zhu ripped open his collar, revealing a ring of patchwork scars below his collarbone.

"Shangguan Jue sent a group of living people here from the salt warehouse. The soul of one of the bodies matched perfectly. I killed the guard and escaped with the help of the Soul Transfer Furnace."

Ren Jun grabbed his collar

"Where did the original person in that body go?"

"The gas ran out before it even went into the furnace."

"Who can testify for you?"

"Nobody's here."

Ren Jun stared at him for a moment before loosening his fingers one by one from his collar. He then shoved Shen Zhu aside, who staggered half a step and slammed his back against the bronze door. The wound on his right arm reopened, and warm blood instantly flowed over his elbow.

"So even though you're alive, we treated you like you were dead for three years."

"The Life Extension Division only recognizes corpses, not faces. If I show myself alive, they'll just drag me back here."

The sound of iron wedges snapping came from deep within the narrow passage.

The black chain brushed past the corner, leaving them only a stone staircase behind.

Su Wan flung out a fire talisman, the flames spreading along the stone wall, forcing back the foremost chain head. However, this also caused her right shoulder to suddenly sink, the sword tip hitting the ground, blood dripping down her arm.

Li Ping did not urge Shen on.

"After you've used the body, what will you use to exchange for Shangguan Jue's men?"

"He gave me men and tokens, and I killed people and investigated the twelve outposts for him. That's the deal."

Shen Zhu braced himself against the bronze door with his left hand, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. He paused for two breaths before straightening up again, his right arm still hanging at his side, blood dripping intermittently from his fingertips.

"I escorted his ships, settled his accounts, and used his token to enter the mines and the old warehouse. The ship ledger at West River Wharf was selected by me, and I also revealed the location of the old house to you."

Qin Shoushan asked coldly, "While you were investigating the armor furnace, how many people did you send into it for Shangguan Jue?"

"I let two groups go."

"Are there still some left?"

Shen Zhu did not offer any explanation.

Li Ping pressed the copper core down another point.

A series of soft gurgling sounds came from underwater. The old corpse raised its head, and a string of bubbles rose to the surface from its open mouth. The bubbles burst one after another, and cold, fishy steam rushed into the crack in the door, revealing wet, dripping names on the black water.

Many names are marked "Print Only".

The names on the water's surface trembled with the constant vibrations of the copper ropes, each stroke slowly spreading out. Behind them lay no bodies to be carried away, nor could they utter a cry for help. If the copper ropes broke, the ink marks would vanish first, and then even the last trace of the soul imprints would completely disappear into the black water.

Shen Zhu included rescuing those whose bodies still existed and cutting the remaining copper ropes in the same account, but left no choice for the names on the water.

"You forced me to bring in two books because you wanted to use the Book of Life to find those whose bodies are still intact, and then use the Book of Life to sever their furnace seals," Li Ping looked at him. "Save those who can be taken away, and then dismantle the rest of the copper ropes."

"I chose to save those who could still be taken away first. As for those on the ropes, if we dragged it out any longer, we wouldn't be able to save either of them."

"That's the path you chose for them."

Shen Zhu wiped the blood from his chin

"I waited to die on the rope; that wasn't living, it was just waiting for someone to erase the last trace of me."

The old corpse in the black water suddenly turned its head

Its lips kept opening and closing, but the voice that came out was Fang Cheng's.

"Shen Zhu, you still like to choose people for others."

Zheng—

The twelve copper chains snapped simultaneously, the reverberation spreading outwards along the Black Water. The armored record, held in Li Ping's arms, rapidly turned its pages, while the raw book pushed aside its cloth covering; both books, separated by robes, leaned towards the same spot, their spines pointing directly into the depths of the Black Water.

A crimson light first appeared from the depths of the black water, then slowly spread outwards along the array patterns, outlining an inverted crimson array plate.

The well array occupied only a small corner below it, with twelve outer lines piercing the darkness from the edge of the array plate and stretching further into the distance; at the end of each line hung patches of flickering life fire, covering the counties of Jiangning.

Fang Cheng stood in the center of the array plate, with broken copper rings piled up at his feet.

"Junior Brother Li, you did indeed bring the keys, just as I predicted."

Li Ping did not open the door again.

"Whose life are you willing to take, to be buried with?"

Fang Cheng raised his hand and pointed at the array plate.

The life flames of several aristocratic residences in the city lit up first, and the life flames of more ordinary people were also drawn by the array lines, converging towards the same array eye.

"They used the lives of an entire county to forge immortality fuel."

"Then I will use this entire fiery destiny to send them on their way."