Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

Lin Ruoyun's body rolled off the roof and landed on the bluestone slabs in the alley with a dull thud.

With her death, the formation that had enveloped the entire street was instantly broken.

The surging tide of blood-soaked zombies on both sides of the street vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

It turned out to be an illusion.

Chen Mo stood on the roof, looking down at the twisted corpse, his right hand still gripping the hilt of his knife.

The moonlight fell on his profile, revealing a pair of almost indifferent eyes.

Soul-capturing.

He made a hand seal with one hand, while his left hand's five fingers flew, instantly forming a complex hand seal.

The power of Yin surged from his fingertips, transforming into a cold purple light that shot straight toward Lin Ruoyun's corpse.

The purple light entered her brow, transforming into an invisible hook that caught something that was about to dissipate.

"come out."

Chen Mo gave a low shout and pulled his wrist back.

Lin Ruoyun's corpse convulsed violently, and black mist poured out of her mouth, nose, eyes and ears at the same time.

The fog condensed and did not dissipate, churning in mid-air and gradually outlining a blurry human figure.

With limbs hanging down and head bowed, he resembled a kite tethered to a string, hovering three feet above the corpse.

Chen Mo stopped his magic and jumped off the roof. The bloodstains on the bluestone slab were not yet dry. When they reached the edge of his boots, he deliberately took a half step to the side.

"Lin Ruoyun".

The human figure in the mist slowly raised its head.

Her features were still her features, but they looked as if they had been soaked in water for too long, with a hazy white covering her eyebrows, eyes, lips, and nose.

Its eyes darted around, unable to find a focal point, before finally stopping in Chen Mo's direction.

"Where should the formation techniques be placed...?"

-----------------

After interrogating him for about ten minutes and confirming that nothing had been missed, Chen Mo took out a wad of oiled paper from his pocket. Inside was a fist-sized lump of flesh.

The meat is grayish-white, with fine, eye-like patterns on the surface. It has no bloody smell, but instead emits a faint, exotic fragrance.

He placed the lump of flesh on Lin Ruoyun's chest.

The body was still warm, retaining the color of a living person.

But once the lump of flesh was placed on it, starting from the point of contact, the skin visibly lost its color, turning from a warm white to a deathly pale...

In just a few breaths, the once warm corpse was completely transformed into a curled-up, twisted, dried-up corpse, its skin as brown as a withered tree, and its eye sockets sunken into two black holes.

After absorbing the essence of Lin Ruoyun's corpse, the volume of the flesh mass did not change much, only the texture and color of its surface became a few shades darker.

Chen Mo stared at the lump of flesh for a few moments before taking it back, wrapping it in oil paper again, and stuffing it back into his pocket.

The oil paper was stuck to my chest, and through the fabric, I could feel a slight warmth, like the body temperature of a living thing.

He didn't look down, but turned and walked out of the alley.

At the end of the alley is a narrow street.

Low houses lined both sides of the street, with a few lanterns still burning under the eaves. The candlelight flickered in the night wind, casting long and short shadows on the walls.

The black Ford we had been riding in was still running, with a low, sputtering roar coming from under the hood.

A middle-aged man sat in the driver's seat, his head drooping over his chest, as if he were asleep.

It was Mr. Liu, the driver.

Chen Mo walked over and knocked on the car window.

The man was sleeping soundly.

His brow was slightly furrowed, but a strange smile played on his lips, as if he were having a sweet dream.

He opened the car door from the outside, extended two fingers and pressed them together, then touched the center of the man's forehead.

"untie."

A faint glimmer of light shone into the skin from the fingertips.

Master Liu's body trembled violently, and he gasped for breath before even opening his eyes.

"Mr. Chen...?" He looked around.

"How could I... just now..."

"Asleep."

"Asleep?" Master Liu was stunned, rubbing his eyes. "No way, I clearly remember you telling me to wait for you a while..."

"It's alright now."

Chen Mo didn't explain further, and glanced across the street.

Across the street, under the eaves, huddled up a man, an old man selling wontons. He was leaning against his load, his head resting on his shoulder, fast asleep.

Further along the wall, at the base of the wall, squatted two people who looked like beggars, equally motionless.

At the end of the street, there was a rickshaw, with the driver leaning on the handlebars and the passenger slumped in the carriage.

Everyone who passed by on this street was asleep.

Chen Mo withdrew his gaze.

"What's wrong with them?" Master Liu followed his gaze, his face pale. "Are they...asleep too?"

"We accidentally entered a formation," Chen Mo said calmly. "Someone tricked us just now."

Master Liu swallowed hard, not daring to ask what kind of formation it was. "Are they alright?"

"It's okay, he'll wake up on his own soon."

Chen Mo opened the back door and took out his suitcase.

"It's very close to my house, you can go back first, I can walk a few steps by myself."

.......

The engine noise grew louder, and the black sedan slowly drove away from the intersection.

The wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs, and the sound gradually faded away.

Only after watching the Ford disappear from sight did Chen Mo pick up his suitcase and turn his gaze to a shadowy spot on the street corner.

"You've been following me all this way, aren't you ready to come out now?"

There was a moment of silence in the shadows.

Then footsteps could be heard.

The leather shoes stomped on the bluestone slabs with a deliberate composure.

Two figures emerged from the shadows, gradually becoming visible in the red moonlight.

Two figures emerged from the shadows, gradually becoming visible in the red moonlight.

They were all foreigners.

The one walking in front was a bit older, around forty years old, and was wearing a black priest's robe.

The young people following behind him were much younger.

He was in his early twenties, with very short blond hair, wearing an ill-fitting dark gray trench coat, and his hands in his pockets.

The two stopped three zhang away from Chen Mo.

The middle-aged foreigner raised his right hand and drew a strange symbol on his chest, first touching his brow with his fingertip, then his chest, and finally his left and right shoulders.

"Good night, Mr. Chen Mo," he said.

The middle-aged foreigner spoke fluent Chinese, but his pronunciation was slightly accented at the end of each sentence, giving him a foreign accent.

Chen Mo did not speak.

His hand was still on the handle of the suitcase, his posture relaxed.

The young man's gaze was fixed on his chest, on the spot where the wad of oiled paper was.

"My companion has been somewhat rude." The middle-aged foreigner laughed again. "Please forgive his rudeness. His name is Andrei, and I am Joseph."

"We are from Xikai Church."

Chen Mo remained silent.

Joseph waited for two breaths, his smile remaining unchanged.

"Sir, there's no need to be wary," he said. "We've only come to reclaim something that was rightfully ours."

His gaze inadvertently fell on Chen Mo's chest.

"It's the divine slough that you took away that day."

A night breeze blew by, and the still-lit lantern on the street corner swayed.

Chen Mo finally spoke, "Are they yours?"

"Yes."

Joseph nodded. "That was a sacred object we kept in the crypt of the Westgate Church. It was stolen three months ago."

"We've been tracking it for a long time, and tonight we finally sensed its presence here, but we never expected..."

He looked at Chen Mo, his smile now more sincere, "It will fall into your hands."