Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

The door closed.

The last ray of moonlight was completely blocked by the wooden door, plunging the Listening Rain Pavilion into pure darkness.

The owner of Tingyuloulou stood in the darkness and slowly turned around.

Wu Gan's skin was still on him, but he was too lazy to maintain that stiff expression anymore.

The skin hung loosely, looking like a piece of paper that had been crumpled and then barely unfolded.

"pity."

His voice was no longer Wu Gan's, but that of another, hoarser old man.

In the very center of the room, a thick roof beam lay across.

A person was hanging from the roof beam.

Thick, black iron chains hung down from the roof beams, binding the man tightly, making him look like an animal waiting to be slaughtered.

The chains passed through his shoulder blades, around his wrists and ankles, and finally wrapped around his waist and abdomen several times, firmly securing him in mid-air.

Zheng Changkong was suspended in mid-air like a rag doll, his head drooping limply, with dried blood hanging from the corner of his mouth.

His chest was still rising and falling slightly, and blood was seeping from the wound, dripping down the iron chain.

Tick.

Tick.

Below is a formation drawn with blood, glowing faintly red in the darkness.

Intricate lines occupy the entire first floor, spreading outwards from directly below Zheng Changkong, covering almost every wooden plank.

One ring after another, like some kind of totem.

At the heart of the formation, a creature that is half human and half cicada sat cross-legged.

The lower body was still human-shaped, with withered legs crossed together, and the skin above the knees had begun to harden, turning a translucent brown like a cicada's shell.

Its upper body had completely deviated from the human realm, with its chest covered in fine downy hair and six segmented limbs extending from under its ribs. Two of these limbs were deeply embedded in the cracks of the wooden planks, while the other four hung in front of its body.

Standing at the door, the owner of Tingyu Tower watched the rhythm of the dripping blood, and a satisfied smile slowly spread across his lips.

"Captain Zheng, stop pretending now that you're awake. I know you can hear me." He spoke slowly, a hint of mockery in his voice.

The person suspended in mid-air moved.

Zheng Changkong struggled to lift his head, revealing a face pale from excessive blood loss.

His eyes were half-open, and it took him a while to focus before they landed on the thing in Wu Gan's skin at the door.

"cough……"

He coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Once Director Shen arrives... you won't be able to escape either."

The author of "Listening to the Rain" laughed.

"Captain Zheng, you have some nerve! You're in this state yourself, and you still have the nerve to threaten me?"

Zheng Changkong didn't reply, but lowered his eyelids to look at the formation beneath him, and twitched the corner of his mouth.

"This formation... I recognize it," he said. "A soul-binding formation... You want to bind my soul?"

"Soul-binding?" The Listening Rain Pavilion Master shook his head. "Soul-binding is too wasteful, Captain Zheng. Your physical body is a valuable asset."

He took a step forward, the wooden planks creaking loudly in the empty building.

"His cultivation level, with his Qi and blood as fine as mercury, is almost approaching the realm of having skin as tough as copper and bones as strong as iron."

As he walked, he spoke as if he were evaluating a commodity up for sale: "Such a body is rare; it would be a waste to kill it directly."

Zheng Changkong raised his head and stared at him.

"You want to... possess someone?"

"Captain Zheng certainly has a good eye."

"But this formation is no ordinary possession formation." He stretched out his hand, his withered fingers pointing to the center of the formation. "Ordinary possession involves my soul going in and squeezing your soul out, but without your memories, it's easy to expose flaws."

Zheng Changkong stared at him without saying a word.

"So I've come up with an even better method." The Listening Rain Pavilion Master raised his head, his green eyes filled with profound meaning. "This formation is called the Soul Fusion and Form Integration Formation."

He opened his arms as if embracing the entire darkness.

"Your memories belong to me, my obsessions belong to you, I will use your body, you will enjoy my cultivation. At that time, we will be inseparable and become one."

After listening, Zheng Changkong remained silent for a while.

"To become one? That sounds nice."

"So, will you devour me, or will I devour you? Do you take me for a... three-year-old?"

The owner of Tingyu Tower's expression changed, then he laughed again.

"Captain Zheng is smart," he said. "Then I won't lie to you. It's true that I'm going to devour you, but there are ways to do it. I'm just discussing this with you."

"If you cooperate and suffer less, your soul will still retain some consciousness in my body and can occasionally come out for some fresh air."

"If you don't cooperate..."

He pointed to the array on the ground.

"This formation can be tackled brute force, it just hurts a bit, but in the end it's still the same."

At this point, the owner of Tingyu Tower sighed, "I originally wanted to bring them in, especially that kid named Chen Mo."

"Chen Mo?" Zheng Changkong's eyes flickered.

"His physical body is even better than yours." His tone carried a hint of frustration. "His Yin energy is highly refined and has the highest compatibility with me. If I could obtain his body, I could immediately recover five levels of my original strength."

He turned his head and looked in the direction of the gate.

Through the thick wooden planks, one could vaguely hear noises outside. Chen Mo was suggesting fire prevention, but it seemed that the others disagreed.

"What a pity." He withdrew his gaze, his voice turning somber. "That kid didn't fall for it."

"What a pity." He withdrew his gaze, his voice turning somber. "That kid didn't fall for it."

Zheng Changkong was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

The laughter was weak and intermittent, but it was definitely laughter.

"He... won't fall for it?" Zheng Changkong chuckled and coughed. "That kid... seems unreliable... but he's actually... smarter than you..."

The owner of Tingyu Tower's face darkened.

"What do you know?" he said coldly. "This clone of mine can only go out wearing that Wu's skin; its strength is less than one-tenth of that of my original body."

"If this formation didn't require me to use my physical body to maintain its operation, preventing me from leaving this room, would that kid have been able to escape if I went out myself?"

Zheng Changkong was still smiling.

"I can't get out... I just can't get out..." he gasped for breath. "What's the point of saying all that..."

The Listening Rain Pavilion Master stared at him, his eyes gleaming with a strong green light.

"You think I can't do anything?" He slowly approached, standing in front of Zheng Changkong, looking up at the person hanging in mid-air. "When the time comes, I'll go out wearing your skin and the first thing I'll do is go after that kid. Didn't you say he's shrewd? I'll show him he can't escape my grasp."

Zheng Changkong lowered his head and looked at him.

Two people, one above and one below, just stared at each other.

"You..." Zheng Changkong suddenly spoke, "Can you smell anything?"

The owner of Tingyu Tower was stunned for a moment.

The next second, his expression changed.

There was a faint, almost imperceptible scent in the air.

It's smoke.

"Fire." Zheng Changkong forced a genuine smile. "They set it on fire."

The owner of Tingyu Louzhu suddenly turned around and rushed to the window.

Through the broken windowpane, he saw that the night sky outside was already reddened by the firelight.

The raging flames approached rapidly, and the heat wave could be felt even through the wooden planks.

"These lunatics!" he gritted his teeth. "You're still inside, and they dare to set fire to it?!"

Behind him, Zheng Changkong's laughter could be heard intermittently.

"You just...didn't you let me...get my way?"

"They certainly won't... let you succeed... even if... they burn me to death..."

The owner of Tingyu Tower turned around, and the skin on his face began to distort and deform.

"You think burning down the building will save you?"

Zheng Changkong closed his eyes. "Then... let's die together."

"With just you guys?"

He turned around, and the skin that belonged to Wu Gan fell to the ground like a discarded garment.

A streak of blood-red light shot out from behind his head, drawing a strange arc in the air before landing directly into the body of the half-human, half-cicada creature at the center of the formation.

The monster, which was sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened its compound eyes.

Thousands upon thousands of tiny eyes lit up with a ghostly green light at the same instant, like countless will-o'-the-wisps suddenly lit in the darkness.

The needle-like mouthparts trembled violently, emitting a sharp hissing sound that made the wooden planks of the entire building tremble slightly.

The two segments that had been inserted into the gaps in the wooden board were quickly pulled out, bringing with them a cloud of wood chips and blood mist.

With all six limbs exerting force simultaneously, the half-human, half-cicada body suddenly sprang towards the window.

It moved at an astonishing speed, leaving only a blur in the darkness.

boom!

Wood chips flew everywhere.

It burst out of the window, carrying with it broken wood chips and green slime, and landed in the firelight in the open space in front of the building.

Its six segments are deeply embedded in the soil, and its translucent cicada wings unfold behind it, gleaming with a dark luster under the moonlight.

Two enormous compound eyes turned, reflecting the raging flames.

Everyone was stunned.

Chen Mo reacted the fastest.

Holy crap!!!

He was so frightened that he took three steps back until he was behind the crowd. "What is that thing?! A cicada that has become a spirit?! Or a spirit cicada?"