To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

When Gu Fan followed Lin's father out of the mansion, a large crowd had already gathered in front of the gate.

Coincidentally, the person who passed away was from the neighboring family whose house was separated from the Lin family's residence by only one wall.

In front of that house stood a disciple of the Rebirth Sect dressed in black robes. His cultivation level was only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, but his posture was very upright. He gently stroked his shiny black beard with his fingers, exuding a profound and unfathomable air.

The black-robed disciple held a white spirit banner in his hand, with lotus patterns painted on it, and a pitch-black gourd hung at his waist.

Gu Fan frowned slightly, sensing a dark aura emanating from the gourd.

The scent was faint, yet undeniably present.

"resentment!"

Gu Fan quickly recognized that the gourd was wrapped in resentment.

Just then, the gates of the mansion opened, and several burly servants carried out an object shaped like a wooden sedan chair.

The wooden sedan chair was closed, but Gu Fan had already noticed that it contained a corpse that had recently passed away, with a talisman pasted on the corpse's forehead.

He immediately understood that this was the "temple" that Lin's father had mentioned.

After everyone put the wooden sedan chair down, the black-robed monk stepped forward, opened the sealed door of the temple, peeled the talisman off the corpse, and then began to chant obscure scriptures in a low voice.

The talisman paper was of poor quality, with chaotic and disordered patterns on it, making it impossible to discern any trace of runes.

"Could it be that this talisman is useless?"

Gu Fan thought to himself, narrowed his eyes, and focused his mind to activate the Myriad Manifestations Dharma Eye.

The secret on the talisman was suddenly revealed in the next instant.

The dense, chaotic patterns vanished, revealing only a simple cyclical pattern. A faint aura flowed within the pattern, but it was definitely not spiritual energy.

The aura was already very weak and was extremely well hidden. If it weren't for his exceptional spiritual sense, even a Golden Core cultivator would have had difficulty detecting it.

"It really is a talisman!"

Gu Fan was slightly startled, but upon closer inspection, he immediately saw the secret.

The writing on the talisman paper is in two layers: the lower layer is the runes, and the upper layer is covered with ordinary ink of the same color, which hides the runes completely. In addition, the talisman paper is of poor quality, so even if a cultivator passes by, he will not pay special attention to it.

Gu Fan silently memorized the runes on the Rebirth Talisman. He had never seen several of them before, which he assumed were secret teachings of the Reincarnation lineage.

After reciting the scriptures, the black-robed cultivator departed gracefully amidst the family's profuse thanks, exuding an air of otherworldly elegance.

Only after the black-robed cultivator had gone far away did the crowd dare to speak, whispering, "Master Liu is blessed; he will surely enjoy a life of leisure in his next life."

The family then stepped forward, bowed to all directions to thank their friends and neighbors for seeing them off, and said that they would host a banquet for everyone at the time of the burial. The crowd then gradually dispersed.

After returning to the Lin family, Gu Fan remained silent, his expression calm and revealing nothing of his thoughts. No one in the Lin family dared to disturb him.

After a long pause, Gu Fan looked at Lin's father and asked, "How long has the custom of using 'Rebirth Talismans' continued in the Qin Kingdom?"

"It's been a long time," Lin's father replied after a moment's thought. "I've consulted historical records, and this custom existed not long after the Qin Dynasty was established."

Gu Fan nodded upon hearing this.

He then looked at Lin Chen and said, "Now that things are settled, I'll go back to my place first. You stay here with your family, and I'll come back to pick you up in a few days."

After a moment's hesitation, Gu Fan decided to leave the gourd behind to protect his family.

Lin Chen quickly thanked them, and the family saw him off to the door.

......

Gu Fan returned to the upper city, closed the palace door with a wave of his sleeve, and sat down cross-legged to ponder the Rebirth Talisman.

The Rebirth Talisman is not complicated in structure; it is only a first-order spiritual talisman. Although he did not recognize some of the runes, it was not difficult to draw them with the help of the Myriad Manifestations Dharma Eye.

He took out several talisman papers and a bottle of talisman ink, and after two attempts, he successfully drew a rebirth talisman.

But upon closer inspection, the Rebirth Talisman did not possess that inexplicable aura.

After hesitating for a moment, Gu Fan affixed the talisman to his body and waited quietly.

An hour later, nothing happened.

Half a day later, they still hadn't found anything.

"Could there be some hidden secret about this talisman that we haven't noticed?" Gu Fan pondered, stroking his chin.

Just then, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. He looked down and focused his attention, and sure enough, a very faint aura appeared on the talisman, much weaker than what he had seen before.

Gu Fan quickly peeled off the talisman and examined himself with his divine sense, but found nothing unusual.

The aura he encountered was unlike anything Gu Fan had ever seen before; it wasn't even spiritual energy, which puzzled him greatly.

"Senior, do you recognize the energy within this talisman?"

Encountering something he didn't understand, Gu Fan had no choice but to seek help from Chang Yuan.

Chang Yuan peeked out from his sleeve, almost touching the snake's head to the Rebirth Talisman. After observing it carefully for a moment, he said slowly, "If I'm not mistaken, the energy on this talisman should be... lifespan."

"Lifespan?" Gu Fan's hand trembled slightly as he looked at the Rebirth Talisman. "Did this talisman just drain my lifespan?"

Chang Yuan nodded: "That's true, but at most it'll only last a few days of lifespan. For a Golden Core cultivator like you, it's already quite good that this low-level talisman can even absorb you. Only mortals can't resist it."

Gu Fan was relieved and lit the talisman, but the energy dissipated in the air and did not return to him.

"In other words... the Rebirth Cult is collecting the lifespans of mortals!"

Gu Fan frowned, and asked suspiciously, "Could it be that they're trying to extend someone's life?"

"Impossible." Chang Yuan shook his head and said, "Once lifespan leaves the body, it is difficult to return. I have never heard of a method to borrow lifespan. If it were that simple, wouldn't everyone in the world be an immortal cultivator?"

"Then the Rebirth Cult must have something to offer, right?" Gu Fan asked, puzzled.

The custom of obtaining the Rebirth Talisman has continued in the Qin Kingdom for at least two thousand years. Although the Rebirth Talisman is obtained after the age of sixty, and given the lifespan of mortals in this world, there are not many left, the accumulated amount over time is by no means insignificant.

Judging from the timing of the custom, Gu Fan could confirm that this was not directed at him, but it undoubtedly cast a shadow over his impression of the Qin state.

Although this action is much gentler than the Wu Kingdom's demonic sect's practice of extracting essence and blood from mortals every year, it is still not a benevolent act.

In particular, the gourd carried by the black-robed cultivator carried a faint trace of resentment.

Since he couldn't figure it out, Gu Fan had no choice but to put the matter aside.

There were still two days until the time he had agreed with Yun Shuwan, and he still needed to forge array tools. Fortunately, he still had some spiritual materials left over from setting up the Returning Origin Array.

Yun Shuwan and Juezhen didn't care about this; they simply considered it a gift for Gu Fan.

Two days later, Yun Shuwan indeed came to visit on time.

After exchanging pleasantries, Gu Fan took out a set of array flags, a palm-sized array plate, and handed over a jade slip containing instructions on how to set up the array.

With the instructions on the jade slip, even someone who doesn't understand formations can set it up, simply by burying the formation plates and flags according to the plan.

Given the value of the Tribulation-Crossing Pill, Gu Fan chose a third-tier high-grade magic array called the "Suppressing Profound Sealing Array," which is a pure trapping array that can not only seal off space but also suppress the physical body and soul.

If a highly skilled array master is in charge, anyone below the Nascent Soul stage who enters the array will have no chance of escaping. Even a Nascent Soul True Monarch would have to put in a lot of effort to break the array.

Yun Shuwan was overjoyed after succeeding and thanked him repeatedly.

She then took out a storage bag, which contained not only the promised Tribulation-Crossing Pill, but also the reward for Gu Fan setting up the Origin Returning Array, including a water-elemental essence called "Cangming True Water," as well as a large number of cultivation pills.

Gu Fan accepted it without hesitation.

As for what he saw in Duyou City, he hesitated for a while but ultimately did not mention it to Yun Shuwan.

"The sacrificial ceremony is next month, and I must go to prepare. I will be unable to entertain you, fellow Daoist. I hope you will not take offense," Yun Shuwan said apologetically.

Gu Fan chuckled and shook his head, saying, "Fellow Daoist, there's no need to take it to heart."