Ren Qing entered the mining tunnel and buried himself in digging.
After the Human Skin Book advanced to the Half-Corpse Realm, he clearly felt that the recoil force generated from colliding with the stone walls had weakened considerably.
This allowed Ren Qing to dig even more recklessly. Even if his palms split open, he could transfer the injuries elsewhere, pushing his efficiency to new heights.
Before he knew it, he only came back to his senses when completely exhausted.
Huang Ziwan next to him wiped sweat from his forehead and couldn't help muttering a few curses under his breath.
In his view, Ren Qing truly lived up to being trained by Song Zongwu. Despite being a Corpse Burner, he worked harder than even Restraint Officers.
Normally, digging speed should slow down as one goes deeper.
But Ren Qing was completely opposite. Just when Huang Ziwan thought he might finally be slowing down, he actually sped up instead.
Huang Ziwan let out a long sigh and suddenly felt some envy toward Mu Yi who served as decoration in the camp.
Even staying completely motionless all day would be better than this nonstop manual labor.
Boom...
Another minor collapse occurred in the cave.
He quickly dismissed distracting thoughts and continued digging. Although Song Zongwu had given them ten days, it felt like they wouldn't last that long.
Ren Qing also noticed small cracks appearing in the stone walls. The mountain's tremors were becoming more pronounced, sometimes strong enough to make people lose their footing.
He ate some beast eyeballs to recover stamina and refocused on the stone wall.
By the eighth day.
While the Restraint Officers continued excavating, the constables had begun withdrawing in succession.
Nowadays, Twin Peaks Mountain frequently had large rocks tumbling down, making the temporary camp increasingly unsafe.
They would withdraw about three miles away and set up a new camp there.
When the mountain excavation was completed, cracks had spread throughout the cave, with powdered stone falling like rain.
Ren Qing and the others scrambled out of the cave in disarray. Looking back, they saw the entire mountain shaking.
Song Zongun said solemnly: "Let's go. Follow me to the adjacent mountain. We can only rest easy after seeing the forbidden zone sink with our own eyes."
His legs propelled him forward like an arrow from a bow, heading northwest of Twin Peaks Mountain.
"Going ahead first."
Li Yaoyang nodded to everyone before transforming into a dark swarm of insects that followed behind.
Tudi wordlessly burrowed underground. True to his half-human, half-pangolin nature, he moved through soil with remarkable speed.
"Xu Shilin, you..."
"Old Huang, just eat my dust."
Just as Huang Ziwan was about to ask Xu Shilin to wait for him, the latter took a deep drag from his pipe and exhaled, riding the smoke as he chased after the others.
Huang Ziwan turned to look at Ren Qing, only to see him squat slightly before launching forward with speed nearly matching a galloping horse.
"Damn it all."
He had no choice but to push himself to the limit, but his technique's limitations meant his webbed feet couldn't gain proper traction on open ground.
By the time Huang Ziwan arrived panting heavily, everyone else was already resting on boulders at the mountain peak.
Their gazes were fixed intently in the direction of the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone.
The seismic activity had grown so intense that all surrounding techniques had failed, leaving the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone completely exposed.
Unfortunately, dark clouds shrouded the forbidden zone, only allowing glimpses of grayish-white earth and withered vegetation at its edges.
Boom... Boom... Boom...
Even though Ren Qing was some distance from Twin Peaks Mountain, he could still feel the boulder beneath him vibrating.
"Forbidden zones at the Ghost Envoy Realm can still exert influence even when buried underground."
Song Zongwu's expression was grave. When facing forbidden zones at or above the Ghost Envoy Realm, Restraint Officers could only implement containment measures based on the surrounding environment.
After all, if a Restraint Officer died, it could lead to uncontrollable deterioration of the situation.
Xu Shilin took a drag from his pipe and said: "Just relying on the mountain collapse probably isn't secure enough, right?"
"Indeed it's not."
Song Zongwu closed his eyes in contemplation, seemingly considering how to handle this.
Ren Qing couldn't help frowning slightly. As he looked at the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if he'd encountered it before.
Fragmented memories surfaced but refused to coalesce into anything tangible.
Three or four hours later, Twin Peaks Mountain's collapse truly began.
A crack gradually spread across the mountainside, sending massive amounts of rubble tumbling down toward the forbidden zone. The entire mountain actually began tilting slightly.
Song Zongwu breathed a sigh of relief. At least this confirmed their approach was correct, their nearly month-long digging hadn't been in vain.
As the base of the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone hollowed out, it began sinking.
ROAR!!!!!
At that moment.
An ear-splitting roar came from the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone as a hundred-meter-long arm of sludge burst from the rubble.
The arm tried to bring the forbidden zone back to the surface, desperately pushing aside falling debris.
This demonstrated that Ghost Envoy Realm forbidden zones possessed considerable intelligence, having recognized the approaching danger.
Seeing this, Song Zongwu said to Li Yaoyang: "Accelerate the collapse. We can't give it time to react."
Li Yaoyang nodded. There was no choice but to make some sacrifices.
With a wave of his hand, dense swarms of insects crawled from the forest into the cave, gnawing at critical support points to intensify the collapse.
The sludge arm could no longer resist, its roars filled with indignant fury.
Ren Qing suddenly recalled his soul's experience entering the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone. That arm likely belonged to the transformed herbal gatherer.
Though the herb garden seemed more like a prison cell.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the twin-peaked Twin Peaks Mountain was reduced to a single peak, with the forbidden zone now just a slightly elevated mound.
No traces of the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone remained visible, though roars could still be heard from underground.
Since the forbidden zone itself couldn't move, escaping from this Restraint Officer-designed tomb within the next century seemed highly unlikely.
However, as Song Zongwu explained, this area would still undergo strange changes due to the forbidden zone's influence.
Song Zongwu stood and said: "I'll contact Shui Hulu next. Let's rest for a few days."
Huang Ziwan muttered with apprehension: "Shui Hulu..."
"I need to replenish my insects. Too many died this time."
After speaking, Li Yaoyang transformed into a swarm and disappeared beyond the mountain.
The others soon departed as well.
The Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone was effectively sealed, only minor finishing touches remained.
As Ren Qing prepared to check on the constables, Song Zongwu stopped him.
"Ren Qing, did your technique breakthrough?"
Ren Qing froze, cold sweat breaking out on his back. His heart pounded wildly as he scrambled for an explanation.
Song Zongwu continued without waiting for a response: "I didn't expect your Taotie Method to have reached the Half-Corpse Realm. At this rate, the Ghost Envoy Realm bottleneck is just a matter of time for you."
"Huh?"
Ren Qing was momentarily stunned before hurriedly agreeing: "That's right. The Taotie Method naturally broke through to the Half-Corpse Realm."
He opened his right palm, revealing a ferocious mouth that gaped wide.
Song Zongwu looked at Ren Qing with complex emotions before saying: "Have you thought about your next steps?"
"Advancing to the Ghost Envoy Realm..."
"Actually, after reaching the Ghost Envoy Realm, a cultivator's mutations become increasingly uncontrollable, like branches spreading from a tree."