Ren Qing, having already figured out the rules of the Stomach within the Stomach, and being inside Avici Hell, felt at ease staying here.
After all, with the Restraint Officers' Hall backing him, the Bottle Imp didn't dare do anything to him.
Ren Qing estimated the interval of the Bottle Imp's appearances to be about once a month, just right for cultivating his spell arts.
Once The Blindless Method was fully mastered, the cultivation speed increased somewhat.
Time passed unknowingly. When Ren Qing was locked inside the glass bottle again, he consciously chose The Taotie Method.
The result was smoother than he expected.
This might be related to the fact that the Prison Within the Abdomen was cultivated by consuming lifespan to ascend.
Though the information stream appeared to crudely force the spell art realm upward, in truth, it thoroughly suppressed the Supernatural Remnant within the body.
However, it lacked the kind of fundamental transformation that The Blindless Method brought.
Once he sensed the Prison Within the Abdomen, the first thing Ren Qing did was inspect its condition, fortunately, everything was in order inside.
After the Divine Leg Sutra Supernatural Remnant had advanced to the Ghost Envoy Realm, its appearance had become that of a ghostly wolf, lying in the prison, emanating a fearsome aura without moving.
The Supernatural Remnants obtained from killing Preachers were completely intimidated by the ghost wolf and dared not move at all.
But what Ren Qing hadn't expected was that the husky was still alive, and its size had increased severalfold, now at least three meters long.
The way Ren Qing looked at the husky became increasingly strange, he couldn't help but feel the creature's flesh looked firm and well-marbled...
Not to mention as an emergency food supply, the husky would make a fine mount. Its fur was fluffy enough to sleep on comfortably.
Ren Qing had completely regarded the Stomach within the Stomach as a place of secluded cultivation.
The only trouble was replenishing resources. Actively visualizing The Taotie Method greatly increased digestion speed, and the eyeballs naturally became insufficient.
Since he had no intention of leaving for now, Ren Qing turned his attention to Non-Poison.
Although Non-Poison wasn't a physical being, its body was covered in eyeballs and looked quite intimidating. Maybe it could be used for cultivation.
Aside from that, the maggots in the Wuwei Daoist Altar also had eyeballs.
But those things were troublesome to deal with, swarming together in the pond, and the soul-duplicate had no offensive means, so that idea had to be abandoned.
Ren Qing approached the door and used the chance to attract Non-Poison to ask: "Li Fangtan, how long have you been in the Stomach within the Stomach?"
Li Fangtan opened his eyes in the darkness, and his aura became unstable.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"Does who I am matter? As for your name, I overheard it earlier."
Li Fangtan answered in a low voice, "I've been here for thirteen years..."
Back when he was in the Restraint Officers' Hall, he was considered quite talented and thought he could easily suppress his soul's aberration, yet he ended up barely surviving in this place.
Ren Qing rubbed his chin in thought, his mind becoming increasingly clear.
He walked straight out of the room, the sudden sound of footsteps caused Li Fangtan's breathing to become more rapid, his aura growing volatile.
"Why can you move freely in the Stomach within the Stomach? Could it be that you're the Bottle Imp..."
Li Fangtan couldn't suppress his emotions and shouted, "No, have you resolved aberration run-wild?!"
As soon as he said that, the previously silent rooms around them became lively.
"Could it really be possible to suppress soul aberration?"
"Impossible! Impossible! I've been imprisoned for over a hundred years..."
"Kid! Get me out! No matter how many Blood Crystals you want, I'll give them, just get me out!"
Ren Qing curled his lip, he merely had a vague idea, whether it would bear fruit was another matter.
Besides, if these demons and monsters were released, it would undoubtedly be a catastrophe, and the Restraint Officers' Hall would surely pin it on Ren Qing's head.
At the very least, he needed the strength to subdue them.
At this moment, the light in the corridor dimmed.
Ren Qing couldn't help but turn to look, the Bottle Imp was floating nearby, staring at him with a terrifying and indescribable gaze.
Ren Qing gave an awkward laugh.
He opened his mouth to explain: "Senior fellows, my aberration hasn't gone completely out of control. I only ended up here because I offended a Yin Runner."
All the rooms fell silent again, and the atmosphere returned to dead stillness. Heavy footsteps of Non-Poison echoed from the corridor's end.
Ren Qing looked back, the Bottle Imp had already vanished, but its appearance was clearly a warning.
Non-Poison, seeing Ren Qing actively standing in the corridor, was overwhelmed with rage, old grudges and new ones alike. The muscles in its legs exploded with force.
Croak!!!
Its speed surged several times over, its head lowering slightly as it prepared to ram into Ren Qing.
Ren Qing still stood motionless, calmly, with two Ghost Envoy Realm spell arts under his control again, a mere Non-Poison wasn't even worth mentioning.
When the three-legged toad rushed over, Ren Qing finally extended his right hand, the invisible field of the devouring mouth halted it in place.
Great Miao Blade was spat out.
The blade flashed in an instant.
The blade pierced straight through Non-Poison's body, pinning it to the ground, unable to move.
Ren Qing stepped forward and peeled off one of the eyeballs on Non-Poison's skin. He sniffed it, it had a strange, faint fragrance.
Swallowing it, a warm current gathered in his dantian, then surged up to the Niwan Palace.
His main soul was actually nourished by it.
Non-Poison struggled violently, but the Great Miao Blade had pierced it at just the right spot, only half a palm from the heart.
Ren Qing checked the information stream and found only a slight increase in his lifespan, but the rhythmic sensation in his soul couldn't be mistaken.
He hadn't expected that The Taotie Method devouring Non-Poison would have such a wonderful effect on the soul...
Just as he was about to continue, the Bottle Imp appeared again like a lingering ghost.
Ren Qing shook his head helplessly, it seemed that Non-Poison was an important part of the Stomach within the Stomach and couldn't be killed.
He dug out a few more eyeballs, then let Non-Poison go.
The Bottle Imp vanished into the dark, but it was now clearly watching Ren Qing, afraid he would disrupt the balance of the Stomach within the Stomach.
Ren Qing hadn't sensed any malice from the Bottle Imp, suggesting it was neither good nor evil.
Perhaps that was why the Restraint Officers' Hall chose to cooperate with it.
Back in his room, Ren Qing focused on cultivating spell arts. As for the resource issue, he planned to wait for the Ghost Market to open and attempt to send in his soul-duplicate.
In his spare time, he began testing his internal theory, namely, creating an imagined spell art capable of suppressing soul aberration.
Ren Qing carefully pondered the possibilities and conducted tests in the council hall.
He wasn't in a rush to complete it quickly. Even if he released those aberration-run-wild Restraint Officers inside the Stomach within the Stomach, they'd be difficult to control.
He could even end up harming himself, best to wait until he reached the Yin Runner Realm.
Ren Qing explored all possibilities of imagined spell arts within the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
Every so often, he left the council hall to check if any massive corpses had drifted over.
After countless days and nights.
Ren Qing habitually checked the pond, a corpse roughly fifteen meters long was floating over.
Though still a bit short of his goal of twenty or thirty meters, it was worth trying.
After all, his main body could now use spell arts inside the Stomach within the Stomach, and the risk to his soul-duplicate was much lower.
Ren Qing stepped onto the corpse, the water surface remained extremely calm.
He checked the corpse's information specifically.
[Purple Firmament Thunder: Created by a Heavenly Dao Child. To cultivate, one must hold a Heavenly Dao Egg on the tip of the tongue and bathe in thunder for three days and nights to complete the process.]
The corpse was hollow inside, and the tongue had disappeared, it seemed the so-called Purple Firmament Thunder was activated by speaking, with the Heavenly Dao Egg replacing the tongue as a casting organ.
Just thinking about it was creepy.
The cultivation system of the Wuwei Daoist Altar was built entirely upon the Heavenly Dao Egg. Aberration of the body was like adapting to the Heavenly Dao Egg.
By comparison, the Restraint Officers' Hall in Xiangxiang was actually not bad.
The corpse gradually drifted away from the council hall, floating slowly toward the center of the pond.
His target was the Doushuai Palace, which was the closest to the council hall. It might contain elixirs or even a medicinal garden with spirit herbs.
Such resources were scarce in the Restraint Officers' Hall, few cultivators specialized in botany. Even selling to the Grand Dream Pavilion would fetch a great price.
If there were suitable spirit herbs, he could also take them for himself.
With the information stream to verify them, Ren Qing was confident he wouldn't be wrong.
After waiting a while, he prepared to steer the corpse and took out a wooden plank from the Prison Within the Abdomen to use as a paddle.
But just as he stirred some water, he felt something wrong.
Maggots in the pond had clearly been attracted by the ripples, just like how spiders sense prey through their webs.
Ren Qing retreated to the corpse's chest and abdomen, trying not to make further movement.
Yet a few shadows had begun swimming around the corpse. The sound of infant cries was audible even through the water.
Ren Qing hesitated briefly, then gritted his teeth and pulled out some blood flesh from the Prison Within the Abdomen.
He hurled it forcefully.
Then grabbed the wooden plank and began madly rowing toward Doushuai Palace.
The maggots rushed toward the blood flesh, but just halfway there, the giant maggot had already devoured it whole.
Without hesitation, it turned its direction, aiming straight at Ren Qing atop the corpse.
Ren Qing couldn't help but curse. He threw a few more chunks of blood flesh in different directions, paddling even more frantically.
The giant maggot had already opened its chrysanthemum-like mouth, covering the surrounding water area.
Just as Ren Qing was about to have his soul-duplicate leave the Wuwei Daoist Altar, he noticed a smaller corpse nearby and leapt over.
He fell into the water but grabbed the corpse's right foot, clinging like driftwood as the waves carried him toward another lotus leaf.
Ren Qing didn't care whether it was Doushuai Palace anymore, he swam with everything he had.
Even if it was just a soul-duplicate, he didn't want to lose it inside the Wuwei Daoist Altar, restoring his main soul would take time.
The maggot came ever closer, almost within arm's reach.
As soon as Ren Qing's hands touched the lotus leaf, he climbed up and ran dozens of meters before stopping to take a look.
The maggot swam for a moment, then sank back into the depths.
Ren Qing let out a sigh of relief, then raised his eyes to look at the temple ahead.
Densely packed gravestones surrounded it, inscribed with words. In the distance stood a solemn structure.
Green tiles and red bricks, its walls covered with climbing vines, he could just barely make out the characters on the plaque.
"Hidden Treasury Pavilion"
Ren Qing was somewhat surprised. The Hidden Treasury Pavilion was at a medium distance from the council hall, located roughly between it and Doushuai Palace.
The Hidden Treasury Pavilion primarily stored spell books, something he was quite interested in.
Perhaps he could find spell arts that suited him. And with the information stream, he could likely bypass the drawbacks of the Heavenly Dao Egg.