Li Tiangang did not hesitate and went directly to Yellow Sand City of Avici Hell.
Ren Qing then began refining the Demonic Embryo Artifact; the steps were already well-practiced, only the choice of secondary materials still required some consideration.
He openly took several portions of each material from within the Great Dream Pavilion, then refined while studying the proportions among the materials.
Ren Qing even had the leisure to communicate with Song Zongwu through his Split Soul.
The vascular caverns were extremely foul-smelling, and the air was extremely thin; of the five Restraint Officers who came, two had already left early because of this.
"Senior Song Zongwu, Li Yaoyang's aura should be around the lungs, right?"
Song Zongwu shook his head, speaking with certainty: "It's near the neck, and it's flickering, moving about constantly."
Ren Qing was somewhat puzzled; Li Yaoyang's condition was unknown to anyone, but it was obvious he intended to use the Meat and Wine Taoist's corpse as an opportunity for ascension.
He could only hope all would go smoothly.
They started from the kidneys, circling around the five viscera and six organs to re-investigate; inside was still full of lifeless death energy.
Even as the lungs served as the Hall of Nonaction, the hundreds of cave dwellings had almost all collapsed, and those Heavenly Daozi's physical bodies were already all dead.
Ren Qing helplessly shook his head.
He felt as though Qingxu Temple had been deliberately abandoned, presenting the appearance of mutual destruction with the Ze People.
The two examined the remaining traces but found no flaw.
And in just a short time, even more wounds had appeared on the Heavenly Dao Worm's body, seemingly about to fail and die.
However, according to Li Tiangang's estimate, the Heavenly Dao Worm's vitality was not that fragile, it would still take at least a month or so.
Ren Qing had already confirmed the materials for the Demonic Embryo Artifact and had refined a framework.
Li Tiangang and the others searched for several days and nights but found nothing, only covering themselves in the stench of the corpse.
However, the place where the Meat and Wine Taoist's corpse absorbed the wine was discovered.
It was within the spine of the neck, appearing like a water well about seven or eight meters in size, only that it was extremely dry inside.
When wine was poured into the well, foul-smelling pus water gushed forth, clearly being transmitted throughout the body.
The corpse's stench lessened somewhat, and even the internal organs began gradually to recover.
Everything progressed smoothly, so smoothly it seemed almost too smooth.
The Dao Officials disappeared, the Ze People were utterly dead, Qingxu Temple empty and void, and the troubles the Restraint Officers had expected did not appear at all.
Ren Qing recalled Li Yaoyang's previous location, almost the same as the wine well, why did it feel like someone was guiding them?
But now the arrow was on the string and had to be released; at least the situation was still in their favor.
Ren Qing informed Li Tiangang and the others of his conjecture; even the Great Dream True Person contacted them through the Sun Feather, so everyone was aware.
He continued refining the Demonic Embryo Artifact, while Zun had already begun successively withdrawing the Restraint Officers.
Only the Yin Runner Realm cultivators were left in Qingxu Palace; once the Heavenly Dao Worm rampaged, Ghost Envoy Realm cultivators would be like mantises trying to stop a chariot, utterly useless.
After refining the fragmented portions of the gate-shaped artifact, Ren Qing began refining the main body.
The seven-to-eight-meter-long Ksitigarbha rib continuously turned within his hands; because the size was too large to use the Tombstone Furnace, he chose the most ordinary Blood Refining Method instead.
Ghost Shadows covered the Ksitigarbha rib, and the blood gradually seeped into the marrow.
This required extremely precise control; fortunately, Ren Qing had the help of the Ghost Shadows, otherwise if he refined it himself, it would have required considerable effort.
However, in Li Tiangang's eyes, Ren Qing's methods of refining artifacts were almost godlike.
The nearly ten-meter-long material was threaded as if through a needle's eye, giving an unbelievable, absurd feeling, he even couldn't help but doubt himself.
Soon, Song Zongwu and Lady Bai also came to Ren Qing's side, staring fixedly at his artifact-refining technique, inwardly clicking their tongues in amazement.
Before they knew it, the more-than-ten-meter giant bone gate was completed.
The artifact itself could be called crudely made, but even if it were the Great Dream True Person, he could not have refined it within just a few days.
Li Tiangang finally understood how Ren Qing managed to maintain the Great Dream Forging of Artifacts while at the Ghost Envoy Realm, whether cultivation or refinement, he relied entirely on innate talent.
Ren Qing closed his eyes to rest briefly, then said: "In a while, the Heavenly Dao Worm will erupt into frenzy, but it should be fine."
Lady Bai tilted her head, murmuring softly: "Should be?"
Before they could react, Ren Qing directly took out barrels of fresh blood and poured them over the bone gate artifact.
The Heavenly Dao Worm's eyes glowed red; it let out a sharp shriek, attempting to crawl out from the wound at the back of the head, but it was clearly struggling.
It tore itself to pieces, yet its ferocious aura grew even stronger.
Li Tiangang's eyelids twitched violently; the aura from the Yang God Realm made his face stiffen, and he involuntarily took several steps back.
Only Song Zongwu's shadow of movement was lighter, even leaving deep footprints in the ground.
Once Ren Qing finished handling the bone gate artifact, the Heavenly Dao Worm finally quieted down, though the greed in its eyes did not lessen.
The bone gate artifact was then refined into a Demonic Embryo Artifact, but upon reaching the Half-Corpse Realm it reached its limit, the artifact's consciousness was truly weak.
When everything was ready, it was instead Li Tiangang who began to hesitate.
Qingxu Palace felt strange, revealing peculiarity in every corner, yet they had encountered no resistance at all.
Li Tiangang simply used the excuse of resting half a day and burrowed into the corpse.
But when he came out, he still hadn't seen a single shadow of a person.
Li Tiangang shook his head, hoping he was just overthinking, then said to Song Zongwu: "Old Song, go protect the wine well."
He paused for a few breaths and continued: "We can't wait any longer; the sooner the Heavenly Dao Worm is dealt with, the sooner we can clean up the mess in Shuize."
"Alright, I'll go immediately."
Song Zongwu immediately went to the wine well, and upon arrival, used the Nether Crow to contact the outside.
Seeing this, Ren Qing slowly began to activate the bone gate Demonic Embryo Artifact; the artifact visibly grew larger at a speed visible to the naked eye, soon over a hundred meters long.
The artifact directly covered the wound at the back of the head.
The Heavenly Dao Worm seemed to sense danger, continuously slamming its head against the ground.
Li Tiangang took a deep breath, unleashing an intense surge of magical fluctuation; pages of paper were drawn from his body, fluttering down like snowflakes.
Ren Qing could tell that Li Tiangang was ready to risk his life; even facing an injured and weakened Yang God Realm being, there could be no trace of carelessness.
The sheets of paper gradually fused into one, forming a passage leading to Avici Hell.
Zun let out a sharp cry; as his wings flapped, Avici Hell became faintly visible, and the sheets of paper overlapped with the bone gate.
Boom boom boom...
The earth quaked and mountains swayed.
Even though the Meat and Wine Taoist was already dead, his expression still showed a faint distortion.
The wound split wider and wider, foul pus splashing in all directions; the Heavenly Dao Worm struggled mightily to crawl outward.
At the same time, the bone gate, under Ren Qing's control, diffused a faint fragrant bloody scent.
Zun's nose twitched, why did a primal urge to drink blood and eat flesh suddenly arise within him?
The Heavenly Dao Worm eagerly moved toward the bone gate, but most of its body was still buried in the corpse, forcing it to crawl out inch by inch.
Ren Qing and Li Tiangang exchanged glances, they had clearly underestimated the Yang God Realm Heavenly Dao Worm's length, probably at least several dozen meters.
The remaining part of the Heavenly Dao Worm's body had already fused with the Meat and Wine Taoist's corpse; whether it could hold out until completely freed was unknown.
Its entire body began to emit faint Heavenly Demon aura.
The Supreme Heavenly Demon was about to be born!!
Ren Qing subconsciously looked toward Xiangxiang, sensing the flicker of distorted light and shadow, clearly, the Great Dream True Person intended to personally come to Shuize.
At that moment, he suddenly saw a black beetle crawl out from the surface of the Heavenly Dao Worm.
Ren Qing instantly understood, Li Yaoyang was most likely using the Heavenly Dao Worm to ascend to the Yin Runner Realm, and from the looks of it, with a fair chance of success.
He had the Nether Crow contact Song Zongwu, who immediately set out to protect Li Yaoyang.
If Li Yaoyang reached the Yin Runner Realm, with the devouring speed of countless Gu insects, plus cooperation from the others, perhaps they could attempt to dig a tunnel through the corpse.
Ren Qing, without hesitation, transformed into a giant sand man more than thirty meters tall.
Boom!
A sudden violent wind erupted.
Under the stunned gazes of the others, his hands turned into sandstorms, crackling and snapping as they eroded the surrounding flesh.
Seeing this, Li Tiangang spat out a mouthful of saliva; his arms transformed directly into sheets of paper, the suction from the gateway to Avici Hell growing even stronger.
The Heavenly Dao Worm's head sank into it, but the Heavenly Demon aura became even denser.
The Great Dream True Person arrived among the clouds, glancing warily toward Jingzhou's direction, ready at any moment to unleash his Yang God Realm cultivation.
...
Within the dark vascular caverns, the collapse grew ever more violent.
In the deepest depths could be seen the Heavenly Dao Worm's body mixed among them, two different kinds of flesh intertwining, bizarre and strange to behold.
The tail end of the worm body was covered by hundreds of black beetles; they frantically devoured the flesh, and soon the number of Gu insects increased more and more.
Before long, the beetles took on human form, Li Yaoyang's face could faintly be seen.
At the instant Li Yaoyang fully took shape, the black beetles began a new round of molting, the aura of the Yin Runner Realm unmistakably revealed.
He then, through the Gu insect clone on the surface, realized that Li Tiangang and the others intended to send the Heavenly Dao Worm into Avici Hell.
But Song Zongwu could not find the path, and kept punching to dig a passage inside the corpse.
Seeing this, Li Yaoyang did not hesitate; tens of thousands of black beetles poured out from his body.
But before the beetles could approach, the dense Heavenly Demon aura caused mass death among the Gu insects, nearly making him lose control.
Li Yaoyang felt slightly troubled.
Having just ascended to the Yin Runner Realm, he could not yet recklessly cast techniques, much less when the Gu insects could not even approach the Heavenly Demon aura.
After thinking for a moment, Li Yaoyang then changed direction, using the Gu insects to assist Song Zongwu in coming here.
But just as he faced the flesh, he suddenly felt as though a figure flickered by; cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Crack crack crack crack...
The tail end of the Heavenly Dao Worm shattered inch by inch; just as the Supreme Heavenly Demon was about to break through the body, it was pulled by the bone gate into Avici Hell.
The Great Dream True Person vanished from where he stood, likewise rushing toward Avici Hell.
Li Yaoyang stiffly turned around, the figure before him made his pupils dilate, his breathing grow rapid.
In his nose was still a faint scent of smoke and fire.
Was it man or ghost?!!