Tianjia Village was located in a remote area. If one were to walk to the nearest town, it would take at least seven or eight days, so very few traveling merchants ever came.
The dozen or so households of villagers relied on the survival knowledge passed down from their ancestors to barely maintain a self-sufficient life, and could still be said to live in peace and contentment.
The mountains surrounded the village on three sides, making the environment rather secluded. From above, one could only faintly see the thatched roofs hidden beneath the shade of the trees.
An old man lay leaning back in the shadows, enjoying the cool air.
Several children played and laughed around a banyan tree, occasionally looking expectantly toward the village entrance, as if waiting for their elders to return home.
Within the valley, the farmlands were few, all planted with a crop called the "March Tuber," also known as the mountain yam, which could mature in just a hundred days.
Whenever the mountain yams ripened, the villagers would take some of them to the town to sell, and at the same time buy some daily necessities.
For the children, the days when the adults went to the market meant new clothes and sweet, bitter cane sugar, how could they not yearn for it?
Now, as the yams were ripening, the children's anticipation grew all the more.
The sun gradually set.
Loud mountain songs echoed as several baskets full of yams were carried into the village and stored together in a dry warehouse.
The villagers busied themselves until the sun dipped in the west before returning one after another to Tianjia Village.
Wisps of cooking smoke drifted in the air.
Once the yams were steamed, they gave off a very distinct fragrance, drawing a few ferrets to hide in the grass outside the fence.
The women began preparing the evening meal, cooking a variety of dishes made from the yams, which were placed on the large wooden table beside the banyan tree.
In Tianjia Village, a good harvest of grain was neither a big nor small festival.
It was called "Celebration of Surplus Grain."
Tian Sanzhong leaned on his cane, his aged body coughing a few times uncontrollably.
He was the oldest elder in the village and had served as the village steward for decades, responsible for the planting and harvesting of the yams.
A few children, afraid, glanced at Tian Sanzhong, then quietly climbed onto the large wooden table, wanting to steal a few pieces of cured meat hidden under the yams.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"You brats, don't be so rude."
Tian Sanzhong's expression was stern as he tapped the children's bottoms with his cane. The children, frightened, ran behind their parents.
"Wait until Mr. Ren comes back before eating, one by one... cough, cough, cough."
He coughed a few more times, his face turning red. The surrounding villagers hurriedly apologized, and only then did he catch his breath.
Night descended.
A bright crescent moon hung in the sky, surrounded by scattered stars.
After a moment, a tall figure appeared on the mountain path.
The man had a sturdy build. Even though his clothing was plain, it could not conceal his extraordinary bearing. His squinting, smiling eyes naturally made people feel at ease.
He carried a basket on his back, in which sat a seven- or eight-year-old boy.
Because of malnutrition, the child looked rather small, his belly slightly swollen, his eyes dull and vacant, showing no sign of intelligence.
He rested his small head on the man's shoulder, grinning foolishly.
Ren Qing's gaze subtly lifted toward the night sky, as if searching for something, but soon lowered again in confusion.
"Mr. Ren, please sit, please sit."
Tian Sanzhong quickly came forward and led Ren Qing to sit at the head of the large wooden table. Seeing this, the villagers gradually gathered around.
They greeted Ren Qing respectfully, and he responded to each of them.
"Elder, you are too polite. But your consumption has only just recovered, don't catch a chill in the coming days."
Ren Qing smiled as he set the drooling Tian A on his lap. Tian A immediately used chopsticks to grab food and stuff it into his mouth.
Tian Sanzhong looked at Tian A with pity and said with a bitter smile, "I know my own condition well enough. If not for your treatment, sir..."
"Ah, and thank you, Mr. Ren, for helping to look after my foolish grandson."
A look of reminiscence appeared in Tian Sanzhong's eyes. It had been several months since he first met Ren Qing.
At that time, Tian A had been playing by the river and had found an unconscious man there. The nearby trees had been toppled in every direction, and even the carcasses of beasts reduced to white bones could be seen.
Although Tian A was mentally deficient, for some reason he was particularly concerned about Ren Qing, and anxiously shouted again and again.
The villagers were drawn by the noise and soon carried Ren Qing to an empty thatched hut.
When Ren Qing awoke, he claimed to be a barefoot doctor who had gone into the mountains to collect herbs, only to be caught in a landslide caused by a flash flood.
He did not leave Tianjia Village afterward but chose to stay temporarily, treating illnesses and seeing patients for the villagers.
Ren Qing took a handful of red-and-white flowers from his basket: "Elder, I found quite a few similar herbs in the mountains."
"They're called redflower grass in town, they can be applied externally to treat blunt injuries. If you dry them and sell them, you can probably earn a little extra for your household."
Ren Qing handed them to a nearby villager and told them to examine them carefully.
Tian Sanzhong came back to his senses, opened his mouth, and didn't know what to say.
He repeatedly thanked Ren Qing, then invited him to eat the yam dishes, almost piling every bowl in front of him.
After finishing his meal and tea, Ren Qing set down his chopsticks and said with a smile, "My wounds have almost healed. I plan to leave the village."
There was no surprise on Tian Sanzhong's face.
In his view, Ren Qing was a capable and educated man, it was impossible for him to stay in the village at ease. Going out into the world was only natural.
"Mr. Ren, but what about Awa's condition..."
After a few moments of hesitation, Ren Qing spoke softly: "If you don't mind, Elder, I will take Awa with me. When he recovers, I'll have him return on his own."
"With this strange illness, he wouldn't live past fifteen anyway. With you looking after him, I can rest easy."
Tian Sanzhong's eyes reddened; he wanted to kneel but was held up by Ren Qing.
Ren Qing glanced at Tian A from the corner of his eye; in his narrowed eyes flashed faint traces of spell energy, but he soon looked away.
He had already been in Jingzhou for more than a year, yet everything here felt ordinary, too ordinary.
When Ren Qing had been in Shuize, he could clearly see the blood moon, even the full blood moon could affect the Qingxu Temple thousands of miles away.
But after coming to Jingzhou, he had never seen the blood moon again. When he asked the villagers, none had even heard of a second moon.
What made Ren Qing feel most perplexed, however, were the bodies of the Jingzhou people.
In the Wuwei Daoist Altar, he had examined the corpses kept in coffins.
In his fixed impression, due to the Heavenly Dao Worm, the physiques of Jingzhou people had undergone irreversible change.
They were left with only six thin ribs; their internal organs were compressed together so that the Heavenly Dao Worm could parasitize better in the abdomen.
Yet Ren Qing found that the villagers had at least eighteen ribs, and some children had even returned to the normal human count of twenty-four.
When he asked about their ancestors' conditions, they stammered, unable to give clear answers.
And such cases were far from isolated.
Under the pretense of collecting herbs, Ren Qing had visited two nearby towns, and found that all of their hundreds of thousands of Jingzhou inhabitants shared this same physique.
Only rarely were babies born with around ten ribs, usually accompanied by mental deficiency, physical frailty, or even congenital deformity.
Aside from being born deformed, Tian A had every other defect as well: only eight thin ribs, and even his organs were entangled together.
Without encountering Ren Qing, he would not have lived past ten.
In Ren Qing's view, the unbelievable did not stop there: among more than a hundred thousand Jingzhou people, not one single cultivator who knew any spell existed.
Even the fabricated martial arts and techniques had disappeared without a trace.
As if some invisible hand were forcibly pulling Jingzhou back onto the "normal" path.
But what about the Heavenly Dao Worm?
Why had the Jingzhou people already forgotten the existence of the Wuwei Monastery?
Even if the Heavenly Dao Worm had been defeated, it shouldn't have been erased without a trace in so short a time.
Heavenly Daozi had feared the blood moon so deeply that he had become the Supreme Heavenly Demon to fight against it, and in the end, it had all turned out... well?
Absurd!!!
Bizarre!!!
Incomprehensible!!!
If he hadn't seen the colossal monstrosity behind the blood moon with his own eyes, he would have long since left Jingzhou, but now he couldn't help but act with caution.
Ren Qing forcibly suppressed his inner dread; after finishing his evening meal, he returned to his room.
Tian A was taken away by his parents to rest; though nearly ten years old, his mind was like that of a two- or three-year-old child.
Perhaps because of the faint aura of Heavenly Dao Law upon Ren Qing, Tian A naturally felt close to him.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged on the earthen bed, his consciousness entering the Prison Within the Abdomen.
The Fuel King transformed from Heavenly Daozi had caused an unexpected change in the Bone Gate artifact; even the remaining kindling fire had been absorbed by his Flesh Furnace.
Thus, the Prison Within the Abdomen had been undergoing transformation, and only recently had it fully recovered.
It could be said that pulling one thread moved the whole body, Ren Qing's other techniques had also been affected, causing him to fall unconscious for several days upon arriving in Jingzhou.
Fortunately, his lifespan accumulation had not been affected.
Ren Qing examined the Prison Within the Abdomen; the sun and moon within it were more vivid, the vegetation grew quickly, it was becoming increasingly close to a so-called small world.
What excited him even more was that he could finally sense the ghost market through the Butterfly Dream Technique.
Though after meditating with eyes closed for more than half an hour, he could only tell that the ghost market was bustling with people, with Restraint Officers entering various shops.
Ren Qing tried to control the soul butterflies, but even until dawn he couldn't, it seemed the distance was simply too great. He decided to wait until the Butterfly Dream Technique advanced further.
He glanced at the information stream.
[Lifespan: 232 years]
Ren Qing's lifespan was already sufficient, but he had been waiting for the Prison Within the Abdomen to complete its transformation. Now it was time to break through to the Yin Runner Realm.
He didn't rush to consume his lifespan, planning to advance at noon instead. Opening his eyes, he walked into the courtyard to stretch his limbs.
Tian A ran up to him cheerfully, staring silently.
Ren Qing patted his head, took out a translucent candy bean, and popped it into Tian A's mouth. The latter grinned widely and ran off.
The material had been refined from the secretions of the Heavenly Dao Worm; according to the information stream, it could strengthen the host's body.
Ren Qing sat in the reclining chair, leisurely watching the villagers' peaceful lives, such tranquility was rare even in Xiangxiang.
"Heavenly Dao Worm... blood moon..."
"In the decades since the fall of Wuwei Monastery, what exactly happened in Jingzhou? Did Heavenly Daozi foresee this?"
Or perhaps...
Was the blood moon's invasion of Jingzhou meant to correct the chaos of the world?
Ren Qing shook his head. Jingzhou's current state was anything but simple. Even if Heavenly Daozi himself returned to life, he might not be able to figure it out.
"Master Ancestor, please don't set me up, Huang Qi."
He took a deep breath, his mind quickly sinking into meditative technique. Unknowingly, the sun had already risen high, shining brilliantly.
He closed his eyes; the sound of insects still echoed.