Ren Qing's consciousness arrived at the Niwan Palace.
The mutated tree of the Butterfly Dream Technique had already been tightly entangled by the branches of the Lord of Absolute Darkness, which was absorbing nutrients and continuously strengthening itself.
[Do you choose the branch "Three-Inch Human World"? This will consume two hundred years of lifespan.]
Ren Qing did not hesitate. His lifespan came continuously from the Ghost Market anyway, not to mention that once the Butterfly Dream Technique reached the Yin Runner Realm, it could further increase lifespan efficiency.
When two hundred years of lifespan disappeared, the Supernatural Remnant of the Butterfly Dream Technique thus began to awaken.
Only then did he realize that the demonic aura mixed within the glowing soul was precisely the Supernatural Remnant itself.
As the glow dispersed, it suddenly turned pitch-black and spread all over his body. The veins bulged over Ren Qing's skin, and all the muscles in his body began to spasm at once.
Ren Qing clenched his jaw tightly; the wooden reclining chair beneath him instantly shattered into fragments.
A loud commotion came from the courtyard. Fortunately, his residence was rather secluded, so it did not attract the attention of villagers in the distance.
However, Tian A, like a frightened rabbit, hurriedly dropped the stick in his hand and dashed into Ren Qing's courtyard.
"You... I... ah..."
His small face flushed bright red, and he pointed at Ren Qing in confusion.
Just as Tian A was about to cry out, a ghostly shadow turned into a twisted pattern and stretched out part of its body to touch Tian A.
Tian A immediately became quiet, squatting on the ground on his short legs, gesturing toward the ghostly shadow. The two quickly reached an understanding.
Then they began to communicate at the side.
Ren Qing still remained immersed in the changes brought by the advancement of the Supernatural Remnant, doing his best to control his instincts so as not to cause excessive reaction.
It felt as though his body were crawling with worms trying to gnaw his flesh and bones.
The Supernatural Remnant seemed to intend to break free from control while it could. The light and shadow had already begun to spread outward, reaching toward Tian A not far away.
But before it could act up, the aura of the Lord of Absolute Darkness gradually emanated.
Once the hierarchy between techniques was established, it represented an unbridgeable difference.
The Lord of Absolute Darkness would, in the future, even devour the Three-Inch Human World and the Nightmare True Lord, how could it allow the other to act unruly?
The Double Pupils beneath Ren Qing's eyelids grew ever more mysterious; the Three-Inch Human World was struck as if by lightning and, not daring to resist, retracted its soul once again.
The "Three-Inch Human World" was now formed, and the speed of lifespan growth had increased by at least one-third.
He then began visualizing the Butterfly Dream Technique again, trying his best to stabilize the recently advanced Supernatural Remnant.
After all, Binding the Yin God was the most dangerous period of the Yin Runner Realm. A slight mistake could cause the Supernatural Remnant to lose control, even with the Lord of Absolute Darkness sitting in town.
However, due to the advancement of the secondary technique, the Lord of Absolute Darkness would gradually gain traits of the Butterfly Dream Technique, becoming more and more complete.
By the time Ren Qing opened his eyes, the sun above his head had already set.
Moonlight brushed against his face.
His vision became broader; he could even see the tiny hairs on a mosquito's leg. With a thought, the mosquito was controlled to fly about chaotically.
And this was merely a trivial change brought by the advancement of the Butterfly Dream Technique; the greater wonders still awaited gradual exploration.
However, Ren Qing thereby confirmed as well,
Jingzhou's situation was by no means an illusion. The apparent stability truly existed, though what had actually happened remained unknown.
Tian A was squatting in the corner of the wall, gnawing on a roasted yam with both hands.
Seeing Ren Qing regain consciousness, he couldn't help but cheer, then threw away the yam and rushed to hug Ren Qing's leg.
Ren Qing fed him another candy bean and said gently, "Good boy, go rest with your grandpa."
Tian A nodded vigorously and ran out of the courtyard on his short legs.
After consuming the worm secretions, although Tian A still hadn't grown taller, his physique had become stronger and stronger, even seeming light on his feet.
Ren Qing's expression grew solemn. It was hard to imagine that decades ago, Jingzhou had been full of mortals like Tian A, relying entirely on worm secretions to prolong their lives.
How utterly tragic.
He looked up at the round white moon, then slowly walked back into the house.
Even with only a layer of thatch eaves between him and the moonlight, it made little difference, but Ren Qing felt rather uneasy under the moonlight.
He then closed his eyes to sense the soul butterflies far away in Xiangxiang. Depending on the two dream techniques of the Yin Runner Realm, he soon obtained a response.
The sound of snoring echoed within the house.
Ren Qing's body sank into a dream. His consciousness seemed to traverse mountains and rivers, returning once more to the familiar Sanxiang City.
The butcher Zhang, his temples streaked with gray, wore a brocade robe and walked cheerfully through the streets with a noblewoman holding a little girl in her arms.
Beside Xiao Wu was now also a shy young girl.
Ren Qing vaguely understood the meaning of "Three-Inch Human World": to experience the joys and sorrows of mortal life through dreams, that was its cultivation method.
In the dream, three inches is the human world...
He quietly watched for a moment, then began communicating with the soul butterflies that had become the Ghost Market.
Ren Qing's consciousness then passed through a deep darkness; before his eyes appeared light, and the full scene of the Avici Hell came into view.
The stomach walls were covered with pits and dents, probably caused by the battle with the Supreme Heavenly Demon.
However, since the Avici Hell was, after all, transformed from a stomach, it could slowly heal with time. Within a dozen years, the scars would no longer be visible.
The Huang Sand City that had originally been in the corner was nowhere to be seen, most likely sent to the outside world.
Ren Qing guessed that Huang Sand City must have returned to Shuize. The Gobi people's ancestral environment was the desert, so there was no need to deliberately destroy it.
Furthermore, the Restraint Officers' Hall still needed the Gobi people to manage all of Shuize, though their living conditions must have greatly improved.
His consciousness turned into a butterfly and flew toward the Dream Tree; along the way he could see many reservists, even several Gobi people among them.
Arriving beneath the Dream Tree, Ren Qing followed the path toward the Ghost Market.
He noticed that several new carvings had appeared on the tree trunk, mostly about the Qingxu Temple, and Ren Qing's own figure appeared often.
Apparently, his image as the Ghost Market's master had already taken deep root in people's hearts.
Ren Qing entered the Ghost Market. All the shops were operating normally; Feng Market was still bustling as ever, but inside the Great Dream Forge appeared a new "Little Third."
Little Third looked around belatedly, seeming to sense something, but even when he used the Double Pupils, he could find no clues.
He couldn't help but mutter to himself: "I wonder where Senior Ren Qing has gone..."
At present, Little Third could only maintain the most basic orders of the Great Dream Forge. Many times, he had to seek help from the jarred brain of the Secret Pavillion.
He considered himself unfit for such responsibility, but judging from the high-level attitudes within the Restraint Officers' Hall, it seemed the entire Great Dream Forge was being entrusted to him.
The butterfly flew out of the Great Dream Forge; Little Third stared blankly at the newly appeared book on the table.
The book recorded insights into the art of refining Demonic Embryoes.
Ren Qing couldn't help but sigh. He had left Xiangxiang rather hastily, leaving few contingencies behind, which had affected his lifespan-gathering efficiency.
However, his ultimate goal was to open the market, thereby allowing more Restraint Officers to master the art of refining Demonic Embryoes.
Ren Qing landed atop the Dream Tree, when suddenly the light and shadow before him distorted.
The Great Dream True Person examined Ren Qing, his tone unreadable as he asked, "Ren Qing, are you outside Xiangxiang?"
Ren Qing made a faint sound: "Jingzhou. For now, I am relatively safe."
The Great Dream True Person nodded slightly, speaking in a deep voice: "Do not cross the boundary, and do not frequently return your consciousness to the Avici Hell."
"Find out Jingzhou's situation first. Contact us again if you need assistance..."
After saying this, the Great Dream True Person disappeared.
Ren Qing was not immediately expelled from the Avici Hell, meaning that the Great Dream True Person must have confirmed that his consciousness was unharmed.
It was merely a cautious reminder, after all, Jingzhou was likely occupied by two great forces, which for Xiangxiang would mean certain destruction.
Ren Qing then used the Butterfly Dream Technique to add a few lines of text on the bulletin board.
They mainly described the aberrant branch abilities of the Butterfly Dream Technique, "Butterfly Love" and "Messenger," meant to expand the Ghost Market's business.
This allowed Restraint Officers to enter the Avici Hell without their physical bodies, using the projections of the soul butterflies to trade materials from the Great Dream Pavilion in their sleep, with the Messengers delivering them afterward.
The contents on the bulletin board immediately attracted a large crowd of Restraint Officers to stop and watch.
Soon, someone went to the Great Dream Pavilion to exchange for a soul butterfly projection, and then returned to the outer world to test it.
They were scattered all over Xiangxiang, so naturally, the soul butterfly projections were also spread widely.
Ren Qing planned to withdraw his consciousness before dawn but still needed to confirm one thing.
He waited silently until a reservist from Huang Sand City took out a soul butterfly projection.
Using the projection, Ren Qing gazed toward Jingzhou's direction, and instantly trembled. Hanging high in the sky was that same blood-red moon.
The blood moon still existed, it had never vanished...
And through the soul butterfly projection, he could faintly sense the true body's location, indeed near the center of Jingzhou.
While Ren Qing stood dazed, the blood moon suddenly changed.
A head so huge it suffocated the sky emerged from behind the blood moon; its appearance, part rabbit and part toad, made one's blood run cold, utterly beyond description.
The gigantic Rabbit-Toad extended its long, narrow arms toward Jingzhou.
Ren Qing's true body opened its eyes and looked toward the sky through the eaves, but it was still calm as a lake, with only clouds drifting in the breeze.
"How is that possible, what on earth is happening in Jingzhou?!!!"
The giant Rabbit-Toad grabbed at Jingzhou, its fingers clutching dozens of people whom it stuffed into its four-lobed mouth, blood raining down like droplets.
Yet in the eyes of Ren Qing's physical body, nothing at all seemed to happen.
The gigantic Rabbit-Toad grabbed several more handfuls.
Judging by precise distance, Ren Qing found that one such instance occurred near Qingyan Town, close to Tianjia Village, where more than ten people were devoured.
In several flashes, Ren Qing reached the mountaintop.
He was already standing high, looking toward Qingyan Town, but even sweeping with the Double Pupils revealed nothing except a few wild beasts foraging among the peaks.
The giant Rabbit-Toad clicked its tongue in satisfaction and slowly withdrew behind the blood moon.
The consciousness faded from the soul butterfly projection.
The Restraint Officers' Hall bustled into activity; evidently, they were monitoring Jingzhou and had also detected the giant Rabbit-Toad.
Although it had appeared only once in nearly two years, the pressure it exuded was extremely terrifying.
Even including the Great Dream True Person, no one knew the cultivation level of the giant Rabbit-Toad, whether it was at the Yang God Realm, the Heavenly Abomination Realm, or perhaps...
Ren Qing sat gravely upon a tree branch, having returned to the seemingly ordinary world, yet his back was soaked in cold sweat.
The only thing worth feeling thankful for was that the giant Rabbit-Toad was unlikely to reappear anytime soon.
It seemed more like it was merely satisfying a craving, after all, two or three hundred people in Jingzhou wouldn't cause even a ripple, much less fill its stomach.
By the time Ren Qing calmed down, the sky was already bright.
The sound of insects grew louder and louder.