Ren Qing silently returned into Wuwei Monastery without alarming anyone.
He noticed Song Zongwu sitting cross-legged atop a giant boulder on the mountaintop, maintaining a posture of looking upward, all six eyes wide open and unmoving.
Song Zongwu's whole body occasionally emitted Buddhist light, and his aura appeared somewhat unstable.
Seeing this, Ren Qing felt slightly worried.
The Great Dream True Person might have arranged for decades in Xiangxiang to advance to the Yang God stage, and even then a great amount of luck had been involved.
Song Zongwu had only recently reached the full completion of the Yin Runner stage, yet he was preparing to break through to the Yang God stage, and it was inevitable that troubles would arise one after another.
Ren Qing shook his head. Everyone's karmic path was different; he could only rely on himself.
He walked through the Daoist temple; countless civilians passed back and forth around him.
The mountain gate was flourishing; ever since the mutation of Mount Qingqiu began spreading outward, nearby civilians had brought their entire families to take refuge at Wuwei Monastery.
This included the disciples who had gone down the mountain, many of them worked in lowly professions, and returning to the mountain gate at least allowed them to focus on cultivation.
But disciples from other regions rarely returned to the mountain gate.
The primary reason was that the rule of Wuwei Monastery was that the sect head had no authority to summon disciples; even if the message had been delivered to them, Wu Liangzi's words carried no force whatsoever.
Wu Liangzi had no high expectations; he hurried to construct housing for the civilians and set up watch posts on several surrounding peaks.
Ren Qing swept the surroundings with his Double Pupils. Seeing that Song Zongwu had no intention of waking, he found an underground cave to use as a secluded cultivation site.
Because the number of people in the Immortal Market had surged, he planned to conduct grain transactions there as well.
Ren Qing intended to use this chance to advance the Taotie Method to the Yin Runner stage's Merging the Yin God, and afterward consider matters of the Yang God stage.
As for why he didn't directly advance to Yang God,
He vaguely sensed that since the Yang God stage involved the fusion of techniques, if the Taotie Method hadn't formed priority associations by then, it might be completely erased.
Furthermore, once the ecology within the Prison Within the Abdomen formed, it would be far too suitable for survival.
Ren Qing glanced at his still-insufficient remaining lifespan and began refining protective magical implements for the mountain.
But just as he prepared his materials, the ghost shadow automatically operated the Tombstone Furnace, skillfully retrieving all sorts of materials for refining, it required no attention at all.
After advancing to the Yin Runner stage, the ghost shadow's spirituality had greatly increased, and its refining skill had naturally soared.
Seeing this, Ren Qing took out the book containing the patterns found within the anomalous Corpse Elephant to see if he could find anything useful.
The patterns caused the demonic qi within the cave to circulate endlessly; calling them "demon patterns" was more fitting.
When he first looked, they felt like a heavenly book with no words, extremely complex and without any order, as if scribbled randomly by a three-year-old child.
But remembering how the demon patterns inside the Corpse Elephant looked like living things, he vaguely discovered some rules and became immersed.
The drawings on the book began to change.
They seemed to contain the unique rhythm of mountains and rivers, causing Ren Qing to lose his focus.
When he regained consciousness, the entire book had already been flipped through from beginning to end, and unknowingly more than three days had passed.
Ren Qing took out a newly refined magical implement and began carving the strange patterns onto it using the Dragon-Snake Spine.
But as soon as he drew the first demon pattern, the already-limited Nether Yuan in his dantian was completely devoured, and the magical implement immediately collapsed due to instability.
A handful of dust appeared in Ren Qing's palm, the implement seemed to have disintegrated from within.
Even though the failure was complete, he was still very interested.
If he could refine a magical implement capable of influencing the environment, he might be able to simulate the effect of the terrestrial immortal Heavenly Dao Worm within the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Or apply it in the Restraint Officers' Hall to create environments suitable for cultivation.
Ren Qing even had a feeling that the demon patterns complemented the Weird Fetus Refining Method, and together they could refine magical implements more suited for Restraint Officers.
He diverted a bit of his attention and used dream-butterfly projections to observe that Song Zongwu was still gazing at the sky, perhaps trying to seek the hidden Blood Moon.
During this period, the commotion within Qingyan Town occurred intermittently, another anomalous eruption had appeared, and this time it was the cloud turtle in the sky.
The cloud turtle blocked the sun, causing vegetation across Qingyan Town's farms to wither.
Fortunately, Wuwei Monastery had already stockpiled spiritual grain in advance, and with the dream-market interconnected, grain was the last thing they lacked.
Other parts of Jingzhou clearly had anomalous entities as well, a conifer forest had spread from the south, and the trees within all bore human faces.
Any living being entering the forest would gradually be assimilated.
Anomalous entities were appearing in batches; caravans from Jingzhou City had not come to Qingyan Town for a long time, indicating that the situation there was also grim.
Among the many demon cultivator factions, Wuwei Monastery stood out.
Mount Qingqiu was becoming restless, but knowing Song Zongwu existed, they refrained from using extreme measures.
Ren Qing outwardly showed no reaction, though he was already preparing in secret.
He lacked many things, but bizarre materials he had no shortage of, most of them possessing inexplicable and sinister drawbacks.
Ren Qing took out crystalline glass-like pieces glowing with distorted human faces, the material was called "Water Soul."
[Water Soul]
[Condensed by the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique, containing a total of one hundred and thirty-five remnant souls. Consuming Water Soul will gradually transform one into a Ze Person.]
Water Soul was obtained by burning Ze Sand in the Flesh Furnace; once it contacted moisture, it liquefied, making it even harder to detect.
Ren Qing planned to use Water Soul in the Qingyan River where the whale resided.
Although the Qingyan River branched in all directions, it didn't connect to other waters, perfect for poisoning.
"Hehehe, even if Water Soul doesn't necessarily work on anomalous entities, it's more than enough for demon cultivators."
Ren Qing rubbed his chin and muttered, "Mm..."
"There are still many demon-cultivator forces, might as well leave a few hidden moves and see what bubbles up."
Ren Qing sorted the materials, picking out all those with negative effects.
He naturally wouldn't personally go poison the river; the Qingyan River had many branches, so disciples could simply dump them anywhere.
Disciples all cultivated the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method; once in the Foundation Establishment stage they could control black bugs, and with the Shadow Ghost Technique from the Restraint Officer Method, their concealment ability reached its peak.
Roaming streets and alleys at night, demon cultivators wouldn't sense a thing.
The Immortal Market's bulletin board could finally be used to issue miscellaneous tasks, with Spirit Crystals as reward to stimulate the market.
Ren Qing also controlled the Prison Within the Abdomen to make room for the Daoist temple, mainly in case the situation suddenly spiraled out of control, so that he could flee at any time.
He could also use a Supernatural Remnant to form a restricted zone surrounding Wuwei Monastery, or directly leave the Crescent Moon Layer and settle in the New Moon Layer.
Of course, the most important thing was how to gain more benefit amid Jingzhou's upheaval.
While Ren Qing was stirring up trouble, Han Li had already snuck into Morning Street.
With the Great Desolation approaching, Morning Street was bound to descend into chaos; the Mountain Spider demon cultivators had extended their claws within, it was only that they had yet to close the net.
Ren Qing planned to let Han Li contact the Night Watchman, then decide whether to go personally.
Thump thump thump...
Footsteps approached.
Ren Qing paused, then put away the magical implements covered with demon patterns.
The illusion placed at the cave entrance wouldn't fool Song Zongwu, it was seen through instantly.
Song Zongwu stepped into the cave, five of his six eyes closed; the swastika symbol at his brow emitted waves of Buddhist light, as if ready to erupt at any moment.
Ren Qing frowned slightly; he had already sensed something off about Song Zongwu, unsure whether it was due to the Yang God stage.
"Senior Song, are you alright?"
"A bit uneasy in spirit... perhaps a sudden omen I sensed."
Song Zongwu pressed the swastika back beneath his skin with his fingers, causing the Buddhist light to retract. The open six eyes looked slightly fatigued.
"Ren Qing, do you have a way to reach a deeper layer of Jingzhou?"
Ren Qing was stunned; he knew Song Zongwu possessed the Divine Listening Technique that discerned truth from falsehood, whether he answered or not was both problematic.
He asked, "What's wrong?"
"Hard to explain, I must take a look."
After brief hesitation, Song Zongwu placed the fingers of all four arms upon his brow; blinding Buddhist light illuminated the cave.
Then, a soup-grain-sized white bead slowly separated from his brow.
The bead was sacred and pure; its entire luster flawless, so perfect it was nauseating.
Ren Qing's expression became entranced; for an instant, his mind blanked completely, unable to control himself, hand reaching toward the bead.
Song Zongwu hastily retracted the bead.
Ren Qing immediately regained clarity, though his whole body was drenched in sweat.
"What the hell is that?"
"This is a sarira, formed from an extremely special technique. For decades it showed no reaction, yet when I was alone within a watery marsh, it guided me toward Jingzhou."
"Sigh, I can't explain it to you; I know no more than you do."
"I do have a way."
Ren Qing agreed without hesitation. Since this involved Song Zongwu's advance to the Yang God stage, taking risks was acceptable.
Moreover, the last time he went to the deeper Jingzhou, he returned to the Crescent Moon Layer smoothly; now with the Disaster-Elimination Method, it should be even safer.
"No point delaying."
Ren Qing nodded and first used the Disaster-Elimination Method to erase both their sense of existence.
A flicker of surprise passed through Song Zongwu's eyes, the Restraint Officers' Hall didn't have the Disaster-Elimination Method. Had Ren Qing comprehended it from a Supernatural Remnant?
With such talent, no wonder he progressed so rapidly even without the protection of the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing grabbed Song Zongwu's arm. His Nether Yuan surged intensely, and he looked up at the daytime sky.
The Blood Moon faintly flickered, and an invisible pull acted upon both of them.
In a blur, they vanished.
The Gibbous Moon Layer remained chaotic, filled with demonic qi; Qingyan Town had become ruins, though anomalous entities were fewer.
In the distance stood a massive mountain, the ruins of the Wuwei Hall.
Ren Qing had just intended to close his eyes when Song Zongwu softly said:
"Not deep enough."
"Huh?"
As he hesitated, the gibbous moon in the sky turned into a full moon.
Terrifying demonic qi pressed down; Ren Qing could only stand thanks to Song Zongwu's support. The Blood Moon and the ground drew significantly closer.
Suddenly, he sensed the aura of the Heavenly Demon and turned toward the ruins of the Wuwei Hall.
He found the mountain covered in flesh; the vegetation looked like the hair of a black goat, and the whole thing resembled a beating heart.
The Heavenly Demon Dream Seed drooled with greed, the hall seemed to be gestating something.
Song Zongwu said solemnly, "Look at the Blood Moon."
Ren Qing turned his head.