Ren Qing's pupils dilated as he continuously examined the ghost ship fused with the artifact spirit, and as a result he discovered that the two refining methods were indeed highly compatible.
Perhaps in a certain sense, a weird fetus was also something nurtured from a living being, and was very similar in essence to the artifact-spirit method.
The artifact spirit was equivalent to an artificial dantian, able to autonomously cultivate Nightmare Demonic Qi; how much Nightmare Demonic Qi it could store mainly depended on the artifact's upper limit.
A ghost ship refined from Yang God–realm materials was probably capable of containing an enormous amount of Nightmare Demonic Qi.
The artifact spirit already counted as replacing the consciousness of the Demonic Embryo Artifact; once its aura reached a corresponding realm, it could merge into a higher-level Supernatural Remnant.
Of course, the advancement of a Demonic Embryo Artifact still carried risk, and the success rate was hard to guarantee; the source of high-realm Supernatural Remnants was also a problem.
Furthermore, as for how to make use of the Nightmare Demonic Qi contained in the ghost ship, Ren Qing still had no idea; the Weird Fetus Refining Method still required much work to perfect.
"Awoo..."
The ship's prow let out a wolf howl.
The ghost ship sailed across the surface of Wine Lake like a living creature, stirring up considerable waves; Kunpeng upon seeing this did not dare to obstruct it.
The commotion from Wine Lake immediately drew attention.
The Daoist disciples originally within the Immortal Market couldn't help walking toward the end of the road to watch; the Restraint Officers from the Ghost Market also swarmed over one after another, deeply curious about this Demonic Embryo Artifact that differed from the ordinary.
Although the ghost ship was derived from the sand ship, the two were now worlds apart.
If one were to treat the ghost ship as a weird creature, likely no one would object; yet it happened to emit the aura of a Demonic Embryo Artifact.
There were quite a few Restraint Officers who had mastered the Weird Fetus Refining Method, especially the officials of the Waterside Region, for whom, because of natural geographic advantages, almost everyone practiced artifact refining.
They closely examined the ghost ship while contacting Restraint Officers with whom they were familiar.
Under such circumstances, more and more people gathered within the Immortal Market.
Little Third hurriedly arrived at the Immortal Market, and when he saw the ghost ship he was stunned as if by a heavenly marvel.
The Double Pupils in his eyes rotated, but in the face of the ghost ship, which had reached the Ghost Envoy realm, he was completely unable to see through it.
"No wonder Senior Ren, the founder of the Weird Fetus Refining Method..."
The prow of the ghost ship split open into a crack, forming a huge gaping bloody mouth; it chased a fish swimming in the water and directly swallowed it into its belly.
The crowd was in an uproar, just what was this thing? Was it really a Demonic Embryo Artifact?
Why did it feel somewhat sinister?
Little Third forcibly swallowed the rest of his words and couldn't help doubting himself, feeling that the ghost ship seemed not quite like a magic artifact.
Mainly because the ghost ship had undergone Nightmare-demonification, making it closer to the category of a living creature; a normal artifact spirit would never behave like this.
Ren Qing was just about to tell the ghost ship to restrain itself, when he suddenly noticed Head-in-the-Jar appearing within the Immortal Market, his expression extremely complicated.
Little Third also noticed Head-in-the-Jar; the two had met several times during the Great Dream Forging of Artifacts.
"Senior."
He bowed respectfully, and the surrounding cultivators obediently made way.
Head-in-the-Jar let out a long breath, unsure whether to laugh or cry, muttering under his breath: "Ren Qing, you brat..."
The crowd retreated another ten meters; the end of the Immortal Market became instantly spacious.
Ren Qing's consciousness-formed figure landed beside Head-in-the-Jar, smiling awkwardly. "Senior, long time no see; I was just about to contact you."
"Truly a blow to one's confidence, take a look at my 'perfected' Weird Fetus Refining Method."
Head-in-the-Jar shook his head helplessly and tossed a thick book to Ren Qing.
After receiving the book, Ren Qing discovered that Head-in-the-Jar had added a large amount of annotation on top of the original contents, clearly having spent much effort.
When he saw the section about how to nourish artifact consciousness, his eyelid twitched.
Head-in-the-Jar had clearly gone astray; he had probably drawn reference from heavenly-way artifact-refining methods, and large portions of the content involved using corpses as materials.
Trying to raise a Demonic Embryo Artifact to the level of the Yin Runner realm would probably require over a thousand corpses; the Yang God realm would require dozens of times more.
In comparison, the artifact-spirit method was indeed far more reliable.
This showed that if Ren Qing had not created the artifact-spirit method, the Restraint Officers' Hall's refining methods would have gradually drifted toward a grotesque direction; and who knew, they might even end up refining living people like the Blood Moon.
At this moment, Li Tiangang also appeared at the Immortal Market; from the conversations among the Restraint Officers, he had already understood the cause and effect, and couldn't help showing a smile.
"Ren Qing, what kind of magic artifact is this?"
"A Demonic Embryo Artifact combined with an artifact spirit, the artifact spirit replaces the artifact's consciousness."
Ren Qing explained: "The artifact spirit is a refining method obtained from weird creatures, but the threshold for refinement is very high."
He handed the compiled artifact-spirit method to the two; Head-in-the-Jar immediately opened it, muttering nonstop.
"Truly unbelievable... using living beings to gestate an artifact..."
The cultivators around were also shocked, all wanting to urgently know what an artifact spirit was, but none dared to interrupt a Yin Runner.
Li Tiangang signaled them to disperse, and only Little Third was kept behind by Ren Qing.
Ren Qing was not worried that spreading the artifact-spirit method would lead to the refining of living humans.
The engraved patterns were not something just anyone could execute; even Ren Qing himself found them difficult to handle, and it was only thanks to the ghost shadow that he succeeded in refining an artifact spirit.
He even felt that if the ghost shadow did not have a Heavenly Dao Worm parasitizing it, greatly increasing its spirituality, it likely wouldn't have been so easy to refine.
Head-in-the-Jar finished reading the artifact-spirit method, then bitterly handed the book to Little Third, his expression calm in a way that suggested deep internal impact.
"I dare say that the way weird creatures form definitely isn't through engraved patterns... you forced your way through this refining method using raw talent..."
"This old man is truly impressed."
Head-in-the-Jar estimated that for him to flexibly use the artifact-spirit method, he probably wouldn't even grasp the basics in several years; yet Ren Qing had created it and immediately succeeded in refining one.
Perhaps that was simply the difference in ability.
Ren Qing casually chatted with Little Third, and also learned the current situation of Xiao Wu and the others, most had already started families.
He hadn't expected that the boy who once followed him around everywhere, Xiao Wu, was now a father.
Li Tiangang, after reading the artifact-spirit method, was not overly surprised; he only said, "Within a few decades, it'll be difficult for anyone else to master it. Ren Qing, provide the Restraint Officers' Hall with artifact spirits first."
"No problem, I'll talk after I finish secluded cultivation."
Li Tiangang hurriedly called him back: "Wait, I have something to discuss with you."
"Something happened in Jingzhou?"
Ren Qing's expression grew serious; he had originally thought that the dramatic changes would last several years, since the influence of weird creatures needed time to ferment.
Li Tiangang shook his head. "That's not it. I don't know if you've been paying attention to the Longevity Forbidden Zone, the situation is a little complicated..."
According to Great Dream True Person's preliminary estimation, there were at least a thousand types of Supernatural Remnants within the Longevity Forbidden Zone, and a unique set of rules had already formed inside.
To eliminate the core Supernatural Remnant was nearly impossible; even throwing in human lives could not fill that pit, unless an Earth Immortal intervened.
Therefore, the Restraint Officers' Hall's exploration of the Longevity Forbidden Zone had already been suspended.
Considering that the Food-Immortal Forbidden Zone, with just a dozen Supernatural Remnants, could form a small-world-scale environment, it was hardly an exaggeration that the living creatures within the Longevity Forbidden Zone might outnumber the population of Xiangxiang.
"Great Dream True Person asked that after you finish secluded cultivation, you go find him to discuss the Longevity Forbidden Zone."
"...Alright."
Ren Qing was slightly stunned; even Yang God realm experts did not dare approach the Longevity Forbidden Zone, him, a cultivator who hadn't even completed Yin Runner realm, would be like an ant trying to stop a chariot.
But perhaps Great Dream True Person had discovered something.
As long as his safety was ensured, Ren Qing indeed wanted to attempt exploring the Forbidden Zone, since it involved the words "Longevity."
"I won't disturb you further; there's still much to handle in Jingzhou."
Li Tiangang committed the contents of the artifact-spirit method to memory, then hurriedly left.
Head-in-the-Jar kept pondering the artifact-spirit method; thinking of a few key points, he couldn't help returning to his secret chamber, preparing to attempt refining an artifact spirit.
Ren Qing also bid farewell to Little Third, and his consciousness returned to his body.
The Immortal Market returned to peace, though cultivators interested in artifact-refining occasionally appeared, clearly all wanting to observe the ghost ship up close.
Kunpeng seemed to have misunderstood something and had begun appearing frequently in recent days.
Ren Qing's injuries had almost fully recovered; the remaining aberrations required slow grinding to suppress, so he intended to borrow the Snake Molting Method to eliminate them completely.
If the Snake Molting Method did not possess the ability to shed skin, it would actually be quite mediocre among techniques.
But precisely this shedding of skin, given Ren Qing's mastery of information-flow, as long as his lifespan was sufficient, he could break through realms at any time to trigger it.
The mutation paths of the Snake Molting Method were:
[Serpent Sniffer: understands serpent language]
[Serpent Scales: skin like scale armor]
[Serpent Gu: raising serpents as calamity]
Because Sanxiang City had a group specifically cultivating the Snake Molting Method, the "Serpent Scale Gang", the Restraint Officers' Hall had relatively complete records for this technique.
Serpent Sniffer was Zhang Qiu's mutation path, an auxiliary ability, able to possess heat-sensing like a serpent and detect the heat emitted by living creatures.
Serpent Scales focused on bodily mutation, suitable for use as a Jailer.
Serpent Gu was more peculiar, one had to hold a shelled snake egg in the mouth, use medicinal guidance, until forming a special "Blood Python."
The Blood Python had no form, No Shadow, and existed only within flesh and blood; to summon it one had to discard a portion of one's flesh to temporarily construct a serpent body.
This mutation path was too dangerous; after advancing to Ghost Envoy realm "Blood Python Calamity," one-third of the body would be occupied by the Blood Python, and each activation would cost nearly half one's life.
Ren Qing originally intended to choose Serpent Scales; beast-type techniques were good for possession, but then he considered that Serpent Gu could supplement methods of Taotie-transformation.
A Taotie-transformation without the Shadow Ghost Technique or other arts consisted of ten types of Jailer-formed bodies; the sand gravel of the Sand Man could fully be used to summon the Blood Python.
Ren Qing directly consumed lifespan to advance to Half-Corpse realm; his skin immediately felt tingling, and with a tug he shed most of it.
Upon reaching the Ghost Envoy realm "Blood Python Calamity," he was completely covered by snake eggs, and after half a day he broke out of the shell, the aberration fully gone.
The Yin Runner realm of Serpent Gu was called "Blood Demon Serpent Mother." Although Ren Qing had sufficient lifespan, he did not rush to advance.
If he encountered a near-death injury, he could use this to preserve his life.
Ren Qing imprisoned the Blood Python within the Eternal Cell as a Jailer; the Supernatural Remnant formed a ten-meter giant serpent coiled within the forest.
After feeding it serpent blood to the extreme, the Blood Python reached about twenty meters.
The Blood Python's location was relatively remote; all the good spots had been taken by the Ghost Wolf and others.
The Jailers clearly possessed notable intelligence and required their own territories; otherwise conflict would arise.
Considering the size of the stomach-world, Ren Qing only chose three techniques; otherwise gathering ten would still be easy.
He flipped through "Rock Vein Strength" and "Ice Crystal Technique," then proceeded to master them one after another.