Orioles flew and grass grew long; Jingzhou in particular changed with each passing day. In just a little over half a year of not seeing it, the outside world no longer showed any trace of its original appearance.
The city gate was somewhat desolate, far from the bustling scene of carriages and traffic it once had.
It was not that cultivators had lost enthusiasm for the outside world, but mainly because more and more Restraint Officers were cultivating the Taotie Method. All kinds of related materials emerged one after another, leading to the widespread use of storage artifacts.
Able to travel light, and with dragon tree branches replenishing Nether Yuan, cultivators spent far more time staying in Jingzhou, and it was also slightly safer.
Many cultivators had discussed demon beasts in the dream market. A common saying was that the spiritual intelligence of some demon beasts was not inferior to that of ordinary people.
It was not caused by an increase in cultivation. Even demon beasts at the same realm could have vastly different levels of spiritual intelligence.
Ren Qing walked alone out of Wuwei City, not attracting anyone's attention at all.
The moment he stepped into the outside world, dense demonic qi rushed toward him.
Compared to the true essence emitted by Heavenly Dao worms to adapt to the human physique, the only function of demonic qi was to erode the body and soul.
Once it completely transformed into the Primordial Wilderness, the threshold for leaving the city would very likely have to be at least the Ghost Envoy Realm.
After just a few breaths, Ren Qing felt completely at ease. The demonic qi was blocked three finger-widths away from his skin, not much different from inside Wuwei City.
He then walked into the dense forest.
Relying on the soul butterfly aura left behind by Dream Great One, Ren Qing could faintly sense Song Zongwu's position. It was indeed relatively deep.
After closing his eyes and using the Dream Butterfly Method, his soul touched a mass of chaotic thoughts, within which seemed to be mixed countless memories.
But it was indeed Song Zongwu, and it seemed that he was surrounded by piles of white bones and corpses.
Ren Qing had originally thought that Song Zongwu's advancement to the Yang Spirit Realm was a sure thing. He did not expect there to be a risk of failure, possibly ending in death and the dissipation of the Dao.
However, Song Zongwu's condition was relatively stable. In the short term, there were no signs of deterioration, but likewise no sign of breaking through the bottleneck.
Ren Qing could not help but feel fortunate that he possessed the information flow; otherwise, he would inevitably encounter situations of struggling desperately for survival.
A vine drooped down.
A giant tree emitted demonic qi, extending its branches to grab at Ren Qing as he was about to pass by. Before it could get close, its body split into two sections.
Ren Qing's speed gradually increased, nimbly dodging one demonized plant after another. Each step seemed as if he were using the divine ability of shrinking the earth to inches.
Describing present-day Jingzhou as overrun by demons and monsters was not an exaggeration in the slightest. Even stones the size of a fist could possibly have become demons.
Ren Qing did not hurry to erase his sense of presence. Before going deep into Jingzhou, he wanted to understand demonic qi more thoroughly.
Once he figured out demonic qi, he could try to get a demon beast to use as a mount.
After traveling continuously for five or six days, Ren Qing arrived at a relatively remote mountain valley and planned to rest for half a day before continuing.
At this moment, he felt that he was being watched by some kind of demon beast.
The other party possessed no low level of spiritual intelligence, focusing only on observation, with no intention of approaching at all.
In a dim underground burrow emerged a short figure, its appearance extremely ugly.
Its entire body was covered in coarse, stiff spikes. Its skin was covered in charred black burn marks, and its face could barely be recognized as that of a porcupine.
Snort, snort, snort, snort...
The porcupine demon sniffed repeatedly, thick saliva flowing from the corner of its mouth.
It had never eaten human flesh, but it had smelled its delicious scent before, so it had never been able to forget the desire to taste it.
Seeing the man arrive at a place of sheer cliffs, the porcupine demon felt even more restless.
However, it knew that aside from itself, there must be quite a few demon beasts that had noticed the man's existence. If it acted rashly, trouble might arise first.
Thinking this, the porcupine demon forcibly restrained its movements.
What it took pride in was its spiritual intelligence far surpassing that of its kind, but at the same time, that intelligence also brought a timid disposition, so it did not dare to go forward at all.
The porcupine demon waited like this for several hours, and a trace of regret could not help but arise in its heart.
"I should have gone and eaten him. That tender heart and lungs, that chewy leg meat, and..."
It cautiously approached the man. Because of excitement, its entire body trembled involuntarily, and its eyes turned blood-red.
As the porcupine demon's emotions surged, dense pustules gradually grew on its back, emitting a faint fishy stench.
Just as it drew ever closer to the man, heavy footsteps came from not far away.
The porcupine demon immediately froze, its expression becoming extremely terrified. It promptly chose to lie prone on the ground, restraining the pustules on its back.
A giant elephant demon over five meters tall pushed aside the trees, its trunk letting out a thunderous roar.
Boom...
The giant elephant demon's back was covered with hands and feet, which helped it constantly drive away annoying demon flies, giving it a somewhat bizarre and eerie appearance.
It was as if declaring sovereignty, ensuring that other demon beasts would not interfere with the hunt, allowing it to fully enjoy the blood food.
The giant elephant demon opened its bloody maw, a foul stench filling its mouth.
Ren Qing raised his head to look at the giant elephant demon. Its cultivation had already reached the Ghost Envoy Realm, and demonic qi surged madly into its body.
The giant elephant demon felt somewhat strange. Why was this seemingly weak prey so calm, as if willingly going to its death?
It tentatively sprayed out a mass of dense demonic qi with its trunk.
But the demonic qi gradually dissipated after approaching within half a meter of Ren Qing.
The man did not even move his feet. Instead, his eyes revealed a hint of scrutiny, as if the giant elephant demon were meat on a chopping board.
Fear arose in the giant elephant demon's heart, and it could not help but retreat several steps.
But at the same time, stimulated by demonic qi, the thought of crushing the opponent grew more intense. Its sharp tusks thrust forward violently.
Ren Qing murmured to himself, "Boxed Dragon's Roar can enlighten all things. It should include all kinds of qi, right?"
He extended his right hand and pointed in midair.
The giant elephant demon seemed to be frozen in place, its long tusks stopping an imperceptible distance from Ren Qing.
The porcupine demon watching from the side was so frightened that its limbs went weak. It did not even have the strength to flee, only daring to make as little noise as possible.
Immediately after, a scene that it could not believe appeared.
The giant elephant demon's body collapsed from the inside out. Flesh dissolved into pus and dripped down, bones filled with cracks and turned to ash.
In the blink of an eye, the demon beast that the porcupine demon feared so greatly disappeared without a trace.
It was evident that demon beasts were bodies supported by demonic qi. Once demonic qi disappeared, body and soul would naturally scatter.
In Ren Qing's hand appeared a mass of twisted demonic qi. Although its overall shape was that of a dragon, it was covered with a faint layer of black-gray smoke and dust.
"What does this count as, a demon dragon or a dragon demon?"
"To be precise, it should be called a demonic-qi dragon."
Unlike pseudo-dragons enlightened from plants or living beings, the demonic-qi dragon had a relatively short lifespan. In just a few breaths, it already showed signs of lifespan exhaustion.
Seeing this, the porcupine demon's heart began to pound wildly.
Such methods must belong to the legendary demon kings. It was said their appearances indeed resembled humans. No wonder they could easily deal with ordinary demon beasts.
At the same time, seeing the demonic-qi dragon that was disintegrating, the porcupine demon instinctively wanted to devour it, and the desire grew ever stronger.
It could not control itself and burrowed out of the grass, charging straight toward the demonic-qi dragon.
Ren Qing glanced at the porcupine demon from the corner of his eye. The latter instantly froze in place. The threat of death made it completely unable to move.
The porcupine demon watched the other party come before it. The invisible pressure made it suffocate.
It even began to doubt whether the man was truly a demon king, or whether demon kings were powerful enough to easily control the lives of other demon beasts.
While the demonic-qi dragon had not yet dissipated, Ren Qing directly tried to merge it into the porcupine demon's body.
Immediately, the porcupine demon's cultivation rose at a visible speed. Its body swelled several times over, nearly reaching the late Half-Corpse Realm.
It soon realized that it had been surprised too early.
Large amounts of demonic qi transformed into small dragons and entered the porcupine demon.
Its cultivation surged step by step, quickly reaching the level of the Ghost Envoy Realm, though its fur was affected, becoming similar to Heavenly Dao worm skin.
This was not a demon king at all. It was clearly a demon immortal.
It felt its spiritual intelligence increase dramatically, and a stabbing pain arose in its throat.
Cough, cough, cough.
After coughing up a bloodstained bone, the porcupine demon's greed did not diminish in the slightest. Instead, it drove it to speak.
"Demon... demon immortal... please grant me... denser... demonic qi..."
Ren Qing revealed a smile. The porcupine demon, very humanlike, made a kneeling and worshipping posture, and his palm gently stroked its rough head.
Only then did the porcupine demon belatedly feel deep fear. After all, demon immortals could turn great demons into ashes with a wave of their hand.
If the demon immortal became angry, it would not last more than a few breaths before losing its life.
But it also noticed familiar demonic qi surging into its body again. Bottlenecks that constrained its strength seemed to vanish one after another as if they did not exist.
The porcupine demon underwent drastic changes. Its legs became increasingly adapted to upright walking, and the upper, middle, and lower dantians unique to humans gradually took shape.
The facial features on its face became clear, resembling those of Restraint Officer cultivators who had lost control due to aberration.
Ren Qing could not help but praise, "Even now, I think demon cultivators are very suitable for the Restraint Officer path. After all, they're all a bunch of demons, monsters, and ghosts."
He still saw the root of it.
Demon beasts that possessed spiritual intelligence were all descendants of demon cultivators who had once attached themselves to aberrant entities. It was just that under the erosion of demonic qi, they had completely transformed into beast forms.
Ordinary demon beasts like that giant elephant demon, no matter how high their cultivation, were nothing more than livestock.
Back then, demon cultivators had already developed forces. Now, their scale should be even larger. Song Zongwu should not have fallen into their hands, right?
The porcupine demon panted heavily, its eyes once again turning red.
Demonic qi was like poison, making it somewhat unable to stop.
Without Ren Qing's supply, the tiny amount of demonic qi it absorbed at every moment was like pouring cups of water into a dried-up pond.
How could that possibly satisfy desire?
"Demon immortal, quickly grant me demonic qi! I, this little demon, am willing to work like an ox or a horse!!"
Ren Qing asked, "Do you know of a place where white bones are piled like mountains?"
"Huh?"
The porcupine demon suddenly came to its senses and said tremblingly, "That is the White Bone Great Sage's cave abode. I... I don't know..."
"Sigh, then let this immortal enlighten you."
Ren Qing slapped the porcupine demon on the head. Boxed Dragon's Roar acted on its brain. The brain grew hands, feet, and facial features, covered in scales. Immediately after, the brain dragon directly took over the entire body.
"What is a demon immortal?"
The porcupine demon's gaze became clear, and it immediately began to speak at length.
As for the existence of demon immortals, it had known since the moment it gained spiritual intelligence. It seemed that one day they would descend upon the world and bestow immortal fate.
So-called demon immortals should refer to Rabbit-Toad cultivators.
Ren Qing chuckled.
Since it was unknown when Rabbit-Toad cultivators would descend, that made things much easier.
"Little Drill Wind, the demon immortal is patrolling the mountains."
He leapt onto the porcupine demon's back. The latter involuntarily headed north, completely unaware that its consciousness had already been controlled by the brain dragon.