Withered vines and old trees, the sparse branches and leaves covered with a layer of black mycelium, even the vegetation emitted a nauseating stench.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes; it was hard to imagine that the Corpse District had still been part of Qingyan Town a few days ago, yet now it resembled the underworld of the Yellow Springs.
Ah ah ah ah...
A hoarse cawing sounded, and crows fat enough to be the size of wild dogs crawled toward him, their blood-red eyes filled with uncontrollable greed.
Because the crows' bodies were too bloated, they had already lost the ability to fly, but their strong wings could still crawl quickly.
Ren Qing did not even need to take action; the black shadow swallowed the crow completely.
After he entered Changning Street, he became increasingly certain of his suspicion, as time passed, Jingzhou would inevitably transform into a primordial-wilderness-like environment.
This environment was extremely suitable for demon cultivators, but he always felt that this was not the true goal of the aberrations.
Along the way, Ren Qing saw that only two or three houses remained, with no residents inside; the beasts he encountered all carried a rancid stench.
From the traces on the ground, it could be seen that the populace should have retreated toward the deeper areas.
Just as he planned to continue walking, the ground produced a faint tremor.
Ren Qing raised his eyebrows, his fingertips releasing specks of Soul Butterfly projections. He looked toward the source of the tremor, it was Qingqiu Mountain outside the city.
Aside from the Corpse District, Qingqiu Mountain had unexpectedly become the second force to undergo drastic transformation.
He immediately began to worry about Wuwei Monastery, which was not too far from Qingqiu Mountain. The influence range of the fox-immortal aberration would gradually expand, and in no more than a few months it would reach the mountain gate.
There was enough time for Wu Liangzi to take corresponding measures.
But other forces might fear that Wuwei Monastery would thus fall under Qingqiu Mountain, and they might attempt to eliminate them in advance.
Because of the fog in the Corpse District, he also could not sense the Soul Butterfly projection left behind in Wuwei Monastery, or else he could use it to warn them.
Ren Qing shifted his consciousness into the Immortal Market inside the Prison Within the Abdomen.
The result he learned from Old Coffin was that Wu Liangzi and the others had not come in tonight at all, and a bad premonition immediately arose in his heart.
Ren Qing turned his head, preparing to return the way he came. Although rushing back now might not necessarily be in time, at least he could save some of the Dao disciples.
Just when the Immortal Market had begun to take shape, if Wuwei Monastery's mountain gate were suddenly destroyed, recruiting disciples afterward would become extremely troublesome.
He happened to be passing by a half-withered ancient tree, whose roots stretched out from the soil, attempting to absorb the flesh and blood of fresh prey.
The Corpse District at present was filled with rampant demon aura; aberrant creatures hid within and were completely undetectable.
Ren Qing's expression showed some impatience; he did not bother with the demon tree. From his palm he flicked out a ferocious bone chain that directly coiled around it.
The bone chain was gray-black, with remnants of flesh on its surface. After madly absorbing the demon tree's essence, it seemed the flesh increased.
Bang!!
The demon tree withered and fell, causing soil to splash outward.
After the Dragon-Snake Spine underwent its transformation due to the linkage between primary and secondary techniques, it did not shift toward an illusory-real form like the ghost shadow, but instead gradually transformed toward something alive.
Although he called the raw material for refining his life-bound magic tool "Dragon-Snake Spine bone," Ren Qing actually was not at all sure what the original body truly looked like.
Ren Qing had not walked far before he suddenly noticed that the Immortal Market was missing a familiar figure.
His mouth twitched. He hurriedly found a secluded tree hollow to hide in, then controlled a fragment of his soul to descend beside Song Zongwu.
Song Zongwu looked Three-Head up and down, and said, "Your technique is too mixed, and cannot advance further. Do not spend effort on it in the future."
Ren Qing nodded. The Marsh Immortal Method did indeed have limited potential, just as Song Zongwu said.
However, if he could find the path forward, then those Marsh People inside the Restraint Officers' Hall would become useful. At the moment they should be held inside the Stomach within the Stomach.
"Senior Song, why are you in Jingzhou?"
"I walked from the water marshes to Jingzhou. The opportunity to break through to the Yang God realm should be here, but it is difficult to locate."
Song Zongwu clearly did not intend to talk much about matters of the Yang God realm. He informed Ren Qing of what had occurred previously at Wuwei Monastery.
When Ren Qing heard "Rabbit-Toad Immortal," his heart instantly pounded violently.
So the aberrations were indeed chess pieces arranged by the Blood Moon, mainly to receive the Rabbit-Toad cultivators coming from the deeper layers of Jingzhou to the Crescent Moon Layer.
The Rabbit-Toad cultivators should be unable to adapt to environments with low demon aura concentration.
No wonder the aberrations were so easily manipulated by demon cultivators; they were created only to alter the environment of the Crescent Moon Layer.
Song Zongwu asked, "Ren Qing, should we evacuate Wuwei Monastery from Qingyan Town? Going into the deep mountains should be relatively safe."
After hesitating a few breaths, Ren Qing shook his head. Under a toppled nest, how can there be intact eggs? Once the Crescent Moon Layer turned into a primordial wilderness, where would there be any pure land?
"Let Wu Liangzi gather the disciples and return to the sect first. When the range influenced by the aberrations grows wider, they will definitely sweep out the remaining survivors."
Song Zongwu replied, "If necessary, I will personally escort them."
He suddenly remembered something, and his expression became meaningful. "The aberrations indeed can alter the environment, but do not forget that the Restraint Officers' Hall is also very skilled in this aspect."
Ren Qing paused, then immediately realized, wasn't sealing forbidden zones done with similar methods?
Even if Jingzhou did not have Restraint Officers, relying on the materials inside the Great Dream Pavilion, the destructive power could far surpass that of the aberrations.
And they also possessed the killing artifact Supernatural Remnant, which could directly turn a region into a forbidden zone, playing a decisive role.
In this light, the Restraint Officers' Hall still had the ability to wrestle with these forces; they simply had to publicly raise the banner of the Earthly Immortal Heavenly Dao Worm.
Ren Qing thought aloud, "We'll talk after I return. It should take only a few days."
Song Zongwu nodded and reminded him, "The Dao disciples have talent for cultivating techniques; you can actually teach them Restraint Officer methods."
"Mm. Senior Song, choose a few techniques for them to try as entry-level learning."
Ren Qing had also considered this; he originally planned to implement it after the sect grew larger, but did not expect the situation in Jingzhou to deteriorate so abruptly.
Song Zongwu agreed without hesitation, since the opportunity would not be found anytime soon anyway.
"Where are you now?"
"Corpse District. I want to investigate what exactly is hidden behind the aberrations."
"All right. According to Wu Liangzi, there are still some Dao disciples alive in the Corpse District. If you happen to encounter them, bring them back."
The two discussed for a moment more, then Song Zongwu went specially to the Great Dream Pavilion and the Great Dream Hidden Treasury to exchange for some techniques and materials.
The materials were all kinds of fertilizers, presumably used to improve the farmland around the mountain gate.
Next they would have to move the farmstead closer to the mountain gate; the fields needed to reduce manure and increase yield, to the point of altering the crops.
Strictly speaking, the farmlands were only meant to give the outside world an illusion.
After the Ghost Market and Immortal Market merged, food supplies could circulate through them, giving Wuwei Monastery the resource support of Xiangxiang behind it.
As long as Ren Qing figured out the extent of the Rabbit-Toad cultivators, he could determine the next countermeasures.
He had previously contacted a Rabbit-Toad cultivator in Qingxu Temple, and knew that the latter cultivated on their own and were not living beings formed by the Blood Moon.
If the Rabbit-Toad cultivators' realm could reach above the Yang God realm, then Wuwei Monastery could only obediently remain inside the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Once Song Zongwu ascended to the Yang God realm, Ren Qing could consider fleeing.
But if Wuwei Monastery still had room to survive, he intended to use the mountain gate as a center and construct an extremely solid fortress.
Ren Qing forcefully suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart and continued moving deeper into the Corpse District.
His pace gradually increased, with some intent of traveling a hundred li a day.
Outside the Corpse District the sun shone brightly, but inside it was still shrouded in mist.
Even though Ren Qing had walked nearly four hours, he encountered no people at all, as if the Corpse District had turned into a dead land.
Moreover, that colossal corpse elephant had not been seen.
Just when Ren Qing thought the mist had a ghost-wall-like effect, he finally encountered signs of life, but the situation was strange.
What entered his sight were burial mounds covering the mountains and fields, almost without end.
The burial mounds were placed with precise spacing, as though some pattern existed within, giving them a strangely symmetrical beauty at a glance.
Ren Qing swept over the graveheads with Double Pupils; inside was only a straw mat, and no corpses could be seen, he did not know where they had gone.
Ah ah ah...
Several crows circled a gravestone, seemingly trying to find edible offerings.
There were also commoners walking among the graves, their skin clinging to bone, clearly close to death due to the corrosion of demon aura.
Their first reaction upon seeing Ren Qing was vigilance.
When Ren Qing approached, the oldest elder spoke, "Young man, go away. The grave mounds here are not your turn."
"What if I insist on staying here?"
"You... you... you..."
The veins on the elder's forehead bulged; he failed to catch a breath, and instantly died.
Ren Qing had just wanted to inspect the corpse, when the surrounding people instead revealed joy, then lifted the corpse and placed it into the dug-out grave.
They gestured for Ren Qing not to move while quickly burying the corpse.
Immediately afterward, a gravestone gradually grew out from the burial mound, carved with the elder's lifetime information, and even a shallow handprint.
Ren Qing stared at the elder's corpse, yet right under his eyelids, the corpse abruptly vanished.
"What on earth is happening?"
The middle-aged man holding a shovel showed hatred, but merely meeting Ren Qing's eyes made his expression become dazed.
Ren Qing asked him several questions in succession; the man stammered each time, clearly affected by the demon aura, his soul was already incomplete.
Seeing this, Ren Qing looked around, and the ghost shadow under his feet began to boil.
Next, Ren Qing lightly stepped on the ground; the ghost shadow seeped into the soil and spread downward for several hundred meters, quickly discovering an anomaly.
The corpse elephant was actually buried underground, its entire body bound by numerous iron chains. The elder's corpse must have been dragged into the depths by the chains.
Ren Qing took a breath; Wugui devoured its own presence down to a faint trace.
Then his body merged with the ghost shadow, instantly turning into a hundred-meter-long dragon-snake ghost shadow, treating the soil as nothing and drilling straight toward the corpse elephant.
At the same time, the soul-split in the Niwan Palace again received the corpse elephant's plea for help.
The corpse elephant seemed able to sense Ren Qing's presence, and its transmitted thoughts were filled with urgency, even with some contempt toward him.
"A mere little demon, so negligent, hurry and help me escape."
"Fuck off."
Ren Qing cut off the thought, looking at the colossal corpse elephant just a hair's breadth away, as well as the demon cultivators arranged within its body.
After understanding the demon cultivators' actions, he suddenly had a bold thought.