Ren Qing released a demon-kind from the Stomach World to test Jingzhou's rules.
The demon stood over two meters tall, its body covered in fur. Although it had no head, facial features had grown on its chest and abdomen, and its fox tail stood straight up in fear.
Hu Wen was momentarily unable to react, stumbling clumsily to the ground. Only after noticing Ren Qing nearby did he let out a sigh of relief.
Before he could ask anything, his expression suddenly changed drastically.
"Urgh..."
The veins on Hu Wen's forehead bulged as he desperately suppressed something. The facial features on his chest and abdomen began twisting into varying degrees of distortion.
"They've come alive, they've come alive. This really is a wonderful place."
"I hear them. There are three hundred fifty-six million seven hundred fifty thousand six hundred seventy-five vermin here. Every night the insects sing, every night the insects sing!!!"
"I saw it. Several people are traveling a hundred li away..."
Hu Wen clutched his stomach with both hands. The organs inside his body had actually begun losing control, becoming animate and affecting his body, causing unbearable pain.
Ren Qing knew the Restraint Officer technique Hu Wen cultivated was called **Five Viscera Deity**, and that he had advanced by devouring a weird object.
But he had never expected that, in Jingzhou, a weird object obtained in such a manner would become so troublesome that it was even on the verge of taking over its host.
[Five Viscera Deity]
[Created by Du Cun, the abbot of the Temple of the Five Viscera, after comprehending a divine statue. One can only cultivate it if all five viscera are intact.]
Ren Qing hurriedly intervened. Otherwise, Hu Wen would die from the backlash before long.
Ghost Shadow immediately burrowed into Hu Wen's body, wrapping around his five viscera, six bowels, and Hu Wen's brain beside his spine.
Hu Wen let out a miserable scream. It felt as though his five viscera were being cut apart piece by piece, with every portion connected to the Five Viscera Deity forcibly stripped away.
Ghost Shadow was like an ultra-precise surgical machine. Besides excising the weird object, it also repaired the damaged organs using various medicinal herbs.
The operation lasted several hours, and Hu Wen's agonized howls frightened away the nearby monkeys.
When Hu Wen regained consciousness, he felt both body and soul become incomparably relaxed. Even the technique he cultivated on his own gave him the illusion that one day's cultivation was worth a thousand.
He examined his organs internally in disbelief and discovered that the Five Viscera Deity had completely disappeared.
Unfortunately, because mutation was irreversible, the image of a headless fox would likely accompany him for life. However, Hu Wen had long since grown accustomed to it.
"Thank you, Lord Demon Immortal!"
Because he had devoured a weird object in his early years, not only had it become difficult for Hu Wen to cultivate other Restraint Officer techniques, but breaking through bottlenecks had become even more difficult.
Now that he had finally cast off those shackles, and with the Ghost Immortal Office in hand, reaching the Yang God Realm was finally within sight.
Hu Wen looked toward the silent Ren Qing. In Ren Qing's palm was a mass of indescribable flesh, as though five internal organs had been stitched together, with ordinary human facial features growing across its surface.
He even vaguely noticed that the eyes of the Five Viscera Deity weird object resembled an insect's compound eyes, and the gaze directed at him was filled with malice.
Ren Qing examined the Five Viscera Deity weird object after its transformation into a Gu insect and asked, "Hu Wen, if I remember correctly, there are quite a few cultivators in the Demon Vein who forcefully advanced by devouring weird objects, right?"
[Five Viscera Deity Gu]
[After refinement, the five viscera gain intelligence and divine abilities, allowing one to communicate with the Five Viscera Deity and borrow its powers.]
It can be nourished with the internal organs of three thousand five hundred pairs of children born in yin years on yin days, allowing it to advance into the Five Palace Heavenly Manor Gu.
If Hu Wen were to advance the Five Viscera Deity to its next realm, the process could only be described as surviving by the narrowest margin.
But obtaining the internal organs of three thousand five hundred pairs of children was, in a sense, far simpler. Many people would likely choose to take that desperate gamble.
"Reporting to Lord Demon Immortal, there are indeed quite a few demon-kind, especially the Hundred-Eyed Tiger Demon..."
Although Hu Wen oversaw the Demon Vein, he still remembered the tiger demon Zhang Yi, with whom he had fought through life and death back then. The bond between the two demons was as close as brothers.
"Good. Arrange one hundred people. Wait until I notify you from the outside world."
Since Jingzhou's forbidden zone rules could strip away weird objects, this was the perfect opportunity to strengthen the Demon Vein's foundation and free the older generation of demon-kind from the shackles of mutation.
Without waiting for Hu Wen's response, Ren Qing directly returned him to the Stomach World.
He put away the Five Viscera Deity weird object, watching it revert into a weird object once it entered the Stomach World, then walked deeper into the rainforest.
Ren Qing had no worries about his own weird objects. After all, they had all advanced through the Information Stream by consuming lifespan, so any intelligence they once possessed had long since been completely erased.
He recalled what Hu Wen had said. There seemed to be living people a hundred li away, so he headed there at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Rain fell continuously through the jungle, while the cries of countless poisonous insects rose and fell.
Even Half-Corpse Realm cultivators would easily lose their lives here if they lacked protective magical artifacts.
Standing atop the tallest tree, Ren Qing quickly noticed smoke rising in the distance.
Because of the damp environment, lighting a fire in the rainforest would inevitably produce thick smoke, whereas traces left by ordinary travelers were nearly impossible to detect.
Following his usual cautious nature, before understanding the true nature of the forbidden zone, he intended to suppress any large-scale spellcasting as much as possible.
"A campfire. Could they be Insect Nest people who entered Jingzhou back then?"
The Windsky People had entered Jingzhou from the southwest, far from Ren Qing's current location. Of course, they could also belong to another faction.
The severed-limb Flood Serpent, meanwhile, remained hidden underground throughout the region, making its exploration of Jingzhou rather limited.
Ren Qing headed toward the campfire, arriving nearby within minutes.
He stopped, his face filled with confusion, then parted the bushes and stepped beside the campfire, where several people were engaged in conversation.
"Who's there?!"
The three men dressed as hunters instantly became alarmed. They grabbed the swords at their sides, hurriedly stood up, and stared at Ren Qing in shock.
This place was far from civilization. They themselves had spent more than half a month traveling here on foot. There was no way they should encounter a stranger unless it was some kind of evil entity.
"You must be a woodcutter who got lost. Don't worry, we'll take you..."
The lead hunter gripped a dagger in his hand. Though his tone carried no threat, his feet kept edging closer toward Ren Qing.
Before the hunter could make a move, Ren Qing spoke.
"Qiao Da, have you already forgotten me? I'm Ren Qing from the same village."
"You... Ah, so it's Ren Qing. You've gotten a lot sturdier since we last met."
Qiao Dazhu patted Ren Qing's shoulder as though they were old acquaintances. The other two also lowered their guard and invited him over to warm himself by the fire.
Wearing a Daoist robe that completely clashed with the surroundings, Ren Qing calmly sat down cross-legged.
Freedom Heavenly Demon possessed neither form nor color. A mere thought could alter another person's memories, forcibly implanting an acquaintance named Ren Qing into them.
Ren Qing changed into ordinary coarse linen clothing, and even his facial features became more simple and honest.
He sent three Dreamflowers into each hunter's body, examining their flesh, bones, souls, and memories for any inconsistencies.
According to the hunters' memories, their families had lived in a village outside the forest for generations, making their living mainly through hunting wild beasts.
But the Insect Nest people had only entered Jingzhou less than a year ago, hadn't they?
As for them being natives, that was even less likely. Jingzhou had been destroyed before Ren Qing's very eyes after being caught in the conflict between the two True Immortals.
The hunters were barely literate, and their knowledge was limited. Their memories contained no useful clues, making the mystery even more baffling.
Ren Qing glanced at Qiao Dazhu's Information Stream and immediately understood.
[Qiao Dazhu]
[Age: Eight months]
[Lifespan: One hundred twenty-three days]
It seemed the ordinary people of Jingzhou had most likely been bred through the immortal positions.
Ren Qing suspected this was influenced by Taiyin Star Lord's immortal position. After all, the latter had once produced hundreds of millions of Rabbit-Toad cultivators in the blink of an eye.
What puzzled him, however, was where these mortals' memories had come from.
Ren Qing checked the Information Stream of the remaining hunters one by one. Their ages differed by a few days at most, yet their remaining lifespans were exactly identical.
That meant something was destined to happen one hundred twenty-three days later. Only then would the hidden mystery deep within Jingzhou reveal itself.
Ren Qing looked toward the sky.
The moon was as bright as ever, but it was not the Blood Moon.
He still wasn't certain whether Jingzhou was layered. In fact, perhaps even the mastermind behind all this couldn't completely control the forbidden zone's rules.
While Ren Qing pondered, the hunters began discussing the gains from the past few days.
Although they mainly hunted wild beasts, they occasionally captured poisonous insects, which could be sold in town for silver.
Ren Qing paid little attention at first until Qiao Dazhu pulled a jade box from his clothes.
"We'll head back to the village first thing tomorrow morning. With this Fish Louse Gu, we should get at least several dozen taels of silver."
The hunters' expressions became excited. Several dozen taels of silver would allow them to buy farmland, and their children would finally be able to attend a private school.
The jade box opened.
Inside lay a fish louse the size of an index finger, except its body was covered in tentacles, and it emitted a spine-chilling screech.
[Fish Louse Gu]
[It can replace the tongue with a fish louse, granting the tongue the strength of three jin. It must be fed two jin of fresh fish meat every day.
It can be nourished with fresh fish marrow to advance into the Tongue Bow Gu.]
The hunters' memories contained no knowledge of how Gu insects were used, yet Jingzhou had clearly already developed its own unique cultivation system in such a short time.
Ren Qing closed his eyes to rest, and it was as though the hunters had forgotten he even existed.
Early the next morning, they set out on the return journey.
With Ren Qing accompanying them, naturally no wild beasts dared approach the group of four.
Whenever the hunters fell asleep, Ren Qing would carry them dozens of li farther along the road. Thanks to this, they left the rainforest after only seven or eight days.
The hunters' village was called Earth Slope Village, with only a handful of households.
The villagers lived peacefully, sustaining themselves by farming. Only necessities such as salt and cloth required trips to the nearby town.
Ren Qing aroused no suspicion. In fact, because of Heavenly Demon Tribulation, whenever Qiao Dazhu or any relatives or friends connected to him mentioned Ren Qing's name, their memories would automatically be altered.
After wandering around Earth Slope Village once, Ren Qing noticed an elderly licentiate living there.
Although the old scholar was likewise only eight months old, the memories in his mind were extraordinarily rich, as though he had truly traveled throughout the world.
Inside the old scholar's thatched hut hung a crude map.
Ren Qing looked at several marked locations on the map, then set off toward the southeast. The villagers gradually forgot about him once more.
On the map, the southeastern location was clearly marked as **Xiangxiang**, written in characters passed down from ancient times.
When Chen Changsheng arrived in Xiangxiang several hundred years ago, what he saw had been one deserted city after another.
It was as though all the inhabitants had vanished simultaneously. Every object remained exactly where it had been, even allowing one to reconstruct the bustling markets that had once existed.
Only by consulting the books within the city had Chen Changsheng learned that this place was called Xiangxiang.
'Lifespan nearly exhausted. One hundred eleven days remaining.'