Ren Qing didn't offer much explanation, giving a sheepish smile as he and Huang Ziwan hid in the shadow of the stove, remaining there until the insect horde spread throughout the kitchen.
The two of them were unharmed, thanks to their traces being hidden by spell techniques.
But chaos had broken out within the Forbidden Zone.
As long as the zombie insectoids saw living beings, they would swarm all at once. Under the siege of dozens to hundreds of them, prey would instantly be torn into minced flesh.
The stove was shrouded in a rain of blood.
Masses of corpses were dragged by the zombie insectoids toward Yu Dachuan.
Ren Qing closed his eyes.
A wisp of Ghost Shadow, carrying an item, fused into Yu Dachuan's shadow. All that remained was to wait for the right moment.
Huang Ziwan couldn't help feeling a little nervous, so he focused his attention on spitting poison into the pit below.
While the two were occupied, waves of thunderous noise came from outside the kitchen window, dust falling from the ceiling.
It happened three times in succession.
Then the roar of the Rice Husk Giant echoed through the kitchen.
Ren Qing reacted instantly, his expression turning grim.
He turned his head and said in a low voice, "Restraint Officers' Hall is exerting influence on the Forbidden Zone, as a way to signal us, but only three times..."
"We have to move earlier than planned."
"Mm, to be safe, we need to seize the first two chances."
Huang Ziwan wiped the sweat from his forehead. His heart felt like it was about to leap from his chest, after all, they were about to go through a near-death experience.
Ren Qing took out a piece of corpse food and tossed it to Huang Ziwan. While extending life wasn't especially useful, it could at least help in sudden emergencies.
He still had fourteen pieces of corpse food, so there was no need to be overly frugal.
Ren Qing explained the effect of corpse food.
Huang Ziwan was somewhat surprised, then swallowed it without hesitation.
Heat spread through him. He suddenly felt a bit lighter, and the energy drained from producing poison was completely restored.
While the two waited, the zombie insectoids, after finding that all living beings outside had died, began to swarm into the caves.
Seeing this, Ren Qing's heart stirred slightly.
He knew he had to seize every advantageous condition to improve his chances of escaping.
Ren Qing directly retrieved several dozen unconscious townsfolk from the Prison Within the Abdomen. Once the flesh was exposed to the air, it immediately lured large swarms of zombie insectoids flying toward it.
Huang Ziwan thought Ren Qing was going to use the townsfolk as bait and couldn't help but hesitate to speak.
But unexpectedly, Ren Qing's palm split open into a mouth that generated suction from thin air.
Thousands of zombie insectoids were sucked into the Prison Within the Abdomen, until the space reached its limit.
Then Ghost Shadow masked their scent again, causing the remaining zombie insectoids to lose interest in them and return to seeking flesh to transport to Yu Dachuan.
Ren Qing sensed the chaos within the Prison Within the Abdomen and realized the zombie insectoids weren't living beings, so they couldn't be controlled through dreaming methods.
Crammed into such a confined space, they quickly began to slaughter each other, and their broken limbs were absorbed by the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Seeing this, Ren Qing quickly withdrew the townsfolk, closed his eyes, and divided the Prison Within the Abdomen into individual cells, sealing the zombie insectoids separately.
Because of the complexity, his head began to ache, and blood uncontrollably flowed from his nose.
"Ren Qing, are you alright?"
Huang Ziwan was somewhat shocked. The seed-space inside Ren Qing's body was so vast, it was impossible for this to be a Half-Corpse realm spell.
Could it be that aside from The Blindless Method and shadow-related techniques, he had another technique that had already advanced to the Ghost Envoy Realm....
What a terrifying talent.
Huang Ziwan suddenly felt much more confident about escaping the Forbidden Zone.
A cultivator like Ren Qing probably couldn't even be held back long by the Yin Runner realm, he might even achieve Yang God in the future.
He felt a strange kind of excitement.
As if he were witnessing a new, bold stroke being added to the pages of Restraint Officers' Hall's recorded history.
"Yu Dachuan's awakening will be delayed. We can rest for a moment."
Ren Qing closed his eyes to meditate.
Too many unexpected events could occur in the Forbidden Zone. Trying to fully understand it was impossible, he could only take it one step at a time.
Huang Ziwan forced himself to calm down. The poison in his body was like boiling water.
He faintly sensed that if he could return to the real world safely, he would soon undergo a second transformation.
Huang Ziwan occasionally glanced at Yu Dachuan's situation.
His head was gradually forming, but his intelligence was clearly affected by the soul. His eyes appeared somewhat dull.
And only one-third of the zombie insectoids remained.
Due to indiscriminate slaughter, the Forbidden Zone had become a chaotic mess.
On the surface, it wasn't obvious, but Ren Qing noticed that the types of corpses the zombie insectoids brought from the tunnels had grown increasingly varied.
This indicated that the boundaries between the territories of different Supernatural Remnants were becoming increasingly blurred.
Boom boom boom...
Intense rumbles sounded from outside the Forbidden Zone, as if fists were hammering down one after another.
Ren Qing took a deep breath.
He brought out Huang Ziwan's puppet body and began to gradually merge a soul-split into it.
To be honest, the compatibility between the two wasn't high. The body immediately showed signs of impending collapse, though the soul-split barely stabilized it.
Seeing this, Ren Qing gritted his teeth and fed the body corpse food. Even if the life-extending effect didn't work, the condition clearly improved.
Then he stuffed the messy eyeballs one by one into the soul-split's stomach.
Even so, Ren Qing still sensed that the soul-split might be forcibly expelled by the Forbidden Zone at any moment.
His face turned grim. The only way to stabilize it was to forcibly suppress it using his main soul, or all efforts would be wasted.
This was obviously caused by the Forbidden Zone having devoured Wan Qi's Supernatural Remnant.
According to Ren Qing's plan, the soul-split would serve to guide them toward the exit, leading them through the tunnels to find the correct path.
Otherwise, with the terrain constantly shifting, there was no way to find a specific location.
The Forbidden Zone was composed of Supernatural Remnants and operated on its own unique set of rules, even the consciousness of the Forbidden Zone followed them.
Only a Forbidden Zone that had possibly reached the Yang God realm would resemble the real world more closely.
He was caught somewhat off guard. Even if he could suppress the soul-split, it would inevitably affect his main body.
Ren Qing hesitated for a moment, then withdrew the soul-split from the puppet body. After explaining the pros and cons to Huang Ziwan, he once again entered the insect nest.
Huang Ziwan didn't ask too much, there was no time now for long explanations.
He took a deep breath and reabsorbed the poison back into his body. Once his stomach was full, he moved on to blood, muscles, bone marrow...
Thereby temporarily boosting his combat power.
Huang Ziwan's thin frame expanded to just over two meters tall, muscles swelling thickly, his entire body was now saturated with deadly poison.
Ren Qing stepped into the cave.
He paid the beehive no mind, instead sitting cross-legged in the corner.
Ghost Shadow quietly shielded Ren Qing. Even though the beehive had no offensive capabilities and all its eggs had hatched, it continued to keep a close watch.
[Advance to the Mirrored Entity Emergence branch? Will consume 10 years of lifespan]
Mirrored Entity Emergence, as a Ghost Envoy realm technique, could now project the Supernatural Remnant inside the Prison Within the Abdomen, though only as a phantom.
Once Ren Qing confirmed, the accumulated 50 years of lifespan immediately dropped by 10, and his body experienced a subtle, mysterious sensation.
As for why he chose to advance Immortal in the Mirror rather than another technique,
It was mainly because "Immortal in the Mirror" didn't require his attention to be divided, making it perfect for the current situation.
A few more chances at survival couldn't hurt.
The effect of Immortal in the Mirror wasn't limited to the spell itself.
Ren Qing's eyes began to feel tingly and numb, his brows furrowing involuntarily.
The beehive seemed to sense danger, its aura grew unstable, forcibly accelerating the hatching of the newly conceived eggs.
It would have been fine if it stayed still, but any movement was seen by Ghost Shadow as a threat to Ren Qing.
Ghost Shadow instantly enveloped the entire cave, wrapping around the beehive like a python. The sound of cracking bones echoed from within.
Occasionally, a few zombie insectoids would return to the cave, but they had no ability to resist.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that inside Ghost Shadow's body, a maggot-like worm was wriggling, trying to absorb nutrients from the beehive to grow stronger.
After undergoing one transformation, Ghost Shadow's suppression of the Heavenly Dao Worm had grown stronger, loosening its sealed state.
Just as Ghost Shadow was about to strangle the beehive to death, Ren Qing suddenly opened his eyes and stopped it.
His eyes didn't appear to have changed, but in the reflection of sunlight, they shone with a mirror-like luster.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to hide the abnormality.
He looked at the dying beehive. Thankfully, the number of zombie insectoids was already sufficient, otherwise, he would've had to recover the Supernatural Remnant's injuries.
Ren Qing turned and left the cave, then returned to the stove.
Huang Ziwan was completely coated in poison. Each step he took left corrosive footprints, even the zombie insectoids didn't dare approach lightly.
"Old Huang, are you alright?"
Ren Qing looked at him with concern. Huang Ziwan's state was clearly abnormal, it was likely caused by forcibly fusing a technique with his body.
Any carelessness could lead to mutation and loss of control.
"Don't worry. I know my own limits."
Ren Qing didn't linger, pointing under the stove and saying, "We'll enter through the cave on the eastern wall. The insectoids fetched the most corpses from there, which means it's more chaotic."
"Alright."
Huang Ziwan ran to the edge of the stove and leapt. The poison seeping from his skin vaporized, gently lifting him to slow his descent.
Ren Qing glanced toward Yu Dachuan, his head had fully formed and was attempting to sense the location of his main body within the Forbidden Zone.
He followed behind Huang Ziwan. Ghost Shadow completed its possession.
Ren Qing's body was covered in a black liquid, and gliding membranes formed under his arms, he looked like a giant bat.
The zombie insectoids hovered mid-air for a moment. Sensing the pair's unhidden presence, they swarmed over like locusts.
Boom!!
As soon as Huang Ziwan landed, he slammed his palms against his chest. Poison exploded outward.
Over a dozen zombie insectoids dissolved, but even more replaced them. For every half-meter of progress, nearly a hundred had to be slain.
"Old Huang, save your strength. I'll Spirit Division in a few breaths, protect me when that happens."
"Got it!!!"
Huang Ziwan stepped back. Ren Qing stepped forward immediately.
The coordination between the two had grown increasingly smooth.
Ren Qing clenched his fists tightly. The split-off Ghost Shadow merged into the shadows of ten zombie insectoids.
Though he didn't pause his stride, his index finger pressed against his own neck.
He gave it a hard slash.
His fingernail was stained with blood, but no wound appeared.
Ten zombie insectoid heads flew into the air. Their bodies continued to lurch forward for half a meter before collapsing to the ground, unmoving.
Ren Qing was a little surprised, he'd only been testing Ghost Substitute, but the effect far exceeded expectations.
Though the wound on his neck had barely broken the skin, after Ghost Shadow transferred it, it became a fatal blow to the zombie insectoids.
It was likely because they weren't on the same tier. Under Ghost Substitute, the same wound was amplified several times over.
Ren Qing fused and unleashed all kinds of spell techniques, corpses littered the ground.
He turned his gaze back toward the stove.