Ren Qing brought Huang Ziwan close to the entrance of the eastern cave, but his footsteps showed a hint of hesitation.
Just as they were about to step into the cave, Yu Dachuan, having failed to find his main body, couldn't help but let out a desperate roar.
Huang Ziwan was in sync with him, and immediately stepped in front of the insect tide to block it in Ren Qing's place.
Ren Qing nodded slightly, then closed his eyes.
Yu Dachuan was already showing signs of collapse. Even his soul, under the influence of the Supernatural Remnant and the Forbidden Zone, was about to be torn in two.
Before dying, he regained part of his lucidity, continuously murmuring Shui Hulu's name, his tone full of unwillingness.
After completing the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade, it wouldn't have been hard for Yu Dachuan to undergo three metamorphoses. The remaining decades of lifespan would have been enough to charge toward the Yin Runner realm.
But now, his grand ambitions had turned to nothing.
"At the very least... all... the Restraint Officers... must be buried here..."
His consciousness gradually faded, and the intense pain surging from his soul made his entire body tremble.
Suddenly, Yu Dachuan noticed his own shadow begin to squirm. His eyes couldn't help but widen in horror, his mind filled with disbelief.
He quickly realized, after all, he had seen a similar technique during the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade.
It seemed Ren Qing had not died, and had secretly left behind a setup.
Ghost Shadow spat out a lump of Supernatural Remnant.
The Supernatural Remnant immediately began to show signs of coming back to life, gradually taking on the form of a beast.
The footsteps of the Rice Husk Giant echoed. It was walking toward the Supernatural Remnant's direction, slapping to death over a thousand zombie insectoids along the way.
Yu Dachuan wanted to drive the Ghost Shadow out, but his body was no longer under his control.
He could only watch helplessly as the Rice Husk Giant approached. Under its terrifying pressure, his soul's condition worsened further.
In this moment of crisis, Yu Dachuan instead developed an interest. He couldn't help but think: "Ren Qing, oh Ren Qing, what is the purpose of this move?"
"If it's just to lure the Forbidden Zone's consciousness, then it's meaningless."
He didn't believe Ren Qing could escape the Forbidden Zone, but he still wanted to see what was special about him, enough to earn the recognition of the Yin Runner realm.
The Rice Husk Giant was about to reach the stove. The Ghost Shadow squirmed again.
This time it spat out a gourd-shaped body.
Yu Dachuan was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage, he didn't expect to fall into Ren Qing's hands.
Even if he didn't want to become a chess piece, the Supernatural Remnant in his soul had taken the initiative to make the choice, detaching his soul from the puppet body and merging it into the main body.
The Rice Husk Giant was already close at hand, stretching out its arm would be enough to grab Yu Dachuan, but instead, it first went after that escaping Supernatural Remnant.
Yu Dachuan couldn't help but show a wry smile.
The corpse food on the tip of his tongue was reflexively swallowed into his stomach. His previously collapsing body was slightly relieved, and so was his soul.
He looked toward the Rice Husk Giant.
Yu Dachuan used his consciousness to control zombie insectoids to fly over, then bit off their limbs and forcibly grafted them onto his body.
With stiff movements, he reached into his molar and pulled out a slip of paper, with a single line written on it:
"Stall!! Shui Hulu, I'll kill!!"
Such an open scheme, it couldn't be avoided at all.
Yu Dachuan's expression was endlessly conflicted. In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly.
"What a Ren Qing... I wonder if I'll still have consciousness after death. If even a trace remains, I'll surely see this Forbidden Zone destroyed one day."
A thick corpse aura emerged all over Yu Dachuan's body. The Supernatural Remnant was gradually deepening his mutation, making him feel an unprecedented strength.
Yu Dachuan raised his head and howled toward the sky.
"ROAR!!"
...
Ren Qing nodded slightly. In this way, the odds increased by another twenty percent.
"Let's go. At most we have half a stick of incense."
He once again took out the plantified puppet body. After the soul-split possessed it, the main soul still needed to suppress it to avoid being influenced by the Forbidden Zone.
Without hesitation, Huang Ziwan melted the stone wall at the cave entrance, thereby sealing off attacks from behind.
The two of them quickly headed deeper inside.
The soul-split's movement speed was not fast, but it clearly had a sense of direction.
Ren Qing let out a long breath. As expected, the Forbidden Zone operated according to specific rules, at least the Ghost Envoy-level Forbidden Zone did.
But before they had gone far, they already detected the presence of lizardmen, hiding in the shadows and ready to strike.
Upon seeing this, Ghost Shadow strangled the lizardman into a corpse.
But this move was like a pebble disturbing a calm surface of water. The anomalous beings arrived in waves, almost madly charging toward the two.
Yet the soul-split remained untouched.
Huang Ziwan used his massive body to block in front, allowing the two of them to advance deeper at high speed.
Ren Qing could feel the soul-split's intelligence growing more and more muddled, even indirectly affecting the main soul, making him frown.
And as they got closer to the exit, the strength of the anomalous beings they encountered also increased.
"Too slow."
Ren Qing could sense Yu Dachuan's condition, the latter probably wouldn't hold on much longer.
Yu Dachuan clearly could have driven out Ghost Shadow using the Supernatural Remnant, but hadn't. This was his way of preparing Ren Qing mentally.
"Old Huang, fall back."
Huang Ziwan immediately stepped aside. Ren Qing's palm-mouth opened wide, and thousands of zombie insectoids surged out.
Driven by instinct to devour flesh, they tangled with the groups of anomalous beings.
Ren Qing used the Dragon-Snake Spine to wrap the soul-split, and his legs began to move faster and faster, even if anomalous beings stood in the way, he directly rammed through.
Huang Ziwan covered the rear. Within just a few minutes, they had passed several forked paths.
The two suddenly stopped.
In the darkness ahead, a pair of blood-red eyes glowed.
The Chameleon Supernatural Remnant let out waves of hissing. Its limbs gripped the wall, and even Ren Qing's eyes struggled to track it.
"Old Huang, be careful."
After giving a warning, Ren Qing bent his knees and charged out.
Ghost Shadow, existing in darkness, was nearly unkillable, and the power it conferred had significantly increased. There was no reason to stay on the defensive.
The Chameleon Supernatural Remnant's head split open into a gaping bloody maw, but it only bit into the afterimage Ren Qing left behind.
Ren Qing instantly appeared above it.
His right fist gathered strength, then struck down with force.
The scales split open on impact.
With both fists hitting the same spot, the scales shattered, and the Dragon-Snake Spine pierced through its body.
Huang Ziwan's mouth fell open. Wasn't the soul-split supposed to require concentration? Why did it feel like even a Ghost Envoy-level Supernatural Remnant couldn't last more than a few moves?
"What are you spacing out for? Let's go."
Ren Qing urged him quickly.
Just now, the Ghost Shadow on Yu Dachuan had completely vanished.
It wasn't due to death, but because his entire being had been fully overtaken by Supernatural Remnant mutation. His confrontation with the Forbidden Zone had entered a fever pitch.
Huang Ziwan quickly followed, but couldn't help glancing back.
The Chameleon Supernatural Remnant's wounds were gradually healing. Its aura was growing stronger. It wouldn't be long before it caught up.
Ren Qing wanted to capture it, but since it was already Ghost Envoy level, it would be very difficult to seal it completely in the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Besides, it would attract the Forbidden Zone's consciousness.
Several more Supernatural Remnants pounced. By now, ordinary anomalous beings were rarely seen, clearly all the Supernatural Remnants in the cave were gathering here.
They were trapped in endless combat.
Fortunately, the two coordinated flawlessly, alternating between offense and defense without exposing a single flaw.
Gradually, as Supernatural Remnants were slain, the reproductive traits of their bodies gradually disappeared, making them increasingly suited for hunting.
Huang Ziwan's breathing grew heavy.
Even with venom covering his body, it would eventually run out. If forced to fight barehanded against Supernatural Remnants, he'd be torn apart in just a few rounds.
But they could already see the stone wall at the far end. That must be the exit.
The Forbidden Zone quaked again.
Restraint Officers from the outside had begun their assault. Time was running out.
Ren Qing felt stifled. The soul-split never ceased to affect him, so he had to remain fully focused at all times.
If the soul-split returned to the body, under the Forbidden Zone's rules, the terrain could change instantly.
He had a bad feeling. The sound of rice husks flowing echoed again, Yu Dachuan, after all, had failed to hold on.
The giant face rapidly approached, and the Supernatural Remnants actively opened a path.
While Huang Ziwan was momentarily stunned, two Supernatural Remnants bit down fiercely on his shoulders. Their sharp teeth tore away a large chunk of flesh.
"Hsss..."
He instinctively used venom to stop the bleeding, but it was clearly running low, parts of his body were now exposed to the Supernatural Remnants' claws and teeth.
The Supernatural Remnants focused their attack on Huang Ziwan, who was gradually unable to defend himself.
"Ren Qing... just go..."
Huang Ziwan said weakly, already prepared for sacrifice.
Upon seeing this, Ren Qing whipped the Dragon-Snake Spine, rolled up Huang Ziwan and stored him in the Prison Within the Abdomen. Then he grabbed the Chameleon Supernatural Remnant's neck with his left hand.
He carried the Supernatural Remnant as he ran wildly, narrowing his eyes as he looked at it.
The Supernatural Remnant was inexplicably drawn to Ren Qing's eyes, its struggles suddenly ceased.
"What did you see in my eyes?"
The Supernatural Remnant realized that in Ren Qing's pupils, a black dot was gradually enlarging.
As the black dot drew nearer, a terrifying ghost wolf seemed ready to leap out from within.
The ghost wolf emerged from his eyes, its five-meter-tall body brushing the ceiling of the cave. With one sweep of its arms, the surrounding Supernatural Remnants were sent flying.
Even the giant face hesitated for a moment.
After all, the ghost wolf had mutated to the extreme. Even if the Illusory Realm could only summon projections, the aura it released was far beyond the Ghost Envoy realm.
Ren Qing seized the chance and got within one hundred meters of the exit.
His mind had grown hazy, but his steps did not pause. Escaping the Forbidden Zone had already become an instinct rooted deep in his soul.
Whoosh!!!
The giant face blew a cold wind from its mouth, Wan Qi's technique was unleashed. The cave's temperature dropped sharply, and frost spread across the ground.
Just as Ren Qing was about to touch the frost, he forcefully threw the soul-split toward the exit.
Then, his own body transformed into the ghost wolf.
His legs stomped down hard.
Web-like cracks spread beneath his feet.
BOOM!!!
Ren Qing's leg bones snapped, and he turned into a blur that disappeared on the spot.
His body slammed heavily into the stone wall. He felt some resistance as he passed through, but thankfully, it was not enough to stop him.
"What a pity. I probably missed the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique..."
But as he traveled between the real world and the Forbidden Zone, he seemed to brush against something.
[Food-Consuming Immortal Technique]
[Can consume ten years of lifespan to waive cost and master]
Ren Qing's eyes widened. His remaining instincts selected "Confirm."
The Forbidden Zone consciousness flew into impotent rage. Cracks spread across the kitchen's walls and windows. Tombstones rose from between the bricks.
The anomalous beings shed their flesh, turning into decayed corpses, and threw themselves into the stove like firewood.
Black flames roared high.
The Forbidden Zone, having devoured a vast number of Supernatural Remnants and been provoked by Ren Qing, began to undergo earth-shaking changes.
Of course, none of this had anything to do with Ren Qing anymore.