Ren Qing suddenly realized that he also had mastery over the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique, and that it shared the exact same aberration path as that of the Forbidden Zone.
Both were the Ghost Envoy Realm's King of the inner Furnace Kindling.
Since it was called King of the inner Furnace Kindling, then the core Supernatural Remnant was very likely within the stove eye, probably requiring the extinguishing of the burning flames first.
As for how to deliver this clue to Song Zongwu, that wasn't particularly troublesome.
Back during the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone, Ren Qing had already accidentally attempted it, using the ability of the Twin Nightmare Ghosts to let his soul mistakenly enter the Forbidden Zone.
Now he intended to let his split soul replace his main soul. There wasn't much risk in doing so.
Nevertheless, Ren Qing still tried asking Li Tiangang: "Senior Li Tiangang, can you contact Song Zongwu within the Forbidden Zone using your techniques?"
Li Tiangang shook his head. "The Forbidden Zone is a closed system. Even I can't affect it, let alone now."
His words stopped there.
Song Zongwu could die at any moment inside the Food-Consuming Immortal Forbidden Zone.
At that time, the size of the rice field would definitely expand, displaying unimaginable horror.
Li Tiangang's words carried the implication of advising Ren Qing not to act rashly.
But Ren Qing did not hesitate. At worst, he would just damage his split soul.
There was only one chance, after all.
Once the split soul was lost within the Forbidden Zone, even if he consumed a large number of Yin-Yang Eyeballs, it would be difficult to recover the injury to the soul in a short time.
"Senior Li Tiangang, I want to try communicating with Song Zongwu inside the Food-Consuming Immortal Forbidden Zone. Perhaps I can help him locate the Supernatural Remnant."
Jiang Feng looked at Ren Qing in surprise. He originally thought Li Tiangang would refuse, but unexpectedly the latter nodded and said:
"I'll give you only half a day. Whether you succeed or not, you must withdraw immediately afterward."
Li Tiangang took out a sheet of paper painted with dense mist and mountains. With a light tap of his finger,
The mist instantly spread, enveloping the area around Ren Qing, making his figure increasingly difficult to discern.
Jiang Feng watched as Ren Qing disappeared into the mist, suddenly feeling unable to see through him.
Ren Qing moved within several hundred meters of the zone, already a rather dangerous distance. Without his double souls, he wouldn't have dared to take such a risk.
He recited The Blindless Method for half an hour before the split soul finally separated from the body.
Ren Qing opened his eyes and stared at the Food-Consuming Immortal Forbidden Zone. That familiar feeling welled up, and his perspective began to draw inward.
His main soul still sat firmly in the Niwan Palace, while the split soul was sent into the Forbidden Zone.
Li Tiangang stood at Ren Qing's side, personally guarding him.
Suddenly, a wave of magical fluctuation flashed over Ren Qing's body, but nothing seemed to happen, yet something had subtly changed.
Li Tiangang looked somewhat puzzled and couldn't help studying him.
There weren't many visible signs of aberration on Ren Qing's exterior, but careful observation revealed a sense of technique complexity, like he housed more than one or two Supernatural Remnants.
Li Tiangang turned his gaze toward the rice field. In any case, it had to be attempted.
The Other Shore Flowers were already enough, but without Song Zongwu's presence, summoning spirits would be extremely dangerous.
Ren Qing's split soul, in a daze, once again crossed the boundary between the physical world and the Forbidden Zone.
When he regained consciousness, he was already inside the Food-Consuming Immortal Forbidden Zone.
The kitchen was now completely different, sinister and terrifying. Looking around, giant tombstones littered the ground.
In the open space, he saw Supernatural Remnants suppressed by pages from books, likely left by the old Restraint Officers, but now that all four were dead, the pages could break at any time.
Numerous strange entities howled past.
At the stove in the distance stood the Rice Giant, and the sound of flesh hitting flesh could faintly be heard.
Ren Qing's split soul wasn't affected by the Forbidden Zone's power, perhaps because the Rice Giant was preoccupied with Song Zongwu and couldn't spare any attention.
He hovered in midair, his gaze fixed on the Rice Giant.
Song Zongwu stood on the stove, his body enlarged to three meters, entangled in battle with the Rice Giant, it looked like they'd been fighting for days and nights.
From the cracks in the walls, swarms of skeletal strange entities surged forth. Their only target was Song Zongwu, willing to die to reach him.
Song Zongwu looked slightly battered.
His body was covered in wounds, blood pooling underfoot, yet he showed no sign of fatigue.
Two arms fought the Rice Giant, while two more guarded against the strange entities.
BOOM!!!
A punch landed.
The Rice Giant exploded into a cloud of rice husks, but in just a few seconds, it began to reform.
Song Zongwu sat halfway on the ground, panting heavily as his chest rose and fell. He couldn't even be bothered with the surrounding strange entities, using the brief lull to recover stamina.
Originally, he was supposed to hold back the Forbidden Zone's will while the others searched for the core Supernatural Remnant.
But the old Restraint Officers had to face not only endless waves of strange entities, but also mysterious new changes within the Food-Consuming Immortal Forbidden Zone.
They weren't even given a moment's rest.
Even so, under the old officers' coordinated efforts, over a dozen Supernatural Remnants were temporarily sealed.
Unfortunately, as long as the Forbidden Zone itself remained intact, any such efforts were futile. The four old Restraint Officers were eventually besieged and killed in despair.
Now Song Zongwu was stuck. All he could do was buy time for Annan Town to evacuate. His own life or death was no longer of concern.
Seeing this, Ren Qing tried to approach the stove, but dozens of bat-shaped strange entities flew toward him.
He felt a headache coming on and couldn't help but grow a bit impatient.
Ren Qing quickly dodged the bats' attacks. His gaze swept around and suddenly landed on a dozen or so skinny werewolf-like strange entities below.
Ren Qing had encountered werewolves before. Their originating Supernatural Remnant was likely Wolf-Footed.
With a thought, his split soul returned to his main body.
"Senior Li Tiangang."
"Senior Song still has a sliver of hope, but to seize it, I'll have to take a risky and rather unusual step."
Ren Qing turned and cupped his hands toward Li Tiangang.
Now was the time to race against the clock, he couldn't waste a second. He directly released the Ghost Wolf from the Prison Within the Abdomen.
His body began to swell. The bone armor wrapped his form, and saber-toothed fangs grew half a meter long from his upper jaw.
Jiang Feng, who stood nearby outside the Forbidden Zone, faintly heard wolf howls from within the mist and instinctively stepped back a few paces.
Li Tiangang felt a bit bewildered. This wasn't the first time he'd seen the Ghost Wolf,
But such a degree of aberration and loss of control was absolutely not something a normal Restraint Officer could handle. Yet Ren Qing sat calmly on the ground, his eyes clear.
Even though he would be affected over time,
It was still astonishing.
Ren Qing's split soul couldn't help but pick up some of the Ghost Wolf's aura.
He entered the Forbidden Zone again, and his form changed. From a normal human appearance, he now resembled a miniature Ghost Wolf.
The surrounding bats had just begun to lunge at him when Ren Qing directly possessed one of the werewolf strange entities.
The werewolf had no soul to begin with, so he easily controlled its body, and the Ghost Wolf aura triggered reverse aberration.
The two-meter-tall body grew to three meters, and bone spurs emerged from the joints.
Ren Qing sensed explosive power far beyond the Half-Corpse Realm, and with all fours on the ground, dashed toward the stove, gaining speed rapidly.
The strange entities stopped attacking.
Passing the stove eye, he glanced into it, it burned with fierce black flames, and strange entities kept throwing themselves in as fuel.
Boom boom boom...
Ren Qing's main body suddenly felt his heartbeat accelerate, the wriggling frequency of the Flesh Furnace increasing. The flames grew stronger.
For some reason, both his main and split souls swallowed reflexively, as if there was nourishment in the stove eye that the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique deeply craved.
Ren Qing forcibly suppressed his unease and continued toward the stove eye.
A few strange entities paused, confused by the odd-looking "comrade."
Ren Qing didn't hesitate. Using powerful leg strength, he pounced onto the wall, claws digging into cracks as he climbed toward the top.
Moving and twisting, he resembled a nimble gecko.
Before long, Ren Qing reached the top of the stove. But the area was packed with strange entities all swarming in.
The Rice Giant had fully reformed, and a new round of fighting with Song Zongwu had begun, even the pot lid was riddled with holes.
Ren Qing had no way to intervene. Any closer and he would be pulverized.
Feeling somewhat helpless, he knew yelling would only draw the Rice Giant's attention.
Ren Qing grabbed two relatively small strange entities, using their struggling bodies as meat shields, and charged toward Song Zongwu.
Song Zongwu had his back to the swarming strange entities, but his arms seemed to have eyes, every punch swept through multiple enemies.
Ren Qing's split soul darted and twisted, soon drawing close to him.
As expected, a punch from Song Zongwu came flying.
Ren Qing hastily flung the strange entity in his hands forward and took the chance to get within three meters.
He spoke softly: "Senior Song, it's me, Ren Qing."
Song Zongwu's body paused. With his Divine Listening Technique, he could easily distinguish truth from lies, but on the surface, he showed no reaction.
Ren Qing continued: "The Food-Consuming Immortal Technique Supernatural Remnant is hidden in the stove eye, but it might only appear if the flames are extinguished."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Forbidden Zone's will detected Ren Qing as an outsider.
The Rice Giant's arm slammed toward him, and all the strange entities turned their gaze on Ren Qing, eyes filled with pure killing intent.
Seeing this, Ren Qing immediately withdrew from the Forbidden Zone. Once the split soul returned to the body, the inexplicable craving from the stove eye finally subsided.
He couldn't help but feel puzzled, what exactly did the King of the inner Furnace Kindling represent, and why did the Forbidden Zone cause the Flesh Furnace to react abnormally?
Ren Qing shook his head.
If Song Zongwu could force out the core Supernatural Remnant, then maybe he could truly catch a glimpse of the "King of the inner Furnace Kindling."
He re-sealed the Ghost Wolf and sat cross-legged, suppressing the aberration in both body and soul.
Unnoticed, Li Tiangang had come to Ren Qing's side, his gaze fixed on the rice field, seemingly trying to discern what was happening inside.
After a moment, Ren Qing opened his eyes and gave a brief account of what had happened to Li Tiangang.
When asked about the Twin Nightmare Ghosts ability, he described how, during his Half-Corpse Realm, his soul had accidentally entered the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone.
Li Tiangang took a deep breath. His face remained calm, but inwardly he was utterly shaken.
To be able to glimpse inside a Forbidden Zone, what did that mean?
It meant that every Forbidden Zone in Xiangxiang could be explored. He could even communicate with the Restraint Officers inside at will.
That would mean...
He forcefully suppressed his inner thoughts.
At present, with the Restraint Officers' Hall's current foundation, it wasn't yet time to deal with the Forbidden Zones. First, they had to complete the most critical matters.
The two sat calmly at the edge of the rice field.
Even the Restraint Officers nearby couldn't quite make sense of the situation, but soon, they noticed something shocking:
The rice field was shrinking.