The flames inside the Flesh Furnace surged again, offsetting the influence of the Heavenly Demon aura.
Ren Qing used the Dragon-Snake Spine to fling the black goat dozens of meters away, then stood firm until the Heavenly Demon aura was fully burned away.
To be honest, this black goat wasn't just difficult to deal with, if one wanted to obtain part of its soul, one had to stay in contact for a long time.
A chance must be sought amid danger...
Flames sparked from Ren Qing's mouth and nose as he breathed. He strode forward quickly.
Pa.
The Dragon-Snake Spine lashed out.
Then the chain spread over his entire body; the Ghost Shadow no longer possessed him but intertwined with the Dragon-Snake Spine, until it completely covered his skin.
It was just a pity that the Dragon-Snake Spine was only at the early stage of the Ghost Envoy realm.
Though it could spread for several hundred meters, it was still far from fully covering the flesh, bones, and organs.
Each step Ren Qing took left a trail of flame.
Seeing this, the black goat continuously let out strange sounds. Nearby, even the insects had gone extinct, and the flowers and grasses were visibly withered.
When Ren Qing came within a hundred meters, the Heavenly Demon aura was still blocked by the Flesh Furnace. At once, he no longer hesitated.
The moment he reached out his hand, the Dragon-Snake Spine extended outward from all parts of his body, directly wrapping around the black goat, which had no time to dodge.
From the side, the chain appeared as a giant iron ball over ten meters wide.
The black goat stared with pitch-black eyes. The massive pressure fell upon Ren Qing's body; the Heavenly Demon aura frantically tried to seep into his pores.
Seeing this, Ren Qing activated the Human Skin Book, causing the pressure to reflect back onto the black goat's shadow. The latter's glabella immediately showed a slight depression.
The Dragon-Snake Spine flailed wildly.
The black goat's body was covered in wounds; strange bleats sounded one after another.
Stimulated by the Heavenly Demon aura, the Flesh Furnace in Ren Qing's body now emitted sparks from his pores, and the air crackled.
Due to mission restrictions, the other Restraint Officers still couldn't leave the farmland.
They stood outside the farm's perimeter, unconsciously gulping.
The commotion between Ren Qing and the black goat was too great, like strings of firecrackers burning during the New Year.
It even startled the residents of the western city from their sleep.
The black goat had no intelligence. It was indifferent to Ren Qing's attacks, only continuously releasing Heavenly Demon aura in an attempt to pollute his soul.
Ren Qing directly drove the Dragon-Snake Spine into the black goat's glabella.
As the Dragon-Snake Spine approached the location of the soul, the Fuel King in the Flesh Furnace showed signs of being on the verge of death.
There was no choice, Ren Qing had to throw all the corpses obtained from the Doushuai Palace into the Flesh Furnace to stabilize the Fuel King's soul.
When the Dragon-Snake Spine entered the black goat's Niwan Palace, Ren Qing saw a shocking scene.
Normally, a Niwan Palace, aside from the three Hun and seven Po souls, should contain nothing but endless emptiness.
But the black goat's Niwan Palace was entirely different, inside were thousands of human faces, constantly screaming and crying for help.
The black goat's soul was also extremely incomplete, likely only one-thirtieth of the Devouring Thief Spirit, meaning that the full construct would only form one of the seven Po.
The black goat's soul constantly shifted in appearance, taking on forms of men, women, young, and old.
Miscellaneous thoughts swarmed forth.
Ren Qing couldn't help but clutch his head with both hands, veins bulging on his forehead.
Now he understood what Heavenly Daozi had gone through.
It was like stuffing thousands or tens of thousands of consciousnesses into one soul, there was no way to think clearly.
If a soul transformed into a Heavenly Demon and the Niwan Palace turned into this, anyone would lose their sanity.
Only by burning the body could one hope for peace...
Ren Qing calmed himself and placed the Abnormal Mouth on the black goat's forehead, forcibly extracting the soul within its Niwan Palace.
Part of the soul entered the Prison Within the Abdomen, where it was locked into a designated cell.
To avoid accidents, Ren Qing was ready to toss the remnant soul into the Flesh Furnace at any time, but the result surprised him.
Once the remnant soul was isolated, the Heavenly Demon aura was immediately restrained.
It shrank to the size of a fist, deliberately approaching the place illuminated by the Fuel King's flame, as if using it to suppress the aura.
Ren Qing stopped paying attention to the Prison Within the Abdomen and focused on the black goat.
He immediately stuffed a Heavenly Demon Bone into its mouth. Once its soul recovered, he used the Dragon-Snake Spine to slam it hard onto the ground.
While retrieving the Dragon-Snake Spine, he activated the Blood Heart.
Li Tiangang appeared at Ren Qing's side in the blink of an eye, clearly, he had arrived long ago.
The black goat was sealed with paper talismans, a thick stack held in Li Tiangang's hand. It seemed he had retrieved over thirty fragments of soul.
Ren Qing's Ghost Shadow returned to his shadow; the Dragon-Snake Spine re-integrated into his spine.
He lay flat on the ground, panting heavily.
To think, the black goat Ren Qing had faced was just a remnant of the remnant of Heavenly Daozi's soul, and he had almost lost control and undergone aberration.
Heavenly Daozi was not even a Supreme Heavenly Demon.
Fortunately, the Flesh Furnace seemed to counter the Heavenly Demon aura. Only then did Ren Qing dare take the risk, otherwise he certainly wouldn't have grabbed fire from the cauldron.
Li Tiangang checked on Ren Qing's condition and was surprised to find that although he had long exposure to the aura, only his soul had been damaged.
He couldn't help but ask, "Ren Qing, your soul hasn't undergone aberration because of this, has it?"
"No, no."
Ren Qing shook his head hastily.
He had merely allowed his split soul to contact the black goat's Niwan Palace and had discarded it directly to prevent affecting his main soul.
Relying on devouring Yin-Yang Eyes, he would surely recover soon.
Ren Qing guessed that the side effect of the Heavenly Demon Bone corrupting the soul could be offloaded, though the cost to have the split soul endure it was steep.
He couldn't keep repairing his soul every few days, that would render the strengthening effect of the Heavenly Demon Bone useless.
"Next, the Restraint Officers' Hall will handle the monstrous infant. At most, there are twenty days..."
After speaking, Li Tiangang gave a small nod and left the farmland.
Ren Qing knew the other was giving him a reminder.
Once the monstrous infants merged, and then used the Other Shore Flower to create a false soul, the Ksitigarbha soul-calling would formally begin.
At that point, there would be no buffer.
For Ren Qing, twenty days was enough.
At his current pace, as long as the Ghost Market opened one more time, he could easily gather enough lifespan to reach seventy years.
By relying on the Nether Sea Breathing Art to advance to Golden Core stage and extend lifespan, he could at least allow the Twin Nightmare Ghosts to undergo one or two more aberrations, significantly boosting his strength.
Ren Qing noticed the surrounding Restraint Officers were approaching, so he immediately stood and disappeared from sight, soon returning to the Corpse Burners' Hall in the yamen.
Zhang Qiu frowned as he stared at Ren Qing's departing back.
He could identify auras via spell techniques, even if Ren Qing walked through a crowd, he could easily pick him out.
But aura changed with contact; after half an hour, tracking became impossible.
The confusion on Zhang Qiu's face deepened, especially when he found that Ren Qing's aura had last vanished in the yamen area.
A name suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Zhang Qiu shook his head again.
On second thought, that was unlikely. After all, the person had only recently joined the Restraint Officers' Hall and had just been promoted to a formal Restraint Officer.
After tending to the wounded, Zhang Qiu went to inspect the farmland to prevent any unforeseen follow-up effects.
But the moment he arrived at the center of the battle, he noticed marks all over the walls and floor, left by the Dragon-Snake Spine.
The traces were everywhere.
Zhang Qiu suddenly reacted. His expression froze.
Wasn't Ren Qing's signature life-bound magical weapon a spine?
....
Ren Qing could sense Zhang Qiu's spell.
But he didn't pay it much attention, every moment now was critical.
The dangers of Ksitigarbha's soul-calling were self-evident, and it was also a rare opportunity.
If Ksitigarbha revived, Avici Hell would come under full control of the Restraint Officers' Hall, and the resources he could obtain would greatly increase.
That is, assuming Ksitigarbha bore no ill will toward the Hall.
Ren Qing entered a closed-door cultivation state. A large number of eyeballs were placed in the Flesh Furnace, steadily increasing his lifespan.
His soul soon fully recovered.
By the time he opened his eyes again, the Ghost Market had opened.
The start of Ksitigarbha's soul-calling was just days away, probably within five days.
What puzzled him was that the Restraint Officers' Hall had taken no action, behaving nothing like its usual caution.
Ren Qing shook his head.
He was just about to take out his bone key to open the gate to the Hall, when he frowned and stepped directly into the courtyard.
At this time, dawn was just breaking; the other members of the Corpse Burners' Hall were still asleep.
A massive sheet of paper wrapped the entire town under the night sky.
As bits of spiritual light lit up, houses were absorbed into the paper and turned into patterns on it.
Ren Qing stood in place. Though he could resist Li Tiangang's spell, he still allowed the technique to pull him inside.
However, it was obvious that the larger the area Li Tiangang's spell covered, the weaker its effect. Ren Qing could've broken free from the paper's restraint.
He waited quietly, until daylight returned.
Countless Nether Crows circled in the air, then landed on the shoulders of each Restraint Officer.
Ren Qing opened the slip of paper. It roughly explained matters related to the soul-calling and required all cultivators to cooperate.
And at this moment, Sanxiang City's location was actually inside Avici Hell.
Ren Qing looked up.
The sky appeared unchanged, but he knew this was an illusion formed by the paper, thus the stars appeared stiff.
Many cultivators noticed the oddity, but none dared voice complaints.
Dense fog cloaked the city outskirts. The yamen received orders, and constables were dispatched to post notices on every street prohibiting anyone from leaving the city.
The gates were guarded by soldiers. Even many Restraint Officers were sent out on patrol.
Ren Qing showed his Restraint Officer token and had no trouble leaving Sanxiang City. But other cultivators not belonging to the Hall could only stay inside and wait.
Soon, the surrounding mountain villages of Sanxiang City were drawn into Avici Hell, Heshan Town and Annan Town probably wouldn't take long either.
Seeing this, Ren Qing's heart sank.
The Hall's actions could only mean that the worst-case outcome of Ksitigarbha's soul-calling was possible: Xiangxiang would fall completely.
Thus, the retreat into Avici Hell was pre-emptive.
He hurried to the mountain peak where the Ghost Market appeared.
Ren Qing feared the Ghost Market would be canceled last minute, this would severely impact his advancement plan.
The fifty years of lifespan he'd gathered so far could only support one aberration of the Twin Nightmare Ghosts, far from enough for self-preservation.
More and more Restraint Officers gathered, but some still watched from afar.
The Ghost Market appeared.
Great Dream True Person's voice rang out.
"Ghost Market will last for three days..."
Ren Qing couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, then realized the business opportunity hidden within.
All the Restraint Officers were preparing to expend resources to enhance their strength, refining artifacts would undoubtedly be their first choice.
This was likely to be a huge profit.