Ren Qing knew that for the Restraint Officers' Hall, Great Dream True Person achieving the Yang God Realm was only beneficial, but it also brought immense hidden dangers.
He raised his head and looked toward the dream formed from the corpse of the Grand Duke Taisui, always feeling an inexplicable shock in his heart, fearing that the dream would come true in the next breath.
Boom...
The light and shadow of the Nether Feather contracted, once again transforming into Great Dream True Person.
From the outside, Great Dream True Person seemed to have no change at all, but that twisted light and shadow carried a subtle charm.
Ren Qing hurriedly withdrew the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed.
The tall figure of Great Dream True Person looked around, stretched out his arm to tap at the air, and then disappeared without a trace.
Immediately after, a powerful force acted upon each Restraint Officer, sending them flying uncontrollably toward the entrance and exit of the Nether Feather.
Ren Qing soon felt his back hit a thin membrane, and in the next instant, he arrived within the blood-rain-drenched Avici Hell.
He felt a wave of drowsiness surge in his mind, and his eyelids began to fight to stay open.
Before Ren Qing lost consciousness, he saw the wound in the stomach wall pierced by ribs slowly healing, and the blood rain in the sky stopping along with it.
However, without the blood rain, Avici Hell instead gave off a deathly stillness.
Moreover, in the midair of Avici Hell, the Grand Duke Taisui still remained, like a sword hanging above the head of the Restraint Officers' Hall, making one feel chilled to the bone.
Ren Qing's body, out of his control, slammed into the walls of Sanxiang City, instantly passed through house after house, and finally returned to the side room of the Corpse Burners' Hall.
He lay on the bed and began snoring in sleep.
Every Restraint Officer was in the same situation, except that those at the Yin Runner Realm did not lose consciousness.
This was enough to show the terror of the Yang God Realm.
Ren Qing didn't know how long it had been when he awoke.
Just as he was about to open his eyes to understand the situation, he suddenly felt the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed in his Niwan Palace tremble, as if the magical artifact was on the verge of collapse.
It was clearly the work of the false soul within.
Ren Qing's hair stood on end.
Although the false soul could not reach the level of Great Dream True Person, it was still derived from the remnant soul of a Yang God Realm cultivator, and was not to be underestimated.
The Heavenly Dao Dream Seed developed cracks one after another; with the slightest mishap, it would be completely destroyed.
Ren Qing hurriedly threw the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed into the Flesh Furnace, then freed the Fuel King transformed from the soul of the bell gourd from the white bone throne.
The original Fuel King's face was twisted, its skeleton-like body waving its arms, but after only a few steps it was reduced to ashes under the burning of the kindling fire.
Crack crack crack crack...
The cracks on the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed became more and more dense.
Seeing this, Ren Qing summoned the false soul out, lest it damage the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed; after all, re-nurturing it would take several months.
The Heavenly Dao Dream Seed had clearly endured for a long time while he was unconscious, but after the false soul broke free, it followed the meridians on its own to the spine, silently accepting the nourishment of the Yellow Spring Immortal Bone.
Ren Qing's attention was entirely on the false soul. From its outward appearance, he couldn't figure out its condition at all.
The false soul's face twisted, constantly shifting between Tu Di and Jiang Ge, and occasionally taking on the form of a black goat.
The emotions in its eyes were complex, sometimes hatred, sometimes sadness, sometimes greed...
In this state, the false soul already showed signs of dispersing, showing that the remnant soul of Heavenly Daozi had no small defects.
Yet, as a false soul formed from the Yang God Realm, the kindling fire could not harm it in the slightest, and Ren Qing could only watch as it gradually faded away.
Ren Qing shook his head; if the false soul had the will to resist, even the Flesh Furnace might not be able to contain it.
He tried to have the white bone throne forcibly contain the false soul, but it had little effect.
Ren Qing immediately felt it was a thorny problem, the opportunity was right in front of him, but he couldn't obtain it. Was he to return empty-handed...
It seemed that to communicate with the false soul, he would have to stimulate its memories, but he knew too little about Tu Di and Jiang Ge.
After hesitating for a moment, Ren Qing gritted his teeth and sent the split soul wrapped in the Ghost Shadow into the Flesh Furnace.
The Ghost Shadow actively emitted a faint Nether Yuan to see if it would have any effect.
The false soul seemed to sense the aura of the Heavenly Dao methods; it actively transformed into the black goat, muttering constantly.
Sure enough, it worked.
Ren Qing simply also brought the Dragon-Snake Spine into the Flesh Furnace.
After all, the Dragon-Snake Spine was a natal magical artifact fused with his spine, and it carried some of the flavor of the Yellow Spring Immortal Bone.
Ren Qing's split soul endured the pain from the burning and opened his mouth to say, "Master Ancestor, I am Huang Qi, do you still remember?"
"I am... who?"
"The founder of Wuwei Monastery, Heavenly Daozi, who established the Jingzhou Immortal Sect, under whom there were outer sect disciples..."
"You're lying to me, the temple is destroyed."
"The temple is destroyed!"
"The temple is destroyed!!!!"
The false soul became increasingly unstable, trying to search in its chaotic memories, but instead drew closer to dispersal.
It was like an old man on the verge of death, actively giving up the will to live.
Reasonably speaking, once Heavenly Daozi's soul had completely become the black goat, he truly could not live, nor could he die.
Death, for him, would be a relief.
Ren Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead; if he could not control the false soul, then he could only let it fade into nothingness.
If only he had awakened the Jiang Ge or Tu Di part of its memory earlier; their desire to live would have been much stronger than Heavenly Daozi's.
Yet as Ren Qing looked at Heavenly Daozi's pained expression, he suddenly understood.
No matter what the fate of Wuwei Monastery was, from Heavenly Daozi's perspective, he had fulfilled his role as a teacher and model.
Even in death, he still thought for the temple, and even for the people of Jingzhou.
Ren Qing respectfully clasped his fists in salute, but as he looked into Heavenly Daozi's pitch-black eyes, he couldn't help but, as if driven by some ghost envoy, speak:
"Master Ancestor, are you willing?"
"Willing?"
Heavenly Daozi muttered, the unrestrained fury brewing in his mouth.
"How could I be willing!!!"
"To destroy my Dao lineage, enslave my people, they must die!!!!"
The Flesh Furnace swelled to its limit, seemingly about to shatter due to Heavenly Daozi.
Ren Qing sucked in a cold breath and said with a bitter smile, "Master Ancestor, you have already found a way to restrain the Heavenly Dao Worm."
The death aura from the false soul slightly receded, and it seemed to gain a bit of vitality.
On the surface of the Ghost Shadow bulged an oval, the golden core worm egg formed from the Heavenly Dao Worm's larva.
Only, the Heavenly Dao Worm larva had completely become a puppet without any intelligence, looking like the heart inside the Ghost Shadow's body.
"Master Ancestor Heavenly Daozi, the Dao lineage of Wuwei Monastery has not been destroyed."
The false soul's aura condensed, and the kindling fire actively wrapped around its body, this was the unwillingness toward fate and toward the hundreds of thousands of people of Jingzhou.
"Master Ancestor, please take the seat."
The false soul slowly walked toward the white bone throne, the traces of the black goat on its body gradually fading, revealing the visage of a child with white hair.
It stopped before the white bone throne, then turned its head.
Seeing this, Ren Qing felt a bit uneasy, fearing Heavenly Daozi's memory would have some accident, and regret rose in his heart.
"Huang Qi, quickly return to Jingzhou, there... the blood sun is in the sky, there is no time."
The false soul sat upon the white bone throne, its whole body becoming withered, the madness in its eyes gradually dispersing, restoring a clear calm.
But those mixed memories gradually vanished under the burning of the kindling fire.
In the end, it was not truly Heavenly Daozi, only a soul with residual memories.
Yet as the newborn Fuel King fanned the flames for the Flesh Furnace, the temperature of the kindling fire reached an astonishing level.
The lanterns on the walls of the Prison Within the Abdomen immediately changed, the oil inside filling at a visible speed.
The light from the lanterns grew brighter and brighter, and in the instant they turned white, they formed a fist-sized point of light.
Upon closer look, it was more like a sun condensed from the kindling fire, only emitting light without heat.
Clearly, this was the evolution of the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique, but the area of the Prison Within the Abdomen also expanded.
All the separate cells connected into one, finally becoming a prison about ten li in size, with a faint prototype of Avici Hell.
Blood vines spread along the walls, some already growing flower buds.
Ren Qing could not help but feel joy.
It proved that related techniques could indeed complement each other, possibly connected to the next realm of the Restraint Officer techniques.
If he could find the remaining techniques of the Meat and Wine Taoist, the Prison Within the Abdomen would surely become more like a real world.
He opened his eyes and ended his seclusion, stepping out from the side room of the Corpse Burners' Hall.
The sky was blue, the sunlight falling upon the ground.
Sanxiang City had clearly returned to the outside world, the residents on the streets discussing heatedly, complaining about the oppressive cloudy weather of the past few days.
Ren Qing sighed helplessly, in any case, the Ksitigarbha soul-calling had ended.
He just didn't know if Huang Ziwan and the others had encountered danger; as for Lu Xiaoyu, she was said to have been sent to guard Heshan Town, so her risk should be less.
Ren Qing wanted to contact Song Zongwu using the mortise feather, and subconsciously took out his Restraint Officer token.
When he touched the Restraint Officer token, he felt the texture had changed slightly.
On the outside, only the back had gained an imprint of a head in a jar, but Ren Qing faintly felt he could use the token to return to Avici Hell.
It seemed that Great Dream True Person, through Taisui, had completely mastered Avici Hell.
Now, by dripping fresh blood onto the Restraint Officer token, one could leave the outside world at any time.
Curious about the effect of Great Dream True Person's technique, Ren Qing could not help but use the kindling fire Dream Seed to probe the Restraint Officer token.
He found only a tiny piece of Taisui mixed inside.
The Taisui also carried Ren Qing's blood aura, meaning that apart from himself, no other Restraint Officer could use it.
Through the Taisui, Ren Qing could even sense the area covered by Avici Hell.
Comparing it with the map inside the Prison Within the Abdomen, he immediately noticed something strange, Avici Hell had already expanded into parts of Shuize Desert.
This meant that Restraint Officers going to Shuize could return to Avici Hell at any time.
Ren Qing raised his brows.
Even though Great Dream True Person had achieved the Yang God Realm, he still represented the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Could it be that the Restraint Officers' Hall was already planning beyond Xiangxiang?
Shuize...
Only, Xiangxiang still had many messy matters to handle, and the manpower of the Restraint Officers was becoming tight; they would likely proceed with probing first.
Ren Qing felt a sense of urgency, he had to quickly advance to the Yin Runner Realm.
Beyond Xiangxiang was no gold or silver mine, but one man-eating ferocious beast after another, all eyeing them greedily.
At the same time, he could understand the aggressiveness of the Restraint Officers' Hall.
This world was not suitable for slow development.
Whether it was the Heavenly Dao Worm, the Supreme Heavenly Demon, or even the Restraint Officers' Hall, all relied on resources to grow stronger.
And resources, in the end, came from mortals, after all, the source of techniques was mortals.