Ren Qing had long wanted to inquire about matters concerning the Yin Runner Realm.
But the Restraint Officers' Hall had deliberately concealed information in this regard, most likely out of fear that a blind breakthrough of the realm might lead to qi deviation, so there were no books with relevant records.
Song Zongwu sat cross-legged on the ground, his six eyes looking toward Ren Qing as he spoke slowly.
"All Restraint Officer techniques are, in essence, the process of giving birth to the Supernatural Remnant within the body, you are already aware of this."
Ren Qing could not help but ask: "Why is it said that the Yin Runner Realm is the beginning of the Great Dao?"
Song Zongwu said solemnly: "Because cultivators formally begin to come into contact with the Supernatural Remnant."
"The thing Restraint Officers fear most is loss of control through aberration. Even though this material called Eerie Dust can suppress aberration, that does not mean there will be no further troubles."
Song Zongwu said coldly: "The Great Dream True Person once made an offhand remark, saying that the Supernatural Remnant is the ladder to ascension to immortality."
His entire body emitted the sound of bones colliding, his muscles swelling continuously, as if something were about to break free.
Immediately afterward, the extra pair of arms under Song Zongwu's armpits began to shrivel, and eyes grew on the backs of his hands, seeming on the verge of coming alive.
A shout.
He controlled his arms to maintain their aberrated form, then took in a long, deep breath.
Ren Qing's pupils dilated at the side; Song Zongwu's condition was somewhat like that of a corpse.
The kind of corpse in which the Supernatural Remnant gradually revives after death.
Ren Qing remarked with feeling: "While your cultivation rises, the Supernatural Remnant within your body is likely also growing stronger."
"Reaching the Yin Runner Realm involves the Supernatural Remnant, and is divided into Binding the Yin God, Merging the Yin God, and Releasing the Yin God, with the final stage being the completion of the Yin Runner Realm."
Ren Qing could not help but raise an eyebrow, continuing to listen patiently to Song Zongwu's words.
"The Yin Runner Realm will cause the Supernatural Remnant to gradually revive. If cultivated improperly, it will inevitably affect the body, even leading to uncontrolled aberration."
A drop of sweat ran down Ren Qing's forehead; he felt a chill down his spine.
Yet even without counting the Heavenly Dao methods and the imprisoned Divine Leg Sutra, he had mastered no less than seven techniques, could he really withstand it...
Song Zongwu smiled; knowing fear afterward was good enough.
Then he began to explain in detail the cultivation steps of the Yin Runner Realm.
"Binding the Yin God" is primarily about erasing the nascent intelligence of the Supernatural Remnant; the cultivator's own state will become extremely unstable.
However, during Binding the Yin God, the power of the techniques will reach the peak of the Yin Runner Realm, but when using them, you must hold back thirty percent of your strength until the Supernatural Remnant's consciousness is completely wiped out.
Song Zongwu said mildly: "Next comes Merging the Yin God. For a Restraint Officer like you, who has mastered many techniques, you must make the Supernatural Remnants of the various techniques form a hierarchy of primary and secondary."
"Primary and secondary?"
"One technique as the primary, with the other techniques serving as secondary. Otherwise, the struggle among the Supernatural Remnants may very well harm the cultivator."
Song Zongwu's explanation was rather vague, but he could convey it through personal demonstration.
The pair of arms under his armpits began to tremble, blue veins bulging around his eye sockets, and on his chest and abdomen appeared a "卍".
Through his Double Pupils, Ren Qing observed that Song Zongwu had mastered at least three techniques.
Although the techniques remained independent, the Supernatural Remnants seemed to connect as one; indeed there was a strange link present.
The Four-Armed Yama completely suppressed the other techniques, so Song Zongwu only needed to avoid the risk of his core technique losing control.
Ren Qing began to ponder carefully.
The information he had deduced earlier did indeed fit the so-called Merging the Yin God.
The Meat and Wine Taoist most likely took the Taotie Method as primary, with the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique and other techniques as secondary, linked together.
However, the true fusion of techniques should not be something accessible at the Yin Runner Realm.
Ren Qing could not help but ask: "What about a Restraint Officer who cultivates only a single technique?"
Song Zongwu nodded and said: "That path counts as a shortcut. If you've mastered only a single technique, then during Merging the Yin God, your body can serve in place of the primary technique, forming the primary-secondary relationship."
Sǔn had definitely taken the shortcut, so his body had been fixed into the form of a giant Nether Crow.
Fortunately, Ren Qing had planned his techniques in advance, giving him great advantage in Merging the Yin God.
If the Taotie Method was the core, the auxiliary techniques were already fairly complete.
But the Shadow Ghost Technique and the Blindless Method would likely have to be kept separate, since they did not match the Taotie Method and could only be arranged elsewhere.
It seemed that even with multiple core techniques, the other techniques could not be abandoned.
"Releasing the Yin God signifies that the Supernatural Remnant has been completely brought under your control, after which you must gradually allow your body to adapt to the Supernatural Remnant."
At this point, Song Zongwu's expression was somewhat helpless.
"According to the Great Dream True Person, the Heavenly Abomination Realm will not form a forbidden zone even after death, because the Supernatural Remnant has become part of the cultivator; that is when the Great Dao has been accomplished."
Ren Qing's mouth twitched.
How was that "not forming a forbidden zone"? The Taisui into which the Grand Duke Taisui's soul transformed after death had become the boundless Taisui Forest.
Ren Qing felt that the number of techniques would only have a negative effect at the Yin Runner Realm, but would also forge an incomparably deep foundation.
Advancing to the Yang God Realm would then be like a fish leaping over the dragon gate.
With the information flow in his possession, he did not need to go through the cumbersome steps like the Great Dream True Person; in truth, only lifespan was the beginning of Ren Qing's own Great Dao.
The two conversed for quite some time.
Ren Qing recorded the information about the Yin Runner Realm in a blank book.
If he entered seclusion next, the first technique he advanced to the Yin Runner Realm would have to be his core technique.
The core technique must first reach the stage of Merging the Yin God to ensure a clear primary-secondary relationship, so the Supernatural Remnants would not be brawling within his body.
As for the Nether Sea Breathing Art, it would have to be delayed, at least until the Shadow Ghost Technique advanced to the Yin Runner Realm.
Ren Qing shook his head helplessly.
He had just felt that he had some surplus lifespan, and now it seemed insufficient again.
While they spoke, Huang Ziwan finished absorbing the Eerie Dust; his eyes became much clearer, and he no longer muttered to himself.
However, Eerie Dust of the Ghost Envoy Realm was used for soul aberration, and Huang Ziwan's body still retained the appearance of a toad, looking extremely comical.
Ren Qing patted Huang Ziwan on the shoulder and asked: "Old Huang, how do you feel?"
Huang Ziwan answered easily: "Brother Ren, I truly thank you, there's no way to repay you. If anything comes up in the future, don't stand on ceremony."
After saying this, he looked a little embarrassed, grinning as he continued: "Uh... maybe another two portions of Eerie Dust would just about do it."
Ren Qing turned his gaze toward Song Zongwu, who spread his hands and said: "Wait a bit longer; the place where the Supernatural Remnants are stored hasn't opened yet."
The Little Man in the Bottle, seeing this, generously took out three twisted Ghost Envoy Realm Supernatural Remnants, then pointed to one of them, indicating that it should be returned to him.
"Many thanks, Senior."
Ren Qing accepted the Supernatural Remnant, then tossed it into the Flesh Furnace in three portions.
The temperature of the fuel in the Flesh Furnace was now extremely high; burning Ghost Envoy Realm Supernatural Remnants was easy, and the loss to the Fuel King was minimal.
Before long, the Supernatural Remnant was completely turned into Eerie Dust.
Ren Qing neatly handed Huang Ziwan two portions, thinking that when refining Eerie Dust in large batches later, there would be opportunities to skim some off the top.
Providing Huang Ziwan with Eerie Dust for free did not mean that the other Restraint Officers in the Stomach within the Stomach would also get it for free.
Reasonably speaking, if he discussed it with the Great Dream True Person, Ren Qing could even use the rules of the ghost market to collect some lifespan during transactions.
Plus, with the Great Dream artifact forging of the ghost market, he could save a lot of time in gathering lifespan.
Song Zongwu rose and said: "I have other matters, I'll take my leave first."
"I will report the matter of Shui Hulu together with the Eerie Dust to the Restraint Officers' Hall; I believe there will be a result soon."
Huang Ziwan's face turned gloomy; just thinking of Shui Hulu gave rise to nameless anger in his heart, almost affecting the stability of his soul.
After bidding farewell to Song Zongwu, Ren Qing still chose to stay in the Stomach within the Stomach.
He was not in a hurry to enter seclusion, mainly, he wanted to finish selecting technique manuals, then go buy some cultivation resources.
The Little Man in the Bottle removed the maintained soundproofing, then disappeared from sight.
On the back of Ren Qing's Restraint Officer token appeared a new mark, which not only represented recognition of the Yin Runner Realm, but also allowed him to enter and exit the Stomach within the Stomach at will.
Of course, if Shui Hulu was ultimately not imprisoned in the Stomach within the Stomach as desired, the Little Man in the Bottle might very well reclaim the mark.
Huang Ziwan hurried to absorb the Eerie Dust, wanting to leave the Stomach within the Stomach as soon as possible.
Such an oppressive ghostly place, after being imprisoned for over twenty days, he was already finding it unbearable. How had Ren Qing managed to stay for over half a year?
Ren Qing felt that the environment of the Stomach within the Stomach was actually quite suitable for seclusion.
However, since it was under the jurisdiction of the Little Man in the Bottle, with a Yin Runner Realm cultivator secretly watching, there was a chance his anomalies in advancing to the Yin Runner Realm could be exposed.
He appeared to be visualizing techniques, but in fact, his attention was focused on the Wuwei Daoist Altar, where his split soul seemed to have found some clues.
The most important thing in the Tombstone Furnace was not the Heavenly Dao Worm larva connecting to the corpse, but rather the corpses of successive heads of the Fire Refining Palace.
Ren Qing had already had the ghost shadow cover the entire Tombstone Furnace; once he worked out a safe separation method, he would completely empty the Fire Refining Palace.
Aside from the Fire Refining Palace, perhaps only the hundreds of caves in the Wuwei Hall would yield some gains; the other temples did not warrant deliberate searching.
But the Wuwei Hall was too dangerous, Heavenly Daozi appeared there often, so on second thought, forget it.
A few days later.
Huang Ziwan had finished absorbing the Eerie Dust; the aberration of his soul had significantly slowed, but could still not be completely cured.
As for the aberration on his body, applying Eerie Dust of the Half-Corpse Realm showed a trend of subsiding, though it would need to proceed step by step.
Huang Ziwan's form had changed from a toad to a half-man, half-frog, but his skin was inevitably covered in poison glands, constantly seeping toxic smoke.
Ren Qing did want to refine a magical artifact for him, but after hesitating for a moment, decided to keep the Great Dream True Person's cover identity in the shop.
In any case, as long as Huang Ziwan did not go to towns, there would be no trouble, he could just stay obediently in the Avici Hell and wait for the ghost market to open.
The Avici Hell gave a slight tremor.
Ren Qing opened his eyes, it seemed it was time to go choose suitable techniques.
"Old Huang, are you coming or not?"
Huang Ziwan shook his head and said: "I'll wait a bit longer."
Ren Qing stretched lazily and went into the corridor; noisy sounds rose from the prison cells, along with the sound of heads banging against the walls.
Li Fangtan, hearing footsteps, quickly said: "You've come back again, that jade pendant..."
Ren Qing directly pushed open Li Fangtan's iron door and handed the jade pendant back to him: "Senior Li Fangtan, keep the jade pendant safe; when you get out in the future, look for it yourself."
Li Fangtan took it instinctively, not reacting right away.
Only after Ren Qing had left did the Stomach within the Stomach fall into silence again, though the previously cursing Huang Ziwan was now humming a little tune.
Li Fangtan seemed to realize something, and could not help but mutter: "The Restraint Officers' Hall is about to change."
He tucked the jade pendant into his robe, the deathly aura emanating from him slightly receding.