Yellow sand rolled endlessly.
Time rewound by more than half a month.
At this moment, Ren Qing was still in seclusion, accumulating lifespan for advancing the Wind and Sand Method, entirely unaware of the changes coming from the Marshlands.
Li Tiangang had only left Sanxiang City not long ago, putting away the mortise-feather in his hand.
He recalled the giant bird he had encountered not long ago, and indeed felt very curious about why Ren Qing could alienate without the slightest scruple.
But in the end, he still couldn't bring himself to ask.
After leaving Heshan Town, Li Tiangang continued northward. The wind gradually began to carry grains of sand, and the vegetation became sparse.
The Marshlands' erosion of Xiangxiang was becoming increasingly severe, and it was not something human power could stop.
What puzzled him was that although there were two places in Xiangxiang adjacent to the Marshlands, only the north of Heshan Town showed abnormalities.
The other end, although personally warded with a technique by Great Dream True Person, had never experienced desertification.
Li Tiangang suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart, and his pace began to quicken.
After more than half a day, the outline of a frontier stronghold built of stone appeared in the distance, with a large number of Restraint Officers carrying materials around the city walls.
Watchtowers stood in a straight line, and at the far end was a layered expanse where desert and marshland met.
On the Xiangxiang side, although the vegetation was sparse, at most it could be considered desolate.
But just half a step away, on the other side of the Marshlands, the scene was one of sand and dust filling the sky, with fierce winds making the air thick with grit.
Some of the sand crossed the divide, blowing into Xiangxiang's territory.
To prevent accidents, the Restraint Officers' Hall placed extreme importance on Xiangxiang's border, even stationing a third of their manpower here.
As Li Tiangang approached, Jiang Feng, who had been monitoring with an eyeball by the roadside, noticed him and hurried over to report the situation.
The two of them found a high slope, looking toward the Marshlands as they discussed.
The situation seemed like boiling a frog in warm water, the Restraint Officers' Hall could find no breakthrough, and Xiangxiang could not produce any calamity in the short term.
Li Tiangang asked, "Did you try all the methods I suggested? Can you stop the Marshlands' spread?"
"All of them. Whether it was rain, digging deep trenches, or even using cold air, none worked."
Jiang Feng's tone was full of apprehension; the Marshlands gave him the feeling of a living monster, constantly trying to get closer to Xiangxiang.
Li Tiangang fell silent. After a moment, he said, "A few days ago I met Ren Qing. After his seclusion ends and I bring him here, I'll personally make a trip into the Marshlands."
Jiang Feng smiled and said, "Mm, it really has been a long time since I saw him."
Li Tiangang's brow suddenly furrowed.
He had noticed two people at the edge of Xiangxiang, seemingly using techniques to transform into plants, trying to take root in the soil to block desertification.
"Jiang Feng, did you send them?"
"Mm..."
"Don't let Restraint Officers touch the Marshland sand. No one knows what's hidden inside."
Li Tiangang gave him a warning look, then headed toward the stronghold.
Jiang Feng quickly used a technique to contact the Restraint Officers on the outer perimeter, telling them to come back immediately.
The two women breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving the message, gave the Marshlands a fearful glance, and began to put away their techniques to leave.
Lu Xiaoyu saw the other woman still dazed and couldn't help patting her on the shoulder.
"What's wrong, Xiao Ying?"
"It's nothing, just a bit dizzy."
Lu Xiaoyu's technique directly produced vines, which could be discarded when retracted.
But Xiao Ying's technique was more like turning her blood vessels into plant branches, and some grains of sand stuck to them and followed into her body.
Xiao Ying swung her arm; just now, it seemed something in the sandstorm had entered her blood, but it also felt like an illusion.
The two of them returned to rest inside the newly built stronghold camp.
Originally, Lu Xiaoyu had been stationed at Heshan Town, but had come to the border this time because of a mission issued by the Restraint Officers' Hall.
The mission only required her to use her technique to block border desertification, and regardless of success or failure, she would receive a large sum of blood crystals.
Lu Xiaoyu had inexplicably completed the mission and naturally couldn't hide the joy on her face, preparing to go to the ghost market to buy some resources.
But when she looked at Xiao Ying in the same wooden cabin, the latter's expression had become somewhat irritable.
Xiao Ying picked up a porcelain bowl of water and brought it to her mouth, but an inexplicable fear surged in her heart, and her breathing grew heavy.
She tried to find the abnormality within herself, but her mind was completely blank.
"What's wrong?"
Lu Xiaoyu examined Xiao Ying with a grave expression, but found nothing unusual.
"Just a bit tired. Used too much technique."
Xiao Ying closed her eyes and lay on the bed. She stayed in the stronghold for a few more days, then packed her things and set out toward Heshan Town.
During this time, Jiang Feng also came to check on Xiao Ying, and she quickly returned to normal.
Lu Xiaoyu couldn't bear to leave; she felt that being stationed in Heshan Town was too boring, while the stronghold was a veritable gold mine for earning blood crystals.
Restraint Officers came and went daily at the stronghold, and Xiao Ying's departure caused no stir.
She walked slowly along the mountain path.
The irritation in her heart grew stronger and stronger, and without realizing it, she began to destroy the surrounding trees.
Like someone neurotic, Xiao Ying repeatedly used her consciousness to examine all the flesh of her body, but could not find the slightest abnormality.
She had not drunk water for a long time, and her lips cracked from dryness.
Her steps gradually strayed from the mountain path.
Until the sound of trickling water entered Xiao Ying's ears, she uncontrollably quickened her pace toward the source.
Her movements became increasingly stiff, grains of sand continuously emerging from her facial features.
That was clearly the sign of flesh gradually decomposing into sand, even Ghost Envoy realm cultivation could not suppress such a sudden condition.
"I don't want to die... I don't want to die..."
As Xiao Ying approached the water source, green vines grew all over her body, trying to halt the collapse of her flesh.
At night, a full moon hung high, mist formed from the moisture in the air.
On the river's surface was only a small boat, and the boatman couldn't help calling out, "Hey!!"
"Don't linger by the river at night, be careful, or the water ghosts will come claim your life!!"
Seeing Xiao Ying still standing on the bank, the boatman could only shake his head and ignore her, paddling toward the small house where he lived.
"Save me... save me... save me..."
Xiao Ying desperately wanted to make a sound, but her body would not obey.
The flesh on her skin grew less and less; her little finger peeled from her palm, a joint of bone sinking into the water and disappearing.
Ripples spread.
The once-calm river surface stirred, then quickly swelled; soon the water became turbulent, the quality growing ever murkier.
Xiao Ying's eyes were blood-red.
She knew that if she could not get away from the water source, she would soon die.
But with her blood turning into sand, entering the Restraint Officers' Hall was pure fantasy, unless she could find another Restraint Officer.
Her technique turned into vines wrapping her entire body, forcibly carrying her toward Heshan Town in hopes of meeting a Restraint Officer.
As she moved, bones dropped continuously from her body.
Xiao Ying seemed to see Heshan Town in her eyes, but her knees shattered, and the remains of her body rolled down a slope into the shade of trees.
Her gaze, chilling to the bone, fixed on the distant farmland.
"So... the Marshlands... are actually..."
She breathed her last.
The sun rose and set; more than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and dust had already buried the bones.
Until a four-to-five-meter dog dug the remaining skeleton out of the soil, drooling as it approached, saliva nearly dripping.
"Silly dog, you'd even eat human bones?"
Ren Qing slapped the husky's head in disappointment.
Dozens of Dragon-Snake Spines drilled from his back like chains, frantically searching for any remaining bone fragments, lest any hidden trouble be left behind.
After telling Li Tiangang his speculation from the finger bones, he learned the dead woman's identity.
But merely touching the Marshland sand could not have caused such abnormalities, there was definitely some unspeakable reason hidden within.
Moreover, the information flow shown was also intriguing.
[Bones currently alienating into water]
Alienating into water, what did that mean? Could it be some sort of technique related to the Marshlands?
Ren Qing put away Xiao Ying's remains, piling them inside the Prison Within the Abdomen.
A human body has a total of 206 bones. Restraint Officers might differ slightly, but should still be around 200.
With the husky's help, he found 136 white bones. The other Restraint Officers found at most 60, meaning fewer than ten were still missing.
The Restraint Officers stationed in Heshan Town were all out searching for the bones. The stronghold wanted to send reinforcements, but it looked like they wouldn't make it in time.
Ren Qing looked up at the thick clouds; rain fell onto his forehead.
Then a torrential downpour began.
In the blink of an eye, it covered hundreds of li around Heshan Town, dispelling some of the heat born of desertification and cooling the land.
Ren Qing's ears caught the roar of water, and he couldn't help showing a bitter smile.
He put away the stunned husky and sprang toward Heshan Town, many Restraint Officers doing the same.
Half-meter-high waves came rushing.
Ren Qing's expression relaxed; it looked like there were only three or four pieces of bone, such a flood could not wash away houses and should not harm people.
The Restraint Officers left behind in Heshan Town were all reserves; turning into beast form to face the waves, they seemed at a loss for what to do.
Unable to protect the farmland, they could only retreat back into town for now.
In the roar of the water, the Restraint Officers shouted for residents not to leave their homes and to lock all doors and windows.
Old Li's heart pounded wildly. Ignoring his wife's attempts to stop him, he went straight to open the window, immediately seeing the waves.
The water was extremely turbid, clearly mixed with sand and soil.
"My fields..."
If the fields were flooded with sandy mud, it would not only affect planting but might render the soil unsuitable for growing rice.
"Damn it, if I die, I'll die in my fields."
Old Li grabbed a hoe and rushed out of the house.
The Restraint Officers' attention was all on the streets searching for residents. By the time they spotted Old Li, he was already in the fields.
His wife and children wept bitterly at home, but Old Li's steps did not pause.
Seeing that the waves were not enough to kill outright, at most causing suffocation, only a few Restraint Officers went toward him.
Old Li's gaze was full of despair.
Just then, a familiar figure appeared at his side.
Ren Qing smiled and greeted him: "Long time no see."
Old Li opened his mouth wide, not knowing what to say.
Mist spread before their eyes.
The cry of a kun-whale shook the ears, and a massive shape loomed in the fog, directly blotting out the gloom of the overcast sky.
In an instant, the water reversed into a whirlpool-like column, bypassing the fields under the guidance of the kun-whale and flowing toward the Yu River.
The Restraint Officers were stunned into silence by the scene.
Li Tiangang appeared on a nearby slope, holding the remaining bones in his hand, his gaze extremely complicated.
"You brat..."