A hurricane lifted the mist, and the figure of the kun-whale disappeared, leaving behind nothing but devastation.
Fortunately, it had not damaged the farmland.
Old Li's entire strength was drained, and he knelt on the ground with a blank expression.
In his mind, the image of Ren Qing had unknowingly become blurry, but that awe-inspiring kun-whale was deeply carved into his heart.
"Dragon King... my lord..."
Old Li was convinced that Ren Qing was the incarnation of the Dragon King, even though the kun-whale obviously was not in the shape of a dragon.
However, Heshan Town was mainly agricultural, and there were quite a few temples to the Dragon King, with each temple's statue looking different.
Some male, some female, some serpent, some dragon, so a whale was not really that strange.
People in houses near the town also saw the kun-whale, and the deafening whale call could be clearly heard even from the southernmost edge.
The influence Ren Qing brought without realizing it was imperceptible yet pervasive, at the very least, the incense at the Dragon King temples would certainly become extremely prosperous in the days to come.
The reserve officers looked at each other in astonishment. They truly could not figure out where this formal Restraint Officer had come from, they had never seen him before, and yet he possessed such terrifying strength.
Ren Qing's whale form could float at about ten meters above the ground, though mainly lifted by water mist, so his speed was relatively slow.
Wild beasts along the way scrambled to flee, not daring to approach the mist at all.
When Ren Qing arrived beside the Yu River, the sand and gravel in the current were easily separated out and finally entered the Prison Within the Abdomen.
According to the display from the information stream, the gravel was called [Ze Sand] .
[Residue left behind after white bones have transformed into water.]
The information stream's revelation about materials was relatively simple, making it hard to glimpse the truth.
Ren Qing did not find anything unusual in the water, even though it was formed by the dissolution of human bones.
But Ze Sand seemed somewhat unusual.
He remembered that Li Tiangang had already arrived and prepared to ask him for specific information. After imprisoning the kun-whale's Supernatural Remnant, he headed toward Heshan Town.
Ren Qing had spent quite some time going back and forth. At this moment, white light was already brightening the horizon, and the newborn morning sun was about to pierce the horizon.
Li Tiangang stood on a hillside outside the town, with a full view before him.
Ren Qing came up beside Li Tiangang, but before he could speak, he noticed that the latter's expression was extremely grave.
"Senior Li, what's wrong?"
"Something's off. Use your pupil technique to check those areas soaked with water."
Ren Qing carefully scanned for a moment, then said in a puzzled tone, "No problem..."
After The Blindless Method advanced to the Yin Runner Realm, his vision was already enough to match what originally required active use.
In his eyes, the area outside the town was only slightly more humid, there was nothing unusual at all.
Then Ren Qing's brows furrowed tightly. Although the Double Pupils did not yield any discoveries, he smelled a strange odor in his nose.
It was the distinct smell of bone decay, usually only released from old tombs.
Ren Qing manifested a Heavenly Demon Dream Seed on his forehead to enhance the power of the Double Pupils.
But still there was not a single clue, as if the Ze Sand mixed in with the soil was perfectly ordinary.
"I'm not too sure either. Let's wait and see."
Li Tiangang was quite astonished at the strength Ren Qing had displayed.
He had seen this artifact called the Dream Seed before, it had been something between technique and tool, with a feeling of being neither real nor illusory.
Now, the Dream Seed was completely without flaws, as if it were a third eye on Ren Qing's forehead, even blinking from time to time.
He was mentally prepared for the beast transformation method, after all, he had just seen it not long ago, and it should be related to the Taotie Method involving Ksitigarbha.
Could it be that Ren Qing had been in seclusion for years, even spending countless days deep in the mountains, just to master this ability of losing control through transformation?
Li Tiangang secretly shook his head.
It was probably not that simple. Ren Qing's talent had allowed him to undergo three arcane transformations in just a few years; long-term seclusion had surely brought great gains.
Perhaps he had mastered another technique?
Li Tiangang fell into brief distraction.
He felt that he had already guessed as highly as possible, yet the truth was completely different.
How could Li Tiangang ever think that someone could break through a bottleneck without seeking help from the Restraint Officers' Hall, achieving the Yin Runner Realm entirely alone in the deep mountains and forests?
The two of them stood in silence.
Moments later, the sound of a rooster's crow rang out, and sunlight spilled across the fields.
Heshan Town was still silent, the doors and windows of the houses tightly shut.
Although the Restraint Officers could not recognize Ren Qing's unfamiliar face, they did know Li Tiangang, so they did not dare to call out to reassure the townsfolk about their safety.
Old Li kowtowed several times, then trembled as he returned to his home.
The muddy soil gradually dried under the sun, and the gravel within reflected a golden light, stretching out in a continuous sheet.
Ren Qing's pupils suddenly dilated, and he muttered involuntarily, "What the hell..."
Li Tiangang had also noticed.
As the moisture in the soil was driven off by the sun, the gravel began to swell, and its color gradually shifted toward that of white bone.
In just a few breaths, hundreds of white-bone skulls appeared in the fields.
Crack crack crack crack...
Immediately afterward, the white-bone skulls shattered into powder, and with a gust of wind, they vanished without a trace.
But that was far from the end.
Countless specks of light appeared out of nowhere from the disappearance of the skulls, they were clumps of souls damaged to the utmost.
Piercing wails echoed.
The Restraint Officers present were reserve officers who had never experienced a night parade of a hundred ghosts; seeing that Li Tiangang and Ren Qing remained motionless, they hesitated and stopped their actions.
The remnant souls drifted in a certain direction.
The Ksitigarbha rib in the field of Other Shore Flowers generated suction, drawing in all the remnant souls.
Ren Qing exhaled and said, "The remnant souls were originally hidden in the sand, right?"
Li Tiangang replied darkly, "Yes. Xiao Ying likely had the Ze Sand enter her body because of a technique, causing the remnant souls to take over her form."
After pondering for a few breaths, he added, "Fortunately, the sand in the wind didn't carry remnant souls."
Remnant souls were too weak, compared to a normal soul, they were like the moon versus a grain of rice, and could not withstand long journeys.
But they were indeed human souls.
Each grain of Ze Sand contained at least seven or eight remnant souls.
If all Ze Sand was like this, then the number of remnant souls would be incalculable.
Even if hundreds of remnant souls were needed to piece together a complete three souls and seven spirits, the total number of souls would still be several tens of thousands of times the population of Xiangxiang.
The marsh was no desert wasteland...
It was clearly a burial ground piled up with sand, as if countless human corpses were slowly decaying there, sending chills down one's spine.
Of course, there must be something hidden in this, how could this world possibly hold so many souls?
At this moment, Li Tiangang suddenly realized the danger lurking at the frontier.
The Restraint Officers often patrolled the borders of Xiangxiang. Although not enough Ze Sand would enter their bodies to be of great concern, traces would certainly be inhaled with every breath.
If mass casualties occurred, the Restraint Officers' Hall might take many years to recover its strength.
Li Tiangang took out a mortise feather to contact Jiang Feng. Fortunately, Ze Sand would not erupt before accumulating to a certain amount.
And when he had left, none of the Restraint Officers had shown any abnormal signs.
Ren Qing stopped him and said, "Senior Li, let's run over there ourselves. Otherwise, it's easy to cause panic."
If all the Restraint Officers learned they risked losing control through mutation, they would go mad even if nothing actually happened.
Li Tiangang calmed down and said approvingly, "I'll have the Restraint Officers' Hall gather all Restraint Officers who have been to the frontier and keep them under centralized supervision."
Blessing and curse intertwined, at least now that they understood the marsh's situation, they could make targeted arrangements.
Li Tiangang signaled for the reserve officers to handle the aftermath, and Heshan Town quickly returned to order, with townsfolk chattering about last night's commotion.
The two of them found a secluded spot and took out Xiao Ying's bones for inspection.
They found that unless they came into contact with moisture, the bones would not change at all, they were just ordinary white bones.
Li Tiangang placed part of the bones into Avici Hell.
Ren Qing, however, felt that even the clues obtained from the information stream were very limited, it would probably be hard for the Great Dream True Person to find anything.
Just as they were about to set out,
Li Tiangang hesitated and said, "Ren Qing, you head to the frontier first. If anything happens, just have all the Restraint Officers return to the Restraint Officers' Hall."
He looked at the rib in the flower field. "I'm going to try taking Ksitigarbha's rib to the frontier. Otherwise, the eruption of remnant souls would be unimaginable."
"Alright, I'll set out immediately."
Li Tiangang headed toward the field of Other Shore Flowers, while pulling a sheet of paper from his mind.
At present, Ksitigarbha's soul-summoning had already ended, so the field of Other Shore Flowers naturally had no further purpose, removing the rib was just a matter of time.
After Li Tiangang left, the Restraint Officers all wanted to befriend Ren Qing.
But Ren Qing gave them no chance, he summoned the husky and sped off to the north.
The reserve officers missed their opportunity, but none dared to feel annoyed, Ren Qing's displayed strength was likely that of a cultivator at the peak of the Ghost Envoy Realm.
Perhaps he was even half a step into the Yin Runner Realm.
Ren Qing glanced back at the flower field; Li Tiangang had already begun attempting the sealing.
Only, since the rib was related to the Yang God Realm, it still retained residual might.
Ren Qing used Spirit Division to watch for nearby threats, and his consciousness entered the Prison Within the Abdomen.
The Ze Sand separated from the water weighed about two catties. Because the sun formed by fuel-fire gave off no heat at all, it was still damp.
He divided the Ze Sand into two portions.
One portion he tossed into the Flesh Furnace to burn and refine, to see if it could produce any useful materials. The other portion he fed to the Wind and Sand Method's Supernatural Remnant.
Ren Qing, lacking confidence, tossed the Ze Sand beside the Wind and Sand Method's Supernatural Remnant, but the latter still lay collapsed like mud, unmoving.
He thought it was resisting, and prepared to fuse himself with the Supernatural Remnant to see if it could be eaten.
Unexpectedly, the Supernatural Remnant began to squirm, soon wrapping the Ze Sand inside, and the sound of chewing hard objects rang out.
After absorbing more than a catty of Ze Sand, its exterior transformed into a rough human form, and its weight increased by three or four catties.
The effect was far better than that of ordinary sand.
The Supernatural Remnant turned into a sandman, curling up flat in the corner once again.
Ren Qing felt that the benefits of Ze Sand surely went beyond simply increasing size, it must cause some unexpected transformation in the Supernatural Remnant.
Only the quantity was too small; he would think about it again once he reached the frontier.
Ren Qing then looked at the Flesh Furnace, where the fuel-fire blazed fiercely.
He had not expected the material burned from the Ze Sand to be a lump of glazed glass, which reflected multicolored light under illumination.
The light was like twisted human faces, as if silently screaming.
Ren Qing called forth the information stream to check the glazed glass.
[Water Soul]
[Formed by the condensation of the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique, containing a total of one hundred thirty-five remnant souls. Consuming Water Soul will gradually cause mutation into a Marshman.]
A Marshman?
What in the world was that supposed to be?
The information stream classified even the people of Jingzhou who had been transformed into hosts as human beings, could it be that Marshmen had already become non-human?
Moreover, in an environment as harsh as the marsh, the mere survival of living creatures was already unbelievable, so how could there be humans...