At the instant the sun rose, the cold of the ground faded away at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the connection between Ren Qing and the ghost shadow disappeared.
His expression was slightly helpless; truthfully, he was only one step away from uncovering the secrets of Huang Sand City, yet the spell had failed at just that moment.
Next, Liu Chuan should be sent to the government office, and cultivators would most likely check his Niwan Palace.
With the loss of his soul, it would definitely be impossible to conceal.
But no matter what, at least Ren Qing had figured out the situation of Huang Sand City.
Even if the ghost shadow had gained nothing, it would not be long before he could once again attempt to cross the sandstorm; at that time, infiltrating the city should not be difficult.
However, before that, he had to first clarify what the Restraint Officers' Hall was planning to do.
Ren Qing continued forward, at the same time pinching the blood-heart to inform Li Tiangang in advance.
When he neared the camp, he discovered sheets of paper about a hundred meters wide in the sky, completely blocking out the sunlight.
In the shadow below was where the Restraint Officers were stationed, already having some semblance of a town.
The patrolling Restraint Officers, upon seeing Ren Qing, immediately cast wary gazes over, the atmosphere becoming extremely silent, as if on guard.
Ren Qing took out the Restraint Officer token and waved it, walking in without the slightest concern.
His appearance after leaving Shuize had changed quite a bit; not only had his skin been tanned dark, but his hair was long and loose to the shoulders, making it impossible for others to recognize him.
The Restraint Officers discussed among themselves in the distance, guessing who it could be that had crossed Shuize Desert alone.
Because the daytime was too scorching hot, they had just finished their busy work and were preparing to go to the stone houses to rest.
Ren Qing looked toward the open ground, only to see large piles of materials, and a high platform under construction, currently already seven or eight meters tall.
It looked somewhat like the altar for summoning souls to Ksitigarbha, but its use was unknown.
Ren Qing's arrival did not cause any stir, so he wandered idly about within the camp.
He could feel that Li Tiangang was secretly observing him nonstop, as if confirming something.
After more than half an hour, Li Tiangang finally came over.
He scrutinized Ren Qing for a moment, and after confirming no problems, spoke: "Ren Qing, you should have arrived months ago, why so late?"
Li Tiangang had earlier received word, but since Ren Qing had not appeared for so long, he thought some accident might have occurred in Shuize Desert.
Ren Qing said with a smile: "The artifact I was using for travel had some problems, so I was delayed quite a bit."
"Artifact? What artifact?"
Ren Qing explained vaguely: "Just a small boat, I'll show it to you when there's a chance..."
"No matter, it's good that you came."
Li Tiangang did not pay much attention to the artifact, and the two began exchanging information.
Originally he had wanted to hold some things back, but clearly Ren Qing already knew quite a lot, so he simply treated it as complementary information about Shuize.
Ren Qing was somewhat surprised upon hearing.
Li Tiangang had also gone to the edge of Avici Hell's Shuize, only not deep inside.
After all, even at Yin Runner realm, resisting heavenly might was extremely difficult; especially since the terrifying wind of the sandstorms could easily sweep cultivators away.
Li Tiangang ultimately chose to establish the camp here, which was considered a relatively remote location within Shuize.
"Senior Li, does the Restraint Officers' Hall have some plan?"
Ren Qing had found something odd after arriving at the camp.
In at most a month, he would have to again attempt to head toward Huang Sand City, and he did not want this to affect him.
"Did you notice the clouds that appear at dusk? I suspect that is the source of the anomaly in Shuize."
Hearing this, Ren Qing suddenly had a thought, his expression becoming strange: "Could it be, Senior Li, you..."
"The Restraint Officers' Hall mainly wants to prevent Shuize from continuing to expand, so we must go investigate the situation, but the sandstorms here are far too dangerous."
"Even if we cast spells, we cannot fly into the air, so it's better to build a tall tower."
Only then did Ren Qing realize, Li Tiangang's idea actually coincided with that of the Gobi people; both were preparing to build a Heavenly Ladder.
In terms of speed, Huang Sand City might be faster, but its efficiency was definitely not on par with the Restraint Officers' Hall.
It was possible both sides would complete construction around the same time. If they really could thereby reach the cloud-top, who knew what exactly lay inside Qingxu Temple.
The course of events was truly beyond expectation.
What Ren Qing could do was to ascertain the truth and falsity of the Qingxu Palace recorded within Huang Sand City, and then report it to the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Li Tiangang asked with a strange look: "Speaking of which, under the wind and sun, did you never experience haziness of consciousness?"
"Uh..."
Ren Qing shook his head and replied: "I did indeed notice water mist forming into human shapes, but I used spells in advance to block out the sunlight."
As he spoke, Ren Qing's entire skin and flesh were covered by the ghost shadow, and with the Daoist robe, he was wrapped tightly from head to toe.
Seeing this, Li Tiangang secretly nodded.
When he had first received word of Ren Qing's coming, he had indeed feared the latter would be influenced by Shuize and transformed into some unnamable being.
That was why he had been on guard when Ren Qing first arrived, but unexpectedly, after several months Ren Qing had remained unscathed.
Li Tiangang began considering whether he should find an excuse to transfer Ren Qing back to Xiangxiang, so that Great Dream True Person could assist him in quickly advancing to Yin Runner realm.
Ren Qing could not resist asking about the water mist, at the same time stating his own views.
Li Tiangang also believed the water mist to be a unique type of living being.
From the case of Yan Feng it could be seen, as even now he had not regained consciousness, even his three souls and seven spirits had suddenly vanished, as if trapped somewhere and unable to return to his body.
When a cultivator was shone on by sunlight, the water within their body would quickly evaporate, transforming into a strange substance called "Ze."
When Ze was at the junction of day and night, the cultivator's consciousness would be absorbed within it, thereby turning into a "Ze Immortal" of three flowers gathered at the crown.
"Ze Immortal?"
Ren Qing could not help but be surprised, why would Li Tiangang call it that?
"When the second Restraint Officer transformed into a Ze Immortal, many people including myself were nearby. When we saw that being, our first reaction was... like an immortal."
"The Ze Immortal exerts an intangible influence on perception, causing others to mistakenly believe it an immortal. Moreover, it easily merged into the world, and with a wave of its hand, caused the nearby wind and sand to pause for several breaths."
Li Tiangang's tone held absurdity, for such power far exceeded the Ghost Envoy realm.
A cultivator advancing step by step to higher realms was like climbing a mountain, the closer to the summit, the harder it became.
How could there be such a thing as abandoning the flesh and instantly becoming an immortal?
That Restraint Officer, even after turning into a Ze Immortal, still clearly retained intelligence, constantly describing the immortal dwelling standing atop the clouds, and warning others not to imitate, that this path was a road of certain death.
Li Tiangang had wanted to control the Ze Immortal, but in the blink of an eye, it vanished.
Afterwards he modified the memories of all the Restraint Officers in the camp, thoroughly deleting and altering the content concerning the Ze Immortal.
Among the second batch of Restraint Officers Li Tiangang dispatched, there was one cultivator skilled in eye techniques.
He could see, at the junction of day and night, a mountain standing in the clouds, on which there were several Daoist temples, and countless immortals.
That was the immortal dwelling the Ze Immortal had spoken of.
Ren Qing revealed a bitter smile.
The Qingxu Palace he had seen was entirely different; the true form of the mountain was an old Daoist with skin covered in pustules, bizarre beyond words.
"Actually, I can see clearly that cloud-top immortal dwelling..."
Ren Qing described Qingxu Palace, including the pustule Daoist.
"As expected, some heterodox methods. All the more reason to go see what that immortal dwelling is."
Li Tiangang gave a few cold laughs.
Ren Qing suddenly thought of that Restraint Officer whose lungs had mutated, and could not help but bring him up.
Wuwei Monastery and Huang Sand City did seem to have some connection; on the surface alone there was already the point of venerating the Dao Ancestor, not to mention fabricating spells.
"My wine was placed out in the open in Shuize, but not long after it was dried by the sun, without any anomaly at all."
That woman's name was Luo Mingmeng. She had already transplanted new lungs with spells, but her body was inevitably frail.
Ren Qing had not seen Luo Mingmeng in the camp, she should be resting inside a stone house.
He spoke with Li Tiangang a while longer, and seeing it was almost noon, found an empty stone house to reside in.
Ren Qing waited for nightfall, and his divided soul entered the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
He felt that the fabricated spells were most likely of great importance, and that he needed to go to the council hall.
The Wuwei Daoist Altar was already near collapse.
After all, Heavenly Daozi's lifespan had dried up, causing the pond water level to be less than half, thereby exposing dozens of young Heavenly Dao Worms.
The Tombstone Furnace from the Fire Refining Palace had all been moved into the Prison Within the Abdomen. In truth, to be safe, Ren Qing no longer needed to come here.
But Ren Qing had a faint feeling that the Dao Ancestor statues in the council hall might be of even greater value than the Tombstone Furnace.
Unsurprisingly, the source of the fabricated spells was precisely the statues themselves, which might also provide some help in seeking the Wine God Technique.
Ren Qing had the ghost shadow wrap around the statue of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, ready to retreat from Wuwei Monastery at any moment, exerting force bit by bit to lift the statue.
The council hall quaked like an earthquake, the sudden disturbance was far too great.
Heavenly Daozi's mutterings drew near, his body heavily slamming against the walls, instantly cracks spreading, and the pond water showing signs of backflow.
Ren Qing was startled.
He dared not dawdle any further, he lifted the statue and directly swallowed it into the Prison Within the Abdomen, then set his sights on Dao De Tianzun.
The ghost shadow once again moved the statue.
For some reason, though the statue weighed at most a hundred jin, the consumption for the ghost shadow was extremely great, and its speed involuntarily slowed.
When Dao De Tianzun was also placed into the Prison Within the Abdomen, Heavenly Daozi arrived in the council hall.
The air twisted, and the straw-woven meditation mats actually sprouted twisted black plants, like human hands.
Not having seen him for some time, Heavenly Daozi no longer resembled human form; his body surface constantly mutating and recovering, clearly on the verge of losing control.
The ghost shadow wrapped around the statue of Spiritual Treasure Tianzun, gradually exerting strength to lift it.
Seeing this, Ren Qing gritted his teeth, unwilling to give up the opportunity at hand, besides, the fabricated spells most likely related to the Ze People.
At worst he would only lose part of the ghost shadow and divided soul.
He tried to feign closeness: "Grandmaster, don't you remember, I am Huang Qi."
"Dao births Dao, Wuwei Dao..."
"Wuwei Monastery has not been destroyed, Grandmaster, wake up."
Heavenly Daozi stepped forward, in an instant arriving before Ren Qing; the latter was already unable to move, too late even to withdraw from the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
The divided soul began sprouting black hair, its form gradually becoming that of a black goat.
Ren Qing endured the severe pain, and just before the divided soul was to be destroyed, asked with Ghost Envoy instinct: "Grandmaster, what exactly is in Shuize?"
Heavenly Daozi was slightly dazed, then squeezed out two words through his teeth.
"There are immortals..."
Taking advantage of the moment the demonic aura receded, Ren Qing unhesitatingly withdrew from the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
The council hall thus collapsed into ruins.