Ren Qing, after nightfall, tried to communicate with the ghost shadow inside Liu Chuan's body, but the connection between them was already faint and indistinct.
This showed the limitations of "Night Roaming."
The ghost shadow could not remotely control a being without body or soul.
Seeing this, Ren Qing no longer planned to stay long inside the Restraint Officer camp.
The next day he prepared to leave the camp, but as soon as he stepped out of the range of the papers, Li Tiangang suddenly appeared not far away.
Although Li Tiangang did not block him, he still said: "The situation right now is a little complicated, try to stay away from the camp, if it's inconvenient you can use my technique as transportation."
"Many thanks, Senior Li Tiangang, I actually prepared an artifact."
"Then be careful, absolutely do not approach the edge regions of Avici Hell, there are ceaseless sandstorms there."
"Understood."
Li Tiangang watched Ren Qing leave, and as soon as the latter left his line of sight, the hill under his feet immediately began to tremble.
His expression showed slight surprise, and he gazed far in the direction Ren Qing had gone.
A ship, its appearance unclear, was sailing northwest, at extraordinary speed, vanishing in the blink of an eye into the layered seas of sand.
Li Tiangang recalled the artifact Ren Qing had previously described, and could not help but feel astonished.
He did not know that the Great Dream Artifact Refining was a shop opened by Ren Qing, and only assumed it was an artifact personally refined for him by Great Dream True Person.
So even a Yang God realm would value him so highly?
The sand-ship rode the wind and broke the waves.
Ren Qing stood on the deck, his thoughts in turmoil, and while closing his eyes to rest, collected some Ze Sand, only after a long time going to the cabin to visualize The Blindless Method.
The husky was released once more.
It seemed to have a bad premonition, and chose to obediently stay in the kitchen.
The sand-ship went straight for the sandstorm; since nothing delayed him, in a dozen days he reached the outermost position.
Wind and sand howled past, striking the sails with crackling sounds.
Ren Qing did not rush to increase speed, but first patiently adjusted his own state to the optimum, and deliberately waited until nightfall.
Though visibility by day was somewhat better, the sand-ship was very easily noticed by cultivators of Yellow Sand City; by night it was relatively safer.
At that time, with the illusion of Immortal in the Mirror, and added ghost shadows, he could ensure foolproof safety.
Ren Qing then went again into Avici Hell.
Once he reached the Gobi it would be inconvenient to enter and exit the Restraint Officers' Hall, since when returning to the outside world, his body appeared out of thin air.
Ren Qing placed the orders for Great Dream Artifact Refining upon the shop counter, and when Restraint Officers came they would naturally take them, the rest he no longer cared for.
Just as he was about to leave Avici Hell, he unexpectedly heard from the ghost market a piece of news: Li Yaoyang had actually failed in advancing to the Yin Runner realm, and was still in seclusion.
But as for promotion, that could no longer be hoped for; the seclusion was mainly to preserve his life.
The Yin Runner realm was unlike the Ghost Envoy realm, it was the process of reviving the Supernatural Remnant within the body, once failed it meant the path forward was nearly cut off.
As for Bai Bai's advancement or not, no news had spread, which meant there was still room.
Ren Qing steadied his mind and returned to the sand-ship, the ghost shadow under his feet spread to the ship's masts, the sails immediately unfolded, and the speed of travel gradually increased.
In the vast boundless sea of sand, the tiny vessel seemed like a praying mantis trying to block a chariot.
Yet as the sand-ship approached the sandstorm, the hull still remained level and stable, only within a kilometer did it begin to sway.
Ren Qing was very satisfied with the perfected artifact, whereas previously the hull might already have lost control, requiring added weight.
He patted the rudder.
The planks at the bottom slightly arched, the keel roared silently within.
It seemed to resent its former embarrassment, and with all its strength charged towards the center of the sandstorm, the ghost-wolf prow at the bow staring straight at the disaster ahead.
The wind absorbed by the sails was slowly released, and only then did the entire sand-ship go out of control.
Just as the sand-ship was about to be suspended in air, invisible Ze Sand converged together, forming a giant sand-man about thirty meters tall.
Ren Qing could feel the danger of losing control growing more and more severe; to such a degree, such a sand-man was indeed exaggerated, far beyond what the ghost-wolf could compare to.
But it could last at most a dozen minutes, otherwise the body would truly be damaged.
Bang bang!
The sand-man seized the sand-ship in both hands, embraced it and charged recklessly through the sandstorm, no force of wind able to block Ren Qing's steps.
Just as he strove to run, the sandstorm's power also reached its extreme.
The thirty-meter body gradually shrank, but with the present size of the sand-man, it was enough for Ren Qing to make two or three passes inside.
Ren Qing pierced through a thick barrier, and the wind force suddenly diminished by half.
Because the sandstorm took the shape of a tornado continuously revolving, in its center there was a buffer zone, called the Eye of the Storm.
Ren Qing looked around, only some ordinary sand dunes, with nothing strange.
But for convenience of crossing the sandstorm next time, he suddenly struck the ground with both hands, forming a solid rock cave.
Even if unable to transform into a sand-man, he could still rest in the Eye of the Storm.
Ren Qing stepped again into the sandstorm, the latter half of the wind force was somewhat lighter, but his body was already unable to endure the Supernatural Remnant.
He again imprisoned the Supernatural Remnant into the Prison Within the Abdomen, then used ghost shadows to fasten himself upon the sand-ship deck.
The sail suddenly drew tight, all the wind power stored for so long was released at once.
Rumble rumble rumble...
The ground quaked and mountains shook.
A gap instantly appeared in the sandstorm, the sand-ship wrapped by ghost shadows, with Immortal in the Mirror assisting, nearly merged with the night itself.
Ren Qing looked at the sandstorm behind him, then put the sand-ship away into the Prison Within the Abdomen, and silently dropped behind a sand dune.
In the distance Yellow Sand City was bustling beyond compare, the streets full of Gobi folk out and about, just like Sanxiang City during the Xiangxiang festival.
He knew the disturbance of the sand-ship was far too great, it would certainly draw the attention of some cultivators, so it was better to be cautious.
After waiting a moment, a faint shadow drifted out from the city.
A white-haired white-bearded old Marshman stood at the edge of the Gobi, his aura like that of a transcendent immortal, sweeping his gaze all around.
Ren Qing held his breath, using the ability of the Yellow Spring Immortal Bone to transform into a ghost shadow, hiding within the shadow at the back of the sand dune.
He peered sidelong at the Marshman elder, and could not help but draw in a sharp breath.
The Marshman elder's body was neither tall nor short, still wearing a cyan Daoist robe, but on his forehead and ears lotuses had completely blossomed.
Within the lotuses a long narrow tongue extended, upon it grew human faces in five colors.
When Ren Qing observed carefully, he found that in the palms of the Marshman elder's hands there were also two human faces, five in total.
He thought inwardly: "Isn't this Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown, Five Qi Facing the Origin..."
The aura this Marshman emitted made even Ren Qing feel wary, surely not Self-Consumption Realm, perhaps already the second realm of becoming immortal.
Ren Qing dared not again belittle the Water Marsh Method, and tried his utmost to shrink within the shadow.
The Marshman elder tapped lightly, a whisk appearing in his hand, which he swept forcefully, and several sand dunes nearby instantly turned to blowing sand.
But still Ren Qing did not expose himself, since shadows were everywhere.
The Marshman elder turned to gaze at Yellow Sand City, and from his mouth issued an extremely loud voice: "There will be an evil demon from beyond this domain coming here, tomorrow bring ten pairs of boys and girls to Yellow Crane Temple."
The Marshfolk inside the city were overjoyed, prostrating on the ground and knocking their heads.
To them, ten pairs of children represented their kin and offspring having a chance to become immortals, not knowing that the first step was the Self-Consumption Realm.
The Marshman elder gradually dispersed, but faint mist still lingered.
It displayed star-like specks of immortal charm.
In a sense, the Heavenly Dao methods and the Water Marsh Method truly were somewhat alike, especially that ethereal immortal-like aura.
Seeing this, Ren Qing did not hurry to reveal himself.
The waters of Yellow Sand City were deeper than imagined, but Marshfolk probably would not appear easily, so as long as he entered the city it would be relatively safe.
He could afford to wait, and meanwhile closed his eyes to sense the positions of the remaining ghost shadows.
The vast majority of the ghost shadows were deep inside Yellow Sand City, occasionally moving, which should be Liu Chuan's location.
There was also one wisp of ghost shadow more on the outskirts, precisely at Sha Shanzi's dwelling, which Ren Qing had deliberately hidden inside the Dao Ancestor statue.
He quietly waited for daylight.
The sun pierced the horizon, stretching the shadow of the city wall long.
Only then did Ren Qing take action, borrowing the overlap of shadows to enter Yellow Sand City, and quickly traversed beneath the feet of the residents.
He planned to find Sha Shanzi; after all the latter had no cultivation, controlling him by means of technique should not be difficult, first using this to establish an identity.
But when Ren Qing noticed the Heavenly Ladder, he immediately froze in place.
He saw thin white smoke drifting from various parts of the city, converging in midair, forming cloud-layers like those at dawn and dusk.
Several devout Gobi people carried a corpse up the Heavenly Ladder.
The corpse was precisely that of Liu Chuan, who had mastered the Imaginary Technique, now only a skeleton remained, with organs wrapped by ribs.
They stopped at a third of the way up, then used stone knives they carried to pierce the organs, from which thick wine fragrance diffused.
The clouds immediately showed an abnormal sign.
Qingxu Temple faintly appeared within them.
The Gobi people lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at Qingxu Temple, the immortal dwelling.
The mountain-sized old Daoist trembled, ulcers oozing foul pus, maggots crawling out one after another.
The maggots turned into physical entities and fell, striking various places in Yellow Sand City.
The Gobi people could not help but cheer, like farmers of Heshan Town facing a harvest, with an inexplicably absurd feeling.
So it turned out, the white flesh at the stalls came from this.
The Marshfolk became immortals, but mortals were not even considered food, merely the means of dealing with the maggots from the ulcerated old Daoist's wounds.
Ren Qing let out a helpless sigh, and slipped into Sha Shanzi's courtyard.
...
After Ren Qing departed far away, in a few days the camp welcomed Song Zongwu.
The third batch of Restraint Officers entered the camp, with only one person standing in the wind and sand staring at the sun, strange explosions continually sounding from within his Daoist robe.
Song Zongwu said in a deep voice: "Li Yaoyang, you should have stayed in Avici Hell, otherwise you will not even be able to preserve your life."
Li Yaoyang pulled back the hood of his Daoist robe, revealing a face that was horrifying.
The gu-worms had already gnawed all his flesh, faint bone exposed full of holes, showing the extent of his bodily damage.
"I asked Great Dream True Person, inside the Marsh there still remains a thread of life."
Li Yaoyang reached to touch his chin, but his right arm fell off from the shoulder.
He casually picked up the right arm, and asked evenly: "Elder Song, can you tell me in detail..."
"What is a Marsh Immortal?"