Ren Qing did not hesitate much, and voluntarily released a split soul to Ascension Qingxu Temple.
He knew that the current situation in the Marshlands was entangled with Jingzhou, and if there was the slightest mishap, the entire Xiangxiang would suffer calamity.
Because it was not something that could be explained in just one or two sentences, he could only rush to the Restraint Officer camp to inform Li Tiangang and the others face to face.
And the split soul was mainly to hold the fort in Qingxu Temple; if an uncontrollable situation occurred, Ren Qing could at least understand what was happening at the first moment.
As he was dazed, a sandstorm howled over.
Bailong Immortal also noticed that a Ze person had suddenly appeared in the sandstorm. Although he did not stop him, he could not help but quickly stride toward that side.
Ren Qing had no time to care about the split soul being absorbed by Qingxu Temple, and dashed madly away.
Immediately the Sandman was released from the Prison Within the Abdomen, making Ren Qing transform into a thirty-meter giant, forming a vast shadow within the sandstorm.
Bailong Immortal's expression was stunned, standing at the city gate watching Ren Qing's departing back.
He could feel that terrifying aura; even the Other-Consumption Realm did not have such density, and even just a glance gave birth to the threat of death.
Not until Ren Qing disappeared without a trace did he feel somewhat better.
When Ren Qing reached the eye of the storm, his body had just reached the limit of what the Supernatural Remnant could endure, so he re-imprisoned the Sandman, using the sandboat to travel forward.
His mindset also calmed down.
The Heavenly Dao Worm of the Wuwei Monastery sect master appearing in the desolate Marshlands already very much explained the problem.
Jingzhou was certainly in great chaos; the Heavenly Dao Worm's rule over Jingzhou was certainly no longer firm.
The force intervening in it should not be the Beast Pen; very likely it was some new force related to the Blood Moon, which caused the Heavenly Dao Worm to come to the Marshlands.
The clashes between cultivation powers could not produce results in just one or two years; at the very least it would take decades. The flames of war should not spread to Xiangxiang.
Specifically it still depended on the Restraint Officers' Hall's countermeasures.
Ren Qing steadied his mind controlling the sandboat. After having the experience of the previous two times, in not long he rushed out of the sandstorm.
The Qingxu Temple still sat upon the clouds overhead, but Ren Qing for some reason felt much more at ease, and could not help but let out a long breath.
After the helm adjusted, the sandboat sailed toward the Restraint Officer camp.
Ren Qing entered the cabin, and then brought out from the Prison Within the Abdomen a person and a dog.
The husky, upon seeing this, revealed a look of terror, and began barking loudly, but upon seeing Ren Qing it obediently crouched on the ground.
Its body had grown again now, mainly because of eating Blood Vine Fruits.
This plant, though poisonous, seemed able to stimulate beasts' growth, of course, the premise was to withstand the toxin of the Blood Vine Fruit and not die.
Aside from the husky, there was also a middle-aged Daoist with a bewildered expression.
"Immortal, this is..."
Sha Shanzi had already reached the Martial Practitioner Realm; his outward appearance did not change much, only that his skin was slightly coarse, not like his formerly thin and weak self.
Facts proved that the Wind-and-Sand Qi Refining Method could indeed help in mastering the Wind and Sand Method, of course partly also due to the Gobi human physique.
"Sha Shanzi, help me protect the ship, and remember to diligently cultivate the Wind and Sand Method."
Ren Qing did not explain, and as he turned, he pointed a finger at Sha Shanzi's brow, blurring out the portions of memory concerning the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Even though he intended to inform Qingxu Temple and Huang Sand City of the situation, matters involving his own secrets still had to be weighed carefully.
Ren Qing walked into the room and sat cross-legged, closing his eyes to sense the distant split soul.
Sha Shanzi had only ever seen the concept of a ship from books; how could he imagine that a ship could even sail swiftly on sand and gravel?
He came to the deck in a daze, watching the sandboat shuttle between the hills, with the surroundings gradually receding.
The sandstorm grew farther and farther away, and he could not help but feel a sense of unfamiliarity.
The residents of Huang Sand City had never left the Gobi from birth to death; to him, the outside world was an absolute death place, a death place even immortals could not survive in.
Yet now, the great gate was slowly opening.
Sha Shanzi's face revealed nervousness. He had witnessed Ren Qing's heaven-shaking cultivation, and knew that next they were going to a place where immortals gathered.
When he compared Ren Qing's appearance with the Ze Immortals, he found that apart from not mentioning the sinister strangeness of the Wind and Sand Method, the former was indeed more deserving of the title "Immortal."
Sha Shanzi could not help but sigh: "A tiny speck of land, how could it be immortal? How could Huang Sand City count as a great thousand world..."
The keel of the sandboat roared, the sails stretched taut.
Seeing this, Sha Shanzi returned to the cabin, choosing to cultivate techniques in the storeroom, striving to ascend as soon as possible to the Half-Corpse Realm recorded in the texts.
Ren Qing could sense Sha Shanzi in the next room, but paid no attention, placing all focus on the split soul.
He was already prepared to lose the split soul, but had not expected Qingxu Temple's situation to be even more complicated than imagined...
Qingxu Temple had three Daoist halls in total. The central Daoist hall's gate opened, and all the Ascension Ze people without prior agreement surged into it.
The split soul, muddle-headed, was absorbed into the hall, where numerous meditation cushions were placed, and he was fixed upon one of them.
The other Ze people were the same, including the iron-faced Huanghe Immortal.
Ren Qing's split soul looked around, finding that the decorations were almost no different from the Wuwei Monastery's assembly hall, only lacking a Dao Ancestor statue.
"I am a true Immortal, quickly let me go free!!!"
Huanghe Immortal, situated toward the corner, could not help but shout loudly.
As the most senior Ze person of Huang Sand City, and at any time possibly advancing to the Other-Consumption Realm, he naturally would not be willing to be under control.
As Huanghe Immortal spoke, the head at his neck swelled somewhat, showing that Li Yaoyang's soul was already about to molt.
The Ze people could all see that something was wrong with Huanghe Immortal, but since they had just cultivated into the Self-Consumption Realm, they dared not react at all.
"I am a true Immortal... true Immortal..."
Pus flowed from Huanghe Immortal's nose and mouth, his state becoming ever more out of control.
Ren Qing's gaze held a trace of pity. The hall's meditation cushions were definitely used to restrict the Ze people; his split soul could not exert any strength at all.
Huanghe Immortal's cultivation was bound, so Li Yaoyang's soul had the opportunity to take advantage, just to see whether the latter could go all out.
Just then, footsteps sounded.
A figure entered, bringing a pressure as if substantial.
Ren Qing fixed his eyes: this person wore Wuwei Monastery Daoist robes, his skin extremely pale, a faint alcoholic odor gradually dispersing.
The Daoist walked to the center, sweeping with an indescribable gaze over the many Ze people.
This was no attaining the Dao and becoming immortal, but simply like a slaughterhouse choosing livestock. Compared with Huang Sand City at this moment, it seemed incomparably absurd.
Ren Qing noticed that this Daoist was very similar to the blind Daoist; his soul had already dissipated more than half, but was forcibly gathered together.
Huanghe Immortal still muttered on and on, as if talking to himself.
The Daoist spoke faintly in reminder: "Huanghezi, silence."
How could Huanghe Immortal control himself? His head gradually shrank, until it was nearly the same size as Li Yaoyang's head.
The two heads quarreled, making the surrounding Ze people shudder with fear.
The Daoist said no more, and his skin began to sprout numerous pustules, which burst open, spreading an increasingly thick alcoholic stench.
The alcoholic stench was like a living thing; in the blink of an eye it drilled into Huanghe Immortal's body, making his flesh collapse.
Ren Qing, not far from Huanghe Immortal, could feel the alcoholic stench wafting past his cheeks; his split soul immediately felt drunk.
Huanghe Immortal could not help but scream miserably, his expression looking in disbelief toward the Daoist, his raised arm's flesh turning into mist and vanishing.
"You... you... you..."
He tried desperately to break free of the meditation cushion, but instead quickened the collapse of his flesh.
The Ze people all felt the sentiment of the fox mourning the death of the rabbit; the joy of Ascension had long since been washed away, and they even lowered their heads, not daring to look at Huanghe Immortal.
Ren Qing's split soul did not have the observational power of the Double Pupils, so he did not know Li Yaoyang's current condition, and could only wait patiently.
The Daoist spoke again: "Baishi Daoist, are you willing to become Qingxu Temple's Civil Works Immortal?"
"I am willing."
The Ze person called Baishi nodded with a bitter smile. He had racked his brains to become an Immortal, and the result was that he came to the Immortal World to repair a temple.
He might as well have stayed in Huang Sand City...
He felt the meditation cushion loosen its bindings, stood up, and walked toward the outside of the hall.
Baishi Immortal glanced at the welcoming Ze people, each and every one of them had the cultivation of perfected Other-Consumption Realm, equivalent in the mortal world to the Huanghe Immortal.
The Daoist began assigning other Ze people.
Aside from Civil Works Immortal, there were Leech Immortals feeding maggots, Scum-Removing Immortals cleaning filth, and Wine-Warming Immortals brewing liquor.
Ren Qing's split soul had relatively good luck, being assigned as a Wine-Warming Immortal.
But he did not rush to leave, choosing to wait at the hall door for a moment; Huanghe Immortal's corpse's condition was still unknown.
"Lushan Zi, are you willing to become Qingxu Temple's Filth-Cleansing Immortal?"
"I am willing."
Lushan Immortal nodded.
But when he saw that outside the hall people had become sparse, his thoughts immediately grew more chaotic.
"Lushan Zi, take the corpse to the back mountain."
After the Daoist finished speaking, he turned and left, walking out of the hall and slowly sinking into the ground, as if fusing with the pustule Daoist.
Lushan Zi did not go touch the corpse, how could he care?, he frantically ran out of Qingxu Temple, trying to fly back to Huang Sand City.
From Qingxu Temple came many weird laughs.
Those Other-Consumption Realm Ze people's expressions turned greedy, and from the mouths of the five-colored human faces tongues extended, rolling up Lushan Immortal in midair.
It was too late for Lushan Immortal to regret; his body was torn into dozens of pieces.
Bone-chilling sucking sounds rang out.
A middle-aged Ze person looked at Ren Qing, urging him: "Let's go, the corpses in the assembly hall will naturally be handled by the Scum-Removing Immortals."
In his hand he clutched Lushan Immortal's arm, gulping it down whole.
Unexpectedly, this Daoist hall was also called Assembly Hall, apparently Heavenly Daozi, even though dead and Dao extinguished, still wanted to preserve the legacy of Wuwei Monastery.
"All right."
Ren Qing followed behind the middle-aged Ze person, glancing back at Huanghe Immortal's corpse.
Li Yaoyang, barring accidents, should be hiding inside the corpse; whether he could advance to the Yin Runner Realm was unknown.
Ren Qing arrived at the side room behind the Assembly Hall.
The middle-aged Ze person reluctantly sucked the last mouthful of flesh and blood.
He opened the door; inside it was extremely dark, with over a dozen earthen jars placed.
Most jars were tightly sealed with lids, inside filled with large amounts of clear water, likely taken from the pools flowing from the Heavenly Dao Worm.
The middle-aged Ze person pointed at the jars, signaling Ren Qing to enter.
"Ah?"
"The duty of the Wine-Warming Immortal is to brew wine. This is Qingxu Temple's rule."
As soon as Ren Qing stepped into a jar, the middle-aged Ze person sealed the lid shut.
Ren Qing's mouth twitched, the main ingredient of brewing was actually himself?
It seemed the split soul was going to be wasted; if he had to re-nurture one, the Ze Immortal methods would be equal to having been cultivated in vain.