Ren Qing maintained an immortal bearing, sitting cross-legged in midair.
He appeared to have his eyes closed, but in truth was flipping through the two techniques Winter Insect and Summer Grass inside the Eternal Prison, with the similar portions between the techniques gradually merging together.
Meanwhile, the demon beasts' attention was all on the Entering God Art, attempting to comprehend the legendary immortal technique.
Hu Wen sensed the profundity contained within the Entering God Art and could not help but feel his spirit open and clear, even the craving for flesh and blood being suppressed.
The strand of Heavenly Demon qi at their brows was like a parasite attached to bone; no matter how the surrounding demonic qi continuously washed over it, it remained unmoved.
"This method uses the soul to enter divinity, thereby attaining the form of a Heavenly Demon?"
Hu Wen muttered to himself in astonishment, "Then what exactly is a Heavenly Demon?"
The moment the thought arose, the worry in his mind vanished under the influence of the Heavenly Demon qi, even transforming into a restless urge.
Soon, demon beasts with insufficient mental fortitude gave up probing the contents of the Entering God Art and began guiding the qi at their brows to fuse with their bodies.
The calm and peaceful atmosphere of White Bone Mountain became somewhat eerie, and faintly one could hear goats bleating.
Ren Qing observed the reactions of the demon beasts to the Heavenly Demon qi out of the corner of his eye.
He noticed that the nature of Heavenly Demon qi was indeed similar to Buddhist qi.
However, when cultivating the Beast-Pen Method, at least before cultivators transformed into a Supreme Heavenly Demon, their intelligence still remained relatively normal.
The information stream revealed very little content about the Entering God Art; unlike Heavenly Dao techniques or Body Cultivation, it did not even display detailed realms.
Over the years, Ren Qing had often flipped through the Entering God Art, but no matter how he looked at it, it seemed plain and unremarkable, even somewhat resembling a Restraint Officer technique.
It was hard to imagine that Heavenly Daozi had been ruined by the Entering God Art.
While merging Winter Insect and Summer Grass, he also split off a Soul Butterfly Projection to probe the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin Temple, but before it even got within a hundred meters, it was dispersed by dense Buddhist qi.
Ren Qing's gaze flickered. It seemed that if necessary, he still needed to make some preparations first.
If Song Zongwu were truly in danger, relying on demon beasts at most could only clarify the situation; it would be difficult to completely resolve the trouble.
He secretly made up his mind and stored the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed into the Eternal Prison.
The current dream market was composed of three streets: the Ghost Market and the Immortal Market exchanged goods with each other, while the Demon Market was shrouded in mist.
Only demon cultivators could enter and exit the Demon Market, and the resources they could exchange inside were also very limited, though their cultivation progress was fairly smooth.
The Heavenly Demon Dream Seed then settled at the opposite corner of the Demon Market, and Heavenly Demon qi began to boil, forming a brand-new street.
The streets of the Demon Market were overall gray-black in tone; the buildings all appeared utterly lifeless, exuding an inexplicable chill.
In stark contrast to the vitality outside the markets, it was like a netherworldly underworld.
Even Ren Qing could not help shuddering when he looked at the Demon Market.
He controlled a wild beast to enter the Demon Market, and as a result, the beast's colors seemed to be instantly drained away, also becoming black and white.
Before the beast went far, it suddenly let out a bizarre and inexplicable goat bleat.
Bang...
Then it exploded into minced flesh, blood and meat splattering everywhere on the ground.
As if having smelled blood, wisps of Heavenly Demon qi emerged from the cracks between the bricks, licking up flesh and bone fragments like tongues.
Ren Qing looked a few more times and discovered that the Heavenly Demon qi emerging from the brick seams resembled the fur of black mountain goats, giving him an involuntary chill.
However, aside from the abnormalities displayed by the Demon Market, the Heavenly Demon qi did not affect the other markets, and even the Restraint Officer cultivators inside did not notice anything amiss.
Ren Qing prepared to condense a Buddhist Dream Seed to resist Heavenly Demon qi, so he simply transformed the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed into part of the dream market; when the time came, he could also pull the consciousness of demon beasts over.
Under normal circumstances, the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed could not absorb Heavenly Demon qi at all and showed almost no enhancement; it was better to use demon beasts to nourish artifacts.
The four markets formed a cross, truly a case of wildly differing styles.
Ren Qing secretly pondered what kind of goods should be sold in the Demon Market.
He continued refining Winter Insect and Summer Grass, seemingly treating the base of White Bone Mountain as a cultivation ground.
Time passed, and before he realized it, several days had gone by.
The demon beasts, as if by unspoken agreement, changed into daoist robes and put on airs with white bone horsetail whisks, looking exactly like Daoist disciples.
The scene was truly absurd.
"It worked, it worked!!!"
A deer demon let out an excited shout; the Heavenly Demon qi at its brow had disappeared, indicating that it had been absorbed by the soul and had officially stepped into the Entering God Art.
Nearby demon beasts cast envious gazes.
The deer demon closed its eyes for a few breaths, then its soul left its shell, turning into a mass of formless black mist that drifted briefly before returning to the body.
The Beast-Pen Method was precisely this bizarre; even at the Martial Practitioner realm, one could separate body and soul.
The ghost shadow silently made contact with the deer demon, and its information immediately came into view.
[Age: seventy-two]
[Lifespan: two hundred seventy-five years]
[Technique: Entering God Art (Demonic Entrant)]
Age seventy-two meant that the deer demon had already been a demon cultivator before the great upheaval of heaven and earth, but erosion by demonic qi had caused it to completely transform into a beast form, thereby losing its original memories.
Many demon beasts in Jingzhou were in the same situation.
From human to beast, then from beast cultivating back into half-human, half-beast.
Ren Qing felt that Jingzhou still had exceptions, such as the whale aberration that had once consumed large quantities of Water Souls, he did not know what state it was now in.
As for techniques, demon beasts simply did not have a systematic cultivation method, so the realms composed of demonic qi were not recognized by the information stream.
In a certain sense, demon beasts were not much different from the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
As long as they left Jingzhou and no longer had demonic qi filling heaven and earth, their cultivation would inevitably continue to decline, eventually degenerating back into wild beasts.
"Demonic Entrant?"
Ren Qing recorded the information of the Beast-Pen Method.
He would inevitably come into contact with forces related to the Supreme Heavenly Demon in the future, so this was a good opportunity to understand things.
Ren Qing originally thought that the Beast-Pen Method, like the Restraint Officers' Hall techniques, would have three aberration paths.
But after demon beasts successively mastered the Entering God Art, Ren Qing discovered that without exception they were all Demonic Entrants, which finally confirmed his suspicion.
It was very likely that all aberration paths related to the Beast-Pen Method ultimately converged on the same destination, cultivating to the end meant becoming a Supreme Heavenly Demon.
Of course, not all demon beasts progressed smoothly; some found it difficult to grasp the Entering God Art.
Even though they had once been human, their current half-human, half-demon constitutions were already different, clearly becoming more suited to demonic qi.
Ren Qing's conjecture was thus verified.
Humans themselves were cultivation resources. This could be seen from the Restraint Officer techniques: the more Restraint Officers there were, the richer the output of various resources.
The reason the Blood Moon invaded Jingzhou was to obtain tens of thousands of mortals.
The Blood Moon also divided Jingzhou into multiple layers, forcibly transforming the original insect-bodied mortals into normal physiques, and finally eroding and aberrating them with demonic qi.
Among the demon beasts of White Bone Mountain, many constitutions were no longer pure, making them difficult to align with the Beast-Pen Method. Hu Wen was one such demon.
His blood-red eyes opened, his expression full of unwillingness.
Among the several hundred demon beasts on White Bone Mountain, Hu Wen's Great Demon consummation cultivation was, if not the strongest, at least among the very top.
Yet now he was firmly stuck at the threshold of the Entering God Art, unable to advance even an inch.
Nearby, dozens of demon beasts practiced body-soul separation, transforming into black mist and wandering at will; the divine abilities displayed by immortal techniques were far beyond demonic arts that merely absorbed the essence of sun and moon.
The anger in Hu Wen's heart grew more intense, to the point that he nearly ground his teeth to pieces.
Since the demon immortal had not deliberately concealed anything, it meant the immortal techniques did not need to be kept secret.
In a few years' time, demon beasts in Jingzhou would probably no longer be ranked by demonic qi realms; instead, it would depend on their mastery of immortal techniques.
The Heavenly Demon qi at Hu Wen's brow had already reached its limit after lingering for several days, and then dissipated completely.
Sighs rang out from White Bone Mountain.
Those who could truly master the Entering God Art were only about half; the rest were all dejected, some even unable to help quietly sobbing.
Hu Wen, hair loose over his shoulders, walked out from the demon crowd alone and knelt not far from Ren Qing.
"Demon Immortal, this lowly one is truly useless. I am willing to use my flesh and blood to sacrifice the road ahead, in exchange for a chance to recultivate an immortal technique."
As his words fell, several fox demons from Qingqiu changed expressions drastically and fled in panic toward the opposite direction of White Bone Mountain.
But before they could go far, the ground suddenly collapsed; only their heads remained exposed, their facial features seeping blood from the pressure of the earth.
The brocade-furred rat demon emerged from underground, standing to the side with a strange laugh.
Hu Wen respectfully kowtowed, then walked up to the fox demons. Ignoring their bitter pleas, he directly twisted their necks.
Ren Qing was left dumbfounded.
The logic of demon beasts was so bizarre, how did they resort to sacrificing their own kind at the slightest turn? And their movements were not at all clumsy; they had clearly done this many times.
After a few moments of silence, Ren Qing swept his gaze over the many demon beasts and spoke in a deep voice: "Hu Wen, Hu Wen, fellow travelers of the Great Dao, do not be so reckless..."
Hu Wen trembled in fear, afraid that Ren Qing had grown angry.
But then Ren Qing changed his tone and continued: "However, considering your eagerness in seeking immortality, I can impart to you another immortal technique. You will pass it on to the other fellow cultivators. There will be no next time."
"Many thanks, Demon Immortal, many thanks, Demon Immortal..."
He poured the contents of the technique "Five Viscera Gods" into Hu Wen's memory. The latter was instantly overjoyed, wishing he could cultivate it immediately.
As for the Five Viscera Gods, Song Zongwu had once given Ren Qing a fragmentary copy; later, Ren Qing found the complete version in the Great Dream Technique Pavilion.
It was just that the risks of this technique were too great, and very few Restraint Officers were willing to cultivate it.
The aberration paths were Ghost Mother, Five Spirituals, and Headless One.
No matter which aberration path was taken, the internal organs would develop intelligence; the Ghost Mother path could even control the five viscera to leave the body.
Ren Qing only gave Hu Wen the contents up to the Ghost Envoy realm. He did not know how to reach three aberrant transformations, nor was it possible to break through to the Yin Messenger realm.
In any case, even if he imparted a reliable Restraint Officer technique, demon beasts would still end up cultivating it crookedly. He might as well choose a more unconventional technique from the start.
Moreover, demon beasts were on the Blood Moon's side. Ren Qing had no intention of sewing wedding clothes for others.
[Five Viscera Gods]
[Created by Du Cun, abbot of the Five Viscera Temple, through contemplating divine statues. Cultivation requires all five viscera to be intact.]
As cultivation of the Five Viscera Gods deepens, the five viscera and six bowels will gradually develop intelligence; upon reaching the Yin Messenger realm, they may even exist independently of the body.
Hu Wen treasured the Five Viscera Gods as a priceless boon and was immediately surrounded by other demon beasts, with inevitable exchanges of interests among them.
Ren Qing did not interfere, and instead intentionally encouraged demon beasts to form cliques.
He selected several more Restraint Officer techniques, because among the hundreds of demon beasts making up the other half, there would still be many unable to master the Five Viscera Gods.