Ren Qing stood on the mountain peak in a daze for a long time. Only after sensing the eruption of Yang Spirit realm aura did he react, hurriedly heading down the mountain.
At this moment, Song Zongwu had his eyes tightly closed, restraining his own techniques. There was not the slightest trace of Buddhist qi visible, as if the Hundred Buddha Diagram had never appeared.
But only he himself knew that the Immovable Sutra was like a sharp sword hanging above his head, clinging tightly to him until he achieved fruition.
Even if merits were perfected and he cultivated that Buddha far beyond imagination, it would only last for a few short decades. How could one resist the final destiny?
So many astonishingly talented Buddhist eminent monks had turned into part of the Hundred Buddha Diagram. Buddhist qi was like an inescapable curse.
Ren Qing shook his head. If there was anything in this world that could exempt the cost of Buddhist techniques, it would certainly be his information stream.
But how much lifespan would be required to exempt the cost of Buddhist techniques was unknown.
Buddhist qi was not some newly hatched Heavenly Dao insect larva. It was a technique that had devoured dozens or hundreds of Buddhas across generations.
Ren Qing suspected that even a thousand years of lifespan might not be enough to exempt the drawbacks of Buddhist techniques.
If Song Zongwu wanted to break free of the Buddhist fruition, he could only wait until Restraint Officer techniques surpassed Buddhist techniques, and then try to strip the Buddhist qi from his body.
But if the Deer-Riding Arhat was possibly above the Heavenly Aberration realm, then he would have to break through to the Earth Immortal Stage.
It was truly too difficult.
The upper limit of Restraint Officer techniques was right there. The path beyond would have to be explored on one's own.
What Ren Qing could do was rely on the information stream to break through to the Earth Immortal Stage, and then help Song Zongwu and others ascend to immortality and attain the Dao.
"But the Earth Immortal Stage..."
"Advancing to the Heavenly Aberration realm alone is a huge problem. It might even require ten thousand years of lifespan. How could techniques extend lifespan by tens of thousands of years..."
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes.
Unless there was an Undying, Unliving, Deathless, Indestructible Dead Man Sutra, only then could he see hope of ascending to immortality within a few hundred years.
Longevity, longevity.
To him, the word longevity represented far too much.
Ren Qing forcibly suppressed the stirring in his heart, then released ghost shadows to protect Song Zongwu, and with a few flashes disappeared from the spot.
The low mountain tops were filled with the figures of demon beasts.
Their respective factions actually had many rifts between them, but because of White Bone Mountain, there was an inexplicable sense of fellow travelers.
The demon beasts wanted to understand what was going on, why there had been earth-shattering upheaval not long ago, yet White Bone Mountain had abruptly returned to calm.
However, each demon had different thoughts, and no one proposed going to White Bone Mountain.
Hu Wen's eyes rolled as calculations arose in his heart.
When he returned to Qingqiu, he would in fact just be a servant under Great-Grandmother. It would be better to lead the other demon beasts to establish an independent faction.
With a demon immortal backing them, it should not be difficult to curry favor on all sides.
Moreover, using disciples of a demon immortal as a gimmick, it would be easy to rally a large number of demon beasts, far more carefree than some backwater demon king.
Hu Wen secretly considered the possibilities, also thinking through his rhetoric.
At this moment, Ren Qing appeared overhead, still wearing neat Daoist robes, as if facing the Corpse Elephant had not cost him any extra effort.
"Congratulations to the demon immortal on annihilating a powerful enemy..."
"Long live the demon immortal..."
The demon beasts hurriedly knelt down and shouted, all wanting to continue receiving immortal techniques from the demon immortal, yet they heard Ren Qing say this instead.
"I will soon be leaving Jingzhou, but I can bestow upon you one more opportunity."
Without giving them time to react, Ren Qing unleashed the ability of the Darkest Demon Lord, coordinating it with the primary and secondary techniques of the Disaster Dispelling Method.
Light and shadow twisted, dreamlike and illusory.
The mountain top instantly plunged into boundless darkness. The demon beasts lost control over body and soul, as if falling toward the bottom of an abyss.
In reality, their consciousness was pulled into Eternal Shackles.
Ren Qing gathered the demon beasts who had entered trance through the Trance Method into the Demon Market, while the rest were used to fill the desolate Demon Market.
A drastic change arose within Eternal Shackles, but only inside the Demon Market.
Heavenly demon qi seeped in everywhere, corroding the Demon Market formed from dreams. The floor tiles fused together, then took on a flesh-and-blood form.
The other markets noticed nothing; even the Demon Market had no figures present.
However, on Wine Lake Island, quite a few demon cultivators were hiding in the shadows. They looked toward the Demon Market in shock, goosebumps breaking out all over their bodies.
The heavenly demon qi manifested in a half-real, half-illusory state, faintly resembling the head of a black goat, its hollow pupils filled with the most extreme evil in the world.
The street where the Demon Market was located was like the tongue inside the black goat's mouth.
The demon cultivator Teng Ning sucked in a cold breath and turned to look at the Daoist-robed man beside him, asking incredulously, "Han Li, didn't you say that the dream markets would eventually merge into one?"
Han Li's hood covered his face. He did not know what method he had used, but he had actually come from the dream market to Wine Lake Island.
"Yes. The Restraint Officers' Hall issued an announcement. The Demon Market you are in will also merge into the Ghost Market, but the timing is still unknown."
Teng Ning nodded with a grim expression.
The demon cultivators within Eternal Shackles had already formed a scale. Based on their respective jailers, they were divided into tribes.
They had also elected Teng Ning as their leader.
Although demon cultivators had no survival pressure, they could invisibly feel urgency.
Teng Ning still remembered Ren Qing's words to them, that one day in the future they would have to go to the outside world to deal with powerful enemies related to aberrations.
The demon cultivators secretly accumulated strength. During this period, Teng Ning had also come to know Han Li and learned of the external situation from him.
Teng Ning wanted to rely on meritorious service to lead his tribe into the Restraint Officers' Hall.
But when hundreds of demon beasts arrived at the dream market, his heart sank.
It seemed that demon cultivators were not irreplaceable.
Teng Ning and the others recalled Ren Qing's words: they must not reveal any information to demon beasts from the outside world, but trading was permitted.
"Brother Han Li, this is troublesome."
Han Li glanced at Teng Ning, his attention focused on the Demon Market not far away.
He saw many additional figures appear within the Demon Market. Although it was only their consciousness entering the market, the demon beasts all bore the bizarre appearance of a black goat.
After arriving at the Demon Market in a daze, the demon beasts sensed the influence exerted by heavenly demon qi and involuntarily deepened their breathing.
The bizarre environment of the Demon Market instead made them feel like fish in water.
Stimulated by heavenly demon qi, the contents related to the Trance Method surged into their minds, and difficulties encountered in cultivation were quickly resolved.
A strong sense of crisis filled Teng Ning's heart. He could not help asking, "Han Li, cultivation resources alone are far from enough. Is there..."
"Techniques?"
Teng Ning's eyes shone brightly. The tribe had to grasp Restraint Officer techniques, even if it resulted in casualties.
Han Li was just about to refuse when his expression suddenly turned panicked. After a moment, he said, "Yes. Next time I'll bring techniques."
"Many thanks."
Teng Ning hurriedly thanked Han Li, his expression visibly relaxing.
Han Li smiled bitterly and shook his head.
Han Li originally did not want to take risks, but Ren Qing's voice sounded in his mind, telling him to agree to the demon cultivators' request, with the techniques provided by Ren Qing himself.
Ren Qing had no intention of blaming Han Li, but was deeply surprised by his boldness.
In his early years, he had deliberately left a loophole in the defenses leading to Wine Lake Island. In any case, Wine Lake was shrouded in mist, and there were ghost ships and Kunpeng in the water.
Even on the island, one could not look far beyond the lake. To go inland required Kunpeng's consent.
Ren Qing wanted to see whether demon cultivators would sneak into the Ghost Market or Immortal Market. It was considered a hidden opportunity reserved for the demon cultivator faction.
As for why the Demon Market was not fully opened, it was mainly because demon cultivators at the time were eroded by demonic qi, their intelligence somewhat off.
They appeared normal, but in reality were not far from madness.
Ren Qing himself had already forgotten about this matter, only for Han Li to reap the benefits.
Han Li had mastered the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method and also went on to cultivate the Eyeless Method of the Double-Pupil Ones, thus secretly slipping out of the Immortal Market using his aura.
He even linked up with the demon cultivator faction and engaged in smuggling cultivation resources.
The demon cultivators used materials produced by Eternal Shackles in exchange.
Han Li's Shadowless Ghost had recently broken through to the Ghost Envoy realm, ranking among the best of the Daoist disciples. This showed how abundantly he had profited.
Of course, to take things out of the dream market, one had to go through the Grand Dream Pavilion. Han Li acted as an intermediary exchanging resources, earning the price difference.
A smile appeared on Ren Qing's face.
His plan for the Demon Market was to first let demon cultivators stockpile enough materials. When the timing was ripe, the two sides would then exchange what they had.
Early contact was not necessarily a bad thing, so Ren Qing instructed Han Li to give Restraint Officer techniques to the demon cultivators, accelerating their growth in strength.
Ren Qing considered gradually releasing the demon cultivators from Eternal Shackles over the next few years.
As for the function of the Demon Market, it somewhat exceeded his expectations and even disrupted Ren Qing's original plan to harvest lifespan.
Heavenly demon qi was extremely compatible with dream-related techniques, causing the two to form a special reaction that left Ren Qing deeply puzzled.
Though called a dream market, the Demon Market was actually more like a trial ground.
Any cultivator who had mastered the Beast pen Method would feel their intelligence become incomparably smooth upon entering, with cultivation obstacles resolving themselves.
Of course, this was limited to the Beast pen Method.
Ren Qing could also use the Demon Market to silently steal heavenly demon qi, or even enter dreams to alter the memories of Beast pen Method cultivators.
But if one had not mastered the Beast pen Method, they would suffer erosion from heavenly demon qi.
This kind of erosion was unlike that in the outside world. After all, heavenly demon qi was greatly restrained within Eternal Shackles and only acted upon the cultivator's consciousness.
Even if the consciousness was worn away, it would not damage the soul. Instead, it could suppress the aberrant loss of control caused by techniques.
Cultivators about to break through bottlenecks, after tempering their consciousness and then encountering a heart demon tribulation, would have much greater confidence than ordinary cultivators.
Ren Qing planned to open the Demon Market to the Restraint Officers' Hall on ordinary days, and strictly limit the time demon beasts who had mastered the Trance Method could spend inside.
Hu Wen and the other demon beasts had already begun exploring the Demon Market. What interested them most was the Grand Dream Pavilion that traded materials.
Even though the variety of materials was not large, many could be used to aid cultivation.
As for the cold-attitude demon cultivators, they were treated as ordinary residents and ignored.
They discovered that the greatest feature of the Demon Market was trade. Even demon beasts separated by tens of thousands of miles could still exchange goods through dreams.
Hu Wen gathered all the demon cultivators in an open area.
With his silver tongue, he actually established a demon sect centered on several hundred demon beasts, with its demon cultivators spread throughout Jingzhou.
The demon beasts would still spread immortal techniques, but tacitly concealed the existence of the Demon Market, sharing this opportunity among themselves.
There was also Ren Qing's subtle assistance, using dream techniques to deepen their thoughts. Otherwise, with such a mixed crowd, how could unifying opinions be so simple?
After daybreak, the demon beasts left White Bone Mountain as if nothing had happened.
Song Zongwu awakened ten days later. The aura of a Buddhist monk had completely vanished from his body, resembling a martial artist wandering the jianghu.
Ren Qing recounted the matters concerning the demon beasts to Song Zongwu, who would naturally contact the Restraint Officers' Hall to adjust the layout.
Demonic qi surged as clouds covered the waning moon.