Bang!!
Bang, bang!!!
A colossal insect the size of a mountain was making its way toward Jingzhou. Its upper body barely retained the appearance of an incomparably beautiful woman, while its lower body was that of a maggot.
As it advanced, tens of thousands of Heavenly Dao insect people surrounded it in support.
As the Heavenly Aberration realm Matriarch of the Insect Nest, she possessed the authority to command countless insects. Within the region known as the Insect Nest, she had carved out a unique underground ecosystem, making her worthy of being called an earthly immortal.
The Matriarch rarely appeared on the surface. Even when relocating her nest, she usually traveled underground.
For her to be rushing toward Jingzhou in such haste made it obvious that the opportunity there was too tempting to resist, enough for even a Heavenly Aberration realm existence to risk her life.
Meanwhile, to the southwest of Jingzhou, dense yin qi surged forward like a tsunami. Any living creature that came into contact with it immediately turned into white bones.
A skeleton dressed in embroidered robes sat atop the back of a skeletal elephant. Endless yin qi poured from its mouth, spreading for hundreds of miles.
Judging from the outline of its face, it had also been a woman before death.
Her destination was also Jingzhou. Yet it was not only these two Heavenly Aberration realm beings. At least seven or eight other factions began stirring at the same time.
Ren Qing immediately sensed something strange. Jingzhou seemed to be attracting far too many factions.
Some of those factions had never even been informed by him about Jingzhou's circumstances, yet they still mobilized in full force without hesitation to join the chaos.
"What kind of benefit could attract Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators?"
An immortal position?
Ren Qing rejected the idea inwardly. The War of Enfeoffing Immortals had yet to begin. To the current Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators, an immortal position was nothing but a hot potato.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with a headache.
The Restraint Officers' Hall still lacked sufficient foundations.
The other factions likely possessed historical records spanning several thousand years, so they were certain Jingzhou contained a great opportunity. The history of the Restraint Officers' Hall, however, was only a few hundred years.
Ren Qing wanted to use dreams to gather information, but the Yang God realm Zhili Technique would likely have very limited effect on Heavenly Aberration realm beings.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
Sanxiang City suddenly began shaking violently. Cracks spread across the city walls as countless maggots burst out of the earth, covering every corner of the city.
Immediately afterward, dense insect silk blanketed the buildings, and the unique true essence of the Insect Nest spread throughout the area.
One Heavenly Dao insect person after another emerged from outside the city. Most were at the Yin Difference realm, and the moment they appeared, they began spitting sticky mucus from their mouths.
Standing atop the city wall, Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. The Insect Nest seemed to be transforming the environment.
The same thing was happening in Jingzhou's other towns. Those factions occupying the settlements all reacted the same way by making the environment more suitable for themselves.
"Interesting..."
Ren Qing stepped onto the Ghost Shadow, and a deep dragon's roar immediately echoed throughout the city.
The Heavenly Dao insect people froze in uncertainty, stopping what they were doing before letting out confused roars that summoned even more of their kin.
In only a few breaths, Sanxiang City was surrounded by more than a thousand Heavenly Dao insect people, including several Yang God realm cultivators.
As for the insect people, they were not even qualified to come to the surface and could only perform labor such as excavation underground.
The leader of the Heavenly Dao insect people was named Daoist Tianqiong. His cultivation had already reached the peak of the Yang God realm, and he was the cultivator responsible for Sanxiang City on behalf of the Insect Nest.
Daoist Tianqiong wore a solemn expression. Sanxiang City's location within Jingzhou was extremely advantageous.
It lay near Jingzhou's outer edge while also being the southernmost city. Easy to defend and difficult to attack, it was backed by rainforests capable of continuously producing large numbers of Gu insects.
Although the Insect Nest already controlled more than ten towns, the importance of Sanxiang City remained beyond question.
Daoist Tianqiong threatened, "Fellow Daoist, leave Sanxiang City immediately. The Insect Nest has already hollowed out everything underground. Even if you occupy it, it'll be useless."
"If you insist, once the Matriarch arrives, the Insect Nest will flatten Xiangxiang."
The dragon's roar became increasingly intense. A fishy wind filled the air, causing even the Insect Nest's true essence to thin considerably.
A ruthless look flashed across Daoist Tianqiong's face. Opening his mouth, he spewed dense black smoke that enveloped the area around the city walls, causing the spread of insect silk to accelerate.
The black smoke was actually composed of countless beetles that frantically burrowed into the walls, even merging with the bricks themselves.
None of the other Heavenly Dao insect people dared interfere. The hierarchy within the Insect Nest was extremely strict.
They all believed that the other party's failure to stop Daoist Tianqiong meant he had already become fearful, so they prepared to scatter insect eggs throughout the city.
At that moment, Daoist Tianqiong suddenly stopped casting his technique.
His face filled with uncertainty as he looked toward the top of the city wall, where an additional figure had appeared without anyone noticing.
It had a dragon's head atop a human body, with a long dragon tail swaying behind it. Its silver-gray eyes radiated an overwhelming pressure that made one's scalp go numb.
The moment Ren Qing revealed himself, he could feel the Heavenly Aberration realm beings from multiple factions directing scrutinizing gazes toward Sanxiang City.
"I heard you've already hollowed out the underground?"
"What about now?!"
Ren Qing stepped into the air.
Lightning immediately flashed across the sky. Amid howling winds, vast dark clouds blanketed Xiangxiang.
He transformed into a half-human, half-dragon form, his size instantly exceeding one hundred meters.
"Retreat! There's an Immortal Wanderer!"
Daoist Tianqiong hurriedly ordered the Heavenly Dao insect people to retreat from Ren Qing. The aura of the other's Heavenly Aberration realm cultivation was even stronger than the Matriarch's.
Ren Qing stomped on the ground.
The sound of collapsing rock erupted. Sanxiang City immediately sank several meters, while the nearby Heavenly Dao insect people were reduced to mangled flesh and shattered bones by that single strike.
As expected of a race that specialized in burrowing, the Insect Nest truly had hollowed out the underground.
Ren Qing sent the Ghost Shadow beneath the earth. It then spat out enormous amounts of soil, filling the tunnels excavated by the Insect Nest and stopping Sanxiang City's collapse.
The several thousand insect people underground were not spared either. All of them were taken into the Stomach World.
With just a single Gu-related cultivation method, the insect people could fully realize their potential. At the very least, they could establish a civilization of their own within the Stomach World.
Ren Qing lowered his head, his dragon head several dozen meters long staring directly at Daoist Tianqiong.
He chose not to continue hiding because the current situation in Jingzhou seemed to revolve around occupying towns and waiting for the opportunity to arrive.
Daoist Tianqiong felt incomparable terror. His body trembled uncontrollably as he noticed from the corner of his eye that even the Yin Difference realm members of his race were beginning to lose control of their bodies and souls under the dragon's might.
"I am Daoist Tianqiong, subordinate of the Blood Bat Matriarch of the Insect Nest..."
Ren Qing did not even need to make a move. The Ghost Shadow alone caused Daoist Tianqiong to let out miserable screams while the surrounding Heavenly Dao insect people trembled in fear.
A few breaths later, only an empty shell remained of Daoist Tianqiong. The Ghost Shadow had devoured all of his flesh and bones, while his soul was also taken into the Stomach World.
Ren Qing returned to his dragon-headed humanoid form, standing just over two meters tall. The remaining Heavenly Dao insect people immediately felt the invisible restraint disappear.
They stumbled as they fled Sanxiang City aboard their artifacts, but before they could get very far, the true essence throughout their bodies suddenly spun out of control.
Immediately afterward, a rain of blood exploded from the Heavenly Dao insect people and poured into the forest below.
Ren Qing opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing the thunderclouds that filled the sky. Such effortless control over his techniques clearly showed that he was far from a newly advanced Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator.
"Heavenly Court... Dragon King of the Four Seas."
He spoke in a deep voice. His words rode the raging winds through the air, allowing every faction observing Sanxiang City to hear them.
Ren Qing's overwhelming display immediately intimidated the remaining factions.
All methods of surveillance vanished from Xiangxiang. It was obvious that the other factions had tacitly accepted Ren Qing's occupation of such a vast region.
Upon hearing the news, the Wind Void People immediately moved along Jingzhou's outer edge toward Xiangxiang.
After not seeing them for some time, the Wind Void People had changed into Daoist robes modeled after the statue of Boqiang, the Wind God of the Lesser Heavenly Court, with the title of the Heavenly Court's Thunder Department embroidered across their backs.
The words "Heavenly Court" had only recently emerged through the dreams of the Matchmaking Immortal, yet now they were like a giant boulder crashing into calm waters.
A faction no one had ever heard of had suddenly produced two Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators.
According to the investigations of the various factions, the origins of the Wind Void People were extremely mysterious. They even claimed to be descendants of ancient immortal gods.
Then what exactly did the Dragon King of the Four Seas represent?
Although Ren Qing had assumed the identity of the Dragon King of the Four Seas, he still intended to use Jingzhou as a rehearsal for the War of Enfeoffing Immortals, allowing the Restraint Officers' Hall to gain experience fighting the other factions.
The first group he brought into the outside world was the Cocoon Vein cultivators.
The Yin Difference realm Sen Sheng resembled a massive boulder. Hundreds of layers of human skin protected him to the utmost degree, making it difficult for ordinary techniques to injure him.
After continuous reproduction, the Cocoon Vein had barely reached ten thousand members. Around three thousand were main combat cultivators, all possessing at least Ghost Envoy realm cultivation.
Ren Qing cast Dragon Roar Within the Casket, and dragon-like characteristics immediately appeared across the Cocoon cultivators.
Scales covered their bodies while single horns sprouted from their foreheads, radiating the aura of dragons.
Among all the branches of the Restraint Officers' Hall, the Cocoon people were the most suitable for dragonization because each layer of their skin was independent, preventing the dragon blood from damaging their foundations.
Ren Qing only transformed the outermost twenty layers of their skin into dragon hide. As for Sen Sheng, he transformed one hundred layers, granting him an increase in strength beyond imagination.
Next came the Winged Vein led by Han Li.
The Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method they cultivated was subordinate to the Ghost Shadow. After the Ancestral Lineage Derivation formed, their Worm Roots developed certain draconic traits.
Especially when operating the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, black scales would cover their entire bodies.
Twenty to thirty thousand disciples of Wuwei Daoist Temple floated in the sky aboard their artifacts.
"Greetings, Grand Patriarch!!!"
Ren Qing glanced helplessly at Han Li. It was almost certainly Han Li who had instructed the Daoist Temple disciples to address him that way. He probably did not know that every Grand Patriarch in the history of the Restraint Officers' Hall had ultimately perished with both body and soul destroyed.
The Daoist Temple disciples maintained the circulation of Nether Yuan, keeping themselves in a partially dragonized state.
Finally came the Demon Vein, consisting mostly of demon-kind who had cultivated from lizards, fish, shrimp, and similar creatures. Their numbers were no fewer than the Daoist Temple disciples.
Ren Qing had Hu Wen ask them beforehand, and every one of them had willingly accepted dragon blood contamination because they believed they had no hope of further advancement.
"Greetings, Demon Immortal."
When Dragon Roar Within the Casket acted upon the demon-kind, each of them felt unbearable pain as they tore open their own skin, revealing the characteristics of true dragons.
Once the dragonization was complete, tens of thousands of demon-kind had become half-dragons over three meters tall. Their bloodlines had directly advanced beyond Water Snake to the level of Flood Serpent.
It was obvious that Ren Qing had paid a considerable price. Even the dragon blood within his own body had been somewhat depleted.
The three branches had already been informed that Jingzhou would transform strange entities into Gu insects, so none of them panicked and instead stood quietly awaiting orders.
"Each branch is to station personnel throughout the towns. Transform them according to the planned dragon-blood ecosystem. Remember, do not leave the areas assigned to you."
After hearing the order, the branches immediately departed for their respective locations. The other factions all felt an indescribable apprehension toward the strength of the Heavenly Court.
"Han Li."
"This disciple is here."
"Come with me."
"We'll go receive our colleagues from the Heavenly Court."