The beast ghost's body reached three meters in the blink of an eye, but it felt insubstantial to Ren Qing, likely because it was pieced together from souls.
The ghosts within the town had already been slaughtered clean; the giant beast ghost naturally drew the attention of many Restraint Officers.
The Other Shore Flower field also began to stir, its stamens facing in this direction.
The traces of Heavenly Demon on the giant beast ghost increased more and more; black long fur grew all over its body, and a deformed horn of ox or sheep sprouted on its head.
Its intelligence was extremely chaotic, and by instinct it charged toward the nearest Restraint Officer.
However, with such large movements, its flesh began to collapse, showing the instability of its mutation.
Ren Qing had already silently confirmed it in his heart.
The Summoning Spirits Art must be related to the Beast Pen technique, proving that someone within Restraint Officers' Hall is cultivating this spell.
It was unclear whether that person's soul mutation had already reached an irreparable stage.
Yu Dachuan let out a long howl to the sky, then glanced at the group of people standing still, and without hesitation stepped toward the giant beast ghost.
The profit from the beast ghost wasn't important, but using this to suppress others was the key.
Corpse qi slowly seeped out from his entire body, covering a half-meter radius around him.
All insects and birds that he encountered along the way died instantly upon contact.
Several more figures approached.
The bat-man flew around the giant beast ghost, a large number of bats returning to his body, making his speed grow faster and faster.
Each dive left a few more wounds on the giant beast ghost.
There was also a chameleon-like Restraint Officer, probably trying to reap the spoils.
Yu Dachuan pretended to be the first to charge, but in truth he deliberately held back a little, keeping a wary eye on Ren Qing out of the corner of his eye.
There weren't many Restraint Officers participating in the encirclement of the beast ghost; most of the others were secretly observing.
Shui Hulu might stop at any moment, why take risks for the reward?
Wan Qi chose to watch quietly. He could sense something strange in the ghost, and couldn't help but feel hesitant.
He had participated in the previous plantings of Other Shore Flower, and indeed as the flowers bloomed, the danger increased accordingly.
But the appearance of this ghost had clearly exceeded the normal range.
It was somewhat like a mutation created through spell techniques.
The giant beast ghost soon couldn't hold out any longer.
But the Restraint Officers didn't go for the kill. Unless the others immediately retreated, probing and testing between them was inevitable.
At that moment, Ren Qing suddenly stopped spectating and walked slowly toward the giant beast ghost.
Because of the darkness, his body received a massive boost from the Ghost Shadow's possession, giving him a feeling of being like a fish in water.
His strides grew wider, and in an instant, he was right beside the beast ghost.
Yu Dachuan's expression turned cold. If he hadn't prepared in advance, he might really have been snatched from.
His abdomen split open into a mouth, and a long tongue shot toward Ren Qing.
The bat-man bared his fangs, instinctively coordinating with claws formed from his feet to grab at Ren Qing.
But Ren Qing disappeared from where he stood, as if he had never been there.
A light drizzle began to fall from the sky. Faint mist enveloped the streets, making the giant beast ghost's figure blurry and indistinct.
"What's going on?"
Yu Dachuan opened his mouth wide, somewhat stunned.
In a daze, he found that the surroundings had changed from streets into plains. Heavy rain poured down, and the soil emitted a unique smell.
All nearby Restraint Officers experienced the same.
But in the eyes of the onlookers, a different scene played out.
They saw Ren Qing walk straight through Yu Dachuan, arriving in front of the beast ghost, and the Ghost Shadow unrestrainedly devoured it whole.
The Restraint Officers stood stunned in place, making no resistance at all.
Then, Ren Qing disappeared again.
Yu Dachuan opened his eyes, his face showing suspicion and uncertainty.
He looked up at the sky, there wasn't even a raindrop left. It had all been an illusion so realistic it was indistinguishable from reality.
This showed that Ren Qing's Ghost Envoy-level spell technique must possess such a capability.
When one subconsciously believes the raindrops to be real, the illusion's effect fully manifests, truly impossible to guard against.
Yu Dachuan glanced at the bat-man still trapped in the illusion and left, shaking his head in disdain.
Even knowing the spell abilities Ren Qing cultivated, he still found it tricky and would have to quickly come up with a countermeasure.
If worst came to worst, he would have to join forces with others.
A white line brightened the horizon, dawn had arrived.
Ren Qing had already returned to the guest room. The Ghost Shadow's body held a large number of undigested ghost creatures.
If it were any other cultivator, fully digesting a ghost would require a long period of closed-door cultivation; forced digestion would only result in waste.
But Ren Qing was the opposite, because the Ghost Shadow's body now had an internal plug-in.
The Heavenly Dao Worm, if one disregarded its parasitic nature, undoubtedly surpassed Restraint Officer techniques in convenience.
Even while still in the egg phase, it showed no intention of letting any growth nutrients slip by, helping the Ghost Shadow madly absorb residual souls.
The Ghost Shadow could be said to have undergone a complete rebirth.
In just a short time, it had already traversed a third of the Half-Corpse realm.
Restraint Officers might not stay in the Half-Corpse realm for long before advancing, but they still couldn't match the Ghost Shadow, showing the power of the Heavenly Dao Worm.
If Ren Qing hadn't already mastered three Ghost Envoy-level spell techniques, he would certainly have slowed his progress due to such terrifying speed.
As for the Heavenly Dao Worm, its foundation was very low; Qi Refining stage was only equivalent to Martial Practitioner realm.
Even just from being driven by the Ghost Shadow, it had already neared the late stage of Qi Refining.
It was even very likely that during the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, the Heavenly Dao Worm would step into Foundation Establishment, even if it stopped absorbing residual souls, it would be hard to halt.
Ren Qing rubbed his temples in frustration.
Others hit bottlenecks for decades, but he was afraid the Heavenly Dao Worm would advance too fast.
If the Heavenly Dao Worm broke through to Foundation Establishment, the life force cost required for immunity would certainly increase, inevitably forming a vicious cycle.
After a moment of hesitation, Ren Qing decided to solve the trouble at its source.
Either spend more than fifty years to level up the information flow immunity cost, or push Shadowless Method to Ghost Envoy realm as quickly as possible and forcibly seal and control it.
Since that's the case, then go big, settle the Shadow Ghost Technique advancement tonight.
Ren Qing didn't hurry to leave the guest room. As he closed his eyes and visualized the Blindless Method, his split soul was projected into the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
The split soul was at the foot of the mountain below the Wuwei Hall, but he did not see the figure of the Heavenly Dao Child.
Since Ren Qing had awakened the Heavenly Dao Child, its behavior had turned strange, it could be anywhere in the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
After summoning the Ghost Shadow, Ren Qing attached it via his split body and entered the pond.
The juvenile Heavenly Dao Worms in the water became lively at the disturbance.
But when they discovered that the Ghost Shadow had one of their kind inside, they stopped paying attention.
Ren Qing was overjoyed. This meant the entire Wuwei Daoist Altar was like his own backyard, and he could enter any Daoist temple at will.
He glanced toward the Doushuai Palace, then swam toward the Assembly Hall.
For now, the Wuwei Daoist Altar was closed off from the outside, so there was no rush. Better to finish the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts matter first.
After returning to the Assembly Hall, he found the interior's decoration unchanged.
Then, his main body opened its eyes to glance at the outside sky. The clouds were thick, only a light breeze blowing, just the kind of good early-spring day.
He walked slowly out of the inn and could feel the covert gazes directed his way.
Ren Qing didn't hide his identity, his power was too threatening. Every action of his would inevitably attract the attention of other Restraint Officers.
He instead used this to his advantage, pretending to stroll idly through the town.
Ren Qing also noticed that the Restraint Officers' methods had become increasingly reckless.
This caused some chaos in Annan Town, but with Shui Hulu's fearsome reputation looming, no one dared be the one to stand out.
When Ren Qing arrived at a remote corner, he turned and slipped into an alley.
A Restraint Officer hesitated for a moment, had just peeked into the alley, when he suddenly blacked out and fainted.
Ren Qing closed his eyes.
The split soul re-integrated the Primordial Heavenly Venerable's arm into the statue.
Reaching the "Dao Grasping" level of Dao births Dao, forcibly pulling a cultivator's consciousness wasn't as difficult as imagined, though it couldn't affect through Constructed Spells.
Because the Assembly Hall had originally been used to turn mortals into food for Heavenly Dao Worms.
Ren Qing used Twin Nightmare Ghosts and the Mirror Man's abilities to confuse the Restraint Officer, making his consciousness appear inside the Assembly Hall.
The Restraint Officer's consciousness sat on a prayer mat, unable to move, and the main body wouldn't sense anything.
Ren Qing stroked his chin.
Maybe because the Restraint Officer had reached the Ghost Envoy realm, his consciousness could only remain inside the Wuwei Daoist Altar for twelve hours.
Still, that was more than enough.
He ignored the unconscious Restraint Officer and turned to leave the alley.
Ren Qing remembered most of the Restraint Officers who had participated in the Night Parade. He quickly found traces of them in Annan Town.
To keep things secret, he had to be very cautious, doing his best to make full use of the Twin Nightmare Ghosts' advantage.
The number of consciousnesses in the Assembly Hall grew, soon there were seven or eight.
Ren Qing did not target those like Yu Dachuan who had undergone two or more transformations, it was unnecessary to take that kind of risk.
Ren Qing chose to wait on the west side of Annan Town for nightfall.
Based on his observations from the previous night, that area had the most Restraint Officers, and the benefits were also usually more complicated to divide.
Time slowly passed, it was nearly the Chou hour.
Almost simultaneously, massive activity erupted from the Other Shore Flower field. Three-fourths of the Other Shore Flowers bloomed their stamens.
Mu Yi could only barely maintain the vine coverage.
Once the Other Shore Flowers bloomed, countless residual souls poured into the streets.
A large number of beast ghosts appeared, representing increased profit and danger alike.
But Restraint Officers, already blinded by greed, didn't care about such things.
They stared with burning eyes at Shui Hulu's figure.
Shui Hulu had only collected about half of the residual souls. The blood-flesh gourd on his back had turned an ashen gray, veins bulging.
"Hehehehehehe."
"Tomorrow, the Other Shore Flowers will fully bloom. I will no longer intervene in the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts. Seize the opportunity yourselves..."
After speaking, Shui Hulu vanished.
The Restraint Officers had varied thoughts, but joy was already written all over their faces.
Ren Qing, however, felt Shui Hulu had other intentions. So tonight, he had to acquire enough residual souls to advance the Shadow Ghost Technique to Ghost Envoy realm.
Restraint Officers throughout the city began their hunt. Knowing that tomorrow night was the true Night Parade, they naturally reined themselves in somewhat.
Ren Qing appeared in the west of the city.
The Dragon-Snake Spine in his hand transformed into a fire python. The gathered residual souls weren't fed to the Ghost Shadow, but directly locked inside the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Yu Dachuan, seeing he appeared far away, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
But Ren Qing's overbearing behavior also stirred discontent among the surrounding Restraint Officers.