Ren Qing no longer concerned himself with outside affairs and began living a reclusive life, devoting all his energy to researching artifact refining methods.
From time to time, he would also go to the Secret Pavilion inside the Restraint Officers' Hall to consult documents.
The more he understood, the more Ren Qing felt that the two seemingly very different artifact refining methods must actually share a common origin.
The Restraint Officers' Hall must have acquired part of the artifact refining methods of the Wuwei Daoist Temple, and based on that foundation, developed its own unique system.
Ren Qing even suspected that the Restraint Officers' Hall knew more Heavenly Dao Refining Techniques than people imagined, only that they had been deliberately destroyed.
After all, in the final fifty years when the Wuwei Daoist Temple went completely mad, the artifacts they refined not only defied heaven and reason, but nearly all involved the Heavenly Dao Worm.
Ren Qing shook his head. He had no idea what the current situation in Jingzhou was like after the fall of the Wuwei Daoist Temple.
He put away the notebook in which he had recorded his refining insights.
With the Tombstone Furnace, many artifacts that were previously difficult to refine became easily manageable.
Restraint Officer artifacts usually involved the body; the Tombstone Furnace essentially grew artifacts from flesh and blood.
The two were a perfect match.
Time passed in the blink of an eye, and the date of the Ghost Market's opening quietly approached.
During this period, the Restraint Officers' Hall was not inactive. First, in order to replenish the number of Restraint Officers, they began harvesting talent from various gangs, recruiting twenty to thirty reserves.
Second was the matter of the Summoning Spirits Art.
The altar within Avici Hell was already covered with mysterious patterns, and Restraint Officers were specially dispatched to use techniques to seal off the surrounding area.
Each day, livestock blood was poured over the altar, making the patterns grow increasingly distinct.
However, because part of the Other Shore Flower had been consumed in the Food-Consuming Immortal Forbidden Zone, and the new batch was still being cultivated, the ritual had yet to begin.
The looming storm created a heavy atmosphere even within the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing was eager to uncover the truth, but unfortunately, Song Zongwu was still recuperating. Over the past few days, he had received no response at all from attempts to contact him via Nether Feather.
His relationship with the other Yin Runner realm cultivators wasn't close enough to ask them about secrets.
He could only calm down and wait patiently.
On the day the Ghost Market opened, Ren Qing had thought that, due to various trivial matters, very few Restraint Officers would enter.
Unexpectedly, the turnout was higher than he imagined, and a significant portion were veteran Restraint Officers.
Most Restraint Officers came to the Great Dream Pavilion to purchase supplies, both to enhance their own strength and to stop by the tavern for a jar of Drunken Life, Dreaming Death.
Some Restraint Officers also brought reserves along to help them get familiar with the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing moved through the streets of the Ghost Market, heading in the direction of the Great Dream Pavilion.
Some of the surrounding Restraint Officers had heard of Ren Qing's reputation, and when they saw his distinctive Double Pupils, they silently cleared a path.
After all, this was a ruthless figure who had emerged alive from the Stomach within the Stomach.
Ren Qing paid them no mind at all and walked straight into the Great Dream Pavilion.
While his divided soul left his body to go to the Great Dream Forge, he began buying materials in bulk, mainly resources for cultivating various techniques.
Ren Qing didn't bother to hide anything anymore, plenty of Restraint Officers already knew he had mastered multiple techniques, and besides, he had to manage artifact refining as well.
He took out the blood crystals from his Restraint Officer token.
Fortunately, the missions involving the Forbidden Zones gave generous blood crystal rewards, so after replenishing his supplies, he even had some left over.
These resources would be enough to support him for half a year of cultivation without leaving home.
Just as Ren Qing was about to open the doors of the Great Dream Forge, he suddenly seemed to think of something and returned to the counter to continue browsing.
He began deliberately selecting plants that could grow on flesh, disliked sunlight, and were preferably edible.
The Great Dream Pavilion had a dazzling array of goods, and sure enough, he found something suitable.
[Blood Vine]
[Formed from the Blood Vine Technique, it is highly poisonous, though the fruit's toxicity is relatively mild.]
With the physique of a Ghost Envoy realm cultivator, slight toxicity shouldn't be an issue.
The price of Blood Vine seeds wasn't high, just a few units of blood crystal bought him a handful.
He specially cleared out a prison cell inside the Prison Within the Abdomen and planted them there, as the walls were made of flesh and the corner was a suitable location.
Ren Qing didn't intend to pay much attention to the Blood Vine.
The Kindling Flame was still too weak; while ordinary weeds could barely survive, plants associated with techniques like this one might have a harder time.
He was just testing, if they sprouted and grew, then he'd consider large-scale cultivation.
In the future, if trapped in a sealed environment, this would essentially mean a source of food.
Ren Qing then shifted his attention to the divided soul.
The doors of the Great Dream Forge slowly opened.
The street was crowded.
Because the Great Dream Forge had been closed for over half a year, no Restraint Officers had expected it.
Until a Restraint Officer caught a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye, his face filled with surprise as he stopped in his tracks, and those nearby also turned to look.
Although the Great Dream Forge was known to pick its customers, to them it was ultimately a shop opened by the Great Dream True Person. That a Yin Runner realm personally forged artifacts, having some demands was only natural.
But the strange thing was,
Several months ago, those gathered outside the Great Dream Forge were mostly Half-Corpse realm reserves looking to remedy flaws in their techniques.
But this time, for some reason, nearly all were veteran Ghost Envoy realm Restraint Officers.
Some Restraint Officers broke away from the crowd, impatiently heading to the Great Dream Pavilion to buy materials in preparation for artifact forging.
Huang Ziwan held a jar of Drunken Life, Dreaming Death in his arms, planning to enjoy a good drink before entering seclusion.
When he saw the Great Dream Forge, he couldn't help but freeze.
He remembered Ren Qing's prior reminder and felt a stirring in his heart.
But before he could react, a Restraint Officer entered the Great Dream Forge, and the doors promptly shut, no one else could open them now.
Seeing this, Huang Ziwan scratched his head. Refining took several hours at minimum, and he didn't have the patience to wait outside.
Besides, his aberration wasn't serious, far from losing control. It was just that his skin continuously secreted venom, making contact with ordinary people impossible.
He might as well take this opportunity to clear his mind. After passing through the ordeal of his second aberration, he could forge artifacts and enjoy himself later.
Huang Ziwan turned and left.
Even inside the Great Dream Forge, Ren Qing could see the outside clearly.
He shook his head, planning to make a custom artifact for Huang Ziwan once he finished with the current client, and just say it was a coincidence that no one else was around.
Ren Qing stepped out from the back room of the shop.
The divided soul had taken on the appearance of the Great Dream True Person and carefully sized up the Restraint Officer.
The veteran Restraint Officer looked over seventy years old, and his face showed undisguised joy.
Ren Qing was puzzled.
The Restraint Officer clearly had no signs of aberration, yet he still brought materials to the Great Dream Forge, evidently, the artifact he wanted had some other purpose.
Ren Qing didn't even need to ask; the Restraint Officer carefully explained the type of artifact he wanted, it truly had nothing to do with his techniques.
The artifact was quite unusual, it was made from a skullcap.
According to the Restraint Officer, it didn't matter whether the artifact merged with the skull, but it had to fit the head and be able to block attacks on the soul.
Ren Qing was playing the role of the Great Dream True Person, so it wouldn't be appropriate to ask questions.
He took the materials, which were well-suited to the task, and the Restraint Officer had even brought four complete sets, afraid the Great Dream True Person might slack off.
Ren Qing walked slowly into the back room and then sent the ghost shadow to the Wuwei Daoist Temple.
He wasn't worried about being watched by Yin Runner realm cultivators, after all, the ghost shadow was formed by technique. Even if it behaved strangely, that was still normal, and coming and going from the Wuwei Daoist Temple was very discreet.
Ren Qing's main body tightly closed its eyes, but in fact he was using the link with the ghost shadow to control the refining remotely.
The ghost shadow aligned itself with the insect eggs.
The Heavenly Dao Worm larva within its body was being squeezed relentlessly, and the Foundation Establishment level Tombstone Furnace slowly descended, this corpse became more and more lifelike.
The ghost shadow then handed a portion of the skullcap to the Tombstone Furnace.
The Tombstone Furnace removed its own skull and pressed the cap onto it, thus activating the material's properties.
Moments later, the ghost shadow spread a spiderweb-like substance over the skullcap.
As the two gradually merged, the bone turned ghostly pale.
Then came the soul-strengthening stone powder, which had to be applied in exact proportions, but the ghost shadow handled this easily.
Ren Qing couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, he suddenly realized that the ghost shadow's control over material ratios was almost perfect.
Far beyond what he himself could achieve.
In a way, he had truly achieved automated refining.
After just under half an hour, the materials had fully merged, and the skullcap's surface was covered with a thin layer of human skin.
The artifact was thus complete.
The veteran Restraint Officer was still waiting, face glowing with excitement, he no longer looked like the steady man he once appeared.
Ren Qing carried the skullcap into the front hall and placed the finished artifact on the counter.
The Restraint Officer picked it up and examined it carefully.
He hadn't expected the Great Dream Forge to work so quickly, he had estimated at least five to six hours, even longer if it failed.
What shocked him more was that the artifact didn't look man-made at all. It seemed freshly taken from a living person's head, it even felt warm to the touch.
Perhaps this was the power of the Yin Runner realm.
After paying in blood crystals and losing a bit of lifespan, the Restraint Officer bowed respectfully and left.
He had only just stepped out when someone else entered, another veteran Restraint Officer, confirming that the Great Dream Forge was now fully occupied.
Ren Qing was briefly stunned as he took the refining materials.
Another skullcap.
And just like before, it had to resist soul attacks.
Ren Qing suppressed his thoughts and got busy. The harvest exceeded his expectations.
The Tombstone Furnace made refining more convenient, the ghost shadow's precision saved materials, and the Restraint Officers all brought three or four full sets, this was essentially cost-free business.
By the time the Ghost Market closed, Ren Qing had extended his lifespan by more than two years in just twelve hours.
Keep in mind, once the Nether Sea Breathing Art advanced to the Golden Core stage, the ghost shadow could even control multiple Tombstone Furnaces simultaneously, vastly boosting efficiency.
Of course, the ability to earn two years of lifespan was also due to the Restraint Officers' high demand for artifacts.
Ren Qing discovered that all veteran Restraint Officers were having skullcap artifacts forged to resist soul attacks.
This situation spoke volumes.
These Restraint Officers must have experienced the soul summoning from decades ago, they knew what would happen, which was why they were preparing soul-defense artifacts.
Ren Qing pondered silently.
Based on the information at hand, the more Three Souls and Seven Spirits were summoned, the more bizarre the pseudo-souls would become.
And with the Restraint Officers' Hall clearly planning something big, one or two pseudo-souls surely wouldn't be enough.
Now the observant veterans had already started preparing, to deal with the upcoming Ksitigarbha soul summoning.
Ren Qing shook his head helplessly. It seemed he too had to take precautions.
Since the Twin Nightmare Ghosts involved the soul, it would be best to complete one or two aberrations during this period.