The contents of the pill recipe were written from Huang Qi's perspective, describing the events that took place after the fall of Wuwei Monastery, with lines filled with confusion.
On the surface, Heavenly Daozi treated the survivors as seeds to inherit the Dao lineage. In reality, they were ingredients for pills to heal his soul injuries.
The Heavenly Dao Worms in their bodies were likely also cruelly extracted.
In the end, however, Heavenly Daozi still went insane, and Huang Qi became one of the fish that slipped through the net.
But Huang Qi still firmly believed in Heavenly Daozi's mad ravings. Over thirty years, he worked tirelessly to improve the pill that demonized the soul.
Ren Qing fell into contemplation as he read the recipe.
The formula had been heavily revised, with ingredients primarily composed of flesh, blood, and bone. Of course, the most crucial component remained the aura of the Heavenly Demon.
All materials had to be eroded by the aura of the Heavenly Demon before being refined.
This pill was called "Transforming Demon".
Huang Qi believed that the Transforming Demon Pill could help Heavenly Daozi regain his sanity, but in the end, he died from soul aberration.
Ren Qing couldn't help but feel tempted.
Although the downsides of the Transforming Demon Pill were severe, there might be ways to circumvent them.
If it could strengthen the soul, then it was indeed a method to counter the Supreme Heavenly Demon. And now, after modifications, the required materials were relatively common.
Ren Qing stored the recipe away again.
Then he transferred all the resources in Doushuai Palace to the Prison Within the Abdomen. He had no plans to return to this place again anyway.
Without realizing it, Ren Qing had nearly emptied out the Daoist temple. Before he could prepare to leave, another change occurred outside Doushuai Palace.
Water splashed, and a bizarre bleating echoed above the pond.
Seeing this, Ren Qing couldn't help but sigh. His eyes turned toward the window, and the ghost shadow and soul-clone immediately returned to the physical world.
The abnormal phenomenon was caused by Heavenly Daozi, who had transformed into a black goat and was walking toward Doushuai Palace, his emitted aura distorting the surroundings.
It had been a while since Ren Qing had last seen Heavenly Daozi. His body had become increasingly inhuman, almost completely unrecognizable. It was unlikely he retained any sanity.
In comparison, the monstrous infants were mere child's play.
Taking advantage of the moment, Ren Qing exited the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
For a long time afterward, he had no intention of entering it again, lest he be unknowingly affected by the Supreme Heavenly Demon.
Ren Qing sat down to rest in Corpse Burners' Hall. Through clues uncovered by part of the ghost shadow, he discovered that the monstrous infant births were nearing their end.
Many areas on the outskirts of the city had already been sealed off. While the residents might not sense anything strange, the constables of the yamen were clearly busier.
Not only did they have to patrol the streets, but the entrances and exits leading to the outskirts were also tightly guarded.
Ren Qing was about to check on his assigned area when he suddenly noticed a Nether Crow peering around outside his window.
He couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, then opened the window.
The Nether Crow spat out a piece of paper and turned into a pile of meat mush.
Ren Qing's expression grew more solemn as he read the message on the paper.
Perhaps Li Tiangang had sensed Ren Qing's inaction and specifically passed this message to explain the stakes.
According to Li Tiangang, the weight of each monstrous infant should be exact to the decimal, but recently they had been getting lighter and lighter, likely indicating the birth of a more severely aberrated monstrous infant.
This would be a major problem for the other Restraint Officers.
But it reminded Ren Qing of the Transforming Demon Pill. He felt he could take advantage of the chaos to collect some Heavenly Demon remnants and then use the Heavenly Demon Bone to repair the souls of monstrous infants.
He quickly headed to the western outskirts of the city, ghost shadow cloaking his body as he walked.
The sky had grown even more overcast, perfect for concealing his movements.
The closer Ren Qing got to the farmland, the more deathly silent the atmosphere became, only the distant barking of stray dogs could be heard.
Occasionally, a few birds sliced through the night sky, eyes operated by Restraint Officers.
Ren Qing swept the area with Double Pupils. The hidden Restraint Officers had no place to hide, no matter how refined their techniques, it was useless.
After all, Twin Nightmare Ghosts wasn't merely about enhancing the physical eye, it also allowed the soul-clone to perceive hard-to-detect auras.
Ren Qing then cast Immortal in the Mirror, walking through the farmland as if no one else existed.
A Restraint Officer who had transformed into a leopard was crouched on a pear tree, yet couldn't even see Ren Qing pass by directly in front of him.
Ren Qing was happy to keep it that way. As long as nothing went wrong, he preferred to stay hands-off.
As a stationed Restraint Officer, he would receive blood crystal rewards whether he acted or not.
After strolling around, he settled into an unused house.
Since there was no way to predict when a monstrous infant would appear, there was no need to stay constantly on guard. His soul-clone and ghost shadow could handle patrols.
Ren Qing casually swallowed a few eyeballs and closed his eyes to visualize the Taotie Method.
His current lifespan had already reached sixty years again, so of course, he was racing against time.
It would be best to reach seventy years by the end of the next ghost market.
Though the Ksitigarbha summoning preparations by the Restraint Officers' Hall seemed slow, once the plan was put into action, it would surely be as sudden as thunder.
The Taotie Method caused his stomach to emit a unique sound, though it was masked by the ghost shadow covering his whole body.
For Ren Qing, it was just a change of scenery for cultivation. In truth, there wasn't much difference between Corpse Burners' Hall and the suburban farmland.
Corpse Burners' Hall might even be a little noisier.
But for the Restraint Officers hiding nearby, waiting for the birth of an unknown strange creature was an extremely agonizing experience.
The Restraint Officers' Hall's Ksitigarbha summoning involved almost every Restraint Officer except for a few reserves, none could avoid participation.
It was just that their responsibilities varied.
Reportedly, the Restraint Officers' Hall had transferred the Other Shore Flower to a cavern under the Rotten Mud Gang, guarded by over a dozen Restraint Officers. The timing for watering the remnant souls was calculated down to the breath.
Zhang Qiu stood in the shadow beneath the eaves.
Blood continuously dripped from his mouth as he used the ability of the Snake Molting Method to sense auras, distinguishing whether a monstrous infant was being born.
Because monstrous infants affected their surroundings, what the naked eye saw might not be real. Therefore, each area had Restraint Officers with similar abilities.
Zhang Qiu only needed to send a warning, and the nearby Restraint Officers would immediately take action.
Thanks to their coordination, the previous monstrous infant infestations had passed without incident, only one person had been accidentally injured by a teammate.
But Zhang Qiu clearly sensed that, although the monstrous infants' strength was gradually decreasing, their auras were becoming harder to detect and increasingly difficult to deal with.
Li Tiangang had recently sent another message via Nether Crow, warning them to beware of the imminent monstrous infant.
Zhang Qiu's face grew deeply wary.
Even though the Restraint Officers' Hall repeatedly claimed that monstrous infants were merely products of Supernatural Remnant influence, anyone with eyes could see something was off.
He vividly remembered civilians laughing and chatting one moment, only to instantly transform into half-human, half-goat monsters within a hundred meters of a newborn monstrous infant.
What terrified Restraint Officers the most was that the aberration caused by the monstrous infants didn't just affect the body, even the soul could be distorted.
In such a situation, it was inevitable for everyone to feel endangered.
Zhang Qiu had managed to maintain control well, but he was still unsettled.
While focusing on discerning the aura, he suddenly sensed a faint mist gathering around him.
Before long, a human figure materialized.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zhang Qiu saw Xu Shilin appear beside him. Even within the Restraint Officers' Hall, his unique technique was fairly rare.
Zhang Qiu was unsurprised and continued to observe the farmland.
"Zhang Qiu, based on the situation in the other districts, a total of twenty-five monstrous infants have been contained. It's nearly over."
Zhang Qiu sighed in relief. Only seven or eight remained, it shouldn't take more than a few days. They just needed to guard against the possibility Li Tiangang mentioned.
Xu Shilin hesitated, then said, "A Restraint Officer in the eastern city had his body aberrated and was locked up in the Stomach within the Stomach."
"Mm..."
"Don't tell the others, it could cause hesitation during the eradication effort."
Zhang Qiu's face grew more somber.
Thankfully, Sanxiang City had several Yin Runner realm cultivators in residence, so there would be no deaths, but aberration was more terrifying than any ghost or monster.
Stomach within the Stomach... for decades, only Ren Qing had walked out of there alive.
"Don't worry. The western outskirts should have a Ghost Envoy realm cultivator who's gone through three aberrations stationed there, but the situation is stable so they haven't shown up yet."
"Good. Let's not let anything go wrong."
Xu Shilin nodded and left, quickly returning to his post.
Zhang Qiu took a deep breath and pulled a few copper coins from his sleeve to divine a fortune. He felt an inexplicable sense of great misfortune surrounding the monstrous infant's arrival.
Though divination wasn't a spell technique, he generally believed in it, and now he felt even more uncertain.
A few days earlier, Zhang Qiu had contacted Li Tiangang via Nether Feather, hoping to learn who was stationed in the western outskirts, but Li Tiangang hadn't told him.
As the dire situation continued to escalate, Zhang Qiu grew increasingly anxious.
Little did he know that not far from where he sat under the eaves, Ren Qing was sitting cross-legged on the ground, visualizing a spell technique and even yawning.
He was extremely confident.
His ghost shadow and soul-clone were spread throughout the farmland. If anything happened, his reaction would be faster than the Restraint Officers on alert.
Just then, the goats across the entire farm let out strange bleating cries.
The Restraint Officers immediately tensed up. If not for Zhang Qiu holding back the command, they might have struck out in panic.
The pressure emanating from the monstrous infant was simply too overwhelming, completely unlike ordinary strange creatures.
Ren Qing opened his eyes.
The ghost shadow instantly returned to his body, while the soul-clone floated above the farmland, overseeing the situation.
Zhang Qiu forcibly calmed himself.
He didn't want to wait any longer and emitted a hissing sound unique to serpents, which spread outward.
This was an ability Zhang Qiu had obtained from one of his aberrations after reaching Ghost Envoy realm, called [Snake Tongue]. The sound could travel for miles and allowed communication with snakes.
Upon hearing it, the Restraint Officers all sprang into action.
With Xu Shilin leading the spellcasting, multiple techniques were unleashed.
Mist floated into the air. Several bats flew into it and exploded, dyeing the mist an eerie blood-red.
A fierce wind blew, and the blood mist slowly condensed.
Zhang Qiu nodded silently.
Through the coordination of their techniques, they had temporarily prepared two groups of spells for offense and defense.
During previous monstrous infant births, the blood poison mist had been completely effective.
Baa...
A bipedal goat walked out from a house on the northern side of the farmland.
Zhang Qiu immediately signaled with Snake Tongue to deploy the blood poison mist. The mist condensed into droplets and slammed down, the goat turned into a pile of meat mush.
His expression froze.
How could a monstrous infant be killed so easily?
Baa baa baa...
The bleating came one after another.
Dozens of upright goats entered the street. From the bloodstains at their joints, it was clear they were affected by monstrous infant power.
The monstrous infant had not yet been born, but it was already too late to deploy another blood poison mist.
Zhang Qiu broke into a cold sweat.
What terrified him even more was that the monstrous infant... seemed to have foreseen everything.