During this period, the Restraint Officers' Hall was far from quiet.
Li Tiangang brought with him as many as six official Restraint Officers and twenty reservists, riding a sand-ship toward Huang Sand City.
As long as he could probe the reality of Qingxu Temple, he would immediately take control of Huang Sand City, and then seal off all the Ze People.
Sun, relying on the continuous harassment of the Nether Crow, had already locked onto the position of Qingxu Temple.
For him, the techniques he mastered could already traverse Avici Hell, and it did not take long before he found the flaw of Qingxu Temple.
Even Ren Qing's split soul in the clay jar occasionally could hear the sound of birds from outside, showing that the Nether Crow had blatantly snuck into Qingxu Temple.
Ren Qing should have been secretly pleased, perhaps even finding a chance for the split soul to escape, but he knew the situation of Qingxu Temple was far from optimistic.
Heavenly Daozi was dying...
He had tried sending a ghost shadow toward Wuwei Daoist Altar, and discovered that the pond had already been more than half shattered.
That terrifying black goat stood atop the roof of the Wuwei Hall.
Heavenly Daozi could at most hold on for about a year. On the surface it seemed there was still time, but the collapse of Wuwei Monastery was already worsening.
Ren Qing had explained to Li Tiangang and the others that Qingxu Temple was entangled with the Heavenly Dao Worm, but exactly what would happen was impossible to predict.
It must be known that after a breach appeared in the pond, there should have been large numbers of corpses flushed into the marshlands.
So where were the corpses?
Ren Qing guessed that within Qingxu Temple there might be a place specifically used to handle corpses, and Li Yaoyang might very well be hiding inside it.
But the number of Heavenly Dao Worm larvae had also decreased, and that was the worrying problem.
Whether the unfathomable consciousness of the Meat and Wine Taoist had considered the existence of the Wuwei Daoist Altar was actually hard to say.
Fortunately, the un-pupated Heavenly Dao Worm larvae only possessed cultivation below the Golden Core level, and required a long time to grow and develop.
Moreover, without a host body, the Heavenly Dao Worm larvae could not survive for long.
After Ren Qing completed the second eerie transformation of the Butterfly Dream Technique, he began to arrange the ghost market, though it required him to perfect the entire Dream Tree.
According to Li Tiangang's idea, the Restraint Officers' Hall would further subdivide the positions of Restraint Officers, the purpose being to prepare for recruiting Martial Practitioner realm.
If the Martial Practitioner realm could make use of eerie fetus artifacts to be of use, the Restraint Officers' Hall naturally would lower the threshold and once again expand its numbers.
Ren Qing rather agreed with this.
Now with the Yang God realm sitting in town, there was no longer any need to worry about an overflow of techniques leading to the creation of forbidden zones.
He quickly came beneath the Dream Tree, lifted his head to look at its branches soaring into the clouds, and planned out the layout of the buildings in the ghost market.
Nearby, some Restraint Officers occasionally passed by, most of them reservists, preparing to go to the task notices currently posted at the entrance of the Secret Pavillion.
When they saw that the path to the Dream Tree was still sealed, they could not help but feel disappointed, for the ghost market was the place to exchange resources.
Sun had previously told all Restraint Officers about the situation of the ghost market, but it was rather vague.
He merely said that the Great Dream True Person needed to go into seclusion to cultivate techniques, and that the ghost market would be handed over to another Yin Runner realm to manage, and that it would open in a few days.
This Yin Runner realm was also the subject of various guesses, and most Restraint Officers believed it was the newly advanced Muyi.
Ren Qing released a Soul Butterfly from his fingertips, to survey the top of the Dream Tree from high above. After finishing the final preparations, he then displayed the Butterfly Dream Technique.
At this time, three more reservists passed by.
Among them, a burly man could not help but say: "Now the Restraint Officers' Hall is becoming more and more deserted. The official Restraint Officers have all been sent out of town, who knows what has happened."
His technique was related to lava, thick smoke constantly poured from his mouth and nose, and the air around him was faintly distorted.
The leopard-skin-clad woman tested the waters and said: "It should be related to the marshlands. At present dozens of Restraint Officers have been dispatched, but the danger is not high."
In her words there was clearly a shift of intent, wanting to take a task to go to the marshlands.
"What do you think, Qin Jun?"
Qin Jun hesitated and shook his head. Although he also had similar thoughts in his heart, opportunity and danger always went hand in hand.
How could there be any possibility without risk.
Qin Jun turned his head and asked the short reservist: "Xiao San'er, you are much more clever than the two of us siblings. Do you think we should go to the marshlands?"
Xiao San'er narrowed his double-pupil-like eyes and said without hesitation: "Now is still too dangerous, let's wait a while longer."
Qin Lan said helplessly: "Alright then."
The reason Xiao San'er was so decisive was mainly because of the insights peculiar to common city folk.
In his view, as long as Ren Qing had not returned to Sanxiang City, that meant the tasks of the Restraint Officers' Hall had not stopped for even a moment.
If the official Restraint Officers were made to toil and rush about like this, the situation must surely be quite complicated.
However, Xiao San'er did not know much about Ren Qing's identity, and his joining the Restraint Officers' Hall was also a coincidence. How could he dare inquire about Ren Qing's affairs.
By chance Xiao San'er looked toward the figure under the Dream Tree, and suddenly felt somewhat familiar.
Just as he wanted to go forward and check, Ren Qing vanished, as if he had never appeared, making people think it was just an illusion.
Seeing this, Xiao San'er instinctively displayed his Double Pupils, but felt that the place where the man had been standing carried a familiar aura.
Could it also be the Blindless Method?
Just as he was dazed, the ground around the Dream Tree suddenly shook.
The branches of the Dream Tree extended and spread, its area more than doubling, and on its trunk began to grow paths resembling stone-brick stairways.
The fog shrouding the ghost market gradually dispersed, and the reappearing buildings were not only different but distributed differently.
The feeling it gave was indeed as if the ghost market had changed owners, with a heaven-and-earth-turning transformation.
Restraint Officers in Avici Hell all sensed the anomaly. While moving toward the ghost market, they also informed their friends outside.
The Qin siblings looked at each other, their expressions becoming overjoyed.
"The ghost market has finally opened."
Qin Jun said with a smile: "As long as we use the accumulated blood crystals to exchange for materials, the speed of advancing to the Ghost Envoy realm will be much faster."
He noticed Xiao San'er was still in a daze, and could not help patting the latter's shoulder.
"I'm fine, let's go."
Xiao San'er came back to his senses. That just now must have been the master of the ghost market. Unexpectedly, he too had mastered the Blindless Method.
He did not connect Ren Qing with the master of the ghost market.
After all, in his view, Yin Runner realm cultivators were all immortals who had cultivated for hundreds of years. Ren Qing was just a bit over ten years older, so it was impossible.
Qin Jun walked at the front, and the three followed the trunk's path toward the ghost market.
They looked around, and compared to the original Dream Tree, although the change now was not large, there was a very subtle feeling.
How to say it, it was more refined.
The leaves were lush and verdant, and through the occasional gaps one could see patterns carved on the trunk, likely made with sharp tools.
Clearly recorded on them was the process of Ksitigarbha summoning souls, with numerous Restraint Officers struggling to survive amidst an ocean of eerie entities.
There were also patterns of Restraint Officers fighting a towering giant tree. Even though the lines were rather rough, one could still feel suffocating pressure.
The three Qin siblings' breathing grew hurried. Even if they had never participated in Ksitigarbha summoning souls, in their hearts surged an inexplicable fervor.
But at one-fifth of the way up the Dream Tree, the patterns were already blank, and the last few depicted the Great Dream True Person advancing to the Yang God realm, as well as Restraint Officers heading to the marshlands.
They quickened their pace, and before long they were already at the entrance to the ghost market.
The street had become extremely wide, enough for two horse carriages to travel side by side, and the number of shops had also increased, though it became extremely spacious.
The ghost market originally had all sorts of commoner illusions spread everywhere.
But although Ren Qing could use the means left behind by the Great Dream True Person to modify the Dream Tree and the ghost market, he could not maintain such lifelike illusions.
Nor would he waste effort making the ghost market more realistic.
The Qin siblings impatiently found the Great Dream Pavillion, and after trying to push open the doors, they immediately went inside to exchange resources.
Xiao San'er hesitated, stopped in his tracks, and chose instead to stroll around the ghost market.
He noticed that aside from the original buildings, there were now teahouse inns specifically for Restraint Officers to rest in, as well as arenas on open grounds.
The bulletin board for distributing tasks was also not far away.
Xiao San'er went up to check.
But perhaps because the ghost market had just opened, there were no tasks on the board.
Just as he was about to return to the Great Dream Pavillion, in a daze a sheet of paper appeared on the bulletin.
The paper only had two words written: "Artifact Refining."
Xiao San'er touched the paper with his palm, and to his surprise it was easily taken down, showing that the requirements for the artifact refining task were not high.
Next would be to wait for the Nether Crow's notification. It should be related to Great Dream forging artifacts.
In just a short time, dozens of Restraint Officers had also poured into the ghost market, beginning to lavishly spend the blood crystals they had accumulated over these days.
Xiao San'er slowly walked to the front of the Great Dream Pavillion, just as Qin Jun was coming out.
On Qin Jun's face was an inexplicable smile. In a lowered voice he said: "Xiao San'er, I finally know who the new master of the ghost market is."
Xiao San'er's heart skipped, and he quickly asked: "Who?"
"It is also the senior who not long ago advanced to the Yin Runner realm, named Ren Qing."
Xiao San'er's eyes went wide, staring at Qin Jun in disbelief.
Originally he had heard official Restraint Officers talk of Ren Qing, but they had never mentioned Yin Runner realm, only conveyed a deep dread in their words.
How could he possibly be the master of the ghost market.
Qin Jun kept talking on and on, then suddenly as if recalling something, asked in puzzlement: "The phantom in that Great Dream Pavillion, why did its eyes also have Double Pupils."
"I... I'm going into the Great Dream Pavillion."
Xiao San'er stepped in hurriedly, flustered, not wanting to bring trouble to Ren Qing, and so not planning to tell others.
Inside the Great Dream Pavillion it was dazzling and full of items.
And indeed behind the counter stood a familiar phantom. Even though the features were rather blurry, he recognized it at a glance.
Xiao San'er opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
Only then did he belatedly take out that sheet of paper from his chest. At that moment, the sound of cawing entered his ears, and the Nether Crow came through the wall toward Xiao San'er.
The task slip for artifact refining fell.
Xiao San'er picked it up, only to discover that it required him to go to the frontier outside Xiangxiang, right at the dangerous area near the marshlands.
Although he did not know why artifact refining was related to the marshlands, he nevertheless accepted it without hesitation.
Xiao San'er did not disturb Ren Qing. After exchanging for materials, he left the Great Dream Pavillion, preparing to pack his belongings and head to Heshan Town.
The Qin siblings were very surprised at his change, and then decided to travel together.
Ren Qing split off some of his mind to observe the side event in the ghost market. Xiao San'er's task was naturally arranged by him intentionally.
As for himself, he was in both pain and joy.
The flood of Restraint Officers into the ghost market forced Ren Qing to put his whole mind into it, feeling like he was stretched too thin.
But the increase of his lifespan was visible to the naked eye.