The Ghost Market had not opened for several months, and the Restraint Officers naturally had no way to go elsewhere to exchange resources, so they could only wait patiently.
As a result, the blood crystals accumulated on hand grew more and more.
Ren Qing had not anticipated that such a situation would arise, and he had no time to take care of other things, focusing his entire attention on the Soul Butterfly.
When Huang Ziwan arrived at the Ghost Market, it happened to be at its most bustling.
The spacious streets were filled everywhere with Restraint Officers of strange appearances, and mixed in among them were non-human cultivators with severe aberrations.
At a glance, these were originally out-of-control Restraint Officers imprisoned in the Stomach within the Stomach.
Huang Ziwan was unfortunately classified among this group of Restraint Officers, and the eyes of the surrounding reservists all carried slight fear, even avoiding him as they walked.
He could not help but curse under his breath.
But when he thought that Ren Qing had already advanced to the Yin Runner Realm and had become the master of the Ghost Market, although it was unbelievable, the corners of his mouth could not help but show a smile.
"Indeed something Ren Qing could pull off, truly frustrating, to have silently reached the Yin Runner Realm."
Huang Ziwan did not hurry into the Great Dream Pavilion to exchange materials for cultivating the Poison Bone Art, but instead looked toward the surging crowd at the Great Dream Toolforge.
In his impression, Ren Qing had more than once suggested that he refine magic tools at the shop, but at the time he had not paid it any mind.
Huang Ziwan suddenly realized that Ren Qing's tool-forging skill was probably not low, and perhaps that sandship artifact was in fact his work.
He did not hesitate further and stepped into the Great Dream Toolforge.
Behind the shop counter stood a familiar figure, though its appearance was somewhat blurred, clearly only an illusion maintained by sorcery.
Huang Ziwan felt uncomfortable all over. One must know, usually it was the Great Dream True Person standing there; it was difficult to connect Ren Qing with the master of the Ghost Market.
He opened his mouth, just about to ask in detail about refining artifacts, when he saw that on the wall before him suddenly appeared a mass of writing.
There were no fewer than four or five types of artifacts listed, with different functional emphases.
The corner of Huang Ziwan's mouth twitched.
In his heart he thought, worthy indeed of the Yin Runner Realm, to consider every aspect so comprehensively.
He did not know that the ghost shadow was stationed within the Great Dream Toolforge. Though it lacked intelligence, it could perfectly execute Ren Qing's instructions.
Huang Ziwan picked a dao robe artifact, and then the writing began to recombine.
Aside from informing him of the various materials required for refining, it also told him to return in three days to collect it. The price, however, was fairly honest, clearly only charging a processing fee.
Ren Qing was mainly aiming for lifespan; blood crystals were no longer of much use, since now he had complete control of the Ghost Market.
After Huang Ziwan left the Great Dream Toolforge, he exchanged for enough materials at the Great Dream Pavilion, and then, against his usual habit, did not go to drink.
He actually chose to go to an inn and go into seclusion to cultivate.
Huang Ziwan's Poison Bone Art was already approaching the Half-Corpse Realm. If he could advance the sorcery to the Ghost Envoy Realm, he would be able to touch upon the third eerie mutation.
In any case, the camp at the water marsh had no missions; it was better to stay at the Ghost Market.
There were not a few Restraint Officers with the same idea as Huang Ziwan, leading to as many as thirty or forty Restraint Officers lodging at the inn.
Fortunately, the inn was not a real building but was formed from sorcery. Though outwardly it seemed only two stories tall, in truth it had over a hundred guest rooms.
And when Ren Qing's Butterfly Dream Technique reached the Yin Runner Realm and even achieved the effect of Mustard-Seed Space, it would be able to accommodate tens of thousands.
And at this moment Ren Qing was also inside the inn.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, his whole body already drenched in sweat.
The aura of the Lord of Absolute Darkness flickered faintly, with the Butterfly Dream Technique intermixed among it. Under the effect of the two dream sorceries, he gradually grew adept.
Ren Qing returned to his senses.
The Ghost Market had already been open for two or three days, and seeing the volume of transactions gradually slacken, he let out a sigh of relief.
One must know, when he had just rebuilt it, there had only been a few dozen Restraint Officers, so the burden on the sorcery was not great.
Ren Qing felt that the Butterfly Dream Technique was more than sufficient to cope, and so did not restrict the number of people in the Ghost Market.
But before long, the Restraint Officers had multiplied by seven or eight times.
And a large number of cultivators were surely from the remote and desolate water marshes, and they seemed not to intend to leave the Ghost Market.
This almost caused Ren Qing to be unable to maintain the Ghost Market, but fortunately the Lord of Absolute Darkness was a sorcery of the same type, so he did not have to close the market again.
The reason he had established a teahouse and an inn was mainly to increase the Ghost Market's efficiency in extending lifespan, and to give the Restraint Officers a place to go into seclusion.
However, because Drunken Life, Dreaming Death was related to the eerie mutation branch of the Great Dream True Person, Ren Qing could not interfere with the operation of the tavern.
He could only think of other methods, and in the future find an industry to substitute for the tavern.
Ren Qing at present was already able to withdraw himself, but his previous act of focusing his attention on the Ghost Market would naturally affect the split soul.
The split soul was trapped within the earthen jar. Without the support of the main soul, it quickly grew weaker, and looked to be on the verge of collapse.
Ren Qing helplessly shook his head. It seemed he could only temporarily give up on exploring Qingxu Temple; moreover, the function of the Wine-Warming Immortal was only brewing wine.
But the harvest of the Ghost Market was enough to make up for it.
His eyes narrowed slightly. His lifespan had, without his noticing, already reached just over fifty years, and at any time he could complete the third eerie mutation.
Although the lifespan-extending effect of An Inch of Time was limited, yet every moment a large number of Restraint Officers were spending blood crystals, and so grains of sand built into a tower.
Ren Qing had never before experienced lifespan increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The second eerie mutation branch ability he had chosen for the Butterfly Dream Technique was [Butterfly Love], purely to enhance the functional utility of the Ghost Market.
[Butterfly Love] The Soul Butterfly formed a projection, pulling the consciousness of the possessed into a dream.
With Butterfly Love, the Restraint Officers only needed to come to the Ghost Market through sleep, without affecting their physical bodies in the outside world.
At present Ren Qing's cultivation was still shallow, so he had not yet opened Butterfly Love.
As for the third eerie mutation of the Butterfly Dream Technique, he already had a target.
[Messenger] No matter how far the Soul Butterfly was from its target, it could transform into a projection and travel there.
Messenger clearly could cooperate with Butterfly Love, allowing Restraint Officers to enter dreams to exchange for resources, and then have the Soul Butterfly deliver them.
Of course, efficiency could not be guaranteed, and it would also require additional lifespan and blood crystals.
[Do you choose the eerie mutation branch "Messenger"]
The instant Ren Qing silently confirmed, his body inevitably showed several breaths of instability, but it was quickly forcibly suppressed.
The dream constituting the Ghost Market suddenly gave rise to an abnormality.
Dark red lines spread across the walls, strange and uncanny sounds came from the shadows, and bloody footprints appeared on the floor tiles...
This was clearly caused by the Lord of Absolute Darkness.
The anomaly lasted only a moment before disappearing, but it still made quite a few Restraint Officers swallow their saliva.
They suddenly realized that although Ren Qing was the newly ascended master of the Ghost Market, he had once also been a dangerous figure imprisoned in the Stomach within the Stomach.
Ren Qing opened his eyes.
His breathing grew steady, and the Butterfly Dream Technique had already reached the third eerie mutation.
Ren Qing was able to leave the Ghost Market for long periods, but in fact this mainly relied on the Ghost Market framework left behind by the Great Dream True Person. Otherwise, how could it be so easy.
He still had to wait until the Lord of Absolute Darkness advanced to Merging the Yin God, and only then would things enter the proper track.
The reason the Great Dream True Person had not continually maintained the Ghost Market at the Yin Runner Realm was very likely because his consciousness had been rather blurred.
Ren Qing intentionally glanced at Huang Ziwan, and discovered that the latter's whole body skin had turned a deep purple color, the condition apparently not optimistic.
Huang Ziwan must have been impatient for quick success, trying to advance to the Half-Corpse Realm, but had not expected aberration to show signs of losing control.
This showed that aberration of body and soul, even with Eerie Dust suppressing it, still carried risk.
Seeing this, Ren Qing pondered for a moment, then took out the Supernatural Remnant of the Poison Bone Art, and then traveled from Avici Hell to the desert water marsh.
He skillfully transformed the Supernatural Remnant into an Eerie Fetus, and then returned to the Ghost Market.
All kinds of materials were laid out on the table, all closely related to the Poison Bone Art.
Ren Qing saw that Huang Ziwan was about to be unable to hold on, and quickly began refining. Very soon a black dao robe took shape.
He pointed his finger on the dao robe, and the Soul Butterfly slowly flew toward the Eerie Fetus artifact.
As the ability of Messenger was exercised, the appearance of the Soul Butterfly underwent a strange transformation, gradually approaching a human form.
Ren Qing could not help but show a peculiar expression. The style of the Butterfly Dream Technique seemed to be going off in the wrong direction.
When Messenger formed, it was actually a half-transparent ghost with its face covered, wearing the mourning clothes of the dead, and holding a lantern in hand.
The Messenger took the dao robe, and in the blink of an eye arrived at the other side of the inn.
The dao robe fell onto Huang Ziwan's body, and the signs of aberration losing control were immediately alleviated. The Messenger then turned back into the Soul Butterfly and vanished without a trace.
Huang Ziwan, blessed by misfortune, not only advanced his Poison Bone Art to the Half-Corpse Realm, but also by the way refined the Eerie Fetus artifact.
He looked in shocked uncertainty at the dao robe, and then realized it was something Ren Qing had engineered, leaving him somewhat questioning life.
In just a few short months, what on earth had happened...
Ren Qing had just been about to seek out Huang Ziwan for a chat, when he suddenly sensed that the split soul far away at Qingxu Temple was somewhat abnormal, as if still alive.
Clearly it had already collapsed, but the liquor within the earthen jar was sustaining the split soul's vitality, though recovery was obviously unrealistic.
As Ren Qing hesitated over how to deal with the split soul, outside the temple came the sound of heavy footsteps, as two people entered the room.
They seemed to be standing before the split soul, scrutinizing this plain earthen jar.
A hoarse voice spoke, likely that of the middle-aged marsh-man who had brought Ren Qing to soak in wine, the tone exceedingly obsequious.
"Daoist officer, look, this Wine-Warming Immortal..."
"For some reason it has persisted for so long; the other marsh-men have long since completed their remolding. Perhaps its physique before Ascension was unusual."
"Jinshi-zi, take him to the rear mountain."
"Yes, Daoist officer."
The two then left the temple, and the surroundings returned once more to silence.
Ren Qing shook his head. From the conversation it could be gleaned that the marsh-men all had to undergo remolding of their bodies, though for what purpose he did not know.
Seeing this, he divided a bit of his consciousness to rest upon the split soul, to see if there was any loophole to exploit; perhaps there might be unexpected gains.
The corpse of the Meat and Wine Taoist was an opportunity that could not be ignored, since it was tied to the Heavenly Abomination Realm, how could it not make others covetous.
After Ren Qing waited a moment, seven or eight marsh-men gathered around the earthen jar.
They used ritual methods, chanting the Daoist Rebirth Mantra, and then bit by bit separated the earthen jar from the ground.
Ren Qing was somewhat puzzled by the actions of the marsh-men.
But very soon he grew tense, for he could faintly hear the crying of a child.
He felt as though countless arms were grasping the earthen jar, and the marsh-men expended no small effort to separate it from the ground.
Then the earthen jar was lifted up, swaying as it was carried toward the "rear mountain" the Daoist officer had spoken of, though whether this was related to the so-called remolding was unknown.
The earthen jar was set down firmly, and once again the sound of a child's crying arose.
Ren Qing absurdly realized that the crying sound came from the jar itself. What ghostly thing had the Qingxu Temple used to imprison the split soul?