Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and, without hesitation, contacted Sun.
Sun had previously heard Ren Qing say that his split soul had, by a stroke of chance, become a marsh-man, and should have gone to Qingxu Temple before Ascension.
Just at the right time, his own exploration had stalled in recent days, so upon receiving the message he immediately set about to cooperate.
A Nether Crow entered the Ghost Market.
Ren Qing took the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed from between his brows, attached it to the Nether Crow, and thereby sent it to Qingxu Temple, seeking to find traces of the split soul.
Even if the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed were destroyed in the process, it did not matter. After all, to obtain opportunity, how could one not pay some price in risk?
The Nether Crow quickly flew to the position of the clouds. With a flap of its wings, it seemed to pass through a membrane like misty clouds.
In order to cover the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed, Sun deliberately caused the other Nether Crows hidden throughout Qingxu Temple to reveal themselves, and then riot.
Thus the marsh-men's attention was drawn away.
Ren Qing then controlled the Nether Crow, heading toward the back of the Meat and Wine Taoist's head.
He could clearly feel that the split soul was right there. Nearby there were also no marsh-men watching, as if it had been deliberately placed on open ground.
The tongue of a marsh-man brushed past, and amid the Nether Crow's darting and maneuvering, it very quickly arrived at the back of the Meat and Wine Taoist's head.
Through the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed, Ren Qing noticed that the skull was actually incomplete, with a large portion of the cranium missing.
As a result, the Meat and Wine Taoist's brain was exposed.
Within the brain coiled that Heavenly Dao Worm of the Spirit Division stage, its appearance already having taken the form of a human face, though its expression was extremely venomous.
A Heavenly Dao Worm at the Spirit Division stage was equivalent to the Yang God Realm of Restraint Officer techniques, long since no longer needing to deliberately parasitize, usually beginning preparations for the Ascension stage.
Yet now, because of the Meat and Wine Taoist, it was forcibly imprisoned within a corpse.
The threat of the black goat grew all the more severe.
Even Ren Qing himself felt aggrieved for this Heavenly Dao Worm. Regardless of whether the Meat and Wine Taoist or the black goat won in the end,
The Heavenly Dao Worm's outcome would be no good.
Ren Qing gazed deeply at it. The Heavenly Dao Worm would surely not be resigned to dying this way; perhaps there was some chance to be seized.
He then discovered the earthen jar at the edge of the skull, within which the split soul was confined.
Ren Qing had not noticed before, but now he realized the earthen jar was actually a Heavenly Dao Worm larva, though its interior had been completely hollowed out.
Such methods naturally came from the Daoist officers of Qingxu Temple. Even the intelligence of the Heavenly Dao Worm larva had been completely ground away.
How were Daoist officers born from a corpse, perhaps the manifestation of the Meat and Wine Taoist's consciousness?
Just as Ren Qing was dazed, marsh-men were already chasing toward the back of the head.
Seeing this, he caused the Nether Crow to dissolve into minced flesh.
The Heavenly Dao Dream Seed, like a speck of dust, drifted down slowly, imperceptible to the naked eye, and finally landed on the lid of the earthen jar.
The marsh-men approached the back of the head and carefully inspected all around. Seeing nothing unusual, they then turned back toward the Daoist temple.
After the riot, only few Nether Crows remained.
For the short term, Sun also did not send any more Nether Crows into Qingxu Temple. Now the task of investigation rested entirely upon Ren Qing.
Ren Qing suddenly realized why the marsh-men placed the earthen jar at the back of the head: it seemed to be making use of the aura of the adult Heavenly Dao Worm.
The earthen jar was already difficult to maintain its original form; the Heavenly Dao Worm larva grew increasingly active, its body squirming from time to time.
Ren Qing could control the Heavenly Dao Worm larva with the Dream Seed, but he chose to wait and see.
Until half a day had passed, when the Heavenly Dao Worm larva finally began to crawl, heading toward a pustule on the Meat and Wine Taoist's face.
Its speed was neither fast nor slow, and the marsh-men it encountered did not obstruct it.
When the Heavenly Dao Worm larva drilled into the pustule, it then chose to bury itself within the corpse, seemingly absorbing the flesh and blood of the Meat and Wine Taoist to transform.
But Ren Qing clearly felt that the Heavenly Dao Worm larva was being entirely used as a vessel, mainly to nurture marsh-men who were already on the verge of collapse.
As the split soul indirectly absorbed the flesh and blood, it simultaneously grew ever more tightly bound to Qingxu Temple.
Once remolding was complete, the split soul would be unable to leave this place, becoming completely an "Ant Immortal," used to feed the Heavenly Dao Worm.
Ren Qing was somewhat conflicted.
If he let things be, the split soul would ultimately be lost, but it seemed that only through remolding could it fully merge with Qingxu Temple.
He chose first to exercise the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed, and then decide what next to do. As a result, within the corpse he found a familiar aura.
Li Yaoyang indeed had not died, relying on the stubborn vitality of his gu worms, still clinging to life.
Ren Qing used the Dream Seed to make the Heavenly Dao Worm larva cease absorbing flesh and blood.
The split soul then withdrew from the Heavenly Dao Worm larva, and found itself within the corpse's blood vessels, though already showing much decay.
He glanced at the Heavenly Dao Worm larva. Having been drained of its utility, its exterior grew more and more like that of an ordinary maggot.
The food of the Gobi people might very well be Heavenly Dao Worm larvae.
Truly, the wheel of fortune turns.
Ren Qing proceeded deeper into the blood vessel, the Dream Seed transforming into a dao robe draped over the split soul, concealing the aura unique to the marsh-immortal arts.
As he delved further, he discovered that the traces of rot diminished.
And on both sides of the blood vessel were hanging oil lamps, presumably refined from corpse fat, emitting a bright light.
Ren Qing followed the aura of Li Yaoyang to find his path, though also judging for himself to determine the true destination.
From the distribution of the position, this blood vessel should connect to the liver.
Just as he was about to arrive, without cause his heart was seized by dread.
Ren Qing grew unusually alert, doing his utmost to make no sound.
The Heavenly Dao Dream Seed transformed into Double Pupils, appearing on the forehead of the split soul. His vision was greatly enhanced, and he looked toward the viscera at the end of the blood vessel.
Ren Qing's pupils shrank; without hesitation he turned and left.
He saw that the liver was nearly hollowed out, forming hundreds of grottoes large and small, precisely arranged according to the positions of the human body's acupoints.
Several Daoist officers stood before the grottoes, their arms transformed into a dozen tendrils, their heads split open, constantly perfecting the form of the liver.
Ren Qing could tell at a glance that the Meat and Wine Taoist's liver was gradually turning into the Wu-wei Hall, seemingly in the process of reconstructing the Wuwei Daoist Altar.
The Daoist officers were likely all disciples left behind by the Wuwei Monastery. Who knew what had occurred in Qingxu Temple, that they had become so strange and uncanny.
And their actions were clearly in preparation for the Heavenly Daozi to escape confinement.
It could be seen that the thought of reestablishing the Wuwei Monastery, even if transformed into uncanny beings, did not permit the slightest hesitation, yet they did not consider where they were doing this.
The other viscera should have been constructed into the Doushuai Palace, the Assembly Hall, the Fire Refining Palace...
A mad patriarch, together with a group of mad disciples and grand-disciples.
Ren Qing's split soul had no chance of victory, so why would he seek conflict with the Daoist officers?
When the Lord of Absolute Darkness advanced to Merging the Yin God, the split soul would naturally also grow stronger. Then he could attempt to enter the liver.
As for Li Yaoyang's situation, for the present he could only hope he would fend for himself.
Ren Qing returned beside the Heavenly Dao Worm larva, the split soul reentering it, and using the Dream Seed to control it not to absorb flesh and blood.
He roughly conveyed the clues of Qingxu Temple to Sun and Li Tiangang, then turned his thoughts back to the Ghost Market, considering how to further increase the efficiency of lifespan extension.