After Ren Qing's Nightmare Art underwent its second eerie mutation and he chose the ability "Recollection," there was no longer much need for caution when pulling people into the Immortal Market.
As long as the opponent's cultivation was lower than his own, he could probe the thoughts of beings within dreams and determine whether there were any traitors among them.
When encountering cultivators with restless or complex minds, he could directly employ Dream Techniques to implant thoughts into their memories.
The concealment of the Immortal Market far exceeded imagination.
Ren Qing looked toward Wuliangzi. If he could not pull the man back from the brink of losing control to aberration, he had actually planned to forcibly enter his dream and alter his memories.
Fortunately, Wuliangzi regained clarity at the very edge of collapse, even showing signs of a breakthrough in his cultivation realm.
Ren Qing nodded slightly at that.
Although Wuliangzi had no real authority and seemed more like a scapegoat to be sacrificed at any time, at the very least, he could control the recruitment of Taoist children.
This would play a decisive role in the future expansion of Wuwei Monastery.
Ren Qing also became even more certain that the Restraint Officers' Hall had to be drawn into the contest for Jingzhou. The risks and opportunities here were far from proportional.
When two beings at the Earth Immortal Stage fought, even insignificant resources could make Yin Runner or even Yang God cultivators envious.
However, Wuwei Monastery's position as a power had become somewhat awkward.
Its leader Wuliangzi was merely at the Core Formation Stage , equivalent to the Ghost Envoy Realm , and cultivated the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, a technique meant to benefit others rather than oneself.
From the perspective of the Restraint Officers' Hall, was there truly any need to cooperate with Wuwei Monastery...?
In contrast, those eerie cultivators were much more compatible with the Restraint Officer Method. Their forces were scattered and chaotic , perfect to be manipulated against one another.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. Although he was not a disciple of Wuwei Monastery, he had indeed benefited greatly on his cultivation path from the Heavenly Dao Method.
And the Nether Sea Breathing Art he cultivated might very well be the last Heavenly Dao Method left in the world.
He still hoped that Wuwei Monastery could preserve its Dao heritage while merging into the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Just like in Yellow Sand City, where the Restraint Officers there still called themselves ordained Taoists , and the Hall had no objection to that.
The people of the Gobi possessed special physiques, naturally suited for the Yellow Sand Method, inevitably forming small sect-like groups.
The Restraint Officers' Hall had no concern over this, for in this world, authority always lay in the hands of the few strongest cultivators.
Moreover, once one cultivated the Restraint Officer Method, one's allegiance was fixed; in the eyes of entities like the Black Goat and the Heavenly Dao Worm, such cultivators were born enemies.
Ren Qing surveyed the entire mountain, glancing over the dilapidated temples.
He could not help but smile bitterly. Wuwei Monastery had fallen to such desolation that, if one removed the deeply flawed Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, nothing would remain at all.
The Restraint Officers' Hall would not even spare it a second glance.
Yet Ren Qing believed that the quasi-insectoid Jingzhou people held great potential, their physiques resembling that of the Earth Immortal Stage's Heavenly Dao Worm.
After long hesitation, he decided to create a genuine "Heavenly Dao Method" suited for Wuwei Monastery, based on the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
Yes , with the Core Formation Stage as the dividing line: lower realms would serve as fodder, while higher realms would shift to a Heavenly Dao Method similar to the Restraint Officer Method.
He could reference the earlier, unperfected "Water Marsh Method," which, upon reaching the Eerie Consumption Realm, was completed by devouring Supernatural Remnants.
Early stages cultivated in the form of a Heavenly Dao Method; later stages would merge with Supernatural Remnants, reaching the same destination by different paths.
In this way, by the Yang God Realm, both methods would converge.
Ren Qing believed that even if Heavenly Daozi himself were to cultivate again, he would inevitably choose the Restraint Officer Method , for every other technique carried unavoidable flaws.
He pondered deeply, but perfecting a Heavenly Dao Method required an immense amount of time , far from something achievable overnight.
There was no need to hurry. Jingzhou's situation might well remain stable for centuries.
Ren Qing glanced at the still-bright sky, then closed his eyes to visualize his techniques, not rising until deep into the night.
Across the mountain, only a few patrolling Taoists remained awake; the rest of the disciples were asleep.
In a few flashes, Ren Qing appeared at the mountain gate. Faint light drifted up all around , projections of countless invisible Soul Butterflies.
The patrolling Taoists mistook them for fireflies and reached out curiously.
Drowsiness immediately swept over their minds, and they collapsed to the ground one by one, their deafening snores soon echoing in unison.
Ren Qing tallied the numbers. "The Taoists and Taoist children remaining in the monastery number eighty-five in total. That's enough, that's enough."
During the day, there had indeed been hundreds of people around Wuwei Monastery, but most were peasants , proof that the sect's focus lay more in farming and commerce.
Ren Qing first swept through all disciples using Dream Techniques and found eight spies who had past dealings with eerie cultivators.
He naturally did not pull them into the Immortal Market, but since exposing them prematurely could alert others, he simply left them for Wuliangzi to keep watch on.
When the time was right, Ren Qing, using The Blindless Method as the main conduit and the Butterfly Dream Technique and Nightmare Art as auxiliaries, drew seventy-three streams of consciousness into the Immortal Market.
The once-desolate streets instantly became lively, though everyone's faces showed confusion.
The Immortal Market was located at the island's center. As the Wine Lake evaporated, a faint fragrance spread, and a thin mist blanketed the water's surface.
A Kunpeng leaped from the depths, making the place seem like a celestial realm.
After a brief moment of daze, Wuliangzi immediately understood.
Since the Earthly Immortal was about to return to Jingzhou, the current Wuwei Monastery could not possibly contribute anything , only by bestowing immortal fate through such techniques could it offer aid.
However, the matter must not be leaked for now.
He stepped before the crowd, his expression stern, and spoke in a deep voice: "This place was transformed by the artifact left behind by our ancestor Heavenly Daozi , it is the hidden refuge of the former Wuwei Monastery."
"Senior Brother, you..."
Qingsongzi opened his mouth, the man before him suddenly feeling utterly unfamiliar. Only in the first years after inheriting the position of sect master had Wuliangzi shown such bearing.
He did not know what to say, but noticing that every building in the Immortal Market bore Wuwei Monastery's architectural style, most of his doubts dissipated.
New fragments of memory surfaced in Wuliangzi's mind , information regarding the Immortal Market.
He pointed toward a well within the market, speaking with firm conviction: "You may transform your own True Yuan into Spirit Crystals for use in trade here."
These Spirit Crystals were the currency Ren Qing had designated for the Immortal Market; having them formed from True Yuan also made them easier to collect.
Even if cultivators failed to spend all their Spirit Crystals, they could reconvert them into True Yuan within their bodies.
Of course, to prevent currency inflation and overharvesting, the amount exchangeable each month was limited.
Only by improving one's cultivation realm could one exchange more Spirit Crystals.
This system was somewhat akin to the stipend system of the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing had not opened a free market yet, and Spirit Crystals could not be transferred between individuals , a measure to maintain order within Wuwei Monastery.
After long hesitation, the disciples scattered. Some gradually vanished from sight , startled awake from the dream , yet their memories had already been imprinted with the notion that the Immortal Market's existence must not be disclosed.
Tianfuzi examined the few remaining buildings in the market and noticed the Coffin Shop, with its carved patterns and the elderly coffin craftsman inside. She could not help but step forward to ask, "Senior, what exactly is this place..."
The coffin elder had long known that cultivators would arrive. Knowing what to say and what not to, he simply shook his head silently.
Some disciples gathered in front of the Great Dream Coffin Shop.
Although the coffin elder's cultivation was restricted to the Foundation Establishment Stage due to the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method, the aura he emitted was remarkably profound.
They even suspected the old man was a projection formed by an artifact.
Qingsongzi, having just exchanged ten Spirit Crystals, asked curiously, "Senior, what exactly do you sell in your shop?"
"Coffins."
The coffin elder's words were curt; he tilted his head toward the corner.
There, more than a dozen pitch-black coffins were neatly arranged, each exuding the aura of a magic artifact , mysterious and unfathomable.
Most striking among them was a coffin that seemed alive, its surface writhing faintly, the presence of cultivation within vaguely perceptible.
However, when they tried to touch the coffins, the number of Spirit Crystals required to exchange for one was so enormous that they quickly backed away.
Qingsongzi, awed, said respectfully, "Senior's craft in artifact refinement is divine , it truly makes us juniors look up in admiration."
The coffin elder showed slight impatience, waved his hand, and ignored them.
He already knew how to refine flesh-and-blood artifacts but still found even the basics difficult. All the coffins in the shop were left behind by Ren Qing.
Having met a cold reception, Qingsongzi left the Great Dream Coffin Shop in embarrassment, only to find the streets sparsely populated , nearly everyone had gone into a store named the Great Dream Pavilion.
He hesitated briefly, then entered the Great Dream Pavilion. After a few breaths of dazedness, countless counters filled his view.
On them lay innumerable materials, including the white bones of unknown giant beasts and still-living chunks of flesh and blood.
He now half believed that perhaps the Wuwei Monastery of centuries past had truly been this unimaginably prosperous.
Qingsongzi noticed many herbs that greatly aided cultivation, as well as a material called Eerie Dust, which could even suppress aberration.
Yet with only ten Spirit Crystals, he could afford very little.
Instead of squandering them, he left the Great Dream Pavilion and turned toward the quietest building in the market. The plaque above it read "Great Dream Hidden Treasury." In the past, Wuwei Monastery had also possessed such a Hidden Treasury Pavilion.
Qingsongzi stepped inside.
Rows of bookshelves stood apart from each other. There were few disciples inside, but all were seriously studying the tomes.
Qingsongzi picked up a book. The cover bore the title "Scripture of Flowing Rivers."
Breathing rapidly, he opened it. The contents were unmistakably orthodox Heavenly Dao Methods , ones that had vanished from history ever since the extinction of the Heavenly Dao Worm eggs.
Beyond that, the shelves contained long-lost Heavenly Dao refining techniques and various miscellaneous Daoist scriptures.
A cost in Spirit Crystals was required to access the full contents of each book.
The Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method was among them , Ren Qing did not even need to promote it. Given time, this technique would naturally spread through gradual exposure.
No disciple questioned the connection between the Immortal Market and Wuwei Monastery any longer.
When the sun rose, the disciples of Wuwei Monastery opened their eyes. Looking again at the dilapidated temples, a faint sense of belonging appeared on their faces.
As for Ren Qing,
He sat cross-legged on the mountain, feeling relaxed and content as he stared at his own lifespan.
Whether from the Ghost Market or the Immortal Market, the lifespan he gained was considerable , and he had not yet reached the peak of longevity efficiency.
He had profited immensely.