It had been a long time since Ren Qing entered seclusion, and the seasons continued to change.
Autumn had only just passed halfway, yet the fertile fields outside Wuwei Monastery were already ripe.
Looking down from the mountaintop, the fields resembled a golden ocean. Under the sunlight, they emitted a faint fragrance of rice and wheat.
This kind of spirit grain not only needed only four to five months to mature, but it also contained true yuan energy, its quality was truly excellent.
Wuliangzi had exchanged through the Immortal Market for some bone powder that aided the growth of plants, allowing the spirit grain to be cultivated even in the cold of winter.
Farmers were busily harvesting the rice, occasionally breaking into loud mountain songs.
The harvested rice was tied together with grass ropes, and by evening, disciples of the temple would come to collect it.
But while one family rejoiced, another worried. For the farmers, this meant they could rest for half a month before allowing the fields to recover and planting again.
However, Wuliangzi stood before the mountain gate with furrowed brows, deeply troubled.
He could not help but sigh heavily.
Compared to half a year ago, Wuwei Monastery had become much quieter.
With many disciples leaving the mountain to enter the world, and the number of new novice Daoists decreasing, only around sixty novices remained atop the mountain.
Still, the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method had spread successfully.
Even Wuliangzi and the other formal Daoists had switched cultivation methods. After converting their true yuan into Nether Yuan, their loss was minimal, and they maintained their original realms.
Yet what troubled Wuliangzi was the issue of selling the spirit grain.
Normally, when the harvest season came, there would be armed escorts and merchant convoys arriving at the mountain foot to transport the rice into the city.
But now, not a soul was in sight.
If the convoy failed to come, he would have to send disciples to deliver the grain to the grain shops in Qingyan Town or contact the temple disciples doing business outside.
Having the disciples deliver it wasn't difficult, but with internal and external troubles everywhere, the slightest mistake could drag them into calamities involving aberrant cultivators.
Thus, Wuliangzi prepared for both possibilities.
On one hand, he used the Immortal Market to notify disciples outside the temple; on the other, he began organizing carriages, planning to transport the spirit grain before the season ended.
Unfortunately, the temple disciples who could access the Immortal Market were all those who had just gone down the mountain. They were still in relatively safe regions and knew little of the current situation.
To ask them to investigate the truth would be far too difficult.
Thankfully, things hadn't developed for the worst, Wuliangzi looked into the distance and saw a group slowly approaching along the mountain path.
Judging from their clothing, they were the bodyguards of the Linjiang Escort Agency from Qingyan Town, who had previously cooperated with Wuwei Monastery several times.
Their convoys were always escorted by martial bodyguards. Though their route merely crossed city districts, Qingyan Town was vast.
For ordinary folk, walking across it would take about five days.
And they had to pass through several domains of aberrant forces; many convoys had to take detours through the narrow boundary streets between those powers.
Wuliangzi frowned.
He saw that the bodyguards looked disheveled, clearly having met with trouble.
Many were covered in blood, some missing hands or feet, and on one of the carts lay four or five corpses.
Taking a deep breath, Wuliangzi and Qingsongzi hurried toward the convoy.
Along the way, he called for novices to handle the spirit grain.
Soon, Wuwei Monastery was bustling with activity. The rice drying in the open yard was packed into hemp sacks, ready to be sent down the mountain.
The convoy, heavily battered and weary, had no strength to continue traveling.
At the lead guard's shout, the carts slowly halted on the flat road, and the escorts let out relieved sighs.
They ignored the gazes of the nearby farmers, tending to their horses and eating dry rations to rest.
The head escort, Deng Chuan, stepped out from the group, placing his hands on his hips as he looked toward the temple, exhaustion deep on his face.
"Damn it all..."
"Where's Xiao Luo?"
"Boss, I'm here."
A young man nearby looked reverently at Wuwei Monastery. Hearing his boss call, he quickly ran over.
"Tell everyone, bury our brothers' bodies behind the mountain."
Luo Xian nodded, nose stinging with grief.
He noticed Deng Chuan looking at him and, fearing reproach, quickly turned his head away.
Deng Chuan only shook his head helplessly. Who could have imagined that even traveling within the city now carried such deadly risk?
But that was Jingzhou as it now stood.
Wuliangzi and Qingsongzi reached the convoy, and disciples distributed food and water.
Deng Chuan nodded in thanks, placing a piece of bitter leaf on his tongue to stay alert.
"Brother Deng, are you unharmed?"
Wuliangzi didn't waste words. He took out a heavy money pouch from his robe and tossed it over, payment from the temple for their hardships.
Deng Chuan's face softened slightly as he glanced at Wuliangzi.
These escorts had no sectal lineage; they could only practice basic entry-level techniques, and reaching Core Formation after Foundation Establishment was almost impossible.
Yet Deng Chuan could tell that Wuliangzi's unstable spirit and soul had greatly improved. He couldn't help thinking: "As expected of an immortal sect, even a dying camel is larger than a horse."
"Of course something happened," he sighed. "Being alive is already a stroke of luck."
Hearing this, Wuliangzi's heart thudded. His first thought was of the rival Daoists from Tu Di Temple, so he quickly asked,
"What happened?"
"No one knows which damned fool offended Granny Fox Immortal..."
Deng Chuan swallowed, lowering his voice. "Many young women in the city were skinned alive, it was horrific."
"If not for Granny Fox Immortal's lack of interest in rough men like us, we'd never have made it to Wuwei Monastery alive."
"It's been years since anyone dared to violate Qingqiu's taboo, they must have a death wish."
Qingsongzi couldn't help but shiver.
Every aberration had its own taboo, to touch it was to invite madness.
Decades ago, when the aberrations had first descended, the situation was as chaotic as that of the sealed Morning Street; people would accidentally provoke an aberration and die in droves.
Later, some cultivators discovered the rules behind these taboos and, through unknown methods, curbed the aberrations' rampage.
They even used the aberrations to cultivate, forming the various powers that now existed.
Deng Chuan sighed, "Which hunter in Jingzhou doesn't know never to skin a fox?"
"Granny Fox Immortal won't stop until she's taken three hundred human skins. The Qingqiu cultivators will likely gain great power from it."
The Qingqiu Fox Immortal's taboo was "skinning foxes." Even hunters, when spotting a fox, would avoid it, none dared to provoke such beings.
Qingsongzi guessed that for Qingqiu aberrations to act so violently, it couldn't be merely because someone skinned a few foxes.
The three of them chatted while the escorts rested.
Then a sudden voice nearby asked, "By what means do aberrant cultivators use taboos to cultivate?"
Deng Chuan and the others instinctively turned their heads, nearby escorts were all busy and hadn't noticed who had spoken.
At another time, they would have investigated out of vigilance, but now, no one sought the source of the voice.
Deng Chuan replied, "Who knows? Those who meddle with aberrant cultivators invite calamity. I've even heard they refine living people into medicine."
Wuliangzi didn't know either. Perhaps due to some restriction inherent to aberrations, the cultivation methods of aberrant cultivators were never made public.
Qingsongzi asked curiously, "Why don't I see Liu the accountant from the Zixi Trading Association? Didn't he usually come to oversee grain collection?"
Deng Chuan gave a bitter smile, pointing to one of the corpses being unloaded. "That's him."
Qingsongzi fell silent, at a loss for words. The death of a patron would surely affect future cooperation.
Breaking the silence, Wuliangzi said, "Brother Deng, rest here for the night. Let the convoy depart tomorrow."
Deng Chuan hesitated, then shook his head. "We'd best move as soon as possible. At least we know the route we came by, wait too long, and who knows what will happen?"
"No telling when Granny Fox Immortal will stop, and the spirit grain can't be delayed."
Although Qingqiu aberrations only targeted beautiful women, the aberrant cultivators following them showed no mercy.
The convoy had encountered a lone aberrant cultivator earlier, losing many before escaping.
"Very well. I'll prepare more provisions for you."
Wuliangzi didn't press further. When aberrations went mad, only by waiting out the disaster could one emerge safely, otherwise, death was likely.
Sacks of spirit grain were carried down the mountain into the convoy.
Luo Xian watched the Daoist novices moving nimbly, his eyes full of envy.
He had once dreamed of joining an immortal sect, but his talent had been too poor.
Deng Chuan frowned, silently reviewing their return route, when suddenly, that strange voice spoke again.
"Where will you pass through?"
Deng Chuan turned and saw a man with double pupils in each eye.
From years on the road, he could tell this man's aura was extraordinary, likely above Core Formation.
Just as Deng Chuan was about to question him, he felt a sudden daze.
The world around him seemed subtly altered. His expression relaxed, and the stranger's presence no longer felt out of place, as if he had always been part of the escort team.
"Changning Street."
"That area's governed by Corpse Elephant and should be avoided. I plan to detour through Changning Street near it to reach the city's west side, it should be safer."
"Then we're headed the same way."
Ren Qing leapt onto one of the carts, burying himself in the harvested spirit grain. The scent of rice made him feel serene.
Neither the convoy nor the temple disciples paid him any mind. Even when they occasionally glanced at him, they instinctively saw him as one of their own.
That was the power of the Disaster-Dispelling Method.
After elevating the Disaster-Dispelling Method to the Yin Runner stage, Ren Qing could freely control his own sense of existence, even apply it to others and objects.
And the method's uses extended far beyond that.
Still, if left to him, Ren Qing would never have chosen to cultivate it, this technique was far too sinister.
He had already mastered over a dozen arts and studied dozens more, yet compared to the Disaster-Dispelling Method, the rest were ordinary.
After Ren Qing initially learned it, a Supernatural Remnant was born within his body.
Though he could faintly sense its presence, no matter what means he used, he found no trace of it.
When he advanced to the Half-Corpse stage, the Supernatural Remnant of the Disaster-Dispelling Method emerged from his body, yet it still could not be located.
Upon reaching Yin Runner, he couldn't even sense it at all.
According to the information flow, this Supernatural Remnant had transformed into a monster called Wugui, a being that fed on existence itself.
Wugui was the very essence of the Disaster-Dispelling Method's power.
It could eat people.