The anomalous objects were actually being detained in the Avici Hell; for Ren Qing, this was not dangerous, but the passages were extremely convoluted and complex.
The last few times he obtained The Taotie Method anomalous objects, he used similar techniques to sense them. Now, without a doubt, it would be much more troublesome, and he had to use the Information Stream to make contact.
Ren Qing's mind shifted slightly as he looked at the Shadow under his feet.
Hmm...
Better let the Shadow handle it.
The Shadow did not fully enter the Great Dream Weird Dao, after all, Ren Qing still needed to continue fusing the anomalous branches, so only a small portion was sent.
However, just in case, he also brought the Heavenly Dao Worm along.
The Heavenly Dao Worm emitted the aura of Nascent Soul stage, equivalent to Yin Envoy Realm, which exerted a terrifying suppressive force over most anomalous objects.
On top of that, with Avici Hell sealing the anomalous objects, the Shadow moved through as if in an uninhabited territory.
It did not wait for the anomalous objects to react, immediately seizing them to examine the contained alien aura. If the aura was similar to the techniques Ren Qing had mastered, it deliberately left a trace of the Shadow as a marker.
Ren Qing's fusion of the fifth anomalous branch did not go smoothly; he even felt like water dropping on stone, and his heart almost grew impatient.
Soon, he fell into a vicious cycle: he knew that haste leads to failure, yet could not help trying to speed things up.
His body trembled involuntarily, and his skin began to show anomalous shadow-like transformations.
Fortunately, the pseudo-skin anomaly resisted it, preventing the aberration from worsening.
The inn shook again, this time even the shallowly cultivated staff could feel it, and they even suspected something in Jingzhou might be the cause.
The innkeeper checked every guest room, but due to Wu Deceit, he skipped the room where Ren Qing was, gaining nothing.
As time passed, the shaking grew more intense.
The innkeeper, terrified, even considered contacting the Restraint Officers' Hall. Suddenly, the inn returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.
A puddle of sweat formed on the floor where Ren Qing sat cross-legged, and his breaths were heavy, expelling black smoke and dust.
The aberration from the Shadow's aura even caused his facial features to blur.
Ren Qing quickly closed his eyes to suppress the aberration, full of regret, realizing he had overestimated his own mental state. He should have used a Memory Spirit Crystal to inhabit himself.
He originally thought the fifth anomalous fusion would be relatively easy, but the long period of consciousness in darkness inevitably caused strangeness.
Thus, he wasted one chance of Information Stream anomalous fusion.
Ren Qing sat for more than ten days before his body barely recovered, though traces of aberration remained in his internal organs, requiring polishing and refining.
He summoned the Information Stream.
Whether to choose Shadow Demon anomalous fusion, consuming lifespan ten years six months
Ren Qing shook his head wryly; the second Information Stream lifespan cost for anomalous fusion indeed doubled. By this calculation, the eighth fusion would cost more than six hundred years.
With fifteen anomalous branches and fourteen fusions, he had to complete at least six himself.
Although he had completed four fusions, leaving two should not be a problem, but it was such a waste to miss opportunities.
His Information Stream also changed:
[Shadow Ghost (Human Skin Book, Bone Armor Technique, Netherworld Method)]
[Shadow Demon (Scapegoat Skin, Bone-Clad Spinal Apparatus, Netherworld Immortal Body)]
[Divine Ability: ???]
[Anomalous branches: Living Skin, Worm Root, Worm Body, Regeneration]
The Shadow Ghost's anomalous branches were missing five, likely fused into the nurtured divine ability.
The Yang Spirit Realm would likely involve anomalous object fusion; what would be special then is unknown.
Ren Qing decided not to continue secluded cultivation, first focusing on stabilizing his mindset.
After much hesitation, he decided to avoid using Memory Spirit Crystals as much as possible. After all, anomalous fusion was a trial for the mind, and a jailer inhabiting him might worsen the situation.
Ren Qing walked from the guest room to the main hall and ordered some meals.
The innkeeper felt as if he were recalling something upon seeing Ren Qing, but the feeling quickly dissipated, even forgetting the inn's shaking.
After finishing the meals, Ren Qing's consciousness entered the Great Dream Weird Dao.
The Shadow had already checked all anomalous objects. Six were related to his techniques, more than he had imagined.
Ren Qing excitedly examined them via the Information Stream and found three were all No-Eye Methods, with differing routes, and two were fairly useless.
It seemed Song Rong's trouble remained, causing No-Eye Method to be accidentally spread.
The weak techniques, like Bashe Fu, only barely connected with The Taotie Method, mostly due to aura similarity with Snake Shedding Method.
Created by Daoist Mu Snake, it required consuming medicine from childhood to shrink the internal organs, stimulating stomach growth to occupy space, then it could be cultivated.
Bashe Fu manifested fully in swallowing, but Ren Qing wanted to build a small inner world, so he did not consider it.
The remaining technique was also of beast transformation type; mastering it would only waste lifespan.
The useful technique was called Dragon-Snake Spine.
The material for Ren Qing's innate magical tool was also formed from the Dragon-Snake Spine technique, though there were no paper manuals in the Great Dream Technique Building.
[Dragon-Snake Spine – Created by Daoist Dragon-Snake. During cultivation, the spinal bone is extracted from the body and implanted into the body of a heteromorphic dragon-snake beast. After three years, when it is retrieved, cultivation is complete.]
The Restraint Officers' Hall actually had much documentation on Dragon-Snake Spine.
Anomalous transformation paths:
Spine Dragon: spine like a dragon
Spine Snake: spine like a snake
Dragon-Snake: spine contains dragon-snake
Spine Dragon and Spine Snake were similar; with deeper cultivation, limbs regress, scales cover the skin, and the body increasingly approaches beast form.
These two paths were unsuitable for Ren Qing; turning into beast form would limit him too much, invalidating many body-related techniques.
Dragon-Snake was different.
With Dragon-Snake mastery, the spinal marrow becomes a spirit snake, not only enhanced by the Netherworld Immortal Body but also strengthening the innate magical tool.
Most importantly, it compensates for the Shadow Ghost. The Dragon-Snake formed by the Shadow Ghost is very false, always appearing divine in form but not in essence.
The Dragon-Snake path's ascension to Ghost Envoy Realm is called Snake Spirit Shedding Jiaolong.
Like the legend of a spirit snake cultivating for five hundred years through thunder tribulation, its body does not die and can transform into a hornless four-limbed Jiaolong.
In the Yin Envoy Realm, Jiaolong Shei Qiu directly becomes a true dragon.
The Yang Spirit Realm's title is unknown, but this transformation path has the most potential, making Ren Qing's heart stir.
Ren Qing's consciousness was about to return to his body when, instinctively using the Disaster-Eliminating Method's aura to sweep the cave, his expression became strange.
He found, near a corner, a Half-Corpse Realm anomalous object, faintly visible, clearly a created technique.
As a cultivator who erased himself using techniques, the legacy might be scattered across the world; he did not know if he could collect it all.
This anomalous object was likely undetectable by anyone and may have been in the Restraint Officers' Hall for some time.
Ren Qing controlled the Shadow to extract the anomalous object from the cave.
Immediately, in his hand appeared a semi-transparent viscous substance; in a still state, it could even fool the naked eye.
This was only Half-Corpse Realm; it was hard to imagine the level at Yin Envoy Realm.