Ren Qing continued to perfect the magic artifact refined from the White Bone Great Sage. Since it was to be used to collect Nether Yuan, it was expected to still require quite a bit of time.
He glanced outside the city. Previously, he had left a strand of ghost shadow on the two demonic beasts.
As a result, Hu Wen and Zhang Yi did not rush to leave the range of Wuwei City.
They chose to practice immortal techniques that had reached the Ghost Envoy realm in the nearby mountain ranges, so as not to scramble at the last moment without knowing what use they would be.
Moreover, because the two demonic beasts had experienced loss of control from aberrant transformation, in order not to deviate and fall into demonic madness, they had to figure out the upper limit of what their bodies could endure when using immortal techniques.
Thus, they practiced day and night for four or five days straight.
Zhang Yi closed the eyes all over his body. With dense tiger fur as cover, the gaps of the eyes were not very obvious.
"Sect Master Hu, I plan to go back to Tiger-Form Mountain. There are quite a few of my juniors there."
Hu Wen nodded his body slightly, his solemn expression making it unclear what he was thinking.
He hesitated for a moment before saying with a bitter smile, "Brother Zhang, I originally did not plan to go back to Qingqiu, but since we need to obtain clues about the altar..."
"It really is..."
Zhang Yi shook his head and said, "I come from a loose cultivator background. Blending into a major force is unrealistic. It's better to gather more Demon Soldiers for the demon immortal."
"That's the only way."
Hu Wen set his sights on the altar, and he had no intention of letting those fellow demonic beasts go either, planning to clearly settle priorities with them one by one.
But compared to fence-sitting demonic beasts, he definitely trusted Zhang Yi more. After all, the two had lived and died together several times.
They agreed to meet once every three days in Immortal's Dream, exchanging information and jointly devising strategies at that time.
"Let us part here..."
Suddenly, the direction of Wuwei City emitted a seven-colored radiance stretching a thousand zhang.
Hu Wen looked into the distance in shock.
At the time when the ghost shadow had taken the two demonic beasts away from Wuwei City, they had glimpsed the situation within the city, demons, monsters, and ghosts of all kinds flying through the sky and escaping into the earth.
As a result, Wuwei City had already become a supreme demon city in the hearts of the two demonic beasts.
The demon immortal allowing them to enter it represented an opportunity to ascend and attain the Dao.
So when an abnormal change appeared in Wuwei City, how could Hu Wen and the two demonic beasts not be nervous? They hurriedly climbed to the treetops and looked toward the city.
The setting sun slanted onto the city walls, and a massive piece of glazed stone appeared in midair.
The glazed stone reflected light, and the seven-colored radiance caused Hu Wen and the two demonic beasts to become intoxicated in expression, recalling a line of annotation from immortal techniques in their hearts.
"Hear the Dao in the morning, die in the evening without regret."
The glazed stone covered the top of Wuwei City, and the light it emitted gradually retracted.
This magic artifact was called the White Bone Glazed Canopy. It not only made up for the defensive loopholes of Wuwei City, but could also absorb the Nether Yuan emitted by cultivators.
Even if cultivators did not practice the Netherworld Heavenly Dao Worm Method, they would inadvertently leak faint traces of Nether Yuan. The amount produced daily by tens of thousands of people was extremely astonishing.
After this scene, Hu Wen and the two demonic beasts felt as if they had been suddenly enlightened.
They went their separate ways, departing after bidding farewell and heading toward different destinations.
Qingqiu was located far away. Hu Wen spent more than half a month just traveling. The journey was not peaceful, but with his current strength, he resolved the troubles with ease.
When Hu Wen saw the mountain peak covered in green pines, his steps immediately hesitated.
Although many demonic beasts now cultivated Restraint Officer methods, demonic beasts like him who could not even maintain the outward appearance of a fox demon were probably rare.
Would Qingqiu accept him, and would it allow him to approach the altar?
Everything was unknown.
Hu Wen let out a long breath. After witnessing heaven-reaching and earth-shaking immortal techniques and divine powers, there was long no thought left in his heart of willingly being a beast.
He bypassed the main road leading to Great-Grandmother's residence and ascended from a secluded path at the back of the mountain.
First, he needed to clarify Qingqiu's situation, then decide how to fabricate an excuse for his disappearance over these days. It was still best to be cautious.
But just as Hu Wen reached the mountainside, a pungent smell of blood drilled into his nose and mouth.
His expression turned grave. He directly transformed from human form into a headless, skinless fox demon, enduring the pain as he burrowed into thorny brambles filled with sharp spikes.
Hu Wen immediately activated the Five Viscera Gods, and the facial features on his chest and abdomen twisted.
Eyes, ears, mouth, and nose each developed their own intelligence, while he himself was deprived of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and sensation.
Five whispering voices appeared in his mind.
"I heard it, I heard it..."
"I saw it, I saw it..."
"I smelled it, I smelled it..."
Hu Wen's temples bulged from the noisy chatter. His consciousness roared in anger, then asked the nose, "You speak first. What did you smell?"
"I smelled a fresh, sweet scent. There are eighty-seven corpses, all of them skinned."
Hu Wen frowned and continued, "And you, eyes."
"They are all fox demon corpses. They are headless and skinless, still continuously bleeding, and the blood is being collected by fox demons and sent to Great-Grandmother's residence."
Hu Wen's heart filled with rage.
These fox demons had all been carefully selected, and could be considered to have had a master-disciple relationship with him.
"Damn Great-Grandmother..."
Sensing Hu Wen's anger, the eyes became excited and continued, "Also, also!"
"There are also several old fox corpses inside. They still have their heads, and their bodies are full of wrinkles."
Hu Wen's pupils dilated. Great-Grandmother were all of Demon King cultivation. How could they die inexplicably in Qingqiu's lair? It was simply impossible.
"Ears, speak quickly, what did you hear?!"
"Hehehehe, someone is lowly hissing in Great-Grandmother's cave dwelling. She must be in great pain. She needs to replenish blood."
The mouth chimed in, "More than just replenishing blood. She's even eating Qingqiu's aberrant anomalies. Truly fragrant, who knows what it tastes like?"
Hu Wen listened a while longer. When the topics discussed by the facial features gradually strayed from Qingqiu Mountain, he began to actively cancel the Five Viscera Gods.
The facial features let out terrified screams, desperately trying to stop Hu Wen, but to no avail.
Hu Wen reopened his eyes. He already had a rough guess in his heart, but he still needed to approach the Qingqiu cave dwelling to confirm.
He crawled along the shadows and soon discovered the place where corpses were being laid out to dry.
It was a spacious mountainside slope. The vegetation there had been deliberately cleared away, leaving only greenish weeds resembling fox fur.
Dozens of fox corpses were neatly arranged. As the Five Viscera Gods had said, many fox demons at the bottom were using tools to collect the dripping blood.
Among them were three slightly larger fox demon corpses, clearly Great-Grandmother, with expressions of dying with eyes unclosed, filled with deep resentment.
Once the blood was collected, the fox demons carried the wooden buckets toward Great-Grandmother's cave dwelling.
They exerted great effort to maintain the balance of the buckets, not daring to spill even a drop of blood, their faces bearing fear that could not be shaken off.
However, Great-Grandmother's cave dwelling was at the mountain peak, requiring passage along a winding and tortuous mountain path.
Based on his understanding of Qingqiu, Hu Wen climbed simultaneously from a secluded route, his speed not much slower than the fox demons carrying buckets.
As he approached Great-Grandmother's cave dwelling, he also heard hissing that could not be suppressed.
The trembling of the bucket-carrying fox demon intensified. Sweat had already soaked its fur, and its scant demonic qi was insufficient to support its arms.
Pa,
The wooden bucket fell to the ground, and blood splashed everywhere.
The other fox demons froze for a few breaths, then their expressions were as if they had seen a ghost. They forcibly endured muscle soreness and stepped away from it.
"Cough cough cough cough..."
Violent coughing came from inside the cave dwelling.
The fox demons did not care about anything else and immediately fled toward the foot of the mountain.
Immediately afterward, a figure walked out of the cave dwelling. Wherever its gaze fell, all the fox demons stiffened in place, then walked toward the mountain peak.
"This Celebrity Really Wants to Retire"
Hu Wen's eyes were filled with disbelief.
The figure's appearance was extremely ruined, more precisely, it was only half a body.
Its skin had a toad-like appearance. The left half looked as if it had been forcibly torn apart, the gap a blur of flesh and blood, with dense maggots gnawing at it. It stood outside the cave dwelling supported only by its right leg.
"Demon Immortal, my lord..."
The fox demon placed the wooden bucket in the cave dwelling, then hurriedly knelt and kowtowed.
"Demon Immortal?"
"It shouldn't be like this. It must be a false immortal summoned by the altar."
Hu Wen calmed down. Taking advantage of the fox demon's attention being drawn away, he slipped into the cave where the altar was placed.
The Rabbit-Toad cultivator grabbed the fleeing fox demon, turned, and leapt back into the cave dwelling.
Soon, piercing screams rang out inside, mixed with chewing sounds and the gulping of blood being drunk in large mouthfuls.
After copying down the patterns on the surface of the altar with paper and pen, Hu Wen hurriedly left Qingqiu, this land of trouble, and prepared to go look at other factions.
While asleep, he conveyed everything that had happened in Qingqiu, in full detail, to Ren Qing through the demon market.
Ren Qing did not doubt Hu Wen, because it was difficult to deceive him in dreams.
If it was truly as Hu Wen said...
"A demonic-altar corrupted by Heavenly Demon transformation can summon a Rabbit-Toad cultivator that has half-transformed into a black goat. A normal altar can naturally summon the other half."
The Rabbit-Toad cultivator was very likely to have voluntarily descended to the Residual Moon Layer, since a damaged body did not require overly dense demonic qi to sustain.
By devouring the flesh and blood of demonic beasts and aberrant anomalies, he restored himself while lying low in secret.
The Heavenly Demon aura being able to force Blood Moon to take risky measures showed that neither side could do anything to the other, so Blood Moon began laying out plans in advance in the Residual Moon Layer.
In theory, this was the best opportunity for the Restraint Officers' Hall to deal with Rabbit-Toad cultivators.
But the role the Restraint Officers' Hall should play in Jingzhou was not that of a disruptor, but rather to maintain balance between the two sides, thereby reaping the benefits as the fisherman.
When Primordial Wilderness transformation occurs, there will likely be a large number of black goats descending.
If too many Rabbit-Toad cultivators die, Jingzhou will still fall. The Supreme Heavenly Demon is no more benevolent than Blood Moon, and would likewise make a move on Xiangxiang.
Ren Qing pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "It would be possible to clear out the aberrant anomalies around Wuwei City, but we must be careful not to be targeted by Blood Moon."
"I'm afraid that when true Primordial Wilderness transformation arrives, the chaos in Jingzhou will come."
He did not know how much time remained for the Restraint Officers' Hall, so they had to race against time.
Ren Qing relayed the situation to Li Tiangang, and handling the aberrant anomalies naturally fell to the latter.
Li Tiangang's techniques could silently seal aberrant anomalies, indeed very suitable for doing this dirty and tiring work, while the aberrant anomalies would be refined into magic artifacts by Ren Qing.
Ren Qing continued closed-door cultivation, stabilizing the Mirror Immortal that had just completed three aberrant transformations.
During this period, the split soul in the Longevity Forbidden Zone once again killed a longevity species, though unfortunately part of the lifespan was devoured by the giant tree.
The giant tree had already reached a full hundred meters, covering an area far beyond Wei'an Town.
Ren Qing somewhat doubted his earlier speculation. Perhaps the giant tree was not being controlled by others to grow, because sheltering Wei'an Town only required around twenty meters. Anything above a hundred meters had no meaning at all.
Ren Qing no longer paid attention to the forbidden zone.
At least the lifespan obtained from longevity species was just enough to complete aberrant transformations, with some surplus to advance Dao Dao Dao to the Nascent Soul stage.