Huang Ziwan opened his eyes.
He was in a dim room, a bit of light shining in through the window, carrying with it the uniquely shrill cry of a Nether Crow.
Huang Ziwan scratched his head in confusion, then got up and stepped from the shadows into the light.
His current appearance was slightly different; his skin was dark purple, and sweat glands capable of secreting venom were on his palms.
The second eerie mutation was still considered fairly smooth, especially with the help of Eerie Dust.
Huang Ziwan's eerie mutation ability was called Poison Source. Once activated, anything touched by his palm would turn into poison.
If used in combat, it was indeed quite useless, since with his speed it was difficult to close in, and there were plenty of ways to counter it.
Wearing armor could easily block it, and even if the skin was touched by Huang Ziwan, it could be resolved by cutting the flesh.
But the most useful aspect of "Poison Source" was actually in compensating for the flaws in his spell techniques.
Originally, Huang Ziwan could only secrete venom through his stomach, making prolonged combat difficult.
So back in the Immortal Food Forbidden Zone, he had to rely on vomiting poison to accumulate power for a temporary boost.
Now with "Poison Source," everything could be turned into poison.
Huang Ziwan picked up a teacup on the table. As his ability activated, the teacup instantly melted into a puddle of venom.
The venom then reformed into the shape of a toad and started hopping on the table.
It eventually leapt into his mouth, making it much easier to replenish the venom in his stomach.
Under normal circumstances, the abilities gained from a single eerie mutation were extremely varied, one might say bizarre, with some even completely useless.
But by the second eerie mutation, it became entirely different.
Although the abilities gained from the second eerie mutation were still random, they were in fact closely related to the first, and could complement each other.
Huang Ziwan's "Poison Source" combined with "Poison Spirit" was exactly this case.
Thus, the more times one mutated in the Ghost Envoy realm, the more powerful they would become.
Huang Ziwan looked slightly proud, mumbling to himself, "Ren old bro, Ren old bro, things are different now..."
He stepped out of the house, intending to go to the yamen to find Ren Qing, but the moment he entered the courtyard, he froze like a statue.
His nose picked up an extremely faint scent of blood, and the clouds in the sky looked unnatural, as if he were in an illusion.
"What the hell."
Bang!
While Huang Ziwan was in a daze, a Nether Crow landed on his shoulder and exploded, splattering his face with blood and flesh.
He silently wiped off the filth and unfolded the note to read it, his expression growing increasingly puzzled, like someone just woken up.
Just a few days of short seclusion, and suddenly the world had changed.
Huang Ziwan changed clothes and walked along the streets of Sanxiang City. The nearby residents acted completely calm, not showing the slightest odd behavior.
But along the way, he only saw a few Restraint Officers.
After asking around everywhere, he learned that the Restraint Officers had all gathered at the Ghost Market, all to forge magical tools.
Huang Ziwan didn't know much about the Ksitigarbha Soul Summoning, but he was aware of the dangers involved, and immediately set off for the Ghost Market.
The Ghost Market was still located at the edge of Avici Hell.
There were only a few Restraint Officers at the entrance to the Dream Pavilion; most of the crowd was gathered at Dream Forging Tools and the tavern, the former to survive, the latter to forget their worries.
After buying materials, Huang Ziwan obediently waited outside Dream Forging Tools.
The shop of Dream Forging Tools was no longer its previous shabby self. Not only had its size expanded, but the signboard was brand new.
Ren Qing in the back room of the shop couldn't even be bothered to greet the Restraint Officers.
He let them voluntarily put down blood crystals and materials, pick up the magical tools, and leave.
The efficiency of the three Tombstone Furnaces was terrifying. As long as the ghost shadow continuously infused Nether Yuan, one skull magical tool could be completed every ten minutes.
Ren Qing now understood what it meant to make money like running water.
In just two short days, the blood crystals he owned were nearing ten thousand shi.
His lifespan had also reached around 150 years, though it was clear that the demand for magical tools among the Restraint Officers was gradually decreasing.
Ren Qing estimated that when the Ghost Market ended, it might at most reach around 170 years.
Also, once the Ksitigarbha Soul Summoning ended, the business at Dream Forging Tools would also cool off, which was to be expected.
One additional regret was that his lifespan had become so long that swallowing eyes to extend it was now ineffective.
He had already anticipated this, wanting to extend life by a hundred years this way was clearly unrealistic, or else Song Rong wouldn't have died.
During this time, the blood vine in the Prison Within the Abdomen had sprouted.
Though only the two closest to the hearth fire had done so, it was indeed showing hope for self-sustainability, so he planted blood vine in every cell.
Ren Qing stretched.
Since his lifespan was already sufficient, and with the Ghost Market ending within half a day, it was naturally time to complete his eerie mutation.
His main body stepped out from the Dream Pavilion and immediately left the Ghost Market.
His soul split remained inside Dream Forging Tools. After all, it was the ghost shadow handling the magical tool forging, and multitasking was enough to keep the shop running.
Ren Qing couldn't stray too far from his soul split, so he simply found a mountain ridge and used the Dragon-Snake Spine to bore a tunnel and drill inside.
Though time was running out, he didn't rush to summon the information stream.
Ren Qing used visualization of The Blindless Method to calm himself, and then focused his attention on the mutation tree in his mind.
He had already decided on the eerie mutation branch to choose, focusing mainly on enhancing the dream-entering ability and the role of the soul split.
First was the most critical Dream Seed.
Dream Seed: Can hide a Dream Seed inside a creature's soul; as long as it rests or sleeps, it can be forcibly dragged into a dream.
"Dream Seed" could greatly enhance the dream-entering ability of Twin Nightmare Ghosts, otherwise, it was just a common ability for altering others' memories.
If his guess was correct, it was actually possible to use Dream Seed to build a defense in Niwan Palace, preventing the erosion of Heavenly Demon aura.
The information stream showed limited content, details would need to be seen after mutation.
Fifty years of lifespan vanished.
The tightly shut eye on his brain suddenly opened, and his soul felt a slight tearing sensation, making his brow twitch.
Ren Qing gritted through the discomfort, and after a moment, it seemed as though a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
With a thought, spiritual light gathered at the tip of his index finger, eventually forming a faint glowing point.
Ren Qing condensed three Dream Seeds, all within Niwan Palace. Using the ghost shadow, he could silently place the Dream Seeds.
He could also choose the mutation branch Great Dream, raising the number of Dream Seeds to ten, but that would deviate from his intended plan.
Ren Qing mainly valued the Dream Seed's soul-like structure and its ability to merge with the soul.
He then tried taking the Heavenly Demon Bone.
The Heavenly Demon aura surged toward Niwan Palace, and the Flesh Furnace stirred in response, wanting to burn it to ashes.
Ren Qing forcibly suppressed the Flesh Furnace, if the aura were completely eliminated, the soul-strengthening effect of the Heavenly Demon Bone would be wasted.
But he wasn't taking reckless risks; at least he had the soul split ready to replace the main soul at any time.
Ren Qing distributed the three Dream Seeds inside Niwan Palace, his expression growing tense.
If his assumption failed, the power of Dream Seed would be greatly reduced, perhaps even wasting this mutation opportunity.
But as soon as the Heavenly Demon aura touched one of the Dream Seeds, it was absorbed like a sponge by the Dream Seed, that aura which warped souls.
A moment later, the Dream Seed turned black, its light twisting, emitting a terrifying aura like that of the black goat.
The Heavenly Demon aura was completely devoured by the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed, leaving only pure soul aura.
After the main soul absorbed the soul aura, it indeed grew slightly stronger.
Ren Qing took the Dream Seed tainted with Heavenly Demon aura out of Niwan Palace, feeling as though the surrounding air had grown chaotic.
Such a Heavenly Demon Dream Seed had enormous killing power against cultivators, but its state was unstable, as if it might collapse at any moment.
Even if Ren Qing didn't continue mutating, with the Flesh Furnace and the three Dream Seeds in Niwan Palace, he could build a strong defense against the Heavenly Demon aura.
The only issue was that regenerating Dream Seeds would take considerable time.
Ren Qing nodded in satisfaction.
Then he closed his eyes to choose the second mutation of Twin Nightmare Ghosts.
New buds grew on the mutation tree.
These new buds were all mutation branches related to Dream Seed, giving Ren Qing an increasingly broad range of choices.
After careful examination, Ren Qing originally planned to choose Dream Anchor as his second mutation branch, but he changed his mind.
Dream Anchor: Causes a creature dragged into a dream to be confined within a certain vessel.
It wasn't necessary to rely solely on Twin Nightmare Ghosts' dream-entry. Dream Seed had tremendous potential, possibly the foundation for standing firm in this world.
After all, adjacent to Xiangxiang was the Beast Pen.
Soul Garment: Can transform Dream Seed into a soul robe that attaches to the soul, protecting one's own soul or controlling others' souls.
Ren Qing immediately made up his mind.
The pain of the second eerie mutation was slightly reduced, but the soul split felt a burning sensation.
After it was completed, the structure of the Dream Seed changed, it now resembled a magical tool.
When merged with the main soul, the Dream Seed caused a robe to appear on the soul, which could be used to block direct attacks on Niwan Palace.
The Heavenly Demon Dream Seed also stabilized, though it was still on the verge of collapse.
"Soul Garment" allowed the main soul to be more secure, and also coordinated with the third mutation's ability.
Dream Tool: Dream Seed transforms into a magical tool, and when attached to another's soul, can forcibly drag them into a dream, influencing and controlling their body.
Ren Qing's face showed joy.
From the Dragon-Snake Spine alone, it was evident that magical tools formed from spell techniques had endless potential, especially since Dream Seed involved the most complex aspect: the soul.
After completing all three mutations.
The number of Dream Seeds remained at three, but their nature had completely changed.
However, Dream Seed magical tools needed to be nurtured like the Dragon-Snake Spine to realize their full potential.
Ren Qing found inspiration from the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed, after turning into a magical tool, it no longer collapsed and could absorb Heavenly Demon aura to nourish itself.
Of course, once a magical tool was destroyed, a regenerated Dream Seed would revert to its initial form.
For now, Ren Qing could only use them cautiously, pondering how to nurture Dream Seed.
One would be used to store Heavenly Demon aura and would remain in Niwan Palace long-term.
He transformed the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed into the soul robe of the main soul. Its aura was relatively restrained and would not cause accidents.
Ren Qing considered placing the second one in his spine, using Yellow Spring Immortal Bone for nourishment.
As for the final Dream Seed...
Ren Qing looked toward the Fuel King in the Flesh Furnace.