Bang!!
The Restraint Officer turned into severed limbs and fragments, the corpse corroded into filth covering the ground.
The newly born Supernatural Remnant had not bounced around for long before it was absorbed by the now active Avici Hell, becoming nourishment within the vast space.
Everyone, affected by the aura of the Heavenly Demon, looked at the Black Goat with terrified eyes, subconsciously wanting to distance themselves.
Li Bai turned his head and said in a deep voice: "Jian Ping, what did he say to you before he died?"
The Restraint Officer named Jian Ping shook his head in confusion, staggering backward and shouting: "I... I... I don't know!"
Jian Ping noticed the Restraint Officers' eyes carried some astonishment, and he could not help but touch his cheeks.
Only then did he realize that black hair had grown all over his body, and ox or sheep horns were protruding from his head.
Jian Ping, in panic, walked toward the edge of the altar, only to meet the same fate.
The way he died was slightly different, his flesh and blood appeared corroded, and in a moment he became a puddle of pus.
A foul stench spread.
The Restraint Officers instantly felt the urge to retreat, unable to resist wanting to leave the altar.
Only Ren Qing knew it was not the Black Goat's problem, most likely a false soul had already mixed into the crowd, preparing to kill them one by one.
Its intelligence was much higher than the Black Goat's.
Fortunately, the altar was guarded by two Yin Runner realm experts, so the false soul was certainly suppressed, otherwise it would not be something they could handle.
"What's going on!!!"
Li Bai's expression was dark; after witnessing deaths one after another, his face twisted, and he grabbed the Restraint Officer beside him.
He had known beforehand that the mission was extremely dangerous, but how could he have imagined it would be so terrifying, with deaths occurring so inexplicably.
Bang!!
Another Restraint Officer turned into filth.
Obviously, it would not take long to reach the Nether Feather, but at this rate of death, soon no one would remain alive.
Lin Cheng could not help but take several steps back.
His breathing grew heavier and heavier, and just as he was getting close to the edge of the altar, Ren Qing blocked him.
Ren Qing said: "If you want to live, calm down."
The Restraint Officers neatly looked toward Ren Qing. The latter continued: "A soul has already been summoned. At least the Filth-Purging Soul is among us."
Everyone's expression became grave upon hearing this.
The so-called Filth-Purging Soul, among the three souls and seven spirits, governed the expulsion of filth, and indeed had a connection to the way the Restraint Officers had died.
If someone else had spoken such fear-mongering words, they might not have believed it, but after all, it was Ren Qing.
Li Bai nodded and asked: "What do we do?"
"Do you remember how many of us there are in total?"
"You mean..."
Ren Qing did not wait for others to respond; the Ghost Shadow covered every corner of the altar, plunging the surroundings into dead silence.
Only the continuous sound of heartbeats could be heard.
After a long time, a scream suddenly rang out.
The Ghost Shadow then completely dispersed, and the surroundings returned to brightness.
The Restraint Officers could not help but look around, their gazes then fixing on Ren Qing's hand, which was holding a beating black heart.
But when they looked again at the number of Restraint Officers, it had not decreased in the slightest.
Ren Qing wiped the wound on his wrist, then reached out to pat Lin Cheng's shoulder.
Lin Cheng, dazed, noticed that there was now a hole in his chest.
He tried to grab at the heart, then collapsed to the ground twitching.
The Restraint Officers were somewhat stunned, Lin Cheng was clearly made of flesh and blood, not a soul, so how could this involve him?
The double pupils in Ren Qing's eyes rotated, observing the expressions of everyone on the altar, and the Ghost Shadow had already begun to act.
He then crushed the heart in his hand, black water splattering, while Lin Cheng's body twitched continuously, gradually turning into filth.
Ren Qing's action seemed like killing someone for an unfounded reason.
Li Bai hurriedly said: "Where is the Filth-Purging Soul? You'd better have an explanation."
He wanted to rally the Restraint Officers to put pressure on Ren Qing, but found no one paid attention to him; everyone carried a trace of fear instead.
Li Bai's face was iron blue.
Ren Qing did not answer. The strange mouth in his palm opened, and Lin Cheng rolled out from it, it had just been a semi-real, semi-illusory vision.
All his actions earlier had been to interfere with the false soul, after all, anything with intelligence was bound to reveal a flaw.
At that moment, a Restraint Officer at the corner of the crowd subconsciously stepped back half a step, and chains shot toward him, extremely fast.
Before the chains could even touch him, the Restraint Officer instantly exploded into rotting mud, though the mud could not leave the altar.
An invisible membrane blocked it.
It was clear that at some unknown time, the Filth-Purging Soul had hidden among the Restraint Officers by using the Black Goat's distraction.
The Filth-Purging Soul disappeared again, without the slightest detectable trace.
Li Bai signaled the Restraint Officers to attack; various spells covered the arena, but they had no effect, and the Filth-Purging Soul still did not show itself.
No matter how unwilling he was, he could only turn to Ren Qing for help.
"Ren Qing, do you have a way to force out the Filth-Purging Soul? Otherwise, it's impossible to guard against."
Ren Qing smiled and pointed at the hem of Li Bai's clothes: "I think you have some filth here."
"Huh?"
As Li Bai was dazed, Ren Qing used his fingernail to cut open his wrist. While the Ghost Shadow transferred the injury, that bit of filth shattered into dust.
Unfortunately, it still failed to catch the Filth-Purging Soul, the other party seemed to have no shadow, no form.
It seemed relying on Ghost Substitute was clearly unrealistic.
Most importantly, false souls in Avici Hell could not be killed, which made Ren Qing somewhat troubled.
Li Bai looked somewhat embarrassed.
He wanted to say something, but heard Ren Qing mutter to himself:
"The Filth-Purging Soul seems to attach itself to those who feel fear, using their movement away from the altar to indirectly kill them."
Ren Qing silently nodded.
Before anyone could react, his brow opened into the pupil formed by the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed, and entering the dream silently acted upon Li Bai's body.
Ren Qing still did not emit the aura of the Heavenly Demon, but even this was enough.
Li Bai froze, as if countless fearful memories surged into his mind, and the man before his eyes became more and more eerie.
Black water formed into a catfish, forcing its way into his body through his nose and mouth.
However, in the eyes of the other Restraint Officers, nothing at all had happened, showing the Filth-Purging Soul could not be seen by the naked eye.
Ren Qing's index finger touched Li Bai's brow; the latter closed his eyes and collapsed to the ground, soon snoring.
Expelling the Filth-Purging Soul would be troublesome, so he simply had the Ghost Shadow turn to nothingness and inspect every inch of his flesh and blood directly.
Jiang Feng swallowed.
He watched Ren Qing's shadow cover Li Bai's entire body, the latter unconsciously making painful cries, and could not help but wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Lin Cheng and the others, however, had long seen the Ghost Shadow in action and were not surprised.
The Ghost Shadow soon found the Filth-Purging Soul inside Li Bai, but Ren Qing still felt there was another false soul present.
He had the Ghost Shadow temporarily swallow the Filth-Purging Soul while his attention swept around, finally settling on Li Tiangang.
Ren Qing patted his head.
Why think so much, the false soul clearly wanted to escape, so as long as Li Tiangang was not disturbed, it would be fine.
Ren Qing's brow opened the Heavenly Demon Eye again, this time acting upon everyone.
Even Li Bai, caught unprepared, could not resist the power of entering the dream, let alone Jiang Feng and these Restraint Officers with weak soul defenses.
Dozens of people fell to the ground, then were pulled into the Prison Within the Abdomen by the Dragon-Snake Spine.
The Ghost Shadow had already sealed the Filth-Purging Soul, though even with Li Tiangang's suppression it still seemed a bit strained.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged next to Li Tiangang, no longer searching for any false souls, quietly waiting on the altar to head toward the Nether Feather.
At this moment, a great change occurred within Avici Hell.
The Corpse Dog Soul suddenly stopped speaking, and there was obvious commotion from the prison area, it showed the Restraint Officers had already tried to act.
Bang!!
The Rope Knot Hole was smashed open by a huge creature, a ten-meter-long human-faced dog rushed out, its target the most populous Sanxiang City.
Before it could get far, more than thirty Restraint Officers cooperated to restrain the Corpse Dog Soul, its mouth bound by countless vines.
Muyi was on the Corpse Dog Soul's back, his spells pushed to the limit.
And the Yin Runner realm overseeing the Corpse Dog Soul was the jarred brain from the Secret Pavilion, he had directly chosen to grow upon its flesh.
Non-Poison was faring no better; facing two Yin Runner realms, even with improved strength, he appeared extremely miserable.
Shui Hulu used a wave to wrap up Non-Poison, moving toward the stomach wall.
The little man in the bottle did not appear, he was not participating in Ksitigarbha's soul summoning, and was likely maintaining the heavily damaged Stomach within the Stomach.
Ren Qing was slightly worried.
Behind Shui Hulu there were only seven or eight Restraint Officers, and there was no sign of Huang Ziwan.
Just as Ren Qing's gaze was fixed in the distance, the black mud on the altar suddenly began to churn, moving toward Li Tiangang.
A narrow human-faced centipede crawled out.
"I've been waiting for you."
The Hidden Arrow Spirit's use was to dissolve its own poison, which also meant it contained its essence.
Ren Qing gave a muffled groan, wounds opening all over his body, dozens of Dragon-Snake Spines drilling out to bind the Hidden Arrow Spirit.
The Hidden Arrow Spirit struggled frantically, the Dragon-Snake Spines making cracking sounds.
Even with the suppression of two Yin Runner realms, having Ren Qing alone suppress two false souls was still somewhat difficult.
Fortunately, the stomach wall was already close at hand.
Song Zongwu carried the altar into the wound in Avici Hell.
It should have led outside, but the Flesh Plain appeared before Ren Qing's eyes, the stench hitting him in the face, along with the figures of various strange beings.
"Off you go!!"
Song Zongwu hurled the altar upward with force, and a sharp bird cry sounded.
Sun flew in an instant, its body expanding in the wind, giant claws grabbing the altar and heading toward the depths of the Flesh Plain.
Song Zongwu took a short run-up and leapt directly onto the altar.
A few punches were enough for him to subdue the Hidden Arrow Spirit, and then he found that the other Restraint Officers were already gone.
Before Song Zongwu could speak, Ren Qing gave an awkward smile and released the dozens of people from the Prison Within the Abdomen, then canceled the dream to wake them.
Song Zongwu glanced at Ren Qing.
"Looks like I brought too many people."
"Not at all, not at all..."
Ren Qing was just about to hand the Filth-Purging Soul to Song Zongwu when he could not help but suck in a cold breath.
At the very core of the Flesh Plain was the Brain Tree.
Ren Qing did not see the giant of dust, but he noticed that the Brain Tree, originally withered, was now completely covered in fungi.
It seemed like fungal parasitism.
A dozen or so temple attendants of the Fertility Goddess were beneath the tree.
The direction was indeed toward the Brain Tree.