Ren Qing wanted to see clearly the condition of the Brain Tree, but because the distance was truly too far, even with Double Pupils he could only make out its outline.
He knew that the Brain Tree, as the core of the Nether Feather, was equivalent to the Niwan Palace.
If the Restraint Officers' Hall wanted to use a pseudo-soul to control the Ksitigarbha, it was indeed somewhat unreliable, and it was very possible that it would end up backfiring.
Ren Qing always felt that the Restraint Officers' Hall's plan would be more complete than that.
After the Restraint Officers gradually woke up, their expressions all had a bit of confusion.
As the culprit, Ren Qing was completely unaware that, in just a little less than half an hour, the Restraint Officers had gone through one nightmare after another, to the point that they could no longer distinguish reality from illusion.
Li Bai recalled fragmented memories, and his entire body couldn't help but tremble.
His gaze obscurely fell upon Ren Qing.
This person was definitely not merely at the third aberration; he was probably already close to the perfection of the Ghost Envoy Realm, or perhaps with one foot already stepping into the Yin Runner Realm?
The tenon let out a sharp cry, as if in praise of Ren Qing's methods.
Song Zongwu sighed helplessly, walked over to the black goat, and helped increase the guard to avoid any uncontrollable accidents.
Ren Qing paid no attention to the gazes of others. He released the Hidden Arrow Spirit from within the Ghost Shadow and handed it over to Song Zongwu to suppress.
He had indeed tried using the Heavenly Demon Dream Seed on Li Bai to alter his subconscious, and the result had been even better than he had imagined.
Li Bai should no longer have the courage to harbor hostility toward him.
Ren Qing then sat cross-legged to recover his strength.
A short while later, the Brain Tree was already within reach, and the strange entities had grown scarce.
Only then did he notice that the vicinity of the Brain Tree was shrouded in spore dust, and visibility was decreasing at a not-too-slow pace.
Over a dozen temple attendants stood within the dust, chanting strange scriptures, causing countless mycelia to grow until they covered the Brain Tree.
Especially at the root and stem of the Brain Tree, the dark gray brain gradually decayed, and the mycelia clinging to its surface looked like they were forming mold.
Beside the Brain Tree grew a half-man-tall small tree composed of fungus.
This tree was pale in color, like desiccated bones, and on its surface one could vaguely see twisted human faces, its origins unknown.
The tenon circled around the Brain Tree, seeming somewhat apprehensive.
Specks of black-gray spores drifted in the air, until every Restraint Officer's body was dusted with some; only then did the tenon fly toward the periphery.
Ren Qing pinched some of the powder between his fingers. According to the information stream, it was still Taisui.
[Condensed by the Winter Worm Art, formed from the collapse of a cultivator's soul during life.]
He recalled the giant of smoke and dust he had seen when advancing to Twin Nightmare Ghosts , could it be that that figure had been the remnant soul of a Heavenly Abomination Realm cultivator?
After placing the sacrificial platform down in a spot where the dust was thinner, the tenon turned and headed toward the entrance of the Nether Feather, probably to escort the remaining pseudo-souls.
The Restraint Officers, still unclear on the situation, then jumped down from the sacrificial platform.
Jiang Feng seemed to already know the general situation; he nodded to Song Zongwu, then began assigning tasks for the place.
"All right, let's set up camp first. Restraint Officers will be arriving one after another."
The Restraint Officers agreed, then used nearby stone to build houses. Fortunately, being close to the Brain Tree meant fewer troubles from strange entities.
Song Zongwu gave no further explanation. He once again shouldered the sacrificial platform and strode toward the Brain Tree.
Ren Qing hesitated slightly, but then heard Song Zongwu say, "Follow."
He quickly stepped into the spore-dust-covered area, as if plunging into a thick fog. The already dim light disappeared completely.
As Ren Qing neared the Brain Tree, the concentration of Taisui in the air became ever more apparent, making the black goat extremely uncomfortable.
Li Tiangang thus awoke.
He removed the seal from the black goat, and the paper completely returned to his body.
The black goat barely opened its eyes, as if all its strength had been drained.
Previously, even the thin spore dust in the Taisui Forest had been able to seal the aura of the Heavenly Demon; now, at the Brain Tree, the concentration had already reached the level of the Hidden Eye.
The black goat could hardly make a ripple.
After walking for nearly half an hour, the Brain Tree was within a hundred meters.
Bang!!
Song Zongwu set down the sacrificial platform, immediately raising a cloud of dust.
Then Li Tiangang, based on the circumstances, discussed with him the matter of placing the three souls and six spirits, their words inevitably tinged with some disagreement.
Ren Qing didn't dare interrupt, but from their words he learned quite a bit.
It seemed that anything buried near the Brain Tree would, before long, be parasitized by fungus , even souls could not avoid it.
The Restraint Officers' Hall seemed intent on handling the pseudo-souls this way, though for what purpose he did not know.
Ren Qing felt deeply the terror of a Heavenly Abomination Realm cultivator , even the spores formed from a remnant soul could display unimaginable power.
Not long after, six temple attendants found the altar.
The leader was Luo Niang. She had, in the time since they last met, advanced to the Ghost Envoy Realm, and so was specifically tasked with matters of the Brain Tree.
"Honored sirs, the Great Dream True Person has already examined the situation before. He said that before burial, the soul must be implanted with a disease seed."
"Mm, so be it."
The two immediately agreed, clearly placing great trust in the Great Dream True Person's judgment.
The temple attendants deftly handled the pseudo-soul.
The pseudo-soul's body was cut open by a sharp blade, and then implanted with a maggot-like disease seed. Very soon the pseudo-soul thus transformed into a cocoon-like form.
In Ren Qing's eyes, this was more like sealing the pseudo-soul, forcibly keeping it in a half-alive, half-dead state of dormancy.
Once finished, the temple attendants vanished back into the fungal mist, returning to the Brain Tree to chant scriptures.
Seeing this, Li Tiangang said, "Song Zongwu, I'll wait in the camp. The burial of the soul I'll leave to you."
"Rest assured."
After Li Tiangang left, Song Zongwu carried the pseudo-soul toward the fungal tree.
Ren Qing naturally stayed there as well, taking the chance to figure out the Restraint Officers' Hall's plans.
As he approached the fungal tree and saw its true form, his scalp tingled.
Though the fungal tree took the shape of a tree, its "bark" was actually mouse hide, occasionally writhing, with human faces constantly growing out.
Ren Qing felt the fungal tree was more like a fusion of animal and plant, incomparably strange.
Song Zongwu, clearly no stranger to the place, pointed under the fungal tree and said, "Bury the soul here."
Ren Qing thrust out the Dragon-Snake Spine from his palm, and had just prepared to slash at the ground when he was stopped.
"Ren Qing, be sure not to damage the roots."
"Elder Song, leave it to me."
So saying, Ren Qing nonetheless obediently handed control of the Dragon-Snake Spine over to the Ghost Shadow, whose precision was like that of a surgeon's scalpel.
The speed at which the Dragon-Snake Spine swung was at first restrained, but before long it grew faster and faster, almost becoming an afterimage.
Song Zongwu's hair stood on end as he watched.
He had felt nothing in his battle with the black goat, but he was truly startled by Ren Qing's actions.
Before Song Zongwu could even speak, a pit over two meters deep appeared before them.
The pit was filled with plant roots , if the Dragon-Snake Spine had been even slightly off, it could have injured them.
Song Zongwu hesitated, then shook his head without speaking further, grabbed the Scale-Cleansing Soul, and leapt into the pit , apparently some further arrangements were needed.
With nothing else to do, Ren Qing looked at the fungal tree, and felt that the human faces seemed strangely familiar. His expression froze.
"This is..."
"Landlord, or Jiang Ge," Song Zongwu said blandly.
Ren Qing was speechless.
The encirclement of the Landlord back then had indeed been unusual , as expected, it involved much more.
He had thought the Landlord was used as a container for storing a Supernatural Remnant; he hadn't expected two completely unrelated matters to be connected.
"Elder Song, how could the Landlord be related to summoning the Ksitigarbha's soul?"
"You can try making contact."
Song Zongwu jumped out of the pit and began filling it in, but not with the original soil , instead with ashes preserved in paper.
The ashes could make flesh and blood come alive, probably to merge the pseudo-soul into the Flesh Plain.
Ren Qing walked up to the fungal tree and directly reached out to touch its trunk.
Before he could summon the information stream, a swelling pain filled his mind as countless disordered memories poured in.
Most of these memories came from the Landlord, a smaller portion from Jiang Ge, mainly the things that had influenced them most in life.
Ren Qing released his hand, his expression extremely shocked.
The Landlord's resurrection originated from the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone, a product of the Demon Seed Sutra , essentially more like a corpse with part of its memories, a walking dead thing.
The purpose of the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone had been to devour the Landlord, but the corpse had, by chance, developed self-awareness and sought to revive itself through sorcery.
Thus it had attacked the cultivators of the Rotten Mud Gang.
Now, under the intervention of the Restraint Officers' Hall, the Landlord had devoured multiple Supernatural Remnants, yet its body remained undead, preventing the Supernatural Remnants from escaping.
After being buried here by the Restraint Officers' Hall, it had become a strange creature of memories only.
Ren Qing found it peculiar , the Landlord was like a biological computer for backing up memories...
No soul, but an undead body storing memory.
How had the Restraint Officers' Hall managed to make the Landlord into a part of the Avici Hell?
When Ren Qing summoned the information stream, some doubts were answered , it was indeed the work of the Taisui.
[Taisui derivative]
[Formed from the Taisui absorbing Supernatural Remnants.]
Ren Qing activated the Double Pupils, his sight penetrating the ground to the base of the fungal tree, where he saw numerous roots slowly extending toward the Scale-Cleansing Soul.
When the roots pierced into the Scale-Cleansing Soul's body, their auras became identical in origin, actually fusing together through the medium of the fungus.
"Elder Song, how could the Ksitigarbha's... Niwan Palace be occupied by the Taisui?"
Song Zongwu's expression grew serious. Turning to Ren Qing, he said, "Do you think the sorcery we cultivate counts as the Great Dao that reaches the heavens?"
Ren Qing answered firmly, "Of course it does."
Compared to the Restraint Officer methods, the Beast Pen methods and the Heavenly Dao methods were countless times more sinister , cultivating them was like tailoring clothes for another to wear.
Song Zongwu spoke more mildly: "If in the future , I say if , the Restraint Officers' Hall permits you to leave Xiangxiang and thus come into contact with various different sorceries, would you still dare to say you cultivate the Great Dao?"
Ren Qing still nodded without hesitation.
He quietly pondered the deeper meaning in Song Zongwu's words.
"That's good, then."
Song Zongwu's tone became strangely calm. "The Restraint Officers' Hall has indeed had Yang God Realm cultivators before, but no one has ever reached the Heavenly Abomination Realm. It's said that this realm involves the ancient times of tens of millions of years ago."
"In seeking to protect ourselves, we once dug up the tombs of our predecessors, trying to find some clue. The result..."
Song Zongwu casually grabbed a pinch of spores, rubbing it between his fingers. "The result was only a single piece of Taisui of unknown age, related to the Heavenly Abomination Realm."