Ren Qing forcibly suppressed the stray thoughts in his heart, then, together with the Restraint Officer, arranged the site, intending to complete the final summoning of the soul.
The black goat continuously devoured flesh and blood, which also signified that the Shuang Ling Soul was gradually being gestated.
At this moment, even someone at the Yin Runner Realm could not help but feel nervous in their heart.
The fungal mist shrouding Nether Feather was becoming increasingly sinister, occasionally revealing blurred scenes of dozens of people hanging themselves, with unknown meaning.
The only thing worth feeling relieved about was that there were no other anomalies, which could only be attributed to the influence caused by the Ksitigarbha soul being made complete.
It didn't take much time.
Under the urging of the sorcery, the black goat had already transformed into a ten-meter-long deformed mass of flesh, thereby forcibly gestating the Shuang Ling Soul.
The black goat was placed on an open area far from the Brain Tree, with sorcery protections set up around it.
Everyone had already done all that could be done; next, it would depend on whether the Dream Pearl was effective against the fungal tree, so they drove the camp toward the exit.
The fungal tree seemed to have sensed the aura of the Shuang Ling Soul, using its roots to approach the black goat, trying to find the source of the false soul.
Fortunately, the black goat was hidden by sorcery.
A howling gale arose, a sign that a dramatic change was about to begin.
Ren Qing stood atop the city wall, gazing into the fungal mist, where the fluctuations were becoming increasingly violent.
Whether the fungal mist's change was due to the false soul was unknown, but the patterns it formed were becoming strange, even resembling a mirage.
Eventually, the patterns in the mist depicted various means of suicide: cutting one's veins, hanging, poisoning, drowning in a river...
Finally, under Ren Qing's astonished gaze, the fungal mist transformed into a hazy giant.
The giant seemed to be lying flat in midair; only a vague outline could be seen, with no clear bodily features.
No matter from what angle the Restraint Officers looked, the position of the giant did not change in the slightest, as if adjusting in sync with the movement of the camp.
The sense of familiarity in Ren Qing's heart remained strong; the thought in his mind seemed about to surface, but as if separated by a thin sheet of paper.
The camp stopped within a kilometer of the exit.
Li Tiangang closed his eyes to rest, quietly waiting for the result to ferment. There was no need to station anyone beside the black goat, for now it mainly depended on the Great Dream True Person.
It could be confirmed that since the false soul inside the fungal tree was lacking the You Jing Soul, it would surely deal a heavy blow to the Brain Tree.
But if the revival of Ksitigarbha failed, although a fallback was in place, it was still a dead end.
When the black goat reached its peak, it began to collapse, and the aura of the Shuang Ling Soul spread out.
The fungal tree clearly noticed this, its roots twining around the black goat, giving the Shuang Ling Soul no chance at all before completely absorbing it.
The Dream Pearl mixed within was naturally also absorbed by the fungal tree, thereby merging into the false soul.
Ren Qing's Heavenly Dao Dream Seed dared not move in the slightest, for fear of being detected.
Suddenly, Nether Feather began to quake.
The distant Brain Tree, sensing the threat, tried to once again summon swarms of strange creatures.
But at that moment, granules of Taisui within the fungal mist fell like raindrops.
Li Tiangang said in a deep voice: "Hold your breath!!!"
The jarred head cast sorcery, a gigantic glass bottle over ten meters tall covering the camp, preventing the fungal mist from seeping in.
Those strange creatures, upon touching the fungal mist, had their flesh, blood, and bones melt away, and were then absorbed by Nether Feather.
Before long, the strange creatures visible in Nether Feather grew fewer, and grains of Taisui began to mix in with the soil.
Sounds of breaking earth rang out one after another.
Fungi grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly reaching several meters in height, and Nether Feather was completely transformed into the Taisui Forest.
The Restraint Officers present knew well that such earth-shaking changes could not be without cause, and all chose to be on guard.
Ren Qing couldn't help but close his eyes, connecting to the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed within the fungal tree.
Through the Dream Seed, he discovered that because the false soul was still missing the You Jing Soul, it itself had not undergone any change.
Perhaps the fungal tree's anomalies had nothing to do with it?
The fungal tree strode toward the Brain Tree; within the Taisui Forest, it was like a fish in water.
The Brain Tree, on the other hand, had many branches already parasitized by fungi, even its size somewhat withered, showing that it was highly unsuited to the environment.
Boom!!
The fungal tree's roots tightly wrapped around the Brain Tree, soon piercing into it, seizing its nourishment to strengthen itself.
The Brain Tree had no ability to fight back at all; the situation had long since reversed.
Ren Qing could sense the fungal tree's false soul gradually being completed, and that the Great Dream True Person was faintly beginning to exert influence.
Only after the Brain Tree was nothing but an empty husk did the fungal tree stop.
The false soul, as if waking from a dream, gradually regained consciousness; the human face on the trunk became filled with fear, mumbling constantly.
"Who am I?!!"
The fungal tree lowered its head to look at its own deformed roots, falling into a moment of confusion.
"Am I human..."
A flood of fragmented memories surged into its mind, some about the land, some about Jiang Ge, even some about Heavenly Daozi.
The jumbled memories caused the fungal tree great agony.
In its eyes, all things were bizarre; the Taisui Forest was entirely black and white, without any living creatures, and the sky was covered with dark clouds.
The fungal tree covered the human face with its roots, trembling all over.
"Who is it!!!"
Unable to accept that it had become a strange creature, it staggered toward the exit, fissures spreading across the ground with each movement of its roots.
Li Tiangang said, "Everyone, get ready."
The Restraint Officers began to prepare; if the fungal tree came their way, a clash would be inevitable, and stopping it would mean a fierce battle.
"Wait, it seems he's about to wake up."
Ren Qing spoke these inexplicable words, his expression growing complicated.
He suddenly realized why the fungal mist in midair had taken on such bizarre forms, it was very likely the unconscious convergence of something...
"Who is in my body, get out."
The fungal tree's roots stopped; the human face on the trunk vomited without cease.
Like a tide, opossums poured out from it, but the moment they touched the fungal mist they died, their corpses piling higher and higher.
It seemed that the plan was still proceeding, and the Restraint Officers stared unblinkingly.
Ren Qing pinched a grain of Taisui between his fingers; through the Dream Seed he indeed sensed something strange, an aura similar to the Dream Pearl.
But it was absurd.
Surely the Great Dream True Person wasn't controlling each grain of Taisui to dream?
The vision formed by the fungal mist was not under the influence of Ksitigarbha or a cultivator at the Heavenly Abomination Realm, but was the aggregation of countless dreams.
Ren Qing found that as time passed, the giant formed by the fungal mist became increasingly real, in a sense confirming his conjecture.
His mouth hung open.
What on earth was the Great Dream True Person doing?
The opossum corpses gradually rotted, forming mycelium-like structures, from which slowly sprouted a tender shoot the size of a finger.
This was the newly-born Brain Tree of Avici Hell, the very goal the Restraint Officers' Hall had plotted toward for decades.
As long as the shoot grew to maturity, it could replace the decaying Brain Tree, and the Restraint Officers' Hall could take complete control of Avici Hell.
Without hesitation, Ren Qing used the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed to make contact with the false soul about to dissipate. The latter resisted somewhat, but seemed to sense the Heavenly Dao technique and was quickly contained by the magical implement.
Li Tiangang nodded and said, "Follow my orders: Restraint Officers at the Ghost Envoy Realm withdraw to the Restraint Officers' Hall; we few will stay here on guard."
The jarred head spoke in a relaxed tone: "I'll go to the Restraint Officers' Hall as well; the situation should be more stable next..."
Before the words were finished, light and shadow in the Flesh Plain began to distort.
The fungal mist churned, and the Great Dream True Person appeared beside the tender shoot.
The Great Dream True Person's state was somewhat strange, his figure extremely unstable, as if constantly shifting between real and unreal.
He bent over to gaze at the shoot, then suddenly made an unexpected move.
His palm struck out swiftly, the Great Dream True Person actually strangled the sprout in its cradle, the nascent soul there completely gone.
Li Tiangang's eyes widened, looking at him in disbelief.
Although the origins of the Great Dream True Person were very mysterious, all Restraint Officers should share the same interests; how could this be possible?
Song Zong's expression was cold and grim.
He reacted immediately, pushing off with his feet toward the direction of the Brain Tree.
At present, the Brain Tree was still barely clinging to life.
If it too perished, the entire Avici Hell might cease to exist; the Great Dream True Person had to be stopped.
"A great dream, who awakens first? In my life, I alone know."
A faint sigh was heard, and the Great Dream True Person vanished instantly from the spot.
Immediately the wind rose and clouds surged; the giant formed by the fungal mist became ever clearer, as if about to break free.
The giant wore a Daoist robe embroidered with the two characters "Taisui," a Daoist hairpin on its head, and held a horsetail whisk, lying down to rest, its feet unconsciously twitching.
He was beneath a huge banyan tree, amidst green waters and mountains, incomparably at ease.
Ren Qing seemed to see, countless years ago, a Daoist lying under a tree to cool off, whose Daoist title was "Taisui."
Taisui Daojun?!!
Ren Qing was startled, he knew that Taisui Daojun was a cultivator who had created sorcery, mentioned only in passing in the information streams.
Could the Great Dream True Person be connected to Taisui Daojun?
In a moment, Taisui Daojun changed, his skin gradually corpse-ified, his Daoist robe stained with blood, even the horsetail whisk broken.
In the blink of an eye, he had gone from a living man to a corpse.
On his face, unclosed in death, was a ghastly smile, his gaze seeming to look through the fungal tree at everyone present.
Those at the Yin Runner Realm halted their steps.
Ren Qing shivered all over, fear surging in his heart, did he just blink?
Immediately, the Brain Tree turned to ashes; as Ksitigarbha's Niwan Palace, Nether Feather ought to have been deeply affected.
It could even have caused Avici Hell to turn into a terrifying Yang God Realm forbidden zone.
But unexpectedly for the Restraint Officers, nothing unusual happened, Nether Feather remained as it was, showing no signs of collapse.
Only, Taisui Daojun was becoming ever more real, as if about to step out.
Twisted light and shadow enveloped Nether Feather, an indescribable aura slowly spreading, a power far surpassing the Yin Runner Realm.
Li Tiangang, his expression complicated, explained: "The Great Dream True Person has achieved the Yang God Realm."
Ren Qing immediately reacted.
The Great Dream True Person had, by some unknown method, used Taisui to fabricate a dream of Taisui Daojun, thereby breaking through...
No!!!
Ren Qing's back went cold; he scrutinized the dream of Taisui Daojun.
He suddenly realized, this was not fabricated imagination.
The Great Dream True Person had actually sensed the Taisui Daojun who had died hundreds or even thousands of years ago, using Taisui as a bridge to perform sorcery..
Making a corpse dream...
This was not for the sake of advancing to Yang God Realm, but even intended in the future to use this to reach for the Heavenly Abomination Realm.
But advancing to Heavenly Abomination Realm via the Butterfly Dream Technique would inevitably make the dream become reality, was Great Dream True Person not afraid of that corpse gaining life?
What sort of monster would it become then?