Sanxiang City had remained calm on the surface over the past few days, but in reality, undercurrents were surging, and all the various factions had been deeply affected.
The significance of Daoist Tianxu, the master of Sanlong Temple, reconstructing his cultivation technique was enormous. Even though he had remained inside the temple, the leaked aura of the technique from before could not have been mistaken.
Those ancient cultivators who had switched to cultivating Gu insects found themselves in a dilemma. Some even resorted to self-mutilation in order to remove the Gu insects from their bodies.
All the factions openly and secretly investigated the matter of reconstructing cultivation techniques until they heard that Daoist Tianxu was preparing to hold an Ascension Conference.
Similar situations occurred in the other cities as well. It seemed that overnight, the severed path of cultivation had been reconnected.
However, due to the blockage of information, only Ren Qing knew about these matters through bacterial soul.
As the person watching the chess game from the sidelines, Ren Qing was actually the one who saw things the most clearly. He could even vaguely sense the direction the situation was heading.
He began making preparations, becoming even more curious about what would happen when their lifespans were exhausted.
With the support of Gu cultivation, Gu Immortal's strength had reached the level of Ghost Envoy realm within just over ten days. He finally possessed a certain degree of threat toward the scattered Insect Nest forces throughout Jingzhou.
He could only access the Great Dream Pavilion of Dream City, but he could still exchange Gu insects for blood crystals and obtain a considerable amount of resources.
However, the corresponding price was that Gu Immortal's body had become completely inhuman.
His entire appearance was like a half-human, half-elephant demon. He was covered with feathers resembling bird feathers, and the Elephant Armor Gu had also advanced into the Possessed Elephant Body Gu.
Only his face still retained faint traces of human features, but his intelligence had already been affected by the Gu insects, causing him to become inexplicably irritable and prone to anger.
From this, it could be seen that although Gu insectified strange entities could rely on external objects to advance rapidly, they still needed time to stabilize their cultivation.
Under Jingzhou's rules, after cultivators refined Gu insects, the Gu insects became the dominant force.
However, Gu Immortal did not have much time to build his foundation and could only resort to this method.
He led the human insects to attack the scattered Insect Nest bases, growing stronger like a snowball rolling downhill. The number of human insects soon exceeded a thousand.
Gu Immortal was no longer He Si. Driven by hatred, he would use any means necessary and did not even consider the process.
He did not hesitate to use a type of Gu insect recorded in the book called "Aphid Ox Gu". Its function was rather extreme, using its own kind as tools.
Aphid Ox Gu
After being refined, the body would possess the strength of one ox, but the flesh and blood nutrients would easily be absorbed by Ant Shepherd Gu. Every day, thirty drops of morning dew had to be consumed.
Once the number of Aphid Ox Gu reached one hundred, Ant Shepherd Gu could sacrifice itself and evolve Aphid Soul Symbiosis Gu.
Gu Immortal had human insects refine Aphid Ox Gu, while he himself refined Ant Shepherd Gu. Of course, it was impossible that he was doing this to help the human insects' Aphid Ox Gu advance.
Although Aphid Soul Symbiosis Gu could allow multiple souls to share one body, linking their lives together, the increase in strength was still limited.
Gu Immortal's main purpose was to absorb the nutrients from the Aphid Ox Gu, making up for the mismatch between his body and soul and the Gu insects, allowing himself to advance further.
As long as he showed enough restraint, Aphid Ox Gu would not endanger the lives of the human insects.
However, in Ren Qing's eyes, after Gu Immortal's personality changed greatly, the demonic thought known as "ambition" was continuously growing in his mind.
Once he encountered danger, Gu Immortal would likely sacrifice all the human insects to advance to Yin Difference realm. Of course, the outcome would also be certain death.
Gu insects of Yin Difference realm had a high chance of turning on their host, especially since Gu Immortal had no method of controlling Gu insects at all.
Ren Qing did not choose to interfere with Gu Immortal's actions.
After all, Gu Immortal's attacks against Insect Nest had already reached the limit of his current strength. It could be felt that Insect Nest's forces were shrinking.
It was impossible to expect Gu Immortal to destroy Insect Nest. That was simply unrealistic.
Insect Nest had likely realized that the human insects had escaped their control and began spending more effort controlling their subordinate races.
Ren Qing was still very satisfied with this chess piece called Gu Immortal. If there had been enough time, the latter might even have had a chance to join the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Unfortunately, Jingzhou had already entered its final countdown.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged in the guest room, analyzing the mastermind's plan from scattered clues, but he still could not guess the opponent's intentions.
If the goal was to revive the ancient cultivators, then what meaning would that have?
Knock knock knock...
A knocking sound came from outside the guest room door, followed by Huang Gou'er's voice.
"Shopkeeper, all the Daoists, abbots, and escort heads have arrived at the tea house. Do you think you should go and receive them for a while?"
Huang Gou'er's words were filled with nervousness. After all, the various factions that normally kept their doors closed had suddenly gathered inside an inconspicuous tea house.
It was said to be for the Ascension Conference, but why had they chosen Minghe Tea House?
This was the first time in his life that he had seen so many important figures. When he had just poured tea, his legs had trembled uncontrollably.
Fortunately, Accountant Li had helped him out. Otherwise, he might have embarrassed the shopkeeper.
"I know, Huang Gou'er."
Ren Qing casually took a Daoist robe and draped it over himself, then pushed open the door and slowly walked downstairs, immediately drawing the attention of the ancient cultivators.
Not only could Huang Gou'er not understand the situation, but the various factions also could not figure out what relationship the Ascension Conference had with Minghe Tea House.
Just a few days ago, they had been preparing to go to Sanlong Temple to participate in the Ascension Conference, but suddenly Daoist Tianxu changed the location to Minghe Tea House.
The various factions vaguely felt that something was wrong, but after thinking carefully, they found it reasonable.
After all, if they truly entered Daoist Tianxu's Sanlong Temple, and he suddenly developed malicious intentions, they would not even have time to escape.
Holding it at the neutral Minghe Tea House was also acceptable.
They had no idea that it was the work of Heavenly Demon Tribulation. No matter how unreasonable something was, it would be forcibly twisted into something reasonable, causing their subconscious minds to fill in the gaps.
Otherwise, how could the large and small factions have agreed without the slightest objection?
One had to know that the other cities were already in chaos because of the Ascension Conference, and some smaller factions had even been wiped out because of it.
What Ren Qing wanted was to use this opportunity to test the mastermind. If the other party noticed anything unusual, they would inevitably reveal some clues.
It did not matter who the mastermind disguised themselves as. With the information flow, along with the ghost shadows spread throughout every corner of Sanxiang City, he could catch any mistake at any time.
When the time came, he could completely use Heavenly Demon Possession to directly transfer himself elsewhere in Jingzhou, always ensuring that the enemy was in the open while he remained in the shadows.
Ren Qing walked downstairs and casually rinsed his mouth with tea.
The main hall of Minghe Tea House currently only had more than ten seats. The center had been deliberately left empty, and the windows in the walls were tightly shut.
It clearly revealed a hint of something unusual.
Li Yaoyang sat behind the counter and was no longer fiddling with his Gu insects.
His eyes were fixed on the entrance. He was clearly very interested in Daoist Tianxu and wanted to know exactly how he had managed to use his soul to possess Gu insects.
Several zombie cultivators dressed as waiters moved through the tables in full view of everyone, serving tea and water to those seated.
There was still some time before the Ascension Conference, so the factions had not all arrived yet.
Among them, Wu Shanzi and Nan Chengzi were considered to have arrived relatively early, but they did not dare sit in the main seats and instead chose positions near the outer edge.
The main seat was currently occupied only by Jinshan Temple's abbot, Liaoque, an old monk in his seventies or eighties.
He looked kind and benevolent, but there were faint traces of blood on the corners of his robes, clearly showing that he had committed many sins in order to restore his cultivation.
Aside from that, escort heads like Zhang Qi could only sit along the walls. Some people even stood uneasily by the windows, pacing.
Their souls were generally only at Half-Corpse realm and Ghost Envoy realm. In order to survive, they had attempted to refine Gu insects and were looked down upon by Buddhist temples and Daoist temples.
For an insect warrior to be invited to participate in the Ascension Conference was already extremely difficult, so their attitude naturally had to be proper.
Huang Gou'er followed behind Ren Qing. Even now, he still felt shaken and only felt better after approaching Li Yaoyang's counter.
Nan Chengzi often came to the tea house, so he smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Ren, I heard you were unwell these past few days. Are you feeling better today?"
Ren Qing waved his hand and said, "Daoist Nan Cheng, it is nothing now."
After hearing this, Liaoque stroked his long beard and said, "If Shopkeeper Ren's essence and spirit have been damaged, you can come to Huangshan Temple. The jade fat wax there is excellent for nourishing the spirit."
Ren Qing smiled on the surface, but he sneered at the so-called jade fat wax in his heart.
According to the information he had collected, jade fat wax was made by boiling women in their prime years. The ancient cultivators had basically already fallen into madness.
Ren Qing chatted and laughed with them, while the number of ancient cultivators in the tea house continued to increase.
The ancient cultivators seemed to have forgotten that there was a shopkeeper and workers in the tea house, allowing them to openly observe the Ascension Conference.
Huang Gou'er discovered that the immortal elders did not mind his presence. He was slightly surprised, but even more excited.
He held great reverence toward cultivation. Unfortunately, his family was poor, so he had started working as a helper in the tea house at an early age and had passed the age suitable for laying the Dao Foundation.
" Cough cough cough..."
At this moment, another person entered after pushing open the door. The old Daoist directly sat beside Abbot Liaoque, occupying the most central seat in the tea house.
The others did not object. After all, this old Daoist was the temple priest of Laojun Temple, known as Daoist Heishui, and his cultivation before the end of the Dharma era had vaguely ranked among the top three.
Daoist Heishui's soul at the peak of Yang God realm was like a firefly in the darkness.
Although he looked like an immortal Daoist and treated insect warriors with great friendliness, the truth was that the blood sacrifice techniques that rose after the end of the Dharma era were all researched by Daoist Heishui through killing people to refine artifacts. His hands were stained with blood.
"Bring me two liang of Spring Returning Heaven. It has been a long time since I drank tea..."
"My thanks to Shopkeeper Ren."
Daoist Heishui grinned. His teeth were filled with scraps of flesh and blood, and his tongue had clearly been replaced by Fish Louse Gu. It could be seen that he had already explored the rudimentary Gu cultivation technique, but did not know how to advance.
Everyone was shocked. With Daoist Heishui's status, why would he cultivate Gu techniques? Was he not afraid of affecting his path of rebuilding the Great Dao?
They sensed that the newcomer had bad intentions. Daoist Heishui's philosophy was clearly different from Daoist Tianxu's.
Daoist Heishui ignored the gazes directed at him and sipped his Spring Returning Heaven tea before saying, "I met old Daoist Tianxu on the road. He walks far too slowly, so I am afraid he will take some time."
"Shopkeeper Ren, your Spring Returning Heaven has an excellent taste. You have put thought into this."
"Thank you for the praise."
The Spring Returning Heaven tea that cost one liang of gold per liang in Sanxiang City was sold by the jin in Stomach World. Many sheep demons even used it to feed meat pigs.
Li Yaoyang looked at Ren Qing, who showed no sense of incongruity, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
The scene before him felt absurd. He always felt that something was wrong, but when it involved Ren Qing, it somehow seemed completely normal. All he could say was that his abilities were extraordinary.
After more than half an hour, Minghe Tea House was basically filled, and everyone fell silent.
As Daoist Tianxu approached, an inexplicable pressure appeared.