Ren Qing knew that the moment he left the borders of Xiangxiang, every move he made would be exposed before the eyes of the various factions, especially the Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators, who were fully capable of observing him without making the slightest sound.
So he had no intention of concealing anything and fully displayed the abilities of Ancestral Lineage Derivation.
The Dragon King of the Four Seas identity had always been meant to conceal the existence of the Restraint Officers' Hall while spreading the name of the Heavenly Court. Naturally, it had to display the strength worthy of such a title.
With a thought from Ren Qing, dark clouds covered the sky and lightning filled the air.
He still maintained the appearance of a dragon-headed humanoid. As he walked, moisture churned around him, and tree after tree was uprooted.
Birds and beasts fled in every direction. The dragon's might made them incapable of resisting him. Even being caught in its aftermath could cause both body and soul to collapse into minced flesh.
As he walked, Ren Qing digested Tianqiong Daoist's memories.
From them, he learned that the one coming from Insect Nest was the Blood Bat Matriarch, who could merge into the earth veins and transform the Heavenly Dao insect people within her territory with Blood Bat characteristics.
However, there was little detailed information, because Insect Nest maintained an extremely rigid hierarchy.
Yang Spirit realm Heavenly Dao insect people were collectively known as "Soldier Insects"; Yin Difference realm ones were called "Adult Insects"; all the rest were insignificant "Larvae."
As for insect people, within Insect Nest they were classified as mindless "Insect Beasts."
In fact, Insect Beasts held slightly higher status than insect people. At least the beeswax they secreted served as food for the larvae, so they were not casually slaughtered.
Han Li followed behind Ren Qing, inwardly shocked by the divine abilities of Ancestral Lineage Derivation, though his expression remained calm.
He could vaguely sense numerous gazes fixed upon him and immediately realized that Ren Qing's actions were meant to intimidate by making an example.
Han Li also stopped hiding and pushed the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method to its limit.
The unique Nether Yuan circulated through his meridians. Mixed with an almost imperceptible trace of dragon qi, its characteristics had already become vastly different from Heavenly Dao techniques.
The Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method was no longer the Ascension Method of the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal. More accurately, it had become the Ascension Method of the Primordial Unity Ancestral Dragon, though its upper limit remained one level below Ren Qing's.
Han Li leaped into the shadows beneath his feet, and Nether Yuan covered his entire body in black dragon scales.
Next, he activated The Taotie Method and Blood Fungus Record, causing drastic changes throughout his body as his flesh transformed into stone while his bones continuously expanded.
Boom!!!
A flood dragon whose skin was rock, whose scales were Nether Yuan, and whose flesh was fungal matter burst into the air.
Han Li's body exceeded ten meters in length, exuding an overwhelming sense of pressure. He looked nothing like an ordinary Yin Difference realm cultivator, and could even threaten Yang Spirit realm cultivators.
Although his flood dragon form was created through techniques, it also carried dragon's might, making him resemble a true dragon far more than the Water Snakes within the Stomach World.
To the other factions, Ren Qing was clearly establishing his authority before the coming opportunity.
By deliberately bringing along only a Yin Difference realm cultivator instead of a Yang Spirit realm one, he was demonstrating the overall strength of the Heavenly Court. Even its Yin Difference realm cultivators far surpassed others of the same cultivation level.
What a Heavenly Court.
What a Dragon King of the Four Seas.
Feng Ye sensed Ren Qing's aura from a great distance away, and his body could not help trembling.
Suppressing every instinct urging him to turn around and flee, he stood among his clansmen in the mountains while circulating the Ascension Method of Bo Qiang, the Wind God.
In Feng Ye's understanding, Ren Qing should also be a descendant of one of the immortals of the Ministry of Thunder.
The Wind Void People had explored the halls of the Ministry of Thunder. The immortals there each held their own responsibilities. The Ministry of Thunder mainly governed the winds, rains, and favorable weather of the world. Among the statues of those immortals, there were indeed figures with dragon heads and human bodies.
The Ministry of Thunder governed wind, thunder, and rain. If Feng Ye's guess was correct, then Ren Qing represented the descent of thunder and the bringing of rain.
In that case, the immortal Ren Qing inherited should hold a status even higher than Wind God Bo Qiang's, perhaps even being one of the supreme gods of the Ministry of Thunder.
No matter how afraid he was, Feng Ye did not want Ren Qing to look down on him. He forced himself to float into the air as endless hurricanes poured from his flesh.
He could not help envying the imposing presence and unrestrained confidence Ren Qing displayed.
Ren Qing had probably inherited the complete legacy of a certain immortal from the Ministry of Thunder. That was why, despite bearing the title Dragon King of the Four Seas, his strength had become so terrifying.
Once he completed Wind God Bo Qiang's Wind Control Art, perhaps he could become like that as well.
Ren Qing stopped when he was still ten li away from the Wind Void People, avoiding getting so close that Feng Ye's fear would cause him to react excessively.
The two remained silent for a long time, leaving the atmosphere somewhat tense. The hidden observers from the various factions had no idea what was happening.
Could it be that the Heavenly Court was not completely united? Or had its members simply not contacted one another for thousands of years? If so, then what exactly maintained their connections?
"Descendants of Bo Qiang?"
As soon as Ren Qing spoke, more than half of the hostility Feng Ye had been displaying disappeared.
Feng Ye opened his mouth as though wanting to speak, but hesitated. The information he had obtained within the Heavenly Court was extremely limited. He did not even know how he should converse with Ren Qing.
Ren Qing pretended to be surprised as he deliberately revealed some information.
"Wait."
"As descendants of Bo Qiang, don't you Wind Void People possess an unbroken inheritance stretching from ancient times until now?"
"After the Heavenly Court catastrophe, we... the descendants of Bo Qiang... remained confined to a tiny corner of the world. We've only emerged recently. Our inheritance has long been lost."
Facing Ren Qing, Feng Ye unconsciously lowered his head slightly. His imposing presence weakened considerably, and without realizing it, he had placed himself in the subordinate's position.
"You've been to the Heavenly Court?"
"We have. That place..."
Ren Qing glanced around before speaking.
"No need to say more. Let's return to Xiangxiang first. There are too many eyes and ears here."
He had already revealed everything the other factions needed to know, practically confirming the existence of the Heavenly Court. In the future, after obtaining more and more Ascension Methods from immortal positions, he could consider opening quotas for entering the Lesser Heavenly Court.
The Weird Immortal pathfinders Ren Qing needed would be selected from among those people.
Although Feng Ye possessed Heavenly Aberration realm strength, he had rarely interacted with the outside world. Ren Qing was afraid he might say something wrong, so he had deliberately done almost all the talking himself.
Immediately afterward, Ren Qing led the Wind Void People toward Xiangxiang.
He intended to settle Feng Ye in Heshan Town. It lay in the northern region of Xiangxiang and contained many mountain peaks suitable for the Wind Void People to inhabit, though it would inevitably face the Insect Nest forces occupying central Jingzhou.
Feng Ye agreed immediately, completely unconcerned that Ren Qing had essentially assigned him the task.
Han Li remained bewildered from beginning to end.
He only knew that Ren Qing had adopted the identity of the Dragon King of the Four Seas, but what exactly was this Heavenly Court?
How had a few casual words managed to recruit a Heavenly Aberration realm ally for the Restraint Officers' Hall? Or had Senior Ren used dream techniques to bewilder Feng Ye's mind?
Han Li did not dare ask, and his respect for Ren Qing only deepened.
The appearance of the Heavenly Court stirred hidden undercurrents throughout Jingzhou.
The known information was that the Heavenly Court had once been inhabited by a group of ancient immortals, and the two Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators were descendants of those immortals.
It even seemed that the Heavenly Court still existed, and that inheritances left behind by those immortals remained within it.
Yet because all this had come directly from Ren Qing himself, the various factions found it impossible to determine whether he was simply acting with complete confidence or whether he had some deeper scheme.
Every corner of Jingzhou became deathly silent, especially the towns occupied by Insect Nest.
Before the Matriarch arrived, the Heavenly Dao insect people no longer dared continue expanding. Instead, they dispatched vast numbers of Gu insects to monitor the direction of Xiangxiang.
In the western corner of Jingzhou stood a town constructed entirely from interlocked white bones. The buildings had been remodeled into grotesque and terrifying shapes.
The walls resembled flesh, the doorways looked like tombstones, and crows perched along the rooftops announcing death.
Even the plaque above the city gate had been replaced. Upon it were carved two blood-red characters:
Ghost Capital.
A Throne of Skulls fashioned from a skeletal elephant rested above Ghost Capital. Upon it sat a beauty reduced to white bones, her hollow eye sockets revealing traces of contemplation.
"I've forgotten many things before. I wonder if the Heavenly Court was among them..."
"Heavenly Court, Heavenly Court. Could it truly have been the dwelling place of the ancient immortals?"
"Elephant Lord, do you still remember?"
The trumpeting of an elephant echoed from a hundred li to the east.
The former Wuduan City had become a bloody purgatory. House after house had been transformed into prisons, while at the center rose mountains of corpses and seas of bones.
The enormous Corpse Elephant lay atop the mountain of corpses and sea of bones. Pus flowed from its ruined body, while countless souls struggled along its back.
Its exposed skeleton looked somewhat aged. Apparently, its bones had once been stripped away by a White Bone cultivator.
A man squatted upon the Corpse Elephant's back. His head was entirely that of an elephant, though rotten flesh covered it, and two human bones served as tusks.
If Ren Qing had seen the man's mount, he would have recognized it as the very Corpse Elephant Song Zongwu had fought while breaking through to the Yang Spirit realm before Jingzhou's destruction.
The souls along the Corpse Elephant's back had become somewhat different. Clearly, after they had scattered when Jingzhou's inhabitants perished, its spine had not been completely destroyed. After many twists and turns, it had once more developed intelligence.
Within barely a hundred years, the Corpse Elephant had somehow obtained a tremendous opportunity and broken through the limits of the Yang Spirit realm, barely reaching the Heavenly Aberration realm.
However, it had still fallen into the hands of two Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators. Its skeleton belonged to the White Bone cultivator, while its flesh belonged to the Elephant Lord.
"Lady White Bone, if even you can't remember the Heavenly Court, how could I possibly remember..."
The Elephant Lord clutched his head as the flesh all over his body began boiling. He then vented his fury by pounding violently against the Corpse Elephant beneath him.
The Corpse Elephant let out a mournful cry, quickly collapsing into a puddle of rotten flesh before gradually regenerating under the influence of the souls along its spine, though the pain remained.
Lady White Bone covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"I've even forgotten my own name. Why don't we take this opportunity to ask... the Heavenly Dao?"
"If you return my elephant bones, I'll go ask that Dragon King of the Four Seas for you."
Lady White Bone did not answer. She deliberately snapped off a piece of bone from her throne and chewed on it, causing the Elephant Lord to become even more enraged.
A shrill sound came from the southeastern corner before quickly fading away. Clearly, it was another Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator unwilling to reveal themselves.
"Ridiculous. What Heavenly Court? They're nothing more than frauds deceiving the world..."
Several Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators refused to yield before Ren Qing, lest showing weakness cause everyone to focus their attacks on them.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
The Matriarch seemed to sense the threat posed by the gathered Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators and immediately accelerated. With every step, her mountain-like body crossed several thousand meters.
Lady White Bone's expression became one of disgust. Her emotions caused the bones throughout her body to crack loudly.
"Filthy insects. Truly troublesome."
Yet even she had to admit that once one Insect Nest Matriarch became involved, more Matriarchs would soon appear one after another.
Although Insect Nest was an enormous and bloated force, it possessed discipline beyond description. There had never once been internal conflict between Matriarchs.
There should still be some time before the opportunity arrived, but none of the factions dared relax. They all began altering the surrounding environment with their occupied towns as the center.
Most Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators controlled only a single town. Only Insect Nest and Ren Qing were exceptions.
However, after obtaining Feng Ye's assistance, far fewer cultivators continued spying on Ren Qing, allowing the apparent balance between the various factions to be maintained.
The only thing Ren Qing still could not understand was what this so-called opportunity actually referred to.
The divination revealed on the tortoise shell had always been "great danger with slight fortune," but the auspicious sign remained extremely weak, indicating that whatever opportunity it was held little value for him.
Then why had it attracted so many Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators?