Who could have expected that the aberration would actually be connected to the Rabbit-Toad.
Ren Qing recalled the Rabbit-Toad cultivator he had encountered at Qingxu Temple. He had originally thought that he would only come across forces related to the Blood Moon in the Crescent Moon Layer.
He did not intend to create extra trouble, so he did not touch the Moon Candle, but instead stored the unconscious Yuan Si inside the Prison Within the Abdomen.
The other men who had turned into candles already had their souls damaged, and there was no possibility of regaining consciousness.
He placed Yuan Si on the Heart-of-the-Lake Island, had a split soul go to look after him, and at the same time used the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed to reconstruct the Immortal Market.
This time, the Immortal Market was not just for show, he intended to maintain it for the long term.
Ren Qing was just about to leave when he suddenly discovered that after Yuan Si's candle had been moved away, the ground actually revealed a concealed trapdoor.
He used his Double Pupils to look downward and found that quite a few children were imprisoned inside.
Ren Qing glanced at the hall of Furong Tower; Yinghu was still toying with the cultivators, apparently planning to select some to use as material for crafting Moon Candles.
Seeing this, he directly opened the trapdoor, and more than a dozen children dressed in fine clothes came into view.
The hidden room's environment was clean and tidy, like a side chamber, and there were several middle-aged courtesans taking care of their daily needs.
Compared to Yuan Si and the others, the children seemed more like beautifully packaged goods.
The aberration traits on their bodies were all extremely slight, it was even impossible to see traces of insect-mimicry, they instead looked like ordinary mortals.
It was evident that Yinghu's purpose, apart from the Moon Candles, also included using the courtesans of Furong Tower to collect children, though for what purpose was unknown.
The children stared wide-eyed, terrified, at the doorway, as that viscous black shadow flowed toward them like liquid.
The courtesans hastily covered the children's mouths, lest they make too much noise and attract the attention of the Usurper Dragon.
The eldest courtesan stepped forward, trembling as she spoke: "Immortal Lord, this place is Furong Tower, please do not..."
Ren Qing gave them no time to react, he extended his hand, and suction power emerged out of thin air, drawing the children together with the courtesans into the Prison Within the Abdomen.
However, the location was not the Heart-of-the-Lake Island, but near the prison sector.
He then retraced his path and left Furong Tower through a gap in the rear courtyard wall.
After this delay, the sky had grown completely dark. The moon hung high, the streets were deathly silent, and only the lights in each household were shining brightly.
Ren Qing maintained his shadow form, silently gliding through the alleys.
In fact, since arriving at the Crescent Moon Layer, he had never seen Morning Street at night.
Ren Qing could not help but look up at the blood-red waning moon and found that compared to the New Moon Layer, the Blood Moon seemed even larger in size.
He guessed that it was not the Blood Moon that had changed, but rather that the distance between the ground and the sky was shrinking, a sign that the Blood Moon's influence was growing increasingly dreadful.
Ren Qing's body began to show signs of being drawn out, and he immediately stopped gazing at the Blood Moon.
"It's best to leave Morning Street as soon as possible. If Yinghu goes mad, this place really isn't suitable for closed-door cultivation."
Ren Qing made his way toward Three-Wood Alley, planning to pull Old Coffin into the Prison Within the Abdomen.
From the District of Debauchery to Three-Wood Alley was only a few minutes' walk, but in order to remain hidden, he spent a full half hour.
Just as Ren Qing was about to reach the mouth of the alley, a sound of a gong suddenly came from not far away.
"The weather is dry, beware of fire."
Seeing this, he stopped moving, pressing himself into the corner of the wall, the ghost shadow covering his body, and his sense of presence reduced to the lowest point.
A long-limbed, long-armed figure passed by, the night watchman was wearing a thin rain cloak and carrying an ordinary lantern in hand.
Though his appearance was indeed aberrant, there was a strangely calm feeling about him.
Moreover, his cultivation was far from as terrifying as Yinghu's, at most comparable to the Yin Runner Realm, and even showing signs of gradual weakening.
Ren Qing stared at the night watchman, noticing that no matter from which angle he looked, the man always faced him with his back, appearing inexplicably odd.
The moment he turned his head, the gong sound abruptly stopped, the night watchman appeared at the other end of the street.
At first, Ren Qing thought he had triggered some taboo of the night watchman, but he quickly realized otherwise, staring straight at him.
Compared to Yuan Si and Hu Yi, Old Coffin's description of the night watchman had been vague, and he had never heard of any townsfolk dying because of it.
Crack crack crack crack...
Sounds of bones colliding came from the night watchman's body, then, like a giraffe, his head extended far out, as though searching for something.
Ren Qing slipped into Three-Wood Alley; when the being found no living presence, it once again lifted its lantern and muttered to itself.
"Midnight third watch, beware of fire."
The night watchman, apart from Yinghu, was the second aberration to have completely descended upon Morning Street, its danger level should, by rights, have far exceeded imagination.
But in reality, it was entirely the opposite. The night watchman seemed to exist only within rumor.
Ren Qing suspected that the night watchman's true name had already been forgotten, causing its spiritual intelligence to become impaired, thus it wandered endlessly through Morning Street.
Compared to the street's silence, the noises from the distant residential area were much clearer, one could hear the screams of those dying as Hu Yi hunted.
Ren Qing soon arrived at the coffin shop; its doors and windows were tightly shut.
As he slipped in through the crack at the bottom of the door, a pungent scent of alcohol greeted him, along with the sound of deep snoring.
Old Coffin was sprawled on the ground in a completely unseemly manner; the surroundings were full of empty wine jars, and a rich alcoholic aroma filled the side room.
His physical condition had improved greatly, no longer appearing withered and near death, though his limbs were still stitched together from corpses.
Old Coffin seemed vaguely aware that someone was approaching; he muttered in a daze, yet still could not move.
"Old Coffin, I'll take you to a good place."
Ren Qing smiled, grabbed Old Coffin, and tossed him into the Prison Within the Abdomen.
Old Coffin only felt a dizzying spin and hurriedly opened his eyes, realizing that he was falling from the sky, more than half of his drunkenness immediately scattered.
He opened his mouth wide, utterly unable to comprehend what had happened.
Bang...
Old Coffin crashed heavily onto the Heart-of-the-Lake Island, lying there for a long time before managing to get up, noticing that the surroundings had turned into a strange Daoist temple.
The temple was suffused with immortal aura, and not far away there was a spring gushing wine, the fragrance even stronger than that of the jars he had drunk.
"What is this..."
"This place is the dwelling of immortals."
Yuan Si limped over to Old Coffin's side; though the latter's cultivation far surpassed his, there was not the slightest fear in his heart.
In truth, he had already regained consciousness long ago and had received Ren Qing's instructions.
Old Coffin was utterly bewildered. He recognized the man before him, ordinarily the most inconspicuous cultivator of Morning Street.
Yet now he stood before him, speaking of an immortal dwelling, what in the world was going on?
He suddenly realized something, grabbing Yuan Si and asking: "Do you know Ren Qing?"
Old Coffin thought of Ren Qing and now found him increasingly inscrutable, not only did his talent rise and fall unpredictably, but his comprehension and aptitude also far surpassed the ordinary.
And those dozen jars of wine, at first, drinking them had only made him refreshed, but now that he thought back, they might truly have had life-prolonging effects.
In Old Coffin's seventy-some years of experience, he had never heard of spirit wine capable of extending lifespan.
Could it really be connected to immortals?
"Ren Qing? Don't know him."
Yuan Si shook his head. No matter how Old Coffin pressed him afterward, he no longer responded, merely gazing fervently toward the sky.
Old Coffin turned his head as well, his heart pounding wildly.
There, in the distant midair, stood a two-headed immortal, whose aura was almost tangible, completely unlike anything of the mortal world.
Old Coffin was more knowledgeable than Yuan Si; upon seeing the two-headed immortal's appearance, his breathing instantly grew rough.
"Yuanshi... Primordial Heavenly Venerable..."
Only in ancient texts could one glimpse the true form of the Dao Ancestor. Now encountering a genuine or false Primordial Heavenly Venerable, he could not help but tremble with emotion.
Yuan Si unhesitatingly knelt down, his expression showing faint guilt.
If not for his reckless actions, he would not have been trapped in Furong Tower, ultimately needing the Immortal Venerable to save him, it truly should not have happened.
The split soul borrowed the Nether Yuan of the Heavenly Dao Worm. To the two who cultivated the Heavenly Insect Method, the pressure was even greater than that of a cultivator at the Ascension Stage.
Ren Qing poured the content of the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method into their Niwan Palace.
"Cultivate this technique, and you may obtain immortality."
Old Coffin's mouth hung open. For one whose lifespan was already near exhaustion, longevity was indeed something unattainable.
The Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method was not much different from ordinary techniques, only slightly modified in some parts.
But it was precisely these insignificant modifications that hid profoundly terrifying implications, and why was it called the Heavenly Insect Method in the first place...
The trembling of the ground interrupted Old Coffin's thoughts, the Heart-of-the-Lake Island began to expand.
In just a few breaths, the island had grown several times larger, and the Daoist temple became hazy, as though it might dissipate into smoke at any moment.
Ren Qing took a deep breath, reviewing the contents of the Butterfly Dream Technique several times in his mind.
The three dream arts interlocked, exerting their power to the utmost.
Two more buildings appeared around the temple. Although they looked like ordinary shops, they were still creations conjured out of thin air.
Old Coffin believed it mostly now, such terrifying divine ability he had never seen before. Even cultivators at the Spirit Division Stage could not achieve such a feat.
He suspected that Ren Qing was the disciple of the two-headed immortal, and thus this great fortune had fallen upon him.
The shops fully took shape, one was apparently for selling coffins, and the other was called Great Dream Pavilion, its use unknown.
The two looked at each other.
According to the information Ren Qing had left behind, the Great Dream Pavilion could be used to exchange cultivation materials, while the coffin shop was to be managed by Old Coffin.
However, the Immortal Market had not yet been opened, and both shops were tightly closed.
Before Ren Qing's split soul departed, he left two rays of spiritual light into their palms.
Old Coffin opened his hand to find a transparent amber-like gem. According to the information that appeared in his mind, consuming it could extend life by two hundred days, a rare immortal food.
Yuan Si received a fleshly magic tool refined from an adult's leg bone.
Without hesitation, he pressed it against his crippled leg, and the two fused at a speed visible to the naked eye, the disability in his leg was instantly compensated for by the magic tool.
"Thank you, Immortal Venerable, for your blessing. This disciple has no way to repay such grace."
Yuan Si kowtowed heavily several times, then quickly hurried into the Daoist temple, intending to immediately switch cultivation to the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
After a moment's hesitation, Old Coffin swallowed the immortal food.
As a warm current flowed through him, he knew that his lifespan had indeed increased considerably, he would no longer taste the pain of exhaustion for some time.
"Ah, I thought myself broad-minded enough regarding life and death..."
"But immortality, who can truly treat immortality as nothing?"
Old Coffin looked at the clearly limited heaven and earth of the Prison Within the Abdomen. It was very likely some sort of self-contained-world divine ability, it seemed he had indeed encountered an immortal.