The waning moon remained as before. The specks of black spots on the lunar disc were not obvious, perhaps foreshadowing the surging demonic qi and the arrival of Jingzhou's Primordial Wilderness transformation.
What the cultivators of the Restraint Officers' Hall were more concerned about was the expansion of the dream markets.
They discussed the Demon Market. Who could have imagined that the new dream market would actually be a trial ground? Cultivators of the Ghost Envoy realm flocked to it one after another.
At present, with Jingzhou's resources supporting it, the Restraint Officers' Hall had seen the number of Ghost Envoy realm cultivators increase by more than tenfold, reaching at least two to three hundred people.
But under circumstances of impatience for quick success, the probability of cultivators undergoing aberration and losing control naturally increased greatly.
The Demon Market just happened to fill this gap. It was said that quite a few cultivators who had undergone aberration and lost control had stabilized their realms through the trials of the Demon Market.
It was just that the blood crystals and spirit crystals required by the Demon Market were truly expensive. Even Ghost Envoy realm cultivators with some accumulation could only go occasionally.
Han Li lowered his hood and had just walked out of the coffin shop in the Immortal Market, having gone to check on the coffin elder who had been somewhat idle recently.
Next, he came to the boundary of the Demon Market, his peripheral vision covertly sweeping over the surrounding crowd.
After confirming that no one was paying attention to him, he stepped into the Demon Market.
The temperature turned cold and gloomy.
Han Li felt his body wrapped in darkness, as if falling into a boundless abyss. Only after a long time did some light return before his eyes.
He saw streets like tongue coating, with buildings on both sides resembling pale, sharp teeth.
An inexplicable pressure surged into his heart, and he could faintly hear shrill screams.
Chaotic consciousness swept over Han Li. At this time, cultivators would normally have the corresponding spirit crystals deducted, otherwise they would be expelled from the Demon Market immediately.
However, Han Li was different.
After Ren Qing discovered that he was smuggling resources for demon cultivators, not only did it not cause trouble, it instead brought the two closer, even resembling an elder-disciple relationship.
Now Han Li could actually publicly claim to be Ren Qing's disciple.
But with his low-key personality, he preferred to make money quietly and strive to touch the bottleneck leading to the Yin Officer realm as soon as possible.
Ren Qing was in closed-door cultivation and simply handed the demon cultivators in Eternal Shackles to Han Li, occasionally giving him guidance and instruction.
Not only did this help Han Li clarify his cultivation path, but Ren Qing also carefully explained the details of the three aberrant transformations.
Ren Qing was extremely optimistic about Han Li's potential and secretly opened a back door for him, the preferential treatment being free entry and exit from the Demon Market.
Han Li did not stand on ceremony, going to the Demon Market for trials every few days.
His experiences since childhood made him deeply aware of the dangers of the world, yet without a cheat like Ren Qing's, he lacked a sense of security.
The only ones he trusted were Ren Qing, who had taken him out of Morning Street, and the coffin elder who had helped him a great deal.
As soon as Han Li arrived at the interconnected streets of the Demon Market, he suddenly felt piercing pain surge forth, his entire body trembling involuntarily.
The erosion of heavenly demon qi did not act solely on consciousness; it also gave cultivators the illusion of soul annihilation, bringing a great terror of life and death.
Only in this way could the soul be cleansed of all dross and aberration be thoroughly worn away.
In a daze, hallucinations appeared before Han Li's eyes, as if countless black shadows were writhing, vaguely taking the shape of a black goat.
By the time he regained his senses, his consciousness had already been erased by the Demon Market.
His true body was lying in his room at the inn, his entire body drenched in sweat, but his soul felt a sense of relief and refreshment.
Han Li circulated Nether Yuan and found that his soul had indeed become more solid, though the phantom of the black goat inevitably made him feel lingering fear.
"It seems the Demon Market has to be taken slowly. The aura inside is far too bizarre."
He closed his eyes to rest for a moment, then reopened them.
The black insect at Han Li's feet left his shadow and in a few breaths quickly crawled up the wall, dyeing a three-to-four-meter stretch of wall pitch black.
The ink-black wall surface split open into a long, narrow crack, actually forming a bloody maw.
Han Li entered the crack without hesitation. At the instant he disappeared, the wall returned to its original state, and the black insect quietly hid in a corner.
Ren Qing, who was in closed-door cultivation, felt his eyelids twitch slightly and realized that there was an extra Han Li in Eternal Shackles. After checking, he did not pay further attention.
Next, the demon cultivators would gradually leave Eternal Shackles. Ren Qing himself did not want to handle it personally, so he simply granted Han Li temporary authority.
There was an extra strand of ghost shadow in Han Li's shadow, allowing him to enter Eternal Shackles ten times.
Ren Qing could also perceive Han Li through the ghost shadow, to prevent him from accidentally bringing dangerous things into the stomach-world.
Han Li appeared on Wine Lake Island.
Unlike when consciousness entered Eternal Shackles, he could smell the soul-captivating fragrance of wine and could not help but greedily inhale several breaths.
Han Li skillfully took out some scraps of flesh and threw them onto the lake, drawing large numbers of swimming fish to scramble for them, clearly not his first visit.
When the schools of fish were about to disperse,
his mouth opened slightly, and he spat out a needle-shaped artifact hidden beneath his tongue.
When the artifact was withdrawn, there was an extra half-transparent wine fish on it.
Han Li grabbed the wine fish and stuffed it into his mouth. Its texture was like ice dregs, but before he could chew much, it turned into mellow wine flowing down his throat.
He ate the wine fish while stepping into the Ghost Market.
This kind of wine fish was more delicious than any aquatic product in the world. Han Li felt that if he took it to sell, he would definitely make a small profit.
Of course, with Senior Ren Qing's cultivation, he probably did not care about the profits from wine fish.
The streets of the Ghost Market were bustling with people, but because the market was composed of dream techniques, the figures of cultivators appeared somewhat hazy.
Han Li reluctantly swallowed the last bit of wine fish, then came to the Grand Dream Technique Pavilion.
Previously, he had selected two techniques for the demon cultivators, both of which were beast-transformation type techniques, but the latter's cultivation speed was truly too slow.
After coming into contact with Teng Ning's tribe, Han Li discovered that they were concurrently cultivating a special technique that could absorb the heterogenous aura emitted by the crystal mountains.
He had consulted the records of the Restraint Officers' Hall and found that it was likely related to an Ice Crystal Technique, and Teng Ning's tribe was also called the Ice Crystal Tribe.
Han Li planned to have the Ice Crystal Tribe cultivate the Ice Crystal Technique; perhaps there would be unexpected gains.
As for the other tribes, the Ghost Wolf, Blood Python, Nether Crow, and Kunpeng tribes' demon cultivators were savage by nature and fond of eating raw flesh. Even Han Li found it difficult to approach them.
The Volcano Tribe was even worse; their tempers almost exploded at the slightest provocation.
The Sand Man Tribe was rather reclusive, rarely going beyond desert regions, making it very troublesome to find their whereabouts.
Therefore, most of the time, Han Li conducted transactions with Teng Ning for resources.
He came to the counter of the Grand Dream Technique Pavilion and carefully browsed the details of various techniques. After spending more than half an hour, he discovered the Ice Crystal Technique.
Han Li immediately paid to purchase the Ice Crystal Technique. Just as he was about to leave the Grand Dream Pavilion, he suddenly noticed a strange technique he had never seen before.
"Blood Fungus Record?"
He could not help picking up the book. Because he had not purchased it, he could only flip through the first few pages.
However, the more Han Li read, the more familiar the handwriting felt. How did it feel somewhat familiar...
Wait, the handwriting on the plaque of the Grand Dream Pavilion was almost identical to that of the Blood Fungus Record. Could this technique truly have been created by Senior Ren Qing?
A low voice sounded.
"That's right. It was indeed a technique I casually created in my spare time."
Han Li was startled and turned his head to see a blurry figure beside him. It was indeed a dream projection formed by Ren Qing's consciousness.
He put down the Blood Fungus Record, the respect in his heart deepening further.
Ren Qing sized up Han Li and asked curiously, "Your Taotie Method has just advanced to the Half-Corpse realm. Why did you take the path of the Devourer?"
"Replying to Senior Ren, the Devourer eats everything and can better adapt to the environment."
Han Li used artifacts to store items, and the techniques he mastered were all those that increased strength.
Ren Qing spoke up to ask, "Do you not know that the Devourer will cause bodily aberration, causing the physique to gradually move toward petrification?"
"Even reaching the Ghost Envoy realm will cause one to aberrate into a hill, and at the Yin Officer realm it will form the scale of a mountain range, completely losing mobility."
Hearing this, Han Li showed no surprise and simply replied, "I do not intend to continue advancing. The Devourer alone is enough."
Ren Qing thought for a few breaths and said, "You can try cultivating the Blood Fungus Record. There is an aberration route inside called 'Blood Storer.' Each drop of blood forms a vacuum that can contain several jin of fungal strains."
"There should be specific stone types suitable for fungal growth. After your Taotie Method advances to the Ghost Envoy realm, selectively devouring such stones should allow you to use the Blood Storer to accommodate petrification aberration."
Ren Qing was merely proposing a hypothesis; the specifics would still need Han Li to verify himself.
"The Blood Fungus Record can only reach the Yin Officer realm, but that should be sufficient for you."
Han Li hurriedly thanked Ren Qing, realizing in his heart the importance of a guide. A casual reminder could allow him to go much farther in the future.
The two then chatted casually about the placement of the demon cultivators.
The prejudice Jingzhou people held toward demon cultivators was indeed very serious. After all, many people's relatives had been eaten alive by demon cultivators back then.
Ren Qing did not dare open the Demon Market precisely because of this.
They discussed for a long time without reaching a conclusion, but they did agree on proceeding with caution.
"Han Li, you should first go deliver resources and techniques to the various tribes."
He handed over jailer-related techniques such as the Divine Movement Sutra and resources to Han Li. With Han Li's temperament, he would surely know that biting off more than one could chew was unwise.
"Go deliver resources to the tribes?"
Han Li's heart skipped a beat. Previously, he had always waited for Teng Ning on Wine Lake Island. Could it be that now he had to go to the tribes...
Before he could react, Ren Qing suddenly waved his hand.
Han Li felt himself pass through wall after wall. In a daze, he actually traversed a hundred li. Looking up, he saw a mountain peak soaring straight into the sky.
The mountain peak was composed of crystals. Even the vegetation and animals showed a trend toward crystallization.
At the mountainside was a village built of crystal bricks, housing over a hundred demon cultivators, among whom the figures of children could also be seen.
Only the demon cultivators still maintained flesh-and-blood bodies, using iron picks to excavate the mountain.
A horn sounded.
Thinking it was demon cultivators from other tribes arriving, Teng Ning hurriedly gathered the tribe members to go out.
Han Li's expression was calm, but the artifact in his mouth showed no sign of relaxation.
Seeing Han Li, Teng Ning was somewhat surprised. He then signaled his companions not to act rashly. After confirming Han Li's identity, he finally relaxed.
"I was sent by the Immortal Senior, mainly to impart new Restraint Officer techniques to you."
Han Li borrowed the tiger's might, and was then solemnly invited by Teng Ning into the tribe, where they discussed the details of cultivating Restraint Officer techniques.
Ren Qing observed the Ice Crystal Tribe for a while. Seeing the atmosphere harmonious, he did not bother further.
Next, Han Li still needed to visit the other tribes, but with Teng Ning accompanying him, no accidents would occur.
As expected, Han Li was indeed capable. In just over a month, he visited all the tribes.
Soon, Han Li began planning for the demon cultivators to head into the outside world. After long deliberation, he established a small escort agency in Wuwei City.
Ren Qing felt that integrating into Wuwei City as escorts had a certain feasibility, but with the current situation in Jingzhou, even the Restraint Officers' Hall had already begun contracting its forces.
Outside the city was somewhat unsafe...