In merely half a day, quite a few bamboo tubes had appeared in the courtyard, each containing various insects, though they were all ordinary, non-venomous species.
Ren Qing did not care about this. After all, he was not trying to refine poisonous Gu, but wanted to test the rules of the inner layer world.
When it came to refining Gu, Restraint Officers' Hall was definitely where Li Yaoyang had researched it most deeply.
Li Yaoyang had once perfected a type of Gu targeting Insect Nest based on Heavenly Dao Insect, which was refined using disease seeds.
Ren Qing currently had no particularly good method, so he simply decided to try disease-seed Gu.
He first found an earthen jar and put all the insects inside. Since they were not aggressive, the insects coexisted peacefully.
Ren Qing then had the Mad Dog Disease Seed infect the many insects, and they immediately became listless.
According to Li Yaoyang, disease seeds had an extraordinary characteristic, which was allowing a certain type of disease mutation to be passed down from generation to generation.
Many diseases were hereditary, yet could still be cured after birth.
Even dragon blood could not compare, after all, dragonification was irreversible, and its erosion of the body and soul was thorough from beginning to end.
Ren Qing had originally wanted to find an opportunity to mix hereditary diseases into the genes of the Heavenly Dao Insect, but later simply handed the matter over to Gu Immortal.
Gu Immortal's second life had clearly failed. Whether there would be a third life would depend on his own luck.
If the soul after death remained safe and sound in the inner layer world, with no desire to commit suicide whatsoever, then Ren Qing probably would not be able to count on it happening anytime soon.
Ren Qing recklessly influenced the bodies of the insects, causing abnormalities to appear in their brains.
The insects clearly became more vicious, and then began tearing each other apart, devouring the corpses of their own kind, even though they had originally been herbivores.
Even after Ren Qing stripped the Mad Dog Disease Seed away, he still could not change the fighting inside the earthen jar.
Without waiting for the insects to die out completely, he directly smashed the earthen jar and released the insects displaying characteristics of rabies into the narrow courtyard.
The insects fled in panic, quickly disappearing into the dense grass.
Ren Qing did not remain in the inner layer world. Instead, he chose to return to the surface world and ponder how he should launch a counterattack.
At the same time, he prepared for the advancement of Zhili Technique.
However, this was already his third breakthrough into the Heavenly Aberration realm, so there was no risk to speak of. It was more like routine business.
He also placed the gateway to Stomach World in Xiangxiang, allowing Li Yaoyang and the other Restraint Officers' Hall cultivators to return to the Heavenly Palaces at any time to cultivate their techniques.
Ren Qing immersed himself in closed-door cultivation, and time passed silently.
Jingzhou was left in a state where no one interfered, and the various factions had no intention of causing trouble either, each planning how they should obtain the opportunity.
Little did they know that everything they were doing was useless work that would ultimately benefit the person behind the scenes.
After waiting for nearly half a year, Ren Qing once again descended his consciousness into the inner layer world, and the bacterial soul immediately sensed countless diseased insects.
The insects' reproduction speed could be imagined. Even though they had spread only a few miles, their numbers had already grown to more than a hundred thousand.
As generation after generation reproduced, the characteristics of the diseased insects became increasingly obvious.
Their habits had undergone earth-shattering changes, and their current habitats were mainly concentrated in graveyards and mass burial grounds.
By now, the disease had penetrated deep into the insects' bones and marrow, and could hardly be separated from their flesh and blood.
Even if the Heavenly Dao Insect contracted a hereditary disease and used various methods to eliminate it, some traces would inevitably remain deep within its flesh and bones.
Ren Qing's Zhili Dream Immortal governed the diseases of the world. As long as the Heavenly Dao Insect carried a disease, Ren Qing would be able to easily control it after becoming an immortal.
His thoughts stirred, and the diseased insects immediately surged toward the village.
Ren Qing looked around the village. To a Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator, half a year was a brief period of time, but the changes experienced by mortals were certainly much more extensive.
Ma Shan had already gone to the town, while the other children were all busy with household chores.
Ren Qing looked toward Blackwater Daoist's courtyard. The latter should have returned several times, mainly to burn incense for his wife and child, and had also tidied up the eaves.
Given his hurried appearance, Blackwater Daoist should have quite a few things to attend to.
He directed the insects toward an empty area behind the village.
The moon had just risen into the sky when tens of thousands of insects had already silently gathered there. They made no sound at all, resembling a mass of black fog.
Ren Qing used the bacterial soul to nurture a Mad Dog Disease Seed, then threw it into the swarm.
Immediately afterward, the swarm went mad. A foul stench mixed with the scent of green vegetation spread through the air, causing birds to cry out.
A moment later, amid the corpses of countless insects, a strange Gu was born.
The Gu should originally have been a grasshopper, but after absorbing the Mad Dog Disease Seed, its body underwent an unusual transformation.
Not only did its size increase dozens of times, reaching the size of a fist, its head also became more canine in appearance, gradually breaking away from the category of insects.
It let out a deafening cry, and the birds immediately scattered in all directions.
Ren Qing summoned the information stream to inspect it.
[Corpse Hound Gu]
[After refinement, it can digest rotten flesh from corpses, but will suffer from the erosion of corpse transformation and requires two pounds of rotten flesh every day for nourishment.]
It can be nourished with fresh corpses and advanced into a Buried Corpse Gu.
It seemed that no matter how deeply one ventured into Jingzhou, the Gu system still existed, so there was no need to worry about accidents occurring when traveling to the inner layer world.
Ren Qing studied the Corpse Hound Gu for a moment, then immediately drilled into it. With ease, he forcibly erased the Gu's consciousness.
After possessing the Corpse Hound Gu, he could at least be considered to have obtained a usable body.
Although the bacterial soul had reached the Yang God realm, without the protection of a body, it was like water without a source, and might weaken over time.
Nourishing the Corpse Hound Gu could rely on the Dream City connected to the bacterial soul, and it just so happened that he had now possessed the Gu.
A soul alone could of course also enter the Dream City, but without a body as a medium, it was impossible for the bacterial soul to return smoothly to the real world.
Ren Qing casually exchanged for some Corpse Flesh Flowers cultivated by Corpse Vein. The Corpse Flesh Flowers looked like skinned human palms and also emitted a faint aura of Yin energy, but in reality they were plants that grew beside the Yellow Springs.
After the Corpse Hound Gu ate several petals, it immediately developed a feeling of fullness, and its size also increased imperceptibly.
Ren Qing was slightly surprised and could not help carefully observing the Corpse Hound Gu.
He discovered that even after the Corpse Hound Gu had completely digested its food, its size continued to increase, only at an extremely slow rate.
Ren Qing knew very well that in the Jingzhou influenced by immortal positions, any abnormality could be a hidden rule.
He controlled the Corpse Hound Gu to return to Blackwater Daoist's courtyard, then had the Gu burrow underground, intending to dig out a suitable cave.
During this time, Ren Qing continued observing. He discovered that even without providing the Corpse Hound Gu with food and allowing it to go hungry for several days, its size still continued to swell.
Only when the Corpse Hound Gu was nearly starved to death did he feed it Corpse Flesh Flowers again.
Ren Qing did not know whether this originated from the characteristics of the Corpse Hound Gu or from the rules brought about by the immortal position. If he wanted to investigate further, he could only continue observing other types of Gu.
But the efficiency of refining Gu was simply too slow. There might not be any progress even after several months.
After Ren Qing waited until the underground cave had been excavated, he simply took out some Weird Objects from the Dream City, though they were only remnants of Weird Objects.
Within just a few breaths, the Weird Object began transforming in the direction of a Gu.
Ren Qing hurriedly branded it with the bacterial soul to prevent the Gu from rebelling, then established a cave for raising Gu in the inner layer world.
After observing them, he found that all Gu would more or less increase in size on their own.
It seemed that as Jingzhou drew closer and closer to its core, the rules of the immortal positions were indeed changing. He still needed several fellow cultivators to help scout the way.
Ren Qing expanded the scale of his Gu breeding, increasing the number of caves from ten to fifty.
If not for the fact that, with the flow of time in Stomach World, Weird Objects did not grow any more slowly than those in Jingzhou, he could even have refined Gu on a large scale.
The Corpse Hound Gu successfully advanced into a Buried Corpse Gu.
Its size surged to slightly over two meters. Its appearance increasingly resembled a skinned hound, though its four limbs had undergone varying degrees of degeneration, and it usually moved through the soil like a python.
The Buried Corpse Gu in the surface world was a type of Gu that parasitized the abdomen of corpses. A size of two meters was certainly abnormal.
[Buried Corpse Gu]
[After refinement, it can accelerate the recovery of injuries by consuming rotten flesh. Its claws contain potent corpse poison, but it will suffer from the erosion of corpse transformation and requires ten pounds of rotten flesh every day for nourishment.]
It can be nourished with fresh corpses and advanced into a Corpse-Control Ghost Beast Gu.
During this period, quite a few people in the inner layer world could not withstand the blows they suffered and chose to commit suicide.
Ren Qing could sense that once the number of deaths reached a critical threshold, the Gu Immortals would descend into the surface world again.
He communicated with the disease seed hidden inside Blackwater Daoist and discovered that the latter was still alive.
Blackwater Daoist was no longer fishing. He had found work in Sanxiang City, mainly helping a general goods store transport supplies to various places.
Although his life was poor, it could be considered fulfilling.
Blackwater Daoist had no fixed residence, so he temporarily stayed at the home of a distant relative.
Not long afterward, the local ruffians who had robbed him back then came to his door again. Wushan clearly had no intention of letting Blackwater Daoist go and directly resorted to killing. The entire family of three lost their lives.
Blackwater Daoist alone happened to be outside transporting goods.
When Blackwater Daoist finished everything and returned, the house was already surrounded by yamen runners, and he could see several corpses covered with white cloth.
He helplessly fell to his knees, and only despair remained on his face.
Only after the yamen runners had arranged the corpses did Blackwater Daoist belatedly react and begin making funeral arrangements for the family of his relatives.
Wushan appeared as if out of kindness and even brought Blackwater Daoist some news.
"Those villains from a few days ago, I had my disciples find them. They've already been sent to the government office..."
As Wushan spoke, he kept observing Blackwater Daoist's face. He saw that although the latter repeatedly expressed his gratitude on the surface, there was not the slightest trace of anger in his eyes.
He understood that Blackwater Daoist had already lost all remaining value for exploitation.
Wushan shook his head. He had originally thought that this man's character was strong and resolute, and that he could bring him the merit of several relics. He had not expected that he had still misjudged him.
He could not even be bothered to continue pretending and turned around, wanting to leave as quickly as possible.
"Wushan..."
Wushan heard Blackwater Daoist muttering to himself, but paid no attention and soon walked away.
Blackwater Daoist picked up several blank spirit tablets and carved the names of his dead family members, from his wife and child to the three members of his distant relative's family.
The spirit tablets were placed beside the coffins, but he did not stop there.
Blackwater Daoist picked up an unfinished wooden tablet and began shaving it with a small knife. His expression was almost that of a madman, and his eyes were filled with blood vessels.
Quite a few people came and went through the funeral home, but no one noticed what he was doing.
The wooden tablet soon took on a human form. One could barely make out the appearance of a dragon head with a human body, and on the Throne of Skulls beneath its feet, six blurred characters were carved.
"Heavenly Court: Dragon King of the Four Seas"