Ren Qing watched as the giant Nether Crow disappeared into the depths of Avici Hell, the thick mist dispersing along with it, and couldn't help but feel a slight sense of absurdity in his heart.
Could the place Song Zongwu mentioned, where he was going to the Restraint Officers' Hall to undergo seclusion and promotion, really have something to do with the giant Nether Crow?
He shook his head and stopped thinking about it, he'd know in a few days anyway.
Ren Qing returned to Bazi Village through the stomach wall, and Yan Jun and the others visibly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing him.
After all, the matter involved was no small issue, completely beyond the scope of what reserve officers could handle. Now that the report had been successfully submitted to the Restraint Officers' Hall, it could finally be considered resolved.
Ren Qing informed the two of them of the method of handling it. From here on, they could only wait for the outcome.
Fortunately, more than half a day later, a Restraint Officer who had taken up the mission arrived at Bazi Village.
Ren Qing didn't know any of them. He simply gave a brief account of the situation, and the Restraint Officers then used techniques to encircle the perimeter of the village.
If any cultivator passed by, it would be detected and responded to.
Seeing this, Ren Qing could only begin the return journey and leave Bazi Village.
Before departing, he also went to burn a stick of incense in front of his father and elder brother's graves. Though he felt no emotion, at the very least, blood was thicker than water, it was only right.
Chen Shi didn't say much beside him, only stuffed the mended clothes into Ren Qing's arms.
Then she walked with him to the village entrance, only returning home to rest after Ren Qing's figure disappeared at the end of the mountain path.
...
Ren Qing's speed on the return journey was even faster than before. By the time it was getting dark, he had already reached the west gate of Sanxiang City.
Although it had only been two days, walking from a remote mountain village into a bustling city still gave him the illusion of having washed off all worldly dust.
After parting ways with Yan Jun and the others, Ren Qing walked alone through the crowded streets.
He noticed that the previously large number of scholars and students were now almost nowhere to be seen, indicating the influence of the imperial examination in Sanxiang City.
Constables from the Yamen had been deployed all across the west side of the city, and the Blood Dog Gang was keeping an even lower profile.
The Qinghe Examination Hall had gathered hundreds of craftsmen, not just for repairs and inspections of the buildings, but also for site expansions.
Ren Qing went straight back to the Corpse Burners' Hall, dumping the mountain goods gifted by Ren Shisan in front of Bo Feng and the others, then went into his room to rest.
Little Wu cheered with joy. He hadn't returned to his hometown for a long time, so getting to taste the mountain specialties unique to the village was a welcome treat.
Ren Qing slept deeply.
Then he shut himself in his room for cultivation, since he would be advancing The Blindless Method in a few days, and couldn't risk any mishaps.
His focus was mainly on visualizing techniques.
And he continuously tried to maintain visualization for longer periods, allowing his body and mind to gradually adapt to the Twin Nightmare Ghosts.
During this time, Ren Qing also searched for clues on how to cultivate Immortal in the Mirror, but unfortunately, there were no records whatsoever within the Restraint Officers' Hall.
As for going to Song Zongwu, thinking about it, he decided against it. He had just inquired about Bone Armor Technique not long ago, and bringing up a new technique now might leave the impression that he was unfocused and lacking depth.
So Ren Qing planned to directly consume lifespan to advance, in any case, Mirror-Faced only cost a year.
Among the mutation paths, Splicer required the most lifespan to consume, probably because the technique was more likely to cause negative effects on the user.
However, Ren Qing wasn't in a rush. At the very least, he intended to gain basic mastery over the technique first.
Moreover, by practicing inside the Prison Within the Abdomen with a split consciousness, it probably wouldn't take many days.
He entered a life of seclusion.
Even Bo Feng and the others couldn't sense Ren Qing's presence anymore, he felt like a ghost to them.
The reward payment for the Bazi Village mission soon arrived. Perhaps it was because Ren Qing had led the team, or perhaps because it involved a Supernatural Remnant.
The reward amounted to more than four shí of blood crystals.
With this, Ren Qing had already gathered ten shí of blood crystals and could go to Mountain Ghost Cave at any time to exchange for a Supernatural Remnant.
But it was said there were risks involved. Considering his current reliance on resources like the Stone Eye, his demand for lifespan-extending techniques could be postponed.
So for now, he wouldn't take that risk.
Ren Qing continued to focus on cultivation, even though the courtyard of the Corpse Burners' Hall had already been fully constructed, he didn't go to check it out.
Under these circumstances, the time he had agreed on with Song Zongwu approached quietly.
Ren Qing's mastery over the Double Pupils grew ever more refined, and his mental state had settled as expected.
He had successfully mastered Immortal in the Mirror, but to go further would require painstaking work, so it was time to cheat.
As his lifespan was consumed, a mysterious feeling rose once more within Ren Qing's body.
Ren Qing knew that Immortal in the Mirror's change affected his sense of presence, this was a strange mutation, hard to explain.
A moment later, Immortal in the Mirror underwent a metamorphosis.
In a daze, he snapped his fingers; several butterflies flew out from his palm and then transformed into sparrows, chirping non-stop.
Ren Qing focused his thoughts.
The floor inside the room became covered with grass, and trees grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Ren Qing then tried summoning illusions of beasts, the results were indeed promising.
The illusions were even several times larger than ordinary beasts, comparable to Martial Practitioner-level Supernatural Remnants, though still far from the technique's limits.
Ren Qing immediately drew the Dragon-Snake Spine, with lifelike flames coiling around the blade, the surrounding air slightly distorted.
He flicked it with precise force.
The Dragon-Snake Spine gently struck the wall, leaving a scorched mark.
When retrieved, the Dragon-Snake Spine transformed into the form of a fire python, fiercely clawing and wrestling with the beast illusion.
It wasn't just fire, there was ice, poison, lightning...
This showed how much Immortal in the Mirror had enhanced the Dragon-Snake Spine.
Ren Qing could even turn his entire body into a sea of fire, not just attach flames to the weapon.
However, the abilities of Mirror-Faced were still confined to illusion. Even though it was already extremely close to reality, the boundary between real and unreal was not as easy to break as imagined.
For instance, the flames produced by Mirror-Faced looked exactly like the real thing, but their temperature was lower, and they couldn't cause fire to spread.
At the very least, only after the three ghostly mutations at the Ghost Envoy level could one realize true illusion-and-reflection.
Still, Ren Qing understood that he was being too demanding of Mirror-Faced, conjuring illusions out of thin air inherently had certain flaws.
At present, the ability of Mirror-Faced still needed a lot of polishing, otherwise, flaws might be exposed in battle, or even have the opposite effect.
As for its core function, summoning Supernatural Remnant illusion projections, he estimated it would need to be used in tandem with Prison Within the Abdomen.
That probably wouldn't be possible until the ghostly mutation [Jailer] was completed...
Ren Qing suddenly realized something and quickly checked the mutation tree, thereby learning the Ghost Envoy-level mutation paths for Immortal in the Mirror.
[Soul-Fused Mirror Ghost: Mirror as Body and Soul]
[Body as Mirror Seals Demon: Sealing Soul Within Flesh]
[Mirrored Entity Emergence: Driving Ghosts from the Body]
Ren Qing's face showed joy, the ghostly evolution of Mirror-Faced into Mirrored Entity Emergence was exactly the technique he wanted, allowing him to command Supernatural Remnants.
It had even greater potential than the imagined ability to summon projection illusions.
However, the other two mutation paths left Ren Qing somewhat puzzled, there seemed to be subtle changes he couldn't quite grasp.
After Splicer evolved into Soul-Fused Mirror Ghost, it seemed, by the literal meaning, to assemble body and soul like mirror shards, which felt rather eerie.
As for Body as Mirror Seals Demon, was the body itself forming mirror fragments to seal the soul?
After stabilizing his cultivation, Ren Qing no longer dwelled on Immortal in the Mirror. The most important matter now was still The Blindless Method.
Although his lifespan was almost at fifty years, even using lifespan to undergo a ghostly mutation wasn't as dangerous as advancing to the Ghost Envoy level through one's own effort.