A pained cry from the outer room suddenly rang out. Ren Qing quickly lifted the curtain.
He saw that Madam Chen had collapsed on the ground, with a similarly narrow and long wound on her thigh. Blood was still flowing, almost staining the clothes in her hands red.
She instinctively held the clothes up high, her eyes full of unspeakable regret.
At the same time, shouting could be heard from all over Bazi Village. Evidently, some villagers had suffered the same injuries, likely closely tied to their shadows.
Fortunately, Ren Qing hadn't struck to kill, otherwise quite a few people would've died.
The young man let out a sharp, eerie laugh, stumbled up from the bed, and walked toward the outer room.
Under Ren Qing's heavy pupils, his skin gradually began to rot, and a thick stench of corpse spread out.
"Why won't you take my life?"
"Why won't you take my life?"
...
Ren Qing watched coldly, stepping forward to block in front of the curtain.
The young man's expression grew increasingly strange. He seemed to have realized Ren Qing's identity, and his eyes were filled with undisguised greed.
"You finally came..."
Ren Qing ignored him completely, took out gauze and bandaged Madam Chen's wound to prevent infection from contact with filth.
Madam Chen turned to look at the two of them. The young man still had the appearance of her youngest son Ren Qing, but for some reason he was growing more and more unfamiliar.
Instead, the Ren Qing wearing the bamboo hat gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
The young man tilted his head, placed his sharp fingernail on his own neck, and said with a mocking expression: "Why don't you kill me?"
A bloody scratch appeared on Madam Chen's neck, as if her head could fall at any moment.
"Talks too damn much."
Ren Qing suddenly exploded with force from both feet. The Dragon-Snake Spine lashed out fiercely, the bone blades on it retracted, and it wrapped around the young man like a rope.
The young man still looked at him provocatively, completely unconcerned with the Dragon-Snake Spine tightening around him.
But suddenly, the abnormal mouth opened, producing a massive suction force. Combined with the Dragon-Snake Spine, it directly dragged the young man into the Abnormal Stomach.
Inside the Abnormal Stomach, a cell of the same size as the young man separated out, just enough to seal him in a vacuum, with all limbs immobilized.
Only then did the young man become truly terrified. His eyes turned blood-red as he roared incessantly, like a beast devoid of any intelligence.
Ren Qing was somewhat curious as to what technique was involved, clearly the young man wasn't the main body of the Supernatural Remnant.
The information stream surged.
His brow twitched, he hadn't expected this to be connected to a technique called "Immortal in the Mirror."
[Immortal in the Mirror]
[Created by ***, to cultivate it one must place fourteen human heads before a bronze mirror at the second watch of the night, and call forth the Immortal in the Mirror by slashing one's neck with a sharp blade. Only if one survives can it be mastered.]
[Supernatural Remnant is incomplete, cannot be mastered through consumption of lifespan]
He hadn't expected "Immortal in the Mirror" to be connected to the Disaster-Dispelling Method. Just who was that *** exactly?
And what exactly did this technique do?
Ren Qing snapped back to reality. He felt the python on his wrist tightening and, not daring to delay, immediately ran outside.
But before he could take a few steps, Madam Chen coughed a few times and asked, "Are you Third Zhang Qing'er?"
Ren Qing's steps paused slightly, his expression showing a trace of surprise.
In letters exchanged by his former self, there was mention of the nickname "Third Zhang Qing'er," referring to a common cauliflower snake known for its exceptional vitality.
Seeing how Madam Chen had risked her life to protect the clothes, Ren Qing couldn't help but soften his heart and said, "I have official duties, I'll be right back."
Madam Chen couldn't help but wipe her tears.
How could she not know that the youngest son she lived with daily might be a demonic entity? After all, the Ren Qing in the yamen sent back wages every month.
But she didn't dare tell Ren Qing. After all, the reason for the strange events was because the original trouble had been stirred up by Old Man Ren in the first place.
...
Ren Qing arrived at the open space in the center of the village, only to feel a deathly silence all around.
The earlier cries of agony had abruptly disappeared. Every household had extinguished its lights, appearing extremely strange.
"What a fine Immortal in the Mirror."
Ren Qing's eyes narrowed. The python on his wrist automatically detached, its body splitting into several sections, but its head pointed toward the well.
Dragon-Snake Spine danced around him.
Killing intent surged in his heart, and he immediately moved out.
But as he approached, Ren Qing's expression turned somewhat grim.
He noticed Yan Jun and the other were chatting casually beside the well, seemingly nothing amiss.
Ren Qing retracted the Dragon-Snake Spine and walked over. Zhang Mu spoke up: "Ren Qing, there's a strange noise coming from the bottom of the well."
Yan Jun also chimed in: "Could be the source of the Bazi Village incident is down in the well."
"Oh, so that's it?"
"Yeah, the two of us simply can't deal with it. We'll have to rely on Brother Ren."
Ren Qing forced a smile, bent down toward the well, and the expressions on their faces grew even more urgent.
But just as Ren Qing was about to get close to the well, his body suddenly froze.
Yan Jun quickly urged, "Please confirm the source quickly so we can handle it, it's just down there!"
"Yeah, Ren Qing, you..."
Whoosh!!!
A sound of something slicing through the air rang out. Dragon-Snake Spine drew a curved line and instantly pierced Zhang Mu's skull.
There was no imagined gush of blood, instead, the whole person turned into a splash of water.
Yan Jun stared at Ren Qing with hatred, muttering, "Why won't you even take a glance at the water?"
Ren Qing didn't respond. He simply struck with the Dragon-Snake Spine again, reducing Yan Jun to a splash of water.
At the same time, splashing sounds came from the well. The real Yan Jun clambered out in a wretched state, completely soaked, and most of her hair gone.
Upon seeing Ren Qing, Yan Jun breathed a sigh of relief and shouted, "Whatever you do, don't look at the water's surface! I fell for the Supernatural Remnant that way."
Ren Qing reached out and helped her up. The information stream showed no abnormalities.
"Where's Zhang Mu?"
"I don't know either. After looking into the well water, I suddenly got dizzy, and then it was like I was trapped inside a wall."
Yan Jun's expression grew anxious. If a cultivator died here, it would be a huge problem.
"You didn't realize that while you were trapped in the well, the Supernatural Remnant couldn't actually harm you?"
Ren Qing looked much calmer. If this Supernatural Remnant could really kill Zhang Mu, it wouldn't have waited until now.
He figured that even if he hadn't gone to rescue Yan Jun, she probably could've escaped on her own once she calmed down.
"I've already found the true form of the Supernatural Remnant."
"Where?"
Dragon-Snake Spine directly stabbed into the well. A force immediately tried to drag Ren Qing downward, but it could only trouble ordinary people.
Ren Qing let out a cold snort. Dragon-Snake Spine rapidly extended, diving straight for the bottom of the well.
Yan Jun said anxiously: "Ren Qing, I can't use my technique anymore, let's find Zhang Mu and retreat first..."
Bang!!!
The well let out a groaning sound under pressure. The bricks immediately collapsed, and even the ground beneath Ren Qing and Yan Jun's feet sank half a meter.
It showed the terrifying power of the Dragon-Snake Spine.
Yan Jun looked on in astonishment as the Dragon-Snake Spine slowly retracted. At its end was a palm-sized fragment of a bronze mirror, clearly a portion of the Supernatural Remnant.
Ren Qing said with interest, "This technique is kind of interesting."
If the ability of the Immortal in the Mirror is to project mirrored things, then it would complement the Prison Within the Abdomen quite well.
Especially when used on prison guards.