Cultivating in a Bizarre World

Ren Qing entered the mine tunnel and focused on his digging.

After the Human Skin Book advanced to the Half-Corpse Realm, he could clearly feel that the force of the recoil from the Great Miao Blade striking the stone wall had weakened.

This allowed Ren Qing to dig without restraint. Even if the web of his hand split open, he could simply shift the injury elsewhere, boosting his efficiency to a new level.

Lost in his work, he only snapped back to his senses when he was completely exhausted.

In the next tunnel, Huang Ziwang wiped the sweat from his forehead and couldn’t help but mutter a few curses under his breath.

In his eyes, Ren Qing was truly worthy of being brought up by Song Zongwu. Despite being a mere Fireworker, he worked harder than any Forbidden Guard.

Normally, as the digging went deeper, one’s speed was supposed to slow down.

But Ren Qing was the complete opposite. Just when Huang Ziwang thought he was finally slacking off, he would somehow get even faster.

Huang Ziwang heaved a long sigh, suddenly feeling a bit envious of Mu Yi, who was just a decoration back at the camp.

’Even doing nothing all day would be better than this nonstop hard labor.’

BOOM...

The cavern experienced another minor collapse.

He quickly cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and continued digging. Although Song Zongwu’s deadline was ten days, he had a feeling they wouldn’t last that long.

Ren Qing also noticed small cracks appearing on the stone walls. The mountain’s tremors were becoming more pronounced, sometimes even making it hard to stand steady.

He ate a few Beast Eyes to recover his stamina and refocused his attention on the stone wall.

The gleam of his blade flashed everywhere.

「On the eighth day.」

The Forbidden Guards were still excavating, but the Government Constables had already begun to withdraw one after another.

Now, large rocks would occasionally tumble down Camel Peak Mountain, and the temporary camp was gradually becoming unsafe.

They would be retreating ten li away to set up a new camp.

By the time the Forbidden Guards finished excavating the mountain, the cracks inside the cavern had spread everywhere, and fine stone powder rained down.

Ren Qing and the others fled the cavern in a sorry state. Looking back, they saw the entire mountain shaking.

Song Zongwu said in a low voice, "Let’s go. Follow me to the adjacent peak. I won’t be at ease until I see the Forbidden Area collapse with my own eyes."

He pushed off with his legs and shot off toward the northwest of Camel Peak Mountain like an arrow released from a bow.

"I’m heading out first."

Li Yaoyang nodded to the others and transformed into a dense swarm of insects, following close behind.

The Land God silently burrowed into the ground. As expected of someone who was half-man, half-Mountain-Piercing Beast, his speed through the earth was extremely fast.

"Xu Shilin, you..."

"Old Huang, you can eat my dust!"

Huang Ziwang was just about to ask Xu Shilin to wait for him, but the latter took a deep drag from his long-stemmed pipe, exhaled, and was carried away by the smoke in pursuit.

Huang Ziwang turned to look at Ren Qing, only to see him crouch down and take off, moving nearly as fast as a galloping horse.

"Son of a bitch."

He had no choice but to give it his all, but he was truly limited by his own Magic Technique. His webbed, frog-like feet couldn’t get any purchase on the open ground.

When a gasping Huang Ziwang finally arrived, the others were already resting on a giant boulder at the summit.

Their eyes were fixed on the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area.

The tremors were so intense that all the Magic Techniques surrounding the Forbidden Area had failed, exposing it to the open.

Unfortunately, the Forbidden Area was shrouded in dark clouds. They could only vaguely make out that the surrounding soil was grayish-white and all the vegetation had withered.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE...

Even though Ren Qing wasn’t particularly close to Camel Peak Mountain, he could still feel the giant boulder they were on vibrating.

"Even when dormant deep underground, a Ghost Envoy Realm Forbidden Area can still exert its influence."

Song Zongwu’s expression was grave. When facing a Forbidden Area of the Ghost Envoy Realm or higher, the most a Forbidden Guard could do was to seal it off based on the surrounding environment.

After all, the death of a Forbidden Guard could very well lead to an uncontrollable deterioration of the situation.

Xu Shilin took a puff from his pipe and said, "Just collapsing the mountain probably isn’t enough to be safe, is it?"

"It certainly isn’t."

Song Zongwu closed his eyes to rest, seemingly contemplating how to handle it.

Ren Qing couldn’t help but furrow his brow. As he looked at the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area, a strange sense of familiarity arose in his mind, as if he had encountered it before.

Fragments of memories surfaced, but he couldn’t grasp any clear details.

Three or four hours later, the collapse of Camel Peak Mountain truly began.

A fissure on the mountainside gradually spread, and a large amount of debris from the summit tumbled down toward the Forbidden Area. Camel Peak Mountain actually began to tilt slightly.

Song Zongwu breathed a sigh of relief. This at least showed that their approach was working, and their half-month of digging had not been in vain.

Because the ground beneath the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area had been hollowed out, it began to gradually collapse.

ROAR!!!!

At that moment, a deafening roar came from within the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area, and a hundred-meter-long arm made of mud burst out from the rubble.

The arm tried to push back the rubble, attempting to bring the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area back into the light of day.

This showed that a Ghost Envoy Realm Forbidden Area truly possessed great Spiritual Wisdom; it had likely already realized what the Forbidden Guards were doing.

Seeing this, Song Zongwu said, "Li Yaoyang, speed up the process."

Li Yaoyang nodded. He had no choice but to make a sacrifice.

With a wave of his hand, a dense swarm of Gu Insects emerged from the mountain forest and bored into the cavern. They gnawed at the critical sections of the stone walls, accelerating the collapse.

The mud arm could no longer stop it, and its roars were filled with indignant fury.

Ren Qing suddenly recalled the memory of his soul entering the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area. ’That arm must be what the medicine gatherer turned into.’

’The herb garden was like a prison cell.’

As everyone watched, the twin peaks became a single one, and the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area was reduced to a slightly elevated mound of earth.

There was no longer any trace of the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area, but they could still feel the roars coming from deep underground.

Since the Forbidden Area itself couldn’t move, getting out of the tomb specially prepared by the Forbidden Guards would be practically impossible for the next hundred years.

However, according to Song Zongwu, this area would now be influenced by the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area, leading to some strange changes.

Song Zongwu stood up and said, "Next, I will contact Water Hyacinth. Let’s rest for a few days."

Huang Ziwang’s expression turned wary as he muttered to himself, "Water Hyacinth..."

"I’m going to replenish my Gu Insects. The losses this time were too great."

After Li Yaoyang finished speaking, he transformed into a swarm of insects and disappeared over the mountain’s edge.

The others then departed as well.

The fate of the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area was sealed. All that remained was a matter of time and patience.

Seeing this, Ren Qing was about to check on the Government Constables when Song Zongwu stopped him.

"Ren Qing, did your Magic Technique have a breakthrough?"

Ren Qing froze. A cold sweat broke out on his back, and his heart pounded as his mind raced, trying to figure out how to explain.

Song Zongwu continued, speaking as if to himself, "I didn’t expect your Taotie Technique to have already advanced to the Half-Corpse Realm. I imagine the bottleneck to the Ghost Envoy Realm is just a matter of time for you."

"Huh?"

Ren Qing was stunned for a moment, then quickly admitted, "Yes, that’s right. The Taotie Technique broke through naturally."

He opened his right hand, revealing a hideous mouth gaping open on his palm.

Song Zongwu looked at Ren Qing with a complicated expression, then said, "Have you thought about your path forward?"

"Advancing to the Ghost Envoy Realm, I suppose..."

"Actually, after reaching the Ghost Envoy Realm, a cultivator’s mutation becomes even harder to control. It’s like a great tree spreading its branches and leaves."