Ren Qing felt slightly absurd in his heart, but then he quickly let it go.
After all, a gradually decaying Yang God realm corpse brought with it a terrifying deterrent, like a sharp sword hanging overhead.
Only by finding Ksitigarbha's corpse or resurrecting it could they permanently resolve the issue.
"The Summoning Spirits Art is used to summon the souls of recently deceased corpses. Under normal circumstances, it actually cannot be used for resurrection..."
Song Zongwu's expression was cautious as he slowly began explaining.
Humans possess three souls and seven spirits. The three souls represent the Heavenly Soul, Earthly Soul, and Human Soul. The seven spirits are Corpse Dog, Hidden Arrow Spirit, Sparrow Yin Spirit, Devouring Thief Spirit, Non-Poison Spirit, Filth-Removing Spirit, and Foul Lung Spirit.
At the time, after thorough preparation, the Restraint Officers' Hall expended vast resources. They had originally thought the chances were slim, but unexpectedly, the Summoning Spirits Art proved effective.
However, what it brought the Restraint Officers was more fear than hope.
As the ritual proceeded, the first to be summoned was the "Corpse Dog Spirit."
The Corpse Dog Spirit, among the seven spirits, represents vigilance and should be full of wariness.
Yet it showed no avoidance of the living and even spoke inexplicable words.
At first, it only spoke about the beast corpse, but after the Summoning Spirits Art summoned the "Foul Lung Spirit" to the Restraint Officers' Hall, the Corpse Dog's words began to involve the dead.
The Restraint Officers gritted their teeth and continued the summoning, next calling forth the "Non-Poison Spirit."
The Corpse Dog Spirit then began describing how to use living people as medicinal ingredients.
What was most shocking was that, according to the Restraint Officers' speculation, its words were likely true, though no one had dared to verify them to this day.
Ren Qing drew a sharp breath.
Didn't this also mean that as more spirits were summoned, the Corpse Dog Spirit's ability to bewitch people with its words would grow stronger?
If it involved shortcuts in cultivation, even if it required killing countless people, some Restraint Officers would undoubtedly take the risk to try it.
The only consolation was that currently, the Restraint Officers' Hall only contained the "Non-Poison Spirit," the "Foul Lung Spirit," and the "Corpse Dog Spirit."
Song Zongwu suspected that these three spirits had nothing to do with Ksitigarbha at all. Instead, they might belong to some unknown entity that had been summoned to the Restraint Officers' Hall.
Ren Qing couldn't help but ask, "What are the Foul Lung Spirit and Non-Poison Spirit like?"
"The Foul Lung Spirit wanders endlessly inside the Restraint Officers' Hall. Anyone who sees it will feel uncontrollable rage, which only dissipates after killing the Foul Lung Spirit."
"The Corpse Dog Spirit and Foul Lung Spirit aren't very harmful. Only the Non-Poison Spirit has some degree of aggression, though it is currently imprisoned somewhere in the Restraint Officers' Hall."
Ren Qing nodded, he was gaining a deeper understanding of the Restraint Officers' Hall, but also a clearer sense of just how dangerous this world truly was..
Song Zongwu said no more. Many of the Restraint Officers' Hall's secrets were not for reserve members to know.
"Once the reserve token is ready, a Restraint Officer will come to register your details, mainly recording your primary cultivation technique."
After Ren Qing acknowledged this, he steered the conversation toward techniques, asking about the "Bone Armor Technique."
Song Zongwu didn't mind. Even if Ren Qing had coincidentally obtained the Bone Armor Technique manual, whether he chose to cultivate it was none of his concern.
As a guide, his role was only to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each mutation path.
The Bone Armor Technique, a technique primarily involving skeletal modification, actually had relatively lenient entry requirements, and Song Zongwu was indeed familiar with it.
The Armored Bone Bearer was the mutation path Sun Yishan had taken. After advancing to the Ghost Envoy realm, the external bone armor would transform into a material neither bone nor metal.
Not only was it extremely tough, but as long as the core spine remained unharmed, the iron bones could regenerate endlessly, though the drawback of sluggishness would become even more pronounced.
When a Bone Armor Bearer advanced to the Yin Runner realm as a "Flawless Steel Body," their flesh and blood would turn to steel, merging completely with their bones.
The Living Bone Bearer was more flexible and mutable, allowing the cultivator to freely control their bones, growing them like plant branches.
Under normal circumstances, Ren Qing might have chosen the Living Bone Bearer.
But then he learned of the potential of the Spine Bearer, and the temptation was too great.
The Spine Bearer primarily strengthened bones but could also fuse weapons into their spine.
As the spine absorbed the weapon's metallic essence, it would gradually toughen, while the weapon would be nourished by the spine, forming a material that was half-bone, half-metal.
With prolonged weapon nurturing, the cultivator could achieve iron bones similar to a Bone Armor Bearer. The drawback was that damage to the weapon would indirectly injure the spine.
In a sense, the Spine Bearer was nurturing a life-bound magical weapon.
Unfortunately, Song Zongwu didn't know the cultivation method for the Bone Armor Technique mutation paths. It seemed Ren Qing would have to expend lifespan to advance.
But he could decide after reaching the Ghost Envoy realm. If he had the lifespan to spare, he could consider advancing the Bone Armor Technique then.
"There's no need to master too many techniques. Proficiency in a few is enough."
"Uh..."
Ren Qing gave an embarrassed laugh.
He had already mastered five techniques and indeed needed time to consolidate all of them.
But if his speculation about the Secondary Stomach was correct, he might be able to take another path entirely...
Seeing Ren Qing lost in thought, Song Zongwu knew he likely had his own opportunities but didn't press him to make a choice.
He then quietly left the Corpse Burners' Hall.
When Ren Qing snapped out of his thoughts, all he saw was a piece of paper Song Zongwu had left on the table, crudely sketching the location of the Secret Pavilion within the Restraint Officers' Hall.
It wasn't far from the prison area.
Ren Qing wasn't in a hurry to visit the Secret Pavilion. Before obtaining his reserve token, many areas of the Restraint Officers' Hall would remain inaccessible.
He focused on accumulating lifespan, estimating it would take about three more months to gather enough.
To that end, he had Butcher Zhang keep an eye out for livestock eyeballs.
Apart from practicing his blade skills, he returned to the life of an ordinary Corpse Burner.
Occasionally, when there were gruesome corpses in the streets, Ren Qing would go with Bo Feng and the others to handle them. Thankfully, none involved Supernatural Remnants.
Most of the corpses were gang-related. By comparing their clothing, Ren Qing deduced that three gangs were involved in the conflict:
The Blood Dog Gang, the Scale Serpent Gang, and the Red Flower Society.
The fighting was mainly over territory. The profits in the western district were too lucrative, especially after the braised food business took off.
For now, ordinary civilians weren't affected, it was just small-scale skirmishes.
On the surface, the Blood Dog Gang was the strongest, but judging by the corpse ratios, Ren Qing suspected they were being besieged by the other two.
After warning Butcher Zhang to be cautious, Ren Qing decided to observe quietly.
Under these circumstances, another half-month passed uneventful, until a Restraint Officer finally arrived to register him.
...
Late at night.
Ren Qing was sitting cross-legged on his bed, visualizing his techniques, when suddenly, plant roots surged through the gaps in the doors and windows, swiftly taking human form.
He instinctively grabbed the Great Miao Blade, barely stopping himself from swinging it.
Muyi stepped out of the shadows and tossed him an iron token.
Ren Qing quickly caught it and couldn't help but examine the token that had taken nearly a month to make.
The more he looked, the more he felt it wasn't particularly refined..
The front read "Restraint Officer," the back "Reserve," and in the bottom-right corner was Ren Qing's surname. Beyond that, there wasn't even a hint of decorative patterning.
Ren Qing had thought it would be some kind of magical artifact.
With practiced ease, he cut his finger and squeezed out a few drops of blood, but nothing happened.
Muyi looked at him as though he were a complete idiot.