Ren Qing circled around the Temple of the fertility Goddess a few times. His double pupils did not detect anything unusual, indicating that there weren't many cultivators inside the temple.
He only saw a few scattered tile-roofed houses; aside from the main hall, there were just a few side rooms for living quarters, looking extremely simple and crude.
From this, it was clear that the yamen exercised strict control over Daoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, making it impossible for clusters of grand halls to exist.
This led Ren Qing to harbor some doubts.
The temple of the fertility Goddess was likely backed either by a Restraint Officer or an organization akin to a gang.
Temples like this often served as a means for a faction to raise and harbor cultivators.
As the sky darkened, mosquitoes began to appear. There was also a river, the Qing River, running across the western part of the city.
Ren Qing impatiently shook his hands. Even though the mosquitoes couldn't pierce his skin, the constant buzzing in his ears was still an annoyance.
After finishing the candied hawthorn skewer in his hand, he was just about to leave the temple market.
Suddenly, Ren Qing noticed that in addition to the mosquitoes, there was also a sizable number of green-headed flies in the vicinity, creatures particularly drawn to rot and filth.
On an ordinary day, he wouldn't have paid them any mind, but since this might involve Restraint Officers, he gave it some extra attention.
If he could earn some blood crystals from it, that wouldn't be bad. Of course, Ren Qing knew that his personal safety was the highest priority.
He furrowed his brows and activated his double pupils to their fullest, using the dim glow of the setting sun to survey the surroundings.
Something was amiss...
Ren Qing walked a few meters forward, then abruptly stopped, acting as if nothing had happened as he returned to the main street.
The temple fair was nearing its end. Many residents were heading home in scattered groups. Stupefy sounds of children crying in reluctance could be heard.
Ren Qing casually picked a wonton stall to sit at.
The vendor was just about to pack up, but upon seeing Ren Qing sit down, quickly started boiling water.
In just a short moment, a steaming bowl of wontons was placed on the table.
Ren Qing picked up his chopsticks with slightly sluggish movements and took a light taste of the wontons.
A glimmer of light flashed between his brows, that was a sign of body-soul separation.
The vendor shivered, feeling goosebumps rise all over.
Ren Qing's Blindless Method was already close to its bottleneck, and his control over soul-body separation had become increasingly flexible, though he still couldn't manage it completely at will.
His soul didn't fully leave his body, but merely followed the double pupils in sensing the surroundings.
The rustling noises on the street gradually faded. His consciousness felt suspended in midair, though the experience lasted only for a few breaths.
Ren Qing's face turned pale. The blood vitality concentrated in a crowded place like this was extremely harmful to the soul.
Even though he hadn't fully left his body, it still left lingering fear.
Ren Qing confirmed that the anomaly he had detected earlier was not just paranoia, and there was no significant danger present.
It was simply a strange corpse that had attracted some troublesome flies.
After paying for the wontons, he slowly made his way toward a specific area of the temple market.
There stood a towering ancient tree in a deserted corner. Though it was summer, the tree was withered yellow, its leaves scattered all over the ground.
From the palm of Ren Qing's right hand emerged the Great Miao Blade.
He scraped along the bark. Blackened blood oozed from the crevice, and within it could be seen a decaying corpse stuffed into the tree trunk, it had been dead for at least several days.
What made Ren Qing especially wary was that the corpse's chest and abdomen had already been hollowed out.
The skin was covered in claw marks of various sizes.
It was nearly identical to the rat cultivators from the Rotten Mud Gang.
But the corpse in the tree trunk clearly wasn't a cultivator, there were no signs of flesh mutation. The excavation of the torso seemed aimed at searching for a Supernatural Remnant.
Several rats were gnawing at the corpse's flesh and blood, their fur sleek and glossy from the meal.
Ren Qing noticed that the soil around the tree's roots had been disturbed. Realization dawned on him immediately.
The sound of bones colliding rang out.
The Dragon-Snake Spine extended from the Abnormal Mouth like a spear, piercing directly into the ground.
The hardened soil posed no resistance.
Ren Qing closed his eyes and controlled his life-bound artifact to probe the area.
When the Dragon-Snake Spine rose again, its tip carried a palm-sized scale, clearly from a lizard-type cultivator.
Tu Di...
Ren Qing contemplated deeply.
Why would Tu Di target the Temple of the fertility Goddess? Could the Summer Grass Technique have some mysterious value worth his effort?
But Tu Di had attacked an ordinary person... was he perhaps avoiding collateral damage?
By now, it was already dark.
The temple fair had mostly dispersed. The stalls were also starting to pack up.
Ren Qing spotted Zhu Ding, who had just walked out from the temple, and immediately reached out to grab him.
"That saves me a trip."
"Go find Clerk Zhao in the yamen and tell him I said to contact the Restraint Officers. Go quickly and come back fast."
Zhu Ding's expression was full of surprise and suspicion. If it involved Restraint Officers, then it must be related to the strange occurrences at Camelback Mountain.
He immediately bolted, covering the distance from the temple fair to the yamen in less than half the usual time.
Not long after, over a dozen constables sealed off the entrances to the temple fair.
Ren Qing chose to stand beneath the eaves beside the tree, feeling the breeze. When the Restraint Officers approached, he suddenly sensed several figures behind him.
To his surprise, five Restraint Officers had shown up even though the victim was just an ordinary person.
Among them were Jiang Feng and the temple's old priestess, Granny Luo.
When Jiang Feng saw that it was Ren Qing, the two exchanged a discreet nod.
The leading Restraint Officer appeared to be around fifty years old. His neck was several times thicker than that of an average person, and his head was similarly massive, his appearance was quite odd.
They didn't question Ren Qing but silently moved toward the towering tree.
Only Granny Luo seemed as though she wanted to speak, but in the end, wisely held her tongue.
The group arrived before the ancient tree. Jiang Feng rudely peeled away the bark, revealing the corpse inside. The clothing matched Granny Luo's, clearly belonging to one of the temple's attendants.
"This is already the third person from the temple..."
Granny Luo's expression turned grim. She had no idea what the killer's motive was.
The other Restraint Officers didn't respond. Their expressions were cold, as if they had anticipated the appearance of this corpse.
The corpse was soon taken away by Corpse Burners sent by the yamen. The bloodstains were also thoroughly cleaned up.
The Restraint Officers left one after another.
Ren Qing was about to speak, what, no blood crystal reward for providing a lead?!!
Just as his face turned disappointed, Jiang Feng deliberately slowed his pace and tossed him a brightly colored blood crystal.
Ren Qing quickly caught it and weighed it in his palm. It was worth at least two stone of blood crystal.
Jiang Feng said with a smile, "I'm heading off. Don't look into this matter. If there's a task, the Nether Crow will notify you."
He turned and disappeared into the night. Ren Qing, still standing behind, furrowed his brows.
The Restraint Officers' attitude toward Tu Di was very subtle.
Logically speaking, Tu Di's situation was different from Song Rong's. The latter only killed ordinary people, so the attention from the Restraint Officers' Hall back then had been minimal.
But Tu Di had already killed several cultivators, including those at the Half-Corpse realm.
Ren Qing felt that with the Restraint Officers' Hall's capabilities, it was impossible they hadn't located Tu Di.
Unless... they didn't dare to move against him.
Tu Di carried more than one Supernatural Remnant on his body. If he formed a forbidden zone, it would surely be even more terrifying than a Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone.
Therefore, the Restraint Officers' Hall was using the Summer Grass Technique to lure Tu Di, aiming to achieve some objective. Clearly, this technique must have something special about it.
The constables gradually withdrew.
After returning to Corpse Burners' Hall, Ren Qing kept contemplating whether he should get involved.
Since the Summer Grass Technique was related to pathogens, it might contain clues for extending his life.