Ren Qing discovered that the note was not a task assigned by the Restraint Officers' Hall, but a private message.
Nether Crow could indeed transmit messages, but it required consumption of a Nether Feather.
He rubbed the note between his index finger and thumb, feeling a strange greasy texture, as if it had been soaked in oil for a long time.
The paper had the two characters "Zhang" and "Mu" written on it, and from the brushstroke it could be seen that it was written with considerable force.
Ren Qing thought for a moment.
It seemed that ever since helping Zhang Mu refine a magic tool when Great Dream Tool Forging first opened, he hadn't seen him again.
He checked the back of the note.
He didn't find any characters, but instead, it was filled with chaotic lines, with no trace of clues at all.
Ren Qing rubbed his temples. Zhang Mu sending a message to him wasn't unreasonable, after all, the other party probably didn't know many Restraint Officers.
Could it be that the content of the note was too urgent to explain in full?
It seemed several months had already passed; if it really concerned life and death, the corpse was likely cold by now.
Ren Qing sighed helplessly.
Then he took out a Nether Feather, intending to ask a familiar Restraint Officer what exactly had happened.
As for Song Zongwu, Ren Qing didn't dare disturb him, after all, he had just gotten out of prison, so it looked like he could only turn to Huang Ziwan.
After the Nether Feather ignited, the note mixed within turned to smoke and dust. Faintly, one could see the shadow of a Nether Crow flashing by.
Ren Qing gave a word to Xiao Wu, then walked out of the yamen.
The streets were full of festivity, decorated with lanterns and streamers, with children dressed in new clothes chasing and playing.
The shouting of street vendors could still be heard across the road.
"New Year cake, just-out-of-the-oven roasted New Year cake..."
"Sugar-pounding, come eat sugar-pounding..."
Ren Qing felt a bit of novelty. Since crossing over, it was his first time celebrating the New Year, it felt like returning to the world of the living.
He nibbled on some special snacks, swaying leisurely toward the end of the street.
Along the way, he picked up some New Year goods.
Ren Qing made a special visit to Butcher Zhang. The latter hadn't been seen for a long time and now looked radiant, clearly, his braised food business was doing well.
The new shop was opened on Hexing Street, territory of the Blood Dog Gang.
Ren Qing retrieved the New Year goods from the Prison Within the Abdomen. Butcher Zhang squinted with delight and couldn't help but ask with concern as he received them.
"A-Qing, you're a manager at the Corpse Burners after all, why do you always take out-of-town jobs? It's really too dangerous."
Ren Qing glanced at the shop attendants, they all showed traces of having cultivated the Divine Leg Sutra on their legs, indicating the Blood Dog Gang had stationed quite a few people.
He didn't object much to this.
The Blood Dog Gang letting an outsider like Butcher Zhang grow his business so big, of course they couldn't feel entirely at ease.
"Happy New Year, Brother Zhang. But I'm no longer a Corpse Burner."
Ren Qing took out the Restraint Officer token from his bosom. Butcher Zhang naturally couldn't recognize it and assumed it was just a different kind of constable job within the yamen.
One of the attendants, however, had some insight. His expression immediately turned to shock, and he spilled tea all over the floor while pouring for a guest.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Butcher Zhang, Ren Qing left the shop.
Now that the goal was achieved, there was no need to bother with the Blood Dog Gang anymore. No matter how bold they were, they wouldn't dare offend a formal Restraint Officer.
Ren Qing was preparing to buy a jar of wine when he saw someone walking quickly toward him.
He immediately sensed something off, the person was definitely not an ordinary mortal.
The ghost shadow also readied itself.
Ren Qing was about to look for a place with fewer people to avoid any potential outbreak harming civilians, but quickly realized.
Huang Ziwan wore fine clothes and held a paper fan painted with Mountains and Rivers. His originally purple-blue skin was concealed with rouge and powder.
Passersby were all pinching their noses, his body odor was simply too strong.
Ren Qing, seeing Huang Ziwan's flashy appearance, couldn't help but press his hand to his forehead.
Huang Ziwan casually threw an arm over his shoulder and said, "Brother Ren, I've been looking all over for you. Come, come, let's go somewhere else to talk."
The two entered a nearby teahouse. In a private room, there was no need to worry about eavesdropping.
After all, with their Ghost Envoy-level cultivation, they could easily detect any attempts at listening.
Huang Ziwan tasted a few snacks, then raised his head and stared strangely at Ren Qing, saying, "That place, Stomach within the Stomach, wasn't bad, right?"
"It really wasn't bad."
Ren Qing was telling the truth, but Huang Ziwan's expression revealed a hint of sympathy, his eyes also holding a bit of admiration.
Stomach within the Stomach was used to imprison Restraint Officers who had lost control from aberration. So many people spoke of it in fear, including Huang Ziwan.
Even though Ren Qing had just become a formal Restraint Officer, just having come out of Stomach within the Stomach unscathed was enough to make his name known.
If Huang Ziwan hadn't received the Nether Crow's message, he would've thought Ren Qing wasn't coming back.
"Truly impressive."
"Old Huang, your appearance..."
Ren Qing trailed off, to walk the streets dressed like that, there must be something mentally wrong, right?
Huang Ziwan laughed and seemed rather at ease: "Isn't it New Year? I figured I'd stroll a bit while I had the time."
He took a sip of tea, then pointed to the red mark on his neck and said, "As for this rouge and powder, it was applied by my lover in the flower house. How is it? Not bad, right?"
"Not bad, not bad..."
Ren Qing forced a smile. Staring at Huang Ziwan's face, he only felt goosebumps crawl all over him.
He quickly changed the subject: "Right, what's going on with Zhang Mu?"
Huang Ziwan stopped joking and frowned: "This issue doesn't concern just you, a total of seven thousand five hundred and sixty-four people in Xiangxiang received similar notes."
Ren Qing hadn't expected the scope to be so broad. He couldn't help but take out the note from his chest and scrutinize its contents.
"Zhang Mu was assigned a task to leave town just after early June, and then he disappeared."
"What kind of task?"
"Just escorting some things to Annan Town. In fact, it was nothing major, but he vanished for no reason."
Huang Ziwan didn't explain in detail, it was probably related to some secrets of the Restraint Officers' Hall.
"Then by the end of July, many people inexplicably received notes. Investigations found they all had one thing in common, they had at least spoken with Zhang Mu."
Ren Qing asked in confusion, "All delivered via Nether Crow?"
"Not necessarily."
"The methods vary, most were letters with no traceable origin. Someone even found a note inside the belly of a fish."
"Looks like Zhang Mu wandered into a forbidden zone."
Ren Qing knew that forces capable of defying normal rules were usually tied to forbidden zones, just like those people whose existence had been erased by the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone.
There were large amounts of Supernatural Remnant within forbidden zones, giving rise to all kinds of bizarre powers.
It was hard to rely on a note for clues.
"The most troublesome part is that this forbidden zone still hasn't been located."
Huang Ziwan shook his head helplessly. If the general location were known, it would be easy, the Restraint Officers' Hall was quite good at handling forbidden zones.
"Currently, there are quite a few Restraint Officers searching day and night along the official road from Sanxiang City to Annan."
Ren Qing nodded, then asked about what happened after Heshan Town.
Huang Ziwan only mentioned the trouble stirred up by Wuwei Gate, saying nothing about the Blind Daoist, as if the Restraint Officers' Hall were deliberately hiding it.
Ren Qing couldn't help but feel concerned.
The Blind Daoist held a high position within Wuwei Daoist Altar and probably knew many secrets.
If the Restraint Officers' Hall targeted the Daoist site because of this...
Ren Qing soon dismissed this speculation. The Restraint Officers' Hall was extremely cautious, that was how they'd secured their footing in Xiangxiang.
And the Restraint Officers' Hall definitely knew of Wuwei Daoist Altar's existence.
After all, Heavenly Dao Child had made contact with the Restraint Officers' Hall a long time ago.
Otherwise, there was no way he could've obtained those four specific Restraint Officer techniques.
A sudden thought arose in Ren Qing's mind, a very strange idea.
The Blind Daoist being parasitized by a Heavenly Dao Worm was similar to the situation with Tu Di.
Could this be connected to the Restraint Officers' Hall's upcoming major move?
Seeing Ren Qing distracted, Huang Ziwan couldn't help but interject, "Ren Qing, you're free these days, right?"
"What is it?"
Huang Ziwan grinned: "Then you'll probably be heading to Annan Town. There's a task lacking manpower right now."
"Annan Town again?"
"It's somewhat related to Zhang Mu's disappearance, but not about finding the forbidden zone. The official road is relatively safe."
Ren Qing quickly caught on: "Old Huang, what exactly was Zhang Mu escorting to Annan Town before he disappeared?"
Huang Ziwan answered mysteriously: "A batch of flower seeds..."
"Flower seeds?"
Ren Qing froze.
Avici Hell covered all of Xiangxiang.
Everyday goods and food were distributed through the Restraint Officers' Hall.
If it was important, why bother escorting it to another place?
Huang Ziwan was considering whether to tell Ren Qing.
Just as he hesitated, a Nether Crow passed through the teahouse wall and landed on Ren Qing's shoulder.
The Nether Crow was about to explode when the ghost shadow immediately wrapped around it with its body.
Its flesh was devoured clean by the ghost shadow, which then flowed into Ren Qing's palm, leaving behind a note filled with task description.
Huang Ziwan's pupils dilated, he had mastered yet another technique...
Truly unafraid of aberration.
Ordinary cultivators typically had to prepare for years before practicing a technique.
But in just half a year of knowing Ren Qing, not only had he advanced to Ghost Envoy level, he hadn't lagged behind in learning new techniques either.
He was certain to become a Yin Runner in the future.
Ren Qing checked, sure enough, it was a mission related to Annan Town: to retrieve several thousand catties of medicinal flowers.
He spread his hands toward Huang Ziwan.
Seeing this, Huang Ziwan no longer hid anything.
He deliberately lowered his voice and said, "Do you know there's a flower used by the Restraint Officers' Hall named 'Other Shore'?"
"Other Shore Flower?"
It was the first time Ren Qing had heard of it, and he'd never seen anyone mention it either.
Huang Ziwan swallowed and said, "If you accidentally lose one of your three souls or seven spirits, grind this flower into powder and apply it to your forehead, it can help with summoning the soul."
"You mean..."
Ren Qing's muscles tensed. If the Other Shore Flower's effect was to summon souls, then the Restraint Officers' Hall's intent was very clear.
Currently, in Avici Hell, there were the Corpse Dog Soul, Non-Poison, Foul Lung Spirit, though it was unclear whether they were Ksitigarbha's soul fragments, but the Restraint Officers' Hall clearly wanted to perform the Summoning Spirits Art again.
Huang Ziwan waved his hand: "I didn't say anything, you figure it out yourself."
"The task begins after the New Year. At least you can celebrate New Year's Eve first."