Cultivation: Tax Evasion!

Ren Qing pushed his way through the crowd and quickly made it to the front of the procession.

They were now on the northern side of Heshan. Because it was surrounded by mountains, the sunlight was blocked, so there weren't many plants.

The surface of the mountain had been carved into a giant mountain god statue, something impossible to achieve without decades or even centuries of work.

An elderly man, weak and aged, was helped out of the crowd. He came to the ridge and knocked his dragon-headed staff.

The previously noisy scene instantly fell completely silent.

Ren Qing narrowed his eyes.

Could this person be a preacher? Better note it for now.

The old man coughed for a while before slowly opening his mouth and said, "This year, many disasters arose for no reason, so we decided to hold the mountain god sacrifice three days from now."

"Someone, dust off the mountain god."

As soon as the words fell, the sound of gongs and drums rang out. Soon after, a number of sturdy young men arrived in front of the giant mountain god statue.

They began to dig up the rubble at the base of the statue with their bare hands. Even though their palms were cut in the process, they did not stop.

Once some of the rubble had been cleared away, Ren Qing noticed something strange about the base of the giant mountain god statue, the more he looked, the less it seemed naturally formed.

The base was made of a material similar to marble, but the veins in the stone weren't black or gray, they were dark red, like coagulated blood.

And it was covered in inscriptions, recording names one by one.

It was quite similar to the merit steles in temples, where monks carved the names of donors onto stone tablets to seek the Buddha's protection.

Soon after, the carriage brought over the smaller mountain god statue.

Craftsmen followed behind the carriage. They began using hammers and chisels to carve the statue's face, planning to finish it in a short time.

Fortunately, the area involved wasn't large, so they didn't need to waste too much time.

The young men were still digging out rubble. Even if they grew weak from blood loss, others would take their place and continue.

Next, the wealthy merchants and gentry of Heshan Town arrived late.

The names on the statue base were theirs, showing that they had spent quite a bit of silver.

Ren Qing's gaze fell on that smaller mountain god statue. After hesitating for a moment, he kicked a piece of rubble toward it. The collision produced a crisp sound.

Unexpectedly, the stone layer of the mountain god statue was much less solid than expected, indicating it wasn't fully solid inside. There might even be someone hidden inside.

Could it be that this so-called "inviting the god" was actually about inviting a preacher?

Ren Qing didn't act rashly.

By around sunset, the sunlight briefly shone on the ridge, and the carving of the face was more or less completed.

The rubble excavation had long been finished, and the young men began to bandage their wounds.

They would soon receive a generous silver reward from the gentry, considered payment for cleaning the base on their behalf.

Now that the key point had been reached, there were naturally Restraint Officers stationed.

Ren Qing, using Double Pupils, did spot several reserve officers standing openly on rooftops or tree branches.

This further confirmed his earlier suspicions.

Wuwei Gate's base should be in the surrounding mountain villages. In the city, they could only keep a low profile. Although the number of people they preached to was small.

The mountain folk tied up the mountain god statue with ropes. Dozens of people stood on the ridge.

They shouted in unison. The mountain god statue was gradually pulled into the central position, and the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers.

Next, the mountain folk began setting up the altar.

The crowd began to leave one after another. Preparations would take at least three days, and only then would the mountain god sacrifice begin, to pray for a good harvest.

No one noticed that the smaller mountain god statue had undergone some slight changes. A strange fervor appeared in its stone eyes.

Ren Qing's ears were suddenly filled with a familiar voice.

"Dao begets Dao, Wuwei Gate..."

Ren Qing sent a soul fragment into Wuwei Daoist Altar.

Over a hundred people were sitting on prayer cushions. In the center was a Daoist child with bulging eyes.

Seeing that it wasn't the Immortal Lord, Ren Qing didn't plan to stir the pot.

He needed Wuwei Gate to let its guard down, and ideally to muddy the waters, otherwise, he'd have to go in head-on.

In a sense, they were grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

Neither wanted Restraint Officers' Hall interfering in Wuwei Daoist Altar. But their interests clashed, and now it was a matter of who would lose patience first.

Ren Qing's main body walked toward the inn, a cold smile on his face.

To a hunter, how to lure a beast is a problem. Besides using food to set traps, making the beast feel threatened would naturally make it cautious.

So what is Wuwei Gate most afraid of? Undoubtedly, being discovered by Restraint Officers' Hall.

Ren Qing planned to use this to test Wuwei Gate's arrangement in Heshan Town. Ideally, he could wipe them out in one go.

He returned to the inn and rested until midnight before opening his eyes.

Wuwei Daoist Altar had long since ended. However, the Daoist child hadn't passed on any fabricated spell techniques, his actions were more like probing.

Ren Qing then carefully slipped out of the inn through the window and crept toward the yamen in Heshan Town.

A dozen constables were patrolling inside the yamen. The only place with smoke still rising was Corpse Burners' Hall, indicating they were cremating bodies.

Ren Qing's target wasn't the constables.

He activated Mirror-Faced Illusion; his figure merged with the moonlight, becoming vague and indistinguishable in the night.

He mainly didn't want to expose himself to the Restraint Officers. The constables didn't matter, at worst, he could use his Twin Nightmare Ghosts to alter their memories.

Ren Qing searched around and finally stopped at a corner near the yamen.

This was where the prison cells were, and the internal layout wasn't much different from Sanxiang City, they all extended underground.

Ren Qing could sense that a Restraint Officer was definitely nearby, probably not inside the prison, but seeing this, he decided not to enter.

The Dragon-Snake Spine burrowed directly into the soil and quickly located the prisoner holding area. There were dozens of people inside.

Ren Qing's plan was simple.

Since he was a Grand Dao Officer of the Wuwei Daoist Altar, he could preach the Dao, and even elevate ordinary people to Dao Officers.

If within the range of Heshan Town, a new rogue preacher suddenly appeared...

Wuwei Gate would definitely eliminate that preacher quickly. Otherwise, if Restraint Officers' Hall was alerted, they might pull the entire Wuwei Gate out by the roots.

Ren Qing planned to select a suitable candidate from among the prisoners and, during the mountain god ritual, give Wuwei Gate a proper jolt.

The Dragon-Snake Spine, with the soul fragment attached, quickly selected a prisoner who had been locked up for many years.

This man had committed serious crimes but wasn't sentenced to public execution, so he was left imprisoned indefinitely like someone forgotten.

The constables didn't usually do head counts. After all, there was only one entrance to the prison, and escaping was nearly impossible.

Even if the yamen discovered it, by then Ren Qing would've already achieved his goal.

Ren Qing left the yamen, and his soul fragment entered the Prison Within the Abdomen.

The old prisoner looked to be nearly seventy. After decades of imprisonment, his bodily functions had deteriorated.

But that was exactly what Ren Qing wanted, someone completely cut off from the outside world, to avoid surprises.

The old prisoner suddenly sensed a long-lost brightness. He opened his eyes in a daze, his expression filled with astonishment.

Who would've thought that upon waking, the entire environment had changed.

All the walls were formed of flesh, pulsating from time to time. Even touching the ground, he could feel lingering warmth.

The old prisoner clutched his temples in disbelief. A moment later, he murmured, "This must be the Wujian Hell..."

He had been in the cell for decades and had long since forgotten why he was imprisoned in the first place. Death was no different from release.

From the wall, a figure emerged.

The old prisoner had just opened his mouth to ask a question when he suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground.

[Wang Er]

[Age: Forty-eight]

[Lifespan: Three years]

Ren Qing cast Dream Infiltration without hesitation.

Wang Er's dream was extremely fragmented.

Because most of his life had been spent in a dark, sunless cell, his memories were worse than those of a six- or seven-year-old child.

This made alteration much easier.

Ren Qing didn't change much, he just blurred out Wang Er's prison experience. After all, he was just a doomed pawn.

The soul fragment closed its eyes and muttered: "Dao begets Dao, Wuwei Dao..."

He seemed to arrive at Wuwei Daoist Altar.

Ren Qing didn't immediately bring Wang Er's consciousness inside. First, he wiped away the mountain-water patterns from his Daoist robe, turning it into the plain clothes of a seeker.

A moment later, several figures appeared before him.

Wang Er's consciousness had entered the Daoist field.

Under the influence of Wuwei Daoist Altar, the old prisoner's mind became filled with fervor.

Ren Qing, however, wore a strange expression, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

What he didn't expect was that, in addition to the anticipated Wang Er, the two aberrated wolves and the husky had also entered.

They wore ill-fitting Daoist robes, like animals in a theater performance.

The husky howled and then began bouncing around the Daoist field excitedly.

It even tried to ram its head into the wall, fully displaying its home-wrecking nature.

The veins on Ren Qing's forehead popped.

Then he forcibly pressed the husky down onto a prayer cushion. The two aberrated wolves, on the other hand, sat down obediently.

Ren Qing ignored the husky's strange wolf-howl. He looked at the old prisoner, his eyes glowing faintly, at that moment, he was like a deity.

Wang Er knelt and smashed his head against the ground, crying out with all his heart: "Dao begets Dao, Wuwei Dao..."

"Are you willing to become a Dao Officer?"

"Willing!! Willing!!"

Ren Qing placed his right hand on Wang Er's forehead. The mountain-water patterns on his robe dimmed slightly. A five-colored Dao rhyme flowed into the other's body.

Wang Er's gray robe turned pure white.

Ren Qing's Dao rhyme had only slightly diminished. Dao begets Dao had not turned incomplete because of this.

Inside Prison Within the Abdomen, Wang Er's body remained unconscious. He had no idea he had become a Dao Officer.

As long as Ren Qing wished, he could make Wang Er manifest preacher abilities at any time.

With this, everything was ready.

Ren Qing then looked at the three wolf-dogs, thinking to himself.

He knew Wuwei Daoist Altar could fabricate cultivation techniques, but these fabricated spells couldn't be advanced and had very limited potential.

Naturally, Ren Qing wouldn't cultivate them himself, but what if he let animals cultivate them?

Even if it only made the meat taste better, it could serve as emergency rations. Actually, the more he thought about it, the better it sounded.

He picked up the bamboo slip from the wooden table and flipped through it..

It seemed none were suitable, so he decided to create one tailored for the wolf-dogs himself.