Song Zongwu wrapped his extra arms around his chest. Combined with his loose clothing, he did not draw much attention as he ran along the eaves of the buildings.
Ren Qing, who was being carried along, felt rather awkward. Moving was not an option, but neither was staying still.
After several flashes, Song Zongwu arrived at Sibu Hall.
Seeing that he intended to step straight inside, Ren Qing could not help saying, "Senior Song, perhaps I should stay out here."
"There are more than a hundred rooms in Sibu Hall. If we are to confirm the situation, do you expect me to search through them one by one?"
Song Zongwu glanced at Ren Qing and was just about to say something when he saw him clutching his head, looking as though he were in terrible pain.
"What is it?"
Ren Qing's memories began to blur. The number of Fire Workers on Hexing Street had decreased again, and for some reason, the intervals were growing shorter and shorter.
Song Zongwu noticed it as well.
A dangerous aura spread from his body. His eyes shifted from blood-red to orange-red, as though resisting the inexplicable force tampering with his memories.
But when Song Zongwu realized that he had to maintain his Art at all times, he simply used his nails to carve several words into his skin as reminders.
Seeing how ruthless he was, Ren Qing could only take out a small knife and carve words into his own arm. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how a cultivator in the Martial Human Realm could be immune.
"Senior Song, could this be the work of some Eerie Object, or perhaps a Forbidden Zone?"
"Notify the other Forbidden Guards first. We will need to go inside and investigate the details."
Song Zongwu took out a green heart that seemed alive and squeezed it hard. Its beating immediately quickened.
The corner of Ren Qing's mouth twitched. Could this be some underworld artifact used for communication?
"There are thirty-six Blood Hearts. Holders within a certain range can..."
Before Song Zongwu could finish, both of them suddenly sensed something was wrong. Their memories of the last Fire Worker began to blur again.
"Too late!!!"
Ren Qing was somewhat tense. Though he did not draw the Great Miao Saber directly, his right hand gripped its hilt tightly, ready to draw it at any moment.
"Come with me."
Song Zongwu grabbed Ren Qing by the collar, smashed through the wooden door, and charged inside. Ren Qing hurriedly began directing him along the route.
In only about ten breaths, after smashing through several walls along the way, they arrived at the place where the Fire Workers had been confined.
Song Zongwu kicked the door open and strode straight inside.
They saw a Fire Worker in his early twenties squatting blankly in the corner, muttering over and over, "Don't kill me."
Perhaps after his companions had been erased, his memories had undergone drastic changes, leaving his mind somewhat dazed.
Ren Qing found it absurd. Barely half an hour ago, these Fire Workers had seemed relatively normal. Now, they could vanish without a trace at any moment.
Though the Fire Worker did not seem to retain much awareness, Song Zongwu still refused to give up and asked, "Did you enter the Forbidden Zone? How many people are still alive?"
"Don't kill me, don't kill me..."
Song Zongwu stepped forward and seized the Fire Worker's head with two hands, his six eyes staring fixedly into the man's.
"I ask, you answer."
"Is this related to the Forbidden Zone?"
The Fire Worker seemed to regain a trace of awareness. He opened his mouth and answered weakly, "Yes..."
He immediately spat blood. His internal organs began to collapse, and his aura weakened at a visible rate.
Song Zongwu did not continue questioning him. Instead, he tried to stabilize the Fire Worker's injuries.
Unfortunately, it was completely useless.
Song Zongwu could not help muttering, "We must all have forgotten something. We likely discovered a Forbidden Zone somewhere."
"At the time, Forbidden Guards and Yamen Runners were sent to deal with it. But after they entered the Forbidden Zone, all memories related to it were erased."
Normally, Fire Workers would not enter a Forbidden Zone, yet they had still been affected. Even they themselves were silently disappearing.
Ren Qing frowned and asked, "Senior Song, then why did Fire Workers return to Sanxiang City? Could they have been used by the Forbidden Guards to deliver a message?"
"I'm not sure."
Song Zongwu continued, "But Forbidden Zones themselves cannot move, so it would be difficult for one to affect Sanxiang City from so far away."
Song Zongwu looked at Ren Qing with a complicated expression.
There were so many people in the Yamen, yet Ren Qing alone had noticed something amiss. That could not possibly be explained away as mere coincidence.
At that moment, the blood the Fire Worker had vomited onto the ground slowly turned into ash, leaving behind no trace at all.
The same phenomenon gradually spread to the Fire Worker's body. Starting from his toes, even his cloth shoes turned to ash.
Song Zongwu said solemnly, "We must determine the Forbidden Zone's location. Otherwise, the hidden danger is too great."
Ren Qing did not know what to say.
Forbidden Zones were formed from the Eerie Objects left behind after cultivators died, but fighting Forbidden Zones required relying on cultivators. It was an endless cycle of death.
Song Zongwu pressed his index finger against the Fire Worker's brow and muttered, "yichou year, jimao month, guichou day, renzi hour..."
"Found it, Left Eye Three!!!"
His six blood eyes squeezed shut. Suddenly, the Blood Eye at the lower left opened on its own, more than twice as large as usual.
The Fire Worker began trembling for no reason. Blood seeped from every one of his facial features, and his breathing became extremely labored.
Song Zongwu said to Ren Qing, "I am going to examine the memories within his soul. If anything abnormal happens, interrupt me immediately."
Ren Qing had just opened his mouth to ask when Song Zongwu pulled a palm-sized humanoid phantom from the Fire Worker's brow.
Song Zongwu touched the phantom to his opened eye, using Six-Eyed Prison Breaker to directly obtain its memories.
Ren Qing was not overly worried at the sight.
The more Eerie Objects a Forbidden Zone devoured, the more terrifying the abilities it displayed became. But to affect Sanxiang City from so far away...
The Fire Worker's corpse opened its eyes, then rose to its feet with stiff, awkward movements.
Ren Qing retreated several steps and studied it from what he considered a safe distance.
Something was wrong.
The Forbidden Zone did not possess the means to remotely erase the memories of tens of thousands. It had deliberately allowed the Fire Workers to return to Sanxiang City.
So the memories had not been erased when the Forbidden Guards entered the Forbidden Zone. The problem had only appeared after the Fire Workers from Hexing Street returned to Sanxiang City.
Who knew how many Eerie Objects this Forbidden Zone had devoured for it to control Fire Workers turned into Puppets from such a great distance?
The puppet's flesh and blood collapsed and gathered bit by bit, making its body increasingly distorted, like a heap of rotten mud.
Yet Ren Qing did not feel much threat from the puppet. It seemed even weaker than an ordinary person.
Even so, he did not relax in the slightest. The Double Pupils in his eyes began to turn as he fixed his gaze on the puppet and circled around it.
He did not use the Divine Feet Scripture. Since he still could not control it freely, using it in such a cramped place would only put him at a disadvantage.
At that moment, the puppet crawled toward Song Zongwu at a speed far slower than that of an ordinary person.
Ren Qing could not help feeling doubtful. Was this all bark and no bite? The Forbidden Zone's methods could not possibly be this simple, could they?
Before you continue