Ren Qing could first of all be certain that, given Jingzhou's current concentration of demonic qi, Rabbit-Toad cultivators would absolutely not descend ahead of time. It was very likely that the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin was precisely Song Zongwu himself.
Song Zongwu had probably encountered some kind of accident and thus fallen into the hands of the White Bone Great Sage, but how could he be called a demon immortal by demon beasts?
Could it be that the White Bone Great Sage was using Song Zongwu to increase his own prestige?
In any case, Ren Qing would sooner or later head to the White Bone Great Sage's territory. He wanted to see for himself what had happened to cause such a situation.
He toyed with the pale-golden gallbladder, while the hyena demon beside him continued to prattle on endlessly about its reverence for the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin.
The information stream surged.
[Small Sarira]
[Formed from condensed Buddhist qi. It must be nurtured within a living being's fleshly body. After consumption, the body will gradually transform into an Indestructible Golden Body.]
Ren Qing could not help but examine the hyena demon, discovering that it also had internal organs emitting Buddhist light, causing its flesh and blood to take on a glassy appearance.
If nothing unexpected happened, once the hyena demon absorbed Buddhist light over a long period of time, its body should mutate into the so-called "Indestructible Golden Body."
Yu Dou's situation was more like rejection produced by absorbing Buddhist qi. In the end, the Buddhist qi condensed into a small śarīra, using a physical form to maintain the Buddhist qi without dispersing.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and used his consciousness to communicate with the hyena demon's pseudo-dragon–transformed brain. After quite some time, the latter finally shut its mouth.
The hyena demon's gaze toward the small śarīra still contained naked desire.
Ren Qing was slightly surprised.
On the surface, Buddhist qi appeared extremely gentle, yet in reality it possessed an erosive nature comparable to demonic heavenly qi.
Only, demonic heavenly qi assimilated all things, while Buddhist qi's method was more like "conversion," causing living beings to acknowledge Buddhist qi from the depths of their hearts.
Yu Dou and the other two quietly discussed among themselves and decided to leave this place as soon as possible.
His injuries looked severe, but whether it was the opened abdomen or the loss of the gallbladder, both were temporarily controlled by techniques.
"Senior Ren, we still have matters to attend to, so we'll take our leave first..."
Ren Qing then turned his head to glance at Yu Dou. He had been focused on matters regarding the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin and had almost forgotten that there were still three survivors.
"Yu Dou, your luck is really quite good."
"After consuming those golden pellets, internal organs would inevitably mutate. If what mutated wasn't your gallbladder but your five viscera, you might already be on the brink of death."
Yu Dou felt a chill run through him and no longer dared to rely on the Taotie Method to eat recklessly.
Ren Qing recalled that there was quite a bit of labor inside Eternal Prison, and asked in a strange tone, "Do you want me to send you back? But the journey is long and will take some time."
Yu Dou repeatedly refused, "Many thanks, Senior Ren, that won't be necessary."
He only wanted to return immediately while the demon beast materials were still fresh. Even though the journey was long, being cautious would allow them to safely reach Wuwei City.
After bidding farewell to Ren Qing, the three quickly went far away, even somewhat panicked and disoriented.
Ren Qing paid no attention to this minor episode. His focus was entirely on the small śarīra in his palm, and deep wariness toward Buddhist qi arose in his heart.
He released the protection of Ghost God Beneath the Skin, and Buddhist qi immediately coiled around his palm.
A grand voice sounded by his ears, as if countless monks were chanting scriptures. However, because each monk understood the meaning of the scriptures differently, the sounds were incomparably chaotic.
When Ren Qing once again maintained Ghost God Beneath the Skin, the abnormalities brought by Buddhist qi vanished without a trace.
He closed his eyes and asked, "Hyena demon, do you know where the White Bone Great Sage's cave abode is located?"
The hyena demon hesitated slightly, paused for a few breaths, then said, "Demon Immortal Lord, if you wish to go to the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin's temple, you must set your heart toward the boundless bitter sea, and cultivate until..."
"What kind of nonsense is this."
Ren Qing cut off the hyena demon. It seemed that unless the deeply rooted Buddhist qi within the latter was dispelled, even pseudo-dragonization would be difficult to control.
"Just honestly lead the way in front."
Sensing the gaze tinged with killing intent, the hyena demon immediately trembled all over and agreed.
Ren Qing ignored the demon beast and planned to try transforming the small śarīra into a pseudo-dragon. He immediately used the divine ability Boxed Dragon's Roar.
The light of the small śarīra became restrained.
Veins abruptly spread across its surface. A mouth occupying one-third of its size grew out.
Next came slender limbs, as well as a single eye on its forehead. In the end, it turned into a deformed, grotesque śarīra dragon.
Ren Qing discovered that the śarīra dragon's lifespan actually exceeded fifty years, and it even developed interest in the hyena demon's glassy internal organs.
The śarīra dragon kicked its limbs and pounced toward the hyena demon.
But just as the two were about to make contact, it suddenly began to convulse for no apparent reason, and its aura gradually became unstable...
The śarīra dragon's consciousness completely dissipated, and it reverted to its original form.
Ren Qing revealed a shocked expression.
This was the first time he had encountered Boxed Dragon's Roar failing. It was likely that Buddhist qi was too sinister, directly erasing the śarīra dragon's consciousness completely.
It was hard to imagine what kind of existence the Buddhist sect was, and whether the Buddhist techniques cultivated by Song Zongwu could truly fully control Buddhist qi.
Not long ago, Ren Qing had felt that it was the White Bone Great Sage coercing Song Zongwu. Now, why did it feel as though the source of the abnormality lay in Buddhist qi itself?
He planned to use the small śarīra as material and see what it would become after refining it into an artifact.
Ren Qing directly tossed the small śarīra into Eternal Prison and handed it over to the ghost shadow to refine with the Tombstone Furnace. The auxiliary material chosen was Buddha Sense.
Buddha Sense had been produced earlier when the Flesh Furnace burned Buddhist qi.
It was condensed by the Food-Consuming Immortal Technique, obtained by burning Buddhist souls as material. After consumption, the body would gradually transform into an Indestructible Golden Body.
As the Tombstone Furnace was transformed from corpses, nothing unexpected occurred between it and Buddhist qi. In just a short while, the artifact was already formed.
The small śarīra shrank several times in size, yet the golden hue it contained became even more intense.
The artifact's function was merely to store Buddhist qi, somewhat similar to the golden core of the Heavenly Dao technique, though the former clearly lacked growth potential.
Buddha-Transformed Artifact
Refined by Ren Qing. It can be placed long-term in the heart chamber, subtly causing the body to mutate into an Indestructible Golden Body.
After repeatedly confirming the stability of the śarīra artifact, Ren Qing simply stored it within the ghost shadow's body, making it convenient to use the artifact at any time.
He grew increasingly apprehensive of Buddhist qi, yet at the same time felt that this trip to the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin Temple might be a good opportunity to break the deadlock.
Ren Qing quietly refined his plan. At this time, the hyena demon returned from the distant cave.
It carried a beast-skin sack in its mouth, filled with all kinds of stone implements, all of which emitted faint Buddhist light.
According to the hyena demon, these stone implements had all been consecrated at the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin Temple.
As long as one had prolonged contact with the stone implements, one could gradually absorb the Buddhist qi within, thereby cultivating the Bitter Sea Great Dao and striving to ascend early to Ultimate Bliss.
The hyena demon's expression was extremely devout. Even though its brain was already controlled by a pseudo-dragon, it could not stop its fanatical thoughts in the slightest.
The more Ren Qing looked, the more irritated he felt. The ghost shadow swallowed the hyena demon into its belly in one gulp.
The śarīra artifact forcefully acted upon the hyena demon's Buddhified internal organs, stripping away the Buddhist qi bit by bit.
The hyena demon let out heart-rending screams. It was clear that Buddhist qi's erosion of it went deep into the marrow, even indirectly affecting the soul.
Ren Qing threw all the stone implements into the Flesh Furnace. Under the burning of kindling fire, they turned into granular Buddha Sense in just a short while.
He then released a soul butterfly projection to search for nearby reliable demon beasts.
The realms referred to among demon beasts differed somewhat, of course only among those of the same kind that possessed intelligence. Stupid demon beasts were usually treated as wild beasts.
Initial demonization was called "miscellaneous demon," equivalent to the Martial Practitioner realm. Once the body produced partial demonization, it reached the level of "lesser demon."
Lesser demons, after absorbing demonic qi and transforming into half-human, half-demon forms, and being able to speak human language, could be called "great demons," sufficient to rival the Ghost Envoy realm.
Demon kings at the Infernal Envoy realm were very rare, usually occupying a territory of their own.
Ren Qing quickly noticed a demon bird only half a meter in size. Judging from its constructed nest, its intelligence was no weaker than Little Drill Wind's.
He rode Little Drill Wind to the demon bird's location. Without giving it any chance to react, he directly used Boxed Dragon's Roar to enlighten its brain.
After confirming there were no omissions, Ren Qing headed toward the White Bone Great Sage's cave abode, along the way enlightening intelligent demon beasts one by one.
He had tried enlightening ordinary demon beasts, but even if their brains became pseudo-dragons, the increase in intelligence was minimal, making them difficult to control.
Ren Qing supplemented his understanding of the White Bone Great Sage's cave abode through the mouths of various demon beasts, and the size of the accompanying group grew larger and larger.
Outside the White Bone Great Sage's cave abode were demon beasts from all factions. They cultivated Buddhist qi arduously, wishing to approach the White Bone Four-Armed Guanyin Temple.
Ren Qing guessed that, in order to better release demonic qi, the aberration likely had no time to attend to anything else, causing the system of demon cultivators to be overturned and rebuilt.
This was precisely an opportunity to exploit.
After enlightening large numbers of pseudo-dragons, he discovered the upper limit of Boxed Dragon's Roar. With his peak Infernal Envoy cultivation, the number was around thirty.
Ren Qing kept the number of demon beasts under his control at twenty, and then no longer deliberately increased it.
He once again slowed his pace and used dream realm techniques to alter the memories of many demon beasts, reinforcing his identity as a demon immortal.
In addition to that,
The demon beasts were truly crooked and ugly, and it was also necessary to refine some seemingly intimidating artifacts.
Ren Qing even used the Dao Ancestor statue to deliberately create an imagined technique that stimulated growth in size. After teaching it to the demon beasts, they immediately grew one to two meters taller.
During this period, the Buddhist qi within the hyena demon was finally completely stripped away.
However, although its consciousness recovered clarity, there appeared a tendency for its soul to scatter. Clearly, its foundation had already been destroyed by Buddhist qi.
Ren Qing could not maintain the hyena demon's vitality using any kind of qi.
The hyena demon sat cross-legged on the ground, and as it neared death, it once again muttered Buddhist scriptures.
"I refuse to believe that this Buddhist qi is so sinister."
Ren Qing's brows were tightly furrowed. A pitch-black eye pupil appeared on his forehead, and the surrounding temperature dropped considerably.
The Heavenly Demon Dream Seed drew out a strand of aura and seeped it into the hyena demon's body. Then the withered heart actually began to beat powerfully.
The hyena demon's muttering abruptly stopped, and it looked around in a daze.
"Demon Immortal Lord, I am this..."
"It's fine."
Ren Qing's expression changed several times. It turned out that before burning the body, small amounts of demonic heavenly qi could bring white bones to life and revive the dead.
How many cultivators, after witnessing demonic heavenly qi, could restrain themselves from touching it? Even Heavenly Daozi could not avoid it.
He thought of the former incarnation of Avīci Hell, "Ksitigarbha."
After the other party's body had been completely burned away by demonic heavenly qi, why was Avīci Hell preserved, and why did it happen to be found by the Restraint Officers' Hall?