Ren Qing immediately had the Ghost Ship halt in midair, drifting with the wind like a lone leaf boat.
That streak of white light began to expand. Faint sounds of scripture chanting came from it, and as time passed they grew louder and louder, deafening.
Ren Qing maintained the Disaster Elimination Method, then walked from the cabin to the deck and looked into the distance.
The white light gradually dimmed.
An extremely magnificent Buddha statue stood within the darkness.
Its exterior appeared covered in glazed glass, its head adorned with ornaments decorated by yellow and red flowers. Its bare upper body wore a necklace inlaid with gemstones.
Not to mention the scepter held in the Buddha statue's hand and the six-grade golden lotus beneath it.
Ren Qing's face became slightly dazed, but after only a moment he reacted. The Buddhist dream seed at his brow immediately emitted faint glimmers.
The faint white glazed Buddhist qi was absorbed by the Buddhist dream seed.
Seeing this, Ren Qing's expression drastically changed. The Buddha corpses he had encountered earlier had been strange, but none had ever contained Buddhist qi.
Ren Qing felt an invisible pressure. The origin of this Buddha corpse was absolutely not simple, at the very least it could rival a Yang God realm existence.
The Ghost Ship slowly retreated backward, while the murmuring from the Buddha statue's mouth grew louder.
Fortunately, after tempering through the Primordial Fetal Membrane, Ren Qing already possessed a certain resistance to Buddhist qi, so his state of mind was not affected.
After the Ghost Ship sailed for a while, the originally gentle murmuring suddenly transformed into a sharp howl, filled with pure malice.
When Ren Qing looked again, there was no magnificent Buddha statue at all.
Before him was a hundred-meter-tall withered statue. The Buddha's appearance resembled a skeleton, skin wrapped around bones, the flesh long shriveled away.
The so-called ornaments made of gold and gemstones were merely vertebrae bones pieced together, with even remnants of flesh still attached.
Ren Qing examined the giant Buddha corpse and quickly discovered the host corpses parasitizing it, located at the statue's knee, deliberately concealed by its arms.
It was not a single corpse but multiple corpses piled together.
They seemed still alive, frantically struggling with both hands and feet, attempting to break free from the flesh statue's restraint.
The Buddha corpse likely intended to lure Ren Qing over through mind-controlling methods so he would ultimately become one of the corpses in the pile.
Ren Qing realized that once a Buddha corpse's body reached around one hundred meters, it lost the ability to move.
There were probably many similar Buddha corpses within the Bottomless Pit, likely formed gradually from corpses hundreds or even thousands of years old.
If he attacked this Buddha corpse, it would definitely attract the others.
The Ghost Ship left the Buddha corpse's range.
Ren Qing remained in the cabin and did not dare devote himself fully to studying Moon Patterns. Instead he began preparing how to engrave Abhī Hell.
After all, Abhī Hell was formed from a Yang God realm technique; engraving it with the split soul's Ghost Envoy realm strength was somewhat too forced.
He could only have the ghost shadow handle it instead, which also minimized risk.
Bang bang bang bang...
A familiar sound echoed from afar. Corpses once again drifted downward with the wind.
The Ghost Ship accelerated and soon located the source of the discarded corpses. Flayed and bone-extracted corpses were thrown down from time to time.
Ren Qing did not hurry to go to the surface. Using the ghost shadow, he quietly dug a cave more than ten meters deep into the sturdy rock wall.
He put away the Ghost Ship and entered the cave, then resealed the entrance with stone.
No matter what, he would first attempt to obtain the Resurrection Technique. If Cishi proved too dangerous, he might not have time to pay attention to the restricted zone.
After all, if the main soul consciousness descended into the Longevity Restricted Zone, he could not attend to the main body simultaneously.
After organizing the steps for engraving Moon Patterns, Ren Qing chose a night to enter the Longevity Restricted Zone.
As soon as he possessed the split soul, he discovered many figures standing beside the Longevity Tree, clearly summoned by the split soul to guard him while refining Abhī Hell.
Ren Qing was not very surprised. The main and secondary souls differed only in strength; their thoughts were extremely similar, requiring no communication.
Mu Yi nodded slightly toward Ren Qing, her expression somewhat relaxed.
No matter what, at least the Restraint Officers' Hall could rely on Ren Qing to know the situation of the outside world.
Huang Ziwan stepped forward with a complicated expression and patted Ren Qing's chest. It was truly difficult to compare this three-meter-tall burly man with the other.
"So, do you have confidence?"
"To be honest, during this period without the Restraint Officer method, I've been quite comfortable..."
"What are you thinking about."
Ren Qing glanced at Huang Ziwan. When aberrant objects were dormant they would not constantly release toxins, allowing him to behave carefree and charmingly.
Xu Sanliang stood nearby as the representative of Wei'an Town's martial academies, saying nothing.
Ever since learning that Ren Qing came from the upper realm, it had become difficult for him to maintain the mentality of an elder, some of them might even be older than himself.
Ren Qing did not waste words. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he went to the base of the tree. The materials for engraving had already been ground into powder and piled beside it.
Night was not long. He had to seize the time to refine.
The ghost shadow carried the main soul consciousness to the roots of the Longevity Tree, quickly locating the Eight-Directions Demon Realm and drilling inside.
Within it were still Moon Patterns complicated to the extreme.
This time Ren Qing could barely understand parts of them, though he was still worlds apart from independently refining a small Blood Moon.
He approached the black smoke, unable to suppress a sense of nervousness.
It was the first time Ren Qing had drawn Moon Patterns on a non-solid surface; the difficulty was obvious.
Although since Chen Changsheng had left this opportunity for the Restraint Officers' Hall there must be some shortcut for fusion, if Ren Qing wanted to obtain the Resurrection Technique he could only refine the Eight-Directions Demon Realm.
Ren Qing focused on the flowing smoke. Using the ghost shadow as a brush, he carefully controlled the materials to contact Abhī Hell.
Abhī Hell shook slightly, though this was within Ren Qing's expectations. The ghost shadow could also increase the precision of engraving.
The materials gradually seeped into the smoke, forming patterns similar to Moon Patterns.
Mu Yi and the others suddenly discovered that their perception of Abhī Hell had become weak. The aura emitted by the Longevity Tree soon also became unstable.
They stared fixedly at the Longevity Tree, silently waiting.
Ren Qing hesitated slightly at first but soon stopped worrying and engraved complex patterns according to his design.
For him, even if Abhī Hell were lost because of this and he could not obtain the Resurrection Technique, it would merely be a slight regret.
The Restraint Officers' Hall still possessed several soul-related techniques. If necessary he could quickly gather five primary and secondary techniques to promote the dream technique to Yang God realm.
The Moon Patterns inside and outside Abhī Hell became increasingly complex and soon formed a connection with the Eight-Directions Demon Realm. The two began to fuse completely.
Ren Qing immediately diverted some attention to refining Abhī Hell.
When the Moon Pattern engraving was finished, Abhī Hell completely disappeared. The originally blood-red Eight-Directions Demon Realm turned pure black.
Ren Qing immediately sensed his control over the Eight-Directions Demon Realm.
Although it was not fully refined, it already carried his soul aura. Others could not easily erase it, much less control the artifact.
Eight-Directions Demon Realm
Refined by Ren Qing. It requires thirty-six thousand souls as the core, combined with five hundred years of demon qi cultivation, and a small world integrated within during refinement; it can use a pseudo-world to isolate a limited region and store and release heterogeneous aura.
The Eight-Directions Demon Realm could no longer find any trace of the Taiyin Star Lord, as if it had been refined entirely by Ren Qing from beginning to end, so the name was no longer appropriate.
Ren Qing renamed the artifact "Forbidden Realm."
The Forbidden Realm differed from aberrant fetus artifacts. It was refined based on the small Blood Moon; the two main materials alone were extremely precious, making it impossible to produce a second one.
Ren Qing then used the Forbidden Realm to connect with the Longevity Tree. His consciousness was suddenly pulled into the roots.
He seemed to transform into an endless giant tree, able to sense movements within hundreds of li, even clearly perceiving insects flapping their wings.
He also saw outside the Longevity Restricted Zone: the marshland filled with bacteria had changed beyond recognition, and the corpse of the Meat and Wine Daoist still stood inserted at the center.
Ren Qing felt as if he could reach out and grab the corpse.
In a daze he discovered that far from the Longevity Tree lay the enormous corpse of a Longevity Immortal, its flesh full of maggots.
The maggots were gradually transforming into human shapes, becoming longevity species.
Beside the Longevity Immortal corpse were the skeletons of the Two Immortals of Fortune and Prosperity, likely devoured completely by Chen Changsheng, who used them to advance to Heavenly Aberration realm.
Out of the corner of his eye Ren Qing noticed that fresh flesh had grown at the joints of the Two Immortals of Fortune and Prosperity, clearly showing signs of revival.
This indicated that Chen Changsheng's condition was not optimistic. But the Three Immortals of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity were likely not the secret within the restricted zone he had mentioned.
His consciousness returned to the Longevity Tree, and the information flow appeared automatically.
Resurrection Technique
Created by the Longevity Dao Lord. One must fast for one month, remain sleepless for two months, comprehend death for three months, and undergo resurrection in the fourth month; it can only be completed when the physical body decays.
Ten years of lifespan may be consumed to exempt the price and master it.
Ren Qing had guessed correctly. The Longevity Tree was connected simultaneously to the Six-Illness Method and the Resurrection Technique. Since he could obtain physical martial arts related to the Six-Illness Method through it, the Resurrection Technique was no surprise.
He immediately confirmed it, while also using the Forbidden Realm to release the pseudo-world. Because dawn had arrived, his main soul consciousness left the Longevity Restricted Zone and returned to the main body.
The crowing of a rooster broke the silence, and light rose from the horizon.
The Restraint Officers nervously looked toward the awakened split soul. Huang Ziwan impatiently asked,
"Ren Qing, did the refinement succeed?"
The split soul did not answer. With a smile on his face, he closed his eyes.
Xu Sanliang's pupils shrank. Suddenly a rotten bloody stench filled his nose, yet the Restraint Officers around him showed traces of joy.
For Huang Ziwan, he had already grown accustomed to the smell in Abhī Hell years ago.
With the Longevity Tree as the center, the soil became moist, changing from yellow earth to a dark red resembling dried blood.
The vegetation was dyed with a vivid red layer.
Wei'an Town erupted in commotion. Residents began discussing among themselves, their voices carrying lingering fear, yet soon they heard cheers.
The three cities of Xiangxiang produced deafening noise.
All cultivators who had mastered the Restraint Officer method felt the aberrant objects return under their control. At last they no longer needed to go to Abhī Hell to cultivate.
The Forbidden Realm had only been partially refined by Ren Qing, yet it could already influence the Longevity Restricted Zone. It was difficult to imagine how powerful it would be in the outside world.
Xu Sanliang stared dumbfounded at the cultivators in the city using the Restraint Officer method and could not help saying,
"May I ask... can our Wei'an Town cultivate such techniques?"
"Of course."
Mu Yi agreed without hesitation. But in her heart she knew that the Restraint Officers were still confined within the range of the Longevity Tree.
The split soul continued comprehending Moon Patterns, ignoring whatever negotiations of interest the two factions conducted. As long as things developed in a positive direction, it was enough.