After leaving seclusion, the first thing Ren Qing did was hurry toward the intestinal region.
Because the gigantic corpse Buddha was about to approach the Corpse-Odor Hills region, and at its current speed the journey would take at most three or four days.
Ren Qing could not help regretting having artifactized the liver. If there were no flames protecting the body, the gigantic corpse Buddha would have to stop from time to time to recover its injuries.
He secretly controlled the Hard-Bone Disease Seed. Originally the disease seeds were scattered throughout the entire body, but now they spread toward the gigantic corpse Buddha's legs.
It was estimated that before reaching the Corpse-Odor Hills, the initial mutation should possibly be completed.
After Ren Qing finished handling the Hard-Bone Disease Seed, he happened to arrive at the intestinal region. As soon as he stepped in he heard bird cries and beast roars rising and falling.
The intestinal region resembled a dense jungle, filled with flourishing vegetation of various kinds. Several apes waved their fists provocatively.
Ren Qing's mouth twitched.
No one knew which cultivator had done it, but someone had actually raised strange beasts inside the intestines.
However this was also good. Although the excrement of strange beasts was not as effective as Maitreya Soil, it was more than sufficient to serve as fertilizer for vegetation.
The grain within the intestines was produced by Maitreya Soil and carried the medicinal effect of eliminating hidden injuries.
Naturally Ren Qing hoped the grain yield would be as high as possible, but unfortunately the area of the intestines was narrow, so the aberrant fetus had to be fused as soon as possible.
He headed toward the stomach and happened to pass the navel area, discovering an inconspicuous crack on the intestinal wall that should lead to the outside world.
The crack emitted the aura of an artifact and then slowly opened. Xiao San stepped out from within.
"Senior Ren Qing..."
As soon as Xiao San learned that Ren Qing had left the spine region, he immediately hurried back to report the situation. His expression carried restrained guilt.
"No need to blame yourself too much. Artifact refining is originally very complicated."
Ren Qing touched his forehead with a finger. Through the gigantic corpse Buddha's Insect Eye he had already seen traces of skin artifactization, but it was limited to the area around the abdomen and had not spread to the legs at all.
Xiao San nodded and led Ren Qing into the cave within the navel.
Ren Qing looked around the cave and noticed dozens of artifact refiners risking falling while attempting to engrave Moon Patterns on the skin's surface with artifacts.
"Senior Ren Qing."
"Lord Ren Qing."
They greeted him respectfully with admiration on their faces. In the eyes of artifact refiners and alchemists, Ren Qing was equivalent to the Dao Ancestor who created their techniques.
If they could obtain Ren Qing's guidance, their artifact refining level would certainly greatly improve.
Ren Qing could perceive the thoughts in their hearts and did not hold back. He directly took out several manuals recording basic Moon Patterns.
There would be many places needing artifact refiners in the future. The crucial five viscera, six bowels, and the four limbs and head of the gigantic corpse Buddha had not yet begun refinement. Teaching someone to fish was better than giving them fish.
The artifact refiners obtained a treasure and even wanted to knock their heads against the ground in gratitude, but Ren Qing stopped them.
Ren Qing then looked toward Xiao San and said, "Xiao San, go to the stomach and notify Li Yaoyang to explore the heart. From now on the focus will be refining the heart."
The reason Ren Qing focused on the heart was actually because of its special nature among the organs, it was the core location of the body's blood.
Even though the gigantic corpse Buddha's blood had already dried up and the blood vessels had shrunk greatly, once an aberrant fetus was fused they would certainly become active again.
Blood vessels spread throughout the entire body. Once blood circulated, it would resemble a surging river of blood.
At that time Restraint Officers' Hall could travel through the blood river by piloting Sand Ships, moving to various locations, and the stomach could also serve as a camp to provide support at any time.
Of course, what to use to replenish the gigantic corpse Buddha's missing blood was a troublesome problem.
Xiao San immediately agreed and then left the navel with the artifact refiners.
Ren Qing flicked his right hand, and Ghost Shadow swallowed a large quantity of materials into its body before heading toward the gigantic corpse Buddha's skin to engrave Moon Patterns.
He had already given up the entire skin of the chest and abdomen, only requiring coverage for the Insect Eye and the intestines and stomach. The artifactization priority of the legs was the highest.
As for the skin disease seed, Ren Qing chose the "Skin-Sense Disease Seed".
The Skin-Sense Disease Seed was essentially a skin allergy. This illness made the skin extremely sensitive to the environment and caused various inflammations.
However after the Skin-Sense Disease Seed combined with the Skin Refiner, the defect of skin allergy disappeared, indirectly increasing adaptability.
The Skin-Sense Disease Seed soon began to reproduce within the skin of both feet. Seeing this, Ren Qing walked out of the navel cave and sealed the entrance at the same time.
Ghost Shadow could shift between illusion and reality, so returning to the interior of the gigantic corpse Buddha was not difficult.
Ren Qing contemplated plans for the intestines and stomach and intended to fuse the Martial Practitioner realm aberrant fetus while he had free time, thereby expanding the area of the intestines and stomach.
This would prevent the temporary camp from becoming overcrowded when the Cishi people arrived.
As soon as Ren Qing reached the stomach, he noticed changes in Buddha Within Buddha. The number of monks had skyrocketed from thirty or forty thousand to more than one hundred thousand.
It could be seen that Buddha Qi had actively nurtured the contained souls into monks.
He could not help looking toward the Buddha Forest in the corner. As expected, the Indestructible Golden Body that contained Buddha Qi had become even more solid, proving that the Great Merciful Maitreya Buddha Blood Scripture had indeed taken effect.
This allowed the monks' body fluids to nourish the Indestructible Golden Body.
Ren Qing showed joy on his face. This was another considerable source of lifespan income; perhaps before reaching the Longevity Forbidden Zone he could gather enough lifespan for the No-Birth Immortal.
According to the memory of the Yang Spirit realm, the No-Birth Immortal was when the strange objects of the primary and secondary techniques fused, giving birth to an entirely new strange object.
The strength would certainly be greatly increased.
He found a place to perfect the stomach while Restraint Officers' Hall began exploring the heart.
Li Tiangang felt somewhat troubled about this. Resource collection, farmland cultivation, and finishing the intestinal refinement all required manpower, and they were completely short of people.
They were so busy that even Yin Difference realm cultivators had to work personally.
Li Tiangang had just been about to ask Ren Qing whether another group of cultivators could be dispatched from the Stomach-Within World when he discovered the intestines and stomach suddenly wriggling.
Bang bang bang bang...
The Bloating Disease Type generated violent winds out of thin air, slowly expanding the area of the intestines and stomach.
When Ren Qing fused the aberrant fetus of The Taotie Method into the intestines and stomach, the changes became even more intense.
The stomach expanded to more than three times its original size, and the intestines doubled.
Li Tiangang let out a long breath and could not help reminding him, "Ren Qing, didn't you say earlier that reinforcements would arrive?"
"They indeed exist."
Ren Qing showed a smile. Under Li Tiangang's puzzled gaze he closed his eyes, intending to draw the Cishi people from Heaven Above Heaven.
And at this time, in Heaven Above Heaven.
Brick-and-tile houses surrounded the mountains, built within the valley. Altogether there were several thousand of them, with large terraces of farmland in front.
Thin cooking smoke rose.
Compared with the inland geology, Heaven Above Heaven was near the Wine Sea and the soil was slightly red, causing the houses to have different characteristics.
The houses were not only slightly reddish in color, but generally lower as well.
The Cishi people moved through the town, and their clothing was no longer as crude as before. They had changed into cotton garments woven from cotton and hemp.
They could have such a life mainly because of Tang Sheng who returned from the west.
Thinking of this, the Cishi people glanced toward the cliff where the Heavenly Dao Insect man in Daoist robes sat cross-legged with closed eyes.
And near the waterfall, Sen Sheng's figure endured the fierce impact of the falling water, tempering the Human-Skin Book he had mastered.
Although the appearances of the two immortal masters were unusual, both possessed great abilities.
Sen Sheng had lived underground for many years and was extremely skilled at forging tools. Moreover, by smelling the soil he could determine the location of mineral veins.
Originally the Cishi people used wooden and stone tools to farm and chop wood. Now that mineral veins had been discovered, everything had been replaced with iron tools.
In addition, weaving cloth and firing bricks were also taught by Sen Sheng.
As for the Heavenly Dao Insect man, his Daoist title was "Daoist Yuhua". Every day he most enjoyed meditating and cultivating qi, occasionally guiding the people in cultivation.
Many Cishi people could reach the Half-Corpse realm because of Daoist Yuhua's guidance, although he often muttered incomprehensible words.
Tang Sheng was cleaning the temple when Ren Qing's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
He was stunned for a moment before realizing that the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva had asked him to select one thousand cultivators to go to the outside world.
Tang Sheng did not dare doubt and hurried to find Sen Sheng and Daoist Yuhua.
Sen Sheng firmly believed in Ren Qing's identity as an immortal and immediately began helping Tang Sheng select cultivators who would go to the intestines and stomach.
Daoist Yuhua said incomprehensible things and was equally impatient.
Originally Ren Qing had imprisoned him near the Wine Lake to farm. In order to survive he dared not complain.
But after a long time, Daoist Yuhua inevitably felt despair, fearing that his lifespan would run out and he would die here without returning to the "Insect Nest".
However after he once went to the Dream Market while transporting grain, his understanding suddenly underwent a tremendous change.
Daoist Yuhua actually sensed the aura of his own kind from Daoist temple disciples.
Although that aura was relatively faint, and the place where the Heavenly Dao Insect parasitized had changed from the body to the shadow beneath the disciple's feet.
Daoist Yuhua did not find this strange. The Heavenly Dao Insect was a parasitic strange object; no matter where it parasitized, its nature did not change.
At the same time he noticed the dense Nether Yuan drifting through the air.
If he guessed correctly, the Nether Yuan should come from the Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Insect.
The Insect Nest had not produced an Earth Immortal for several thousand years, causing them to hide underground and not dare appear on the surface.
Daoist Yuhua understood that if the news of the Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Insect reached the Insect Nest, Heavenly Dao Insects would compete to come here.
After all, cultivating while following an Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Insect might allow one to attain immortality.
Therefore Daoist Yuhua cherished this opportunity greatly and wanted to show his value.
In fact, because of the unique system combining humans and insects, the Insect Nest pursued individual cultivation realms far more than reproduction.
Daoist Yuhua did not have to wait long.
A crack suddenly appeared within Heaven Above Heaven, and the other side was the outside world.
Tang Sheng led the uneasy thousand Cishi people into the crack one after another. Daoist Yuhua and Sen Sheng also accompanied them.
What welcomed them were several thousand monsters and demons wearing kasaya robes.
The intestines and stomach region was filled with foul smoke. Cultivators practiced artifact refining and alchemy, and their attitude toward the Cishi people was far less important than earning resources.
Under Li Tiangang's arrangement, cultivating the farmland was handed over to the Cishi people.
To eliminate their fear, Ren Qing allowed the Cishi people to travel back and forth through the crack to the Stomach-Within World at any time.
Instead, Daoist Yuhua attracted countless strange looks from cultivators.
Just as Daoist Yuhua was about to search for the Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Insect, he was forcibly taken to the intestinal region to transport the excrement of strange beasts.
Li Tiangang and the others did not ask Ren Qing about the origin of the Cishi people. In any case, everyone was focused on the artifactization of the gigantic corpse Buddha.
After all, they were about to reach the Corpse-Odor Hills.
There is still one more chapter, wait a moment.