Ren Qing's vision was connected to the Giant Corpse Buddha's insect eyes, so he naturally noticed the tentacles at the bottom of the corpse lake immediately, and his pupils could not help but constrict.
The Giant Corpse Buddha also seemed to have discovered the threat, and unexpectedly took the initiative to swim toward the water surface.
However, the tentacles extending from the lake bottom were clearly purposeful, completely ignoring the Giant Corpse Buddha, and then disappeared.
Seeing this, Ren Qing did not hesitate to cast his technique again, stimulating the disease seeds to reproduce wildly.
The flesh on the Giant Corpse Buddha's face trembled slightly, and soon, at the position of its glabella, a single heavy pupil grew.
Even though Ren Qing did not have time to inscribe Moon Patterns, because of his familiarity with the heavy pupil, he quickly applied it to enhance the Giant Corpse Buddha's vision.
The darkness at the lake bottom vanished completely, and twisted, disordered hair-like aquatic plants came into view.
Aside from that, Ren Qing could not find the source of the tentacles at all, as if they had appeared out of thin air, making him frown tightly.
He recalled the mark on the foreheads of the water corpses and suspected that the tentacles likely came from the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone.
Could it be that the water corpses were some kind of beings raised within the corpse lake by an existence from the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone? And when the Giant Corpse Buddha was about to slaughter them all, they were immediately recalled to the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone?
Ren Qing was full of confusion. Before making actual contact with the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, it was hard to say what kind of rules it contained.
With a thought, the ghost shadow immediately carried materials toward the Giant Corpse Buddha's glabella.
The ghost shadow was already highly skilled at inscribing Moon Patterns, though the heavy pupil being close to the brain region made it slightly troublesome. Fortunately, Buddhist Qi assisted from the side.
Ren Qing then summoned the information flow.
[Lifespan: 375 years]
[No-Eye Method (Dream Butterfly Method, Dream Demon Art, Six Diseases Method, Taisui Sutra), Covering the Heavens and Obscuring the Sun (Controlling the Dream Kingdom, Demon Demon True Lord, Disease-Controlling Plague God, Taisui Bacterial Body)...]
[Divine Ability: The World is Like a Dream]
The Six Diseases Method at the Yin Difference realm is called Death Plague Immortal. After advancing to Disease-Controlling Plague God, control over disease seeds reached an extremely terrifying limit.
Although most high-level cultivators would not contract illnesses, there would inevitably still be traces of bacteria struggling to survive within their bodies.
When Ren Qing used the Six Diseases Method, those bacteria could transform into disease seeds and give rise to various types, delivering a devastating blow to the immune system.
And this was not even the most troublesome aspect.
The Six Diseases Method's ability to create diseases out of nothing was greatly enhanced. Even through dreams, it could cause others to become terminally ill.
Of course, for Ren Qing, the reason for advancing the Six Diseases Method to the Yang Spirit realm was to fully control the Giant Corpse Buddha.
He could sense the position of every disease seed. Without needing close contact, he could use Dragon Roar Within the Casket to perform large-scale pseudo-dragonization.
Aside from the Six Diseases Method, the Taisui Sutra also reached the Yang Spirit realm as the Taisui Bacterial Body.
Advancing to the Taisui Bacterial Body carried certain risks, requiring more life force to ensure that one would not undergo corpse transformation.
Fortunately, the disease seeds were stored in the disease tree, which in a sense reduced the drawbacks.
If Ren Qing's Taisui Sutra had not formed a primary-secondary relationship with the No-Eye Method, the tens of thousands of various bacteria would have spread throughout his flesh and organs like in the Giant Corpse Buddha.
Hence the name "Taisui Bacterial Body."
The fungal tree seeds obtained by the Restraint Officers' Hall, if placed on the original Taisui Daoist Lord, would have been nothing more than a drop of blood or a strand of hair.
Ren Qing had been lucky. Through the disease tree in the Mud Pellet Palace, he contained the disease seeds within it. Otherwise, within a radius of thousands of miles, no living being would dare approach.
The changes of the Taisui Bacterial Body were mainly concentrated on the disease tree.
The lush branches and leaves of the disease tree now occupied fifty to sixty percent of the Mud Pellet Palace, and the number of disease fruits increased to over a hundred.
Most disease fruits were obtained by absorbing patients, with a small portion coming from the Longevity Tree.
Ren Qing examined the disease tree. The fruits on its branches resembled small worlds, filled with countless phantom images of patients.
At the Yang Spirit realm, the Taisui Bacterial Body had greater influence over patients.
He could even communicate with them through it. Unfortunately, deep within the corpse lake, the living beings inside those corpses had already gone mad.
Ren Qing did not mind recruiting a race similar to cocoon people, provided they could approach the Giant Corpse Buddha.
After all, under resource infusion, Sen Sheng had already broken through to the Ghost Envoy realm. Even as a single-technique Ghost Envoy realm, it was extremely exaggerated.
It had only been a few months…
If not for the Ghost Envoy realm requiring completion of strange transformation branches, and the Yin Difference realm requiring primary-secondary relationships and fusion of strange transformations, with the cocoon people's talent in the Human Skin Book, they might not even have bottlenecks.
Ren Qing shook his head, occasionally glancing at the disease fruits.
He looked at the common cold disease fruit containing hundreds of thousands of disease seeds, then used the new ability of the Taisui Bacterial Body to cause large-scale extinction of the common cold disease seeds.
The common cold disease fruit gradually swelled, cracks appearing on its surface, and a familiar soul emerged from within.
After Ren Qing mastered the Taisui Sutra, his split soul had transformed into the disease tree within the Mud Pellet Palace for storing disease seeds.
He originally thought he could no longer nurture split souls, but after advancing to the Taisui Bacterial Body, he could actually nurture split souls by consuming disease seeds.
The split soul was over eighty percent similar to the main soul, but more like a patient suffering from a cold, with sunken eyes and constant coughing.
Strictly speaking, the split soul should now be called a "common cold bacterial soul."
The common cold bacterial soul also had the trait of infinite reproduction, but required consuming over ten thousand disease seeds to form, and possessed uniqueness.
One disease fruit could only nurture one bacterial soul.
Though called a split soul, the bacterial soul was more like a medium for spreading disease.
It could infiltrate others' dreams and silently cause them to contract chronic illness, then grow stronger through proliferating bacteria.
The newly nurtured common cold bacterial soul was only slightly stronger than ordinary disease seeds, not even reaching the Martial Practitioner realm.
Ren Qing had no choice but to store it back in the disease tree, then proceeded to nurture bacterial souls from the remaining disease fruits one by one.
He was still conflicted about the role of bacterial souls.
First, they could assist in controlling the Giant Corpse Buddha. By integrating specific bacterial souls into organs, they would effectively replace the role of artifact spirits.
However, he believed Buddhist Qi would definitely resist bacterial souls, after all they were his split souls.
Second, they could be taken to the Longevity Forbidden Zone. With the Longevity Tree, they could form fleshly bodies and fully unleash their potential.
Of course, bacterial souls could not absorb everything like split souls.
Unfortunately, the common cold bacterial soul could only cultivate body techniques related to the common cold disease seed, though its cultivation speed would far exceed ordinary martial artists.
Ren Qing currently could not send bacterial souls to the Longevity Forbidden Zone through Dream City, so he kept them in the fungal tree to nurture and strengthen them.
He opened his eyes and steered the ghost ship toward the stomach and intestines.
Since the Giant Corpse Buddha was about to approach the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, Ren Qing planned to return to the stomach and intestines to direct the Restraint Officers' Hall's arrangements.
He passed by the spinal region and extracted a black worm from his own spinal marrow.
[Worm Root: One's spiritual root becomes a regenerative organ; a portion is taken to form a worm root, which the spiritual root can forcibly control.]
Although the strange transformations had fused into divine abilities, it did not affect the use of those abilities.
The worm root burrowed into the Giant Corpse Buddha's spine. Buddhist Qi immediately reacted, but as the circulation of the Maitreya Insect Buddha Sutra accelerated, the Buddhist Qi settled down again.
The transformation of the Giant Corpse Buddha's spine would take some time. By the time the worm root completed parasitism, the Maitreya Insect Buddha Sutra would likely reach the Golden Core stage.
Ren Qing let out a long sigh. One cannot have both fish and bear's paw.
The stronger the Giant Corpse Buddha became, the faster it would travel, leaving the Restraint Officers' Hall with less idle time. They had to hurry.
When Ren Qing returned to the stomach, the atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
The scene of torrential corpse rain was still vivid. Whether it was the Heart-Burning Method boiling the stomach or the Buddhist Nether Yuan dispersing corpse water, Ren Qing's methods far exceeded their imagination.
Ren Qing ignored their gazes and assigned the artifact transformation tasks.
Before stepping into the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, advancing to No-Birth Immortal was unlikely, but completing the aberration of the Giant Corpse Buddha's five viscera should not be a problem.
The Restraint Officers' Hall sprang into action, cultivators moving in groups to various locations.
The remaining spleen, lungs, and kidneys were soon fully transformed into artifacts and fused with disease seeds.
To enhance the Giant Corpse Buddha's survivability, Ren Qing chose relatively conservative Restraint Officer methods, as survival was the top priority.
The spleen is closely related to absorption, belongs to earth among the Five Elements, is the utmost yin within yin, corresponds with late summer qi, and flourishes in all seasons.
The chosen Restraint Officer method was "Hundred Intake Method," with the disease seed "lymph." Lymph disease seeds would cause spleen enlargement.
[Hundred Intake Method]
[Inscribed on the spleen of the exotic beast Taotie, obtained by Meat and Wine Taoist. Cultivation requires swallowing stubborn stones to stimulate stomach acid until they are fully absorbed.]
The Hundred Intake Method was well-suited for the Giant Stomach of the Taotie Method.
The Giant Stomach was like the Purple Gold Gourd of the Silver Horn King, capable of digesting metal into pus within moments.
Ren Qing chose the leakless path of the Hundred Intake Method, forming a layer of flesh wall outside the stomach and intestines to protect them.
For the kidneys, the method was "Water Storage Method," with the disease seed "blood poison." Blood poison accumulates toxicity within the body to assist techniques.
[Water Storage Method]
[Created by Daoist Water Essence. Cultivation requires applying a medicinal primer over the entire body to block pores, storing water for ten days.]
After mastering the Water Storage Method, the Giant Corpse Buddha swam faster. Even when encountering scattered water corpses, they could not catch up.
The kidneys also became containers for storing water.
When inhaling and exhaling, corpse water flowed into the kidneys and could be used at any time against enemies.
The Restraint Officers' Hall gained a new task: adding potent toxins into the kidney water pools to enhance the Water Storage Method's power.
For the lungs, under Bai Guniang's suggestion, her primary technique was chosen.
The disease seed was "pneumoconiosis," which increased the lungs' efficiency in absorbing metallic dust and enhanced the power of Lung-Born Sword.
[Lung-Born Sword]
[Created by Old Man Sword Maniac. Cultivation requires inserting a three-foot sword into the lungs and surviving five days.]
The Lung-Born Sword would give birth to the Giant Corpse Buddha's natal flying sword, though details required time.
After all five viscera completed aberration, they seemed to come alive, wriggling in sync with the Giant Corpse Buddha's breathing.
The strength it had in life gradually returned.
Its method of movement changed from swimming to walking on the lake surface, each step causing tremendous disturbance.
With the combination of insect eyes and heavy pupil, its vision far surpassed what it had underwater.
After continuing north for several months,
In the distance of the corpse lake, a desolate island appeared. Its surface was barren, with bone-like rocks devoid of any vitality.
Usually, when corpses decay to the end, only bones remain—so-called "dry remains," indicating the endpoint.