The gastrointestinal area fell into deathly silence, the cultivators finding their own corpse transformation utterly unbelievable.
They watched helplessly as patches of corpse spots appeared on their skin; a scratch with their fingernails immediately produced long, narrow wounds, emitting a foul stench of rot.
The corpse transformation did not only target flesh, even their internal organs and bones began to decay.
Not a single cultivator could remain indifferent to such a bizarre situation; one after another, they tried various methods to resolve the problem.
More extreme cultivators couldn't help but mutilate themselves, continuously cutting away their rotting flesh with sharp tools, yet instead caused the corpse transformation to worsen further.
More composed cultivators sat cross-legged and cultivated their techniques, attempting to suppress the corpse transformation with their strange objects.
However, they quickly discovered that the corpse transformation was like aberration, seemingly irreversible.
Some cultivators fled in panic, escaping the stomach and intestines, only to find that the corpse transformation continued even within the stomach world, merely slowing slightly.
What shocked them most was that the living beings in the stomach world had clearly not come into contact with the outside world, yet their bodies were also continuously undergoing corpse transformation.
As if struck by an inexplicable curse, they could only watch in despair as they sank into it.
In just a short moment, quite a number of cultivators from the Restraint Officers' Hall fell into madness, even their body and soul beginning to aberrate and lose control.
Only the Cishi people could barely maintain their state of mind, sitting cross-legged in place and chanting scriptures.
However, as their throats gradually rotted, the sounds they produced became increasingly hoarse and twisted, causing one's scalp to tingle.
Zhenren Yuhua opened his mouth and spat out several puppet maggots, but before they could even leave his body, they had already lost all vitality.
The remaining Yin Difference realm cultivators attempted to use techniques or deploy magical artifacts to block the aura from the outside world, but to no avail.
Seeing some Restraint Officers' eyes turning red, Li Tiangang knew that if he didn't stop it, chaos would inevitably erupt, and immediately roared loudly:
"Quiet down, all of you!"
They turned their heads and noticed that Li Tiangang showed not the slightest sign of corpse transformation, at most, his skin looked somewhat pale, still appearing as a living person.
"We should currently be inside a forbidden zone, which is why we're affected by its rules. The corpse transformation is only a surface manifestation for the body and soul."
"Moreover, there is a solution."
Li Tiangang spoke with absolute certainty, though in truth his heart was also filled with doubt.
Though he showed no corpse transformation externally, the reality was that through paper, he had transferred the traces of corpse transformation into the interior of his body.
Of course, most importantly, the corpse transformation had indeed not affected the body and soul, even if the heart stopped beating.
The cultivators soon noticed the unique aura of a forbidden zone around them.
Han Li frowned as he looked at Xiao San'er; the latter's eyes were as turbid as if long dead, yet the No-Eye Method showed no sign of weakening.
Several thousand people discussed among themselves, speculating which technique's strange object had formed this forbidden zone.
In their view, a forbidden zone was at most Yang God realm, and with Ren Qing overseeing the Restraint Officers' Hall, safely entering and exiting it would not be a problem.
The cultivators of Xiangxiang had dealt with forbidden zones for nearly half their lives, and some had even personally participated in sealing the Disaster-Eliminating Forbidden Zone and the Immortal-Eating Forbidden Zone.
They realized that their bodies' corpse transformation still had some time before completely turning into dry bones, and the rate of decay was gradually slowing.
"It should be a unique rule of the forbidden zone; it won't lead to death."
Miss Bai nodded as she spoke. Aside from the corpse transformation of her own flesh, even her natal flying sword showed signs of decay.
They chatted intermittently, silently waiting for Ren Qing's arrival.
Before long, the sound of water waves striking rock rang out.
The ghost ship burst out of the pond, liquefied Nether Yuan splashing outward. Ren Qing landed in the empty stomach, and in a few flashes arrived at the temporary camp.
Ren Qing gave the cultivators a reassurance.
"It is indeed due to the forbidden zone, which is why your bodies have turned into corpses, but it will not lead to death."
He hurried to the stomach, his aura completely unrestrained, immediately displaying the terrifying pressure of the Yang God realm.
The dream flower double pupils on Ren Qing's forehead opened, using them to examine the crowd.
He saw that the vitality within the cultivators' bodies was gradually dissipating, yet at the same time there was not the slightest intent of death, existing at the boundary between life and death.
Living beings seemed to have become corpses that would not die, even as their bodies continued to decay.
Ren Qing secretly speculated that in Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, "death" had likely been defined as another rule, leading to this situation.
Ghost shadow spread out, and upon contacting Xiao San'er, the information flow surged.
[Zhou Zuosan]
[Age: thirty-seven]
[Lifespan: none]
[Technique: No-Eye Method (Twin Birth Demonic Lord), Cloud-Probing Hand (Omnipotent Dexterous Hand), The Taotie Method (Prison Within the Abdomen)]
Ren Qing couldn't help narrowing his eyes, his breathing becoming rapid. Could it be that corpse transformation counted as a form of immortality in a certain sense?
He checked several more people in succession and discovered that aside from himself, all cultivators who underwent corpse transformation had their lifespan changed to "none".
Ren Qing forcibly suppressed the urge to investigate further, then spoke:
"Corpse transformation is not irreversible, there's no need to panic too much."
Under the gaze of thousands, a faint white light radiated from Ren Qing's body, giving the cultivators the illusion of a spring breeze bathing them.
Rebirth Technique was activated; the stomach world surged with dense vitality, forming a continuous drizzle in midair that fell into the temporary camp.
They felt warmth flow through their entire bodies, and the traces of corpse transformation immediately vanished without a trace.
In just a moment, their fresh internal organs resumed function, taste and smell returned simultaneously, with no visible drawbacks from the corpse transformation.
In Ren Qing's information flow display, the cultivators' lifespans returned once more to their original dozens or hundreds of years, instead of the bizarre "none".
A large amount of vitality from the Yellow Springs of Rebirth was extracted into the outside world, inevitably spilling out an equivalent death intent, which was ultimately absorbed by the disease tree in the Mud Pellet Palace.
Seeing that Ren Qing could indeed resist the erosion of corpse transformation, Li Tiangang relaxed.
Even when Rebirth Technique was no longer maintained, the corpse transformation still inevitably reappeared, but at least cultivators would not inexplicably turn into dry bones.
Ren Qing handed the mess over to Li Tiangang, who stepped in to soothe the cultivators.
He had to figure out corpse transformation; otherwise, once the disease tree's digestion of death intent reached saturation, not to mention the over one hundred thousand Cishi people in the stomach world, even the several thousand cultivators in the intestines would be in danger.
Before confirming the harm, Ren Qing would cast Rebirth Technique at intervals to ensure the corpse transformation would not reach its final stage.
At the same time, he instructed the artifact refiners of the Restraint Officers' Hall to put aside their current tasks and focus their efforts on the artifactization of the bladder, striving to complete it as soon as possible.
Ren Qing planned to use the giant corpse Buddha's bladder as the aberrated organ for Rebirth Technique.
If corpse transformation truly proved harmful, only if the giant corpse Buddha also mastered Rebirth Technique would there be enough vitality to sustain tens of thousands of people.
Rebirth Technique did not act on the bladder itself; it merely required an internal organ as a container.
The five viscera, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, had already been arranged, and among the six bowels, triple burner, bladder, large intestine, small intestine, gallbladder, and stomach, most had already completed aberration.
After thinking it over, Ren Qing concluded that the bladder was indeed the most suitable organ to contain Rebirth Technique.
The only regret was the lack of high-realm strange objects; the Martial Practitioner realm and Half-Corpse realm strange objects had been obtained during the siege of the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Among the Half-Corpse realm strange objects were Reincarnator and Reborn One; he naturally chose the latter.
[Rebirth Technique]
[Created by Longevity Daoist Lord, requires one month of fasting, two months without sleep, three months contemplating death, four months passing into rebirth; only when the physical body decays can it be successfully cultivated.]
Ren Qing then gradually extracted the vitality within his body, his exterior correspondingly approaching that of a corpse, even more exaggerated than ordinary cultivators.
When cultivators were affected by Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, corpse transformation usually had a process.
Like going from Rotten Blood Plain to Corpse-Odor Hills and then to the corpse lake, what they experienced was the natural decay process from fresh corpse to skeletal remains.
As for Ren Qing, the moment half his vitality was extracted, he instantly withered into dryness.
His appearance resembled a mummy sealed inside a pyramid for thousands of years, with not the slightest trace of human characteristics, appearing extremely terrifying.
Cultivators passing by Ren Qing could not help but swallow nervously, truly frightened by him.
Ren Qing paid no attention to others' reactions, focusing entirely on his own information flow.
Lifespan: none
He couldn't help swallowing, the urge surging within him to directly elevate the technique to Earth Immortal, but he forcibly restrained himself.
Ren Qing had an instinctive premonition that if he did so, it would very likely cause his body's corpse transformation to spiral out of control, thereby putting his life in danger.
After all, his so-called "immortality" now merely relied on Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, surely concealing unspeakable drawbacks.
Ren Qing continued extracting vitality while observing the cultivators after corpse transformation.
When vitality decreased to about ten to twenty percent, combined with the dual influence of Dead Man's Forbidden Zone and the Tai Sui Scripture, he himself became strange.
Ren Qing felt an irresistible drowsiness from deep within; his internal organs had all fallen into deathly stillness, even the strange objects no longer moved.
This state was extremely peculiar.
Even though all the organs in his body had already died, Ren Qing was still alive, and because of this, had discarded many of the flaws of mortals.
Such as hunger, aging, disease...
Ren Qing's expression turned absurd, could it be that becoming an immortal was actually like this?
He shook his head.
No matter what, this was not the path to immortality he sought, and he did not believe that merely the "Dead Man's Sutra" could achieve transcendence.
Before his consciousness fell asleep, Ren Qing gradually increased the vitality he maintained.
He discovered that maintaining around thirty percent was an acceptable state, consuming little vitality while not leading to irreversible consequences.
Ren Qing referred to the state when drowsiness was at its peak as "corpse state".
At his rate of vitality consumption, reaching corpse state required only a few breaths, whereas ordinary cultivators would need at least around ten days.
By casting Rebirth Technique once every nine days, Ren Qing could sustain the cultivators' consumption.
As for the stomach world, it lasted longer, roughly about a month.
Ren Qing felt somewhat helpless; the vitality and death intent within the Yellow Springs of Rebirth were not created from nothing, if this continued long-term, they would inevitably be exhausted.
He could only hasten the completion of the bladder's artifactization, personally overseeing the inscription of Moon Patterns.
Ren Qing also instructed the cultivators in the Longevity Forbidden Zone to pay closer attention to the Longevity Seeds; he did not mind obtaining strange objects through hunting.
Unfortunately, Longevity Seeds containing Rebirth Technique strange objects were extremely rare; it could only depend on luck.
Three days later, the bladder finally turned black and white, containing a pool of distinctly layered spring water that formed a Taiji shape.
Then, under Ren Qing's tireless nurturing, it consumed a large amount of resources to advance to Half-Corpse realm, the pool expanding twenty to thirty times.
Supplying the cultivators within the intestines should be barely sufficient.