After refining the Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragon, Ren Qing immediately began spreading split personality disorder.
The five Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragons took advantage of the night to shuttle through Heaven Above Heaven, then entered the outskirts of the town, effortlessly burrowing into the monks' bodies.
Ren Qing did not continue increasing the number of Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragons, after all he needed to divide his mind to control them and also apply Six Illness Method as assistance.
No matter how many Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragons there were, they had to be based on the premise that he could handle them.
Moreover, the four newly refined Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragons were all using soul butterfly projections as a medium for the Six Illness Method, so the efficiency was naturally much lower.
Under the moonlight, the wooden window seemed as if slightly blown open by a breeze.
The monks, just asleep in the previous moment, were awakened by pain, trembling uncontrollably, their foreheads covered in beads of sweat.
They even developed the illusion of a ghost pressing on the bed, because no matter how they struggled, not even their pinky fingers could move.
Once the Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragon crawled into the brain, it severed the nerves connecting to the body, temporarily reducing them to vegetative states.
Black Tiger's memories surged into their brains, and in front of the monks' eyes appeared countless blood-red sutras, filled with distortions of Buddhist law.
"Wuu wuu wuu..."
As the Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragon completely seized control of the monks' brains, split personality disorder was born, and the fourth consciousness was thus generated.
The fear in the monks' eyes dissipated, soon leaving only confusion, as if they had forgotten something, but no matter what, they could not recall it.
After a moment, they fell into a deep sleep again.
Once the Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragon completed its target, it crawled out of the mouth and disappeared along the corner.
Ren Qing's brows furrowed slightly, because he found that the speed of spreading split personality disorder was far below expectations. The main reason was that casting the Six Illness Method required meticulous control.
He had cast the Six Illness Method hundreds of times consecutively, which already consumed immense energy, not to mention he had to prevent the aura from leaking to avoid detection by Buddhist qi.
Ren Qing was busy the entire night.
By the time the first sunlight rose, he had only managed to infect slightly over a hundred monks.
"This won't do, it's impossible to stay in Cishi for several years."
Ren Qing shook his head wearily; the plan was not proceeding as smoothly as expected. To gather ten thousand monks, who knew how long it would take.
"Fairy Wood Strange Fate"
He was not in a hurry to pull them into the South Mountain small world. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of monks in Heaven Above Heaven. If he really started extending lifespan, he could steal a few thousand or tens of thousands of years without spending too much time.
Ren Qing understood one principle well: inactive, nothing; once active, thunderous force.
If he simultaneously extended lifespan and increased the number of infected monks, the variables would be too great, even likely resulting in a loss greater than the gain.
Even though the South Mountain small world could currently accommodate only a thousand people, according to the growth rate of the artifact spirit, it would soon reach the Ghost Envoy realm.
By then, the area of the South Mountain small world would at least surge tenfold. Relying solely on Broken Moon Meteor pseudo dragons for spreading would take an indeterminable amount of time.
Ren Qing squinted, his gaze falling on the dream seeds.
First he would use nightmare aura to complete the metamorphosis of the dream artifact, which would certainly improve the efficiency of spreading split personality disorder.
Unconsciously, the day passed, and the town was once again shrouded in night, with hundreds of thousands of monks reciting sutras involuntarily.
Until the waning moon hung high in the sky, evening prayers gradually concluded.
Jinguang Temple returned to silence, only a few novices patrolled around the temple, occasionally striking the bronze gong in their hands.
It was not primarily to prevent intruders, but mainly to avoid fires igniting the temple.
When two novices arrived at the chamber of Abbot No-Thought, they looked at each other, expressions filled with a mixture of shock and doubt.
Inside the room came cries of pain; by the sound, it was No-Thought himself.
The novices could not help but speak, "Junior Brother Wu-Wu, what should we do?"
Wu-Wu paused for a moment, then softly replied, "Recently, the abbot's mind has been restless. Perhaps it is the sign of impending ascension?"
"Very possible."
Wu-Rang's face showed envy. For monks in Heaven Above Heaven, ascension and parinirvana were the pursuit of their entire lives.
Ascension represented achieving the true fruit and transcending to become Buddha.
Hence, it was evident that the Buddhist qi of Great Mercy Maitreya had extinguished their seven emotions and six desires, while infinitely amplifying the idea of Buddhahood.
"If the abbot is about to ascend, we should still verify the situation."
The two novices pushed open the door, lanterns in hand, walking toward the source of the sound, their expressions still fairly relaxed.
But when they saw No-Thought, they were instantly frightened, legs going weak.
Although No-Thought's eyes were tightly closed, his expression was extremely ferocious and terrifying. His clothes were soaked with sweat, as if enduring constant pain.
"Abbot..."
Wu-Rang instinctively stepped forward, accidentally striking the gong against the wall, producing a crisp, loud sound.
The abbot's bed immediately shifted. No-Thought opened bloodshot eyes, inexplicably staring at the two stunned novices.
He remained silent for several breaths, the redness in his eyes gradually fading: "What is it?"
The two novices stammered as they recounted what they had seen. No-Thought merely pinched his temples and listened, then after a moment waved them away.
The novices looked at each other in bewilderment and left the chamber. Inside, No-Thought lay down again, and soon groans of pain were heard once more.
They had just begun to feel doubt, but due to the Buddhist qi, their minds were soon filled with faith in Great Mercy Maitreya.
Little did they know, the abbot's consciousness was no longer in his body. He had already traversed dimensions, residing in a narrow small world.
Ren Qing observed the South Mountain small world with a complicated expression.
The situation inside was extremely strange, almost chaotic like a gathering of demons.
Monks sat cross-legged on meditation cushions, reciting sutras, while their nightmares were all of rape and pillage, not even related to Black Tiger's experiences.
Ren Qing had originally intended to use the fourth consciousness of a hundred monks to nourish the dream seeds with the fearful aura from nightmares.
Unexpectedly, the fourth consciousness was even more sinister than imagined.
No matter how desireless and unambitious the monks usually were, the fourth consciousness was filled with instinctual greed, easily creating terror.
Ren Qing rightly called the fourth consciousness "malicious intent."
On one hand, the malicious intent held the most profound reverence for Great Mercy Maitreya, on the other hand, it was filled with all kinds of feral and carnivorous desires.
Ren Qing clearly felt that the malicious intent was thriving in the South Mountain small world, even beginning to overshadow the main consciousness.
In this short period, the malicious intent of over a hundred monks had already begun to aberrate, like ascendant corpse Buddhas peeling off their skin.
Ultimately, all malicious intent without exception transformed into bloodied skinless monks, closing their eyes and enduring the pain brought by nightmares.
Some even seemed to enjoy it?
Even Ren Qing, the instigator, could not help but feel chills.
It seemed that the negative emotions generated by the monks' three consciousnesses were unconsciously devoured by the malicious intent, becoming even more terrifying.
The only fortunate thing was that the efficiency of obtaining nightmare aura was extremely high.
Previously, through punishing offending cultivators, the dream seeds and soul butterflies had already approached metamorphosis; now they directly broke through the bottleneck.
Under his observation, the three dream seeds gathered together, heading toward the stomach's Eternal Space Prison, soon entering it.
The dream seeds transformed into twisted light shadows, then flew toward the dream market, ultimately entering the Ghost Market and colliding with the soul butterfly's body.
The dream techniques were already linked; the two artifacts could be considered of the same origin.
Nourished by nightmare aura, the dream seeds and soul butterfly instinctively fused, producing artifacts more suitable for dreams.
Ren Qing saw that the goal was achieved, and the sky was beginning to brighten. He then canceled the nightmare applied to the malicious intent.
He also became more determined to first spread the split personality disorder.
The monks' appearances returned to normal, all seeming accomplished monks, no trace of the recent bloody strangeness.
Yet Ren Qing could still see in their eyes attachments to greed, anger, delusion, hatred, and desires as raw as beasts.
Honestly, even the most deranged cultivators would not display such behavior, likely caused by the Buddhist qi of Great Mercy Maitreya.
Being desireless and unambitious is, in a sense, an extreme.
So once the malicious intent was born, monks leapt from one extreme to another, plunging into almost obsessive human desires.
Ren Qing anxiously expelled the malicious intent from the South Mountain small world.
When the monks' consciousness returned to their bodies, there was still no change in Buddhist qi, showing that good and evil were indeed irrelevant.
After repeatedly confirming nothing was abnormal, Ren Qing turned his attention to the dream artifacts.
All dream markets had become more solid after the artifact metamorphosis and were subtly connected to the Avici Hell inside the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Unfortunately, it was still slightly incomplete.
Ren Qing discovered in a remote corner of the Ghost Market a suddenly appearing dazzlingly beautiful plant, unnoticed by surrounding cultivators.
The plant bore three butterfly flowers of different colors, with petals like vivid butterflies, wings opening and closing with time.
The pattern of one butterfly flower resembled flames burning; another resembled countless Buddhas in meditation; the last was covered with beast-head patterns.
When Ren Qing's soul touched the plant, a large amount of information immediately entered his mind.
The new dream artifact was named "Soul Butterfly," possessing characteristics of both the soul butterfly and dream seeds.
It should be noted that dream seeds have quantity limits, and while soul butterflies can project illusions, the projections are only one-tenth or one-twelfth of the original.
A fused soul butterfly was different.
Every so often, a soul butterfly could generate a new "dream flower." The dream flower was equivalent to a blank dream seed, which could construct dream markets or absorb alien aura to protect itself.
Ren Qing then used dream flowers to cast the Six Illness Method. Not only was the spell aura more concealed, but it could affect multiple targets.
Thus, the speed of spreading split personality disorder undoubtedly increased greatly.
Ren Qing's soul had just reached out to pluck three dream flowers when new flower cores grew out, soon to bloom.
He bitterly smiled and joked, "Once the number of dream flowers accumulates to a certain extent, turning into heavy children, wouldn't it be indistinguishable from the Hundred-Eyed One?"
Ren Qing toyed with the dream flowers, controlling Buddhist dream flowers to be deployed into the South Mountain small world.
The Buddhist dream flowers constructed dreamscapes that were both real and false, far more concealed than dream seeds. Even the generated food carried color, fragrance, and taste.
Everything was ready, only the east wind was missing.