After learning that the target of Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva might involve Dead Man's Sutra, Ren Qing immediately fell into a dilemma of advance or retreat.
Continuing northward might not necessarily lead to clues about Dead Man's Sutra. It might be better to place the target on Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva instead.
Ren Qing hesitated for a moment, then simply took out a blank Dream Flower magical artifact and used it to absorb the shadow aura emitted by the ghost shadow.
The Dream Flower originally appeared in the shape of a butterfly, but under the stimulation of the ghost shadow its wings gradually hardened and lengthened, while its body became covered with an external insect carapace.
In a short time, the shadow Dream Flower actually transformed into a ferocious and terrifying black beetle, flapping its wings as it shuttled through the darkness.
At first glance, the appearance of the black beetle resembled a strange skull.
Ren Qing was slightly surprised, noticing that after the transformation the dream artifact seemed closer to flesh magical artifacts like Rabbit-Toad.
Only then did he notice that the flame Dream Flower within Eternal Space Prison had already taken the appearance of a moth and was lying upon magma absorbing heat.
Meanwhile the Buddhist Dream Flower contained too little foreign aura, which was why flesh-transformation had not occurred.
Ren Qing controlled the shadow Dream Flower to investigate the surrounding area.
He discovered that the shadow Dream Flower could silently merge into darkness, and the movement produced by its flight was minimal, making it difficult to detect with the naked eye.
Ren Qing temporarily moored the ghost ship along the rock wall, then controlled the shadow Dream Flower with his mind to return along the original route to Heaven Above Heaven.
He decided to secretly observe the movements of the giant corpse Buddha in order to determine whether it involved Dead Man's Sutra, and then make a decision.
At worst he would only lose one dream artifact, which could always be bred again.
At the same time Ren Qing issued a task to the cultivators within the stomach world, instructing them to prepare various supplies to be sent later to the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
This operation even alarmed Li Tiangang, though because he was busy stabilizing his cultivation he merely asked about the situation before continuing his closed-door cultivation.
Meanwhile Li Yaoyang and the others of the Yin Difference realm began refining materials to construct city walls.
During this time Ren Qing stood idly upon the deck, surveying the surroundings. The endless darkness showed not the slightest movement.
"If this ghost place were used for rest, it really feels terrifying."
Ren Qing truly had no better choice. He needed to maintain distance from Heaven Above Heaven, yet could not go too deep into Bottomless Pit. As for the surface, he had no idea what situation awaited there, so staying put was preferable.
The stomach world had just advanced to the Yang Spirit realm and still needed to establish contact with the Longevity Forbidden Zone. He could only grit his teeth and place his attention elsewhere.
As for the remaining more than two thousand years of lifespan, he planned to consider how to spend it after the stomach world established exchange with the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Ren Qing subconsciously wanted to dig a cave dwelling in the nearby rock walls.
However as soon as the ghost shadow touched the rock wall, it sensed that its hardness far exceeded the rock near Heaven Above Heaven. He could not accomplish it silently.
With no other option, Ren Qing could only suspend the ghost ship in midair, covering the hull with ghost shadow while continuously using the Disaster Dispelling Method to reduce its presence.
Even so, he still did not want to go to the seemingly safer surface.
Ren Qing now deeply understood one principle: to any power, mortals were indispensable resources.
Thus places suitable for human survival must certainly hide powerful existences.
From the surface Bottomless Pit appeared extremely dangerous, as it had remained unattended for years and might conceal unknown horrors.
But thinking carefully, at least Earth Immortals would not arrange layouts within Bottomless Pit. Such immortal Buddhas were busy competing for "mortals."
Ren Qing then chose to close his eyes in the cabin to rest, using his primary and secondary souls to communicate with the taboo realm within the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Within the stomach world the atmosphere was also heated. Upon learning they would soon contact their relatives and friends, the cultivators naturally did not slack in the slightest.
Before long, several days passed.
Because the taboo realm had already been partially refined by Ren Qing, the progress was fairly smooth.
However Ren Qing vaguely sensed that the Longevity Forbidden Zone seemed unstable, though he had been busy outside and had not paid attention for a long time.
Meanwhile the shadow Dream Flower finally arrived at Heaven Above Heaven, deliberately traveling across the surface during nighttime.
All the city walls and buildings had already disappeared, leaving only several hundred corpse Buddha peaks and the thousand-meter bronze Buddha statue standing at the center.
The statue was clearly formed from the giant corpse Buddha, with tens of thousands of kneeling monks beneath its feet.
Ren Qing immediately realized that these monks should be refugees who arrived later, now having become believers serving the giant corpse Buddha.
They ground Buddha bones into powder and evenly smeared it over the surface of the giant corpse Buddha, then used Buddha skin to patch the cracked flesh.
Overwhelming Buddhist qi surrounded the giant corpse Buddha, though only a small portion of it could merge into the giant corpse Buddha's body.
Ren Qing could see that the purpose of the Buddhist qi was to create a container capable of storing itself.
Although the giant corpse Buddha had once been Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva, the resurrected body could not absorb Buddhist qi as completely as the Buddha sons.
The current Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva had not died, and the fruit position could not be passed to a successor Buddha son.
Therefore the Buddhist qi used Buddha bones and Buddha skin to make the giant corpse Buddha more compatible with itself, allowing it to fully contain the vast amount of Buddhist qi.
Only then would the giant Buddha corpse probably formally leave Heaven Above Heaven.
Ren Qing felt that the Buddhist qi of Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva likely possessed intelligence, though its thinking method was completely different from ordinary people, considering only benefits and drawbacks.
That was why it allowed him to steal lifespan.
Unfortunately although the surviving monks had all been converted by the Buddhist qi, their lifespans had not surged dramatically. Otherwise he could have harvested another batch.
Ren Qing hid the shadow Dream Flower at the edge of Bottomless Pit, then focused all his attention on the taboo realm, continuously communicating with it in his mind.
When he could vaguely sense the Longevity Forbidden Zone, he immediately descended his primary soul consciousness into the Longevity Forbidden Zone. After only a few breaths of possession, a large amount of memories poured into his mind.
Ren Qing could not help being surprised.
The flow of time in the Longevity Forbidden Zone was slightly faster. Two or three years had already passed inside, and during that time his split soul had died more than a dozen times.
The split soul had not died at its peak state, and the body martial arts it mastered had not been cultivated to high realms, so the lifespan added to the main body was limited.
The trouble in the Longevity Forbidden Zone was the Longevity Seeds, which forced Xiangxiang and Wei'an to unite.
Originally Sanxiang City, Wei'an Town, Annan Town, and Heshan Town had blank areas separating them, but now they had already connected together.
This formed an oval surrounding the Longevity Tree at the center, while the outermost perimeter was a city wall more than ten meters high, where dense groups of martial artists and cultivators could be seen patrolling.
The surface of the city wall was covered in flesh and grime, clearly having experienced many battles.
Just as Ren Qing was momentarily distracted, a loud horn sounded from the wall. Numerous torches were thrown outside the city, instantly illuminating the outside.
Tens of thousands of monsters approached.
The monsters appeared to be stitched together from vines, barely retaining human shape, though dozens of hands and feet had already covered their bodies.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Longevity Seeds..."
According to the split soul's memories, the Longevity Forbidden Zone had not remained peaceful for long. After only half a year of recuperation, the Longevity Seeds launched their counterattack.
Longevity Seeds were manifestations of strange objects within the forbidden zone.
As a Yang Spirit realm forbidden zone, the attacking Longevity Seeds should at least have been strange objects transformed from the Ghost Envoy realm or above. Yet in reality they were all strange objects at the Martial Practitioner realm and Half-Corpse realm.
The number of Longevity Seeds was endless, and the siege against the towns had never stopped, with at most two or three hours of respite.
Additionally, the cultivators' Restraint Officer methods were restricted, causing the situation to rapidly deteriorate.
What left Ren Qing most helpless was that such Longevity Seeds were likely strange objects bred by Tree Immortal, providing extremely little lifespan and being very slow to devour.
Perhaps before the split soul could devour a few, the remaining strange objects had already been absorbed by the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
The city wall defended by the Restraint Officers' Hall was still manageable, but Wei'an Town struggled somewhat.
No matter how much support the Restraint Officers' Hall provided, it could not change the problem of Wei'an Town having few martial artists. Yet if body martial arts were to be fully popularized, the production of food could not keep up.
Thus many times Ren Qing, the strongest person of Wei'an Town, had to exchange injuries for injuries to ensure the wall was not breached.
Ren Qing's ears twitched. Even though the siege had just begun, Wei'an Town was already requesting help.
He sent the ghost shadow to assist.
He himself sat beneath the Longevity Tree, communicating with the taboo realm together with his main body, gradually forming a connection between the two Avici Hells.
The Dream Market trembled slightly.
Ren Qing not only pushed the main and secondary techniques of the stomach world to their limits, but also applied dream techniques to Avici Hell.
Even though he had already achieved the Yang Spirit realm, connecting two small worlds separated by tens of thousands of li was still extremely exhausting.
The cultivators in the stomach world had already received advance notice, but those in the Longevity Forbidden Zone had no idea.
Huang Ziwan, transformed into a purple giant, was spewing venom when he suddenly realized something and looked toward the Longevity Tree, slightly frowning.
He was not the only one to notice. Any cultivator who had previously traveled to and from Avici Hell could vaguely sense something strange.
Heavy breathing rose one after another.
Even the civilians of Xiangxiang began discussing among themselves, while the people of Wei'an Town alone showed extremely uncertain expressions.
At the open ground beside the Longevity Tree, faint light flickered.
Noisy sounds suddenly appeared, as if one were standing within a bustling marketplace.
The Xiangxiang cultivators fell silent for a moment before erupting into cheers like a tidal wave. Their eyes were filled with the former prosperous Restraint Officers' Hall.
Muyi was overjoyed. Previously Ren Qing had told her he had already found a method to communicate with the outside world, allowing supplies to arrive continuously.
She slapped both hands on the ground, and countless vines spread outward, quickly moving away the debris from the open ground.
Xiao Wu stood near the edge of the Longevity Tree. A familiar call seemed to echo in his ears as he stared blankly at the faintly appearing market before him.
The Dream Market erupted with seven-colored light, instantly turning the city into daylight.
When the daylight disappeared, a spacious ghost market stood upon the open ground. Numerous cultivators from the stomach world appeared as half-real, half-illusory shadows.
Their true bodies remained within the stomach world, only appearing in the Longevity Forbidden Zone through dreams. Only inanimate objects could be exchanged through the ghost market.
Ren Qing had already notified them in advance. Tons of grain were piled within the ghost market, along with several thousand jin of modified giant dolphin-pig meat.
Xiao San'er's eyes reddened. He immediately noticed Xiao Wu's figure, whose temples now faintly carried streaks of gray.
He subconsciously tried to leave the ghost market, but since he was only a projection he was blocked by an invisible wall.
Xiao Wu smiled and shook his head, taking the initiative to walk toward Xiao San'er.
Before the two could exchange more than a few words, Muyi had already urged the cultivators to transport supplies and use stronger materials to repair the city wall.
Xiangxiang's morale greatly increased, and the people of Wei'an learned that they had come from the upper world, causing the estrangement in their hearts to immediately vanish.