After returning to the inner layer world of Jingzhou, the first thing Ren Qing noticed was that his body no longer grew with the passage of time.
After all, the diseased tree had completely fused with him, while the Strange Objects of the remaining two Yang God Realm Ascension Methods were both located outside his body.
At the same time, the Ghost Shadow was having great difficulty moving through the inner layer world. Its true physical size was expanding faster and faster, and it could ascend at any moment.
Ren Qing occasionally put Wu Deceit into the Stomach World, ensuring that its size would not exceed the limit. After all, the Heavenly Demon Tribulation was still very important, and he had to use it to conceal the aura of the techniques within his body.
He could not help narrowing his eyes. Since he could not find a better way to enter the deeper layer, perhaps he should first use the Ghost Shadow to probe it.
Ren Qing placed part of the Ghost Shadow in the Stomach World and allowed the rest to continue growing unchecked.
Meanwhile, the various factions turned their attention to the Sarira of the Merit Monks.
Unfortunately, not long after the Merit Monks died, the Sarira shattered into ashes, making it completely impossible to detect any specific information.
Ren Qing could vaguely sense that because of the deeper layer world, the various factions had been unable to find a breakthrough point, and their states of mind were becoming increasingly restless.
They knew very well that if they could not enter the deeper layer world, then once the person behind the scenes completed their objective, the opportunity in Jingzhou would amount to nothing.
Some of the Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivators had even shifted their attention to the small Heavenly Court.
On the surface, they continued to cooperate with one another, but in reality, each had their own thoughts.
Ren Qing patiently secluded himself to stabilize Zhili Technique, without informing everyone of his discovery.
After all, in the eyes of the various factions, Jingzhou was connected in some way to the ancient Heavenly Court.
The method of entering the deeper layer could be discovered by any cultivator, but it absolutely could not be Ren Qing himself. Otherwise, it would inevitably arouse suspicion about his intentions.
Fortunately, although the abnormalities produced by the Gu were not obvious, with the observational abilities of Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivators, they should be able to notice them before long.
During this period, Ren Qing could only play dumb while silently preparing for matters concerning the deeper layer world.
Several peaceful months passed in Jingzhou.
After around thirty days, the Ghost Shadow could no longer suppress the agitation within its body and traveled from the inner layer world into the deeper layer world.
However, the deeper layer world was affected by the rules of the Immortal Position, and the connection between Ren Qing and the Ghost Shadow was almost completely severed, making it difficult to sense what was happening.
At least, it could be confirmed that the Ghost Shadow had not encountered any danger in the deeper layer world and had remained safe.
Just as Ren Qing was turning his attention toward the deeper layer world, the surface layer world was not peaceful either.
Several more outside factions entered Jingzhou. They stationed themselves in the towns and repeated the previous competition for population.
All of the newcomers were Daoist factions. They most likely originated from the information Ren Qing had spread through Matchmaking Immortal back then, causing interested parties to discover the peculiarities of Jingzhou.
There was no need to worry about Buddhist factions interfering. Wu Zhi was being firmly imprisoned in the Little Leiyin Temple, so it was certainly impossible for him to spread information about Jingzhou.
Ren Qing consumed an enormous amount of wine ore to keep Wu Zhi's life hanging on, and he also had the False Tathagata perform uninterrupted brainwashing for twelve hours every day, so Wu Zhi would not die easily.
As Zhili Technique stabilized, Ren Qing instead placed most of his attention on the Fleshly Tathagata, only occasionally inspecting the small Heavenly Court for flaws.
He suspected that the deeper layer world might be connected to Buddhism.
And among Ren Qing's methods, the only one related to Buddhism was the Fleshly Tathagata. The latter had already reached the perfection of the Yin Difference Realm long ago, so it should take only a few days to break through to the Yang God Realm.
Thinking of this, Ren Qing's expression became complicated.
After the Fleshly Tathagata had absorbed and been satiated by Buddhist aura twice, its changes were indeed rather significant. Even Ren Qing himself would feel a chill of fear when he saw its appearance.
Its size had now reached several hundred meters. One could hear the sound of chanting scriptures, but if one approached, one would discover that it was actually the howling and screaming of souls.
To house the Fleshly Tathagata, Ren Qing had even had Little Third refine a Buddhist temple, whose purpose was to prevent the Buddhist aura from suddenly leaking out.
This was to prevent the Fleshly Tathagata from affecting various parts of the Heavenly Palace if it went berserk.
The Fleshly Tathagata was becoming increasingly indescribable. Even though Buddhism itself was a place that concealed filth and corruption, at least the image of the Buddha was still quite intimidating.
Ren Qing vaguely felt that after the Fleshly Tathagata broke through to the Yang God Realm, some inexplicable change might occur, so he had to be especially careful.
He routinely meditated on his techniques for half a day, then projected his consciousness into the Western Buddhist Realm.
Murmuring voices echoed in his ears.
The content was mixed with various Buddhist scriptures, but their meanings had been somewhat distorted.
The scriptures used by the False Tathagata to transmit the Dharma actually all originated from the Fleshly Tathagata, which was why those Buddhist disciples could not detect any flaws.
The moment Ren Qing stepped into the Western Buddhist Realm, dense Buddhist aura rushed toward him.
Immediately afterward, a strange and inexplicable mountain of flesh entered his field of vision. He could even see the faces of Sitting-Deer Arhat and Laughing Lion Arhat, while Joy Arhat was almost fully formed, making the sight horrifying.
No Buddhist cultivator who saw the Fleshly Tathagata's appearance would acknowledge that the latter was a Buddha.
But in reality, the dense Buddhist aura radiating from the Fleshly Tathagata was indeed orthodox Buddhist aura, and it possessed at least the Fruit Position of an Arhat.
Just as the Fleshly Tathagata was breaking through, Ren Qing closed his eyes and secretly established communication.
Because the Fleshly Tathagata had been formed through bacterial souls, Ren Qing had an inseparable connection with it, like two souls with one primary and one secondary.
"Hungry... hungry..."
The Fleshly Tathagata gnashed its teeth. Ren Qing could hear the specific meaning, but the moment the sound left its body and traveled three meters, it autonomously transformed into Buddhist scriptures.
The three Arhat faces on the surface of the mountain of flesh twisted, as appetite gradually transformed into greed and an indescribable desire for Buddhist aura emerged.
With a thought from Ren Qing, more than a dozen Buddhist Sect Dream Flowers simultaneously released the Buddhist aura of Joy Arhat.
The Fleshly Tathagata ravenously devoured the Buddhist aura, its three mouths constantly making swallowing motions.
Just before Ren Qing's stored Joy Arhat Buddhist aura was completely exhausted, the Fleshly Tathagata was finally satiated, and its expression returned to calm.
The Yin Difference Realm aura radiating from the Fleshly Tathagata became unstable as it began transforming toward the Yang God Realm, while its entire body of flesh boiled like water in a pot.
Ren Qing's expression became somewhat ugly because he suddenly noticed that the Fleshly Tathagata had, to a certain extent, slipped beyond his control.
It was most likely because the Buddhist aura itself originally contained a large number of souls. Even after Ren Qing had completely stripped them away, memories still remained.
Ren Qing was unable to remove the memories with absolute precision, and eventually, small accumulations became something substantial.
Stimulated by these memories, the Fleshly Tathagata suddenly developed a faint trace of consciousness, filled with the most primitive desires.
Ren Qing hurriedly cast Zhili Technique and directly erased the Fleshly Tathagata's consciousness.
He frowned. If the Fleshly Tathagata were to devour the Buddhist aura of the Bodhisattva Fruit Position, then based on the memories contained within Bodhisattva Buddhist aura, the Fleshly Tathagata would probably develop intelligence.
Ren Qing hesitated for several breaths before separating the Celestial Office fused into the Fengdu Corpse Emperor, preparing to use it to strengthen his control over the Fleshly Tathagata.
He was considering what kind of Heavenly Dao rules the Celestial Office should contain when the Fleshly Tathagata successfully advanced to the Yang God Realm.
"Amitabha Buddha."
The solemn and dignified self-murmur echoed throughout the Stomach World, without the slightest trace of madness.
The living beings of the Three Realms could not help becoming somewhat panicked. They had not expected a Buddhist presence to suddenly appear in Ren Qing's Stomach World.
Ren Qing's Spirit Division pacified the cultivators of Restraint Officers' Hall while his gaze examined the Fleshly Tathagata.
The Fleshly Tathagata's body had already surpassed a thousand meters. Its upper half was a strange mountain formed from piles of flesh, while exposed blood vessels resembled vegetation and continuously writhed.
The bottom was irregular in shape, but on the stone walls on all four sides, three lifelike Arhat reliefs could be seen carved into them.
The reliefs were clearly formed from the Arhat Buddhist aura that had been devoured by the Fleshly Tathagata.
Whenever the Fleshly Tathagata wanted to move, the reliefs would gradually separate from the mountain body and transform into ancient bronze statues that supported the mountain and slowly moved it forward.
It was clearly an indescribably bizarre mountain of flesh, yet it revealed a strange sense of holiness.
Ren Qing's first reaction was the Spirit Mountain from Journey to the West.
It was said that Shakyamuni cultivated in Spirit Mountain, so the Western Buddhist Realm was also referred to as the Western Spirit Mountain, and the destination of the journey to obtain the scriptures was Spirit Mountain.
The Fleshly Tathagata had transformed into Spirit Mountain. Could it be that it intended to use itself as a vessel and devour thousands of Buddhas?
Ren Qing did not stop simply because he had successfully erased the Fleshly Tathagata's consciousness.
He planned out his sole Celestial Office. After considering for a long time, he selected the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul from the diseased tree, then had the other bacterial souls sacrifice their cultivation to nourish the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul.
Because it had suffered from fewer diseases, the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul had only reached the level of the Ghost Envoy Realm.
However, as the other bacterial souls declined while it grew, the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul broke through to the Yang God Realm, and it showed no intention of stopping to limit the losses.
Ren Qing felt somewhat pained as he watched one bacterial soul after another fall below the Yang God Realm.
It was evident that using this method to stimulate the bacterial souls truly caused a loss of a thousand to gain one. If the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul had not been the most suitable for the Fleshly Tathagata, he would not have wanted to make such sacrifices.
Half a day later, the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul finally reached the Heavenly Aberration Realm.
After advancing to the Heavenly Aberration Realm, the bacterial soul changed from a semitransparent state that was difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion into a physical form invisible to the naked eye.
Its appearance was exactly the same as Ren Qing's, and it radiated the unique aura of Zhili Technique.
After the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul fused with the Celestial Office, it transformed into an exquisitely carved seal, which possessed an indescribable attraction for the Fleshly Tathagata.
Celestial Office: Tathagata Buddha Ancestor
The Fleshly Tathagata impatiently absorbed the Celestial Office, and the Buddhist aura radiating from its entire body suddenly converged.
Ren Qing's pupils contracted slightly. Through various methods, he was already able to control the Fleshly Tathagata, and he could even transfer his Heavenly Dao transformation to it.
To put it simply, the Fleshly Tathagata had become Ren Qing's avatar and would never again give birth to consciousness.
Ren Qing transferred his Heavenly Dao transformation into the Fleshly Tathagata, estimating that it would last only around five days.
The Fleshly Tathagata immediately began emitting fine Karmic Fire. Its flesh and skin sizzled while an unpleasant stench spread through the air.
The three Arhat statues attempted to swallow the Karmic Fire into their stomachs, but after swallowing only a few strands of flame, they were burned by the Karmic Fire and wailed incessantly.
Ren Qing could sense that the Fleshly Tathagata was an external Heavenly Dao transformation processing artifact that could help him heal the Heavenly Dao Crack more quickly.
However, the Fleshly Tathagata had a limit to how much Heavenly Dao transformation it could handle.
If that limit were exceeded, the Fleshly Tathagata might become like Dipankara Buddha, or even cause the Karmic Fire to burn back into Ren Qing's body and soul.
To increase the Fleshly Tathagata's speed of digesting the Karmic Fire, it would have to continue devouring Buddhist aura, allowing Spirit Mountain to produce more Buddha statues.
Ren Qing turned his gaze toward Wu Zhi. The Bodhisattva Fruit Position's effects were certainly far beyond those of the Arhat Fruit Position.
Just as he was preparing to absorb the Buddhist aura of Infinite-Meaning Bodhisattva, his main body suddenly heard deafening laughter echoing through the inner layer world.
"I've finally found a way to enter the deeper layer of Jingzhou, hahahahaha."
"Let's go!!!"