After returning to the Inner Layer World of Jingzhou, the first thing Ren Qing noticed was that his body no longer continued to grow with the passage of time.
After all, the diseased tree had already 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 a difficult time moving through the Inner Layer World. Its true size was expanding faster and faster, and it could ascend at any moment.
Ren Qing would occasionally take Wu Deceit into the Stomach World to ensure 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.
His eyes narrowed slightly. Since he couldn't find a better way to reach the Deeper Layer World, perhaps he should first use the Ghost Shadow to probe it.
Ren Qing left part of the Ghost Shadow in the Stomach World and allowed the rest to continue growing.
The various factions, meanwhile, set their sights on the Sarira of the Merit Monks.
Unfortunately, not long after the Merit Monks died, the Sarira shattered into ashes, making it impossible to detect any specific information.
Ren Qing could vaguely sense that because of the Deeper Layer World, the various factions had grown anxious after failing to find a breakthrough.
They knew very well that if they couldn't reach the Deeper Layer World, then once the mastermind accomplished his 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 still remained united with one another, but in reality, each had their own thoughts.
Ren Qing patiently secluded himself to stabilize the 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 reaching the Deeper Layer World 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 insects were not obvious, with the observational abilities of Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators, it shouldn't take them long to notice.
During this period, Ren Qing could only play dumb and silently prepare for matters concerning the Deeper Layer World.
Several months passed peacefully in Jingzhou.
After about thirty days, the Ghost Shadow could no longer suppress the throbbing within its body and ascended from the Inner Layer World to the Deeper Layer World.
However, the Deeper Layer World was affected by the rules of the Immortal Positions, so the connection between Ren Qing and the Ghost Shadow was almost completely severed, making it difficult to sense what was happening.
At least he could be certain that the Ghost Shadow had not encountered any danger in the Deeper Layer World and had remained safe the entire time.
Just as Ren Qing was looking toward the Deeper Layer World, the Surface Layer World was also far from peaceful.
Several more outside factions entered Jingzhou. They stationed themselves in the towns and repeated the previous struggle over the population.
All of those who came were Daoist sect forces. They most likely originated from the fact that after Ren Qing had spread the news through Matchmaking Immortal back then, some interested parties had discovered the strangeness of Jingzhou.
There was no need to worry about Buddhist sect forces interfering. Wu Zhi was being firmly imprisoned in Little Thunderclap Temple, so it was certainly impossible for him to spread news about Jingzhou.
Ren Qing expended an enormous amount of wine ore to keep Wu Zhi alive, and he also continuously used the Fake Tathagata to brainwash him without interruption for twelve hours a day, so he wouldn't die easily.
As the Zhili Technique stabilized, Ren Qing instead focused most of his attention on the Fleshly Tathagata, only occasionally inspecting the Small Heavenly Court for omissions.
He suspected that the Deeper Layer World might somehow involve the Buddhist sect.
And among Ren Qing's methods, the only one related to the Buddhist sect was the Fleshly Tathagata. The latter had already reached the perfection of the Yin Difference realm long ago, so it should only take 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 Buddhist aura and become full twice, its changes were indeed rather drastic. 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 it, one would discover the screams of souls wailing in agony.
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 running amok and affecting all parts of the Heavenly Palace.
The Fleshly Tathagata had become increasingly indescribable. Although the Buddhist sect was originally a place that concealed filth and harbored evil, at least the image of a 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 more careful.
He routinely meditated on his techniques for half a day before sending 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 Fake Tathagata to impart the Dharma actually all came 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, a dense Buddhist aura rushed toward him.
Immediately afterward, an incomparably strange mountain of flesh entered his view. He could even see the faces of the Sitting-Deer Arhat and Laughing Lion Arhat, while the Joy Arhat was almost fully formed, making the sight horrifying.
No Buddhist cultivator who saw the appearance of the Fleshly Tathagata would acknowledge that the latter was a Buddha.
But in fact, the dense Buddhist aura emitted by the Fleshly Tathagata was indeed orthodox Buddhist aura, and it was at least at the Arhat Fruit Position.
Just as the Fleshly Tathagata was breaking through, Ren Qing closed his eyes and secretly communicated with it.
Because the Fleshly Tathagata had been condensed from bacterial souls, Ren Qing had an inseparable connection with it, like two souls, one primary and one secondary.
"Hungry... hungry..."
The Fleshly Tathagata ground its teeth. Ren Qing could hear the exact meaning, but once the voice left its body by three meters, it spontaneously transformed into scripture.
The three Arhat faces on the surface of the mountain of flesh twisted, as appetite gradually transformed into greed, producing an indescribable desire for Buddhist aura.
With a thought from Ren Qing, more than a dozen Buddhist Sect Dream Flowers simultaneously released the Buddhist aura of the Joy Arhat.
The Fleshly Tathagata devoured the Buddhist aura in great gulps, its three mouths continuously making swallowing motions.
Just before the Joy Arhat's Buddhist aura stored by Ren Qing was about to be exhausted, the Fleshly Tathagata finally became full, and its expression returned to calm.
The aura of the Yin Difference realm emitted by the Fleshly Tathagata became unstable as it transformed toward the Yang God realm, its entire body of flesh boiling like water.
Ren Qing's expression became somewhat ugly because he suddenly noticed that the Fleshly Tathagata had, to a certain extent, escaped his control.
This was most likely because the Buddhist aura itself originally contained a large number of souls. Even though Ren Qing had completely stripped them away, remnants of memories still remained.
Ren Qing was unable to remove those memories with meticulous precision, and in the end, small accumulations had become something substantial.
Stimulated by those memories, the Fleshly Tathagata suddenly developed a faint trace of consciousness, filled with the most primitive desires.
Ren Qing hurriedly cast the Zhili Technique and directly erased the consciousness of the Fleshly Tathagata.
He frowned. If the Fleshly Tathagata were to devour the Buddhist aura of a Bodhisattva Fruit Position, then judging by the memories contained within the Bodhisattva's Buddhist aura, the Fleshly Tathagata would probably develop intelligence.
Ren Qing hesitated for several breaths before separating the Immortal Divine Office fused into the Fengdu Corpse Emperor, preparing to use it to strengthen his control over the Fleshly Tathagata.
He was just considering what kind of Heavenly Dao rules the Immortal Divine Office should contain when the Fleshly Tathagata successfully advanced to the Yang God realm.
"Amitabha Buddha."
The solemn and dignified self-murmur resounded throughout the Stomach World, without the slightest hint of madness.
The living beings of the Three Realms inevitably became somewhat flustered. They had never expected that a Buddhist existence would suddenly appear in Ren Qing's Stomach World.
Ren Qing's Spirit Division reassured the cultivators of the Restraint Officers' Hall while he examined the Fleshly Tathagata.
The Fleshly Tathagata's body had already exceeded a thousand meters. Its upper half was a strange mountain formed from piles of flesh, while its exposed blood vessels resembled vegetation and continuously wriggled.
Its bottom was irregular in shape, but on the stone walls on all four sides, one could see lifelike reliefs carved with the forms of three Arhats.
The reliefs were clearly formed from the Arhat Buddhist aura devoured by the Fleshly Tathagata.
When 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 as it slowly moved.
It was clearly an indescribably strange mountain of flesh, yet it revealed an inexplicable holiness.
Ren Qing's first thought was of Mount Lingshan from Journey to the West.
It was said that Shakyamuni cultivated in Mount Lingshan, so the Western Buddhist Realm also came to be referred to as the Western Lingshan, and the destination of the pilgrimage to obtain the scriptures was Mount Lingshan.
The Fleshly Tathagata had transformed into Mount Lingshan. 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 consciousness of the Fleshly Tathagata.
He planned out the sole Immortal Divine 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 the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul had suffered from fewer illnesses, it was only at the level of the Ghost Envoy realm.
But soon, as the other bacterial souls waxed and waned, the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul broke through to the Yang God realm, and there was no intention of stopping the process in time.
Ren Qing felt somewhat pained as he watched one bacterial soul after another fall below the Yang God realm.
It was clear that this method of forcibly nurturing a bacterial soul truly came at the cost of sacrificing a thousand for one. If the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul had not been the most suitable for the Fleshly Tathagata, he would not have been willing to make such sacrifices.
Half a day later, the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul finally reached the Heavenly Aberration realm.
After the bacterial soul advanced to the Heavenly Aberration realm, it transformed from a semitransparent form that was difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion into a physical entity invisible to the naked eye.
Its appearance was exactly the same as Ren Qing's, and it emitted the unique aura of the Zhili Technique.
After the Compassionate Monk bacterial soul fused with the Immortal Divine Office, it transformed into an exquisitely carved seal, which possessed an indescribable allure to the Fleshly Tathagata.
Immortal Divine Office: Tathagata Buddha Patriarch
The Fleshly Tathagata impatiently absorbed the Immortal Divine Office, and the Buddhist aura radiating from its entire body suddenly withdrew.
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 clone and would never again give birth to consciousness.
Ren Qing transferred the Heavenly Dao transformation he had accumulated to the Fleshly Tathagata, estimating that it would take only about five days.
The Fleshly Tathagata immediately began emitting fine karmic flames. As its flesh and skin sizzled, an unpleasant stench spread through the air.
The three Arhat statues tried to swallow the karmic flames into their bellies, but after swallowing only a few wisps of flame, they were burned by the karmic flames and wailed incessantly.
Ren Qing could sense that the Fleshly Tathagata was an external Heavenly Dao transformation processing vessel that could help him heal the Heavenly Dao Crack more quickly.
However, there was a limit to how much Heavenly Dao transformation the Fleshly Tathagata could withstand.
If that limit were exceeded, the Fleshly Tathagata might become like the Dipankara Buddha, and could even cause the karmic flames to burn back into Ren Qing's body and soul.
To increase the Fleshly Tathagata's speed of digesting karmic flames, he would have to continue devouring Buddhist aura and allow Mount Lingshan to produce more Buddha statues.
Ren Qing turned his gaze toward Wu Zhi. The effect of the Bodhisattva Fruit Position was certainly far beyond that of an Arhat Fruit Position.
Just as he was preparing to begin absorbing the Buddhist aura of the Infinite-Meaning Bodhisattva, his main body suddenly heard thunderous laughter resounding through the Inner Layer World.
"I finally found a way to reach the Deeper Layer Jingzhou, hahahahaha!"
"Go!!!"