The gigantic corpse Buddha gradually advanced deeper into the Corpse-Odor Hills.
The surrounding corpses became fewer and fewer, but their size grew increasingly terrifying. Some even exceeded five to six hundred meters.
It was evident that no matter how powerful the corpses had been in life, they could not survive for long.
Fortunately, the gigantic corpse Buddha was protected by the Skin-Sense Disease Seed and the Hard-Bone Disease Seed, so the corrosion of the corpse qi did not affect its movement.
At present, the mutation of its skin had already spread to the chest, while the bones had progressed further, completing an additional pair of arms, with only the neck and head remaining.
A rustling sound came from not far away.
The gigantic corpse Buddha did not hesitate at all and stepped toward the source. Shortly after, a patch of dark green swamp appeared before it.
Bubbles rose from the thick swamp, like a pot of boiling water.
The gigantic corpse Buddha instinctively stopped, its movements as if facing a great enemy.
Because aside from the corpse river whose depth could not be seen clearly, there were also several giant beasts on the shore drinking the swamp water, their appearance extremely grotesque.
They barely retained a humanoid shape, with patches of fur missing here and there, and their limbs shriveled to varying degrees, though their muscles were more compact.
To survive in the Corpse-Odor Hills, the giant beasts had clearly adapted to the environment.
However, their intelligence had likely disappeared along with the corrosion of corpse qi. They had long forgotten their purpose of heading to the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone and instead chose to linger here.
"Dead people... dead people... dead people..."
They muttered indistinct words, drool uncontrollably flowing from the corners of their mouths. Calling them "corpse beasts" would be more appropriate.
Roar roar!!
"Living people... do not enter!!"
The corpse beasts let out low growls, staring fixedly at the uncorroded flesh of the gigantic corpse Buddha, their eyes filled with greedy hunger.
The gigantic corpse Buddha still stood in place, but bone armor had silently covered its body, though the neck and head were left exposed.
Only after one giant beast could no longer restrain itself and pounced at the gigantic corpse Buddha did the battle between the massive beings begin.
However, they were all living corpses. Their strength in life had long vanished like fleeting clouds.
The corpse beasts relied purely on their physical toughness to hold back the gigantic corpse Buddha, their claws scraping across the bone armor as they tried to devour its flesh.
Seeing this, the gigantic corpse Buddha swung its arms repeatedly, tearing the corpse beasts' flesh open.
However, this also exposed its greatest shortcoming, that it had no outward techniques. The liver tried several times to release the fluctuations of the Heart-Burning Method, but they were forcibly suppressed.
With the concentration of corpse qi here, as long as the flame's temperature was enough to ignite it, what awaited the gigantic corpse Buddha would be an unparalleled explosion.
It might be reduced to nothing but bones.
After being heavily injured, the corpse beasts would immediately run to swallow the swamp water, causing their injuries to heal at a visible rate.
Of course, it was not without cost. While drinking, the corpse beasts would also cough.
They spat out large amounts of fragmented corpses, showing that once the corpse water reached the stomach and intestines, it was devastating to the beings hiding inside.
Restraint Officers' Hall faced this situation with full vigilance.
All kinds of artifacts had been activated, and materials were used to repair damage to the stomach and intestines. Li Tiangang even wished he could personally join the battle.
One corpse beast pounced onto the back of the gigantic corpse Buddha from behind.
However, instead of satisfying its hunger, countless blood vessel-like tentacles suddenly emerged from its mouth, stabbing directly into the flesh of the gigantic corpse Buddha.
The tentacles injected thousands of living beings into the body of the gigantic corpse Buddha.
These beings were half-human, half-cat in appearance, but had heads growing all over their stomachs, seemingly able to avoid danger through a substitute-death-like method.
It was obvious they had secretly taken control of the corpse beast's body. In a sense, their behavior was very similar to Restraint Officers' Hall.
Now the cat people clearly wanted to switch to a new shell and continue toward the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone.
The gigantic corpse Buddha promptly shook off the corpse beast. The bone armor on its right arm turned into a blade and directly split the opponent's head in two.
But even so, quite a few cat people had already entered its body.
Li Tiangang watched the scene displayed through the insect eyes and felt his scalp go numb. He quickly organized the cultivators into groups and headed toward the outer areas of the internal organs.
What he feared was not the cat people, but their method of controlling corpse beasts. Even the other corpse beasts likely contained similar beings.
Who knew whether the cat people would trigger a riot in Buddha Qi and cause some kind of chain reaction.
Chen Haoyu and Miss Bai were responsible for defending the intestines.
The remaining Yin Difference realm cultivators were stationed at the internal organs.
The cultivation displayed by the cat people was very limited, but their substitute-death ability allowed them to act recklessly. They could also make their aura approach that of the gigantic corpse Buddha by eating flesh.
Seeing how easily the cat people invaded, Li Tiangang raised his hand to stop the cultivators.
Li Yaoyang frowned and said, "Shall I send gu insects to investigate?"
Li Tiangang seemed to think of something and said in a strange tone, "Wait, Ren Qing should be in the heart region."
Some time ago, Ren Qing said he would refine the heart, then turned into a ghost shadow and drilled into it, acting as elusive as ever.
Li Tiangang realized he had been worrying unnecessarily. With Ren Qing's cultivation, even if he were in closed-door cultivation, he should be able to handle it easily.
As soon as the words fell, scorching flames erupted from the liver, forming a fire dragon that roamed through flesh and bones, turning the cat people into charred remains.
Li Tiangang was startled by Ren Qing's action, afraid it would ignite the corpse qi outside.
But unexpectedly, the released Heart-Burning Method was extremely precise, with not the slightest aura leaking out, burning the cat people trying to approach.
"Since you can use the Heart-Burning Method against enemies, then you all withdraw to the stomach and intestines."
Li Tiangang signaled the others to retreat, then rushed toward the internal organs himself, pulling out a page from between his ribs.
He flashed forward several times to approach the cat people, sealing two or three living ones into the page, then stood in place watching them flee.
The flames of the Heart-Burning Method were also subtly driving the cat people.
Li Tiangang turned his head to glance at the shriveled heart that looked like a dead object. As expected, Ren Qing was indeed deep within the heart.
He found himself increasingly unable to understand Ren Qing and could only shake his hand helplessly before leaving.
To keep Restraint Officers' Hall vigilant, Li Tiangang did not cancel the alert in the stomach and intestines, but instead continuously emphasized the danger.
In fact, the moment the cat people appeared, Ren Qing had already noticed.
However, because the structure of the heart was too complex, and he had previously chosen to merge himself into it to complete the mutation, he did not act immediately.
Ren Qing's ghost shadow was already hidden within the shadows of the cat people, using the flames of the Heart-Burning Method to drive them toward the head.
This was also an opportunity to probe what exactly existed inside the gigantic corpse Buddha.
As for the battle between the gigantic corpse Buddha and the corpse beasts, Ren Qing only paid occasional attention. For him, severe injuries were actually beneficial for mutation.
The cat people surged toward the Mud Pellet Palace. From their rotten bodies, it was clear they were neither alive nor dead, driven purely by instinct.
Unlike ordinary corpses, the skull of the gigantic corpse Buddha was completely sealed, entirely covered by thick bone.
The cat people climbed along the spine to the skull, then began frantically biting, but their teeth shattered against it.
With a thought from Ren Qing, the ghost shadow attached to the cat people's teeth. The bone gradually turned black, greatly increasing its hardness.
Combined with the corrosion of the Nether Yuan contained within, a pit was slowly gnawed into the skull.
At this moment, the surrounding blood vessels seemed to be stimulated and began wriggling, transforming into python-like forms that lunged at the cat people.
The cat people focused on gnawing the skull and completely ignored the blood vessels' attacks.
Thus, in just a few breaths, they suffered heavy losses. It was too late to escape, and they all died near the skull.
Ren Qing controlled the ghost shadow, attempting to break through the pit and enter the skull.
The blood vessels became even more frenzied, even indirectly affecting the gigantic corpse Buddha, making its attacks more wide and forceful.
Ren Qing did not continue probing. The ghost shadow then dispersed and vanished.
As expected, the brain of the gigantic corpse Buddha had likely undergone some kind of mutation, possibly accumulating a large amount of the evil thoughts of past cultivators.
In Ren Qing's view, understanding the source was beneficial, allowing risks to be avoided in advance.
The gigantic corpse Buddha staggered, and the stomach and intestines churned violently, but due to the bone armor covering it, the injuries were not too severe.
The external situation fell into a stalemate. The corpse beasts could not do anything to the gigantic corpse Buddha.
Seeing this, Ren Qing felt somewhat regretful.
He had wanted to wait until the gigantic corpse Buddha was severely injured to complete more mutations, but now it seemed the defense was somewhat excessive.
Although the bone armor left the shoulders and head exposed, the gigantic corpse Buddha's body was a full thousand meters, while the corpse beasts were only four to five hundred meters.
It was somewhat like a tiger fallen to the plains being bullied by dogs.
Ren Qing did not want to create additional complications, so he activated the heart, which was only partially mutated.
The heart of the gigantic corpse Buddha became full. Even without a drop of blood in the vessels, it began to beat forcefully.
The technique he chose was the Planting Demons Sutra, and the disease seed was the "Fat-Heart Disease Seed".
The Fat-Heart Disease Seed referred to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, usually manifested as an abnormally large heart, which could easily lead to sudden death.
Ren Qing used the Fat-Heart Disease Seed to enhance the abilities of the Planting Demons Sutra.
[Planting Demons Sutra]
[Inscribed on the Heavenly Demon Stele. Cultivating this method requires turning blood into demon seeds. One must consume ten times the blood of an ordinary person within twenty days to succeed.]
[The three mutation paths are the "Heart Controller", which uses blood to control others; the "Blood Drinker", which grants intelligence to blood and summons blood puppets; and the "Blood Demon", which turns the body into blood.]
The strange objects of the Planting Demons Sutra were originally obtained from the Disaster-Elimination Forbidden Zone, and later deduced into a technique by Ren Qing using the Stomach-Within World.
At present, only a few people in Restraint Officers' Hall had mastered the Planting Demons Sutra, but fortunately, the strange objects from Martial Practitioner realm to Ghost Envoy realm were all complete.
Ren Qing chose the "Heart Controller", a path centered on the heart with blood as a supplement.
When the gigantic corpse Buddha used the Planting Demons Sutra, the surrounding corpse beasts suddenly sensed something wrong, and large amounts of dark green blood flowed from their facial features.
Bang bang bang bang...
The corpse beasts immediately exploded.
The gigantic corpse Buddha was like a child with complete consciousness but an immature body. As its body gradually matured, it began to display its proper strength.
Even though the heart's Planting Demons Sutra did not even reach the Martial Practitioner realm, an Earth Immortal was still an Earth Immortal.
Before Ren Qing could reflect for long, the gigantic corpse Buddha stepped into the corpse-odor swamp, and more than half its body fell directly into the corpse water.
The corpse water was extremely viscous, and the resistance it brought was obvious. The gigantic corpse Buddha's head remained above the surface as it moved forward at a turtle-like pace.
Ren Qing covered his face. It seemed he had to find a way to further improve the gigantic corpse Buddha.
The advantage and disadvantage was that the corrosiveness of the corpse water continuously eroded the gigantic corpse Buddha, making the subsequent fusion of disease seeds easier.