Since Stomach World advanced to Ascension Ladder, zombies had become a rare sight in Wuwei City. Only Dream City still contained their consciousness projections.
The zombie cultivators had migrated to the Underworld, even bringing their resource industries along with them.
The resource unique to the Corpse Vein was a medicinal herb called Bonegrass. It could only be cultivated in environments rich in yin qi. Its purpose was to dispel fire toxins and increase the body's resistance to cold.
They piled all kinds of beast corpses beside the Yellow Springs, causing Bonegrass to spread everywhere.
Under such circumstances, the dim Underworld actually gained a faint trace of lifeforce, provided one ignored the coffins placed throughout the area.
It really did have the feeling of the netherworld, except there were no Judges or Yama Kings.
Under Ren Qing's instructions, some zombie cultivators began expanding the Underworld, laying stone roads and constructing stone bridges over the Yellow Springs.
To ensure the concentration of yin qi remained sufficient, the area could only be expanded by roughly thirty percent at most.
The coffins could no longer be left exposed in the open. Once the caves and dwellings were mostly completed, structures such as the Hall of Yama would need to be planned.
Corresponding to the Underworld was the Heavenly Palace, but unfortunately, the Heavenly Palace still had not opened. Its transformation would likely require several more months to fully complete.
After stabilizing Stomach World, Ren Qing issued a mission through the Restraint Officers' Hall, requiring the refinement of large Daoist temple artifacts.
Daoist temples would serve as the foundations of the Heavenly Palace and Underworld, so the Moon Patterns naturally prioritized durability and sturdiness. As for strange fetus artifacts and artifact spirits, those could be considered after construction was complete.
During his spare time, Ren Qing checked on the progress of the forbidden corpse. Xiao San'er had already found a method and was testing the use of external forces to merge the forbidden zone into its stomach.
Naturally, Ren Qing approved. However, once the forbidden corpse matter was finished, Xiao San'er would need to enter seclusion and break through to the Yin Difference realm as soon as possible.
Cultivation level was tied to lifespan limits. Ren Qing did not want Xiao San'er's cultivation delayed by artifact refinement, leaving him no choice but to convert into a zombie.
Zhou Wu, on the other hand, had reached his second strange transformation. After the successive deaths of friends and family, Xiao Wu had devoted himself entirely to cultivating the Poison Bone Art.
Ren Qing opened his eyes and stretched his body within the cave dwelling.
The healing speed of the Heavenly Dao Crack on the turtle shell's surface had increased once again. The advancement of Heaven and Earth Genesis to the Heavenly Aberration realm should be much faster than Corpse Fengdu.
A sense of urgency still lingered in Ren Qing's heart. Who knew when the hidden scheme would begin?
The overall situation likely involved the Turbid Immortal and the Strange Immortal. It was an opportunity for him to attain immortality, but with his current strength, intervening would be somewhat difficult.
Through the Mirror World, Ren Qing could glimpse only the tip of the iceberg. The number of imprisoned cultivators continued to decrease, with several escaping every few days.
It seemed time to reel in the line he had cast at Lingshan Temple.
Narrowing his eyes, he headed once again to the Longevity Forbidden Zone within the dried well.
The Longevity Forbidden Zone remained extraordinarily calm. No living creatures could be seen, only scattered Flesh Orchid Fruits swaying gently in the breeze.
However, the moment Ren Qing revealed his aura, the Fungus People erupted into tsunami-like cheers. Vast clouds of spores rose into the air, flickering with faint light.
Closing his eyes, Ren Qing used Dragon Roar Within the Casket to sense Lingshan Temple, tens of thousands of miles away.
Lingshan Temple was essentially a mobile mountain-shaped artifact. A temple sat at the summit, while farmland and residences covered the mountainside.
After Ren Qing had instructed Lingshan Temple to gather more people, the living quarters had already become overcrowded. New houses were beginning to appear near the mountain's base.
Their food reserves were sufficient to sustain the population for the time being.
But if no progress was made...
Ren Qing felt that the monks of Lingshan Temple could not distinguish good from evil. Once food became scarce, they would certainly begin killing one another.
Fortunately, Huang Ming's position remained extremely stable. He ranked only below the abbot. The only reason he had not completely secured his position was because he had yet to gain full recognition from Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi, resulting in undercurrents within Lingshan Temple.
The Buddhist Sons of every race coveted Huang Ming's position and constantly sought to replace him.
Observing through Huang Ming's perspective for a long while, Ren Qing quietly planned his next move.
He was determined to obtain the Sitting-Deer Fruit Position. Whether it was to separate Song Zongwu's soul from the Buddhist qi or to study the difference between immortal positions and fruit positions, there was no way he would let Sitting-Deer Arhat go.
But there were still many problems. The state of Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi was extremely delicate.
Aside from the Buddhist qi sealed within the box, every Buddhist Son also contained Yin Difference realm Buddhist qi, making it easy for one action to affect the entire system.
The Buddhist qi was like a centipede that refused to die. Formless and colorless, it was nearly impossible to eradicate completely.
Ren Qing needed a way to contain Sitting-Deer Arhat first before considering how to separate it, or even dissect the fruit position to study its structure.
"I've got it..."
A strange expression appeared on Ren Qing's face. He suddenly thought of a method that barely qualified as a method, but it might produce miraculous results. There was no harm in trying.
He took out a pill-like strange object from Stomach World. It was still squirming constantly.
[Corpse Brain Method]
[Created by Ren Qing. Cultivation requires pouring corpse water into the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose until the skull is filled, then sealing the five senses. If one survives thirty-six days, the technique is mastered.]
Several months earlier, Ren Qing had already instructed Killing-Life Child to condense an extra Corpse Core for backup and had used Corpse Yin Water to replenish its losses.
For ordinary zombies, the Corpse Core was equivalent to the lifeline of their soul. However, Killing-Life Child was composed of hundreds of zombies, greatly reducing the importance of its Corpse Core. At most, losing it would leave body and soul weakened.
The Corpse Core had originally only been at the Half-Corpse realm. After nourishment from yin qi, it had reached the Ghost Envoy realm, making it more than sufficient to deal with the monks of Lingshan Temple.
Ren Qing opened his palm, and the Longevity Forbidden Zone immediately devoured the Corpse Core.
Changes quickly appeared within the forbidden zone. Mountains of white bones burst from beneath the earth, resembling the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, though far less terrifying.
Even the grave mound of Wind Deity Bo Qiang became buried beneath the bones. Hidden by dense yin qi, locating it intentionally would be like finding a needle in the ocean.
Ren Qing looked toward the sea of clouds overhead and noticed that aside from a slight increase in yin qi, almost nothing had changed.
Immediately afterward, the core strange object of the Longevity Forbidden Zone began exerting its influence.
Mindless skeletal skeletons assembled themselves one after another, wandering among the hills of White Bone Mountain and swarming any living creature they encountered.
The Fungus People also developed skeletons, and the territories of the various tribes began spreading toward the hills.
They made homes within the hollow bones. Their population expanded exponentially, to the point that Blood Orchid Fruits alone could no longer sustain their reproduction.
Ren Qing felt a bit pained, then took out another strange object belonging to the Jianmu Technique.
One could not catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. Since he intended to deal with Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi, expecting to pay no price at all was clearly unrealistic.
Fortunately, after Stomach World reached Ascension Ladder, the cultivation speed of strange objects had increased once more, and time flowed at nearly five times the normal rate.
Ghost Envoy realm strange objects were not numerous, but a new batch could be produced every few years.
The vine-mutated form of the Jianmu Technique merged into the Longevity Forbidden Zone. Vein-like vines emerged from the earth and rapidly spread across the ground.
There were vines in the sea of clouds as well, but under Ren Qing's instructions, the Fungus People pulled them out by the roots.
Though the Fungus People appeared relatively weak, they actually represented the Six Diseases Method and Rebirth Technique. They naturally received the protection of the Longevity Forbidden Zone.
Through the Fungus People, Ren Qing could barely guide the direction of the forbidden zone's evolution.
The final strange object he chose was the Metal Essence Method at the Half-Corpse realm.
[Metal Essence Method]
[Created by Strongman A Ming. Cultivation requires one's internal organs to be eroded by metal while swallowing a pellet of metallic ore every three days. If one survives thirty days, the technique is mastered.]
The earth veins trembled as a golden ore vein stretching across the Longevity Forbidden Zone appeared. Its output was estimated at hundreds of tons, and it could continually regenerate.
The strange object's mutation path, "Golden Body Bearer," manifested as flesh and bones transforming into gold, indirectly increasing the ore vein's recovery speed.
There were also Metal Essence Method jailers within Stomach World, resulting in a surplus of gold. For cultivators of the Restraint Officers' Hall, gold was mostly used as decoration.
With a thought, Ren Qing transformed Ghost Shadow into a gigantic hand and thrust it into the ore vein.
He directly pulled out the entire vein, as if lifting a golden dragon. The Fungus People tribes immediately knelt in orderly rows toward the sky, shouting the name of an immortal.
Sitting cross-legged upon the clouds, Ren Qing began refining with gold as his material.
Brick after brick took shape. The Moon Patterns he inscribed served only confinement and reinforcement purposes, making them the crudest form of refinement imaginable.
Ghost Shadow split into countless tentacles, carrying the bricks and embedding them into the ground with binding materials, extending infinitely outward from Ren Qing as the center.
Within a few days, the entire sea of clouds had been covered in golden bricks.
Ren Qing did not stop refining. Next came a magnificent and majestic Buddhist hall, constructed entirely according to a thousand-meter scale.
The main gate alone exuded overwhelming pressure.
He then created a plaque and hung it upon the hall, naming it "Thunderclap Temple." After some thought, he changed it to "Little Thunderclap Temple."
The interior of the Buddhist hall still felt somewhat empty. There was enough room to accommodate a thousand statues, so he used cultivators of the Restraint Officers' Hall as templates when creating them.
The Buddha statues gradually took shape, appearing like wrathful vajras.
With a wave of Ren Qing's hand, Dragon Roar Within the Casket caused the statues to stir. They stood up from their lotus Throne of Skulls as though they had come alive.
Then Zhili Technique implanted false memories into them. The statues immediately assumed expressions of boundless compassion, chanting scriptures in voices mixed with metallic tones.
Combined with powder ground from Buddha bones, they naturally emitted faint Buddhist qi, with not the slightest flaw visible on the surface.
Seeing that the counterfeit Western Paradise was already more than halfway complete, Ren Qing used Zhili Technique to contact Huang Ming, tens of thousands of miles away.
Huang Ming was currently seated cross-legged before Sitting-Deer Arhat's statue, striking a wooden fish. Monks guarded the area around the clock.
Though he appeared calm on the surface, inwardly he could not help feeling nervous.
If the immortal buddhas from his dreams did not contact him soon, it would be difficult to avoid arousing suspicion among the monks of Lingshan Temple after a few years.
"Huang Ming, I'll give you a location. Bring Lingshan Temple there..."
Huang Ming froze for a few breaths before revealing a delighted expression. At the same time, the Dreamflower within his Mud Pellet Palace erupted with pure Buddhist qi, illuminating the surroundings brilliantly.
An elderly monk whose flesh had withered opened his eyes and looked at Huang Ming with burning intensity.
"What is it, Huizhen?"
"Abbot Liaoshan, the Buddha has instructed us to go somewhere..."
Huang Ming maintained a tranquil state of mind. Dense Buddhist qi circulated around his body, forcing back any monk who attempted to approach.
Liaoshan remained unmoved until he heard the rest of Huang Ming's words, at which point his expression changed dramatically.
"The Buddha said a remnant Buddha soul remains there. It must be obtained as soon as possible, otherwise the fruit position cannot be passed on."
As Huang Ming mixed truth and lies, Ren Qing secretly used Zhili Technique to influence the perceptions of the monks. Naturally, not a single word was questioned.
"Amitabha. Since these are the Buddha's words, then let us depart."
Liaoshan clearly knew of Song Zongwu's existence. He hesitated no longer. Under the infusion of Buddhist qi, the entire spiritual mountain slowly rose into the air.