How to store memories was a major problem...
Ren Qing could not help but look toward Lingxiao Daoist's natal Golden Core. Perhaps if it were refined into a magical artifact, this bold idea could be realized.
But for now, he still needed to digest the memories within the natal Golden Core.
He estimated it would take at least several months. The memories were simply too chaotic, and filtering out useful information had to be done little by little.
At first, Ren Qing handled it personally, but after several consecutive days, his head began to ache faintly, giving him the illusion of being corroded by Pill Poison.
Seeing this, he simply had the bacterial souls take over. Losing a few bacterial souls was no big deal.
During this period, the giant corpse Buddha's right arm finally completed its artifact refinement, and the thick blood disease type was allowed to breed within it.
Now the skin of the right arm had turned faint black, and toxic fluid occasionally dripped from the fingertips, corroding over half the corpses beneath its feet.
After the Martial Practitioner realm strange object fused into the giant corpse Buddha's right arm, resources soon began to be produced, their appearance resembling clusters of grapes.
Poison Blood Fruit
Formed from the Black Arm Method. If one is poisoned, consuming it can detoxify them. If one carries no poison, they will instead be corroded by deadly toxins.
The giant corpse Buddha had gradually shed traces of Buddhism, causing the names of resources produced by the mutated organs to change as well.
The Moon Patterns no longer retained Buddhist aura. Only the Nether Yuan flowing through the blood vessels still contained faint traces of Buddhist aura that had not yet been purified away.
At this rate, it would not be long before the Maitreya Insect Buddha Sutra completely transformed into the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method.
At that point, the giant corpse Buddha might even touch the Nascent Soul stage (Yin Difference realm). Considering its sheer size and amount of Nether Yuan, that was no simple feat.
Ren Qing had also exhausted all the memories stored within the primary brain. Unfortunately, most of the information inside was fragmented and held little value.
After extracting so many memories, the primary brain had shrunk by a third. Its exterior was decayed and rotten, barely maintained by vitality.
He did not hurry to withdraw the vitality from the primary brain, but instead increased the stimulation of vitality.
Once the primary brain recovered to its original state, he planned to use it as material to refine a memory storage container, lest he accidentally waste the natal Golden Core.
The Pill Dao Sect might already have been wiped out, and finding another Yang Spirit realm Pill Dao cultivator was unrealistic.
Ren Qing first used the Soul-Splitting Disease Type to alter the primary brain's structure, ensuring the stored memories would not affect one another and become mixed together.
The Soul-Splitting Disease Type referred to dissociative identity disorder.
Because the disease was so rare, Ren Qing had only obtained it from the Longevity Tree.
The process of modifying with the disease type was rather complicated. Without his prior experience with Heaven Above Heaven, it might have taken him over half a year just to get started.
Ren Qing had never imagined mental illness could affect the brain in such a way, but now he understood.
The primary brain continuously split off new consciousnesses, while the folds on its surface became increasingly dense, accompanied by thick brain matter oozing out.
Once Ren Qing noticed the primary brain had reached its limit, he stopped driving the Soul-Splitting Disease Type.
The primary brain ultimately produced seventy-eight consciousnesses. Previously, Ren Qing had accidentally modified the primary brain with the cerebral palsy disease type, causing its consciousness to become blank, which now made it perfect for containing memories.
Unfortunately, seventy-eight consciousnesses were far fewer than Ren Qing had expected.
During the battle against the Pill Dao Sect, over two hundred cultivators had died. The primary brain definitely could not store all their memories, so he would have to rely on the natal Golden Core.
Ren Qing treated the primary brain as a backup and placed it inside an underground cave beneath the iceberg.
He patiently waited on the natal Golden Core, occasionally checking the memories within. After removing a large amount of mortal memories, the remaining threads became extremely clear.
They were basically all memories from Pill Dao Sect cultivators before death.
There were actually very few memories from cultivators personally killed by Lingxiao Daoist, proving that while alive, he had been the sort who bullied the weak and feared the strong.
Of course, the reason he survived the disaster two hundred years ago was also thanks to his extreme cowardice.
The natal Golden Core wriggled uncomfortably. Under the constant work of the bacterial souls day and night, memories from portions of Pill Dao Sect cultivators surfaced.
The earliest memories belonged to low-level disciples who had died before experiencing the disaster, usually from accidental clashes with other forces.
Because too much time had passed, the memories had already become blurred and unclear.
Ren Qing could only vaguely make out that more than one Buddhist force seemed to have participated.
Naturally, there were Daoist forces as well, most of them strange Daoists with bizarre bodies. Among them were even insect-men similar to Daoist Yuhua.
Ren Qing asked Daoist Yuhua about it, but the latter had absolutely no knowledge of the matter.
The Pill Dao Sect seemed more like opportunists fishing in troubled waters. Believing there to be some great opportunity, Lingxiao Daoist mobilized the sect's entire fighting force and headed for the forbidden zone.
The various factions all seemed to be competing over something, or perhaps over an opportunity to attain immortality.
Ren Qing remained noncommittal. What he wanted more was clues regarding Dead Man's Sutra.
After the memories within the natal Golden Core were stripped down to fewer than a thousand strands, scenes related to the Immortal Gate began to increase, though all were from distant perspectives.
Ren Qing's eyes filled with shock. Even merely glimpsing fragments through memory made his heart pound uncontrollably.
The so-called "Immortal Gate" was actually a corpse spanning who knew how many thousands of meters.
Compared to the Immortal Gate corpse, the giant corpse Buddha was no more than a newborn infant, showing just how enormous it truly was as it stood straight into the heavens.
The Immortal Gate corpse was completely naked, kneeling on the ground with bent knees. Its long disheveled hair covered its lowered head, making its appearance impossible to see clearly.
As for why it was called the Immortal Gate, it was purely because the corpse's chest and abdomen had been hollowed out, with spread ribs resembling a gigantic gate of flesh and blood.
The chest and abdomen were filled with endless darkness, as if connected to another world.
Ren Qing cursed several times inwardly. Dead Man's Forbidden Zone was clearly only at the Yang Spirit realm. What exactly had happened in the past for such a bizarre situation to appear?
Suppressing the unease in his heart, he continued sorting through the memories within the natal Golden Core.
The thousand strands of memories gradually decreased to three hundred.
The Pill Dao Sect cultivators drew increasingly closer to the Immortal Gate, encountering quite a few battles along the way.
However, both Daoist and Buddhist factions remained relatively restrained, at most engaging in constant friction.
At the same time, they discovered endless numbers of zombies heading toward the Immortal Gate. Since their souls lacked any information regarding the gate, they were called "people from within the gate."
The Pill Dao Sect's casualties were entirely due to Lingxiao Daoist wanting to refine Dao soldiers. After all, Dead Man's Forbidden Zone was filled with danger everywhere.
Ren Qing's state of mind gradually calmed as he tried his best to view himself as an observer.
When the number of memories within the natal Golden Core sharply dropped to fifty strands, the Pill Dao Sect cultivators they belonged to were already core disciples.
They camped around the Immortal Gate and did not recklessly step through the gate.
No one knew how much time passed. Even the outside world had already formed into a town, yet they still had not attempted to enter the Immortal Gate.
Ren Qing's speed at stripping memories gradually accelerated, and more clues came into view.
The Daoist and Buddhist factions finally decided to explore the Immortal Gate, while Lingxiao Daoist, in pursuit of opportunity, simply devoured all his few remaining disciples.
Lingxiao Daoist followed the group toward the Immortal Gate.
Through this, Ren Qing finally saw the Immortal Gate clearly. Covering the corpse's skin were densely packed twisted characters.
He subconsciously summoned the information flow, and his pupils immediately widened.
[Dead Man's Sutra]
[Created by Corpse Immortal. Cultivation requires sealing the Laogong acupoint, Yongquan acupoint, Shenmen acupoint, and Yintang acupoint shut with rivets, then burying oneself underground for three years. Upon great accomplishment, one becomes ageless, unborn, undying, and indestructible.]
Dead Man's Sutra lacks partial contents and cannot be mastered through lifespan expenditure.
"Dead Man's Sutra. It really is Dead Man's Sutra. Ageless, unborn, undying, and indestructible..."
Ren Qing could not help muttering to himself. As long as the authenticity of Dead Man's Sutra was confirmed, then it was worth attempting to obtain. At the very least, this trip had not been in vain.
The Dead Man's Sutra within the memories was clearly incomplete, preventing the information flow from mastering the technique through it.
Ren Qing wanted to complete it himself through the text, but the twisted handwriting was difficult to decipher. Moreover, the written languages varied from region to region.
This showed that going to the Immortal Gate truly could not be avoided.
Fortunately, Dead Man's Sutra was engraved on the skin surface of the Immortal Gate corpse. Even if incomplete, Ren Qing only needed to copy it down. Once he recognized the script, he could slowly complete it through the information flow.
He continued stripping memories, and soon it was Lingxiao Daoist's turn.
But to Ren Qing's disappointment, after Lingxiao Daoist approached the Immortal Gate and noticed irreversible corpse transformation occurring in his body, he actually chose to retreat.
The memories also did not involve Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva or, the two should have existed several hundred or even thousand years earlier than the Daoist and Buddhist factions.
"You already sacrificed your entire sect's disciples, and you still gave up just like that?"
He had the urge to refine Lingxiao Daoist into a Dao soldier and kill him all over again. He had never seen such a pathetic sect master.
In the end, only several dozen cultivators actually stepped into the Immortal Gate, from both Buddhism and Daoism.
After the Daoist and Buddhist cultivators entered the Immortal Gate, they failed to return even after several decades, yet the various factions still patiently remained camped in place.
But then something happened that caught them completely off guard. The range of corpse transformation began spreading outward, causing everyone to experience varying degrees of mutation.
Outside the gate descended into complete chaos, and Lingxiao Daoist fled far away from the Immortal Gate.
He originally intended to return to the outside world, but his corpse-transformed body became firmly trapped within Dead Man's Forbidden Zone, leaving him to wander aimlessly for a hundred years.
Lingxiao Daoist feared his corpse transformation worsening and never dared approach the Immortal Gate during that time, until "someone" truly emerged from within the gate.
This segment of memory was extremely fragmented, lacking even specific images.
It was as if a thought had been deliberately implanted, driving Lingxiao Daoist toward the Immortal Gate. However, he was far too timid and cautious, only finally resolving to enter the Immortal Gate after encountering the giant corpse Buddha.
Ren Qing closed his eyes and digested the complicated information from the memories.
He still suspected the Immortal Gate might involve, and every cultivator's objective was to enter the gate, though the exact reason varied greatly depending on who spoke.
Every faction seemed convinced the Immortal Gate could grant immortality and ascension, which was why they sent disciples inside. Afterwards, they never sent any reinforcements at all.
The Pill Dao Sect had simply been opportunists ignorant of the truth, and they died the most miserably.
Ren Qing felt a slight headache. Whatever their intentions were, he only wanted Dead Man's Sutra. Once he obtained the technique's contents, he would leave.
He had just intended to rest briefly before refining the natal Golden Core.
But suddenly, Ren Qing noticed there was still another strand of memory within the natal Golden Core, even though Lingxiao Daoist's memories had already been completely stripped away.
The memory appeared weak and inconspicuous, yet it had been hidden the deepest.
Staring at the faint memory, he realized the Pill Dao Sect's arrival at Dead Man's Forbidden Zone had not been due to Lingxiao Daoist acting on impulse.
Lingxiao Daoist was likely just a backup casually arranged by some existence.
Who knew what kind of content this memory contained. Perhaps someone had also discovered the possibility of reincarnation through the Pill Dao Method.
Using the simplest and crudest method possible, Ren Qing cut away the brain portion storing the memory. Then, with the help of vitality, he fused it into the primary brain.
He had no intention of obtaining the memory. Instead, through Dream City's interconnectedness, he directly brought it to the Longevity Forbidden Zone and buried it beneath the Longevity Tree.