Under the effects of Death Gives No Birth, Ren Qing's main soul detached from the remains. Carrying the strange entities with it, it transformed into a nightmare demon and ultimately hid within a dream.
An unknown amount of time passed.
The Plague Dream Tree stood in the void, surrounded by boundless darkness. Faintly, the sound of rushing rivers could be heard from every direction.
Hanging high from the tree's branches were several hundred disease fruits.
From time to time, insects would crawl out of the disease fruits. They fought one another and nourished themselves with the corpses of other insects.
Though the insects were small, their strength was no weaker than the Ghost Envoy realm. Among them were even powerful individuals, "Insect Kings" whose strength had reached the Yin Difference realm.
However, the turnover rate of the insects was extremely fast. The rise and fall of an entire population could change dramatically within just a few days.
Of course, even if the bacterial insects within a disease fruit were completely exterminated, within less than a few minutes, large quantities of bacteria would transform into insects once again.
Faint light flickered, and flames crackled upon the branches.
The Fatty-Liver Disease Seed resembled a firefly. On its abdomen grew a bulging sac that occupied a third of its body, used for storing grease.
As long as they spat flames, they would consume the grease in their abdomens, releasing the aura of the Restraint Officer method Heart-Burning Method.
Then there was the "Cold-Wind Disease Seed," associated with the Ice Crystal Technique. Its insect body resembled a spider and could spread frost throughout its webbing.
As long as prey approached the web, they would be frozen into ice sculptures, unable to move.
The life-and-death struggles between disease seeds resembled the internal conflicts within Restraint Officers' Hall. Even Ren Qing himself found the observations greatly beneficial.
At the top of the Plague Dream Tree were over a dozen writhing, indescribable masses.
Tattered human skin; a spine missing half its length; a shriveled blackened stomach sac; a tortoise shell covered in cracks; a skull-shaped Corpse Core...
Because the strange entities had suffered severe damage, their forms had become somewhat unstable, but traces of the lingering might of the Yang God realm could still be seen.
As the new body was nurtured, the strange entities were gradually recovering as well, though the progress was extremely slow, showing just how severe the damage had been.
Ren Qing's figure emerged outside the Plague Dream Tree, his gaze sweeping across the various strange entities.
He wore a Daoist robe formed from Dreamflower. His body appeared half-real and half-illusory, and faint nightmare aura occasionally drifted from him.
This unprepared suicide had left only his main soul and the Plague Dream Tree completely unharmed. Everything else had been affected by his death.
"Looks like it'll take at least ten years to recover..."
His tone carried a trace of helplessness, but even more gratitude at having escaped death.
After all, the Baosheng Buddha he had encountered was an existence above the Earth Immortal level. Even though the other party had never noticed him, that didn't mean he had been safe.
The benefits of all the life-saving measures Ren Qing had stockpiled were fully revealed through this incident.
Even a Heavenly Aberration cultivator would have had no chance of survival before Baosheng Buddha, yet not only had Ren Qing escaped intact, he had suffered almost no losses.
Although the strange entities had been heavily damaged, once his body was fully restored, they would immediately recover to their peak states. There was no need to worry about damaging his foundation.
Stomach World had not been greatly affected either. It was attached to the strange entity of The Taotie Method and could not be easily destroyed.
Only because the strange entity had been damaged, Stomach World could no longer maintain its accelerated flow of time. Even the sun, moon, and seasons displayed subtle abnormalities.
Even the Longevity Restricted Zone connected to Dream City had become faint and unstable, only recently returning to normal.
Ren Qing stared into the darkness above for a moment, his thoughts racing as he considered how best to use the coming years.
The Plague Dream Tree should currently exist within a dream. Meanwhile, the Mud Pellet Palace of his new body had already formed and was simply waiting for flesh and bones to fully grow.
Given Ren Qing's Yang God realm cultivation, he estimated it would take around ten years.
If he advanced to the Heavenly Aberration realm or ascended to immortality, the revival time would only grow longer, showing that the body was not being created from nothing.
But after thinking it over carefully, he realized the time wouldn't truly be wasted.
Restraint Officers' Hall had more or less reached the stage where it needed consolidation and expansion. There was a mountain of affairs to handle, and he himself needed to organize his gains.
Ren Qing also planned to use this period to complete the prototype of a Small World.
A Small World could contain the aura of techniques and help specific cultivators improve their cultivation. Through this, he could establish an ascension system within Stomach World.
The development of Restraint Officers' Hall's affiliated forces would also receive healthy support.
The first thing to be refined would be the Heavenly Dao Small World, using the cast-off shell of the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal as the primary material.
As the shed skin of an Earth Immortal, the shell could also function as a small spirit vein, making it superior even to ordinary Heavenly Aberration materials.
Furthermore, the shell could only release Nether Yuan for a few hundred years. If it wasn't used to refine a Small World, it would become worthless once the Nether Yuan was exhausted.
Ren Qing originally intended to personally refine the Heavenly Dao Small World for Restraint Officers' Hall, but now only his soul remained. Ghost Shadow had also suffered severe damage, leaving him powerless to help.
Thus, he handed the entire refinement process over to Xiao San'er and instructed Li Yaoyang to assist in handling the shell.
Even if progress was slow, it didn't matter. There was plenty of time, and Restraint Officers' Hall's attention was currently focused on reviving Song Zongwu.
Song Zongwu's head had been placed in the Yellow Springs of Rebirth. Vast amounts of life force nourished the remnant soul to prevent it from completely dissipating.
Although he represented the path Nameless Ascetic had discovered to escape the restraints of Buddhist Fruit Positions, the price paid had been far too great.
Only a single strand of Heavenly Soul remained. Reassembling the soul would be over a hundred times more troublesome than the attempt to revive Ksitigarbha years ago.
Fortunately, it was one of the three souls, the Heavenly Soul, rather than one of the less important seven corporeal souls. Otherwise, Ren Qing would have directly chosen to convert him into a zombie through memory.
The strange entity was in even worse condition. The remaining fragment wasn't even at the Martial Practitioner realm.
Song Zongwu's solitary surviving head was actually the easiest problem to solve. There were already several possible methods available.
At this thought, Ren Qing looked toward a blank disease fruit hanging from the branch.
Inside the disease fruit, he had placed four different types of disease seeds. The insects they became were currently slaughtering one another, nurturing entirely new disease seeds through the process.
Previously, Ren Qing had gradually cultivated many varieties of disease seeds, such as the "Blood-Clotting Disease Seed," which prevented blood from coagulating, and the "Bone-Dissolving Disease Seed," which slowly melted bones away.
Combined with dream techniques, disease seeds possessed destructive power comparable to techniques themselves.
The method Ren Qing had chosen to restore Song Zongwu's body was relatively safe.
He intended to cultivate a special disease seed capable of reconstructing a complete body from the head. It could then nourish the remnant soul within the Mud Pellet Palace in return.
If Ren Qing truly couldn't find a suitable disease seed, he would have no choice but to use the Cancer Disease Tree disease seed instead, though it would inevitably affect Song Zongwu's cultivation foundation.
Not long afterward, the Plague Dream Tree suddenly began to tremble.
Ren Qing looked toward the tortoise-shell strange entity. He could vaguely make out the divination sign upon it, which still displayed "Misfortune." It showed no signs of worsening because of the tremor.
Generally speaking, any abnormalities in the Plague Dream Tree were related to the new body and were likely being indirectly influenced by outside factors.
However, Ren Qing wasn't worried about the revival process.
Based on his connection to the severed arms, there were at least sixty or seventy pseudo-draconic severed arms scattered throughout the outside world.
They were hidden in remote corners of various regions and would only move when encountering danger.
The pseudo-draconic severed arm Ren Qing had chosen should be the one closest to Xiangxiang.
Of course, he had also implanted a command, instructing the pseudo-draconic severed arms to stay away from regions such as Cishi Jingzhou. He was afraid of once again becoming entangled in the schemes of Earth Immortals.
Although Death Gives No Birth could be used repeatedly, remaining in a constant cycle of revival for extended periods would leave too many variables affecting the pseudo-draconic severed arms outside.
The reason Ren Qing hadn't gone directly to the Longevity Restricted Zone was twofold. First, he wanted to keep it as a backup plan. Second, the situation within the Restricted Zone remained unclear. Who knew what lurked inside?
Even Chen Changsheng, a Heavenly Aberration cultivator, had been so wary of it. It might very well involve an Earth Immortal.
Unless absolutely necessary, Ren Qing had no intention of rebuilding his body using the severed arm within the Longevity Restricted Zone. He regarded it purely as an insurance policy.
Watching the gradually maturing disease seeds, he began pondering Ascension Methods.
Before comprehending an Ascension Method, Ren Qing had to establish a general framework. Otherwise, the final Ascension Method might lack the potential to reach the Earth Immortal level.
Aside from dream techniques, there were four categories of primary and secondary techniques whose Ascension Methods still needed organization.
Thinking about it this way, the ten years required to rebuild his body would leave him with plenty to do. It wouldn't be like being imprisoned inside the Plague Dream Tree.
Ren Qing immersed himself in his work. When he finally came back to his senses, several months had already passed.
A disease seed had just been born within one of the disease fruits.
The symptoms displayed by this disease seed were exceptionally unique, and Ren Qing named it the "Beastification Disease Seed."
The Beastification Disease Seed caused a person's body and soul to regress toward that of a beast. Of course, in most cases, the result was a malformed creature that was neither human nor beast.
Ren Qing shook his head. The Beastification Disease Seed was not the one he wanted.
Fortunately, he had already figured out the method for cultivating disease seeds.
He simultaneously used ten blank disease fruits for breeding. The disease seeds placed within each fruit differed slightly, and even the proportions were adjusted.
After observing them for a while, Ren Qing returned his attention to Ascension Methods.
The disease fruits emitted the aura of Restraint Officer methods. Within them, it seemed as though wars between civilizations were taking place, like miniature worlds.
Whenever Ren Qing observed them, he occasionally wondered whether the world he inhabited might itself be a disease fruit, with immortals and Buddhas watching the rise and fall of all things.
However, the stray thought vanished as quickly as it came.
Ren Qing was not a sentimental person.
With the Information Stream, he would sooner or later ascend to immortality. There was no need to question the reality of this world and create unnecessary mental obstacles for himself.
A disease seed was born. It was deemed useless. Cultivation continued. Another disease seed was born...
Ren Qing couldn't remember how many attempts he had made.
In the fifth year of rebuilding his body, he finally obtained the disease seed he wanted.
Regeneration Disease Seed
The Regeneration Disease Seed could rapidly heal injuries and even regenerate severed limbs, but it invisibly consumed massive amounts of lifespan.
For ordinary people, the Regeneration Disease Seed was even more deadly than the Cancer Disease Tree.
Even minor bumps and bruises would continuously reduce lifespan. It would also weaken the body, creating a vicious cycle.
Even cultivators would suffer headaches when dealing with an uncontrollable Regeneration Disease Seed.
If they became trapped in a prolonged battle, they could very well exhaust their entire lifespan. Furthermore, the regeneration speed was not so rapid as to be visible to the naked eye.
Ren Qing placed the Regeneration Disease Seed on the shelves. After only half a day, a few Cocoon Folk showed interest in it. The rest of the cultivators would rather practice the Year-Year Technique.
Bang, bang...
The disease seed began trembling once more as seven-colored light spread through the darkness.
Ren Qing frowned slightly.
He had instructed the pseudo-draconic severed arms to avoid the area where Baosheng Buddha resided. It was possible that one had accidentally wandered into some strange region.
However, he had not sensed any danger befalling the pseudo-draconic severed arm. It was likely only being affected indirectly.
Unable to influence the outside world, Ren Qing promptly projected his soul into Stomach World.