After several days of seclusion, Ren Qing finally noticed that, with all of his techniques advanced to the Yang Spirit Realm, the recovery speed of the Heavenly Dao Crack had increased somewhat.
Moreover, the upper limit of the Heavenly Dao Crack had also risen by roughly two thousand years.
Ren Qing became even more determined to first advance his remaining four techniques to the Heavenly Aberration Realm. This was also the safest path toward immortality.
That way, the upper limit of the Heavenly Dao Crack would increase dramatically, and he could also use the opportunity to uncover the hidden drawbacks that the Weird Immortals might possess.
The closer Ren Qing felt himself drawing to immortality, the more cautious he became. Any danger could reduce all his plans to nothing.
He meditated upon his techniques and waited, allowing his state of mind to become free of desires.
Only when the crack could bear five thousand years of lifespan did Ren Qing come back to his senses, discovering that it had happened several days sooner than expected.
He summoned the information stream, his gaze settling on Disaster-Dispelling Method.
Only Disaster-Dispelling Method, The Taotie Method, and Shadowless Ghost remained. Since they were preparing to return to the Longevity Forbidden Zone, safety naturally took priority.
Ren Qing immediately chose to advance Disaster-Dispelling Method, while Ghost Shadow enveloped the cave dwelling.
The strange object of Disaster-Dispelling Method existed outside the body. He was afraid that Wu Deceit might suddenly go berserk during the breakthrough, causing the cave dwelling to collapse.
[Do you wish to advance to No-Birth Immortal? This will consume five thousand years of lifespan.]
The moment Ren Qing confirmed, an indescribable emptiness surged into his heart.
Though he was clearly sitting cross-legged inside the cave dwelling, he felt as if he had been transported into a bustling marketplace. Crowds flowed endlessly around him, and the cries of vendors filled the air.
His perspective followed the original owner of the body through streets and alleys, yet no matter what he did, nobody noticed his existence.
The illusion vanished as quickly as it appeared.
It was somewhat similar to advancing to the Ascension Ladder, where one could witness the experiences of the technique's creator.
Ren Qing immediately understood. If the Disaster-Dispelling Method he possessed were ever to lose control, his very presence might be completely erased.
The danger of Disaster-Dispelling Method was obvious. To be forgotten by the world was a tragedy in itself.
Through Ghost Shadow, Ren Qing sensed Wu Deceit pacing around him, staring at him with an eerie and inexplicable gaze.
The strange object seemed capable of sensing the danger coming from the information stream and became active.
Ren Qing's cognition was being distorted, yet he showed not the slightest resistance. He calmly gazed at the stone wall and regulated the qi and blood throughout his body.
It was as if he could see the doorway on Wu Deceit's abdomen splitting open, endless dust pouring from within as though some colossal beast was about to emerge.
Immediately afterward, the darkness beneath Ren Qing's feet transformed into a mirror surface, from which countless eyes emerged.
The corner of his eye caught sight of a faceless figure that had appeared at some unknown time, its entire body covered in patterns resembling a cracked tortoise shell.
The five primary and secondary techniques of Disaster-Dispelling Method were all influencing him in different ways, as though they wished to drag Ren Qing into a bottomless abyss.
Ren Qing was already accustomed to such things. While calming his breathing and focusing his mind, he actually began counting.
When his muttered counting reached thirty-five, a piercing roar sounded in his ears, and all the illusions instantly vanished.
Ren Qing had never intended to suppress the strange objects himself.
After all, the information stream had already begun exerting its influence.
The methods of the information stream were exceptionally brutal. It completely shattered the five strange objects before forcibly fusing them back together into a single entity.
Ren Qing was no longer the person he had once been. With the Heavenly Aberration Realm Corpse of Fengdu overseeing things, he felt no fear that the strange objects would undergo any abnormalities. Even during the breakthrough, he used Spirit Division to keep watch over the outside world.
The cave dwelling was no longer as lively as before and even seemed somewhat deserted.
Once the resources had been transferred into the Stomach World, Restraint Officers' Hall also needed cultivators to maintain them, so most had gone to the farmland and forests near Dream City.
In the past, Restraint Officers' Hall would certainly have been forced to make tradeoffs. It would never have concentrated more than eighty percent of its cultivators solely on gathering resources.
But now that they were preparing to head to the Longevity Forbidden Zone, it meant they could replenish their population with hundreds of thousands of people.
There would still be many idle cultivators afterward. They might even need to establish additional resource sites.
Ren Qing took out a map and studied the route ahead, considering whether he should make a detour through the outskirts of the Beast Pen and perhaps take a look at Jingzhou along the way.
Among all the immortals and Buddhas he had encountered, Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal was the only one whose status as a Turbid Immortal he could not confirm.
Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal truly lacked intelligence, yet was far less chaotic than Corpse Immortal. It even seemed to retain traces of rationality.
Ren Qing understood Heavenly Dao techniques extremely well. Under normal cultivation, once a Heavenly Dao Insect reached the Earth Immortal Realm, it would transform into a spiritual vein that nurtured true essence.
When a Heavenly Dao Insect existed in the state of a spiritual vein, its intelligence would indeed decline.
While Ren Qing pondered, the area covered by Disaster-Dispelling Method expanded dramatically, instantly growing from several dozen li to over two hundred li.
Wu Deceit remained colorless and formless, but its size had expanded several times over.
Ren Qing turned to stare at a corner.
Though he could not see Wu Deceit with his naked eyes, its general appearance had already been imprinted in his mind.
After advancing to No-Birth Immortal, Wu Deceit possessed a human face, the cry of an infant, the body of a beast, crystal-like fur, and a tortoise-shell-like doorway upon its abdomen.
Its essence was still the strange object of Disaster-Dispelling Method. After devouring all the other strange objects, it had transcended the boundaries of Disaster-Dispelling Method itself.
Wu Deceit appeared somewhat listless. Clearly, the information stream had tormented it badly, to the point that it instinctively chose to avoid Ren Qing.
The improvement of Disaster-Dispelling Method caused quite a bit of chaos among the cultivators in the cave dwelling, most of whom accidentally bumped into one another.
Ren Qing gradually restrained Disaster-Dispelling Method to avoid affecting the others.
The information stream surged.
[Disaster-Dispelling Method (Storyteller, Mirror Immortal, Disguise Technique, Longevous Tortoise)]
[Strange Object: Interstice Wu Deceit]
[Divine Ability: Walk Among Mortals]
Once the five strange objects had been forged into one, the connections between the primary and secondary techniques became terrifyingly strong, complementing one another whenever the technique was used.
Naturally, the most obvious improvement was in the divine ability Walk Among Mortals.
When Ren Qing used Walk Among Mortals, not only could he replace a specific individual, but he could also freely alter the identity connections among that person's blood relatives.
At any moment, he could transform himself into a powerful official from a noble household, a beggar on a street corner, or even a stray dog wandering the streets.
The primary and secondary techniques of Disaster-Dispelling Method were all far too bizarre. Combined with the influence of Heavenly Dao transformation, Ren Qing would need some time to adapt.
After roughly estimating the time required, Ren Qing instructed Ghost Shadow to remind him six months later before he continued advancing The Taotie Method to No-Birth Immortal.
Once The Taotie Method reached No-Birth Immortal, the recovery speed of the Heavenly Dao Crack would likely increase again, greatly accelerating his progress toward the Ascension Ladder.
Ren Qing focused on organizing his techniques and continuously attempted to deduce their Ascension Methods.
The activity within the cave dwelling grew quieter and quieter. Restraint Officers' Hall withdrew like an ant colony, leaving behind only vast and empty underground tunnels.
If the coverage area of Disaster-Dispelling Method had not been limited, then with Restraint Officers' Hall's ability to plunder resources, hollowing out the entire underground region of the Beast Pen would not have been difficult.
Ren Qing had planned for the evacuation of Restraint Officers' Hall to take a full year.
In reality, everything had nearly been moved out in just half a year.
After all, once the resource sites were transplanted, maintaining them required immense effort.
Take the medicinal fields placed outside Wuwei City, for example. The tens of thousands of herbs there had to be continuously nourished with Jianmu Technique. Otherwise, they would wither from being unable to adapt to the environment.
After several harvests, things would likely become much easier.
While organizing the evacuation, Li Tiangang also assigned some cultivators to remain stationed around the Forbidden Corpse, ready to activate its various mutated organs at any time.
Even if Ren Qing had already reached the Heavenly Aberration Realm, that did not guarantee safety. Enough cultivators still had to be available to control the Forbidden Corpse.
"We're still desperately short on manpower. If only Song Zongwu could wake up..."
Li Tiangang shook his head helplessly.
Even with the time flow advantage of the Stomach World, the rise of Restraint Officers' Hall had still come somewhat too late.
A mere several decades or a century was not enough to fully digest all the resources they had seized.
He only hoped that cultivators of Bai Bai's generation could quickly reach the peak of the Yin Difference Realm, allowing them to attempt breakthroughs with Ren Qing's assistance.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."
A suppressed voice echoed through the limestone cavern, instantly startling Li Tiangang awake.
His gaze shot toward the source, and his expression became uncertain.
It came from a jujube-red coffin soaking in a pungent medicinal broth.
The reason he had not yet returned to the Stomach World was specifically to protect Song Zongwu.
Because the soul-nourishing herbs could only fully express their medicinal properties within the Beast Pen, matters concerning Song Zongwu had been delayed.
Li Tiangang hurried over to the coffin.
The figure inside had indeed opened his eyes.
Song Zongwu's eyes were pale white. His face, covered in deep wrinkles, was filled with confusion. He looked like a dying old man, completely lacking his former appearance.
Li Tiangang immediately used an avian Strange Beast to notify all the Yang Spirit Realm cultivators and Ren Qing.
He fed Song Zongwu several life-extending pills. By nourishing his body, he indirectly strengthened the remnant soul within his Mud Pellet Palace.
After digesting the pills, Song Zongwu's complexion visibly improved.
Meanwhile, smoke rose from the top of the secondary head attached to his body, releasing the unique fluctuations of a magical artifact.
Clearly, the Soul Brain truly possessed the ability to restore intelligence to remnant souls.
Song Zongwu suddenly muttered to himself:
"Immovable Venerable, abiding long in the world, worthy of offerings in the age of decline, foremost field of blessings."
As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp pain twisted through his chest and abdomen.
The secondary head spat out a mouthful of blood, and Song Zongwu immediately closed his eyes and collapsed back into the coffin.
Li Tiangang frowned and was about to examine his condition when a person suddenly appeared before him.
Upon hearing the news regarding Song Zongwu, Ren Qing had rushed over immediately and had also heard the words spoken before Song Zongwu lost consciousness.
"Immovable Venerable, abiding long in the world, worthy of offerings in the age of decline, foremost field of blessings..."
This passage described Sitting-Deer Arhat.
Yet Song Zongwu's body contained not the slightest trace of Buddhist qi. Even the aura of his techniques had completely vanished.
A thought occurred to Ren Qing.
Could the remaining fragments of Song Zongwu's soul have been devoured by Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi?
The possibility seemed quite high.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible to deceive the Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi. If he wanted to retrieve it, he would have to find the location of Lingshan Temple.
Ren Qing currently had no good solution.
At the very least, however, he could confirm one thing. If Song Zongwu's soul truly resided within the Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi, then there was no need to worry about his lifespan running out.
The other Yang Spirit Realm cultivators soon arrived at the cave dwelling and stood at the entrance, not daring to disturb Ren Qing.
"Everyone, disperse and make your preparations. We'll be departing soon."
As he spoke, Ren Qing extended his right arm.
Countless fungal thread-like strands wrapped around Song Zongwu before spreading throughout his flesh and bones.
Even though Bone Teeth Technique had already been integrated into Corpse of Fengdu, it did not prevent him from using it.
Its Yin Difference Realm stage, Spine-Attached Bone Demon, and Yang Spirit Realm stage, Spiderweb Bone Demon, were both abilities oriented toward support.
Ren Qing could use marrow-transformed threads to animate the bones of others.
When used on Song Zongwu, it served to prevent the decline of his flesh and blood.
Aside from locating Lingshan Temple, Ren Qing felt that Song Zongwu's revival would likely depend upon the Stomach World.
The solution might lie within No-Birth Immortal and the Ascension Ladder.