he ghost shadow didn't take long to finish refining the aquarium inside the ghost ship. It covered more than a thousand square meters, complete with aquatic plants growing within it.
Ren Qing immediately controlled the ghost ship and swam toward the southwestern waters.
The other factions were all caught off guard.
They were struggling with all their strength against the crushing water pressure, so how could the ghost ship move about so freely?
The ghost ship quickly disappeared into the darkness, leaving the surroundings silent once again.
Roar...
A terrifying low growl echoed from every direction.
They had clearly entered an unknown region, and the current depth had reached around four thousand meters.
Tianzong softly chanted, "Amitabha."
He vaguely remembered that the Tracing Fish drifting not far from his magical artifact was a common species found in shallow waters.
Yet in the four-thousand-meter-deep sea, the Tracing Fish had grown to well over a hundred times its normal size.
Tianzong raised a hand and released Buddhist qi, pulling the Tracing Fish into the magical artifact.
The nearby monks stared hungrily at the fish.
Although Joy Temple forbade eating meat, they had no choice under the current circumstances.
The Tracing Fish was immediately butchered.
Its flesh was plump and juicy, but the organs in its abdomen were disturbingly abnormal.
Facial features had actually grown across the surface of its organs.
The constantly opening and closing fish eyes were especially unsettling.
The pupils of the monks gradually lost focus.
As for the novice monks with weaker cultivation, their pupils even began twitching uncontrollably, creating a horrifying sight.
"Amitabha..."
Tianzong pressed his palms together.
A ruthless glint flashed across his compassionate face before he turned toward the gathered monks.
"I have received the Buddha's revelation. We must establish an altar and offer sacrifices to the Buddha in order to escape this place."
Naturally, sacrificing to the Buddha required human lives.
Only then would the Joy Buddha Fruit Position be willing to intervene.
Originally, Ren Qing alone would have been enough.
Now, at least half the monks would have to die.
Even Tianzong himself would have to sacrifice part of his lifespan.
Just as Tianzong's gaze flickered, the ghost ship slowly drifted back into formation.
He stood frozen for several breaths.
His fingers accidentally crushed the string of Buddhist prayer beads in his hand, sending the beads scattering across the floor as astonishment filled his face.
"Master..."
The fat monk's call finally brought Tianzong back to his senses.
He regained his composure and said,
"It seems the Buddha sacrifice can wait a little longer."
The ghost ship had briefly departed simply to catch fish and shrimp.
Using the dragonized ghost shadow, Ren Qing collected all kinds of fish along with several tons of "Oblivion Shrimp."
Oblivion Shrimp were extremely common schooling shrimp.
Even in the deep sea, though they had grown somewhat larger, they were still only thumb-sized.
It could be said that, aside from plankton, Oblivion Shrimp occupied the very bottom of the food chain.
Moreover, shrimp were among the more suitable creatures for dragon transformation.
Their armored shells resembled those of insects, making them excellent vessels for carrying dragon blood.
As prey species, Oblivion Shrimp would spread dragon blood far more efficiently than one could imagine.
Ren Qing threw the Oblivion Shrimp into the aquarium before dripping a small amount of dragon blood into the water.
The entire aquarium immediately began boiling as though filled with scalding water.
He didn't use Dragon Roar Within the Casket right away.
Instead, he first allowed the million Oblivion Shrimp to eliminate one another until only ten thousand remained.
Otherwise, providing enough food for them would require an astronomical amount of resources.
Ren Qing then bent down to inspect the marine creatures he had caught along the way.
An immortal position existed somewhere on this seabed.
Surely the local lifeforms would be affected by it.
He certainly didn't believe an immortal position possessed the intelligence to distinguish specific targets.
Ren Qing examined the fish with the Information Stream and found nothing unusual.
Only after cutting open one of their bellies did pale red blood pour out together with several internal organs.
He frowned slightly and carefully examined the fish liver.
An eyeball had already grown from the liver.
Although blood vessels still connected it to the body, circulation between the two had almost completely ceased.
The liver twitched several more times before falling completely still.
Ren Qing inspected the remaining seafood.
He discovered that only fish displayed these abnormalities.
Octopuses, sea turtles, shellfish, and other marine creatures remained completely unchanged.
"Why are fish organs showing signs of becoming alive?"
Ren Qing tossed the seafood into the Flood Merfolk's storage compartment as an extra meal while observing whether the fish meat itself contained anything strange.
The flesh proved entirely normal.
However, the Flood Merfolk had already begun displaying a clear social hierarchy.
The strongest among them always received food first.
Women and children came next.
The elderly received the least fish.
It seemed that after cultivating the Flood Dragon Method, the Flood Merfolk's intelligence was indeed improving.
Ren Qing returned to the aquarium.
The Oblivion Shrimp were still slaughtering one another, while many enormous individuals had emerged victorious.
The transformation of shrimp into Water Snakes manifested as a tough, translucent dragon tendon growing beside the digestive tract used for excretion.
Once that occurred, their swimming speed would become astonishingly fast.
Ren Qing's Spirit Division entered the Mud Pellet Palace.
He extracted the "Bloodline Disease Strain" and the "Prion Disease Strain," placing them into blank disease fruits and beginning to steer them toward hereditary bloodline diseases.
Bloodline Disease referred to inherited blood-related illnesses passed down to descendants and was considered a fairly common disease.
The Prion Disease Strain was much more unusual.
It primarily originated from human flesh.
Cannibalism could easily infect someone with prions, thereby affecting the mind.
Ren Qing wanted any creature that consumed dragon flesh to become infected by dragon blood to the greatest possible extent, gradually transforming toward the Water Snake stage.
Otherwise, relying solely on dragon blood diluted countless times over made dragon transformation virtually impossible.
The number of Oblivion Shrimp steadily decreased.
By the time only ten thousand remained, every one of them had grown to nearly half a meter long.
Their appearance resembled a cross between shrimp and snakes.
Ren Qing's thoughts stirred.
The Oblivion Shrimp that had been locked in mortal combat immediately became peaceful.
Having only just reached the Water Snake stage, what dragon would dare oppose the Dragon Ancestor?
He then used Dragon Roar Within the Casket to push the Oblivion Shrimp even closer toward the Flood Serpent stage.
The Oblivion Shrimp struggled frantically.
Their shells were torn away piece by piece, replaced by dense scales.
Their appearance only became stranger.
Ren Qing transferred the Oblivion Shrimp into the Stomach World and selected a lake on a remote island.
Using accelerated time, he intended to have them reproduce as quickly as possible.
The newborn shrimp would be the ones released into the outside world.
By the time Ren Qing finished cultivating the Oblivion Shrimp, the ghost ship had unknowingly descended to a depth of nine thousand meters.
He glanced at the turtle shell.
His Heavenly Dao Crack was now capable of bearing five thousand years of lifespan.
Yet he felt absolutely no passage of time.
Ren Qing didn't immediately advance Disaster-Dispelling Method.
At the very least, he wanted to wait until the situation stabilized.
Buzz...
A gigantic jellyfish several hundred meters across slowly drifted by.
The poison released from its tentacles exterminated every living creature and every strand of aquatic vegetation nearby.
Seven-colored light spread throughout the surrounding waters.
The jellyfish hadn't cultivated any techniques.
Yet the aura it naturally emitted was already comparable to the Yang God Realm.
Blood flowed from within the thorny magical artifact.
Stimulated by the dazzling lights, the cultivators inside began slaughtering one another.
They were about to reach ten thousand meters beneath the sea.
It felt as though they had entered the kingdom of colossal creatures.
Even the largest fleshball magical artifact seemed insignificant by comparison.
Tianzong stared directly into the shifting lights.
His expression twisted hideously.
There was no sense of time.
No food.
Not even true light.
Unlike the plant cultivators aboard the thorny magical artifact or the White Bone cultivators aboard the skeletal magical artifact, the Joy Temple monks possessed nothing more than mortal flesh.
Their minds had remained under relentless strain the entire time.
Facing the increasingly profound darkness of the deep sea, even enlightened monks could only descend into madness.
The fat monk burst into laughter as he repeatedly slammed his forehead against the floor.
"It must be the Western Paradise! We've finally arrived! Master, we..."
Tianzong's Buddhist qi erupted.
At least thirty or forty monks instantly became corpses.
The remaining monks continued staring blankly at the shifting lights.
A flesh altar quickly took shape.
Joy Buddhist qi became increasingly active.
The intelligence of the Arhat Fruit Position wasn't particularly high, but its craving for souls was almost impossible to suppress.
A blood sacrifice truly was the simplest method of "inviting the Buddha."
Although Tianzong's total Buddhist qi hadn't increased, the area it covered expanded several times over.
Without the slightest hesitation, he seized control of his magical artifact.
His burning gaze fixed upon the ghost ship as dense Buddhist qi surged from his body.
Blood vessels spread across the surface of the fleshball magical artifact until it transformed into a gigantic beating heart.
The instant Tianzong made his move, Daoist Mu Snake let out continuous eerie laughter as he drove the skeletal magical artifact toward Ren Qing.
Aside from the already overwhelmed plant cultivators, both factions turned hostile simultaneously.
However, the skeletal magical artifact remained some distance from the ghost ship and deliberately lagged behind.
It was clearly treating Tianzong as a test.
Buddhist qi flooded into the giant heart.
As the flesh writhed, an enormous arm grew from it and grabbed hold of the ghost ship before it could escape.
The Yin Difference Realm was the ghost ship's greatest weakness.
Against a Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivator, it had no ability to resist.
The gigantic jellyfish was startled by the Buddhist qi.
Its flashing lights became even more dazzling, instantly turning everything within a thousand meters into broad daylight.
Bathed in that light, fish and shrimp became lifeless corpses drifting through the water.
Daoist Mu Snake instinctively clutched his skull.
The jellyfish's light actually caused waves of agonizing pain within his soul.
Yet at that very moment, Tianzong's astonished cry of "Amitabha!" echoed through the sea.
It was immediately followed by a beastlike roar.
Thunder mixed with the dazzling light as Tianzong desperately released Buddhist qi without restraint.
For a Buddhist Son whose Fruit Position had already reached perfection, consuming too much Buddhist qi could easily trigger the Fruit Position into erupting and devouring him ahead of time.
Yet Daoist Mu Snake could clearly sense that Tianzong had gone all out from the very beginning of the battle.
However, after only a few breaths, every trace of activity vanished.
Only the rippling currents left behind by the fleeing gigantic jellyfish remained.
Daoist Mu Snake stared into the darkness outside in disbelief.
Nothing remained but endless blackness.
Driven by greed, he released ghostly blue flames that barely illuminated a small area.
A colossal shadow enveloped the skeletal magical artifact.
It was a dragon's head several hundred meters across.
Its dragon horns stretched for nearly a thousand meters.
Silver-gray eyes stared emotionlessly at the skeletal magical artifact.
With every breath from the dragon's nostrils and mouth, bolts of lightning dozens of meters long struck nearby rock formations, nearly blasting straight through the solid stone.
"How... is this possible..."
Daoist Mu Snake suddenly realized that Ren Qing wasn't some mere flood dragon.
He was an Yinglong, with one foot already standing within the Earth Immortal Realm.
His Dragon Snake Spine body had become completely unusable.
He attempted to ignite the death qi within himself.
Instead, the death qi was forcibly extracted from his body.
The last thing Daoist Mu Snake saw was the dragon's head opening its mouth and swallowing the skeletal magical artifact whole.
His consciousness immediately fell into darkness.
The plant cultivators aboard the thorny magical artifact were utterly stunned.
They watched the Yinglong dive back into the ghost ship, staring blankly at one another for a long time without speaking.
Ren Qing sealed the skeletal magical artifact within the third level of the Underworld inside the Stomach World.
Only the cave dwellings excavated by corpse ghosts occupied the area, leaving plenty of empty space.
However, Tianzong proved much more troublesome to deal with.
He had only managed to knock him unconscious.
Daoist Mu Snake could be handled however he wished.
The Buddhist Fruit Position, however, was another matter entirely.
Sealing it inside the Stomach World could easily throw everything into chaos.
Ren Qing simply hid Tianzong within the ghost shadow.
Even if the Buddhist qi erupted violently, it wouldn't matter.
No matter how severe the ghost shadow's injuries became, it could recover with ease.