The thorny magical artifact gradually moved farther away from the ghost ship.
Even as it was falling apart under the crushing water pressure, it still fled from the ghost ship as though escaping a plague.
Ren Qing's terrifying display of strength had truly frightened them.
The plant cultivators could sense the aura emitted by living beings.
When Ren Qing transformed into his dragon form, he was like a blazing torch in the darkness, impossibly conspicuous.
Daoist Evergreen stood inside the thorny magical artifact.
His entire body was composed of plants, though his brain remained no different from that of an ordinary person.
The remaining plant cultivators were all only about half a meter tall.
They had fused their flesh-transformed thorny bodies into the magical artifact, causing their cultivation to weaken continuously.
Daoist Evergreen had already suspected that the cultivator aboard the ghost ship possessed Heavenly Aberration Realm strength.
After all, the ghost ship had acted with complete confidence.
It had effortlessly dealt with Daoist Mu Snake's repeated provocations.
But when two Heavenly Aberration Realm experts simultaneously targeted the ghost ship, even the strongest cultivator should have been doomed.
Daoist Evergreen couldn't help feeling a sense of shared misfortune.
Yet what he hadn't expected was that Ren Qing's strength couldn't simply be described as Heavenly Aberration Realm.
He had most likely already reached the perfection of the Heavenly Aberration Realm.
Daoist Evergreen shuddered.
He voluntarily lowered his cultivation to reinforce the magical artifact, hoping to use the opportunity to distance himself from that ship which resembled a living creature.
Just then, the deck of the ghost ship began writhing.
Chains of flesh extended from within, piercing directly into the interior of the thorny magical artifact and forcibly connecting themselves to the artifact itself.
Daoist Evergreen couldn't help coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Ownership of the magical artifact changed hands in an instant.
The thorny magical artifact was dragged beside the ghost ship.
Its downward plunge immediately stopped as it hovered in the pitch-black depths of the sea.
Daoist Evergreen stood frozen for several breaths before quickly coming to his senses.
This person was even more unfathomable than he had imagined.
Even the crushing pressure that could overwhelm Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivators was something the other party resisted with ease.
The ghost ship definitely hadn't dragged over the thorny magical artifact out of kindness.
Still, no matter what happened afterward, at least they were safe for the time being.
Daoist Evergreen offered no resistance and quietly focused on recovering.
Black smoke seeped from the ghost ship.
Within moments, the ghost shadow had enveloped both magical artifacts, causing the water pressure to vanish completely.
Naturally, Ren Qing had no intention of giving up on the immortal position hidden beneath the sea.
However, now that they had reached a depth of ten thousand meters, it was about time to release the first batch of shrimp larvae and observe the feasibility of spreading dragon blood.
At the same time, despite the divination showing no worsening omen, Ren Qing felt an inexplicable sense of dread, as though something existed in the abyss below.
As for the plant cultivators, allowing them to continue sinking would certainly kill them.
He might as well use them to determine the true nature of the immortal position.
Perhaps they could even survive.
Ren Qing couldn't help glancing toward the Stomach World.
After Daoist Mu Snake had been imprisoned within the third layer of the Underworld, he had been turned entirely into fertile ground for nurturing yin qi.
The yin qi inside the cave dwellings had already grown roughly thirty percent denser, greatly benefiting the Corpse Vein.
Ren Qing still hadn't decided how to deal with Daoist Mu Snake.
For now, he would first use the Zhili Technique to obtain his memories.
Killing him outright would be rather wasteful.
In truth, bringing him into the Restraint Officers' Hall would also allow complete control over him.
However, a Heavenly Aberration Realm Daoist Mu Snake would undoubtedly disrupt the balance of power within the Restraint Officers' Hall, reducing the authority of the Yang God Realm cultivators.
Ren Qing rubbed his temples with a headache and stopped thinking about Daoist Mu Snake for the time being.
He noticed that the Flesh Buddha in the Western Buddhist Realm had become increasingly inefficient at absorbing Buddhist qi.
It would probably become full within five years.
The Flesh Buddha's cultivation had already reached the Ghost Envoy Realm.
Unfortunately, it hadn't developed any additional abilities, so its strength hadn't improved much.
To Ren Qing, the Flesh Buddha was essentially a unique external incarnation.
After all, it had been created from a split soul while incorporating numerous techniques.
After carefully inspecting the Flesh Buddha and confirming that it truly had no hidden flaws, his consciousness entered the Wine Sea.
The Oblivion Shrimp were all being raised in the lake on the remote island.
After more than ten years of breeding, their population had already reached the ecological limit the lake could support.
Looking across the surface, it was almost entirely covered by finger-sized Oblivion Shrimp larvae.
The newest generation of Oblivion Shrimp larvae resembled water snakes even more.
Their entire bodies were covered in scales, and slender dragon tendons had grown along their backs.
Their mouthparts still belonged to shrimp, however, making them look rather mismatched.
There were nearly a million shrimp larvae in total.
Most had already reached the Scaled Carp stage, proving they were born with a certain amount of dragon blood.
The original ten thousand adult shrimp still remained at the Water Snake stage without showing the slightest sign of advancing into Flood Serpents.
Ren Qing selected several hundred thousand shrimp larvae and brought them into the aquarium aboard the ghost ship.
After all, they still needed time to adapt to the outside world's environment and food.
The deep sea was freezing cold, and its salinity far exceeded that of the Stomach World.
Seven or eight thousand Oblivion Shrimp immediately floated lifelessly to the surface of the aquarium.
The remaining shrimp fought over the corpses, staining the seawater a dark crimson with blood.
Seeing this, Ren Qing implanted an instinct that prevented the Oblivion Shrimp from killing their own kind.
He then used Dragon Roar Within the Casket to remodel their bodily structures.
Their internal organs needed to withstand immense water pressure.
They also required organs capable of distinguishing objects in total darkness, along with greatly enhanced digestive systems.
Modifying living creatures was actually no easier than creating cultivation techniques.
Even the body of an Oblivion Shrimp was incomparably more complicated than a magical artifact.
The slightest mistake would cause its flesh to collapse completely.
Fortunately, there were enough Oblivion Shrimp available.
Only after sacrificing ten thousand did he finally find the correct template.
After completing the modifications, Ren Qing fed them before leaving them alone.
Now he simply had to wait until the larvae matured.
Otherwise, in the eyes of the colossal creatures living ten thousand meters beneath the sea, the Oblivion Shrimp wouldn't even qualify as something to lodge between their teeth.
Besides, he still needed the disease strain to ensure dragon blood spread quickly enough.
Ren Qing also checked on the Flood Merfolk.
After mastering the Flood Dragon Method, their personalities remained savage, but their intelligence had indeed improved considerably.
Inside the cramped cabin, they had already formed a unique tribal system with distinct elements of theocracy.
Because the ghost shadow delivered food twice each day, the merfolk believed that offerings made through ritual caused food to appear.
As a result, their sacrificial customs only became more deeply rooted.
When Ren Qing appeared, every Flood Merfolk immediately prostrated themselves.
The instinct engraved deep within their bloodline filled them with absolute reverence toward the Dragon Ancestor.
Ren Qing didn't interfere with the Flood Merfolk.
Next, they would be entering the perilous deep sea.
At the very least, their rituals would preserve the firmness of their faith.
Only after the Flood Merfolk tribe reached sufficient size would they be able to continuously gather resources from the resource-rich deep sea and supply them back to the Stomach World.
Ren Qing looked outside.
Large quantities of exposed ore covered the rocky seabed.
However, it remained barren, with very little aquatic vegetation or other food.
There were quite a few fish, but...
Ren Qing instructed the ghost shadow to capture several fish from the seabed and bring them into the cabin.
The strange phenomenon he had witnessed during his earlier dissections remained fresh in his memory.
At a depth of ten thousand meters, marine life had grown enormously.
The fish captured by the ghost shadow were all at least two meters long.
Their appearances were incredibly ferocious, while their sturdy bodies rivaled Half-Corpse Realm cultivators.
Their abdominal cavities were filled with pale red blood.
As soon as the skin was pierced, the blood gushed out together with bits of aquatic vegetation and debris.
Their internal organs had already become animate, though blood vessels still connected them to the main body.
Ren Qing looked somewhat puzzled.
He picked up the fish liver between his fingers.
Scales had grown across its surface.
It also possessed eyes, a mouth, and fins.
It was clearly a miniature fish.
Even the Information Stream displayed no difference.
The deep-sea fish fed on aquatic plants and sand.
Inside the gillfish's stomach was a miniature gillfish.
Could this be some unique reproductive method of deep-sea fish?
Or was it an effect of the immortal position?
Suddenly realizing something, Ren Qing immediately cut open the belly of the miniature gillfish.
More blood flowed out.
Its internal organs had likewise become animate.
The fingernail-sized organs continued flopping about.
Under the influence of the immortal position, it seemed the fish formed an endless chain within one another.
Inside every fish belly seemed to exist a miniature ocean.
Within the fish inhabiting that miniature ocean was yet another even smaller ocean inside its own belly.
Ren Qing had no idea what awaited them at the true seabed.
But the rules governing this place had clearly been turned completely upside down.
He hurriedly inspected his own body, worried that his internal organs might undergo the same animation.
Fortunately, the immortal position appeared to affect only fish of every size.
Ren Qing frowned slightly before closing his eyes and continuing to deduce the Ascension Method of the Disaster-Dispelling Method.
Time passed silently.
Within the endless darkness, there was no way to distinguish day from night or the changing of the seasons.
Only after the disease strain had finally finished developing did Ren Qing realize that more than half a year had passed.
He had already remained beneath the sea for well over several years.
The disease strain had not disappointed him.
Disease Strain: Blood Poison
The Blood Poison disease strain allowed descendants to inherit characteristics from their blood relatives, slowing the rate at which dragon blood became diluted with each successive generation as much as possible.
More importantly, under the influence of the Blood Poison disease strain, dragons could no longer increase the purity of their bloodline by devouring others of their own kind.
Ren Qing's objective was to spread dragon blood.
If dragons endlessly slaughtered one another, then once an individual with sufficiently high intelligence appeared, all the other dragons would quickly become nothing more than livestock.
He spread the Blood Poison disease strain throughout the Oblivion Shrimp population before releasing several hundred thousand of them into the surrounding waters.
Because of the crushing water pressure, another third of the shrimp died.
However, the survivors quickly adapted to the harsh deep-sea environment.
Whether through the Zhili Technique or Ancestral Lineage Derivation, Ren Qing could clearly sense every nearby Oblivion Shrimp.
Some burrowed into cracks within the rocks.
The rest were immediately targeted by marine creatures, all of which rushed toward what appeared to be weak prey.
As the slaughter unfolded, the Oblivion Shrimp were devoured.
The marine creatures were immediately infected by the dragon blood.
The amount of dragon blood they possessed remained extremely low.
Nor could they strengthen it by consuming dragons.
However, the dragon bloodline would continue to be inherited generation after generation.
Feeling the steady spread of dragon blood, Ren Qing patiently continued cultivating new lifeforms.
This time, he focused on coral.
Using the Blood Poison disease strain together with Dragon Roar Within the Casket, he created an extremely unique species known as Dragon Blood Coral.
Dragon Blood Coral contained the Blood Poison disease strain.
Every so often, it produced fruit capable of increasing the concentration of dragon blood.
Coral reproduced at astonishing speed.
Within only half a year, it had already spread across the surrounding rock walls.
An ecosystem belonging solely to dragons was born through Ren Qing's own hands, spreading through the deep sea at a terrifying pace.
As a result, the progress of Ancestral Lineage Derivation far surpassed all of his other techniques.
Even his Heavenly Dao Transformation quietly began recovering more quickly.
Although the improvement remained subtle, the benefits of spreading dragon blood were already becoming apparent.
Ren Qing also transplanted Dragon Blood Coral into the Stomach World.
There was no need for the Blood Poison disease strain there.
After all, the Stomach World followed the path of cultivating elites rather than sheer numbers.
After thinking for a moment, he instructed the ghost shadow to drag the thorny magical artifact upward.
Daoist Evergreen had initially believed he had finally found hope.
Instead, he discovered that over the following period, Ren Qing repeatedly ascended and descended through the waters.
His heart completely sank into despair.
Little did he know that this stretch of ocean resembled a massive trench.
Ren Qing intended to completely occupy it with dragon blood, turning it into a stronghold from which it would spread throughout the entire world.