The skeletal magical artifact and the ghost ship traveled one after the other, taking five years to cross the Endless Forest.
Flying through the sky was indeed much safer, but it had to be admitted that without the ability to fly, entering the Endless Forest meant certain death.
This massive restricted zone formed from the corpse of a Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator was, to most factions, neither worth exploiting nor worth abandoning.
After spending tremendous effort searching for the corpse, all they might end up with were a few scattered scraps of flesh.
With no one governing it, the forest continued expanding in every direction, assimilating every neighboring landscape into lush woodland.
In a sense, Xiangxiang truly was located in an extremely remote region.
Not far from Xiangxiang lay Jingzhou, ruled by the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal. To the northeast stood the unfathomable Supreme Heavenly Demon and the Cishi of Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva, where immortals and Buddhas gathered together.
Combined with the Endless Forest at its back, Xiangxiang was like a pebble beside an abyss, inconspicuous enough that no force had ever bothered passing through it.
It was precisely such a harsh environment that had allowed the Restraint Officers' Hall to grow into a faction of considerable size.
The skeletal magical artifact gradually slowed, seemingly approaching its destination.
Along the journey, it had repeatedly altered its flight path, clearly probing for the invisible ghost ship following behind.
However, the ghost ship had been refined by Ren Qing many times. It possessed an artifact spirit with considerable intelligence and lacked the rigidity of ordinary magical artifacts.
When faced with danger, the ghost ship instead displayed absolute focus, clinging to its prey like a starving wolf.
Wherever the skeletal magical artifact went, it immediately followed close behind.
What puzzled Ren Qing, however, was that although the ghost ship remained concealed beneath Disaster-Dispelling Method, the skeletal cultivators had obviously already noticed its existence. Several years should have been more than enough to determine its approximate location.
Yet the skeletal cultivators showed no intention of making a move. Toward the end, they even seemed to be deliberately leading the ghost ship onward.
Another cultivator might have chosen to retreat under such circumstances, but Ren Qing was different. His life-preserving methods were so numerous that he could practically act without restraint.
Moreover, the turtle shell's divination showed "misfortune accompanied by fortune," and the crack representing the ominous sign wasn't particularly long.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged in one of the guest rooms inside the cabin. A glazed window was set into the wall, allowing him to observe the outside world.
Accompanied by the flapping of seabirds' wings, a magnificent ocean came into view.
As the crimson morning sun rose, heaven and earth transformed from darkness into brilliant light within only a few minutes, as though immortals and Buddhas had drawn open a great curtain.
Although the Stomach World also contained a Sea of Wine, he had always observed it from the Heavenly Dao's perspective. By now, it had been over a hundred years since he had truly seen an ocean.
Ren Qing withdrew his gaze. Considering how terrifying this world was, it was difficult to imagine how many indescribable horrors lay hidden beyond the sea.
He also noticed several cargo-carrying magical artifacts suspended in the sky, each stranger than the last.
Some resembled giant wooden stakes woven entirely from thorns. Others appeared as semi-transparent clouds of smoke within which pavilions and towers could vaguely be seen. Buddhist factions were present as well, their magical artifacts looking like enormous balls of flesh covered in razor-sharp teeth.
The factions controlling these magical artifacts varied in strength, but all were clearly waiting above the sea.
Ren Qing closed his eyes and connected to Great Dream True Person's immortal office. He immediately confirmed that all of them were targeting Great Dream True Person's location.
Great Dream True Person wasn't underground at all, but at least ten thousand li beneath the sea.
Without any magical artifact, how had Great Dream True Person reached the ocean floor? And why had the immortal position attracted so many factions?
Ren Qing clearly remembered that when Xiangxiang was destroyed, Great Dream True Person's parting words had indicated that he intended to search for the corpse of Lord Tai Sui. How had he suddenly ended up beneath the sea?
As the ghost ship approached the shoreline, ruins resembling buildings could clearly be seen buried beneath the sand, along with long-abandoned farmland.
However, the beach was covered with countless bones, while the scent of blood had attracted innumerable seabirds.
Clearly, the various factions had not arrived very long ago. They had only recently slaughtered everything along the coastline, exterminating an inconvenient tribe.
From time to time, the magical artifacts also dumped great quantities of corpses into the sea.
Ren Qing studied the magical artifacts of the various factions and sensed a Heavenly Aberration realm aura. However, it was rather unstable and posed little threat.
While he secretly observed them, the skeletal magical artifact had already flown over the sea.
The various factions seemed to tacitly accept the skeletal cultivators' actions, remaining roughly a thousand meters apart from one another, creating an invisible yet unsettling atmosphere.
Before long, figures appeared atop the magical artifacts and turned their attention toward the skeletal magical artifact.
Their clothing varied greatly. Some wore ordinary Daoist robes, others kasayas embroidered with grotesque faces, while still others wore robes woven entirely from plants.
The skeletal cultivators then crawled out from within their magical artifact.
Each stood only about a meter tall, with grotesquely twisted skeletons and skulls several times larger than normal.
None of them spoke to one another, yet their expressions were extraordinarily complicated.
Some were greedy, some astonished, and others revealed an incomprehensible fear in their eyes, as though performing a silent play.
"Hm?"
Ren Qing suddenly noticed something.
Regardless of how vastly different their cultivation techniques were, the cultivators of every faction looked astonishingly alike, as though they were identical twins.
Even the skeletal cultivators, whose heads lacked even a trace of flesh, possessed nearly identical skull shapes.
"What the hell? An external incarnation?"
"Could it... have something to do with the immortal position beneath the sea?"
Ren Qing found the situation increasingly bizarre. While he was still pondering it, another town-sized magical artifact arrived from the distance and came to a stop above the sea.
A cultivator flew out from within the city, and his appearance was once again identical to the others, like a blood brother.
Ren Qing quietly activated Zhili Technique. Since he dared not attract attention, he couldn't probe the memories of the cultivators from the various factions.
Even so, he vaguely sensed that most of them were completely unfamiliar with this place, as though they were visiting it for the first time.
Without drawing attention, Ren Qing guided the ghost ship toward the gathering of factions while gradually removing the Disaster-Dispelling Method covering it.
His many abilities already allowed him to hide in plain sight. By removing Disaster-Dispelling Method, he could use the information flow at close range without raising suspicion.
The scene was undeniably strange. The information flow would certainly reveal many clues.
Ren Qing had come for the immortal position. The actions of these factions were clearly related to the immortal position's abilities, and understanding them would make it much easier for him to prepare future contingencies.
The ghost ship slowly departed the Endless Forest. Since its associated techniques were The Taotie Method and Human Skin Book, the aura it emitted was utterly ordinary.
A sea breeze swept across the flesh-like deck, causing the human-skin sails to flutter in the wind.
The skeletal cultivators recognized the ghost ship as the magical artifact that had followed them throughout the journey. Their upper and lower jaws clattered together, producing eerie laughter.
The short skeletal cultivator crawled back into the skull, seemingly changing into a different body.
The shape of its skull was indeed no longer the same. Its elongated spine resembled a dragon-serpent as it stared fixedly at Ren Qing with unconcealed eagerness.
Ren Qing appeared upon the ghost ship's deck. Thanks to his disguise technique, he had perfectly imitated the face shared by all the cultivators.
When the cultivators saw his nearly identical appearance, they all froze briefly, proving that none of them understood why they all looked alike.
Immediately afterward, for reasons unknown, none of them showed the slightest suspicion. They naturally accepted his presence among them.
Ren Qing frowned slightly and summoned the information flow.
---
[Daoist Mu Snake]
[Age: 1,751]
[Lifespan: None]
[Technique: Dragon Bone Method (Bone Severance)]
[Dragon Bone Method]
[Created by Daoist Dragon-Serpent. Cultivation requires mutating one's spine into serpent bones, then removing it and replacing it with a flood dragon spine. Survival is required for success.]
[Maximum potential: Heavenly Aberration realm.]
[Cannot be cultivated alongside other techniques.]
---
[Age: 1,333]
[Lifespan: 76 years]
[Technique: Joy Sutra (Perfected Realm)]
[Joy Sutra]
[Created by Joy Arhat. Cultivation requires Joy Arhat to leave behind a trace of Buddhist light within the cultivator's dantian, which is then nurtured using one's own flesh and blood before the technique can be mastered.]
---
The Snake Shedding Method created by Daoist Mu Snake remained one of the mainstream techniques within the Soldier Vein due to its unique skin-shedding ability.
Ren Qing had never expected him to still be alive.
Yet the technique Daoist Mu Snake now cultivated originated from Daoist Dragon-Serpent, the creator of Dragon-Serpent Spine.
After carefully observing him, Ren Qing guessed that Daoist Mu Snake's Ascension Method had likely incorporated the Spine Bearer branch of Bone Armor Technique.
The Yin Difference realm of Spine Bearer was known as "Immortal Within the Bone." After death, the skeleton would develop intelligence and become a White Bone Immortal.
This was most likely Daoist Mu Snake's current state, neither alive nor dead.
As expected, Tianzong was likely the current Buddhist Son of Joy Arhat, and his cultivation had probably already reached the Heavenly Aberration realm.
Ordinarily, once a Fruit Position reached perfection, its owner would be devoured by Buddhist qi within a hundred years.
Tianzong still had seventy-six years remaining.
Once his lifespan was exhausted, what awaited him would be Joy Arhat's ruthless seizure of everything.
Daoist Mu Snake and Tianzong were the only two Heavenly Aberration realm experts present.
One was a corpse after death.
The other had already attained true Buddhahood.
No wonder their Heavenly Aberration realm auras were so unstable.
Both were trapped within the Dharma-Birth Path.
Ren Qing swept the information flow across every cultivator from the gathered factions and noticed that nearly all of them were exactly 1,333 years old.
That proved they had all been born in the same year, perhaps even sharing the exact same birth date and hour.
Only Daoist Mu Snake's age differed, but he had died once before.
There was no way so many coincidences could exist.
Ren Qing believed it wasn't mere luck that had brought him here.
Situations like this likely occurred at regular intervals.
People with identical appearances and identical birth dates.
How many such people existed?
Why had they all come to this sea?
And did it all have something to do with the immortal position?
No one spoke.
Many cultivators returned to their magical artifacts, showing obvious caution toward Daoist Mu Snake.
Ren Qing, however, paid him no attention whatsoever.
As long as Ren Qing didn't deliberately reveal his Heavenly Aberration realm cultivation, the ghost ship alone was too ordinary to attract notice.
Only Daoist Mu Snake continued staring fixedly at Ren Qing, his eyes overflowing with undisguised greed, especially whenever they swept across Ren Qing's spine.
To him, Ren Qing emitted an irresistible allure, like an immortal pill that would allow immediate ascension upon consumption.
Daoist Mu Snake had repeatedly confirmed this during their journey, and after finally seeing Ren Qing in person, he could barely restrain himself.
An indescribable aura of death leaked from his body.
His teeth ground against one another.
Had he not been wary of the others present, he would likely have already driven his magical artifact over.
Ren Qing ignored Daoist Mu Snake completely.
With both the Fengdu Corpse Emperor and the Primordial Unity Ancestor Dragon immortal positions, even if he were reduced to ashes, he could still utterly suppress Daoist Mu Snake.
His gaze met Tianzong's for several breaths before Tianzong laughed heartily.
"This benefactor, although I do not sense that you cultivate Buddhist Dharma, you understand Buddhist principles, and you carry Buddhist affinity. You are truly destined for Buddhism."
Ren Qing walked straight into the ship's cabin, leaving behind only Tianzong's repeated chants of "Amitabha."