Under the crushing force of the immense gravity, none of the factions attempted to struggle. As a result, their rate of descent remained steady.
The magical artifacts gradually sank toward the seabed, and the sunlight filtering through the surface grew dimmer and dimmer.
In reality, this stretch of sea was not very far from the shore. The reason it seemed bottomless was that the terrain resembled a massive underwater canyon.
The magical artifacts were like objects falling into an abyss, enough to stir primal fear within anyone.
Compared to the tension gripping the other factions, the ghost ship still cruised through the water with ease, occasionally catching a few small fish and shrimp.
The ghost ship had once sailed through the Bottomless Pit and had long since grown accustomed to silent, lightless darkness.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged inside the cabin while the ghost shadow continuously reinforced the hull with various materials to prevent it from failing under the increasing water pressure.
The Human Skin Book's adaptability to its environment also came into play. In only a few days, the weaker parts of the hull stopped leaking altogether.
The ghost ship tilted aside, narrowly avoiding a bone chain that shot past.
The skeletal magical artifact attempted to close the distance, but within only a few breaths, the ghost ship had already swum away, never giving it the slightest opportunity.
Daoist Mu Snake was somewhat helpless. He had repeatedly tried to attack Ren Qing, only to discover that ever since the ghost ship had developed flood dragon characteristics, it no longer resembled a magical artifact at all. It was more like a living creature of flesh and blood.
Of course, this also further confirmed that Ren Qing likely possessed flood dragon bones.
Thinking of that, Daoist Mu Snake's heart burned with excitement. His upper and lower jaws continuously clicked together, and even the oppressive atmosphere seemed far less unbearable.
Little did Daoist Mu Snake know that the ghost ship's behavior was nothing more than the artifact spirit acting on instinct.
If Ren Qing actually made a move, then with the immortal positions of Fengdu Corpse Emperor and Primordial Unity Ancestor Dragon, even a perfected Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivator would have no ability to resist.
Daoist Mu Snake ought to be thankful that Ren Qing still intended to use him as a pathfinder.
Tianzong piloted his fleshball magical artifact. Though his expression remained calm, it could not suppress the fear deep within his heart. Likewise, there was nothing he could do against Ren Qing.
He couldn't help becoming wary.
Why had Ren Qing never once attempted to escape from beginning to end?
The final faction's magical artifact consisted of a mass of intertwined thorny vines. Only by continuously absorbing seawater and frantically growing more vegetation did it barely maintain its fragile balance.
Its leading cultivator was merely in the Yang God Realm.
The only reason he had survived this long was because he knew when to keep his head down.
Compared to them, Ren Qing was undoubtedly much more relaxed.
His cultivation was completely unaffected.
He even found spare time to refine auxiliary pills and further perfect the laws governing the Stomach World.
The ghost ship descended to a depth of five hundred meters beneath the sea.
Pitch-black darkness surrounded them. Even the Dharma Eyes of Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivators sometimes couldn't penetrate it.
The surroundings appeared desolate.
Yet whenever Ren Qing used Zhili Technique, he could sense tens of thousands of fish swimming through the darkness.
Ren Qing realized that releasing the severed Flood Serpents beforehand had been completely unnecessary.
Marine life itself was the ideal medium for Walk Among Mortals.
Even though the temperature dropped sharply as they descended, the number of living creatures showed no signs of decreasing.
While maintaining contact with Great Dream True Person, Ren Qing also continued modifying the ghost ship using the Aberrant Disease Strain.
However, because of the influence of the immortal position, the sea was filled with powerful interference. By the time they reached around five thousand meters, even the concept of time would likely become impossible to perceive.
Buzz...
A deep, resonant vibration echoed through the water.
A whale over a hundred meters long swam past the magical artifacts.
The current it generated nearly sent the thorny magical artifact tumbling away.
Ren Qing couldn't help but feel surprised.
He immediately inspected it with the Information Stream and discovered that it was an entirely ordinary whale.
Yet according to the memories from his previous life, whales normally lived at depths of around two thousand meters.
The giant fish within the Stomach World's Wine Sea were no different.
The ghost ship had only descended a few hundred meters.
Why were whales already appearing?
Although the laws of this world differed somewhat, many natural principles remained the same.
Whales possessed enormous internal organs capable of withstanding the immense pressure of the deep sea.
They shouldn't have been living in shallow waters.
Ren Qing carefully observed the surrounding area and also used the severed Flood Serpents to scout in every direction.
Within a hundred li, he discovered several more whales.
Most likely, some danger lurking in the deep sea had forced them into shallower waters.
Without a word, Ren Qing activated Disaster-Dispelling Method once again, concealing the ghost ship.
Should some unknown existence notice the magical artifact, it would unconsciously overlook the ghost ship.
Using both the Aberrant Disease Strain and Dragon Roar Within the Casket, he began further modifying the ghost ship's structure, making its hull even more streamlined.
Dragon Roar Within the Casket already possessed the ability to enlighten dragon beasts.
The fish scales covering the ghost ship became even more pronounced, while rows of razor-sharp fangs grew within its mouth.
A faint trace of dragon blood gradually appeared inside the ghost ship.
It could now be considered the lowest-grade "Water Snake."
Currents flowed naturally around its body as though it were born to command the sea.
Both Daoist Mu Snake and Tianzong noticed the ghost ship's transformation, yet there was still nothing either of them could do.
The surrounding fish seemed able to sense the dragon blood contained within the ghost ship.
Many palm-sized fish eagerly swam close to it.
Whenever the ghost ship occasionally shed a scale, the fish would instantly devour it completely.
Ren Qing suddenly realized that, without intending to, he was using the ghost ship as the source to spread dragon blood throughout the outside world.
Several fish had already begun evolving toward the Scaled Carp stage.
His thoughts stirred.
Wasn't this the perfect opportunity while they were beneath the sea?
If more fish inherited dragon blood, then through reproduction it would continue spreading.
Even if carnivorous fish devoured them, their flesh would still contain dragon blood.
The ocean was a giant dye vat.
Dragon blood was the perfect dye.
The only problem was that dragon descendants would inevitably see their bloodline diluted.
Water Snakes still counted as dragons.
By the time they reached the Scaled Carp stage, the dragon blood had become almost negligible.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes and instructed the ghost ship to capture more small fish and shrimp, intending to begin his experiments from the very bottom of the food chain.
He demolished the space occupied by fifty guest rooms and planned to reconstruct it into an enormous glass aquarium.
The ghost shadow took charge of refining the container.
Ren Qing intended to retrieve some fish from the Wine Sea within the Stomach World for comparison.
Unexpectedly, he discovered that the Merfolk settlement had become a complete ruin.
The several tribes that had split apart had now reunited, barely surviving together amid the wreckage while communicating in clumsy speech.
The merfolk maintained a distinctly matriarchal society.
Their leader was an elderly one-armed mermaid, who directed her followers in gathering every useful resource.
"Mother..."
A young merfolk wanted to say something, but the leader covered the child's mouth before pointing toward a newly erected statue, her expression filled with devotion.
The statue depicted an enormous whale.
It was none other than Kunpeng, who had been assigned to protect the merfolk.
However, because Ren Qing forbade the Jailers from interfering with the Mortal World, Kunpeng obediently remained in the deep sea, no longer daring to throw its weight around.
Ren Qing swept his gaze across the Wine Sea.
After noticing the race responsible for nearly exterminating the merfolk, he couldn't help sighing softly.
Although the merfolk possessed humanoid appearances, they had indeed evolved from fish.
Because of that, they could absorb dragon blood, yet they could never transform into dragons.
After the blood rain, some merfolk absorbed dragon blood and underwent mutations.
At the cost of completely losing their intelligence, they attacked all living creatures indiscriminately.
The dragonized merfolk possessed a pair of dragon eyes upon their fish-like faces, while dragon tails sprouted from their tailbones.
The surviving merfolk referred to them as "Flood Merfolk."
Ren Qing projected his consciousness into the Wine Sea.
The seawater churned violently as several thousand Flood Merfolk were lifted helplessly into the air before disappearing altogether.
The remaining merfolk believed Kunpeng had displayed a miracle and all knelt to worship its statue.
They soon began rebuilding their homes.
Now that they had reunited into a single community, their development would greatly exceed expectations, and they would quickly recover their former population.
Ren Qing found an empty storage compartment and tossed all the Flood Merfolk inside.
Upon arriving aboard the ghost ship, the Flood Merfolk immediately experienced the suffocating sensation caused by the lack of air.
What followed was an indescribable pressure.
They looked toward Ren Qing in the distance.
The savagery within their minds was completely suppressed by fear.
They couldn't produce even the slightest trace of hostility.
Before the Primordial Unity Ancestor Dragon, no dragon lineage could advance even half a step.
Even if their cultivation surpassed Ren Qing's, the suppression of bloodline would continue all the way until immortality itself.
Even Heavenly Aberration Realm cultivators would struggle to resist.
Ren Qing patted the fleshy wall of the ship.
The ghost ship opened its mouth and swallowed an enormous volume of seawater.
The water quickly flooded into the storage compartment, submerging more than half its interior.
Only then were the Flood Merfolk able to breathe once more.
Ren Qing had no interest in dealing with them for the time being.
With a wave of his hand, he put them all into a deep sleep.
Still, the Flood Merfolk were not without value.
Allowing them to roam freely in the outside world's oceans wasn't a bad idea.
The only problem was that they were simply too unintelligent.
The ocean possessed limitless resources.
He truly needed an intelligent race to gather those resources on his behalf.
Through Dream City, everything they collected could be transported into the Stomach World.
Unfortunately, the Flood Merfolk lacked sufficient intelligence to become useful.
After pondering for a while, Ren Qing decided to create a cultivation technique based on the Wine God Technique and allow the Flood Merfolk to cultivate it, hoping it might increase their intelligence.
After glancing at the aquarium still being refined, he returned to his guest room and resumed secluded cultivation.
With tens of thousands of bacterial souls at his disposal, Ren Qing could even deduce Ascension Methods simultaneously, continuously revising and reconstructing the direction of Disaster-Dispelling Method.
He had never intended to create another Restraint Officer Technique.
A secondary technique similar to the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method would suffice.
As a result, the entire process took only about a month.
Flood Dragon Method
Created by Ren Qing. Cultivation requires possessing dragon blood. By continuously breathing and refining water, one forms a dragon pearl within the dantian before the technique can be cultivated successfully.
The Flood Dragon Method can only be cultivated up to the Yin Difference Realm. To advance to the Yang God Realm, one's dragon blood must become concentrated enough to transform into a true dragon.
As for the Heavenly Aberration Realm, the only option is to travel to the Dragon Transformation Palace within the Stomach World.
After awakening the Flood Merfolk, Ren Qing forcibly implanted the Flood Dragon Method into their minds, then used Dragon Roar Within the Casket to help them enter the technique.
The Flood Merfolk drifted through the water as unique dragon blood auras spread from their bodies.
The true function of the Flood Dragon Method was simply to further condense dragon blood.
Their cultivation slowly advanced.
It wouldn't be long before they formed dragon pearls.
Ren Qing discovered that the older the Flood Merfolk, the better their aptitude.
The reason was simple.
They had personally experienced the blood rain and therefore possessed the purest dragon blood.
"Hm?"
Ren Qing's expression turned strange.
He noticed that Ancestral Lineage Derivation had actually improved ever so slightly.
Dragon blood descendants seemed capable of indirectly strengthening the Dragon Ancestor.
He suddenly understood.
The dragon blood inside the Flood Merfolk still belonged to him.
He had merely lent it to them temporarily and could reclaim it whenever he wished.
As the Flood Merfolk refined their dragon blood, Ren Qing naturally benefited as well.
The Fengdu Corpse Emperor worked according to the same principle.
Ren Qing could plunder all yin qi throughout the world.
However, because he rarely harvested the Corpse Vein like cutting leeks, the effect wasn't very noticeable.
As for Zhili Dream Immortal, there was even less to say.
Every epidemic caused the bacterial souls to multiply explosively.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes.
It seemed that true immortals all functioned this way.
Only Turbid Immortals were too chaotic and insane for the true power of their immortal positions to become apparent.
Wait...
Looking at it this way...
Weird Immortals didn't seem any less dangerous than Turbid Immortals.
Ren Qing forcibly suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind.
No matter how much he speculated about cultivation after becoming an immortal, it would remain nothing more than speculation.
What he needed to do was strengthen himself.
First, spread dragon blood throughout the world...
Or perhaps...
Use the characteristics of Zhili Technique to create a "dragon blood virus"?