Under Ren Qing's control, the Lost Soul Disease Seed surged madly toward Matchmaking Immortal's Mud Pellet Palace, causing the latter's aura to become exceptionally unstable.
If Matchmaking Immortal still possessed even a remnant soul, Ren Qing's actions would definitely have awakened it.
But for some unknown reason, Matchmaking Immortal's body and soul had both been completely extinguished. The Mud Pellet Palace was utterly empty, and there were even corpse-like stains inside its brain, proving that its soul had left its body a very long time ago.
Ren Qing noticed a faint degree of Heavenly Dao corruption within the Mud Pellet Palace. Tumor-like aberrant growths had developed inside the skull, slowing the proliferation of the Disease Seeds.
He had no intention of letting a bacterial soul possess Matchmaking Immortal. After all, bacterial souls were only at the Yang God realm. Controlling the body of an Earth Immortal was naturally unrealistic.
It might even cause Matchmaking Immortal's body to awaken.
Even without a soul, an Earth Immortal's instincts alone would make its body extraordinarily troublesome, easily destroying the surrounding Dragon Blood ecosystem.
Ren Qing merely spread the Lost Soul Disease Seed throughout the inside and outside of the Mud Pellet Palace, then used Zhili Technique to gradually construct a true dream.
However, if Yang God realm Zhili Technique proved insufficient to influence Matchmaking Immortal, he would have no choice but to postpone Heaven and Earth Genesis and first raise Zhili Technique to the Heavenly Aberration realm.
At the same time, Ren Qing removed Bo Qiang's corpse from the Longevity Restricted Zone and sealed it within the newly established Burial Immortal Cave in the Underworld of Stomach World.
As for the Longevity Restricted Zone itself, it was gradually being refined by Stomach World.
After painstaking effort, the Lost Soul Disease Seed spread throughout every corner of the Mud Pellet Palace. Even the brain was completely occupied, causing the blood vessels to begin writhing.
Sweat covered Ren Qing's forehead. The next step was constructing the dream, and for that purpose, he even committed tens of thousands of bacterial souls to communicating with Matchmaking Immortal.
The result was that the Mud Pellet Palace showed no change whatsoever. Even after patiently maintaining Zhili Technique for dozens of days, there was still no sign that a dream was forming.
If he wanted to set wolves against tigers, he first had to master a dream realm independent of Stomach World.
The dream realm also had to be capable of influencing Heavenly Aberration cultivators. After considering every possibility, Matchmaking Immortal's Mud Pellet Palace seemed to be the best place to construct such a dream.
Unfortunately, Yang God realm Zhili Technique would likely require several decades to make Matchmaking Immortal's body dream, so he could only abandon the attempt for the time being.
Just as Ren Qing was about to withdraw Zhili Technique, strands of red thread extended into the Mud Pellet Palace.
The red threads pierced directly into Matchmaking Immortal's brain, radiating a faint Nightmare Demon aura, barely serving as a bridge between Matchmaking Immortal and its Immortal Position.
Ren Qing stood frozen for several breaths before realizing it was Great Dream True Person.
Great Dream True Person's control over Matchmaking Immortal was far inferior to Ren Qing's, but because hundreds of his split souls were connected to the Immortal Position, he could still influence it indirectly.
The Nightmare Demon aura within the red threads began fluctuating. Several sea fish exploded because of it, making it obvious that Great Dream True Person could not maintain it for long.
Ren Qing immediately activated Zhili Technique again. Distorted light and shadow shrouded the Mud Pellet Palace, faintly revealing pavilions, towers, mountains, rivers, villages, and homes...
He directed a Dreamflower into the deepest part of Matchmaking Immortal's brain.
Soon afterward, the light and shadow inside Matchmaking Immortal's Mud Pellet Palace formed into a cluster of buildings, but they were nothing more than shattered ruins, desolate beyond measure.
Great Dream True Person withdrew at precisely the right moment, allowing the Dreamflower to completely occupy Matchmaking Immortal's Mud Pellet Palace.
Ren Qing continuously rebuilt the ruins, brick by brick, and erected an enormous gate several hundred meters tall at the entrance to the dream realm.
A battered plaque hung above the gate, bearing the three characters: Southern Heavenly Gate.
The Southern Heavenly Gate naturally pointed toward the Heavenly Court. Ren Qing's plan was clearly inspired by the success of the Lesser Thunderclap Monastery, using Matchmaking Immortal's body to create a "Lesser Heavenly Court."
As much as possible, Ren Qing reconstructed the Heavenly Court according to the grandest image in his memories. Dense clouds surrounded the area. Though no sun shone overhead, everything still emitted a faint radiance.
According to his memories, the Heavenly Court's buildings were arranged according to the numbers of the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends, totaling one hundred and eight grand halls.
To make it feel more authentic, he released several additional Dreamflowers into Matchmaking Immortal's brain.
The Lesser Heavenly Court looked as though it had endured a devastating war. Everywhere were marks left by clashing blades, along with countless white bones and corpses.
The largest central hall had been smashed apart directly by an enormous palm.
Ren Qing had no intention of constructing a complete Heavenly Palace. The Lesser Thunderclap Monastery could fool Buddhist Sons lacking experience, but if it were facing a Buddha with a Bodhisattva Fruit Position, it would likely be seen through at a glance.
By contrast, the ruined Lesser Heavenly Court was filled with flaws, yet none of them felt out of place.
It took Ren Qing several days to complete the devastated Heavenly Court. The next step was refining all the finer details.
He handed that work over to Ghost Shadow and the bacterial souls, ensuring that nothing would be overlooked.
Only then did Ren Qing withdraw his consciousness from the Lesser Heavenly Court, bringing Tianzong with him to the Longevity Restricted Zone before heading straight for the other imitation Lesser Thunderclap Monastery.
The Lesser Thunderclap Monastery still echoed endlessly with Buddhist chanting. The number of Buddhist Sons had not continued to decrease.
Ren Qing placed Tianzong beneath the seat of the False Tathagata, then used the Dreamflower to absorb more than half of the Buddhist qi within Tianzong's body.
Not long afterward, Tianzong slowly opened his weary eyes amid the False Tathagata's discourse on Buddhist principles.
His memories still remained at the moment he had been in the deep sea. His temples throbbed faintly, and only after recalling the savage dragon head did he finally realize what had happened.
Tianzong instinctively looked around. Faced with hundreds of Buddhas surrounding the False Tathagata, he seemed somewhat unable to adapt.
Before he could understand the situation, he suddenly noticed that his Buddhist qi was gradually being extracted.
"No... no... Joyful Buddha, no..."
Tianzong struggled to stand, but overwhelming weakness spread through both body and soul. His Fruit Position devoured his body and soul like a demon.
As the Buddhist qi continued to drain away, the Joyful Fruit Position had long since rejected Tianzong and stripped away the few decades of lifespan he still possessed.
Another devout Buddha appeared within the Hundred Buddha Diagram. From that moment onward, Tianzong's body and soul ceased to exist.
The Joyful Fruit Position transformed into Buddhist qi that circled within the Lesser Thunderclap Monastery. After discovering the many Buddhist Sons inside the halls, it selected one and entered his body.
"Congratulations, Huimin... on attaining Buddhahood," the False Tathagata said in a deep voice.
"This disciple thanks the Buddha."
Monk Huimin appeared calm and free of emotion, yet his state of mind had already been overwhelmed by desire. A Lotus Throne of Skulls appeared beneath his feet as he stood alongside the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
Every monk revealed expressions of fanatical excitement. There was now one additional place for attaining Buddhahood. Didn't that mean they too could achieve true fruition?
They frantically praised the False Tathagata. Had it not been for the thoughts Ren Qing had implanted within them, they would likely have selected monks for flesh-and-blood sacrifice.
Ren Qing glanced at the Lesser Thunderclap Monastery.
The Flesh Buddhas of the Western Buddhist Realm no longer had much need for the Sitting-Deer Fruit Position. They could temporarily slow their collection of Sitting-Deer Buddhist qi.
For now, gathering Joyful Buddhist qi to satisfy the Flesh Buddhas' hunger was the priority.
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. The now-vacant Sitting-Deer Fruit Position was of little use to him personally, but it was more than sufficient to serve as a chess piece.
He did not remain at the Lesser Thunderclap Monastery. Everything there remained stable. The only issue was finding an opportunity to replenish the number of Buddhist Sons.
Only the final step of Ren Qing's arrangement remained, so he arrived before Wind God Bo Qiang's Immortal Position.
After a period of recovery, the degree of Heavenly Dao corruption within the Immortal Position was less severe than before, though it was still far from being fully restored.
Ren Qing used his soul to communicate with the Human Immortal Office inside the Immortal Position. He immediately felt hurricane winds carrying disease battering his body with crackling force.
Then eerie whispers rang beside his ears.
Terrifying visions appeared before Ren Qing's eyes, while his throat grew slightly itchy, as though an entirely new head were about to crawl out from within.
The Disease Tree swayed gently as countless bacterial souls voluntarily bore the burden of the Heavenly Dao corruption for his main soul.
The bacterial souls' necks stretched longer and longer. Their heads continually split apart, feathers sprouted across their bodies, and they gradually transformed into creatures with human heads and bird bodies.
This was the first time Ren Qing had come into contact with Heavenly Dao corruption without the protection of the information flow. His body and soul silently descended into aberration and loss of control, sending chills down his spine.
He gritted his teeth and continued communicating. Only after several hours did he sever his connection to the Immortal Position.
Excitement filled Ren Qing's face. If the Lesser Heavenly Court wanted recognition from high-realm cultivators, it had to offer benefits substantial enough for them to sell their souls.
His guess had indeed been correct. It was possible to reverse-engineer an Ascension Method through an Immortal Position.
However, an Immortal Position was not the Heavenly Dao. Ascension Methods comprehended from the Heavenly Dao were comparatively complete, whereas those derived from an Immortal Position always contained certain flaws.
He decided to give it a try.
If someone truly relied on this type of Ascension Method to become an immortal, their strength would be somewhat inferior even to an ordinary Weird Immortal, let alone a Turbid Immortal driven out of control by Heavenly Dao corruption.
Suppressing his discomfort, Ren Qing continued using bacterial souls to bear the effects of Heavenly Dao corruption while focusing entirely on deducing the Ascension Method.
To ensure that his identity would not be exposed, he simply activated Heavenly Demon Tribulation during the deduction process, transforming his body into a formless Heavenly Demon.
Even if a cultivator later took the Ascension Method as one of their primary or secondary cultivation methods and reached the Heavenly Aberration realm, the only thing they would witness would be an indistinct phantom of a Heavenly Demon.
The only inconvenience was that Ren Qing found it rather unfamiliar. Previously, under the blessing of the Heavenly Dao, comprehending an Ascension Method took only a few breaths. Now he had to build it grain by grain.
Who knew how much time had passed before he finally sorted through all the information he had comprehended from Wind God Bo Qiang.
Ren Qing immediately withdrew from the Immortal Position, allowing tens of thousands of bacterial souls to organize the contents of the Ascension Method while continuously verifying the technique with the information flow.
After more than half a year, he finally created four Ascension Methods of varying depth.
Only one of them barely reached the level of an Earth Immortal. Breaking through its bottleneck carried far greater risks than normal.
[Wind Controlling Art]
[Created by Ren Qing. Cultivation requires piercing one's lungs and allowing astral wind to pass through the body until the lungs can contain astral wind. Only then can it be mastered.]
The upper limit of Wind Controlling Art is Earth Immortal, and it cannot be cultivated alongside other techniques.
[Immortal Position: Wind God Boqiang]
As for the other three techniques, their upper limits were at most the Heavenly Aberration realm, with two of them reaching only the Yang God realm, though all of them were undoubtedly connected to Wind God Bo Qiang.
Countless thoughts crossed Ren Qing's mind. As long as he fundamentally controlled the Immortal Position through the Immortal Office, it would not matter even if these Ascension Methods spread throughout the world.
Besides, he could always leave hidden safeguards within the Ascension Methods.
Ren Qing closed his eyes and swept through the cultivators connected by Matchmaking Immortal's red threads, selecting suitable targets to serve as the wolves that would devour the tiger.
Since the mastermind behind Wind God Bo Qiang intended to use Insect Nest to interfere in Jingzhou,
he certainly did not mind making Jingzhou even more chaotic, taking the opportunity to fuse both Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal's and Taiyin Star Lord's Immortal Positions with Immortal Offices.
However, the situation in Jingzhou was even more complicated than he had imagined.
Turbid Immortals seemed to possess radiation similar to Restricted Zones, which was why Taiyin Star Lord had been able to transform Jingzhou into multiple overlapping worlds.
Now, Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal's Heavenly Dao corruption was growing increasingly severe. Coupled with Insect Nest's intervention, Jingzhou was undergoing another earth-shattering transformation.
What puzzled Ren Qing the most was that the auras of the two Immortal Positions had begun complementing one another, as though their unique laws were turning Jingzhou into a small world.