Ren Qing brought the Wind Void People to the location of Heshan Town.
Although Heshan Town was situated among the mountains, the surrounding mountain ranges were rather scattered, making it impossible to possess the gales of the Bottomless Pit.
The Wind Void People did not complain. After all, mountain ranges were indeed rare within Jingzhou.
They headed toward the town one after another, arranging the Bottomless Pit's unique ores throughout Heshan Mountain to strengthen the winds.
Han Li, meanwhile, returned to Sanxiang City. Establishing the dragon blood ecosystem required a great deal of manpower. Otherwise, their progress would fall behind the other forces that possessed Yang God realm cultivators.
Feng Ye's pupils contracted as he instinctively looked deeper into Xiangxiang.
He saw cultivators flying through the forest on flying swords, coating the vegetation with a crimson powder-like material.
Feng Ye could not help but shiver. The vegetation was actually beginning to develop flesh and blood, and even the birds, beasts, and insects had been affected.
Living creatures began shedding their skin, gradually moving toward draconic forms.
To better expand the dragon blood ecosystem, Ren Qing had already removed most of the restrictions on dragon blood. He only limited it to the territory of Xiangxiang. Otherwise, the corrosive nature displayed by dragon blood would have been far too terrifying.
Anyone who saw it might guess that Ren Qing possessed the blessing of an immortal position.
Ren Qing pointed a finger toward the sky. Dense storm clouds covered Xiangxiang, and scattered raindrops soon began to fall before turning into a torrential downpour.
In his opinion, both Gu insects and dragons were better suited to damp environments. Besides, the dragon blood contained within the rain would subtly transform everything over time.
Before long, every plant and animal throughout Xiangxiang would probably contain dragon blood.
"Are you satisfied with Heshan Mountain?"
Feng Ye had just been about to say something when he heard Ren Qing mutter, "It still feels like there aren't enough mountains..."
"No need..."
Ren Qing gave Feng Ye no chance to refuse. He directly drew two mountain peaks from the Stomach World and placed them beside Heshan Mountain.
With a swing of his right arm, foreign objects appeared within the clouds, and the mountains immediately crashed through the cloud layer.
Ren Qing's heaven-defying divine powers naturally stunned the inexperienced Feng Ye. By now, he no longer had the slightest thought of resisting.
"Dragon King, how do you know about the affairs of the Heavenly Court?"
"Our ancestors left behind some records, but too much time has passed, and most of them have been forgotten."
Ren Qing explained with a trace of regret. Feng Ye immediately pulled Ren Qing's consciousness into the Little Heavenly Court, and the two entered the dream together.
Since the Little Heavenly Court had been created by Ren Qing, he naturally possessed absolute control over it.
With a slight use of the Zhili Technique, the Thunder Department palace became somewhat more complete. About one-third of the ruined walls were restored, and most of the roof was repaired, though it was still nothing more than a ruin.
After entering the Thunder Department palace, Feng Ye discovered that among the statues beside the Wind God Bo Qiang, one dragon-headed humanoid immortal had been completely restored.
The title engraved beneath the statue read, "Dragon God of the Eight Directions."
Only now did Feng Ye completely lower his guard toward Ren Qing, even treating him as one of his own, and he began recounting everything he had seen and heard over the past few days.
Of course, all of this was built upon Ren Qing's overwhelming strength. Only then were the Wind Void People willing to become subordinates. Otherwise, conflict would have been inevitable.
Ren Qing claimed that he had come to Jingzhou because of the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal, only to discover no trace of the True Immortal.
Feng Ye had spent over a month wandering the remote borderlands and had gained even less than Ren Qing. He had not encountered a single native of Jingzhou.
The two chatted for a while and agreed that, while ensuring their own safety, they would continue searching for the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal, with Feng Ye following Ren Qing's lead.
After leaving the Heavenly Court, they began planning the transformation of Xiangxiang.
Feng Ye tactfully made concessions. Aside from the three mountain peaks, the rest of the environment could all be converted into the dragon blood ecosystem. The Wind Void People would symbolically take some food as compensation.
To Ren Qing, food was practically worthless with the Stomach World serving as his foundation.
He could easily support a population of several million, much less the mere tens of thousands of Wind Void People.
As hired muscle, the Wind Void People were absurdly inexpensive. Ren Qing even felt somewhat embarrassed and deliberately gave them additional resources.
Ren Qing returned to Sanxiang City and focused entirely on spreading dragon blood throughout Xiangxiang.
Very soon, under the influence of dragon blood, the vegetation was the first to transform.
The rough bark actually took on the appearance of dragon scales, while the tree core turned into flesh and blood. The fruit they bore became extremely tempting to dragons.
Ren Qing summoned the information flow and discovered that the dragon blood trees had also become Gu insects.
**Blood Carp Tree Gu**
*By providing it with your own dragon blood, you may gradually gain control over the Blood Carp Tree Gu. It must be fed three jin of fresh blood every ten days.*
*It can absorb dragon blood to nourish itself and advance into the Blood Demon Python Tree Gu.*
This showed that as long as a living creature was created through dependence on a cultivation method, it would inevitably become entangled in the rules of the immortal position and gradually undergo Gu transformation.
In a certain sense, dragons could now advance even faster.
However, Gu-transformed dragons required a host that continuously supplied them with nutrients. It was impossible to put the cart before the horse by sacrificing the cultivators of the various branches.
So Ren Qing merely informed the cultivators of each branch about the advantages and disadvantages before leaving them to make their own choices.
None of the cultivators exhausted the resource. Instead, they treated dragons as something to harvest. For example, the bark of the Blood Carp Tree Gu could be refined into robes, and selling them in Dream City would fetch quite a few Blood Crystals.
As the days passed, Jingzhou seemed to fall into stagnation, impossible to discern whether it was real or false.
Several more forces entered during this period, but since all the towns had already been occupied and the transformed environments could not be reversed, they had no choice but to seek other places.
They chose remote abandoned villages instead. Small-scale battles broke out, but very few succeeded in snatching territory from others.
As for Xiangxiang, the Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators had already acknowledged Ren Qing as one of the toughest opponents in Jingzhou, second only to the Insect Nest.
Not a single force dared probe him. Just seeing the flourishing dragon blood ecosystem was enough to know that the Heavenly Court's Dragon King of the Four Seas was not someone to provoke.
During these months, Ren Qing placed bacterial souls throughout Jingzhou, hoping to discover the movements of the other Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators.
As a result, he found that all they did was continue transforming their environments.
"Amitabha..."
Ren Qing opened his eyes and looked strangely toward the east of Jingzhou. A figure over a thousand meters tall was striding toward them.
"So even the Buddhist Sect has come to join the excitement?"
The Buddha, with a male body and female features, stepped into Jingzhou. The surging Buddhist aura surrounding him was clearly incomparable to an Arhat Fruit Position.
Using the information flow through a hidden bacterial soul, Ren Qing immediately determined the Fruit Position.
[Age: 135]
[Lifespan: 18 years]
[Cultivation Methods:** Great Assembly Sutra (Five Hundred Thirty-Six Buddhas), Falling Bodhi (Perfected)
[Great Assembly Sutra]
[Created by the Bodhisattva Endless Intent. Cultivation requires the recognition of Buddhist aura. After mastering it, one temporarily gains the wisdom of ten lifetimes, allowing a Buddhist disciple to reincarnate through ten lifetimes.]
[Falling Bodhi]
[Created by the Ancient Monk of One Hundred Lifetimes. Cultivation requires one's body and soul to endure the constant agony of Bodhi roots growing within them. The greater the pain endured, the faster the cultivation speed.]
Ren Qing was stunned for several breaths. Wuzhi should have been a Buddhist disciple of the Bodhisattva Fruit Position, but besides Buddhist cultivation methods, he had also cultivated another method.
That was why Wuzhi possessed Heavenly Aberration realm strength despite not fully perfecting the merit of the Great Assembly Sutra. It was all because of Falling Bodhi.
The shrill voice rang out again, this time carrying obvious schadenfreude.
"Wuzhi, I know you've still got seven more lives left."
"That adds up to several hundred years of lifespan. Why risk violating the Buddhist Sect's taboo just to seize an opportunity of unknown depth?"
"Pig Daoist, worry about yourself."
Wuzhi looked around before sweeping his gaze over Jingzhou's towns.
It was obvious that the Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators had all become tense. In the end, however, he chose a town slightly south of the central region.
"Amitabha. This place is destined for me. How about yielding it to me, Benefactor Blood Bat?"
The earth shook violently as the Blood Bat Matriarch emerged halfway from beneath the ground. Opening her mouth over a hundred meters wide, she let out a furious roar.
Wuzhi ignored her completely. His flesh transformed into seed-like objects that fell onto the ground, rapidly destroying the environment unique to the Insect Nest.
One Bodhi tree after another sprouted, yet each resembled a woman's womb.
Life was clearly gestating within them. The Buddhist Sect's utilization of souls was terrifying.
The Blood Bat Matriarch was visibly enraged. Veins bulged across her skin, releasing a faint blood mist that spread for a hundred li.
The other Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators all looked ready to enjoy the spectacle.
However, Wuzhi had chosen the timing perfectly. Suddenly, fiery clouds covered the sky, and tiny sparks drifted through the air across all of Jingzhou.
Upon seeing this, the Blood Bat Matriarch immediately burrowed back underground, yielding the town to Wuzhi. The Heavenly Dao insect people likewise withdrew to the other towns.
"Amitabha. I already said this place is destined for me."
Ren Qing sensed that the Daoist Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators clearly looked down somewhat on their Buddhist counterparts. After all, the restrictions imposed by Fruit Positions really were immense.
He raised his head toward the sky. The fiery clouds had become even redder, though traces of black could vaguely be seen within them, as though something was about to be born.
"Could this be the opportunity within Jingzhou?"
Boom, boom, boom...
The fiery clouds began to disperse, transforming into tens of thousands of meteors that crashed toward the ground, targeting the towns and villages where people had once gathered.
None of the expected impact occurred. The meteors silently vanished without a trace.
Ren Qing made no attempt to stop them. Every Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator wore an excited expression as they stared at the ground covered by the meteors' crimson smoke.
Only then did Ren Qing turn toward the rainforest. A familiar aura was beginning to emerge.
The smoke resembled a living egg, gradually forming flesh, blood, and bones.
Gu Immortal awoke in a daze. His grotesque and twisted body had already recovered, yet endless strength still filled him.
He threw a punch with all his might. The resulting shockwave howled outward, sending dozens of trees swaying violently.
Ecstasy welled up within Gu Immortal.
Not only had he inexplicably come back to life, but his Yin Difference realm Formless Elephant Strength Gu had also remained intact.
"In this life, I will definitely become an immortal. Even the Gu Immortals won't be able to stop me."
As he muttered to himself, the thought of becoming immortal transformed into an obsession, branding itself into his mind.
"Right, my Gu Scripture..."
His consciousness entered his Mud Pellet Palace. The scripture recording Gu insect information was still there, and he could still use it to enter the Immortal's Dream.
His gaze lingered for several breaths on the Gu recipe that harmed others for one's own benefit. Without hesitation, he memorized its contents, planning to use it to obtain even more Gu insects.
Little did Gu Immortal know that every single Insect Warrior who had died in Jingzhou had also been reborn throughout the land along with the meteors.
The previously empty Sanxiang City suddenly became packed with people.
Ren Qing could not make sense of the situation, but that did not stop him from observing for the time being. After using the Zhili Technique, every Insect Warrior within Xiangxiang fell asleep.