Ren Qing's completely unrestrained actions in Jinmen Temple were all witnessed by Zhu Daoren.
He watched helplessly as Fleshly Tathagata gradually grew stronger, eventually beginning to call itself Lingshan Tathagata and planning to rule the entire Small Buddha Heaven.
Zhu Daoren understood one thing. The Buddhas of the Deeper Layer World were all ancient monks who had seized the bodies of strange insects. It was difficult to imagine what status Fleshly Tathagata had possessed thousands of years ago.
Could it truly have been some immensely important existence within Buddhism?
He knew that Fleshly Tathagata had already established itself. Destroying it himself was practically impossible, so it seemed he could only place his hopes on fellow cultivators of the Heavenly Aberration realm.
With no other choice, Zhu Daoren devoted all his efforts to communicating with the Heavenly Court, but unfortunately, he gained little.
He had originally thought he would remain sealed inside the statue until his body and soul were eroded by Buddha Qi, ultimately becoming a puppet of Fleshly Tathagata.
But clearly, things would not develop according to Zhu Daoren's expectations.
When Ren Qing turned his attention toward Zhu Daoren, he immediately sensed an incomparable malice and hurriedly restrained his own aura as much as possible.
Even so, he could still hear the sounds of Fleshly Tathagata moving through the streets.
Zhu Daoren stared fixedly at the entrance of Mahavira Hall. The mountain of flesh slowly flowed inside like liquid, and the oppressive feeling seemed almost tangible.
He realized that Fleshly Tathagata had known of his existence from beginning to end.
Now that it had suddenly made its move, did it intend to turn him into nourishment for its growth, or make him one of the thousands of Buddhas within the city?
Zhu Daoren trembled, and his breathing unconsciously became rapid.
Then, cracks spread across the surface of the statue. The Buddha Qi restraining him vanished completely, but the area before him was shrouded in shadow.
Fleshly Tathagata had yet to reach the Heavenly Aberration realm, but in Zhu Daoren's eyes, it was even more terrifying than Lady White Bone.
"Rulai, I am Zhu Gang. I truly have no intention of becoming your enemy."
Fleshly Tathagata moved with astonishing speed, thrusting a tentacle into Zhu Daoren's forehead. Using a distorted disease strain together with Dreamflower, it forcibly implanted a vertical eye in him within a short period of time.
Zhu Daoren let out a scream. Then, his uncontrolled Buddha Qi surged into his forehead like swallows returning to their nests, while his incurable injuries eased somewhat.
He did not dare move, allowing Dreamflower to cling to his skull. It then extended countless roots that wound around his Three Souls and Seven Spirits.
Wasn't Lingshan Tathagata the reincarnation of some great Buddhist expert?
These methods were not Buddhist either. Why did they feel somewhat like a Nightmare Demon? In his memories, the forces related to dreams had always been relatively low-key and would not easily reveal themselves.
Zhu Daoren's mind was in complete turmoil. He could feel the vertical eye spinning uncontrollably, and he was practically on the verge of tears. He was truly too unlucky.
What he did not expect was that after Fleshly Tathagata embedded the vertical eye, it stopped paying attention to him and soon left Mahavira Hall.
Zhu Daoren remained frozen in place for a long time before cautiously walking out of the hall.
He noticed quite a few monks lurking in the darkness who looked like statues. Every one of them was at the Half-Corpse realm, and their gazes were extremely strange.
These monks had all been mutated by the radiation of Fleshly Tathagata Buddha Qi. Even without actively cultivating, their strength continued to increase.
Zhu Daoren cautiously left Jinmen Temple and stood on a hillside outside the city with a helpless expression.
He touched the vertical eye between his brows. Since it was attached to his body and soul, removing it was practically impossible. He could only slowly grind away at it over time.
But Zhu Daoren did not know that Dreamflower was also connected to tens of thousands of disease strains hidden within his flesh and bones, making them extremely difficult to detect.
He turned and walked toward the border of Jingzhou, but the vertical eye quickly began absorbing Buddha Qi.
Zhu Daoren became frightened. He looked around, and only when his gaze fell upon the Great Buddha Heaven overhead did Dreamflower gradually restrain itself.
"Fine. I'll go. Isn't that enough?"
He let out a long sigh, then began walking toward Great Buddha Heaven.
Ren Qing happened to need a spy to find out exactly what was happening in Great Buddha Heaven, as well as what those cultivators of the Heavenly Aberration realm were planning.
After observing Zhu Daoren for a while, he shifted his attention to spreading the disease strains.
The disease strains were invading Taiyin Star Lord extremely slowly. It was impossible to know when they would reach the core. Fortunately, the True Immortal showed no reaction, which indicated that its consciousness had already fallen into slumber.
Ren Qing could reproduce the disease strains without restraint. Sooner or later, he should be able to establish the Immortal Position.
At that time, he could use the reality and illusion of Taiyin Star Lord to glimpse the methods of the mastermind. Perhaps he could even learn the secret of the Immortal Positions.
While he was pondering this, another batch of Insect Buddhas was lured to Jinmen Temple. Ren Qing naturally accepted them all, allowing Fleshly Tathagata to devour them until it was completely stuffed.
Fleshly Tathagata had originally only been able to absorb one stream of Buddha Qi at a time. After reaching the peak of the Yang Spirit realm, even more than a dozen streams were no problem.
However, even without advancing to the Heavenly Aberration realm, Fleshly Tathagata had already reached a height of a thousand meters.
Its flesh and skin had already begun to crystallize. It was indeed becoming more and more like Lingshan, while the grotesque feeling had instead weakened somewhat.
After Fleshly Tathagata completely plundered the Insect Buddhas of their Buddha Qi, once their statues were complete, it erased the Dipankara Buddha Qi within their bodies.
Jinmen Temple had become an Insect Buddha breeding ground. Every few days, new Insect Buddhas were born.
Ren Qing felt that Fleshly Tathagata was almost becoming the Insect Nest Mother. As long as it occupied one location, it could continuously seize other towns.
There were roughly a thousand temples in Small Buddha Heaven, and Ren Qing had already secretly controlled more than twenty of them.
Ren Qing glanced at the Heavenly Dao Crack. He could now advance one technique to the Heavenly Aberration realm, but he intended to break through with the remaining two techniques at the same time.
At most, it would take another five or six years. This was far earlier than the time he had originally planned.
Ren Qing's gaze flickered. The situation in this world was chaotic and ever-changing. Once Heaven and Earth Genesis advanced further, he would be able to attempt to initiate the Sealing Immortal War.
He did not want to wait for Nameless to finish preparing. Who knew how many years that would take?
Within Fleshly Tathagata's Mud Pellet Palace, Ren Qing began planning his advancement.
The moss in Jinmen Temple grew thicker and thicker. The number of Fungus People was clearly increasing, and the sound of countless people chanting scriptures in unison could faintly be heard in the air.
Ren Qing noticed that the stronger individuals among the Fungus People had all begun transforming in the direction of Gu Insects after inadvertently absorbing Buddha Qi.
However, because the Fungus People's lifespans were short, they usually did not live long enough to complete the transformation.
To this day, Ren Qing had still not discovered Jingzhou's third type of Immortal Position, one capable of changing the nature of strange entities and even faintly overpowering the two True Immortals.
This showed just how terrifying the mastermind's methods were.
Amid the Fungus People's chanting, Ren Qing finally absorbed enough Buddha Qi through Dreamflower from the numerous Insect Buddhas imprisoned within the city.
He gradually released several thousand Insect Buddhas, sending them to search for remote villages.
After the Insect Buddhas devoutly paid respects to Fleshly Tathagata, they departed Jinmen Temple in a mighty procession, disappearing into the desolate mountains and wilderness in every direction.
After Ren Qing waited until Jinmen Temple returned to silence, he began summoning the Dreamflowers.
One golden beetle after another flew through the air. Like stars filling the heavens, they surged toward Fleshly Tathagata in a vast and imposing spectacle.
The gloomy and sinister Jinmen Temple revealed a trace of the atmosphere of the Western Buddhist Realm.
The golden beetles clung to the surface of Fleshly Tathagata. Then, Buddha Qi formed a dense mist, making the scene increasingly dreamlike and illusory.
The more than ten statues beneath Fleshly Tathagata suddenly began multiplying rapidly, causing its size to soar at an astonishing rate.
Ren Qing could sense that the Buddha Qi contained within Fleshly Tathagata had definitely already surpassed the Heavenly Aberration realm.
The reason it remained at the Yang Spirit realm was mainly because it lacked a foundation. Fleshly Tathagata seemed to need to devour large varieties of Buddha Qi before it could reach the threshold of the Heavenly Aberration realm.
If not for this trip to Jingzhou, Ren Qing estimated that he would have needed to gather at least the Buddha Qi of eighteen Arhats, along with six or seven Bodhisattva Fruit Positions, before he could push Fleshly Tathagata into the Heavenly Aberration realm.
Fleshly Tathagata became even more towering, soon reaching two thousand meters.
Looking only at its surface, Fleshly Tathagata no longer showed any trace of flesh and blood. It was completely composed of crystal-clear glazed material, truly worthy of the name Lingshan.
Furthermore, the Buddha statues detached themselves from the mountain body and walked through Lingshan wearing kasayas.
Ren Qing clicked his tongue in amazement. Fleshly Tathagata truly deserved to have been nurtured from multiple techniques of his. It had indeed combined the characteristics of all those techniques.
If Fleshly Tathagata continued to transform, would it truly turn into Lingshan?
Ren Qing closed his eyes and began transferring his Heavenly Dao Transformation. Immediately, vivid Karmic Fire ignited at the foot of Fleshly Tathagata, while the air crackled.
Fleshly Tathagata's ability to bear the Heavenly Dao Transformation had indeed increased tremendously.
Ren Qing felt that relying on Fleshly Tathagata, he could increase the recovery of the Heavenly Dao Crack by at least forty percent. The path to immortality was within reach.
He could not help but roll and tumble about inside Fleshly Tathagata's Mud Pellet Palace.
At this moment, Ren Qing's expression changed dramatically because there seemed to be an unfamiliar Buddha Qi underground that was trying to approach Fleshly Tathagata.
The disease strains sensed the Buddha Qi one step earlier, but they were still insufficient to respond.
Ren Qing could sense that the Buddha Qi was essentially Dipankara Buddha Qi. The instant it came into contact with Fleshly Tathagata, a faint consciousness surged forth.
He was just about to disperse the consciousness when he discovered that it was extremely weak.
Ren Qing accepted the information brought by the consciousness, and his expression became extraordinarily strange.
He had not expected that this inexplicable consciousness would actually originate from the mastermind. It merely instinctively desired to make contact with Fleshly Tathagata, without containing even the slightest trace of intelligence.
Ren Qing did not know why the mastermind wanted to contact Fleshly Tathagata. Perhaps it was because of the special nature of Fleshly Tathagata?
According to the information contained within the consciousness, it wanted to ask Fleshly Tathagata for help, requesting that Ren Qing go to Great Buddha Heaven and quell the chaos brought about by the extraterrestrial demons.
Ren Qing frowned and immediately began gathering clues about Great Buddha Heaven from every possible source.
He noticed that all the Merit Monks in the Deeper Layer World were being driven toward Great Buddha Heaven, seemingly to perform some kind of sacrificial ritual.
"Why are the Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators still gathering in Great Buddha Heaven despite taking such risks?"
Could there still be a possibility of contacting the Heavenly Dao?
Ren Qing's head felt faintly swollen. He continued making deductions in his mind, noticing information concerning the Tathagata Fruit Position in his memories.
He had encountered Ratnasambhava Buddha before and knew that the Tathagata Fruit Position already possessed an independent physical body.
The Buddha Child of a Tathagata Fruit Position was merely a means of obtaining Buddha Qi. There was no limit to its number, and there was absolutely no need to possess a body intentionally.
"Is the mastermind planning to make tens of thousands of Merit Monks all become Dipankara Buddha Children?"
Ren Qing's guess about the truth was already very close.
After all, once Nameless Ascetic became the Buddha Child of Ratnasambhava Tathagata, he could still come into contact with the Heavenly Dao and create Song Zongwu's Asura Dharma.
The Three Dao Ancestors had no prejudice regarding sects or affiliations. Usually, they accepted anyone who came.
If tens of thousands of Dipankara Buddha Children came into contact with the Heavenly Dao, what exactly did they intend to comprehend through it?