After the stomach of the Giant Corpse Buddha received the support of the first batch of several hundred demon-kind from Restraint Officers' Hall, the manpower problem was greatly alleviated.
However, for the monks within Buddha Within Buddha, the sudden large increase in the number of Buddhas made it somewhat difficult for them to adapt.
Li Tiangang directed the demon-kind to transport supplies from the stomach world, piling them up in the open area.
Some demon-kind also went to Buddha Forest to arrange protective artifacts, while others followed Li Yaoyang to explore the conditions inside the intestines.
The entire stomach appeared extremely lively.
Bang...
From time to time the flesh wall would be attacked from the outside by some kind of strange creature, indicating that quite a few living beings had already mixed into the interior of the Giant Corpse Buddha.
What made Ren Qing most uneasy was that the sealed stomach could not see the environment outside the body at all.
He realized that the speed at which the Giant Corpse Buddha traveled was not constant. Most of the time it alternated between fast and slow, indicating that the journey was not peaceful.
Existences capable of threatening the Giant Corpse Buddha, even if they would not cause fatal danger, were enough to prove that even the Yang God realm could hardly guarantee safety.
Facing such a situation, Ren Qing still took advantage of spare time to advance Darkest Demon Lord to Spirit Release.
As the main technique of the dream techniques, Darkest Demon Lord had been nourished by the dream market for many years. Its foundation was extremely deep, and before he knew it had already broken through to the Spirit Release realm.
Ren Qing felt that the process of advancement came naturally, but the fusion of the Yin Spirit or Spirit Release of Darkest Demon Lord did not provide much help to the situation.
He knew that impatience could easily cause chaos, so he repeatedly warned the cultivators that they must understand the situation clearly before taking action.
Li Yaoyang's gu insects had already drilled into the intestines through gaps in the stomach, but according to the feedback information, the interior seemed empty.
Ren Qing had Li Yaoyang continue investigating for several days, yet there were still no results.
Unexpectedly, however, since the stomach had undergone artifact transformation, the amount of resources produced had greatly increased. Every day there were dozens of jin of Maitreya Blood.
Seeing this situation, Ren Qing could not delay any longer. Only by quickly controlling the spine could the entire body be influenced.
In the end Li Tiangang personally led the demon-kind into the intestines.
Originally the demon-kind were somewhat resistant to risking their lives since they could not use Restraint Officer methods, but seeing a Yin Difference realm participate reassured them.
Li Tiangang selected only five demon-kind, the most important among them being Hu Wen and Zhang Yi.
Ren Qing reminded them solemnly:
"No matter what, be careful. If you encounter danger, immediately notify us for support."
"Alright."
The demon-kind opened the gap connecting to the intestines, revealing a deep and boundless cave.
Li Tiangang bent down and crawled into the intestines. The other demon-kind hurriedly followed, their figures quickly disappearing into the pitch-black darkness.
Ren Qing waited patiently outside.
Actually, having him explore the stomach and intestines would be the safest option, but the areas he would control in the future would become larger and larger. It would be impossible to personally handle everything.
Ren Qing simply focused his attention on the stomach world, selecting cultivators for the second batch.
Several hours passed in an oppressive atmosphere.
Li Yaoyang's expression carried anxiety. He could not help pacing back and forth at the entrance of the cave, several times wanting to enter the stomach to support Li Tiangang, but each time Ren Qing stopped him.
After all, the intelligence about the intestines had been provided by him. Li Yaoyang did not want Li Tiangang and the others to suffer losses because of his own momentary oversight.
"Ren Qing, how about I go take a look..."
"What are you thinking?"
Ren Qing glanced at Li Yaoyang and frowned.
"Don't worry. They're fine, they're just delayed by something."
Through the Buddhist dream flower Ren Qing could naturally sense Li Tiangang and the others' condition. They seemed to be circling repeatedly around some place.
Fortunately Li Tiangang was rather calm, so there should be no major problem.
Seeing Ren Qing's expression remain normal, everyone continued busying themselves with other tasks, especially constructing the temporary camp, which relied entirely on physical strength.
While waiting, Ren Qing glanced at Tang Sheng, who was cultivating Restraint Officer methods.
Under Ren Qing's arrangements, Tang Sheng had already attempted more than a dozen Restraint Officer methods, but the techniques he could barely cultivate could be counted on one hand.
One could say that the mutation caused by Buddhist qi directly acted upon the body and soul, essentially destroying the foundation.
Even the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method seemed to consider his aptitude mediocre. It was likely that even the Golden Core stage (Ghost Envoy realm) would be difficult to reach in his lifetime.
If the more than one hundred thousand people of Cishi did not cultivate at all, it would truly be a pity.
Ren Qing currently had no good solution and could only see whether some turning point would appear as Tang Sheng cultivated.
Just then he suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the entrance of the intestines. The figures of Li Tiangang and the others were gradually approaching the stomach.
The heavy stone in Li Yaoyang's heart fell, and he could not help letting out a long breath.
"The smell in the intestines is too strong. It even somewhat resembles the Rope Knot Cave of Avici Hell."
Li Tiangang's voice sounded, and then he crawled out of the cave entrance covered in filth. The five demon-kind hurriedly followed behind him in panic.
The demon-kind could not help leaning against the flesh wall and retching.
Their sense of smell was already sensitive; staying in the intestines felt like falling into a cesspit, and they had almost fainted from holding it in.
Ren Qing hurriedly asked, "What's the situation inside?"
"It's indeed as you predicted. An unknown creature mixed into the body of the Giant Corpse Buddha, causing a large hole in the intestines."
Li Tiangang waved his hand and shook off the filth, his expression complicated as he continued:
"We were delayed inside for a bit of time. We repaired the breach in the intestines so that it wouldn't drill in again."
"Then there's no time to hesitate. Quickly carry out artifact transformation on the intestines."
Ren Qing immediately arranged the task. Even if the cultivators were reluctant, they carried materials that strengthened flesh toughness and crawled into the intestines.
Xiao San'er naturally took the lead. He did not care about the filth at all. Since Ren Qing was present, this was a great opportunity to practice Moon Patterns.
Just as Ren Qing was about to head into the intestines, Li Tiangang suddenly grabbed his arm.
"What is it?"
Li Tiangang took out a piece of flesh about the size of a palm from his chest and handed it to Ren Qing and Li Yaoyang. The two instantly reacted.
"Heavenly Dao insect?"
"Heavenly Dao insect?!"
The flesh clearly came from a Heavenly Dao insect and was extremely fresh, still attached to insect skin.
Ren Qing froze for a few breaths. For a Heavenly Dao insect to mix into the body of the Giant Corpse Buddha was actually normal, since Cishi bordered Jingzhou.
When Jingzhou was destroyed back then, it was indeed possible that some escaped.
But why would a Heavenly Dao insect choose to parasitize a corpse, especially when the Giant Corpse Buddha was filled with Buddhist qi, something even worse than an ordinary wild beast.
He reached out to touch the Heavenly Dao insect flesh and summoned the information stream.
Heavenly Dao Insect
Age: seventy-eight
Lifespan: thirteen years
Technique: Xuan tian Method (Nascent Soul stage)
Ren Qing could not understand the situation. As an independent strange creature, a Heavenly Dao insect should not be able to cultivate Heavenly Dao methods. It felt as if some change had occurred.
Li Yaoyang examined the flesh and said:
"Heavenly Dao insects require a long time to grow and develop. For us, that's actually good news."
"Yes. Li Yaoyang, try refining a gu insect that can track the aura of Heavenly Dao insects. Then we'll deal with this problem."
"Alright."
Ren Qing turned and walked into the intestines.
Within a short time the cultivators of Restraint Officers' Hall had already solved the lighting problem with artifacts and dispersed some of the pungent stench.
The intestines were not narrow. The flesh was dark red in color and twisted like a coiling dragon.
Further down should be the anus, but Ren Qing planned to open a passage at the intestines and go directly to the spine to control the central hub.
Ren Qing began directing the cultivators to refine the intestines into an artifact, but because the intestines were too long, only one third of the area was covered.
He still planned to integrate the Bloating Disease Type into the intestines, since the stomach and intestines were inseparable.
Just as various materials were being smeared onto the surface of the intestines, rustling sounds suddenly came from outside again, as if a multi-legged creature were crawling.
All the cultivators stopped what they were doing and looked at the intestinal wall in terror.
Ren Qing realized that the Heavenly Dao insect was searching for the previous breach, trying to reenter the intestines, but it had already been sealed by Li Tiangang.
The Heavenly Dao insect did not choose to forcibly break in. After muttering a few words it left.
Ren Qing stared at the intestinal wall and then used the ability of the Tai Sui Scripture to release the restriction on the Bloating Disease Type, allowing the disease type to immediately begin reproducing throughout the intestines.
After the Heavenly Dao insect episode passed, everything proceeded very smoothly.
The cultivators spent most of the day completing the initial refinement. Xiao San'er had even engraved some Moon Patterns, causing the intestines to gradually expand.
Ren Qing sealed off the untouched portions of the intestines with artifact-refining methods, then concentrated on drawing Moon Patterns on the surface of the intestinal wall.
Compared to Xiao San'er's obviously unfamiliar speed, he was undoubtedly much faster.
Within only a few hours, complex patterns had already covered the intestinal wall, and after being eroded by Buddhist qi they turned pale gold.
When Ren Qing controlled part of the intestines, he immediately learned of the resource produced there. It was a gray-brown moist soil.
[Maitreya Soil]
[Condensed by the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva, extremely suitable for vegetation growth, and causes the fruit produced to heal hidden injuries of body and soul.]
After informing Li Tiangang about the effect of Maitreya Soil, Jiang Feng took responsibility and began attempting to plant crops inside the intestines.
The cultivators never expected that in the end they still could not escape the fate of farming.
Everything proceeded in an orderly manner, and the situation inside the Giant Corpse Buddha gradually stabilized.
Ren Qing had already begun planning how to refine the spine and discussed with Xiao San'er and the others about the materials to use and their cooperation.
But just as their plan was nearly finished, an abnormality suddenly occurred.
Suddenly the interior of the Giant Corpse Buddha shook violently like an earthquake and began to flip drastically, causing many cultivators to fall to the ground.
If Ren Qing had not reacted in time, opening his strange mouth to produce suction and fixing Buddha Within Buddha and Buddha Forest in place, the previous arrangements would likely have been destroyed.
The stomach was squeezed by external force, constantly changing into various shapes while developing wounds of different sizes, nearly causing the flesh to collapse.
Only after Ren Qing released a large amount of life force did the stomach avoid rupture.
Compared to the attack of demonic qi earlier, this incident was too sudden, causing many artifacts to fail to function.
Ren Qing and the others felt lingering fear, while the cultivators spontaneously began cleaning up the battered temporary camp.
Li Tiangang said in a deep voice:
"This won't do. The stomach's defense still needs to be strengthened. It's far from enough now."
Bai Guniang retorted:
"How could it be that simple? This is a land immortal."
The several people began arguing about the matter, but Ren Qing interrupted:
"Change the plan. We can't go to the spine first."
"What do you mean?"
"We need to figure out the situation outside the body. Otherwise we're too passive."
A nearly invisible disease type appeared in Ren Qing's open palm.
[Disease Type: Deformity]
"We're going to the skin layer of the Giant Corpse Buddha. I'm going to create another eyeball for the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva."