Ren Qing completely immersed his mind into the bacterial soul's memories in order to observe them in greater detail, while Ghost Shadow guarded the outside world.
At the same time, he split off over a hundred strands of bacterial soul to research the details of the Skeletal Corpse Method.
Ren Qing knew that someone wanted to split the Dead Man's Sutra back into multiple techniques. Even if he did not understand the reason, it did not affect his cultivation of the Skeletal Corpse Method.
He planned to steer the Skeletal Corpse Method in the same direction as the Corpse Refinement Method, turning it into a Restraint Officer technique.
As long as it could form a medium similar to a Strange Object, it could then be forcefully stripped away through the Stomach World, preventing there from being no way out.
Ren Qing immersed himself in the bacterial soul's memories, as if he had arrived within the mirror world.
The surroundings were dim. The moment the bacterial soul regained consciousness, its perspective revealed itself hanging upside down in midair, while piercing pain came from its spine.
The bacterial soul was a split soul belonging to Ren Qing. When unable to sense the main soul, it would display thought patterns similar to the original body.
Ren Qing carefully sensed the bacterial soul's state. Its body stood at the brink of collapse at any moment.
The bacterial soul looked around. Under the deliberate enhancement of Dragon Roar Within the Casket, even in a completely lightless environment, it could still see clearly.
Countless suspended bodies filled the vicinity, numbering in the tens of thousands, some large and some small.
The largest bodies stretched several thousand meters, while the smallest were merely human-sized. Against their backdrop, the mirror world resembled a slaughterhouse from the underworld.
All of them showed traces of corpse transformation. Most likely, they had unknowingly already been affected, their bodies becoming experimental subjects for the Skeletal Corpse Method.
Each body was suspended in the void by rust-covered iron chains, fresh blood constantly dripping from their wounds, causing the mirror world to be shrouded in a rain of blood.
The bacterial soul tried struggling free for a long time, but under the bizarre laws of the mirror world, its body seemed firmly fixed onto the chains.
Those nearby bodies suspected to belong to Heavenly Aberration cultivators lacked even consciousness.
If Ren Qing had not also mastered the abilities of Strange Mirror Walker, the bacterial soul's consciousness likely would not have remained intact inside the mirror world either.
He had already understood the mirror world in advance, so he had made ample preparations.
The bacterial soul displayed the bizarre nature of Dragon Roar Within the Casket. Sounds of expanding bones came from its neck, followed by flesh gradually tearing apart.
Within just a few breaths, the clone's head actually detached from the body and became an independent lifeform, crawling downward along the corpse.
The bacterial soul used fleshy tendrils to support its movement and quickly reached the ground.
This forcibly detached state could only last for half a day at most. Otherwise, the head would die from lack of blood supply.
The bloody rain splattered endlessly.
The bacterial soul noticed the ground was actually as reflective as a mirror. However, due to layers of coagulated blood, it was covered in thick blood scabs.
It began searching aimlessly through the mirror world.
From Lingxiao Daoist's memories, Ren Qing had indeed seen structures resembling houses. However, the bacterial soul's current location was random.
He did not expect to obtain useful clues during this first trip into the mirror world.
Therefore, the bacterial soul mainly focused on investigating the upside-down bodies, especially those whose size exceeded even the giant corpse Buddha.
Unfortunately, for safety reasons, Ren Qing had not brought Ghost Shadow along. Otherwise, with the Information Stream, things would undoubtedly have been much more convenient.
After traveling for several hours, the bacterial soul noticed that the chains suspending the bodies were not all the same.
Many of the chains had already been heavily corroded by rust, looking as if they could snap at any moment.
Perhaps the external substitute body was already nearing death. Once the chains broke, the body would be freed from the mirror world's restraints.
Viewing everything from the perspective of an observer, Ren Qing increasingly felt something was strange.
There were at least several hundred corpses restrained by chains on the verge of breaking. So why had nobody escaped the mirror world over the past two hundred years?
The bacterial soul's gaze swept across one hideous body after another. It was hard to say whether any lingering consciousness still remained within them.
The mirror world was a prison, but also a sanctuary.
Even if the substitute body in the outside world died, the original body would probably still try every possible method to remain in the mirror world, ultimately resulting in this place becoming filled with bodies.
At that moment, the bacterial soul suddenly sensed a familiar aura and immediately rushed in a certain direction.
A moment later, the bacterial soul came to a stop.
Ren Qing stared fixedly at the bacterial soul's memories. Even though he had already roughly reviewed the contents before, he was still shocked by the scene before him.
It was an ordinary-looking old monk whose height was even shorter than a mortal's. Dense wrinkles covered his face.
Even while hanging upside down, his palms remained pressed together. Faintly, one could hear him reciting scriptures dedicated to the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva.
The clear objective of the Buddhist Aura entering the Dead Man's Forbidden Zone was this old monk.
From the Hundred Buddha Diagram behind him, Ren Qing could tell that the Buddhist technique he cultivated had already reached perfection, successfully attaining the Bodhisattva Fruit Position.
However, the drawbacks of Buddhist techniques were impossible to avoid.
Once a technique reached perfection, within at most a hundred years, the Buddhist Aura would completely devour the cultivator's body and soul, turning them into part of the Hundred Buddha Diagram.
The old monk had come to the mirror world precisely to escape the fate of Buddhist cultivators.
"Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva above..."
As a true Earth Immortal existence, although all his cultivation had become nourishment for the Buddhist Aura, before being fully devoured, he still possessed the might of a True Immortal.
He opened his eyes and stared at the bacterial soul with an emotionless gaze.
The bacterial soul was merely a split soul. Even if it died within the mirror world, it would not matter, so by some Ghost Envoy instinct, it did not retreat from the old monk.
"What an ingenious divine ability, to actually control a split soul to enter the Immortal Gate."
"Senior..."
After speaking, the old monk said nothing further. No matter how many times the bacterial soul questioned him, he simply shut his eyes tightly and continued silently reciting Buddhist scriptures.
Ren Qing was somewhat surprised that even the old monk did not know of that existence.
However, he quickly realized that if he himself lacked the Information Stream, he probably would not believe there existed a nonexistent ghost in this world either.
Perhaps in the old monk's eyes, the Corpse Mirror was merely a special secret realm.
The bacterial soul was nearly at the limit of being separated from the body, so it prepared to return to its body. Yet just after it left the old monk,
Clank clank clank clank...
Amid the old monk's chanting, there came the sounds of chains groaning under unbearable strain.
A horrifying Buddhist Aura erupted from the old monk's body, causing the entire mirror world to tremble as though it were about to collapse.
Most likely, the Buddhist Aura outside had already found the old monk's substitute body, causing changes to appear in his true body within the mirror world.
The bacterial soul could not withstand the Buddhist Aura's corrosion and immediately rushed back toward its body.
Ren Qing stared fixedly at this segment of memory. Time itself seemed to slow, and he vaguely saw something walking toward the old monk through the rain of blood.
The chains binding the old monk stopped shaking, and even the rust covering them began to fade away.
The bloody rain continued. Clearly nothing abnormal appeared, yet there was an undeniable sense of incongruity.
Ren Qing repeatedly reviewed the scene several times. Through the intuition granted by the Disaster-Dispelling Technique, he could confirm it was that existence who acted, stabilizing the chains.
It seemed to exist on a different plane. Invisible to the naked eye, imperceptible to souls, even the aura of techniques was difficult to detect.
Ren Qing did not know what state that existence was currently in, but judging from the hastily created Corpse Refinement Method, the other party's mental condition definitely could not be considered healthy.
The bacterial soul soon returned to the body. Later, after the substitute body in the outside world died, it managed to leave the mirror world without any obstruction.
The reason it escaped so smoothly was because it had benefited from the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva's situation.
Otherwise, the bacterial soul likely would have needed to self-destruct in order to deliver the memories back to Ren Qing.
For safety's sake, fearing the Great Compassion Maitreya Bodhisattva might trigger further trouble, he simply spread Ghost Shadow throughout the area surrounding the Corpse Mirror, while the giant corpse Buddha also prepared to depart at any time.
After digesting the memories, Ren Qing vaguely formed a guess that sealing oneself within the mirror world might very well be related to the Dead Man's Sutra.
After extensive deductions by the bacterial souls, the contents of the Dead Man's Sutra were gradually being filled in.
However, with this lesson already before him, directly mastering the Dead Man's Sutra likely carried enormous risks, which was why it needed to be split into different techniques.
If Ren Qing wanted to uncover the full cause and effect of everything, simply making contact with that existence was clearly unrealistic. The only option was for him to advance into the Ascension Ladder himself.
But he still lacked over three thousand years of lifespan. How could he possibly gather that much in a short time...
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes, glancing toward the still brightly lit town in the distance. More than a dozen Yang Spirit realm cultivators resided within.
They were all abandoned pawns from various factions anyway. Even if every single one of them died, it would not matter, so long as the Restraint Officers' Hall was not implicated.
Ren Qing could not be bothered to devise plans for harvesting them like leeks, so he left the matter to Li Tiangang and the others.
He himself focused all his attention on perfecting the Skeletal Corpse Method.
The Skeletal Corpse Method was originally closely connected to the Corpse Refinement Method, and with the Dead Man's Sutra available for constant comparison, the efficiency of refinement was extremely high.
In barely a few days, a new version of the Skeletal Corpse Method possessing the characteristics of a Restraint Officer technique was freshly completed.
Skeletal Corpse Method
Created by Ren Qing. Cultivation requires nourishing the body's bones with Yin Qi. If the flesh still does not decay after thirty-six days, the technique is successfully cultivated.
The realms of the Skeletal Corpse Method matched the Corpse Refinement Method exactly, progressing from Purple Zombie to Flying Zombie.
Ren Qing referenced the Bone Armor Technique while refining the Skeletal Corpse Method. After reaching the Hairy Zombie stage, a second Corpse Core would form within the spine.
Only after confirming that the technique could be stripped away through the Corpse Core did he summon the Information Stream.
Can consume one year of lifespan to exempt the cost of mastering
Ren Qing closed his eyes and sensed the abnormalities within his skeleton. A year of lifespan instantly vanished.
He had assumed he was merely initially mastering the Skeletal Corpse Method, at most resulting in numbness within the bones. Yet instead, indescribable agony surged through him.
Purple-red corpse spots spread across his bones as though they were rotting.
Before Ren Qing could react, the Skeletal Corpse Method automatically advanced toward White Zombie. Yin Qi drilled into the bones while white mold covered the skeleton.
The Nether Yuan within his spine absorbed part of the Yin Qi, causing its corrosive properties to become even more terrifying.
"Urgh..."
Large numbers of bone spikes burst from Ren Qing's joints. White Zombie lasted only a few breaths before instantly advancing into Hairy Zombie.
The bone spikes became increasingly dense, quickly enveloping his entire body.
However, contrary to Ren Qing's expectations, a second Corpse Core did not form within his spine. Instead, the Corpse Core inside his dantian expanded to more than triple its original size.
Yin Qi swept across several thousand meters, forming a massive invisible tornado.
Then the Skeletal Corpse Method advanced once more into Corpse Fiend. The hardness of Ren Qing's bones surpassed imagination, to the point that Yang Spirit realm cultivators could no longer break through his defenses.
The progress of both techniques became synchronized, and both would grow stronger whenever lifespan was consumed.
Ren Qing could clearly feel himself gradually approaching eternal longevity that neither aged, lived, died, nor perished, but at the same time, an inexplicable sense of dread also emerged.
The Information Stream surged, and both the Corpse Refinement Method and Skeletal Corpse Method vanished completely.
[Dead Man's Sutra (Incomplete)]
Ren Qing's gaze flickered. With the Information Stream, he was confident he could also split apart the Dead Man's Sutra, but why go through such unnecessary trouble?