Since accidentally discovering the Fleshly Tathagata, to Daoist Pig, the Buddha outside the hall seemed to have become a mental demon in his mind.
The Fleshly Tathagata was growing almost every moment.
At first, it had only covered the back of Many-Tongued Buddha, but it soon spread to his upper body, making the Insect Buddha's appearance increasingly bizarre.
Daoist Pig could barely reach the Heavenly Court now, and he felt that within a few years, he would be able to leave his soul behind and travel to the Heavenly Court.
As long as some cultivator was willing to save him, with an Insect Buddha's Yang Spirit realm cultivation, escaping would be effortless.
But Daoist Pig had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before the Fleshly Tathagata ate the Buddha completely and stepped into the Heavenly Aberration realm.
He swallowed and once again used his technique to look outside.
The area outside the hall had already become much quieter. After Many-Tongued Buddha was parasitized, the believers had clearly grown wary and all chosen to worship the other Insect Buddhas.
However, Daoist Pig noticed that the believers who continued burning incense without giving up seemed to be undergoing inexplicable changes as well.
The believers' skin gradually turned bronze-colored, while their bones began to become metallic.
Daoist Pig knew that the Fleshly Tathagata had not actively affected the believers, which instead demonstrated just how terrifying it was. It could radiate outward and mutate the living beings around it.
His position was close to a corner of the Mahavira Hall and was temporarily outside its range.
But Daoist Pig could not guarantee that his body and soul would remain unchanged in the future. Perhaps he would completely become a puppet of the Fleshly Tathagata.
At the thought of this, he couldn't help shuddering.
Daoist Pig continued communicating with the Heavenly Court, hoping to contact the cultivators who had entered the Deeper Layer World before the Fleshly Tathagata could fully mature.
Ren Qing naturally knew everything Daoist Pig was doing.
Every day, Heavenly Aberration realm cultivators from the various factions tried to enter the Heavenly Court, but the authority over the dream was firmly controlled by him, so he naturally wouldn't easily lift the restrictions on outsiders.
Ren Qing's body and soul, transformed into a Nightmare Demon, remained completely shapeless within the Mud Pellet Palace of the Fleshly Tathagata, occasionally turning into mist to stretch his limbs.
Recently, he had been constantly urging the Fleshly Tathagata to absorb Buddha Qi.
Under the Fleshly Tathagata's oppression, Many-Tongued Buddha had already become skin and bones, as if all the flesh on his body had been concentrated in the mountain-like tumor on his back.
His expression had also become somewhat hazy. One had to know that the Fleshly Tathagata constantly emitted Buddha Qi.
The Buddha Qi of the Fleshly Tathagata was extremely close in nature to that of a Fruit Position Buddha, and its Buddha Qi contained a vast amount of chaotic memories left behind by souls.
After being exposed to it for a long time, Many-Tongued Buddha had already been brainwashed by the Fleshly Tathagata, and the scriptures he murmured had also turned into the twisted doctrines spoken by the Fleshly Tathagata.
Even the believers were gradually mutating under the influence of the Fleshly Tathagata Buddha Qi.
Ren Qing had observed the believers' mutations and could see traces of several of his techniques within them, with Ancestral Lineage Derivation accounting for the largest proportion.
Simply put, after the believers unknowingly absorbed the Buddha Qi, they were gradually moving closer to the Fleshly Tathagata.
In the Small Buddha Heaven, where mortals were forbidden from cultivating, they could nevertheless feel their bodies gradually growing stronger. This would absolutely drive people mad.
Naturally, this situation caught the attention of the other two Insect Buddhas in Jinmen Temple, but because there were too few believers, and because the Fleshly Tathagata could alter their subconscious minds, nothing came of it.
"Amitabha."
The Fleshly Tathagata muttered to itself, its entire body trembling uncontrollably.
The statue of Many-Tongued Buddha on its surface finally took complete shape. Apart from the three Arhat statues, another Insect Buddha appeared, carrying the Fleshly Tathagata.
Without needing Ren Qing's signal, the Fleshly Tathagata voluntarily released its parasitic hold on Many-Tongued Buddha.
Many-Tongued Buddha collapsed to the ground like a corpse. Not only had his foundation suffered severe damage, but the imprint of the Fleshly Tathagata had also been left in his mind and soul.
The Fleshly Tathagata had already surged to a height of eight hundred meters, indeed possessing some of the flavor of a Buddhist sacred mountain.
Many-Tongued Buddha dragged his heavily wounded body and sat cross-legged on the Lotus Throne of Skulls.
Within the Buddha Qi he breathed in and out, traces of the Fleshly Tathagata's Buddha Qi could clearly be seen mixed in, capable of causing the body and soul of nearby living beings to mutate.
Ren Qing couldn't help sighing. The Fleshly Tathagata truly was a great enemy of Buddhism. It had only just developed a sense of fullness from Many-Tongued Buddha when it suddenly felt hungry again.
The Fleshly Tathagata crawled with difficulty, eagerly looking toward the remaining two Insect Buddhas.
Ren Qing deliberately suppressed the Fleshly Tathagata's instincts. The latter went from its initial restlessness to gradually returning to a state of calm.
The Fleshly Tathagata transformed into a mountain standing beside the Mahavira Hall.
Not only the believers entering and leaving the hall, but even the caravans at the city gate could see the Fleshly Tathagata's exaggerated and bizarre appearance.
They naturally reported it to the senior monks of Jinmen Temple, but even after informing the Buddha, they still received no useful response.
The Insect Buddha's inaction instead encouraged some believers to worship the Fleshly Tathagata.
The bizarre situation in Jinmen Temple left Daoist Pig completely dumbfounded. It was as if the Insect Buddhas were deliberately allowing the Fleshly Tathagata to grow stronger.
He hoped that a large-scale battle would break out between the Buddhas. If the temple buildings were destroyed, he could take advantage of the chaos to escape from Jinmen Temple.
Instead, the situation became increasingly strange.
Many-Tongued Buddha was practically being refined into a puppet right in front of them, yet the Insect Buddhas showed no reaction, allowing the Fleshly Tathagata to digest his Buddha Qi.
Several days later, Ren Qing finally secretly used the Heavenly Demon Tribulation.
The range of the Heavenly Demon Tribulation covered the entire city, so the Insect Buddhas naturally could not escape it.
Immediately afterward, the Fleshly Tathagata was carried by four Buddha statues and crawled toward the Mahavira Hall of Palm Buddha at an extremely slow pace.
Ren Qing was somewhat helpless. Although the number of Buddha statues was still increasing, the Fleshly Tathagata's body continued to accumulate in size.
The Fleshly Tathagata charged recklessly through the city and only reached Palm Buddha at noon.
Under the astonished gazes of tens of thousands of believers, the Fleshly Tathagata parasitized the spine of Palm Buddha and crazily devoured his flesh and Buddha Qi.
Palm Buddha's expression was greedy, and outsiders had no idea what he was thinking.
Only after the Fleshly Tathagata grew Palm Buddha's face did Palm Buddha realize that something was wrong, but by then, breaking free from the parasitic hold was clearly unrealistic.
The three Insect Buddhas of Jinmen Temple had all become prey for the Fleshly Tathagata.
Ren Qing no longer paid attention to it. Even though the people were fleeing Jinmen Temple in droves, and many monks had gone to other temples to seek help.
He had already developed the idea of breeding Insect Buddhas.
If he relied solely on monks bringing reinforcements, who knew how long it would take before the Fleshly Tathagata could devour enough Insect Buddha Qi to break through to the Heavenly Aberration realm.
Because of Ren Qing's deliberate inaction, Jinmen Temple seemed to be turning into an empty city, with all kinds of shops long since abandoned.
The people who remained voluntarily accepted the erosion of the Fleshly Tathagata Buddha Qi. They wanted to find a way to cross the sea of suffering through cultivation.
These monks instead became even more devout, and were even praised by the name of ascetic monks.
Ren Qing moved the ascetic monks to the prosperous urban district, while the remaining districts were simply demolished and rebuilt from scratch in preparation for breeding Insect Buddhas.
While Jinmen Temple was undergoing extensive construction, a wave of refugees had already surged toward the surrounding cities.
To prevent the situation from becoming too widespread, Ren Qing had bacterial souls follow the flow of people to the various cities. As a result, he discovered that without exception, the Insect Buddhas stationed there were all at the Yang Spirit realm.
The Small Buddha Heaven truly lived up to its name. There wasn't even a trace of a Heavenly Aberration realm cultivator to be found.
Seeing this, Ren Qing became even more reckless. After all, even if he bred Insect Buddhas on a large scale, it would probably take quite some time for each individual one to produce enough Buddha Qi for the Fleshly Tathagata.
Since there were already existing Insect Buddhas, naturally he had no intention of wasting them.
Ren Qing sat calmly like a fisherman waiting for the fish to bite, completely unaware that the Fleshly Tathagata had already stirred up enormous waves throughout the Small Buddha Heaven, except that the Insect Buddhas did not dare to leave their temples easily.
The Fleshly Tathagata's speed of devouring Buddha Qi grew faster and faster.
After only a few days, the statue of Palm Buddha had already formed on its surface. It did not spare the final Evolved Buddha either, and he had absolutely no power to fight back.
In his spare time, Ren Qing began researching the Taiyin Star Lord.
The Deeper Layer World was attached to the true body of the Taiyin Star Lord, so implanting an Immortal Office should not be difficult.
He first nourished the Cancer Disease Tree bacterial soul to the Heavenly Aberration realm, then sent the disease strain into the ground, attempting to find the body and soul of the Taiyin Star Lord.
Ren Qing once again encountered the same situation as with the Matchmaking Immortal.
It was difficult for the disease strain to reproduce within the body of a True Immortal. The slightest mistake could result in its complete annihilation, so he could only proceed slowly and steadily.
At the same time, an indescribable upheaval occurred in Jinmen Temple.
The ascetic monks discovered that the city was suddenly covered by a layer of mycelium. Although it was invisible to the naked eye, the mycelium seemed to possess life as it wriggled.
They had no idea that the mycelium was composed of tens of thousands of Fungus People.
With only a few hundred Fungus People, together with sufficient flesh and bones to feed them, their reproductive ability meant that it would soon occupy every crack between the bricks.
Ren Qing released a Ghost Envoy realm strange creature, merely the relatively common Divine Foot Scripture.
As soon as the strange creature arrived in the Deeper Layer World, it immediately began transforming toward a humanoid form, though its physical characteristics still retained traces of a beast.
Under Ren Qing's gaze, the soul of an ancient monk soon possessed the Insect Buddha.
"Amitabha, how can this be?"
Yuren's memories had a certain gap, as if he had just been reciting scriptures in a temple, only to suddenly arrive in the Deeper Layer World.
He looked around blankly, and the first thing that entered his sight was the Fleshly Tathagata.
The terrifying appearance of the Fleshly Tathagata, contrasted with the devout believers around it, made Yuren feel as though he were looking at the most unbelievable scene in the world.
"Has the Buddha gone mad?"
Yuren wanted to flee Jinmen Temple, but he suddenly realized that his limbs were different.
Before he could remain astonished for long, the words of Fude Buddha suddenly sounded beside his ears, and his panicked state of mind gradually calmed down.
"Yuren, bestowed with the name Fuxiang Buddha. Proceed to the western side of the Small Buddha Heaven in three days."
Before Yuren could even react, countless white bones suddenly emerged from the ground, directly sealing him within a narrow space.
Immediately afterward, he heard voices praising him.
Yuren noticed that the Buddha Qi within his body was being stimulated by the vow power and continuously growing, but unfortunately, he could not escape the bone prison.
His expression was blank, and he had no idea what was happening.
A golden beetle-shaped Dreamflower landed on the top of Yuren's prison, and the tiny amount of Buddha Qi he had just condensed was immediately absorbed completely.
Similar Insect Buddha prisons sprang up like mushrooms after rain, spreading throughout the streets of Jinmen Temple.
Even the ascetic monks who had pledged themselves to the Fleshly Tathagata felt their scalps go numb, unable to imagine what exactly it was that they worshipped.
As for the believers maintaining the many Insect Buddhas, they were merely Fungus People capable of reproducing without limit. They might provide little vow power individually, but their numbers were an astonishing hundreds of millions.
Ren Qing had been in Jinmen Temple for only a little over half a month, but the city had already become completely unrecognizable.
The original system of Buddhas and believers had vanished without a trace, and an Insect Buddha breeding farm had even been openly established.