The Secret Way of Immortality

The vast plains stretched as far as the eye could see, with tens of thousands of sheep moving in an orderly fashion towards the northwest under the watchful eyes of the shepherds.

The shepherds would occasionally lead the flock to lush pastures, watching them graze while constantly chanting "Sentient Buddha".

They would sometimes glance at Ren Qing, their eyes filled with an indescribable sense of mystery.

Ren Qing lay at the rear of the procession, respectfully placed on a flatbed cart by the shepherds, pulled by the sturdiest horses.

He had not attempted to engage with the shepherds in the past few days, choosing instead to observe them in secret.

At the same time, Ren Qing was learning the shepherds' language, noticing more and more oddities, and his heart grew increasingly wary of the Buddhist force behind them.

Even when the shepherds noticed Ren Qing was awake, they did not approach him to inquire, but simply stared at him with unsettling gazes.

They were even more bizarre than the monks of the Heavens Above.

The monks of the Heavens Above were nurtured by the aura of Great Compassion Buddha, and they repeated mantras daily, but they possessed independent consciousness and even showed traces of cultivating Buddhist energy.

However, the shepherds' bodies and souls showed no signs of abnormality, and neither did the fine-wool sheep; they did not seem to be influenced by any Buddhist force.

Nevertheless, they seemed to worship a Buddha called "Sentient Buddha", praying morning and night, and even offering the flesh and blood of the fine-wool sheep as sacrifices.

Ren Qing's understanding of Buddhism was no longer superficial, but he had never heard of any Sentient Buddha, nor did he know the meaning of "ten spiritual bodies, complete at once" that Song Zongwu had mentioned.

But later, through the Buddhist monks in the mirror world, he obtained many Buddhist scriptures from their faint consciousness.

Among them, he found descriptions of the ten spiritual bodies, complete at once.

It was said that the Buddha's body and soul had ten aspects: the Sravaka body, the Pratyekabuddha body, the Bodhisattva body, the Tathagata body, the Dharma body, the Wisdom body, the Void body, the Karma body, the Sentient Being body, and the Land body.

Sentient Buddha was definitely not a Buddha in the traditional sense; he wondered if it was some ghostly creation concocted by a Buddhist force.

Ren Qing had used the information stream to check the shepherds, but found no clues.

He feigned recuperation, while secretly extracting excess death energy from his body, allowing his body to gradually heal and the Buddhist energy he emitted to become more intense.

Ren Qing felt that the situation involved a Buddhist scheme, and he wondered what role Song Zongwu was playing in it.

He pretended to struggle up from the flatbed cart, then coughed violently a few times, inadvertently releasing Buddhist energy from the Laughing Lion Arhat.

The sheep continued to bleat, but the shepherds, who had been chatting with each other, suddenly fell silent.

They stopped their horses and stared intently at Ren Qing, regardless of age or gender, chanting the name "Sentient Buddha".

Ren Qing tentatively said, "This old man is Zongqing from the Laughing Lion Temple, trapped in the Land of the Dead for several years, and only recently escaped. Thank you, Buddhist brother, for your rescue."

He climbed off the flatbed cart, but the shepherds' gazes remained fixed on him.

No matter how many steps Ren Qing took, the shepherds followed by turning their heads, even controlling their horses to gradually surround him.

Ren Qing cursed inwardly, 'What a Sentient Buddha, always hiding his head and tail.'

He turned to leave; if the other party refused to reveal himself, he would have to find another way, using dream techniques to try to figure out Song Zongwu's location.

Ren Qing's pace was faster than the horses, and he had already created distance in a few breaths.

"Laughing Lion Buddha, please wait..."

A shrill voice suddenly rang out, carrying a hint of pain, and tens of thousands of fine-wool sheep fearfully closed their mouths.

Ren Qing narrowed his eyes, and under the effect of the Dream Flower, Buddhist energy imitated the methods of the old monk Zongqing, transforming into golden lions around his body.

The entity that spoke to him should be the Sentient Buddha worshipped by the shepherds.

Ren Qing did not initially realize why Sentient Buddha called him Laughing Lion Buddha, but then he suddenly realized something.

His Buddhist energy was stripped from the Laughing Lion Arhat; although the position was not in his true body, the Buddhist energy did indeed originate from the Heavenly Aberrant Realm Arhat.

If Ren Qing and Song Zongwu stood together, he would undoubtedly look more like a Buddha.

"Sentient Buddha?"

Ren Qing turned his head vigilantly, and many shepherds rode over, the source of the voice coming from their chests and abdomens.

"It is indeed this one. It seems that the Sentient Buddha is known throughout Buddhism, Jie Jie Jie Jie Jie..."

Ren Qing was unclear about the relationship between Buddhism and Sentient Buddha, but the means of Sentient Buddha were indeed very secretive, at least he had not noticed it.

"Laughing Lion Buddha, don't be frightened by me. This one will show you my divine powers... Ugh."

Sentient Buddha let out a muffled groan, and the shepherds removed their upper garments, revealing the wriggling flesh of their chests and abdomens.

Ren Qing's Buddhist energy became even more turbulent, in order to attract attention, using the presence-erasing Ghost Shadow to approach the shepherds silently.

He saw that the flesh of many shepherds had formed distorted faces, as if a head was about to burst out from their chests and abdomens.

Faint Buddhist energy emanated from the shepherds, but it felt different from orthodox Buddhist energy.

"Jie Jie Jie Jie Jie, Laughing Lion Buddha should know the vastness of esoteric Buddhism, right?"

Sentient Buddha's voice was filled with pain, and it was clear that performing such means required enduring some kind of alternative cost.

In his excitement, the shepherds' bodies emitted the sound of colliding bones, and blood seeped from their facial features, indicating that their bodies were on the verge of collapse.

Ren Qing initially thought it was a capability similar to a storyteller, with Sentient Buddha parasitizing the bodies of mortals, but he soon realized that what he saw was not the true form.

Ghost Shadow merged into the shadows of the shepherds, and the information stream surged.

【Sentient Buddha】

【Age: One Thousand Three Hundred and Fifty-Seven】

【Lifespan: Seven Thousand Six Hundred and Thirteen Years】

【Technique: Sentient Body】

【Sentient Body】

【The Sentient Body was created by an unknown ascetic monk, using the wombs of a thousand women who were extremely devout to Sentient Buddha to create a body, and integrating the souls of reincarnated Buddhas into it. Only when the body and soul are united can it be cultivated.】

Ren Qing's expression changed slightly; Sentient Buddha could definitely be considered heretical, so what were the other nine spiritual bodies?

What he cared about most was that the Sentient Body was actually created by an unknown ascetic monk.

The unknown ascetic monk was Song Zongwu's teacher, and he had also created techniques such as the Asura Art and the Listening Skill, and was an unfathomable figure.

However, since he was able to create the Jailer Law, he must have gazed directly at the Heavenly Dao many times, so how could his mental state be without problems?

Ren Qing guessed that the Sentient Body technique should be able to forcibly descend into the bodies of Sentient Buddha's believers, using them as mediums.

Or was it possible to be descended upon as long as one knew about Sentient Buddha?

He could not help but feel murderous intent; such a bizarre technique should not exist, he always felt that it would cause him to be exposed.

The most⊥new⊥small⊥say⊥at⊥six⊥9⊥books⊥⊥bar⊥⊥first⊥release!

Sentient Buddha said with a smile, "Laughing Lion Buddha, would you be willing to explore esoteric Buddhism together? We can transcend positions, and do not need to worry about being stripped of our bodies and souls after attaining enlightenment..."

He spoke eloquently, and at the same time, Buddhist energy surged, and the threat in his words was even greater.

Ren Qing did not rush to agree, and only spoke after sensing that Sentient Buddha's aura had reached the Yang God realm.

"I have indeed experienced nine lives, and in this life, I am likely to achieve the Arhat position, and then I will be transformed into nourishment for the Buddha Diagram."

Sentient Buddha's aura dissipated, and sour liquid from the shepherds' stomachs spewed from his mouth, and he could not help but laugh wildly.

"No wonder the Tathagata Buddha would point to this place, it turns out it is because of the Laughing Lion Buddha. With you joining, the ten spiritual bodies will be even more complete, and will soon attain enlightenment, soon attain enlightenment!!!"

He seemed extremely mad, and the possessed shepherds gradually approached death.

Sentient Buddha smiled and invited, "I will guide you to Samyak-sambodhi, with your Laughing Lion Buddha's foundation, you will surely be able to ascend to the Buddha position."

"Congratulations in advance, I just happened to refine a secret Buddhist artifact with human sheep, and I will give these tens of thousands of human sheep to Zongqing, Jie Jie Jie Jie Jie..."

As soon as Sentient Buddha's voice fell, a woman in the flock of shepherds suddenly wailed, and then spat out a strange lotus the size of a fist.

As soon as the lotus landed, it grew rapidly, and in a moment it formed a flesh and blood lotus throne, but it was pieced together from the wombs of women.

【Flesh Lotus Throne】

【Refined by Sentient Buddha, it requires the wombs of thousands of women as materials, and sitting on the throne can feel the suffering of all sentient beings' karma.】

Ren Qing had seen too many evil Buddhas and strange paths, but esoteric Buddhism still gave him a chilling feeling, and goosebumps appeared all over his body.

The Tathagata Buddha that Sentient Buddha spoke of was probably Song Zongwu, who was cultivating the "Tathagata Body" among the ten bodies.

Song Zongwu might have wanted to remind the Jailer Hall of something, but he attracted Sentient Buddha instead.

He thought of the missing organs in the fine-wool sheep, as well as the peanut-sized wombs, and it was clear that the strange behavior of the shepherds trading with each other was because Sentient Buddha was refining artifacts.

However, Sentient Buddha's means of controlling the shepherds were very limited, so he used Buddha corpses to drive them.

An old man walked out of the shepherds, he wiped the blood from his mouth and nose with his sleeve, and said respectfully, "Buddha, we will take you to Samyak-sambodhi now, please forgive us for our negligence."

"What is Samyak-sambodhi?"

The old man's eyes revealed reverence, and he said breathlessly, "Returning to the Buddha, that is the place where thousands of Buddhas cultivate, not for us mortals..."

"Cough cough cough cough cough..."

Seeing that they were seriously injured and not yet healed, Ren Qing waved his hand and released Buddhist energy to nourish the shepherds.

Using the Buddhist Dream Flower, it was not difficult to simply use the techniques of Buddhist energy, but if he were to fight, it would be easy to expose his true level.

"Thank you, Buddha."

The shepherds were grateful, but soon became calm again, and it was clear that Sentient Buddha did not want to see believers prostrating themselves before Ren Qing.

Ren Qing was too lazy to pay attention to Sentient Buddha, opened his mouth and sucked in tens of thousands of fine-wool sheep into his stomach world.

He currently had no way to return the fine-wool sheep to human form, so he simply handed them over to the Jailer Hall for processing, and incidentally arranged an emergency task.

Ren Qing asked the Jailer Hall to complete the specific artifactization of the entire forbidden corpse as soon as possible, leaning towards the distorted direction of the Scripture of the Dead.

Sentient Buddha's true form was probably only at the peak of the Yang God realm, but he had to guard against the existence of a Heavenly Aberrant realm in esoteric Buddhism.

A hint of ruthlessness appeared in Ren Qing's heart.

If he encountered a strong enemy, he would temporarily integrate the strange object of the Scripture of the Dead into the forbidden corpse, and after summoning the Corpse Immortal, he would strip off the strange object and flee in the chaos.

Anyway, the forbidden corpse was just a corpse, and as long as it was not completely destroyed, it could be restored with vitality.

So the unknown ascetic monk, huh?!!

The update should resume at 8:30 tomorrow, I have something to do today, so I updated it in advance.