Chapter 314: Chapter 60 Never Seen a Flawless Core Formation?
After Zhang Guo swallowed the Bodhi Fruit, he began to mumble incoherently, and then his body uncontrollably swelled up.
Some of his roots dug into the soil, making his condition seem rather abnormal.
"..."
Li Mo quickly released his Divine Sense to inspect Zhang Guo’s state.
For the Corpse Mountain Mini World, Zhang Guo’s importance was beyond question; the world’s current prosperity was at least half owed to him.
At the same time, Zhang Guo played the role of Taoist Ancestor. If he were to die inexplicably, plant and tree cultivators of different spirit attributes would definitely descend into chaos.
Fortunately, the Bodhi Fruit did not endanger Zhang Guo’s life.
Li Mo could sense that Zhang Guo’s Essence was concentrating entirely on his spine, while Zhang Guo’s Spiritual Wisdom was rapidly growing over a short period.
Li Mo stretched out his palm, allowing the Spiritual Energy surging from Corpse Mountain to nourish Zhang Guo.
Zhang Guo’s dozen heads began to sway uncontrollably. After absorbing several breaths of Spiritual Energy, he smoothly advanced to Weak Crown Middle Stage, and his roots began to wave about.
Li Mo noticed that the trajectory of the roots carried a distinctive Dao Rhythm, faintly resembling an Array, causing a glimmer of understanding to flash in his eyes.
The Bodhi Fruit’s effects lasted for half a day before Zhang Guo emerged from his state of enlightenment.
Just one Bodhi Fruit had saved Zhang Guo at least dozens of years.
Li Mo couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
He originally thought the Bodhi Fruit would have far more divine and mysterious uses, but it appeared to fall short of the effects of the Nourishing Yuan Fruit.
"Waa ya ya."
Zhang Guo muttered incomprehensibly, kneeling and repeatedly kowtowing to Li Mo, while gesturing toward his own spine with his arms.
Li Mo scanned Zhang Guo but still noticed nothing unusual. "Zhang Guo, go back to the Corpse Mountain Mini World to meditate. Stabilize your cultivation level first."
After all, the True Word Secret Realm was saturated with Great Sun Spiritual Power, making it unsuitable for plant and tree cultivators to cultivate.
Li Mo transferred Zhang Guo to Corpse Mountain Mini World’s main peak. Zhang Guo stood atop the mountain scratching his head and, moments later, closed his eyes to absorb Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy.
"Huh?"
Li Mo’s face revealed a trace of surprise.
He originally thought the Bodhi Fruit only enhanced Spiritual Wisdom, but upon closer observation, he noticed that Zhang Guo’s efficiency in absorbing Spiritual Energy had clearly increased.
The Cave God’s Eye in Li Mo’s brow turned clockwise, allowing him to detect the underlying cause.
Within Zhang Guo’s body, a grain-sized Acquired Wood Spirit Root had begun to sprout, facilitating his connection with external Spiritual Energy.
"I see—Bodhi Fruits can nurture existing spirit roots, or if someone has no spirit root at all, they can induce the creation of an Acquired Spirit Root."
As Zhang Guo continued cultivating, the Acquired Spirit Root also slowly mended itself.
However, based on Li Mo’s estimation, it would take at least eight or nine hundred years to fully complete the root, or about twenty Bodhi Fruits.
Li Mo licked his lips and threw a Bodhi Fruit into his mouth.
Under his Divine Sense, he could clearly observe the Bodhi Fruit dispersing through his bloodstream, traveling along his veins and being absorbed by various spirit roots in his body.
This included the Five Organs Corpse Spirit Root, Brain Buddha Spirit Root, Molten Furnace Golden Spirit Root, and Temple Yin Spirit Root.
The nourishment provided to the spirit roots wasn’t particularly noticeable, but this was purely because Li Mo’s foundations were far too robust—his spirit roots vastly surpassed those of ordinary cultivators.
Anyone else would have benefited enormously.
A flash of excitement appeared in Li Mo’s eyes as he casually tossed another Bodhi Fruit toward the bottle’s opening.
Before the other Tattooed Beasts could react, the Ghost Tiger opened its massive jaw and swallowed the Bodhi Fruit, its expression smug.
ROAR!!
The Bottle World immediately descended into chaos; even the always-quiet Golden Toad couldn’t resist gathering around Li Mo.
They all stared eagerly, begging for Bodhi Fruits.
The Candle Dragon, boldest of them all, clenched Li Mo’s clothing in its jaws and tried dragging him away from the wine pool—no doubt so the Dragon Master could feast properly.
"One at a time. This isn’t a situation where we can act recklessly; we’re still in a dangerous secret realm, and I can’t allow you to act without restraint."
After pacifying the Tattooed Beasts, Li Mo turned his attention to the Ghost Tiger’s condition.
The Ghost Tiger crouched by the bottle’s opening, low growls escaping its throat, while a rice-sized Yin Spirit Root slowly grew within its body.
Once the Yin Spirit Root took initial shape, the Ghost Tiger’s control over Spiritual Power greatly increased.
"Excellent—now, even if I don’t use my arms to summon them, with the support of Acquired Spirit Roots, the Tattooed Beasts will be able to stay in the external world for extended periods."
Moreover, he had a hunch that once the Tattooed Beasts completed their Acquired Spirit Roots, they would undergo extraordinary transformations.
Li Mo was quite satisfied.
The only issue? Completing the spirit roots for the Tattooed Beasts would cost fifty Bodhi Fruits each; for his seven Beasts, conservatively estimated, that meant more than three hundred Bodhi Fruits.
Li Mo had only managed to gather a hundred or so Bodhi Fruits from plundering the White Bone Sect’s resources.
Li Mo couldn’t help but glance at the flesh pillar, which, having been drained of a massive amount of nutrients, now appeared limp and occasionally experienced dissolution.
In the city, the proliferation of flying swords grew increasingly frenzied.
Continuous wails echoed from the populace as innumerable incomplete flying swords broke free from mortal bodies, joining in the attack against the Twenty-four Arhats’ blockade.
The True Word Secret Realm had turned into a wasteland, littered with mortals caught between life and death.
Li Mo calmly absorbed Great Sun Spiritual Power while monitoring the secret realm’s activities.
Over the next half month, the White Bone Sect showed no sign of action, perhaps realizing that a third faction was hidden within the True Word Secret Realm.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Power stagnated, remaining at eighty-two percent.
The Nascent Soul cultivators had now escaped their predicament, working together to set up defensive arrays against the sword array, though none of them dared to activate the flying swords within their bodies.
Anyone who attempted to suppress the swords was instantly sliced to pieces by the sword rain overhead.
The Twenty-four Arhats sat cross-legged in their original positions, only attacking flying swords within a thirty-meter range while chanting profoundly unintelligible Buddhist scriptures.
They strictly adhered to the ancient rules of the True Word Sect.
Even now, without the Seven Treasures Buddha in sight and external invaders deep within the secret realm, the expressions of the Twenty-four Arhats remained eternally unchanged.
Elder Liu Huo stood at the Array Eye, seemingly instinctively aware that the sword array was nearing completion.
BANG!
A swarm of flying swords suddenly targeted Koushou Arhat, instantly engulfing him. The Twenty-four Arhats immediately unleashed Buddha Power to resist.
However, the swords retreated mere moments later.
The Nascent Soul cultivators gasped in shock, noticing that an excessively damaged flying sword had somehow embedded itself into Koushou Arhat’s Heavenly Spirit Cover.
"Amitabha Buddha."
At this moment, the Twenty-four Arhats finally felt a sense of crisis—but it was evidently too late. The sword array whipped up a storm of sand, enveloping the secret realm in dust.
The Nascent Soul cultivators could hear the screech of clashing metal and the noise of the Twenty-four Arhats fighting back, while the sword rain grew sparse.
The refining of swords escalated to the next stage, and the Five Hidden Sword began focusing its attacks on the Twenty-four Arhats.
Elder Liu Huo continued channeling the sword array, following instinctively ingrained thoughts from his past life. However, the progress was visibly lagging.
If flying swords could successfully parasitize the Twenty-four Arhats, then the Five Hidden Sword’s mission would be more than half completed.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Power controlled by the White Bone Sect lingered awkwardly at eighty-two percent, and the shadowy mastermind started sensing irregularities.
It seemed as if invisible hands were secretly maintaining a balance between the White Bone Sect and the Five Hidden Sword.
"Half a step away from the Fake Core Stage."
Li Mo opened his eyes, leisurely advancing to Weak Crown Late Teenage. His brain neural pathways, repeatedly tempered, could now contain even greater amounts of Spiritual Power.
With his supply of Replenishing God Wine exhausted, he directly expedited cultivation using Nourishing Yuan Fruit Medicine Power.
Li Mo couldn’t help but feel as though he were stealing others’ resources to cultivate, a thought that made him secretly gleeful while Da Ai Mi Tian continued absorbing nutrients from the flesh pillar.
Clearly, the White Bone Sect was testing the waters, providing only limited nourishment.
To ensure the sustainability of his resources, Li Mo maintained his extraction ratio at forty percent—within what the White Bone Sect could tolerate.
"A steady trickle—there are nearly two hundred Bodhi Fruits now."
Li Mo emitted a sinister laugh, with the Nourishing Yuan Fruit Medicine Power now reaching over five thousand years. The fruit glimmered softly on its branch, warm and jade-like.
Just one glance at it could stir uncontrollable hunger.
Li Mo quietly planned the allocation of the Nourishing Yuan Fruit Medicine Power, certain that his three Magic Treasures advancing to Mid Grade was an inevitability.
However, that could wait until leaving the secret realm—for now, cultivating was the priority.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Power had reached eighty-five percent.
Six of the Twenty-four Arhats had already fallen, becoming vessels for flying swords.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Power rose to ninety-one percent.
The Luminous Pure Land began shrinking as the majority of True Word Sect Arhats succumbed, but the sword array also suffered losses.
Elder Shi Jin reluctantly sent the mortals from Five Temples Town into the secret realm.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Power climbed to ninety-five percent.
Li Mo finally broke through to the Fake Core Stage, and perhaps due to his Phosphor Buddha Spirit Root, the Fake Pill he developed was of exceptionally high quality.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Power dropped slightly to ninety-four percent.
Indeed, as Li Mo watched the Spiritual Power snowball, he plundered more resources again. With the Bodhi Fruits already sufficient for the Tattooed Beasts, he refrained from further interference.
Li Mo focused solely on cultivating Great Sun Spiritual Power to form his Golden Core, instructing the Ghost Tiger to bury the Cancer Transformation spiritual shrine deep underground.
When Great Sun Spiritual Power saturated the secret realm.
Unexpectedly, the White Bone Sect did not obstruct the continued refining of swords.
Amidst the flow of Great Sun Spiritual Power, the True Word Sect’s Arhats were further repressed, leaving the remaining Arhats easily parasitized by flying swords, and everything returned to stillness.
Elder Shi Jin frowned, staring at the secret realm in puzzlement.
Around him, thousands of terrified mortals huddled in the corners of the Bottle World as the Five Hidden Sword moved in and out of the secret realm via the spiritual shrine.
"What exactly..."
Before Elder Shi Jin could finish speaking, he suddenly turned his head, belatedly realizing something was amiss.
Chilling Spiritual Power roamed unchecked.
He saw countless mortals tearing off their flesh, revealing bare skeletons. How could Elder Shi Jin fail to recognize the demon cultivators of the White Bone Sect?
"It’s a pity minor troublemakers disrupted my plans; otherwise, things would have gone even smoother."
The Bone Desolate Taoist motioned for the sect’s demon cultivators to patrol the town.
Elder Shi Jin attempted to circulate his Spiritual Power, only to find himself unable to control his body. His consciousness sank eternally into a void of regret and darkness.
"Continue the sword refinement; we must complete it before the Heavenly Sword Sect arrives."
Bone Desolate Taoist’s tone revealed an uncontrollable reverence when mentioning the Heavenly Sword Sect, and the other demon cultivators shared his fervent expressions.
"Yes, the Heavenly Sword Sect above all."
The White Bone Sect’s plans had been in motion hundreds of years ahead of the Five Hidden Sword.
Under their manipulation, the skeletal structure of the Twenty-four Arhats began to grow, while their flesh crumbled and gathered toward the center of the town.
The sword array actively merged into it as well.
Ten days later.
A massive, hundred-meter golden brain-shaped Buddha Spirit Root took form, radiating a magnificent golden hue. Great Sun Spiritual Power surged madly toward the Buddha Spirit Root.
The Bone Desolate Taoist murmured, "It’s done, it’s done."
Just then.
A terrifying suction force emerged from deep underground, violently stealing Spiritual Power from the secret realm.
Buddha Light burst forth, momentarily suppressing the enormous Buddha Spirit Root.
The Bone Desolate Taoist froze.
Because he noticed that this was clearly the sign of a nascent Golden Core.
"What in the world is this?"