Chapter 276: Chapter 42 Nascent Soul’s Transformation Surgery
Li Mo harvested eleven Nascent Soul Stage Techniques at the Enlightenment Conference. While there were indeed spells suited for his Three Nascent Souls, they always seemed somewhat forced due to their unique nature.
History undoubtedly has examples of flawless Nascent Soul quality, but those individuals certainly didn’t integrate the Five Decaying Souls to regenerate creation with their Nascent Souls.
As things stand, Li Mo is fated to take the path of creating his own techniques.
Generally speaking, creating Nascent Soul Techniques is an extremely tedious process, sometimes requiring the contributions of over a dozen generations of mentorship over a millennium.
Li Mo, however, is different.
The fake soul derived from the Mayfly Dream can utilize the divine powers of his Tao Seed. He can delegate the laborious efforts to the fake soul consciousness.
Li Mo has noticed that the fake soul will soon re-gestate. While patiently waiting, he focuses his mind entirely on cultivation.
The circulation paths of the Three Nascent Souls vary, but since Li Mo can only absorb a limited amount of spiritual energy, he has to make some prioritizations and compromises.
Li Mo considers that Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant is closer to the Corpse Infant Stage, so he centers his cultivation primarily on artifact refining.
To ensure cultivation efficiency, he continuously pours canned spiritual energy into his mouth, simplifies its refinement, and allows the Nascent Soul to absorb it whole.
Even though Li Mo understands that the high temperatures within the furnace can eliminate impurities from spiritual energy, he doesn’t want to miss any opportunities to strengthen his foundation.
As an Innate Saint, he can manage multiple cultivation systems simultaneously. The price, however, is bearing an even more terrifying and stubborn death affliction.
The only thing Li Mo can do is polish himself, forging both his body and soul through countless refinements to attain immortality.
"Dual cultivating multiple techniques is undoubtedly the shortcut to becoming immortal, even if it damages my foundation later due to death afflictions. I won’t regret it in the slightest."
Li Mo’s Tao Heart has become increasingly steadfast, which in turn influences his Nascent Souls.
Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant mimics Li Mo, sitting cross-legged in the furnace. Cracks densely cover its skin, which devours spiritual energy while releasing ever-intensifying heatwaves.
Li Mo has no worries about replenishing canned spiritual energy.
In truth, Futu Hermit has been secretly helping him collect cultivation resources at the port and sending them to the Heart Beast Sect using the Nearby Array.
Li Mo just needs to communicate with the Heart Beast Sect’s No-Life God Statue to bring the resources to the True Void Hometown.
Considering he’s offended the Sky Demon Sect, it’s temporarily unwise for him to expose himself to the outside world—at least until he overcomes the Uncertainty Period Death Disease.
"The Sky Demon..."
Li Mo feels a headache coming on.
Sky Demons in the Divine Separation Stage scatter human heads everywhere, forcing him to find ways to evade their surveillance.
Suppressing distracting thoughts, Li Mo becomes fully immersed in his cultivation. After two or three years, the fake soul successfully gestates.
The brain-like fake soul reappears within the Mud Pill Palace. As Li Mo’s cultivation advances, he can distinctly feel the fake soul gradually growing in strength as well.
This confirms that the unbranded Mayfly Dream indeed has a high chance of spiraling out of control.
"For now, let’s deduce some techniques for Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant."
Nascent Soul Techniques, in general, involve modifying the Nascent Soul itself to enable it to perform spells.
However, compared to physical surgery, Nascent Soul modifications are on an entirely different level.
No matter how haphazard the body’s organ transplants are, sufficient utilization of resources can minimize the cultivator’s troubles.
But the Nascent Soul is a different matter entirely...
After all, the Nascent Soul is fused with the soul and serves as the central hub for controlling spiritual power. A single misstep could potentially destroy its foundation entirely.
Thus, Nascent Soul modifications are undertaken with extreme caution.
For example, the Three-in-One Nascent Soul Eye Formation Technique allows the Nascent Soul to grow a vertical eye, boosting divine sense by roughly 20%.
As the cultivator advances to the Divine Separation Stage, the Nascent Soul transforms into an Externalized Dharma Body. There’s a chance the vertical eye might evolve into a Divine Skill akin to the Cave God’s Eye, though it could also conflict with the Externalized Dharma Body and turn into a mere gimmick.
The Three-in-One Nascent Soul Eye Formation Technique even records a method for removing the vertical eye.
Li Mo entirely relies on the Mayfly Dream; otherwise, he wouldn’t dare experiment with his own Nascent Soul—even with great comprehension, it’d surely be a dead end.
He scrutinizes Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant, noticing its four limbs detaching from its body, floating like satellites around its surroundings.
"Using the limbs as a direction for spell modifications... Hmm, incorporating the Decaying Soul."
Upon careful thought, Li Mo recalls that while members of the Sub-Device Sect are innately born with Human Pig physiques, the meat limb magical artifacts play a critical role—virtually acting as channels for externalized spiritual power.
The Supreme Cave God Jade Talisman Map, due to the influence of the Primordial Dao Seed, incorporates numerous different systems, though fundamentally it still qualifies as artifact cultivation.
Li Mo decides on the direction for creating the spell and immediately begins using the Mayfly Dream.
Once the fake soul consciousness emerges, it begins deducing the spell according to Li Mo’s design, unhesitatingly performing "surgery" on the Nascent Soul within the Illusion Realm.
Li Mo pays no attention to the fake soul consciousness; mundane matters still demand his focus.
Taking advantage of some free time, he prepares to refine a fake magical treasure-level magic robe, preferably with the ability to suppress his aura to evade the Sky Demon’s tracking.
Additionally, Zone 8 has limited potential. It struggles to progress beyond eighty refinements unless Li Mo burns a considerable amount of Innate Essence to purify it.
Nourishing Yuan Fruit medicine power is too precious, and once the Spider Demon’s Multiple-Armed Spine advances to a magic treasure, it’s inevitable that a portion of Innate Essence will have to be allocated for its nurturing.
To increase the number of Nourishing Yuan Fruit, he must push the Paoxiao Swallowing Body further.
This will involve Dao Body Fusion.
Li Mo’s face shows a hint of helplessness; the Paoxiao Swallowing Body and Ancient Sacred Body are overly complex.
Not to mention grasping their essence—he’s still half in the dark on the structure of the Dao Body itself. He’s attempted deducing it using the fake soul consciousness, but the results yielded nothing useful.
The primary issues lie with inadequate divine sense strength and limited medical skill proficiency.
"Sigh..."
Li Mo lightly shakes his head before shifting his attention back to the preparation of refining the magic robe, intending to use the complete Sun and Moon Spirit Pattern.
He employs the Hammer Anvil Technique to engender the Magic Artifact Catalog multiple times, selecting the magic robe that suits him best. Meanwhile, the fake soul finishes its deductions.
The desperate wails of the fake soul consciousness during its final moments still reverberate within the Mud Pill Palace, and its forty years of memories flood into Li Mo’s mind.
"..."
Li Mo processes the memories, frowning slightly as he does.
The deduction results from the fake soul consciousness turn out poorly—Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant completely spirals out of control, transforming into a parasitic fetus after mastering the self-created spell.
Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant frenziedly devours nutrients from the fake soul consciousness, ultimately leading to mutual annihilation.
Li Mo believes the problem doesn’t lie with the Mayfly Dream or the Nascent Soul spells used as templates but rather with the Three Nascent Souls themselves.
Simply put, all creators of Nascent Soul Techniques base their work on their unique circumstances.
Li Mo’s situation is unquestionably unprecedented. The Five Phase Soul differentiates his Nascent Soul from the ordinary, and he has thoroughly underestimated the difficulty of creating spells.
"The fake soul consciousness can only deduce forty years—that’s far too short. The aspects involved in the first Nascent Soul Technique are numerous, completely insufficient."
He has a hunch: forcibly relying on the fake soul consciousness for deductions might require about ten attempts, even with the Primordial Dao Seed’s blessing.
"Maybe..."
A trace of hesitation appears on Li Mo’s face.
Through the No-Life God Statue, he contacts Futu Hermit to deliver a message to the Chaotic Burial Furnace, inquiring whether it’s possible to purchase a few Nascent Soul spells from the Sub-Device Sect.
Futu Hermit relays the message as subtly as possible since they can’t explicitly divulge Li Mo’s identity. Whether Nascent Soul Equipment Repairers even get the message remains uncertain.
After a few days of waiting, Futu Hermit still hasn’t received any response.
Unwilling to waste any more time, Li Mo promptly begins refining magical artifacts.
The Hammer Anvil Technique produces a particularly unique Magic Artifact Catalog, named "New and Old Skins." At a glance, Li Mo immediately recognizes the artifact’s utility.
New and Old Skins have two sides.
Using the "light" side while wearing the artifact maximizes its defensive capabilities.
Using the "dark" side while wearing the artifact transforms Li Mo’s body into a skeletal-like structure. Though defense is significantly reduced, his aura becomes so weak that it resembles an elderly man on the verge of death.
Li Mo is extremely satisfied with New and Old Skins and promptly proceeds with refining it.
The Hundred Refinements pass by easily, and the incorporation of various spiritual materials goes smoothly—the artifact is virtually flawless and profoundly exquisite.
The light side resembles an ordinary Daoist robe, while the dark side takes the form of a hemp garment.
Yes, the type of hemp garment commonly seen among mortals—extremely worn-out in appearance, exuding a stench of decaying flesh.
"Too realistic..."
Just as Li Mo prepares to inscribe the Sun and Moon Spirit Pattern, he receives word from Futu Hermit. However, the contents of the message demand his careful consideration.
"Old Earth True Monarch wants to meet you."
After hesitating for a long while, Li Mo eventually agrees to Old Earth True Monarch’s request. The Sub-Device Sect is an ally rather than an enemy, offering him far more support than the Heart Beast Sect.
Moreover, Dao Body Fusion cannot proceed without Phosphorescence.
Of course, he has no intention of personally heading to the Sub-Device Sect.
Li Mo sends a No-Life God Statue to the Sub-Device Sect’s port and has Futu Hermit place it on the top floor of the Artifact Refining Shop’s Seclusion Room.
Soon after, Old Earth True Monarch quietly arrives at the port.
Old Earth True Monarch is now at the Core Formation Stage, a sign that his body has undergone reincarnation and his strength unknowingly lags far behind Li Mo’s.
When Old Earth True Monarch sees the No-Life God Statue, his expression becomes extremely complex.
"Supreme Qingtian, Daoist Qingtian... It’s still you, isn’t it."
Old Earth True Monarch shakes his head lightly, feeling a mix of relief and bewilderment.
During the thousand-year catastrophe, he merely wished for Li Mo to stay as far away as possible from the Sub-Device Sect, yet Li Mo directly escaped the Mother Furnace’s control.
Previously, Old Earth True Monarch suspected Supreme Qingtian might be Li Mo, but considering the difficulty of breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage with a Flawless Golden Core, he dismissed it as improbable.
Yet Li Mo not only reached the Nascent Soul Stage, but he is already pioneering Nascent Soul Techniques.
The most astonishing fact for Old Earth True Monarch is that Li Mo has already become one of the Thirteen Immortals of the No-Life Sect, a name recognizable even among the port’s common population.
Despite just entering the Nascent Soul Stage, Li Mo’s reputation among his peers in the Demon Sect is almost unparalleled.
He sighs softly: "Alas, I only hope you can escape from the Demon Sect unscathed."
Li Mo’s consciousness then attaches itself to the No-Life God Statue, prompting Old Earth True Monarch to appear somewhat hesitant as though he wants to say something but holds back.
"Qingtian, you..."
"It’s been a long time, Senior Old Earth. How are things going with the disciples in the sect’s mountain gates?"
Old Earth True Monarch feels his heart warm.
He begins recounting the Sub-Device Sect’s current state. Following the thousand-year catastrophe, the mountain gates underwent reshuffling, with the Chaotic Burial Furnace demoted back to Zone 8.
The Sub-Device Sect remains unchanged in structure—the Mother Furnace keeps the sect extraordinarily stable but also prevents it from progressing further.
In Li Mo’s view, if not for the Mother Furnace’s restraints, the Sub-Device Sect could expand immensely through steady development over a millennium.
The two chat for a long time, their relationship resembling that of equals.
Old Earth True Monarch never mentions asking Li Mo to return to the Sub-Device Sect, merely recounting the challenges he has encountered in cultivation as usual.
Finally, he hands Li Mo a human slip, and the contents recorded within speak for themselves.