Chapter 312: Chapter 58: How Dare You, Blaming Me?
The temple originally had three heads representing Beast, Artifact, and Demon, but now a ferocious Arhat head has grown as well.
The Arhat head has a green face with sharp fangs, and its wide-open mouth spits out a blood-red tongue.
The tongue bears two engraved lines:
"Body and mind, six roots purified; delusions and ignorance swept away."
The halo at the back of the temple turns into two layers—the inner part formed by ephemeral light, with the dazzling Buddha Power constituting the core halo, which is much larger.
Li Mo’s lips twitched.
He could hear a constant, ethereal chant emanating from the temple’s mouth, containing seemingly simplified and profound truths, but in actuality, nothing but ramblings.
If the Arhat head was used to establish an alternate identity to spread a title, long-term worship by the believers would allow them to comprehend scriptures through the chant.
The scriptures could help Li Mo better control the believers and even grant them magical abilities.
"Why does it feel like the Buddha head is more suited for the No-Life Sect than the Demon head?"
"Better to play it safe—after all, the Cultivation World is treacherous. Who knows how many enemies the Buddhist sect has? You’d die without even knowing how."
Li Mo turned his gaze toward the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
The offerings of Plant and Tree Cultivators were already boosting Great Sun Spiritual Power.
Seeing this, Li Mo adjusted his strategy, directing ninety percent of the nutrients to enhance Great Sun Spiritual Power, striving to accelerate the cultivation of the Scripture of Nine Nether Buddha Light’s Universal Illumination.
In case the True Word Secret Realm suddenly brought unforeseen events, Great Sun Spiritual Power was vital to keep the Three Nascent Souls active—it was of undeniable importance.
To ensure safety, it was best to complete Foundation Establishment within a year.
"No wonder the Buddhist sect resorts to schemes like body seizure and reincarnation. Honestly, in the face of finite lifespans in ancient times, how many lifetimes would it take to attain Buddhahood?"
Li Mo took out large quantities of canned Spiritual Energy, allocating them to provide resources for the Three Nascent Souls, especially the Soul-devouring Demon Infant and Chaos Beast Infant nearing breakthroughs.
Compared to the smoothly advancing Three Nascent Souls, Great Sun Spiritual Power took a full twenty-six days to struggle its way into the Second Layer of Puberty.
Li Mo looked visibly helpless.
Upon experiencing the Buddhist Cultivation System, he deeply grasped the arduousness of Cultivation—the mental strain was unbearable, and even the Innate Taoist Body felt like mere idle talk.
Fortunately, the Tao Seed was subtly refining the cultivation route.
The expectation was that reaching the Third Layer of Puberty would take a month, but it only took twenty-three days to break through.
The proportion of Great Sun Spiritual Energy within the Secret Realm was gradually rising. Detecting the anomaly, Elder of Five Hidden Sword increased the frequency of Invisible Sword Qi once again.
Gritting his teeth, Li Mo stopped saving the Nourishing Yuan Fruit’s medicinal power, spending nearly a century to cultivate new Nascent Soul Stage Corpse Wine.
[Replenishing God Wine]
[With the nerve tissue of Nascent Soul cultivators as medicine primer, mixed with seven ounces of brain tissue from deceitful creatures, aged in the belly of a corpse for eighty years to ferment—effective in repairing nerves and modestly fortifying neural pathways.]
Li Mo reclined in a pool of wine, enhancing the cultivation efficiency of Great Sun Spiritual Power by forty percent. However, the supply of Replenishing God Wine was only sufficient to last thirty years.
On the fifteenth day, just after noon, Great Sun Spiritual Power naturally reached the Fourth Layer of Puberty.
At this moment, within the Mud Pill Palace, Great Sun Spiritual Power had transformed into a starry expanse. Whenever his Divine Sense ventured into the Mud Pill Palace, Li Mo experienced a sense of immersion like a fish in water.
Li Mo could sense the growth of his Divine Sense, yet the magnitude was very slight.
If Great Sun Spiritual Power ascended to Nascent Soul Formation, his already superior Divine Sense in this realm would be unmatched, leaving others far behind.
Upon achieving the Puberty Stage’s perfection, the nourishment of Divine Sense by Great Sun Spiritual Power would become even more pronounced.
"Not bad, an unexpected delight."
Li Mo began absorbing Spiritual Energy, gradually compressing his Spiritual Power to charge into the Foundation Establishment Stage.
While he enjoyed himself, the towns within the Secret Realm erupted in conflicts multiple times, with many Core Formation cultivators despairing in abandoning their spiritual shrines.
Cultivating the Praise of the Seven Treasures Scripture led to being swallowed alive by some unknown entity; forcibly exiting the shrine resulted in being defeated by the Twenty-four Arhats.
Some did try starting with Yang Qi as an alternative entry method, but Spirit Root Transformation required matching with corresponding spiritual materials, and the content provided by the White Bone Sect offered only one viable path.
The remaining Core Formation cultivators emitted tragic and despairing wails within their shrines, their deaths seemingly inevitable.
Even Nascent Soul cultivators exhibited a sense of fox-sorrow for the rabbit’s death.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Invisible Sword Qi descended again, shattering some jade bottles. Several Core Formation cultivators emerged from them, determinedly attempting to escape the town’s boundaries.
"Amitabha Buddha."
The Twenty-four Arhats, spaced a hundred meters apart from each other, released Buddha Power, covering the entire town with the Luminous Pure Land, leaving no place for the Core Formation cultivators to hide.
"Five Hidden Sword!!!"
Buddha Power infiltrated one cultivator’s pores, slowly dissolving his flesh and blood, leaving only a dim Golden Core as his Dantian was destroyed.
"I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die..."
Shan Guo Taoist stared blankly at the cultivators losing their vitality one by one. His Core Formation Stage’s Spiritual Power was barely sufficient to provide half a minute’s protection.
The Twenty-four Arhats ceased their assault—after all, the Outer Heaven Demons were contained within the Luminous Pure Land.
"No good."
Suddenly realizing something, Shan Guo Taoist drew out a Magic Artifact blade to stab into his own forehead. The flowing blood glimmered like crystal, unleashing an aromatic medicinal fragrance.
His eyes rolled wildly, and he muttered delirious and nonsensical phrases.
His mental state had completely crumbled.
Shan Guo Taoist sliced open his skull, mixing golden powder with proportional amounts of medicinal ingredients, then scattered them over his blackened brain tissue.
His brain began to sizzle.
A thin stream of Great Sun Spiritual Energy flowed toward Shan Guo Taoist, and his expression turned jubilant.
"Haha, I’ve succeeded."
Shan Guo Taoist noticed the Luminous Pure Land’s resistance to him was diminishing, and the speed of his Spirit Root Transformation suddenly accelerated, with Buddha Power already germinating.
Most important of all, the mysterious presence dared not reveal itself.
Shan Guo Taoist raised his arms high, fully absorbing Great Sun Spiritual Energy, his brain transforming into golden material albeit stained with black specks.
But his joy was short-lived as he soon sensed something amiss.
Great Sun Spiritual Power began assimilating the Golden Core in his Middle Dantian. Despite Shan Guo Taoist’s timely response, the Golden Core had already started to mix and change.
"Amitabha Buddha."
Jianan Arhat nodded benevolently and formed a Nianhua Finger gesture.
The external Spiritual Energy surged toward Shan Guo Taoist.
Shan Guo Taoist’s smile froze. He opened his mouth as if wanting to speak, but a dull explosion erupted from his chest, and his body instantly exploded into a bloody pulp.
His shattered brain tissue splattered, revealing its degradation to inferior spiritual material.
Shan Guo Taoist’s violent death didn’t provoke panic among the cultivators—instead, they appeared to contemplate the situation and promptly began preparing.
No one could afford to wait any longer; the sooner they acted, the greater their chance of gaining the upper hand.
The atmosphere was overwhelmingly tense.
Only the Bottle World where Li Mo resided presented a serene and idyllic scenery, akin to a secluded paradise.
Great Sun Spiritual Power’s Foundation Establishment progressed even more smoothly than anticipated. The Mud Pill Palace now bore significant changes, with boundless fog dyed in golden hues.
"After ascending to the Weak Crown Period, Great Sun Spiritual Power hasn’t liquefied yet?"
Li Mo raised his eyebrows as his Divine Sense entered the Mud Pill Palace fully, resulting in a half-percent increase in his Divine Sense growth under the influence of Great Sun Spiritual Power.
His Divine Sense transitioned from intangible to tangible.
Unable to resist, Li Mo unleashed his Divine Sense, causing the halo behind his head to expand a hundredfold.
Plant and Tree Cultivators knelt fervently, clearly mesmerized by the incorporation of Great Sun Spiritual Power into his Divine Sense, which now had the ability to beguile living beings.
"But isn’t this a bit too ostentatious?"
Noticing the rapid consumption of Great Sun Spiritual Power, Li Mo withdrew his Divine Sense promptly.
"Let’s test phosphorescence."
Summoning his will, Li Mo commanded Great Sun Spiritual Power to envelop a trace of phosphorescence effortlessly—the two didn’t exhibit any violent rejection.
Great Sun Spiritual Power circulated through his blood vessels once, remaining harmonious with the phosphorescence.
Li Mo felt a premonition that the assimilation of Great Sun Spiritual Power might promote Dao Body Fusion, with visible potential for the emergence of a New Dao Body in the short term.
He closed his eyes to continue cultivating, only to be interrupted by the sharp sound of a sword’s cry.
Li Mo realized belatedly that he was in the True Word Secret Realm, where an impending large-scale battle brewed outside.
The time had come.
The cultivators weren’t waiting for Invisible Sword Qi to destroy the spiritual shrines before escaping.
As the first Nascent Soul Cultivator left the Bottle World, others followed suit, dozens of figures scattering in various directions.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Li Mo showed a trace of surprise, spotting over ten Nascent Soul cultivators who chose to implant auxiliary brains, giving them grotesquely grown second heads atop their necks.
Using their auxiliary brains to cultivate the Praise of the Seven Treasures Scripture, they searched for the Five Hidden Sword’s spiritual shrine.
"Fellow cultivators, Five Hidden Sword treats our lives as mere playthings, clearly intending to leave no path for survival. Our only choice is to fight our way out! Kill!!"
Bang.
One Demon Cultivator’s skin turned dark green, with his spine snapping backward as five rotting ghost corpses clutching human brains emerged from his abdomen.
The rotting ghost corpses entangled the Koushou Arhat while keeping their sights fixed on a shrine.
The Demon Cultivator’s remaining spiritual power was meager. To survive, he had to retreat back to the Bottle World, burning the foundation of his Nascent Soul as he charged toward the shrine.
"Five Hidden Sword, surrender your life."
Elder He Guo performed an upside-down plunge as his head burrowed into the ground, abandoning his body to escape.
The cultivators displayed their Divine Skills, ensuring their preparedness left them with no lack of defensive measures. Meanwhile, the White Bone Sect had already achieved most of its goals.
Elder Liu Huo watched gravely at the outside as the plan veered off its intended course.
"Junior Brother, within a hundred days at most, Nascent Soul cultivators from the Mountain Gate will come to assist. By then, the sword refining process will likely approach its end..."
"Remember, survive at all costs."
"Senior Brother, you—"
Elder Shi Jin’s gaze turned blank, and he soon lost contact with Elder Liu Huo.
At the same time, cultivators attacked their spiritual shrines, causing the Secret Realm to collapse inexplicably, splitting the ground into countless fissures.
"Five Hidden Sword has maintained its sect for three thousand five hundred years, without interruption. This sword must be completed!"
Elder Liu Huo stood naked in mid-air, his arms and legs fused, with his spine bent and chest cavity collapsed, his body mutated into a flying sword of flesh and blood.
Sacrificing his body and soul, he forcibly enacted the arrangements for refining the sword.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
A series of explosions ensued as tens of thousands of citizens unleashed the flying swords within their bodies.
The collected swords formed a sword array that encircled the Twenty-four Arhats, then attacked the cultivators, driving them into a state of constant evasion.
"Damn it."
A Nascent Soul cultivator cursed under his breath as a flying sword inadvertently pierced his abdomen.
Just as he aimed to suppress it with spiritual power, he discovered the sword possessing the attributes of a Buddha Spirit Root, enabling the Nascent Soul to exert corresponding powers.
The Nascent Soul cultivator flushed with frustration.
Without the flying sword, survival was impossible, but keeping it meant contributing to the sword refinement for Five Hidden Sword.
The situation within the True Word Secret Realm was in utter chaos.
Meanwhile, Li Mo quietly released the Ghost Tiger, taking advantage of the disorder to collect spoils indiscriminately—cultivators, flying swords, it made no difference, as the Tao Seed had it covered.
Given the current situation, if Elder Liu Huo could hold out until Mountain Gate reinforcements arrived, utilizing the remaining population within the True Word Secret Realm, the sword refinement might succeed.
"What about the White Bone Sect? They should be making their entrance soon, shouldn’t they?"
Li Mo’s question was barely finished when—
"I am Taishang Qingtian, one of the Thirteen Immortals of the No-Life Sect."
The voice came from underground, followed by a surging aura undeniably belonging to No-Life Demon Cultivators, causing Li Mo’s expression to turn extremely sour.
"Dammit, such audacity, using me as a scapegoat?"