Chapter 245: Chapter 11 No-Life Mother, True Void Hometown
Li Mo’s expression turned subtle as his figure vanished from the cave mansion, reappearing at the summit of the mountain, where he began to communicate with the temple through his consciousness.
The True Void Hometown was the cornerstone of the No-Life Sect’s foundation.
Although Li Mo had not acquired the Lifeless All Directions Spirit Festival through conventional methods, the Demon Sect never emphasized Taoist inheritance. Claiming to be part of the No-Life Sect was not an issue for him.
The method to reach the True Void Hometown was highly unique and required consciousness to connect with the temple.
Li Mo pondered briefly before sending a small portion of his consciousness into the temple, immediately sensing his mind touch an unfamiliar boundary of existence.
"Ugh..."
Li Mo’s consciousness merged with the divine statue.
Through the function of the temple, his awareness leapt out of his body, akin to the soul leaving the body before the cataclysmic changes of the world had taken place.
The True Void Hometown was even more concealed than he had imagined.
Even though Li Mo used his Divine Sense to monitor his consciousness, he still couldn’t pinpoint how that portion of his awareness vanished into the temple.
He looked around instinctively.
The True Void Hometown was entirely composed of endless dense fog.
It resembled a vast, boundless ocean.
Li Mo attempted to locate the True Void Hometown spatially but realized his consciousness seemed entrapped in an enclosed and chaotic unknown space.
Ordinary cultivators could never manage to split their consciousness in two; he only succeeded thanks to the memorization function of his divine abilities.
Drifting in the dense mist for a long while, Li Mo’s awareness became utterly disoriented. As a slight breeze passed, his consciousness teetered on the edge of dissipating.
"Something’s wrong."
His brows furrowed as an inexplicable sense of familiarity surged in his heart.
How could it be? He felt as if he had come into contact with a place similar to the True Void Hometown before.
Wait a minute!!!
Li Mo suddenly realized something, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
"Mud Pill Palace?"
Indeed, the True Void Hometown was almost identical to the Mud Pill Palace, with the only difference being perspective, which had caused him to overlook the truth at first.
Surprisingly, the No-Life Sect had been established within a Mud Pill Palace.
Li Mo speculated that the Mud Pill Palace originated from the No-Life Mother. Only her level of power could pull someone’s consciousness into such a place without leaving any trace.
Perhaps because not all of his consciousness had entered the True Void Hometown, he faintly sensed a growing rejection from the space.
After hesitating for a few moments, Li Mo completely immersed his consciousness into the temple without reservation.
His form immediately underwent a transformation, changing from a semi-ethereal mist into an over-ten-meter-tall divine statue within just a few seconds.
With a single sweep of his gaze, his imposing and commanding aura was fully displayed.
Thankfully, Li Mo had suppressed the Taoist Body characteristics of the temple; otherwise, if he had entered the True Void Hometown in the form of a Six Paths Body, it would definitely have alarmed the No-Life Sect.
Shielded by the temple, Li Mo’s consciousness moved effortlessly within the True Void Hometown.
Even without deliberate guidance, traces of Turbid Blood Spirit Qi naturally flowed into his being, subtly enhancing the cultivation level of the temple.
Li Mo, however, was struck by a sense of foreboding as he instinctively turned to the west.
The dense mist no longer obstructed his vision, and visibility dramatically improved, allowing him to notice a Demon Cultivator within a kilometer radius.
Bang, bang, bang...
Suspended by its neck were seven heads, its body towering over a hundred meters with slender and numerous limbs. It moved like a bamboo stick insect.
The Demon Cultivator’s cultivation level had reached the Core Formation Stage, and its aura was far more intense than in the outside world.
"Beiji Donghua True Monarch."
The moment Li Mo saw the seven-headed divine statue, its title surfaced in his mind.
Titles in the No-Life Sect were equivalent to Taoist names among Demon Cultivators. For instance, Elder Han Feng’s title, Xuanling Heavenly Dragon, had been granted by the Blessed Earth Immortal.
A sense of crisis arose within Li Mo’s heart.
The method for No-Life Demon Cultivators to enter the True Void Hometown was to project their consciousness out of their body through the temple.
If Li Mo were gravely injured within the True Void Hometown, the temple would sustain corresponding damage as well.
When the Blessed Earth Immortal and Stove God’s fate emissary had previously clashed, it appeared as though they had not fought directly.
In reality, they might have already exchanged heated blows within the True Void Hometown, which explained why they had ignored Li Mo as he fled the scene.
The Beiji Donghua True Monarch didn’t seem to notice Li Mo and soon disappeared into the distance.
Li Mo instinctively gazed in the direction where Beiji Donghua True Monarch had vanished. Through the thick fog, he discerned the central region of the True Void Hometown...
There seemed to be an island.
Wait, no?
That wasn’t an island—it was a corpse.
Li Mo took a sharp breath. The so-called "island" turned out to be a bizarre colossal corpse, stretching for at least tens of thousands of miles.
The corpse had no head or limbs; what remained of its torso was riddled with bosom-like mounds.
Moreover, the marks of almost every Death Disease could be spotted on the corpse, spanning from the Fetal Period to the Childhood, Weak Crown, and Thirty Years Old stages...
Many Demon Cultivators were exploiting resources from the corpse’s surface, using its flesh and bone to construct Daoist temples, and some even knelt devoutly on the ground.
The Demon Cultivators resembled maggots, draining the corpse’s remaining value.
They all presented themselves in the form of temples, with their figures growing larger as their cultivation levels rose. Compared to them, Li Mo was akin to an ant.
Li Mo was both alarmed and delighted. Although the Creation Book still resided in his body’s Mud Pill Palace, it had already begun reacting strongly to the giant corpse.
It seemed to herald the emergence of some sort of special page.
Then, the Creation Book spewed out fragmented memories of the Ancient Cultivation World. These were extremely disjointed, flashing images of various individuals.
Qingjing Immortal, Da Hua Taoist, Mou Miaoqing...
Without exception, the memories depicted female cultivators who were celebrated figures in the Cultivation World ten thousand years ago, even described as stunningly beautiful. For some reason, they were connected to the giant corpse.
What puzzled Li Mo the most was that the aura emanating from the corpse shared the same essence as the Body of No Life. It should have been the No-Life Mother who founded the No-Life Sect, and the latter likely still retained a thread of vitality.
Li Mo tried to get a clearer view, but the distance was too great.
Why was the No-Life Mother entangled with female cultivators from ten thousand years ago, and why was her mutilated body hidden within a Mud Pill Palace?
Li Mo did not delve deeper into the mystery, quickly withdrawing from the True Void Hometown.
As his consciousness returned to his body and he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the familiar desolate mountain wilderness, unable to shake the surreal feeling of having woken from a dream.
For now, Li Mo decided not to probe further into the True Void Hometown. However, since the No-Life Mother could nurture special pages, it might be possible to trace the Yin Blood Supreme Spirit Stone.
He disappeared from the mountaintop in a flash, returning to the dim and damp cave mansion.
The Ghost Tiger had been loyally safeguarding Li Mo as he journeyed in and out of the True Void Hometown.
In the Ghost Tiger’s perception, once Li Mo’s consciousness fully entered the temple, his body transformed into an ordinary-looking divine statue.
"Interesting..."
Li Mo examined the Ghost Tiger’s memories and discovered that after his physical form turned into a divine statue, it was almost flawless to the naked eye, with no discernible aura leaking out.
This hinted that many No-Life Demon Cultivators might choose to hide their true bodies in remote temples, keeping their consciousness permanently stationed in the True Void Hometown.
"It seems any Demon Sect is well-versed in survival tactics," Li Mo remarked.
Li Mo resolved not to return to the True Void Hometown before reaching the Core Formation Stage. The spiritual energy within the Corpse Mountain Mini World was sufficient for cultivation; he would focus on increasing his cultivation level first.
Early advancement to the Nascent Soul Stage meant an additional layer of self-preservation.
Even in this realm, Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were far from being pinnacle entities and likely remained vulnerable to being subdued with ease.
Li Mo shook his head slightly, a wisp of creation emerging from his palm, forming another No-Life God Statue.
In the Weak Crown Period temple, a total of five No-Life God Statues could be maintained, while in the Core Formation Stage this number increased to twenty. It was said that in the Nascent Soul Stage, it could surpass a hundred.
Li Mo understood that No-Life Demon Cultivators would most certainly place No-Life God Statues everywhere, stealing the spirit of believers and using it to bolster their own cultivation.
But the No-Life God Statues came with both advantages and disadvantages.
The No-Life Sect was undoubtedly a universal pariah in the Cultivation World. Lower-realm Demon Cultivators who spread No-Life God Statues often didn’t even know how they died.
This was why figures such as Xuanling Heavenly Dragon and other No-Life Demon Cultivators willingly submitted to the Blessed Earth Immortal.
Li Mo decided to set up the No-Life God Statues within the Corpse Mountain Mini World, gathering the worship of spiritual materials without fear of trouble.
Decades passed within the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
Under Zhang Guo’s leadership, seven to eight thousand spiritual materials had already established themselves, a third of which were He Shouwu plants that occupied the sub-peak’s summit, resembling the early configuration of a small sect.
Most spiritual materials were still at the one-to-two-layered Childhood Stage in cultivation. Only Zhang Guo had reached the four-layered Childhood Stage, significantly enhancing his spiritual wisdom.
"Walala..."
The appearance of the No-Life God Statue astonished the spiritual materials.
Zhang Guo hurried to the statue, mumbling incomprehensibly as he volunteered a portion of his spirit to fuse with the statue.
Li Mo raised an eyebrow.
The No-Life God Statue absorbed the spirit and gave back Turbid Blood Spiritual Power, resulting in a minor advancement in cultivation.
Zhang Guo became slightly sluggish afterward. However, spiritual materials, though slow in their cultivation, could gradually recover just by taking root in the soil.
The other spiritual materials followed Zhang Guo’s lead, bowing in worship beneath the No-Life God Statue.
Li Mo could feel that with the spiritual materials of the Corpse Mountain Mini World as a foundation, the time needed to reach the Core Formation Stage could be reduced by at least twenty percent.
He infused the basic knowledge of Array Tao into Zhang Guo’s mind with a single thought.
Li Mo didn’t hold high expectations for Zhang Guo’s comprehension. Since the No-Life God Statue was stationed in the Corpse Mountain Mini World, mutual benefit with the spiritual materials would naturally be fostered.
For the most part, he allowed the Corpse Mountain Mini World to develop independently, intervening only with minimal guidance when needed.
By connecting to the No-Life God Statue, Li Mo could detect the inhabitants of the mountain’s corpse remnant. With a mere thought, he could conjure a legion of Grey People.
The No-Life Sect, as a Demon Sect, wielded an unparalleled level of control over its believers.
After the temple ascended to the Nascent Soul Stage, the consciousness of its believers would merge with the No-Life God Statues.
Doomed for eternity, unable to reincarnate.
If a Nascent Soul Demon Cultivator desired, they could forge wave after wave of Grey People from the consciousness of their followers, until every trace of awareness was ground to nothingness.
Qing Town was a prime example of the Blessed Earth Immortal’s handiwork, where over seventy percent of the population had been reduced to Grey People.
The layers of white bones buried beneath the earth were all that remained of these individuals in the mortal realm, while the Blessed Earth Immortal represented merely the tip of the iceberg of the No-Life Sect.
Li Mo suspected that the No-Life Mother operated on an entirely different level, with her hands stained by the blood of billions of lives.
"No, I must not get too entangled with the No-Life Sect. If the Taoist sects band together to annihilate them, being caught in the crossfire would be far too disastrous."
He shook his head in private, discarding the rest of the No-Life God Statues into the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
Li Mo glanced at the temple, wondering to himself, "The title should be self-selected, right? I wonder if I could name myself Qingtian."
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a four-word title appeared beneath the temple, vanishing within seconds.
[Supreme Qingtian]
Li Mo’s face froze. Unable to stop himself, he let out a string of expletives. Choosing Qingtian was outrageous enough—what was with the "Supreme" part?!
Could the title be connected to the Taoist Body...