Chapter 267: Chapter 33 Third Nascent Soul [Pu Dao’s Artifact Infant]
Li Mo acquired a large number of array-related techniques from the unsold goods, making his skill in arranging formations increasingly brilliant.
While suppressing the Ash Golden Core, he simultaneously controlled the many-armed spine of the Spider Demon.
Dozens of limbs traced arcs in mid-air, forming the prototype of an array in the blink of an eye, though Li Mo’s aura began to grow agitated.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...
Li Mo frowned slightly as drops of blood—tainted by Ash Spirit Power—exploded within his flesh, a phenomenon even the Da Ai Mi Tian couldn’t suppress.
"The Spiritual Power of Artifact Refining Cultivation is far too aggressive. Thankfully, there’s the Innate Saint."
The Innate Saint allowed three strands of Spiritual Power to coexist, or else the Ash Spirit Power would certainly erode the others until fully assimilated.
Li Mo recalled another cultivation system similar to Artifact Refining.
"Poison Cultivation."
The Spiritual Power of Poison Cultivation possesses a corrosive quality, using this corrosion to transform the Spiritual Power of others into highly toxic energy.
Li Mo nodded to himself. If no suitable dual cultivation technique is available in the future, he could use his fourth Middle Dantian for Poison Cultivation.
Poison Cultivation, at least, retains a human form and has relatively mild drawbacks.
Lost in thought, Li Mo activated the Concealing Breath Array, enveloping the surrounding kilometers, as his figure gradually dissolved into mist and cloud.
The Taiyin Law Heaven retracted into his body, and the Tattooed Beast disappeared from his skin.
Sitting cross-legged at the center of the array, Li Mo donned the crackling Melting Furnace Robe, focusing intently on his breakthrough in cultivation.
As the Ash Golden Core neared its bottleneck, the other strands of Spiritual Power withdrew from the melting furnace.
Li Mo meticulously eroded the outer shell of the Golden Core; compared to his previous two promotions, this was undoubtedly much easier, with no fear of deviation.
Crack... Crack... Crack...
Fissures spread across the surface of the Golden Core.
The dense mist nearby became tainted with ashes, highlighting the corrosion of Artifact Refining Spiritual Power.
If the Artifact Refining Golden Core is likened to pollution, the Artifact Refining Nascent Soul would undoubtedly be considered radiation—destructive to the fragile ecosystems of the mortal world.
Li Mo minimized his impact as much as possible, his mental state becoming tranquil and unperturbed.
The Supreme Cave God Jade Talisman Map continued its circulation cycle. The Cave God’s Eye on his forehead alternated between Yin and Yang, appearing profoundly mystical.
Should any anomalies arise in the True Void Hometown, Li Mo would have no choice but to communicate with the No-Life God Statue to return to the mortal world, even if the consequences were dire.
Fortunately, the phenomena of the Golden Core did not spread further, naturally suppressed by the True Void Hometown.
Li Mo fixed his gaze on the Ash Golden Core, noticing that fissures covered its surface; yet, the Supreme Cave God Jade Talisman Map stubbornly refused to advance to the Nascent Soul stage.
The strength of the Ash Golden Core surpassed ordinary expectations, leaving him no choice but to patiently continue wearing it down while replenishing his rapidly depleting Spiritual Power.
Initially, he thought the bottleneck breakthrough would take only half a year.
However, after two years, the first fragment of the Ash Golden Core finally began to dissolve slowly, causing the temperature within the melting furnace to rise sharply once more.
Unconsciously, Li Mo activated Primordial Chaos, his body height increasing to over seven meters, with his flesh taking on characteristics of metallic rock.
The dense mist surged like waves crashing against the True Void Hometown.
Acid rain began to fall in droplets.
Li Mo’s nose caught the long-missed scent of industrial waste gas.
He was utterly oblivious to the fact that a pair of eyes within the mist was fixed on him, replete with imposing scrutiny.
"Junior Tenth Sister went rogue and took on a disciple—I never imagined... our Little Junior Brother to be so extraordinarily gifted."
The voice wound through the True Void Hometown. Unlike the madness of the other Twelve Immortals, its tone retained a rare clarity of mind.
"Unfathomable. Truly unfathomable."
"Incomplete Immortal Bodies of at least two types. Even in the Taoist sects, such cases are exceedingly rare—perhaps only the Heavenly Sword Sect could overshadow Little Junior Brother."
"To us, he might be a variable—or a calamity..."
"Regardless, give Little Junior Brother a millennium, and he will definitely advance beyond the Divine Separation stage to the Void Refining stage, gaining the approval of Master No-Life Mother."
The voice grew increasingly impassioned, interspersed with cryptic murmurs and bouts of inane laughter before stabilizing again after half a day.
"Attain immortality and enlightenment—joining Master No-Life Mother ensures immortality and enlightenment!!!"
The mist parted, revealing a gigantic arm descending toward Li Mo.
The arm was covered with myriad eyes of varying sizes, their sheer number enough to make one’s skin crawl, clearly originating from different individuals.
The eyes stared at Li Mo, blinking continuously, their emotions varied and complex.
"......"
Li Mo’s mouth twitched; despite his full concentration, he couldn’t ignore the fact that yet another Senior Sister had appeared beside him.
Not Luo Fu Immortal nor Mou Miaoqing—but whom among the Twelve Immortals, he couldn’t say.
Li Mo quickly calmed his mind, noticing that the Senior Sister bore no hostility, though she occasionally muttered enigmatic phrases under her breath.
The outer shell of the Golden Core had mostly shattered; the Nascent Soul was on the verge of emerging.
"Little Junior Brother, Little Junior Brother..."
Li Mo felt the Senior Sister’s palm gently cradle him, evidently moving him to the Ancestor Platform in the core area.
The Ancestor Platform’s Spiritual Power was richer, exuding vast boundlessness.
Li Mo continued stripping away the remaining shell of the Ash Golden Core, finally revealing the true form of the Nascent Soul, and the Ash Golden Core successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.
The Da Ai Mi Tian immediately entered a state of transformation.
The Ash Nascent Soul took on a human shape, with "spiritual decline" inscribed on its Yin-Yang eye on the forehead, and its body riddled with cracks, resembling exquisite Ge porcelain or fish scales crafted from armor plates.
The Nascent Soul was faceless, its body forged from countless spiritual materials. The cracks emitted blinding seven-colored phosphorescent light, while its four limbs floated independently beside it.
Each limb represented one of the four common metals found in the mortal world: gold, silver, copper, and iron.
The Nascent Soul stood rigidly within the melting furnace, resembling a lifeless infant statue that would only cry in hunger.
Its true name: Pu Dao’s Nascent Infant.
"Pu Dao," derived from Laozi: "The unhewn is shaped into tools."
With merely a glance, Li Mo realized the terrifying corrosiveness of the Ash Nascent Soul—the cracks across its entirety symbolizing its instability.
Pu Dao’s Nascent Infant could instantly unleash all its Spiritual Power; the destruction it could cause was unimaginable. Its stillness was merely due to its inability to control its Spiritual Power.
Li Mo harbored deep doubts.
Should Pu Dao’s Nascent Infant reach the Divine Separation stage, it would be akin to having a nuclear bomb inside his own body—should deviation occur, it might shatter his soul entirely.
Li Mo circulated the purified Ash Spirit Power as his flesh and bones produced ominous cracking sounds, evidence that even his body had yet to adapt.
He then meticulously fed the newborn Pu Dao’s Nascent Infant while opening his eyes.
Li Mo surveyed the surroundings—the Ancestor Platform was sparsely set up, merely a dilapidated island upon which the Twelve Immortals’ divine statues were seated in sequence.
Senior Sister hovered in mid-air.
A mass of shapeless flesh covered in countless eyes.
The myriad eyes flickered between growth and decay, becoming muddied and rotting in mere breaths before being replaced by fresh eyes.
Li Mo’s attention was drawn to one particularly luminous eye.
The eye, like a pool of emerald lakewater, resembled the vivid pupil of a grape. Its charm evoked feelings of warmth, intimacy, and joy.
Senior Sister nodded and murmured appreciatively, "What dwells above forms the Tao; what dwells below forms the tool."
"Greetings, Senior Sister."
Li Mo rose respectfully and bowed, never once showing any trace of fear.
This was chiefly because he had accessed Senior Sister’s memories through the Creation Book—a dazzling figure in the ancient Cultivation World.
"Little Junior Brother, you are different—truly different."
"I am the eighth disciple under Master No-Life Mother—Si Rui, honored as The Lord of the Five Elements."
Si Rui’s body was heavily mutated, yet her presence exuded calm. Luo Fu Immortal and Mou Miaoqing, in contrast, seemed slightly deranged.
Li Mo’s memory indicated that Si Rui’s cultivation stage, according to the information provided by the Creation Book, was no higher than Foundation Establishment Stage.
Her appearance was ordinary.
However, she possessed the Innate Taoist Body known as "Breaking Void Immortal Eyes," granting her a pair of eyes born of Immortal origin.
Even with a Five Spirits Root, Si Rui achieved Foundation Establishment within a century via her profound understanding of Spiritual Energy Veins.
Her standout trait was her talent for array techniques.
Upon delving into the field of arrays, Si Rui displayed such extraordinary aptitude that the entire Cultivation World trembled.
She could effortlessly breach any Secret Realm, and the elaborate defenses created by higher-tier cultivators in tombs posed no challenge to her Breaking Void Immortal Eyes.
Yet, at the time, her medium-tier Immortal Sect, Tao Formation Sect, restricted her resources to prevent her from achieving Core Formation.
Thereafter, the memories became fragmented. Li Mo remained uncertain about the events across the following ten millennia that led Si Rui to ascend to Divine Separation Stage.
After her brief introduction, Si Rui said little more and seemed to exhibit a protective stance.
Li Mo turned his gaze toward the divine statues of the Ancestor Platform, towering over a kilometer tall, representing the absolute beauty of the Twelve Immortals in the ancient Cultivation World.
Each statue resembled a celestial being.
The final position was occupied by an empty altar, evidently intended for Li Mo to preside over the No-Life God Statue.
Li Mo furrowed his brows. The Ancestor Platform should theoretically house Master No-Life Mother herself, deepening his suspicion of No-Life Mother’s existence.
Approaching the altar, he extended his palm to manifest a No-Life God Statue.
"Go."
The No-Life God Statue rapidly expanded and settled onto the altar. Immediately, the Ancestor Platform trembled as playful laughter echoed from all directions.
The statue’s shape differed somewhat: in addition to its Taoist Body traits, it bore three heads representing "Artifact," "Beast," and "Demon."
Li Mo’s scalp tingled as the Twelve Immortals collectively turned their gazes toward him.
Three of those gazes merely swept over him, yet the oppressive force they carried was so tangible he could scarcely breathe—surely belonging to the top-ranked among the Twelve Immortals.
Mere moments later, the emotional flux within their gazes spiraled wildly.
"Enough. Little Junior Brother needs solitude for recuperation."
Si Rui’s eyes gleamed with kindness as she proactively shielded Li Mo from their prying. The Ancestor Platform fell silent, leaving only the faint light emanating from the statue.
Li Mo couldn’t help but sigh with relief—not all Twelve Immortals were entirely unhinged.
He tentatively communicated with the No-Life God Statue, confirming that his earlier assumption was correct; indeed, he could influence the selection of temple priests.
"Preaching to mortals has nowhere near the appeal of cultivating."
Li Mo tentatively formed a plan. If implemented successfully, it could mitigate the trouble brought on by membership in the No-Life Sect—a move decidedly advantageous.
But this would require meticulous use of his identity as one of the Thirteen Immortals.
He had exaggerated recklessly during the auction.
Li Mo steadied the Ash Spirit Power as Si Rui’s figure receded steadily.
"Wait, Eighth Senior Sister, do you know about the White Bone Sect’s Enlightenment Conference?"
"Enlightenment Conference..."
"If you plan on representing the No-Life Sect in the Enlightenment Conference, hmm."
Si Rui seemed lost in thought before tossing out a finger fair and smooth as jade, spanning a kilometer and landing before Li Mo.
The jade finger created a sizable pit upon impact.
"Little Junior Brother, take Twelfth Junior Sister along. The White Bone Sect... is no ordinary sect."
"What?"