Chapter 274: Chapter 40: Promotion of Spider Demon’s Multiple-Armed Spine to Magic Treasure
The demon cultivators fled in panic, completely forgetting that Li Mo was merely in the Dead Baby Stage.
It’s foreseeable that the upcoming rumors from the Devil Sect regarding the Thirteen Immortals would be wildly exaggerated, even enough to push Li Mo into the forefront of the Nascent Soul ranks.
Amid his shock, the Brain-eating Demon still couldn’t resist pulling out a Spiritual Talisman.
Taking advantage of the unmanned surroundings of the auction hall, he said, "Supreme Qingtian, this old demon has my sources. If you’re not opposed..."
"Proceed."
Li Mo slightly closed his eyes as the Soul-devouring Demon Infant on his shoulder opened its mouth, directly sucking the talisman toward it. Seeing this, the Brain-eating Demon breathed a sigh of relief.
"Supreme Qingtian, this old demon won’t disturb you further. If there’s any news from the Devil Sect, I’ll inform you immediately."
The Brain-eating Demon lowered his posture, not daring to even lift his gaze toward Li Mo’s temple.
Over ten meters tall, the temple emitted waves of light, bringing forth an oppressive terror, as if facing a Divine Separation Stage demon cultivator.
Recalling the unclear death of Perfected Zao Yao, the Brain-eating Demon couldn’t stop shivering.
Although Zao Yao had reached the Nascent Soul Stage, no sign of injury was visible; yet somehow, under Li Mo’s hand, he mutated and lost control before meeting a violent end. Truly worthy of being one of the Thirteen Immortals from the No-Life Sect.
The methods were beyond imagination.
The Brain-eating Demon bowed deeply with clasped hands, withdrawing from the auction hall with his head lowered.
Li Mo didn’t rush to leave. Using spiritual power, he drove cancer cells into the temple, where Perfected Zao Yao’s corpse was struggling wildly.
Although Zao Yao was dead, the dual Nascent Souls inside him, after absorbing the Blood Daoist, had transformed into a multi-limbed, multi-headed monstrosity that fought fiercely.
The infant cries sent chills down Li Mo’s spine.
Fortunately, Zao Yao and Blood Daoist had vastly different spiritual attributes during their lives, which inevitably led to the loss of control.
Seven Tattooed Beasts materialized in physical form, barely suppressing Zao Yao’s corpse.
Li Mo didn’t hesitate further. He connected his consciousness to the No-Life God Statue outside, causing the temple to detach from the White Bone Cave and return to its original form, leaving with a full harvest.
The surrounding was still the deep, dark underground.
"Master, Master..."
Just as Li Mo merged with his real body, mournful cries escaped Zao Yao’s mouth and nostrils, likely residual consciousness lingering in the Nascent Soul after death.
Resisting seemed clearly unrealistic, as cancer cells surged madly.
Li Mo opened his eyes and suddenly sensed something was amiss; his hair stood on end, as the three Nascent Souls let out piercing shrieks simultaneously.
He immediately extended his Divine Sense to the limit, penetrating hundreds of meters of soil with the aid of the Cave God’s Eye, gazing toward the ground’s surface.
Drizzling rain fell heavily.
Dark clouds loomed overhead, and upon careful inspection, Li Mo realized the clouds were composed of countless human heads.
"The Sky Demon Sect..."
The surrounding area bordered the Endless Star Sea, where a large number of wild beasts resided. Under the overwhelming demonic energy, they began to mutate.
A mountain goat, sensing danger, bolted toward the dense forest.
But it hadn’t taken more than a few steps before its body collapsed backward. Its head rapidly swelled like a balloon and floated skyward.
In a split second, at least tens of thousands of beasts died.
"It seems Sky Demon Sect cultivators are descending by means of countless human heads."
Li Mo’s expression grew grave. The Sky Demon Sect had likely targeted him after discovering his whereabouts through Zao Yao.
Even if the arriving figure wasn’t at the Divine Separation Stage, their cultivation level would likely be close.
Fortunately, Li Mo’s Divine Sense was extraordinarily strong; otherwise, he would’ve had no choice but to use the Corpse Immortal Finger to escape, wasting Eighth Senior Sister’s gift on the Sky Demon Sect.
He swiftly connected with the True Void Hometown, recalling the No-Life God Statue as his body vanished from the spot.
"The Thirteen Immortals..."
Li Mo faintly heard a long sigh near his ear, sending shivers down his spine. Only when he returned to the familiar dense mist did he finally catch his breath.
The Sky Demon Sect, no matter how far-reaching, couldn’t possibly affect the True Void Hometown.
Li Mo then flew toward the Ancestor Platform.
After Zao Yao entered the True Void Hometown, he completely fell silent. Still, Li Mo sealed the corpse within the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
Before long, the Ancestor Platform came into view.
The island retained its original appearance, with thirteen divine statues towering at its center.
Li Mo didn’t see any trace of Si Rui, though the island’s edges were neatly lined with wine jars, all of the Brightening Wine within them already consumed.
Smiling, Li Mo thought fondly of how Si Rui carried a gentle, refined demeanor in her lucid moments.
"Eighth Senior Sister, this junior thanks you and Twelfth Senior Sister."
Regardless of whether Si Rui could hear him, Li Mo bowed in gratitude, then placed another batch of Corpse Wine in the same spots.
Yet in the blink of an eye, the wine jars quickly disappeared, clearly suggesting that Si Rui remained conscious of the Ancestor Platform’s activities.
Li Mo moved to another empty area on the island, releasing Taiyin Law Heaven to serve as his cave mansion.
The Corpse Immortal Finger became the array eye for a simple Spirit Gathering Array, boosting the spiritual energy levels by approximately seventy percent. Twelfth Senior Sister’s aid proved invaluable.
After double-checking for any oversights, Li Mo began digesting the gains from the Enlightenment Conference.
The massive pile of auction purchases was stacked before him—no less than a thousand items, most of them consisting of uneven-quality mid to lower grade spiritual materials.
Li Mo adhered strictly to his "buy anything worthwhile" principle, sparing no spiritual material that caught his eye.
Spirit Stones held little meaning to him; soon, the Heart Beast Sect’s black market operations would make Spirit Stone accumulation feel akin to feeding a gold-hungry beast.
After verifying the spiritual materials were free of hidden traps, he tossed them directly into the Corpse Mountain Mini World, assigning Zhang Guo to focus on planting them atop a sub-peak.
The spiritual materials from the True Word Sect resembled internal organs, and after achieving life, they exhibited features associated with the Seven Treasures.
However, according to the Creation Book’s steadily-emerging Buddhist Sect information, the True Word Sect wasn’t really part of the traditional Buddhist Sect; it could even be categorized under the Devil Sect.
In essence, the Seven Treasures Buddha referred to spiritual materials influenced by Buddhist practitioners, thus spawning evil spirits.
Li Mo had tried using True Word Sect spiritual materials to refine related Magic Artifacts, finding them to have remarkable compatibility. Perhaps there were even higher-grade materials hidden within the Secret Realm.
He absorbed spiritual energy for cultivation while simultaneously processing corpses of demon cultivators.
Making full use of his doctor-like talents, he maximized the value of each body.
Besides Zao Yao, he had four Nascent Soul Stage demon cultivator corpses—all of them had descended in true form to the White Bone Cave, only to meet their demise at the Enlightenment Conference.
Li Mo’s expression remained calm as he used the Spider Demon’s Multiple-Armed Spine to extract various internal organs, expanding his stomach space along the way, before discarding the remains into the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
Despite missing some parts, Nascent Soul Stage corpses could still provide a decent amount of Yin Attribute spiritual energy, fostering the growth of Deceit Beasts.
Organs were carefully stored within Liu Li jars.
It was undeniable—Li Mo was becoming increasingly similar to Han Cai. Within a concealed cave near the Corpse Mountain Mini World, similar jars and containers were hung everywhere.
The Spider Demon’s Multiple-Armed Spine seemed particularly drawn to the Nascent Soul Stage cultivators’ brains, exhibiting a kind of agitation and shallow desire to devour them.
The limbs surface opened numerous eyes—seventy or eighty of them—fixating firmly on the brains.
"The Magic Artifact Catalog derived from the Soul Banner really has its intrigues."
Li Mo handed over the four Nascent Soul Stage brains for the Spider Demon’s spine to consume, and the limb’s end split open into human-like oral organs.
The Spider Demon’s spine didn’t digest the brains quickly, yet Li Mo could clearly sense the artifact’s quality subtly improving.
Among Li Mo’s commonly used artifacts, only Daluo Heaven was relatively unremarkable. The rest showed potential for advancing into Fake Magical Treasures.
The Blood Sea remained designed for low-profile road use, maintaining its Hundred Refinements level.
As for the Spider Demon’s spine, its development was tied to its distinct brain-devouring growth, holding slim chances of independently nurturing spirit patterns.
If it could form spirit patterns naturally, it would allow gradual completion through artifact nurturing.
Compared to the Blood Soul, which relied on Li Mo engraving blood flesh spirit patterns for advancement into a Fake Magical Treasure, it faced a hard ceiling without a complete blood flesh spirit pattern.
After arduously digesting one brain, the Spider Demon’s spine sprouted additional eye pupils on its vertebrae.
The pupils from mortal brains were typically muddled; those from childhood carried faint hues; Weak Crown Period pupils appeared almost freshly deceased; Core Formation Stage pupils contained traces of spiritual wisdom.
Nascent Soul Stage pupils resembled amber, from which shallow emotions could be discerned.
"No wonder the Soul Banner had such a terrifying reputation."
Li Mo marveled, reflecting on how, in ancient cultivation realms, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner would cause all creatures within a hundred miles to die upon activation.
The Soul Banner could endlessly grow through absorbing souls—truly fearsome.
It took the Spider Demon’s spine half a year to devour four Nascent Soul brains, significantly increasing its resilience, while the artifact began developing rudimentary spiritual wisdom.
With a flicker of thought, Li Mo commanded Plant and Tree Cultivators to scour the mountains for buried remains.
The majority of skeletons came from his time in the Sub-Device Sect’s Falling Abyss, their brain tissues long since decayed over the years.
Still, it was better than nothing.
The Spider Demon’s spine was utterly non-picky, carelessly swallowing up brain after brain, causing the pupils on its limbs to multiply rapidly.
In total, eight thousand brains were consumed by the Spider Demon’s spine.
Li Mo effectively pushed the Soul Banner close to the ranks of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, while the inclusion of multiple Nascent Soul brains amplified its potency manifold.
Cold winds gusted fiercely.
The Spider Demon’s spine detached from Li Mo, instantly stretching thousands of limbs across the Ancestor Platform, resembling a colossal spider.
At least it understood proper boundaries, avoiding contact with the Thirteen Immortal Statues.
Li Mo looked on with anticipation, sensing the Spider Demon’s spine escalating in aura to the limits of what a Hundred Refinements artifact could sustain.
Time passed, but the Spider Demon’s spine failed to advance as smoothly as the Corpse Mountain.
It was always one step short.
When the Spider Demon’s spine couldn’t nurture spirit patterns, its aura began to weaken, and the artifact even showed signs of damage.
"The birth of a Fake Magical Treasure isn’t so easily achieved."
If a Hundred Refinements artifact failed in its transformation into a Fake Magical Treasure, future advancement would become nearly impossible. Indeed, every Magical Treasure was a rarity.
Li Mo grimaced in pain.
Pouring Nourishing Yuan Fruit medicine power into the Spider Demon’s spine stopped its decline and rekindled the transformation signs of a Fake Magical Treasure.
Pinching his brow, Li Mo watched as hundreds of years’ worth of precious Innate Essence was consumed bit by bit until the Spider Demon’s spine was saturated.
The Spider Demon’s spine behaved as though alive, selecting an appropriate terrain before numerous eye pupils secreted sticky threads.
Eventually, a cocoon formed, enclosing the artifact within.
"Hmm?"
Li Mo furrowed his brow.
His Divine Sense revealed that the Spider Demon’s spine was liquefying within the cocoon, akin to an insect pupating and transforming.
"Could the spirit patterns being nurtured differ from the Soul Spirit Runes?"
Li Mo remained uncertain. Using a Concealing Breath Array, he enclosed the Spider Demon’s spine before turning his attention to the vast spiritual power within the Nascent Souls.
He had a hunch that the spirit patterns borne from the Corpse Mountain Mini World were bound to exceed previous limits.