Chapter 215: Chapter 75: Uncovering the Truth of the Sub-Device Sect
Zone 10 can nurture five special pages.
Previously, Li Mo, relying on absorbing top-grade Spirit Stones, had already obtained a Metal Spirit Root Page and more than half of a broken Earth Attribute Spirit Root Page.
The remaining three special pages are categories he had never encountered.
Among them, two special pages appeared mottled like human skin, with strange fingerprint-like patterns on the surface, originating from the same location.
The last one was the most special, the page exuding a twisted aura similar to phosphorescence.
In his cultivation downtime, Li Mo had been pondering the location of the source of the special pages.
He noticed that the human skin fingerprint special pages were relatively easy to acquire, with the source being the Inner Sect’s artifact refining building, "Doushuai Temple," and as long as he was careful, there shouldn’t be major problems.
However, the Phosphor Special Page was a bit troublesome.
As Li Mo moved, he estimated based on the breeding speed of the pages that the Phosphor Special Page was likely deep within Zone 10.
It should be located in the angle between Zone 10 and the Eleventh District. It’s hard to imagine what’s hidden under the Outer Heaven Meteorite Crater?
"Tricky. Better to first take the two special pages that are out in the open."
Li Mo shook his head slightly. Doushuai Temple is said to be quite suitable for artifact refining; maybe even the transformation of Corpse Mountain could be conducted inside Doushuai Temple.
He signaled to Taiyin Law Heaven to approach Doushuai Temple, closing his eyes to nourish his spirit while waiting.
Unlike previous times, Li Mo did not recall Taiyin Law Heaven as he neared his destination; the Magic Artifact moved directly into the building’s range.
Doushuai Temple is located in the southwest of Zone 10, several times larger than the Collection Hall, and strange carvings can be seen everywhere.
The eaves of ordinary temples are commonly accompanied by statues of "Spine Beasts," mostly depicting animals such as earth dragons, phoenixes, or pegasus.
But at Doushuai Temple, the Spine Beasts are indistinct wooden human statue composites.
It’s as if, after being exposed to phosphorescence, the blood, flesh, and bones of hundreds of people have become interlinked, exuding a haunting resentment.
The commotion caused by Taiyin Law Heaven was noticeable, yet the main hall showed no response; the artifact cultivators within turned a blind eye to Li Mo’s arrival.
He put away Taiyin Law Heaven, gaining a bit more information about Doushuai Temple in his mind.
The rules of Doushuai Temple are very peculiar.
Artifact cultivators must use their own flesh and blood as the main material to refine at least a mid-grade magical puppet artifact as a sacrifice to Doushuai Temple to secure a decade-long artifact refining room.
"Puppet statue?"
Li Mo thought this was quite strange. After hesitating for a few moments, he walked into Doushuai Temple.
A pungent smoke and dust hit his face, accompanied by the charred smell of flesh being tempered by spiritual power, and faint sounds of artifact refining could be heard.
The main hall of Doushuai Temple was quite spacious, occupied by a dozen artifact cultivators.
They sat on the ground in intervals of five meters, protected by simple protective arrays, continually refining puppet magic artifacts.
Their expressions were frantic, lost in the process of refining artifacts.
None of them noticed Li Mo’s presence.
Some were so focused that their heads had half rotted away, unaware of the death disease’s encroachment.
"Have they all gone mad? Could there be some opportunity within Doushuai Temple?"
Li Mo glanced at the artifact cultivators, focusing his attention on the giant statue at the center of the main hall, the source of the special page.
The statue stood over ten meters tall, resembling the Spine Beasts on the eaves, comprised of countless human images pieced together.
The images wore hideous expressions, seemingly struggling to crawl outwards, as if trying desperately to escape the giant statue’s constraints.
Li Mo frowned slightly.
Judging by the aura leaking from the giant statue, it should be a high-grade magical artifact, possibly even reaching the level of Hundred Refinements.
As Li Mo came within ten meters of the statue, he could clearly feel the Creation Book absorbing some kind of aura it contained.
The speed at which the special page was completed suddenly increased several folds, though it was still slower compared to the Spirit Root Page.
If no surprises occur, it should be fully formed in about half a year.
"It’s done, it’s done, Daoist I have succeeded!!!"
A grimy artifact cultivator laughed maniacally, exclaiming loudly, his body emaciated from refining the puppet artifact.
In front of him was a puppet the same size as himself, its appearance nearly identical to his own.
However.
The artifact cultivator wore a crazed joy, while the puppet’s expression was one of twisted despair.
He ignored Li Mo and respectfully offered the puppet to the giant statue, only to see the statue start writhing as soon as it approached.
The giant statue roiled like a living thing, its material, which appeared plaster-like, suddenly transformed into a fleshy gelatinous substance, eerie beyond measure.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh..."
Countless faces on the surface of the statue cried out in agony, swallowing the artifact cultivator’s puppet bit by bit, adding yet another.
Soon after, the statue spat out a dim meat pearl, which the artifact cultivator accepted reverently.
He eagerly headed towards the artifact refining room, detached from the main hall.
Li Mo observed the entire process.
If it were solely for artifact refining, it wouldn’t cause the artifact cultivators to throw themselves at it like moths to a flame, indicating that everywhere within Doushuai Temple revealed the extraordinary.
"Doushuai Temple has a history of thousands of years; the statue likely also originates from ancient times."
Li Mo circled around the giant statue, observing each face that made up its body.
The Creation Book possesses the ability to access ancient Cultivation World memories, but it needs to come into contact with related objects to trigger them.
Li Mo wanted to see if he could gain crucial clues through the human faces that resembled ancient Sub-Device Sect disciples.
"Hiss."
As he scanned over some of the faces, fragmented memories surged into his mind.
Due to the fragmented nature of the memories, digesting them was extremely complex, as it was necessary to extract usable information from them.
The scenes that Li Mo saw showed thousands of artifact cultivators in front of Doushuai Temple, led by Sect Master Chen Tiangang, refining magic artifacts.
At that time, the Sub-Device Sect was located on the surface, with the bottomless Outer Heaven Meteorite Crater visible not far away.
The scenes appeared extremely ordinary.
In the ancient Cultivation World, famous sects were all located in Blessed Land Cave Heavens formed by multiple Spirit Veins, ensuring sufficient resources through appropriate reward and punishment mechanisms.
Li Mo continuously observed hundreds of segments of memories from the giant statue, all depicting similar situations.
The giant statue probably contained thousands upon thousands of human faces, and relying solely on the Creation Book to retrieve memories one by one was too time-consuming, not to mention that most faces were buried deep within it.
Just as he was about to give up, his gaze inadvertently fell upon a human face at the top of the giant statue.
The face appeared relatively old, etched with furrows, its clouded eyes filled with bewilderment, unlike the fear present in the other faces.
As an Artifact Refiner, Li Mo instantly recognized that this face was the core of the statue artifact.
The memories fed back by the Creation Book were indeed different, appearing more complete.
[Jiang Tianche]
Jiang Tianche, Daoist name Cloud Sea, was Chen Tiangang’s chief disciple, although his cultivation wasn’t high, boasting Three Spirit Roots and a leakless body, he barely formed a Low-grade Golden Core.
Since Chen Tiangang was usually busy with sect affairs, it was Jiang Tianche who was responsible for teaching the disciples.
Jiang Tianche dedicated himself to guiding his junior siblings, giving him a significant position within the sect, and even though the position of chief disciple could be replaced in competitions, no disciple coveted it.
The final scene of Jiang Tianche’s memories that Li Mo saw was in a dim room.
Jiang Tianche was trembling, kneeling on the ground, and Chen Tiangang stood in the shadows, his expression obscured.
To Li Mo’s shock, the walls were lined with dying disciples, their abdomens cut open, as if organs had been removed.
Jiang Tianche continuously kowtowed, pleading for mercy.
Chen Tiangang remained unmoved, stepping out of the shadows, where Li Mo noticed Chen Tiangang’s eyes were missing, and the deep hollows in his eye sockets emitted a faint phosphorescence.
Soon after, Chen Tiangang reached out and touched Jiang Tianche’s head, and then tore off the latter’s scalp in one swift motion.
Li Mo’s breathing became labored.
Chen Tiangang skinned Jiang Tianche alive, then wore the human skin himself.
In the phosphorescent glow, the human skin slowly merged into Chen Tiangang’s body, but before it could fully integrate, the skin began to dissolve and rot.
The memories abruptly ended.
Li Mo realized that the Sub-Device Sect’s current plight was undeniably linked with Chen Tiangang.
Back then, the Sub-Device Sect had not yet experienced the upheavals of heaven and earth, but Chen Tiangang, through excavating the Outer Heaven Meteorite Crater, had already come into contact with phosphorescence.
It wasn’t just Li Mo; Chen Tiangang also discovered the mystical utility of phosphorescence, and peeling Jiang Tianche’s human skin was a bid for the leakless body.
Chen Tiangang intended to leverage phosphorescence to seize the leakless body.
Clearly, Chen Tiangang failed.
Yet, Li Mo thought that Chen Tiangang wouldn’t stop there. Human greed intrinsically drives progression from uncovering shortcuts in cultivation, so ambition invariably escalates.
"Could the Mother Furnace be a monster formed by the fused blood and flesh of numerous ancient Sub-Device Sect disciples?"
Li Mo gasped.
Whether Chen Tiangang was dead or alive, and what role he played in the current Sub-Device Sect...
"Daoist Qingtian?"
While Li Mo was lost in thought, an emaciated elder poked his head out from the side door.
The elder’s neck was at least half a meter long, riddled with vents spewing smoke, his upper and lower body grotesquely wedged together.
"And you are?"
"Hehe, the Hundred Refinement Elder."
The elder rambled on his own accord, "I’ve heard about you, Daoist Qingtian, in Zone 10, who created a meat limb magical artifact and possesses extraordinary artifact refining talent. If you’re willing to become my disciple, you will certainly advance further."
"Hundred Refinement Elder? Never heard of it."
The Hundred Refinement Elder stood dumbfounded for quite a while, then his face turned beet red in embarrassment and anger.
Murmuring some inexplicable words to himself, he withdrew his head from the side door, casting a venomous side glance at Li Mo.
It seemed Li Mo had already offended the Hundred Refinement Elder, as dozens of stooped artifact refiners appeared outside the main hall’s doors and windows.
Their eyes were chillingly icy.
"What kind of place is Doushuai Temple? Everyone’s out of their mind."
Li Mo sneered a few times. If not for the fear that the special page consuming the giant statue might cause anomalies and needing some artifact refiners to divert external attention, he wouldn’t mind adding some more residents to Corpse Mountain.
"Daoist Qingtian, without my guidance, you’ll never grasp the essentials of crafting puppets."
The Hundred Refinement Elder laughed neurotically, "You can never gain approval from Doushuai Temple, never access the essence of artifact refining...."
Li Mo didn’t bother paying attention to them, proceeding on his own to prepare materials for refining puppets.
Obviously, using his own flesh and blood was impractical, as the role of the giant statue was yet uncertain, not to mention Corpse Mountain had plenty of skeletal remains and rotten flesh available.