Chapter 316: Chapter 62 What Kind of Monster is Li Mo?
As soon as Li Mo touched the meat pillar, memories from the Creation Book surged forth.
[Meat Body Stone]
His lips twitched involuntarily, for in the ancient Cultivation World, the rarity of the Meat Body Stone was such that even Divine Separation Stage cultivators rarely encountered it. It was an exceptional spiritual material for nurturing Life-bound Magical Artifacts.
The Meat Body Stone was refined by Mou Miaoqing and was originally stored under the bed in an earthen jar at Skywell Inn, only to be fashioned into such a bizarre creation by the White Bone Sect.
Even with a Life-bound Magical Artifact in his possession, the Meat Body Stone still had its wondrous uses. It was said that after promotion to the Divine Separation Stage, the Nascent Soul required merging with special spiritual materials to transform into an Externalized Dharma Body.
The Meat Body Stone could serve as a vessel for the Nascent Soul.
Li Mo’s gaze swept over the White Bone Demon Cultivators, and an icy chill mingled subtly with it.
"Oh, White Bone Sect, since when have you set your sights on Heavenly Sword Sect’s enterprises?"
Li Mo placed his right hand upon the meat pillar, and under the terrified eyes of the others, cancer cells began moving the towering meat pillar, about a hundred meters tall.
It felt as though his entire body was devouring the meat pillar.
Li Mo let out a sigh.
The meat pillar was ruined—its sole value was the vast Great Sun Spiritual Power contained within. If used for incineration in a melting furnace, it could likely form a considerable spirit stone vein.
"The Secret Realm isn’t owned by Five Hidden Sword Sect. Why shouldn’t the capable fight for it?"
"But you, Elder Qing Shan, calling yourself part of the Buddhist Sect seems a bit inappropriate, doesn’t it?"
Bone Desolate Taoist appeared outside the spiritual shrine, his usual calm demeanor replaced, and his eyes now filled with deep apprehension toward Li Mo.
He glanced at the massive Buddha Spirit Root, whose brain tissue was nearing completeness.
"Elder Qing Shan, what’s your background? Four Seas Commerce can’t possibly afford to sustain a ’living Buddha’ like you. Could it be that you’re the remnants of the True Word Sect?"
"Why don’t you guess?"
Bone Desolate Taoist felt deeply troubled, primarily because of Li Mo’s unrestrained dominance within the Secret Realm.
Once Buddhist Power reached the Core Formation Stage, the Secret Realm would no longer suppress cultivators, and the pervasive Great Sun Spiritual Energy would even offer boosts all around.
Bone Desolate Taoist silently dismissed the notion of Li Mo being a remnant of the True Word Sect.
Before entering the Secret Realm, Elder Qing Shan clearly lacked Buddhist Power. It was more likely that he had acquired the Cultivation Technique by attacking Five Hidden Sword Sect Elders.
Could someone truly possess such remarkable talent?
Within just a few short years, he had elevated the True Word Sect technique centered around the Mud Pill Palace to the Core Formation Stage.
Wait.
Bone Desolate Taoist glanced toward Li Mo, whose skull remained undamaged and whose emitted Spiritual Power appeared altered from his prior impression.
"Elder Qing Shan... Could he have perfected the Praise of the Seven Treasures Scripture?"
What a monstrous existence.
Bone Desolate Taoist sent a mental command to his sect mates, prompting the White Bone Demon Cultivators to converge.
The White Bone Sect squared off against Li Mo in outright opposition. The survivors among the Nascent Soul cultivators were left stunned and speechless, while those who had previously offended Li Mo were now filled with bitter regret.
The one most terrified was Elder He Guo.
After all, back in Five Temples Town, he had shown the greatest hostility toward Four Seas Commerce, even interfering repeatedly with the normal sale of Corpse Wine.
Were it not for Four Seas Commerce refraining from leaving the city, Elder He Guo would have long dispatched disciples to assault them.
"Good thing my methods are superior."
Elder He Guo chose not to band together with others for warmth but instead buried himself in the town’s farthest corner.
"Die, Qing Shan, die, perish alongside the White Bone Sect..."
Elder He Guo’s face twisted with venomous malice, but suddenly he noticed that Li Mo tilted his head, looking in his direction, as if he had discovered something.
"Impossible—there’s no way he could know my hiding place."
"Caught you."
Li Mo stepped forward, the ground cracking into a spiderweb pattern beneath him. Stones scattered as his seventy-meter form vanished in an instant.
"Elder Qing Shan, you truly disregard the White Bone Sect."
Bone Desolate Taoist’s Divine Sense barely managed to follow Li Mo’s explosive movements.
After leaving the Bottle World, Bone Desolate Taoist had fully grasped the terrifying pressure emanating from Li Mo.
Solely on the strength of his physical body, Li Mo was formidable enough to rival a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, perhaps even one at the Nascent Soul Promotion Stage.
Li Mo’s radiating halo behind his head blazed brilliantly, and in the blink of an eye, he caught up to the fleeing Elder He Guo, holding the fruit-like humanoid head steadily in his palm.
Instead of suppressing Elder He Guo with Great Sun Spiritual Power, Li Mo enveloped the head in Mist Fog Spiritual Power.
Elder He Guo struggled desperately to escape the bindings, but having abandoned his body, his potential strength was reduced to just a fraction of his peak.
"Senior Qing Shan, this lowly one meant no offense to Four Seas Commerce—the matter was truly beyond my control. They’re the ones who pushed me onto the opposing side!"
"Oh, they are, are they?"
Elder He Guo pleaded bitterly, pointing his tongue toward the array-constructing Nascent Soul cultivators.
Li Mo shook his head slightly. Dealing with Elder He Guo wasn’t an act of deliberate vengeance—it was purely driven by his covetousness for the spiritual technique inheritance of Guodan Mountain.
Elder He Guo vanished into the crack in Li Mo’s palm.
Feeling disoriented, his consciousness cleared only to find himself now inside a bizarre mountainous small world.
Countless miniatures formed from spiritual materials surrounded Elder He Guo in a tight encirclement.
"A small world... A magic treasure?"
Elder He Guo bit off his tongue, releasing a medicinal aroma that incited a frenzy among the plant and tree cultivators who started scrambling for his tongue, wholly indifferent to the head rolling farther away.
"You’ll regret it, Qing Shan, giving up control of your magic treasure, haha."
Elder He Guo greedily gasped for air, his head beginning to sprout roots and stems that burrowed into the mountain range, bit by bit seizing control over the magic treasure.
As long as Li Mo remained embroiled in external chaos, Elder He Guo had a chance to reverse the roles.
"Ahhh!"
Just as Elder He Guo was about to burrow deep underground, one plant cultivator piloting the Green Pearl Magic Artifact flew over and spit out a beam of pure light.
The other plant cultivators stared reverently at Zhang Guo.
Elder He Guo was struck by the beam and sent flying, unable to put up any resistance within the Corpse Mountain Mini World, then suffered a one-sided crushing from Zhang Guo.
He inadvertently caught sight of the Lifeless God Statue atop the mountain and instantly ceased resisting altogether.
"So that’s how it is..."
"Claiming the name Qing Shan, Four Seas Commerce originates from the Sub-Device Sect, with Qing Tian Daoist appearing as Daoist of their lineage, the Supreme Qingtian of the Thirteen Immortals from the No-Life Sect."
"It’s all the same person—it’s all the same person... hahaha!!"
Elder He Guo laughed so hard, tears streamed down his face. He sobbed grotesquely, agony written into his voice: "I surrender! Spare me, and I’ll serve as your loyal beast of burden!"
Li Mo remained indifferent to the events within the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
Truth be told, he was aware of Elder He Guo’s schemes, but with the cancer cells embedded inside the mountain, the connection was inseverable.
"Elder Qing Shan, you and the White Bone Sect aren’t exactly sworn enemies, are you? There’s no need for a fight to the death. I’m willing to split the profits fifty-fifty."
Bone Desolate Taoist’s words sounded conciliatory, although the actions of the White Bone Demon Cultivators were far from subdued.
He knew all too well that the two parties had utterly divergent goals. Elder Qing Shan was clearly targeting the White Bone Sect with murderous intent.
"From where do you draw such audacity, to fight against the White Bone Sect alone?"
Li Mo couldn’t be bothered to reply, his Divine Sense focused on the Mud Pill Palace, where the Flawless Golden Core, resembling Dog Head Gold, floated at its center, its Spiritual Power seemingly sufficient.
Once the White Bone Sect used the name of the Thirteen Immortals, the feud could not be resolved peacefully.
Logic dictated that, had Li Mo not complicated matters with the meat pillar, the White Bone Sect might’ve remained in the shadows from start to finish until their sword-refining process was complete.
By the time the Heavenly Sword Sect entered the True Word Secret Realm, the blame would likely fall squarely on Li Mo.
Still, Li Mo harbored some unease, for despite the White Bone Sect being preoccupied with the sword refinement and under the restrictions of the Secret Realm, their numbers were significant.
His only advantage lay in the ability to withdraw into the True Void Hometown at any moment.
Li Mo surged toward Bone Desolate Taoist, who, unruffled, strengthened his defenses—a frenzy of bone growth formed a dense White Bone Jungle.
Meanwhile, other White Bone Demon Cultivators began proliferating their bone structures.
Bone after bone, resembling giant serpents, swept indiscriminately toward Li Mo. Clearly, the White Bone Sect had not spent centuries within the Secret Realm idly.
Li Mo faced the bone-filled jungle with an unchanging expression.
He leveraged the bone vines beneath his feet to pivot across the sky with nimble precision.
Very soon, the entangled melee escalated into a dazzling spectacle—White Bone Sect’s formidable foundations left Li Mo struggling to make progress.
"Qing Shan, a mere body is nothing compared to magic."
Bone Desolate Taoist’s words echoed as a massive bone-arm formed from bone vines struck Li Mo, sending him flying.
The Secret Realm had already become an ocean of bones.
But Li Mo could discern that the White Bone Sect wasn’t without cost.
Scattered traces of Buddhist Power clung to the surfaces of the pervasive bones, and extended exposure to Great Sun Spiritual Energy would undoubtedly erode the Demon Cultivators’ foundations.
Li Mo fired off a punch, scattering shattered bones like rainfall.
Unfortunately, the bone vines regenerated endlessly, converging upon him from every direction. At the town’s center, the massive Buddha Spirit Root emitted waves of sword cries.
As time wore on, the White Bone Demon Cultivators’ coordination grew sharper.
Li Mo exhaled turbid air.
Securing the meat pillar had been an unexpected gain, but a frontal assault proved a bit forced—especially considering he couldn’t risk employing his Pu Dao Nascent Soul, as any damage to it would be devastating.
"This won’t do—even if I have to retreat, I can’t leave the White Bone Sect unscathed."
"Die."
A skull emerged from the White Bone Jungle, lunging to bite Li Mo.
Li Mo remained still, letting the skull’s jaws encircle him. A dense wave of Yin Spiritual Power washed over him, carrying a foul stench.
The Ghost Tiger retreated from its Tattoo Beastification, burrowing back into his right arm.
Li Mo plunged into darkness as tattoos spread across his entire body from his shoulder—a pattern resembling a Three-legged Golden Toad stretching skyward in a fierce roar.
Layer upon layer of scales unfurled.
The metal seemingly resonated intuitively with the Great Sun Spiritual Power as the radiating halo behind his head exploded a hundredfold in intensity.
"Benefactor."
Li Mo underwent a partial beast transformation akin to the Golden Toad, though his appearance grew even more fearsome: his limbs morphed into robust beast claws, while another dozen arms sprouted from his flanks.
The newly grown arms exhibited peculiar structures, indistinct in left or right orientation, resembling the third leg of the Golden Toad.
At his brow, the hidden Cave God Dharma Eye transformed into a golden copper coin embedded within his flesh, unleashing a rolling sandstorm of metallic granules.
"Is this your ace?"
Bone Desolate Taoist realized that Li Mo had swapped his Lifebound Spirit Beast for another, though the former seemed slightly superior to the latter.
Ghost Tiger possessed a fragmented Spirit Root, making it indeed more robust than the Golden Toad.
But.
The Golden Toad possessed a unique ability.
[Size Control]
Roar!
Li Mo’s body rapidly expanded, leaving Bone Desolate Taoist in sheer disbelief as the barbaric giant beast tore apart the skull.
A towering Golden Scaled Buddha bent forward and stood upright.
Li Mo’s head had already touched the ceiling of the True Word Secret Realm, his gaping maw revealing razor-sharp, bright golden teeth.
"Hehehe."
Dozens of arms pummeled the White Bone Jungle like torrential rain.
While the Golden Toad embodied sheer physical strength, the spiritual power consumption for its Size Control ability was unbelievably immense—Li Mo struggled to maintain both the beast transformation and his cancer form simultaneously.
The gathered Nascent Soul cultivators were speechless.
Their perceptions of Beast Cultivators had been completely upended; it wasn’t merely talent—it was something non-human, utterly beyond comprehension.
"Truly impressive."
An abrupt voice broke the tense atmosphere.
Instinctively, they turned to see a strange individual now standing amongst them.