CHAPTER 333: CHAPTER 79: MOUNTAIN DEMON [POISONOUS SPIRIT ROOT]

Visions often accompany residual echoes of the Great Dao, intertwined with mystical secrets, visible at a glance to outsiders; yet the Mountain Demon’s vision is different.

Its flesh and bones shatter and reform, teetering on the brink of distorted mutation and loss of control.

In one moment, the Mountain Demon grows over a dozen arms; the next, the arms wilt and rot, replaced by more than a dozen razor-sharp, tooth-filled mouths.

"Wa-oh wa-oh."

The Mountain Demon lets out a piercing wail, akin to the Sun Monkey donning the Tightening Spell for the first time, feeling its Three Souls and Seven Spirits scatter away.

But instead of begging for mercy, its ferocity is ignited.

Leaping up, the Mountain Demon swings its arms at the pillar in the secluded chamber, the poison-attributed spiritual energy it absorbs growing more frenzied.

Fortunately, Li Mo had enhanced the chamber beforehand, and with the Mountain Demon still at its childhood stage, it cannot break through the array engraved on the surface.

Li Mo slightly furrows his brow, belatedly casting his gaze toward the Jinhong You Pavilion.

He senses that the Poison Cultivators might be keenly aware of the aura emitted by the Mountain Demon, though due to Han Cai’s presence, they are reduced to mere watching rather than action.

"Interesting. If you willingly deliver yourselves, it saves me the trouble of making the first move."

Li Mo’s thoughts subtly stir, activating the array to isolate the chamber’s commotion, tightly sealing the Mountain Demon’s presence within.

"The Acquired Spirit Root has become fully intact, but it’s likely to take some time to settle."

Perhaps due to the Mountain Demon being birthed through spells, the completion process of the Acquired Spirit Root proves extraordinarily arduous—a testament to the Bodhi Fruit’s enigmatic nature.

Li Mo glances at the Corpse Mountain Mini World, where the Candle Dragon has already awakened.

The Candle Dragon seems to sense the Mountain Demon’s metamorphosis faintly, appearing particularly uneasy within the small realm, darting through the mountains repeatedly.

Li Mo shakes his head.

Though the Tattooed Beasts appear seamless with one another, there is in fact an order of hierarchy: the Candle Dragon, being the primary Tattooed Beast, occupies the core of the Daoist Body, leaving no room for challenges to its authority from the others.

Seeing this, Li Mo decides not to pacify the Candle Dragon; a touch of crisis might do it good.

The Candle Dragon is often too lazy, relying solely on its natural gifts—the Divine Skill of opening its eyes for Yang and closing them for Yin far surpasses the other Tattooed Beasts—rarely exerting effort to train its physical body.

"Heh heh, once the Mountain Demon’s transformation is complete and it absorbs strengths from various martial arts, it might very well rival the Candle Dragon."

Li Mo lets the Mountain Demon wreak havoc on the furniture within the room while tossing a Bodhi Fruit into his own mouth, flipping through the Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand technique.

That’s right, he intends to cultivate the Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand.

The Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand contains elements of body refinement, making it naturally more advantageous if mastered early; even though the spell primarily focuses on flesh and meridians.

But just the aspect of meridians alone is enough to capture Li Mo’s attention.

After all, meridians are linked to cultivation efficiency.

"It should be fine; the modifications from Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand are not irreversible for me."

Li Mo splits his divine sense to monitor the Mountain Demon while commanding countless White Bone Spiders to emerge from within his spine, flowing directly into his brain along the blood vessels.

He repeatedly confirms that his Innate Essence can easily repair brain damage.

Even if the entire brain turns to ashes, it wouldn’t matter, nor would it impair cognitive functions, as the Three Nascent Souls can substitute for part of the brain’s capabilities.

Of course, once the Great Sun Nascent Soul takes shape and the brain is transformed into the Nascent Soul itself, attempting further modifications to the brain could affect the cultivation foundation.

Li Mo’s early exposure to Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand carries benefits without detriments.

It will also allow him more versatility when perfecting it as a Nascent Soul technique in the future.

"Hah."

Li Mo exhales deeply and signals the White Bone Spiders to begin processing his brain tissue; soon, his five senses experience varying degrees of distortion.

In truth, the brain modification isn’t torturous—the primary discomfort lies in the sensation of the White Bone Spiders burrowing through the brain, like countless worms gnawing at the tissue.

Moments later, a tingling numbness spreads from his marrow to his whole body.

Li Mo forces himself to endure the discomfort, his divine sense locking firmly onto the Great Sun Golden Core within the Mud Pill Palace, worried it might get damaged due to the Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand.

Luckily, his predictions were correct; after all, Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand is centered around the Nine Nether Buddha Light Illuminating Scripture, conceived as a specialized medical skill.

The two complement each other perfectly.

The Great Sun Golden Core’s emitted light rapidly intensifies, the Mud Pill Palace becoming completely illuminated as if it were daytime.

White smoke rises from the top of Li Mo’s head; since the Great Sun Spiritual Power is of the Yang attribute, while it lacks the burning sensation of the Fire attribute, it still carries significant heat.

His expression becomes peculiar; in his ears, the chanting of the True Word Sect’s sutras suddenly echoes.

"Within the purelands of Amitabha Buddha, all that naturally exists includes the Seven Treasures, namely gold, silver, glass, coral, red pearls, agate..."

The dust on Li Mo’s body disperses, and a golden halo emerges behind his head.

The room is instantly bathed in Buddha Light; the previously ordinary furniture transforms into Seven Treasures material, as if he has entered the Western Heavenly Pure Land.

Li Mo doesn’t suppress the Great Sun Golden Core’s vision.

In the secret realm, he had encountered the twenty-four Arhats of the True Word Sect, who commonly used spells centered on the Luminous Pure Land—something the Great Sun Golden Core struggles to imitate.

"The Praise of the Seven Treasures Scripture I obtained in the secret realm is merely a True Word Sect cultivation technique; the spell within it may have long been buried by the sands of time."

"I’ll explore it slowly in the future; if an opportunity arises, I’ll aim to acquire a legitimate Buddhist sect’s heritage."

Li Mo forms the Nianhua Finger gesture and stretches his hand toward the Mountain Demon.

Under the infinite Buddha Light, the Mountain Demon’s expression gradually eases, yet its craving for spiritual energy grows increasingly intense.

It feels as if its body has been submerged in the warm amniotic fluid of a womb, a comfort sinking deeply into its heart.

The Mountain Demon, moments ago writhing in agony, now smiles peacefully and falls asleep on the floor under the influence of the Great Sun Golden Core.

Li Mo speeds up his brain modification; subtle changes start to appear in the structure of his brain tissue.

Small amounts of Great Sun Spiritual Power seep out from the Mud Pill Palace, gradually dispersing throughout his body, as his flesh and meridians greedily absorb the power.

Li Mo examines the two remaining souls in the Mud Pill Palace and sees that the Great Sun Golden Core hasn’t harmed the shell of his soul, finally putting his mind at ease.

Great Sun Spiritual Power continuously refines his body.

Li Mo stretches his limbs.

To his surprise, he discovers that a thin, glass-like halo now coats the muscle fibers and vascular meridians in his body, offering a protective effect.

"No wonder they call it Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand—worthy of the title Vajra Warrior."

Though the visible body refinement effects seem minimal, over time, they are destined to accumulate generously. And Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand is far from perfect as it is now.

Li Mo wonders with fascination—what kind of Taoist Body might emerge if the Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand were fully imprinted?

Could it be a Supreme Innate Dao Body unique to the Buddhist sect?

Li Mo activates the Primordial Chaos technique to restrain the faint Buddha Light; the lingering aura of a Buddha finally dissipates, avoiding possible misunderstandings.

Although True Word Sect cultivation techniques may blur the line between Buddha Scripture and Demon Scripture, traditionally classified as Devil Sect heritage, they still command a striking presence.

Who would notice Li Mo as a mere Fake Buddha unless they were capable of identifying orthodox Buddhist sect techniques?

Li Mo continues acclimating to the Vajra Circulation Buddha Hand; its spiritual energy cost per breath is relatively low, and over time it might even assist in increasing his cultivation level.

"Wa-wa-wa..."

The Mountain Demon wakes suddenly, darting around Li Mo in circles, expelling poisonous smoke from its nose and mouth.

Li Mo halts the Mountain Demon’s movements, his divine sense probing the body of the Tattooed Beast, realizing its Spirit Root hasn’t completely solidified yet.

The Acquired Spirit Root is poison-attributed, slithering inside its body like a long snake.

Li Mo immediately understands that, to achieve the complete manifestation of the poison-attributed Spirit Root, he must fuse the Spirit Root into an organ of the Mountain Demon.

"The Mountain Demon doesn’t need its brain for using the Poison Clothing Technique; its core must reside in some other organ..."

"Why not the spine?"

Li Mo observes the Mountain Demon’s fighting style; its mutations affect various organs but rarely disrupt its spine, which serves as the central axis.

The Acquired Spirit Root burrows into the spine, causing the Mountain Demon to collapse uncontrollably to the ground.

Li Mo watches with intrigue.

The fusion of the Acquired Spirit Root with the Mountain Demon’s spine resembled the imprinting of the Creation Book, with external poison-attributed spiritual energy pouring into the spine.

The Mountain Demon grins widely, stroking its back repeatedly.

Li Mo’s mouth twitches slightly; regardless of how powerful Tattooed Beasts may become, their spiritual wisdom seems to cap at a mere level of basic communication.

It has both its pros and cons.

Li Mo wants to teach the Mountain Demon the Thousand Spider Poison Heart Scripture as a primary cultivation technique, yet the Mountain Demon lacks the ability to understand intricate manipulations of spiritual energy.

On the bright side, at least Tattooed Beasts pose no risk of betrayal.

"Guess it’s all up to me then."

Li Mo sighs slightly, deciding to directly take control of the Mountain Demon’s body and begin practicing the entry-level poison manipulation technique.

Tattooed Beasts don’t need to choose between different types of alien spirit energy; they perfectly adapt to any energy that matches their attributes.

The poison-attributed spiritual energy within the Mountain Demon’s body undergoes circulation repeatedly, its cultivation progresses to the fourth layer of childhood without the slightest instability in its foundation.

The Thousand Spider Poison Heart Scripture, at the childhood stage, requires corrosion of the five internal organs and six viscera; yet, as the Mountain Demon lacks anatomical organs, it simply amasses spiritual energy to break bottlenecks.

Li Mo spends several days engraving the Circulation Cycle into the Mountain Demon’s instincts.

As he withdraws his divine sense, he notices the Tao Seed beginning to refine and adapt the Thousand Spider Poison Heart Scripture, tailoring it specifically for the Mountain Demon.

Li Mo pauses momentarily before understanding the situation.

Although Tattooed Beasts appear as independent entities, they are essentially an extension of Li Mo’s body—lifebound spirit beasts nurtured by his Dao Body.

This aligns with the Tao Seed’s function to refine cultivation techniques.

"That’s fine; I was worried about the Tattooed Beasts being incompatible with the cultivation techniques."

Li Mo silently waits for the Tao Seed.

The Mountain Demon, meanwhile, seems to have found a new toy, enthusiastically devouring external poison-attributed spiritual energy.

If Li Mo weren’t actively suppressing the concentration of spiritual energy flowing into the secluded chamber, the Mountain Demon might very well replicate Li Mo’s feat of advancing through childhood within mere moments.

More than half a month later, the enhanced Thousand Spider Poison Heart Scripture emerges.

Compared to conventional Poison Cultivator techniques, the tailored scripture for the Mountain Demon is far simpler; its contents already touch on the Divine Separation Stage.

But the Divine Separation Stage portion remains fragmentary, a consequence of Li Mo’s limited insights.

The newly crafted technique is named the "Mountain Demon Gu Poison Scripture."

"Let’s test it."

Li Mo pats the Mountain Demon’s head, prompting the creature to leap up, grabbing the end of its spine with its right arm and convulsing strongly.

In its hand appears a White Bone Stick—the fused spine as its life-bound magical artifact, though unengraved with spiritual patterns.

It twirls the staff deftly, its martial skills unknowingly advancing further.

"Cackle cackle cackle."

Li Mo lets out a strange laugh. The Mountain Demon reminds him of the demonic creatures from ancient cultivation eras.

Back then, demonic creatures would commonly refine an organ into spiritual material for crafting their life-bound magical artifacts.

The Mountain Demon’s White Bone Stick is certainly no mere weapon.

"Wah-yah-yah..."

The Mountain Demon restrains its spiritual energy and activates the Mountain Demon Gu Poison Scripture.