CHAPTER 342: CHAPTER 88 XIA DAO, ILLUSION SPIRIT ROOT?

The Lizard Poison Beast drew closer to the Toad Poison Beast, the latter uneasily swishing its tail as it roused from slumber.

The spiritual energy at the Chaotic Burial Mound surged to a boil, sparking a powerful mountain wind.

The Lizard Poison Beast accelerated, crashing through several mountain peaks in a row. Flocks of birds fled in droves, creating a commotion akin to a natural disaster.

"Croak."

The Toad Poison Beast, unyielding, charged directly at the Lizard Poison Beast.

Han Cai and his peers hurriedly hid inside the array they had just set up; even sheltering on the opposite side of the Blessed Land Cave Heaven didn’t offer much peace of mind.

BANG!!!

The two poison beasts collided with a thunderous impact, causing the ground within a ten-thousand-meter radius to collapse. Trees were uprooted wholesale, rivers flooded backward, and countless birds and beasts perished or were wounded.

The Lizard Poison Beast quickly gained the upper hand, leveraging its overwhelming size advantage.

During their frenzied battle, countless tentacles extended from the mouths of both beasts, stabbing at one another.

Yet the Lizard Poison Beast had help from some unknown forces, leaving the Toad Poison Beast helpless as its tentacles penetrated its flesh and immobilized it.

"Croak."

The Toad Poison Beast let out a mournful cry as the Lizard Poison Beast began extracting nutrients through its tentacles, its own body proportionally expanding in size.

"So that’s how it is."

"Rumors from the black market spoke of Qinghong Workshop merging with another, but I never imagined it would be through such bizarre means."

Li Mo had noticed the plaque of a Daoist temple during a fleeting glimpse earlier, engraved with the words "Xia Dao."

"Xia Dao Qinghong Workshop..."

The Twelve Immortals were clearly using the poison beasts to whittle down the twelve factions, though their ultimate goal remained obscure.

The Lizard Poison Beast appeared to have already devoured another poison beast, which explained its immense thousand-meter stature. Once it fully digested the Toad Poison Beast, it would likely grow by another five to six hundred meters.

Li Mo kept his gaze fixed on the ongoing conflict with no intent to intervene for the moment.

Occupying Qinghong Workshop would indeed greatly benefit the Heart Beast Sect; mortals tapping into the spiritual energy secreted by poison beasts could enter Tao and bolster the sect’s foundation.

However, without first understanding the unknown forces at play, it was safer to watch and wait.

The unknown forces possessed several dozen Nascent Soul stage cultivators, armed with untraceable methods; even Li Mo was wary of engaging them head-on.

Li Mo muttered to himself, "The spiritual energy excreted by the Lizard Poison Beast is nonpoisonous. It would be ideal for the Toad Poison Beast to seize the upper hand."

For now, it seemed the Lizard Poison Beast would take two to three years to completely devour the Toad Poison Beast, granting Li Mo ample time to prepare a strategy.

"Merging cancer cells into the Chaotic Burial Mound makes it not too difficult to contact the unknown forces."

Da Ai Mi Tian was still evolving. Li Mo could harness the cancer cells, but doing so required focused Divine Sense—without it, the cells could easily spiral out of control.

Li Mo estimated that his Lifebound Magical Treasure was close to undergoing a rebirth, which would likely yield new spirit patterns. Engaging with the Chaotic Burial Mound could wait until then.

Clearing his thoughts, he sat in mid-air cross-legged, entering closed-door cultivation.

Meanwhile, clusters of White Bone Spiders crawled out from Li Mo’s back, burrowing directly into a storage bag filled with Breath Sealing Sect corpses.

The White Bone Spiders devoured the brains of the corpses voraciously, nourishing the White Bone Treasure Body.

In mere moments, the twelve spirit patterns of the White Bone Treasure Body began showing signs of completion; unfortunately, only one Nascent Soul-stage corpse was available.

"Murder and arson bring gold belts indeed."

"The Heart Beast Sect’s occupation of Qinghong Workshop offers advantages far greater than disadvantages. I’m happy to wait for other factions to knock on our door, treating the sect as a soft target."

After all, retreat was always an option. Li Mo doubted the surviving victor among the poison beasts would ultimately obtain any meaningful opportunities from the Twelve Immortals.

"Choose a lucky faction to serve as raw materials for the Twelve Immortals’ cultivation."

Li Mo knocked on his spine, producing a muffled metallic clinking sound.

He felt satisfied with the White Bone Treasure Body, though its sole reliance on artifact soul spirit patterns somewhat hindered the growth of his Innate Taoist Body.

Only through Dao Body Fusion could new spirit patterns emerge within the White Bone Treasure Body.

Having expertly processed the corpses, Gao Cai’s Nascent Soul allowed the small world to expand slightly, further enriching the veins of the spirit stone mine.

Through analysis with his Tao Seed, Li Mo deciphered the Breath Sealing Sect’s cultivation inheritance.

Its name was the "Da Yan Qi Control Technique."

The cultivation technique’s childhood-stage practice bizarrely involved surgical modification, relocating the Middle Dantian to the back as a lump-like growth.

Excluding Dao Bodies, the Breath Sealing Sect generally classified cultivators’ talent based on the lump’s size.

"Interesting—the more I explore various magical inheritances, the clearer it becomes that blending all laws into one furnace is the ultimate principle."

The Breath Sealing Sect referred to this lump-like Middle Dantian as the "Qi Sack."

While the exposure of such a vulnerable point might seem perilous, the Qi Sack continuously communicated with external spiritual energy, keeping one’s Spiritual Power perpetually at peak levels.

Gao Cai, if engaged in a prolonged battle, would be nearly unstoppable against opponents of the same realm.

Sadly, against the Mountain Demon, his chances were slim. The unleashed highly toxic venom silently permeated flesh and bones, rendering Qi cultivators powerless.

Li Mo selected the most intact Qi Sack and stored it in a Liu Li jar.

The Qi Sack, resembling a melting furnace, was a mutated Middle Dantian revered as an "Immortal Bone" in ancient cultivation realms.

If Li Mo decided to master Qi cultivation techniques in the future, transplanting a Qi Sack could be a worthwhile venture.

The Da Yan Qi Control Technique also inadvertently enhanced the means of Spiritual Power manipulation within the Kun Whale Teapot Scripture, diversifying its approach.

To Li Mo’s surprise, Gao Cai’s storage bag yielded a Nascent Soul Technique:

"Wind Eye Creation Technique."

"A magical method to transplant pupils into the Nascent Soul, granting control over cyclones."

Li Mo sensed that the Breath Sealing Sect had likely produced several Nascent Soul-stage cultivators, its magical inheritance being far more complete than that of many small sects.

He reclined on the clouds, flipping through the Wind Eye Creation Technique in his hands.

The insights into Nascent Soul ocular modifications proved immensely beneficial, potentially aiding his development of Nascent Soul techniques for a Soul-devouring Demon Infant.

Passing his time in leisure, Li Mo noted that the Heart Beast Sect had begun thoroughly exploring the Blessed Land Cave Heaven.

The complexity of the Blessed Land Cave Heaven resembled that of an ant nest; the cultivator who birthed it in life must have been at least Nascent Soul stage, judging by the countless resources it nurtured.

The outer layers abounded with low-grade spiritual materials, whereas the core area almost certainly contained top-grade items.

However, deceitful objects like spider spirits were in large numbers, making the site far less secure than prior Blessed Lands. The exploration required leadership from Core Formation Beast Cultivators to avoid mishaps.

The discipline of beast cultivators was remarkable—perhaps beasts were simply born to thrive in groups.

Tian Changwen continued adjusting manpower allocations according to the risks presented by the Blessed Land Cave Heaven.

If not for Li Mo’s presence, Tian Changwen might have considered spending resources to hire Luo Kai from the Skin Painting Sect to bolster their team.

After six months...

A town formed next to the Blessed Land Cave Heaven, with a burgeoning black market for loose cultivators.

According to Han Cai’s statistics, out of thirty thousand Poison Martial Artists, over two thousand had advanced to the Childhood stage through the Mountain Demon Gu Poison Scripture.

They faced no choice but to swear Heart Demon Oaths and join the Heart Beast Sect to continue their cultivation.

Ape beast cultivators fared little better; without Weak Crown-stage techniques or Monkey Head Wine, even joining a large sect wouldn’t guarantee progress.

Tian Changwen discreetly recalled ape beast cultivators with superior talent to the sect to guard against potential calamities in Qinghong Workshop.

The Blessed Land Cave Heaven had settled into routine operations, with even the black market generating profits.

......

"Done."

Li Mo exhaled deeply; nurturing the spirit patterns within Da Ai Mi Tian took far longer than he anticipated.

Cancer cells within his body boiled, spawning entirely new types akin to bone cells in nature.

Momentarily taken aback, Li Mo observed the cancer cells saturating his bones inside and out.

The White Bone Treasure Body showed no resistance, accommodating the cancer cells as they siphoned nourishment from the Dao Body’s vitality to feed the bones.

The new spirit pattern, called "White Bone," symbolized the materialization of Da Ai Mi Tian from abstraction to reality.

With the addition of three spirit patterns, the number of lines rose to eighteen, putting the hundred-line count of a top-grade magical treasure within reach.

What did three-pattern magical treasures signify?

In the cultivation world, only Land Immortals who had lived for ten thousand years might possess such treasures.

Li Mo spread his palm, countless cancer cells entwining and merging to form a slightly misshapen rib in an instant.

Anyone observing it would scarcely believe it had originated from a mid-grade magical treasure.

The Boasted utility of the White Bone spirit pattern extended far beyond merely shaping bones—it allowed cancer cells to infiltrate living beings with unparalleled subtlety.

"Go."

Li Mo tossed the rib into the Chaotic Burial Mound, where the cancer cells began silently propagating.

The rib, seemingly mundane, escaped the notice of the unknown forces, rotting away swiftly within the Chaotic Burial Mound.

The Xia Dao Daoist Temple reemerged into view.

Li Mo scrutinized it, noting that the temple’s environment felt utterly divergent from the existing world, resembling a flourishing immortal estate.

He saw countless Daoists cultivating, their actions reminiscent of ancient Immortal Sect practitioners.

Merely standing atop a mountain and inhaling the unknown spiritual energy significantly heightened their cultivation—even Li Mo couldn’t help but feel astonished.

A Weak Crown-stage Daoist inhaled for only a few moments.

Then, opening his eyes, he had already reached the fourth layer of the Childhood stage, despite absorbing spiritual energy quantities far below the threshold for promotion.

Li Mo chuckled coldly.

The Xia Dao Daoist Temple was still incomplete, unable to capture the essence of the unknown spiritual energy.

"Neither corpse cultivation nor ghost cultivation—could it be an uncharted Taoist inheritance?"

"I must ascend to the Great Sun Golden Core first; the bottleneck encountered during body refinement under Gang Wind awaits resolution."

Li Mo focused his energy on the Great Sun Golden Core, fortifying his nerves through body refinement, naturally amplifying the amount of spiritual energy he could bear.

Already perched on the bottleneck of Core Formation, he ascended to the perfect stage of Nascent Crying.

Li Mo did not stop, connecting his Mud Pill Palace to the Five Decaying Souls.

As the Desire Waning Soul influencing others’ imbalances converged within the Great Sun Golden Core, its quality further improved.

The once flawless golden core began exuding struggling human faces.

Yet the halo encircling Li Mo’s head, unaffected by the negativity of the Great Sun Golden Core, emitted an increasingly pure and dazzling Buddha Light.

After a brief moment, Li Mo restrained the Great Sun Spiritual Power, his expression slightly complicated.

"Will the Five Decaying Souls turn the Great Sun Nascent Soul into some enigmatic monstrosity? Please no—it finally has the correct aesthetic this time."

Li Mo chuckled bitterly, shifting his gaze again toward the Xia Dao Daoist Temple.

The temple had fully materialized, and the air teemed with invisible unknown spiritual energy.

Li Mo avoided the Daoists’ scrutiny, gathering a strand of spiritual energy into his meridians, observing its circulation cycle with his Divine Sense.

Within half a breath, the unknown spiritual energy voluntarily dissipated.

It seemed unadapted to this environment.

"Could this be... ’all is but illusion,’ the transformation of ancient cultivation realm’s Illusion Spirit Root?"