CHAPTER 361: CHAPTER 107: FROM INSIGNIFICANCE TO IMMORTALITY

Li Mo’s expression was brimming with excitement. The Substitute Dao Page provided a mere ten minutes, during which not a single second could afford to be wasted.

"I must seize this chance to gather enough nutrients to perfect my cultivation technique system."

Li Mo consumed two Bodhi Fruits simultaneously. The enhancing effects on his comprehension reached their peak, coupled with his supreme memorization ability; now, he could grasp a Divine Separation Stage technique in less than half a breath.

He was certain that with the emergence of No-Life Mother, the world had already undergone drastic transformation.

The cultivation techniques subtly revealed that during that time, the Cultivation World was trapped in the dilemma of immortality. Daoists, demons, and Buddhists alike must have been seeking ways to resolve the predicament.

"Heh heh heh..."

One Divine Separation Stage technique after another merged into the Tao Seed.

Li Mo couldn’t help but marvel at the No-Life Mother, born from the blood and flesh of the Twelve Immortals, far exceeding the mortal world’s imagination in every aspect.

"The Buddhist Sect’s purpose in teaching the No-Life Mother magic techniques... could it also be for ascension?"

In the ancient Cultivation World’s environment, the ultimate pursuit for Daoists, demons, and Buddhists alike could only have been daytime ascension. The uniqueness of the No-Life Mother was thus self-evident.

The third Divine Separation Stage technique nurtured itself: [Life and Buddha’s Other Shore Heart Sutra].

"Hmm?"

Li Mo noticed something.

The techniques he had stripped away seemed to make the No-Life Mother’s own insights even more refined, which was baffling.

The techniques were not purely Buddhist inheritances; traces of various Taoist inheritances could be discerned.

"Wait."

"What I stripped away were the cultivation techniques, but the No-Life Mother’s understanding of the Buddhist Sutras remains. The Substitute Dao Page still cannot alter predetermined outcomes."

"Amitabha Buddha... Truly a product of profound Creation, aligning with the Heavenly Dao."

Outside the tripod, an old monk murmured, "Though the method of its creation is somewhat strange, it aligns so perfectly with the Buddhist Sect. This old monk is further convinced it is the True Buddha descending."

"Benefactor Zu Xiuyun, rest your soul and let your Dao dissipate. This artifact bears great affinity with our Buddhist Sect. Amitabha Buddha."

Li Mo could not see the old monk’s appearance, but he could hear the thick layer of greed in his tone.

However, when the old monk mentioned the name of their eldest senior sister, the head at the center of the No-Life Mother subtly twitched its eyelids, revealing a peculiar expression.

"Eldest sister?"

Li Mo sucked in a cold breath.

"As expected, even if the eldest sister is insane, she wouldn’t sacrifice herself to create an indescribable abomination."

Zu Xiuyun’s obsession was to become an Immortal, not to fashion a True Immortal.

Clearly, the eldest sister was taking advantage of the Buddhist Sect as her stepping stone, and her ultimate goal likely aligned with Chen Tiangang’s—to ascend to the Immortal Realm.

Li Mo even suspected that the consciousnesses of the other senior sisters still lingered.

"Could it be that eldest sister wishes to ascend alone, taking everyone else along with her by association?"

Li Mo swallowed nervously. A lunatic with means was more terrifying than madness itself.

Of course, he also knew the ultimate fate of the Twelve Immortals: becoming indescribable monstrosities within the True Void Hometown. Zu Xiuyun’s scheme was bound to fail.

It seemed that Zu Xiuyun’s consciousness occupied the dominant role within the No-Life Mother, which explained why the insights obtained bore no marks of Buddhist inheritance.

The fourth Divine Separation Stage technique was forged: [No-Life Marvelous Technique].

The Tao Seed’s understanding of the Divine Separation Stage underwent a monumental transformation.

Previously reliant on fragmented and incomplete techniques, the Tao Seed’s supplementation of the Divine Separation Stage content was riddled with dubious and sinister paths.

But now, it had been completely reborn.

Li Mo cast a glance at the Substitute Dao Page; the No-Life Mother’s shadow had already diminished by half.

Sustained by the feedback and nourishment of the Tao Seed, the Three Nascent Souls and a Golden Core were celebrating wildly.

Li Mo promptly took out an enormous amount of canned spiritual energy and poured it into his mouth without hesitation, allowing the Nascent Souls and Golden Core to immerse in the baptism of spiritual energy.

"Heh heh heh..."

"So, the so-called Externalized Dharma Body possesses such unexpected profundities."

Li Mo silently nodded to himself. Combining the Divine Separation Stage techniques he had collected earlier, achieving Divine Separation Stage Perfection should not present any significant issue.

The Substitute Dao Page dissipated in a flash. He had harvested a total of eight techniques, which had already exceeded his expectations.

Li Mo exhaled a long breath, scrutinizing the final fragments of memory pouring from the Creation Book. Perhaps from it, he could uncover why the No-Life Mother had turned into a collection of scattered, fragmented organs.

The No-Life Mother proceeded to comprehend a ninth technique.

Immediately afterward, it began cultivating under the guardianship of Buddhist monks. The dense spiritual energy, with the Doulu Tripod as its center, formed a vortex-like tornado.

And then, something astonishing occurred.

The No-Life Mother’s flesh and bones began to regenerate. Hauntingly ominous muffled cracking sounds echoed from within, and its twelve heads displayed a range of expressions.

"It seems... something unexpected has happened."

Li Mo’s expression grew solemn. The abrupt, uncontrollable mutation of the No-Life Mother suggested that its body had begun rejecting the Twelve Immortals.

The twelve heads showed signs of detaching from the main body, though apart from Zu Xiuyun, the other senior sisters lacked Spiritual Wisdom.

In one moment, the No-Life Mother’s appearance retained the characteristics of the Buddha.

In the next, under the accumulation of useless flesh growing incessantly, it morphed into an unspeakably terrifying mountainous mass of flesh, utterly unrecognizable as human.

Perhaps the current No-Life Mother more accurately personified Li Mo’s impression of the No-Life Sect—a Sect born from the mutated, uncontrollable products of the Twelve Immortals.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The No-Life Mother forcefully hammered the Doulu Tripod, the dull impacts reverberating outward.

Mutation—mutation was everywhere, saturating the No-Life Mother, accelerating incessantly, its cultivation straying further from its original techniques.

From the moment the No-Life Mother absorbed its first wisp of spiritual energy, it had descended into total collapse.

Li Mo could tell that Zu Xiuyun was still unwilling to let go, but the tenuous balance she maintained caused the remaining twelve heads to begin mutating as well.

Outside the Doulu Tripod, the monks descended into panic. The agonized screams of lesser-cultivated Buddhist Practitioners turning into deceitful objects of their own perverse nature echoed chillingly.

"What manner of demons and ghosts is this?"

"If this isn’t the True Buddha Descending, Zu Xiuyun, how dare you deceive Leiyin Temple!"

"Chant the Sutras. Subdue the demon."

"Thus I have heard. At one time, the Buddha was residing in Shewei Country’s Zhi Tree Gei Gudu Garden, accompanied by a great assembly of monks numbering twelve hundred and fifty..."

Radiant Buddha Light shone forth, making it nearly impossible for the No-Life Mother to break free.

Roar!!!

The No-Life Mother, like a monstrous beast, collided with the Doulu Tripod repeatedly, blood oozing from all twelve of its heads.

Li Mo drew a sharp breath as he noticed a grotesque, incomprehensible human face slowly materializing along the No-Life Mother’s spinal column.

He knew that Zu Xiuyun had failed to suppress the No-Life Mother. Despite the chorus of Buddist Sutras intoned just outside the tripod, the suppression was futile.

The No-Life Mother had already gained sentience.

Even through the memories, Li Mo could feel an indescribable sense of oppression.

From the Twelve True Words, the No-Life Mother had been birthed as a Divine Separation Stage entity, and it was only a matter of time before it broke free of the Doulu Tripod’s shackles.

"Unless nine imprints are repeated, the fall of the Twelve Immortals is inevitable."

Li Mo watched as the No-Life Mother slowly devoured the Twelve Immortals. Its multiplying flesh had already consumed eighty percent of the Doulu Tripod’s space.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Utter chaos enveloped the outside of the tripod. The No-Life Mother radiated contagion like a reactor, driving numerous Buddhist Practitioners to devolve into mindless, deceitful objects, slaughtering one another.

The old monk was also beginning to succumb. "Identical... identical to the True Buddha Descending from our scriptures."

"To transcend the sea of suffering, one must endure the agony of a mutated fleshly body... So that’s how it is... That’s how it is! True Buddha! Deliver me!!"

The No-Life Mother grew ever more deformed, yet to Li Mo’s astonishment, its aura increasingly resembled that of the Buddha.

Just as the Twelve Immortals were about to fall entirely, Zu Xiuyun’s head suddenly exploded, taking the other heads down in a cascade of flesh and blood.

In a corner of the Doulu Tripod, the twelve corpses abruptly regained vitality.

Zu Xiuyun opened her eyes.

"Lüemei, Ji Benggong, Back Shell... six measures of yellow medicine powder, three parts gold merged with one part tin, carried by Wanying... Beihai..."

She recited the Twelve True Words again; it appeared she had abandoned the No-Life Mother. Even so, the mutation clung to her like an inescapable curse.

The corpses of the Twelve Immortals began to regenerate ceaselessly.

The descent into the unfathomable horror Li Mo had envisioned ultimately ended in failure.

After muttering some cryptic words to herself, Zu Xiuyun disappeared into the depths of the Doulu Tripod with the bodies of her fellow disciples, leaving no trace.

The memory ended completely.

Li Mo sat in his Seclusion Room, staring blankly at the passing mountains outside his window.

After a long time, he murmured, "The eldest sister’s precautions ensured that she wouldn’t lose everything, but she’s merely surviving by hiding her spirit among the corpses."

What happened afterward?

Why, in the present day, do the Twelve Immortals regard themselves as disciples of the No-Life Mother?

Li Mo narrowed his eyes as he scanned through the memory fragments about the No-Life Sect. He noticed that due to his theft of techniques, subtle changes had emerged in portions of his recollection.

Because he had stolen those cultivation techniques, the main technique of the No-Life Sect was no longer the No-Life Ten Directions Festival but had become [No-Life Three Thousand Marvelous Techniques].

In essence, there wasn’t much difference.

The version of the technique Li Mo possessed had likely been modified later by Zu Xiuyun to remove all traces of Buddhist content, transforming it into a purely Demon Sect technique.

For this reason, he concluded that the Substitute Dao Page could not alter history that had already transpired.

No matter if he had stripped away the Immortal Dao attributes of the Twelve Immortals at the moment of the No-Life Mother’s birth, the Buddhist Sect would have substituted their attributes with sacrifices from other sources.

Only with repeated stolen attempts might there be a chance, but the risks involved were astonishingly high.

Li Mo glanced at the Creation Book. The Substitute Dao Page had not been completely destroyed.

Instead, the No-Life Mother’s shadow had dimmed considerably, awaiting the reabsorption of energy.

For Li Mo, the eight Divine Separation Stage techniques he had obtained were already sufficient. His Tao Seed unknowingly sank into a state of profound silence, processing the vast flood of information.

"The transformation of the heavens and earth was truly a grand event of creation."

"One unimaginable event after another unfolded... I wish I could know what truly transpired back then."

Li Mo closed his eyes to engage in rest-like meditation while continually providing his Three Nascent Souls with spiritual energy.

After consuming a decade’s worth of canned spiritual energy, the Three Nascent Souls finally curled up contentedly within his Dantian, snoring loudly as they rested.

"Reaching the Nascent Soul Stage within a century should not be a problem. Before the outbreak of the Fate Knowing Stage Death Disease, the Three Nascent Souls will enter the Divine Separation Stage."

Li Mo’s face brightened with a satisfied smile. Reaching immortality was a step-by-step ascent.

After the Divine Separation Stage, Land Immortals spoken of in legends were not so unattainable after all. Sooner or later, Li Mo vowed he would uncover the secrets of the celestial upheaval.

The Tao Seed spent two years fully absorbing all eight Divine Separation Stage techniques.

It then began refining the structure of his existing Four Main Cultivation Techniques.

Li Mo discovered slight discrepancies in the content of the Nascent Soul Stage techniques and realized it would be better to relearn them all to ensure seamless progression.

Sealing himself within his room, barriers formed by arrays enveloped the space entirely.

All four systems had to be painstakingly reconstructed, which would undoubtedly consume a considerable amount of time. Having sent a mental message to inform Han Cai, Li Mo began operating his Circulation Cycle.

The toad-like Poison Beast continued moving forward, its surroundings desolate and terrifying.