CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 108: THE FINAL ASCENSION?

Li Mo patiently re-cultivated his techniques, striving to establish an even firmer foundation for the Divine Separation Stage.

He was astonished to discover that the slight adjustments to the flow of his cultivation not only did not delay his promotion to the Nascent Soul Stage but even allowed him to reach it earlier than expected.

The Three Nascent Souls appeared unspeakably lively.

"A thousand-mile journey begins from the ground; the foundation accumulated since entering the Tao is gradually bearing fruit. The Great Dao is within reach, truly within reach."

Li Mo hesitated slightly before deciding to prioritize resources toward the Chaos Beast Child.

Although in terms of cultivation efficiency, the Soul-devouring Demon Child far surpassed the Chaos Beast Child, he considered that once the Chaos Beast Child ascended to the Nascent Soul Stage, it could fuse with the last soul and free up the Mud Pill Palace.

Without the interference of the Three Souls, the Great Sun Golden Core could smoothly advance to the Nascent Soul Stage.

For Li Mo, the augmentation of the Great Sun Nascent Soul far exceeded the ordinary, involving body refinement, protection of the heart and soul, enhancement of divine sense strength, and the ephemeral Mayfly Dream...

He flipped through the newly refined Nine Nether Buddha Light Illuminating Scripture.

Due to the Tao Seed’s profound understanding of externalized Dharma bodies, the original step of merging foundation spiritual objects upon initial entry into the Divine Separation Stage was shifted to the Nascent Soul Stage.

At the Nascent Soul Stage, Li Mo simply allowed the Nascent Soul to connect with the foundation spiritual objects.

This way, when the Nascent Soul advanced to the Divine Separation Stage, the foundation spiritual objects could not only seamlessly integrate but also derive significant benefits from the process.

"The Fake Buddha, perhaps it can serve as a stepping stone to perfecting my Sword Intent."

Li Mo injected two hundred years’ worth of innate essence into the Fake Buddha, nurturing the Sword Embryo further.

Immersed in closed-door cultivation, he lost track of time until he sensed the Fake Soul consciousness in his mind being reborn once again.

The Fake Soul consciousness began deducing the Human-Headed Nascent Soul Flying Skull Scripture, while Li Mo absorbed the transmitted knowledge.

During Li Mo’s seclusion, Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop underwent three instances of Blessed Land Cave Heaven exploration.

These were all ordinary cave heavens, and no remnants of the No-Life Mother were found; the forces encountered were not even comparable to their scale.

Including Luo Kai, Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop now had four cultivators at the Nascent Soul Stage.

The Blood Sword Intent from before was not much different.

The scattered cultivation forces affiliated with Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop could foresee the rise of the Heart Beast Sect, sending batches of young mortal men to them.

On one hand, this was to curry favor with the Heart Beast Sect; on the other hand, it involved entering the Tao.

The Heart Beast Sect could not possibly accept all the Poison Martial Artists into the sect, and some Poison Martial Artists could only exchange contribution points for cultivation techniques.

For scattered cultivation forces, the probability of a Poison Martial Artist entering the Tao was at least over thirty percent.

Any childhood cultivators who entered the Tao could become the backbone of their family forces, and the resources consumed would not be proportionate to their growth.

"Let the scattered cultivation forces restrain themselves; the Heart Beast Sect should be nearing saturation."

Li Mo observed the situation and contacted Tian Changwen. The Heart Beast Sect quickly made its move, withdrawing thousands upon thousands of Poison Martial Artists from Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop.

With Spider Puppets in place, reducing manpower did not affect resource output.

Within half a year, the population in the town compressed to just thirty thousand, with the Core Formation stage Beast Cultivators all evacuated, leaving only Nascent Soul Stage cultivators to support the scene.

Rumors regarding the Heart Beast Sect began to brew in the Cultivation World.

As a small Immortal Sect affiliated with the Sub-Device Sect, the Heart Beast Sect’s rise over several centuries to a formidable scale naturally drew covert attention from countless forces.

Because of this, any forces encountered by the Toad Poison Beast would inevitably choose to retreat.

To Li Mo’s relief, the Sub-Device Sect remained unaffected by the rumors.

The Heart Beast Sect’s stake in the port remained limited to ten storefronts, the tax revenue minimal, with no objections from any Taoist inheritance.

In the twenty-third year of Li Mo’s seclusion, he again encountered remnants of the No-Life Mother.

Any Blessed Land Cave Heaven involving the No-Life Mother bore unmistakable characteristics: peculiar entities pervading a thousand miles around it.

This aligned with Li Mo’s understanding.

During the No-Life Mother’s mutation, it almost caused the protective Buddhist Sect forces to collapse entirely.

The Toad Poison Beast approached a cave heaven resembling a burial mound, its surface covered with dense vascular roots, with remnants identified as the brainstem.

Beside the Blessed Land Cave Heaven lay only a single Opossum Poison Beast.

The overseeing force was actively exploring the site, collecting resources from the outskirts.

Spotting the Toad Poison Beast made them visibly tense, particularly due to the possibly exaggerated rumors of Li Mo’s wicked reputation.

It was said that two Affiliated Sword Sects had mysteriously perished after making contact with Li Mo.

Though small sects, the Affiliated Sword Sects had unparalleled stature within the Poison Beast forces, capable of instantaneously killing cultivators of the same realm with their sect’s flying swords alone.

After considerable hesitation, a Nascent Soul cultivator respectfully greeted, "Fellow members of the Heart Beast Sect, this old man is Shu Jun, the Sect Leader of the Na Qi Sect. If we’ve disturbed your resource collection, please pardon us."

"This old man is Han Cai. The Heart Beast Sect has no intention of competing with the Na Qi Sect for resources."

Han Cai responded, exchanging a few brief pleasantries before dismissing Shu Jun.

He had already received Li Mo’s transmitted instructions—the Heart Beast Sect would not participate in the exploration of this Blessed Land Cave Heaven, ensuring the steady production of their existing medicine fields instead.

The Heart Beast Sect members breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The aura emitted by the burial mound was exceptional, reminiscent of the Water Well Blessed Land Cave Heaven.

Initially tempted to delve into the mound to complete the Substitute Dao Page, Li Mo noticed something peculiar about the clouds above.

Upon closer inspection, a colossal head loomed vaguely overhead.

"Heavenly Demon..."

Li Mo sighed lightly, deciding that it was wiser to steer clear of the Sky Demon Sect, particularly given his recent offense against its formidable elders.

Evidently, the burial mound’s cave heaven fell under the jurisdiction of the Sky Demon Sect.

With the eyes of a Divine Separation Stage Demon Cultivator present, Li Mo had no reason to risk his life—cultivating in Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop was undoubtedly the wiser option.

A senior sister also seemed to be tending to the No-Life Mother’s brainstem.

From the resources extracted by the Na Qi Sect, Li Mo deduced it to be Ninth Senior Sister Ruoshui, whose spiritual materials primarily focused on flesh.

"Aside from Fourth Senior Sister tirelessly traveling to and from the True Void Hometown while stockpiling corpses in the medicine garden, are the other senior sisters all guarding remnants as well?"

Li Mo’s expression grew complex.

He recalled his last meeting with Si Rui at the Ancestor Platform, where she appeared to be recommending him for formal initiation under the No-Life Mother.

"Uh, Twelfth Senior Sister has made a spectacle of herself, but it shouldn’t have anything to do with me, right?"

Li Mo shook his head slightly. Perhaps Si Rui did indeed have such intentions, but the Twelve Immortal Masters still needed approval from the eldest senior sister, Zu Xiuyun.

Given Zu Xiuyun’s shrewdness and experience, Li Mo considered himself lucky she hadn’t used him as a pawn.

"Let’s wait and see how things unfold."

A woman who rose from an insignificant market to become a Land Immortal nearly succeeded in scheming against the Buddhist Sect, leveraging the ambiguous Twelve True Words to seize the No-Life Mother for daytime ascension.

Li Mo was certain the eldest senior sister’s elaborate maneuvers had one goal:

to become an immortal and achieve the Dao.

During its stay near the burial mound, the Toad Poison Beast periodically extended its tongue to absorb its nutrients.

Li Mo seized the opportunity to cultivate the Human-Headed Nascent Soul Flying Skull Scripture. Even without the Spell Pages, he allowed the Soul-devouring Demon Child to begin mastering the technique.

Countless White Bone Spiders crawled into the temple.

"Hehehe..."

The Soul-devouring Demon Child did not resist, allowing the White Bone Spiders to target its head, gradually severing the connection between its body and head.

Meanwhile, decapitation was supported by various rare spiritual materials.

Li Mo worked meticulously, exerting his divine sense to its utmost.

Even if the Soul-devouring Demon Child was damaged in the process, the temple could aid in its revival, though significant time would be wasted, disrupting his cultivation plans.

The Soul-devouring Demon Child let out eerie laughter, its head orbiting its body erratically before ultimately landing back in its hands, taking on the form of a human-head lantern.

The main head of the scripture served as the central hub controlling the other heads, and its refinement marked entry into the threshold of the technique.

Li Mo selected an exquisite head from the Corpse Mountain Mini World.

The head appeared to belong to a former Nascent Soul cultivator, uniquely infused with rare Yin Bone Spirit Power, its crystalline texture reminiscent of amber.

The Soul-devouring Demon Child gazed at the head momentarily before attaching it to its severed neck.

Crack-crack-crack.

A teeth-grating sound echoed as the Soul-devouring Demon Child crudely refined the head, using raw spiritual power to erode its bone structure.

Within moments, the head sprouted rows of sharp, dense teeth.

Secondary heads could also devour all things, though individually their strength was limited; their effectiveness only emerged when their numbers exceeded hundreds.

Li Mo procured another dozen heads for the Soul-devouring Demon Child to refine one by one.

The refinement process proceeded slowly, but once the Flying Skull Scripture imprint was complete, efficiency would surely improve significantly.

The spectacle of the Soul-devouring Demon Child wielding dozens of human heads was beyond imagination.

Moreover, the Soul-devouring Demon Infant no longer feared the destruction of its main head, as the temple’s nature allowed a secondary head to transform into the main head.

Li Mo’s coordination of the four cultivation systems had already mapped out a clear path for the Divine Separation Stage.

He immersed himself in cultivation seclusion while the Toad Poison Beast continued its journey toward the next Blessed Land Cave Heaven.

Another decade passed.

The Toad Poison Beast’s stays grew infrequent, eventually galloping southward at full speed.

According to Tian Changwen’s findings, several new secret realms had emerged in the south, rumored to house enormous organs seen by scattered cultivators.

The phenomena attracted not only Poison Beasts but also large numbers of scattered cultivators drawn by the rumors.

"It seems the commotion stems from the nurturing of remnants; once the No-Life Mother’s organs recover, the Daoist and Demon factions can divide the spoils."

"A bustling scene might be favorable; perhaps I can seize the opportunity amidst the chaos."

Li Mo instructed Han Cai to withdraw twenty-thousand people. Huang Mu Daoist also returned to the sect, and Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop saw its population dropped to just over ten thousand for the first time.

The cost was the abandonment of half the medicine field’s area.

......

As the Toad Poison Beast traveled, the environment gradually became shrouded in mist.

Li Mo opened his eyes to see the Nearby Array enveloping the core of the town, while eerie entities measuring hundreds of meters streaked through the fog.

Scattered cultivators banded together to hunt these entities.

"The No-Life Sect..."

Li Mo squinted his eyes, observing hundreds of No-Life Temple Priests maintaining order.

The two remnants he had encountered before paled in comparison to the sinister aura here—this site likely housed a primary remnant of the No-Life Mother.

If the Creation Book were to be opened for siphoning energy, it might take only ten days to complete the Substitute Dao Page.

The Toad Poison Beast leaped several times, arriving amidst towering peaks, where scattered cultivators had established a black market alongside three other gigantic Poison Beasts.

The secret realm mentioned by scattered cultivators dangled in midair.

A colossal brain spanning seven to eight kilometers hovered, its extending blood vessels entwining the mountain ridges, its secretions mutating countless wild beasts.

Before the more intact organ, Li Mo felt an inexplicable familiarity.

It seemed... the brain was not merely a remnant—those healing scars hinted that some entity had shattered forth from within its confines.

"Similar to Tian Chenzi’s remnant, could it be that the No-Life Mother truly ascended in the end?"