CHAPTER 369: CHAPTER 115 SWORD INTENT [UNIVERSAL ILLUMINATION]

Li Mo’s actions were not unnoticed; at the moment of implanting the Fake Buddha, a faintly perceptible gaze swept by.

However, compared to the Twelve Immortals, he appeared insignificant. Even if he could easily destroy the Demon Cultivators of the Ten Desires Forest, it wouldn’t stir up any waves.

"Perhaps, in the eyes of both Daoist and Demon sides, I am still merely a pawn meant to draw attention to the Twelve Immortals."

Li Mo felt lingering fear, but taking risks for the Divine Separation Stage was reasonable.

He sat in the underground cave, organizing the complex situation, realizing that the forces engaged in the struggle were far more than just the Twelve High-level Practitioners.

The major sects behind the practitioners were likely waiting for the situation to escalate. Could Zu Xiuyun truly have a chance to overturn things?

Li Mo’s limited perspective made it hard for him to believe the Twelve Immortals could contend against the entire Cultivation World.

He closed his eyes to communicate with the Fake Buddha, and his consciousness descended onto the Flying Sword within the palace chamber.

Dense blood vessels coiled around the Fake Buddha, and nutrients surged into it without reservation.

In just an instant, the Fake Buddha began to transform, its size swelling several times over, faintly exuding a blurred sense of conception.

"Sword Intent?"

According to Li Mo’s rudimentary understanding of the Heavenly Sword Sect, once a Flying Sword birthed Sword Intent, it signified it had reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

How long had it been since the Fake Buddha was implanted with a Nascent Soul? The palace chamber’s benefits were evident.

Li Mo understood that if he chose to dedicate himself to the palace chamber, his physical body might reach the level comparable to the Divine Separation Stage before his Nascent Soul.

But with only one life to gamble, a slight misstep would result in death and the Dao’s disappearance.

He had considered the Sunlight Bodhisattva initially, but damaging a Nascent Soul would compromise his foundation.

The Sunlight Bodhisattva governed the Mud Pill Palace, and its importance to the body and soul surpassed the other Three Nascent Souls. How could he act recklessly?

Moreover, the Foundation Spiritual Objects weren’t irreplaceable.

Besides, Li Mo had already used the blank page to imprint the Fake Buddha, striving to merge the Flying Sword with himself completely, rendering it untouchable by others.

After imprinting the Fake Buddha, its awakened Divine Skill bore the name "Sword Dao Sun."

The so-called Sword Dao Sun allowed all Yang Attribute Sword Intent to receive enhancements from the Divine Skill, enabling ordinary sword techniques to unleash extraordinary power.

"Sword Dao Sun, it seems the benefits of becoming a Sword Cultivator truly are the greatest."

As Li Mo pondered, the Fake Buddha’s aura gradually retracted, and its absorption of nutrients from the palace chamber displayed an alarming frenzy.

Even the Sunlight Bodhisattva benefited greatly in cultivation progress.

Although the Sunlight Bodhisattva hadn’t completely refined the Fake Buddha, the two were already interconnected, allowing cultivation growth to approach the consummate Nascent Soul Stage.

"Whew, whether the Sunlight Bodhisattva can successfully ascend to the Divine Separation Stage depends on the subsequent developments."

Li Mo inscribed a Nearby Array within the Thirteen Palace chambers, seemingly enabling him to reclaim the Flying Sword at any time, but he was still under the watchful eyes of high-level practitioners.

He closed his eyes nervously and waited.

The progress across palace chambers varied, with one deceitful entity after another being born, yet the palace chamber housing the Fake Buddha remained eerily lifeless.

What surprised Li Mo was that the Twelfth Senior Sister Ta Shi’s disturbance was the largest.

A massive surge of corpses poured out, quickly forming a Corpse Mountain outside the palace chamber, emitting a suffocating stench.

Although the corpses weren’t particularly valuable, Li Mo still felt a flicker of desire.

"Don’t covet what isn’t yours..."

Li Mo sighed inwardly, realizing that his yearning for the Corpse Mountain tenants had sparked an interest in the corpses. However, attempting to snag anything under a tiger’s jaws was unrealistic.

Boom.

A giant arm extended from the palace chamber’s perimeter.

The arm stretched a full kilometer, covered in corpse spots of varying depths, its blue-purple surface grasping thousands of corpses before retreating into the thick fog.

Soon after, the sound of chewing echoed, and broken limbs and bone fragments rained down like drops.

"The Coffin Dweller, the Corpse Demon."

Li Mo muttered solemnly, his expression grave.

The Corpse Demon belonged to the Ten Thousand Demon Dao, at the Void Refining Stage, proficient in corpse cultivation in antiquity, now with half its body trapped inside a wooden coffin.

No matter how it looked, the wooden coffin resembled an ordinary pearwood coffin.

The lid was engraved with "Longevity and Eternal Prosperity," the calligraphy appearing foreign to the work of cultivators.

Through the Corpse Demon, Li Mo confirmed a detail: the containers hosting the Twelve High-level Practitioners all resembled ordinary items externally.

Rather than "hidden," the term "imprisoned" seemed more apt.

The Corpse Demon fixed its greedy gaze upon the Twelfth Senior Sister’s palace chamber, its chewing of corpses escalating, and the oppressive stench of death thickened.

Clearly, they had developed designs on the Twelve Immortals long ago.

"Eighty percent certain it’s for Body Seizing."

Li Mo said indifferently, unable to control the situation, focusing solely on nurturing the Fake Buddha’s growth as he stimulated its absorption of the palace chamber’s nutrients.

After roughly five years, the Fake Buddha smoothly advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage.

A faint Sword Intent began to sprout.

Li Mo could only vaguely sense that the Sword Intent seemed connected to "Universal Illumination."

According to the records of Buddhist Scriptures, the Great Sun indeed possessed the meaning of universal illumination, making the birth of Universal Illumination Sword Intent unsurprising.

The Sunlight Bodhisattva sensed it.

The Nascent Soul formed the Dharma Realm Mudra, its hands positioned with palms upward, right hand above left, thumbs touching and resting below the navel.

The gesture resembled the Great Sun Tathagata Buddha mudra from Li Mo’s previous life, symbolizing the wise Great Sun.

Although Li Mo wasn’t well-versed in the cultivation system of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the importance of Sword Intent was self-evident—likely used to qualify cultivators as Sword Slaves.

Among the Sword Cultivators Li Mo had encountered, only the Time Sword was likely to wield Sword Intent.

"If I can grasp Universal Illumination Sword Intent, it will undoubtedly enhance my chances of entry and positively impact my control over the Fake Buddha in the future."

Li Mo couldn’t help but communicate with the Fake Buddha, contemplating Universal Illumination Sword Intent.

Unfortunately, due to the distance from the Fake Buddha and the lack of Divine Skills pertaining to swordsmanship, comprehending the Universal Illumination Sword Intent required patient refinement.

Li Mo wasn’t in a rush, intending to familiarize himself with the Heavenly Sword Sect through exposure to Sword Intent.

Throughout history, Sword Cultivators had always stood among the forces dominating the Cultivation World, holding a path to ascend as Land Immortals.

Compared to other major sects, the rules of the Heavenly Sword Sect were the most straightforward.

After all, the core of the Heavenly Sword Sect lay in Flying Swords.

As long as one gained the approval of a top-tier Flying Sword, they could instantly become an esteemed guest of the sect.

Li Mo immersed his mind in the burgeoning Fake Buddha, discovering that Universal Illumination Sword Intent had formed faint, fragmented text within the Flying Sword.

"Spirit Patterns imbued with the remnants of the Heavenly Dao?"

The Tao Seed exhibited an abnormal reaction, reminiscent of translating Buddhist Scriptures in the past.

Li Mo sifted through the vast ocean of Sword Dao Conception within the Tao Seed’s feedback, gradually deepening his understanding of Universal Illumination Sword Intent.

"So... Sword Intent is a man-made creation of the residual rhythm of the Dao."

As Li Mo comprehended traces of the Universal Illumination Sword Intent, a sun-like mark appeared at the Sunlight Bodhisattva’s forehead, and its Nascent Soul erupted with Sword Intent.

In essence, Sword Intent was an incredibly esoteric spell, designed specifically to bolster Flying Swords.

Li Mo’s grasp of Universal Illumination Sword Intent was shallow; merely communicating with the Fake Buddha wouldn’t deepen his comprehension. He reckoned only the Heavenly Sword Sect offered systematic magic techniques.

"Pairing Universal Illumination Sword Intent with Sunlight Bodhisattva’s Great Light True Body should yield unimaginable power. Sword Dao indeed excels at offense."

With this thought, Li Mo selected the Human Soul Shuang Ling’s Divine Skill, "Heavenly Person’s Agility," as the foundation for nurturing swordsmanship abilities.

The memories of various swordsmanship secret manuals he had once read flowed into his mind like swallows returning to their nest.

Universal Illumination Sword Intent directly amplified, doubling in strength, yet it seemed to hit an indistinct bottleneck, unable to progress further. Meanwhile, the mark at the Sunlight Bodhisattva’s forehead grew increasingly intricate.

Li Mo integrated the mundane swordsmanship he had collected, even deriving new ideas from them.

Still, he couldn’t break through the bottleneck of Universal Illumination Sword Intent. Exploring the application of Sword Intent felt as challenging as creating a Void Refining Stage Cultivation Technique.

While Li Mo was studying Universal Illumination Sword Intent, Zu Xiuyun’s palace chamber suddenly trembled violently.

Overwhelming Demonic Qi spilled forth.

The chamber’s altitude rose to 5,000 meters, and the blood and flesh forming the chamber turned withered. Faintly, consciousness seemed to stir.

Gui Qiong, unable to restrain himself, bent over to observe, with countless poisonous insects crawling out of his body.

Regaining reason, he muttered excitedly, "How could this old man endure in a medicine basket for seven thousand years... Only innate immortal seeds can liberate me from my shackles."

Jian Yu laughed heartily, stroking his beard as he replied, "Well said. We’ve waited a lifetime for this day; there’s no need to dwell on the past."

"Ah, Zu Xiuyun—a true pity. Had she not taken a devilish path, ascending would not have been difficult back then."

......

They shed their usual madness, chatting like old friends reunited.

Zu Xiuyun’s palace chamber rapidly decayed within moments, haze and dust forming, faintly revealing the silhouette of a woman.

"Old ghost, after all these years, how can you continue to forget the lessons you’ve learned?"

Zu Xiuyun stood smiling atop the ruins of the palace chamber, her mutated characteristics completely gone.

Her appearance was utterly ordinary, yet there was an inexplicable eerie aura about her. Her reborn cultivation stood only at the initial stage of childhood.

Gui Qiong squinted his eyes, unconsciously stroking the top of his head.

Zu Xiuyun was unsurprised, crossing her arms as she mocked, "What was it like to be locked into a medicine basket by the mortals you so often overlooked?"

"You lunatic woman!!"

"Had it been you, you’d have had no choice but to endure discreetly! Seven thousand years ago, who could have avoided disaster?!!"

Gui Qiong lifted his skull, gasified brain matter gathering into dark clouds, which surged at Zu Xiuyun and orbited her in mid-air for several rounds.

A Void Refining Stage practitioner was trembling with hesitation before someone at the childhood stage.

"Old ghost, if you don’t seize this body, I’ll leave now."

Zu Xiuyun engaged her True Void Hometown, her body gradually shifting from solid to ethereal.

Gui Qiong lost all reason and rushed straight into Zu Xiuyun’s head, forcefully taking over the body he had long coveted.

"Zu Xiuyun, you have no idea what we’ve been through..."

Gui Qiong erased the residual spiritual power left by Zu Xiuyun within the body, his expression clearing of darkness. "Finally obtained the innate immortal seed, ascension is now within reach."

"It’s not just the innate immortal seed; they’re all Buddha Mothers."

"Ha, Buddha Mothers."

Boom, boom, boom.

The palace chambers trembled one after another, and Jian Yu along with the other practitioners could no longer remain calm.

Soon, the senior sisters appeared one by one, but they offered no resistance, allowing the obsessed and ancient ones to seize the Mud Pill Palace.

Li Mo observed the chaotic scene of demons dancing about, feeling that the Eldest Senior Sister had likely prepared her contingencies.

"Buddha Mothers? It seems No-Life Mother has indeed ascended, and as the twelve beings who nurtured her, the Twelve Immortals might hold the most hope for ascension to the Immortal Realm after the cataclysmic transformation of heaven and earth."

"But what exactly is the cataclysmic transformation of heaven and earth, and how are mortals involved?"

The more Li Mo understood of the truth, the more he felt the fog surrounding the transformation grew dense.

At least, based on the fragmented memories fed back by the Creation Book, the disasters from the cataclysmic transformation appeared utterly abrupt, devoid of human interference.