Chapter 497: Chapter 13: Great Wilderness Immortal Body Transcendence
The Mother Furnace nurtures artifact embryos through an organ named the "Supreme Furnace."
Li Mo connected with the Mother Furnace, and his consciousness descended into a space filled with metal pillars, whose amber containers bore a resemblance to palace chambers.
Due to prior corrosion by Buddha Qi, the unfinished artifact embryos began to exhibit anomalies.
One by one, the artifact embryos lost their furnace-like appearance, their skins now gleaming with the colors of the Seven Treasures Spiritual Materials, and their constitutions started to lean toward a form of Buddha Body.
This indicated that the Karma Seal Mother’s conversion process for the Sub-Device Sect was nearing completion.
However, due to the upcoming Ascension Conference, she hadn’t yet chosen to fully control the Mother Furnace. Otherwise, the Supreme Furnace would become a hotbed for monks’ births.
"Hah, a complete conversion would make Buddhist Sect methods utterly irreversible, and the Mother Furnace would no longer produce artifact embryos in the future."
The Karma Seal Mother’s Buddhist Technique leaned toward conversion, but her direct combat power was not strong. Li Mo barely resisted her conversion influence through various means and relied on the assistance of the Mother Furnace to resolve it.
"The gap in cultivation levels is like a chasm. Ordinary Divine Separation Stage cultivators wouldn’t even qualify to exchange blows with her."
As Li Mo pondered, he activated the Mother Furnace to begin nurturing artifact embryos, simultaneously spreading cancer cells throughout the metal pillars to spawn congenital diseases within them.
"It’s a pity that I haven’t reached the Void Refining Stage yet. I currently can’t manipulate the artifact embryos’ constitution. Otherwise, I might as well solve the inherent flaws of artifact cultivation outright."
Inside the amber containers, limbless embryos began to form gradually, yet they lacked any spiritual wisdom.
Unless the Mother Furnace intentionally reforged them, artifact embryos were nothing more than puppets with intelligence perhaps inferior even to wild beasts.
In another sense, this revealed the Mother Furnace’s reincarnation-like process struggled to create new life. Out of tens of thousands of puppets, only one or two might spontaneously develop consciousness.
The Mother Furnace essentially served as a tool to assist artifact cultivators’ soul-seizing reincarnations, further binding the two together, much like the Heavenly Dao and the myriad living beings.
Artifact cultivators could not transcend the Mother Furnace.
Just like beast cultivators implanted with Lifeless Elixir Fields, their cultivation level would forever remain one layer below that of Li Mo.
"In a sense, the Mother Furnace is another type of False Heavenly Dao—a flesh-and-blood construct born of drastic upheavals in Heaven and Earth."
Li Mo had already found a way to break artifact cultivators’ stagnation at the Nascent Soul Stage. To ensure no mishaps occurred, he would hold off until he advanced to the Void Refining Stage to address it.
All his attention now rested on the Buddha and Demon Cultivation Scripture, as he delved deeper into its Void Refining Stage content.
Traces of Spiritual Power flowed to his fingertips.
The Buddha and Demon Cultivation Scripture required implanting spiritual power into the Mud Pill Palace of a seized host to create a false past-life memory within them.
Li Mo could manipulate these memories at will, as though strategizing on a chessboard, using the tragic experiences of the chess pieces to catalyze the transformation of Spiritual Power.
"The Buddhist Sect definitely has not refrained from doing similar things—driving mortals to familial destitution."
Gazing at the Supreme Furnace, Li Mo injected Spiritual Power into the Mud Pill Palaces of the embryos as soon as they began forming into infants.
Soon after, countless Spider Sword Orbs crawled into the amber containers.
Through the Spider Sword Orbs’ modifications, the appearance of artifact embryos gradually approached that of ordinary humans.
Li Mo did not immediately release the artifact embryos but continued nurturing them in cycles. The current count of three to forty thousand embryos was far from sufficient.
Meanwhile, he also awaited the transformation of the Spirit Root Worm.
The artifact embryos experienced life’s cycles—birth, aging, sickness, and death. They could not be placed in ports full of cultivators but only in the realistic illusions constructed by the Spirit Root Worm.
To Li Mo, the Xia Dao Palace’s approach seemed overly rigid; even consuming a million artifact embryos might not touch upon the opportunity for Void Refining Stage advancement.
"The Spirit Root Worm’s awakening should be within the next few years. Soon, very soon."
Li Mo patiently waited while dividing his attention to monitor the Candle Dragon’s progress in cultivation, which had recently achieved Nascent Soul Perfection.
The Great Wilderness Immortal Body awaited only the Candle Dragon’s breakthrough to the Divine Separation Stage.
"Thankfully, the realm breakthrough and Taoist Body’s transcendence did not overlap. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome."
Li Mo couldn’t be sure if among the 600,000 Loose Cultivators at the port, there were spies from the Three Pure Heavens. He was unwilling to expose his capabilities because of this.
The stockpile of artifact embryos grew, quickly surpassing 100,000 in number.
Suddenly.
Hummm.
The Mud Pill Palace quaked.
Li Mo’s first Spiritual Treasure was born.
The Spirit Root Worm slowly untangled its tendrils from the Xia Dao Palace. On the surface, it seemed unchanged, but upon closer inspection, one could see a mysterious, fragmented Spirit Pattern within its core.
After assimilating the information from the Creation Book, Li Mo learned of the classification system for Spiritual Treasures.
Spiritual Treasures had no upper, middle, or lower grade divisions. They themselves were very close to Immortal Artifacts; in the ancient Cultivation World, they were even referred to as Small Immortal Devices.
No matter how many Spirit Patterns a Magic Treasure possessed, they would consolidate into a single Immortal Pattern upon becoming a Spiritual Treasure.
Immortal Patterns, though incomplete, could eventually transform into an Immortal Artifact as they became complete.
Once an Immortal Artifact was achieved, it was said in the ancient Cultivation World that it would give birth to an Artifact Spirit, enabling the artifact to cultivate independently.
However, after eight thousand years, the state of later Immortal Artifacts and whether they had been affected by the upheaval of Heaven and Earth were unclear.
The Spirit Root Worm’s Immortal Pattern was "Illusion."
Li Mo wasn’t sure whether the Spirit Root Worm counted as a Spiritual Treasure. Even with its Immortal Pattern, it couldn’t break free of the Corpse Mountain Tenants’ influence.
Once the Illusion Spirit Root within the Corpse Mountain Tenants dissipated, the Spirit Root Worm would revert to its original form.
Li Mo couldn’t help but shake his head.
"The Spirit Root Worm may well be the most fragile Spiritual Treasure, but to promote it to Immortal Artifact status, all that’s needed is a relentless accumulation of Corpse Mountain Tenants."
As for its current role, it could indeed be seen as having traces of a False Heavenly Dao.
"Heh heh heh."
At Li Mo’s direction, the Spirit Root Worm crawled into the abandoned Tenth Layer of the Inner Sect, where the fleshly, erosion cave was flooded with surging Buddha Qi.
In the cave’s center, the Spirit Root Worm took root in the flesh.
The illusion emerged within the cave.
Sun, moon, stars; grass, wood, mountains, and stones; a few densely populated towns; farmers carrying burdens across mountain paths; hungry tigers searching for prey...
In less than half a breath, the illusion had spread across the entire Tenth Layer small world.
Soon, the illusion began to take on reality. The Spirit Root Worm meticulously adjusted its details, leaving nothing unnoticed—not even the brightness and temperature fluctuations of the sun and moon.
The Spiritual Treasure-level Spirit Root Worm already exhibited powers reminiscent of the Four Taoist Lords in altering environments.
However, while the Four Taoist Lords could change laws with mere words, the Spirit Root Worm achieved its effect through the ultimate illusions, leaving no traceable flaws.
As Li Mo stood in stunned contemplation, time within the illusion had begun to flow.
The Spirit Root Worm tirelessly adjusted the illusion, accelerating the flow of time. The seasons transitioned perfectly without blemish.
Li Mo’s consumption of Spiritual Power was minimal.
This was mainly because the illusion lacked a cultivation system. If Void Refining Stage cultivators were added, every second would drain one Divine Separation Stage cultivator completely.
"Let’s begin. I aim to reach transcending the Immortal Body and ascending to the Void Refining Stage immediately after."
Li Mo released the infants into the illusion, their minds harboring the parasitic Illusion Spirit Roots, which granted them a faint but sluggish intelligence.
Born with congenital afflictions and impaired intelligence, many hundreds of infants perished at the outset.
Within the illusion, where productivity was limited and natural and man-made disasters occasionally occurred, it was not uncommon for parents to abandon their frail, born-ailing offspring.
Li Mo absorbed the faint traces of returning Spiritual Power, which carried a wealth of memories.
The Buddha Demon Body attuned itself to the concepts of good and evil in these memories, intensifying its fusion, all while Spiritual Power imperceptibly advanced toward the Void Refining Stage.
Within his Mud Pill Palace, lotus blossoms unfurled atop a bed of blood-soaked remnants.
"The Void Realm of the Void Refining Stage."
The philosophies of Taoists, Demons, and Buddhas shared certain truths: the world was indeed a bitter sea.
To ascend to the Upper Realm, one must escape the chains of the mortal world. The small world formed in the Void Refining Stage was the first step in preparing for ascension.
Of course, methods like Feather Transformation Immortality had long been beyond understanding.
The Karma Seal Mother’s Void Realm was the "Free Buddha Realm."
When Li Mo entered the Free Buddha Realm, it was akin to stepping into a small world where the Karma Seal Mother was the Heavenly Dao incarnate—victory was utterly impossible.
Battles at the Void Refining Stage revolved around the contest of Void Realm strength.
Li Mo’s emerging Purgatory Pure Land was already a nascent Void Realm, but it crumbled before the Free Buddha Realm.
Now, his true Purgatory Pure Land was gradually taking shape within his Mud Pill Palace.
"Retaining the fleshly body was absolutely the right choice. Discarding the old shell to merge consciousness with an Externalized Dharma Body would require constant Divine Separation maintenance for the Void Realm."
Without the protection of a Void Realm, the Externalized Dharma Body could not escape the inevitable spread of Death Disease.
Li Mo gazed at his Mud Pill Palace for a long while, attempting to discern profound truths from the Purgatory Pure Land—a Void Realm already carried faint traces of the Great Dao.
Roar.
At that moment.
An inexplicable roar echoed in Li Mo’s ears.
"Heh heh heh, the Candle Dragon has finally reached the Divine Separation Stage."
"Looking back on it all, I don’t know how many times I’ve undergone Taoist Body surgeries, cultivated for over a millennium, to finally achieve an Immortal Body."
Li Mo’s face lit up with elation as his consciousness descended into the Corpse Mountain Mini World.
The Corpse Mountain Mini World was in turmoil.
The Candle Dragon’s 6,000-meter-long body hovered in the air, with black-and-white scales shimmering faintly, exhaling clouds and mist with each breath. Its Yin-Yang eyes radiated a mystical gleam, commanding the sun and moon’s orbit within the small world.
Grass and Tree Cultivators trembled in fear, racing to hide within buildings protected by Arrays.
Observing this, Li Mo manipulated the mountain ridges to emit spirit light, ensuring that any surges wouldn’t annihilate the ecosystem. The Grass and Tree Cultivators couldn’t withstand the Candle Dragon’s rampage.
The other Tattooed Beasts, sensing the anomaly of the Great Wilderness Immortal Body, swiftly returned to their designated tattooed positions.
Only the Candle Dragon brimmed with exhilaration, wreaking havoc for an extended period, its frustration from the lack of a primary cultivation technique finally finding release.
"Stop."
Li Mo pacified the Candle Dragon, which then dove into the master tattooed position on his chest.
The Great Wilderness Immortal Body could no longer hold back. The blood, flesh, and bones boiled as features of various beasts emerged one by one on Li Mo’s body.
Red Fox, Ghost Tiger, Salamander, Kun Whale, Golden Toad, Mountain Demon, Candle Dragon.
The tattooed patterns danced across his skin’s surface as Li Mo recalled the scenes of engraving the tattoos and modifying them with spiritual materials.
Time seemed to stand still.
The tattoos gradually faded, and his skin once again became perfectly smooth.
"What is this?"
Li Mo hesitated, then sensed the call of the Tattooed Beasts.
"Re-engrave the tattoos..."
Clarity dawned upon Li Mo.
The first step of the Immortal Body Transcending Mortality naturally began with the Tattooed Beasts; he needed to re-engrave the tattoos to reconstruct the foundation of the Great Wilderness Immortal Body.
When Li Mo cultivated Hui Qingyi, his cultivation level had been too low. Although the engravings had been impeccable, there was clearly untapped potential within the Tattooed Beasts.
"Very well. Let me use this opportunity to create an unprecedented Beastly Immortal Body."
Li Mo began to plan in secret, while his Fake Soul Consciousness plunged into deduction.