Chapter 486: Chapter 2: Dragon Palace? Abyss!
Li Mo headed to a black market named [Tide Mountain], located in the Endless Star Sea, though it was merely on scattered outer islands.
Some loose cultivators, wary of sects, deliberately sought out remote black markets.
Thus, Tide Mountain Black Market gained widespread appeal among loose cultivators, drawing even many cultivation families to settle on its surrounding islands.
"Setting up the loose cultivators’ black market through the Heart Beast Sect back then was indeed the right move. At the very least, it’s like having three dens for a cunning rabbit—a way to access the Sub-Device Sect from various angles."
Li Mo temporarily had no intention of returning to the Heart Beast Sect, though he had already exchanged communications with Tian Changwen, confirming the sect’s current stability.
This was mainly thanks to Tian Changwen’s management.
All senior members of the Heart Beast Sect possessed [Lifeless Dantian] within their bodies. Even if their death disease did not fundamentally affect their cultivation base, Han Cai would transplant a second dantian for them.
The Lifeless Dantian was an organ nurtured by the Buddha Demon Body. Once implanted, their lives would fall under Li Mo’s complete control.
This entirely eliminated the risk of the sect being destroyed due to internal strife.
On the flip side, the Lifeless Dantian could assist in cultivation, though its effectiveness was limited by Li Mo’s own realm, resulting in a cultivation level one layer lower.
To its disciples, the Heart Beast Sect proclaimed the Lifeless Dantian to be the [Immortal Bone] nurtured by their grandmaster.
"Tian Changwen has focused his main efforts on the True Void Hometown. I wonder how things have progressed there. I should find an opportunity to visit."
As Li Mo traveled along the route, he secretly communicated with the cancer cells within the Demon Cave.
Unknowingly, nearly thirty years had passed since his departure from the Demon Cave. He believed that, even in the small world, traces of his presence remained, though the Ten Thousand Demon Dao would struggle to find any leads.
Moreover, during this time, two senior sisters had entered and exited the Demon Cave.
Coincidentally, they had muddied the waters.
"Without reaching the Void Refining Stage, I feel that danger lurks everywhere."
Li Mo naturally hoped that the special page would aid his advancement to the Void Refining Stage.
Relying solely on the previously collected Void Refining Technique fragments was far too slow for completing his technique. Even now, he’s barely scratched the surface.
The cancer cells spread across the Four Dao Lords, beginning to reveal their fangs.
The Four Dao Lords stirred uncomfortably, though the gradual effect of the cancer cells was akin to boiling frogs in warm water—they remained dormant in their slumber.
The Creation Book suddenly flipped to its final page, where a distinct and unique page began to form.
"Hiss."
Li Mo struggled to describe the appearance of the page. It seemed like an ordinary piece of bamboo paper, rough and with a distinctive fibrous texture.
Yet, the surface of the special page tangled with indescribable spirit patterns.
Li Mo couldn’t comprehend it, nor decipher its meaning—especially since the Four Dao Lords, as a Fake Heavenly Dao, inherently defied the understanding of the Immortal and Mortal Realms.
A Spirit Root Worm crawled into the Mud Pill Palace, sensing the aura emanating from the Four Dao Lords.
Li Mo’s expression turned incredulous.
Though the special page had yet to fully form, he had already deduced its purpose.
[Word-to-law]
"Word-to-law? But to what extent can I wield Word-to-law? Could I truly grant a wish for the world’s destruction and make it happen?"
The specific effects would likely remain unclear until the special page was fully completed.
The nuance of the page’s power made Li Mo increasingly wary of celestial upheaval—if everyone possessed Word-to-law, the apocalypse wouldn’t be far off.
Rubbing his forehead, Li Mo resolved that, once he obtained the Dao Lord’s special page, he would at least have an ace to counter celestial upheaval.
Leaving the coastline, he faced increasingly fierce winds.
The waves roiled.
Unlike Li Mo’s memories of the Endless Star Sea, the ocean of the later era seemed unsettling.
Indeed it was unsettling. The seawater emitted a pungent, decaying stench, and its color had darkened to an inky hue, utterly devoid of vitality.
Li Mo scooped out some seawater for examination, uncovering a shocking revelation.
The Endless Star Sea was now corrupted sea.
Even though the ocean churned violently, the water contained not even an iota of oxygen.
Li Mo spat out a Lifebound Flying Sword, which landed in the sea. Not long after, it captured a lively silverfish, about the size of an arm.
The silverfish struggled incessantly, opening and closing its gills in desperate attempts to breathe.
Yet, due to the lack of oxygen, its movements gradually weakened.
Li Mo tossed the silverfish back into the water. Although the water still lacked oxygen, the silverfish suddenly came alive and darted about.
"Raising live fish in dead water—huh. Looks like the effects of celestial upheaval on the Endless Star Sea are no less significant than on the land."
It’s hard to imagine what lurks within this vast, boundless ocean.
Li Mo stopped concealing his presence. The Kun Whale he summoned shrank to a mere four meters, slicing through the waves toward his destination.
At his pace, he could reach Tide Mountain Black Market in no more than two days.
The Cave God’s Eye allowed him to glimpse a distant volcano island, faintly visible on the horizon. Upon its slopes sat about thirty or forty shops.
He also spotted spirit fields planted with spiritual materials, tilled by laboring mortals.
"Hmm?"
Li Mo frowned slightly, sweeping Tide Mountain Black Market with the Cave God’s Eye. He noted that the number of cultivators within was far lower than expected.
While Tide Mountain wasn’t a major black market, it typically harbored at least two or three thousand resident loose cultivators.
"Could there have been some incident? Doesn’t seem like it—the Mountain Protection Array of the black market hasn’t been activated."
Given his ties to Binzhou Town, Li Mo had neglected to gather intelligence on Tide Mountain Black Market beforehand.
Suddenly.
He heard, three to four miles away, the sounds of cultivators battling sea beasts—splattering seawater and blood, mixed with the anxious cries of sea beasts.
Seeing this, Li Mo immediately patted the Kun Whale’s head to change its course.
Before celestial upheaval, sea beasts generally referred to aquatic demon beasts. But after the demon race vanished, only huge beasts with brute strength remained.
When Li Mo created his Kun Whale tattoos, the blood he used came from whale-like sea beasts.
The Kun Whale’s approach threw the sea beast into panic, desperate to escape its entanglement with the cultivators. The combat escalated.
Four Weak Crown Stage practitioners were engaged, though all were merely at the initial Foundation Establishment level.
They faced off against a massive moray eel, whose black-as-ink scales and powerful body had reached the Late Teenage stage in strength.
As a unique resource of the Endless Star Sea, even if sea beasts only produced low-grade spirit materials, they were still highly sought after by other black markets.
What surprised Li Mo was that the loose cultivators displayed fish-like traits.
Their skin was smooth and poreless, their palms bore suction cups, and their features were capable of sealing shut—traits that, in ancient times, would have marked them as half-demonic.
The leading cultivator roared, "Now is the Rise Abyss—don’t let the beast escape!"
"Qiao Ying, pierce its lungs!"
The female cultivator threw a magic artifact iron spear, striking through the moray eel’s abdominal cavity. The other two cultivators used water control techniques to restrain the sea beast.
ROAR!!!
The moray eel swung its tail heavily at Qiao Ying.
Focused intently, she was about to evade when she sensed another sea beast breathing above her, its aura sending a chill down her spine.
"How could this be..."
She froze instinctively, tilting her head upward.
The Kun Whale was leagues above the moray eel in comparison. Even the mysterious patterns adorning its body exuded traces of the Water Element Dao.
Whoosh.
A single drop of rainwater fell.
The moray eel froze, its life extinguished in an instant.
"Is this thing from the deep sea?"
The leading cultivator was on guard as if facing a life-or-death crisis—the Kun Whale’s sheer presence was suffocating.
Before they could react further, the Kun Whale expanded to over ten meters in size, pulling the four cultivators and the moray eel’s corpse onto its back.
Only then did the cultivators notice a figure seated atop the giant beast.
A Core Formation Stage cultivator?
Realizing Li Mo’s cultivation far surpassed their own, they refrained from fleeing, opting instead for caution-tinged vigilance.
Li Mo asked, "Is Tide Mountain Black Market nearby?"
The loose cultivators exchanged glances, leaving the leading cultivator Wang Zhong to step forward and reply, "Senior, Tide Mountain Black Market is to the southeast."
Wang Zhong’s face showed respect, his eyes betraying a flicker of eagerness.
Having been stuck at the Early Stage of Youth for over two hundred years primarily due to his incomplete cultivation technique, he couldn’t resist the thought of asking Li Mo for a technique exchange.
"Rest assured, I’m merely passing through. I intend to use Tide Mountain Black Market’s Nearby Array."
Li Mo could recreate a Nearby Array if needed, but teleportation arrays were inherently dual-sided. Unless someone from the Sub-Device Sect collaborated with him to set it up, using the existing one was more convenient.
Wang Zhong hesitated before cautiously replying, "That may not be possible. Right now, during Rise Abyss, Immortal Wei, who manages the array, is absent from the black market."
"Oh? Rise Abyss?"
Li Mo’s eyes widened, revealing the Cave God’s Eye on his forehead.
Wang Zhong instinctively stepped back several paces, overwhelmed by fear. Even though the Immortal Wei governing the black market was also a Core Formation practitioner, their presence was worlds apart.
Li Mo shifted the topic. "What is the reason behind your bodily mutations?"
"It’s Rise Abyss. Every ten years, underwater currents settle, allowing many to venture into the deep sea."
"Anyone who has entered the deep sea experiences varying degrees of mutation."
The Kun Whale sped up its skybound journey, its movements slicing through the wind.
The four loose cultivators felt tense and uneasy. However, aside from periodically questioning them about Rise Abyss, Li Mo did not target them further and safely brought them to the black market.
Tide Mountain Black Market was caught off guard by the Kun Whale’s arrival.
The mortals were terrified, and the loose cultivators were equally unsettled.
Li Mo’s gaze landed on hundreds of balloon-like low-grade magical artifacts hovering over the sea, their ends tethered to iron chains sinking into the abyss.
Zhang Zhong quickly explained, "The chains prevent us from losing our way. Once submerged in the deep ocean, our sense of direction becomes erratic. Only by following the chains can we return to Tide Mountain."
"Are the resources in the deep sea abundant?"
Zhang Zhong smiled bitterly. "Senior, I wouldn’t know. I’ve participated in Rise Abyss before but only ventured down about 100 meters—it was too risky to descend further. They say true treasures only lie around 500 meters or so."
Li Mo’s Cave God’s Eye focused on the other three; only Qiao Ying displayed hesitation.
"Qiao Ying, you speak."
Taking a deep breath, Qiao Ying responded, "Senior, I... I’m unsure if it was real or an illusion, but I think... I think someone handed me spiritual material down there."
She vaguely remembered when her five senses had been lost, her body instinctively continuing to sink until a pair of shriveled hands grabbed her.
Li Mo interrupted her description, "Shriveled hands?"
"I..."
Qiao Ying couldn’t explain further, trembling uncontrollably.
Since that incident, she had never dared to venture into the deep sea again, preferring to hunt ordinary sea beasts alongside her companions, even if the rewards paled compared to deep-sea exploration.
BANG BANG BANG BANG.
A dozen balloon artifacts shook simultaneously, as if the cultivators below were frantically signaling for help. Moments later, the artifacts were pulled entirely underwater.
Li Mo asked gravely, "Before the black market was established, what was Tide Mountain called?"
"Bishui."
"Bishui Dragon Pond. In ancient times, it was home to a Flood Dragon."