Longevity Strange Immortal
Chapter 111 - 112 Transformation of the Primordial Dao Body

Chapter 111: Chapter 112 Transformation of the Primordial Dao Body

Because of Corpse Mountain’s transformation into an entity with Yin Earth and Wood attributes, the types of spiritual materials that could be cultivated became more diverse, though still restricted to low-grade spiritual materials.

Li Mo submitted the list of spiritual materials he needed to the Government Office, and the materials were later sent over by the storeroom.

He happened to need additional Spirit Concealing Wood, both for refining purposes and for repairing the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, spending 200 contribution points to exchange for ten saplings.

Spirit Concealing Wood is difficult to cultivate, as its saplings require an environment imbued with Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy.

Although Corpse Mountain does not have Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy, since the Medicine Field of Duozhi Mountain posed no issues, Li Mo felt Corpse Mountain likely wouldn’t either.

He decided to plant the saplings around the Evergreen Tree.

Indeed, it could be felt that the formerly withering spiritual materials were becoming vibrant with life; the tree roots quickly burrowed deep into the rock wall, absorbing nutrients.

A cold Yin wind howled.

The desolate Corpse Mountain now bore hints of greenery.

"Hmm?"

Li Mo raised an eyebrow, suddenly noticing that two Fake Beasts were approaching the Spirit Concealing Wood saplings.

With no more than First Level of Puberty strength, Fake Beasts were clearly the result of metamorphosis from mountain lords.

As expected, these Fake Beasts originated from the beast herd previously nurtured within the Evergreen Tree, having survived by some stroke of luck.

They sniffed around the saplings, then laid protectively nearby as if guarding food.

Li Mo recalled how, in ancient Cultivation times, certain intelligent demon beasts would guard Heaven and Earth Spiritual Materials, waiting to consume them the moment they ripened.

For now, he decided not to concern himself with Corpse Mountain and instead focused on planning its twenty refinements.

Every five days, Li Mo would inspect the Spirit Concealing Wood on Corpse Mountain, noticing that over time the saplings ceased growing.

At first, Li Mo thought this was because Corpse Mountain lacked sufficient nutrients to support the spiritual materials.

But soon he discovered that the Spirit Concealing Wood saplings were being assimilated by Corpse Mountain, with vein-like tissues gradually invading the trunks.

In just one night.

The saplings had lost all resemblance to their original form and now looked like grotesque, malformed arms.

Li Mo shook his head with a bitter smile. It truly lived up to the reputation of being a magical artifact refined from Duozhi Mountain’s meat stone, perfectly inheriting Duozhi Mountain’s characteristics.

He picked up a Spirit Concealing Wood sapling to examine the wriggling mass of flesh and found comfort in the fact that the spiritual material remained usable for artifact refining.

Li Mo prepared to replant the sapling back on Corpse Mountain.

But suddenly, he sensed something and, with a grim expression, stared at the sapling, realizing that his consciousness was faintly connected to it through the Meat Mountain.

The connection was incredibly weak, yet it clearly indicated that the spiritual material and Corpse Mountain were inextricably linked.

If a cultivator wielded a magical artifact refined from Corpse Mountain’s spiritual materials, Li Mo might not be able to seize control of it, but he could easily disrupt the artifact’s operation.

In essence, Meat Mountain was a high-grade magical artifact blatantly imitative of Duozhi Mountain; Duozhi Mountain must possess a similar function.

Li Mo felt a chill run down his spine.

Including his own magical artifacts, at least thirty percent of the artifacts in the Heart Beast Territory were refined using spiritual materials nurtured by Duozhi Mountain.

But the deadliest issue wasn’t the magical artifacts.

It was the puppets that had transplanted Duozhi Mountain’s spiritual materials into themselves; their fate...

"Manager Tian was right. Puppet Cultivation, indeed."

Li Mo’s expression turned helpless.

He could feel the overwhelming pressure brought by the Great Immortal Sect. Even though the Sub-Device Sect had not revealed itself from start to finish, with minimal effort, they had reduced the Heart Beast Sect to a subordinate.

After deliberating for a long time, Li Mo concluded that Corpse Mountain probably did not have any inherent flaws.

After all, Corpse Mountain had been refined using Duozhi Mountain’s meat stone and, after undergoing several transformations, had already become an entity of Yin, Earth, and Wood attributes, fundamentally different from its former mid-grade form.

As for artifacts like the Eight-Armed Spine Nerve, he decided to continue using them for now.

Li Mo understood that staying entirely neutral in the Sub-Device Sect’s scheme didn’t necessarily make him safer.

He grasped the principle of "the nail that sticks out gets hammered."

Li Mo then buried a small number of low-grade spiritual materials with Earth attributes into the Meat Mountain, understanding that its current nutrients were limited.

After finishing the farming tasks on Meat Mountain, Tian Changwen once again issued an artifact refining task.

It was still the Bone-locking Body Sealing Chain, but this time the White Bone Spirit Material was replaced with monkey bones, clearly targeting a different objective.

During the artifact refining process, Li Mo couldn’t help but remain cautious.

He used his contribution points to exchange for various bird and beast White Bone Spirit Materials from the Government Office and placed them at the base of Corpse Mountain, allowing the Yin Attribute Spiritual Energy to nourish them.

If he needed to refine the Bone-locking Body Sealing Chain again, Li Mo planned to incorporate Corpse Mountain’s White Bone Spirit Material to at least verify whether the artifact was being deployed at the slaughterhouse.

During his breaks from artifact refining, Li Mo began contemplating the potential uses of the Nourishing Yuan Fruit.

Hui Qingyi would naturally require one of the fruits, but Li Mo intended to wait until the Beast Head Tattoo on his right shoulder was completed before handing it over. This would prevent the new Tattooed Beast’s potential from being limited.

He hadn’t yet decided on the design for the Beast Head Tattoo. The Human Bear Demonic Beast seemed to align well with his expectations, but its functionality was too similar to the Golden Toad.

Li Mo instructed Han Cai to keep an eye out for some Deceit Beast Blood and wasn’t in a rush to finalize the tattoo design.

As for the second Nourishing Yuan Fruit, using it to nourish his Dao Body was the most cost-effective option.

Li Mo immediately dismissed the Leakless Body, since his Spirit Stones were sufficient, and it lacked the priority of other Dao Bodies.

Now he had to choose between the Paoxiao Swallowing Body, which enhanced foundational strength, or the battle-oriented Primordial Dao Body.

"The Outer Door Competition is fraught with life-threatening danger, and with Puppet Cultivators eyeing my head worth its weight in gold, is there really a choice?"

Li Mo sighed, and the Nourishing Yuan Fruit transformed into essence, circulating along his meridians before finally pouring into his Middle Dantian, where it was fully absorbed by the Tao Seed.

The Primordial Dao Body primarily relied on the Tao Seed, whereas the Leakless Body depended on the skin, and the Paoxiao Swallowing Body involved the Five Internal Organs.

The Tao Seed remained unmoving, its surface adorned with countless mysterious characters.

Li Mo could sense the Primordial Dao Body entering a dormant state as his flesh, bones, and blood greedily absorbed the Mist Fog Spiritual Power.

He quickly ensured that the Spiritual Power in his Middle Dantian did not deplete.

The Primordial Dao Body’s transformation took two full days, during which his flesh and bones became saturated. However, the Tao Seed showed no reaction, demonstrating the substantial amount of essence required.

Though Li Mo was still unable to activate the Primordial Dao Body, this didn’t hinder his use of Spiritual Power.

Accustomed to multitasking, he felt restless whenever he wasn’t artifact refining during meditation, so he chose to complete the Fifteen Refinements on the Eight-Armed Spine Nerve, Breath Fog, and True Word Sect’s Secret Bone.

Li Mo began with the Eight-Armed Spine Nerve, focusing on improving its flexibility.

The difficulty of refining impacts greatly increased beyond the tenth refinement, requiring intricate control over his Spiritual Power.

He nearly damaged the Eight-Armed Spine Nerve during the thirteenth refinement, a reminder of how important his artifact refining experience on Duozhi Mountain was.

After fifteen refinements, the Eight-Armed Spine Nerve took on a blue-violet hue, extending with remarkable speed, and remained as nimble as ever.

Not long after completing the Eight-Armed Spine Nerve refinements, another task involving the Bone-locking Body Sealing Chain came his way.

Li Mo replaced the White Bone Spirit Material with material sourced from Corpse Mountain during the refining process. While the artifact’s function remained unchanged, Corpse Mountain clearly detected peculiarities.

Li Mo watched with his own eyes.

The Bone-locking Body Sealing Chain was sent into the depths of the slaughterhouse.

A short while later, the chain was refined by another cultivator, then used to seal a Deceit Beast, after which it ceased moving.

Li Mo didn’t delve deeper, content to confirm that the beast calamity in the slaughterhouse was under control.

Focusing on artifact refining, he devoted energy to completing the Fifteen Refinements on the Breath Fog, emphasizing its toxicity to exploit the swarm’s strength.

The Poison Bee embodiment underwent slight changes.

Its oral organ grew even more menacing. Though it primarily relied on its stinger for attacks, it now could chew through material like locusts, tripling its numbers.

Li Mo realized that the Breath Fog was highly effective against protective magical artifacts.

As the swarm used their oral organs, they emitted a corrosive toxin. Should the artifact surface show the slightest break, the Poison Bees would easily burrow inside.

When microdust particles broke through the protective artifact, how despairing must the cultivator feel?

Li Mo originally believed completing the refinements on the True Word Sect’s Secret Bone would be straightforward, but a moment of distraction while multitasking caused the artifact to suffer slight damage.

Though this didn’t affect its usability, the True Word Sect’s Secret Bone fell short of twenty refinements.

The fifteen-refinement version was no longer confined to the form of a skull; it grew flesh and bones, resembling an entire head.

The head’s appearance was that of the Purple Sun Daoist, its lifeless eyes wide open, as if filled with eternal regret.

Li Mo wasn’t particularly disappointed, noting the ominous state of the bone and imagining that if it reached twenty refinements, the head might even come to life.

The Buddhist Sect in later eras would undoubtedly be filled with similarly eerie oddities.

Thud, thud, thud...

More supplies arrived next to the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, once again for Bone-locking Body Sealing Chains.

Through Tian Changwen’s tasks, Li Mo was nearing 5,000 contribution points.

Were it not for knowing the Bone-locking Body Sealing Chain’s ties to the slaughterhouse, Li Mo might have assumed Tian Changwen was intentionally grooming him to exchange for the Little Human Head artifact as soon as possible.

Li Mo quietly continued refining the Bone-locking Body Sealing Chains, handing the finished products to Tian Changwen, and dutifully staying in the Calligraphy and Painting Hall.

During this time, An Gang contacted him once, inquiring about the materials needed for further refining of the True Word Sect’s Secret Bone.

An Gang’s tone was weary, and he said little about the specifics of the slaughterhouse, though he sounded nowhere near despair.

The slaughterhouse seemed to have stabilized.

Li Mo wished Tian Changwen well, content to play a minor role as logistical support.

After all, even managers in the late teenage stage had to fight for their lives during the beast calamity, yet their contribution points were far fewer than his.

Li Mo enjoyed his quiet life, his Primordial Dao Body successfully undergoing a smooth transformation.

The tumor-like Tao Seed exuded a sense of natural harmony, as every Circulation Cycle of Mist Fog Spiritual Power passed through it, highlighting its importance within the Middle Dantian.

Li Mo refrained from activating the Primordial Dao Body, but he could sense its terrifying amplification of spells, enhancing their power by fifty percent out of nowhere.

Especially the summoned Tattooed Beasts, which no longer seemed composed of Spiritual Power Flesh.

Li Mo actively triggered the Primordial Dao Body.

His stature expanded to two meters, and the patterns on his skin became exponentially more intricate, exuding an indescribable profundity.

Before he could further analyze the Primordial Dao Body’s details, the Spiritual Power in his Middle Dantian visibly drained at an incredible rate. Dense Mist Fog Spiritual Power seeped from his pores, causing the walls and floor to crystallize.

Li Mo quickly suppressed the Primordial Dao Body, and only then did the Mist Fog Spiritual Power retract.

The Primordial Dao Body was essentially a radiation source with the ability to assimilate everything around it.

In just a few breaths, the Calligraphy and Painting Hall was nearly reduced to ruins, forcing Li Mo to spend spiritual materials on repairs to maintain his cover.

"What the hell?"

The Mist Fog Spiritual Power leaking from the Calligraphy and Painting Hall seemed to have attracted a Deceit Beast.

After Li Mo cleared the external Mist Fog Spiritual Power, the Deceit Beast seemed to lose its target, wandering within a kilometer of the Calligraphy and Painting Hall.

He frowned as he gazed out.

In the dense fog, a Black Mountain Goat roamed incessantly. Straining his eyes, Li Mo could just barely make out its face—it bore the unmistakable visage of An Gang.