Longevity Strange Immortal
Chapter 135 - 136 The Origin of the Beast Skin People

Chapter 135: Chapter 136 The Origin of the Beast Skin People

Li Mo had just stepped into the Inner City District when he felt as if the world was spinning.

His vision plunged into darkness, and all around him was deathly silent, devoid of the faintest sound. Even the presence of Qingjingzi and the other artifact cultivators had vanished without a trace.

Li Mo couldn’t help but grow wary.

Despite how casually Qingjingzi had spoken earlier, the Inner Sect Beasts possessed unfathomable powers, and any slight negligence could lead to death and the evaporation of one’s Dao.

Qingjingzi had brought all the Outer Disciples into the Inner City District as a precaution.

However, what puzzled Li Mo was Qingjingzi’s true purpose in venturing into the Inner City District.

Was it to seek a Top-Grade Spirit Stone? What made him so certain that the Top-Grade Spirit Stone was in the Inner City District? Something about Qingjingzi’s state seemed off.

Yet to Li Mo, the loss of Outer Disciples in the Inner City District brought more advantages than disadvantages, increasing his odds of blending in by at least thirty percent.

Li Mo’s thoughts churned as his sensation of his body gradually returned, his consciousness guiding Mist Fog Spiritual Power to surge through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

He realized that the Inner City District scrambled the positions of outsiders, implying he might have to confront the threat of the Inner Sect Beasts alone.

Suddenly, the tender voice of a Taoist child called out beside him.

"Alchemist Wu, Alchemist Wu..."

Li Mo raised his gaze and looked around, finding himself in a dim, dilapidated corridor with two Taoist children, no older than ten, staring anxiously.

A pungent medicinal scent filled the corridor.

The Taoist children, anxiously waving their arms, had exposed skin covered in patches of beast fur. Their lifeless gazes indicated an absence of Spiritual Wisdom.

Li Mo discreetly maintained his composure, directing his focus to the decorative patterns on the corridor walls.

He immediately realized that the convincingly real scene before him was merely an illusion, and the Taoist children were likely transformations of the nonhuman Inner Sect Beasts.

The memories from the Creation Book surged forth.

According to the Creation Book’s recollections, this place originated from the Inner Pill Room of the Heart Beast Sect seven thousand years ago.

The Inner Sect Beast constructing the illusion must be akin to "Master Qiong Yu" of Black Wind Ridge, surviving since ancient times in the Cultivation World.

As long as Li Mo killed the hidden Inner Sect Beast, the illusion would collapse on its own.

The Taoist children continued to urge Li Mo, their beastification marks growing deeper and deeper. "Alchemist Wu, hurry and look at Qingfeng..."

"Alchemist Wu? Wu Chenzhi?"

Li Mo looked at his own hands.

When he had entered the Inner City District, he had been in a state as a limbless Human Pig. Now, unexpectedly, he had gained fully functional limbs.

Li Mo used the reflection on the wooden wall to examine his appearance.

The reflection showed an elderly figure over a hundred years old, dressed in a flowing green Daoist robe, entirely free of any traces of Death Disease, exuding the aura of a Daoist Immortal.

"Using magic doesn’t interfere. Just a layer of human skin as clothing," Li Mo muttered, frowning and pondering for a few seconds. He realized that his current appearance was indeed the ancient Inner Pill Room’s Chief Alchemist, Wu Chenzhi.

Qingfeng was Wu Chenzhi’s spirit beast, an alien pure-white moose.

Li Mo recalled seeing Wu Chenzhi’s figure in the memories of the Sacrificial Festival, making it evident that the latter might be connected to the Heaven and Earth Catastrophe.

But the Moose Monster had supposedly died twenty years ago in the Calligraphy and Painting Hall. Its original form was likely a doctor who had died centuries ago in the Medical Hall.

Could it be that there was more than one Moose Monster in the Inner Pill Room?

Li Mo took a deep breath, his hands clasped behind his back trembling slightly.

It wasn’t fear, but rather anticipation for the secrets he was about to uncover—secrets about the Heaven and Earth Catastrophe seven thousand years ago.

"San Liang, Er Lu, lead the way."

The two Taoist children exhibited strange expressions upon hearing their Taoist titles called out. Their beastification marks rapidly receded.

They murmured to themselves as if desperately trying to recall something.

Li Mo paid the Taoist children no further attention, stepping past them toward the end of the corridor.

Based on his knowledge of Inner Sect Beasts, the living beings within the illusion were controlled by their subconscious, much like the prison guards at Cai Market or the villagers of Black Wind Ridge.

At the end of the corridor, a storage room appeared—used to stock spiritual materials by the Inner Pill Room, where prolonged stays would harm a mortal’s body.

In ancient Cultivation World, where spiritual energy wasn’t yet impure, spiritual materials were free from the contamination of alien spirit energy, thus emitting an extremely potent medicinal fragrance.

A Taoist child stood at the room’s door, trembling in terror upon seeing Li Mo approach. "Alchemist Wu, hurry and look at Qingfeng," he stammered.

Just as with Black Wind Ridge’s Sacrificial Festival, the Inner Pill Room seemed to be replaying memories—memories the Inner Sect Beast couldn’t let go of before its death.

Li Mo immediately noticed a "Wu Chenzhi" identical in appearance curled up by the wall, probing various areas of the room with Spiritual Power.

The figure brightened upon noticing Li Mo, releasing sulfuric smoke unique to artifact cultivators in excitement.

This suggested that the rule of the Inner Pill Room was that outsiders would take on Wu Chenzhi’s appearance.

"A fellow cultivator, I’m Wei Zhike from Outer Second District..."

Wei Zhike’s joy quickly faded as he realized Li Mo’s cultivation level was similar to his own, only at the Perfect Puberty Stage.

"Damn it! Qingjingzi never intended for me to survive!!"

He collapsed, clutching his eyes as he reached out to grab Li Mo’s neck.

Li Mo evaded easily, noticing Wei Zhike’s Primordial Postnatal Dao Body aura, and glanced at him with intrigue.

Wei Zhike froze in place, his blood and flesh spasming with a sudden, inexplicable fear.

Li Mo scanned the room and noticed that the storage area had been repurposed as an infirmary for injured spirit beasts. Behind the dozen screens, all he could hear were labored breaths.

The so-called patients were dying moose-type spirit beasts.

In the room’s center lay Qingfeng Moose, stretching six to seven meters long, its silver-white fur corroded and its limbs grotesquely warped with humanlike features visible on its shins.

Qingfeng Moose was said to have lived longer than Wu Chenzhi and had been passed down through multiple generations.

Many of the Inner Pill Room disciples’ spirit beasts were believed to be Qingfeng Moose’s descendants.

"Qingfeng?"

Li Mo approached Qingfeng Moose, inspecting its grotesquely decayed body, its long neck supporting a massive head with faintly discernible twisted human-like features.

It looked less like a moose and more like a man.

Li Mo squinted, his mind murmuring, "Southern Dipper Crossing People Scripture, moose..."

Wei Zhike’s twisted features fixated on Li Mo as his chest heaved, thoughts of using Li Mo’s flesh to lure the Inner Sect Beast battling his hesitation about failing to deliver a fatal blow.

Li Mo seemed to egg him on intentionally, crouching slightly to expose his back to Wei Zhike, leaving no trace of Spiritual Power on display.

"I can’t die, I can’t die..."

Wei Zhike exhaled white smoke, his stolen Wu Chenzhi face starting to deteriorate as the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body aura surged forth.

With immense force concentrated in his right arm, he struck toward the unmoving Li Mo.

Slam.

What Wei Zhike expected to be a bone-shattering blow left Li Mo entirely stationary. Instead, Wei Zhike staggered back several meters.

"What..."

Wei Zhike’s jaw dropped as he stared at Li Mo in disbelief.

In an instant, Li Mo vanished, reappearing only to grab Wei Zhike’s head with his right hand.

Bang!

Li Mo smashed Wei Zhike against the ground without using any Spiritual Power. Wei Zhike felt an electric shock course through his skull, plunging him into unconsciousness.

Li Mo discarded Wei Zhike’s body and returned to Qingfeng Moose.

Blood mixed with rust trickled from Wei Zhike’s nostrils as his limbs convulsed, inciting greed in the Taoist children at the door.

Li Mo watched with curiosity to see whether the Inner Sect Beast, faced with a helpless cultivator, would remain indifferent for long.

He continued to examine Qingfeng Moose and found its fur severely decayed.

Qingfeng Moose seemed highly unstable, its limbs shrinking continuously, and its human traits gradually fading.

From what he could tell, the spirit beast had been grievously wounded by the Death Disease.

But that reasoning didn’t make sense.

Death Disease affected only humans. Spirit beasts, which absorbed Spiritual Power to undergo transformations, shouldn’t be susceptible.

"Maybe its memories are distorted. After all, the Inner Sect Beast lacks Spiritual Wisdom..."

Li Mo surveyed the storage room, initially thinking he could glean clues from the illusion. However, it seemed that after seven thousand years, the Inner Sect Beast’s recollections of the Heaven and Earth Catastrophe had grown unreliable.

Just as Li Mo prepared to explore other areas of the Inner Pill Room, Qingfeng Moose suddenly opened its eyes.

Qingfeng Moose’s gaze betrayed unspeakable despair, its peripheral vision catching Li Mo with a bone-deep terror.

"You... are... Qing...feng..."

The moose forced out four words, stopping Li Mo in his tracks.

Li Mo realized something as he peeled back Qingfeng Moose’s outer fur layer. The sight completely overturned his understanding.

Beneath Qingfeng Moose’s fur was an entirely naked elder with white hair, the fur and flesh fused together. The figure was none other than Wu Chenzhi.

"Are you kidding me? Beast Skin People?"

Li Mo suddenly understood.

Possibly tied to the Death Disease, seven thousand years ago when Heart Beast Sect cultivators faced the Heaven and Earth Catastrophe, their Spiritual Wisdom blurred and their bodies shifted toward Beast Skin People—neither truly human nor beast.

Spirit beasts, in turn, transformed into beasts and began slaughtering Heart Beast Sect disciples, claiming the Inner City District. The surviving Beast Skin People fled the sect and proliferated in the wilderness.

This revealed that the Moose Monster of the Inner Pill Room likely wasn’t the only one.

Li Mo tore off his outer garment, which transformed into writhing, twisted masses before pouncing on Wei Zhike hungrily.

The two garments merged in a horrific union.

"Ughhhh..."

Li Mo’s garment devoured portions of Wei Zhike’s flesh, birthing new limbs and a head. A hazy figure slowly emerged from within.

A skinned Moose Monster took form, its brain stem attached to a fleshy tentacle rooted deep underground.

The Hundred Beasts Blood Body had evidently emerged, deeply connected to the Inner Sect Beast.

As the Moose Monster took shape, the Inner Pill Room shook violently, its walls growing fleshy and covered in moose heads.

Li Mo murmured, "It seems Rong Town in later years was truly established by mortals carrying on the Heart Beast Sect’s Outer Disciple legacy."

Yet unanswered riddles remained, such as why the beasts converged in the Inner City District and the true origins of the Death Disease...

Wei Zhike regained slight awareness and staggered toward Li Mo in a desperate escape.

But the Moose Monster, instinctively fearing Li Mo, shifted its target to Wei Zhike, opening its blood-soaked gaping maw.

Fueled by the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body’s aura and hastily transplanted Low Grade Magical Artifact limbs, Wei Zhike narrowly avoided the beast’s jaws.

"Save me!!!

"You think you’ll survive alone?"