Longevity Strange Immortal
Chapter 148 - 8: The Core Technology of the Sub-Device Sect

Chapter 148: Chapter 8: The Core Technology of the Sub-Device Sect

Under the dim candlelight, the human slips appeared exceptionally eerie.

The expressions on the human slips still retained the terror they had in life, although their internal organs had been thoroughly emptied, and texts of cultivation techniques were carved within their flesh.

Li Mo noticed that over seventy percent of the Daoist Collection consisted of spells and miscellaneous entries, while cultivation techniques made up only about thirty percent, limited to the Core Formation Stage.

He had anticipated this—Dome Mountain would never open up Nascent Soul-stage techniques.

The existence of the Inner Sect of the Sub-Device Sect was to screen cultivators most worth nurturing among the artifact refiners of the Core Formation Stage. Passing on the Nascent Soul techniques to Outer Disciples was unrealistic.

Li Mo made a rough estimate.

There were thirty-nine cultivation techniques and nearly two hundred spells—overwhelming in sheer number.

It was evident that Dome Mountain deliberately kept portions of the Daoist Collection sealed away. Most of the contents were artifact cultivation techniques, as if fearful of Li Mo straying off the ideal path.

The miscellaneous entries recorded information on arrays, spiritual materials, and meat limbs, including Dome Mountain’s interpretations of cultivation.

However, Li Mo was disappointed to find that there were few artifact refinement techniques. Dome Mountain, despite being Nascent Soul artifact refiners, evidently did not favor artifact refinement.

Li Mo planned to organize these records later, as there might be methods for feeding ghosts and alchemy hidden amongst them.

"Hmm."

Just as he was about to utilize the Primordial Dao Seed to extract nourishment from the magic spells, he suddenly noticed human slips documenting beast cultivation techniques.

Judging by the placement of the slips, Dome Mountain seemed to value beast cultivation methods.

The annotations on beast cultivation techniques stated that after Spirit Root Transformation of the Five Internal Organs, spiritual power could disperse throughout the body while maintaining the essence of the flesh, making it suitable for raising beasts internally.

However, it was flawed—forming a top-grade Golden Core was difficult, and the path to Nascent Soul was cut off.

Li Mo discovered that Dome Mountain categorized multi-limb techniques under beast cultivation, created by a Nascent Soul artifact refiner named Big Deer Thousand Feet.

After careful study, he learned that the limbs transplanted by Puppet Cultivators across their bodies were symbioses formed by raising snake-type spirit beasts.

Li Mo suddenly understood—if Tian Changwen could grasp the principles of multi-limb techniques, he might reverse engineer a complete Core Formation cultivation method.

But unfortunately, Tian Changwen had already left the Heart Beast Territory and could no longer be contacted via spiritual tablet.

So he had no choice but to let it go.

Heart Beast Sect was eighty percent under Big Deer Thousand Feet’s control. If he achieved Nascent Soul in the future, he would have to find an opportunity to seize it back.

Li Mo did not consider Tian Changwen and the others to have inferior talent; rather, they lacked a cohesive Taoist inheritance.

To emerge from the impoverished Heart Beast Territory demonstrated that their innate potential and comprehension were no less than the sub-device sect artifact refiners of the Core Formation stage. Discovering the correct path for beast cultivation was only a matter of time.

Among the thirty-nine techniques, thirteen appeared slightly incomplete, likely originating from subordinate forces of the Sub-Device Sect.

The annotations revealed that some of these forces had vanished into the river of history.

Li Mo shook his head helplessly. The Mother Furnace only considered gains and losses; subordinate forces held value only as long as they provided resources to the Sub-Device Sect.

When these subordinate forces lost their value, the Sub-Device Sect would inevitably reclaim Duozhi Mountain.

The extreme hostile environment and inability to extract resources from Duozhi Mountain left the subordinate forces with no recourse but death.

Li Mo activated the Primordial Dao Seed, greedily absorbing the content of the techniques.

He noticed a subordinate force of the Sub-Device Sect named "Ten Thousand Roots Wood." Its inheritance was intriguingly based on transforming feet into roots that burrowed into the earth to extract nourishment for cultivation.

The Creation Book showed no response to Ten Thousand Roots Wood, suggesting it was a sect established in later generations.

Their techniques maxed out at Weak Crown Stage Perfection. Previously, Ten Thousand Wood Roots had identified a path upward, utilizing flowering and fruit-bearing to advance to the Thirty Years Old Stage.

But after becoming a subordinate force, the technique deviated from its established trajectory, now willingly providing legs and meat limbs to the Sub-Device Sect.

Simultaneously, they became hosts for a childhood-stage Secret Realm opened once every fifty years.

Their only aim was to accumulate sufficient merits for qualification to travel to the port, unaware that escape from exploitation was utterly impossible.

The Cultivation World upheld the law of the jungle. Most minor forces encountering Great Immortal Sects would choose to settle for the status quo. Sects like Heart Beast Sect attempting to break free of their chains were exceedingly rare.

Li Mo had the Creation Book—were it otherwise, shaking off those shackles would be unimaginably difficult.

He believed that Sub-Device Sect, in the eyes of certain forces, was merely another cog in the ecological chain, providing specific necessary resources.

As Li Mo pondered, the Dao Seed absorbed the entirety of the thirty-nine techniques, its size expanding by an additional layer, and its patterns became impossibly intricate.

The Five Poison Five God Heart Sutra underwent drastic transformations under the influence of the Primordial Dao Seed.

From his experiences, Li Mo deduced the Dao Seed might completely overhaul the Heart Sutra, abandoning its original framework.

The Child Device Life Protection Heart Sutra saw changes as well.

However, given that the Life Protection Heart Sutra had undergone ten thousand years of Sub-Device Sect inheritance, the Dao Seed could only make minor improvements aligning the technique to Li Mo’s nature.

Through Dome Mountain’s Daoist Collection, Li Mo gained insight into the Sub-Device Sect’s power structures.

He found that although artifact cultivation and beast cultivation differed, their paths were ultimately similar. Artifact cultivation during the Weak Crown Stage did not involve subduing the Three Spirits but required condensing three artifact pearls within a furnace.

Once artifact pearls were formed, the artifact cultivator’s brain ceased to be their critical weakness.

This demonstrated that artifact pearls were post-natal creations designed to replace the soul. Needless to say, artifact cultivation was safer than beast cultivation.

Beast cultivation utilized the subjugation of the Three Spirits to form a golden core, while artifact cultivation relied on re-creating three pearls, before both fused the Four Spirits into the golden core at the Core Formation Stage.

The Core Formation Stage was divided into four levels.

"Pseudo Pill," "Solidifying Pill," "Transformation Core," and "Nascent Crying."

While the first three stages were straightforward, Nascent Crying involved the Uncertainty Nascent Soul Stage, requiring constant suppression of the golden core incubating the nascent soul. Even the slightest lapse risked deviation.

Li Mo shuddered. Comparing ancient and modern Cultivation World’s Core Formation Nascent Soul practices revealed unspeakable terrors at every turn.

"Could cultivation have taken the wrong path from the start? No matter how I look at Core Formation Nascent Soul, it feels like mere groundwork for others to reap the benefits."

Golden cores were far from being a singular essence. Depending on cultivation techniques, spiritual power, and Taoist body, the forms of golden cores were infinitely varied.

Dome Mountain even referred to golden cores as "Fetus Pills."

Ensuring survival during the Nascent Crying Stage required golden cores of high quality.

Low-grade golden cores were riddled with cracks, with nascent soul formation nearly impossible.

Even with vast resources fortifying the cultivator’s body and soul, nascent souls formed by low-grade golden cores emerged as grotesque abominations.

Monster infants would inversely affect their hosts, making the cultivators’ appearance increasingly bizarre.

Mid-grade golden cores had fewer than twenty cracks on their surface. Assisted by elixirs, as long as the body wasn’t ravaged by Death Disease, advancing to nascent soul wouldn’t pose too many issues.

High-grade golden cores were self-explanatory.

With fewer than five cracks and imbued with profound Dao rhythm, Core Formation risks became negligible, though breaking the golden core to form nascent soul was more challenging.

"Flawless Golden Core?"

Li Mo’s expression contorted subtly. Records described the Perfect Golden Core only in theory—it required no imperfections on its surface and innate strands of primordial Dao residue throughout.

The quality of the golden core also influenced stages beyond Uncertainty Nascent Soul.

[Destiny Knowing Stage]

Also known in ancient cultivation as the Divine Separation Stage.

Details of Destiny Knowing Stage were scant, mentioned only briefly. The nascent soul seemed to transform into an externalized dharma body-like entity.

Li Mo hasn’t even reached the Thirty Years Old Stage yet—consideration of Destiny Knowing Stage was far distant. It was better to focus on achieving a high-grade golden core.

Annotations in Dome Mountain mentioned various elixirs beneficial to golden core quality, apparently intending for Li Mo to pursue a Perfect Golden Core.

Unfortunately, elixirs tailored for artifact refinement at the Core Formation Stage were useless with Mist Fog Spiritual Power.

Still, Li Mo had a suspicion that beast cultivation golden cores, when integrating spiritual power, the Three Spirits, and Dao Seed, might inherit the growth potential of Dao Seed.

Even if the quality was lacking, post-natal transformation to high-grade golden core seemed achievable.

Perhaps even a Perfect Golden Core...

What puzzled him was the absence of records concerning severe Death Disease in the miscellaneous entries. What exactly had Qingjingzi mutated into as the seven-colored meatball?

Li Mo supplemented his insights into artifact cultivation.

He shifted his focus toward cleansing the Five Internal Organs while simultaneously studying over two hundred spells, immersing his mind in the ocean of knowledge.

As time passed, Li Mo’s expression became increasingly shocked.

To better utilize the Taoist body, all of Sub-Device Sect’s spells involved bodily modification.

For example, a technique called "Tail Cutting and Bone Generation Technique" required Yan Lin’s Red Lotus Dharma Root Taoist body to completely sever the tail at its core, using spiritual material powder to intervene in regenerating the tail.

The final Red Lotus Dharma Root would not only develop a more resilient tailbone but would also grow an eye capable of sensing entities within a ten-mile radius.

"No wonder Dome Mountain left behind two hundred spells—as the Five Dao Body offers truly broad choices."

Li Mo did not rush to select three spells for cultivation, pondering the mysteries inherent in Sub-Device Sect spells from the perspective of surgical practice.

In his view, Sub-Device Sect’s spells essentially represented artificial intervention on the Taoist body.

As cultivators grew ever stronger, their Taoist bodies would increasingly align with their natural state, even developing connections between multiple Taoist bodies.

Li Mo grew increasingly intrigued.

He meticulously organized modification-related information while filtering out techniques suitable for himself.

He did not pay overmuch attention to the Five Internal Organs, but after reviewing the spells, the drawbacks caused by metallization had vanished entirely.

The material of the Five Internal Organs had transformed into brass, their blood vessels forged of steel, tirelessly sustaining functions, emitting plumes of vapor.

The vapor elevated his body’s temperature—he would eventually need to install an external exhaust chimney.

Li Mo recognized the benefits of metallization. His Five Internal Organs would achieve absolute stability.

Even if he lost his head, his internal organs would sustain bodily survival—though recovery from any injuries would require external intervention.

Li Mo was unperturbed, as the healing power of the Paoxiao Swallowing Body combined with the Nourishing Yuan Fruit could purportedly restore even Corpse Mountain, let alone his metalized organs.

Finding his organs in order, he began preparations for advancing his Mist Fog Spiritual Power to the Thirty Years Old Stage.

Before entering seclusion, Li Mo used Breath Fog to observe the external world, noticing nothing peculiar. However, Zhang Sheng seemed to never appear again.

He approached a statue on the first layer—Dome Mountain remained silent.

After hesitating for a few moments, he experimentally sent a thought to Zhang Sheng via a spirit talisman, but the talisman ignited within his palm, crumbling into ash.

This indicated that Zhang Sheng was either too far away or already dead.

Li Mo frowned slightly and returned to the second layer, locating the human slip documenting disciples of the Chaotic Burial Furnace. Zhang Sheng’s name was indeed listed there.

However, he was not a registered disciple of Dome Mountain, and his appearance lacked any dual-faced characteristics.

Li Mo persisted in examining the appearances of all disciples, finally realizing the two faces belonged to different artifact refiners. Moreover, Zhang Sheng’s phosphorescent glow contained subtle irregularities.

"Regardless of the situation, let’s focus on Core Formation for now."