Longevity Strange Immortal
Chapter 171 - 31: The Freak Among Freaks

Chapter 171: Chapter 31: The Freak Among Freaks

Li Mo’s expression was heavy as he dodged Jing Su’s extending blood and flesh tendrils, counterattacking amidst his rapid maneuvers. The surrounding buildings crumbled into ruins.

He made no effort to conceal his Mist Fog Spiritual Power, simply maintaining his Fake Core Stage.

Facing Jing Su with his Nine Fake Pills, even Li Mo was unsure of victory relying solely on Ash Spirit Power. His opponent’s tenacity far exceeded expectations.

Besides, it was almost time to reveal some of his Mist Fog Spiritual Power cultivation level.

Ash Spirit Power permeated the air, instantly transforming into flames that erupted explosively. The Mist Fog Spiritual Power protected Li Mo’s body, flickering faintly in the rain.

Li Mo barely maintained an unbeaten stance, occasionally landing blows on Jing Su with the help of his Tattooed Beast. This left the Core Formation Artifact Refiners watching in stunned silence.

They knew Li Mo possessed the Innate Taoist Body with multiple dantians, but they never expected that he had silently reached the Fake Core Stage.

"This..."

Elder Zhong muttered in disbelief before realizing the situation.

Li Mo’s main cultivation was Ash Spirit Power, likely striving for the legendary Perfect Golden Core, which explained his dual cultivation with Mist Fog Spiritual Power.

Given his Five Dao Body talent, it was indeed possible for him to reach the Fake Core Stage within a few years.

What frustrated the Core Formation Artifact Refiners the most was that the top-grade Golden Core, an aspiration nigh unattainable for most, seemed to have at least a seventy percent chance of realization for Li Mo, judging by the purity of his Mist Fog Spiritual Power.

The fact that even his secondary cultivation had reached such an unmatched level left them feeling utterly powerless, as though all their efforts were futile.

"This one has the potential to master his destiny."

The Core Formation Artifact Refiners looked on as Li Mo, battered and bruised in his fight against Jing Su, evoked a faint but undeniable schadenfreude in their expressions, their breathing growing heavier.

If Daoist Qingtian were to die during the Alchemy Competition, the oppressive shadow of the Five Dao Body would no longer hang over the Sub-Device Sect’s Inner Sect.

Elder Zhong furrowed his brows and discreetly reached out to the Old Earth True Monarch.

Who would have thought that an Artifact Refiner who had only joined a few years ago could make so many Core Formation Artifact Refiners simultaneously feel threatened?

BOOM!!

One of Jing Su’s heads came crashing down. Caught off guard, Li Mo was struck by the shockwave, losing a large chunk of flesh from his shoulder.

Li Mo frowned slightly. Even though his Daluo Heaven wasn’t actively activated, its defensive power far surpassed ordinary Mid-Grade Magic Artifacts, and yet he was still injured.

One Fetus Nine Sacrifices was indeed terrifying.

Jing Su continued to absorb the surrounding industrial waste gases, his power seemingly without limit. However, the downside was already evident: three of his heads had begun to backfire on his body.

"Are you courting death?"

Li Mo squinted his eyes and recalled the Kun Whale, while the Ghost Tiger transformed into a shadow swirling around him.

He then activated his Primordial Dao Body, his figure expanding to over four meters tall, his body covered in intricate patterns that faintly merged with his tattoos.

Boom, boom, boom...

Li Mo’s speed grew even faster, and Jing Su’s attacks missed once more.

"Daoist Qingtian, you deserve death!!!"

"What right do you have to advance your second dantian to the Fake Core Stage? What right? With a monster like you around, we will never see the light of day."

"You must die today! I can’t let you grow stronger!!!"

Jing Su’s nine heads twisted in rage, his body swelling to nearly ten meters tall.

His flesh and blood had become grotesquely deformed and horrifying, sustained only by the legacy Detoxification Pills to prevent his body from collapsing outright.

Jing Su opened his mouth and spewed forth an overwhelming industrial smog, enveloping the lower-level streets within a kilometer. Tendrils of blood and flesh grew densely along the surfaces of buildings.

Li Mo gave no response from beginning to end, his expression chillingly calm.

He withdrew his Mist Fog Spiritual Power and actively triggered Daluo Heaven. Thousands of arms shielded his body, deflecting Jing Su’s tendrils.

Jing Su’s nine Fake Pills were riddled with cracks, and some of his heads were already fighting among themselves, exuding auras that even made Core Formation Artifact Refiners look askance.

Li Mo remained unmoved, his control over Daluo Heaven supremely deft.

The noise of their clash had already echoed throughout the port, drawing even many seasoned Core Formation Artifact Refiners to spectate.

"ROAR!!!"

Countless eyes and distorted human faces erupted from Jing Su’s body—remnants of his former hosts that he had consumed.

Jing Su’s sanity teetered on the brink of collapse, his instincts fixating solely on devouring Li Mo.

Li Mo’s injuries worsened steadily.

However, thanks to the Paoxiao Swallowing Body, Jing Su’s released metal toxins proved completely ineffective, leaving the two locked in a stalemate.

Still, the Core Formation Artifact Refiners could discern that Jing Su’s One Fetus Nine Sacrifices provided him with endless Spiritual Power during the Fake Core Stage.

Even though Li Mo alternated between his two types of Spiritual Power to recover his cultivation, exhaustion was inevitable.

Moreover, high-grade Magic Artifacts were scarcely manageable by those in the Fake Core Stage for extended periods. At this rate, Li Mo’s defeat was becoming increasingly apparent.

"Hahahaha..."

Jing Su laughed maniacally. Even though he had turned into an indescribable monstrosity, he continued to devour the surrounding industrial waste gases relentlessly.

A pungent and overwhelming stench of rot filled the air at some point.

"It’s said that when a Pill Refiner succumbs to Death Disease, the medicinal aura of their body turns into extreme toxins. The loose cultivators in the port’s streets are likely to face heavy casualties, aren’t they?"

Elder Zhong surveyed his surroundings while the other Core Formation Artifact Refiners smirked.

His heart sank. If he intervened to save Li Mo, it could very well ignite a chain reaction among the Core Formation Artifact Refiners.

"Die!!!"

Jing Su’s central head devoured two of his subsidiary heads, spewing their brain matter and bloody bone shards directly at Li Mo.

Sanguine mist engulfed the area.

Li Mo’s figure became enveloped in the dense fog, as dozens of large tendrils slammed incessantly into the ground, causing the lower-level streets in the port to tremble violently.

Elder Zhong took a step forward, only to find himself locked on by dozens of gazes.

The spectating cultivators assumed Li Mo had been gravely injured and that it was impossible for a mere Fake Core Stage to contend against One Fetus Nine Sacrifices.

Within a heartbeat, Li Mo’s voice echoed.

"It’s too dark."

A miniature sun hovered mid-air, and long-missing sunlight bathed the port’s lower levels, with the torrential rain showing signs of ceasing.

Then, an indescribable, eerie aura burst forth. All the cultivators who had transplanted Fox Head Meat Limbs instinctively clutched their hands and feet.

The Core Formation Artifact Refiners stared at the miniature sun, sensing the terrifying heat it contained. Yet, Li Mo refrained from unleashing it.

This wasn’t due to his inability to employ eye-related Magic Techniques—it displayed instead that he had preserved his trump cards. How could he resemble a Fake Core Stage cultivator at all?

"No, no, no..."

Explosions created waves upon waves of Ash Spirit Power.

Elder Zhong’s pupils constricted as he realized that Li Mo’s Ash Spirit Power had likewise reached the Fake Core Stage, instantly suppressing the increasingly frenzied Jing Su.

Amid the sea of fire, the figure of a Nine-Tailed Red Fox briefly flickered.

When they turned their gaze back to Jing Su, the smile on his face had vanished entirely, replaced by an overwhelming and pure terror.

The brightness of the miniature sun peaked.

Even the Core Formation Artifact Refiners were momentarily blinded, reflexively closing their eyes. The rain season, seemingly endless for days, abruptly came to an early halt.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the Nine-Tailed Red Fox surged toward Jing Su like an unstoppable force.

Unlike the Nine-Tailed Red Fox formed by the meat limb of Li Mo’s left arm, this fox was covered in festering wounds, with viscous magma seeping from its injuries.

Its brow bore an eye-like tumor, and its tails, stripped of flesh and blood, were reduced to nine bare, thrashing white bones.

"Qing Tian!!!"

Jing Su roared skyward. But upon the contact with the Nine-Tailed Red Fox, an inexplicable force acted upon his mutated body.

His flesh began uncontrollably sprouting tumors, ravenously absorbing his internal nutrients.

Even Li Mo hadn’t anticipated that his Life-Bound Magical Artifact would prove so effective against the severely mutated Jing Su, so he unhesitatingly burrowed into his opponent’s flesh.

By the time the Core Formation Artifact Refiners regained their senses, the intense battle had already ceased.

Li Mo stood atop a mountain of Jing Su’s piled corpses, holding nine Detoxification Pills in his palm. The leakage of energy confirmed he had entered the Double Fake Pill Stage.

"Fellow cultivators, the Outer Elixir Daoist of the Dan Ghost Sect has fallen. The Alchemy Competition is now over."

Speaking, Li Mo reached out and plucked the miniature sun from the air, pressing it back into his right eye’s socket. The port’s lower levels returned to their murky dimness.

He then absorbed Jing Su’s corpses into the Corpse Mountain and began striding toward the Four Seas Refining Shop.

"A sudden advancement to the Fake Core Stage is simply unremarkable."

As Li Mo walked, his Ash Spirit Power destabilized, slowly regressing from the Fake Core Stage to the Late Teenage Stage.

The Core Formation Artifact Refiners exchanged uneasy glances.

They understood Li Mo felt his Fake Core Stage in Ash Spirit Power wasn’t sufficiently refined. But none could have anticipated that someone would willingly forego progression to further hone their foundation.

Only someone like the Five Dao Body’s Daoist Qingtian could act so boldly and unrestrainedly.

The street they had destroyed revealed a flesh-like structure, which began to regenerate within moments. Yet, no cultivator paid it any mind—they were still immersed in Li Mo’s terrifying methods.

Without surprises, the eerie Nine-Tailed Red Fox into which Li Mo had transformed likely stemmed from his Acquired Dao Body, an intimidating force.

No cultivator connected it to the Heart Beast Sect.

In truth, the Heart Beast Sect’s name had long faded into obscurity within the Sub-Device Sect’s records, dismissed as just another meat-limb breeding facility among countless similar subordinate sects.

Qingqiu Taoist’s lips curved into a smile. Words were unnecessary.

Certain individuals were destined never to be confined by the walls of a well, and even the Sub-Device Sect was but a fleeting vista on their journey. Immortality and enlightenment awaited them in due time.

Li Mo passed through the street, only ten meters from the spectating Core Formation Artifact Refiners.

Not one of them dared to obstruct Li Mo, watching in silence as he vanished into the Four Seas Refining Shop. A dead stillness pervaded the scene.

The winds of fate had shifted—Daoist Qingtian was destined to become the Daoist of the Sub-Device Sect.

"Haha, let’s drink!"

Elder Zhong’s joy was uncontained as his gaze subtly shifted to the port’s upper levels.

At the battle’s most intense moments, the Old Earth True Monarch’s aura had manifested briefly, indicating his personal presence overseeing the port.

Who could have foreseen that the Dan Ghost Sect’s centennial Alchemy Competition would end like this?

Fortunately, the participating Pill Refiners were scattered across a dozen sects. Otherwise, they simply wouldn’t have been enough for Li Mo’s slaughter, given that even One Fetus Nine Sacrifices was no match.

Those few Pill Refiners left in the port swiftly fled.

Abandoning the Alchemy Competition was a far lesser price than dying to Daoist Qingtian, their bodies repurposed as vessels for brewing liquor.

Daoist Qingtian’s legend would undoubtedly spread rapidly within the Immortal Sect community.

Simply his Five Dao Body alone would suffice to draw attention from the other factions, let alone his outright victory over Jing Su with One Fetus Nine Sacrifices.