Longevity Strange Immortal
Chapter 179 - 39 Metalized Tattooed Beast

Chapter 179: Chapter 39 Metalized Tattooed Beast

"Flawless Golden Core?"

Old Earth True Monarch murmured, while the other Nascent Soul Great Powers remained uncertain.

This was because the Sub-Device Sect had never seen a Flawless Golden Core before; they had no idea whether Li Mo had truly broken convention.

The surrounding artifact cultivators were in awe of the terrifying and overwhelming presence of the Kun Whale.

Some had previously experienced the residual power of the Kun Whale at the port, but it had never been as horrifying as now. Its aura was hair-raising.

Old Earth True Monarch noticed Li Mo had already broken through the Thirty Years Old Stage, although his cultivation was still unstable. He deliberately manipulated the Mountain Protection Array to gather more spiritual energy.

Rich ash spiritual energy enveloped the Kun Whale.

Li Mo’s thoughts stirred; he opened his mouth to spit out a fist-sized golden core, which underwent its final transformation amidst the tempering of spiritual energy.

The ash golden core resembled molten lava, its surface covered with miniature metallic volcanoes constantly emitting thick smoke and dust.

The gathered artifact cultivators’ eyes widened as they saw the ash golden core, feeling an innate unity that made Li Mo’s golden core seem like the world’s most perfect creation.

Lower-level artifact cultivators fell into a trance.

Some even seemed dazed, their consciousness floating into a profound state akin to enlightenment.

Such a scene appeared as if the Kunpeng Immortal from Beiming had descended, delivering teachings atop the Chaotic Burial Furnace’s peak. It was enough to be sung throughout the world.

Old Earth True Monarch clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Without a doubt, the Flawless Golden Core truly embodies the Heavenly Dao’s creation."

Even the Nascent Soul Great Powers experienced a brief moment of distraction, their understanding of ash spiritual power becoming clearer in their hearts, drawing forth amazement.

Big Deer Thousand Feet’s expression grew complex as he shook his head and said, "Old Earth, your Chaotic Burial Furnace is truly blessed. Pity Dome Mountain lacks the fortune to partake."

His gaze shifted toward the foot of the Chaotic Burial Furnace, focusing on the faint phosphorescence.

"A single Qing Tian adds five hundred years to the Taoist inheritance’s foundation. What does the death of Dome Mountain matter?"

Wu Guang Daoist’s words sparked a murderous glint in Old Earth’s True Monarch’s eyes. Yet, as much as he wanted to refute, he couldn’t deny the truth. The elevated altitude of the Chaotic Burial Furnace accomplished by just one hundred artifact cultivators forming their cores far eclipsed what lesser cultivators might ever manage.

Li Mo hovered in the air, eyes closed, immersed in the feeling of the Flawless Golden Core.

The number of artifact cultivators around the Chaotic Burial Furnace continued to grow, quickly surpassing ten thousand, all eager for a glimpse of the ash Flawless Golden Core.

Even Li Mo himself, when observing the ash golden core with his consciousness, couldn’t help feeling that it was utterly flawless.

Once the ash golden core finally stabilized...

He swallowed the core, and under its influence, his Kunpeng form underwent cataclysmic transformation.

Bzzzz...

A deafening whale cry resonated.

The Kunpeng’s feathers were draped in metal, its skin grew scales, and Primordial Dao Body patterns spread across its body. A colossal volcanic chimney, tens of meters in size, emerged from its back.

Billowing ash poured out of the chimney, radiating across hundreds of miles.

The air was saturated with choking ash, and the temperature suddenly spiked by twenty to thirty degrees. The Chaotic Burial Furnace’s altitude rose by over ten meters as a result.

Li Mo inhaled and exhaled; even the clouds took on the coloration of ash.

The Kun Whale’s body continued expanding—seventy meters was nowhere near its limit. In moments, it exceeded one hundred meters, its aura palpable like solid matter.

The most unique feature of the ash golden core was its intensely corrosive nature, which could imbue magic artifacts and spells with similar properties.

The Ancient Sacred Body evidenced this transformation; the Kun Whale had absorbed the traits of the ash golden core, and its pure water spiritual attribute had evolved into a tri-element mix: gold, fire, and water.

Similarly, other tattooed beasts experienced parallel changes. Even magic artifacts augmented by the ash golden core saw their power enhanced by 30% out of nowhere.

Li Mo could vaguely sense that life was beginning to germinate within the ash golden core—a phenomenon typically observed only in the Nascent Crying Stage.

Squinting, Li Mo fought the urge to imprint the Flawless Golden Core, wary of being discovered by the Nascent Soul Great Powers nearby. The Creation Book was his lifeline and needed to remain hidden.

The gathered Core Formation artifact refiners came to their senses, their expressions shifting to unease.

They had previously dismissed Li Mo, believing him to be a hurried participant at Golden Cauldron Sect’s trial. Moreover, with Chaotic Burial Furnace’s Core Formation artifact refiners seen as weaklings, they assumed there was no threat to their Inner Sect spots.

But now, Li Mo alone, as a Core Formation artifact refiner, could elevate Chaotic Burial Furnace to become the most formidable contender at Golden Cauldron Sect.

One after another, streaks of spiritual light darted away.

The crowd returned to their mountain gates, preparing countermeasures.

With only a decade before Golden Cauldron Sect’s trials, breakthroughs in cultivation were unlikely, but preparations regarding elixirs and magic artifacts could still make a difference.

Li Mo’s ash spiritual power had just breached the Thirty Years Old Stage, presenting numerous challenges to tackle.

Now that he wielded dual golden cores, his consciousness seemed poised to gain Divine Sense, a Nascent Soul-level perception. His sensitivity to death disease increased dramatically; he could already detect signs of the Weak Crown Death Disease.

Old Earth True Monarch advised, "Qing Tian, return to the mountain gate swiftly. It’s not wise to deplete spiritual energy in the initial entry of the pseudo pill stage, as it may harm your foundation."

"Your disciple understands," Li Mo respectfully replied.

Curious, Big Deer Thousand Feet asked, "Qing Tian, your newly forged Innate Taoist Body exhibits the ability to manifest as a barbaric giant beast alongside your meat limbs. What name have you given this Taoist Body?"

"Replying to Senior Big Deer, the Ancient Sacred Body emerged unintentionally from the Life-gathering Beast Body. I’m still exploring its nature, but it’s barely adequate for now."

"Nice!"

Big Deer Thousand Feet nodded slightly.

Clearly favoring Li Mo, who nearly became his disciple, he treated the latter with remarkable kindness, seemingly convinced that achieving Nascent Soul would be but a trivial matter for him.

"Many thanks to the Nascent Soul seniors. The younger Qing Tian’s golden core has stabilized and will now..."

Li Mo was about to retract his Ancient Sacred Body when an unusual sensation emerged.

The Nascent Soul Great Powers immediately grew solemn, their gaze locked firmly on the Chaotic Burial Furnace—a clear indication they had all detected anomalies deep within the earth.

Crack... Crack... Crack...

"Disciple!!!"

Strange noises echoed from the foot of the Chaotic Burial Furnace, as a massive head, twenty or thirty meters wide, emerged. A pungent stench of metallic rust assailed their senses.

At the mountain gate’s base, tens of thousands of corpses were visibly suppressed.

Li Mo’s pupils dilated—the head’s features unmistakably belonged to Dome Mountain.

However, Dome Mountain’s appearance was bizarre. Over half of its flesh had rotted away, while dazzling seven-colored lights spilled from its body, resembling a miniature, flesh-and-blood sun.

Old Earth True Monarch urgently exhaled thick smoke to obscure the anomalies at the mountain’s base.

Big Deer Thousand Feet scoffed, "So Dome Mountain truly encountered trouble within the pit. Even its dead shell has returned to the mountain gate. Utterly ridiculous."

Old Earth True Monarch’s expression darkened.

He and Big Deer Thousand Feet prepared to intervene and rescue Li Mo, but the latter’s reaction proved quicker than anticipated.

Li Mo’s wings flapped, and his figure vanished instantly.

In the blink of an eye, he reappeared beside Old Earth True Monarch, already out of the range of the phosphorescent glare, reverting to his two-meter human form in the process.

"......"

Old Earth True Monarch remained silent for a few moments before activating the Mountain Protection Array.

Dome Mountain’s head bellowed fiercely but was ultimately suppressed back into the depths of the Chaotic Burial Furnace, making the other Nascent Soul Great Powers shake their heads repeatedly.

Li Mo noticed that the corpses suppressed beneath the Chaotic Burial Furnace all had fleshy tendrils extending from their limbs, connecting them to the mountain in a strange symbiosis.

Big Deer Thousand Feet’s voice deepened, "Hmph, I’d better check on my mountain gate’s seal too, lest those deceit furnaces break through the surface."

Seeing this, the Nascent Soul Great Powers quickly lost interest, each leaving in a blur of residual images.

Fan Mu nodded toward Li Mo in acknowledgment: "Qing Tian, if there’s ever an opportunity, I’d gladly exchange resources from Taiping Qingmu for your alcohol recipe."

Before Li Mo could respond, Fan Mu had already vanished.

Li Mo noticed that the Nascent Soul Great Powers’ attitudes toward him had softened significantly. Though a few maintained hidden malice in their gazes, they were outwardly polite.

Within the Mother Furnace’s Sub-Device Sect, the value displayed determined the degree to which higher-level practitioners would hesitate. Li Mo had grown bold precisely for this reason.

After all, a Flawless Golden Core signified the clear potential for Nascent Soul.

Even in the Fate-Knowing Divinity Separation Stage, he held several more favorable odds, and none doubted that Daoist Qing Tian might ever struggle past the bottleneck of Nascent Soul creation.

"Old Earth senior, ultimately..."

Li Mo’s gaze drifted to the aftermath caused by Dome Mountain. What exactly was going on with his nominal master?

"I understand the confusion weighing on your mind. I’ll explain the reason later."

Old Earth True Monarch wasted no time, grabbing Li Mo and leading him to the Chaotic Burial Furnace’s main hall.

It was clear the main hall served as the Mountain Protection Array’s core. No matter how vast the external disturbances may seem, the statues within remained unscathed.

At the heart of the hall stood statues of the Chaotic Burial Furnace’s Nascent Soul Great Powers.

The duo entered the hall, which still contained several hundred statues, centrally displaying the furnaces’ Nascent Soul seniors.

Li Mo scrutinized Dome Mountain’s statue, noting the cracks that had spread across its surface.

Old Earth True Monarch murmured, "Qing Tian, are you aware of the flaws of death disease?"

"The Taoist collection left by my master mentions that death disease potentially turns cultivators into deceitful objects, but such cases are rare among sects."

Li Mo had only seen Qingjingzi become a deceitful object within the Heart Beast Territory.

Old Earth True Monarch sighed deeply, his gaze sweeping across the statues. "Every artifact cultivator who achieves core formation must reside within the main hall. Should they fall prey to death disease and become deceit objects, their bodies will naturally return to the mountain gate."

"We label artifact cultivators transformed by death disease as deceit furnaces, resembling radiating furnace flames that repel any who approach."

"Deceit furnaces come with both advantages and disadvantages. They enrich the sect’s spiritual energy but necessitate successive generations of disciples forming cores and creating nascent souls to reinforce their seals."

Death disease manifests differently across cultivation systems: beast cultivators become deceit beasts, and artifact cultivators become deceit furnaces.

Li Mo exhaled deeply. No wonder deceit furnaces were scarcely seen; it turned out they had all been confined to the sect’s foundations, harnessed like spirit veins.

The operational principle of the Sub-Device Sect resembled that of Corpse Mountain’s Yin Spiritual Vein. The radiation emitted by refined corpses of artifact cultivators generated continuous spiritual energy.

In a sense, this created a vicious cycle for the Taoist inheritance itself.

The disciples augmented the sect’s strength, only to eventually become a liability when their instability surfaced.

"Qing Tian, choose a statue to connect with your consciousness. From this moment onward, you will officially join the main hall of the Chaotic Burial Furnace."

Li Mo nodded, knowing that joining the main hall was inevitable.

Casually, he selected a statue tucked in a corner. As soon as his consciousness made contact, the statue started morphing to resemble his features; the two began forming an indistinct bond.

"Your master’s situation is deeply entangled."

Old Earth True Monarch hesitated briefly before muttering, "Dome Mountain returned to the sect lacking its Nascent Soul presence. I suspect..."

"Forget it; this doesn’t concern you."

"Qing Tian, prepare for Golden Cauldron Sect’s trials. No matter what happens there, do not be surprised; Mother Furnace’s way of thinking diverges from ordinary minds."

Old Earth True Monarch left the main hall, leaving Li Mo alone to ponder.