Longevity Strange Immortal
Chapter 191 - 51 Corpse Mountain [Fake Magical Treasure]

Chapter 191: Chapter 51 Corpse Mountain [Fake Magical Treasure]

A layer of frost blanketed every corner of Corpse Mountain, and the temperature instantly plummeted below freezing.

Due to the deteriorating environment, the beast population reared on Corpse Mountain suffered heavy losses, dwindling to around three thousand.

The savage creatures, driven by an instinctive sense of crisis, surged toward the exposed volcanic crater at the mountain’s summit.

Meanwhile, the Deceit Beasts grew visibly restless and rushed frantically toward the depths of underground caverns, attempting to flee the life-threatening cold wave.

Even the spiritual materials appeared languid; Corpse Mountain now felt desolate beyond measure.

Li Mo shook his head helplessly. Without achieving Yin to Yang, the ecological chain of Corpse Mountain risked devastating damage.

He did his utmost to maintain the stability of the ecological chain before continuing to stimulate the Yin Attribute Spirit Veins.

The Yin Attribute Spiritual Energy spread, not only reducing the temperature but also suffused with a deathly intent that severed the life force of plants and animals.

When Corpse Mountain reached the Ninety-Six Refinements, the Magic Artifact triggered violent tremors across the land.

Li Mo furrowed his brow slightly. The Hundred Refinements had been relatively smooth, but the Yang Attribute Spirit Vein showed no progress, planting doubt in his heart.

After all, the concept of Yin to Yang was merely his own conjecture.

Nobody truly knew if the almost-extinct Yang Attribute Spiritual Energy still existed in the present age.

"There’s no choice but to forge ahead blindly. If the ecological chain of Corpse Mountain collapses, I might as well turn to the Heart Beast Black Market to gather resources for a reset."

Li Mo sighed and refocused his attention on Artifact Refining.

Corpse Mountain gradually advanced to the Ninety-Eight Refinements.

The spiritual materials began to merge slowly. Counterintuitively, as the refining process deepened, the mountain’s height decreased by five hundred meters instead of rising.

Upon reaching the Ninety-Nine Refinements.

Li Mo found the difficulty of material fusion far surpassing his expectations; each Top-grade Spiritual Material had to undergo tens of thousands of meticulous adjustments.

Completely immersed in refining, he set aside the concern of achieving Yin to Yang, focusing his entire consciousness on the task at hand.

A thick layer of ghostly gray frost coated Corpse Mountain, while large quantities of Low Grade Spirit Materials decayed, and even Mid-grade Spirit Materials were significantly affected.

The death of countless living beings seemed to further empower the Yin Attribute Spirit Vein, marked by a proliferating number of graveyard-like monuments.

The frigid wind howled.

One giant tree after another toppled; the once-thriving forest lost even the Gu Worms, as not even the Mid to High Grade Spiritual Materials could resist the bitter cold.

By the time Li Mo began the Hundred Refinements for Corpse Mountain, his Dual Golden Core Spiritual Energy was already more than half depleted, forcing him to alternate between recovery and cultivation.

The Ghost Tiger continuously stood guard by Li Mo’s side.

Suddenly, unsettling rustling sounds echoed. The Ghost Tiger became visibly tense.

Its sharp eyes darted upward with hostility, spotting blood-red plant roots formed by a Spell creeping toward the Erosion Cave.

The Ghost Tiger promptly enveloped the cave with shadow energy to prevent interference with Li Mo.

On the surface, Mu Daoist traversed the ground, her swollen feet resembling giant stumps, as plant roots burrowed deep into the fissures beneath her.

She was searching for the traces of Thousand-Legged Master when she stumbled upon the Erosion Cave where Li Mo resided.

Mu Daoist’s expression briefly shifted, but she quickly regained her composure, deliberately choosing not to expose Li Mo’s location. Instead, she deftly maneuvered the plant roots to bypass the cave entirely.

The current situation was shrouded in dense fog. Betting everything on the White Bone Pagoda was undoubtedly unwise.

Mu Daoist and Li Mo had yet to openly fall out; if the White Bone Pagoda yielded nothing, she would indeed need to prepare to abandon the Golden Cauldron Sect.

Li Mo paid no attention to external matters, only faintly noting Ghost Tiger’s prior unease, which quickly subsided.

As Corpse Mountain neared the Hundred Refinements stage, the cumulative transformations, coupled with its nature as a Six Elements Magical Artifact, made the refining process increasingly difficult.

Seeing this, Li Mo didn’t hesitate—he opened his mouth and vomited a large quantity of blood.

Blood Refining was among the most primitive refining methods but undeniably effective, especially since his blood contained countless cancer cells.

Once Corpse Mountain absorbed the blood, ominous signs of cancer transformation began to manifest.

The frost and snow melted away, irregularly sized meat tumors began sprouting from the soil, and the dead vegetation underwent cancerous rejuvenation.

The near-dead beasts revived, their forms grotesquely mutated.

Their limbs became abnormally thick and bloated, their strength geometrically amplified; even ordinary beasts now rivaled Deceit Beasts at the childhood stage.

The Deceit Beasts themselves showed more dramatic changes. Trapped within the narrow caves, their mutated bodies momentarily prevented them from reaching the outside world.

Thump, thump, thump...

The sound of heartbeats resonated throughout Corpse Mountain, as though the mountain’s core had developed an organ-like structure and the Magic Artifact itself was coming to life.

As Corpse Mountain underwent cancerous activation, the temperature soared dramatically. Signs of melting ice and snow began to appear.

Li Mo’s expression became complex.

He didn’t stop refining Corpse Mountain and instead increased the amount of blood he supplied.

Though grotesque, the mutated Corpse Mountain indeed hinted at achieving Yin to Yang, showcasing the profound mysteries of Da Ai Mi Tian.

Li Mo grafted more temporary arms onto his ribs, his Dual Golden Core eyes opened wide, stretching his Divine Skill of memorization to its utmost.

The moment the Hundred Refinements completed, eighty percent of Da Ai Mi Tian surged into Corpse Mountain.

Crack, crack, crack...

Sounds of rock fracturing erupted from the mountain’s summit as vein-like Yin Attribute Spirit Veins emerged, coiling atop the peak.

Li Mo was left speechless, feeling that after Da Ai Mi Tian’s involvement, Corpse Mountain’s transformation had taken a bizarre turn.

The Yin Attribute Spirit Vein writhed in agony, exuding thick clouds of spiritual energy.

Li Mo hurriedly drove the beasts to the mountain’s base and observed Corpse Mountain’s final metamorphosis, collecting data on the Hundred Refinements High Grade Magical Artifact. His Mist Fog Golden Core began spinning independently.

The anomalies emanating from the Primordial Dao Seed indicated that anything involving Magic Treasures was inherently extraordinary.

Moments later, the tip of the Yin Attribute Spirit Vein began emitting a white light.

Li Mo’s eyebrows rose, sensing a clear trend toward Yin to Yang. While absorbing canned spiritual energy, he maintained the process of Da Ai Mi Tian.

Half of the Yin Attribute Spirit Vein transformed into the Yang Attribute variety.

Then, the spirit vein surprisingly joined end to end, intertwined like a Möbius strip, intermingling Yin and Yang.

Li Mo concentrated intently. The moment Yin and Yang reached a delicate balance, he decisively withdrew all of Da Ai Mi Tian.

In the end, the Yin-Yang Spirit Vein condensed into a mass of flesh-like tissue.

The Yin-Yang Spirit Vein floated in mid-air above Corpse Mountain, radiating boundless light, resembling a miniature sun; in the blink of an eye, it restrained its brilliance, and pitch-black darkness enveloped the mountain, blotting out visibility.

Corpse Mountain’s damages healed. The Five Elements Spirit Veins remained distributed throughout the mountain. Life began to flourish; tender sprouts emerged, and mountain springs flowed once again.

Li Mo established Corpse Mountain’s governing rules, ensuring the Yin-Yang Spirit Vein alternated between states every twelve hours, creating cycles of day and night for the small world within the Magic Artifact.

After Corpse Mountain was fully restored, while it still lacked the capacity to nurture Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects, it could now easily produce Top-grade Spiritual Material. With the constant absorption of nutrients by Mid-grade Spiritual Material, there was even hope for further transformations.

Li Mo carefully examined Corpse Mountain resting in his palm, noticing two intricate, albeit incomplete, patterns etched upon the artifact. Unfortunately, much of the patterns were missing.

"Hmm."

As his gaze fell upon the patterns, a flood of information from the Creation Book surged into his mind—all revolving around Magic Treasures of the ancient Cultivation World.

The patterns were known as "Spirit Patterns," serving as markers for gauging the rank of a Magic Treasure.

Fewer than ten Spirit Patterns denoted Low Grade Magic Treasures, surpassing ten indicated Mid-grade, and a hundred patterns signified Top-grade.

Magic Treasures could grow simply through spiritual energy nourishment, avoiding the complexity of fusing multiple spiritual materials during refining.

In a sense, they were somewhat akin to Life-bound Magical Artifacts; however, Magic Treasures lacked the latter’s growth potential. It might take centuries of nourishment to manifest even one Spirit Pattern.

Thus, in the ancient Cultivation World, Magic Treasures were typically passed down among direct disciples of a sect.

Only by cultivating the same techniques across generations could their full potential be realized while simultaneously enhancing the artifact.

Corpse Mountain, as it currently stood, was not a complete Magic Treasure; its two Spirit Patterns were only partially formed—about one-third complete.

It could only be classified as a "Fake Magical Treasure."

Nonetheless, Corpse Mountain showed significant promise. Both of its Spirit Patterns were of the top-quality variety: the Five Elements Spirit Pattern and the Yin-Yang Spirit Pattern.

Since it had yet to fully achieve the status of a Magic Treasure, its precise capabilities remained uncertain.

If Corpse Mountain could mature to generate complete Spirit Patterns—one Five Elements Pattern and one Yin-Yang Pattern—its potential for growth would far surpass single-pattern artifacts.

However, for a Fake Magical Treasure to manifest complete Spirit Patterns, it would take a Divine Separation Stage cultivator a century or more.

Li Mo attempted to nourish Corpse Mountain with spiritual energy, but no matter how pure the energy, it had no noticeable effect—the gap between the Core Formation Stage and the Divine Separation Stage was simply insurmountable.

After a moment of deliberation, Li Mo began experimenting with Corpse Mountain.

Although it devoured over a hundred corpses, the Spirit Patterns showed no improvement, nor did new peaks emerge on the mountain.

Evidently, corpses and other nutrients could only serve to expand Corpse Mountain’s physical size.

Li Mo pinned his hopes instead on the Nourishing Yuan Fruit. Diverting twenty years’ worth of Innate Essence into Corpse Mountain, he noticed a slight improvement in the completeness of the Spirit Patterns.

"Even seven Nourishing Yuan Fruits feel insufficient."

Currently, four of his Nourishing Yuan Fruits were reserved exclusively for accumulating medicinal potency, having just surpassed the century mark. The remaining three Fruits’ Innate Essences were dedicated to sustaining the Tattooed Beast, his Taoist Body, and Da Ai Mi Tian respectively.

To expedite Corpse Mountain’s transition into a Magic Treasure, Li Mo reserved one Nourishing Yuan Fruit for emergencies, allocating the other three entirely to the mountain.

Li Mo withdrew Corpse Mountain from his palm. Contemplating the massive resources he’d already invested, he glanced at Daluo Heaven and felt an utter lack of motivation to undertake another Hundred Refinements.

He opened his eyes and, through the memories of the Ghost Tiger, learned about Mu Daoist’s recent activities.

Patting the Ghost Tiger on its head, Li Mo murmured, "With Corpse Mountain as a Fake Magical Treasure, the yield from brewing Corpse Wine has increased by eighty percent. I might as well share some of the wine with Taiping Qingmu."

It wasn’t about currying favor with Mu Daoist but rather tying more top-grade Taoist inheritances to his side.

Once bound by shared interests, whether against Burning Eyes True Monarch or to preempt potential strikes from Thousand-Legged Master, the benefits would outweigh the risks.

The attitudes of the Nine Districts Daoist inheritances appeared peculiarly strange.

Including the White Bone Qianzu, it was unlikely that the Nine Districts Three Daoists would abandon Thousand-Legged Master in the Falling Abyss. Where, then, had all the other artifact cultivators gone?

The Ghost Tiger, with some Corpse Wine in tow, soon reached Mu Daoist.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Mu Daoist promptly accepted Li Mo’s goodwill and leveraged the opportunity to pull Taiping Qingmu into her fold alongside the Seven Districts Daoist inheritance "Falling Star Fire."

The Daoist of Falling Star Fire, Jelly True Monarch, had long since lost interest in the Inner Sect quotas.

Anyone who entered the Daoist Temple inevitably turned into some unspeakable Deceit Furnace. Despite Burning Eyes True Monarch’s repeated assurances to the contrary, exalting the potential of Daoists, Jelly True Monarch refused to risk it.

Besides, Falling Star Fire had no conflict with Daoist Qingtian.

Though Burning Eyes True Monarch’s face darkened with frustration, he found himself helpless, as the artifact cultivators gathered around Daoist Qingtian now outnumbered his faction fivefold.

They intensified their frenetic search of the White Bone Pagoda, relentlessly compelling the artifact cultivators to take ever-riskier actions.