Chapter 473: Chapter 98 Unknown Reactions of the Creation Book
"That’s it?"
Li Mo’s face showed surprise; the oppressive aura brought by the so-called Immortal was far weaker than that of the Night Patrol Deity.
He even suspected that any random Divine Separation Stage Sword Cultivator could easily massacre Business Leader City.
Although the spells released by Gu Shenzi did indeed surpass the level of the Divine Separation Stage, the flaws in his techniques were glaringly obvious.
Li Mo even had the illusion that if he were to fully unleash the power of his physical body, he could kill Gu Shenzi before he could react.
"Something’s off. Any being, once turned into a Deceitful Object, becomes more difficult to deal with. So why is it that the so-called Immortals in the Demon Cave are weaker instead?"
If the Demon Cave were truly as simple as it appeared on the surface, would the Ten Thousand Demon Dao even need external assistance? Couldn’t they just let Senior Sister sweep through it alone?
"There must be a secret here, something that might even connect to a cataclysmic change in the heavens and the earth."
Crack, crack, crack.
The cracks on the Floating Island continued to spread, creating flaws in the Nine Curves Chain Formation.
"Disciples, heed my command, exterminate the demons and uphold the Dao!!"
Gu Shenzi let out a sharp cry. A steady stream of Taoist Children rushed onto the Floating Island, engaging in combat with the Great Sun Sword Cultivators wielding their flying swords.
The cultivation of these Taoist Children rivaled that of the Divine Separation Stage, but they relied solely on their horsetail whisks and the protection of Immortal Spells to barely hold their own against the Sword Cultivators.
Li Mo still refrained from acting himself. He simply transmitted commands to the Sword Cultivators through a telepathic connection.
Since the Demon Cave was not like the Heavenly Sword Sect, where Divine Sense could be freely used to communicate, Li Mo utilized this chance to have his comrades hone their synergy by sparring with the Taoist Children.
The Sword Cultivators gradually shed their initial panic, beginning to display the wonders of their Sword Array techniques.
The vitality provided by the Salamander rendered the Sword Cultivators almost unbeatable. Soon, the corpses of Taoist Children began to fall, only to be devoured by the Ghost Tiger Illusions.
Only Ye Zhuo Daoist appeared slightly flustered.
After all, he was the one controlling the Magical Treasure. The Moving Mountain Island constantly seemed on the brink of collapse, struggling to withstand the relentless barrage of Immortal Spells.
"Senior Brother, should I guide Moving Mountain Island closer to Medicine King Valley? The Great Sun Sword Tomb has some ties with them, perhaps we can join forces..."
"No need."
Before Ye Zhuo Daoist could finish speaking, Li Mo cut him off with a question: "Besides the Immortals and Taoist Children, are there any other Deceitful Objects in the Demon Cave?"
"Hiss, Elder Luoyang mentioned something... something called a Dao Jun."
"But Elder wasn’t clear on what exactly a Dao Jun is. The Heavenly Sword Sect has never been involved in purging the Demon Cave before."
Li Mo nodded slightly.
It seemed the real unknown factor in the Demon Cave was the Dao Jun.
The Void Refining Stage Elders didn’t seem concerned about the Immortals, instead leaving them to be handled by disciples—or perhaps using the disciples as bait to lure out the Dao Jun hidden in the depths.
Li Mo’s curiosity was piqued.
If the Dao Jun truly rivaled a Land Immortal, relying solely on an Elder wouldn’t suffice to deal with it. Nor would mobilizing the entire Ten Thousand Demon Dao over just a Void Refining enemy.
"Could it be... the Dao Jun is an exceptionally peculiar type of Deceitful Object?"
Li Mo’s face showed a hint of intrigue as Ye Zhuo Daoist hesitated to speak further by his side.
The situation seemed to favor the Sword Cultivators, with casualties among the Taoist Children continuing to rise. Yet, the Floating Island was clearly on the verge of collapse.
Should their base of operations be destroyed, they would inevitably be swallowed by the endless tide of Deceitful Objects.
Taking note of this, Gu Shenzi and his two companions adapted to the situation. Since the lives of the Taoist Children held no real value, they used them to block the counterattacks from the Heavenly Demons while focusing on assailing the Demon Cave itself from the outside.
However, they maintained a wary distance from Li Mo.
After all, they had come for the Great Demon, yet from start to finish, Li Mo had not revealed himself.
Cracks riddled the surface of the Floating Island, growing denser and exposing its core. The Magical Treasure had sustained severe damage, its spirit light dissipating, with pebble-sized fragments raining down like a storm.
Ye Zhuo Daoist inhaled sharply as the crucial Heavy Mountain Stone was laid bare.
His connection to Moving Mountain Island grew increasingly tenuous, indicating that the Magical Treasure was teetering on the brink of collapse. Repairing it now seemed next to impossible.
Ye Zhuo Daoist glanced at Li Mo, suddenly reminded that for someone of Li Mo’s caliber, Magical Treasures held little value.
Inwardly, he muttered, "If you wanted to replace this Magical Treasure as a base, why waste so many resources engraving Spirit Patterns? Do you have too many treasures to care about?"
Even the Void Refining Stage Elder had discerned that Li Mo was intentionally destroying Moving Mountain Island.
He Li furrowed his brows, a faint sense of discontent surfacing in his heart. "Even if Zhibai Dao’s craftsmanship falls short, Moving Mountain Island is more than enough as a base for the Demon Cave."
"Not even treasures forged by the Thirteen Immortals would necessarily surpass it, would they?"
He fixed his gaze on Li Mo, trying to penetrate Li Mo’s enigmatic intentions.
Just as the Magical Treasure was on the cusp of destruction, He Li noticed Li Mo nodding in satisfaction, muttering softly, "That should do."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The Moving Mountain Island trembled violently, the stench of blood permeating the air within the mountain gate.
He Li’s pupils contracted as he extended his Divine Sense to assess Li Mo. He was taken aback by the strange aura emanating from the Magical Treasure.
The cracks on the Floating Island showed no signs of closing. Instead, fresh red blood began seeping out.
"Ah."
The Salamander took root within the island, pouring its nurturing vitality into the Magical Treasure in a frenzied manner. The bloody scent thickened, and the island’s size began expanding.
Gu Shenzi and his two companions were momentarily dumbfounded.
Seizing the opportunity, the Sword Cultivators struck down the Taoist Children, whose mutated corpses fell upon the island.
Li Mo’s expression remained inscrutable, but on the imperceptible microscopic level, countless cancer cells oozed from his pores, parasitizing the island.
The blood and flesh began to regenerate.
The corpses were consumed in the blink of an eye, becoming nourishment and merging with the Floating Island itself.
The cracks on the Magical Treasure were filled with flesh, and the soil gradually transformed into tissue. Grass and wood took on the texture of white bone.
Countless eyes now adorned the island, lending it an unspeakably malevolent air.
Squelch.
Blood vessels sprouted, sweeping across the skies and skewering every Taoist Child without exception. Their corpses dangled from the vessels like candied fruits on sticks.
What had been a collapsing Moving Mountain Island now reconstituted itself through bizarre and otherworldly means, its aura transcending that of a mere Magical Treasure.
It resembled a mutated Magical Treasure.
But without anthropomorphic transformation, it was clear it did not fall under the Demon Cave’s rules of corruption.
The Cancer Island swung its innumerable blood vessels, sending Zeng Yin flying and actively hunting down the remaining Taoist Children. Trees of corpses began sprouting on its surface.
These corpse trees were formed from the remains of Deceitful Objects, and with blood as nourishment, they could produce spiritual materials.
"Kekeke, it’s been so long since I’ve used the Great Cancer Sky Command to parasitize a Magical Treasure into mutation."
Li Mo dismissed the need for tedious setups of arrays; if he wanted to cultivate spiritual materials, he might as well reshape the Floating Island’s ecosystem for the sake of efficiency.
Sword Cultivators weren’t cut out for labor, and making things too complicated meant he would have to do everything hands-on.
As he completed engraving the Spirit Patterns, a thought occurred to him: why not alter the very nature of the Magical Treasure and solve everything with brute force?
Under normal circumstances, to mutate an object of Moving Mountain Island’s size through the Great Cancer Sky Command, he would need to expend 40% of his cancer cells to maintain the transformation.
But if the Magical Treasure was already at the brink of collapse, far fewer cells would be required for parasitization. Of course, once the cancer cells were retrieved, the treasure would be completely destroyed.
Naturally, Li Mo had no attachment to Moving Mountain Island.
A Low Grade Magical Treasure engraved with flawed Spirit Patterns had no future. As a base, it wasn’t even as functional as the Sword Shuttle.
After the Cancer Island consumed roughly a hundred corpses of Deceitful Objects, its mass swelled by several hundred meters.
Li Mo chuckled grimly.
Unnoticed, Spirit Root Worms burrowed into the depths of the Cancer Island as an invisible Illusion Realm spread outward.
To the Immortals, the Cancer Island now appeared as an indescribable Evil Spirit. Its artery-like blood vessels writhed, its countless eyes brimming with malice, emanating a stench akin to the Chaotic Burial Mound.
Seeing the eerie and menacing Cancer Island, Gu Shenzi’s first instinct was to turn and flee, abandoning any concern for Qing Tan’s safety.
With his energy depleted, he couldn’t resist recalling the terror brought by the descent of the Great Demon when faced with such an inexplicable entity.
If Gu Shenzi had looked closely, he would have discovered that the Cancer Island was less intimidating than it appeared.
"Do you think you can run?"
A smile played at the corners of Li Mo’s mouth, and the power of his physical body erupted in an instant.
If Gu Shenzi had chosen to face him head-on, Li Mo would at least have needed the coordinated efforts of the Sword Cultivators, exploiting any flaws in the Immortals’ techniques, for even a chance to attack.
But a panicked retreat simply handed Li Mo the fleeting opportunity he needed.
Gu Shenzi’s cold sweat flowed freely. Gone was any semblance of Daoist Immortal-like composure, his eyes fixed desperately on the rapidly approaching silhouette of Business Leader City.
Returning to the town, consuming the Human Branch, replenishing his strength...
BANG.
A deafening sound echoed. A mere instant ago, Li Mo had been on the Cancer Island; an instant later, he was within a hundred meters of Gu Shenzi.
"Impossible."
Gu Shenzi hastily formed a spell, invoking glowing radiance that coalesced into a vestment robe shielding his body.
By reflex, he glanced backward out of the corner of his eye.
What he saw was a crater over a hundred meters wide now etched into the Cancer Island. The edges of the pit continued to crumble inward.
Gu Shenzi vaguely recalled that the pit had been occupied just moments ago by the figure of what seemed to be the Great Demon.
An imposing shadow loomed overhead.
"Kekeke."
Li Mo’s figure appeared above Gu Shenzi’s head, his palpable and tangible life force suffusing the air, denying Gu Shenzi any opportunity to react.
With one hand gripping Gu Shenzi’s head, Li Mo smashed it forcefully into the Cancer Island.
Gu Shenzi’s consciousness fragmented as his body penetrated the ground by more than ten meters before coming to a halt.
Li Mo stepped lightly in mid-air, descending back to the prone Gu Shenzi.
Dozens of punches rained down like a torrential storm.
"Please... spare me! The Dao Jun... will awaken."
Gu Shenzi desperately attempted to wield his horsetail whisk, but Li Mo’s relentless physical assault left no opening for even a single breath. The overwhelming power of his body brought suffocating despair.
Li Mo shattered the preconceptions held by other Sects.
A Sword Cultivator possessing a physical body exceeding the toughness of Body Cultivators at the same stage—it felt almost like an absurdity.
And his ability to mutate a Magical Treasure into blood and flesh was another enigma. Even He Li couldn’t make sense of the method, knowing only that it seemed intricately connected to a specific Magical Treasure.
The Cancer Island quickly regenerated, its traits now closely resembling that of a Deceitful Object through the Great Cancer Sky Command.
"These so-called Immortals turned out much easier to deal with than anticipated. Exploit a single flaw, and they crumble."
"The Dao Jun—is the variable tied to the Dao Jun?"
Li Mo tossed the ravaged Gu Shenzi into the Melting Furnace, sensing the prying gazes emanating from the Three Elements Pavilion. Among their Body Cultivators, there appeared to be one whose physical strength rivaled his own.
The Devil Pups from the Ten Thousand Demon Dao were also itching to consume him completely.
"Each major sect seems to have a Daoist holding the line. If I find an opportunity, perhaps a friendly spar—and I’ll seize their Taoist Inheritance while I’m at it."
Li Mo leaped out of the crater, leaving the Sword Cultivators to deal with the aftermath of the damaged formation.
Zeng Yin and his companion took advantage of the chaos to escape, and there seemed to be no further intervention from the Immortals in Business Leader City. However, the town itself had descended into utter turmoil.
Faintly, the sound of scripture intonation reached his ears.
Suddenly, the entire Business Leader City fell silent. Every mortal knelt upon the ground.
They raised their heads toward a corner of the sky, chanting the name of Lord Chaoxi Dao Jun.
But through the eyes of the Five Sects’ cultivators, no sign of any Dao Jun was visible; it seemed like nothing more than the delusional ravings of mortals.
Li Mo’s steps halted as the Creation Book began flipping through its pages with abrupt fervor.
The Demon Cave underwent sudden and dramatic changes.
A Void Refining Stage Elder spoke in a low voice: "The first Dao Jun has awakened. Lord Chaoxi, is it? The Dao Jun of ’Purple Mists Rising at Dawn.’"