Chapter 475: Chapter 100 The Heavenly Dao is Dead, a Dao Jun Must Rise
"Chao Xi, Chao Xi..."
"Since Business Leader City was a famous mortal city in ancient times, and ’Purple Qi Comes from the East’ is tied to the Chaoyang Sect, did Lord Chaoxi truly exist?"
Li Mo questioned if the situation in the Demon Cave was similar to that of Wumen City.
After Wumen City experienced a heaven-and-earth upheaval, the mortals in the entire city ultimately transformed into deceitful objects.
Li Mo glanced around. Aside from the suspended islands of the Ten Thousand Demon Dao, the rest of the strongholds were in chaos, with cultivators suppressing their mutations one after another.
Nine mountain patrolmen ventured into the Demon Pond. One drowned, leaving eight.
"If the nursery rhyme is true, the Ten Thousand Demon Dao likely contacted the heaven-and-earth upheaval early on and burned themselves while playing with fire, causing the Devil Sect to utterly fall."
Li Mo muttered to himself, "Could they have drawn Business Leader City and the Chaoyang Sect into the Demon Cave to conduct some kind of experiment there?"
He mumbled to himself several times, searching for clues within the vast, oceanic memories.
After poring over the records for a long time, Li Mo noted that the Chaoyang Sect would recruit disciples every fifty years, its scale barely reaching that of a medium-sized sect.
The Chaoyang Sect categorized each generation of disciples by their Dao names.
The eighteenth generation carried the prefix "Xi."
If we align the timeline of the Chaoyang Sect’s destruction, and if someone indeed bore the Dao name "Chao Xi,"
that person would have just entered the sect.
A flash of sharpness crossed Li Mo’s eyes as he seized the fleeting clue. "Just entered? If Chao Xi’s Spirit Root talent was flawed, wouldn’t they have failed to reach Qi Cultivation First Level?"
"A mere mortal..."
When heaven-and-earth upheaval was involved, it seemed mortals were seen everywhere.
This further confirmed Li Mo’s suspicion that some secret imperceptible to the Creation Book might have inadvertently been triggered by the Ten Thousand Demon Dao.
"Perhaps, perhaps the unique page birthed from it has a great use?"
Li Mo licked his lips, silently mulling over the procedure of anthropomorphizing his pupils, preparing to first give himself a mortal’s perspective of the Demon Cave.
He also divided his focus to treat the other sword cultivators’ injuries.
A day and a night passed in the blink of an eye.
At dawn, the sun rose again, accompanied by a surge of Purple Qi from the East, triggering a mass pilgrimage for enlightenment in Business Leader City, where immortals began to appear one after another.
Soon, the environment of the Demon Cave began to transform.
Vegetation grew wildly, exuding a rich medicinal fragrance, while peculiar exotic beasts stood guard nearby, creating the scene of a Blessed Land Cave Heaven.
Perhaps half a minute earlier, it had been an ordinary moose, but suddenly, a clear radiance emerged from its fur, and jade-like antlers sprouted from its head.
The exotic beast treaded effortlessly among the woods, as if nurtured by immortals.
However, the moment the exotic beast left the Demon Cave, it immediately transformed into an indescribable deceitful object.
Li Mo realized that the Demon Cave was invisibly transforming into a Blessed Land Cave Heaven from ten thousand years ago, just as the Fire Spirit Hall had been projected as Wumen City.
A sound of air being torn apart echoed.
The figures of over a dozen immortals approached the suspended islands, followed by a large number of Taoist children, their obvious goal being the eradication of the Heavenly Demon.
"Outer Heaven Demon, now that immortals bask in the protection of Lord Chaoxi and the Dao prospers, we shall inevitably drive you from this world!"
Though the immortals spoke with self-righteous words, their magic was fueled by sacrificing mortal lives, causing at least a thousand deaths within the city.
Li Mo remained entirely calm.
He observed that the newly ascended immortals, who had gained their power by inhaling Purple Qi, were relatively weak. A well-coordinated team of ordinary Divine Separation Stage sword cultivators could still slay them.
As for the newly inducted Taoist children, they were hardly worth mentioning, crumbling into headless corpses the moment they came into contact with sword blades.
Li Mo glanced at Business Leader City, noting considerable havoc within. Immortals seemed to be fighting fiercely over a conjoined fetus, with resources clearly stretched thin.
"Heh."
Li Mo let out a cold chuckle. "To ensure an ample supply of resources, the Taoist School in Business Leader City will undoubtedly push the newly ascended immortals outward, forcing them into futile confrontations against the Outer Heaven Demons."
"In such a case, the situation in the Demon Cave should ease significantly."
After understanding the circumstances, Li Mo summoned a colossal salamander spanning a thousand meters, its roots connecting to the spines of the sword cultivators at the back of their heads.
The Ghost Tiger quietly emerged into the world.
The little creature had recently ascended to the Divine Separation Stage, making its stay in the Corpse Mountain Mini World seem wasteful.
Li Mo instructed the Ghost Tiger to hide within his shadow, tasked with safeguarding him—as it had in its earlier years as a laborer.
"Great Sun Luo Yang, prepare to use the sword array as the foundation to meet the deceitful objects."
The sword cultivators responded in unison, activating their Lifebound Flying Swords to form a sword array, subtly linking it to the Nine Curves Chain Formation, their sword light saturating the islands.
The immortals hesitated for a long while before five of them split off to deal with the Great Sun Sword Tomb.
The pressure on the remaining sect disciples instantly lessened significantly.
The emergence of Lord Chaoxi signified that the Demon Suppression Cave was about to devolve into a protracted battle, requiring every cultivator to play their part; otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before the suspended islands fell.
"There’s probably more than one Dao Jun in the Demon Cave, right? It seems sacrificing magic treasures to nurture Cancer Island is worth it—at least we’ve retained strategic flexibility."
Scanning the sword cultivators, Li Mo finally spoke, "Jiang Xi, you and Bai Shuo each take half of the sword cultivators and rotate guarding the stronghold every ten days."
"Hmm, there’s no need to go out of your way to kill the immortals. Just block them."
"Then again, killing them works too."
"Here’s the deal: one immortal corpse earns you one jar of Nascent Soul Stage Corpse Wine. Ten corpses get you a jar of Divine Separation Stage Corpse Wine. A thousand Taoist children count as one immortal corpse."
With a flick of his hand, Li Mo laid out a mountain of Corpse Wine Jars on the open ground. The effects of the Corpse Wine varied wildly, with each labeled in detailed text explaining its purpose.
The sword cultivators’ gazes grew fiery, the sounds of them gulping saliva echoing unceasingly.
Since arriving in the Demon Cave, their resources had long been exhausted, halting their cultivation advancements entirely.
Li Mo had undoubtedly given the sword cultivators a significant morale boost.
The effects of the Corpse Wine even surpassed elixirs of the same realm.
Li Mo raised the stakes further, adding, "The top ten contributors within the Demon Suppression Cave will have the opportunity for me to craft a fake magical treasure for them."
Daoist Ye Zhuo let out a strange laugh. "Hehehe, Senior Brother, such audacity!"
Jiang Xi looked surprised, but soon realized that the Corpse Wine was all brewed by Li Mo, and with his exceptional talent, it didn’t seem that difficult a feat.
Li Mo, however, showed no interest in the Corpse Wine.
Even after clearing out part of the stockpile at the Heart Beast Sect, the remaining Corpse Wine was still in immense supply.
Additionally, dissecting immortal corpses yielded resources for Void Refining Stage organs, far more precious than the mass-produced Corpse Wine.
"Understood." Jiang Xi’s response was concise as he scanned the hundred or so sword cultivators, quickly selecting a diverse group of fifty.
Daoist Bai Shuo, solitary by nature, realized that Li Mo had put him in charge of coordinating simply because they were somewhat familiar.
"Senior Brother, I..."
"Ye Zhuo, assist Bai Shuo and stop complaining."
Just as Daoist Bai Shuo was about to refuse, Li Mo gestured for Daoist Ye Zhuo to help.
Without hesitation, Ye Zhuo confirmed his support.
Jiang Xi led the charge. With Cancer Island to protect them, fifty Divine Separation Stage sword cultivators were enough to stall the immortals, hunting for opportunities to kill when possible.
"If I hadn’t come to the Demon Cave, the Great Sun Sword Tomb would likely have been wiped out."
Li Mo noticed that the remaining four suspended islands each radiated spirit light into the sky. Their arrays, though inferior to the Nine Curves Chain Formation, were undoubtedly well-matched with their respective cultivation systems.
For instance, the body cultivation array had as its Array Eye a hundred-meter heart.
With each beat of the heart, the body cultivators’ vital energy circulated, allowing them to recover from severe injuries in mere moments.
A subsidiary branch of the Ten Thousand Demon Dao, the Sky Demon Sect, had modified its suspended islands to endlessly spawn heads, stirring Li Mo’s curiosity as he observed.
Demon cultivators could use these heads to resurrect themselves, making them nearly invincible.
However, as the Daoists had yet to reveal their hand, Li Mo nonchalantly played the role of a hands-off overseer, continuing to refine the pupil surgery without neglecting his cultivation.
"Before the Dao Jun awakens, this is the time for each sect disciple to set up their defenses on the suspended islands. Yet here we are with the Great Sun Sword Tomb, utterly clueless."
Li Mo couldn’t help but grumble, as the skin on the back of his hand erupted with numerous pupil formations, which later exploded one by one under the modifications of his Spider Sword Orb.
At Xia Dao Palace, the full effort to simulate the Candle Dragon Technique left him stuck in a trial-and-error loop.
Fortunately, merely growing extra pupils didn’t carry significant costs.
Li Mo occasionally fetched a few Taoist children’s corpses, endlessly comparing and analyzing their structures, making the pupils on the back of his hand increasingly lifelike.
Cancer Island’s robust defenses made his idle conduct seem entirely justified.
The Five Sects had yet to attack Business Leader City, and it was clear the immortals dispatched by the Taoist School had all been sacrificial pawns. However, this caused the Demon Cave’s mortal population to plummet.
Li Mo grew slightly curious. Once the mortals were completely exhausted, wouldn’t cultivation resources dry up all the same?
Crack.
His hand’s joints emitted a strange sound as the pupils gradually spread to cover most of his skin.
Li Mo examined the pupils, finding no trace of mutation; they only lacked nervous connections, making their gaze dull.
As the pupils fused with his flesh, Li Mo kept three of his own eyes tightly shut.
Viewing from the perspective of the anthropomorphized pupils, the suspended islands seemed increasingly distorted, with all the sword cultivators emanating thick demonic qi.
Li Mo himself appeared more and more indescribable, his flesh and bones teetering on the edge of mutation.
The Demon Cave’s ground had transformed entirely into an illusory Immortal Realm, with seemingly sentient grass and trees swaying in rhythm with the breeze, releasing a faint medicinal fragrance.
Li Mo turned his eyes toward Business Leader City, where the citizens prayed to Lord Chaoxi, a look of astonishment flashing across his face.
In the original sky, there was nothing unusual.
Yet in Li Mo’s vision, a monstrous worm coiled across the Demon Cave, its body spanning at least a hundred miles, rendering the suspended islands mere ants by comparison.
The worm, resembling a maggot, had a surface covered in grotesque, twisted patterns.
"Lord Chaoxi?"
Just a fleeting glance caused Li Mo to retch uncontrollably, the pupils on his hand collapsing as a wave of dizziness overtook him.
Seeing this, one sword cultivator tried to approach him in concern, but Li Mo waved them off. "It’s nothing. I happened to experience an epiphany at a cultivation bottleneck."
Forcing down his nausea, Li Mo closed his eyes to rest.
The Tao Seed actively absorbed the patterns of Lord Chaoxi, but it failed to refine any related skills, as if the spirit patterns held no inherent essence.
The Creation Book began to produce fragmented recollections of Lord Chaoxi.
A desolate expanse of land, with only exposed sand and rocks, served as the holding pen for tens of thousands of mortals—or more accurately, their confinement.
Li Mo recognized at a glance that this memory took place in the Demon Cave’s original small world.
The mortals there had already descended into madness, sustained solely by the blood-soaked chunks of flesh periodically provided by the Ten Thousand Demon Dao, who even used leftovers to construct crude shelters.
Among them, four individuals were the most deranged. These four hailed from the Chaoyang Sect, which earned them extra supplies, even acts of worship.
They grew fat and bloated, their limbs losing all strength, leaving them to crawl on the ground like maggots.
Li Mo could hear it.
Their crazed screams.
"The Great Dao is dead, the Dao Jun shall rise!!"
Each time the four spoke, the Ten Thousand Demon Dao would rain down flesh and blood, seemingly intent on granting them supreme authority, symbolically enthroning them as the Heavenly Dao.
Until.
The experiment spiraled out of control.