Li Mo's lips twitched as he realized that Lu Yuan wanted him to go to the Grave Mound Sword Tomb alone.

"I'm only at the Divine Separation Stage. Can I leave the Great Sun Sword Tomb so easily?"

Li Mo fell silent and looked up at the eaves. The Cave God's Eye pierced through the building, surveying the boundless heavens where numerous Sword Tombs hung in mid-air.

"The Grave Mound Sword Tomb—it's near the northern corner…"

"In ancient times, the Taoist inheritance of the Grave Mound was called the Death Vein, wasn't it? Their Lifebound Flying Swords were made of white bone, and their magic leaned towards fringe practices."

Li Mo speculated this had to do with his status as a Chief, allowing him access to the Twenty-Eight Sword Tombs and placing him on equal footing with Void Refining Stage Elders.

"I should use the more discreet Sword Shuttle instead."

He couldn't help but take out the Sword Shuttle and began inscribing Sword Dao Spirit Patterns on its surface.

After achieving three Sword Bones in the Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone cultivation, most of the Sword Dao Spirit Pattern had been completed, and it had undergone subtle yet strange transformations.

The original Sword Dao Spirit Pattern might have been considered a mid-to-lower rank Spirit Pattern, but as the Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone transformed, it gradually approached top-grade status.

"Three Immortal Bones alone almost complete the pattern. If I acquire the Twenty-Eight Immortal Bones, what kind of changes would the Sword Dao Spirit Pattern undergo?"

Li Mo raised an eyebrow.

Spirit Patterns are a characteristic of mortal artifacts. Above spiritual treasures should be what we call Immortal Artifacts. Could it be that Immortal Artifacts are made from Immortal Patterns?

"Haha, being able to glimpse even a fraction of Immortal Patterns would send my Artifact Refining Divine Power soaring and give rise to endless possibilities."

Li Mo continued to modify the Sword Shuttle, making the Zhi Mountain Temple Main Hall shake beneath his feet.

Originally a single-floor hall, the structure began to grow into the framework of a second floor under the blood vessel-like construction of the Sword Tomb.

Dense Yang Qi spread throughout the courtyard.

Li Mo had sealed two hundred Sword Ghosts in total, which Ye Zhuo Daoist had selectively placed within the boundaries of Zhi Mountain Temple, gradually giving the temple the semblance of a Blessed Land Cave Heaven.

Of course, one rife with evil spirits.

If Ye Zhuo Daoist managed it well, this transformation could yield countless resources, many of which were necessary for Li Mo's cultivation.

The Creation Book stirred faintly.

On the surface of its blank page, an Earth Infiltration Fake Pill revealed itself, awakening its corresponding divine power.

[Seeking Elixir Dao Seed]

The Seeking Elixir Dao Seed could employ Dan Cancer to refine any entity in the world into a Dan Seed, even those infused with unmanageable mutated auras.

Dan Seeds could parasitize flesh and bone, endlessly nurturing [Dan Fruit].

"What are Dan Fruits?"

Li Mo pondered, activating the Dao Seed while casually selecting a Hundred Refinement Magical Artifact as the target, which immediately got sucked into the Alchemy Furnace.

Through the effects of Dan Cancer, the Hundred Refinement Magical Artifact slowly dissolved into a metallic liquid.

Yet, refining a Dan Seed requires far more nutrients than an elixir; even a single Hundred Refinement Magical Artifact was insufficient to form a Dan Seed.

"Interesting."

Li Mo retrieved several more items—artefacts he'd practiced on during idle moments, too useless to bother giving to the Four Seas Commerce and instead left piled within the Corpse Mountain Mini World. He had no idea how many he'd accumulated.

Moments later.

The Seeking Elixir Dao Seed devoured a total of thirteen Hundred Refinement Magical Artifacts before fully condensing the Dan Seed.

Li Mo then extracted the Dan Seed—a pearl-sized metallic seed resting in his palm, with a small opening at its apex that seemed ready to sprout.

The Cave God's Eye examined it closely but found no features resembling plant life.

"Every Dao Seed Divine Power is stranger than the last."

Li Mo directed his consciousness to the Corpse Mountain Mini World and parasitized the Dan Seed within a Corpse Mountain Tenant. The Dan Seed absorbed the tenant's flesh and bones.

The tenant's body decayed at a slow pace.

It mostly impacted the production of Corpse Wine without causing significant loss of tenants.

The Dan Seed cracked, releasing metallic vines that emerged and grew downward, replacing the tenant's Eight Extraordinary Meridians with root-like extensions.

Under Li Mo's watchful gaze, the vines broke through the soil and developed into a crooked plant.

Six unripe metallic fruits dangled from its branches.

By normal growth alone, these metallic fruits would likely take decades to fully mature.

Li Mo naturally couldn't wait that long, so he infused the plant with some Innate Essence, causing the fruits to swell rapidly before his eyes.

In mere moments, the metallic fruits lost their original round shape and began to resemble organs.

"Huh? Magic Artifact Embryos."

Li Mo's expression reflected astonishment. Though quirky in appearance, the fruits were indeed Magic Artifact Embryos and of decent quality, reaching the Hundred Refinement standard without issue.

"Sow melons, reap melons; sow beans, reap beans?"

"Selling these via the Four Seas Commerce might require lower pricing, but finding buyers won't be a problem."

Li Mo named the vine the [Dan Tree], noting that as long as the tenants kept providing nutrients, the tree would continuously bear fruit.

The efficiency might be slow, but with the sheer number of tenants, that hardly mattered.

"Using artifacts to nurture the Dan Tree would likely yield higher-quality fruits. I wonder what results alternative resources might produce?"

Li Mo invoked the Dao Seed Divine Power again, resulting in three additional Dan Seeds.

Ruby-red seeds resembling soybean granules, nurtured from copious amounts of blood and bones.

Deep green seeds with patterns resembling eyeballs, cultivated from Poison Dao Bodies. Eight Dao Bodies were consumed in total.

Golden seeds emanating faint Buddha Light, nurtured from True Word Sect spiritual materials.

Li Mo planted these Dan Seeds within different tenants, watching the resulting Dan Trees grow in strikingly divergent ways.

The spiritual material Dan Tree bore fruits of corresponding Yang Qi spiritual materials.

The blood and flesh Dan Tree produced no fruits, but its bark consisted of flesh, and its trunk was made of white bone, which could be harvested for resources.

The Dao Body Dan Tree was particularly unusual.

Its fruits were dripping with blood and resembled organs.

These organs contained characteristics of Dao Bodies, representing a limitless supply of Dao Body resources for Li Mo's future magic research.

Regrettably, the fruits weren't complete corpses.

"Though Dao Seed Divine Powers are inherently progressive, the Seeking Elixir Dao Seed clearly has untapped potential. Perhaps the Corpse Mountain could further evolve through the Dan Tree, with spiritual treasures within reach."

Li Mo sorted the accumulated miscellaneous items into categories and threw them into the Alchemy Furnace.

No subsequent Dan Trees were nurtured with Innate Essence, leaving them to grow naturally and estimating they'd take roughly a century to reach full scale.

Meanwhile, Li Mo's Earth Infiltration Fake Pill was continually absorbing medicinal power.

For Heart King Pill disciples in the Weak Crown Period, they typically required the medicinal power of ten cultivators of the same realm. Yet, the Earth Infiltration Fake Pill far exceeded this standard.

Its surface became encrusted with dozens of miniature Golden Cores, but it still hadn't reached its limit.

As more medicinal power poured in, the Earth Infiltration Fake Pill began to morph strangely, appearing as though it was composed of countless Golden Cores.

"It must be due to magnetic force, right?"

Li Mo thoroughly confirmed there were no flaws in the Earth Infiltration Fake Pill before continuing to channel medicinal power into it.

Finally, after absorbing the medicinal power of 340 Corpse Mountain tenants, the Fake Pill stabilized, and the miniature Golden Cores peeled away.

The miniature Golden Cores orbited the Earth Infiltration Fake Pill like tiny planets, spinning ceaselessly.

All that remained was to repeatedly perform Circulation Cycles, cultivating his Earth-Infused Spirit Power to naturally break through the Core Formation Stage.

Li Mo used his Divine Sense to connect with the Earth Infiltration Fake Pill, faintly perceiving its link with the Artifact Infant.

Unknowingly, more than ten days had passed.

Li Mo realized that if he delayed further, he might encounter trouble along the journey and fail to reach the Grave Mound Sword Tomb within a hundred days, potentially incurring Lu Yuan's ire.

He still intended to scour the stomach of Yang Niu to see if there were any suitable Foundation Spiritual Objects.

The Sword Shuttle had already advanced to Fake Magical Treasure status. Its silver-white hull exuded understated brilliance, and when activated with spiritual power, it became almost indistinguishable to the naked eye.

"This will do."

Li Mo opened his eyes, stood up, and walked out of the main hall.

The Zhi Mountain Temple had undergone a drastic change, its area expanded twenty to thirtyfold, with its continuous walls dividing numerous sections.

Three Sword Cultivators were busy setting up arrays to ensure the Sword Ghosts would remain under control.

Apart from Ye Zhuo and Bai Shuo, Jiang Xi's presence was a bit unexpected for Li Mo, but having another laborer at Zhi Mountain Temple wasn't a bad thing.

Whoosh.

Ye Zhuo Daoist noticed Li Mo had emerged from seclusion and swiftly flew over using his sword.

His Lifebound Flying Sword had undergone transformation, now containing the mid-level Sword Intent [Gray Burn], which wasn't too shabby within the Five Qi Period.

Jiang Xi and the others were still busy working, their array setup requiring uninterrupted focus.

"Senior brother, these are the Sword Ghosts we've collected recently and the resources generated by the temple."

Ye Zhuo Daoist eagerly handed Li Mo the Storage Bag.

Li Mo scanned the resources with his Divine Sense, selecting some before filling the bag with several hundred jars of Corpse Wine, then tossing it back to Ye Zhuo Daoist. "Take it. The wine should sustain your cultivation for the next hundred years."

"Heh heh."

Ye Zhuo Daoist grinned from ear to ear but sensed the undertone in Li Mo's words.

"Senior brother, are you preparing to head to the Grave Mound Sword Tomb?"

"Yes, it's urgent."

Li Mo summoned the Sword Shuttle and hesitated briefly before taking out a Sword Scroll.

"The Ten Thousand Demon Dao's [Ten Thousand Demon Festival] will likely arrive within a century. Use the Sword Scroll's [Nine Curves Chain Formation] to secure Zhi Mountain Temple, just in case."

The Nine Curves Chain Formation was newly developed, comprising nine layers with its core boasting a defensive prowess capable of countering Heavenly Palace Stage opponents.

Theoretically, the Ten Thousand Demon Festival shouldn't pose any threat.

The Ten Thousand Demon Dao typically dumped unmanageable deceitful objects into the Twenty-Eight Sword Tombs, for Heavenly Sword Sect's taboo process to refine them into Sword Ghosts.

Deceitful objects brought immense resources, making them definite opportunities for Sword Cultivators.

Li Mo's concern stemmed from San Sheng's haunting nursery rhyme; whether the mastermind targeting the Ten Thousand Demon Dao would act remained unknown, so caution was better.

"Alright, but the Nine Curves Chain Formation is terribly complex."

Before Ye Zhuo Daoist could finish his sentence, Li Mo's Sword Shuttle ascended to the clouds.

Li Mo stood atop the Sword Shuttle, releasing countless strands of Sword Qi into Zhi Mountain Temple to carve intricate array patterns, before disappearing completely.

He deliberately made a grand exit, heading straight for the Grave Mound Sword Tomb.

Soon after entering the clouds, Li Mo summoned the Spirit Root Worm, disguising the Sword Shuttle under layers of Real Illusion before retracting it.

"Go."

A translucent armored Flood Dragon emerged.

The Illusionary Jiao Dragon transformed to mimic the Sword Shuttle's appearance, surging grandly in the direction of the Grave Mound Sword Tomb.

"I can't say for sure if Lu Yuan is a traitor, but one of the Void Refining Stage Elders undoubtedly is. They're eighty percent likely to probe while I'm en route."

"If such probing occurs, it will confirm that San Sheng still has no clue about the Mortal Transformation Secret Technique, so they've turned their eyes toward me again."

The Spirit Root Worm enveloped the Sword Shuttle as Li Mo detoured thousands of miles, exiting the Great Sun Sword Tomb from an unnoticed corner.

The Illusion Realm constructed using a top-grade magical treasure was impenetrable at a distance of less than a hundred meters, even to Void Refining cultivators.

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