Longevity Strange Immortal

The Great Sun Sword Tomb had completely fallen into darkness, and the sounds of musical instruments and operatic singing that echoed from all around not only did not cease but grew even louder.

"Light the lamps, craft the play anew, pace the purse and yet…"

The entire Great Sun Sword Tomb seemed to revert to the Cultivation World of millenniums past, though every detail reeked of the bizarre.

The Donkey Guests remained at rest.

The Big Night Wanderers were not like the Little Night Wanderers, who prowled as soon as it turned dark. For them, hunting Sword Ghosts was far less challenging, and thus, they usually appeared only at midnight.

The side halls were not all unchanging; some held captive livestock that were half-human, half-beast and, in life, had likely been Sword Ghosts of the Little Night Wanderer level.

However, when faced with the Big Night Wanderers, their spiritual wisdom had long been utterly erased.

Li Mo and Ye Zhuo Daoist chatted idly as they strolled to the most secluded side hall of Che Xu Temple, where roughly a hundred head of livestock appeared gaunt and skeletal.

"Each side hall has its own taboos, but there are always weak spots,"

Ye Zhuo Daoist explained smugly, "As long as the number of livestock in this side hall doesn't decrease, no taboos will be triggered."

"And the Donkey Guests, upon returning to the temple at dawn, will then select livestock to devour."

Ye Zhuo Daoist pointed to a massive yellow ox, the largest one present, and said, "We'll hide in the ox's stomach. As soon as the Donkey Guest leaves, we'll use the livestock's hides to blend into the Night Parade of Hundred Demons."

As he spoke, he had already begun selecting a suitable yellow ox.

Li Mo twitched the corner of his mouth.

The yellow oxen in Che Xu Temple were generally three to four meters tall, emanating the unique aura of Sword Ghosts, with their spiritual wisdom already worn down by the Donkey Guest.

In theory, hiding in the stomach and using Divine Sense to control the yellow ox was quite feasible, not to mention that Ye Zhuo Daoist had evidently tried this before.

Ye Zhuo Daoist rambled on and on, muttering to himself, "Junior Brother, I came to Che Xu Temple two hundred years ago, accompanied by two other Sword Cultivators."

"It's funny, really—they considered themselves Sword Immortals, thought themselves above hiding in an ox's stomach, and ended up as nothing more than livestock in this temple."

Ye Zhuo Daoist tore open the yellow ox's abdomen.

A wretched howl escaped from the ox.

The stench of decay surged forth, the stomach full of indigestible refuse.

Unfazed, Ye Zhuo Daoist, known as the toughest individual in the Great Sun Sword Tomb, climbed into the ox's stomach without so much as a flinch, preparing to use an elixir to stimulate the wound to heal.

"Damn it, don't you think disguising yourself as livestock to infiltrate Juxin Temple is absurd? Any Sword Cultivator there would spot something amiss at a glance!"

"Who knows? The rules of the Twenty-Eight Sword Tombs are so bizarre; two oxen seeking the Dao probably won't attract much attention," replied Ye Zhuo Daoist with a shrug of indifference. Realizing Li Mo remained unmoved, he hurriedly added, "Once the Donkey Guest wakes, you won't even have time to crawl inside!"

"Heh."

Li Mo couldn't be bothered to respond. Having figured out Ye Zhuo Daoist's diversionary tactics, he naturally had a far more refined plan of his own.

He recalled how he'd previously infiltrated Black Wind Ridge, a Secret Realm formed by Deceit Beasts, masking his aura with a Low Grade Magical Artifact called [Beast Heart].

If hiding in an ox's stomach worked, there was no reason why a Magic Artifact couldn't do the job.

Li Mo quietly activated his Artifact Refining Divine Power. Using Beast Heart as the core, he nurtured a similar-functioning High Grade Magic Artifact Catalog.

[Deceitful Person]

[Refined using remnants of Deceitful Objects, with the Evergreen Tree Fruit Core and Deceitful Creature Blood and Flesh, tempered with Blood Spiritual Power until completion]

This will do!

Li Mo cast a sidelong glance at Ye Zhuo Daoist, who suddenly felt a foreboding unease.

"You…"

Li Mo grabbed two yellow ox hides airing nearby and began tempering them with Turbid Blood Spiritual Power.

Ye Zhuo Daoist's scalp tingled.

He could hear the slowing breaths of the Donkey Guest—a sign that the Big Night Wanderer was about to awaken—causing his face to twist into an expression of despair.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother! At most, there's a half-hour before the Donkey Guest rises!"

"Even if you had some kind of Concealing Breath Magic Artifact Catalog, there's no time to refine it now!"

Li Mo chuckled softly, "It's enough."

"You're far too audacious; sooner or later, you're going to drag me down…"

Before Ye Zhuo Daoist could finish speaking, he abruptly fell silent.

The sound of bones growing echoed chillingly as, under his horrified gaze, over a dozen arms sprouted from Li Mo's ribs.

The shadow of Li Mo's body cast on the ground resembled a monstrosity bristling with countless limbs.

The livestock instinctively panicked, and Ye Zhuo Daoist hurriedly cast a spell to calm them down, fearing the chaos might lead to their loss.

"Refining, eh? I happen to be rather adept," Li Mo sneered.

Ye Zhuo Daoist, cursing silently, prepared to retort but was stunned speechless.

Li Mo's arms moved swiftly, weaving through the beast fur with blurred speed akin to a hurricane.

"Shhh…"

Ye Zhuo Daoist inhaled sharply.

What shocked him most was the absence of Spiritual Power fluctuations from Li Mo's refining process.

This made it evident that every arm Li Mo controlled operated with pinpoint precision, wasting not even a wisp of Spiritual Power.

Before Ye Zhuo Daoist could recover, two Magic Artifact Embryos crafted from ox hides had already taken shape.

Judging from their quality, they were flawless—completely free of any crude imperfections.

"I… admit defeat," Ye Zhuo Daoist muttered.

"But just Magic Artifact Embryos alone won't suffice to mask our aura in the Night Parade of Hundred Demons. There's bound to be gaps."

Li Mo didn't answer. He immediately proceeded with the next refinement phase, as more arms sprouted from his ribs.

Given his current level of Artifact Refining Skill, he had a thirty to forty percent chance of even crafting a Magic Treasure, let alone a Hundred Refinement Magical Artifact.

Ye Zhuo Daoist could only stare in stunned silence as the Magic Artifact Embryos gradually reached Hundred Refinements quality—all in the time it took to brew a cup of tea.

Watching Li Mo's expression, it was clear he wasn't entirely satisfied yet.

"Let's try it out; it should work."

Li Mo refined the Deceitful Person. The Magic Artifact fully enveloped his body, erasing all traces of Sword Cultivator aura and morphing his appearance into that of an upright, walking yellow ox.

Even with Ye Zhuo Daoist's seasoned eye, he couldn't discern any flaws.

"How does it look?"

"Honestly, compared to you, there's probably no one in the entire Heavenly Sword Sect who's actually good at refining. All they care about is their damn Lifebound Flying Swords," Ye Zhuo Daoist lamented, unable to hide the envy in his gaze as he swallowed hard.

The primary function of the Deceitful Person was to mimic Sword Ghosts, but it also provided protection and Concealing Breath capabilities, leaving Ye Zhuo Daoist momentarily coveting its usefulness.

After identifying areas for improvement, Li Mo continued refining the Deceitful Person.

Soon, the artifact reached Hundred Refinements, with faint traces of Spirit Patterns becoming visible—an indication of potential for promotion to a Fake Magical Treasure in two to three hundred years of nurturing.

"Here, take it. Consider it a token of our mutually beneficial collaboration."

"Today, I've realized why you, Senior Brother, are among the Thirteen Immortals. With your talent, achieving the rank of Land Immortal is almost certain."

Ye Zhuo Daoist sighed in admiration. It was no wonder that the disciples of the Thunder Residence Sword Tomb spoke of Yu Xiao with such palpable dread.

The divide between the mortal and the immortal was immense—a gulf as wide as heaven and earth.

Heavy breathing emanated from the direction of the main hall.

Li Mo tossed the Deceitful Person to a yellow ox. Then, from the center of his palm, a bulge emerged, and in an instant, a Giant Stomach Worm crawled out.

To err on the side of caution, staying in the ox's stomach temporarily wasn't out of the question.

The Giant Stomach Worm swallowed Li Mo whole before slipping into another yellow ox's mouth. Soon, the ox's brain tissue was infested with cancer cells.

"A Gu Technique?"

Ye Zhuo Daoist hesitated but was quickly jolted back to his senses by the immense pressure emanating from the Donkey Guest.

The yellow ox bent its head down to approach the Magic Artifact as Ye Zhuo Daoist extended an arm from its esophagus, grabbing hold of the Deceitful Person and immediately refining it.

A moment later.

Various livestock began letting out incessant wails.

Footsteps from the Donkey Guest echoed as it began moving toward the streets outside Che Xu Temple.

Ye Zhuo Daoist exhaled in relief. Although Sword Ghosts lacked spiritual wisdom as Big Night Wanderers, Night Patrol Deities acted entirely on instinct.

As soon as the Donkey Guest left, chaos erupted within Che Xu Temple.

Foamy snorts streamed from the nostrils of the livestock, their gazes at one another filled with unrestrainable greed and hunger etched deep into their bones.

Before long, a gruesome slaughter unfolded inside Che Xu Temple.

In a distant corner, the two yellow oxen exchanged a glance before quietly slipping out of the side hall, fortunately avoiding any unknown taboos within the temple.

When they reached the courtyard walls, the yellow oxen refused to move further.

"The Donkey Guest's taboos must be different now. A hundred years ago, it was possible to take them out," Ye Zhuo Daoist growled as he climbed out of the ox's stomach.

Aided by his cancer cells, Li Mo remained unaffected, but the yellow ox stood out too conspicuously in the streets, compelling him to extract the Giant Stomach Worm.

Both men climbed over the courtyard walls, arriving at a cold and damp alleyway.

Over eighty percent of the Sword Ghosts had already migrated to the bustling marketplaces of various city districts, making the two men's current location relatively safe.

Once properly cloaked in Concealing Breath Robes, they disguised themselves as Sword Ghosts of the Little Night Wanderer level.

They began heading toward Juxin Temple.

By now, it was already past midnight. Occasionally they encountered a Sword Ghost—but all of them were massive Big Night Wanderers over a hundred meters tall, patrolling the various corners of Purple Sun Palace.

Li Mo noticed that even shadow puppets were converging toward the Teaching Daoist Temple.

The scene mirrored the chaos before the Cosmic Collapse, when mortals huddled together, only to be screened by Outer Elders for Spirit Roots and taken into the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Li Mo considered the Teaching Daoist Temple to likely hold a fragment of the larger truth.

Back then, the Heavenly Sword Sect had turned mortals into shadow puppets. Could it really have been only for profit?

"The night is still young. Why don't we check out the marketplace [Sea Forest] near Juxin Temple? I've heard Sword Ghosts are trading resources there."

Sea Forest was one of the ancient black markets established by the Heavenly Sword Sect, located at the foot of the Sword Tomb.

"There will be time for that later…"

Li Mo suddenly sensed something, his pupils shrinking as he grabbed Ye Zhuo Daoist and ducked into an abandoned temple.

They held their breath.

Above them stood a thousand-meter-tall giant whose body was formed of decayed, viscous liquid, covered with an overwhelming number of eyes.

With every breath, dust rose into the air.

The giant carried an oppressive presence, its countless eyes scanning the city below.

It did not linger long, disappearing into the dark depths of the night within a few steps, likely traversing Purple Sun Palace to another area entirely.

"The Night Patrol Deity [Mountain Patrol]."

"I only know the most basic of Mountain Patrol's taboos—[Mountain Observation]. If it gazes upon you, and you so much as think of mountains in your heart, your flesh turns to stone."

Ye Zhuo Daoist laughed carelessly, "Well, lucky us. Mountain Patrol rarely appears in Purple Sun Palace; it usually wanders around Yanri Palace."

"Night Patrol Deities pay us no mind. There's been no disturbance, so clearly your Magic Artifact is holding up well."

Before its transformation, Mountain Patrol had been an Elder of the Law Enforcement Hall named [Yue Zhuang]. In life, he had reached the cultivation level of Half-step Land Immortal, but death had come via the crushing force of a mountain—how ironic.

"Such is the absurdity of the Cosmic Collapse," Ye Zhuo Daoist remarked.

Li Mo interrupted, "Will our appearance stand out at Juxin Temple?"

"Juxin Temple is full of Elder Wu Xin's numerous disciples-turned-Sword Ghosts. All of them are nothing but degraded demons and ghosts; no one will identify us."

"Let's move quickly."

The two yellow oxen scurried off, vanishing without a trace.