Longevity Strange Immortal

"Urgh… urgh… urgh…"

A loose cultivator convulsed violently, his expression becoming unreasonably frenzied as excess flesh grew outward from his facial features, pushing out grotesquely, his aura a chaotic mess.

Amid the sound of bone fragments shattering, the so-called Mountain King slowly crawled out from the remains of the broken corpse.

The Mountain King barely retained a human-like shape; its flesh and bones were terribly distorted, exuding the unique aura of a deceitful object, saliva dripping from its oral organs.

Upon entering the marketplace, its first reaction was a frenzied binge, shoving food into its mouth uncontrollably.

The stimulation of food slightly subdued the Mountain King's mutation; it muttered odd phrases incessantly, repeatedly shouting about hunger.

Mixed into its ramblings was a woman's name.

"Hmm?"

Li Mo furrowed his brows slightly.

In truth, deceitful objects sometimes retained spiritual wisdom; Li Mo had encountered ones that preserved memories from their past lives. However, the Mountain King was notably unique.

It seemed that the regression of the mutation had partially revived its pre-mutation memories.

Typically, once a cultivator succumbed to death disease and mutated into a deceitful object, consuming an unimaginable amount of resources wouldn't restore normalcy.

Yet here, the Mountain King displayed a few faintly mortal traits, surprising Li Mo.

Li Mo suspected that the Ten Thousand Demon Dao sought to transform deceitful objects into pure mortals.

"Hungry! So hungry, ahhh!!"

The Mountain King devoured the food completely but still remained in its mutated state. Its face bore traces of its former appearance—no older than a young man in his early twenties—but its expression was consumed by despair.

It pointed at Li Mo, gibbering incomprehensibly.

For deceitful objects, possessing memories was not a blessing—it represented an endless suffering, driving them to teeter constantly on the verge of losing control.

"Senior, you…"

Cui Fu glanced toward Li Mo, standing not far away. The latter remained motionless, seemingly paralyzed by the residual aura of the deceitful object.

Li Mo studied the Mountain King closely.

"Time is short. After the interruption from the Three Pure Heavens and the emergence of false immortals, the Taoist and Demon factions are already barely maintaining their facade of cooperation."

"I can't afford to dither any longer. Within a century, I must reach Void Refining Stage Perfection."

A flash of killing intent passed through Li Mo's eyes.

Better my fellow daoist dies than me, he thought. With worldwide upheaval on the brink, if he continued to hesitate, he would likely face an inevitable death.

Roar!!!

The Mountain King lunged forward on all fours, seemingly attempting to suppress its pain through frenzied consumption.

Li Mo raised his arm.

Blood energy surged as spiderweb-like cracks spread across the ground. Cancer cells coursed madly through his bloodstream, pushing the limits of his physical strength.

The marketplace fell eerily silent.

Bang.

In the instant Li Mo engaged with the Mountain King, the deceitful object was incapable of withstanding even a fraction of his strength. Its flesh bloated uncontrollably, its bones snapping into pieces.

Cui Fu's jaw hung slightly agape. When he snapped back to reality, the Mountain King had already been reduced to a pile of flesh paste.

The marketplace was awash with filth, yet none of it had so much as touched Li Mo. Above, the break in the clouds stretched for ten miles, letting piercing sunlight beam through.

"Such unholy things roam freely everywhere."

Li Mo stomped hard, and cracks spread across Tuo Mountain.

From within the rock wall, rotting flesh oozing a black hue emerged, and the entire Tuo Mountain resembled a segment of intestinal cavity, reeking with putrid decay that made one sick to the stomach.

Inside, the intestines were truly a hell on earth, sealing hundreds of half-human, half-deceitful creatures, each with strength nearing the Divine Separation Stage.

Li Mo bent over, drilling into the crack, showcasing the immense power of his physical body.

It was purely a one-sided slaughter.

Cui Fu stood in disbelief, failing even to notice the snapping of the umbilical cord trailing down his back.

"What almighty figure is this? Nascent Soul Stage, perhaps? No—Divine Separation Stage? Yet why does it feel as if senior is so effortlessly dominant?"

After disposing of the deceitful objects, the Ghost Tiger enveloped an entire mountainside, devouring all the rotting flesh into the Artifact Pill Body—a mere sliver of its appetite.

Landing back in the marketplace, Li Mo saw that most trapped loose cultivators had already fled.

Li Mo casually tossed a jade pendant to Cui Dazhong and solemnly said, "Ke ke ke, let me offer you and your grandson a bit of advice: leave Tuo Mountain's black market immediately, and find a way to reach the port at the Outer Heaven Meteorite Crater."

"Linger in Tuo Mountain, and death is certain. The Demon Cultivators are bound to double back sooner or later."

Cui Fu hesitated for a few breaths before bowing respectfully. "Thank you, Senior, for your life-saving grace and enlightening words…"

Li Mo waved dismissively, prompting Cui Fu to depart hastily toward the foot of the mountain.

"Still an Acquired Dao Body… Quite rare among loose cultivators. If he makes it to the port, there's some hope of reaching Core Formation Stage."

Li Mo focused his thoughts, and the Ghost Tiger delivered a torn and worn piece of beast skin.

"Luo Kai, come out."

The beast skin sprouted facial features, and Luo Kai emerged, his smile tinged with an awkward unease. "I knew Sect Master would come to Tuo Mountain, so I drained my spiritual power, attaching myself to the deceitful objects to wait."

"Explain the situation in detail."

Not daring to withhold anything, Luo Kai shared the information he'd gathered with utmost clarity.

Just as Li Mo had suspected, the Ten Thousand Demon Dao had set their sights on mortals. Though the erosion caves held merely seven or eight hundred deceitful objects, the number of mortals consumed to create them exceeded fifty thousand.

In the past, constrained by Taoist sects, the Ten Thousand Demon Dao couldn't act so openly.

Now, however, their actions smacked of pre-catastrophe insanity.

The Ten Thousand Demon Dao seemed to be sacrificing human lives in pursuit of an unlikely outcome, their intentions regarding the disaster far less defined than those of the Three Pure Heavens.

"Leave now. Help me keep tabs on large sects."

Luo Kai licked his lips nervously. "Sect Master, I'm gravely wounded—how could I have the strength left?"

Li Mo's sly grin did not reach his eyes. A palm-sized Salamander materialized, its countless roots piercing into Luo Kai's flesh, eliciting heart-wrenching screams.

Moments later, Luo Kai's injuries stabilized.

"Luo Kai, wasn't your departure from the Devil Sect due to offending quite a few people?"

"Not at all…"

Faintly guilty, Luo Kai had indeed joined the Heart Beast Sect largely to curry favor with Li Mo, but also because he couldn't survive elsewhere.

"Do you recognize Void Refining Stage cultivators? Help me find out-of-place Void Refining Stage demon cultivators."

Luo Kai's eyelid twitched wildly.

Li Mo extracted numerous Nearby Arrays fixed onto a magic artifact's surface. "When you find demon cultivators, bury the array a thousand meters underground. Its aura upon activation won't be detectable by Void Refining Stage cultivators."

"I'll have Tian Changwen help coordinate. The intelligence gathered and refined by the Four Seas Commerce will be sent straight to you."

Luo Kai hesitated but ultimately accepted the arrays without further argument.

Li Mo patted Luo Kai on the shoulder. "Just five Void Refining Stage demon cultivators, and I'll provide you with the resources needed to promote to Divine Separation Stage, and personally perfect your cultivation technique."

"Hsss…"

Luo Kai's expression grew complicated. "I hardly know any Void Refining cultivators, but… I happen to be familiar with various branch locations of the Ten Thousand Demon Dao. Maybe visiting a few of my colleagues would make sense."

"Call it a public service—eliminating harm for the people."

Li Mo watched Luo Kai depart hurriedly before concealing himself in the shadows.

He closed his eyes and began cultivation. Three Dharma Bodies voraciously absorbed resources, allowing the Heavenly Gang Great Method to successfully advance to Nascent Soul Stage.

Half a month later.

The cancer cells detected a cultivator approaching through the sky.

A massive demon leader, a hundred meters in size, gruesomely chewing blood-soaked flesh, had arrived—it was Song Ren, a Void Refining Stage elder from the Sky Demon Sect.

Given that Tuo Mountain held numerous Divine Separation Stage deceitful objects, the Sky Demon Sect certainly wouldn't send ordinary disciples.

"A manifestation of the Three Pure Heavens?"

"For a body cultivator of this level, there shouldn't be many such figures in the Cultivation World."

Song Ren muttered cautiously, refraining from descending into Tuo Mountain, instead observing the traces of battle from afar, his expression growing increasingly heavy.

Li Mo spat forth his Lifebound Flying Sword.

Song Ren immediately sensed the presence of another Void Refining Stage cultivator. The demon leader began splitting apart, spewing forth a dense blood sea in preparation to retreat.

"Go."

The Lifebound Flying Sword emitted a resonant sword sound.

No sword qi appeared; the flying sword charged directly at Song Ren, its blade infused with life and death sword intent.

Song Ren's hair stood on end. His instincts compelled him to fixate on the Lifebound Flying Sword, overwhelmed by the sentiment it might strike him dead in an instant.

Bang.

Li Mo leaped high into the air and clasped his hands together.

"Open."

The flying sword was merely a distraction. A Purgatory Pure Land enveloped Song Ren in an instant, where two million Buddhas and evil ghosts orbited around the Buddha Demon Body.

"Ke ke ke, I've heard much of the peculiarities of the Sky Demon Sect's Taoist inheritance—today I'll witness it firsthand."

"You are…"

Song Ren, nothing more than a Fake Void Realm cultivator, found himself completely unable to counter the Purgatory Pure Land, unable even to unleash the Void Realm.

He intended to voice his threats, but Li Mo wasted no time, overpowering him entirely with the vast gulf of physical strength.

Li Mo elbowed the nonsense away.

Currently, he lacked the qualifications for a direct confrontation with the Ten Thousand Demon Dao; eliminating a Void Refining Stage cultivator created few ripples in the prevailing turmoil.

Still, if the Ten Thousand Demon Dao discovered Li Mo's intent in targeting demon cultivators, troubles would undoubtedly arise.

"Are you from the Heavenly Sword Sect? Don't you realize the Taoist and Demon factions have allied? With disaster looming, only we…"

"If the Ten Thousand Demon Dao genuinely cared about the disaster, it wouldn't be creating these half-human monstrosities."

Song Ren's expression darkened. He opened his mouth to argue further.

Li Mo landed a devastating blow to Song Ren's neck. Buddha Demon Spirit Power flooded the body, causing Song Ren to make strangled noises while rapidly losing control.

"Sky Demon Sect lives up to its name; demon leaders are already congregating at Tuo Mountain."

Observing the completed Substitute Dao Page, Li Mo threw Song Ren into the Artifact Pill Body. Moments later, he exerted force to vanish into the clouds.

Dozens of demon cultivators arrived at Tuo Mountain shortly after, surveyed the peaks briefly, and promptly retreated.

Leveraging the cancer cells, Li Mo discerned the Sky Demon Sect's subsequent plans but sighed to himself.

On the surface, the Cultivation World appeared calm; in reality, chaos loomed large. Among those aware of the calamity, Taoist and demon cultivators alike had begun plotting incessantly.

Some sought to prevent the calamity; others endeavored to accelerate its arrival; many aimed to exploit the chaos for personal gain. Amid the carnage, brutality had become commonplace.

The Four Seas Commerce's intelligence network proved its worth.

Whenever Void Refining Stage demon cultivators roamed near towns, Li Mo would rush to intercept, accumulating corpses steadily within the Artifact Pill Body.

The seventy-fifth year.

The Buddha Demon Body reached Refining Void Stage Perfection.

Li Mo discovered a fresh remnant of the No-Life Mother in the North Sea, now holding two Substitute Dao Pages.

The eighty-ninth year.

The Symbiotic Dharma Body and Artifact Pill Body followed suit.

The one hundred and sixteenth year.

Li Mo attained three Substitute Dao Pages, yet the location of additional No-Life Mother remnants remained unknown.

Land Immortals began emerging from seclusion, their whereabouts no longer so rare as every hundred years.

To mortals, it merely seemed environmental anomalies were cropping up everywhere—a mistaken perception of the walking deities who shaped reality unchecked.

Li Mo noticed a pervasive unease among the Land Immortals.

Even as some Land Immortals attempted to stymie the ever-accelerating signs of disaster, all efforts amounted to futile exercises.

...…

Southern provincial town.

A crowd of men, women, and children gathered outside a mansion, their attention drawn toward the cries of a newborn emanating from within.

"Isn't the old matron of the Chen family over three to four hundred years old? Half her body is already decayed, and yet she's carried a pregnancy for ten months. Surely, this must be some monstrous birth."

The townsfolk exchanged uncertain glances.

A soft breeze swept past, leaving their expressions vacant as they quietly dispersed.

The Time Sword emerged. "Baby?"

San Sheng responded, "No. A clump of rotted flesh."

"Have they gone mad? Or have we?"

"Does it even matter?"