For ten-odd years, the toad poison beast had trekked its path and was now near the central region of the Blessed Land Cave Heaven. Inevitably, it detected strange anomalies emanating from the water well.
Unfortunately, Li Mo and the other two were all in secluded cultivation.
A Poison Martial Artist patrolling the city walls of Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop suddenly caught a whiff of a sickly sweet odor that churned one’s stomach.
The peculiar smell wasn’t strikingly pungent. Yet, it caused a crawling itch across his back, as if ants were burrowing underneath his skin.
Before the Poison Martial Artist could react, countless eyeballs erupted across his back. His flesh and blood began uncontrollably mutating into grotesque shapes.
To prevent him from transforming into a deceitful object, his comrades promptly severed all four of his limbs.
The city walls quickly descended into chaos.
The resounding clang of bronze gongs signaling alarm echoed throughout the area. Beast Cultivators responded quickly, pouring jar after jar of corpse wine into a bronze tripod to boil.
As the aroma of the wine began permeating the air, the calamity caused by Blessed Land Cave Heaven was only barely brought under control.
Li Baoquan surveyed his surroundings. The entire town seemed as though it was preparing for imminent war. The street stalls along the roads vanished one after another as the townsfolk whispered amongst themselves.
Even he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of fear.
It wasn’t until a Core Formation Beast Cultivator stepped in to maintain order that he let out a long breath of relief.
The atmosphere grew subtly oppressive. After all, the three figures considered pillars of Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop were all outside, secluded in breakthrough cultivation.
They couldn’t intervene in the movements of the toad poison beast and could only watch helplessly as the poison beast circled, inching closer to the mouth of the well.
Almost like the sundial, using the projection of the sun to reveal the passage of time.
By the well stood three poison beasts. Each was larger than the toad poison beast, with the most colossal leech poison beast stretching over two thousand meters.
The poison beasts kept a considerable distance between each other, yet they continuously sent manpower toward Blessed Land Cave Heaven.
The forces allied with the leech poison beast seemed to belong to a sect affiliated with the Heavenly Sword Sect. Four Nascent Soul Sword Cultivators stood atop the city walls.
Their bodies were draped in mourning clothes, faces pallid and drained of color. A sword blade pierced through each of their chests, and blood dribbled steadily along the edges of their garments.
Master Luo Hua stroked his long beard, his expression tinged with oddity.
"Which faction is this?"
"Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop. It is said to be occupied by a small faction called the Heart Beast Sect."
Master Fan Hua interjected, "Heart Beast Sect is hardly a small faction. With Elder Qing Mountain behind them, they are more than capable of clashing with Five Hidden Sword Feihong."
"Five Hidden Sword has long been annihilated, and Feihong is merely a name to evoke bygone glory."
As the conversation reached this point, Master Luo Hua couldn’t help but interject, "What difference does an affiliated sect make to the Heavenly Sword Sect?"
"Although we have no mandatory requirement to gain much from the Blood Sword Intent here, if we go back empty-handed, we’ll undoubtedly follow in Five Hidden Sword’s footsteps someday."
The Sword Cultivators remained silent, forcing Master Luo Hua to soften his tone.
"Fortunately, the Heart Beast Sect only has Elder Qing Mountain at Nascent Soul Stage. No matter how powerful he might be, he won’t stand a chance against the sect’s flying sword..."
A surge of air exploded atop the toad poison beast’s head, and the clouds in the sky above fragmented into a spider web pattern—a sign that someone was about to achieve Nascent Soul.
"What audacity from the Heart Beast Sect, daring to break the golden core and become an infant at this very location!"
Master Fan Hua shoved his arm into his chest, seemingly digging for something. A segment of intestines slipped out, releasing a potent stench of blood.
"Luhua, my junior brother, join me in beheading this person to consecrate our swords."
Master Luo Hua’s expression turned grave as he extended a hand to block them. Another anomaly had erupted.
Clouds of dust coalesced into the shape of a mountain lord, standing atop a sea of corpses and bones. Yet the mountain lord’s phenomenon was clearly less impressive than the spider one—excessive yet hollow.
"One person achieving promotion may be a coincidence, but two? Tsk tsk tsk."
Master Luo Hua suppressed his aura, lowered his head, and said, "Remember the sect’s flying sword [Mother] and its taboo—this gamble isn’t worth the risk."
Master Fan Hua let out a cold snort, yet his agitated mental state was somewhat soothed.
"Don’t worry. Aren’t there still two nests of devil pups? They’ll surely test the waters for us."
The scorpion poison beast, situated closer to the leech poison beast, began to show signs of restlessness due to the aura leaking out of Qinghong Workshop. This clearly followed the actions of the toad poison beast.
The scorpion poison beast’s back was dotted with over ten structures resembling ant mounds that rose like small mountain ranges.
Here, demon cultivators moved about draped in beast skins.
The beast skins were clearly integrated with their flesh, with seepage of pus oozing along the sewn seams.
Skin Painting Sect, once at its peak, rivaled mid-sized demon sects but suffered a drastic fall after being besieged by Taoist forces. Now, it shows signs of revival.
Blood-soaked human skins morphed into an old woman who swiftly left the poison beast’s domain.
Crawling on all fours, her form resembled that of a fox. Her spine emerged from her back, functioning as a tail to stabilize her balance.
"Jie jie jie, Fellow Daoist Luo Kai, this humble one shall proceed ahead."
"Hogging it all for yourself?!!"
Still in seclusion, Luo Shan detected the phenomenon from the toad poison beast’s core formation attempt. Overwhelmed by greed, he hastily followed behind the old woman.
"Freshly formed Nascent Souls are tender and delectable. Old Fox, don’t dream of taking it all for yourself!"
A newly promoted Nascent Soul Stage cultivator’s spiritual power isn’t yet stabilized, making them far weaker than those of the same stage and their Nascent Soul easier to extract intact.
Luo Kai burned with fervent desire.
A Nascent Soul could be utilized for learning evil techniques or refining devil sect magic artifacts. Even a dead baby stage Nascent Soul was of immeasurable value.
"I recall that Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop is merely held by a small sect. Two cultivators achieving Nascent Soul—and the opponents of similar stage are far outnumbered..."
Luo Kai suddenly felt something amiss and scanned Qinghong Workshop with Divine Sense.
He found an army of beast cultivators on high alert, with the phenomenons stemming from the poison beast’s head. Faintly visible amidst the Gang Wind was a silhouette.
The figure stood shirtless, letting the harsh winds lash against his flesh.
The Gang Wind, capable of obliterating high-grade magical artifacts, didn’t harm him in the slightest but only made the tattoos covering his body appear vibrantly striking.
"Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop, Beast Cultivator, Nascent Soul Beast Cultivator..."
Luo Kai’s expression shifted from greed to terror in a fraction of a moment. His knees gave way, and he collapsed into the dirt.
From between his clenched teeth, he squeezed out four words, "Elder Qing Mountain!!!"
The old woman glanced at him with suspicion, her voice dark and warning, "Luo Kai, Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop has only one Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. We should join forces to deal with him quickly—don’t think to make me hold him off alone."
Luo Kai spun around without hesitation, fleeing back toward the scorpion poison beast in disgrace.
"Just one Nascent Soul Stage cultivator? I fear even all the Nascent Soul cultivators here wouldn’t be enough for him to massacre."
Luo Kai had heard rumors of Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop and knew it was backed by the Heart Beast Sect but had always assumed Elder Qing Mountain wouldn’t intervene.
No one knew better than him—after all, he had once taken a Heart Demon Oath in True Void Hometown.
Li Mo’s official identity was merely that of an ordinary beast cultivator, though in truth, he was one of the Thirteen Immortals of No-Life Sect.
Qinghong Workshop, in essence, was nothing more than trouble stirred up by the Twelve Immortals. Luo Kai had thought Li Mo wouldn’t get involved, yet the opposite proved true.
"Damn it, if you wanted resources, you could’ve just asked your own senior sister directly—why risk coming to Blessed Land Cave Heaven..."
Luo Kai muttered to himself, secretly making a resolution in his heart.
If Skin Painting Sect truly desired to butt heads with Poison Clothing Qinghong Workshop, Luo Kai was ready to betray his fellow demon sect members entirely—after all, no law was sacred within demon sects.
The old woman, despite her thousand-year age, saw Luo Kai fleeing in panic and hesitated, her movements faltering.
"This humble woman truly is old and cowardly—never mind, forget it."
She chose instead to stand and watch from a safe distance.
Skin Painting Sect and Blood Sword Intent, typically reckless, had rendered the magic sect Soul Summoning Lamp of the centipede poison beast completely ineffective—their forces were the weakest by far.
Until the cries of an infant rang out.
But the source was neither of the two beast cultivators breaking golden cores to form Nascent Souls—it was Li Mo amidst the Gang Wind.
As the soul-devouring demon infant advanced to Nascent Soul Stage, a mysterious apparition of a strange Taoist child materialized behind Li Mo.
The towering apparition had a feral, oversized visage filled with rows of needle-like teeth covering every inch of its face. Savage mouths sprouted from its palms, chest, and abdomen.
"Smack smack smack..."
The Taoist apparition bowed.
Within a hundred-mile radius, the turbid blood spiritual energy surged into its terrible maw.
The Elder Mingdeng of the Soul Summoning Lamp narrowed his pupils in disbelief, finding the absurdity incomprehensible.
How could the Heart Beast Sect dare? Their sole Nascent Soul Stage cultivator chose now to attempt seclusion and breakthrough—was it not better to await companions also forming Nascent Souls?
Mingdeng suspected the other factions were hesitating out of fear of the Nascent Soul beast cultivator.
But his breakthrough demanded concentrated energy to suppress the Nascent Soul; otherwise, deviation was inevitable. There was no time to waste.
"What bravado from Heart Beast Sect—I’ll keep their severed heads in my lantern for a century!"
Mingdeng twisted off his own head, holding it aloft, and ascended skyward with his lantern.
He deemed himself sufficient for the task, leaving another Nascent Soul demon cultivator to safeguard Qinghong Workshop as he rushed toward the toad poison beast without delay.
Li Mo’s body, impervious to the Gang Wind, didn’t deter Mingdeng—his greed was nearly palpable.
"Top-tier sacrificial offerings for blood rituals, perfect for refining lanterns."
"Alas, Luo Kai misled me."
The old woman was full of regret, watching Mingdeng’s figure draw closer by the second.
Only Master Luo Hua noticed that Li Mo showed no panic as the phenomenon abruptly disappeared. He opened his eyes, locking them onto Mingdeng.
The head Mingdeng held unleashed eerie flames. "Heh heh, pretending all-coiled strength? This old man sees through your farce in one glance."
"You’ve disturbed my cultivation."
Li Mo continued stabilizing his turbid blood spiritual power while extending his right hand.
From the palm of his hand, a fissure split open, revealing a writhing beast embryo-like tumor.
"Dual... Dual Nascent Souls?"
Mingdeng screamed with agonized roars as his spiritual power violently erupted, his flesh and bones succumbing to grotesque mutations.
Luo Kai’s Daoist robe soaked in sweat, sending telepathic messages to Li Mo in a desperate bid for favor.
From Mingdeng’s body, intestines morphed into python; his heart into monkey; his liver into possum; his spleen into hyena; his lungs into pig...
Bit by bit, eerie beasts burrowed out from his skin, carrying his Nascent Soul as they flew toward Li Mo.
The Nascent Soul cultivators sat up straight and tense.
In mere seconds, a dead baby stage demon cultivator had perished before their eyes, his organs transforming into lifelike beasts.
Elder Qing Mountain’s methods far exceeded their imagination.
Li Mo stowed Mingdeng’s corpse away as if nothing had transpired, calmly stating, "Heart Beast Sect has always adhered to the principle of harmony and prosperity. Coming to Blessed Land Cave Heaven is merely to make friends far and wide."
"I’ve accepted your grand gift; why not sit down for a chat about Blessed Land Cave Heaven?"
The Nascent Soul cultivators were unnerved; Luo Kai was the first to respond.
"It’s only proper, completely proper."
"Once the poison beast settles, I’ll represent Skin Painting Sect and visit."
Luo Kai’s words left the other factions with no choice but to agree, as if Heart Beast Sect were a towering and inscrutable major sect.