The memories surging from the Creation Book were fleeting, yet they left Li Mo momentarily lost in thought.

"So, the Twenty-Eight Sword Tombs are crafted from the skulls of twenty-eight True Immortals? Although not complete Immortal Bodies, they can still be considered Immortal Bones?"

What shocked Li Mo even more was, what kind of unimaginable power could decapitate True Immortals and forge Sword Tombs? Could it be related to Chunyangzi's Mortal Transformation?

"If mortals can threaten Immortals, then how has the Heavenly Sword Sect managed to survive?"

"And... what price did Chunyangzi pay in the end?"

Li Mo helplessly pinched the bridge of his nose, commanding the Spider Sword Orb to cease its reconstruction, while he kept mulling over the subtle hints in the Creation Book's memories.

"In the cemetery I see, there are exactly 113,651 gravestones, each buried in distinct areas according to the branches of the Heavenly Sword Sect."

"Judging by the carvings on the wooden plaques, 30,000 of those were erected after Chunyangzi's Mortal Transformation."

Squinting his eyes, Li Mo murmured to himself, "The depth of the engravings varies greatly. Some even retain dried bloodstains. If that's the case, Chunyangzi's tomb-making process may have taken over twenty years."

"Hiss…"

Li Mo inhaled sharply, "The slightly newer inscriptions are noticeably shallower, suggesting that by then Chunyangzi was already frail and in decline."

"He… he could decapitate True Immortals?"

"Yet he could barely manage carving grave inscriptions—how could this contradiction be possible?"

"Or… was it perhaps not Chunyangzi who slew the True Immortals?"

Li Mo remained noncommittal, though deep down he leaned toward believing that it was indeed Chunyangzi's doing. The truth of Heaven and Earth's upheaval must be earth-shattering and transformative.

Perhaps the price was immense, but the weight of truth far exceeded what anyone could imagine.

"Muddied Spiritual Energy, cursed Immortality, Sect decline, Immortals perishing, ascension severed, the immortal ladder broken, and the masses driven insane…"

The true mastermind behind the revelations from the Fire Spirit Hall—could they intend to use the truth to change the Immortal-Mortal Realms and trigger another Heaven and Earth upheaval?

"Something doesn't feel right."

Li Mo suddenly found a gap in his logic.

"If regressing to a mortal state could grant some kind of immense power, there should've been countless cultivators mimicking Chunyangzi during the Heaven and Earth upheaval."

"Mortal Transformation isn't that simple..."

Li Mo's eyes brightened, "Merely dispersing one's cultivation is useless; the body and Divine Sense remain far beyond the norm. True Mortal Transformation requires the complete abandonment of spirit."

Looking at the contemporary Cultivation World, no trace of Mortal Transformation techniques exists at all.

Perhaps in ancient cultivation times, such techniques existed, and Chunyangzi must have used a similar method to undergo the Transformation.

But eight thousand years had passed, and the environment had utterly changed.

"What a joke. With the Death Disease spreading today, even the Land Immortals would lose control immediately without the protection of spirit if they dared to attempt Mortal Transformation."

They would ultimately degenerate into indescribable Deceitful Objects instead.

Li Mo stroked his chin thoughtfully, "The mastermind is definitely not acting alone. San Sheng is likely just a pawn in their schemes."

To orchestrate the calamity at the Fire Spirit Hall, relying only on San Sheng would inevitably lead to flaws.

"But people harbor selfish motives. San Sheng may not have disclosed the truth to others. Moreover, San Sheng has already erased all traces of his own existence."

"If... if I were San Sheng, what would I do after leaving the Heavenly Sword Sect?"

Li Mo thought for a moment before blurting out, "I'd seek out a secluded region populated by mortals and experiment with the secrets of Mortal Transformation on them."

"Physical constitutions might not be identical, so San Sheng would likely allow the mortals to mutate out of control, becoming monsters whose necks sprout fleshy, blood-soaked tendrils."

"What a pity."

Li Mo's gaze sharpened, "Even if I've guessed San Sheng's plans, there's little I can do to stop it. At least there's enough time to prepare in advance."

On one hand, the number of cultivators who understand the true nature of Heaven and Earth's upheaval is countless, and some may have been secretly studying Mortal Transformation techniques for millennia without discovering a solution.

On the other hand, Li Mo had no idea where San Sheng was hiding.

"Erasing one's presence isn't some kind of Magic Technique. It must rely on an Immortal Body, perhaps even capable of overriding others to assume their identity."

Li Mo's expression flickered between joy and sorrow.

The Heaven and Earth upheaval wouldn't repeat itself in the short term, but it seemed he was the only one in the world capable of cultivating the ancient Mortal Transformation technique.

Li Mo had survived the Death Disease near flawlessly, leaving the risk of losing control post-Transformation exceedingly small.

"San Sheng's sudden actions must have been probing the extent of my Body-Soul Transformation. After all, I exhibit no fear of alteration."

Fortunately, many of Li Mo's methods were intertwined with mutation—whether it was the Tattooed Beast, Da Ai Mi Tian, or even forcibly merging the Buddha Demon Body, which caused his Externalized Dharma Body to appear unusually unstable.

San Sheng perceived Li Mo to be all bluff, and thus lost interest.

"Damn it..."

Li Mo cursed under his breath, then activated Da Ai Mi Tian.

His body revealed faint traces of the Death Disease; over the next centuries, he would have to ensure the decay gradually appeared indistinguishable from ordinary cultivators' conditions.

"In a sense, the Death Disease is both a curse and a boon…"

"Wait!!!"

Li Mo's pupils contracted, "Regardless of the Death Disease's origin, whether it's an Immortal Body curse or otherwise—if it's deliberately induced…"

"Could it have been designed to thwart the dangers of Mortal Transformation, even at the cost of subjecting humanity to endless torment?"

He remembered Chunyangzi kneeling before graves in his memories.

Chunyangzi had solemnly sworn to the countless mounds, "Disciple Chunyangzi has discovered the Great Dao to stabilize a world in chaos."

If the Death Disease was human-engineered, it must be intimately tied to Chunyangzi.

Li Mo, aside from his shock, sensed pure despair in Chunyangzi's heart—a despair that rendered the future utterly meaningless.

"This world is beyond salvation."

The world had decayed beyond repair, and only complete burial might restore a flicker of hope.

"Once upon a time, Chunyangzi, did you utter a similar lament?"

Li Mo's breathing quickened, his Mental Realm momentarily unsettled, but it swiftly stabilized as he focused his gaze on the Creation Book within his Mud Pill Palace.

"No, it's far from over, at least for me."

Moo~

The lowing of the Yang Niu interrupted Li Mo's thoughts.

A cow's head emerged from the ground, spitting out a saliva-soaked Sword Scroll.

Li Mo picked up the Jade Scroll and found it recorded the Flame Sword Dao inheritance, most likely delivered by Bi Hengguang through the Yang Niu.

With the Flame Sword Dao inheritance, he could nurture the Three-section Immortal Bone.

"Many thanks to Senior Yang Niu."

Li Mo bowed respectfully, then retrieved several jars of Corpse Wine from his Storage Bag, which the Yang Niu eagerly swallowed with its tongue.

"Senior Yang Niu, may I exchange for some other sect techniques?"

Li Mo had skimmed through the unorthodox inheritances gifted by Lu Yuan; they were mostly Outer Disciple sword techniques, incompatible with his needs.

It was clear that from Lu Yuan's perspective, techniques outside the Heavenly Sword Sect weren't even worth considering—not even within the realm of unorthodox methods.

Primarily, Li Mo needed a dual cultivation technique suitable for his Artifact Infant.

The Yang Niu showed no hesitation, nodding repeatedly before opening its mouth. Li Mo reached his arm into its stomach.

He discovered hundreds of Jade Scrolls inside, likely spoils of war Lu Yuan carelessly fed to the Yang Niu after killing their owners.

Li Mo couldn't directly read the scrolls' content, but simply by examining the patterns on their surfaces, he could deduce their origins and sect inheritances.

Thanks to his Tao Seed deduction, a Nascent Soul Stage cultivation technique would suffice.

"The Melting Furnace stems from Artifact Refining techniques. For dual cultivation, I could either choose Pill Cultivation, enhancing compatibility between tools and pills, or Body Cultivation, leveraging blood vitality to augment the Melting Furnace's power."

There were three options for Pill Cultivation: [Guodan Mountain], [Dan Ghost Sect], and [Heart King Pill].

And two options for Body Cultivation: [Fetus-born Demon] and [Shan Warrior].

The inheritances originated from medium to small sects but were all from core disciples, suggesting they likely contained Nascent Soul Stage techniques.

Li Mo cast a quick glance at the Yang Niu, which appeared indifferent.

"Senior Yang Niu probably thinks they hold little value, so I might as well take them all."

Li Mo grabbed five Jade Scrolls, his arm encountering slight resistance as he withdrew, though the Yang Niu showed no anger.

"Senior Yang Niu, are there any updates on the Grave Mound Sword Tomb that Lu Yuan mentioned?"

Moo~

The Yang Niu shook its head and then vanished without a trace.

Li Mo could only chuckle bitterly, "Looks like I didn't take enough. If it were Ye Zhuo Daoist, he'd probably attempt to seize everything at once. But that's fine."

"Lu Yuan always uses the Yang Niu to communicate. There will be plenty of opportunities to extract benefits bit by bit. Hehe."

Li Mo resumed his Dao Body Fusion, with the Spider Sword Orb scuttling across his body inside and out.

The Thunder Residence Sword Body comprised two facets beyond the Great Sun Sword Body, while the Flame Sword Body embodied twenty-eight facets in total.

Having experienced the Great Sun Sword Bone triggering a Sword Tomb's riot, Li Mo now approached merging the Thunder Residence Sword Body with caution, keeping his aura tightly controlled.

When a single droplet of marrow fluid sprouted from the Thunder Residence Sword Bone, thunder erupted violently.

Li Mo exerted maximum effort to suppress the cancer cells, barely managing to contain the Thunder Residence Sword Bone's aura.

"How about naming this newly formed Dao Body [Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone]?"

Li Mo now possessed four Dao Bodies: [Great Wilderness Immortal Body], [Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone], [Innate Saint], and [Primordial Fragment].

The Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone had not yet reached the state of an Immortal Body but was showing the embryonic form of one. Once enough sword bones were accumulated, it would naturally break through.

"Interesting."

Li Mo playfully activated the Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone.

His aura shifted, transforming into the [Yang Thunder Sword Body], which fused the Taiyi Sword Body with the Absolute Thunder Sword Body. Immediately, his aura shifted again into the [Flash Sword Body], a fusion of the Fire Sun Sword Body and Flash Thunder Sword Body.

The original spirit patterns marking the bones had completely vanished, signifying a profound change in the Dao Body's nature.

Li Mo's ability to manipulate the Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone was still rudimentary, limited to simulating the advanced Dao Bodies currently known within the Heavenly Sword Sect using its sword bones.

"When I've fully mastered the Ten Thousand Sword Immortal Bone, it might even allow me to enhance myself using multiple sword bones simultaneously."

After refining all his spinal bones into sword embryos, Li Mo began diligently fusing the third spinal bone with the Flame Sword Body.

He didn't rush to study the Body or Pill Cultivation techniques but instead reviewed the unorthodox Sword Scrolls first. He discovered that even the Outer Disciple methods featured sword bodies.

Outer Disciple sword bodies were simply imitations of the Inner Sect's version.

Lacking any insights into Immortal Bodies, these Outer Sect sword bodies had a much lower ceiling, often inferior even to Acquired Dao Bodies. Typically, Sword Cultivators would switch to Inner Sect sword bodies upon promotion.

Yet, Li Mo treated these findings as treasures, potentially useful for his future endeavors in creating new sword bones.

After committing the Sword Scroll's contents to memory, he destroyed them with Sword Intent.

Recalling that the Void Refining Stage Elders present back then likely included moles, he took precautions to ensure the scrolls weren't secretly tampered with.

Once everything was done,

He focused intently on the Guodan Mountain inheritance.

The technique was named [Body Refining Blood Technique].

It distinctly differed from the Guodan Mountain methods once gifted by Hehe Fruit.

While Hehe Fruit was a Guodan Mountain Elder, he didn't belong to the sect's direct lineage. His ability to reach the Nascent Soul Stage largely relied on his exceptional Dao Body aptitude for support.

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