The Child Ghost Head had only just begun circulating in the black market and had yet to appear in the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm.
Li Mo refrained from increasing the number of Child Ghost Heads, as he understood the principle of "too much can lead to the opposite result."
Even if the Child Ghost Head failed to serve its purpose, it would be no great loss to him.
As he patiently waited, his thoughts stirred restlessly, desiring to cultivate the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body.
Once he mastered the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body, his constitution would acquire the Mist Fog Spiritual Power’s characteristics, allowing his Circulation Cycle to become doubly effective and enhancing his spells by an additional threefold.
What concerned Li Mo the most, however, were the downsides of the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body.
Its flaws would cause Spiritual Power to develop an erosive quality, indirectly affecting the surrounding environment.
Yet Li Mo considered this not necessarily a bad thing; Alien Spirit Energy was inherently born in harsh environments, and the flaw of the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body could potentially increase the proportion of smog spiritual energy in the air.
Such a level of spellcraft indeed deserved the name "Dao Body."
Regrettably, the method required to imbue his constitution with the Spiritual Power characteristic was absent; the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body seemed to necessitate a prerequisite of special constitution.
Li Mo had almost abandoned the pursuit of the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body, until recalling a particular spell led him to discover a workaround to grasp it.
[Soul Chasing Poison Sting]
Soul Chasing Poison Sting was an inconspicuous technique found in Rong Town, stealthily memorized by Li Mo using his eidetic memory, courtesy of Steward Hu.
Soul Chasing Poison Sting primarily involved transforming the structure of the arm into that of the tail of a poisonous scorpion.
What caught Li Mo’s attention was the subsequent cultivation phase of Soul Chasing Poison Sting, "Toad Body."
Toad Body required the cultivator to transplant the toxin sac of a Green Blood Toad next to their liver. Through gradual modification via the toxin sac, blood and flesh would acquire poisonous properties.
In a sense, the "Toad Body" of the Soul Chasing Poison Sting bore a conceptual similarity to the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body.
If Li Mo could transplant an organ akin to a toxin sac, which could slowly emit smog spiritual energy, and leverage the leakless body’s ability to seal spiritual energy, it wouldn’t be difficult for his constitution to gain the characteristic of Spiritual Power.
Moreover, he could imprint the organ through the Creation Book, likely gaining Divine Skills that would be a great aid.
Li Mo’s face lit up with excitement as he took out the Liu Li jar from his Storage Bag.
The liquid inside the Liu Li jar was yellow-green in hue—a substance known as Revival Water that prevented flesh organs from decomposing, capable of preservation for up to ten years.
Soaked within the Revival Water were "fish bladders" extracted from the Mist-born Carp, their appearance resembling pearls.
There were twenty fish bladders in total.
It was said that among ten thousand carp, a Mist-born Carp might not necessarily appear, leading to its rarity and the exorbitant prices offered by the Treasure Pavilion.
The Mist-born Carp emitted water mist through its fish bladder, which was classified as a Low Grade Spirit Material.
Regardless, the discovery of an organ suitable for the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body was already a remarkable feat, even if it cost a fortune in Spirit Stones.
Li Mo examined the fish bladder closely and found its structure indeed to be similar to a toxin sac.
Unfortunately, the fish bladder was a water element spirit material, which slightly mismatched the water-earth attributes of Mist Fog Spiritual Power; otherwise, the organ could be directly imprinted.
Li Mo planned to use Artifact Refining techniques to convert the fish bladder into a water-earth attribute while preserving its vitality, as the Creation Book could not imprint dead objects.
He retrieved the earth attribute spiritual materials he’d collected over time, numbering the same twenty as the Mist-born Carp bladders, allowing him twenty attempts in total.
Li Mo resolved not to exert excessive energy over the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body.
If the Mist-born Carp bladders were exhausted, he would shelve his pursuit of the Primordial Postnatal Dao Body for now and revisit it in the future, when his cultivation had reached greater heights.
Once his mental realm was calm, Li Mo motioned for the Ghost Tiger to stand guard outside his cave mansion.
He began grinding the earth attribute spiritual materials until twenty tough materials turned into fine sand before stopping and storing them in his Storage Bag for later.
Li Mo picked up one Mist-born Carp bladder, wrapped his magic finger around the spiritual material powder, and pierced the organ’s surface to intricately inscribe on the delicate, complex blood vessels.
This was to allow the water-earth spiritual materials to fully integrate.
He dared not relax in the slightest, as the fish bladder couldn’t remain outside the Revival Water for long; its vitality would cease after thirty breaths.
However, as soon as Li Mo applied the spiritual material powder to the blood vessels, the fish bladder began to mutate, rapidly expanding in size.
A muffled explosion ensued, causing the cave mansion to tremble slightly, loose stones falling from above.
Li Mo’s face was covered in dust, his arms lightly aching from the backlash of his magic finger—a stark reminder of how crafting the fish bladder was akin to playing with explosives at close range.
Artifact Refining was an art passed down through generations, with the recorded Catalogs already exceedingly refined.
Li Mo felt fortunate he hadn’t chosen to refine in the black market; guest rooms could hardly isolate such commotion, which could easily draw unnecessary attention.
Refining in the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm was acceptable, as sporadic tremors often occurred around Corpse Mountain anyway.
Suppressing his erratic Spiritual Power and confirming his magic finger sustained no damage, Li Mo resumed engraving the fish bladder.
His movements became more cautious, yet the spiritual material still failed to integrate.
This was followed by a sequence of explosions echoing through the abandoned mine. Were it not for the sturdy rock walls, the cave mansion might have already collapsed.
Li Mo wasted eight bladders of the Mist-born Carp in a row, his composure inevitably shaken.
Setting down the spiritual material powder, he closed his eyes for a long session of Nourishing Spirit, before a fresh series of relentless explosions filled the cave again.
While Li Mo retreated into seclusion, more and more cultivators ventured toward Corpse Mountain.
Among them, some cultivators bore distorted Child Ghost Heads near their necks as they eagerly pressed deeper into the heart of Corpse Mountain.
For profit, danger often seemed trivial.
By now, some cultivators had unearthed Mid-grade Spirit Materials, and if they delved further, even top-grade spirit materials for crafting Magic Treasures seemed within reach.
The Ghost Tiger uneasily shook its head.
As cultivators conducted a massive exploration of Corpse Mountain, the abandoned mine where Li Mo resided began seeing figures appearing in its outskirts.
The explosions persisted, but the intervals grew longer.
The Ghost Tiger sensed that cultivators were already heading toward the cave mansion, albeit hesitantly—held back by fear of the eerie mud sculptures in Corpse Mountain.
The distance narrowed, prompting the Ghost Tiger to slip into the shadows, its eyes gleaming with a ferocious light.
Then, suddenly, the cave mansion grew eerily silent. Moments later, Li Mo’s voice rang out in ecstatic shouts: "It’s done, it’s done!!"
His voice echoed repeatedly, drawing quickened footsteps toward the source.
Covered in debris, Li Mo emerged from the cave mansion, mounted the Ghost Tiger, and vanished into the darkness.
Holding the Liu Li jar along his journey, the remaining Mist-born Carp fish bladders floated back and forth inside, their size now increased severalfold, the surface coated with crystalline fleshy nodules that seemed to pulsate larger still.
Li Mo had succeeded on his seventeenth attempt, hurriedly preserving the completed fish bladder in the Liu Li jar, while the remaining bladders immediately lost their vitality.
The ability to fuse two spiritual materials relied in part on a stroke of luck.
Li Mo had no idea why the earth attribute spiritual materials he selected unexpectedly harmonized with the fish bladders, but when the opportunity arose, his perfect mastery over Spiritual Power enabled him to seize it.
The completed fish bladder still retained its vitality, meaning the Creation Book could imprint it at any time.
Li Mo named the finished fish bladder "Dao Seed," though whether it could be replicated remained uncertain.
What he did know was this: ordinary cultivators lacking the Creation Book would meet their end attempting to transplant the Dao Seed—it was a volatile bomb in its own right.