Li Mo opened his eyes again and found himself in the room of the Tushan Inn.
The metal poison would pull cultivators into the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm, while suppressing the poison would return them to their original place in the mortal world—entering and exiting was still relatively discreet.
Li Mo had prepared in advance by leaving enough spirit stones at the Tushan Inn to cover a year’s rent, primarily to avoid revealing his whereabouts to anyone attentive.
The first thing he did upon awakening was to destroy the Ghost Mother Head.
Even though creating it had taken considerable effort at the time, the trouble involving the Penglai Old Taoist was too significant—he had to erase all traces as much as possible.
Mist Fog Spiritual Power enveloped the magical artifact, and sharp, piercing howls immediately echoed.
With the support of pure spiritual power, the corrosiveness of Mist Fog Spiritual Power was enhanced, making it more than sufficient to destroy a low-grade magical artifact.
It just took a long time.
Li Mo waited patiently until the Ghost Mother Head was reduced to ashes.
Even then, it was not enough. After recording the magical techniques contained within the statue, he also had to dispose of its remnants, and even all the spiritual materials he had obtained in the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm would need to be sold off.
Converting them into spirit stones wouldn’t be bad—money ensures he won’t struggle to buy spiritual materials later.
The one thing Li Mo wasn’t worried about was the token of the Sub-Device Sect’s outer disciples within his mind. With the Creation Book’s suppression, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Gaining the identity of an outer disciple for free might turn out to be useful in the future.
"But you, Penglai Old Taoist, no matter how deep your experience as an outer disciple is, how could you possibly possess such a treasure as a top-grade spirit stone..."
Li Mo sighed. The Creation Book’s addition of pages was unexpectedly achieved by absorbing top-grade spirit stones.
Deep within the Corpse Mountain, there had been a piece of top-grade spirit stone buried—it was as if the Penglai Old Taoist had been a parasite surviving off the spirit stone.
Top-grade spirit stones were also known as Spirit Marrow.
In ancient times, top-grade spirit stones were critical resources fought over by Immortal Sect forces, far superior to high-grade spirit stones.
Top-grade spirit stones often contained alien spirit energy of the same attribute, and the one absorbed by the Creation Book leaned towards metallic alien spirit energy.
It’s no exaggeration to say that simply burying a top-grade spirit stone underground could nurture a low-grade spirit stone vein within at most a few hundred years.
Li Mo couldn’t help but feel a shiver down his spine.
As an outer disciple, the Penglai Old Taoist could never have accessed a top-grade spirit stone.
It was highly likely there was a high-level cultivator behind the scenes using the Penglai Old Taoist as a pawn to secretly transfer the top-grade spirit stone.
Otherwise, how could the Penglai Old Taoist have been so fortunate? At most, his cultivation level had only reached the Weak Crown Period in his lifetime, yet he managed to escape from the Sub-Device Sect through a body-seizing technique.
Li Mo swallowed hard.
He focused on the Creation Book in his mind, looking at the dark golden patterns on the tenth page.
It was difficult to imagine what unimaginable transformations would arise from inscribing the blank page born of a top-grade spirit stone onto one’s organs.
"Creation Book, Creation Book, it truly lives up to its name..."
Li Mo forcibly suppressed distracting thoughts and sat cross-legged, operating the Circulation Cycle.
Although there were no obvious external signs, the battle between the Tattooed Beast and the statue had still caused his flesh to lose twenty percent of its vitality, almost shaking his foundation.
Li Mo wasn’t in a hurry to sell the spiritual materials. Since the top-grade spirit stone was hidden in the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm, the person behind it would not likely retrieve it anytime soon.
Even if the top-grade spirit stone went missing, it’s unlikely anyone would suspect an unestablished Foundation Establishment cultivator like him.
Li Mo offered a helpless, bitter smile as he used spiritual power to circulate his blood until it boiled. The Divine Power Green Blood and Red Heart gradually replenished his lost flesh.
Once his condition stabilized, he turned his attention to the statue’s remnants, taking them out one by one.
As Li Mo pieced together the statue, he took detailed notes on the magical techniques before finally using Mist Fog Spiritual Power for corrosion.
He discovered that the Sub-Device Sect’s "human slip" method was indeed remarkable. Although it required cultivators as the primary material for crafting, it truly managed to extract every ounce of remaining value from the cultivators.
The remnants of the statue contained not only magical techniques but also cultivation experiences from its previous life.
The Tao Seed’s rotation became increasingly rapid.
Li Mo engraved the cultivation techniques onto the Tao Seed, while the spells were organized and stored in a personal storage bag.
He felt a twinge of regret since, due to the Penglai Old Taoist, most of the statues had scattered deep within the Corpse Mountain, and he hadn’t had the chance to collect them.
As the cultivation techniques were engraved, the text revealed on the surface of the Tao Seed grew increasingly profound.
The Primordial Tao Seed had one drawback; its perfection required cultivation techniques directly practiced by Li Mo.
Under the influence of the Primordial Tao Seed, the Yang Yuan Ben Jing began to transform, simplifying its content, but its focus on refining the purity of spiritual power remained intact.
Once all the techniques were digested, the Yang Yuan Ben Jing was already a starkly different entity from before.
Li Mo shook his head slightly.
Overall, the Yang Yuan Ben Jing was still bound by its framework. To him, purifying spiritual power was practically useless; his Multiple Dantians were sufficient for that purpose.
Additionally, the Yang Yuan Ben Jing lacked content suitable for the Weak Crown Period, so he would definitely need to switch to a new primary cultivation technique.
Li Mo hadn’t found anything useful among the Loose Cultivator techniques either—they were all incomplete and extreme, cultivating them would only damage his foundation.
He remained in seclusion to recover, steadily progressing on the Spirit Root Transformation of his kidneys.
The Heart Beast Black Market, however, wasn’t so peaceful.
Due to the impact of the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm, the prices of spiritual materials were generally low. Yet rumors suddenly began to circulate about an upcoming auction.
As a result, high-quality spiritual materials disappeared from the market.
The loose cultivators all watched in secrecy. If an auction truly materialized, selling now would be a significant loss.
The duration of the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm turned out to be shorter than expected. It was originally thought to last about ten years, but for some unknown reason, the speed of the Corpse Mountain’s decay suddenly accelerated, resulting in an outbreak of Fake Beasts.
The newly spawned Fake Beasts now possessed power equivalent to the early Childhood Stage and hunted in packs—a force that most loose cultivators couldn’t contend with.
With the Iron Cauldron Secret Realm nearing its end, even the Heart Beast Black Market underwent a reorganization.
By the time Li Mo ended his seclusion, half a year had unknowingly passed. His injuries had healed, and the Spirit Root Transformation of his kidneys was one-third complete.
The most noticeable changes were in Hui Qingyi and the Tattooed Beast, both of which had grown significantly.
The advantage of Beast Cultivation was evident. By nurturing spirit beasts, there was no need to dedicate time to practicing spells, and one’s strength would become more comprehensive.
Particularly the salamander.
Li Mo summoned the salamander, whose size had grown from palm-sized to the size of an arm, with its body now covered in dense scale armor. Its defense was far superior to when it was in its juvenile form.
In ancient times, there were already theories about salamanders being baby dragons.
Li Mo patted the salamander on the head while simultaneously feeding insects to the caged birds. To his surprise, the salamanders he had been raising had already reproduced.
The species had suddenly expanded to a population of thirty.
After a moment’s hesitation, Li Mo decided to first complete the Three Refinements for the Desert Map and the caged birds. With his current Four-layered Puberty Stage cultivation and the aid of his memory retention ability, he was confident of success.
He already had the spiritual materials on hand. For the Desert Map’s Three Refinements, he chose lapis lazuli.
Lapis lazuli’s effect was to enhance the hardness of the magical artifact and additionally block certain investigative Eye Techniques.
For the caged birds’ Three Refinements, he chose Polluted Soil, which sped up the growth of plants in the ecological box.
The refining process went smoothly enough. The Desert Map gained a faint azure glow, while the caged birds were covered in mottled, cotton-like patterns.
Unfortunately, limited by the artifact embryo of the caged birds, the Three Refinements had already reached its peak.
Li Mo planned to visit the Treasure Pavilion to inquire if they had any Feeding Beast Magic Artifact Catalogs with water and earth attributes.