When Li Mo woke up again, three days had already passed.
He opened his eyes in a daze, the seclusion room was in disarray, and there were dozens of empty glass bottles scattered before him.
Li Mo had lost count of how many temporary arms he transplanted in the process of refining Corpse Mountain.
He glanced at his side; the wounds there had long since healed completely, though faint scars remained as evidence of the severity of past injuries.
A reckless move like Li Mo’s would probably be unparalleled in the Cultivation World.
Three Innate Taoist Bodies indeed grant him audacity—even the flaws of using temporary arms can disappear in the span of a brief nap, with his Spiritual Energy as pure as ever.
After tidying up the seclusion room, he turned his attention to the Magic Artifact Embryo of Corpse Mountain.
Corpse Mountain, standing ten meters tall, was a barren desolate hill. If Li Mo infused enough Spiritual Energy, it could even swell to a height of a hundred meters or more.
When the Magic Artifact Embryo fused with internal organs, under the effect of the Five Poison Five God Heart Sutra, it transformed into a massive hermit crab.
The hermit crab emerged from the base of the hill, its body glowing red, and its two massive pincers filled with jagged openings brimming with poisonous fluid.
The most terrifying aspect of Corpse Mountain lies in its ability to shrink and ingest living beings into its ridge.
If those beings fail to escape, they are corroded by the pervasive Yin Qi, ultimately reduced to corpses, forever providing Yin Attribute Spiritual Energy to Corpse Mountain.
Li Mo showed a hint of regret—Corpse Mountain hadn’t reached the level of a High Grade Magical Artifact. It seemed clumsy and mediocre in its use.
Controlling his consciousness, he directed the hundred-year medicine potency of the Nourishing Yuan Fruit to fuse with Corpse Mountain like a flowing light.
The Tattooed Beasts began to exhibit peculiar behavior, unable to resist the allure of the Nourishing Yuan Fruit.
Feeling it still was not secure enough, Li Mo glanced at another ten-year potency Nourishing Yuan Fruit and simply threw it into Corpse Mountain as well.
After absorbing the medicinal power, Corpse Mountain began to emit waves of vitality.
However, as Li Mo was only in the Early Stage of Youth, he couldn’t discern the depths of Corpse Mountain, opting to let the Magic Artifact undergo transformation on its own as he resumed his seclusion.
The time left until the Heart Beast Sect’s fifteen-year Outer Door Competition was running short.
Even if Li Mo had concerns, he couldn’t evade them—he had accepted Hu Wen’s Green Robe and, moreover, Han Cai would also participate in the Outer Door Competition.
Fortunately, even without Corpse Mountain, Li Mo’s methods were sufficient for self-preservation.
Li Mo originally assumed Corpse Mountain’s transformation would take at least half a year, but to his surprise, in only ten days, the Magic Artifact underwent an earth-shattering transformation.
The refining marks on Corpse Mountain vanished entirely, the artifact became flawless and seamless.
Li Mo even noticed that Corpse Mountain’s terrain now exhibited subtle variances in soil quality depending on elevation, mirroring a real environment.
Yet, if Corpse Mountain was to become verdant, further refinement would be required.
Li Mo was overcome with joy.
But he refrained from recklessly activating Corpse Mountain; a High Grade Magical Artifact demands prolonged refinement and attunement, else it cannot be precisely controlled.
Li Mo’s Cultivation level was too low—any mistake could lead to Spiritual Energy depletion.
He compiled an extensive list of spiritual materials and handed it to Jin Li to help collect them, focusing primarily on materials for the first twenty refinements of Corpse Mountain.
The upper limit of a High Grade Magical Artifact is a Hundred Refinements, but unlike Mid and Lower Grade Magical Tools, each step of the refinement process for a High Grade Magical Artifact requires completing twenty refinements in one go.
Once refining begins, Li Mo cannot stop partway; otherwise, the spiritual materials will have difficulty integrating into Corpse Mountain.
Li Mo calculated that the Middle Stage of Youth might give him a chance to complete the first twenty refinements of Corpse Mountain. After all, the first five refinements only require Low Grade Spirit Materials, while the subsequent fifteen refinements call for Mid Grade Spirit Materials, all Earth Attribute in nature.
Li Mo glanced at the spiritual tablet’s records during this period.
Duozhi Mountain posed no major concerns—it was nothing but Li Mo darting around, and the transfer of ownership for a layer of medicine fields was mere child’s play.
However, the regions beyond Duozhi Mountain showed signs of turmoil.
Li Mo squinted his eyes and quietly left the Four-legged Taoist Temple, standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the northwest.
After progressing to the Weak Crown stage, even without imprinting his eyes, his vision had greatly improved.
He saw herds of wild beasts galloping through the mountain ranges near Duozhi Mountain, like a mighty, surging river.
It wasn’t limited to Duozhi Mountain—within a two-hundred-mile radius centered on Rong Town, countless beasts seemed driven by instinct, migrating aimlessly.
Li Mo’s expression turned grim.
He understood that these beasts were living humans wearing beast skins, and such unusual movement was undoubtedly linked to the Outer Door Competition.
Li Mo suspected the upper echelons of Rong Town might have made arrangements for the competition, leading to the collective beast frenzy—a testament to the impending dangers.
"Hundred Beasts Blood Body, what on earth is Rong Town scheming?"
He observed the beast tide for a long time before turning back to the Four-legged Taoist Temple.
Li Mo couldn’t influence these events directly, so his priority remained on enhancing his strength—first refining all four Mid Grade Magical Artifacts ten times.
Mid Grade Magical Artifacts, after ten refinements, undergo significant enhancements.
In a certain sense, it’s like Mid Grade Magical Artifacts awakening a Divine Skill.
Thus, even artifacts of the same type, as refinement progresses, can develop remarkably different functionalities.
The spiritual materials had been prepared long ago, and with the refinement of Corpse Mountain complete, Li Mo was in prime condition.
The first to undergo ten refinements was Breath Fog, infused with toxin-enhancing spiritual materials, making its lethality frighteningly potent.
The most astonishing result for Li Mo was that insectified poison bees became semi-transparent.
Flying swiftly through the night, their trajectories were impossible for others to detect, and reverting to Breath Fog made them even harder to spot with the naked eye.
Evergreen Tree, after ten refinements.
Its appearance seemed not much different—a giant bamboo stick insect—but its interior had expanded to accommodate spiritual materials.
While spiritual materials grown on the Evergreen Tree lacked the nurturing benefits of a medicine field, it was sufficient for Li Mo.
Especially since many flesh-based spiritual materials needed to be soaked in complex medicinal liquids; otherwise, prolonged neglect might degrade their quality.
The Eight-Armed Spine Nerve’s ten refinements resembled an ingenious hollow transformation, allowing the eight arms to stretch and retract freely, significantly improving flexibility.
The True Word Sect’s Secret Bone was the most peculiar—despite its integration of Earth Metal spiritual materials, it resulted in transformations related to flesh and blood.
Li Mo’s expression turned odd as he summoned the True Word Sect’s Secret Bone.
The artifact, now a shield devoid of inscription patterns, was utterly transformed.
After ten refinements, when Li Mo infused Spiritual Energy into it, the surface of the True Word Sect’s Secret Bone erupted with masses of flesh buds.
Li Mo frowned deeply as the Secret Bone sprouted flesh and even sparse hair within the blink of an eye, transforming into a blood-drenched skullcap.
"This indeed reeks of the Esoteric Buddhist Sect’s eerie handiwork."
Testing the Secret Bone’s defense with Tattooed Beasts revealed noticeable improvement, with the newly grown flesh rapidly regenerating damage.
Li Mo shook his head, tucking away the True Word Sect’s Secret Bone.
After refining the four Mid Grade Magical Artifacts, the time remaining until the Outer Door Competition was down to one year.
Although Hu Wen had not urged him, and Han Cai’s response remained ambiguous, Li Mo knew it was about time for him to move, getting ahead to uncover the truth behind the competition.