CHAPTER 364: CHAPTER 110 NASCENT SOUL STAGE [TAISU ANCESTOR DAOIST]

Li Mo gazed into the distance at No-Life Mother’s brain stem, which, though still riddled with signs of decay, had blood vessels extending through it, appearing unusually active.

The scope of mutation was also expanding, signaling that the healing process for the brain stem had accelerated.

For Li Mo, this brought both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that the Substitute Dao Page had quietly completed sixty percent; within no more than ten years, he would be able to conduct a second extraction from No-Life Mother.

The disadvantage was that the factions of both Daoist and Demon sides were becoming increasingly restless.

Given Zu Xiuyun’s erratic temperament, should her mind suddenly lose control, staying near No-Life Mother’s remains would easily lead to collateral damage.

Fortunately, there was still time, and the Heart Beast Sect had already withdrawn its forces by nearly eighty percent.

Li Mo had already instructed Han Cai to attempt to transfer ownership of the Toad Poison Beast and gradually disband the independent practitioner forces within Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop.

As for those fixated on short-term gains from the Purple Mansion Black Market and refusing to leave, it was no longer the Heart Beast Sect’s problem—they had done all they could.

"It’s here."

Li Mo whispered to himself, as peculiar crackling noises emanated from his chest.

Inside his Multiple Dantians, the Chaos Beast Child had entered a dormant state, with nearly no trace of Mist Fog Spiritual Power, its aura restrained to the extreme.

Li Mo focused on the Chaos Beast Child’s condition, while suspending cultivation for his other Nascent Souls.

The Chaos Beast Child’s breakthrough would undoubtedly be a slow and painstaking process.

After all, Li Mo had consumed an immense amount of resources for rapid development, which, although not affecting the foundation, had rendered the Nascent Soul incapable of achieving advancement naturally.

Li Mo patiently waited, as the Earth Soul residing within the Mud Pill Palace, the "Ghost Essence," seemed slightly restless.

The Ghost Essence wriggled gently, instinctively warning to escape the Mud Pill Palace, but quickly lost all ability to move under the illumination of the Great Sun Golden Core’s Buddha Light.

The surface of the Great Sun Golden Core revealed eye-like pupils, scanning the Mud Pill Palace without pause.

Crackling sounds erupted once more.

The Chaos Beast Child emitted strange noises again, seemingly on the brink of shedding its former self.

Li Mo could sense the Chaos Beast Child coiling its body tightly, as the Mist Fog Spiritual Power contained within began to transform bit by bit, growing increasingly pure and resilient.

Six full years passed.

When the bottleneck loosened slightly, a fissure naturally appeared along the Chaos Beast Child’s back.

The Chaos Beast Child seemed almost like a crustacean, attempting to crawl out of its old shell, inadvertently causing the Mist Fog Spiritual Power to erupt into chaos.

Roar.

A weak beast roar echoed within the room, prompting Li Mo to open his eyes.

From the corner of the room, a simple wooden bench unexpectedly sprouted dense layers of scales, and under the influence of the Nascent Soul Dao Body, began its beastification.

Li Mo was slightly startled.

At first, he assumed the beastification of the bench would be short-lived, a mere activation, but then he realized one lifeless object after another was transforming into wild beasts.

Evidently, the potential of the Ancestor True Body was being gradually stimulated by the consumption of Beast Blood.

The Chaos Beast Child struggled to expose its skin, with an outer layer covered in Beast Fur, an inner layer woven with Scale Armor, visible insect shells at its joints, and vibrant peacock-like feathers at the ends of its limbs.

The Nascent Soul Stage is precisely the process of transforming toward an Externalized Dharma Body.

The Chaos Beast Child’s form still couldn’t be considered finalized, but its features were already showing signs—it almost incorporated the traits of all living creatures of this world.

"Ancestor. Ancestor of Ten Thousand Beasts."

The Seclusion Room where Li Mo resided had fully transformed into a nest of rare and exotic beasts.

A menagerie of furniture-turned-beasts had developed distinct behavioral patterns, engaging in mutual slaughter, creating utter chaos in the cramped space.

Li Mo’s lips twitched slightly; he immediately cast the beastly horde into the Corpse Mountain Mini World.

Afterward, the Chaos Beast Child finally shed its old form entirely, revealing a humanoid shape barely maintaining its human resemblance, adorned with ornaments befitting Taoist protocol.

The Nascent Soul bore two or three similarities to Li Mo, yet simultaneously resembled dragon, beast, bird, and insect.

Li Mo smiled lightly as he used Divine Sense to escort the unwilling Ghost Essence, guiding it into the Mud Pill Palace under the blank page’s imprint.

Seeing the Ghost Essence, the Chaos Beast Child tilted its head, exposing a savage beast nature without restraint.

Its limbs exerted slight force, and in just a few swift motions, it shredded apart the Ghost Essence’s soul shell, devouring the amoeba-like spirit entirely.

The Creation Book nurtures Divine Skills.

"Yin Mixed Spirit."

The Three Souls and Seven Spirits fell into the Mayfly Dream; the Daoist Body soon descended into slumber, leaving unknown what level the Fake Soul could now evolve to.

Li Mo currently had two Divine Skills available; there was no rush to make his choice.

After consuming everything, the Chaos Beast Child’s Mist Fog Spiritual Power began to boil within its body, and soon it grew from a child into a youth, the bottleneck now shattered.

Looking again at the Nascent Soul’s true name, it had now become "Taisu Ancestor Taoist."

The Taisu Ancestor Taoist was adorned with beast-like traits throughout its form, carrying a subtle flavor of simplicity and elegance, as if it truly embodied the ancestor of all beasts.

"Not bad, not bad—the name is far better than my Four-footed Taoist."

Since the word ’Chaos’ was no longer present, Li Mo chose to call it "Taisu Beast Infant" for convenience, until it advanced to the Divine Separation Stage and its true name solidified completely.

The Taisu Beast Infant swayed its head uneasily, occasionally letting out a low roar.

"Alas, Foundation Spiritual Objects."

A pity it lacked Foundation Spiritual Objects, leaving the Taisu Beast Infant stuck in the Nascent Soul Stage without progress.

Li Mo forcefully suppressed the Nascent Soul’s desire for Foundation Spiritual Objects, returning the Dantian to tranquillity before the Nascent Soul voluntarily closed its eyes and began stabilizing its Mist Fog Spiritual Power.

He glanced at the Tao Seed’s current completion.

The steps for the Taisu Beast Infant to advance to the Divine Separation Stage appeared rather peculiar; aside from refining Foundation Spiritual Objects, it also required cultivation of the Beast Embryo Technique.

"Beast Embryo Technique."

"Use the blood of the Taisu Beast Infant as a base, blend it with Blood Dissolving Grass to refine Elixir Pills, feed the pills to newborn infant beasts, and upon their maturity, reclaim the blood to enable advancement to the Divine Separation Stage."

"Blood Dissolving Grass can contaminate the blood, while Nascent Soul blood can enhance the beasts’ reversion to ancestral traits—these infant beasts will likely die prematurely, won’t they?"

Li Mo didn’t care much either way; the Beast Embryo Technique, originating from the Tao Seed, was evidently the most suitable Magic Technique for the Taisu Beast Infant to break through its bottleneck.

"Raising beasts? Hmm, with resources prepared ahead of time, this shouldn’t be a problem..."

Just as he formed the thought, the Great Sun Golden Core began to stir against the bottleneck, its dazzling Buddha Light growing increasingly intense within the Mud Pill Palace.

The sound of chanting scriptures persisted without pause.

Li Mo shifted his focus entirely to the Great Sun Golden Core.

The Substitute Dao Page had also reached eighty percent completion, and he urged Han Cai to divest from the Purple Mansion Black Market’s assets before guiding the Mist Fog Spiritual Power to flow into the Mud Pill Palace.

For spiritual power from the Nascent Soul Stage, even in front of the Golden Core, it was utterly unstoppable.

With mere contact, cracks rapidly spread across the Great Sun Golden Core, faintly revealing the sound of a baby crying within.

Even though it was a Perfect Golden Core, the Great Sun Golden Core seemed as fragile as paper.

"Wah wah wah..."

Soon after, the Great Sun Nascent Soul crawled out slowly from the Golden Core, appearing like a large-headed child, its smiling expression imbued with distinct Buddhist qualities.

The Great Sun Nascent Soul was fair and chubby, sitting cross-legged upon a Lotus Throne formed from brain tissue, and lacked head-scars—designated as a novice monk in the Buddhist Sect.

True name: "Sunlight Monk."

With the formation of the Sunlight Monk, Li Mo no longer had any concerns about body seizing in the mortal world; even facing cultivators more powerful than himself, he could at least perish alongside them by obliterating the Mud Pill Palace.

The Xia Dao Palace underwent changes as well, where the Taoists inside grew noticeably wiser.

Li Mo’s Divine Sense surged by another twenty percent, far exceeding the limits of the Nascent Soul Stage.

He immediately began cultivating Nascent Soul Techniques, focusing on the Floating Island Circulation Buddha Hand, which mainly reconstructed the five senses and was relatively simple compared to other Nascent Soul Techniques.

Li Mo first used top-grade spiritual material purified into Gold Leaf to cover the left eye of the Sunlight Monk.

Next, he transformed the right eye into silver, reforged the tongue with glass, reconstructed the nasal cavity with coral and red pearl, and sculpted the ears using agate and conch.

Once the surgical modifications were complete, the Sunlight Monk clasped its hands into Magic Fingers, as Great Sun Spiritual Power nourished the Nascent Soul and circulated actively throughout its body.

Li Mo felt a trace of exasperation.

As the Floating Island Circulation Buddha Hand ran its course, his body began emanating a layer of seven-colored light, with a halo extending at least a hundred meters behind his head.

Though it didn’t resemble a Buddhist Sect Magic, the constant manifestation was far too conspicuous.

"Forget it—at least I won’t need to show myself publicly anytime soon."

After donning a new guise formed from the old skin, the light slightly subdued, yet the air around his body continued to distort visibly.

Stabilizing his cultivation, he proceeded to use Mist Fog Spiritual Power to further nourish his Three Nascent Souls.

Each Nascent Soul progressed rapidly.

In particular, the Sunlight Monk would likely reach the Corpse Infant Stage within twenty or thirty years, achieving breakthroughs with remarkable speed.

But what worried Li Mo was that intelligence gathered from various inquiries indicated that certain wounds on No-Life Mother’s remaining body had already healed.

Correspondingly, several Blessed Land Cave Heavens had vanished.

Given this trend, the Daoist and Demon factions would inevitably concentrate their resources on the remaining remains, heralding imminent chaos surrounding No-Life Mother.

Li Mo felt a hint of urgency and lingered at the Purple Mansion Black Market for another two years.

Once the Substitute Dao Page was fully completed, Han Cai handed over Poison Clothes Qinghong Workshop to a prearranged small sect, promptly withdrawing from the Black Market.

Responses varied from different forces.

Some praised the Heart Beast Sect for their decisiveness, while others criticized them as overly cautious.

Li Mo paid them no mind; since none of his twelve senior sisters demanded his involvement, seeking to advance to the Divine Separation Stage quietly was the wisest choice.

Han Cai and his team followed a planned route back to the Heart Beast Sect as Li Mo retreated into the depths of the mountain range.

Li Mo’s sole requirement for his Secluded Cave Mansion was that it be as far from No-Life Mother’s remains as possible—he had no desire to invite misfortune upon himself.

For the other Nascent Souls lacking Foundation Spiritual Objects, his fallback plan was to advance Sunlight Monk to the Divine Separation Stage.

Li Mo arranged his Cave Mansion simply, located in terrain spanning several thousand miles with peculiar features and highly impure Spiritual Energy—a forbidden zone avoided by cultivators.

He found delight in solitude; after all, wherever he stayed, Great Sun Spiritual Energy remained exceedingly scarce.

He continued secluded cultivation for thirty years.

The Sunlight Monk advanced to the Corpse Infant Stage, earning the true name "Sunlight Seven Treasures Monk," while the Soul Devouring Demon Child and Pu Daoqi Child showed signs of impending breakthroughs.

Most importantly, "Mayfly Dream" completed its transformation.

During its Fake Soul Consciousness derivation, Li Mo was no longer restricted to using himself as a template; he could now construct Body and Soul information for the Fake Soul Consciousness.

He even placed the Fake Soul Consciousness into Xia Dao Palace, creating an illusion realm for further derivation.

The derivation period extended to over a hundred years, albeit requiring twenty years to regenerate a new Fake Soul Consciousness.

"Hmm?"

Li Mo noticed that once the Three Souls merged into Mayfly Dream, a new Spell Page had unexpectedly materialized—likely a result of the Three Souls forming a unified body.

"Very well, having Sunlight Monk complete its Daoist Body before advancing to the Divine Separation Stage is advantageous for the Externalized Dharma Body."

"I had intended to use the remaining blank pages and Spirit Root Leaf Imprint organs to sprout additional Spell Pages."

Li Mo unhesitatingly consumed the Spell Page, imprinting the Floating Island Circulation Buddha Hand upon it as the Sunlight Monk crossed its legs and began chanting its ambiguous scripture.

During his seclusion, the Cultivation World was anything but peaceful.

Reports emerged of violent unrest in the Purple Mansion Black Market; the brain stem inexplicably swallowed one hundred people, signaling that No-Life Mother’s remains were gradually reviving.