CHAPTER 521: CHAPTER 37: MY FORTUNE, IMMORTAL MARROW

The Kun Whale hovered in place, controlling the ripples within a radius of ten li.

Li Mo tried to pinpoint the source of the anomaly, but his efforts yielded nothing; the sudden knocking sound seemed to originate right beside his ears.

"Truly peculiar—this Dragon Palace feels like an out-of-control Sword Tomb, brimming with all kinds of taboos."

Li Mo suspected that had Kong Dongzi not been fishing in the Southern Sea, indirectly impacting the Dragon Palace, the bizarre incidents might have been even more frequent.

The Dragon King’s consort selection and Ye Gong’s obsession with dragons were merely the tip of the iceberg in the Southern Sea.

The joy of Li Mo’s promotion to the Existential Realm had vanished completely—even as someone at the Void Refining stage, he felt utterly clueless in the face of the lingering reverberations of the Earth’s upheaval which had occurred eight thousand years ago.

"Time cannot afford to be wasted; if continuing to ascend results in unforeseen incidents, then I might as well head north and leave the Southern Sea first."

Resolute in his decision, Li Mo had the Kun Whale whip its tail and disappear into the darkness.

He had Jiang Xi stationed at the main peak, under the care of plant and tree cultivators. This also allowed him to conveniently use his Divine Sense to monitor Jiang Xi’s internal and external condition.

Daoist Bai Shuo couldn’t help but inquire, "Senior Brother, is Jiang Xi alright?"

"There’s no need to worry—his life isn’t in danger. But for now, we still can’t determine the cause of his injuries. Everyone stay vigilant and don’t let your cultivation distract you to the point of carelessness."

Luo Yang let out a long sigh and took it upon himself to stand at the center, sword in hand, acting as the guard.

Bi Hengguang conversed with Luo Yang briefly; the two agreed to alternate resting shifts to ensure they would notice any anomaly as soon as it occurred.

"I must thank Elder Luo Yang for his effort," Bi Hengguang said gratefully.

Li Mo released the Da Ai Mi Tian outwards and resumed sitting with his eyes closed, circulating his energy through the cycle.

He was the only one unaffected by the threat posed by the knocking. With the Great Wilderness Immortal Body’s enhancement, the erosion against blood and bone posed little danger to him.

"Damn it, goddamn it," Daoist Ye Zhuo muttered, his face a mask of terror as he feverishly plastered Spirit Talismans across his body, terrified of running into danger.

The waves glimmered faintly, and the deep sea remained eerily unchanged.

In the fleeting intervals of his cultivation, Li Mo was tweaking and improving his body cultivation technique while cancer cells proliferated across the surrounding sea area, simultaneously guiding the Kun Whale’s movement.

It was unclear how much time passed.

Li Mo’s body cultivation technique began to take shape, fusing the characteristics of the Dragon Clan and Sword Dao.

The Tao Seed had extrapolated several pathways, one of which led to breaking the Golden Core and becoming an Infant. However, Li Mo had no intention of exhausting resources to nurture a third Externalized Dharma Body.

His aim was to position the body cultivation technique as a bridge—a connection between the Buddha Demon Body and the Symbiotic Dharma Body.

All for preparing for a future potential fusion of Dharma Bodies.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking sound came once more.

Two years had passed since the previous occurrence; even though Li Mo had been diligently paying attention, he still couldn’t pinpoint the source of the knocking.

Tension gripped everyone, and Li Mo squinted his eyes.

After precisely nine consecutive knocks, Daoist Ye Zhuo suddenly clutched his chest, his skin spreading with purple-green mottled marks while blood began to gush out uncontrollably.

"Help... help me."

"I knew it... The second one to... suffer such bad luck... would be me."

Daoist Ye Zhuo spat fragments of his internal organs from his mouth as his flesh and bones collapsed, his body contorting toward becoming nothing more than a lifeless corpse.

Through the cancer cells in Daoist Ye Zhuo’s body, Li Mo noticed something peculiar.

The purpose of the unknown erosion was not to destroy Ye Zhuo’s physical form but to transform him into... a Blood and Flesh Gate.

The process was, however, exceedingly violent—an ordeal only someone at the Void Refining stage might barely endure.

Li Mo moved Daoist Ye Zhuo into the Corpse Mountain Mini World and used Innate Essence to sustain his life force, eventually stabilizing his injuries to a level much better than Jiang Xi’s.

"I think I’ve figured out a pattern."

Li Mo’s words reassured the group.

Luo Yang cast a scrutinizing gaze toward him as Li Mo elaborated, "Have you ever heard the tale of Ye Gong adoring dragons? Misfortune will persist even if we leave the Southern Sea unless we address the root problem. This so-called Dragon King will demand retribution regardless of our escape."

"By stepping into the Southern Sea, we’ve already been afflicted by the Dragon Palace’s curse. To rid ourselves of its effects, we must endure the erosion."

Li Mo didn’t delve into specifics, as his understanding was limited to a rough hypothesis.

Luo Yang and Bi Hengguang exchanged serious glances before ultimately trusting Li Mo’s judgment.

The third occurrence happened a year and a half later, with eight knocks in total.

This time, the victim was Daoist Bai Shuo.

It quickly became evident the victims were selected based on their cultivation strength in descending order.

Li Mo remained calm, not even bothering to open his eyes as he adeptly suppressed Bai Shuo’s injuries while simultaneously progressing his cultivation.

The fourth time, Bi Hengguang was unable to rise from the ground.

He was indeed becoming a doorway—his ribs extending into a framework, his limbs supporting the structure, and his flesh clinging to the surface.

Had Li Mo not intervened, Bi Hengguang would have perished in agony, his Dao dissipating entirely.

"Taiyi!"

Luo Yang hurriedly reminded him as Li Mo stealthily used the cancer cells to halt Bi Hengguang’s transformation, barely keeping him in human form.

By now, the Kun Whale had left the Southern Sea Dragon Pond far behind.

Indeed, the unknown erosion bore all the hallmarks of a curse—a lingering influence from the Southern Sea Dragon King, hindering cultivators from leaving the Dragon Pond effortlessly.

Luo Yang’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably, betraying the dread in his heart.

However, when he glanced at Li Mo, the latter was sitting cross-legged, lost in thought, as though he cared little about Ye Gong’s dragon dilemma.

Luo Yang resolved not to show weakness to his juniors, pressing his distractions down and bracing himself for the knocks.

Soon enough, the interval was shortened to just six months, and Luo Yang followed in Bi Hengguang’s footsteps, leaving Li Mo the sole occupant within the Kun Whale’s belly.

"Heh, heh, if this really follows the developments of Ye Gong’s tale, there might be an opportunity to seize the Immortal Marrow within. Might as well try."

Li Mo believed he had a twenty-percent chance of claiming the Immortal Marrow.

Even failure would carry little consequence.

Li Mo summoned the Spirit Root Worm and again activated Da Ai Mi Tian.

Under stimulation from Innate Essence, cancer cells rapidly generated flesh, forming twisted masses of tissue exuding a faint medicinal fragrance, their aura indistinguishable from Zhang Mu’s.

"Two centuries worth of Innate Essence, exchanged for one speculative chance."

After repeating the process hundreds of times, Li Mo selected the mass closest to resembling Zhang Mu.

He let the Spirit Root Worm parasitize the tissue clump; combined with an Illusion Technique, the lump began morphing into a human shape, its aura increasingly becoming an uncanny match to Zhang Mu.

Eventually, a lifeless, expressionless Zhang Mu stood before Li Mo.

"Heh-heh-heh."

Li Mo meticulously inspected his creation, concluding that the flesh puppet was indistinguishable from the real Zhang Mu—now leaving everything to fate.

Four months passed swiftly, and at the exact moment the unknown erosion emerged.

Li Mo stared fixedly at the flesh puppet.

The puppet suddenly fell to the ground; its flesh and bones, eroded unbearably, turned to sludge within a few breaths.

Although the Spirit Root Worm was damaged in the process, Li Mo couldn’t help but laugh.

"According to Ye Gong’s tale, the Dragon King revived Ye Gong’s family members and sent them back home."

Li Mo felt a stirring in his heart.

He quietly contemplated; only two months remained until the seventh instance of knocking, as the unknown erosion began targeting Li Mo directly, his flesh boiling.

Da Ai Mi Tian operated to its peak—reconstructing various organs in response to the unknown erosion.

Li Mo refrained from using Spiritual Power, relying solely on the Great Wilderness Immortal Body to survive the transformation, even fortifying his physical strength in the process.

Before his injuries could fully heal, the eighth round of knocking arrived in quick succession.

His organs issued dull thuds, pus and blood flowed down his face, and the Great Wilderness Immortal Body could only bolster his flesh to resist the attack.

The unknown erosion escalated, and Li Mo’s aura dwindled.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG.

Li Mo’s body disintegrated entirely, leaving behind a Blood and Flesh Gate, which slowly creaked open.

Behind the gate lay an expanse of darkness.

Suddenly, footsteps approached—a corpse crawled out from the door.

The corpse was identical to Jiang Xi, its posture bizarre, skin marked by rotting lesions, and reeking of putrid decay.

It walked only a few steps before beginning to shift toward Jiang Xi’s likeness.

Intent on imitation, it modeled actions and behavior, even matching aura and Spiritual Power; aside from lacking spiritual wisdom, it was impossible to distinguish the corpse from Jiang Xi.

The corpse faced the wall blankly, murmuring incomprehensibly; starting with mimicry, it soon managed a coherent sentence or two, erasing its flaws gradually.

"Interesting—even the Cave God’s Eye struggles to tell them apart."

Li Mo appeared next to the corpse in a flash, examining it with the Cave God’s Eye.

The corpse clearly originated from the shallow waters of the Southern Sea Dragon Palace; its exact means of formation remained uncertain, though it seemed to be a highly peculiar deceitful object.

Calling it a ’Corpse Demon’ seemed perfectly appropriate.

If such a Corpse Demon infiltrated a city, Ye Gong’s curse would spread endlessly.

"You... are..."

The Corpse Demon rasped, but Li Mo unflinchingly released his Lifebound Flying Sword, piercing through its skull.

The first Corpse Demon perished, but footsteps echoed again from within the Blood and Flesh Gate.

Li Mo turned around to see another Jiang Xi pushing the gate open, its resemblance even more refined—matching expressions flawlessly.

"Senior Brother Taiyi, it’s me."

Li Mo swung his sword, decapitating the Corpse Demon in one stroke.

Floor littered with remnants, the Blood and Flesh Gate revealed yet another Jiang Xi, staring in disbelief. "Senior Brother Taiyi, what’s going on?"

Li Mo, disinterested in answering, silenced it with a sword.

By the fourth iteration, Jiang Xi was indistinguishable in both appearance and essence.

Upon seeing it, Li Mo momentarily lost focus—his cognition warped as though Jiang Xi had been trapped behind the door from the beginning.

"Hiss..." Li Mo drew in a sharp breath as the Creation Book maintained the clarity of his consciousness.

"Could San Sheng have been born within the Southern Sea Dragon Palace—a being appearing to be a cultivator but in truth a Corpse Demon?"

Li Mo thought it highly probable; given the Dragon Pond’s strange rules, nothing seemed impossible.

After eradicating Jiang Xi’s Corpse Demons, the pattern continued with Daoist Ye Zhuo.

Li Mo harvested Corpse Demons one by one—in the vast cultivation world, only he could counteract twisted cognition, rendering door-born Corpse Demons harmless.

Though Corpse Demons possessed cultivation, their power did not manifest instantly, requiring gradual absorption of Spiritual Energy.

Li Mo struck before they could take shape, terminating them before a single word was uttered.

The turn then fell to Zhang Mu.

A Corpse Demon dragging a severed head crawled forth—it had only its upper body remaining but still clung tightly to Golden Light Venerable’s skull, its bony fingers buried deep within the cranium.

"Indeed, the Dragon King sends all Southern Sea-related corpses to the door."

Li Mo discerned Zhang Mu had fought desperately to safeguard the Immortal Marrow while alive.

The massive fish had sought the Immortal Marrow too; if Zhang Mu had forfeited it earlier, he might have had a slim chance of survival by hiding in the fish’s stomach.

The Zhang Mu Corpse Demon showed no further shifts, prompting Li Mo to casually pocket the Golden Light Venerable’s head.