Chapter 254: Headless Corpse
Before heading to the Qinghe Cultivation World to settle his karmic ties, Gu Mo still needed to make several preparations. For instance, stabilizing his Nascent Soul realm, re-condensing his sword cores, and once again asking Ding Shiyan to cultivate a new batch of third-rank supreme Swordheart Bamboo, to be forged into flying swords.
In addition, he had to refine his Golden Core Dao Seed, first creating a Dao Seed Avatar and leaving it behind in Shennong Valley. This way, should his true body encounter danger, he would still have a path of retreat.
While Gu Mo was busy preparing for his journey, the matter of his sword cultivator avatar had completely erupted into the open. That avatar underwent tribulation in the Yin-Yang Sword Sect, faced a special heavenly tribulation, and then went on to slay three Nascent Soul Demon Lords—one of whom was even at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.
Such monstrous talent and combat power shocked every cultivator who learned of it.
But once the shock subsided, what followed was endless regret. Such a prodigy still could not escape a tragic end, ultimately drawing the strike of a Soul Transformation expert.
The revelation that the Demon Sect possessed another Soul Transformation expert also shocked the Righteous Alliance. If it weren't for Lin Wu forcing the Demon Sect to reveal this hidden card, no one knew how long they would have continued hiding it.
A concealed Soul Transformation expert could pose an unimaginable threat to the Righteous Alliance. Though the Demon Sect's threat was still considerable, with his identity exposed, their newly ascended Soul Transformation could no longer strike at will.
Previously, he could excuse his actions as the recklessness of one newly advanced, unaware of the tacit understanding between righteous and demonic Soul Transformations. But now that his identity was revealed, any further move would mean openly breaking that pact.
This trump card, originally meant to inflict catastrophic losses on the Righteous Alliance at a critical moment, was forced into premature exposure because of Lin Wu.
Though the Demon Sect ultimately succeeded in killing their target, their losses were no small matter.
Not only had they burned through a hidden card, they also lost several Nascent Soul Demon Lords, including one at the peak of the stage. Moreover, their earlier standoff with the Righteous Alliance had already cost them dearly.
When tallied together, the price paid by the Demon Sect to eliminate Gu Mo's avatar was so great that it had begun to affect the balance of power.
Nine Nether Domain.
This was a famous forbidden ground within Demon Sect territory. Deathly qi suffused the land, a veritable zone of lifelessness. The strange ghostly flame, Netherfire, which Gu Mo possessed, had originated from this very place.
But none knew that deep within the Nine Nether Domain lay an even greater secret.
That day, four figures entered the domain, each radiating an aura surpassing the Nascent Soul stage. They were none other than the Demon Sect's four Soul Transformation experts.
Descending deep into the forbidden grounds, the four came at last to a massive bronze gate.
Working together, all four struck, and only then did the bronze gate slowly open. That alone showed that what lay beyond was anything but ordinary.
As the gate opened, an overwhelming surge of deathly qi poured out. Three of the Demon Sect's Soul Transformations immediately backed away, unwilling to be contaminated.
Only the Soul Transformation of the Corpse Sect stretched out his hand, gathering the deathly qi. "In just a few years, it has accumulated this much already… this should be enough to greatly strengthen my corpse puppet." His pale face twisted into a smile as he stared at the bottle filled with deathly energy.
The Corpse Sect's zombie refinement relied heavily on death qi. Yet such places were rare—death qi sites were as scarce as spiritual qi sites.
Especially the kind needed to refine a fifth-rank corpse puppet—that was nearly impossible to find. Thus, though the Corpse Sect's Soul Transformation had long since ascended, the corpse puppet at his command remained a fourth-rank supreme, unable to advance.
It was only with the discovery of this bronze gate that the problem was finally solved.
His fifth-rank corpse puppet was one of the Demon Sect's hidden trump cards, one that could ambush a Righteous Soul Transformation at a crucial moment.
Once the tide of deathly qi ebbed, the four cautiously entered. Their wariness made it plain that what lay within demanded even their respect.
What awaited them was a great altar. More precisely, the altar upon which lay a sealed headless corpse.
The dense death qi emanated from this very corpse. Beneath it lay a pool of blood, formed from the endless flow spilling from its severed neck.
The Blood Sovereign produced a crimson spiritual treasure and waved it lightly. Instantly, waves of blood fiend energy surged from the blood pool, sucked greedily into his treasure.
Meanwhile, the Soul Transformation of the Ten-Thousand Ghost Cavern drew out his Ten-Thousand Souls Banner, absorbing the powerful resentments swirling nearby—the resentments belonging to the headless corpse itself.
As for the Demon Sect's newly advanced Soul Transformation, he took no action. His cultivation path was different; he had no use for death qi, blood fiend power, or resentful energy.
What he craved was the corpse itself.
Its origins were unknown, but one thing was certain—this corpse's cultivation in life had reached at least the Void Refinement stage, perhaps even higher.
The proof was plain: its flesh remained undying after countless years.
At Soul Transformation, one forged the Dharma Body of the Nascent Spirit. At Void Refinement, the flesh itself was honed to return to the natural state, attaining the same undying nature as Nascent Soul and Nascent Spirit.
When Nascent Soul, Nascent Spirit, and flesh were merged, that was the Body Integration stage.
A corpse beyond Soul Transformation, if studied carefully, might reveal a path forward. In the Tianyuan Cultivation World, Soul Transformation was the peak. Yet long ago, Void Refinement still existed here.
In even earlier eras, Body Integration, Tribulation Transcendence, even Mahayana experts had appeared. But with the passage of time, such high-level cultivators slowly vanished.
Now, even as Soul Transformations, they already felt the path ahead growing ever more difficult. It begged the question: would even their realm vanish one day?
"This time, let's break a bit more of the seal," Blood Sovereign suggested, unsatisfied after absorbing his share.
The headless corpse was the Demon Sect's greatest secret and trump card.
If they could truly refine it into a corpse puppet, the war between righteous and demonic paths would effectively be over.
For this, the Blood Sect, Ten-Thousand Ghost Cavern, and Corpse Sect Soul Transformations had all been attempting refinement. Some progress had been made, but to fully subdue it would take far more time.
The only reason they could make any headway at all was thanks to the seals binding it. Each time, they broke a fragment of the seal and refined a little more, gradually grinding it down.
Without those seals, refining the corpse would be utterly impossible.
Yet with the current situation turning unfavorable, the Demon Sect's Soul Transformations wanted to accelerate the process.
But no matter how they hastened, it could not be completed in the short term—unless they could find the corpse's missing head. With that, refining it would likely be immediate.
"Any new leads on the head's whereabouts?" asked the Corpse Sect's Soul Transformation.
"No. I feel this head may not be in the Tianyuan Cultivation World." The Ten Thousand Blood Demon Venerable shook his head. By their judgment, for cultivators above the Void Refining stage, their physical body was extremely difficult to completely destroy. And as long as the body was not destroyed and the true spirit not extinguished, a Void Refining cultivator still had the possibility of resurrection.
Therefore, separating the head from the body could effectively prevent revival. The farther apart the head and the body were, the safer it would be.
Thus, the Ten Thousand Blood Demon Venerable believed that the head of this headless corpse was most likely not in the Tianyuan Cultivation World, but in another cultivation world.
"Then send people to search in other regions," said the Nascent Soul Demon Venerable of the Ten Thousand Ghost Cavern. "Abandon some territory and temporarily contract our forces."
If they were to send strength to search for the head of the headless corpse, then clearly the Demon Sect's power would decline even further. At this time, the only option was to relinquish some territorial interests to ease the situation.
Once they found the head of the headless corpse and refined it, everything they had lost could be reclaimed—and they might even gain more.
"Very well!"
The Ten Thousand Blood Demon Venerable nodded.
Immediately, the three Nascent Soul Demon Venerables began using their power to grind away at the seal on the headless corpse. The reason they had to grind it down, of course, was that the seal on the corpse was exceedingly profound—even at the Nascent Soul stage, they could not undo it. Were it not for the fact that this seal had existed for so long, its power weakening with time, they likely could not have worn it down at all.
When the seal was eroded away, thick death aura, blood-soaked baleful energy, and resentful will surged out from the corpse. Seeing this, the three Nascent Soul Demon Venerables simultaneously collected the energies while using their own power to refine the body of the headless corpse.
As for the newly advanced fourth Nascent Soul Demon Venerable, he did not linger. With three of them stationed here refining the headless corpse, the Demon Sect naturally had to keep one Nascent Soul back to guard their domain. Otherwise, if all four of them were here refining and the righteous path's Nascent Souls launched an attack, it would be disastrous.
With the Demon Sect's retreat, the struggle between righteous and demonic paths eased, and the Tianyuan Cultivation World entered a relatively peaceful period.
Shennong Valley.
"You're going back to the Qinghe Cultivation World?"
Qi Chunde looked at Gu Mo, who had come to take his leave, and was slightly taken aback. "All right then, just be careful." He did not stop Gu Mo from leaving.
After all, Qi Chunde had already witnessed Gu Mo's combat power during the Heaven's Chosen Battle. Even a Nascent Soul True Lord could do nothing against his disciple. And since the Qinghe Cultivation World did not even have a Nascent Soul Venerable, the danger Gu Mo faced there was not high.
Not merely "not high"—with Gu Mo's current strength, there likely weren't many in the Qinghe Cultivation World stronger than him at all.
"Once you reach the Qinghe Cultivation World, focus on gathering information. Do not engage in open conflict with the Fenghua Sect. Wait for me." Qi Chunde reminded him.
Gu Mo had cause and karma to resolve in the Qinghe Cultivation World, and so did Qi Chunde. After all, Qi Chunde had once been an elder of the Qinglu Sect. Now that he had the ability, he naturally wished to help Qinglu Sect reclaim its ancestral grounds and settle that karmic debt.
But for now, Qi Chunde could not conveniently leave.
Besides needing to focus on deducing his new cultivation method, he also could not relax because the Demon Sect had not given up probing into him.
Since advancing to Nascent Soul True Lord, Qi Chunde had not taken action again. As someone who had crossed a special heavenly tribulation, the Demon Sect was intensely curious about his combat strength.
Especially after Gu Mo's avatar, who had also endured a special Nascent Soul tribulation, displayed such terrifying power, the Demon Sect no longer dared underestimate Qi Chunde.
Therefore, if Qi Chunde left Shennong Valley now, a Nascent Soul from the Demon Sect would definitely strike. Though the sect had contracted its power in other areas, in this matter they would not, and might even increase their efforts.
On the other hand, the attention on prodigies like Gu Mo had diminished somewhat. After the incident with Gu Mo's avatar, all the righteous sects strengthened protection over their talented disciples.
This made it much harder for the Demon Sect to gather intelligence on such prodigies. With their power already stretched thin, they had no choice but to reduce their probing of the righteous path's Heaven's Chosen and focus their limited resources on key targets.
Thus, Gu Mo choosing to leave at this moment was the best timing. Though truth be told, he would not have feared leaving at any other time either.
"Understood!"
Gu Mo felt that with his current combat power, he could probably force his way through Fenghua Sect. But if his master joined him, it would surely be even safer.
After all, Gu Mo could not be sure whether Fenghua Sect possessed some hidden trump card.
Leaving his master's small courtyard, Gu Mo buried a Golden Core Dao Seed in the spiritual field there. This Dao Seed was fused with many special spiritual plant genes. Once planted, it could automatically absorb spiritual energy from the field and grow.
In theory, given enough time, this Dao Seed could grow directly into a Myriad Laws Tree. Of course, that was only in theory, for it would require far too long.
By the time that much time had passed, Gu Mo's cultivation would likely have already broken through to Nascent Soul or beyond. Thus, this Dao Seed was more of a safeguard for Gu Mo—a hidden means of survival.
If, by misfortune, his true body perished, he could still revive through this Dao Seed avatar.
"Xiaohua, I'll leave this place to you."
After planting the Dao Seed avatar, Gu Mo instructed Xiaohua. This time, for his journey to the Qinghe Cultivation World, he only intended to bring Xiaoli. After all, Xiaoli was his spiritual pet, and as Gu Mo had stepped into the level of Nascent Soul True Lord, Xiaoli also showed signs of breaking through.
Gu Mo's advancement to Nascent Soul had not yet been revealed. If Xiaoli suddenly broke through as well, it would certainly arouse suspicion. Therefore, bringing Xiaoli along was absolutely necessary.
Since Xiaoli would be gone, Xiaohua could not be taken away too. Otherwise, no one would tend to the Sunlight Glazed Flowers in the spiritual field.
"Mm."
Xiaohua nodded, looking rather unhappy. If Gu Mo hadn't promised to bring her lots and lots of tasty food upon his return, she would have surely pestered him to let her come along.
After giving some final instructions, Gu Mo left the courtyard. Outside, Lu Lingmei had been waiting for some time. Naturally, she would also be one of those accompanying Gu Mo on his journey to the Qinghe Cultivation World.
In addition to her, there were others who also intended to travel with Gu Mo to the Qinghe Cultivation World.
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