New Divine Ability Obtained Through Imprint

During the ten-plus days of Li Mo's divine ability transformation, the deer cry was occasionally heard.

The room's soundproofing was clearly excellent, yet the bizarre deer cry somehow pierced through the thick walls, sending chills down one's spine.

Fortunately, the frequency of the deer cry gradually decreased, or it would have inevitably affected Li Mo's seclusion.

He endured the torment of his body's transformation; even though the pain was far less than when the Magic Finger was transplanted, it was still excruciatingly hard to bear.

Seeing this, Li Mo focused his energy on the cultivation technique.

The "Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture" in the Bone Scroll had been flipped through countless times by him, every word and sentence firmly memorized as he pondered their meanings.

In the ancient Heart Beast Sect, the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture had no corresponding technique; it was likely created by later cultivators based on Variant Spiritual Energy.

Li Mo, using the extensive theoretical knowledge gained from the Book of Fortune, made multiple comparisons before confirming that the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture contained no hidden traps.

The first half of the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture was an ordinary Qi Refining technique, with average cultivation efficiency, but its strength lay in the purity of the spiritual power it produced.

The second half, however, took a sharp turn, emphasizing the use of the unique corrosive nature of Variant Spiritual Energy to assimilate the five viscera into a Corpse Spirit Root.

If the five viscera were accidentally damaged, even replacing them at Han Cai's Miraculous Hands Medical Hall would still affect one's foundation.

With the Book of Fortune in hand, Li Mo should have no major issues with the Five Viscera Spiritual Root Transformation.

It was a pity that there was no content for advancing to the Coming-of-Age Stage (Foundation Establishment Realm); he would have to find an opportunity to seek a higher-level technique.

The cold wind howled, and early winter was approaching.

Li Mo ignored everything outside his window. When the skin transformation was complete, the maddening itch that had made him scratch his ears and cheeks mostly subsided, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He checked the information in the Book of Fortune; the skin's divine ability was called "Leakless Body."

Li Mo certainly knew what the Leakless Body was. In his past life, there had been similar concepts—it was the supreme state pursued by Daoist priests in ancient texts.

For both men and women, once they reached a certain age, phenomena like menstruation and nocturnal emissions would naturally occur, known as "body leakage."

That is, a sign of the loss of Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

The Leakless Body allowed Li Mo's Essence, Qi, and Spirit to not leak out, remaining full at all times, and consuming grains no longer produced filth.

But Li Mo couldn't help feeling a bit helpless.

If this were seven thousand years ago, the Leakless Body would have been practically a Dao Body, providing crucial assistance at least until forming a Golden Core.

But now?

Li Mo had just passed his eleventh birthday, with only nine years left before his internal organs lost their vitality.

By the time he survived the Childhood Stage Death Sickness and his five viscera were replaced by the Corpse Spirit Root, there would be no such thing as Essence, Qi, and Spirit leakage to speak of.

"Forget it, it's still beneficial."

Li Mo shook his head with a bitter smile. Eidetic Memory, while enhancing memory, even indirectly improved comprehension and body control; the Leakless Body certainly wouldn't be limited to merely containing Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

The effects of divine abilities on the body were all subtle; the specifics would have to be explored.

While waiting for the awakening of the Middle Dantian's divine ability, Li Mo thoroughly studied the effects of the Leakless Body.

His energy became abundant; he only needed to sleep two hours a day, and his physical fitness slowly improved. Even his food intake dropped from one meal a day to one meal every three days.

But even without the Leakless Body, after the age of twenty, there would be no need for eating or sleeping.

Li Mo felt a slight regret, but when he checked his pulse daily, he discovered that the Leakless Body could actually delay the Death Sickness—the rate at which his heartbeat slowed was sharply reduced by thirty to forty percent.

According to his estimate, the Childhood Stage Death Sickness should be postponed by about five years, fully erupting only around the age of twenty-five.

If Li Mo were to brand the Middle Dantian again, Nectar Spiritual Energy could be considered for the list, to complement the Leakless Body.

Unfortunately, he could only use the Leakless Body to delay the Death Sickness, not eradicate it.

As the body decayed, the effects of Nectar Spiritual Energy and the Leakless Body would inevitably grow weaker; no one born could escape the Death Sickness.

Thump, thump, thump...

A dull sound suddenly came from Li Mo's chest. It wasn't a violent heartbeat, but the Middle Dantian finally completing its transformation after being branded.

The awakened divine ability was "Multi-layered Dantian."

He was somewhat puzzled about the function of the Multi-layered Dantian and flipped open the Book of Fortune with his mind.

On the second page, the Middle Dantian—a tumor-like organ—had become somewhat strange, now consisting of three layers inside and out, with the core housing spiritual power.

Li Mo frowned slightly, vaguely guessing, but he still needed to verify.

He rang a copper bell, and a servant brought hot water.

Li Mo simply bathed and changed clothes, then prepared to cultivate the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture, mainly adjusting his physical and mental state to its peak.

To begin cultivation, one needed to use consciousness to communicate with the external spiritual energy.

The difficulty varied from person to person; some cultivators couldn't sense spiritual energy for half a year, while others took only a month to reach the Childhood Stage.

To be safe, Li Mo did not directly open the Glass Jar.

He walked to the Altar, hung Tian Chenzi's portrait on the wall, and lit three incense sticks in the Incense Burner.

The Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture contained notes from predecessors.

If it was hard to perceive external spiritual energy, one could try visualizing Tian Chenzi's portrait to help consciousness communicate with the spiritual energy.

Li Mo studied the portrait carefully, but no matter how he looked at it, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

He placed the glass jar before him, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

To Li Mo's surprise, only a few breaths after shutting his eyes, specks of light representing spiritual energy suddenly appeared in the pitch-black void of his vision.

It felt as if he could reach out and grasp them at any moment.

The spiritual energy came in a riot of colors, with the grayish-brown Mountain Spiritual Energy being the most abundant, followed by the Frost Spiritual Energy born of winter's chill.

He stared at the glowing specks for a long time, yet found no trace of Misty Spiritual Energy at all.

"Wasn't it said that cultivators who spend months in seclusion just to enter the gate are a dime a dozen?"

"How long did I take?"

Li Mo hadn't expected it to be this easy, so he hadn't even drawn out the Misty Spiritual Energy, only sensing the dozens of types of Variant Spiritual Energy within the room.

He had no choice but to withdraw from his cultivation state and prepare to open the glass jar.

Just then, Li Mo happened to open his eyes and look at the portrait of Tian Chenzi. Perhaps because his consciousness was still deep in trance, his vision blurred.

The painting turned eerie.

Blood slowly seeped from Tian Chenzi's chest and abdomen, as if they had been gouged open by a sharp weapon. His Daoist robe was tattered, the whisk in his hand seemed made of human bone, and his hair and beard had been replaced by bird feathers.

Crack, crack, crack.

The sound of bones breaking rang out—Li Mo had heard the same noise inside the carriage before, seemingly coming from the driver, Shopkeeper Tian.

In the blink of an eye, Tian Chenzi's chest lay wide open, his ribs growing outward, revealing internal organs of grotesque strangeness.

The heart resembled a skinned ape.

The liver, a legless opossum.

The spleen, a hyena with too many legs.

The lungs, a pig with a human face.

The kidneys, a two-headed Crow-Sparrow.

Li Mo dug his nails into his palm, using the pain to forcibly jolt his consciousness awake. When he looked at the portrait of Tian Chenzi again, it was once more the image of an immortal with a Daoist bone and celestial bearing.

Panting heavily, he rolled up the painting and burned it to ashes over the candle flame.

It took most of the day before Li Mo's mind finally settled again, and he even found himself somewhat unfazed—after all, Smelting Town was steeped in strangeness at every turn.