Li Mo uncorked the Glass Jar. With a puff, pale yellow Misty Spiritual Energy gushed out, and a sour stench spread through the room.
Once he saw that the Spiritual Qi was dense enough, he swiftly sealed the Glass Jar again.
The Misty Spiritual Energy was somewhat pungent, and Li Mo's expression turned strange. Mainly because he had often smelled it in the Metropolis in his previous life.
He waved a hand through it and indeed felt a granular texture.
Li Mo was quite satisfied with the Misty Spiritual Energy. The corrosiveness mixed within it increased its usefulness by more than tenfold, at the very least.
He did not need Spiritual Qi that killed upon drawing blood. After all, it was stored in his own Dantian and would more or less affect his body.
The Misty Spiritual Energy's only drawback was that environments capable of producing it were rare.
Li Mo continued meditating with his eyes closed.
The inner room's advantage became apparent. No matter how dense the Spiritual Qi inside became, it could be locked firmly within. No wonder it was suitable for secluded cultivation.
Li Mo silently recited the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture once and naturally entered a cultivation state.
He sensed countless motes of light again, but this time Misty Spiritual Energy accounted for seventy percent. Filtering them through his consciousness became much easier as well.
Without the Glass Jar Han Cai had given him, Li Mo would have had to locate traces of Misty Spiritual Energy among several hundred kinds of Spiritual Qi.
The difficulty was no less than fishing a needle from the sea—a thankless task that took twice the effort for half the result.
If Li Mo absorbed too many mixed varieties of Alien Spiritual Energy, it would inevitably contaminate his five viscera. He could only mend the fold after the sheep was lost by replacing his organs.
His expression grew solemn. Now, it depended on what use the Multi-layered Dantian had.
Under Li Mo's fully focused guidance, a wisp of Misty Spiritual Energy followed his consciousness, entered through his mouth and nose, and arrived at the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
The cultivation route of the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture was steady and stable. It barely involved the branch meridians, simply following the main meridians to complete a Circulation Cycle.
A Circulation Cycle could strengthen Li Mo's connection with spiritual power and refine that spiritual power.
The Childhood Stage's method of accumulating spiritual power was actually little different from the Qi Refining Stage's. It was clear that the two returned to the same source.
However, when the Miasma Spiritual Power traveled through his meridians, he could clearly feel a slight stinging pain. This showed that the Eight Extraordinary Meridians could still be corroded.
Li Mo could not possibly ask Han Cai to replace an entire set of meridians, so he could only let his body adapt little by little.
After circulating it for two cycles, he guided the Miasma Spiritual Power into his Middle Dantian.
Li Mo stared with tightly furrowed brows. The Miasma Spiritual Power passed smoothly through the Multi-layered Dantian, settled in the center of the Middle Dantian, and quickly fell silent.
"That shouldn't be..."
The divine ability, Multi-layered Dantian, showed no reaction, nor did the Miasma Spiritual Power change.
Li Mo was unwilling to accept this. He absorbed another wisp of Misty Spiritual Energy, sent it into the Middle Dantian after a Circulation Cycle, and the two wisps of spiritual power merged together. Yet the divine ability still did not activate.
"What the hell..."
He chose to end his cultivation, rose to his feet, and shuffled in circles along the wall while carefully pondering the Multi-layered Dantian's purpose.
Li Mo suddenly remembered something. His expression brightened with excitement, and he hurriedly closed his eyes to meditate again.
He did not draw in Misty Spiritual Energy. Instead, he selected a wisp of Mountain Spiritual Energy, carefully refined it through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, then finally sent it surging toward the Middle Dantian.
The Miasma Spiritual Energy in his core Dantian abruptly became agitated. It seemed to sense the approach of another kind of Alien Spiritual Energy and darted wildly up and down inside the Dantian.
Li Mo controlled the Mountain Spiritual Energy and sent it into the outermost layer of the Middle Dantian.
The Mountain Spiritual Energy immediately sank deep into a mire. It was unexpectedly stuck in the outer layer and could not be stored, then was gradually absorbed by the Middle Dantian.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Li Mo opened his eyes and laughed like a madman.
"Multi-layered Dantian—the Multi-layered Dantian is for filtering!"
The Middle Dantian's Protective Layer could isolate Impure Spiritual Energy other than Misty Spiritual Energy. Moreover, the divine ability itself would digest the Impure Spiritual Energy to nourish the Middle Dantian.
With the Multi-layered Dantian to rely on, the spiritual power within Li Mo's body would become exceptionally pure.
He could even deliberately absorb Impure Spiritual Energy and leave as much of it as possible for the divine ability to digest. Given enough time, the Middle Dantian would surely undergo a metamorphosis.
The problem of Misty Spiritual Energy's scarcity had also been solved as easily as splitting bamboo because of the divine ability.
For a time, Li Mo found it difficult to settle into meditation. He simply sat before the desk to grind ink and paint. He did not paint only the Mountain Lord, but also familiar wild beasts.
Though he used an ordinary ink stick, the hundred beasts in his paintings still could not conceal their wildness.
The moment his state of mind calmed, Li Mo could not wait to resume cultivating.
The Qi Refining Stage of the Ancient Immortal Cultivation World was divided into ten layers. Seven thousand years later, the cultivation realm known as the Childhood Stage had only six layers left.
With spiritual power stationed in Li Mo's Middle Dantian, no matter how little there was, he counted as a Childhood Stage Layer 1 cultivator and had formally entered the path.
Cultivation at Childhood Stage Layer 1 mainly involved filling the Middle Dantian with refined spiritual power and compressing it as much as possible to lay a foundation.
Once the spiritual power overflowed, one would break through to Childhood Stage Layer 2.
A cultivator needed to use spiritual power to transform the heart into a Corpse Spirit Root.
From Childhood Stage Layer 3 through six layers afterward was all part of the Five Viscera Spiritual Root Transformation process. The purer the Corpse Spirit Root, the stronger the foundation.
Put plainly, later generations cultivated on the basis of resisting Death Sickness.
Li Mo patiently absorbed Misty Spiritual Energy until none remained in the room.
The skin all over his body was now covered in filth. It was the accumulated toxins and impurities within his body from years upon years, swept clean by the Miasma Spiritual Power.
Li Mo paused his cultivation. As he stretched his limbs, he guided spiritual power toward his right arm.
He wanted to see what differences Universal Skill would show with the enhancement of Misty Spiritual Energy.
When the Miasma Spiritual Power fused into his magic finger, Li Mo sensed that the magic finger seemed capable of extending outward. He proactively released a trace of spiritual power from his fingertip.
A thin yellow mist curled around the magic finger. The spiritual power's form truly lay between reality and illusion.
With a thought from Li Mo, the spiritual power solidified and unexpectedly began to lengthen, eventually turning into a spiritual-power brush connected to his finger bones.
Seeing this, he continuously activated Universal Skill, making the magic finger imitate a blade, then a key with a complex structure...
Li Mo did not stop experimenting with Universal Skill until his spiritual power was exhausted.
He also understood why it was called Universal Skill. As long as the Alien Spiritual Power infused into it was suitable, the magic finger could completely replace tools.
No matter how readily Li Mo commanded Misty Spiritual Energy as though it were his own arm and fingers, he could not alter its nature as Universal Skill could.
With Universal Skill, his painting technique rose another level.
Li Mo also realized that Steward Hu likely wanted him to use Paint Green Clothes for something, something that might very well involve Smelting Town's secrets.
After washing up briefly, he began another round of cultivation, intending to absorb every last trace of Misty Spiritual Energy in the Glass Jar.
He also practiced painting the hundred beasts along the way.
Secluded within the closed inner room, Li Mo did not notice the Pawnshop's abnormal situation in the slightest.
The Pawnshop had been completely sealed off. Whether menial workers or cultivators, they were permitted to enter but not leave, and guards watched the perimeter walls.
Invisibly, an oppressive atmosphere shrouded the Pawnshop.
Especially at the Miscellaneous Hall, the frequency with which the furnace used to fire clay sculptures emitted thick smoke had unknowingly grown higher and higher, while a burnt stench spread through the air.
Some menial workers discussed it in private.
"There aren't any clay sculpture statues in that furnace at all. I saw nothing but corpses—unfathomably strange corpses."
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