Outer Sect Grand Competition

During his free time, Li Mo began continuously copying paintings of foxes, aiming only to ensure that when the time came to draw the tattoo, he could do so without a single mistake.

In the meantime, cultivators successively retreated to the area around the warehouse.

They unanimously chose silence, and each room also extinguished their lamps, doing their best to conceal themselves in the darkness.

Perhaps because the Calligraphy and Painting Hall had too many apprentices and menial laborers, the cultivators did not approach.

Li Mo swallowed his saliva. It was clear that the Pawnshop's arrangements had reached their final stage—they were just waiting for the fish to take the bait.

He had no time to worry about the warehouse, focusing all his energy on Paint Green Clothes.

Currently, Li Mo only had one bottle of Fox Blood on hand. Although it was enough for two attempts, the tattoo had to be completed in one go; otherwise, it would affect the potential of the Spell.

He stayed inside the room, occasionally glancing nervously toward the warehouse. But once his mind immersed itself in the painting, all negative emotions were swept away.

The first day passed.

The warehouse remained lit day and night. The entire Pawnshop seemed to have ground to a halt, and even the number of guards was decreasing.

Li Mo's movements in copying the paintings grew increasingly skilled.

He no longer paid attention to the strangeness of the outside world. His consciousness felt as if it had stepped into a mountain forest, becoming a fox foraging for food, threading through the wild wilderness.

The fox on the rice paper was becoming lifelike at a speed visible to the Naked Eye.

When Li Mo came back to his senses, the ink in the inkstone had run dry, and on the desk lay a thick stack of fox paintings, exuding the scent of ink.

The second layer of Human Skin had also grown back.

Li Mo's appearance showed no discernible difference, but in a certain sense, his body structure was already completely different from a normal person's.

He looked at his palm, and then the skin and flesh began to writhe, as if countless tiny insects were squirming inside his body. His skin tone rapidly turned as fair and smooth as jade.

Li Mo could actually use the Book of Fortune to swap the inner and outer order of the two layers of Human Skin.

After releasing the new skin to the outside, he seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. The scars that had once remained disappeared, and his facial features had changed considerably.

In particular, his five senses—because the new skin had been nurtured by the Leakless Body—naturally carried an ethereal, otherworldly temperament.

Unless someone was very familiar with him, they might not even recognize Li Mo.

At this point, four of the nine pages of the Book of Fortune had been consumed. The remaining five pages clearly weren't enough; he would have to find a way to increase the page count after the crisis was resolved.

Li Mo was about to take out the Fox Blood when he suddenly heard a Deer Cry that pierced the sky, its source clearly coming from the Inner City.

From the jungle at the foot of the mountain came a response.

One Elk after another emerged from the dense forest, standing motionless at the edge, staring at Smelting Town with an eerily inexplicable gaze.

Smelting Town remained unmoved, as if it had anticipated the situation about to unfold. However, the warehouse was clearly on much higher alert.

Li Mo immediately set about mastering Paint Green Clothes.

According to Paint Green Clothes, the human body had seven optional locations for drawing tattoos: the "Main Position" at the chest where the Middle Dantian was located.

The "Secondary Positions" on the back and shoulders, and the "Auxiliary Positions" on the Limbs.

The Paint Green Clothes for the Childhood Stage mainly involved Beast Head Tattoos on the Auxiliary Positions, using ordinary Beast Blood as material.

Li Mo did not have the content of Paint Green Clothes for the Coming-of-Age Stage, but the Spell mentioned information about the Secondary Positions. The steps would likely be more than ten times more complicated.

It probably involved Demonic Beasts, and the materials required would be unimaginable.

Of course, whether Demonic Beasts still existed Seven Thousand Years Later was another matter.

After resting for most of an hour, Li Mo's Essence, Qi, and Spirit returned to their peak. He then sketched out a draft.

He set down his brush with practiced ease. The fox in the painting took shape in no time, its expression carrying an overly clever feel, as if it were the heart-enthralling Fox Immortal from legends of strange tales and monsters.

He could fully reveal the ferocity of the Mountain Lord, making it seem like a "ghost"; or he could display the fox's cunning to the fullest, making it seem like a "demon."

Li Mo continuously adjusted the details of the Fox Head, and the Fox Immortal in the painting grew increasingly real.

When he was finally satisfied, even he felt a chill creep down his spine just staring at the painting, as if it had truly been copied from a Fox Demon.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The strange sound of the Elk rang out again, and movement stirred from the direction of the warehouse.

Li Mo quickly cut a sharp wooden splinter from the edge of the Wooden Table.

He placed the splinter over the candle flame to burn it, crafting a crude charcoal pencil. On the skin of his arm, he began outlining the contour of the Fox Head.

Just as Li Mo was completely focused, a faint tremor came from the outside world.

Li Mo dared not neglect the drawing of the Fox Head. The charcoal pencil gradually completed the pattern, as if a fox's head were lying flat on his arm.

When the charcoal outline was finished, he felt there was nothing more he could add.

Li Mo had already exceeded his normal limits, forcibly pushing his painting skill up a level, reaching a degree where the painting seemed to contain a "spirit."

Being able to draw such a Beast Head was, to some extent, due to the pressure from the outside world.

Li Mo took out the Fox Blood and poured it into a clean inkstone. Then, using the method of grinding ink, he did his best to fully release the blood's properties.

He cut open his middle finger and dripped in an equal amount of Fingertip Blood.

Li Mo was surprised to find that his own blood no longer appeared dark red; instead, it had a crystalline, translucent, and faintly glowing quality.

It seems that the Leakless Body, while not resolving the drawbacks of the Death Sickness, had brought his physique infinitely close to some form of innate Dao Body.

The Beast Blood mixed with Fingertip Blood settled like a vivid red dye.

Li Mo hesitated no longer. A surge of Misty Spiritual Energy flowed from his Magic Finger, forming the shape of a needle.

He brought his right Magic Finger close to the inkstone. The blood within the inkstone was directly absorbed by the Magic Finger, continuously nourished by the Misty Spiritual Energy.

Sensing that every drop of blood had spiritual power infused into it, Li Mo raised his right hand.

The needle-like Magic Finger pressed down on the charcoal-drawn lines on his left arm. This was only a test, so Li Mo did not inject the blood beneath the skin.

He needed precise control over his strength, careful not to damage the second layer of new skin.

After confirming everything was correct, Li Mo began to draw the Fox Head. The Magic Finger rose and fell steadily, moving at a measured pace like a machine.

The blood ink spread.

The red fox beast head gradually took shape on his upper arm, its lifelike appearance as if it were about to burst through the skin.

Once Li Mo finished the beast head's mouth, the red fox actively and greedily absorbed external spiritual energy. However, it was only the stray Scorching Smoke Spiritual Energy, so the efficiency was even slower than his own cultivation.

He now understood the purpose of the later Molten Town Spell.

Whether it was Paint Green Clothes, the Soul Chasing Poison Stinger, or the A Hui Possession Curse, on the surface, they seemed to grant parts of the body beast-like traits.

In truth, these spells raised spirit beasts within the cultivator's body. The Eternal Life body was perfectly suited for hosting such spirit beasts.

The "spirit beasts" created from one's own body were completely obedient to the cultivator, though they would subtly devour Essence, Qi, and Spirit over time.

Before Li Mo could feel elated, something massive outside seemed to crawl toward the Warehouse. The Nectar Spiritual Energy in the air was clearly increasing.

The ground shook and the mountains swayed.

The Book of Fortune released fragments of memory.

Every fifteen years, Inner Sect Disciples of the Heart Beast Sect would come to the Outer Sect and, through trials, select some Outer Sect Disciples to be promoted to the Inner Sect.

In the ancient Heart Beast Sect, this process of selecting Outer Sect Disciples through competition was called the [Outer Sect Grand Competition].