The western side of the mountain peak where Smelting Town stood had always been the poorly controlled Slums, where great numbers of Living Dead eroded by Death Sickness were concentrated.
At the same time, because the mountain's rear side received no sunlight year-round, mold and decay were especially severe.
As long as one approached West City, an indescribable stench would assail the nose, while faint groans of pain drifted from the street corners.
The passing civilians were skinny as withered bones; bare, ghastly White Bone could even be seen on their bodies. Death Sickness had left them powerless to resist.
The only fortunate thing was that the yamen in the north of the city was not far from the Slums, and quite a few officers and soldiers patrolled there on ordinary days.
Sinister Beasts also rarely appeared in West City. The prey here could not yield even half a tael of meat, and their hearts had long since rotted away beneath Death Sickness's erosion.
Having escaped the calamity of Sinister Beasts, West City nevertheless remained mired in the aftershocks of the Beast Calamity.
On this day, several hundred officers and soldiers sealed off dozens of homes near the city wall. While strictly forbidding unrelated people from entering or leaving, cultivators continuously headed inside to investigate.
Even when Sinister Beasts devoured people, the yamen had never appeared so tense.
A peculiar rusty smell permeated the air. Mixed with the stench of corpses, it was difficult to tell whether it came from blood.
Before long, officers and soldiers carried out one malformed and bizarre corpse after another, drawing waves of terrified cries from the watching civilians.
The corpses' surfaces were astonishingly covered in dozens of arms. Their chest and abdomen, where the ribs had split open, were especially crammed full of arms.
The yamen immediately issued missions, and more and more cultivators entered the sealed area.
Yet no matter how they searched, they could not find any trace of a Sinister Beast. They did not even understand the source that had spawned the calamity.
Although chaos was unavoidable in Smelting Town after the Beast Calamity ended, Polymelia did not seem like an abnormality caused by Sinister Beasts.
Not only had it appeared without warning, it targeted only specific groups of people.
Cultivators would not contract Polymelia, while it spread on a massive scale among mortals, leaving patients requiring amputation at the Medical Hall nearly lined up out the door.
Li Mo kept his Spirit Tablet close against his chest, yet it would stir from time to time, showing that Smelting Town had not been peaceful lately.
He did not inspect the Spirit Tablet, focusing instead on breaking through in his cultivation.
Li Mo repeatedly circulated his Miasma Spiritual Power through Circulation Cycles while absorbing the Spiritual Qi outside, allowing his Multi-layered Dantian to continue condensing Spiritual Power.
The Miasma Spiritual Power within his meridians seemed like an endlessly flowing river, already on the verge of bursting its banks, yet he remained unable to break through.
Driven by Spiritual Power, the blood condensed by Azure Blood, Loyal Heart also washed through his body, pushing his physique to become stronger.
Li Mo sucked in a cold breath.
Fine beads of blood had already seeped from his skin. Whether his meridians or blood vessels, both had reached the limits he could currently bear.
Li Mo endured the pain. Having a foundation that was too solid was troublesome as well.
The Book of Fortune's Divine Ability subtly altered his Xiantian aptitude. It would certainly bring long-term benefits in the future, but it made his Childhood Stage Layer 1 seem incomparably prolonged.
Li Mo watched helplessly as his qi and blood, along with his Spiritual Power, continued to accumulate.
He simply cast Paint Green Clothes, letting the Crimson Fox and Ghost Tiger share his pressure, though he limited the Spiritual Power flowing into the tattoos to half a tenth.
The Beast Head Tattoos vanished from his arms, and two Exotic Beasts appeared. Because the Spiritual Power and qi and blood forming their bodies were sparse, they were only the size of cats and dogs.
Even so, the furniture in the room was immediately swept flying, scorching heat and icy chill intertwining.
The Crimson Fox's fiery-red hairs looked like drifting smoke and dust, its vivid tail swaying.
Black vapor spewed from the Ghost Tiger's mouth and nose, its body flickering in and out of sight within the dim room.
The two beasts faced each other.
Yet they did not fight. They obediently helped Li Mo bear the Spiritual Power and qi and blood, while also gaining benefits from them.
Li Mo spent several days restoring his body to its peak condition. The meridians and blood vessels that had already calmed began to throb with pain again.
He calmly sorted through his thoughts, then drew back the Spiritual Power and qi and blood from the Tattooed Beasts' bodies.
Had Li Mo done this seven thousand years ago, he would have been playing with fire and burning himself. Once he completely lost control, his meridians and Dantian would immediately suffer severe damage.
But in later generations, as long as the meridians and Dantian could be repaired, it would not harm one's foundation.
Spiritual Qi surged toward the Middle Dantian, while his blood flowed even faster.
When the Middle Dantian filled with Miasma Spiritual Power, Li Mo felt a surge of excitement. In the unseen dark, he sensed the existence of the bottleneck—only the final kick at the gate remained.
Li Mo's eyes reddened, and the two Tattooed Beasts began to shrink.
Blood seeped from his facial features, and his skin turned bluish-purple. Even at such a point, the Leakless Body still firmly locked down the Spiritual Power.
A tiger's roar and a fox's cry rang out!
A quantitative change produced a qualitative change. A wisp of Miasma Spiritual Power was like the straw that broke the camel's back; after merging into the Middle Dantian, all the Spiritual Power immediately boiled.
A faint Haze Mist emanated from Li Mo's pores, while the Tattooed Beasts lay prone beside him.
In merely a few breaths, the Middle Dantian expanded by more than double, while the Protective Layer of the Multi-layered Dantian increased to ten layers.
"Hahahahaha..."
Li Mo opened his eyes, unable to contain the exhilaration in his heart, as though he had pushed aside the clouds and mist.
He no longer needed to control the Miasma Spiritual Power. Wisps of Spiritual Power clung to his heart, causing his organs to undergo aberrant changes and gradually move toward metamorphosis into spirit roots.
Li Mo had seen the Corpse Spirit Root of Misty Spiritual Energy at Miraculous Hands Medical Hall. It had resembled wax overall.
Yet why did he feel as though his own heart was drawing closer to stone, while his blood was also undergoing indescribable changes?
Li Mo tried using Universal Skill and found it even more responsive to his will.
There was no need to mention Paint Green Clothes. The Tattooed Beasts had benefited immensely from his breakthrough, and after returning to the Beast Head Tattoos, they each began digesting their gains.
Once the Corpse Spirit Root took shape later, his Spells would receive further enhancement, and his efficiency in absorbing external Spiritual Qi would greatly increase.
Li Mo tidied up the room, which was in complete disarray, then continued his Circulation Cycles to stabilize his cultivation. By the time he came back to himself, two days had passed.
He could not help checking his Spirit Tablet, only to find it filled with information about "Polymelia."
Especially over the past month, the yamen had expended tremendous effort, digging three feet into the ground in search of the source. Instead, they had rooted out more than a dozen Sinister Beasts hiding in the shadows.
What puzzled Li Mo was that during the ten days leading up to his breakthrough, information concerning Polymelia had gradually diminished.
He sent a message through the Spirit Tablet to Jin Li, asking about Polymelia.
According to Jin Li,
the trouble caused by Polymelia had already subsided. The resulting deaths and injuries had not been severe, but because it had not been stopped for so long, it had nearly alarmed the Shopkeepers.
Li Mo could not shake the feeling that something was off.
A calamity among mortals had simply vanished without rhyme or reason?
Using the excuse of coming out of seclusion, Li Mo arranged to meet Jin Li at the teahouse in front of the Pawnshop, intending to determine exactly what had happened while he was in seclusion.
He was also considering leaving the city and planned to learn the Black Market's exact location through Jin Li.
If Li Mo wanted to obtain inheritances of techniques and Spells in Smelting Town, he had to petition the manager and receive permission before applying to the Medical Hall.
Not to mention the outrageously expensive beast resources.
He even held out hope that he might find a way to increase Blank Pages at the Black Market.
A sigh: Bizarre Immortal Cultivation was already showing signs of decline. The new book had the old book's boost, but the results after getting recommendation slots were far worse than the old book's. Sigh.
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