Spring passes, and winter comes.
The passage of time slips by silently. In a world where mortals can achieve immortality, the turning of seasons stirs not even the slightest ripple.
Even though the rampage of Deceit Beasts inevitably brings about additional casualties in Rong Town, it hardly impacts the foundation of its powers.
Cultivators are busy clearing out Deceit Beasts, earning Spirit Stones in exchange for resources.
Only Li Mo remains unmoved, quietly staying in his inner chamber, monotonously repeating his cultivation as he prepares for the breakthrough to the second layer of childhood.
Some cultivators outside speculate that Li Mo's withdrawal from public view is out of fear of the Deceit Beasts, or perhaps that he has already died in some forsaken corner of Rong Town.
Only Jin Li, who occasionally interacts with him, understands the resoluteness of Li Mo's Tao Heart.
Profit and reputation are but trivial matters. At the age of barely over ten, focusing one's full attention on meditation and cultivation is something few can achieve.
Li Mo, however, is not as pure as Jin Li imagines.
But he is indeed deeply interested in cultivation, especially since the Creation Book, which serves as the ladder to ascension, is now placed right before his eyes, leaving no room for neglect.
The inner chamber is a mess, saturated with various mixed types of Spiritual Energy.
Li Mo sits cross-legged on a meditation cushion, holding a piece of Mid-grade Spirit Stone in his palms, absorbing the alien spirit energy contained within, his cultivation slowly progressing.
As the Mid-grade Spirit Stone depletes, fine cracks appear on its crystalline surface.
Crack, crack, crack…
A series of crisp sounds echo as the Mid-grade Spirit Stone fully crumbles into powder, and the residual Spiritual Energy swirls around the room, causing light and shadows to ripple in flux.
Li Mo exhales deeply.
He stretches lazily, the Red Fox Tattoo on his left arm faintly glowing, actively absorbing the fire attribute Spiritual Energy in the room.
The Red Fox Tattoo could nourish itself through fire attribute Spiritual Energy, but as an auxiliary tattoo created from common Beast Blood, its efficiency in autonomously absorbing energy is painstakingly slow.
Li Mo pulls twelve pieces of Low Grade Spirit Stones from his chest and puts them back into his Storage Bag.
After imprinting two pages of skin, his Leakless Body has strengthened, now capable of producing complete Low Grade Spirit Stones on its own.
He absorbs Mid-grade Spirit Stones in one go, then uses his multi-layered dantian to filter the smog Spiritual Energy, which results in some loss during the formation of the Low Grade Spirit Stones.
Li Mo's expression grows vacant as he realizes he has been in secluded cultivation for over three years.
He concentrates his mind on the middle dantian, where the mist fog spiritual power is nearly overflowing. The eightfold protective layer formed by his Divine Skills firmly locks the mist fog spiritual power, compressing it continuously.
The first level of childhood is merely a foundational phase.
Li Mo, with his multi-layered dantian, possesses spiritual power far more refined than others of the same realm, which also means breaking through requires quintuple the usual Spiritual Energy.
Otherwise, with his talent enhanced by Divine Skills, he would not still be unpromoted after three years.
Yet Li Mo has calculated that when he begins the Spirit Root Transformation on his five internal organs, the astonishing benefits of his spiritual power will become evident.
After all, Spirit Root Transformation is essentially using one's own Spiritual Energy to erode the five internal organs.
Li Mo examines his Storage Bag, finding that seven pieces of Mid-grade Spirit Stones have already been exhausted, with 175 pieces of Low Grade Spirit Stones remaining.
According to Li Mo's estimates, the upcoming cultivation will be a matter of slow, grinding effort, and the second layer of childhood is already within reach.
He once entertained the idea of exchanging Low Grade Spirit Stones for Mid-grade ones, but Low Grade Spirit Stones contain too little mist fog spiritual energy, and few are willing to part with their Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
Li Mo stretches his muscles and bones.
Now standing at over 1.7 meters, his clothing from three years ago is clearly no longer a fit.
He ties his long hair up behind his head with a Daoist hairpin. Though his appearance remains ordinary, no one could possibly associate him with the farm boy he once was.
However, even with the Divine Skills of his Leakless Body, he cannot evade the erosion of the Death Disease. Corpse spots have begun appearing on his cheekbones, and flecks of snow-white have touched the hair at his temples.
Of course, compared to others his age, Li Mo's signs of corpse transformation are hardly significant.
He suddenly remembers his spiritual tablet and retrieves it, discovering over a hundred pieces of information stored inside, most of which are clues about Deceit Beast sightings provided by Rong Town's Government Office for all cultivators.
Li Mo presses the spiritual tablet against his forehead, absorbing the information within.
The townfolk slaughtered by Deceit Beasts are innumerable, their deaths grotesque and varied. Even though Li Mo was mentally prepared, the details send chills down his spine.
Naturally, there is some good news in the spiritual tablet.
Jin Li informs Li Mo that the siblings Li Qingfang have returned to the Calligraphy and Painting Hall after learning to read, currently practicing the art of painting.
Li Mo can sense the hidden intent in Jin Li's words.
Should Li Mo express his wish, Jin Li would undoubtedly be able to help the siblings Li Qingfang gain access to cultivation methods.
Li Mo, however, has no such intentions. Whether they can cultivate will be up to their own destiny.
As one's realm advances, the destructiveness of the Death Disease on the body becomes ever more terrifying. Not everyone possesses the strength to endure such pain; many succumb to despair and abandon resistance entirely.
If cultivation isn't in their cards, Li Mo plans to help them start a small business in Rong Town.
With the Medical Hall in place, even if mortals suffer from Death Disease involving gut perforation and decay, as long as they're willing to pay some silver coins, the doctors have plenty of remedies to piece them back together.
A surprising name comes to Li Mo's mind—Zhu Zi.
Zhao Zhu, relying on his brute strength, unexpectedly stood out in the Miscellaneous Hall, and in recent years has been learning cultivation techniques under Xu Hu.
Li Mo also learns from the spiritual tablet that not long ago cultivators hunted beasts in Xinji Ridge, resulting in the storeroom now featuring an influx of beast materials, including from mountain lords and foxes.
Since the appearance of the Moose Monster, its influence hasn't been limited to Rong Town—it has impacted surrounding towns and villages too. Venturing to Xinji Ridge two hundred miles away is now far too dangerous.
Who would have thought it would take three years to finally obtain the Beast Blood necessary for inscribing the mountain lord tattoo.
Li Mo steps out of his inner chamber for the first time in years, pondering the completion of the mountain lord tattoo's inscription, as well as advancing the engraving of his heart onto the agenda.
The heart, being the central hub of blood circulation, once engraved, will surely improve his physique, allowing Li Mo to bear the energy consumption of two tattooed beasts simultaneously.
Out of caution, he has deferred this process until nearing his bottleneck.
After all, the second layer of puberty involves the Spirit Root Transformation of the heart. Premature drastic changes in the heart might easily cause unnecessary complications.
Li Mo surveys his surroundings, noticing the rebuilt pawn shop with its altered layout.
The paths traversed now include many unfamiliar young apprentices, evidence that Rong Town is deliberately replenishing its dwindling population.
Even the conditions for learning cultivation methods in the shops have been accordingly relaxed.
With his spiritual tablet at his waist, Li Mo passes through the storeroom unhindered. The ten-some cultivators brushing past him fail to recognize who he is.
He heads straight to the shelves holding Beast Blood, where a scattered assortment of twenty or thirty bottles await.
Li Mo scans the origins of the Beast Blood. With the mountain lord tattoo set for his right arm, finding suitable options for the auxiliary tattoos on his legs proves difficult; the beasts available aren't compatible.
He directly takes ten bottles each of mountain lord blood and fox blood, along with two quality pieces of Beast Skin and some Beast Teeth.
Although auxiliary Beast Head tattoos have limited potential, they are not without means of improvement.
According to the Bone Scroll given by Steward Hu, childhood offers two refining methods that can enhance the potential of Beast Head tattoos.
Simulation and Blood Drenching.