After Li Mo left the range of the Duozhi Mountain, a warm breeze gently touched his face, causing his body and mind to relax amidst the early spring season.
"It’s been so long, so long since I’ve seen the four seasons."
Li Mo restrained his aura, being cautious as he knew demonic cultivators might appear in the Heart Beast Territory, opting to stay low-key until he figured out the situation.
He squinted at the sun, feeling a sense of nostalgia as if an eternity had passed.
The Outer Heaven teorite Crater where the Sub-Device Sect was located also had a sun, but it was maintained by a Mother Furnace Magic Artifact, rising only once every seven days.
Thinking carefully, Li Mo realized it had been decades since he last saw sunlight.
The shrinking of Duozhi Mountain’s altitude could be anticipated, after all, the Sub-Device Sect couldn’t continuously provide abundant resources for the Heart Beast Territory, especially since the Mother Furnace’s purpose had already been achieved.
Puppet Cultivation remained the mainstream among scattered cultivators within the Heart Beast Territory.
Due to the diminishing influence of Duozhi Mountain, the Heart Beast Territory environnt had sowhat recovered, and the tal poison pollution had alleviated significantly.
Li Mo glanced around, noticing that Fuxing Town seed to have replaced the Mountain and Sea Market, gradually forming a small-scale black market for loose cultivators.
The loose cultivators in the black market were busy, yet oblivious to any crisis.
"With the temperant of demonic cultivators, the Heart Beast Territory should have suffered considerable casualties, is it rely occasional appearances of Hundred-faced Beasts?"
"Or perhaps the demonic cultivators are wary of the Sub-Device Sect."
Li Mo felt deeply puzzled, but then he recalled the parasitic pill cultivation of others, thinking that the various systems of future Cultivation World were hard to fathom.
He didn’t know much about the Human Demon Sect, only that the Hundred-faced Beast was tied to the Hundred Soul Banner, fundantally unable to glean into demonic cultivators’ doings.
Then Li Mo vanished into the clouds, enveloped himself in Mist Fog Spiritual Power.
As he headed towards Rong Town, he maintained a constant Cave God’s Eye to search for any traces left by demonic cultivators.
According to Li Mo’s understanding, demonic cultivators couldn’t possibly cast spells without leaving any trace.
Even though over a decade had passed, the spiritual energy leaked during the initial creation of the Hundred-faced Beast would inevitably have caused anomalies in the surrounding environnt.
The result was astonishing to Li Mo.
All the towns and villages with human activity showed a scene of peace and prosperity.
However, to guard against sudden attacks from Deceit Beasts, Hundred-faced Beasts, and other demons, Rong Town had dispatched Childhood Cultivators to be stationed there.
Since no disasters had occurred, Qingqiu Taoist wouldn’t be completely silent, right?
For now, the Heart Beast Territory wasn’t a dragon’s den or tiger’s lair, it could be returned to the port anyti, as for Qingqiu Taoist retreating to the mountains, Li Mo found it unlikely.
Over half an hour later, Li Mo arrived at the mountain peak of the old Rong Town.
The layout of Rong Town had drastically changed today, intentionally following the style of a sect, with buildings heavily imbued with the Taoist aesthetic.
The shops each perford their duties prosperously.
The spiritual energy emanated by the Beast Cultivators roaming the streets and alleys was pure and steady, showing that Li Mo’s previously taught magic had indeed been successfully passed to Rong Town.
The inner city district was no longer abandoned either.
The only good deed done by the Sub-Device Sect was completing the Heart Beast Sect Inner City District’s cleanup.
Li Mo imdiately noticed that Tian Changwen had specially used a large Spirit Gathering Array to cover the inner city district, where all the Beast Cultivators had reached the Weak Crown Period.
It was evident that Rong Town was gradually returning to the path of the forr Heart Beast Sect.
The inner city corresponds to the Inner Sect; distinguishing between sect’s inner and outer sections allows resources to be allocated more rationally, thus better selecting Daoists.
At the center of Rong Town, Tianchenzi’s relic was covered by a newly built temple.
Through the Spirit Contract, Li Mo sensed that Qingqiu Taoist was in the inner city district, his cultivation had reached the perfection of the Weak Crown Stage.
But Rong Town was too calm, as if there was no demonic cultivator invasion?
"Doesn’t make sense..."
Li Mo furrowed his brow, since the Heart Beast Territory hadn’t been affected by demonic cultivators, why was Qingqiu Taoist trapped within Rong Town?
"The Human Demon Sect shouldn’t have any formation techniques like drawing ground for prison back then."
He didn’t rush into Rong Town, letting out Breath Fog from his mouth and nose, as he sat cross-legged above the clouds.
Monts later, Rong Town suddenly beca heavily guarded.
The patrol on the city walls of Beast Cultivators increased several tis, and Li Mo even saw Shi Ji of the Dan Formation Stage wandering in the outer city district, clearly on alert.
Li Mo thought Rong Town was on guard against hidden demonic cultivators, observing for three consecutive days.
The reason Rong Town was on alert as if facing a great enemy, was that Song Liang inford them about an Artifact Cultivator’s arrival, and they were on guard against him.
Li Mo was both amused and helpless, yet also felt a deeper sense of apprehension.
"Very well, might as well use the pretext of an Upper Sect’s arrival to force the demonic cultivators to reveal themselves, I want to see the Human Demon Sect’s real situation."
Li Mo sneered coldly.
The simplest approach was, of course, to report to the Sub-Device Sect, as Rong Town was its affiliate force, but Li Mo himself didn’t want Rong Town to enter the higher-ups’ radar too quickly.
As Li Mo’s mind moved, spiritual power silently tinged the clouds above Rong Town.
The clouds gradually turned yellow and green, soon releasing a corrosive drizzle that enveloped the entire mountain peak.
The harm of acid rain was minimal, even mortals would only feel slightly uncomfortable.
It was obvious that such environntal manipulation could only be achieved by an Artifact Cultivator; a demonic cultivator would certainly react.
Although Qingqiu Taoist was in Rong Town, bonded by the Spirit Contract, Tian Changwen and others would certainly be unaware of Li Mo’s identity.
Li Mo felt that the demonic cultivators remained unmoved, probably still waiting for an opportune mont.
The acid rain hit the green bricks with a sizzling sound, while an acrid smoke spread.
After the appearance of thods belonging to Artifact Cultivators, many Beast Cultivators recalled the fear brought about seventy years ago by the arrival of the Upper Sect.
Especially regarding Puppet Cultivators mastering the Multi-limb Technique.
The streets rapidly grew deserted visible to the naked eye, citizens felt a sense of danger, choosing unanimously to stay indoors.
Only a few shops remained open in the outer city district, belonging to various branches of the Outer Sect, existing rely to maintain the operation of Rong Town.
Yet, even as Rong Town appeared on the brink of a storm, very few cultivators chose to leave the city.
It was as if an invisible cage trapped Rong Town, yet without any sign of magic, making it extraordinarily mysterious.
Amidst the oppressive atmosphere, Rong Town fell into deathly silence.
Three days later.
An old man carrying goods along the street suddenly fell, producing sounds of bone collisions all over, quickly attracting the constables.
Each constable of Rong Town had at least a cultivation of Third Layer of Puberty. Upon seeing the old man, they sensed sothing was amiss and imdiately drew their weapons.
"Outsiders keep away!!!"
Crack.
After a wailing, the old man’s bones collapsed, turning into a shapeless entity twisting under the skin, lunging at the nearest constable.
While several constables engaged with the monster, they urgently notified the chief officer.
They held the creature tightly, and soon Chief Ma Weigong arrived.
Ma Weigong seed very familiar with the monster, deftly tearing off its face skin, causing the remaining flesh to dissolve and rot.
"A newly-born Hundred-faced Beast, how did it suddenly appear in Rong Town?"
"Hundred-faced Beast..."
The constable was bewildered, not expecting that a common man turning into a Hundred-faced Beast was entirely different from the Beast Skin People, and how a Hundred-faced Beast appeared in the city?
"Chief Ma, could it be caused by the Sub-Device Sect?"
"With the Heart Beast Secret Realm not yet open, we need not worry about the Sub-Device Sect; they strictly adhere to sect rules, their spells are a warning to us mortals, they won’t..."
Before Ma Weigong finished speaking, his face turned unsightly.
The inner city district trembled subtly.
The source ca from the temple suppressing Tianchenzi’s relic, imdiately drawing the few Core Formation Cultivators in Rong Town to rush over for fear of chaos.
Then, ca a spine-chilling sound of bones clashing.
Ma Weigong knew the ominous sound signaled the birth of Hundred-faced Beasts, but.. the activity was too concentrated, unexpectedly emanating from various places within Rong Town simultaneously.
The Fire Workshop responsible for cremating corpses had over a dozen coffins in its hall.
The coffin lids were hurled into the air, the bodies’ flesh tangled and transford into Hundred-faced Beasts.
The Hundred-faced Beasts’ bones supported their reared bodies, squirming out of the Fire Workshop like maggots to fight against the cultivators in the shops.
Crack...crack...
Just as Shi Ji intended to offer support, several Hundred-faced Beasts erged from houses adjacent to the city wall.
Though the Hundred-faced Beasts were only at the Weak Crown Period, their countless numbers conveniently blocked Shi Ji’s path.
Tian Changwen spoke with a hint of anger, his voice echoing throughout the inner city: "Everything coincides, you go support the outer city, I’ll suppress the Ancestor’s statue."
So many Hundred-faced Beasts hidden within Rong Town, they hadn’t noticed a thing all this ti.
Tian Changwen dared not slacken in the slightest.
Though newly-ford Hundred-faced Beasts could easily be handled by Childhood Cultivators, if allowed to devour the living, things would spiral out of control.
Five years ago in Luosan Village, a Hundred-faced Beast’s body bore over five hundred human faces, it was only when Futu Hermit intervened, it was successfully eradicated.
Han Cai crawled out of the dical hall in the inner city, his over-three-ter body exceedingly agile, followed by over a dozen of his disciples.
As they left the inner city wall, suddenly a hole appeared in the floor tiles before them.
Dozens more Hundred-faced Beasts crawled out, already at the Weak Crown Stage, blocking Han Cai and his disciples, preventing their reinforcents.
The Hundred-faced Beasts scenario escalated.
Outside, a black shadow slowly approached, a colossal Hundred-faced Beast over ten ters high, its deford body covered with hideous faces.
"Damn it!!!"
As the only Core Formation Cultivator in the outer city district, Shi Ji could only choose to fight outside the city walls.
Such a setup couldn’t have been achieved overnight, even the ticulous Tian Changwen was startled by the abrupt Beast Calamity.
Nevertheless, the decades-long accumulation of the Heart Beast Sect wasn’t for naught.
Tian Changwen controlled the Mountain Protection Array to glow, its Array Eye being Tianchenzi’s relic, but he hesitated upon activating the array.
Unexpectedly, the arrival of the Artifact Cultivator seed intentionally aiding Rong Town?
If it weren’t for this rain, the Beast Calamity might have erupted years later, possibly catching off guard even more.
Tian Changwen’s eyebrows sprouted with beast pupil, gazing up at Rong Town’s sky.
It seed a tall figure stood amidst the clouds, with eyes of sun and moon, and a Yin Yang Fish on his brow.
Tian Changwen released his Golden Core, his vision sharpening.
The Artifact Cultivator, tattooed all over, smiled and nodded at Tian Changwen, then removed his left eye, hanging it in the air.
"Great Darkness."
The sun disappeared, leaving a solitary round moon hanging on the heavens.
No light, no shadow, no sound, no sky, no earth.
Only a solitary full moon remained.
Tian Changwen and Han Cai almost simultaneously muttered to themselves: "Li Mo..."
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