The First Immortal of Destiny

Chapter 596: Chapter 596: Demon-Suppressing Tower_1

Seeing Lady Scarlet enter the great Formation unharmed, Song Han and the other three finally believed Shen Mo. They each used their own abilities to protect their Dao Bodies before crashing into the mountain hollow.

Soon, Shen Mo was the only one left outside the hollow. However, he wasn’t in a hurry to enter. He took out the Soul Refining Flag from his Universe Bag and shook it violently. Instantly, the Blood River surged, and Demonic Qi filled the sky!

Demon Soul Generals, growling silently, struggled out of the Blood River. Among them, several leaders had reached Class IV. Their auras were originally a mixture of Bloody Fiend’s Resentment Qi, ghostly Qi, and Demonic Qi, making them seem impure. But after stepping into Class IV, their auras, as if tempered a thousand times, merged into one. They presented an ominous dark-red hue tinged with purple, appearing heavy, cold, imposing, and profound. Compared to the other Demon Soul Generals, their gazes and expressions were more vivid, as if they had ”recovered” a part of their gnosis.

At present, this blood flag contained a total of fifteen Class IV Demon Soul Generals. The Ten Thousand Eyes Demon, whose soul Shen Mo had originally taken, was also refined by him into a Soul General. After suppressing its instinctive resistance, Shen Mo chose a minor Heavenly Demon Soul General at the peak of Class II to Demon-corrupt it, thereby transforming it into a Mutant Soul General.

Shen Mo had originally intended to keep its soul and corpse to extract all its 1,200 Spells, including nine that posed a threat to cultivators in the middle-stage of the Golden Core Realm. However, after some research, he discovered that the Ten Thousand Eyes Demon’s characteristic of birthing a Spell from each eyeball was akin to its clan’s destined Skill. No foreigner could learn it. Thus, the soul of this Ten Thousand Eyes Demon was refined into a Soul General. This way, Shen Mo could indirectly utilize its more than a thousand Spells, albeit with the added step of brandishing the Soul Refining Flag.

Its corpse still lay quietly in the Universe Bag. Shen Mo was still researching if he could forge its entire body into a magic treasure that, upon activation, could release thousands of Spells. If successful, not only would this greatly enhance his Forging Path, but he could also capture more Ten Thousand Eyes Demons in the future to forge defensive treasures with multiple effects for Zhao Lingyin, Chen Mengze’s father and daughter, and other close acquaintances. However, progress was currently slow. Forging such a magic treasure was ten to a hundred times more complex than even forging a Heaven Patrolling Boat House.

As for Soul Generals below Class IV—including minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals, Mutant Soul Generals, and ordinary Soul Generals refined from powerful evil cultivators and Outer Zone Demons—their numbers had dwindled to fewer than five hundred. Many Soul Generals dispatched to scout the ”Sea of Dead People” within the spatial turbulence had been caught by the force of time. Their Lifespans were expended in vain, and even their soul marks on the flag were obliterated. Of course, the number of minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals at the peak of Class II was still sufficient. When he returned to the Red Flame Zone in the future, he could go directly to the Black Mountain Demon Suppression Cave and the Near Sea Demon Cave to capture a batch of high-class Heavenly Demons as reinforcements.

Shen Mo did not materialize all the Soul Generals. He summoned only about two hundred and, with a thought, implanted new Soul Splitting Runes into the bodies of the highest-ranking Demon Soul Generals.

”Go! Scour the area thoroughly.”

”Exotic flowers and herbs, spirit gold deposits, fine jade and Earthly Fire, fragments of magic treasures, beast bones, jade slips, and so on—do not miss any spiritual items!”

”Do not be gluttonous, do not stray too far, and avoid conflict with other cultivators as much as possible.”

Shen Mo issued these detailed commands to the nine leading Demon Soul Generals.

”ROAR!”

The Demon Soul Generals roared in unison, then transformed into roiling, murky clouds, sweeping off in all directions.

The ancient battlefield of immortals and demons was filled with countless dangers and opportunities, so Shen Mo didn’t expect them to bring back any monumental gains. But with so many Demon Soul Generals dispatched, some harvest was inevitable. Besides, they might uncover information about more perilous locations or fortuitous encounters, providing him with valuable references. Moreover, even if the Demon Soul Generals ”perished,” they could be reformed in the Soul Refining Flag. Their casualties were of no concern, making it a highly profitable endeavor.

Having done all this, Shen Mo cast a Wall Palm upon himself and then flew directly towards the mountain hollow.

PUFF! PUFF! PUFF!

The annihilating power of the Natural Killing Formation struck the phantom of the Wall Water Badger, creating ripples of light but failing to shatter the Palm.

WHOOSH!

With a faint flash of golden light, Shen Mo rushed into the Formation unharmed.

His surroundings looked much the same as they had outside the Formation; it was still the same hollow. However, in the center of the hollow now stood the main structure of a pagoda! An inverted structure... could it be a Demon-Suppressing Tower? Shen Mo’s gaze flickered with uncertainty.

Upon investigation with his five senses, he discovered the pagoda was inverted. Only its first level remained above ground; the rest plunged deep into the bedrock. Ordinary pagodas are typically wider at the base and taper towards the top, with each level stacked upon the last, resembling a sword thrusting skyward. However, a Demon-Suppressing Tower was different. To suppress the fiends and monsters within, its base was at the top and its spire pointed downwards, like a colossal wooden wedge driven into the earth’s meridians. This design leveraged terrestrial energy to amplify its suppressive might.

The bronze gate leading into the pagoda was already open. Lady Scarlet and the others were nowhere to be seen; they must have already entered this Demon-Suppressing Tower. Shen Mo hesitated no longer and strode inside.

”Fellow Daoist Shen, what took you so long?” Lady Scarlet asked, her voice alluring. The five of them had indeed entered earlier and were now rummaging through a pile of bizarrely shaped dry bones.

”Apologies. It’s rare to encounter such a naturally formed Formation, so I spent a little extra time studying it.” Shen Mo replied with a smile, his gaze then falling upon the scattered skeletal remains. ”These are...”

Some of these dry bones were easily recognizable as common flying birds and running beasts from the Outer Realm. Judging by their material and color, they likely belonged to demonic beasts possessing demonic power. The majority, however, were not so easily identified. They varied greatly in size and shape, unlike any common demonic beasts.

Thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning. A moment later, a look of surprise crossed Shen Mo’s face. Besides the remains of demonic beasts, could the rest be the skeletons of Outer Zone Demons?

He compared them to all known creatures and found that these strangely shaped bones perfectly matched the various Demon races that had descended upon the Red Flame Zone and the Heaven Patrolling Zone. Among them were remains with four eye sockets—not a typical skull, but rather thousands of bones ingeniously constructed into a sphere, resembling a porous bamboo basket. However, these were now scattered about, making them difficult to distinguish. There were also humanoid skeletons with distinct features and limbs, some with wings, and others appearing to be fusions of strange exotic beasts. Furthermore, he even discovered a desiccated, flat branch, remarkably similar to those of a Human-faced Willow Demon. It should have had fleshy orbs dangling from it, but they had long since decayed and were not preserved.

The more closely Shen Mo examined them, the more certain he became. This Demon-Suppressing Tower not only suppressed demonic beasts and other aberrant creatures but also terrifying Demons from the Outer Zone!