The First Immortal of Destiny

CLANG!

Shen Mo swung his Taiyi Sword, unleashing a third of the Evil Qi with his Universe Sword Qi and feeding it into the mouthparts of the Evil-eating Centipede.

As the Evil Qi entered, the Demon Fiend Aura around the Evil-eating Centipede’s body surged fiercely. Its shell, which seemed forged from gold and iron, began to shimmer with a crystalline luster, appearing even more ferocious and bizarre than before.

About the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, the surging Demonic Aura on its body began to stabilize, and the bizarre luster receded...

After that, this fourth-stage peak centipede demon began to raise its head and wag its tail again, constantly hissing and pleading with Shen Mo through their mental connection to be fed once more.

Through his mental connection, five senses, Sense, and the [Method Eye Candle Wisp] Skill, Shen Mo constantly monitored the Evil-eating Centipede’s condition. He noticed not a hint of distortion on it, as if it had merely devoured an ordinary evil creature!

Just as I expected…

The Evil-eating Centipede is inherently a poisonous insect. Coupled with its perennial dwelling in the burial grounds of ancient cultivators, it possesses the natural instinct to devour evil creatures to strengthen itself.

Therefore, the True Immortal Evil Qi, which could corrupt my Essence and Qi, is something it can handle. For the centipede, this Qi not only allows it to greatly resist the corruption and erosion from the heterogeneous power within, preventing distortion into a Thousands Insects Evil Corpse, but it also brings immense benefits!

At this thought, Shen Mo hesitated no longer and fed all the remaining Evil Qi to the Evil-eating Centipede.

This time, the surging Demonic Aura and the changes to its shell were several times more intense than before, yet there was still no sign of distortion.

Moreover, over the years, the Evil-eating Centipede had followed Shen Mo, devouring numerous evil and demonic items, which had already brought it to the threshold of advancement. Now, having consumed the True Immortal Evil Qi, it finally broke through this barrier and began its transformation into a Class V demonic beast!

RUMBLE!

Tribulation clouds began to gather in the sky above Blood Snake Ridge, with streaks of dark red lightning, like blood snakes, weaving through the leaden clouds. The aura of the tribulation locked onto the roiling Demonic Aura of the Evil-eating Centipede.

This was its Enlightenment Thunder Tribulation. When Fairy Pei Yu’s Demon Soul Generals advanced to Class V, they also faced a series of Thunder Tribulations.

The Evil-eating Sky Centipede had signed a Spirit Pet Contract with Shen Mo. As its master, Shen Mo naturally wouldn’t sit idly by. He immediately shook the Soul Refining Flag to recall the Demon Soul Generals, who were out hunting, and summoned ordinary Soul Generals formed from a million demons. He then deployed the God Slaying Array at their stronghold on Blood Snake Ridge.

At the same time, he also used magic and Skills, constructing multiple defensive barriers around it.

With the Evil-eating Centipede’s indestructible demonic body, it had a high chance of surviving the Enlightenment Thunder Tribulation even without assistance. With Shen Mo’s all-out support, its success was even more assured!

BOOM!

A bolt of blood-red lightning, crackling with destructive aura, tore through the sky and struck heavily upon the Soul Generals Array. The array’s runes and baleful light surged, yet it only rippled slightly.

As if provoked, the roiling tribulation clouds grew even fiercer. The falling blood-red lightning also became more violent.

For a time, the sky above Blood Snake Ridge was plunged into darkness, filled with incessant flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder…

「Three days later,」 the tribulation clouds dispersed. The Evil-eating Sky Centipede had only minor scorch marks on its body, while its ferocious aura had surged manifold. It had officially stepped into the ranks of Class V great demons.

Shen Mo unleashed a beam of Fairyland sword light and retracted the centipede into the Sword Zone to recover.

Following this, he used the Teleportation Array constructed in the stronghold to teleport directly back to the southeastern foot of Jade Spring Mountain.

Once back in Green Cloud Cave, Shen Mo utilized the unique properties of the cave paradise to instantly transport himself above the Demon Zone. With a sweep of his hand, he captured five Class III Thousands Insects Evil Corpses, taking them back with him to Guanyun Mansion in the Vacuous Zone.

「At present,」 Zhao Lingyin, her maid and disciple Lu Taorui, and the others were not in Guanyun Mansion.

Not long after Green Cloud Cave was officially established at Jade Spring Mountain, Zhao Lingyin had proposed leaving the cave to travel.

Given her obsession with the Alchemy Path, her travels to various places in Jade Spring Mountain were naturally not for honing her combat abilities. Instead, she sought to broaden her horizons by exploring Alchemy Sects, seeking out alchemy masters, spiritual medicines, elixir recipes, and other items related to alchemy to enhance her proficiency in the Alchemy Path!

However, ever since her Master, Wu Gong, had taken her to Spirit Gathering Peak, she had rarely left the sect to gain experience. Thus, Shen Mo did not voice any objections and merely created a Standing to guard her.

Accompanying Zhao Lingyin were her Direct Disciple, Lu Taorui, Shen Mo’s Direct Disciple, Qian Xiaofeng, and others, as well as the Spirit Storage Rat, which had successfully advanced to Class IV and attained human form.

As one of Shen Mo’s Spirit Pets, the Evil-eating Sky Centipede consumes evil creatures, and its mind is muddled and unclear. Even though it had now cultivated to become a Class V great demon comparable to a Divine Bridge Realm Immortal Master, it still hadn’t mastered the method to transform into human form. With the Evil Qi accumulated in its body, even if it had the transformation method and a Shape Transforming Pill, attaining human form would likely be incredibly difficult.

The Spirit Storage Rat was different. Even at a lower Realm, it already possessed a decent gnosis. Furthermore, with Barbarian Bull Venerable’s origin power and inheritance, it awakened the bloodline talent of an ancient, exotic species. It elevated its strength by consuming the flesh and blood of high-class demonic beasts.

Even without a Transformation Elixir, it could attain human form through its own abilities after reaching Class IV. With the aid of an Elixir, the process became even easier!

After transforming into human form, he took on the appearance of a dainty little Daoist boy. His hair was crimson like blood, with a tuft of golden hair—a cowlick—sticking straight up. He exuded a cute and adorable aura, which greatly endeared him to Zhao Lingyin, Qian Xiaofeng, and the others.

Shen Mo could no longer keep him in the Spirit Pet Bag or Sword Zone, so he arranged living quarters for him in Guanyun Mansion, allowing him to reside and cultivate outside.

This time, Zhao Lingyin also took him along on her travels to supervise and guide him.

At this point, Zhao Lingyin’s group had entered an immortal city at the foot of the southeastern slope of South Slope Mountain, a place inhabited by tens of millions of immortals and mortals. This city was a melting pot where good and bad were intermingled, likely concealing many evil cultivators and demons.

However, Shen Mo was not overly concerned.

His Standing possessed all of his five senses, magic, and martial arts, no different from the new heads and arms he could grow using the *True Immortal Magic*. Moreover, it had the strength of the peak Golden Core Realm and could handle most dangers.

If it encountered dangers surpassing the peak power of the Golden Core Realm, I could switch my real body and the Standing at any moment to personally resolve the problem...

Although the *Gecko Divine Skill* hasn’t yet been fully deduced to break the Golden Core Realm peak limit for the Standing, after reaching Extremely Perfection, it derived a Skill called [Reverse Yin and Yang]—the Standing as Yin, the real body as Yang.

With a single thought, I can instantly turn the Standing into my real body, and my real body into the Standing—a complete swap of true and false, a reversal of Yin and Yang!

This magic cultivation method was originally composed by the Riverside Sect ancestors. They imitated the gecko’s Tail Cutting technique to create a magic for confusing enemies and escaping using a false body. Regular cultivators could only use it once in their lifetime, after which they would be left with a crippled half-body. For me to have applied it to the ’unorthodox’ purpose of creating Standings, and from this method to derive the Skill to ’freely switch between real and false body,’ was, frankly, to be expected!

With this Skill, the need for the Standing to break through the Golden Core Realm peak limit isn’t so urgent anymore.

After all, creating a Standing consumes some of my primal Essence and Qi.

The stronger the Standing’s power, the greater the short-term drain on my resources, which in turn affects my own cultivation.

And now, if there’s any danger the Standing cannot handle, I can simply reverse Yin and Yang, transforming false into true, and use my Divine Bridge Realm cultivation level and all my powerful abilities to quell the disaster!