The First Immortal of Destiny

At the foot of the eastern slope of Dayu Mountain, the Beast Controlling Sect’s cultivators, the tens of thousands of demonic beasts they had reared, and even the birds, beasts, fish, and insects dwelling there, were all corrupted by the Demon‑corrupted True Dragon’s dissipated primal Essence and Qi, transforming one after another into Dragon Demons!

After the distortion, every creature was clearly far stronger than before.

The original Body Tempering Realm cultivators, Class I demonic beasts, and even mundane birds and beasts, all transformed into Class II Dragon Demons; those who had been Golden Core Realm cultivators or Class IV demonic beasts now possessed power as fearsome as the Divine Bridge Realm...

The Demonic Qi was still spreading ceaselessly toward other parts of Dayu Mountain; aside from Divine Bridge Immortal Masters, no other creatures could resist this corruption and distortion.

If left unchecked, it would not be long before the hundreds of millions of immortals and mortals on Dayu Mountain were all reduced to Dragon Demons, this place turning into a Dragon Demon nest, until one day in the future, the Class VI Demon‑corrupted True Dragon that had crashed to its death here would undergo Resurrection!

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Lady Scarlet, Qin Hu, and the six Immortal Masters of the Daoist temples all took action, cutting down Dragon Demons and cleansing the Demonic Qi.

As the Demonic Qi surged, one Class V Dragon Demon after another roared and howled, charging at Lady Scarlet and the others.

The Demon‑corrupted True Dragon that had crashed to its death on Dayu Mountain must have been unimaginably powerful in life; even the Dragon Demons birthed from its dissipated primal Essence and Qi were far stronger than cultivators of the same tier. With more than ten Class V Dragon Demons having been born in total, Lady Scarlet and the others were actually driven into disadvantage for a time and could not spare any strength to disperse the Demonic Qi!

If they waited for more Golden Core Realm cultivators and Class IV creatures to be distorted and for even more Class V Dragon Demons to emerge, then not to mention slaying these Dragon Demons, even the Daoist temple Immortal Masters like Lady Scarlet would likely have to flee Dayu Mountain.

As a guest, Shen Mo had not intended to overstep and seize their role, but he had not expected these Dragon Demons to be so formidable. Seeing Lady Scarlet and the others unable to control the situation, he no longer hesitated, drew out the Soul Refining Flag, and plunged into the battlefield!

Fairy Pei Yu, the Ghost Bride, Master Hong Jue, and one Class V Demon Soul General after another were released, clashing head‑on with the Class V Dragon Demons on the field... The fierce battle churned the Demonic Qi like rolling tides; streaks of light from Spells and Skills flared and faded in rapid succession, the terrifying momentum rumbling like continuous muffled thunder!

The Class V Demon Soul Generals were on par with Divine Bridge Realm Immortal Masters and possessed extremely high resistance to alien powers; they would not be corrupted by the Demon‑corrupted True Dragon’s primal Essence and Qi contained within the Demonic Qi.

Were they Soul Generals below Class V, they likely could not withstand corruption of this level and would likewise distort into Dragon Demons, unable to move freely or fight; only by setting up the God Slaying Array could they rely on the Formation’s might to resist this power of distortion. However, things had not yet reached that point, and Shen Mo had no wish to waste Mana by summoning more Soul Generals!

Under the joint siege of Lady Scarlet and the others together with the Class V Demon Soul Generals, the Class V Dragon Demons soon lost the arrogance they had displayed at the outset; their fate would either be to be cut down or to be dragged into the Soul Refining Flag and reduced to soul generals in the flag.

Shen Mo, holding the Soul Refining Flag, did not personally enter the fray to wrestle with these distorted Dragon Demons.

With a sweep of his robe sleeve, seven inch‑long, wondrous and extraordinary little swords howled forth, and in the blink of an eye they formed a stern Sword Array, completely shrouding the region engulfed by the Demonic Qi!

"Conversion!" Shen Mo called out softly.

The Big Dipper Swords flickered and leapt, shifting to new stellar positions as they began to suppress the Demonic Qi.

Dazzling Sword Light burst forth, like a blazing, scorching sun; the billowing Demonic Qi, along with the Dragon Demons of lower Realm within it, began to melt and evaporate like ice and snow...

The battle lasted the entire night.

By the time the first sunrays rose, there was no longer a single distorted Dragon Demon to be seen at the foot of the eastern slope; however, the lingering Demonic Qi had not yet been completely eradicated. Much of it had seeped into the mountain’s rock strata and would in days to come ceaselessly give birth to demons and monsters of the "Dragon Demon" kind!

Four more Class V Demon Soul Generals had been added inside the Soul Refining Flag, and discovering that these Dragon Demons were actually mutated Heavenly Demons left Shen Mo rather astonished.

Upon careful thought, he felt it only natural.

These distorted Dragon Demons shared the same origin as the Class VI Demon‑corrupted True Dragon and could be regarded as its countless Separations; though they had not formed through "Native Heaven Demons Demon‑corrupting one True Dragon after another," in essence they were no different from a "Demon‑corrupted True Dragon"!

Of course, this was not a normal method of birth for a Big Heavenly Demon.

These Dragon Demons, like low‑class Heavenly Demons, possessed little gnosis; when they grew to a certain stage, they would instinctively merge back into one, thereby "resurrecting" the dead Class VI Demon‑corrupted True Dragon!

As for the Demonic Qi lingering in the mountain body, Shen Mo left it to Lady Scarlet and the other Daoist temple Immortal Masters to handle themselves.

So long as they declared this Corrupt region a forbidden land and prevented human immortals and mortals or other creatures from approaching, it would not be too great a problem even if they did not cleanse it completely.

The Demon‑corrupted True Dragon’s corpse in the cave was divided among Lady Scarlet, Qin Hu, and the six Daoist temple Immortal Masters; even the Dragon Scales that had fallen to the ground were collected clean as treasures... Even though it was a Demon‑corrupted True Dragon, its "dragon corpse" was incomparably precious, especially the Dragon Scales, Dragon Bones, and Dragon Claws, which were among the most supreme Forge materials in the world!

Shen Mo also received a large section of the Demon‑corrupted True Dragon’s corpse, which he sealed with talismans and tossed into the Sword Zone.

Besides the "dragon corpse," half a Mingpeng’s carcass was also hidden in the Sword Zone... Before he fell into his bottleneck period, apart from swallowing Elixirs to cultivate and dual cultivating with Zhao Lingyin, Shen Mo would from time to time employ the Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body and the [Spirit Devouring] Skill, using the Mingpeng’s corpse as firewood to fuel the growth of his cultivation level!

However, after he entered the bottleneck period, no matter how he cultivated, his cultivation advanced with extreme slowness, so he stopped and did not completely expend this Thousands Insects Evil Corpse’s body.

Now that he had obtained another section of Demon‑corrupted True Dragon corpse, he likely would not lack for "firewood" when, in the future, he broke through the bottleneck and cultivated to the Divine Bridge Peak.

"A pity. Were it not Demon‑corrupted, True Dragon flesh and blood would be the finest of gourmet ingredients under heaven, which could be made into celestial delicacies to be properly savored!"

Of course, what Shen Mo spoke of was a pure, original True Dragon, not a dragon beast formed when cultivators cultivated the [Transforming Dragon Curse] and were captured and raised in the Dragon Rearing Pool; to sate his palate by eating such "True Dragons" transformed from Human Cultivators would be no different from the behavior of demons and monsters!

Unfortunately, the Demon‑corrupted True Dragon was in essence a mutated Heavenly Demon; its fleshly body had already undergone alienation, and even its Dragon Scales and Dragon Bones had to be painstakingly processed before they could be refined into magic artifacts.

As for its Flesh and Blood, they had long become foul, nauseating demonic flesh, utterly unfit to enter the mouth!

"This time we owe everything to fellow daoist Qingyun’s righteous intervention; otherwise Dayu Mountain would likely have been plunged into a slaughter of all creatures..." Qin Hu and the others said, tears of gratitude in their eyes, inwardly rejoicing that they had previously received Shen Mo with such enthusiastic hospitality instead of treating him as a ’threat’ and turning him away.

"It was merely a small effort at hand." Shen Mo replied calmly, yet his gaze drifted leisurely toward the east.

Judging by the Demon‑corrupted True Dragon’s appearance, it too should have fled all the way here from the east; when even such a Big Heavenly Demon was beaten to the brink of annihilation and forced to seek life in death, what kind of terrifying existence must its enemy have been?