Chapter 858: Verifying the Spiritual Mark
Though Leader Ma was elderly, he was meticulous when depicting the patterns, with each stroke being extremely precise, as if he had drawn them thousands upon thousands of times!
Apart from Shen Mo, who possessed the [Method Eye Candle Wisp] Destiny, even the god disciples found it challenging to differentiate other disciples and Godslayer Palace disciples from the crowd, granting the Godslayer Palace a chance to breathe; otherwise, leaving such information on paper could very well expose their identities.
Therefore, for countless years, Godslayer Palace disciples have passed on related knowledge orally!
However, with such a method of transmission, even the slightest error over generations can lead to significant discrepancies.
Therefore, Leader Ma and other Godslayer Palace disciples, upon receiving the teachings, would constantly replicate the core pattern of the inheritance, striving to be free of any mistakes.
Once Leader Ma finished the drawing, he nearly collapsed from exhaustion, taking a long rest before recovering.
Afterward, he weakly explained to Shen Mo and Chen Mengze, "I am unclear about what the deities in the world truly are."
"To directly confront them, one must capture a disciple closest to the deity, inscribe this pattern on him, and then employ various methods to force him to sacrifice himself!"
"At that moment, you will naturally see the deity he worships..."
Shen Mo examined the drawing for a long time, then handed it to Chen Mengze, speaking slowly, "It should be some kind of talisman spiritual mark."
"The immortal path in this realm is ineffective; there is not the slightest trace of nature’s spiritual energy, and mana cannot be used, so most methods cannot be executed. If the deities remain hidden, we naturally cannot deal with them!"
"The seniors who visited this realm before also faced such challenges, but fortunately, they ultimately thought of a solution..."
"This spiritual mark aligns with the talisman path. As long as we follow Leader Ma’s instructions, we can extract the deity’s power from the disciple’s body, activate this spiritual mark, and produce effects similar to a talisman, bringing us before the deity the disciple worships!"
Shen Mo’s talisman path attainments nearly reached Grade six, and he had drawn countless runes, instantly discerning the mysteries of this spiritual mark.
"Truly extraordinary!" Chen Mengze’s eyes sparkled, unable to help but exclaim.
Immediately, the two memorized the spiritual mark thoroughly, repeatedly replicating and comparing it to prevent errors during use.
...
That night.
Hundreds more powerful god disciples ascended Thorn Mountain.
Shen Mo and Chen Mengze, eager to verify the spiritual mark’s effects, took their treasured swords and stepped out of the village!
The Godslayer Palace and foreign cultivators were thorns and nails to the deities in the cultivation world, with ancient forces rising over tens of thousands of years to confront the Godslayer Palace; the god disciples didn’t distinguish between righteous or evil deities, couldn’t care about national affiliations, nor did they regard past grievances, existing solely to obliterate the Godslayer Palace and foreign cultivators.
Through countless years of entanglement and slaughter, just as the Godslayer Palace and generations of Immortal Masters have mastered methods to confront and slay deities, these god disciples have equally found ways to deal with foreign cultivators...
That is to constantly harass and assault, forcing foreign cultivators into intense consumption until they exhaust and perish;
Using thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of god disciples’ lives to trade for the fall of a foreign cultivator!
Before this battle with the god disciples, Shen Mo spent over two hundred Destiny Points, elevating the special Destiny [Swallow’s Grace] to Purple, enabling him briefly to traverse mid-air, leaping four li in one breath, not inferior to Spirit Sea Realm peak escape speed.
Thus relying on his ghostly footwork and strong body, even more powerful god disciples can’t harm him in the slightest.
After just two cups of tea, hundreds of god disciples were slain, with eighty percent perishing under Shen Mo’s sword, leaving fewer than ten to verify the Godslayer Palace’s inherited spiritual mark!
"Clang!"
In a clatter of iron chains, eight of the strongest god disciples were brought by Shen Mo to an open ground without forest cover.
Under the moonlight, using the greatsword’s tip, he engraved blood marks on their backs, forming a complete spiritual mark!
In terms of drawing runes, few cultivators entering the cultivation world this time could exceed him, and the spiritual mark from the Godslayer Palace’s inheritance isn’t complex for Talisman Makers; even Chen Mengze could draw it proficiently, so Shen Mo didn’t spend much effort drawing eight flawless spiritual marks.
Then he released the chains.
As expected, upon regaining freedom, five of them chose to sacrifice themselves again, borrowing the deity’s power, intending to fight the two to the death.
Chanting voices arose, mysterious forces quickly emerged within them, their bodies undergoing various nonhuman transformations;
However, in the next moment, the blood-colored spiritual mark on their backs glowed, the mysterious forces within seemed to release like a dam, continually flowing into the spiritual mark, and their nonhuman changes rapidly reverted to normal!
"Buzz!"
The blood-colored spiritual mark circulated.
Shen Mo keenly detected a faint spatial fluctuation, which quickly calmed down as the spiritual mark dimmed.
"Indeed effective!"
"But these few individuals weren’t strong, borrowed deity power limited, unable to fully unleash the spiritual mark’s power, naturally failing to open the deity’s strange space!"
Without the deific power support, these five remained murderous, constructing weapons of stone and wood, crazed, charging Shen Mo and Chen Mengze, only to be slain by Chen Mengze’s sword.
The remaining three fled swiftly, catching up to them, tried sacrificing themselves, soon following the others’ fate!
Before dying, they exhausted the vilest curses, ceaselessly swearing at Shen Mo and Chen Mengze.
"You perpetually sacrifice flesh and souls, borrowing extraordinary power from the deities, it’s a disaster waiting to happen!"
"Upon depletion, results in dispersal of the soul..."
"Dying by our hands leaves you with the three souls and seven spirits, a chance for reincarnation, perhaps a relief! May you reincarnate into another world, avoiding this place and becoming resources for the deities!"
Knowing the truth of this realm, Shen Mo was not affected at all by karmic repercussions from this slaughter.
On the contrary, in his perspective, god disciples slain under his sword found liberation.
Of course, looking from the cultivation world’s ordinary inhabitants’ view, the "extremely cruel, bloodthirsty, responsible for endless blood crimes" Shen Mo and Chen Mengze were undoubtedly the fiercest demon heads, worse than the disciples of an Evil God!
"Let’s return..."
Chen Mengze approached gracefully, naturally helping Shen Mo wipe away the blood from his face, softly speaking.