Chapter 885: Demon-corrupted True Dragon
That night.
Because of Lady Scarlet, Shen Mo and his group, after the banquet ended, moved into the cultivation mansions prepared by the Li Mountain Elixir Sect!
Shen Mo had just finished cultivating with Zhao Lingyin and now sat cross-legged upon the jade couch, cultivating the South Hua Treasure Body Traversing Difficulty Immortal Scripture, drawing in the breath of Primal Spirit from nature’s spiritual energy—mixed with all kinds of Gold Iron Demonic Qi, medicinal miasma of grass and wood, evil Qi of stones and earth, and other Demonic Qi and Turbid Qi—to temper and strengthen his five viscera and six organs.
Among it, the Clear Spirit Qi that could no longer enhance his cultivation level during this bottleneck was casually refined out by him, then wrapped in Mana and stored in his Dantian, to be used at a later time!
To avoid being defiled by Demonic Qi and Turbid Qi, Zhao Lingyin, who was on the same jade couch with lingering charm still upon her face, had laid down a Magical Barrier at her side, and was now silently meditating, digesting the benefits gained from cultivating "The Sutra of Cloudy and Rainy from Wushan" earlier.
Just then, Shen Mo suddenly snapped awake, casually layering multiple defenses to shroud the entire cultivation mansion.
The very next instant.
The whole Dayu Mountain seemed to quake as one, and then came the thunderous roar of collapsing mountains and rending earth.
Startling Qin Hu, Lady Scarlet, and the other Immortal Masters of the Daoist temple, who one by one flew out of their respective cave mansions, rushing toward the source of this commotion!
"My lord..."
Zhao Lingyin also awakened in fright, looking at Shen Mo with a trace of astonishment.
"I do not know what has occurred either; I only perceived the aura of a Big Heavenly Demon!"
Shen Mo frowned, his mind examining the [Chanjue] Destiny, and discovered that this Destiny line remained utterly still, without the slightest intention of warning, which represented that at least within several breaths, no danger would descend.
Yet, to be safe, he still had Zhao Lingyin dress properly, then hide within the Sword Zone.
Those who rushed over upon hearing the disturbance—Qian Xiaofeng, Lu Taorui, Mi, Tai 26 and the others—were likewise all taken into the Sword Zone by him; afterward, he cast an Escape Skill and appeared in midair.
Following the source of the roar with his gaze, he saw at the eastern foot of Dayu Mountain a terrifying scene of shattered cliffs and collapsing stone, demon light surging, and a concentrated Demon aura thick to the extreme, billowing like black smoke from a mountain blaze, rolling upward straight into the Nine Heavens!
At once, he turned into a streak of golden rainbow, closely trailing after Lady Scarlet and the other Immortal Masters of the Daoist temple.
...
"Senior Brother Qingyun!"
Seeing that Shen Mo had also arrived, Lady Scarlet immediately rode her escaping light down beside him, her body soft and boneless seeming to lean against him.
Shen Mo’s mouth twitched; without changing his expression he subtly pulled his arm free from her embrace and asked, "Have you investigated clearly what exactly has happened?"
He had just taken Zhao Lingyin and the others into the Sword Zone, delaying some time, and moreover, as he was not a cultivator of Dayu Mountain, he had to carefully avoid the dense formations and Prohibitions, lest he accidentally crash into some Sect’s Mountain Protection Array; thus when he arrived, Lady Scarlet and the six Immortal Masters of the Daoist temple had already been here for quite a while.
"Seems to be a Class VI great demon... a True Dragon corrupted by a Heavenly Demon. It accidentally smashed itself to death on Dayu Mountain!" Lady Scarlet’s vermilion lips parted slightly as she pointed toward the cave below, from which Demonic Qi billowed, speaking somewhat uncertainly.
"A Formless Realm Demon-corrupted True Dragon, that smashed itself to death on Dayu Mountain?"
Shen Mo pondered for quite a while yet still could not make sense of it—how a Class VI Heavenly Demon could actually ram itself to death. No matter how he thought about it, it seemed absurd.
He then let his sense surge out, penetrating the rolling clouds of Demonic Qi, probing deep into the cave!
Soon he discovered that deep within the cave that had been smashed open, there indeed lay a True Dragon corpse; judging from the primal Essence and Qi that constantly diffused from it, this was not a True Dragon in its original form, but a Class VI Big Heavenly Demon.
Heavenly Demons are able to corrupt the myriad beings of the world, yet this kind of Innate Divine Ability can be used only by primal Heavenly Demons below Class III;
After corruption, their form becomes fixed as mutated Heavenly Demons, losing the primal Heavenly Demons’ trait of fusing with creatures, and thus they can no longer corrupt other creatures!
Another point is that primal Heavenly Demons, if they have not corrupted a creature, cannot shed their form and advance to Class III—their strength at best reaches the peak of Class II. Therefore, unless they are on the verge of perishing, it is difficult for Spirit Sea Realm (Class III) and above experts to be corrupted by them.
A True Dragon is born as an Immortal Path powerhouse, yet was corrupted by a Heavenly Demon and fell into a Demon-corrupted True Dragon. This was truly somewhat inconceivable.
Of course, perhaps a Formless Realm mutated Heavenly Demon might break through the limitation of "being unable to further corrupt other creatures"; though strange, it would not be impossible.
On the contrary, a Class VI Big Heavenly Demon comparable to the Formless Realm accidentally ramming itself to death on Dayu Mountain was a hundred times more bizarre than a True Dragon being corrupted!
Under Shen Mo’s careful investigation, he quickly found the crux of it.
This Demon-corrupted True Dragon had been grievously wounded before death, already at the brink of annihilation. It seemed to have crashed into Dayu Mountain in a desperate flight for its life, "rushing blindly without choosing the path."
"Fellow daoist Qingyun, do you think... this Demon-corrupted True Dragon is truly dead?"
Qin Hu and the other five Immortal Masters of the Daoist temple rode their escaping lights down to stand before Shen Mo, using sense transmission to converse.
"It is dead—but not completely dead." Shen Mo’s eyes shone with strange light, and he replied at once.
Before Qin Hu and the others could speak again, one terrifying dragon roar after another resounded, and then, from within the roiling Demonic Qi, a series of savage and ferocious "Demon-corrupted True Dragons" flew out.
Their Vitality was far smaller than that of the dragon that had rammed itself to death, and their Realm levels varied, ranging from Class II (Qi Gathering Realm) up to Class V (Divine Bridge Realm). After flying out from the Demonic Qi, they began cruising toward all directions!
Meanwhile, the Demonic Qi diffusing from the Class VI Demon-corrupted True Dragon’s body shrouded ten thousand miles around, and was continually spreading to every part of Dayu Mountain. Creatures tainted by Demon aura—whether cultivator or demonic beast—had their Dao Body and soul Corrupt and were all distorted into Dragon Demons one after another.
Fortunately, the Spiritual Qi in this area was relatively scarce; apart from a Sect called the Beast Controlling Sect and the tens of thousands of demonic beasts penned by this Sect, no other creatures were drawn into the Demonic Qi.
"This is its Resurrection method!"
Shen Mo brought forth the Taiyi Sword, cleaving a fearless Class V Dragon Demon in two, then spoke in a deep voice to Lady Scarlet, Qin Hu and the others.
A dignified Class VI (Formless Realm) Big Heavenly Demon, even when gravely injured, how could it truly ram itself to death upon an Immortal Mountain?
This Demon-corrupted True Dragon chose to smash itself to death on Dayu Mountain—obviously it was doing so deliberately...
For Immortal Path experts at and above Divine Bridge (Class V), their Essence and Qi are already in one combined, and with Heavenly Demons this is even more so; even low-class Heavenly Demons possess a Soul Body in one, inseparable.
This surge of Demonic Qi contains the Demon-corrupted True Dragon’s extremely pure primal Essence and Qi, formed by the primality of True Dragon being Corrupt and distorted, essentially the same as other Class VI Big Heavenly Demons yet each with its own difference; just as the life radiation of Soaring Serpent and Bizarre Dragon can distort creatures into Double-winged Flying Snakes, it can likewise distort creatures of the world into Dragon Demons!
If this surge of Demonic Qi is allowed to spread unchecked, it would not be long before all the creatures across Dayu Mountain are distorted into Dragon Demons.
And they can copulate and reproduce, continually deriving new Dragon Demons!
Once their numbers grow vast enough, they can then reshape the Divine Spirit Demon Body of the "Class VI Demon-corrupted True Dragon," bringing about its "Resurrection."
This is why Shen Mo said this great demon was "dead, but not dead to extinction"!