Chapter 276: Destroying the Nascent Soul Zombie
"Careful!"
Seeing the zombie at the Soul Formation stage turn its gaze this way, Qi Chunde whispered a warning. That zombie might lack intelligence, but its strength was genuine Soul Formation level. One careless move and they could easily capsize here.
Hearing this, Gu Mo nodded. Naturally, he wouldn't clash head-on with a Soul Formation zombie, especially when his Heaven and Earth Nascent Soul was still in his cave-heaven gathering spiritual energy, limiting his own combat strength for the time being.
Of course, while Gu Mo's true body was restricted, that didn't mean his overall combat power was limited. Ever since obtaining the fifth-tier Sunflower, his plant-based battle strength had taken a small leap forward.
It was only called a "small leap" because his fifth-tier spiritual field was too small. If Gu Mo had access to a larger fifth-tier spiritual field, his plant power would have undergone a major leap instead.
Even so, that "small leap" was already enough for Gu Mo to face a mindless Soul Formation zombie without fear.
Watching the zombie draw closer, Gu Mo tossed out a large cherry. That was a fourth-tier supreme-grade Cherry Bomb—one-use plants like these all carried cross-realm power.
The detonation power of a fourth-tier supreme Cherry Bomb could definitely touch the level of Soul Formation. Only with this level of force could it harm a zombie whose physical defense was so terrifying.
"Boom!"
Lacking intelligence, the zombie naturally sensed no danger from the fruit hurled at it. Without dodging, it charged straight into it. The Cherry Bomb struck, and the instant annihilation force engulfed it.
The zombie's body defense truly was frightening. Even after taking a direct hit from a fourth-tier supreme Cherry Bomb, it only had several gashes torn open in its flesh.
However, its aura had clearly dropped. Obviously, it had consumed a large amount of death energy to resist the explosion.
These changes shocked Qi Chunde to the core. When the Soul Formation zombie first appeared, he had tried attacking it to probe its strength—so the sect could have accurate intelligence and make proper countermeasures.
Back then, Qi Chunde had experienced its terrifying power firsthand, especially its body's defense. Despite exhausting all his means, he had failed to break through.
Yet now, Gu Mo had used a special spirit plant to pierce its defenses. As a spiritual planter, the plants he cultivated counted as his own strength.
Gu Mo had just used a spirit plant to break the defense of a Soul Formation zombie. Didn't that mean Gu Mo already possessed Soul Formation combat power?
Realizing his own disciple had the strength of Soul Formation, Qi Chunde couldn't help but feel shaken.
"Roar!"
Wounded, the zombie was completely enraged. With a furious roar, it lunged at Gu Mo.
Qi Chunde's heart tightened. Though he knew these zombies were slow, posing little real threat, facing one charging at Soul Formation level still gave him immense pressure.
Gu Mo, on the other hand, looked utterly calm. He knew his own methods—naturally he had no fear of this zombie.
Since the Cherry Bomb hadn't been that effective, Gu Mo prepared to try another. A bright red chili pepper appeared in his hand.
"Snap!"
Crushing the fourth-tier supreme Firecracker Chili in his palm, a blazing fire dragon shot forth, rushing straight at the zombie.
The fire dragon coiled around its body, scorching its flesh and burning away the death energy inside it.
That death energy was the source of the zombie's power. As it burned away, its cultivation level steadily fell.
This was only true for zombies formed entirely of death energy. For a true Soul Formation cultivator, unless the injury damaged their very origin, their realm would never drop just from being hurt.
With its death energy consumed bit by bit, the zombie could no longer maintain its Soul Formation power and collapsed down to Nascent Soul Great Perfection.
At that moment, a massive purple maw full of sharp teeth appeared, swallowing the weakened zombie whole.
Anything at the Nascent Soul stage, the fourth-tier Bigmouth Flower could devour in one gulp.
The only difference was that a fourth-tier low-grade Bigmouth Flower took longer to digest something at Nascent Soul Great Perfection—but even then, no more than half a day.
Once the Bigmouth Flower advanced in tier, its digestion speed would increase as well.
"Ah—th-that just…"
Qi Chunde could hardly react, staring at the zombie now swallowed in a single bite. That Soul Formation zombie had been a huge headache for the sect.
Though zombies were slow, they were more than enough to block a sect's gate. With Shennong Valley's Soul Formation ancestor absent, Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't break its defense.
As for the sect's Soul Formation trump cards, those were not to be lightly used unless there was no choice. Because of this, that zombie had been blocking the mountain gate, preventing Shennong Valley from sending reinforcements to allied sects.
And now, that troublesome Soul Formation zombie had been resolved by Gu Mo.
All Gu Mo had done was release two spirit plants, both with power reaching Soul Formation level. If the large cherry could be explained away as a lucky find, the blazing fire dragon from that chili proved beyond doubt that Gu Mo had truly cultivated spirit plants capable of such power.
Even if the plants weren't technically fifth-tier, the fact that a fourth-tier supreme could unleash Soul Formation-level force was even more shocking.
"Master, let the sect disciples handle the rest of the zombies." Gu Mo spoke to the dazed Qi Chunde.
For now, the Bigmouth Flower was still digesting its prey and couldn't continue. But with the Soul Formation zombie and the stronger Nascent Soul zombies already dealt with, the rest were no real threat.
"Alright!"
Qi Chunde pulled out a message talisman and sent it out. At once, Shennong Valley's protective formation opened, and sect disciples flew out to slaughter the remaining zombies.
"Good, good, good! Who would have thought our Shennong Valley would give birth to another Soul Formation Venerable!" The valley master himself came before Gu Mo, face alight with excitement.
"Valley Master, this junior has not yet reached Soul Formation." Gu Mo corrected. His true cultivation was only early Nascent Soul, just one step away from Soul Formation.
Indeed, after Gu Mo successfully cultivated the fifth-tier Sunflower, he was only one step away.
That last step was to refine enough fifth-tier Sun Essence, then use the Primordial Spirit power within to condense his Primordial Spirit Dharma Body. At that time, Gu Mo could skip Nascent Soul mid, late, and perfection stages altogether and step directly into Soul Formation. But such things, of course, he could not speak aloud.
"Not Soul Formation, yet stronger than Soul Formation." As controller of the protective array, the valley master had personally witnessed Gu Mo use spirit plants of immense power to slay the zombie.
Though that zombie was not a true Soul Formation cultivator, Gu Mo's ability to kill it proved he already possessed part of that level's might.
So calling him a Soul Formation Venerable was not entirely wrong.
Even if not now, Gu Mo becoming one in the future was almost certain. And even if he somehow never broke through, just the spirit plants he had cultivated already gave him the combat strength of Soul Formation.
As they spoke, the zombies near Shennong Valley were cleared out. Instantly, the surroundings improved considerably, but everyone knew this was only temporary—before long, more zombies would appear.
At least for now, everyone could catch their breath.
"Valley Master, can you get in touch with the people of Taiqing Sect and Yin-Yang Sword Sect?" Gu Mo asked as he followed the Valley Master into the mountain gate of Shennong Valley.
"Yes."
The Shennong Valley Master nodded. Although all three sects had been cut off by the zombies, the three sect leaders still had special means of contact.
"Then please contact the two sect leaders." Gu Mo briefly explained the situation with the Immortal Spirit.
"I greet Senior!"
Hearing Gu Mo's words, the Shennong Valley Master was startled and hurriedly saluted the Immortal Spirit at Ruan Ruan's side. Only then did he realize he had instinctively overlooked her presence earlier.
But considering her identity, perhaps that was only natural.
Inside Shennong Valley's main hall.
"Is there some urgent matter?" The voices of the Taiqing Sect Leader and Yin-Yang Sword Sect Leader rang out. The sudden communication request from Shennong Valley's master immediately made them wonder if something had happened there.
"Yes, it is extremely urgent."
The Shennong Valley Master nodded and relayed what he had learned from Gu Mo, including the plan to deal with the Corpse Immortal.
"With our strength, can we really weaken the power of an Immortal?" The Taiqing Sect Leader gave a bitter smile. After learning the origin of that headless corpse, even the last shred of hope in his heart was gone.
That was an Immortal. Even if it was a Corpse Immortal, an Immortal was still an Immortal. For cultivators at their level of Nascent Soul, facing such a being was no different from ants confronting a giant.
For them to dream of weakening an Immortal's power—it was nothing but delusion.
Never mind anything else, even the corpse qi that leaked out had already condensed hordes of zombies that hemmed them in within their sects, forcing them to rely on their mountain-guarding formations just to hold out.
"It may be impossible for us, but we can call for outside help."
At this moment, a gentle voice rang out in the hall. A beautiful woman appeared, wearing a laurel crown, her body radiating the fragrance of plants and trees.
"Greetings, Ancestor!"
Seeing the sudden appearance of the crowned woman, the people of Shennong Valley could not help but beam with joy. Their ancestor had returned—she was their pillar of support.
At the same time, from the other end of the communication, came the same greeting:
"Greetings, Senior Suxin!"
Qing Zunzhe (Qing sovereign) bowed slightly to the Immortal Spirit.
"You know me?"
The Immortal Spirit looked at Qing Zunzhe in surprise.
"In order to find a way to resolve this zombie catastrophe, the few of us searched through every record we could find, and among them happened to be accounts concerning Senior Suxin," Qing Zunzhe explained.
"Then, when you mentioned seeking outside help just now, could it be…" the Suxin Immortal Spirit's heart stirred.
"That's right—opening the passage of our small world, so that cultivators from the great world can come in and help weaken the Corpse Immortal," Qing Zunzhe said with a nod.
This was the solution they had found after much searching. The three of them had traveled the entire small world until they finally discovered the world gate.
Once the world gate was opened, cultivators from outside could enter; of course, cultivators within could also leave.
However, leaving was not as simple as just walking through the gate. It required cultivation beyond the small world's capacity. Currently, the upper limit of this small world was the Soul Formation stage.
Thus, any cultivator who reached the peak of Soul Formation could leave through the gate.
By the same token, because of that limit, cultivators entering from outside could not exceed Soul Formation. But as long as enough came, their combined strength would still be enough to rapidly weaken the Corpse Immortal.
"Ancestor, but why would outside cultivators help us?" the Shennong Valley Master raised his concern. Cultivators were not saints—without profit, few would lift a finger.
"A corpse of an Immortal—would that not be enough of a lure?" Qing Zunzhe said with a smile.
"My master left behind some inheritances here as well. Those can also be offered," the Suxin Immortal Spirit said after a moment of silence. Originally, those inheritances were meant for Ruan Ruan, whom she had chosen as her master's successor.
But this small world was also her master's beloved homeland. To help protect it, she did not mind offering some of her master's treasures as payment.
"With Immortal relics and an Immortal corpse, that's enough to make countless cultivators covet them," hearing the Immortal Spirit's words, Qing Zunzhe and the other two Soul Formation cultivators were overjoyed.
The Immortal Spirit understood this all too well. Even in the great world, Immortals were lofty existences. Anything related to them would make countless cultivators fight desperately to obtain it.
Still, inviting outsiders in was a double-edged sword, especially when their own small world was so weak. But given the present circumstances, there seemed little choice.
Without outside aid, whether this small world could even survive was doubtful.
After careful planning, the three Soul Formation cultivators set out once more, this time with the Suxin Immortal Spirit accompanying them to help open the world gate.
"Gu Mo, I want to return to my sect."
Chu Feifei approached Gu Mo. She was deeply worried about the Hundred Flowers Sect. Although there had been no word of its destruction yet, she imagined its situation could not be good.
"I'll go with you."
At that moment, Gu Mo also had an idea in mind: to move some of the weaker sects to the Qinghe Cultivation World. After all, in the future, the Tianyuan Cultivation World would become the main battleground for cultivators from outside.
For those weaker sects of Tianyuan, moving to the safer Qinghe World would be an excellent choice. Especially once the Immortal Formation enclosing Qinghe was completed, its spiritual energy density would match that of Tianyuan.
Then, the local sects of the small world would at least have a haven. After all, once the world gate was opened, no one could know whether the cultivators who came in would be righteous or demonic.
Human hearts were unpredictable, and Gu Mo naturally had to prepare for every possibility.
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