The First Immortal of Destiny-Chapter 493: Testing_1
Looking at the indistinguishable Gecko’s Separation, Cao Ren marveled, "Being able to cultivate the Sacrificial Magic to this extent is truly impressive!"
On the other hand, Shen Mo’s real body felt incredibly weak. His True Yuan was depleted, his vitality greatly diminished, and even a portion of his soul had sustained damage.
In order to make his Separation indistinguishable from himself, he had activated the most powerful effect of the [Gecko Divine Skill], leaving as much of his essence and Qi in the severed part as possible!
At this moment, under Cao Ren’s five senses, Shen Mo’s aura was as weak as a mortal’s, making it difficult to distinguish him if he were mixed into a crowd. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
This is also one of the features of the [Gecko Divine Skill]. By severing half the body, it creates a Stand-in to mislead the enemy, while the real body can seize the opportunity to hide and escape. This plays the role of the gecko’s Tail Cutting effect!
But while a gecko’s tail can regrow, a cultivator with a damaged Dao Body, in most cases, can only live the rest of their life with that damaged body.
Only Shen Mo, transformed into a Three-headed Six-armed form, could freely lose extra heads and arms. He could even completely sever half of his body according to the original method and turn it into a Stand-in.
However, the restoration is too draining, and the resulting Stand-in is not much different from the one created by losing a head or arm, so it is unnecessary to do so!
"Are you alright?" Cao Ren noticed Shen Mo’s weakness and asked with concern.
"I’m fine. It won’t take long to recover."
As Shen Mo spoke, he took out several Elixirs, each with effects such as restoring Mana, strengthening vitality, and healing soul wounds.
After swallowing the Elixirs, he silently began to circulate his cultivation method, adjusting his condition.
At the same time, with a thought, he controlled the Gecko False Body to fly towards the Soaring Serpent.
Shen Mo’s magic and martial arts skills could also be used by his Gecko False Body, and even the level of its cultivation methods was no different. Under the Ascending Cloud Immortal Method, the Gecko False Body transformed into a pale golden rainbow and quickly approached within a hundred miles of the Soaring Serpent Bizarre Dragon.
Through the close connection of their souls, Shen Mo could feel that the Gecko False Body felt like it was being roasted in a furnace, with a scorching pain!
It was not only on the body’s surface but also deep within the flesh and blood, penetrating to the bone marrow. Even the Gecko False Body’s "soul" was being burned with an intense, unbearable pain.
Underneath the burning sensation, waves of deep-rooted itchiness continuously grew, making one unbearably uncomfortable. Even though it was a Gecko False Body, Shen Mo could still indirectly feel this unbearable torture of combined pain and itchiness through the connection of their souls!
Without a doubt, this was the prelude to the Gecko False Body suffering the life radiation of the Soaring Serpent Bizarre Dragon and about to morph into a Double-winged Flying Snake.
Immediately, without the slightest hesitation, Shen Mo controlled the Gecko False Body to operate the [Dragon Reversing Spell].
After this period, using the [Martial Performance] Destiny to tirelessly deduce and cultivate it day and night, this cultivation method had successfully reached the Junior level—often referred to as ’Senior’ in the cultivation world. Cao Ren, despite cultivating this method for so long, was still at this stage and had not reached the Perfection level!
At the moment, it is sufficient to use it to probe the radiation-induced transformation from the Soaring Serpent.
As the [Dragon Reversing Spell] operated, the bizarre Demonic Qi scattered in every inch of the body began to activate. Like a stabilizing talisman, it instantly soothed the body’s waves of pain and itchiness!
In Cao Ren’s eyes, who stood beside Shen Mo, he saw... After the Gecko False Body approached the Soaring Serpent, its Dao Body began to distort and transform, gradually resembling the parasitic Double-winged Flying Snake.
Then, the Gecko False Body’s body quickly filled with the aura of bizarre Demonic Qi, which Cao Ren called "Dragon Reversing True Qi." Under the effect of the Dragon Reversing True Qi, the Gecko False Body was perfectly protected, guarding against the horrifying and bizarre life radiation of the Soaring Serpent and preventing it from transforming into a Flying Snake Monster!
"You guessed right, this method truly does have the power to counteract the Soaring Serpent’s transformation!" Cao Ren couldn’t help but smile widely.
Having confirmed this, Shen Mo’s heart also felt a surge of joy. Although the transformation from the Soaring Serpent’s life radiation and the Dragon Transformation from practicing the [Transforming Dragon Curse] were extremely similar, he couldn’t be sure that the [Dragon Reversing Spell] would definitely be effective before seeing the results! Fortunately, his efforts paid off; the [Dragon Reversing Spell] did, indeed, withstand such transformative force...
However, Shen Mo’s happiness didn’t last long. Just as he had controlled the Gecko False Body to advance over ten miles, the [Dragon Reversing Spell] couldn’t endure it any longer!
PFFT!
Without warning, the Gecko False Body twisted and decayed into a mass in the blink of an eye. Amidst the wriggling blood and bone, it turned into a huge Double-winged Flying Snake, screeching as it flew deeper into the shadow cast by the massive body of the Soaring Serpent.
The connection with its soul also snapped instantly!
The next moment, Shen Mo immediately drew out a Spirit Stone, offering it to [Examine], then observed the Double-winged Flying Snake that the Gecko False Body had turned into!
Its general condition was no different from other Flying Serpents, except that its Cultivation Realm had actually reached the early-stage of Class IV. This made Shen Mo surprised and also gave him a bad feeling.
Previously, Shen Mo had seen with his own eyes how ordinary beasts and insects, once transformed into Double-winged Flying Snakes, had their Realms significantly increase!
An ordinary caterpillar, which even a common man could crush to death, surprisingly reached the peak of Class I after transforming into a parasitic species of the Soaring Serpent.
The mutant Demon Soul General was like this, and so was his Gecko False Body.
Upon transforming into a Flying Serpent, the Cultivation Realm of the original creature would skyrocket. But after that, it was incapable of growing stronger.
From this perspective, the Soaring Serpent’s life radiation, besides its transformative ability, must also have the effect of stimulating potential! Thus, just from the demonic beasts in the mountains that were transformed and enhanced when the Soaring Serpent descended upon the Linjiang Mountain Range, they already constituted a formidable force. Adding to that the Double-winged Flying Snakes originally parasitizing it... these parasitic species would become the next rather troublesome problem after the threat of the radiation’s transformative power!
Currently, Shen Mo was not too worried about the transformative ability of the Soaring Serpent. He had now verified that the [Dragon Reversing Spell] could indeed counteract the transformative force produced by the Soaring Serpent’s life radiation; it was just that the closer one got to it, the stronger this transformative force became. The Junior level of the [Dragon Reversing Spell] was not enough for him to get very close to the Soaring Serpent’s body and enter the Mountain River Valley it encircled. However, possessing the [Martial Performance] Destiny, Shen Mo could spend a relatively short amount of time cultivating this method to a higher level to resist the radiation’s transformative power. If he cultivated it to the Epic realm, he should be able to withstand the transformation and not become a pitiful and detestable parasitic Flying Serpent... However, if the Double-winged Flying Snakes parasitizing the Soaring Serpent included a large number of Class IV individuals, trying to enter the Mountain River Valley would naturally become a vain hope!
While Shen Mo’s thoughts were racing, the Flying Serpent that his Gecko False Body had transformed into, due to its Class IV Realm, actually startled beings that had been hiding deep within the shadows of the Soaring Serpent’s Scale Armor.
A few Double-winged Flying Snakes, their auras extremely powerful, hissed and flew out, engaging in a fierce brawl with the Flying Serpent transformed from the Gecko False Body, strongly reminiscent of earthly demonic beasts fighting over territory!
Seizing this opportunity, Shen Mo immediately used [Examine] several times in quick succession.
Then, he discovered with some despair that these few Double-winged Flying Snakes all had Cultivation Realms at the early-stage of Class IV or higher; there were even some at the middle-stage and late-stage of Class IV.
