Seeing this, Lin Mo couldn’t help but laugh softly. In the past, whenever he came to the mountain range’s outskirts, he would always make a point of avoiding the beasts himself.

Now that he wielded a spirit sword, not to mention the mountain range’s depths—even when facing a beast king—he still advanced at an unhurried pace. The thick canopy above blotted out the sky.

“As expected, it’s still a bit stifling.”

As he spoke, Lin Mo thought of testing one of the new swords he had just purchased.
He raised his hand and swung forward; a streak of sword light cut across the heavens, slicing through the thorns for dozens of li ahead and shearing away the branches that had blocked the sunlight.

The startled beasts scattered, their cries echoing through the forest, and his view instantly opened up.

Sheathing the Light-Breeze Sword, Lin Mo shook his head.
“Though both are spirit-treasure grade, using this feels far inferior to the Liuli Sword.”

He reasoned that this treasure’s inferiority lay in its inability to bear and conduct his spiritual energy properly—it could channel at most twenty to thirty percent of his full power.
Even using the Seven-Killings Sword technique three times in succession would only barely reproduce the same result, and even then he’d need to exert some effort.

Let alone the attack speed when he enters his demonized state.

Hearing herself praised, the Liuli Sword was delighted.
“Master, Xiao Li used to be even mightier. I’ve severed countless divine weapons—none of them are worth a glance in Xiao Li’s eyes!”

Lin Mo laughed and shook his head.
“This Liuli Sword is still the same as ever—one stroke decides the outcome. Ordinary magical implements, once struck, will be shattered completely, body and soul alike.”

In Lin Mo’s eyes, the current Liuli Sword had already reached the standard of a low-grade immortal artifact.

Before long, he arrived at the middle reaches of the Dazhou mountain range. In the past, during his treasure-hunting trips, he had never ventured this deep.

Compared to the outer regions, the middle ranges teemed with richer resources—spirit fruits, spirit herbs—and the monsters’ cultivation levels were much higher, making it far more perilous.

Mountain peaks stretched in every direction for hundreds of li.
Not far to the front-left, three Nascent Soul-stage wolf demons prowled.

Lin Mo’s figure flickered—he moved to test them, drawing near.

What disappointed Lin Mo was that these Nascent Soul–stage wolf-demons gave him no chance to communicate at all.
The moment they caught the scent of a human on him, they went mad and lunged straight toward him.

In the blink of an eye, all three wolf-demons lay collapsed on the ground, unable to rise again.

Staring at their corpses, Lin Mo fell into thought.
How strange… these Nascent Soul-stage wolf-demons didn’t even try to flee. Why throw their lives away to attack me?

Wolf-demons at this level should have intelligence, divine sense, and perception far superior to the lesser beasts outside.
Even those outer beasts know I’m not someone to provoke and always keep their distance—so why are these ones rushing to their deaths?

Setting aside his doubts, Lin Mo continued through the Dazhou mountain range, hunting monsters and purging evil.
Along the way he encountered several more groups of beasts, and every one of them behaved the same—attacking the instant they saw him.

Before long, the ground around him was strewn with monster corpses, yet he felt only weary helplessness.
Truth be told, he hadn’t wanted to kill them at all.

Unlike human cultivators, these beasts offered him no profit; even the materials from their bodies were barely worth collecting.
Still, as he pressed deeper into the range, the number of attackers only grew.

It almost feels as if these beasts are guarding something…

After wandering for some time in confusion, Lin Mo realized something unsettling—he seemed to have been circling the same area all along.

“We haven’t gone deep into the interior of this Dazhou mountain range at all…” he muttered, frowning.
“What’s going on here?”

Rubbing his chin in puzzlement, Lin Mo mused, “Could it be that some kind of barrier is hidden within the range?”

With that thought, he rose into the air, riding his sword skyward.
He circled the mountain range several times, carefully observing from above.

Sure enough, faint fluctuations revealed themselves at the edge of his divine sense.

“As I thought—there’s a concealed barrier within this Dazhou mountain range.
Judging from its layout, the person who set it up had not only top-tier cultivation, but also profound mastery of formation arrays.”

For a moment, Lin Mo’s first instinct was to test whether he could break through by force.
But after thinking it over, he quickly dismissed the idea.

“Leaving aside whether I could even manage to breach it… forcing my way in blindly would be reckless.”

If he accidentally alarmed the great power behind the barrier, he might not be able to handle it.
But eight or nine times out of ten, this barrier over the Dazhou mountain range was probably connected to the Monster Realm.
It might even be that the entrance to the Monster Realm was hidden somewhere within the mountain range itself.

Seeing that night had already fallen, Lin Mo temporarily returned to the inn in Yunxi City.
He began to consider ways to enter the Dazhou mountain range.
After turning it over and over in his mind, he felt the best approach would be to blend into the monster race itself.

“System, is there a way for me to conceal my aura and take on the form of a member of the monster race?”

【Sure, sure, Host—don’t forget I’m an all-purpose system.】
【As long as your regret value is sufficient, I can remake anything; I could even remodel you into a member of the Yao race.】

“Being human is fine—let’s not turn me into a monster.”

【In that case, Host can use a double-finger designation to draw from the lottery!】

“What’s a double-finger designation?”

【It means precisely narrowing the options for your draw.】
【For example, if the pool is simply cultivation methods, that’s a one-finger designation.】
【If you specify sword-dao type cultivation methods, that’s a double-finger designation.】

Lin Mo raised a brow. “Then is there a three-finger designation?”

【Of course! Say you need a handy spirit sword.】
【You can designate weapon—spirit sword, then further limit the realm or grade, the quality, and even the intended user. That’s a three-finger designation.】

【Three-finger designation is available now!】

“Since it’s so convenient, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

【Because the system hadn’t unlocked that permission before.】
【My permissions are unlocked based on your total regret value. Most importantly, double-finger and triple-finger designations cost a ton of regret value—previously host couldn’t afford it.】

Lin Mo muttered, “Don’t tell me you’re just trying to jack up the price again and skim some regret value off me?”

【Host, how can you see your baby that way? I’m your system—how could I ever do something as shameless as price-gouging?】

“Then let’s hear it.”

【Double-finger designation costs one thousand regret points per use, while triple-finger designation will be priced according to the host’s specific request.】

“For example, if I want to extract a spirit sword of divine-weapon quality?”

【Three hundred thousand regret points! However, this system recommends that you cultivate the Liuli Sword instead. Invest spiritual energy, soul, and other free resources into it—once it reaches a level comparable to a divine weapon, you won’t need to spend those three hundred thousand regret points.】

He made a rough cost-performance estimate; the price quoted by the system was indeed reasonable.
More importantly, the system had offered him a way to save regret points.
It seemed the system had already been trained by him to great effect.

“All right then, tell me—how should I use double-finger designation, and what should I extract, to transform into a member of the Yao clan?”

【The host can use double-finger designation to draw a Yao-clan bloodline skin!】

“The ‘skin’ you mean…?”

【That’s right—exactly the kind of skin you’re thinking of! But a reminder: what you draw has good and bad tiers, and it may place limits on your current cultivation.】
【A Yao-clan bloodline skin can let the host take on a Yao form. As for what kind of bloodline you draw, that depends entirely on your luck.】

After hearing the system’s explanation, Lin Mo more or less understood how it worked.
“Fine, then let’s draw.”

For now, he didn’t choose a ten-pull. He planned to draw one at a time—if he got something suitable, he’d stop. After all, each double-finger draw would cost him at least a thousand regret points.

He wasn’t the timid sort; drawing more wouldn’t help anyway.

【Ding—spent one thousand regret points. Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Golden Core–stage pig-demon bloodline skin.】

“Golden Core stage… and it’s a pig?”

Without even thinking, Lin Mo kept drawing.

【Ding—spent one thousand regret points. Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Golden Core–stage corpse-demon bloodline skin.】

“Corpse-demons are usually ugly, right? And it’s only Golden Core stage—forget it.”

The next seven draws were no better—either the realm was too low or the form too ordinary. Lin Mo didn’t want a single one of them.

Until the tenth draw—

【Ding—spent one thousand regret points. Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Divine Transformation stage Blazing-Fire Phoenix bloodline skin.】

A faint light flickered in Lin Mo’s eyes.

The cultivation level fit perfectly, and the race seemed quite suitable as well.
This Blazing-Fire Phoenix—just from the name alone, it sounded like it carried the noble phoenix bloodline.

“System, let me put on this bloodline skin and give it a try.”

Just as Lin Mo, full of excitement, equipped the skin to test how it felt, his body instantly began to change.

Before he could even assess how fierce the power of the flames was, while he was still basking in joy, he suddenly noticed something wrong.
The swelling on his chest made him freeze.

“Since when were my pecs this exaggerated?”

At that moment, the system chimed in:
【Host, please note: what you’ve equipped is not the Blazing-Fire Phoenix, but the Blazing-Fire Huang.】

“Huang?”
“So… this skin is female?”

……