61: Chapter 61 The Black Nails That Frustrate the Ancient Gods, and Li Mo's "Acupuncture" Therapy
Above the Heavenly River Sword Sect, the alluring atmosphere that had just risen due to the 'Pink Happy Water' was instantly frozen.
High in the sky, the massive vortex known as the 'Heavenly Gate' eerily ceased its rotation.
Immediately after, two ancient, heavy bronze doors, their surfaces covered with carvings of billions of skeletons, swung open with a thunderous boom from the center of the vortex!
Boom——!!!
The giant doors were not physical entities, yet the sound of them striking the Void Realm was like a heavy hammer smashing into everyone's heart.
On the plaza, the twelve members of the 'Sanitation Brigade,' who had just been vigorously dancing to 'Little Apple,' froze in perfect unison.
The electronic light in their eyes flickered wildly into garbled code, ultimately turning into a lifeless gray-white.
'System... offline.'
'Directive... reset.'
Thud, thud.
Like puppets with their strings cut, they collapsed in a scattered heap. The Happy Water had lost its effect on them.
'This... how is this possible?!'
Former Inspector of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's face turned deathly pale. The 'Employee Handbook' in his hand was unconsciously crumpled and twisted.
'This pressure... This is the true manifestation of rules! A dimensional strike!'
The bronze giant doors slowly cracked open a slit.
Just a crack.
A torrent of decay, coldness, and radiation mixed with supreme divinity poured down like a bursting celestial river.
That was not spiritual power.
It was a 'Divine Might' from a higher dimension, one that could make all living beings tremble instinctively.
A figure stepped out from the crack in the door.
He wore a simple gray robe, his features indistinct. Only his eyes were visible—like two dead stars that had burned out all their light and heat, devoid of any emotion.
Immortal Realm Supervisor Enforcer — [Tian Xing].
In his right hand, he casually held a black nail about three inches long.
The nail's body was covered in dark red rust, as if congealed with the blood of countless gods and demons.
[Soul-Extinguishing Nail].
The moment this nail appeared, the space for ten thousand miles groaned under unbearable pressure, spiderweb-like black cracks appearing.
This world was being repelled and torn apart by the very 'existence' of the nail!
'What the hell is that thing?!'
Gu Canghai only glanced at it for a moment longer before hot, bloody tears streamed from his eyes. The Primordial Spirit within his Sea of Consciousness actually showed signs of cracking!
'Don't look!'
From the Scripture Pavilion's broadcast, Li Mo's voice carried a stern tone for the first time.
'That is a conceptualized weapon of 'conceptual erasure.' Mortals who gaze upon it will have their Divine Souls extinguished.'
Tian Xing hovered in the sky, his gaze piercing through the Void Realm, directly locking onto Li Mo on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.
An ant was not worthy of him lowering his head.
'Mutated Strain No. 001.'
Tian Xing's voice was dry and grating, each word like a knife scraping against bone.
'You are interesting. You actually know how to use the Ancient God's immune System (white blood cells) to contaminate the Scavengers.'
'But it seems you have forgotten that a qualified doctor not only prescribes medicine...'
'They are even more skilled... at performing excision surgeries.'
Tian Xing slowly raised the Soul-Extinguishing Nail in his right hand.
'This nail is one of the thirty-six thousand [God-Suppressing Bone-Penetrating Nails] used to pin the Primordial Spirit of the Ancient God's true body in the previous era.'
'Although I have only brought down one today,'
'It is more than sufficient...'
'To pin down a little parasite like you.'
Before the words even finished...
Tian Xing flicked his wrist.
Whoosh!
There was no sound of tearing air, no flashy light effects.
The Soul-Extinguishing Nail vanished from its spot the instant it left his hand.
It ignored space, transcended time, and appeared directly one inch in front of Li Mo's brow!
Extremely fast, and utterly domineering!
'Die.'
Tian Xing uttered a frigid syllable.
This was a certain-kill strike, the termination of rules. No defense could block its sharpness.
However.
Just as the nail, radiating an aura of finality, was about to pierce Li Mo's skin in a thousandth of a moment...
A hand reached over.
Slender, pale, with an ancient book still held between its fingers.
The index and middle fingers of that hand, with casual and effortless precision...
Pinched the tip of the nail.
Zzz... zzz...
The Soul-Extinguishing Nail vibrated violently. The power of era-ending rules entwined around it erupted, attempting to utterly erase those two fingers and everything behind them from existence on a conceptual level!
But a faint, yellowish halo, like the pages of an old book, shimmered on that hand.
The halo was faint, yet carried an 'Origin' aura so ancient it transcended eras.
No matter how violently the Soul-Extinguishing Nail raged, it could not advance a single fraction, completely suppressed.
'Hmm?'
High in the sky, ripples of something called 'shock' appeared for the first time in Tian Xing's dead star-like eyes.
'Bare-handed... catching an Imperial Weapon?!'
'Impossible! Unless... unless you are a revived Ancient God!'
On the Scripture Pavilion's terrace.
Li Mo, holding the still-humming nail between his fingers, adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, his expression somewhat peculiar.
'Imperial Weapon?'
He glanced down at the 'Ancient God Medical Record' in his hand, then gave a sidelong look at the rust-covered nail between his fingertips.
'In the eyes of you parasites, this might be a weapon.'
'But in my book here...'
Li Mo flipped the 'Medical Record' to page ninety-nine.
That page depicted an incredibly detailed, structurally complex 'Surgical Diagram for Internal Fixation Repair of Ancient God's 37th Thoracic Vertebra Comminuted Fracture.'
The diagram was densely annotated with the specific positions and functions of this type of nail.
Li Mo gently tapped the annotation for the nail on the diagram with his fingertip.
'Its scientific name is — [Orthopedic Specialized · Ultra-Polymerized Titanium Alloy Fixation Screw].'
Li Mo sighed, his gaze pitying, as if looking at a group of natives who had never entered a city.
'So, what you call 'pinning the Ancient God'...'
'Was actually just installing an internal fixation plate for a patient with a comminuted fracture?'
Tian Xing: '...'
Dead silence filled the area.
Gu Canghai, Former Inspector of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion—everyone's minds were blasted blank by this utterly absurd sensation.
A supreme Divine Artifact capable of destroying heaven and earth...
In this Administrator's mouth, had become... a medical screw?
'Sheer nonsense!'
Tian Xing, furious from humiliation, erupted with divine light, surrounded by billions of lightning bolts.
'Sharp-tongued! Since that's the case, I shall personally send you on your way!'
He took a step forward, his form transforming into a torrent of divine light that annihilated all things, charging straight at the Scripture Pavilion!
'Since you're here, don't be in such a hurry to leave.'
Li Mo exerted a slight force with the fingers holding the nail.
'Since it's a medical screw, it should be used where it belongs.'
'Coincidentally, I see your cervical spine issues are quite severe.'
Li Mo snapped the 'Medical Record' shut with a sharp motion. With his other hand, he grabbed the spring and autumn brush on the table and slashed fiercely at the Void Realm!
[Rule Invocation: Fifth Volume Authority · Taboo Chapter!]
[Term Edit: [Forced Medical Treatment]!]
[Setting: Anyone locked onto by 'Medical Equipment' (Soul-Extinguishing Nail) is immediately judged as a 'critically ill patient'; the wielder automatically becomes the 'lead surgeon' and must perform 'treatment' on the patient!]
'For me... needle it!'
Li Mo flicked his fingertip.
The Soul-Extinguishing Nail he was holding instantly reversed direction!
Transforming into an untraceable streak of black light, it shot back at ten times its original speed!
Thwack——!!!
'Aaaaah——!!!'
A shriek so shrill it seemed impossible for any living being to make tore through the heavens.
Tian Xing, who had just charged halfway, suddenly froze mid-air.
The Soul-Extinguishing Nail had pierced through, with perfect accuracy, from the back of his neck, through the Dazhui Acupoint!
'You... what have you done to me?!'
Tian Xing screamed in terror. He discovered the Divine Power within his body was completely sealed in that instant. Not only that, the nail was madly releasing rules of 'fixation' and 'suppression'!
His body was petrifying, his Divine Soul solidifying!
'Nothing much.'
Li Mo blew on non-existent dust from his fingers, his tone flat.
'Just giving you a simple 'Acupoint Implantation Therapy.''
'I see you have excessive liver fire and rampant malice. Letting some blood at the Dazhui Acupoint helps clear heat, reduce fire, calm the mind, and soothe the spirit.'
'Additionally...'
Li Mo's gaze shifted to the still-open bronze giant door behind Tian Xing.
'Leaving the door open creates too much draft, affecting the indoor (world) temperature.'
'Since you've now become a 'human specimen,' you might as well make some residual contribution.'
Li Mo flipped his palm. A heavy book with a massive 'Seal' character on its cover shot out with a whoosh!
It was precisely 'Sealing Arts: From Beginner to Burial'.
'Go!'
The book transformed into a stream of light, wrapping around the now completely rigid and petrified Tian Xing. Like a shooting star in reverse, it slammed fiercely into the bronze giant door high in the sky!
'No! I am a Supervisor Enforcer! I am an Incarnation of the Heavenly Dao! You cannot—'
Boom——!!!
An indescribably loud crash, as if the entire world shook from the impact.
Tian Xing's body, pierced by the Soul-Extinguishing Nail, was firmly pinned to the very center of the two bronze giant doors.
He became an eternal, twisted relief on the door.
Crack... crackle...
As Tian Xing was pinned to the door, the giant door, which had been continuously releasing Divine Might, seemed to have its core mechanism completely jammed by this 'screw,' letting out a mournful cry.
And then...
With a perfect fit, it slowly closed.
Clarity returned to heaven and earth.
Only Tian Xing's face, filled with terror, distortion, and unwillingness, protruded from the door panel, becoming a unique, lifelike... door knocker.
Li Mo stood on the terrace, looking at his handiwork, and nodded in satisfaction.
'Not bad, quite distinctive.'
'From now on, anyone wanting to come down through this door will have to knock on this Supervisor Enforcer's head first.'
'This is called... testing the waters.'
On the plaza.
Gu Canghai, Former Inspector of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, and the twelve just-awakened 'Sanitation Workers' all stood with their mouths agape, staring dumbly at the sky.
That Immortal Realm big shot who had made a world-destroying entrance, claiming to be able to erase everything...
Was just... pinned to the door as a knocker?
'Li... Dean Li...'
Gu Canghai's voice trembled with extreme shock, 'What... what is our situation now?'
Li Mo put away the 'Medical Record,' his gaze becoming profound and distant.
'Now?'
He glanced at the land beneath his feet (the Ancient God's corpse), then at the completely sealed Heavenly Gate (Immortal Realm entrance) above.
'From this moment on, we are the only 'antibodies' within this body.'
'Those 'parasites' from the Immortal Realm can't get in for the time being.'
'But...'
Li Mo turned around, looking toward the depths of the Scripture Pavilion, at the door of nothingness leading to the 'Sixth Volume.' His expression grew unprecedentedly grave.
'The real trouble has only just begun.'
'Because we just cured the landlord's 'acute inflammation'...'
'He... seems to be really waking up.'