Chapter 369: White Ship Transport
"How much!?"
Stunned, Bai Mo looked at Li Wuji across from him. His teacup hit the table with a CLACK, splashing tea everywhere.
Li Wuji nodded.
"Brother, if you’re looking for a Qi Collection Skill, that’s the going rate."
"Five thousand is the starting price, and quality isn’t even guaranteed."
Ah Er, who was waiting on them, stole a glance at Bai Mo’s expression before leaning forward to refill his cup.
Bai Mo lifted the cup and took a light sip.
"Why is it so expensive?"
Li Wuji shrugged.
"Our sect doesn’t lack cultivation methods. If you’re not picky, even various combat arts aren’t hard to come by."
"It’s just that these practical yet obscure techniques are much rarer."
"Unless you trade for one with the sect, you’ll have to find one at market price."
’It’s not that I can’t afford it. I just feel it’s unreasonable, and I don’t want to be a sucker.’
Bai Mo considered this for a long moment, then sighed.
"Fine."
"Brother Li, do you really know a sect member who has a Qi Collection Skill?"
"Of course. I’ve worked with him several times and have seen him use his Qi collection techniques."
Li Wuji said, "Since you’re interested, Brother, I’ll find him and have a word."
"In that case, thank you for the trouble, Brother."
Li Wuji stood and left immediately, without a moment’s hesitation.
Watching his retreating figure, Bai Mo could faintly perceive the surge of Spiritual Qi that Li Wuji could barely suppress.
’Truly a rare talent. It’s a shame his Core Formation is obstructed.’
After dissolving his Core Formation foundation, Brother Li was now actually showing signs of reforging it.
Once he succeeded in reforging it, he could take another Pill, dissolve the foundation again, and use the energy for Body Refinement.
While waiting for news from Li Wuji, the prisoners that Pill Peak had borrowed were sent back.
Only four returned. The fifth had reportedly tried to escape by jumping into a river and was publicly executed.
The four who remained all had injuries of varying severity, and Bai Mo sent them back to their cells.
The ones who brought them back were the same disciples who had taken them away in the first place, and their expressions were grim.
Bai Mo took out their tokens and inscribed a message on them.
"The Foreign Affairs Hall has its rules, and so does the Mi Mountain Black Prison. You can’t avoid this, Brothers."
"Now, go to the Foreign Affairs Hall, give your statements, and await the official investigation..."
The disciples looked at Bai Mo as if they wanted to say something, but ultimately decided against it and left without a word.
There were procedures that had to be followed for any prisoner taken from the black prison, no matter how they died. A paper trail was required.
A death caused by a mishap during Alchemy, even if it was publicly witnessed, was outside normal procedure.
The Foreign Affairs Hall would definitely have to get involved.
This was no longer something Bai Mo could meddle in.
Bai Mo sent Ah Er out to a nearby market to buy incense beads.
When it returned, it brought back not only the incense beads but also a letter.
Unfurling it, he saw it was a letter from Yuan Chu and the others at Divine Dao Mountain.
The letter detailed the route for the upcoming journey, as well as necessary preparations like sacrificial offerings, incense, and candles.
Everyone at Divine Dao Mountain was incredibly busy, so they had to send a Ghost Child of low intelligence to deliver the letter.
Bai Mo read it and knew that Divine Dao Mountain was making a big move this time.
’The legacy of the giants... They probably never saw things like incense and candles in their time. I wonder how their spirits will react to such offerings.’
"I’ve heard that Ghost Children often expect a reward for their work. Did you give it one?"
Bai Mo had assumed Ah Er wouldn’t understand and was about to use this as a teaching moment, but to his surprise, Ah Er nodded repeatedly.
Bai Mo was truly surprised.
"What did you give it?"
Ah Er lifted the pill vial on its chest and let out two guttural cries, "ARGH! ARGH!"
"How did you know to tip it?"
Through a series of gestures and sounds, Bai Mo finally understood what had happened.
"So, another disciple prompted you?"
"You’ve finally made me proud."
Bai Mo was very pleased. He took the opportunity to add a few Feeding Pills to its vial, filling it to the brim.
"With this kind of cleverness, I might just have to teach you a trade when I have some free time..."
With that, Bai Mo stood up and casually hung a few small trinkets that had been washed out of the Sea Eye onto the Abyssal Vine.
By now, the vine was covered from top to bottom with broken odds and ends of all sizes.
As Bai Mo’s hand brushed past, a bronze fragment fell to the ground and shattered into smaller pieces.
The shards no longer possessed their otherworldly feel. They were simply ancient, with patterns unlike any from the modern era.
In the mortal world, collectors of antiquities would probably fight over them.
Ah Er came over on its own and cleared away the pieces.
Bai Mo, meanwhile, returned to his stone house and closed the door.
’The route from Divine Dao Mountain actually passes through Immortal Arrival City.’
The group would be stopping midway to purchase sacrificial items, which gave Bai Mo an idea.
’I haven’t been back in a long time. This is a good chance to check on the shop.’
FWOOM!
With a wave of his hand, Bai Mo gathered fire qi. The Spirit Wood beneath the Pill Furnace ignited out of thin air, bursting into a great blaze.
This was a technique from the *Fire Department Celestial Artisan*, one that Bai Mo had mastered.
Recalling what he had seen and heard in Celestial Mountain City, as well as the insights exchanged with his peers, he grabbed some medicinal herbs and tossed them into the Pill Furnace.
Emulating the rhythm and technique of the White-Haired Elder and the others, Bai Mo slowly added minerals and herbs into the furnace.
Before long, the base color of the Pill Liquid began to form.
If he didn’t try to understand the intent behind the other cultivators’ movements, he would never be able to integrate their techniques into his own practice.
After multiple attempts, the strange, ever-changing auras of different styles of Pills seeped out from under the door, and were noticed by the prisoners in the black prison.
"Heh heh! The warden’s experimenting with his Pills again. I wonder who the unlucky test subject will be this time?"
"What do you mean, ’unlucky’? Let him mess around all he wants. The more, the better! Didn’t one of our own get taken out a few days ago and never come back?"
"He was beaten to death. He’s not coming back, but he’s not getting out, either..."
"Nonsense! It must have been a trick to fake his death. He’s probably living it up somewhere right now..."
When the disciples from the Foreign Affairs Hall came to his door, Bai Mo took the opportunity to request leave from them again.
"Brother Bai, you just returned. Going on another long trip already?"
"Yes. An opportunity has come up, and I must accompany some peers from Divine Dao Mountain."
Hearing this, the two outer sect disciples understood immediately.
"Go ahead, Brother. We’ll file the paperwork for you."
"There is one other official matter. It’s about the prisoners who were sent to Pill Peak. We have a few questions for you, Brother..."
’As expected. The Foreign Affairs Hall is launching an investigation.’
Bai Mo recounted the events exactly as they had happened, then asked if there was something more to the situation.
"Not really, it’s just a routine inquiry."
"As you know, there are too many ways to fake one’s death. We have to be cautious..."
Bai Mo saw the two disciples off. They still had a lot of paperwork to get through.
The preparations for Divine Dao Mountain’s expedition proceeded with great fanfare, a spectacle rarely seen in recent years.
Then one day, as Bai Mo was on the mountain watching Ah Er work, he suddenly saw a white ship floating toward him from the sky.
The white ship was made entirely of paper, from its hull to its sails, which snapped in the strong wind with a loud CRACKLE.
As it drew closer, he could hear someone calling from aboard the ship.
"...board the ship... Brother..."
Bai Mo shot to his feet and turned to Ah Er.
"I have to go out for a while. You’ll need to look after things here on the mountain."
Ah Er gave a solemn cry in response.
Bai Mo then crushed Li Wuji’s Jade Talisman to notify him to come and keep an eye on things, before leaping down the mountainside.
He had not gone far from the mountain when the white ship suddenly lowered a golden cable, which snatched him up and pulled him aboard.