Chapter 406: About to Leave
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, the days flowing by like water.
The other day, Xiaoao Village, much like Dagu Town, encountered a small beast tide, though it only consisted of eight or nine Demon Beasts.
They seemed to have been startled into fleeing.
With Bai Mo’s Pills leading the way and the cooperation of the many able-bodied young men, they dealt with the pack of Demon Beasts without much effort.
Just as the villagers of Xiaoao Village were celebrating, cutting up the beast carcasses to be dried, a speck of light appeared on the horizon.
As it drew closer, they could see it was a Flying Ship.
Bai Mo received word and naturally came out to welcome his fellow sect member.
A young disciple dressed in black jumped down from the Flying Ship.
The moment he landed, he started shouting:
"Are you Bai Mo? Is Junior Brother Bai here?"
Bai Mo stepped forward and confirmed his identity.
The disciple in black said, "I am Pan Yin. I’ve come from the sect to check if you all have suffered any casualties."
"Surely no one actually died in a poor backwater like this, right?"
He spoke quickly. After learning about the situation along the Dagu Town and Black Mountain City line, he suddenly sighed.
"This route is as stable as I thought. Just minor skirmishes, nothing major. It’s been like this the whole way here."
Bai Mo smiled faintly.
"Isn’t that a good thing?"
Pan Yin shook his head vigorously, loudly disagreeing.
"Not at all. To squander one’s years like this is an unwise move."
"We Cultivators shouldn’t waste our precious time on this kind of tedious, passive guard duty..."
Hearing his words, Bai Mo’s heart stirred.
"How much longer must we patrol?"
"Heh heh!" Pan Yin suddenly laughed.
"I knew all the junior and senior brothers would ask this. The people from the Foreign Affairs Hall already prepared command talismans. See for yourselves!"
With a flick of his hand, a large black bundle appeared in his arms. It was so big it hid all but the top of his head.
Inside the bundle were stacked command talismans. Pan Yin pulled one out and stuffed it into Bai Mo’s hand.
Before Bai Mo could say anything more, Pan Yin bid a hasty farewell, leaped onto the Flying Ship, and vanished into the distance in an instant.
It was only then that Ah Er arrived, carrying a tray of tea.
It was shocked to see the visitor disappear over the horizon.
It couldn’t believe the man had come all this way just to show his face and leave in less than a quarter of an hour.
In Ah Er’s memory, back at the sect’s Spirit Beast breeding grounds...
...even the stud beasts being led back and forth for breeding took longer than that.
Bai Mo pressed the command talisman to the center of his brow. As the spiritual light on it flowed, he immediately understood the message it conveyed.
He turned and casually took the tea from in front of Ah Er.
Taking a leisurely sip, Bai Mo said:
"We’ll be leaving soon."
"Aarf!" Ah Er barked at him.
Bai Mo shook his head.
"We’re not rushing back to the sect. We’re going to wander around outside for a bit."
According to the information in the talisman, not long ago, the Cultivators from the three major sects who broke through the Celestial Barrier Mountain range had severed an earth vein on the other side.
The earth vein had long been tainted, and within it, several hundred-zhang-tall Demon Beasts were gestating.
With the grand army bearing down on them, the beasts didn’t even have a chance to run rampant.
The assembled Cultivators attacked, decisively slaughtering those few Demon Beasts.
Furthermore, an elder from the Xuandao Sect had directly sacrificed his physical body to suppress the vein’s turbid qi, allowing the other Cultivators to venture deeper inside.
It was unknown what discovery could have compelled him to make such a great sacrifice.
This series of actions had a massive impact.
Myriad Demon Beasts rioted, fleeing for their lives in all directions.
The Celestial Barrier Mountain range acted as a buffer, absorbing the effects of the fallout.
The tangible result for Bai Mo was this small wave of a beast tide.
"It’s only because this area is so remote, and due to the terrain, that few Demon Beasts flee in this direction."
"In other places, disciples are already wading through rivers of blood."
Bai Mo looked at the busy villagers, understanding in his heart that for these people to be able to thrive here, they truly benefited from both favorable terrain and a united community.
The conversation between the man and the beast was overheard by a nearby villager who was drying thin strips of meat.
Casting aside his reservations, the middle-aged man approached hesitantly and asked cautiously:
"Immortal Master, are you leaving?"
Bai Mo nodded frankly.
"Yes, but not so soon. I estimate there’s still about a month or so."
"At that time, another disciple from the sect will come to take my place."
Hearing this, the villager let out a sigh of relief, then said sincerely:
"Our village doesn’t have much of value, but we must still show a token of our appreciation. When the time comes, we will present you with a fire fox pelt. Please do not refuse."
Bai Mo hadn’t expected these villagers to have anything left over after making their tribute payments to the sect.
"Alright."
「Back in the thatched hut.」
Bai Mo had already filled his belly with tea to refresh himself a little.
He had made a promise to the Qian family, so he had to see it through. He couldn’t let all the materials they provided go to waste.
’But it seems I can’t refine the Nascent Soul Pseudo-Pill. At best, I can only create a half-finished product, which will have to do.’
Bai Mo frowned.
’There must be a key element that I’ve overlooked or failed to notice.’
Taking out a line of his test products, Bai Mo placed them on the windowsill and stared at them, lost in thought.
In the Pill Furnace beside him, purple Pill Liquid roiled, thick as honey, with smoke curling up from it...
「Late at night.」
Ah Er returned with a bucket of water.
Pushing open the hut’s door, it skillfully carried the bucket to a corner.
WHOOSH!
A cool breeze swept past. Ah Er was suddenly struck with a nameless fear, its fur standing on end.
Before it could open its mouth to give a warning, a sense of crisis flashed through Bai Mo’s mind as well.
A nameless killing intent washed over him.
His heart pounded wildly, but his expression remained unchanged.
He shifted his body slightly, moving away from the Pills on the windowsill.
With a subtle hand gesture, Bai Mo activated the Array Plate he had placed in the hut, which instantly radiated waves of spiritual light.
The next moment, a long, crimson shadow flashed past, only to be distorted and bound by the spiritual light in front of Bai Mo.
To Ah Er’s horror, a line of blood suddenly appeared on Bai Mo’s neck.
Before blood could spurt out, Bai Mo flicked his wrist. Several Pills fell into his hand, and he stuffed them all into his mouth.
A massive medicinal power erupted, causing his abdomen to swell slightly before quickly subsiding.
Seeing Ah Er open its mouth as if to cry out, Bai Mo shot it a glare.
"I’m fine. Quiet!"
Ah Er choked back a cry and quickly staggered over.
Meeting its gaze, Bai Mo wiped his neck, and the faint wound was gone.
As he moved, he couldn’t help but hiccup as the immense medicinal power surged through his body.
At this point, even if he just stood there and let someone hack away at him, he wouldn’t be so easy to kill.
Only then did Bai Mo have a moment to examine the Demon Beast that had tried to assassinate him.
It was a crimson flesh-worm. One end grew a thin bone blade, as long as a human arm and as thick as a chopstick.
Just now, it was that very bone blade that had slit Bai Mo’s neck.
The flesh-worm twisted, the layered ring-like patterns on its body sliding, but it was unable to break through the bonds of the Array Plate’s spiritual light.
Ah Er looked at it again, its eyes now filled with rage.
Bai Mo, however, sighed faintly.
’To attract this kind of Demon Beast, my half-finished Nascent Soul Pseudo-Pill must have absorbed some true essence of heaven and earth. But why can’t I seem to complete it?’
SWISH!
Ah Er whipped its head around, staring at Bai Mo in disbelief.
Bai Mo had, in fact, anticipated this.
The Pill Book mentioned that an Outer Pill possessed a strange power and was a treasure coveted by all living things between heaven and earth.
Unable to figure it out, Bai Mo picked up the head-sized Pill Furnace.
After the earlier interruption, this batch of Pill Liquid was already ruined.
He casually stuffed the flesh-worm inside, placed the lid on the furnace, and sighed once more.