Chapter 409: Reunion
Night fell.
The shop’s back courtyard was brightly lit.
Wei An brought out a good amount of beast meat from the storeroom—some fresh, some aged.
A bonfire was lit in the courtyard, and they began to casually roast the meat over it.
Many familiar faces had come: the shop’s assistants, Xu Ruyuan who traveled around gathering medicinal herbs for the store, and others.
As the business grew, the profit-sharing arrangement between everyone had changed.
Bai Mo had always left Wei An in charge of these matters.
He did an excellent job. Though his pill-crafting skills were still mediocre, he had never made a single mistake when it came to the shop’s affairs.
Young Master Wei and Young Master Wang, the two scions who still lived in the residence behind the shop, had also received invitations.
However, only Young Master Wang came; Young Master Wei was nowhere to be seen.
The two were usually inseparable. When Qin Wen asked, Young Master Wang, sipping his fruit wine, said nonchalantly:
"His archery is worse than mine, so the instructor is forcing him to do extra practice. I bet he’s still training hard at the foot of the mountain right now!"
As the group chatted, things didn’t feel any different than before.
Even though Bai Mo’s status was no longer what it once was, he didn’t put on any airs.
CREAK!
The far gate was pushed open, and a mountain-like, sturdy figure walked in. It was Lanshan.
Seeing the crowd in the courtyard, he rubbed his stubbled head and grinned.
"Heh, looks like I’m late!"
Bai Mo looked at him, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
With Bai Mo’s current level of perception, he could easily sense the surging vital energy hidden within the man’s physique.
He couldn’t compare to many of the Sect Disciples, but among Loose Cultivators, he was already an extraordinary existence.
He had originally thought that the cultivation method Lanshan and the others obtained from the Jade Plate Secret Realm was merely passable.
Now, it seemed that was not the case.
When the topic came up, Lanshan simply said:
"It’s all thanks to Shopkeeper Bai’s help. Otherwise, we never would have had that opportunity."
He was a bit emotional. He had finally made something of himself.
If he wanted to, with the body-tempering cultivation method he had organized, he could easily establish his own faction with no problem.
But this reminded Bai Mo of something.
"While at the sect, I asked someone to inquire about Miss Lan Ru, but I never heard back..."
Lanshan’s sister, Lan Ru, was in the same sect as Bai Mo and was currently an outer disciple.
Hearing this, Lanshan wasn’t surprised.
"She sent me a letter a while back. Said she’d earned her Master’s appreciation, and he’d taken her to guard a karst cave beneath the Xuandao Sect."
"There must be some things that are inconvenient to talk about, so I don’t know what she’s actually doing either."
"Since she’s down there, never seeing the light of day, I imagine it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to find her."
Bai Mo then asked about the other members of the Demon Hunting Team.
Bai Mo was familiar with quite a few of the Cultivators who had followed Lanshan back in the day.
"Oh, them? They’re at the Azure Dragon Water Wharf tonight."
Lanshan chuckled. "We brought a bunch of Demon Beasts down from the mountains these past few days."
"Most aren’t edible, but a group of outside Cultivators took a liking to them. Once we get the Demon Beasts onto their ship, we’ll get a hefty sum of Spirit Stones..."
Everyone’s lives really had gotten much better.
However, Bai Mo still offered a reminder: "There’s no telling what kind of commotion might stir up inside Celestial Barrier Mountain."
"You still need to be careful going in and out."
Lanshan nodded. "I know."
...
The night passed, and by dawn, both guests and host were thoroughly pleased.
The next day, Wei An, sporting dark circles under his eyes, opened the shop for business as usual.
With Bai Mo’s return, the shelves were naturally restocked with new items.
After looking them over, Wei An took most of the Pills Bai Mo had put out back off the shelves.
"You can’t just put all of this stuff out at once."
"You’re not in the shop often. We have to save some to keep the business running long-term..."
Bai Mo was speechless.
He sat in the shop for a while and saw many customers come in, but none of them recognized him.
They were all new customers, drawn by the shop’s reputation.
"Brother Bai!?"
A Cultivator who had entered holding a thin booklet had recognized Bai Mo.
"You are..."
Bai Mo’s gaze shifted. He noticed the other customers in the shop had grown timid, taking a few steps away from the newcomer.
The refined-looking Cultivator who had entered gave a wry smile.
"Brother, a great man like you forgets things easily. We met last time at the Black Prison..."
Looking at his refined face, Bai Mo finally recalled the timid disciple who had trailed behind the group during a prisoner escort.
He remembered now. This was the outer disciple who had stumbled upon the identity of a wanted Core Formation Cultivator.
He later even led the Sect Disciples to apprehend the person.
Bai Mo asked in surprise, "Didn’t you perform a great service?"
"Why were you assigned out here to Immortal Arrival City?"
In the eyes of Sect Disciples, this kind of long-term assignment to a city was not a good post.
The disciples who used to guard the city gates just put in the hard labor—catching thieves and killing demons—to rack up enough merits to apply for a transfer back.
The refined disciple’s expression was bitter.
"It was a great service, true enough. My masters and senior brothers all praised me, and then they sent me out here, calling it ’training’."
"Once my training is ’successful,’ there might be a chance to enter the Foreign Affairs Hall in the future..."
But up to now, he had offended quite a few people in the city. He spent all day out and about, earning more than his fair share of dirty looks from the shadows.
Life was dull, and there was no word from the sect. Heaven knew how long he would have to wait.
Bai Mo, however, understood.
In the sect, there was a long line of people waiting for a chance to enter the Foreign Affairs Hall.
Everyone was just waiting for an opportunity.
"So, Junior Brother, you came here to..."
The refined disciple held up the thin booklet in his hand.
"To inspect the shop’s ledgers and determine this month’s taxes..."
Wei An came over from the side and presented a ledger with both hands.
"The ledger is here. Please take a look, Immortal Master."
The refined disciple took it and began to flip through it on his own, his expression serious.
While the other wasn’t paying attention, Wei An took the opportunity to shoot Bai Mo a look.
The general meaning was for Bai Mo not to be a busybody.
Bai Mo smiled helplessly. ’So I’m the one they have to be wary of now.’
Seeing the two of them busy, Bai Mo decided not to get in the way and got up to head for the back courtyard.
As soon as he reached the courtyard, he saw Qin Wen carrying a large bundle of assorted medicinal herbs, which he scattered on the ground for Ah Er to choose from.
Ah Er was lying on the ground, pulling out any herbs that caught its fancy and setting them aside. Its short tail wagged, showing its excitement.
"What’s all this?"
Qin Wen said admiringly, "Shopkeeper, this Spirit Beast of yours is of exceptional quality."
"Now that you’re back, there’s no reason for it to go hungry..."
Bai Mo shook his head.
"It doesn’t have much work to do around here. Don’t feed it too much, or it’ll get fat."
Qin Wen rubbed his hands together, sizing up Ah Er with an expert’s eye.
"It won’t, it won’t..."
As for Ah Er, it understood Bai Mo’s words but paid them no mind.
’This master of mine has always known how to make my life difficult.’
’But it had a revelation last night.’
’This isn’t Mi Mountain. With so many friends and family around, what could he possibly do that’s too out of line?’
Just as he was watching their antics, a breeze blew in from outside the courtyard, carrying a faint scent of blood.
It wasn’t the foul stench of Demon Beast blood; the difference was huge.
Slightly stunned, Bai Mo looked straight out of the courtyard.
Ah Er and Qin Wen also straightened up.
Behind the shop was the residence where Young Master Wei and Young Master Wang lived.
Before the three of them could go out, they heard a shrill, tragic howl from Young Master Wang.
"Instructor Sun, what’s happened to you!?"
"Where’s Brother Wei? Where’s Brother Wei!?"