Lanshan arrived under the moonlight.
The bright moon hung high in the sky. The streets were empty, save for a few listless loiterers.
He hurried along and knocked on Bai Mo's shop door.
BANG!
In just a few breaths, Bai Mo had taken down the door boards, so quickly that Lanshan found it a bit incredible.
"I was on my way back from a social engagement. Just as I was about to grab some cooked meat from the tavern to take home, I got the waiter's message."
Seeing Bai Mo's expression, Lanshan immediately understood that he must have run into some kind of trouble.
"Come inside first. We'll talk then."
"Alright."
Lanshan followed him inside and set aside the wrapped cooked meat he was carrying.
Bai Mo left for a moment and came back out, dragging a snakeskin sack.
Lanshan's nostrils flared slightly, and his gaze hardened.
"Shopkeeper Bai, is this..."
Bai Mo let go of the sack and said bluntly, "A vicious servant from the Li family. He fled here after being gravely injured, and I was forced to retaliate..."
'What an unexpected disaster!'
The law enforcement team is in the city. If the body isn't disposed of properly and they follow the trail back to me, who knows what will happen.
Hearing this, Lanshan's expression turned serious.
"A vicious servant from the Li family? Can I take a look?"
When Bai Mo nodded, he squatted down and untwisted the opening of the snakeskin sack.
A foul, coppery stench rushed out. Bai Mo's face paled slightly, but Lanshan's expression remained unchanged.
"The Demon Beasts in Celestial Barrier Mountain smell even worse when they bleed."
With that, he got to work.
Bai Mo took two steps back and waited for Lanshan to finish.
There wasn't much to see on a corpse. A moment later, Lanshan stood up.
"Judging by his clothes, this person was deliberately disguised. His shirt and pants are mismatched and don't fit him properly."
"But his hands are full of calluses, so he's definitely a trained fighter. Normally, someone like that wouldn't wear ill-fitting clothes, as it would hinder their movements."
Lanshan frowned and said, "Shopkeeper Bai, can you tell me the details of what happened? Especially how this person arrived."
There wasn't much to hide, but Bai Mo omitted the part about the medicinal powder around his house, saying only that he heard a noise.
Lanshan nodded upon hearing this.
"The wounds on this man are almost bone-deep, and each one tells a story. The people who ambushed him were likely several groups of skilled fighters."
Bai Mo took out the jade stone.
"It's just a shame I was the one who picked up what they missed."
'This token is useless.'
'If the person on the other end, the one expecting this token, finds out I intercepted the messenger, there's no telling how they'll try to screw me over.'
'But maybe it's not entirely useless. It might come in handy someday?'
With that thought, Bai Mo put the jade stone back in his pocket.
Lanshan washed his hands, tied the snakeskin sack shut, and lifted it with one hand.
"Don't worry, Shopkeeper Bai. My Demon Hunting Team is good at handling this kind of thing. Tonight or tomorrow, we'll go into the mountains and get rid of it."
"As for the law enforcement team, just deny everything. They won't be able to do anything to you."
This person was hunted down in Immortal Arrival City; logically, the law enforcement team should have intervened.
But Lanshan had been out and about all day and hadn't heard a peep.
Clearly, this was the result of the law enforcement team deliberately turning a blind eye.
Lanshan walked to the door and picked up the Demon Beast meat he had gotten for his sister.
Seeing this, Bai Mo frowned.
"Hold on. Senior Lanshan, are you just going to carry it back like that?"
The snakeskin sack in his right hand, the food in his left... and the food was just wrapped in a single sheet of oiled paper tied with a grass rope. Bai Mo found the sight unsettling.
Lanshan didn't understand, but then he saw Bai Mo bring over a food container and help him place the oiled-paper package inside.
It dawned on him, and he laughed. "It's fine. My sister doesn't mind this sort of thing."
Bai Mo shook his head and watched him disappear into the night.
'The rest of the cleanup, I'll have to do myself.'
Although Bai Mo had never experienced such things himself, he had paid attention during his usual chats with people, listening to all sorts of strange and curious stories.
...
「The next day.」
Bai Mo opened his shop and, while he was at it, cleared away a large bag of medicinal powder.
"Take this outside the city and bury it. Don't go rummaging through it, this is nasty stuff!"
Bai Mo said, tossing a black cloth bundle onto a handcart and addressing the masked man pushing it.
The cart was already piled high with all sorts of miscellaneous items, emitting a foul odor.
The man pushing the cart had his face covered with a cloth, ostensibly to avoid the stench, but it also served to hide his appearance.
Judging by the sores covering the exposed half of his face, the hidden part couldn't have been much better to look at.
This was one of the trades in Immortal Arrival City.
Not everyone had the patience to dispose of the waste and trash produced by Cultivators themselves.
Most had others handle it; after all, it only cost a few Shattered Spirits a month.
This was especially true on Bai Mo's street, which was lined with businesses. Many people practiced the various professions of the cultivation world, producing all sorts of strange and peculiar items.
All these things had to be disposed of properly, and it was too much trouble to handle them yourself.
Bai Mo knew these collectors had a habit of trying to find small treasures, so he made a point of warning him.
The masked man nodded and casually pushed Bai Mo's bundle to a corner on the other side of the cart.
He knew well enough to take a warning about harmful materials from an alchemy apprentice seriously.
Watching the man push his cart toward the next shop, Bai Mo went back inside, sat down peacefully, and waited for customers.
He had built up quite a customer base. Even though he'd been closed for a few days, it wasn't long before customers, drawn by the familiar scent, started to arrive.
"Hey, young Shopkeeper! You're finally open! I was wondering how a shop with skills this good could possibly go out of business?"
The customer poked his head in, a broad grin on his face.
Bai Mo was unfazed. He simply said, "Isn't it common for an alchemy apprentice to go into seclusion for ten days or half a month?"
"How else do you think Alchemy Skill is developed?"
The customer chuckled. "Give me two bottles of Qi Absorption Pills. The ones I've been using from other shops these past few days just don't feel right."
Bai Mo quickly retrieved two bottles, and the transaction was completed.
"You were just here a few days ago. You've used them up this quickly?"
"Of course! I'm not the only one using them!"
With that, the customer opened one of the bottles and tipped out a Pill.
"Let's see what improvements our young Shopkeeper has made to his Alchemy Skill."
He was just teasing, but he never expected that one look would actually reveal a difference.
"Huh!"
"Young Shopkeeper, the surface of these Qi Absorption Pills is much smoother!"
In the past, Bai Mo's Qi Absorption Pills were already excellent—smooth-surfaced and flawless.
But now, they had improved even further. They were as lustrous as white jade, and their medicinal properties were a clear step above.
The customer's eyes widened. He stammered, "Young Shopkeeper, you've really improved?"
'Isn't Alchemy Skill supposed to be something that takes slow, patient work?'
'How could there be such a big change in just a few days?'
Bai Mo waved his hand dismissively. "Go on, get out of here. You think I'm trying to fool you?"
The customer finally left. Bai Mo picked up the Pill Book, then set it down again.
'I should find a better one, but where would I even look?'
Bai Mo fell into thought.
Pill Books were highly sought-after items, especially the personal notes of famous Pill Masters, which people would practically fight over.
Just as he was thinking this, someone suddenly rushed in from outside the shop.
"Brother Bai, quickly!"
"I heard some miner got damn lucky! He was prospecting in the mountains, stumbled upon a treasure trove, and brought all the good stuff back!"
The newcomer was a stall owner from the street, the same old man who sold old medicinal herbs.
He was on fairly good terms with Bai Mo, which is why he came to let him know.
Bai Mo shot to his feet. "Let's go!!"
There are always places in the world that happen to have absorbed a trace of the world's spiritual energy.
Whether through the erosion of water and long-term deposits, or the intentional or unintentional cultivation, nurturing, or even excretions of Demon Beasts, treasure troves are inevitably created.
Celestial Barrier Mountain was full of such places. From time to time, a lucky soul would stumble upon one and often make a small fortune.
They might contain rare Spirit Medicines, and that was the real reason for Bai Mo's excitement.
The two of them closed the shop and hurried out, quickly arriving at a stall in a corner of the market.
The crowd was packed three layers deep. Bai Mo finally managed to squeeze his way in, only to see a colorful array of herbs laid out, and his expression froze.