Bai Mo found those two young masters a bit strange.
He remembered the residential area behind them was for common folk, people who struggled to make a living.
'Judging by their tone, they must be from outside the city?'
To Cultivators like Bai Mo, Immortal Arrival City had a thousand flaws, but to outsiders, it was a place where Cultivators gathered and resources were concentrated.
For a Cultivator like Bai Mo, the meat of a Demon Beast like the Mountain Bear was a luxury.
Eating it once in a while was fine, but he couldn't afford to have it regularly.
He had heard, however, of some old gourmands in the city who loved this kind of thing, forgoing Spirit Stones just to satisfy their cravings.
The Mountain Bear meat would still be good after two days. After heating it up, Bai Mo began to chow down right there in his shop.
Chewy and flavorful.
The restaurant's chef really knew their craft. Bai Mo was greatly satisfied.
The best part was the pleasant warmth that spread through his stomach after he ate the meat.
'If this were a member of a Demon Hunting Team, would they be using this to temper their strength right now?'
Unfortunately, Bai Mo hadn't mastered such methods, and his body was still depleted and hadn't fully recovered.
Maybe word had gotten out about the Law Enforcement Team's visit, because quite a few regulars now knew Bai Mo had opened his shop.
He spent the entire afternoon welcoming and seeing off customers, which took a lot of his energy.
However, the Spirit Stone earnings were very promising—a full twenty-five Spirit Stones. Bai Mo beamed with delight.
As dusk fell and the sun began to set, Bai Mo leisurely prepared to close up shop.
TAP, TAP!
Just as he was putting up one of the door planks, Bai Mo heard footsteps. He peeked outside and saw a tough-looking man.
"Shopkeeper Bai, are you... closing up?"
Bai Mo quickly stopped what he was doing and dusted off his hands.
"Since a customer has arrived, there's no reason to close, of course."
The tough-looking man nodded and entered the shop.
"I'll take two bottles of Qi Absorption Pills."
He hesitated for a moment, then added, "Shopkeeper Bai, are you still performing alchemy these days?"
Bai Mo shot him a surprised look.
The tough-looking man held out ten Spirit Stones.
"I'd like a bottle of Evil Exorcism Pills. Here are five Spirit Stones as a deposit."
But Bai Mo only took five and shook his head.
"Alchemy isn't the difficult part. It's just that my Evil Exorcism Pills use Climbing Vine as the main ingredient."
"And the shop is out of Climbing Vine."
Lanshan hadn't been able to find that particular medicinal herb; it wasn't a very common item.
The tough-looking man looked a little disappointed and took back his Spirit Stones.
Bai Mo was a bit curious. "In times like these, you're still planning to go into the mountains?"
He'd heard that this tough-looking man, much like Lanshan, had made a bit of a name for himself.
Once in the mountains, without the suppression of the city's Law Enforcement Team, there was no telling how many people might try to make a move on him in secret.
The tough-looking man shook his head. "Who knows how long it'll take for this to blow over. We still have to eat."
After seeing the tough-looking man off, Bai Mo finally closed the shop.
Walking through the city at dusk, Bai Mo strolled leisurely with his hands behind his back, humming a random tune.
'It's a shame. Mortals always think that we who seek immortality live on wind and dew, carefree and unrestrained.'
'The truth is, we can never escape the daily grind. It's just that a Cultivator's version looks a little different.'
The street vendors were packing up one after another. Only now did their pace finally slow.
Regardless of the day's earnings, it was time to close.
Only at this time did people have the inclination to chat about neighborhood gossip, before heading their separate ways home.
Bai Mo headed toward a place from which cooking smoke was curling up. Just as he knocked on the courtyard gate, a young boy opened it.
"Ah! It's Shopkeeper Bai from the Pill Shop!"
"Master, Shopkeeper Bai is here!!"
he shouted, inviting Bai Mo into the courtyard.
In the courtyard, a skinny old man was drinking water from a white porcelain bowl.
"Ha, Master Wang, done for the day?" Bai Mo asked with a smile.
Master Wang lowered the white porcelain bowl, let out a long breath, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Just finished. What's up?"
"Nothing much, I was hoping you could take a look at the vent in my place," Bai Mo said.
"The exhaust is blowing right into my neighbor's house. The aggrieved party came knocking, and it was terribly awkward!"
Master Wang grabbed a wooden box from the side and headed out the door first.
"A small matter. Let's go."
"Quanshun, cook dinner. I'll be back."
Bai Mo smiled at the young boy named Quanshun, then followed Master Wang out the door.
He was an old carpenter. Whenever something broke, the neighbors liked to call on him.
According to the street's customs, daytime was busy with business, a time for customers.
But dinnertime was for the vendors themselves.
This back-and-forth was very normal.
When they arrived at Bai Mo's place, Bai Mo helped bring over a wooden ladder, and Master Wang deftly climbed up.
After just a glance, he said, "Your vent is blocked and the wood is warped. The airflow direction has changed."
"Have you been doing a lot of alchemy recently, Shopkeeper Bai?"
"I have." Bai Mo was confused. "What does that have to do with alchemy?"
"Alchemy produces a lot of soot. Shopkeeper Bai probably isn't using good firewood."
"But the main problem is actually insect damage. The wood in the vent has rotted, causing the opening to be pushed down."
Bai Mo was a little shocked. As a skilled pharmacy apprentice, he would fumigate his house with medicinal herbs every month specifically to get rid of pests.
But Master Wang said nonchalantly:
"Some insects are drawn to that particular smell. You can't drive them away. It just shows your Pills are good, Shopkeeper Bai. The Pill Qi released when they're finished attracts all sorts of bugs."
It didn't take long. With a bit of hammering and banging, Master Wang had refurbished the vent.
He picked up his wooden toolbox and started to head out.
"Perfect timing. Quanshun should have dinner ready by now."
Bai Mo quickly stepped forward and slipped a Qi Absorption Pill into Master Wang's hand.
The latter smiled and pocketed the Pill.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and said, "The day before yesterday, I was doing some work for a family, and it looked like they were planning to move."
"That family produced a Pill Master a few generations back. They'll surely be clearing out a lot of things. Master Bai, you might want to go take a look."
Bai Mo's eyes lit up.
He wouldn't dare to dream of a Pill Book owned by a Pill Master—that was something everyone would fight over. But some personal notes, disorganized and incomplete, he might have a chance at getting.
"May I ask where that family lives?"
"To the left of the Chaoyun Commerce Association, the house with the big stone lion at the gate."
As Master Wang walked out, he added, "You should go soon, Shopkeeper Bai. If they really move away, then you'll..."
There was only one Chaoyun Commerce Association in Immortal Arrival City.
They bought and sold everything in that shop. Bai Mo had even set the prices for the Pills in his own shop after scouting out the Association's prices beforehand.
Therefore, Bai Mo was very familiar with the location.
'To think that family actually produced a Pill Master. I'll go take a look tomorrow.'
Bai Mo tidied up the shop, counted his Spirit Stones again, and then returned to his residence.
There wasn't much to say about the nights in Immortal Arrival City.
While mortal nights were still full of hustle and bustle, the nights in Immortal Arrival City, for as long as Bai Mo had known it, were always deathly still, except during festivals.
It was said that Demon Beasts from Celestial Barrier Mountain used to attack the city under the cover of night.
Over the long years, this had left behind many unpleasant memories, so people didn't like to be active at night.
Over time, the nights in Immortal Arrival City had come to feel rather dreary.
In the tranquility, Bai Mo's deductions regarding the Qi Blood Pill were especially effective.
'I've already mastered the Pill's proportions and the steps for its creation.'
Bai Mo's eyes sparkled.
'The only problem now is how to fuse the Demon Beast's blood essence into the medicinal ingredients.'
'Earth Dragon Root grows by taking root in the corpses of Demon Beasts. It's said that an Earth Dragon Root grown this way is much more robust. It might be worth a try!'
As soon as the thought occurred to him, he acted. Before going to sleep, Bai Mo selected a still-active Earth Dragon Root and inserted it into the bottle containing the Mountain Bear's blood essence.