Everyone sat and ate together.
Lanshan's appetite was as robust as ever, but he was clearly preoccupied.
"Senior Lanshan, do you have important matters to attend to in a month or so?"
Bai Mo couldn't help but ask.
Hearing this, Lanshan looked up, exchanged a glance with his companions, and smiled.
"It'll be about time to enter the mountains and test the quality of the Mountain Entrance Map."
"The Li family is so rich. After us humble folk have had our fill of the scraps, we should be able to rest for a while."
Bai Mo was a little surprised. Demon Hunting Teams lived hand-to-mouth, and rarely intended to stop working.
Shen Yang laughed. "We all have our own little things to take care of, so this is the perfect chance to handle them. With some fat in our bellies, we won't have to worry about starving."
Lanshan roared with laughter.
"I've saved up enough money. It's time to send Ru'Er to a sect."
"We'll have to make a trip to Celestial Mountain City!"
"Celestial Mountain City!?" everyone exclaimed in surprise.
Only Qin Ying's expression remained unchanged, as if she had known all along.
"Celestial Mountain City isn't exactly close to here," Shen Yang said.
Bai Mo also couldn't help asking, "Miss Ru'Er, you're not going to the Wondrous Law Sect?"
Before Lan Ru could speak, Lanshan snorted.
"Do you really think the Wondrous Law Sect is a good place to go these days?"
"It's been in constant upheaval recently, finding new ways to exploit the Loose Cultivators in its own territory..."
He shook his head and said no more, but everyone understood his meaning.
Immortal Arrival City was still holding on, but it was said that some of the marketplaces outside the city were now completely abandoned by Loose Cultivators. Exposed to the elements, they had fallen into ruin and become ghost towns that no one dared to enter.
It was a perfect picture of divine wrath and public outrage.
"The people are starting to lose heart."
Everyone's expression soured. After all, this was the place they called home.
Bai Mo felt uneasy. The name Celestial Mountain City also sounded vaguely familiar.
After a moment's thought, something clicked, and he blurted out,
"Celestial Mountain City... you mean the one under the jurisdiction of the Xuandao Sect!?"
Lanshan chewed on a flavorless piece of meat and shot a glare at Han Meng.
"Shopkeeper Bai has heard of it?"
Bai Mo nodded. He had seen the name many times while researching Pill Master certification.
Wang Hu spoke up. "Big Brother Lanshan, don't tell me you're planning to send Ru'Er into the Xuandao Sect!?"
"Do you even know anything about them?"
Qin Ying also chimed in, "I'm afraid any place you can buy your way into isn't a good one..."
Several of them spoke up to caution him, their words filled with concern.
But Lanshan wore a smug expression. "Just listen to me!"
Just as he was about to speak, he heard footsteps. Two men pushed open the courtyard gate and strode in.
"We're ba—"
They were about to speak when they saw the scene in the courtyard and froze.
"Hey! Shopkeeper Bai, what are you doing here!?"
The two men chuckled, casually setting down the burlap sacks from their backs and dusting themselves off.
Han Meng quickly made room for them next to him.
"Come on, Shopkeeper Bai brought horned wolf meat."
"Ooh, then we've got to try some!"
Bai Mo recognized these two men. They, along with Qin Ying, were the ones Lanshan had brought into his shop on that rainy night he returned from Celestial Barrier Mountain.
According to Han Meng's introduction, one of the men, named Jing Ren, had dark, sun-tanned skin.
The other was named Jing Yi, and was missing a fingernail-sized patch of his left eyebrow.
The two weren't brothers, but they came from the same village.
With that, Bai Mo now knew everyone in Lanshan's Demon Hunting Team.
The dark-skinned Jing Ren took a sip of the meat stew, swished it around in his mouth, and then swallowed.
"This soup... Han Meng, did you make this?"
Han Meng shot him a glare. "It's highly nutritious! If you don't want to eat it, don't!"
The two Jings quieted down, and Jing Ren asked again:
"Big Brother Lanshan, what were you just talking about?"
Lanshan smiled and continued the previous topic.
"Sending Ru'Er to the Xuandao Sect is something I've naturally given a lot of thought to."
Holding up a hand to quiet Jing Ren and Jing Yi, who were wide-eyed and about to speak, Lanshan said:
"Ru'Er was already scouted by a traveling deacon from the Xuandao Sect. Getting into the sect isn't the hard part."
"The money is just to secure a better position for her, or at the very least, to make her life a little easier after she gets in."
Wang Hu immediately asked:
"So what's the quality of this sect?"
Lanshan gave a proud hum and began to recount the origin of Celestial Mountain City.
"The place where Celestial Mountain City now stands was, according to legend, a great and famous mountain five hundred years ago—towering, rugged, and piercing the clouds.
It was teeming with Demon Beasts that roamed the forests. A Demon King even rose among them, its power immense, casting a shadow like a black cloud and terrorizing the lands for ten thousand miles around.
The ancestor of the Xuandao Sect was roused from his seclusion by this threat. He emerged and battled the Demon King for three months, their Divine Techniques shattering the heavens and extinguishing the earth.
A bolt of white silk fell from beyond the heavens, slicing the great mountain in half at its waist.
After the battle, the Demon King was slain, and the disciples of the Xuandao Sect gathered the shattered rocks to build the foundation of Celestial Mountain City!"
Listening to the tale, everyone was captivated, and their respect for Celestial Mountain City deepened into awe.
"The Xuandao Sect's foundations are clearly nothing to scoff at!" Lanshan said.
Qin Ying shook her head and said softly, "More than 'nothing to scoff at.' If the legend is true, they're countless times stronger than the Wondrous Law Sect!"
These sects usually kept a low profile, and none of them had ever moved in those circles.
They could only judge by the prosperity of the Cultivators within a sect's sphere of influence and the rumors that spread from it.
"Good heavens!" Jing Ren exclaimed. "Our Demon Hunting Team is finally producing someone successful!"
Hearing this, Wang Hu and the others also gasped in amazement, and a stir of excitement began to build.
But Lan Ru spoke up, "Everyone, please don't praise me so much. The way of survival in a sect is not so different from that on Celestial Barrier Mountain."
"However, in a sect, we compete for the Dao, not fight to the death! If you fail, you'll still be cast out of the mountain in disgrace!"
The traveling deacon had already told her this.
The brother and sister came from an ordinary Demon Hunting Team. Although they were hopeful, they weren't truly confident.
If it were otherwise, Lanshan would have already thrown a grand banquet and invited guests to celebrate.
"I only hope that I can learn something worthwhile. When I return, I'll be able to help everyone."
After Lan Ru finished speaking, Lanshan looked a bit downcast.
"It's my fault for not being capable enough..."
Lan Ru, who had been feeling emotional, immediately glared when she heard this.
Seeing her face flush red as she was about to scold him, the crowd burst into laughter.
Jing Ren spoke up, "Compared to us good-for-nothings, Ru'Er is incredibly promising!"
His tone suddenly shifted.
"But we're not useless either! Shopkeeper Bai, take a look! See what we brought back?"
Jing Yi clapped his hands, agreeing with his fellow villager, then dusted off his pants, stood up, and retrieved the burlap sack they had tossed in the courtyard.
Before he had even untied the sack, Bai Mo's nostrils flared, and his eyes lit up.
"Climbing Vine!?"
The mouth of the sack opened, revealing the vines crammed inside, bent and twisted, their bark like scales.
"This is all aged Climbing Vine."
Bai Mo took one of the vines and examined it closely. He tried to snap it with force, but sure enough, it wouldn't break, its toughness intact.
However, Bai Mo's own body had not yet fully recovered, and the effort sent a sharp pain through him.
Jing Yi scratched his head, looking a little nervous.
"This Climbing Vine is all dried out. Is it still useful?"
"Useful, very useful," Bai Mo said, a hint of excitement in his voice.
'I've been out of stock of my Evil Exorcism Pills for days.'
"Where did you get this Climbing Vine?"
"There was a cliff face, about sixty feet high, covered in dead branches and leaves. An old monkey lived there," Jing Yi said.
"The two of us staked it out for a long time. We waited for the old monkey to leave to find food, then we ripped down the vines and ran."
This was why the two of them had missed the incident at the Li Mansion. Lan Ru had also not been involved, as she had been in the mountains providing support.
Bai Mo thought for a moment, then held up one finger.
"Buying this Climbing Vine at market price would be a joke."
The market price for Climbing Vine wasn't actually very high. Its medicinal uses were limited; it was perhaps more common in Artifact Refining.
"How about this: one bottle of Evil Exorcism Pills. When the pills are ready, you can come and get them from me."
Bai Mo stated his price.
Smiles immediately broke out on the faces of the Demon Hunting Team. A bottle of Evil Exorcism Pills was a high price indeed—even more worthwhile than hunting a Demon Beast.
Lanshan rubbed his hands together. "I really don't know what to say..."
Bai Mo raised a hand to stop him from saying more.
"If it's convenient, just take me with you when you go to Celestial Mountain City, Senior Lanshan."