Chapter 427: Capture

Chapter 427: Chapter 427: Capture

In the dead of night.

The black jail was silent. Deep inside Mi Mountain, it was deathly quiet, with only the chirping of insects outside.

With the Great Suanni standing guard, all the prisoners in the black jail were on edge.

It was only natural. Not only were they captives who had lost their freedom, but most of their vitality and spirit had been worn away.

Even in their prime, they likely couldn’t have withstood more than a few of the Great Suanni’s attacks.

If the Great Suanni revealed its true form and decided to chew them up for a little nourishment, no one from the Xuandao Sect would speak up on their behalf.

Inside the stone house, Bai Mo held a bright yellow stone. He swiped a finger across it and gently guided the energy.

POOF!

The Spirit Wood he was pointing at burst into flames.

Ah Er, who was sitting on a small stool nearby straightening and bundling herbs, jumped in fright.

When the tongues of flame licked out, the fur on one side of its body instantly shriveled and curled.

This level of firepower was far beyond what Bai Mo could normally achieve, whether by simply starting a fire or by gathering stray Spirit Charm to ignite the Spirit Wood.

Ah Er dragged its herbs and stool further away, then fixed its gaze on the Fire Essence in Bai Mo’s hand.

It guessed that this strange stone was the cause of the change.

A satisfied expression appeared on Bai Mo’s face.

A Fire Essence of this grade could channel the very fire seeds of the Great Suanni.

It might be nothing special to the beast, but for him, it was more than enough.

’A Fire Essence this solid... I wonder how long it will last. This is probably the kind of treasure you could pass down through the family.’

Bai Mo suppressed his stray thoughts and turned his attention to the Pill Furnace.

The Spiritual Spring water inside was already boiling, waiting for Bai Mo to add the ingredients.

The White-Haired Elder’s Pill Tasting Convention wasn’t necessarily about submitting the highest-grade pill with the most miraculous effects.

The true purpose was to showcase an Alchemy Cultivator’s attainments—their mastery of the Alchemy Dao.

On top of that, many Cultivators would add all sorts of flashy phenomena to their pills.

’I’m just starting to make a name for myself. I have no reputation.’

’If I’m too flashy, people will think it’s all for show and that I’m just trying to grab attention. They might assume I have no real skill.’

’Finding the right balance here is something worth careful consideration.’

Bai Mo casually tossed a few medicinal herbs and minerals into the furnace, letting them melt and fuse together.

Meanwhile, he pulled out a thick biography to review the alchemy knowledge the body’s original owner had accumulated over half a lifetime of travel.

Ah Er watched curiously. This was the first time it had ever seen Bai Mo act this way.

After a long while, Bai Mo finally selected a few phenomena from the book.

"Dragon and Tiger Converge, Moon Over the Sea, Golden Spring’s Tide..."

"I’ll go with these."

The phenomena Bai Mo selected were all ones that would only manifest once a pill reached a certain grade.

With a pill of such solid quality, he likely wouldn’t be looked down upon.

The fire beneath the Pill Furnace burned for half the night before the pill was finally complete.

Bai Mo opened the lid.

The instant he retrieved the pill from the furnace, the sound of a surging sea seemed to emerge from within.

SPLASH!

Ah Er’s ears twitched, and it looked sharply toward the Pill Furnace.

Immediately after, it saw surging seawater spill from the furnace, rushing out like a rising tide!

BOOM!

The seawater surged, its white-crested waves instantly flooding the stone house.

Ah Er let out a terrified shriek and lunged for the Pill Book Bai Mo kept in the house.

But before it could even reach the Pill Book, the seawater receded with a WHOOSH, seeping into the ground and vanishing without a trace.

Ah Er’s vision cleared, and its body froze in place.

It stood there stunned, utterly bewildered.

The floor of the house was solid stone, carved directly out of the mountainside. How could water possibly seep into it?

It turned just in time to see Bai Mo capping a pill bottle.

"What are you so nervous about?"

"That was just a phenomenon generated by the pill. It’s a common trick used by Alchemy Cultivators out there who care about appearances."

Bai Mo said calmly.

He supposed he was to blame. He was usually so pragmatic and rarely did anything flashy, so Ah Er had never seen anything like it.

"You’d better pay close attention for the next few days. I don’t want you looking like you’ve never seen the world when we get out."

Bai Mo wasn’t satisfied with this pill, however.

It would be fine for an ordinary occasion, but for the Pill Tasting Convention, it was somewhat lacking.

For one thing, the White-Haired Elder would be there. This event was a form of exchange with him, and presenting a flawed pill was out of the question.

A half-hearted attempt would only displease the White-Haired Elder.

It would be a sign of disrespect toward a fellow practitioner of the Dao.

Bai Mo cleaned up the mess, stretched his back, and headed for his room.

"Get some rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

Experimenting with pills took a great deal of effort, and it was much more convenient to have an assistant.

Ah Er understood what Bai Mo meant. It quickly finished bundling the herbs it was working on, tidied up, and went to lie down in its own den.

...

Xingye was high in the sky.

Opposite the Celestial Barrier Mountain range lay a stretch of ruins.

With its crumbling walls and broken ramparts, its original appearance was lost, though one could tell it had once been a large settlement.

A black shadow flashed by. A hunchbacked figure stumbled into the darkness and vanished in an instant.

Zhen Yuan rushed over, leading the other five men Bai Mo had hired, but the figure was already gone.

"I thought our luck was in, but I never expected this hunchback to be so damn slippery..."

the brawny disciple from the Hundred-Forged Iron Lodge said in a low voice.

"This is going to be a real headache!"

Zhen Yuan said nothing.

Just moments before, he had used his sect’s Body Technique at full power, yet the hunchback had shaken him off with ease, as if blessed by the gods.

No wonder the Warden had hired them to capture this person. He clearly had some real skill.

Just then, the sound of wind rose from behind them as a shuttle-shaped Flying Ship approached.

"Well now, who was that?"

"Moving that fast... Zhen Yuan, you need a hand?"

The newcomer was a disciple from Kongliu Valley and an acquaintance of Zhen Yuan’s.

Only then did Zhen Yuan’s expression change.

"No need. At this short a distance, I’m afraid even a Kongliu Valley Flying Ship is no match for that person’s speed."

"We’ll have to use other methods to capture him."

"A Senior Brother already gave us a ride on his Flying Ship to get here early. We won’t trouble you any further, Senior Brother."

The Kongliu Valley disciple’s expression changed slightly.

"How strange. There certainly are some odd people in this area."

"But to think someone could actually outrun one of our Kongliu Valley Flying Ships... It’s unbelievable."

He didn’t have time to spare either. Seeing that Zhen Yuan and his men didn’t need his help, he piloted the Flying Ship away, tearing through the sky.

None of the disciples who took on missions in this place were ordinary.

His Flying Ship flashed once in the night sky and vanished from sight.

This was one of Kongliu Valley’s ultimate treasures, which had crisscrossed the Celestial Barrier Mountains and saved the lives of countless disciples.

The two short disciples from Silkworm Valley thought for a moment before one spoke up:

"With a ghostly Body Technique like that, brute force won’t work. My brother and I know a thing or two about weaving nets and catching fish."

"Why don’t you let us give it a try...?"

The group got to work, fully dedicated to the task.

...

’I have a feeling something good is going to happen...’

Bai Mo woke up in the morning, washed his face, and squinted his eyes, a thought crossing his mind.

Ah Er had already been waiting by his side for a long time.

It didn’t know what Bai Mo was planning that required such a great stir.

But since Bai Mo had given the order, it simply puffed out its large belly, looking energized and ready to work at a moment’s notice.