Chapter 432: Rounding Up

Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Rounding Up

Three days later, a weary Bai Mo pushed the door open.

He first made his routine inspection of the Black Prison before heading out to assess the situation.

The moment he opened the door, he heard a series of sharp cracks.

Bai Mo paused, his gaze immediately drawn outside.

Dozens of remnant souls were floating erratically outside, trying to drift in.

The red-spotted whip in Ah Er’s hands moved with incredible speed, leaving a blur of afterimages in the air.

It even incorporated a Body Technique, dodging and weaving with its fur flying.

Through this display, it barely managed to hold the horde of remnant souls at bay.

CRACK!

The whip cracked through the air, striking a half-faced remnant soul and sending it stumbling back.

The remnant soul let out a mournful wail, clutching its face in what looked like profound indignation before promptly retreating.

The other remnant souls, unable to break through and their Soul Bodies growing faint from the constant lashing, also took the opportunity to retreat.

Ah Er was left standing triumphantly before the gate. After catching its breath, it suddenly put its paws on its hips and let out a hearty laugh.

"Ahem!"

Its laughter was so grating that Bai Mo couldn’t help but clear his throat.

Ah Er jumped in surprise, a shiver running through its fur from tail to head.

It whipped its head around, and upon seeing Bai Mo had emerged from his seclusion, it immediately trotted over with an ingratiating grin.

Bai Mo patted its head.

"Not bad. You’ve even learned a Body Technique. Where did you pick up such a clumsy set of moves?"

Bai Mo had recognized it earlier. The creature’s evasive footwork had shades of a proper Body Technique; at the very least, it wasn’t random.

"Urk!"

Sure enough, when asked, the little rascal confessed that it had picked it up by watching people practice their martial arts on the roadside.

It had only managed to learn a fraction of it, though.

Bai Mo took two pill bottles from his sleeve and handed them to the creature.

"Let these bake in the sun for a while and absorb some solar energy. We get busy tomorrow."

’This remnant soul business can’t be delayed any longer.’

The number of covetous, spying remnant souls and ghostly creatures was growing. They were gathering together, becoming a genuine threat.

Bai Mo gazed into the distance at the woods. He could see countless shifting shadows within, the hiding places of remnant souls and ghostly creatures.

It was still daytime, so they weren’t very active. He reckoned things would get much more chaotic at night.

With this in mind, Bai Mo gave Ah Er a Pill to stimulate its qi and blood, then returned to his stone house.

He was setting aside a day for himself to rest.

Now that his skills had improved, he had more leeway in everything. He no longer had to work nonstop all day, harder than a mule, like he used to.

He slept soundly through the night.

The next day, Bai Mo awoke feeling refreshed. After quickly getting ready, he took Ah Er to a spot a few miles outside Mi Mountain.

The man and beast huffed and puffed as they dug a large pit, about twenty feet deep.

Just as he straightened up, Li Wuji’s face peered down from the edge of the pit.

"What are you two doing?"

Bai Mo smiled and leaped out of the pit.

"There are too many wandering remnant souls and ghostly creatures. I have no choice but to deal with them."

Li Wuji frowned.

"My immortal cave is low-lying and cool, so it also attracted a fair number of remnant souls trying to settle in. I killed them."

He had been so engrossed in his cultivation that by the time he noticed something was wrong, a horde of remnant souls, led by a vicious one, was already attacking his immortal cave.

His steward puppet went out to engage them and was nearly torn apart.

So, Li Wuji had taken action, obliterating the remnant souls, before hurrying over to check on the situation at the Black Prison.

The gloomy Evil Qi on Mi Mountain was even denser than at his immortal cave, so he knew it couldn’t possibly be peaceful here.

"Mm."

Bai Mo explained the cause—the Ghost Grotto had sprung a leak, allowing remnant souls to escape.

"Remnant souls of all sizes, from a thirty-mile radius, are probably heading this way, whether they mean to or not."

"If we don’t deal with this soon, we’ll have a ghost nest on our hands."

Li Wuji snorted.

"I’ve been to the Ghost Grotto before. The Sect Disciple on guard was completely negligent. I said back then that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later."

"How do you plan to handle this, Junior Brother? I’ll help you!"

’With his strength, he could kill these remnant souls with a wave of his hand. But there were just too many of them, and they were no ordinary Soul Bodies. Eradicating them all would be no easy feat.’

"Heh, with your help, Senior Brother, things will certainly be much easier."

A few moments later, an Array designed to contain Soul Bodies was set up in the pit.

The Array was inscribed on a sheet of black cloth, which was laid out at the bottom of the pit.

Ah Er stood on it and poured out three brownish-yellow Pills that Bai Mo had refined.

The substance was like extremely slow-burning charcoal; when a flame licked across it, scattered sparks were left smoldering on its surface.

Wisps of smoke began to curl upwards.

Before the smoke could form a column, a gust of wind made it shudder and disperse into fine tendrils, drifting off in all directions.

Standing at the edge of the pit, Li Wuji accidentally inhaled a wisp, and his expression changed instantly.

Though the smoke looked faint, Bai Mo had used incredibly potent ingredients, making the aroma extremely rich.

As the rich, herbal fragrance entered his nostrils, Li Wuji felt a sense of peace wash over him. His mind suddenly calmed, and he grew drowsy.

He quickly snapped his eyes open, exhaled sharply, and took several steps back to shake off the feeling.

"Junior Brother, this stuff of yours erodes a person’s willpower. I wouldn’t call it a good thing."

But Bai Mo shook his head.

"You’re mistaken, Senior Brother."

"Out in the world, people suffering from insomnia would consider this Pill a treasure. Besides, it has many other uses..."

As they were talking, Ah Er had already hopped out of the pit.

A remnant soul, having caught the scent of the Pill’s fragrance, came stumbling out of the distant woods.

Ignoring Li Wuji and Ah Er—two living beings, one large and one small, both brimming with vigorous lifeblood—it plunged headfirst into the pit.

Before it could reach the three smoldering Pills, the black cloth at the bottom of the pit rippled, and the remnant soul vanished into thin air.

With that, the first one was caught. Before long, rustling sounds could be heard from all around.

Remnant souls began to arrive one after another.

Bai Mo’s gaze swept over the newcomers, spotting several powerful entities among them, their faces all masks of greed.

With a mere thought, a Pill Furnace materialized and enveloped a remnant soul that was wreathed in a bloody light.

Bai Mo then casually took out a Fire Essence. With a flick of his fingers, a flame ignited beneath the Pill Furnace.

Seared by the powerful fiery energy, the remnant soul inside the Pill Furnace lasted less than ten breaths before being completely refined.

He gave Ah Er a meaningful look, and the creature eagerly trotted forward.

It grabbed a piece of fallen, rotted wood and beat at the faltering flames for a good while until they were extinguished.

With another thought, Bai Mo retracted the Divine Thought that formed the Pill Furnace. A pile of dark-red ash fell out, which Ah Er caught in its paws.

Li Wuji watched in amazement.

"Junior Brother, that technique of yours is truly exquisite..."

"A minor trick," Bai Mo said.

’That remnant soul was wreathed in a bloody aura. It must have taken a human life before being captured and thrown into the Ghost Grotto. When refined, the resulting ash can be used to cloud a person’s mind.’

"Some of these remnant souls are quite powerful. For characters like those, I’ll have to ask you to step in, Senior Brother."

Li Wuji nodded. "Say no more."

He stood at a distance, not needing to make any grand moves.

A single puff of breath, an arrow of air imbued with the heat of his lifeblood, was enough to disperse one of them.

...

The fragrant, smoldering Pill Qi drifted on the wind. After dispersing for an entire day, its scent spread far and wide.

By nightfall, its effects had become fully apparent.

In the deep darkness of the night, shadowy figures arrived one after another.

A person walking on the road could not distinguish the darkness from the ghostly shadows. Even a lantern couldn’t illuminate much of the path.

The light of the flame was swallowed by the layers of Soul Bodies.

Even a few Sect Disciples, thirty miles away and sweating as they worked to capture remnant souls, noticed the anomaly.

When they saw remnant souls calling to one another and all heading in the same direction, their eyes began to twitch.

"What’s happening now?"