Departure

To Luo Mu, the "Soul Severing Powder" seemed truly perverse, yet refining it was no easy feat. Not only did it require a mountain of auxiliary herbs, but the primary ingredient was a fourth-grade high-tier poisonous herb: Soul-Falling Grass!

No wonder Bai Shu and his companions had reacted so violently when they saw the Soul-Falling Grass, even going so far as to attempt to kill Luo Mu for it. It turned out that everything was for the sake of the "Soul Severing Powder." It seemed Bai Shu had been preparing to refine it.

At this moment, Luo Mu finally unraveled the mystery that had been weighing on his mind.

Next, his gaze fell upon the various porcelain bottles. As expected, the labels confirmed their contents, matching his guesses perfectly.

There were fifteen bottles in total, each the size of a palm. Six contained Qi Gathering Pills, and nine held Bone Melting Liquid. It was almost laughable; backed by his family's resources, Bai Shu had exhausted every effort, failing countless times and wasting heaps of herbs, only to successfully refine six bottles of Qi Gathering Pills. Before he could even consume them, they had become Luo Mu's gain.

However, to Luo Mu, these Qi Gathering Pills were mere chicken ribs—tasteless to keep but a waste to discard. Aside from trading them for a large sum of spirit stones, he couldn't think of any other use for them.

Then again, wasn't a large sum of spirit stones exactly what he needed right now?

As for the Bone Melting Liquid, the description on the pill formula indicated it was highly toxic, which made Luo Mu extremely pleased. To an ordinary cultivator, a deadly poison was merely a tool for underhanded tactics in battle, with very limited utility. But to Luo Mu, this Bone Melting Liquid was as precious as a Foundation Establishment Pill would be to a common practitioner!

Carefully tucking the fifteen bottles away, Luo Mu decided not to touch them for now, as he had other plans in mind.

It had to be said that Bai Shu's status within his family was quite extraordinary. As a carefully nurtured alchemist, even if his skills were merely average, he was still very young. There was no telling how far he might go on the path of alchemy, which was why his storage bag was the wealthiest among all the young disciples.

Just like that, having secured the bottles, Luo Mu turned his attention to the various herbs and poisonous plants. Although their grades weren't particularly high—ranging from first-grade low-tier to second-grade top-tier—the sheer quantity brought a secret joy to his heart.

The spiritual herbs could be traded for spirit stones, and such a large haul would surely fetch a tidy sum. As for the poisonous plants, Luo Mu would naturally put them to use himself.

Next to fall into Luo Mu's hands was a manual on Basic Alchemy.

This manual was what Bai Shu used for his own study and practice. While it wasn't a profound alchemical text, it was more than sufficient for a Qi-refining stage cultivator like Bai Shu.

Of course, it was equally sufficient for Luo Mu!

With this manual in hand, Luo Mu couldn't help but change his mind. If he could gather the necessary ingredients from the herbs before him to refine "Qi Gathering Pills" and "Bone Melting Liquid," he wanted to try his hand at the path of alchemy.

After all, the finished product was worth several times more than the raw herbs themselves!

The final item to appear in Luo Mu's hand was a palm-sized, snow-white token. The edges were carved with intricate patterns, and the front bore a large "Bai" character, occupying nearly the entire surface. The back featured a large "Shu" character, echoing the "Bai" on the front.

"Bai Shu?" Luo Mu toyed with the token, his brow furrowing slightly as he guessed its purpose and whispered the name aloud.

"This must be the identity token of the man I killed. Bai Shu, that must be his name. Looking at how soft and pampered that lad was, he really was some young master from a noble family. The Bai Family? I wonder which Bai Family this is." Looking at the token, Luo Mu had managed to deduce the man's approximate identity.

A bitter smile touched Luo Mu's lips. He hadn't expected that someone who rarely left home would kill a young master from a prominent family the very first time he ventured out. Although he didn't know the extent of the Bai Family's influence, he could guess with his eyes closed that if the elders of that family wanted to kill him, it would be as easy as turning over a hand.

Fortunately, he had disposed of both bodies cleanly. Even if the elders discovered the cause of death, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to him. On this point, Luo Mu remained confident.

As for the two storage bags and the token symbolizing Bai Shu's identity, Luo Mu had no intention of keeping them, lest they become clues for the family elders to track him down.

With a flick of his finger, a small flame appeared on his hand. He blew on it, and the flame flew toward one of the storage bags on the table.

"Sizzle!" The flame landed on the bag, emitting only a faint sound before inexplicably extinguishing. It couldn't ignite the storage bag at all.

"Eh?" Luo Mu let out a soft sound of surprise, his face showing confusion, though he soon understood.

This Fire Control Technique was merely a basic spell. Before he had even stepped into the Qi-refining stage, he had memorized the incantations at the school in his small town, but he hadn't been able to cast it because he lacked spiritual energy in his dantian.

Now, however, he possessed spiritual energy, and he could manage such basic spells. Not only could he use the Fire Control Technique, but he could also barely manage a few other basic spells, though their power was limited.

The fact that his Fire Control Technique couldn't affect the storage bag was simply because his technique was too weak. A storage bag was a special type of magical tool, and ordinary flames could not refine or destroy it.

Shaking his head in resignation, Luo Mu summoned another flame and directed it at the token. The result was the same: the token remained completely unscathed. Seeing this, Luo Mu couldn't help but curse under his breath.

Finally, out of options, Luo Mu gathered the two storage bags and the token and walked out of the house. To his surprise, he ended up in front of the latrine!

As a man who was as stingy as a miser, Luo Mu didn't hesitate or even blink. With a wave of his arm, the two storage bags and the token were tossed straight into the pit!

Setting aside the value of the token, the two storage bags alone were worth at least two hundred low-grade spirit stones! A man so frugal that he wouldn't spend a single extra spirit stone had just tossed them into the latrine without a second thought.

By doing this, Luo Mu sought only peace of mind, completely eliminating any potential danger.

Having finally emptied the two storage bags, Luo Mu felt immensely satisfied. To harvest so many items from killing two cultivators was far beyond his expectations. If he had spent his time practicing medicine, he would have worked himself to death and still not earned this many spirit stones.

For a moment, Luo Mu found himself falling in love with the feeling of profiting from the dead!

No wonder those two cultivators in Jinxiu City had followed him with ill intent after seeing him spend ninety low-grade spirit stones on a Spirit Beast Bag in one go; in Luo Mu's view, those two must have profited from the dead before.

Shaking his head, Luo Mu suppressed the thought. He was joking—with his current strength, to put it bluntly, he barely had the ability to protect himself in the cultivation world. If he wanted to make a living off the dead, he had a long road ahead of him.

Closing the door, Luo Mu returned to his room and lay on the bed, tossing and turning with a smile on his face. The thought of the six mid-grade magical tools he had gained kept him from sleeping.

He found the four tools belonging to Bai Shu quite decent; they would surely increase his odds of victory in future battles. As for the two mid-grade tools belonging to the young woman, he felt they weren't very useful or suited to him, so he would trade them for spirit stones when he had the chance.

Thinking this, Luo Mu drifted off to sleep with a smile.

It was his first time in a life-or-death struggle, and he had watched two people die miserably before his eyes. For someone who was not yet eighteen, he was physically and mentally exhausted.

The fact that he hadn't shown any discomfort or even changed his expression during his first kill proved that his composure was far beyond that of an ordinary person.

The next day, as dawn broke, the door to Luo Mu's clinic slowly opened. Luo Mu walked out with a calm expression.

Ever since Father Luo had passed away, the clinic had never opened on a regular schedule. Today, for some reason, the doors were thrown open early in the morning. However, after opening them, Luo Mu didn't start business as usual. Instead, he gently closed the doors again, and the calm look on his face slowly faded, replaced by a deep sense of reluctance.

He stood blankly at the entrance, staring at the door he had just bolted shut, his heart filled with a thousand emotions.

Early that morning, Luo Mu had made a major decision: to leave the town, close the clinic, and from this day forward, devote himself entirely to the Heavenly Dao and achieve his own path of cultivation!

Luo Mu's conviction to pursue the path of immortality was unshakable. Except for the moment of doubt when Father Luo passed away, he had never once abandoned the idea. Now that he had stepped onto the path of the immortals, even though the road was long, he wanted to walk it with single-minded focus, no longer letting anything else bind his footsteps.

He acted on his thoughts. After packing his belongings and solemnly placing Father Luo's spirit tablet into his storage bag, Luo Mu walked out the door without a moment's hesitation.

Father Luo's spirit tablet was his only emotional anchor and his only spiritual pillar. He had sworn in his heart that he would let his father witness his journey toward immortality, even if he were to perish halfway, he would have no regrets.

After lingering at the doorway for a moment of reluctance, Luo Mu's gaze turned firm, his expression regained its calm, and he stepped away, leaving for good.