Departure

"Soul Severing Powder" did seem a little twisted to Luo Mu. But refining it was no easy task. It required a whole heap of auxiliary ingredients, and most importantly, its main ingredient was a fourth-grade, high-tier poisonous herb: Soul-Falling Grass!

No wonder Bai Shu and the others had reacted so strongly when they saw the Soul-Falling Grass that day, and had even wanted to kill Luo Mu over it. It turned out everything had been because of the Soul Severing Powder. It seemed Bai Shu had been planning to refine it.

At last, Luo Mu had solved the mystery that had been troubling him.

Next, Luo Mu's gaze fell upon the various porcelain bottles. Sure enough, he could tell from the labels what each bottle contained, and it was exactly as he had guessed!

The bottles were about the size of his palm, fifteen in all. Six held Qi Gathering Pills, while the other nine contained Bone Melting Liquid. It was rather amusing: with the backing of his Lineage, Bai Shu had gone to tremendous lengths, failing countless times and wasting who knew how many ingredients before finally refining six bottles of Qi Gathering Pills. He hadn't even had time to take them before Luo Mu ended up with them.

But to Luo Mu, Qi Gathering Pills were about as useful as chicken ribs. Aside from trading them for a large amount of spirit stones, he couldn't think of any other use for them.

Then again, wasn't it spirit stones that Luo Mu was short of now?

As for the Bone Melting Liquid, judging from the formula's description, it was bound to be highly toxic. That made Luo Mu overjoyed. To ordinary cultivators, deadly poisons were little more than tools for catching an enemy off guard, with very limited uses. But to Luo Mu, Bone Melting Liquid was as precious as a Qi Gathering Pill was to an ordinary cultivator!

Carefully putting away all fifteen bottles, Luo Mu decided not to use any of them just yet. He had other plans.

Bai Shu's standing in the Lineage was clearly no ordinary matter. He was a carefully cultivated alchemist, and although his alchemy skills were only mediocre, he was still very young. Who knew how far he might go down the path of alchemy? As a result, among all the young disciples, Bai Shu had the largest savings in his Storage Bag.

After putting away all the bottles, Luo Mu turned his attention to the various herbs and poisonous plants below. None of the spirit herbs were of particularly high grade, ranging from the low tier of first grade to the top tier of second grade, but there were quite a lot of them, which made Luo Mu secretly delighted.

He could trade the spirit herbs for spirit stones, and such a large quantity was sure to fetch a tidy sum. As for the poisonous plants, Luo Mu would naturally keep them for himself.

Next, what fell into Luo Mu's hands was a book on Basic Alchemy.

Bai Shu had used the book to study and experiment with alchemy in his spare time. It didn't contain any particularly advanced techniques, but it was more than enough for Bai Shu, who was at the Qi Refining Stage.

Of course, it would be more than enough for Luo Mu, too!

With this book on Basic Alchemy, Luo Mu couldn't help changing his mind. If the spirit herbs here could provide all the ingredients needed to refine Qi Gathering Pills and Bone Melting Liquid, he wanted to give alchemy a try as well.

After all, the finished products could sell for several times more than the raw ingredients!

The last item to appear in Luo Mu's hands was a palm-sized, pure-white token. Patterns were carved along its edges. A large "Bai" filled nearly the entire center of the front, while a large "Shu" was carved in the center of the back, matching the "Bai" on the front.

"Bai Shu?" Turning the token over in his hands, Luo Mu furrowed his brows slightly. He had already guessed what it was and murmured the name aloud.

"This must be the identity token of the man I killed. Bai Shu must have been his name! That kid had such smooth, tender skin—he really was some family's young master. The Bai Family? I wonder where they're from." Looking at the token in his hands, Luo Mu had managed to guess the other man's identity.

A wry smile appeared on Luo Mu's face. He hadn't expected that, despite rarely going out, he would kill a young master from a family on his very first trip. He still didn't know how powerful the Bai Family was, but he could guess without even thinking that their elders would find it as easy as turning over a hand to kill him.

Fortunately, the two bodies had already been disposed of completely. Even if the elders in their family learned how the two had died, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to him. Luo Mu was sure of that much.

As for the two Storage Bags on the table and the token that marked Bai Shu's identity, Luo Mu had no intention of keeping them. He didn't want them to become clues the Bai Family elders could use to track him down.

He lightly tapped his finger, and a small flame appeared in his hand. Luo Mu blew on it, sending it flying toward one of the Storage Bags on the table.

"Pfft!" The flame landed on the Storage Bag with a faint hiss, then inexplicably went out. It couldn't set the bag alight at all.

"Huh?" Luo Mu murmured, puzzlement showing on his face. But a moment later, he understood.

Fire Control Technique was only a beginner-level spell. Before he had entered the Qi Refining Stage, Luo Mu had already memorized its incantation by heart at the school in town. But back then, there had been no spiritual energy in his dantian, so he couldn't cast it.

Now, however, spiritual energy filled his body, and he could manage to cast basic spells like this. He could even force out a few other beginner-level spells, though their power was rather weak.

The reason his Fire Control Technique couldn't do anything to the Storage Bag was simply that it was too weak. A Storage Bag was a special kind of magic artifact, and ordinary flames couldn't refine it.

Luo Mu shook his head helplessly, then conjured another small flame and sent it toward the token. Just like the Storage Bag, the token emerged completely unscathed. Seeing this, Luo Mu couldn't help cursing inwardly.

In the end, with no other options, Luo Mu scooped up the two Storage Bags and the token, then headed outside. He ended up at the cesspit!

Luo Mu was a miser through and through. Without giving it a second thought, he swept his arm out and tossed both Storage Bags and the token into the cesspit without even blinking.

Never mind the value of the token. The two Storage Bags alone must have been worth two hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones! Yet Luo Mu, who was so stingy he wouldn't spend a single extra Low-grade Spirit Stone, had tossed the lot away without hesitation.

He was doing it for peace of mind, to eliminate any hidden danger once and for all.

At last, after clearing out the two Storage Bags, Luo Mu felt thoroughly satisfied. Killing two cultivators had earned him so many things, worth far more than he'd expected. If he had earned this money by treating patients, he would have worked himself to death without ever making this many spirit stones.

For a moment, Luo Mu actually fell in love with the feeling of making a fortune off the dead!

No wonder those two cultivators had followed him with ill intentions after seeing him toss out ninety Low-grade Spirit Stones to buy a Spirit Beast Bag in Jinxiu City. In Luo Mu's eyes, they must have made their own fortunes off the dead in the past.

Luo Mu shook his head and temporarily suppressed his thoughts of making a fortune off the dead. Give him a break—at his current strength, he still lacked the ability to protect himself in the cultivation world, let alone make a fortune off the dead. He still had a long way to go.

After shutting the door, Luo Mu returned to his room and lay on the bed, tossing and turning, a smile tugging at his lips. Thinking about the six additional mid-grade magic artifacts in the Storage Bag kept him from falling asleep.

He thought the four magic artifacts from Bai Shu were pretty good. They would surely improve his chances of winning when fighting enemies. As for the young woman's two mid-grade magic artifacts, he didn't think they would be of much use to him and they weren't suited to him. He would trade them for some spirit stones when he had the time.

As he thought about it, Luo Mu fell asleep with a smile on his face.

This was his first time fighting someone to the death, and he had watched the two of them die right before his eyes. Luo Mu was not quite eighteen, and he was exhausted in every way—mind, body, and spirit.

It was his first time killing someone, yet he hadn't shown any discomfort on the spot, nor had his expression changed at all. That meant Luo Mu's composure was already beyond that of an ordinary person.

At first light the next day, the door to the Luo household's clinic slowly opened. Luo Mu emerged, his face perfectly calm.

Ever since Father Luo had passed away, the clinic had never opened on a regular schedule. For some reason, its doors had opened early that morning. But after opening them, Luo Mu didn't begin his usual business. Instead, he gently closed them again. The calm expression on his face slowly faded, replaced by deep reluctance.

He made no effort to hide his reluctance. Standing dazed at the entrance, Luo Mu stared at the door he had just shut, his heart filled with countless emotions.

That morning, Luo Mu had made a momentous decision: he would leave the town, close the clinic, and devote himself wholeheartedly to pursuing the Heavenly Dao and making his mark in the cultivation world!

Luo Mu's resolve to cultivate was unwavering. Other than the time it had wavered when Father Luo passed away, he had never once given up on cultivation. Now he had set foot on the path to immortality. Though the road ahead was long, he wanted to walk it with all his heart and never let anything else hold him back again.

He put his things in order, then solemnly placed Father Luo's memorial tablet in his Storage Bag. After that, he walked out the door without hesitation.

Father Luo's memorial tablet was Luo Mu's only emotional anchor, his only pillar of support. He had sworn to himself that his father would witness his journey on the path to immortality alongside him. Even if Luo Mu perished along the way, he would never regret it.

After standing at the entrance for a moment, gazing at it with reluctance, Luo Mu's eyes hardened with resolve. His expression returned to calm, and he strode away!