I Became the Spirit Ore Itself

The Miscellaneous Hall was located on the eastern side of the pawnshop, specializing in the production of statues and gold, silver, and copper ornaments, and it housed the largest number of menial laborers.

This was mainly because the raw materials were quite heavy, requiring a great deal of manpower for transport.

Under normal circumstances, the Miscellaneous Hall would have a constant flow of people in and out day and night, with apprentices primarily being strong, able-bodied young adults.

But now, for some unknown reason, the Miscellaneous Hall was deathly still, with seals affixed to the doors of every building, and only the apprentices' dormitory had its main entrance wide open.

Xu Hu, the steward of the Miscellaneous Hall, had a livid expression on his face, his hands showing purplish-red pus sores, within which writhing thin snakes could be seen.

Under his gaze, one bizarre "statue" after another was carried out from within.

The statues appeared to have been transformed from living people, their skin unnaturally smooth, as if truly molded from clay, and they still wore the clothes of the Miscellaneous Hall.

What shocked Xu Hu the most was that the bodies of the living statues seemed to have been struck by a heavy object; the bones inside were completely twisted and deformed, yet the skin and flesh on the outside showed no damage at all.

Wu Wanfeng appeared beside Xu Hu, tilting his head to examine the living statues, and couldn't help asking, "Steward Xu, did something from the inner city escape?"

"I don't know."

"What exactly did that thing look like?"

"I don't know."

"They say the inner city..."

"Wu Wanfeng, don't try to learn too much. You'll be targeted."

Xu Hu glanced at Wu Wanfeng, then hoisted several living statues onto his shoulder, twisted off their heads, and threw them into the furnace, watching the corpses turn to ash.

"Heh heh, looks like we'll have some peace and quiet for a while."

Wu Wanfeng let out a strange laugh, sticking out his tongue to lick his exposed gums.

"They weren't actually dead yet, were they? Their bones completely solidified into a prison, trapping their consciousness inside. How interesting."

Xu Hu couldn't be bothered with Wu Wanfeng. After counting the few dozen surviving apprentice laborers, he hurriedly left the Miscellaneous Hall.

The biting cold wind rolled up thick smoke, and the furnace burned for over ten days before finally stopping, leaving behind only a few hundred jin of bone ash, which was scattered across the fields.

Flakes of snow drifted down; the coming year's harvest was sure to be bountiful.

Li Mo had been in seclusion in the inner room the entire time.

He deliberately increased the concentration of misty spiritual energy within the room, causing a slight burning sensation all over his body, thereby adapting himself to the misty spiritual energy.

As time passed, Li Mo figured out a cultivation method unique to himself, one that could fully leverage the effects of his three divine abilities.

First, using Eidetic Memory, he split the spiritual power within his body into two streams.

Most of the spiritual power circulated along his meridians, returning to his middle dantian after one circulation cycle, then starting again from the middle dantian.

As the spiritual power continuously entered and exited the middle dantian, it was inevitably affected by the multi-layered dantian, becoming purer and more refined without him even noticing.

The other stream of spiritual power was responsible for drawing in the ownerless spiritual energy from the outside.

Finally, the Leakless Body ensured that no accidents would occur, achieving maximum efficiency.

Li Mo was like a wild beast hibernating in a cave, digesting the thick layer of fat stored up during autumn while in its winter slumber.

The chirping of insects disappeared, replaced by a profound silence.

In villages far from human habitation, lanterns and decorations were hung everywhere. Even though the people possessed eternal life, that didn't mean their hearts couldn't yearn for the warmth of the mortal world.

On this day, the unending heavy snow finally stopped.

The warm first sun illuminated the mountains.

The hibernating beast in the inner room happened to awaken at just that moment.

Li Mo stretched lazily. Although he was disheveled and unkempt, the aura he faintly emitted was already completely different from that of the mortal realm.

The glass jar lay toppled not far away, the spiritual energy inside it long since depleted.

He bent down to pick up the glass jar. Since Han Cai hadn't asked for it back, it meant that the Miraculous Hands Medical Hall was wealthy and generous enough not to care about such a thing.

Even if the glass jar could only be used to store variant spiritual energy, it was still a magical artifact.

Unfortunately, the storage bag was too small; the glass jar alone would take up nearly half the space.

Li Mo rang the bronze bell on the wall, signaling the menial laborers to bring hot water for washing, while simultaneously organizing the gains from his first seclusion.

He looked toward his middle dantian. The tumor-like dantian had already developed waxy granules.

This indicated that the middle dantian had begun to be eroded by the misty spiritual energy. Even if he dispersed the Nourishing Origin Fundamental Scripture, the dantian could no longer accommodate any other variant spiritual energy.

Relying on his divine abilities, the middle dantian had become more stable, and a new protective layer was also gestating, its initial form now visible.

Li Mo's cultivation base had reached roughly sixty strands of spiritual power, completing a small portion of the Childhood Stage Layer 1.

In his spare time, he had also researched combat techniques for the Universal Skill, to avoid encountering danger in the strangely bizarre Smelting Town.

Li Mo infused miasma spiritual power into the magic finger of his right hand. A pale yellow mist emanated from his fingertip, then condensed into a semi-transparent thread.

He gave it a hard tug. The thread formed from spiritual power proved to be extremely tough, and it also inherited the unique corrosive properties of miasma spiritual power.

Li Mo flicked it casually.

The thread turned into an illusory mist upon contact with the furniture, then instantly solidified into a solid form, cleanly slicing off one corner of the wooden table.

Li Mo retracted the Miasma Silk Thread, his Magic Finger bending as he built up force, specks of dust gathering at his fingertip.

With just a lift of his hand, the dust he released could pierce through flesh and blood, but it consumed a fair amount of spiritual energy—after using it five times, his dantian would run dry.

The Miasma Silk Thread was better suited for direct confrontation; as long as it wasn't damaged, its energy consumption was negligible.

Li Mo had already tried his best to develop the Universal Skill, but he still felt his methods were lacking, after all, he only mastered a single auxiliary spell.

As he pondered, a servant brought in a wooden tub as tall as a person and poured hot water into it, filling the room with rising steam.

Li Mo asked the servant if any trouble had occurred at the pawnshop during the months he had been in seclusion.

The servant didn't know much; the range they could move around was limited, so most of what they heard was hearsay.

But as Li Mo pieced things together in his mind, he realized that trouble had indeed befallen the pawnshop.

The pawnshop was like an isolated island, with many areas sealed off, not even allowing servants to enter or exit. Daily necessities were piled up in the corridors, and the steward was responsible for fetching them.

Li Mo watched the servant's retreating figure; the inner room was still desolate and quiet.

He checked the dry rations—enough to keep him in the inner room for over half a year, but he was short on the beast blood needed for Paint Green Clothes' entry level.

Li Mo soaked in the hot water, wiping his body with a towel. The grime washed away, revealing skin as smooth as a baby's.

When he touched his chest, he suddenly noticed tiny particles clinging to the surface of his skin.

Li Mo pinched a particle, and under the external force, it transformed from a solid into a gas, becoming a faint wisp of Variant Spiritual Energy.

His expression froze in surprise, then he quickly understood.

When Li Mo cultivated, his Multi-layered Dantian absorbed Impure Spiritual Energy.

But the divine ability had its limits, causing some of the Impure Spiritual Energy to be forcibly expelled from his body by the Leakless Body as a Foreign Object.

In the end, it formed crystallized spiritual energy.

Li Mo examined the Spiritual Energy Crystal and said uncertainly, "If I had spirit stones, getting beast blood shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Ah, forget it, I'll just lie low..."

"Wait!!!"

Li Mo suddenly realized a very critical issue.

If the pawnshop was sealing off areas, it wasn't to protect the people inside, but because danger might descend again within that range.

Then holding his ground in the inner room was actually an unwise move.

Because the source of the danger was mobile.