They Are Hunting Beasts

Li Mo walked into the warehouse.

Because of the Spirit Tablet at his waist, none of the guards stopped him.

Though some cultivators sized him up, they seemed wary of something unknown, instinctively keeping their distance as if afraid to get too close.

Li Mo scanned the warehouse and noticed the windows were all boarded up with planks. Fortunately, candle lamps hung along the walls, dispelling most of the darkness.

Dozens of wooden shelves filled the warehouse, displaying a dazzling array of goods.

The distinct smell of mold spread through the air.

Li Mo could see many cultivators moving through the warehouse, their expressions oddly tense, occasionally exchanging glances with one another.

But this only confirmed Li Mo's suspicions.

The warehouse was a net laid out by the Pawnshop. Most cultivators had no idea what kind of thing they were actually facing.

Li Mo observed the cultivators closely, taking in more and more details.

Every ten meters or so, there were cultivators who had mastered Eye Spells.

They usually bore obvious eye-related traits—some had only the whites of their eyes left, others had sunken, rotting eye sockets with faintly glowing pupils.

These Eye Spell Cultivators were specifically tasked with vigilance, forming a protective ring that surrounded the warehouse both inside and out through their deliberate positioning.

Though their movements seemed casual, they followed a clear pattern, never letting themselves leave the sight of their fellow Eye Spell Cultivators.

Within the warehouse's protective ring stood over a dozen cultivators with bizarre physiques.

Their bones were twisted in strange ways, as if they had been forcibly snapped and then healed at unnatural angles.

Li Mo felt a deep unease, a chill shooting straight up his spine.

Most cultivators had no idea what was happening in the Pawnshop; they only knew the warehouse was dangerous, so they exchanged their items and hurriedly left.

The rest seemed intent on staying in the warehouse for a long time, waiting until the net caught its prey.

Li Mo dared not dwell on it. His heart pounded wildly. If not for his Leakless Body, his clothes would already be soaked with sweat.

His top priority now was to get the Beast Blood as quickly as possible, leave the warehouse before nightfall, and wait quietly for the Pawnshop to handle the situation.

Li Mo began browsing the wooden shelves, searching for Beast Blood.

The shelves were packed with antiques and paintings, all made from special materials that reacted faintly with spiritual energy.

From this, Li Mo could tell that these antiques and paintings were likely embryo forms of artifacts.

Raw materials were also available. He even spotted the ink sticks issued at the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, labeled with the words "Yin Ink Stick."

Li Mo's head felt a little swollen. When he came into contact with the spiritual materials in the warehouse, the Book of Fortune fed back a flood of memories, showing that the Immortal Cultivation World seven thousand years ago had similar materials.

The Yin Ink Stick was made by pouring ink into a corpse's stomach, allowing it to solidify along with the coagulated blood.

So it was a very sinister demonic spiritual material, specifically used for cultivating Heretical Paths.

Overall, the spiritual materials in the warehouse were a mixed bag, but all were suitable for cultivators at the Childhood Stage. High-quality materials were nowhere to be seen.

After digesting the memories, Li Mo noticed that some cultivator was secretly watching him.

He turned his head and saw a fat Daoist over two meters tall, whose footsteps made the floor tiles tremble faintly.

Li Mo immediately recognized him as Jin Li, whom he had met at the Miraculous Hands Medical Hall.

Back then, Jin Li had planned to cultivate a spell called the Protective Mystical Method. His back was cut open, and Han Cai implanted a Qianqiu Seed into him.

In less than a year, the Protective Mystical Method had already taken effect.

Jin Li had grown at least forty centimeters taller, and instead of becoming thinner, his body was now packed with solid muscle, radiating strength.

Li Mo nodded to Jin Li in greeting, then walked over to the wooden shelf in the Northwest Corner.

He found the Beast Blood in a corner. He had thought the Pawnshop would strictly forbid anything related to beasts, given their wariness of Wild Beasts.

The Beast Blood was stored in a porcelain bottle. One bottle should be enough for Li Mo to paint twice.

Unfortunately, though the bottle had been roughly refined, it wasn't up to the standard of a Glass Jar, so the Beast Blood was noticeably less fresh.

Still, according to Paint Green Clothes' description, the quality requirement for Beast Blood wasn't very high.

Li Mo picked up the bottle and noticed a piece of paper attached to it, describing the source of the Beast Blood.

The Beast Blood was mostly from livestock like cattle and sheep, mixed with some blood from Wild Beasts. There was no Mountain Lord blood, only black bear, leopard, fox, and the like.

Li Mo scanned the Beast Blood options and finally settled on the Fox Blood.

Paint Green Clothes could accommodate seven tattoo sites in total, two of which were for Wild Beast tattoos. The remaining tattoos were beyond what a Childhood Stage cultivator could handle.

Li Mo wasn't disappointed that there was no Mountain Lord blood.

On one hand, there was Steward Hu's concern. On the other, when he had painted the Hundred Beasts Painting, he found that copying the Mountain Lord and the fox came most naturally to him—both figures carried a certain spirit in the painting.

Li Mo picked up the Fox Blood and walked to the counter at the warehouse entrance.

Behind the counter sat an old woman who appeared over a hundred years old. Her eyes were cloudy, and the hands gripping her cane had already revealed white bone.

Li Mo quickly recognized her as Steward Sun from the Porcelain Hall. Given the danger, she had likely been stationed in the warehouse to oversee things.

She muttered vaguely under her breath, "See no evil, hear no evil..."

"May I ask how Fox Blood is priced?"

"One Low-grade Spirit Stone."

Li Mo raised an eyebrow. Ordinary Beast Blood really did require spirit stones in exchange.

Old Madam Sun muttered, "Only three or four drops are needed to shape a statue. The Beast Blood comes from Xinji Ridge, two hundred li away—not cheap."

Li Mo took out two Crystals and placed them before Old Madam Sun.

"What do you think..."

Old Madam Sun fumbled to pick up the Crystals and said helplessly, "These are spirit stones, yes, but their quality doesn't even match a Low-grade Spirit Stone."

"Forget it. Two Cracked Spirit Stones barely count as one Low-grade Spirit Stone. Go on, go on."

"Thank you, Granny. I wanted to ask—has something happened at the Pawnshop recently?"

Old Madam Sun put away the spirit stones, opened her cloudy eyes to fix on Li Mo, and then spoke. "Sigh. What do you know?"

"I don't know anything."

"Good. If you don't know, you're fine. Don't leave the Pawnshop either. There's no safe place in Smelting Town. Just hide."

Old Madam Sun closed her eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Li Mo hesitated for a few breaths. Why was the Pawnshop deliberately sealing off news? And how had those injured with twisted bones appeared?

He walked out of the Warehouse, squinting at the sun.

On his way back to the Inner Room, Li Mo noticed that the cultivators had unanimously chosen to head toward the buildings closer to the Warehouse.

Seeing this, he stopped in his tracks.

The Warehouse was indeed a trap used to lure prey, making it fraught with danger inside, but at the same time it concentrated a large number of cultivators.

If trouble arose, staying nearby would allow them to advance or retreat freely.

Li Mo turned and headed toward the Calligraphy and Painting Hall. Even on foot, it was only a five-minute walk.

The Calligraphy and Painting Hall was empty, though the rooms housed quite a few apprentices. They must have been warned in advance, holed up in their quarters, afraid to move.

Li Mo returned to his familiar room. The furnishings inside were just as before.

Without him noticing, an intense itch spread across his entire body, signaling that the second layer of Human Skin was about to grow fully, while the old skin also grew tougher.