Inner Sect Disciple? Vile Beast!

Seeing that the Pawnshop had already dealt with the Elk Monster, Old Poisonous Insect's eyes showed a trace of hesitation, and his foot involuntarily took half a step forward.

The other cultivators showed no reaction, instead watching Jin Li with mockery.

They hadn't paid attention to the commotion inside the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, only assuming Li Mo had gotten lucky killing three Human-Faced Deer.

Would Jin Li really fall out with Old Poisonous Insect over a cultivator at Childhood Stage Layer 1?

True, killing each other was forbidden in Smelting Town, but forcing a low-level cultivator to hand over Human-Faced Deer corpses wasn't difficult.

Jin Li's expression turned serious. Old Poisonous Insect's spells were notoriously troublesome to deal with, making him a difficult character, but Jin Li didn't regret his actions.

After all, when he'd seen Li Mo at Miraculous Hands Medical Hall earlier, the latter hadn't even reached Entry Level.

For Li Mo to reach Childhood Stage Layer 1 in such a short time and master spells with considerable power showed talent that was hard to measure.

"Old Poison, perfect timing to settle old and new scores together."

Jin Li snorted coldly. As he activated his Protective Mystical Method, the muscles in his back writhed as if a pair of fleshy wings were slowly sprouting.

The surrounding cultivators let out strange laughs, ready to pick up scraps no matter who lost.

Though Li Mo hadn't spoken, he had no intention of backing down. Miasma Spiritual Power gathered in his Dantian, ready to summon the Crimson Fox at any moment.

Suddenly, he felt the Spirit Tablet at his waist grow slightly warm.

Li Mo picked up the Spirit Tablet and pressed it to his forehead. A voice transmission from Steward Hu surged out from within, and then the dense fog formation enveloping the Warehouse dispersed.

"Brother Jin Li, apologies. Steward Hu has business with me. Let's talk another day."

After speaking, Li Mo headed toward the Warehouse. Old Poisonous Insect's expression turned extremely ugly, even fear flickering in his eyes.

Old Poisonous Insect's face shifted between dark and bright, but he understood Li Mo wasn't lying.

Who would dare use a steward's name to bluff?

Li Mo paid no further attention to Old Poisonous Insect. Cultivation was always a process of seizing resources; offending people was far too common. If the chance ever came, he'd repay the debt with interest.

But clearly, he wouldn't get that chance.

Old Poisonous Insect's face darkened as he tried to say something, but his flesh began to dissolve, and a hysterical scream tore from his throat.

"Steward Hu, Steward Hu, don't kill me..."

In the end, Old Poisonous Insect was reduced to nothing—no blood, no bones.

The cultivators scattered in all directions. Who would dare offend the ruthless Steward Hu? Rumor had it he had a hobby of collecting peeled human skin.

The Human-Faced Deer corpses in the Calligraphy and Painting Hall still lay in the corner, but no one dared covet them now. Jin Li eventually put them into his Storage Bag, planning to exchange them for spirit stones and return the value to Li Mo.

Jin Li was surprised and couldn't help shaking his head.

He'd always thought Li Mo had Han Cai backing him, but now it turned out Hu Wen was involved. Whether that was fortune or misfortune was hard to say, given Hu Wen's notoriously unpredictable temperament.

Li Mo was also a bit uneasy. He looked up at the Elk Monster's massive corpse. Its surface was covered with bite marks from various Wild Beasts, and the exposed flesh at the wounds looked like Jelly-like Jade.

If you ignored the Elk Monster's twisted, horrifying body, you'd think it was some rare Exotic Beast.

Li Mo couldn't figure out Steward Hu's intentions. With his strength, he couldn't intervene at all, and Paint Green Clothes also showed no connection to the monster.

As he pondered, he slowly approached the Elk Monster's location. Suddenly, the Book of Fortune surged with memories from the inner sect, catching Li Mo off guard.

Li Mo was surprised. The memories actually contained an ancient Qi Cultivation Method from the Heart Beast Sect.

Even if the Qi Cultivation Method was no longer suitable for later generations, there was still much to learn from it, especially its understanding of cultivation.

"Nandou Ferrying People Scripture"

The inner sect inheritance of the Heart Beast Sect was divided into four main branches and twelve sub-branches.

Main branch disciples were personally taught by Tian Chenzi, while sub-branch disciples apprenticed under Foundation Establishment Realm elders within the sect. The Nandou Ferrying People Scripture was the inheritance technique of the twelve sub-branches.

The spiritual power of the Nandou Ferrying People Scripture focused on extending life and healing diseases, making it a support technique.

Li Mo's expression was stunned. Could it be that the inner gate of Smelting Town still held ancient inheritances? Was the Elk Monster's indescribable form the result of obtaining the Nandou Ferrying People Scripture?

What exactly was hidden in the inner gate?

Li Mo walked within a hundred meters of the Warehouse and spotted a Glass Jar floating in midair.

The Glass Jar was absorbing the Nectar Spiritual Energy leaking from the Elk Monster. Han Cai's figure appeared atop the corpse, laughing heartily with joy.

All four supervisors of the Pawnshop were beside the corpse, along with Shopkeeper Tian.

They were covered in blood, each with varying degrees of injury, but taking down the Elk Monster still put them in high spirits.

The other cultivators who had participated in the battle were all far away, over a hundred meters off.

Li Mo's gaze inadvertently fell on Shopkeeper Tian's stomach.

Shopkeeper Tian's outer robe was torn, and there was a shallow cut on his abdomen. Though no blood flowed, it looked like it could split open at any moment.

The spell he wielded likely involved raising spirit beasts inside his body.

Shopkeeper Tian glanced at Li Mo, maintaining a faint smile, then turned to Han Cai and asked, "Doctor Han, let's try to break down the strange beast into various resources. That way, we can distribute them and rebuild the Pawnshop."

"On it, on it."

Han Cai turned and said, "Hu Wen, how about you persuade that little kid to come to Miraculous Hands Medical Hall and cultivate a subsidiary Corpse Spirit Root? Otherwise, his Cultivation Speed will be too slow, hehehehe."

"This concubine is fine, but I worry Li Mo's body won't hold up."

Steward Hu covered her mouth with a light laugh. As Li Mo stood behind her under the gaze of the assembled cultivators, it drew no small amount of surprise from some of them.

"Hehehe, no trouble at all."

Han Cai's eight arms emitted a series of cracking sounds, stretching out to over five meters in length. Then his spiritual energy transformed into various tools, and at a speed invisible to the naked eye, he began dissecting the corpse.

"Take some bones from the bizarre beast to replace the kid's spine. In the future, advancing Universal Skill to the Coming-of-Age Stage will be much easier."

"Look at this gallbladder—if used to replace a body organ, you'd be Immune to All Poisons."

"And the bizarre beast's eyes..."

Li Mo's scalp went numb. Han Cai seemed intent on dismantling him piece by piece.

Shopkeeper Tian and the others paid it no mind, as if long accustomed to Han Cai's temperament, casually chatting about the "bizarre beast" on the side.

Li Mo pricked up his ears to listen.

The formation of a bizarre beast is extremely demanding—a cultivator must be completely eroded by the Death Sickness, and under specific conditions, their body gradually undergoes pathological changes.

The troublesome part is that bizarre beasts still retain the spiritual power they had in life, and their spells become eerily strange and inexplicable.

What's more, due to the peculiar nature of their spiritual energy, some bizarre beasts possess intelligence on par with ordinary people.

Bizarre beasts can grow stronger by devouring human hearts. The Elk Bizarre Beast, at the Coming-of-Age Stage, had to consume over a thousand hearts to reach its current level.

The Inner City—no one knows what's going on there—seems exceptionally suited for the formation of bizarre beasts.

Every fifteen years or so, bizarre beasts from the Inner City appear in Smelting Town, lingering for a day to half a year before vanishing again.

Smelting Town has tried to explore the Inner City, but the cultivators who entered never returned alive.

The Elk Bizarre Beast was once, a hundred years ago, a Medical Hall Doctor who couldn't bear the torment of the Death Sickness and fled into the Inner City, eventually transforming into a monster.

Fortunately, Nectar Spiritual Energy isn't suited for combat, so it didn't cause severe destruction.

Li Mo sucked in a breath of cold air.

No wonder Smelting Town secretly controls the number of cultivators. Dealing with afflicted mortals can be done by burning them to ash, but cultivators won't go down without a fight.

"The once-every-fifteen-years Outer Sect Grand Competition, the Nandou Ferrying People Scripture."

Everywhere, there are Anomalies.

The Heart Beast Sect, over the course of seven thousand years, still seems to follow the old rules—except the Inner Sect Disciples have been replaced by a pile of bizarre beasts.

Li Mo sized up the Elk Bizarre Beast.

Speaking of which, the blood of the Elk Bizarre Beast—wouldn't it make for good Paint Green Clothes?