Ziqi Sect

The early morning teahouse was fairly lively, with quite a few townsfolk inside drinking tea and watching the street performers in the market put on their acts.

"Azure clouds sky, yellow flowers ground, west wind tight, northern geese fly south."

"Who dyes the frosty woods drunk at dawn? Always the tears of parting."

Li Mo waited until the song finished before stepping into the teahouse.

Thinking back, he had been in Smelting Town for four years, yet he had never seen the bustle of the street corners.

Now, hearing this half-song of parting sorrow, the restlessness in his heart unknowingly faded by more than half, and he couldn't help humming a few lines along with the tune.

As soon as Li Mo entered the teahouse, the rich aroma of tea washed over him.

The shop assistant, bent at the waist, noticed Li Mo's attire and said eagerly, "One guest, tea for two taels, please come in!"

"Guest, we've just received some Azure Water Sky from Three Rivers Town. Care to try it?"

"Arrange it as you see fit."

Li Mo showed interest and was led by the shop assistant to a private room in the teahouse.

He noticed the plump owner busy tallying accounts at the counter, who also had a faint cultivation base, barely at the Childhood Stage level.

Not long after Li Mo sat down, the shop assistant brought the teapot into the private room.

He casually tossed some silver coins as a tip, then picked up the teacup and took a sip. Expecting a light, sweet tea, the reality was quite the opposite.

Li Mo's brow immediately furrowed. The dark brown tea seemed laced with spicy seasonings, a complete assault on his taste buds.

He suddenly realized that due to the erosion of the Death Sickness, adult taste buds had severely deteriorated, which in turn had affected their tea-drinking habits.

Li Mo's right hand trembled slightly as he set the teacup back on the table.

The shop assistant had likely served different strengths of tea based on the guest's age.

Because of the constant nourishment from his Leakless Body and the effect of the Azure Blood, Loyal Heart, Li Mo appeared to be in his early twenties, but his taste buds were still like a child's, not yet beginning to degenerate.

A moment later, Jin Li rushed excitedly into the private room.

As soon as he sat down, he grabbed the teacup and gulped down the tea, completely unaware of its bitterness and spiciness, drinking it as if it were sweet spring water.

Li Mo couldn't help sizing up Jin Li and then noticed something strange about him. Jin Li's skin showed an abnormal dark red, and his cultivation had made considerable progress compared to before.

Just as Li Mo was about to speak, Jin Li set down the teapot and said apologetically, "Brother Li Mo, you just came out of seclusion. I should be the one treating you. How about this..."

"How about we go to that tavern on Beijō Street? Their Di San Xian is really good."

Li Mo quickly declined. "No need, Brother Jin. I've already eaten some dry rations."

Jin Li didn't press further, feeling that Li Mo might be naturally ascetic by nature, so he ordered some tea and snacks under the pretense of treating him.

Li Mo only took a small taste, then after some casual chat, asked about the trouble with Polymelia.

"What's the situation with Polymelia? It seems like it hasn't settled down these past few months?"

"Mm, it's been going on for over three months."

Jin Li squinted, the activated muscles on his back writhing, then explained helplessly, "A high-level cultivator might have stepped in, and in the end, Polymelia just vanished for no reason."

Li Mo didn't speak, and Jin Li continued with a bitter smile. "Polymelia was causing too much trouble. Even though only mortals suffered, the affected area kept expanding."

As he spoke, his body unconsciously leaned forward.

From Jin Li's mouth, Li Mo caught a pungent smell of rust, one that even the spicy tea couldn't mask.

He studied Jin Li closely and noticed that Jin Li's eyes were slightly red and swollen, and his gums were black—clear signs of Metal Poisoning.

Li Mo couldn't help recalling the Polymelia patients he had seen at the Medical Hall.

"Polymelia disappeared ten days ago. Even though the number of dead and injured wasn't as high as with the Head Bizarre Beast, when I was investigating the source in West City, I really..."

"I really felt the same fear as when I encountered the Childhood Stage Death Sickness."

Jin Li showed a relieved expression. He didn't know why he had been so terrified back then, but looking back, it seemed like it was just mental tension.

Li Mo listened to Jin Li recount the course of Polymelia and couldn't help asking, "Brother Jin, have you felt any discomfort?"

"Discomfort?"

"How could that be? On the contrary, I've turned misfortune into fortune and advanced to Childhood Stage Layer 4."

"If I can reach the Coming-of-Age Stage by forty-five, I'll have some chance of surviving the Coming-of-Age Stage Death Sickness when it erupts at fifty."

The state Jin Li displayed also resembled Metal Poisoning, because metal toxins travel through the blood vessels and affect the nerves, leading to emotional loss of control.

Li Mo didn't comment. In truth, the strangeness on Jin Li's face wasn't obvious on his corpse-transformed body, but his impression of Polymelia was too deep.

He smoothly changed the subject. "Brother Jin, is there a market in Smelting Town where cultivators trade?"

"There is..."

Jin Li lowered his voice and took out a somewhat aged Beast Skin Map from his Storage Bag.

"A friend gave me this map over a decade ago. Though it's been a long time, the locations marked on it are mostly accurate."

The map detailed the positions of medium and large towns.

The Black Market was several dozen li from Smelting Town. If Li Mo had a Skyward Flight artifact, he could probably make the round trip in just a day.

Smelting Town likely turned a blind eye to the Black Market's existence, after all, trapped in one place, replenishing resources was extremely inconvenient.

"Many thanks, Brother Jin."

Li Mo accepted without the slightest hesitation.

Jin Li had known Li Mo for several years; in his memory, the man was impervious to favors. Since he was willing to accept this one, it meant he was still approachable.

"In a few months, I'll be leaving the town. If you don't mind, we could travel together."

"No need. I'll be departing Smelting Town soon myself. It's about time I returned to my hometown to have a look."

Li Mo declined politely. It wasn't that he distrusted Jin Li—mainly, he planned to use his second Human Skin to appear in public, fabricating a new identity as a Rogue Cultivator.

"Stay on guard. Human hearts are more venomous than Sinister Beasts."

Li Mo, having lived two lives, was well aware of this. His social experience was more than sufficient.

He inquired about the strangeness of the Wild Beasts outside the city, but Jin Li didn't know much either. Every time he left the city, he never encountered the Wild Beasts. It seemed the Beasts possessed Spiritual Intelligence and were deliberately avoiding danger.

Li Mo recalled that when Niu Family Village hunted beasts, they indeed mobilized all able-bodied young men and spent months out in the wilderness.

After Jin Li finished his tea, he had urgent business to attend to first: "The Polymelia is no longer a serious issue, but the sealed-off area in the West District seems to require Spiritual Energy for cleansing."

So-called cleansing meant pouring dense Spiritual Energy over a certain area to disperse any remaining Variant Spiritual Energy.

Jin Li said with a self-deprecating laugh, "The Yamen has urgently summoned me. It seems the West District really does have something strange going on."

"Back when I was in the West District, I thought I heard a voice in my ears."

Jin Li's expression grew dazed. As he walked out of the private room, he muttered to himself, "Cave wisdom interpenetrates, five energies surge forth, golden light appears swiftly..."

Li Mo's pupils dilated as he watched Jin Li gradually walk away.

The Book of Fortune surged with memories for the first time in ages. Those casual words from Jin Li actually originated from a Spell seven thousand years old.

"Armor Spell."

An ancient Spell would certainly be inapplicable in later ages.

But what shocked Li Mo was that the Armor Spell was not a technique of the Heart Beast Sect—it came from an Immortal Sect called [Ziqi].

The information provided by the Book of Fortune was limited; it only knew that the Ziqi Sect excelled in artifact refinement, and seven thousand years ago, its scale was not something the Heart Beast Sect could compare to.