Ziqi Sect

The teahouse was still fairly lively early in the morning. Quite a few townsfolk sat inside drinking tea, watching the street performers in the market put on their tricks.

"Blue clouds fill the sky, yellow flowers carpet the ground, the west wind is fierce, and northern geese fly south."

"Who dyes the frosty woods drunk at dawn? Always the Tears of Parting."

Only after the song ended did Li Mo enter the teahouse.

Come to think of it, he had been in Smelting Town for four years, yet had never truly seen the bustle at its street corners.

Now, hearing this half-song of parting sorrow, the restlessness in his heart unknowingly faded by more than half. He could not help humming along with the melody.

The moment Li Mo entered the teahouse, a rich fragrance of tea rushed over him.

The waiter bent at the waist. Seeing Li Mo's attire, he eagerly said, "One guest, tea costs two taels. This way, please!"

"Guest, we've recently received Azure Water Sky from Three Rivers Town. Would you like a taste?"

"Make the arrangements as you see fit."

Li Mo showed some interest and followed the waiter into a private room of the teahouse.

He noticed that the plump Shopkeeper busy settling accounts at the counter also possessed a meager cultivation, barely at the Childhood Stage.

Not long after Li Mo sat down, the waiter carried a teapot into the private room.

Li Mo casually tipped him some silver, then lifted his cup and took a sip. He had expected fragrant, sweet tea, but the reality was unexpectedly different.

Li Mo's brow immediately knitted tight. The dark brown tea seemed to have been mixed with pungent spices; it was nothing less than torture for the taste buds.

He instantly realized that, due to the erosion of Death Sickness, adults' sense of taste had severely declined, indirectly affecting their tea-drinking habits.

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

The waiter had likely served teas of varying strengths according to the guests' ages.

Thanks to the constant nourishment of his Leakless Body, coupled with the effects of Azure Blood, Loyal Heart, Li Mo looked barely twenty, but his sense of taste was actually much like a child's and had not yet begun to deteriorate.

A moment later, Jin Li briskly entered the private room, full of excitement.

The instant he sat down, he picked up a teacup and poured it down his throat, utterly unaware of the tea's bitter pungency. Instead, he drank it as though it were sweet spring water.

Li Mo could not help studying Jin Li. He then noticed something unusual: Jin Li's skin carried an unnatural dark-red hue, and his cultivation had improved tremendously compared with before.

Just as Li Mo was about to speak, Jin Li set down the teapot and said awkwardly, "Brother Li Mo, you've just emerged from seclusion. I should be the one treating you. How about this..."

"Why not go to the tavern on Beijō Street? Their Di San Xian is truly excellent."

Li Mo hurriedly declined. "No need, Brother Jin. I just ate some dry rations."

Jin Li could not press him further. He felt that Li Mo might simply be innately pure-hearted and free of desire, so in the name of treating him, he ordered some tea and pastries.

Li Mo only sampled a little. After chatting idly for a while, he asked about the disaster caused by Polymelia.

"What exactly is going on with Polymelia? It seems it hasn't settled down at all these past few months."

"Yes, it lasted for more than Three Moons."

Jin Li narrowed his eyes. The activated muscles on his back wriggled as he helplessly explained, "Perhaps some high-level cultivator intervened. In the end, Polymelia vanished without rhyme or reason."

Li Mo did not speak, and Jin Li continued with a bitter smile. "Polymelia caused far too much trouble. Even though only mortals suffered, its range of influence kept expanding."

As he spoke, his body unconsciously leaned forward.

Li Mo actually caught a sharp scent of rust from Jin Li's mouth. Even the pungency of the strong tea could not suppress it.

He examined Jin Li carefully and found his eyes slightly red and swollen, his gums blackened—clear signs of Metal Poisoning.

Li Mo could not help recalling the Polymelia patients he had seen at the Medical Hall.

"Polymelia disappeared ten days ago. Although the number of dead and injured was still less than with the Head Bizarre Beast, when I investigated its source in West City, I truly..."

"I truly felt the kind of fear one would feel upon encountering Childhood Stage Death Sickness."

Jin Li wore an expression of relief, as though a heavy burden had been lifted. He did not know why he had been so terrified then; looking back, it seemed as though he had merely been mentally strained.

As Li Mo listened to Jin Li recount the events surrounding Polymelia, he could not help asking, "Brother Jin, have you felt any discomfort?"

"Discomfort?"

"How could that be? I even turned misfortune into fortune and advanced to Childhood Stage Layer 4."

"If I can reach the Coming-of-Age Stage by forty-five, then I'll have a few chances against the Coming-of-Age Stage Death Sickness that erupts at fifty."

The state Jin Li displayed also resembled Metal Poisoning, because metal toxins could affect the nerves through the blood vessels and cause one's emotions to spiral out of control.

Li Mo neither agreed nor disagreed. In truth, the abnormalities on Jin Li's face were not very obvious against his corpse-like body. It was only because Li Mo's impression of Polymelia ran 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 an old Beast Skin Map from his Storage Bag.

"A friend gave me this map more than ten years ago. Although much time has passed, the places marked on it should still be more or less accurate."

The map meticulously recorded the locations 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 a single day.

Smelting Town likely tacitly permitted the Black Market's existence as well. After all, they were trapped in one place, and replenishing resources was extremely inconvenient.

"Thank you, Brother Jin."

Li Mo accepted it without ceremony.

Jin Li had known Li Mo for several years. In his impression, Li Mo had been impervious to oil and salt alike. Since he was willing to accept this favor, it meant they could still associate with one another.

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

"No. I'll be setting out from Smelting Town in the next few days. It's about time I went back to my hometown for a look."

Li Mo politely declined. It was not that he distrusted Jin Li; he mainly planned to use his second Human Skin to appear before others and fabricate a new identity as a Rogue Cultivator.

"Be more careful. The human heart is more vicious than Sinister Beasts."

Having lived two lives, Li Mo naturally understood this well. His experience with the ways of the world was sufficient.

He asked about the strange behavior of the beasts outside the town, but Jin Li did not know much either. On his several trips out of town, he had never encountered any 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 dispatched all their young and able-bodied men and remained in the desolate wilderness for months at a time.

After drinking all the tea, Jin Li left first because of urgent business. "Polymelia is no longer much of a problem, but it seems the sealed-off area in West City is going to be cleansed with Spiritual Qi."

So-called cleansing meant pouring dense Spiritual Qi over a designated area, thereby dispersing the other Variant Spiritual Energy.

Jin Li mocked himself. "The Yamen has urgently summoned me. It seems there truly is something strange in West City."

"At that time, when I was in West City, it seemed there was a voice by my ear."

Jin Li's expression turned vacant. As he walked out of the private room, he muttered to himself, "Insight pierces through all, the Five Qi surge and billow, golden light swiftly appears..."

Li Mo's pupils dilated as he watched Jin Li gradually disappear into the distance.

The Book of Fortune, silent for a long time, suddenly surged with memories. The few words Jin Li had casually uttered actually came from a Spell dating back seven thousand years.

"Armor Spell."

Ancient Spells would certainly be unsuitable in later generations.

Yet what shocked Li Mo was that the Armor Spell was not a Spell of the Heart Beast Sect, but had originated from an Immortal Sect named Ziqi.

The information provided by the Book of Fortune was limited. It only stated that the Ziqi Sect excelled in artifact forging, and that seven thousand years ago, its scale was far beyond anything the Heart Beast Sect could compare to.