The mountain wind roared like a tiger, echoing through the forest.
Li Mo guessed that River God Village was merely one of Steward Hu's hidden moves. Its purpose was clear: the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast of the Inner City.
The cultivators who had previously accepted the River God Village mission all understood this, so none had chosen to lay hands on the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast split into four pieces.
"Hu Wen, Zombie Ghost?"
No matter what, the Mountain Lord Painting Li Mo had drawn contained a divine essence. Its importance was no small matter; it might even draw the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast into showing itself.
Li Mo casually caught a river fish and cut it open. Inside was an unformed embryo, showing that small birds and beasts found it difficult to transform into "Half-Beasts."
As he left River God Village, he also dealt with the Bizarre Beast Corpse.
Li Mo needed to divide the Bizarre Beast Corpse into different parts to maximize its value and prepare for the upcoming Black Market trade.
Unfortunately, the bizarre beast had been suppressed in River God Village for more than ten years, leaving its bones, flesh and blood severely decayed and greatly reducing their value.
Li Mo worked for two days before extracting three bottles of blackish blood from the corpse.
As for using the Bizarre Beast Blood to attempt a blood-drenching, he would wait until he reached the Black Market and found himself in a Seclusion Chamber resembling an inner side room.
He was quite interested in the Black Market. Rumor had it that it was a place brimming with opportunities.
Li Mo headed toward Niu Family Village along the way. After wearing out two pairs of shoes, he finally spotted the village at the foot of a mountain.
Niu Family Village was far more remote than River God Village. Its resources were entirely self-sufficient, and the effects of the Beast Calamity were almost nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, Half-Beasts did not attack the village, making it worthy of being called a paradise beyond the world.
Li Mo walked among the fields as the farmers watched him with surprised eyes. Niu Family Village had not seen a stranger in a long time.
None of them recognized Li Mo. Only Auntie Wang asked hesitantly, "You are...?"
"Carpenter Li's youngest son, Hei Wa."
"Good heavens."
Auntie Wang's face was full of disbelief. She had never heard of an apprentice entering Smelting Town and then returning to the village like Li Mo had.
Everyone in a village was connected by kinship or marriage, and quite a few had once looked after little Li Mo.
Excitement appeared on her face as she called out to the farmers in the fields.
Like an immortal about to sever his mortal ties, Li Mo observed the villagers from an outsider's perspective, his feelings exceedingly complicated.
He feared he would have few chances to return to Niu Family Village in the future.
"Hei Wa, wait here. I'll go call your family."
"Thank you, Auntie Wang."
Auntie Wang vanished in a flash. Before long, all dozen or so households in the village flooded toward the entrance, chattering endlessly.
Father Li and Mother Li exchanged pleasantries and asked Li Mo about his life. His eldest brother, Li Li, stood nearby at a loss, while his wife held a child's hand and pinched Li Li's arm, signaling for him to build a better relationship with Li Mo.
Li Mo responded to each of them. His original intention of staying in the village for a few days suddenly faded.
Because of Eternal Life, mortals did not actually take partings and deaths too heavily. They could establish separate households at fourteen or fifteen, and it was common for those of sixteen or seventeen to already have children.
Li Mo had been away for four years, yet Li Li already had two sons and a daughter. There was no need even to mention his elder sister Li Xia—she had already passed childbearing age.
With children and grandchildren filling the household, Li Mo instead became the superfluous one.
The villagers spoke over one another, yet with remarkable tacit understanding, none asked about the fourteen children who had left the village back then.
They were also afraid that Li Mo would give them bad news.
Li Mo did not volunteer anything either. He gave vague answers to everything, while handing the Sugar Pills he had bought to the snot-nosed children in the village.
At that moment, Niu Family Village's schoolteacher squeezed out from the crowd, and the villagers hurriedly made way.
Forcing open his cloudy, rotting eyes, he asked, "Li Mo, in Smelting Town... you must have encountered those Immortal Masters, right?"
"Yes, Teacher. I have."
"Then..."
Before the schoolteacher could finish, Li Mo shook the jade-green Storage Bag with brocade trim in his hand.
A pile of firewood, rice, oil, salt, and other necessities suddenly appeared before them. They were all supplies Li Mo had purchased before leaving Smelting Town, and they had not cost much silver.
"Th-this... this... this..."
The villagers looked at one another.
They truly could not connect the ordinary-looking Li Mo with an Immortal Master.
The schoolteacher's face flushed red. He opened his mouth several times but could not make a sound, only trembling as he pointed a finger at Li Mo.
Li Mo understood what the schoolteacher meant. The man was already over three hundred years old, and every part of his body had begun to rot away. Without the Medical Hall's methods to repair him, he would soon be paralyzed.
Li Mo had returned to Niu Family Village this time partly to settle his ties with the Mortal Realm.
Li Mo understood that a mortal's greatest pursuit was good health. This was the perfect chance to practice the surgical procedures in the medical book.
Though he did not like surgery, as Death Sickness erupted throughout the body, medical skill would become increasingly important. It was indeed necessary to master it.
"Elders, please rest assured. I will remain in the village for half a day and use immortal methods to help ease the Death Sickness in your bodies."
Fervor appeared in the villagers' eyes. Father Li and Mother Li wanted Li Mo to stay a few more days, but the gap between immortals and mortals left them burdened with concerns.
Instead, the honest Li Li scratched his head and asked, "Little brother, are you leaving so soon?"
"Brother, there is much to do in Smelting Town."
"That's true."
The schoolteacher gave up the schoolhouse to Li Mo. Villagers formed a long line at the door and filed inside, leaving the many children full of curiosity.
Li Mo had prepared plenty of materials beforehand, including Spirit Paste, a fungal Polymer resembling flesh lingzhi. It was not expensive; one Low-grade Spirit Stone was enough for a piece.
Spirit Paste was specially used to fill missing flesh and blood.
He was a novice. All his experience came from memories of surgical procedures he had encountered through television dramas in his previous life, along with the medical book Han Cai had given him.
Li Mo had thought he would feel psychological pressure, after all, he was facing living people.
Unexpectedly, once he entered a focused state, the very concept of life and death was cast behind him.
Li Mo carefully cleaned the villagers' wounds, filled the missing flesh and blood, reconnected severed Achilles tendons, and finally stitched them up with Fine Thread.
The villagers' bodily problems all stemmed from decay. Surgery truly was the simplest method; no wonder the Medical Hall was held in such high esteem.
Li Mo quickly became more and more at ease, his movements increasingly practiced.
Amid the villagers' praise, Li Mo finished the work in only two hours. The materials he had used were worth at most one Low-grade Spirit Stone.
The Medical Hall was truly a wildly profitable business.
After witnessing Li Mo's miraculous "immortal arts," the villagers dearly wished to shape him into a clay Statue and place it in the Ancestral Hall as an Attendant.
Only after the schoolteacher warned them that Statues were not made for living people did they abandon the idea.
After eating the evening meal in Niu Family Village, Li Mo left the village surrounded by everyone, following the mountain path toward the Black Market.
He felt not the slightest reluctance. His long immortal road had only just begun—how could he turn back?
Li Mo emerged from the mountain forest.
He recalled Jin Li's description of the Black Market. Its scale seemed only slightly smaller than Smelting Town's, and it was composed of dozens of forces both large and small.
Even with Smelting Town's status behind him, Li Mo had to be especially careful in the Black Market. Otherwise, he would be devoured until not even his bones remained.
It was said that Smelting Town's upper ranks also controlled assets in the Black Market.
Only when Li Mo neared the Black Market did he realize why Smelting Town so readily allowed cultivators to leave: within two hundred li in every direction, all were Heart Beasts.
The Black Market was hidden within black mist formed by a Formation, like a deep crater smashed into the earth by a meteor. Not far away stood a Bloodstone Stele.
Upon it were carved the words: Heart Beasts.
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