The private room at Yi Bao Pavilion was elegantly decorated, yet there were no screens patterned with wild beasts. Everywhere, it revealed how different it was from the Heart Beast Sect.
After Li Mo took his seat, the waiter brought over tea.
"Sir, this is fifteen-year Snow Ruiyang from the Kunlun Mountains, with half a tael of Yellow Grass to soothe the mind, along with Blood-eating Worms that help clear away rotting flesh."
The liquid in the teacup was silver-gray, mixed with densely packed maggots.
"Once the Blood-eating Worms enter the stomach, they'll naturally be absorbed by the intestines and stomach..."
Li Mo's mouth twitched. He truly could not accept tea, which was supposed to be light and refined, becoming something so heavy-flavored.
After asking Li Mo what items he wished to trade in, the waiter bowed and left the private room.
Li Mo waited in the room for a moment before a withered, gaunt old man entered. Hundreds of eyes covered the surface of his skin, dark-red blood slowly flowing out without cease.
The old man was merely at Childhood Stage Perfection, yet he had already undergone the Coming-of-Age Stage modifications of Universal Skill. More than a dozen arms grew from his back.
Steam caused by intense heat occasionally burst from his pores, filling the private room with a pungent sulfurous corpse odor.
Due to the immense strain on his body, he had to take pills to suppress its collapse.
"Jiang Xin'an, Master Craftsman of Yi Bao Pavilion."
A Master Craftsman was a veteran artisan specifically responsible for dismantling Sinister Beast corpses and assessing their value. Their status in Yi Bao Pavilion was far from low.
Li Mo did not introduce himself. He directly took out the spinal bone of the Waking Lion Dance.
Jiang Xin'an raised his brows and examined the spinal bone, then looked at Li Mo with an inscrutable gaze. "The flesh and blood was scraped off remarkably clean. Did you handle the Pseudo Bizarre Beast Corpse yourself?"
"No."
Li Mo could not possibly admit it.
Jiang Xin'an's gaze lingered on Li Mo's six fingers for several breaths before he asked, "Where are the other parts of the Pseudo Bizarre Beast? Take them all out."
Li Mo placed the sorted Waking Lion Dance organs on the table, then closed his eyes to rest.
"What a pity."
"This Pseudo Bizarre Beast was still lacking a little heat, but it can already be considered high-grade. The flaw is that its flesh and blood are no longer fresh, though it can still be used for artifact refining."
"Mm, how about thirty-five Mid-grade Spirit Stones?"
"That works."
Li Mo did not haggle. Thirty-five Mid-grade Spirit Stones had already met his expectations, enough for him to purchase quite a few resources.
"I'll take this Sinister Beast away. If the cultivator who dissected the corpse is interested in Yi Bao Pavilion, he can come find me in the shop."
After Jiang Xin'an finished speaking, he intended to leave the private room, only to hear Li Mo say, "Elder Jiang, there's another Sinister Beast Corpse. Please take a look."
"Mm?"
Li Mo handed his old Storage Bag to Jiang Xin'an.
Jiang Xin'an glanced at the neatly separated bones and organs. His expression shifted from calm indifference to surprise, and he could not help examining Li Mo from head to toe again.
Sinister Beasts differed from Pseudo Bizarre Beasts. Sinister Beasts possessed a vitality beyond words.
To dissect their corpses, one had to understand the structure of their flesh and blood incomparably well, while also being proficient in Universal Skill. Otherwise, one might damage the corpse and reduce its price.
Jiang Xin'an could tell that the Sinister Beast Corpse had been incomplete even before it was dissected. Yet because the method of handling it had been so ingenious, most of its remaining value had been preserved.
"Are you Senior Han's disciple?"
"I..."
"No wonder."
Before Li Mo could deny it, Jiang Xin'an had already revealed an expression of sudden realization.
Yet in a sense, Li Mo truly had learned his methods for dissecting Sinister Beast corpses by secretly studying Han Cai while he handled the elk.
"I'll assess the Sinister Beast's value. You still need to buy some resources, right?"
Seeing Li Mo nod, Jiang Xin'an continued, "Very well. I'll have Yi Bao Pavilion's accountant come over. Wait a moment."
He hurriedly pushed open the door and left.
Not long afterward, an accountant with a broad, thick body entered the private room.
The accountant was named Wang Sheng. Aside from his size, which far exceeded that of ordinary people, he displayed no obvious abnormalities. An unchanging smile rested on his face.
"Ka ka ka ka ka..."
Wang Sheng let out a strange laugh and approached Li Mo with a sideways gait. His displayed cultivation had already reached the Coming-of-Age Stage.
"Sir, whatever you want, we've got it."
Li Mo felt as though he were facing Shopkeeper Tian. Both carried an inhuman aura.
"Beast Blood."
"Let me see. It should be here..."
Wang Sheng removed his shirt, revealing a bare body mottled with rust.
He felt around his right chest, and the sound of metal grinding rang out. Then Wang Sheng opened his right chest like a drawer.
Inside the flesh-and-blood drawer were countless miniature bottles and jars.
"Yi Bao Pavilion carries five hundred and thirty-one varieties of Beast Blood, including sixteen varieties from rare beast species."
Wang Sheng launched into an endless introduction.
Li Mo was slightly disappointed. He had thought rare beast species meant ancient Demonic Beasts, but they were merely wild beasts with scarce populations.
For instance, salamanders familiar to him from his previous life, Poison Frogs that killed at the sight of blood, Winged Fish that could briefly fly through the air, and so on were all considered rare beast species.
Li Mo was quite interested in salamanders.
Although salamanders occupied no more than the underworld of the food chain, they possessed an exceptionally special regenerative ability. Even Severed Limbs could fully regrow.
Unfortunately, if he used salamander blood to draw a Beast Head Tattoo, he could not count on the materials for Blood Drip. Its potential was truly limited.
Li Mo glanced at the price. Learning that salamander blood cost only two Low-grade Spirit Stones, he simply bought both bottles in Yi Bao Pavilion's stock.
He most likely would not use salamander blood, considering Beast Blood of the same kind was far too scarce.
For the third and fourth auxiliary tattoo positions, Li Mo intended to draw Beast Heads that would make aerial travel and water travel easier. After all, the Tattooed Beast formed from Miasma Spiritual Power inherently possessed the ability to shift between reality and illusion.
For water travel Beast Blood, Li Mo set his sights on the Kun Whale, of which Yi Bao Pavilion had a considerable stock.
Kun Whales were indeed rare. According to Wang Sheng, corpses could only occasionally be found along the coast. Fortunately, their blood supply was absolutely sufficient.
As for Beast Blood suited for aerial travel, Li Mo chose quite a few varieties and planned to consider them further after returning to the inn.
"Do you have any Artifact Refining Methods here?"
"Let me look..."
Wang Sheng opened a drawer in his right leg and rummaged through it before finally finding several Bone Scrolls.
Li Mo pressed them against his forehead to inspect them. Unfortunately, the Artifact Refining Methods only contained their opening portions. Otherwise, with his Eidetic Memory, he could have taken them for free.
Among Yi Bao Pavilion's Artifact Refining Methods, aside from the Basic Artifact Refining Method, which used spiritual power to nurture materials and cultivate a Magic Tool Blank, there were also highly unconventional Dharma Gates.
For example, the Skin Nurturing Artifact Refining Method.
One applied a particular medicinal primer to the skin of a young beast, then skinned it before it died of old age. Combined with fire-attributed spiritual power to remove impurities, it could be refined into a Magic Tool Blank.
Or the Sealed Egg Artifact Refining Method.
Bird eggs were soaked in a particular medicinal solution, preventing them from hatching. In the end, the bird would gradually be absorbed by its shell.
The Basic Artifact Refining Method determined the types of magic tools that could be refined based on Alien Spiritual Power. Miasma Spiritual Power primarily leaned toward water and earth.
Artifact Refining Methods were not cheap. Every one of them cost more than ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Mo chose the Skin Nurturing Artifact Refining Method and the Basic Artifact Refining Method. He also purchased some ordinary Spiritual Herbs, intending to try refining something.
After asking around, he learned that Yi Bao Pavilion had no Miasma Spiritual Energy in stock.
Li Mo did not mind. With Mid-grade Spirit Stones in hand, along with the inn's Spirit Gathering Array, his cultivation efficiency certainly would not be slow.
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