Chapter 345: The Aggrieved Party

Chapter 345: Chapter 345: The Aggrieved Party

He woke up to find it was already afternoon.

Bai Mo pushed the door open and saw Ah Er pawing at the water in a basin.

The fish inside wasn’t scared; instead, it chased after the badger’s paw, bumping against it.

"I have a use for this fish. Don’t you dare eat it."

Bai Mo instructed it solemnly.

Badgers have a varied diet, and this one, having followed him, had eaten many flavors of Feeding Pills.

’It probably isn’t a picky eater anymore.’

"Argh!"

Ah Er grunted in response, but its eyes remained fixed on the fish in the basin.

Seeing this, Bai Mo could only sigh and casually ruffled the fur on its head.

Ah Er yelped in pain, baring its teeth.

This stunned Bai Mo for a moment. He quickly parted the fur on its head.

A quick look was all it took for Bai Mo to discover the scabs and wounds hidden beneath Ah Er’s fur.

Upon further inspection, he found a few more on its back.

Recalling how the badger had been frequently going out lately, Bai Mo had a guess.

"Did you go out and get into a fight with other Spirit Beasts?"

The wounds lacked any dense demonic aura, and the attacks hadn’t been overly vicious, so they clearly weren’t caused by a Demon Beast.

Ah Er’s eyes darted around, avoiding his gaze.

Bai Mo sneered and smacked it on the head.

"Fine, I won’t meddle in your affairs."

The badger then guiltily shouldered its carrying pole and headed up the mountain, likely afraid that Bai Mo would discipline it and wanting to lay low for a while.

The mountain was already showing rough patches of green.

This was the result of careful preparation. Left barren, it was one thing, but once tended to, the vegetation could spread rapidly.

It was clear the soil here hadn’t truly been barren, just that no suitable plants had been brought over to be planted.

He made a patrol of the black prison. It was the same as always; nothing could go wrong.

Only the newly arrived prisoners were defiant, attempting to channel their Spiritual Qi to strike at the restrictive seals.

And because they all cultivated different techniques, their efforts created a variety of noises, filling the black prison with a cacophony of wails and howls.

Bai Mo found the noise irritating. He quickened his pace and left immediately after finishing his rounds.

Returning to his stone house, Bai Mo did a little tidying up, then emptied out all the items he had purchased from the market, scattering them across half the room.

There was scrap metal, withered bones, and scales—all in varying conditions, but not a single item was whole.

When Li Wuji arrived, he found Bai Mo tidying up a room full of junk.

"Junior Brother, you were gone for three days and this is all you bought?"

His tone made no secret of his disdain for the junk.

Bai Mo sighed.

"Why would anyone be willing to part with the complete items? And if they were really put up for sale, the prices would be ridiculously high."

"So I had no choice but to collect these fragments."

He hadn’t been there in person, after all. If he had been at the Uncrossable River during the critical moment when the Sea Eye was being suppressed, he might have been able to pick up some good things.

Li Wuji understood this. He squatted down and picked up a withered black stalk of grass.

"Junior Brother, are you going to use this for Alchemy?"

Bai Mo quickly shook his head.

"How could I dare?"

"These things have been inside the Sea Eye for ages. Who knows what they’ve been through? I certainly wouldn’t dare ingest them."

Li Wuji was puzzled.

"Then what are you..."

Bai Mo replied, "The books say that these items might contain ruin qi. I have to find a way to extract it."

"But that will take a very long time. Let’s focus on your matter first, Senior Brother."

The Spirit Fish outside were also just one part of the process for extracting the ruin qi; Bai Mo was still perfecting the specific details of his plan.

Just as Bai Mo had said, the process was long and couldn’t be accomplished overnight.

With permission granted, Bai Mo began to examine Li Wuji’s foundation. He found that Li Wuji, just like Xiao Lin, had reached Perfect Foundation Establishment and was on the verge of Core Formation.

Xiao Lin, who had been Bai Mo’s test subject, was even further along than Li Wuji.

Li Wuji was currently stuck, his Spiritual Qi condensing in his Dantian, churning and gathering, sometimes ethereal and sometimes solid.

"I need to reduce the medicinal strength."

Bai Mo mused, jotting down various points on a piece of paper.

Since he was working on one of his own, he couldn’t be careless with the details. At the very least, he had to ensure it was harmless.

Although Li Wuji was the subject, he didn’t dare say much, merely standing by with his hands at his sides, watching.

The two of them spent two days deliberating. Just as they were about to begin, they heard a commotion outside.

Li Wuji’s expression changed.

"Could it be an elder? We must hurry and greet them!"

Bai Mo snapped back to reality and said, "The knocking is so chaotic. What elder would be so undignified?"

"I doubt it."

Regardless, they both had to go see.

BOOM!

The door flew open.

The pitch-black entrance to the prison cave came into view, and the group of men and women gathered at the door immediately lost their nerve.

Seeing that it was indeed not an elder, Li Wuji frowned, took a step forward, and blocked the newcomers.

"This is the Mi Mountain black prison, a restricted area! Show some respect!"

"Who are you?"

These men and women were all in the Foundation Establishment Realm, true, but none were as advanced as Li Wuji.

Coupled with the foundation he had built through arduous cultivation, his aura alone was enough to suppress the entire group.

Suddenly, a woman stepped forward and spoke sharply.

"We are disciples who work in Mu Valley, raising Spirit Beasts for the sect!"

"A Spirit Beast from Mi Mountain has been running wild, injuring thirteen of Mu Valley’s Spirit Beasts! How dare you try to protect it?!"

Li Wuji turned his head to look at Bai Mo.

"Junior Brother, your Ah Er is that capable?"

Bai Mo frowned and walked out the door.

"Let’s take this messy business outside."

And so, the group moved to the outskirts of Mi Mountain.

The woman, no longer holding back, said directly, "Aren’t you two going to give us an explanation?"

Bai Mo replied calmly, "What is there to explain?"

"My Spirit Beast has always been well-behaved. It’s not very brave and usually spends its time working hard on the mountain."

As he spoke, Bai Mo turned and pointed towards the mountain.

Ah Er’s blurry figure could be seen walking up there, apparently still carrying something on its shoulders.

"With a temperament like that, could it really have committed the atrocities you speak of?"

At least, Bai Mo himself didn’t believe it.

Immediately, someone shouted, "We saw it with our own eyes!"

"Your badger was pinning down and beating up the Spirit Beasts in the valley! It was vicious!"

Just then, Li Wuji suddenly spoke up.

"And the reason? Does anyone know what it was?"

"Don’t tell me Junior Brother Bai’s Spirit Beast just charged into the valley and started hurting others. The Spirit Beasts of your Mu Valley have a history of misbehavior. Hasn’t anyone looked into that?"

"This..." The men and women who had come to confront them looked at each other, at a loss for words.

Someone wanted to say more, but Bai Mo, seeing their expressions, waved his sleeve impatiently.

"Be gone. Don’t linger on Mi Mountain."

This sudden interruption had wasted a good quarter of an hour for the two of them.

Back inside the stone house, Bai Mo was still a bit puzzled.

"Are there really Inner Sect Disciples like that?"

That group just now was a chaotic mess, like a bunch of street thugs. Their every move lacked the bearing Bai Mo usually saw in Inner Sect Disciples.

Li Wuji was unconcerned.

"That’s just how it is at Mu Valley. Many of them are Cultivators from strange backgrounds, some are even from other sects, staying here temporarily."

"Those people took shortcuts to break through to their realms. Their potential was exhausted long ago."

Bai Mo was about to ask for more details when he suddenly saw Ah Er run in through the door, which hadn’t been closed tightly.

"Argh!"

It cried out. It seemed to have recognized the people who had come to cause trouble.

"Come here!"

Bai Mo had Ah Er come closer and squeezed its sturdy little body.

"Look at you, all grown up. You can pin down and beat other Spirit Beasts now. Seems those Pills weren’t wasted on you."

"So, tell me, did you start the fight?"

"Argh! Argh!"

Hearing this, Ah Er immediately stomped its feet and cried out repeatedly.

Bai Mo understood.

"Alright, alright. I know you feel wronged. What exactly happened?"