Chapter 473: Enthusiasm
One day, Ah Er, who had come down from the mountain, was met by a goose from the Foreign Affairs Hall.
Winter had given way to spring, and the vegetation on the mountain had lost none of its vitality.
At this time of year, the plants grew with all their might, as if trying to make up for lost time.
Ah Er had read a book and was using its clumsy skills to prune branches, trim leaves, loosen soil, and dig furrows.
It left a trail of chaos wherever it went, yet it was feeling quite pleased with itself.
“Aark!”
Ah Er called out to the goose, tossed aside the hoe on its shoulder, and casually offered it a Feeding Pill.
The goose HONKED, looking extremely displeased, and then flapped its wings twice.
The gesture meant it wanted two Feeding Pills for this job.
Ah Er was startled. ‘I’ve known this goose for a long time,’ it thought. ‘I never expected it to be so greedy.’
‘Could it know I’ve struck it rich recently?’
It hopped back a few steps, pointing at the goose and starting to argue with a series of squawks.
Not to be outdone, the goose craned its neck and argued right back.
The piercing cries of the badger and the goose echoed across half of Mi Mountain.
The spring sun was warm, and the old hen and gray-furred rat imprisoned on the mountain had been on the verge of sleep. But the racket shattered their peace.
The gray-furred rat, in particular, felt its brow twitch, its heart pounding with unbearable agitation.
After quite some time, the goose finally departed, thoroughly satisfied.
Scratching its head, Ah Er carried over a dozen cloth sacks on its hoe and headed down the mountain.
‘No wonder the goose raised its price,’ it thought. ‘The delivery was just too big.’
It had misunderstood the goose, and Ah Er felt a pang of guilt.
It squeezed sideways through the slightly ajar door and tiptoed into the stone house.
Bai Mo, who had been standing before the Pill Furnace with his eyes closed in meditation, suddenly opened them and spoke calmly.
“Has the delivery from Immortal Arrival City arrived?”
Ah Er jumped slightly, surprised to have been discovered.
“You two were so noisy, I bet you could be heard for miles…”
At Bai Mo’s words, Ah Er gave an embarrassed chuckle and brought the dozen or so cloth sacks over to him.
“Aark!”
It cried out and, after a nod from Bai Mo, began to lift the sacks and shake out the medicinal herbs inside.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE. Herbs and plants tumbled from the sacks in a seemingly endless stream.
By the time the first sack was empty, a waist-high pile of muddy medicinal herbs stood before Bai Mo.
Some clumps of dirt clinging to the roots were still damp, releasing an earthy fragrance.
He gave Ah Er a look, and it tossed the empty sack aside, picked up the remaining ones, and repeated the process.
As expected, each sack held roughly the same amount.
Bai Mo squatted down and picked up a palm-high stalk of white-bellied grass.
As he smelled the familiar scent of soil from Celestial Barrier Mountain on its roots, a wave of joy unexpectedly washed over him.
“The Demon Hunting Team did a good job.”
“Come on, sort through these. I’ll need them in a few days.”
In the past, it would have taken Bai Mo a great deal of effort to process so many herbs by himself.
Now that he had a helper, it was much easier.
…
In Immortal Arrival City, people constantly came and went through the front of the Pill Shop, while the back courtyard was just as busy.
A few burly men entered the back courtyard with fawning smiles, placing the handfuls of medicinal herbs they were clutching in front of Qin Wen.
“Take a look, Qin Wen…”
Qin Wen’s eyes were half-lidded as he swept the herbs into a nearby burlap sack without a second glance.
“Is that all? You guys aren’t usually the slackers of the team. Just a bit of bad luck?”
The men nodded repeatedly.
“Exactly. We hadn’t been in the mountains for long before we ran into a Demon Beast. It took a lot of effort to shake it off.”
“And this little bit we did find, someone nearly tricked us into throwing away, saying it was just pig feed…”
Hearing this, Qin Wen paused. He quickly fished the herbs out of the sack to inspect them before tossing them back in.
Having worked in the shop for so long, he had developed a keen eye and could identify a fair number of medicinal herbs.
“So, you guys want to be paid now or put it on your tab?”
The men quickly replied, “On the tab! Put it on the tab! Once we’ve saved up enough, we’ll trade it for an Outer Pill.”
“Mm…” Qin Wen made a note in his ledger and pushed it toward them.
“Sign here to confirm, fellas.”
“Ah, Qin Wen, we… we can’t read…”
“A thumbprint will do just fine.”
After the men left, several more groups arrived, and Qin Wen attended to each in turn.
By dusk, as cooking smoke began to rise from every home in the city, the men finally, tactfully, stopped coming, deciding to wait until tomorrow to continue their business.
Qin Wen was just about to put away his ledger when Lanshan walked straight in without knocking.
He was carrying a limp beast-hide sack, which he casually tossed onto the table in front of Qin Wen.
“Well?”
“Have the last few days been profitable?”
Lanshan asked casually, stopping Qin Wen from reaching for his ledger.
“Exceedingly so,” Qin Wen said with a smile.
“They’re all skilled hunters to begin with. When they actually put their minds to finding herbs, they’re no worse than the professional gatherers.”
“I heard they’re doing both at once. Since they’re going into the mountains so frequently, they’re bringing back so much that they’ve driven down the price of beast meat in the city by five percent?”
Lanshan nodded.
“It’s true. It’s all because of those Outer Pills. Now every last one of them is completely obsessed…”
Leaving the medicinal herbs behind, Lanshan dusted off his hands and left.
What they had said was true.
The announcement made after Qin Wen’s meeting with Lanshan that day had indeed tempted many of the men.
When it came to financial resources, they were nowhere near as wealthy as the shop’s usual clientele.
After all, besides buying weapons and other equipment, the men also had to spend money on tempering their bodies.
Whether it was using medicinal tinctures or consuming meals made with demon beast flesh and herbs, none of it was cheap.
At their previous pace, it would be ages before they could ever afford an Outer Pill.
Now that Qin Wen had presented them with this opportunity, their enthusiasm had exploded, resulting in the sacks and sacks of medicinal herbs sent to Bai Mo.
After steadily carrying the sacks of herbs inside, Qin Wen dusted off his hands and turned to find Wei An standing beside him, having arrived at some point without him noticing.
“A batch of medicinal herbs has already been sent to the Xuandao Sect,” Qin Wen asked. “Did the Shopkeeper say anything?”
Wei An shook his head.
“The first batch is nothing. Once he really starts his Alchemy, it’ll be gone in no time.”
He had seen Bai Mo perform Alchemy before and had a profound impression of his ability to burn through resources.
The Cultivators in Immortal Arrival City had no idea what madness had possessed the Demon Hunting Team this time.
They were rushing about in a frenzy, making them even more trouble than usual.
Under the circumstances, Wei An organized the sale of a few more batches of Pills, which drew a great deal of attention and successfully diverted some of the focus away from the team’s activities.
Spirit Stones flowed in like water, only to be spent just as quickly by the shop staff.
Massive quantities of medicinal herbs were gathered. By the time Bai Mo was ready, all the preparations were complete, and he could finally light the furnace for Alchemy.
“I’m not going to have much free time for a while. I’m leaving the black jail patrols to you. Don’t get careless.”
Bai Mo instructed Ah Er.
The jail had many new inmates recently who weren’t yet accustomed to their confinement. With plenty of troublemakers among them, Bai Mo couldn’t help but worry.
Ah Er nodded and patted its chest, reassuring Bai Mo.
The Great Suanni was on Mi Mountain, after all.
Although this old ancestor spent most of its time in a drowsy stupor, its very presence was the foundation of the mountain’s security.
So, Ah Er wasn’t really afraid.
Seeing this, Bai Mo was very pleased.
“I hope you can truly handle it.”
“From now on, process any medicinal herbs that arrive from Immortal Arrival City the same way and bring them to me…”
After giving his instructions, Bai Mo closed the door to the stone house.
As the furnace fire roared to life, a rich Pill Fragrance began to fill the air.