Chapter 515: Progress
Chapter 515: Chapter 515: Progress
A busy half-month passed.
The permit from the Foreign Affairs Hall was finally approved.
Back when he guarded the Black Prison, he was always checking other people’s permits. Only now, having to apply for one himself, did he realize how difficult the process was.
A disciple from the Foreign Affairs Hall solemnly placed the permit in Bai Mo’s hand, explaining:
"Brother, you must keep this safe. Don’t let it fall into anyone else’s hands."
"If this permit goes missing, it won’t just be you in trouble. Everyone in our hall who handled this, from the top down, will suffer the consequences."
Bai Mo casually asked, "Have there been any past instances of permits going missing?"
The disciple who delivered the permit looked displeased.
"Yes. After enduring several rounds of investigation by the Foreign Affairs Hall, that person paid a fine of two thousand Spirit Stones to finally resolve the matter."
As he spoke, he suddenly grew wary.
"I know you’re wealthy, Brother, but not so wealthy you can just throw money away like that."
"Most importantly, if something really were to happen, no matter whose fault it was, the person responsible would drown in the spit of every disciple who got dragged down with them."
Seeing the disciple’s unease, Bai Mo quickly offered a few reassuring words to smooth things over and saw him off.
After that, he led Ah Er back to Mi Mountain.
The stone man inspected Bai Mo’s permit, then led him into the Black Prison once more.
"Do you need a hand, Brother?"
Bai Mo followed him.
"Of course. If I can’t handle it, I’ll have to trouble you, Brother."
The two walked to the mad Cultivator’s cell. Today, his face was filled with sorrow; he was lamenting the hardships of the world and speaking out on behalf of Loose Cultivators.
Bai Mo casually tossed in a Pill. The man caught it, giving him a suspicious look.
Bai Mo threatened, "If you don’t take this Pill, Fellow Daoist, I’ll go outside, find a Loose Cultivator, and force him to take it."
"When the Pill’s power activates... BOOM! It’s sure to be a spectacular scene."
The mad Cultivator sighed in lament. "How wicked!"
He then took the Pill and circulated a new Cultivation Technique, using all his strength to suppress its power.
To go to such lengths, he was clearly a man of true compassion.
"Warden Bai is back again. Guess he found out that rookie’s methods were all wrong. Didn’t have the right touch, did he? Here to complain about it?"
Seeing Bai Mo, some of the prisoners assumed he was back to ask for pointers and started to heckle him.
The prison instantly filled with mocking laughter.
Then, the prisoners watched as Bai Mo fluently rattled off a list of cell locations, including the names of the Cultivators within, without a single mistake.
The stone guard held a ridiculously small brush and made marks on a roster.
And so, the prisoners fell silent, a dawning realization on their faces.
One prisoner’s face flushed red, unable to endure being treated like livestock, and he suddenly erupted in a furious tirade.
Once the roster check was complete, Bai Mo stopped before a cell.
Inside was a man whose face was covered in festering sores.
The man practiced a fire-type technique, and the resulting fire poison had afflicted his head, causing the sores.
Bai Mo took out a pill bottle. After he opened it, smoke drifted out, passed through the wooden bars, and floated before the man.
"What are you doing!?"
The man, both shocked and furious, held his breath, refusing to inhale.
But the ominous white smoke seeped directly into his body anyway.
In just over ten breaths’ time, his limbs began to grow numb and stiff.
Bai Mo waited with calm composure for half a quarter-hour. By then, the man was lying stiffly on the ground, unable to move.
"Brother Shi."
The stone man opened the cell door. Bai Mo sauntered in and casually drew a shortsword that glinted with a cold light.
After a period of laborious cutting and carving, Bai Mo finally managed to collect a bottle of essence blood just before the drug’s effects wore off.
The man in the cell could finally move again. As the pain hit him, he immediately broke into a torrent of curses.
He then weakly staunched the bleeding and began to tend to his body.
The stone man was not very satisfied with Bai Mo’s efficiency.
"Too slow. Better to let me do it. It would have taken me no effort at all."
Bai Mo gave a helpless sigh.
"You don’t understand, Brother. To collect essence blood, you must use a method that intercepts a strand of fate. There are subtleties involved..."
Just as he was going through the prisoners one by one, another Brother Shi led a group of disciples into the prison.
The arrivals were several disciples from the War Hall, escorting two heavily wounded prisoners.
Their leader held his head high with an air of arrogance.
Before they had even put the prisoners in a cell, a heart-rending scream suddenly echoed from deeper within the Black Prison.
The group passed the cell from which the scream had come and saw a prisoner inside, clutching his chest and wrist as he rolled on the floor in agony.
The lead disciple paused, taken aback.
"What’s going on here?"
The stone man guiding them glanced at the cell, unconcerned.
"Brother Bai is taking care of some business in the cells today."
The lead disciple heard this, thought for a moment, and then shook his head.
"I don’t know what he’s doing, but to act in such a manner... It’s simply..."
He paused.
"Utterly improper."
At that moment, the prisoner in the cell finished screaming and started cursing wildly, leaning against the wall to tend to his body.
After walking for some time, they finally saw Bai Mo and the other stone man.
The stone man stood at the cell door, ready to assist Bai Mo at a moment’s notice. Bai Mo, meanwhile, was wielding his shortsword, leaving a series of shallow cuts on a prisoner’s wrist.
The group escorting the prisoners stopped to watch.
However, the Brother Shi leading them did not stop, continuing on until the new prisoners were secured in a cell.
By the time they returned, Bai Mo had already finished. He was holding a full bottle of essence blood, examining it with satisfaction.
A peculiar light flashed in the lead disciple’s eyes.
’He’s using a Demon Dao technique to extract that essence blood, and there seems to be something else in it!’
Bai Mo’s senses were sharp; he caught a trace of the fleeting aura.
It was very similar to the aura from Yin Zhen’s Cultivation Technique.
He looked over and saw the arrogant expression on the lead disciple’s face.
’A Feather Peak disciple. They all have that typical look, the kind that rubs many people the wrong way.’
Bai Mo paid it no mind and asked cheerfully:
"Am I speaking with a brother from Feather Peak?"
The lead disciple was taken aback.
"You know me?"
Bai Mo smiled. "I know a brother from Feather Peak. You have a very similar air about you, so I had to ask."
"I haven’t seen him in a long time, though. I wonder how he’s doing."
"Do you know Yin Zhen, Brother Yin?"
Yin Zhen was a prominent figure on Feather Peak; few junior disciples didn’t know of him.
After hearing this, the lead disciple mulled it over for a moment before saying:
"Brother Yin achieved Core Formation some time ago. He went out to gain experience and solidify his realm, and he has not returned for quite a while."
Bai Mo sighed. "Just as I’d expect from Brother Yin. Always advancing, always improving."
Seeing that the stone man wasn’t rushing them, the lead disciple spoke in a low voice:
"Brother Bai, why are you doing such things in the prison? Your actions are no different from those of the Demon Dao."
"If people found out about this, what would they think of our Sect Disciples? Brother, please stop. Whatever essence blood you need, I can have people send it to you later..."
The disciples behind him also nodded hesitantly.
"Indeed."
"We really don’t need to resort to such methods..."
Bai Mo froze for a second, then a smile spread across his face.
"Ah, so that’s it. All of you are hung up on the methods being used. I can see you all have righteous spirits."
"I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing, but such constraints are not fitting for us Alchemy Cultivators. After all, getting the job done is what’s most important."
Bai Mo waved his hand dismissively.
"How can one be so pedantic in matters of the Alchemy Dao? It is merely a technique, nothing more."
"If you brothers and sisters find this unsettling, you are free to leave first. When you see Brother Yin, remember to send him my regards."
The disciples looked at one another, but the stone man, afraid they would disturb Bai Mo, had already started ushering them away.