It was early morning, and the streets were still quiet.

Bai Mo cupped the last crumbs of his flatbread, tossed them into his mouth, and washed them down with a sip of tea.

Xu Ruyuan was far more practiced, eating slowly and methodically without dropping a single crumb.

Bai Mo found himself looking at the man in a new light.

The two of them tidied up, then got up and headed out.

"This is good. Since we’re going into business together, it’s only right that Brother Bai looks into my background..."

Xu Ruyuan said candidly.

As they walked down the long street and passed the bookshop, the Shopkeeper stared at them for a long moment.

’Thank goodness. It’s not some wicked affair after all.’

Bai Mo grinned and waved at the Shopkeeper, who gave a slight nod in return.

"Brother Bai, you know the Shopkeeper?"

Bai Mo’s smile didn’t fade.

"Yes, he’s a good old man."

"Back when he saw I could recognize a few characters, he agreed to sell me the Pill Book at a discount..."

Xu Ruyuan nodded in agreement, a nostalgic look on his face.

"He’s a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, but since he’s willing to publish a book for me, I’ll count him as a decent friend."

"He’s much older than I am. Back when I was just knocking around Immortal Arrival City, he was already a minorly famous firebrand."

Bai Mo glanced at him sideways.

"That old gentleman?"

Xu Ruyuan chuckled.

"It was probably after I got married and had kids that he changed his ways and set up a bookshop."

"Immortal Arrival City wasn’t like this back then. It wasn’t so prosperous, and the undercurrents were always shifting. Those were unforgettable days."

Ultimately, Bai Mo couldn’t get many stories out of him. Whenever he asked, Xu Ruyuan would just smile and claim he couldn’t remember clearly.

The two left the main street and came to an area behind a Weapon Forging Workshop.

The walls here were soot-stained, and the air smelled of burning.

Bai Mo grew thoughtful.

"This must be the city’s famous Forging Street?"

Xu Ruyuan nodded.

"That’s right."

Cultivators bustled back and forth in front of the various Weapon Refining Shops, haggling loudly with the merchants.

Spirit Stones and ore flowed into this place like water, only to be transformed into deadly weapons for cultivators, gleaming with a cold, lunar light.

And behind the rows of weapon shops lay a residential area shrouded in black smoke and dust.

Xu Ruyuan led Bai Mo to a large courtyard house.

The courtyard was quite large.

"The land is cheap here, which is perfect. If I come across any herbs on short notice, I can store them here temporarily."

A few weary Cultivators, smelling of soot and fire, trudged past. Xu Ruyuan pushed the gate open and led Bai Mo inside.

"Besides, none of the neighbors on this street are good-tempered, which naturally makes the place safer."

A snot-nosed little boy was practicing a horse stance in the middle of the courtyard.

Despite his young age, spiritual energy was already stirring within him.

’He looks like promising material.’

When the little boy saw his grandfather enter with a guest, his already strained horse stance began to wobble.

Xu Ruyuan hurried over, placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, and steadied him.

"Don’t get distracted. Just focus on your training; you don’t need to entertain our guest."

Xu Ruyuan said in a low voice.

With that, he invited Bai Mo into the house.

"Kids have loose lips. It’s best he’s not around while we’re discussing business."

Bai Mo smiled. "So he’s the one you’re pinning your hopes on, Fellow Daoist Xu?"

Bai Mo could see traces of his own Qi Absorption Pills on the boy.

Xu Ruyuan gave a noncommittal "Mm."

"You could say that."

"Doesn’t everyone want their family to produce a champion?"

Bai Mo entered the house and found it to be quite cluttered.

Medicinal herbs were scattered haphazardly around the main hall, which had been partitioned into several smaller rooms.

In one corner was a pile of books—common texts on medicinal herbs, many filled with strange myths and folklore.

Xu Ruyuan found a clear spot and invited Bai Mo to sit down.

"Brother Bai, do you have any other concerns?"

Bai Mo sat and casually picked up a book titled *Strange Tales of Celestial Barrier Mountain*.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, you’ve used some... unorthodox arts, haven’t you?"

"Many of these herbs aren’t easy to find, yet you seem to come by them with ordinary ease..."

Hearing this, Xu Ruyuan’s expression cleared with understanding.

"Ah, so this is what you were worried about, Brother Bai?"

He nodded with a smile. "Indeed. You’re a cautious one, Brother Bai, to have considered this!"

Some of these unorthodox arts carry a heavy price. They can ruin families and wipe out clans, not to mention other unforeseen consequences.

If another Cultivator were to get mixed up in it unwittingly and suffer the fallout, it would be a terrible injustice.

Xu Ruyuan explained, "It’s an unusual art I learned in my youth."

"Because I’m not greedy and I use Evil Qi to keep it suppressed, there haven’t been any negative effects..."

The words had barely left his mouth when a door to one of the inner rooms was thrown open with a BANG.

"Old Man, got a guest?"

The reek of blood that poured out of the room washed over Bai Mo.

Slightly stunned, Bai Mo registered the speaker: a large man in an apron, holding a sharp blade.

Xu Ruyuan quickly interjected, "Yes, we have a guest. Go get a pork tenderloin for Brother Bai to take with him."

The large man grunted in acknowledgment.

"Okay."

The heavy door was pulled shut, and the smell of blood receded like the tide.

"That was..."

Xu Ruyuan answered, "My son."

"Behind the house is a slaughterhouse that supplies meat to the blacksmith Cultivators. I had a door put in for convenient access."

"He found work there. At least his strength isn’t going to waste."

Bai Mo recalled the man’s joints, frame, and musculature.

Having dealt more with Lanshan and his ilk, Bai Mo had learned a few things about sizing people up.

’If he were tossed into a Demon Hunting Team, he’d at least be able to make a name for himself!’

In a place as vast as Immortal Arrival City, anyone who could make a name for themselves was already more distinguished than ninety percent of Loose Cultivators!

Xu Ruyuan seemed to read Bai Mo’s mind.

"Is anything ever perfect in this world? I tried to raise him to be a great talent, but I later discovered that he was... unwell in the mind."

"Even after spending our entire family fortune, we couldn’t cure him."

"Oh, vast heavens, why have you been so cruel to my son?"

Bai Mo sniffed the air. Not a trace of the bloody smell remained, leaving only the stale, pervasive scent of old medicinal herbs.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, perhaps you could continue explaining about that unorthodox art?"

Xu Ruyuan snapped out of his long-held sorrow.

"It’s like this. Every time before I enter the mountains, I make an offering of fresh, bloody meat to something called the Flesh-Blood Tai Sui."

"It’s a method I read about in an old book. Legend says the Flesh-Blood Tai Sui will draw potent herbs to my path..."

After hearing this, Bai Mo glanced at the book in his hands. ’This definitely sounds like the kind of thing you’d find in one of these,’ he thought.

He asked, a little curious, "And how well does it work?"

Xu Ruyuan spread his hands. "Haven’t you seen for yourself, Brother Bai?"

"It doesn’t exactly deliver the herbs to my doorstep, but if I search in all the nooks and crannies, I always manage to find something."

Bai Mo gestured toward the closed door.

"And him..."

Xu Ruyuan shook his head.

"Perhaps the Evil Qi is suppressing... something, which is why things have been peaceful. It even keeps my little grandson safe from foul energies."

"You could say it’s a symbiotic relationship. A good thing, all in all!"

Seeing the situation, Bai Mo nodded.

"In that case, I’ll take you to meet the other two. From now on, the three of you will manage things together."

A smile lit up Xu Ruyuan’s face.

"That would be wonderful."

They had just gotten to their feet when the heavy wooden door creaked open a crack.

A thick arm reached through and, with a flick of the wrist, sent a fine pork tenderloin spinning into the room.

"Hope the guest enjoys!"

A deep, muffled voice called out before the door was shut tight again.

"Old Man, I’m heading back to work!"

The sound of heavy footsteps faded into the distance.

Bai Mo picked up the tenderloin from the table, which was neatly tied with a piece of straw rope. Seeing how carefully it had been trimmed, he couldn’t help but nod.

"How thoughtful."

Xu Ruyuan smiled as well.

"He may not be the sharpest, but he has the wisdom of knowing his own limits. He’s never given me much to worry about."