Li Mo squinted his eyes as the surging mist fog spiritual power gradually converged. He casually stored the cultivation resources into his storage bag.
If there were truly an unforeseen event, the constables should be knocking at his door by now.
Just as this thought formed in his mind, a hurried knock sounded. Outside, the commotion grew louder. Clearly, a large crowd had gathered.
Li Mo walked unhurriedly down from the second floor. The shop had become much cleaner; although the furniture was still old, it was at least spotless.
Aside from the Ghost Tiger, the rest of the Tattooed Beasts eagerly burrowed into the skin of his limbs.
Li Mo opened the shop’s front door and was met with the bustling sight of a crowd. Among them were over a dozen cultivators from the Government Office maintaining order.
The lead cultivator was none other than Ma Weigong.
Once Ma Weigong recognized Li Mo’s identity, his demeanor softened considerably.
He knew that given Li Mo’s status as Han Cai’s disciple, the calamity plaguing Fuxing Town likely had nothing to do with him.
"Ma, you recognize him?"
A young constable whispered inquisitively. Ma Weigong patted his shoulder. "It’s fine now. Just have the brothers ensure the civilian houses remain as they are."
Ma Weigong clasped his fists with both hands and respectfully greeted, "Four-legged True Man, it has been a long time."
Li Mo shook his head helplessly. The reputation of his Four-legged True Man title had spread even to Fuxing Town. It was likely due to loose cultivators who arrived seeking treasure.
Ma Weigong asked solemnly, "Four-legged Daoist, I have a presumptuous request. Could you assist me in contacting Lord Han?"
Li Mo took out his spiritual tablet and pressed it to his forehead, then shook his head, indicating he could not help.
Han Cai was already undergoing closed-door seclusion at Duozhi Mountain, cultivating the Taishang Thousand Feet Technique. His spiritual tablet contained a pre-leave message informing Li Mo to stay in Fuxing Town and focus on running the artifact refining shop.
Ma Weigong sighed, then gestured with an inviting hand.
The duo walked toward the sealed-off alley.
"Four-legged Daoist, have you heard any unusual disturbances lately?"
"I’ve been cultivating in the shop the whole time."
Ma Weigong didn’t question him further. The impression Li Mo gave during their interaction was undeniably profound—like an ancient, ferocious beast.
It was hard to imagine that, judging by his voice, this young man couldn’t be older than his early twenties, yet his strength far surpassed his peers.
A fitting title for the Daoist of the pawn shop.
"What calamity has befallen Fuxing Town?"
Ma Weigong didn’t conceal it, his expression darkening as he explained, "Starting fifteen days ago, mortals began mysteriously dying. The Government Office sealed the information off."
Li Mo quickly grasped the situation in Fuxing Town.
Twenty-some individuals had inexplicably appeared in town. The Government Office dug three feet deep but found nothing. In the end, under pressure from higher authorities, the restrictions on entering and exiting Fuxing Town were completely lifted.
A large number of loose cultivators flooded into Fuxing Town. Not long after, mortals started dying in succession.
Thankfully, the number of deaths and injuries was not high. Compared to the ten-thousand-strong surviving populace of Fuxing Town, it was practically negligible, thus failing to attract significant attention from the Government Office.
Ma Weigong couldn’t help but voice his frustrations.
"If we hadn’t allowed the loose cultivators to enter the town, the investigation wouldn’t be nearly this difficult."
These past few months, he had dedicated himself to probing the unknown calamity. Now, burdened with mortal casework, even his cultivation had been severely impacted.
Li Mo remained noncommittal.
Sealing off Fuxing Town was simply unrealistic. Rong Town depended on resources extracted from Duozhi Mountain, but the mere hundreds of cultivators in Rong Town were utterly insufficient. They had to rely on loose cultivators to voluntarily climb the mountain.
"Four-legged Daoist, please do me a favor. If you have an opportunity, convey my request to Lord Han: either deploy more manpower or have mortal constables take over the cases. We can’t keep working for nothing, can we?"
Li Mo drew in a sharp breath.
The civilian house was just behind the shop. In the courtyard lay four bizarre corpses.
Their bodies were frozen in beast-like postures, with their flesh now exhibiting metallic transformations. Their heads, however, were missing, and the cuts were unnervingly clean.
"Four-legged Daoist, do you have any clues to share?"
"I recall there being only three people in the civilian house. The fourth could be a family member who arrived afterward."
Ma Weigong said ingratiatingly, "Then I won’t trouble you further, Four-legged Daoist. If you ever need artifact refining, don’t forget to count on your old pal here."
"Certainly. I still need to attend to the matters of opening the artifact refining shop, so I’ll take my leave for now."
"Take care; I won’t see you off."
Li Mo bid farewell to Ma Weigong and returned to the shop.
Although his expression was outwardly calm, as he threaded through the dense crowd, his gaze suddenly turned frighteningly cold, filled with icy malice.
Li Mo had already communicated with the Tattooed Beasts. Through the fledgling spiritual wisdom of the Red Fox, he learned that, three days ago, strange noises were heard coming from the back alley.
Once back in the shop, Li Mo immediately used his consciousness to review the Red Fox’s memories.
The sounds resonated deeply in his ears, almost as if he were experiencing them firsthand. They had a faint familiarity—he had heard them several times before in the pawn shop’s inner quarters.
"It’s a moose’s cry..."
Li Mo swallowed hard.
Having dealt with Moose Monsters before, he knew their abilities were linked to "cognition." Fuxing Town’s calamity was likely tied to this.
Someone had managed to slip twenty-some individuals into Fuxing Town unnoticed, probably using similar abilities—distorting cognition to fabricate the illusion that they had always lived in the town.
"The Moose Monster from the Inner Sect had died back then. It should not appear again, especially with years still remaining until the Outer Door Competition."
"Could it be that a wild moose entered the Inner Sect and inherited the Southern Dipper Crossing People Scripture?"
Li Mo felt a headache coming on.
During the time of the Outer Door Competition, there indeed were moose herds gathering at the foot of Rong Town’s mountain. However, it was impossible for them to approach the heavily guarded Outer City District.
Li Mo suspected that some high-level figures in Rong Town had taken advantage of the chaos in the Outer City District to smuggle wild moose into the Inner City District, ultimately leading to the ensuing calamity.
The unknown entities in Fuxing Town included both so-called "Inner Sect Disciples" and twenty "Half-beasts" mingled with mortals.
Li Mo couldn’t reveal his discovery to the Government Office yet. To do so would spell certain death.
The only comfort was knowing that the managers who had participated in the Moose Monster suppression likely weren’t behind it. He just needed to remain wary of any cultivators outside of the pawn shop.
Li Mo calmed himself and closed his eyes to continue refining his mist fog spiritual power.
The Spirit Root Transformation within his kidneys was nearing perfection, and the Circulation Cycle’s speed was becoming increasingly rapid, as his nose and mouth absorbed the abundant spiritual energy from the outside world.
Meanwhile, mid-grade spirit stones continuously fragmented, pushing Li Mo’s momentum to its peak.
Everything fell into place naturally.
Li Mo came back to his senses. His cultivation had reached the Fifth Layer of the Puberty Stage, with the spiritual power within his middle dantian showing signs of liquefaction—indicating that Foundation Establishment at the Weak Crown Period was approaching.
"This cursed place may be riddled with dangers, but the mist fog spiritual energy is extraordinarily dense."
Li Mo had a premonition that if he continued cultivating in Fuxing Town, his cultivation might even reach Perfect Puberty Stage before the outbreak of the Childhood Death Disease.
Suppressing assorted thoughts, he operated the Circulation Cycle until his state stabilized.
Without hesitation, he consumed the toxic spiritual material "Boil Grass" that was compatible with his kidney—imbuing his spiritual power with blood-tainting sores and frosty poison.
After hesitating for a few moments, he split his consciousness to channel mist fog spiritual power into his lungs.
The Creation Book unfolded.
The ninth blank page revealed the shadowy image of lungs, with a new divine skill in the process of gestation.
The blank page was exhausted, leaving four out of five internal organs imprinted. Li Mo hadn’t yet decided whether to use up the Dark Gold Blank Page.
However, once the five internal organs were complete, the Creation Book was expected to undergo further transformation.