You XiaoMo had thought that the people from the Beast Transfiguration Guild and Mage Association had left. This time, they had acted very discreetly, and they hadn't been involved in the situation just now. So, no one had paid them any attention.
As for the TianGou, they had apparently come, but they stayed low profile and left before You XiaoMo could even spot them.
The Beast Transfiguration Guild representative wasn't someone You XiaoMo recognized. He was an elderly man, Old Man Shen's shidi, Shi BuYong. The other people were busy preparing for the TongTian Palace competition, so Jiu Ye and Qiao WuXing and the others didn't come. Though it was quite a shame, but there was no helping it.
Shi BuYong didn't beat around the bush and directly informed them of his intentions. Unsurprisingly, it had something to do with the TongTian Palace competition. He was more or less here to tell them that You XiaoMo was to enter the competition as a student of the XiaoYao Institution. It wasn't a request.
Though the XiaoYao Institution was rather lax with its students and didn't restrict their freedom, but it wasn't a place you could just leave as you wished.
You XiaoMo knew that he couldn't get on the XiaoYao's Institution's blacklist. After all, the XiaoYao Institution had given him a place to stay and grow, and his ID still had some unused points. It would be a shame to waste it. After a moment of hesitation, he agreed. It wasn't like he wasn't going back. Getting a grasp of the situation first was a good idea.
Leaving DongYu, they all returned to the town.
Fu CangQiong was delighted to see that You XiaoMo's strength had already reached grade four. By now, the ingredients required for the Samsara pill had been gathered, and just in case, he had gathered five complete sets. Unfortunately, the situation wasn't looking good, and three sets had been used already.
You XiaoMo had already handed the Samsara pill recipe to Fu CangQiong. To get the Samsara pill refined as soon as possible to heal his youngest disciple, Fu CangQiong had asked a grade six mage of the Cang Alliance to help. Yet he had failed thrice.
The lost pill recipes of ancient times were very different from the pill recipes now. They had very high requirements regarding the mage's soul power, and would reject those that didn't meet the requirements, so it was easy to fail. If there wasn't a large supply of magic herbs to use, then it wouldn't be easy at all to refine a Samsara pill.
With no other option, Fu CangQiong could only place all his hopes on You XiaoMo and hope that he would become a grade six mage soon.
You XiaoMo wasn't worried about the materials needed, he had already obtained plenty of the seeds of the materials for the Samsara pill. There were more than enough for their use, and now all he had to do was improve his strength.
Then You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao parted ways with the Cang Alliance in town.They didn't plan on returning to the South Continent. You JunQi didn't want to part from his son, so he refused to leave with the Cang Alliance no matter what. So You XiaoMo had no choice but to let him stay.
"My dear son, where are we going next?" You JunQi fluttered his eyelashes at You XiaoMo.
You XiaoMo looked towards Ling Xiao, seeking his opinion.
Ling Xiao rubbed his smooth chin, contemplating for a while. "XiJing, we'll live in XiJing for now."
You XiaoMo didn't hesitate to agree because he was thinking of XiJing as well.
Only You JunQi was rather depressed. XiJing was demon beast territory, what were they two humans going there for? Plus, XiJing was a very chaotic place, and there were many ancient mountain ranges and forests. More importantly, they'd have to build a house themselves over there.
Before leaving, You XiaoMo put his dad into the dimension to keep Fu ZiLin company. Before, when the XiShui Tribe had left, You XiaoMo had asked after his second shixiong's plans because his eldest shixiong was still over there. However, his second shixiong said that he intended to stay with You XiaoMo for now, so he just had uncle inform his eldest shixiong that they were safe.
Fu ZiLin saw You XiaoMo as family. Since they had managed to meet after all this time in the higher plane, there was no way he'd let You XiaoMo leave so easily. Otherwise, who knew when they'd see each other again, and his eldest shixiong would definitely be angry at him if he returned.
With teleportation talismans, it didn't take them long to arrive at XiJing.
That unique fresh scent welcomed them, calming their hearts, even though XiJing wasn't the most peaceful of places right now.
The two didn't dawdle, hurrying back to Ghost Tomb Mountain Range.
Ling Xiao planned to stay at Ghost Tomb Mountain Range. Though the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range was a dangerous place, the TianGou were great neighbours and You XiaoMo's demon beasts were there right now. Most importantly though, the XiJing was in complete chaos, so it would be hard to find a quiet, undisturbed place, and communicating with the outside world would be hard as well, so the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range was the best place to go.
You XiaoMo thought that this was just Ling Xiao's excuse, The real reason was because of the comprehensive information network that the TianGou had. They could just ask TianDao for anything they wanted to know, meaning that they didn't have to go and gather information themselves.
When he asked Ling Xiao, the other gave him a very direct answer – yes! If there were people they could use and they didn't use them then that was dumb.
The newly built White Bone Town was far cleaner than when they had visited last time, and many of the buildings had been reconstructed. Some inns were no longer built from wood anymore either. They had built two or three floors out of mud, seemingly no longer worried that TianGou's battle-thirsty members would end up fighting here. It was just good that the streets hadn't changed.
You XiaoMo managed to guide them to the inn they had lived in when they came here before. Unsurprisingly, this inn hadn't been affected by what had happened, but the inn had been completely revamped. Everything old had been replaced with the brand new, the walls, the supporting pillars, the stairs all had a new player of red paint. Everything looked completely new.
"Please, gentlemen, come inside!" The person manning the counter immediately came over upon seeing them, his smile attentive but not annoying.
You XiaoMo asked, "Where's your boss?"
"Please wait a moment, the boss is in the kitchen. I'll get him immediately." The man was only surprised for a moment before he cleared his expression and ran off.
The one who owned the inn was called Boss Wang, and he immediately remembered You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao upon seeing them because You XiaoMo had given him a magic pill that saved his life before. The town had been attacked by demon beasts from the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range a while back, and he had survived thanks to that magic pill.
Boss Wang arrived in front of the two with delighted surprise. "Aiya, it's you two gentlemen, please, please come in…"
"There's no need for that, Boss Wang, it's fine, we aren't here to rent a room. Mainly, we were wondering if we could make a deal. Do you remember the quarter kilogram of tea you gave us last time? Do you have anymore? If you do, we're willing to buy it from you." You XiaoMo hurriedly stopped the other's excessive enthusiasm, immediately telling him their intentions in coming here. It was because they had used up all their tea leaves, and Ling Xiao remembered that it was Boss Wang from this inn that had given them the tea last time, so they had come to this inn.
Boss Wang was stunned for a moment before snapping back to the present. Especially that last sentence, he was immediately reminded of the level ten life crystal. This gentleman was very generous, so perhaps he could look forwards to what they had to offer. Boss Wang had them wait and then went to get the quarter kilogram of tea leaves he had kept, treasured, in his room. Thinking of how much they seemed to enjoy drinking tea, they might like other kinds of tea leaves, so he took out all the tea leaves he had collected and stashed in the cellar. There were a total of six kinds.
He returned to the lobby in fifteen minutes.
Mortal delicacies like tea leaves weren't worth many spirit gems. This time, You XiaoMo didn't give him a level ten life crystal. Seeing that his cultivation level was emperor level, he gave him a level nine magic pill that would help him improve his cultivation level.
Boss Wang naturally didn't dare to ask for the same returns as what he had gotten last time. This one level nine magic pill was enough to have him delighted into rambling, bowing, thanking the two generous gentlemen profusely.
"I'm surprised at Hua Gu's ability. She's managed to turn White Bone Town into her own territory," You XiaoMo expressed. He had been talking with Boss Wang just now and that was where he found out that White Bone Town's changes weren't because the townspeople had realized that they should do something about everything, but because of Hua Gu.
Before, Hua Gu had arrived after they left. After arriving, she was taken under TianDao's wing and that's where she found out that TianGou was actually spending more spirit gems than they were earning. Then, she thought of White Bone Town.
White Bone Town was the only town in the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range, which meant that a lot of people would pass through White Bone Town. This was an optimal business opportunity. Hua Gu realized that she could use the town to earn spirit gems. Though it wouldn't be much, it would at least cover the losses TianGou was making.
Afterwards, TianDao felt that Hua Gu's suggestion could work and agreed to it, thus the older parts of town had been rebuilt, and a tall, thick wall had been built around the town, preventing the demon beasts from the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range from attacking the town again. This way, the townspeople had an extra layer of protection, and they agreed to cooperate.
Before, You XiaoMo had thought that TianGou was rich. After seeing Weeping Ghost Shore, he really thought that they were covering their finances just fine, yet it was all kitsch.
After entering the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range, You XiaoMo took out the map Boss Wang had given him before. Though they planned to become neighbours with TianGou, they didn't plan on becoming next door neighbours. After looking over the map, they settled on the area behind Cartilage Mountain.
Cartilage Mountain was the place PiQiu and co had been sent to to train by Ling Gu, but there was a large valley behind it, surrounding the area, making it easy to defend.
Originally, he was considering other areas, but because of the natural defenses, anyone who wanted to enter the valley would have to go through Cartilage Mountain. Thus, they chose this area.
As for their dwelling, Ling Xiao took out the White Tiger's palace. The palace had recognized him as its owner already, so apart from him, no one could take the palace. In addition, there were natural seals on the outside of the palace, so even if anyone intruded, they'd have to get through the seals first.
Seeing this, You JunQi's jaw dropped onto the ground.