Chapter 71: Seeking

Chen Mo held a small scraper in his hand, carefully rubbing it against the piece of Living Meat, and soon scraped off some extremely fine powder.

He used rice paper to carefully collect the powder, then forcibly fed it to a sparrow he had just caught nearby.

Since he could not be sure whether swallowing the Living Meat would be harmful, he would first use something to test it, and only after confirming there was no danger would he make an attempt himself.

The sparrow struggled continuously, yet it was helpless; as the powder was gradually poured in, it instead became quiet.

Chen Mo observed with extreme caution, a blue brick already in his hand; if there was anything wrong with this sparrow, he would directly smash it into a pulp of flesh.

The sparrow's body temperature rose significantly, and the whole bird became feverish, but there was nothing else wrong, and it still stayed quiet.

After another moment, Chen Mo could clearly perceive that it was no longer feverish and had recovered its previous liveliness, only its strength in struggling was clearly much greater than before.

After observing again and again and confirming that this sparrow had no major problems, Chen Mo then strangled it to ensure there were no hidden dangers.

Immediately, he took out a small knife and began to carefully cut the piece of Living Meat.

Although he could confirm that the sparrow was fine after eating this Living Meat, there should not be any major problems if he swallowed it now.

Yet Chen Mo still dared not swallow too much at once, preparing to try a little bit first.

He cut off a slice of Living Meat and put it into his mouth; the Living Meat was fragrant but had no taste, melting upon entry and sliding directly down his throat into his stomach.

This was a stream of incomparably pure Qi and Blood power, which almost instantly surged entirely into the Transformation Pearl.

The accumulation of Qi and Blood within the Transformation Pearl also rose by a visible margin; Chen Mo had now undergone three Mortal Transformations, and the amount of Qi and Blood required for the next Mortal Transformation was not a small number.

However, that this single slice of Living Meat could have such an effect was, he had to admit, quite unexpected.

In itself, he was now locking his body's essence and energy, which had already greatly accelerated the speed of his own Qi and Blood accumulation, and added to this was the Qi and Blood power brought to him by this piece of Living Meat.

Chen Mo estimated that in another three or four months, he would be able to undergo his next Mortal Transformation.

This piece of Living Meat saved him at least three months of cultivation time.

From this, one could also see that although that strange deer could not match the Blood Monkey in a head-on fight, its true strength, or rather the amount of Qi and Blood it could provide, was still far above the Blood Monkey.

Chen Mo quickly divided the piece of Living Meat into several pieces, then picked them up and swallowed them down his throat; wave after wave of Qi and Blood power surged into the Transformation Pearl.

If it were anyone else, even a powerful Martial Artist, they could not do as Chen Mo did.

The Qi and Blood power contained within the Living Meat was quite abundant, and absorbing and extracting it required time; devouring it wantonly would only waste the effect.

Chen Mo had the Transformation Pearl on his person, so he did not need to worry about this problem at all.

No matter how much Qi and Blood power came, he could turn it into his own resources, providing help for himself to become stronger.

A palm-sized piece of Living Meat was swallowed into his stomach in seven or eight bites.

All the Qi and Blood power was not wasted in the slightest and was all channeled into the Transformation Pearl.

The Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist cultivates the Qi and Blood power of a Martial Artist; as Chen Mo continued to deepen his practice, his control over his own Qi and Blood naturally became increasingly proficient.

Chen Mo was now deliberately controlling his own Qi and Blood, not refining or absorbing this Qi and Blood power, precisely to let the Transformation Pearl accumulate Qi and Blood faster, so as to allow himself to undergo a further Mortal Transformation.

After finishing the Living Meat, Chen Mo jumped lightly into the courtyard through the window he had opened earlier; without turning on the Blood Qi Eye, the moon still cast its cold moonlight.

Quietly walking out of his own courtyard and crossing two streets, Chen Mo avoided the night watchman on the street and arrived in front of a dilapidated residence.

This was the residence of that Wang Dahu; for many years, not only had no one lived there, but no one had even entered it again.

The courtyard had accumulated a thick layer of fallen leaves and fly ash; the well to the side was pressed down by a heavy stone slab, and because it had not been maintained for many years, many of the blue tiles on the roof had long since broken.

The courtyard was filled with countless birds or insects that had brought their families to settle here.

Chen Mo turned on the Blood Qi Eye and cautiously observed the surroundings; although this residence had been uninhabited for many years, the night watchman beating the gong still often passed by outside, so the moonlight within the residence was still bright.

The door to the main hall was old and rotten, and even the original lock on the door did not know who had taken it away long ago.

Pushing the door open and walking into the hall to observe carefully, no matter how he looked, he could not see anything unusual.

The haunting seemed to be just a rumor; he did not find anything wrong here, his gaze sweeping over a floor tile in the bedroom.

Chen Mo narrowed his eyes slightly, hurried forward to lift the floor tile, and buried underneath was a ten-tael piece of Official Silver.

Perhaps because it had been buried underground for many years, the Official Silver was not bright and appeared very dull.

Chen Mo lifted another stone slab next to this blue stone slab, and inside there was indeed another ingot of Official Silver.

Could this silver have been secretly left behind by that Wang Dahu, only he had drowned alive in a water basin before he had time to tell anyone about this money?

And after that, several more Wang family members died in succession, and the remaining people did not dare to live in this courtyard anymore and all moved away in a hurry.

Moreover, Chen Mo had also heard that ever since the people of Wang Dahu's family moved away, it was not that no outside merchants wanted to live in this courtyard at the beginning.

But everyone who came to this courtyard had extremely terrifying nightmares; even if they did not live here, just entering this place, they would have nightmares after returning home.

Since then, no one had dared to easily come into this courtyard.

Therefore, this silver buried under the blue stone slab had never been discovered by anyone.

Until he came, because he could see more clearly with the Blood Qi Eye, and due to years of wind and rain, the blue stone slab had rotted and broken, which was how a glimmer of silver light was revealed for him to see.

This was a relatively reasonable explanation, because this kind of thing was not uncommon in this world.

A poor boy buys an uninhabited, dilapidated residence or saline-alkali land, only to find treasures left by someone unknown buried in the residence or the ground.

This type of legend, in this world, Chen Mo had heard at least eighty if not a hundred.

After searching through other places in the courtyard, Chen Mo found a total of ten ingots of Official Silver, a full one hundred taels of silver; this was not a small amount.

Although he earned a lot now, he also spent a lot, having to go to the pharmacy every day to get a large amount of precious medicinal herbs that supplement Qi and Blood to eat.

It was truly eating; with his physical body, there was no need to waste time boiling them into medicinal soup to drink, he could just eat them directly.

And precious medicinal herbs were not cheap; Chen Mo had to spend nearly a hundred taels of silver a month just on medicine, not to mention other daily expenses such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

Therefore, even though he earned a lot now, he actually had not saved much money on hand.

Having this unexpected windfall of one hundred taels of silver could be considered quite good.

As for whether he would also have nightmares or see the female ghost who jumped into the well after taking this one hundred taels of silver or entering this residence,

Chen Mo was not worried about this at all, and was even vaguely looking forward to it.

He really wanted to see if there were any ghosts in this world like those in storybooks—those who died with hatred, had heavy resentment, were elusive, could possess human bodies, and absorb the Yang energy of men.

And not like the Blood Monkey, the strange deer, or the human-skin lantern, those kinds of creatures that looked eerie no matter how one looked at them.

If this female ghost truly exists, then judging by the rumors, she is definitely not considered evil.

She has only killed members of the Wang family, and as for outsiders who want to disturb her peace, she basically just scares them.

If he could establish contact with her, then perhaps he could further understand the situation of this world through her.

Of course, the premise for all of this is that she must exist; if she does not exist, then it can only mean that everything that happened before was just rumors.

This world does not have the kind of ghosts he imagined, only one eerie creature after another.

Carrying the silver home, Chen Mo slept peacefully; he did not notice anything unusual throughout the night.

The next day, Chen Mo took a one-hundred-tael silver note, along with the letter he had written earlier, and had He Luoyun send them to his foster father.

Forging weapons and armor different from the military style both require money, and he could not let his foster father pay for this himself.

Admittedly, even if he gave the money over, the old man would likely not want it, but he could choose not to take it, while Chen Mo absolutely could not pretend not to know about this matter and fail to provide it.

After sending the letter, Chen Mo's days became peaceful again; he had no plans to go explore the Grey Mist in the short term, and the female ghost he had been waiting for never came.

Such peaceful days continued for over a month, and the armor and weapons Chen Mo had asked his foster father to help forge finally arrived, and the person who came to deliver them in person was none other than Mo Hu, who had just attained the rank of provincial graduate and was on his way to take up his post.

(End of chapter)