Immortal Cultivation: Starting from a Pharmacy Apprentice

Chapter 322: Chapter 322: Prelude

The day of the tri-daily patrol arrived.

With several packets of medicinal powder in hand, Bai Mo re-entered the black prison.

He walked straight ahead, eyes fixed forward. The fiends in the prison clamored endlessly, but Bai Mo turned a deaf ear.

He continued to the end of the passage. After a silent headcount confirmed that all the fiends were present and that there were no disturbances, he relaxed.

Reassured, Bai Mo turned and headed back toward Xiao Lin’s cell.

To his surprise, he heard a voice halfway there—cautious, yet tinged with a fawning tone.

"Young man, young man..."

"This old man is over here!"

Bai Mo paused. He’d been here several times, but this was the first prisoner to be so polite to him.

He glanced to the side and saw a gaunt old man in a worn, gray robe.

With his photographic memory, Bai Mo matched the man’s face to the prison roster and recalled his name.

Sun Qian, a Cultivator who had reached the Nascent Soul realm through unorthodox means.

The entry for him on the roster was quite dismissive, claiming that even a skilled Core Formation Cultivator could kill him.

On his previous visits, the man had always been groggy and listless, dozing on a pile of straw in the corner.

But he was a Nascent Soul, after all—a stage countless others sought but could never attain.

"Don’t be afraid, young man. I am Sun Qian. I’ll be released in just two months, so of course I have no intention of harming you."

Bai Mo frowned. He found the man’s words baffling.

"Ridiculous. No one in the Mi Mountain black prison has ever come to a good end. How could there be a release date?"

"Heh."

The old man, Sun Qian, chuckled softly.

"You’re new here, young man, so there are some things you wouldn’t know."

"I was originally an itinerant ascetic Cultivator from the outside world. I acted in a rather uninhibited manner, often committing transgressions that ordinary people couldn’t understand."

He shook his head as he began his tale.

"By chance, I offended a passing elder of your esteemed sect, which is how I came to be imprisoned here."

"But we agreed I would only be imprisoned for two hundred and fifty years, and my sentence is up in two months."

As he said this, the Nascent Soul grand Cultivator, so disdained by others, sighed.

"With only two months left, I shouldn’t be causing trouble. But alas, the yin and yang within my body are imbalanced. I was hoping you, young man, would be kind enough to move me to a different cell."

"Somewhere closer to the entrance, so I can absorb a bit of its yang energy."

Bai Mo listened impassively until he had finished.

"I have taken over the roster and read it many times. All I saw recorded were your past deeds, Senior: swindling, deceiving, abducting, and stealing—all done without the slightest scruple."

"But I saw no mention of the two-hundred-and-fifty-year sentence you spoke of."

"What!?"

Old man Sun Qian was momentarily stunned. Staring at Bai Mo’s expression and seeing no sign of deception, his face abruptly paled.

He trembled, stumbling a few steps to the wooden bars of his cell and gripping them tightly.

"It must have been left out!"

"Your sect is a great and righteous one! Surely you wouldn’t be as despicable as the likes of me!?"

"Please, young man, have a heart! I beg you to check with your superiors. This can’t be a lie!"

In his agitation, the old man’s qi and blood surged to his head, throwing his internal energies into disarray. He clearly no longer cared about his supposed yin-yang imbalance.

Bai Mo shook his head slightly, ignoring the man’s frantic shouts as he continued on his way to Xiao Lin’s cell.

However, he did make a mental note of the matter.

The old man’s agitation did lend some credibility to his words.

The stone giant hadn’t mentioned this to him, but it would be no trouble to inquire with the Foreign Affairs Hall.

He arrived before Xiao Lin’s cell.

As a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator in a black prison teeming with Core Formation and Nascent Soul experts, Xiao Lin was naturally overwhelmed.

His spirit was gone, and his condition had worsened. Gone was his composure; with matted hair and a filthy face, he leaned against the cell wall, looking as if he were dead.

Upon hearing the clatter of chains and the creak of the cell door opening, a sharp glint flashed in Xiao Lin’s eyes. He shot to his feet and lunged at Bai Mo like a feral tiger.

"Give me back my path to Core Formation!"

Bai Mo calmly took out the medicinal powder and flung it in his face.

PFFT!

Xiao Lin, already weak, was thrown into a panic by the cloud of powder.

Then, a sharp jab to his stomach made tears stream from his eyes, and an involuntary howl escaped his lips.

With swift movements, Bai Mo flicked two Pills into his open mouth.

"Gag!"

"Bastard! What did you feed me?"

Xiao Lin dry-heaved, then glared furiously at Bai Mo.

Then, a visible panic spread across his face, and his lips began to tremble.

Strength drained from his entire body, and Xiao Lin collapsed limply to the floor.

Bai Mo was quite satisfied. He stepped forward and began massaging Xiao Lin’s acupoints to hasten the effects of the medicine.

After a few moments, Xiao Lin became as limp as a noodle, sprawled on the ground and completely unable to move.

This state could not be feigned; a person could not ordinarily become so limp.

Besides, Bai Mo could tell whether the medicine was truly working.

Dragging Xiao Lin, Bai Mo walked outside.

This drew the attention of many prisoners.

The eyes of some fiends flickered with uncertainty.

"He’s taking someone out again?"

"Has a demon nest appeared? Or a Sea Eye? How many lives will it cost this time?"

Other fiends stared at Xiao Lin with furrowed brows, confirming he was not dead.

’Usually when they take someone, there are several guards. A single jailer has never taken a prisoner out alone...’

Before long, Bai Mo brought the man outside the prison.

Ah Er was also quite surprised to see Bai Mo emerge with someone. It dropped the broom from its claws and ran over to take a look.

Hot water was already prepared in the stone house. A fire burned beneath a large wooden tub crafted from fire-resistant Spirit Wood.

Quick as a flash, Bai Mo stripped Xiao Lin bare and tossed him into the tub.

The shock of the hot water made Xiao Lin’s body tremble a few times, and he managed to regain a sliver of feeble strength.

He gritted his teeth.

"Brat, what do you think you’re doing!?"

"You’ve sealed this karmic bond! My sect has countless disciples, and they will never let you go!"

Bai Mo paid him no mind.

"I’m afraid that after your master died, your sect scattered to the winds and has long since faded into nothing."

"They were just a bunch of shortsighted villains, each with their own agenda. Did you really expect any of them to remember you?"

Xiao Lin’s rage surged, the veins on his forehead bulging.

"Just wait until I get my chance!"

Bai Mo said nothing, only shaking his head.

’That medicinal powder and those two Pills weren’t cheap.’

’Forget a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; I am confident that even a thousand-jin Demon Beast of the same cultivation level wouldn’t be able to lift a finger.’

Seeing that Xiao Lin’s burst of energy had dissipated, leaving him speechless, Bai Mo flipped his hand over and produced a case of silver needles.

He measured out the locations on Xiao Lin’s body for a moment, located the acupoints, and inserted the silver needles one by one.

In moments, over twenty long silver needles protruded from the man’s chest and back.

This was no ordinary technique. It was a form of acupuncture designed to stimulate Spiritual Qi, something Bai Mo had chanced upon while reading through his collection of books.

Xiao Lin was shocked to suddenly feel Spiritual Qi surging within him. Elation filled his heart, and a chilling killing intent surfaced in his eyes.

’I swear I will kill this vile fiend with my own hands!’

He tried to draw upon that power, but suddenly froze.

The Spiritual Qi he could once command as easily as his own limbs now merely darted about aimlessly inside his body, completely unresponsive to his will.

Bai Mo watched for a moment, observing the way Xiao Lin’s skin bulged as the Spiritual Qi slithered beneath it like a snake.

’What a peculiar trajectory. What kind of cultivation method does he practice?’

’If he hadn’t been captured, he probably could have made a great name for himself.’

The curiosity was fleeting. Bai Mo took out a silk cloth and unfolded it.

Inside lay the brownish-yellow Pill that looked like it had gone moldy.

At the sight of the seemingly spoiled Pill moving toward him, the muscles on the limp and powerless Xiao Lin’s face began to twitch uncontrollably.

But he was powerless to resist and could only watch helplessly as Bai Mo stuffed the Pill into his mouth.

Bai Mo clamped a hand over his mouth and tilted his head back, forcing Xiao Lin to swallow the Pill.

Ah Er’s eyes widened.

’It couldn’t believe someone would actually eat such a disgusting-looking Pill.’

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