The road is vague

Chapter 208 Before the Storm
Li Mo narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at Xing Dianchang and Chen Kaixuan.

"Senior Brother Chen seems to have a lot of opinions about outer disciples?"

Chen Kaixuan gave a cold laugh.

"Your hypocrisy is truly disgusting. We are already irreconcilable enemies here on Qingming Mountain, so why beat around the bush like this?"

He also looked at Li Mo, revealing undisguised contempt.

"Over the years, your Justice Society has been spreading rumors and smearing our family. Do you think I don't know? I just thought this was a battle for leadership, with both sides showing their skills and the winner taking all. Your hypocritical act in front of me is utterly despicable. Don't think that just because my father failed to advance once, your Justice Society can openly steal the fruits of victory. This matter is not over until the very last moment!"

Say it.

Chen Kai turned around and returned to the Zhenfeng Pavilion located in the Law Enforcement Hall. His position in the Zhenfeng Pavilion was second only to the Pavilion Master, and he was a man of great power and influence.

Yang Zhiman watched as Li Mo actually argued with Chen Kaixuan face to face, and his heart was filled with turmoil.

He asked himself.

Although they were both Foundation Establishment cultivators, he was merely an elite disciple of the Dharma Protection Hall, while the other party was Chief Xing of the Zhenfeng Pavilion. Their positions were worlds apart.

Furthermore.

Chen Kaixuan was a senior who had advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage decades ago. He was one of the leading figures among the Foundation Establishment cultivators of aristocratic families, while I was just a junior who had just entered this field. We rarely had the chance to meet, let alone argue with each other face to face.

This made him look at Li Mo with a hint of admiration.

It seems that this Senior Brother Li has achieved remarkable results down the mountain over the years, but I just haven't heard of it.

"Let's go."

Li Mo watched Chen Kaixuan's departing figure. This time, he fully realized the changes on the mountain. It was no longer the harmonious place it was ten years ago, and it could no longer be concealed.

"Senior Brother Li, there's no need to argue with him."

As Yang Zhiman walked, he said, "These aristocratic disciples have always looked down on us unaffiliated disciples. Their current behavior clearly shows that they sense a crisis. Although the inner sect halls on Qingming Mountain are dominated by their aristocratic disciples, the outer sect halls at the foot of the mountain belong to our Justice Society. As long as we continue to work hard, they will only become more and more irritable..."

Afterwards, Li Mo and Yang Zhiman went to the Talisman Making Hall for a long talk and exchanged ideas, from which Li Mo benefited greatly.

Furthermore, upon learning that Yang Zhiman had advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, he immediately went to the Dharma Protector Hall to apologize to Tao Ran and Zhao Huaxue, admitting that he had been misled by the Yin Qi of the Goddess Palace.

Unlike the ultimate pleasure of the Fallen Immortal Palace, it tempts one to fall into depravity.

The primordial yin energy of the Goddess Palace can make male cultivators unknowingly believe that they are close to her out of love and are willing to dedicate everything to her.

"The methods used by the sects of the Yu Kingdom are truly impossible to guard against."

After leaving the talisman-making hall, Li Mo couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions.

……

the other side.

Deep inside the alchemy hall, Wang Wenhai coughed lightly and then let out a long sigh.

"Come in, everyone."

Upon hearing this, the five people kneeling outside the door entered the room and looked at Wang Wenhai, who was sitting on the prayer mat with a look of melancholy on his face.

"Congratulations, Master, on refining the divine elixir!"

The old rascal looked at his five disciples.

The eldest of them, the second senior brother, has already advanced to the Golden Core stage and is one of the ten captains of the Dharma Protector Hall, while the youngest is the ninth disciple, Tao Ran.

"You've all come; your filial piety is truly admirable."

He sighed.

"I had already prepared myself for my passing, but in the face of life and death, my master ultimately lost. I fear that I will now implicate you all and drag you into the sect's conflicts..."

As he spoke, this old rascal, who had lived for hundreds of years, suddenly burst into tears in front of his disciples.

……

It's almost the end of December.

The Lingmu Sect's annual Foundation Establishment Stage Trade Fair was held as scheduled once again.

Jiang Feiyan also returned to her sect on this day.

So Wei Cang, Jiang Feiyan, and Li Mo, the three fellow disciples, greeted Lu Qi together and agreed to attend this year's trade fair together that evening.

After 5 PM.

The three chatted and laughed as they entered the main hall of the trade fair.

Perhaps because the Lingmu Sect has developed in recent years, Li Mo clearly felt that more and more people were participating in the trade fair.

As a result, the main hall suddenly felt a bit crowded.

Jiang Feiyan hadn't attended the trade fair for several years. After entering the main hall, he immediately showed great interest, constantly looking around.

"What are you all planning to buy? Could you check if you have any Foundation Establishment Pills?"

"Foundation Pill?"

"Senior Sister, what kind of Foundation Establishment Pill do you need?"

Wei Cang and Li Mo both showed expressions of surprise, while Jiang Feiyan looked helpless.

"Of course, it's because of Meng Xiangqiao. She has finally reached the Great Perfection of the twelfth level of Qi Refining, but unfortunately, she failed to advance after consuming a Foundation Establishment Pill. I have saved up a lot of spirit stones and plan to buy two to help her!"

Li Mo was thoughtful after hearing this.

If he remembered correctly, Meng Xiangqiao was already forty-one years old this year, and even if she forcibly established her foundation, she probably would have no hope of achieving the Great Dao.

Then Jiang Feiyan suddenly thought of something and looked at Wei Cang and Li Mo.

"When I swallowed a Foundation Establishment Pill, I naturally and smoothly established my foundation without much of a feeling. Is Foundation Establishment really that difficult? What about you?" Wei Cang sighed upon hearing this.

"Back then, I barely managed to establish my foundation after swallowing three Foundation Establishment Pills with the help of my second senior sister. So, junior sister, don't think of foundation establishment as too simple. Foundation establishment is a natural process for you, but for many people, it is an insurmountable chasm."

Li Mo had heard Wei Cang mention his second senior sister, who died from a qi deviation while practicing the "Seven Apertures Returning to Origin Technique," many times.

Noticing that Jiang Feiyan was looking at him again, Li Mo answered truthfully.

"I am naturally built."

Upon hearing this, Wei Cang was immediately taken aback.

"So, the Foundation Establishment Pill you prepared back then wasn't used at all?"

"kindness."

Wei Cang clicked his tongue in amazement, finding it hard to believe.

"Although I have heard that some disciples with outstanding talent can establish their foundation on their own without the Foundation Establishment Pill, seeing it with my own eyes and hearing about it are two different things. This is really too unbelievable."

Jiang Feiyan, however, did not find it strange.

She seemed to have become accustomed to the various miracles that Li Mo had performed, and when she looked at Li Mo, she even showed an expression of "I knew it," as if she had already guessed it in her heart.

After exchanging words, the three of them went their separate ways.

Li Mo strolled around the main hall.

However, his standards are now quite high, and he is no longer as dazzling as he used to be. Therefore, he wandered around the main hall for a long time but did not encounter anything that made his heart flutter, nor did he find Xue Tai.

He had originally planned to subtly probe him.

He stopped in surprise when he came to a stall that was selling ethereal demon cores.

"what is this?"

This was Li Mo's usual tactic: pretending to know nothing about the ethereal demon core, while secretly planning to start refining pills again tomorrow.

This stall has a total of twelve ethereal demon cores for the Qi Refining stage and three ethereal demon cores for the Foundation Establishment stage.

For Li Mo, the Transformation Pill, refined from the ethereal demon core of the Qi Refining stage, had no effect after being swallowed and refined.

Only the Creation Pill from the Foundation Establishment stage can further strengthen his dantian meridians.

He has now consumed more than thirty Qi Refining level Creation Pills and fourteen Foundation Establishment level Creation Pills. This has actually given him refining experience. Compared to the Qi Refining stage, which requires refining more than thirty Creation Pills to raise the dantian meridians to their limit, the Foundation Establishment stage only needs to refine half the number of Creation Pills to raise the dantian meridians to their own limit.

That's about sixteen or seventeen pills; you only need to swallow two or three more.

Does that mean that the higher the cultivation level, the greater the medicinal properties of the Creation Pill?
Or, according to the "Great Zhou Dream Interpretation," one refines elixirs with elixirs, progressing level by level, continuously consuming and refining them until reaching the Nascent Soul stage, at which point the transformation is complete and the limit is reached.
"This one……"

As Li Mo had expected, the middle-aged cultivator in front of him, with his stern and upright face, knew nothing about the ethereal demon core.

After some haggling, Li Mo finally managed to snag a bargain for 300 spirit stones.

Next.

Li Mo discovered another stall selling Foundation Establishment Pills, and immediately summoned Jiang Feiyan, who eventually bought them for nine hundred spirit stones.

time flies.

Just when Li Mo thought that he would be leaving the trade fair that night, he suddenly noticed a hidden scene in the corner.

This is a stall owner selling puppet parts.

A cultivator stepped forward to sell his spirit bamboo, and the stall owner was immediately delighted.

After a heated bargaining session, the stall owner finally paid spirit stones to buy the spirit bamboo that the visitor was selling.

Only after the vendor left and disappeared into the crowd did the stall owner reveal a hint of mockery, as if he had gotten a great deal. He put the spirit bamboo into his storage bag and continued selling his puppet parts.

This transaction was quite insignificant.

To Li Mo's surprise, he actually knew both of them.

The person selling puppet parts is Lü Song of the Lü family, and also a formal disciple of Lü Ci, the head of Jubaotang.

The other person who stepped forward to sell spirit bamboo was Wang Zhu!

Lü Song clearly no longer remembers Wang Zhu.

Back then, he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, backed by the Lü family and on good terms with the acting sect leader Chen Shouyi. How could he possibly remember a mere bullied and helpless gatekeeper?

But Li Mo, as another gatekeeper, had a vivid memory of this.

Wang Zhu's purpose in coming here could not simply be to sell spirit bamboo, especially at this particular time.

These spirit bamboos likely conceal some secret.

For Wang Zhu, this might be an inspirational story of revenge, but for Li Mo, it seemed to be the quiet and oppressive silence before the storm at Lingmu Sect.

And the longer the silence and repression last, the more terrifying this storm will become!
"Over the past ten years, it wasn't just me who worked hard; everyone has changed, including those high-ranking Golden Core cultivators."

In Bai'an County, no matter how big the matter is, it is a small matter for Qingming Mountain.

On Qingming Mountain, even the smallest matter is a big deal for Bai'an County.

And so on.

Li Mo's mere thirty years of experience meant that even the biggest events were insignificant matters to those who lived for hundreds of years.

But for Lu Qi to accept the mission in a time of crisis and summon Li Mo back to the sect without any explanation, even if it was a small matter, it must have been a huge deal for Li Mo.

"It seems that no amount of preparation is too much before this happens."

Li Mo couldn't help but ponder how he could improve himself in a short period of time to prepare for the upcoming crisis.

(End of this chapter)