The Azure Cloud Sect's Outer Scrapyard was not just a dump; it was a sprawling, desolate canyon covering several acres, hidden behind a minor illusion array to keep its foul stench from reaching the main pavilions.
For centuries, the sect's millions of disciples and thousands of alchemists had treated this canyon as their personal garbage bin. It was divided into three massive, mountainous zones: The Ash Dunes, the Rust Peaks, and the Rotting Gardens. Disciples usually considered being assigned guard duty here a severe punishment, second only to the Slag Valley.
Fortunately for Lin Mo, the single elderly disciple assigned to guard the entrance was fast asleep, snoring loudly beside an empty jug of cheap mortal wine.
Lin Mo slipped past the wooden gate like a phantom, his grey robes blending into the darkness. As he stepped into the canyon, the combined stench of rotting spirit herbs, toxic alchemical runoff, and oxidized metal hit him like a physical blow. Normal cultivators would need to circulate their Qi just to keep from vomiting.
But as Lin Mo inhaled, the invisible black cauldron in his Sea of Consciousness hummed to life. A faint, pure aura radiated from his mind, instantly neutralizing the toxic miasma before it could touch his lungs.
He was immune.
Lin Mo's golden eyes scanned the towering mountains of garbage beneath the pale moonlight. His heart hammered wildly against his ribs. To everyone else, this was a monument to failure. To him, it was a treasury of unimaginable proportions, waiting to be claimed.
He headed straight for the Ash Dunes—the dumping ground for the Alchemy Pavilion.
Here, failed pills, scorched medicinal dregs, and toxic sludge formed literal hills. He climbed halfway up a dune that smelled strongly of sulfur and burnt blood-ginseng. He knelt down, plunging his bare hands directly into the dark, foul-smelling sludge.
Instantly, the black cauldron vibrated with violent enthusiasm. A string of icy, mechanical prompts flooded his mind, lighting up his vision:
[Target locked: Massive deposit of Low-Grade Pill Sludge. Estimated weight: 800 lbs.] [Analysis: Contains 1.5% residual spiritual energy from various low-tier herbs. 98.5% lethal fire-toxins and heavy metals.] [Initiating area-of-effect purification and synthesis... Cost: None.]
A faint, invisible vortex formed at Lin Mo's palms, expanding outward like a ripple in a pond.
The reaction was instantaneous. The dark, wet sludge within a ten-foot radius began to rapidly dry up, its toxic moisture and impurities vaporizing into useless, odorless grey dust that blew away in the night wind. The residual, microscopic traces of spiritual energy were violently extracted and sucked toward Lin Mo's hands.
Plop. Plop. Plop.
Seconds later, the cauldron spat the refined essence back into reality. A handful of perfectly round, glowing blue pills cascaded into Lin Mo's open palms, completely illuminating his face with a sapphire hue.
[Purification Complete. Impurities removed: 100%.]
[Acquired: 25x Perfect Grade Qi-Gathering Pills.]
Lin Mo inhaled sharply, his hands trembling slightly as he held the small fortune.
"Twenty-five Perfect Grade pills... in ten seconds," he muttered, his voice hoarse with disbelief.
In the Outer Sect, a single standard Qi-Gathering Pill cost ten low-grade spirit stones. A disciple had to work for months to afford just one. But those standard pills were fraught with impurities—they were 'Low-Grade' or 'Mid-Grade' at best. Taking too many would clog a cultivator's meridians with 'pill toxicity,' eventually destroying their foundation.
A Perfect Grade pill, however, had zero impurities. It was a flawless conduit of heaven and earth's energy. There was no market price for it in the Outer Sect because it simply didn't exist here. Even Inner Sect Elders would auction off entire estates for a bottle of them.
And Lin Mo had just manufactured twenty-five of them from literal sewage.
Without hesitating, he tossed five of the glowing blue pills directly into his mouth, chewing them like cheap candy. The pure energy exploded in his stomach, nourishing his newly expanded meridians and pushing his cultivation base firmly toward the peak of the Third Level of Qi Condensation.
He carefully stored the remaining twenty pills in an empty jade bottle, securing it in his storage pouch.
"More," Lin Mo whispered, his eyes burning with an obsessive fire. "I need more."
For the next hour, he moved like a starved ghost through the Ash Dunes, plunging his hands into pile after pile of alchemical waste.
[Acquired: 40x Perfect Grade Qi-Gathering Pills.]
[Acquired: 15x Supreme Blood-Clotting Pills.]
[Acquired: 5x Perfect Grade Spirit-Cleansing Pills.]
By the time he was done, his storage pouch clinked heavily. He possessed more liquid wealth in pills than the entire Outer Sect Treasury.
But pills were only half the equation for a cultivator. He needed a weapon. His bare fists and the Dragon-Elephant Strength were formidable, but relying solely on brute force against a skilled sword cultivator was foolish.
Lin Mo turned his attention to the Rust Peaks—the Forging Pavilion's graveyard.
Millions of shattered iron swords, melted armor plates, and rusted spearheads formed jagged mountains of metal. He walked over to a massive pile of discarded blades. Most were basic mortal iron, ruined during the inscription process.
He placed both hands on the tangled mess of rusted steel.
[Target locked: 500 Shattered Low-Grade Iron Swords.] [Analysis: 99% ordinary iron. Contains trace amounts of Star-patterned Steel and Deep Sea Cold Iron.] [Extracting trace elements. Initiating forced mutation and synthesis... 100% Success Rate Guaranteed.]
The pile of metal groaned loudly. Red-hot, spectral flames erupted from Lin Mo's palms, completely engulfing the rusted swords. The ordinary iron melted into slag and dripped away, leaving behind tiny, glowing specks of pure, precious metals.
In his Sea of Consciousness, the black cauldron spun furiously, acting as a divine hammer. It smashed the extracted Star-patterned Steel and Deep Sea Cold Iron together, folding them thousands of times in the blink of an eye.
The spectral flames faded.
In Lin Mo's right hand, a new weapon materialized. It wasn't a sword, but a deadly, seven-inch dagger. It was completely translucent, resembling a shard of dark ice, but the core of the blade sparkled with countless tiny, silver dots, like a galaxy trapped in glass.
[Mutation Complete.]
[Acquired: Starfall Dagger (Mid-Grade Spirit Weapon).]
[Passive Effect: Armor Piercing. Applies an extreme freezing effect to the wound upon contact.]
Lin Mo weighed the dagger in his hand. It was incredibly light, yet perfectly balanced.
"A Mid-Grade Spirit Weapon," he breathed. Young Master Zhao, the most arrogant disciple in the outer sect, wielded a Low-Grade Spirit Sword, and he paraded it around as if it were an artifact bestowed by the gods.
Lin Mo looked down at a massive, rusted iron shield half-buried in the dirt next to him. It was two inches thick.
Without infusing any spiritual energy, Lin Mo simply dropped the Starfall Dagger onto the shield point-first.
Shhhink.
The dagger sank into the thick iron as if it were warm butter, burying itself up to the hilt without the slightest resistance. A layer of white frost immediately spread from the puncture wound, making the surrounding iron brittle.
Lin Mo pulled the dagger out with a satisfied smile. If he stabbed Zhao Feng with this, the boy's Qi-infused defensive robes would offer no more protection than a sheet of wet paper.
He slipped the dagger into his sleeve, concealing it perfectly.
The eastern sky was beginning to turn a faint shade of grey. Dawn was approaching.
Lin Mo looked at his bulging storage pouch. He had over a hundred Perfect Grade pills of various types and a lethal Mid-Grade Spirit Weapon. He had transitioned from a crippled beggar to the wealthiest man in the Outer Sect in a single night.
But a chilling realization quickly sobered him.
I can't use these pills here. And I certainly can't sell them in the Sect's trading hall. If a crippled Fire Servant suddenly produced dozens of Perfect Grade pills, he wouldn't be hailed as a genius. He would be captured by the Inner Sect Elders, tortured, and dissected to reveal his secrets. In the cultivation world, harboring a treasure you couldn't protect was a death sentence.
He needed spirit stones—thousands of them—to buy proper cultivation manuals, high-tier defensive arrays, and untraceable resources. To get those stones, he needed to convert his Perfect Grade pills into cash.
And to do that safely, he needed a very convincing disguise, and a buyer wealthy enough not to ask questions.
Lin Mo turned his gaze away from the Scrapyard, looking down the mountain toward the sprawling, mortal-and-cultivator metropolis at the base of the sect: Azure Cloud City.
It was time to pay a visit to the Black Market.