Quadruple split.

Chapter 2966 There is a demonic aura

Game time: 04:27 AM
Blood Barbarian Region, outer perimeter of Bloodfeather Plateau

"Demonic aura..."

The man, who was sitting cross-legged on the low slope, slightly opened his eyes, casually made a hand gesture, and summoned a ball of milky white flame. He then stared intently at the 'pure fire', watching as the flame gradually became stained with an ominous gray.

"wrong."

He stood up, casually took out a Bagua compass, fiddled with it a few times, then shook his head, muttering to himself, "The Kan Palace's water level is low, and the Li Palace's fire energy is flowing back. This is clearly an ominous sign of an earth dragon turning over and the energy field tearing apart. It's extremely ominous, no doubt about it, but I've already used my senses to probe within a ten-mile radius, and there's not a trace of demonic energy or evil spirits. Could this be a pure collapse of the earth's veins? If there's no external force, these veins will sever themselves, I'm afraid..."

The man took a deep breath, gazing worriedly at the gloomy clouds in the distance, his gaze gradually sharpening—

"Within three days, there will surely be a catastrophe of landslides and earthquakes. This is not the work of demons and evil spirits, but a calamity of heaven and earth itself."

After saying that, the man casually drew a peach wood sword, waved it in mid-air, and shattered the ball of flame in front of him, which was already approaching pitch black.

[The demonic star is nowhere to be seen, the Ghost Constellation is without light; there is no demonic aura, no ghostly aura, not even any demonic energy can be detected. If this isn't a natural disaster... then it can only be a man-made catastrophe.]

As Bai Mo pondered this, he sheathed his peach wood sword and anxiously stroked his chin.

That's right, this man, who is about 185 centimeters tall, looks to be only 23 or 24 years old but has a rather mature demeanor, and has a Tai Chi topknot, is none other than Bai Mo, who previously caused Gu Xiaole a very small amount of trouble in the [Debate on Guilt] and has the profession of [Feng Shui Master].

The man, with delicate features, wearing a white jade-patterned and gold-embroidered Hanfu with sky-blue bud trim, and a sturdy build, was frowning. He muttered incomprehensible words as he spun around in circles until his companion bit his head, bringing him to a stop.

"Changbai".

With his entire head inside the cat's mouth, Bai Mo sighed helplessly and said earnestly, "Let go."

"Meow."

The creature, with its two paws resting on Bai Mo's shoulders, small collarbones, short muzzle, round eyes, thick neck, short limbs, and several spherical paw pads, looked every bit the beautiful silver shaded tabby cat. However, its size was completely different from that of other cats—a ferocious beast almost the size of a tiger. It let out a muffled cry and continued biting.

"...Changbai".

Bai Mo sighed, slapped the large hand on his shoulder hard, and said in a serious tone, "Let go quickly, I'm thinking about something, I don't have time to fool around with you."

"Meow!"

The car called Changbai... let's just call it a cat for now, just shook its head and completely ignored its increasingly annoyed owner.

"I've counted to—"

Bai Mo took a deep breath, grabbed the cat's right paw that was resting on his shoulder with both hands, and executed a magnificent over-the-shoulder throw, flipping the cat, which weighed 120 kilograms, to the ground. He then said slowly, "Three!"

"Meow!"

Changbai, who had been brutally knocked down, licked its paws with a wronged expression, then opened its mouth and yelled at Bai Mo: "Ha—!"

It was as if they were complaining about why the other person hadn't honestly counted from one to three.

"I've already given you two chances."

Bai Mo looked at the beast in front of him expressionlessly and said calmly, "So that was 'three' just now, that's right."

Changbai: "Ha—!!!"

Bai Mo remained expressionless as he looked at the cat in front of him, his tone calm and even: "If you breathe on me again, you won't get any food today."

"Meow~~~"

The next second, the mud-headed cat, which had just been arching its back and full of aggression... I mean, immediately scurried to Bai Mo's side, rubbing its head against the latter's arm, making the gentlest meows, and acting cute and spoiled, as if the guy in front of it was not only its owner, but a high-quality catnip.

It's worth mentioning that Bai Mo spent a long time searching for something that could replace 'catnip' for Chang Bai. In the end, he bought 'Tangmu Grass,' a specialty of the Realm of Innocence, from the [Green Apple Merchant Guild], which had the exact same effect. However, he later discovered that this stuff was very ineffective for Chang Bai and was not even as tempting as a sesame seed cake.

Clearly, either the cat isn't interested in catnip, or there's something wrong with the catnip itself.

As a seasoned pet owner with years of experience cleaning up cat litter, Bai Mo simply couldn't understand the possibility that catnip couldn't sway a cat. So, he stormed off to a branch of the Green Apple Merchant Guild and watched as the clerk took the secondhand catnip he handed over and, in less than two seconds, knocked out an innocent catgirl half-beastman who was passing by.

In the end, the Green Apple Merchant Guild compensated the catgirl with half a pound of well-sealed 'Tangmu Grass' so she could go home and enjoy herself, and then refunded Bai Mo in full.

In fact, after realizing that it wasn't the catnip that was the problem, but rather that Changbai's strength far exceeded his desires, Bai Mo had given up on causing trouble. He even apologized to the shop assistant with a sense of guilt. Even so, the shop assistant still refunded Bai Mo in full in the name of the Chamber of Commerce and then gave him some cat food with the flavor of cod.

To be honest, cat food completely won over Changbai Mountain.

Unfortunately, the cat food the shop assistant gave us was just a sample. Although it was enough for a normal cat-orc for one meal, it was clearly a drop in the bucket for Changbai, who was still growing.

So, after finishing its cat food, Changbai widened its big, watery eyes and started to fawn over Baimo.

The shop assistant quietly brought out a super deluxe, extra-large "All-You-Can-Eat Gift Box". In addition to the "Flavored Cod" flavored cat food, it also contained several other flavors such as "Chocolate Hazelnut", "Sweet Honey", and "Rich Chicken Breast". The quantity was also very large, enough to feed even a dump truck.

But—this bag is chargeable!

Bags are charged separately!
TOLL!

费！
Thus, Bai Mo found himself in a dilemma. In the end, amidst Chang Bai's coquettish pleas, the shop assistant's sales pitches, and the accusations of passersby, he reluctantly pulled out a full two hundred gold coins to buy the gift box, thus going bankrupt.

The reason is simple: Bai Mo believes that money is just an external thing. Even if he is not usually short of money, if he does too many acts of bravery, charity, and helping the poor, he will inevitably run out of money.

But being short of money is a matter for the purse, a matter for Bai Mo, and certainly not a matter for Chang Bai.

After all, what bad intentions could a kitten possibly have?
So Changbai happily ate up the "All-You-Can-Eat Gift Box" that Baimo had spent all his money on in just five minutes.

All that remained was a satisfied meow!
In conclusion, Changbai is a cat with a refined and unique spirit, free from vulgar tastes; it is a good cat.

At most, it's just a bit bigger and eats more, but that's not the cat's fault, so the cat is still a good cat.

As for why Changbai is a giant cat that doesn't exist in the world of "The Realm of Innocence", the reason is quite simple: its existence is similar to the group of shikigami under Gu Xiaole's command, led by Inu-giri and Kamaitachi. They were all created by the summoner through his personal abilities.

This is not unusual. After all, there are all sorts of strange and unusual professions in the [Innocent Realm]. In this world view with a considerable proportion of mysticism, where even basic elements can become sentient, let alone a cat, you can even create a cat car.

As a rising star among the marginalized young generation in reality, Bai Mo may not be as extraordinary as Gu Xiaole, but his talent is definitely no less than that of the likes of Shuxiang. However, the latter is unlucky. Although he is serious and hardworking enough in the game, he was killed by the nameless beauty YOYO just when he was about to do something.

Bai Mo, on the other hand, played the game in a more relaxed way. After all, he was simply enjoying this groundbreaking game. So, while he was almost mentally exhausted from slaying demons and exorcising ghosts in real life (because he still had to go to work), he still had a rather laid-back attitude in the [Innocent Realm].

But as the saying goes, gold shines wherever it is. Even though Bai Mo played rather casually and didn't even make it into the leaderboard, his personal strength was still at the level of a T1 player. If you add his various strengths that are difficult to quantify with data, he could definitely go further in the [Debate on Inquiry] if he didn't encounter Gu Xiaole.

Of course, even though he was eliminated by Gu Xiaole early on, Bai Mo took it all in stride and didn't feel any emotional turmoil.

At least that's how it appears on the surface...

As for the surface, it must be said that, perhaps due to his profession, although Bai Mo considers himself an internationalist, he still feels resentful about his defeat at the hands of Gu Xiaole because of Gu Xiaole's nationality. Especially when the strength of marginalized people in China is extremely high, far exceeding that of Western demon hunters and Japanese onmyoji, Bai Mo feels even more uncomfortable when he realizes that the other party is also an "abnormal person".

What made Bai Mo even more uneasy was that, if he was right, Gu Xiaole's strength outside the game was probably also stronger than his own.

And it's not just a little bit stronger, but a dominant strength compared to itself.

In plain terms, after sensing Gu Xiaole's effortless ease during their battle, Bai Mo immediately realized that Gu Xiaole's real-world skill level was probably on par with the 'Epic Rank' in the concept of the [Innocent Realm]. While Bai Mo himself was stronger in reality than his character in the game, he had not yet overcome that not-so-easy 'hurdle'.

So he was furious, extremely furious. So furious that after grading the National Day homework, he gave the students two days' worth of homework and demanded that those little rascals finish it within two days.

At first glance, there seems to be no problem, but the problem is that those two days were Saturday and Sunday.

Moreover, Bai Mo's attitude towards the game in "The Realm of Innocence" has also changed, becoming more serious and ambitious.

Besides being a bit of a challenge to himself, Bai Mo had another reason for his efforts: he suddenly realized that although for most players, the characters in the game and the players themselves are completely different things, the situation was a little different for special groups like himself and Gu Xiaole.

It's important to know that both Gu Xiaole's Yin-Yang techniques and Bai Mo's Bagua Yi techniques were perfectly incorporated into the game through their 'talents,' even unlocking professions and combat systems that matched their real-life styles. As a powerful individual with 'epic' strength in reality, Gu Xiaole's efforts in the game would be twice as effective.

If that's the case... what about the reverse?
For example, if someone brings their skills from outside the game into the game, and then works hard and hones their skills in the game, will the results of their efforts be reflected back outside the game?

Bai Mo didn't know the answer to this question, but he felt that this path was worth trying.

So he began to work on making himself stronger, venturing into all sorts of remote and strange places, striving to make rapid progress under the heavy pressure of survival without disturbing others in the game world.

This alternative approach isn't actually complicated, but among all the 'abnormal individuals' who have fallen into the trap of the [Innocent Realm], only Bai Mo has put it into practice most decisively.

And the results are gratifying—

If Bai Mo were to fight Gu Xiaole again at this moment, although his chances of winning would still be slim, at least the latter wouldn't dare to casually release the Samurai Spirits to combine and play.

The reason is simple: if Samurai Spirits cannot resolve the battle in a short time, Gu Xiaole is very likely to die from being subjected to prolonged and extremely brutal control of his body.

Even so, Bai Mo still did not appear on the individual combat power ranking. This is not because he is not good, but because the profession of [Feng Shui Master] is very dependent on the surrounding environment, both inside and outside the game.

Unlike the necromancer, who can only have fun in the small, comfort zone of the Great Cemetery, Bai Mo, as a feng shui master, can draw upon power in almost any environment and turn it into an advantage by combining it with his Bagua and Yi arts.

Moreover, after Bai Mo's strength was infinitely close to that of a half-step epic, he was even able to 'adjust' the surrounding environment and feng shui.

For example, if he were to fight enemies like Yi Dong, Wen Qiu, and Gu Xiaole, Bai Mo would immediately reverse the surrounding feng shui by erecting a fire-shaped tower and a red flagpole opposite the Taiyin position (corresponding to the Kan position in the due north), burying a Li trigram symbol drawn in cinnabar in a dead corner of the battle area with the symbol facing upwards, and placing a red brick that had been exposed to the scorching sun on top of it. He would then use this momentum to cast two Thunder Heaven Great Strength hexagrams or Ze Heaven Guai hexagrams to greatly weaken these evil spirits!

...and then get killed.

In short, he relied too much on the environment, so he never received a high evaluation from the system, and his performance in skirmishes was also largely dependent on luck.

Thus, the beast tamer [Changbai] came into being.

Chapter 2957: The End

(End of this chapter)