Chapter 107: Progress

After that, whenever Mo Hua had free time, he went to Master Zhuang's Zuo Wang Pavilion to practice body techniques with Bai Zisheng.

Bai Zisheng had high comprehension; each sparring session improved his body technique slightly, but Mo Hua's progress was even faster.

At first, Bai Zisheng held the advantage, but once Mo Hua's Flowing Water Step became more refined, within twenty rounds, Bai Zisheng could hardly grab the jade pendant around Mo Hua's neck.

To extend their sparring, they changed the limit from twenty rounds to forty.

"Something's off…"

After one sparring session, Bai Zisheng frowned.

"What's off?" Mo Hua asked.

"Your body technique is… strange."

Mo Hua looked puzzled.

"It looks completely ordinary, nothing special, but it's slippery as oil—just when you think you've got hold of it, your hand brushes air and he vanishes, impossible to catch…"

"Isn't that exactly proof it's not ordinary?"

Bai Zisheng shook his head. "This body technique is fundamentally about using Qi to guide the body, but there are many such techniques—I've never seen one this troublesome."

Mo Hua didn't understand. "Isn't it just using spiritual awareness to guide Qi through certain meridians and acupoints, then pulling the body to move… how hard could that be?"

It's not hard in principle, but to control Qi with spiritual awareness with such precision—even minute detail—is not simple at all.

Bai Zisheng looked at Mo Hua again.

Mo Hua was at Qi Condensation Fifth Layer, yet his spiritual awareness was already sufficient to draw eight array lines, and Bai Zisheng had seen Mo Hua sketch arrays—his brush moved like a dragon in flight, strokes rapid, and in moments he could complete an array with six or seven lines.

Bai Zisheng froze, momentarily unsure whether the strange thing was the body technique—or Mo Hua himself…

But he didn't dwell on it; the cultivation world was vast, with countless cultivators and techniques—some cultivators naturally excelled at certain arts.

Mo Hua's body technique could match his own, even with his cultivation suppressed—Bai Zisheng was delighted.

From then on, every day he finished his lessons early and sat beneath the big locust tree, waiting for Mo Hua to come spar with him.

Suddenly one day, Bai Zisheng asked: "You learned this body technique to dodge cultivators' Dao arts?"

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded. "Besides cultivators, there are beast monsters too."

He might have to enter Great Heishan someday—the beast monsters there were far stronger than cultivators.

"Then you'd better train with beast monsters too," Bai Zisheng said, taking a bite of meat.

"Huh?" Mo Hua blinked.

Bai Zisheng said: "Beast monsters attack differently from human cultivators. You can dodge cultivators, but that doesn't mean you can dodge beast monsters."

"Oh right." Mo Hua realized.

Beast monsters are massive, with powerful bodies, sharp claws and fangs, and most walk on four limbs—their attack trajectories are completely different from cultivators'.

Moreover, some beast monsters specialize in venomous tails, spines, saliva, and jagged teeth—stranger and more treacherous.

Mo Hua scratched his head. "But I can't find any beast monsters to train with—I might get eaten if I'm not careful…"

"I was just saying," Bai Zisheng shrugged. "Just keep it in mind."

But Mo Hua took this to heart.

He weighed in his mind the probability of dying at a cultivator's hands versus being devoured by a beast monster.

He decided the latter was more likely.

Great Heishan was treacherous and unpredictable, its beast monsters fierce and cunning.

Whenever he entered Great Heishan in the future, he would face beast monsters—and their brute strength, speed, and erratic movement patterns were nothing like cultivators'.

"How do I spar with beast monsters? Should I try becoming a beast hunter?"

Mo Hua thought about it, then decided against it.

A few days later, Mo Hua was reading array books at the eatery.

He could now draw arrays with eight lines; to conserve spirit ink, he no longer drew daily, so he only read the books when free.

He couldn't go spar with Bai Zisheng every day either.

Xue Yi found out about their sparring—he'd carelessly mentioned it while excited.

Xue Yi was annoyed, thinking Bai Zisheng was frivolous and distracting Mo Hua from array studies, so she gave him more lessons.

Mo Hua went to plead with Xue Yi, saying he wanted to train body techniques, which was why Bai Zisheng sparred with him.

But Xue Yi clearly didn't believe him—she knew Mo Hua was born frail; why would he suddenly learn body techniques?

She thought he was making excuses for Bai Zisheng and said: "Good boy, I know you're looking out for the young master, but without rules, there can be no order."

After speaking with Mo Hua, Xue Yi returned and gave Bai Zisheng even more lessons.

Mo Hua could only occasionally bring Bai Zisheng snacks, as a small comfort.

Zhang Lan, who used to often wander by the eatery, suddenly became busy with something and hadn't been seen in many days.

Mo Hua found himself suddenly quieter, left only with his array books.

When Mo Hua read alone, Jiang Yi brought over a bowl of chicken soup and told him to drink it while hot.

Jiang Yi's given name was Yun; her husband's surname was Chu, and he was also a beast hunter. He once suffered severe injury hunting, leaving the family with no other income and a child who couldn't even eat. Liu Ruhua had brought her to work at the eatery, and now their household had gradually improved, her complexion brighter.

Though her husband could no longer hunt beasts, he was skilled with traps and occasionally climbed the mountains to catch weak beast monsters, selling them for spirit stones to supplement their income—sometimes even catching spirit beasts.

These spirit beasts were likely raised by elders of a Zuhuoshi Sect or clan, had accidentally wandered into the mountains, gradually become beast-like, their spiritual energy greatly diminished, but their meat still superior to ordinary beast monsters.

Jiang Yun cooked these spirit beasts into delicious soups, always setting aside some specially for Mo Hua.

Jiang Yun excelled at pastries and roasted pine nuts; her cooking skills were learned from Liu Ruhua, and the taste was excellent.

"Thank you, Jiang Yi!" Mo Hua drank the rich soup, happily thanking her.

Mo Hua ate happily, and Jiang Yun was pleased too, though she was not talkative—she only smiled shyly.

"By the way, was the Wood Binding Array I gave to Uncle Chu useful?"

Mo Hua remembered something and asked.

"Mm-hm, it's useful." Jiang Yun nodded. "Every time your Uncle Chu comes back from the mountain, he praises that formation. Now the demon beasts get trapped in the pit without their pelts getting damaged."

Demon beasts trapped in pits often damage their pelts by thrashing and biting about, which means they can't be sold for many spirit stones.

After hearing this, Mo Hua looked through the *Compendium of a Thousand Formations* and found one called the Wood Binding Formation, which could bind demon beasts. Although it cost one spirit stone to activate, a demon beast with a complete, undamaged pelt could be sold for quite a few more spirit stones.

"It's just…" Jiang Yun began, then hesitated.

"Is there some problem with the formation?" Mo Hua asked.

"No, no." Jiang Yun waved her hand. "It's not the formation. It's that earlier your Uncle Chu caught a young demon beast. It was trapped in the pit for days and still hadn't died, so your Uncle Chu brought it back, but he doesn't know what to do with it…"

"A young demon beast?"

Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

Thanks to Mo Ying Zhi Kong for the tip~ (PS: 末影之空 = Mo Ying Zhi Kong)

Still five updates today.