Chapter 1254: Elder You

Was I being watched?

Elder You's heart tightened slightly; he stood up, walked around once, extended his spiritual sense to thoroughly inspect every corner, yet found nothing—his brow furrowed tightly:

"Truly, no one is here—"

"Could it really be that some ancient monster is watching me?"

Elder You shook his head, then touched the object in his sleeve, his gaze obscure; after a moment, he sighed softly:

"Enough—focus on the matter at hand—"

He placed a jade slip beneath a teacup, then swept his sleeve and rose, walking farther and farther away until he vanished into the distant valley's teahouse; in an instant, silence returned, no human shadow remained.

Nor any anomaly.

Half a day passed, still no movement.

In the empty air, as shadows stirred, Elder You's figure reappeared.

He had never left.

Elder You approached the jade slip and examined it for a moment.

This jade slip recorded some critical information, radiating intense causal fluctuations.

Others might not know, but those skilled in causality could see it at a glance.

Yet he had left this jade slip in place for half a day, with no sign it had been touched, nor any trace of being observed by causal secret arts.

Elder You frowned, thinking deeply:

"I concealed my form with the Hua family's Brocade Concealment Robe. I masked my aura with a treasure gifted by the Ancestor—no one could possibly have sensed me."

"And within this jade slip, I wrote down some great secrets—though only fragments, hard to decipher, the causal power is strong. If anyone truly lurked in the shadows, whether out of 'curiosity' or 'deep calculation,' they could never resist—"

Now, pretending to leave and lying in wait for half a day, he still found nothing.

This suggests that indeed—there should be no one here?

Upon this thought, Elder You felt a surge of irritation and regret.

This is an age of fierce contention, where the situation shifts constantly; everyone is busy laying plans, every second and minute is precious.

Yet I wasted half a day just to lure a 'nonexistent' fish.

Time is money.

Time is spirit stones.

Elder You grew angry, retrieved the jade slip, and without further delay, donned his rain cape and activated his movement technique to depart.

Far away, Mo Hua watched all this with calm eyes.

His gaze was steady as water, yet his heart was anything but calm—indeed, he suffered greatly.

He suffered from the torment of curiosity.

And from the ravenous craving for the unknown causality, like a Taotie.

He truly wanted to seize the jade slip Elder You had left behind.

Though he did not know what was inside the jade slip, nor what Elder You had written there, from his causal intuition, Mo Hua's inner 'desire' did not lie.

But Mo Hua still held back.

He knew Elder You was 'fishing' for him.

Even these tricks of Elder You's were things he had long since outgrown.

Yet even so, Mo Hua's heart ached with the torment of 'wanting but unable to obtain.'

Bait works because, to the fish, it truly is delicious, carrying an instinctive, irresistible allure.

The 'bait' Elder You dropped kept tugging at Mo Hua's heart.

Even after Elder You left, Mo Hua's heart still trembled faintly.

The 'bait' Elder You dropped might not be real.

But Mo Hua knew clearly: even if Elder You's 'bait' was false, empty, a lure, the taste of causality could not lie—the Hua family was surely plotting some greater causality.

The Hua family was profiting from war.

But it seemed, it was not merely profiting from war.

Mo Hua turned his head, glancing at the now-vanished, slightly chubby, corpulent, seemingly amiable figure, his expression thoughtful.

He had not expected to encounter Elder You here.

From the Mo Sect in Qianxue Zhou, to the Great Desert City's Da Huang Gate, to this now-famine-ravaged wilderness—Elder You's shadow appeared everywhere.

This slightly chubby, unremarkable-looking Elder You had too wide a trail, meddled in too many affairs—he was no ordinary figure.

His status within the Hua family likely was not simple either.

Mo Hua's eyes flickered; he knew this place was no place to linger, and without further delay, he quietly departed while still concealed.

After leaving, returning to the Shu Gu headquarters, to his own Lord Wuzhu Hall, alone and unobserved, Mo Hua finally calmed his mind to ponder the origins and implications of these events, and consider what to do next.

First, Jin Wu.

Mo Hua had previously known this man was a crucial 'Yan Yinzi,' so he had spared his life from Lord Lugu's hands.

But now it seemed he had underestimated Jin Wu.

His role in these events carried far greater weight than he thought.

Moreover, he was not merely a 'traitor' of the Shu Gu sect.

He was a 'barbarian traitor.'

A barbarian ashamed of his origins, utterly devoted to reaching his envisioned 'holy land' of Daozhou, seeking to 'reincarnate' and change his fate.

This Jin Wu could not be killed—at least not yet.

He was Elder You's 'pawn'; kill him, and you'd lose sight of Elder You's moves.

Then—what of Elder You?

Can Elder You be killed?

Mo Hua indeed harbored the intent to kill Elder You.

Elder You is of the Hua family, a wandering "living piece," possibly the one who connects and arranges affairs for the Hua Ancestor; his importance goes without saying.

Killing Elder You would deprive the Hua Ancestor of a crucial piece, and the entire Great Wilderness game of the Hua family would inevitably be affected.

Even if it doesn't lead to total defeat, it will certainly cause them to miss their opportunity.

In this chaotic struggle among the greats, any loss of restraint or misstep in timing is equivalent to slow death.

The Hua family's plans would also be obstructed.

But the question is, can Elder You truly be killed?

Mo Hua frowned in deep thought.

From earlier conversations he had overheard, Elder You was most likely a man close to the Hua Ancestor.

How could such a vital piece be so easily "killed"?

Would the Hua Ancestor truly allow someone to kill his own piece?

What if a sudden strike triggers greater consequences?

And—

Elder You's cultivation appears to be only Jin Dan early stage, but is he truly as simple as that?

In this world, those who are genuinely strong and also appear strong are sometimes less troublesome.

But those who conceal all their abilities beneath their skin, looking plump and utterly ordinary, may be the truly dangerous ones.

A common Jin Dan early stage cultivator, Mo Hua could kill effortlessly.

But this Elder You, Mo Hua could not fathom his true depth.

Mo Hua sat in Lord Wuzhu's seat, pondering for a long time, feeling that Elder You seemed easy to kill, yet when he truly resolved to act, he suddenly felt at a loss where to begin.

"Forget it—for now, don't kill him—"

Mo Hua's gaze sharpened slightly.

Whether or not he can kill him, it will surely alarm the snake.

The urgent task now is to find a way to obtain something from the Hua family.

In this year of famine, supplies are scarce.

The Hua family, by contrast, exploits everywhere and must have amassed vast resources, especially Soul-Nullifying Pills, which are especially precious.

Therefore, we must find a way to cut off a few chunks of meat from this fat sheep, or at least pluck some wool.

But how to proceed?

Mo Hua began again to expend mental effort on divination.

Yet after calculating for a while, Mo Hua frowned.

His original intention had been to use Jin Wutu as a clue to divine the Hua family.

But Jin Wutu, though a "piece" of Elder You and a loyal "dog," would surely not leave too many traces on himself, given Elder You's cunning.

Then there was no choice but to act directly on Elder You.

To divine Elder You's connection to the Hua family.

To determine what deeds he had performed for them, and which forces or locations he was tied to.

Mo Hua had originally not wished to divine Elder You.

Because it was too obvious—Elder You was a "living piece"; divining him was tantamount to divining a target.

But under these circumstances, there was no other option.

Mo Hua then attempted a divination, and based on the karmic threads, he actually uncovered something.

It was a few locations and mountain-river directions where Elder You had recently appeared.

Mo Hua considered this, then brought forth the surrounding maps and carefully compared them, finally locating a small Shanfeng in the southwest that matched the terrain depicted in his divination.

This confirmed that this small Shanfeng was a place Elder You frequently visited during this period.

And Elder You was a "merchant."

The places he frequented likely concealed the "capital" of his trade.

Without exception, it would be vast quantities of Soul-Nullifying Pills.

Whether other more critical clues might be there remained unknown.

After a moment's hesitation, Mo Hua began planning this ambush.

Matters of karma demand timing; action must be swift, for delay inevitably brings change.

Mo Hua spent barely half a day planning before summoning Lord Lugu, who led ten Jin Dan and a thousand barbarian soldiers, lightly equipped, to ambush the "stronghold" where Elder You was located.

Lord Lugu was now the Great Chief and should no longer lead charges, but there was no choice—among the entire Tie Shugu tribe, Lord Lugu was the only one with Jin Dan late stage strength.

Aside from Lord Lugu, there was no one else usable.

Moreover, ambushing Elder You was no trivial matter.

Yet when the group arrived before the small Shanfeng, they suddenly encountered an ambush—a group of barbarian cultivators clad in black robes charged toward them.

Their weapons were coated in deadly poison, clearly premeditated.

The oddity was, Mo Hua had divined nothing on the karmic thread suggesting they would encounter an "ambush."

Though this was merely a simple ambush, it was entirely outside his expectations—an event beyond the scope of his karmic abilities.

"Danger."

In Mo Hua's entire career of "military campaigns," this was nearly unprecedented.

Setbacks and failures were normal in any endeavor.

But to Mo Hua, who was naturally sharp and held himself to strict standards, this was unmistakably a "warning," a divine "omen."

Heaven was telling him that beyond heaven there is more heaven, beyond people there are more people, and the world holds many strong ones.

His causality art was not omnipotent.

Fortunately, even though they had been ambushed, the overall situation was not too bad, for Lord Lugu, at the late Jin Dan stage, was indeed extremely powerful.

Not to mention, he had now become the Great Chief, his prestige greater, his status elevated, his Dao heart stabilized, and his cultivation stronger than before by several degrees.

With Lord Lugu leading the charge against enemies, these black-clad men could not possibly hold them back.

Lord Lugu, one man, one blade, moved as if through an empty land, slaughtering the black-clad men until they scattered and fled.

But when the Tie Shugu tribe rushed into the outpost, they found it empty—no people, no cargo crates.

Worse still, this mountain peak had been a trap all along, filled with numerous pre-planted explosion arrays.

Fortunately, Mo Hua was an exceptionally skilled array master.

Some dangers could not be calculated through causality, but as an array master, he could detect them with barely a glance.

He immediately warned the barbarian soldiers to retreat, preventing major casualties.

Yet a small portion of the barbarian soldiers remained forever buried beneath the collapsing mountain peak.

Mo Hua's expression grew solemn.

Lord Lugu glanced at Mo Hua, hesitated a moment, but ultimately said nothing.

Lord Wuzhu's actions naturally carried intent; many things concealed profound mysteries—no need to ask too much, just obey.

This had become the current consensus within Tie Shugu.

He, as the Great Chief of Tie Shugu, had gradually accepted this understanding.

And on the other side, hundreds of li away, in another newly built secret outpost:

Elder You stroked the white jade pendant in his hand, carved with nine lotus flowers, its surface inscribed with celestial patterns, a faint sneer on his face.

"A clumsy causality art dares to calculate me?"

"This concerns grand plans—how could the Ancestor possibly fail to foresee such a petty trick?"

The jade pendant in Elder You's hand glowed with a lustrous, extraordinary radiance, shimmering with celestial patterns.

It seemed to warn Elder You of hostile scrutiny upon the celestial patterns.

Yet moments later, Elder You's expression grew cold again, silently thinking:

"But— to have calculated even to me— truly— one cannot say he lacks ability—"

"Who is calculating me?"

"Is it— Tie Shugu?"

One by one, prominent figures within Tie Shugu passed through Elder You's mind.

Lord Lugu, several mid-Jin Dan, the remaining four of the Six Monsters of Tie Shugu, Iron Tie Shugu—

And those who had "colluded" with Tie Shugu: Chifeng and Seeing Dan Zhu, among others.

Yet though none of them were weak in cultivation and all had achieved much, none seemed truly deep in scheming.

Elder You's thoughts inevitably returned to the pale face he had long been watching.

He couldn't help but notice— the appearance was simply too different.

Most barbarian cultivators were tall, strong, burly, with brownish skin.

Even Bai Xi, the handsome Seeing Dan Zhu, had Zhu Que-colored eyes, a slender frame, and unmistakable foreign charm.

Only that pale face appeared sacred and solemn, yet his brows and eyes were painted like art—beautiful, delicate, and refined.

This was not a face from the Great Wasteland—it was more like a Daozhou face?

Elder You frowned deeply.

Moreover, he did not recognize this face—it seemed utterly unfamiliar—yet he always felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity upon it.

As if they had known each other well.

"Who exactly is this boy who calls himself Lord Wuzhu? Could he not be a puppet installed by Lord Lugu to win hearts?"

"Has it always been this pale face scheming behind me?"

"Just what is his origin?"

Elder You's plump cheeks were filled with seriousness.

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