Chapter 132: Disappearance

Mo Hua prepared to formally draw the South-Pointing Parent-Child Array.

He went to find Master Chen and had him forge a simple compass and dozens of stone needles.

The parent array of the South-Pointing Parent-Child Array had only one copy, drawn on the compass. The child arrays could be many, drawn on the stone needles.

The child arrays had no connection among themselves, only mutual resonance with the parent array. Though there appeared to be many child arrays, in truth, only one single array was controlled by the array pivot.

Thus, the South-Pointing Parent-Child Array could only be considered a compound array containing two single arrays.

After drawing for half a day, Mo Hua completed the array.

He then prepared to test its effect.

Mo Hua entered Great Heishan, set traps and arrays, and planted stone needles about ten zhang away. He told Brother Da Hu and the other two to watch nearby, while he himself took the parent array of the South-Pointing Array and ran far away.

He walked for over half an hour before stopping, then crouched in a patch of grass, staring at the compass in his hand.

Mo Hua waited, waited, and began to feel drowsy.

At that moment, one dot on the compass suddenly lit up.

The lit dot corresponded precisely to the stone needle Mo Hua had planted.

Mo Hua perked up instantly and ran back.

By the time he arrived, the beast had already been killed by Brother Da Hu and the others, lying on the ground, its blood still wet.

Mo Hua stepped forward, pressed his finger against the beast's heart meridian, and found its blood still active—his spiritual sense could move it. He took out a jade vial and activated the Blood-Siphoning Art to extract the beast's blood.

After filling about eight or nine vials, Mo Hua stopped.

He ran over to the stone needle and checked—it was undamaged, intact. He couldn't help smiling.

"Mo Hua, is it done?"

"Yeah, it's done!"

Brother Da Hu and the others didn't know what Mo Hua was doing with the compass, but guessed it had something to do with arrays.

They didn't understand arrays, so they didn't ask, but seeing Mo Hua complete the task successfully, they couldn't help smiling too.

As usual, the four of them skinned and boned the blood-drained beast and stored it in their storage pouches.

The spirit stones from the sale would be delivered to Mo Hua's home that night.

Mo Hua waved goodbye to Brother Da Hu and the others, then continued wandering through Great Heishan, placing stone needles engraved with the South-Pointing Child Arrays.

The placement locations were mostly intersections, mountain paths, or forest clearings where beasts or beast-hunters would inevitably pass—ideal spots for setting traps.

Mo Hua spent three or four days placing all dozens of stone needles.

Now the outer mountain was largely under Mo Hua's control.

Not every rustle of wind or stir of grass, but at least if any cultivator fought or any beast battled, producing spiritual energy fluctuations, Mo Hua could know immediately by watching the compass.

In the days that followed, Mo Hua carried the compass and ran all over the outer mountain, busily occupied.

A glowing dot on the compass meant a battle had occurred.

Most were caused by explosions from the Earth-Fire Array or fluctuations from novice beast-hunters ambushing beasts.

When Mo Hua arrived, the battle was usually nearly over. He waited a while until the beast died, then went forward to drain its blood.

Some were other beast-hunters hunting beasts.

Legally, a small team's kill was not to be touched by outsiders.

But Mo Hua was an acquaintance—very, very familiar.

Most beast-hunters had asked Mo Hua to draw arrays for them and owed him favors; some hadn't, but wanted to build rapport with him, so they could ask for array help in the future.

So generally, beast-hunting teams didn't mind Mo Hua draining a bit of blood from their kills.

After all, they had no use for beast blood themselves.

Others were caused by beasts fighting each other, their beast energy clashing.

Beasts fought during mating, hunting, feeding, or territorial disputes.

Approaching beast fights recklessly was far too risky.

Mo Hua could only watch from afar, broaden his knowledge, observe beast habits or traits, and record special beast energy abilities or rage states.

For a Qi Refinement cultivator, Mo Hua's spiritual sense was already very strong—he could observe from afar, even use his spiritual sense to peer into the beast's meridians and gauge its beast energy state without being detected.

Thus, Mo Hua's cultivation gradually grew, gradually reaching the barrier of Qi Refinement sixth layer.

The beast blood he hoarded also increased, totaling hundreds of vials.

Mo Hua prepared thoroughly, planning to strike for Ninth-Stripe Grade-One Array Master once his realm broke through.

In the days that followed, Mo Hua settled into steady cultivation and steady array study.

A few days later, at dusk, Mo Hua and Liu Ruhua were at home, waiting for Mo Shan to return for dinner.

Suddenly, heavy rain poured down for nearly half an hour.

After the rain stopped, Mo Shan returned, his expression solemn. He ate a few bites, packed some dried rations, and prepared to leave again.

Mo Hua couldn't help asking: "Dad, what happened?"

Mo Shan had wanted to stay silent, but remembering that Mo Hua could now survive alone in Great Heishan—that he was no longer the frail child of his youth—he became solemn and said:

"Old Zhao is missing."

Mo Hua blinked in surprise. "The one of medium height, with thick eyebrows, who knows the Mountain-Splitting Palm technique?"

Mo Shan was startled. "You know him?"

"Yeah." Mo Hua nodded.

That day, when he'd gone to ask Uncle Yu for help, Uncle Yu had called out "Old Zhao" and told him to watch over that Qi Refinement late-stage cultivator.

Mo Shan nodded. "That's right."

"Where did he go missing?"

"Great Heishan."

"I'll go take a look too."

Seeing Mo Shan was about to refuse, but after thinking it over, he said, "Stay close to me, don't wander off."

"Mm."

Liu Ruhua prepared some food again for the father and son to take along, and urged them with a worried look, "Be careful on the road."

Seeing Mo Shan took Mo Hua out the door. He didn't head straight for Great Heishan, but went first to Elder Yu's home.

Elder Yu's home was a bit more spacious, but the furnishings were also fairly simple. Quite a few demon hunters were standing inside.

Elder Yu's gaze swept past Seeing Mo Shan and landed on Mo Hua beside him. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, but he still gave Mo Hua a nod and a kindly smile.

After that, he said in a solemn tone, "Old Zhao's gone missing. I've already had Chengyi take people to look for him, but there's been no word yet."

"Maybe he just got held up on the mountain by the heavy rain, found a campsite to shelter in, and will come down at first light tomorrow," one demon hunter guessed.

Elder Yu shook his head and said, "Old Zhao's wife came by. She said her husband is missing."

Elder Yu laid out the situation.

Old Zhao's wife was pregnant, already five or six months along.

Old Zhao had heard from an alchemist that there was a kind of herb called White Atractylodes Ginseng that could nourish qi and calm the fetus. So he had gone up the mountain, found one, picked it, and planned to bring it down the mountain to his wife.

But the demon beast they hunted that day had been rather troublesome and had cost them some time. Later, coming down the mountain, he discovered his storage pouch had torn and the White Atractylodes Ginseng was lost.

Old Zhao guessed it had been lost during the fight with the demon beast, so he told his wife he'd go into the mountain to look for it and would be back soon.

No sooner had Old Zhao entered the mountain than a downpour began. After the rain stopped, he still hadn't come back.

Normally, when a demon hunter had business, spending a night on the mountain was nothing unusual.

But Old Zhao's wife was seized by an inexplicable panic and heart-flutter, as if she would never see her husband again.

She couldn't explain this heart-flutter, but it was overwhelmingly strong. With no other choice, she could only beg Elder Yu here, asking him to send people into the mountain to search.

Elder Yu sighed. "It's the one-in-ten-thousand chance we have to fear. A little extra effort for everyone is better than Old Zhao losing his life—otherwise, leaving behind a widow and orphans, how would they get by?"