Chapter 248: Spells

The matter of the Sin Cultivators was settled; after that, Mo Hua devoted his time to learning two spells.

One was a concealment spell, the other a water prison spell.

In the Mo family courtyard.

Since the eatery had grown quieter, Liu Ruhua had time to sit in the courtyard sewing clothes for Mo Hua.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, practiced the concealment spell nearby.

After a while, he asked: "Mother, can you see me?"

He didn't know what the concealment spell looked like when completed, so he wanted his mother to check for him.

Liu Ruhua found it amusing, so she kept sewing and looked up: "I can see you."

"What about now?"

"I can see you."

"Can you still see me now?"

"Yes."

……

"Can you see me now?"

Liu Ruhua looked up, her expression stunned, and exclaimed:

"Hua'er, I can't see you!"

Mo Hua's heart leapt with joy, but then he realized something was wrong—his mother was looking right at him, yet said she couldn't see him.

He looked down and could still clearly see his own body, and the clothes he wore.

Mo Hua sighed helplessly: "Mother…"

Liu Ruhua covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes brimming with mirth: "Keep practicing—I won't trick you anymore."

Mo Hua sighed, half-laughing, half-exasperated. But seeing his mother happy, he felt glad too.

He tried the concealment spell a few more times, but it had no effect.

Mo Hua took the book on concealment again, reviewed its key points, and carefully recalled the meridian pathways for Qi flow, then attempted the spell once more.

Qi flowed from his dantian, coursing through the meridians, covering his skin and clothing.

Mo Hua's form gradually began to change.

Liu Ruhua watched, her expression turning surprised.

This time, her astonishment didn't seem fake.

Mo Hua asked: "Mother, can you still see me?"

Liu Ruhua frowned: "It's like I see you… and yet I don't."

"What does that mean?"

Mo Hua didn't understand—he raised his hands and saw his arms had turned a faint blue, translucent.

They looked like they were made of water.

It was as if he were invisible, yet not entirely.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and understood.

The key to the concealment spell lies in the elemental affinity.

A single Water elemental affinity is ideal for learning concealment and achieving its full effect.

Mo Hua has the Minor Five Elements affinity—he has Water, but it's not pure, so he can learn the spell, but its effect is weaker: his form becomes like flowing water, yet he cannot fully vanish.

Mo Hua felt disappointed.

Liu Ruhua thought for a moment, then her eyes brightened: "If you hide in water, no one will see you."

That made sense—but near Great Heishan, there weren't many places with water…

Mo Hua sighed: "I'll think of another way."

At least this concealment spell isn't immediately useful.

Since concealment wasn't working well, Mo Hua turned to the other spell—the water prison spell.

The water prison spell had little power; one could even say it was negligible.

But its purpose was to trap enemies, so its strength didn't matter much.

When cast, the spell's Qi transforms into water-like chains that temporarily bind the enemy cultivator, preventing escape.

The binding lasts about three breaths; against low-realm cultivators, it can last longer, but against high-realm ones, it often only holds for one or two breaths.

Though it seems useless, in life-or-death combat or desperate pursuit, this obscure spell becomes crucial.

The difficulty of the water prison spell lies in its complexity: hard to learn, hard to use, and hard to aim.

Casting it requires intricate Qi circulation through numerous acupoint nodes, making it difficult to master.

Because the Qi flow is complex, the spell casts slowly—and because it casts slowly, it's hard to hit.

Especially against cultivators with good body techniques: by the time your spell forms, they've already fled.

Thus, few Spirit Cultivators bother learning such a difficult, ineffective, and obscure spell.

But none of these were problems for Mo Hua.

Mo Hua's spiritual sense was inherently strong; his cultivation technique was the Great Expansion Scripture, which excelled in spiritual control, and Master Kui had taught him spiritual locking—so his spells were both fast and accurate.

This water prison spell was perfectly suited to him.

And because his spiritual sense was so powerful, Mo Hua learned it with almost no effort.

Mo Hua wanted to test the water prison spell's effect—he tossed a wild fruit into the air, locked onto it with his spiritual sense, clenched his right hand, and instantly, pale blue Qi chains formed, trapping the fruit midair.

Several breaths passed before the fruit finally fell to the ground.

The effect was decent—but he still needed to test it on a living target.

So Mo Hua thought again about the few fish in Mr. Zhuang's pond.

The next morning, Mo Hua rose early, went to the Seat of Forgetting, greeted Mr. Zhuang, and then headed to the pond to cast the Water Prison Art on the fish swimming inside.

The water plants were a lush green, the pond water crystal clear.

The fish swam leisurely along the bottom of the pond, when suddenly a pale blue flash of water appeared, trapping the fish. No matter how it darted left or right, it could not escape.

The bottom of the pond instantly erupted into chaos.

The other fish were startled, swimming faster and more frantically.

Mo Hua's fingers tapped rapidly, and one fish after another was locked in place by the water-light.

After playing for a while, Mo Hua grew a bit bored, feeling it was too easy.

Mo Hua released the fish one by one. The freed fish darted about in panic, but after a while, sensing no danger, they began to swim leisurely again, and the bottom of the pond gradually returned to calm.

After tormenting the fish in the pond, Mo Hua felt his Water Prison Art was still not very proficient, so he went to the great pagoda tree and found Bai Zisheng.

Beneath the towering pagoda tree, Bai Zi Xi read quietly, while Bai Zisheng was still bored out of his mind.

"I just learned a new spell," Mo Hua whispered to Bai Zisheng.

Bai Zisheng's eyes lit up, then he sneakily glanced at Bai Zi Xi.

Bai Zi Xi's gaze never left the page, and in a clear voice she said lightly, "Just finish your homework."

"I'm almost done, I can finish in less than half a shichen," Bai Zisheng said.

Bai Zi Xi gave a soft "Mm."

Delighted, Bai Zisheng said to Mo Hua, "Come on, let's spar and see."

Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng ran off to one side, not disturbing Bai Zi Xi's reading.

"What spell did you learn?" Bai Zisheng asked.

"Water Prison Art."

Bai Zisheng frowned. "Sounds a bit odd, but not like anything particularly powerful."

"This spell can trap enemies, but it doesn't have much power."

"Then isn't that pretty boring?" Bai Zisheng said, somewhat losing interest, and asked again, "So how do we compete?"

Mo Hua said, "You use movement techniques to run, and I'll use the spell to trap you."

"That's not really sparring, is it?" Bai Zisheng said, giving Mo Hua a puzzled look. "Isn't that just me getting beaten up for no reason?"

"Sparring with a purpose is called sparring; sparring without a purpose is just a brawl," Mo Hua said righteously. "This trains my spell and also trains your movement techniques."

"Fine, what you say makes sense," Bai Zisheng nodded.

Having something to play with was better than nothing; he also wanted to see the Water Prison Art in action.

Mo Hua marked out a large patch of grass. "Inside this circle, I'll use the Water Prison Art on you."

"Okay."

So the two of them practiced on the grass beneath the great pagoda tree—one training a spell, the other training movement techniques. Bai Zisheng dodged, while Mo Hua tried to trap him with the Water Prison Art.

After roughly one shichen of practice, the two stopped and sat on the grass to rest.

When casting the Water Prison Art, the circulation of spiritual energy was complex, so it was actually slower to cast than the Fireball Art.

At first, Mo Hua had to cast the Water Prison Art about three times before he could trap Bai Zisheng once. After gradually getting familiar with it, he could trap him about once every two casts.

Bai Zisheng was a scion of a noble house, and whether it was his cultivation method or his Daoist arts, they were all top-tier. If it had been an ordinary cultivator, they basically wouldn't have been able to escape the lock of Mo Hua's Water Prison Art.

"Honestly, this spell of yours is kind of disgusting," Bai Zisheng couldn't help saying.