Chapter 249: Bamboo Rice

"Doesn't this prove how powerful this spell is?"

"Not that powerful," Bai Zisheng raised an eyebrow and said proudly, "it can only hold me for about two breaths; I just unleash my spiritual energy and break free in a moment."

Mo Hua said: "In a life-or-death battle, where fate hangs by a thread, those two breaths are enough to decide victory or defeat, enough to decide life or death."

Upon hearing this, Bai Zisheng frowned, thought for a moment, and reluctantly admitted: "You're right."

If one is careless for even an instant and falls into a trap, those one or two breaths are indeed enough to decide life or death.

Mo Hua warned: "Be careful in the future; don't get caught off guard by such obscure spells."

Bai Zisheng nodded with a solemn expression.

He then thought: There are probably very few cultivators in this world who, like Mo Hua, possess such extraordinary spiritual awareness, such lightning-fast strikes, and such utterly obscure spells.

Bai Zisheng's heart unexpectedly grew a little lighter.

Opportunities like this are rare—not all cultivators know such obscure spells—and Bai Zisheng still wanted to spar further with Mo Hua, but if he continued, he'd never finish his assignments.

Bai Zisheng reluctantly returned to continue his assignments.

After finishing his Water Prison spell, Mo Hua was just about to leave when Bai Zi Xi suddenly called out to him.

Mo Hua turned and saw Bai Zi Xi's pale little hand reaching into a storage pouch embroidered with elegant pale-gold phoenix patterns, pulling out a book and handing it to him.

"What book is this?"

"A cookbook."

Mo Hua took it and examined it closely—it was indeed a culinary compendium, recording various delicacies and cooking techniques from the cultivation world.

The dish names were dazzling: Golden Hall of Splendor, Crabapple Jade Crumb, Plum Blossom Reflecting Snow, Dewdrop Hibiscus, Only Envious of Mandarins, Immortal Dew Pearl, and so on.

Mo Hua blinked in surprise. "For me?"

Bai Zi Xi gave him a cool glance. "For Aunt Liu."

"Oh."

Mo Hua nodded, then realized it made sense—he wasn't a culinary cultivator; this cookbook was useless to him.

"Consider it my thanks for earlier," Bai Zi Xi said crisply.

Mo Hua smiled. "Thank you. My mother will be delighted when she receives it."

Bai Zi Xi smiled faintly, her brows like new moons, her eyes like an ephemerally blooming flower—ethereal and breathtaking.

Mo Hua sighed inwardly: "Why must you be so beautiful?"

On his way back, Mo Hua flipped through the cookbook, scanning for tasty dishes; as he read, his stomach began to growl.

When he returned home, Mo Hua handed the cookbook to Liu Ruhua. "Mom, Zi Xi asked me to give this to you."

Liu Ruhua took it, glanced at it, and her face lit up with joy. "Thank her for me."

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded, then pointed to a dish named "Jade Bamboo Rice," smiling. "Mom, I want to eat this."

Jade Bamboo Rice is made by cutting a section of jade bamboo, filling it with fragrant rice, adding green plums, glutinous fillers, and sweet spring water, then roasting it over fire.

When the heat is just right, the green hue of the bamboo fades, and the rice is cooked.

Split open the bamboo tube—the fragrance of bamboo, the faint tartness of green plums, and the rich, sticky aroma of rice blend together: fresh, soft, and perfectly balanced in flavor, color, and aroma.

The method isn't difficult, and the ingredients are simple—not especially rare; minor scarce components can be substituted.

Mo Hua spent a long time choosing before settling on this one.

Liu Ruhua affectionately patted Mo Hua's head. "Alright, I'll make it for you."

The next day, Liu Ruhua prepared all the ingredients and tried several times until she succeeded in making the Jade Bamboo Rice.

Mo Hua took a bite—the texture was soft and sticky, the fragrance lingered on his tongue; he couldn't help but close his eyes and say: "Mom, this is delicious!"

Seeing Mo Hua so delighted, Liu Ruhua's eyes sparkled with joy.

Over the next two days, Liu Ruhua made extra portions and had Mo Hua deliver them to Mr. Zhuang and the Bai siblings.

Mr. Zhuang greatly enjoyed the fresh, fragrant taste and nodded in satisfaction.

Bai Zisheng liked it too, but he preferred spicy demon meat.

Bai Zi Xi loved it most—she sat beneath the big locust tree, eating slowly, one piece at a time, with refined, graceful motions, chewing delicately, yet never stopping, finishing three or four sections in quick succession.

"Is it really that good?" Mo Hua asked, puzzled.

Hearing this, Bai Zi Xi looked up, picked up a section, and handed it to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua ate it—he felt it was indeed better than the one he'd eaten before; after finishing one section, he wanted another.

Under the big locust tree, the two of them, like two little pandas, ate bamboo section by section.

With the criminal cultivator matter settled, Mo Hua could now more easily draw blood from demonic beasts within the inner mountain.

In his remaining time, besides cultivation, Mo Hua continued drawing arrays, studying array dismantling and Reverse Spirit Arrays.

He started with the Grade-One Reversal Array: learned it, drew it on paper, then dismantled it himself.

Mo Hua kept drawing and dismantling arrays on his own; when he grew bored, he practiced the Nine-and-a-Half Array Pattern Reverse Spirit Array.

His progress in dismantling arrays was smooth—each time he dismantled a Reversal Array, his dismantling ability improved further.

But his progress with the Reverse Spirit Array was slow.

The complete Reverse Spirit Array has ten array patterns; ten-pattern spiritual awareness rivals Foundation Establishment. Mo Hua's spiritual awareness was still far too weak to draw the complete Reverse Spirit Array.

Even the incomplete Nine-and-a-Half Array Pattern was becoming increasingly difficult for him to draw.

Each additional stroke beyond the ninth array pattern consumed nearly as much spiritual awareness as drawing an entire previous pattern.

Mo Hua began to doubt.

At this rate, could he truly attain Foundation Establishment-level spiritual awareness before reaching Foundation Establishment himself…

Even if he could, how many years of array practice would it take?

Would it really take decades…

Mo Hua felt a faint unease, then thought again:

"I wonder if there's any other way to strengthen the spiritual sense..."

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then decided it was unlikely—among the cultivators around him, his spiritual sense had grown the fastest.

Even Kong Sheng and Bai Zi Xi, though their elemental roots were better and their cultivation higher than his, still had weaker spiritual sense than he did.

The Bai family was a great clan, and Kong Sheng and Bai Zi Xi were among its top talents—this proved that, even among great clans or major sects, Mo Hua's spiritual sense, if not unparalleled, was certainly among the rarest.

It seemed there was no better option right now.

Mo Hua sighed, calmed his mind, and stopped wandering thoughts.

Since the only option now was the array, he would keep drawing.

One day, as long as his spiritual sense continued to grow, he would eventually reach a level comparable to Foundation Establishment—it was only a matter of time.

After more than ten days, Mo Hua met Yu Chengyi and noticed he looked solemn; he asked, "Uncle Yu, what happened?"

Yu Chengyi, deep in thought, looked up and saw it was Mo Hua. After a moment's consideration—he knew Mo Hua would find out sooner or later—he didn't hide it:

"Something's happened. Those criminal cultivators have struck again."

"That bald man?"

Yu Chengyi nodded: "Yes."

Mo Hua exclaimed in surprise: "Has he killed and robbed again?"

"This time he ambushed a caravan—over twenty cultivators vanished without a trace. Not even bodies were found. Only traces of blood remained at the scene."

Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat; he felt pity, then grew puzzled. "Didn't caravans get robbed before? What's different this time?"

Yu Chengyi's expression was very solemn—something rarely seen in him.

"It's different," Yu Chengyi sighed. "First, more cultivators were killed this time, and none seem to have survived. Second, one of the cultivators in that caravan had a special identity."

"Was he some big shot?" Mo Hua asked, curious.

"Not exactly a big shot," Yu Chengyi said, then asked Mo Hua: "Do you remember the Kong family?"

"The Kong family of Qingxuan City?"

"Yes."

Mo Hua naturally remembered—the Kong family that had driven Uncle Ji and his son into exile, destroyed the Fu Lan family, bribed the Qingxuan City Dao Ting Si, oppressed the common folk, and bullied solitary cultivators.

"One of the cultivators in that caravan was a direct heir of the Kong family: Kong Sheng."

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