Chapter 417

Mo Hua told Sister Situ what he had learned.

Sister Situ, thinking of the poor widows and orphans, furrowed her brows in anger.

"Unthinkable!"

This is profiting from the dead, plundering entire households!

The next day, Sister Situ led Dao Ting Si cultivators to the gambling den, apprehended Wang Lai and others, and brought them to Dao Ting Si for interrogation.

They also recovered the spirit stones they had extorted.

Sister Situ returned those spirit stones to the miners' families, but had no way to punish Wang Lai and the others.

Wang Lai and his gang forcibly demanded compensation for the miners and kept most of the spirit stones for themselves—this did not constitute a serious offense.

Dao Ting Si could not impose a severe sentence.

Sister Situ wanted to dig up their past crimes and punish them cumulatively.

These hooligans had terrorized the countryside and must have left plenty of traces of wrongdoing.

But the miners were weak and feared retaliation—no one dared to testify.

With no other option, Sister Situ imprisoned them for a month, applied the wooden punishment, and beat them thirty strokes before releasing them.

The moment Wang Lai and the others left Dao Prison, they gathered a gang of hooligans, went to the deceased miner's home, threatened and extorted, reclaimed the spirit stones, even injured several people, and declared:

"If you dare report to Dao Ting Si again, we'll make your whole family extinct!"

Sister Situ told Mo Hua this story.

In the courtyard of his cave dwelling, Sister Situ gnashed her teeth in fury.

"I wanted to lock them up again, but several senior Zhisi officers stopped me…"

"They told me it's useless—this kind of thing, they've seen it countless times over the years."

"Unless you actually kill these hooligans, they'll stick to you like leeches—you can't shake them off."

"Arrest them, lock them up, release them, arrest them again…"

"I, as Gu Diansi, am not afraid of them—but in the end, it's the poor miners below who suffer under their abuse…"

Sister Situ's expression carried deep helplessness.

After chatting a while, Sister Situ left, her face heavy with worry.

Mo Hua sat in the courtyard, frowning in thought.

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi finished their array lessons with Master Zhuang, stepped outside, passed through the courtyard, and saw Mo Hua sitting beneath the big tree, lost in thought.

Bai Zisheng ran up to Mo Hua and asked:

"What's wrong?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then told him about Wang Lai and the others.

Bai Zisheng, upon hearing this, angrily said: "Kill them!"

Bai Zi Xi also furrowed her delicate brows.

Mo Hua said: "Actions must follow rules, abide by Dao law—if they haven't committed crimes worthy of death, we can't kill them lightly…"

Bai Zisheng muttered: "I think they already deserve to die…"

Mo Hua glanced at him.

Bai Zisheng fell silent.

Then he suddenly blinked, eyeing Mo Hua suspiciously: "Are you plotting something nasty?"

Mo Hua frowned: "How can you call it a nasty plot?"

"You're definitely planning to trick someone…" Bai Zisheng said.

Bai Zi Xi also looked at Mo Hua with curiosity.

"It's not tricking anyone…" Mo Hua thought, then said: "I plan to secretly follow them, see what they do daily, look for any incriminating evidence."

Since these cultivators have committed countless evils, they must have left some traces.

"Follow them?" Bai Zisheng's eyes lit up.

"You can't go." Mo Hua said.

Bai Zisheng was greatly disappointed: "Why?"

"You don't know concealment techniques."

"Don't need to…"

"Of course you do!" Mo Hua raised his fine eyebrows. "You must conceal your form to follow them—walking openly behind them, do you think they're fools?"

"Fine…"

Bai Zisheng's enthusiasm faded.

Bai Zi Xi cleared her throat softly, reminding Bai Zisheng, then gave Mo Hua a subtle glance.

Bai Zisheng blinked, then suddenly understood, and said to Mo Hua:

"Right! You know concealment arrays, don't you?"

"My concealment arrays aren't very effective…" Mo Hua dodged.

Bai Zi Xi shook her head: "Your concealment arrays are excellent—it's your Dao robe that's bad."

Bai Zisheng immediately nodded vigorously:

"Exactly, exactly—you're my junior brother, how could your arrays be bad? It's your Dao robe that's the problem…"

"I'll prepare you a top-quality Dao robe—you draw the concealment array for us, then we'll go track those villains together."

Bai Zisheng's calculations clanged loudly in his head, then he added with righteous certainty:

"I'm your senior brother—how could I let you risk yourself alone? That would weigh on my conscience."

Mo Hua stared at him silently: "Is it your 'conscience' that weighs on you—or your 'playfulness'?"

Bai Zisheng, having his intentions exposed by Mo Hua, muttered awkwardly:

"All of it, all of it."

These past few days, he'd been confined by Master Zhuang, learning those complex and profound arrays—his head was spinning.

Now that he could go out with Mo Hua for a few days, he naturally had to seize the opportunity.

Mo Hua asked in confusion, "What about Master? Aren't you supposed to be learning arrays?"

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi have been studying arrays these past few days.

The kind of arrays you're not allowed to learn yourself.

"It's fine—Master hasn't taught anything new these days; just review occasionally when you get the chance."

Mo Hua still hesitated.

Bai Zisheng gazed at him with pleading eyes.

Bai Zi Xi's eyes sparkled brightly too.

Mo Hua sighed, "Fine, but you must be discreet, cautious…"

"You have to listen to me," Mo Hua emphasized again.

Upon hearing this, the younger brother, older brother, and older sister all nodded obediently.

Then Mo Hua began drawing the concealment array.

The Dao robes were too cumbersome—they couldn't just wear another robe over them; it would be fine when concealed, but obvious when not.

And it would hinder movement.

Bai Zi Xi picked out several garments for Mo Hua.

Mo Hua, combining array principles, examined them one by one, finally settling on a cloak-style outer robe.

This hooded garment, worn over the body, could keep warm, shield from dust and wind, and with the hood up, conceal the face.

In Xiao Huang Zhou, the weather was hot—no need for warmth—so Mo Hua chose three lighter cloaks.

These cloaks were crafted with special techniques, all high-grade spiritual artifacts.

Mo Hua inscribed the concealment array onto them.

Then the three tested them—the effect was excellent.

At least to the naked eye, nothing could be detected.

Of course, Mo Hua's spiritual sense was too strong—he could still detect his older brother and older sister—but Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi could not detect Mo Hua.

Once prepared, the three began surveillance.

The target was Wang Lai.

Wang Lai, also known as Wang Laipi, was the ringleader of this gang of ruffians.

He was short in stature but his cultivation was high—Qi Condensation Ninth Layer peak, the deepest among these ruffian cultivators.

Earth-elemental affinity, following the body-refinement path; his cultivation technique was average, and he wielded a ring-hilted dao blade, his Dao art named "Open Mountain Dao."

Daily, he loafed around, causing trouble.

When he had spiritual stones, he indulged in drinking, eating, gambling, and prostitution—none of it missed.

The street he frequented was Jin Hua Street, located in northern Nan Yue City—the most prosperous area in all of Nan Yue City.

Of course, also the most corrupt.

Brothels, teahouses, gambling dens, taverns—all were present.

And there were still some places Mo Hua had never seen, couldn't even imagine…

Mo Hua was curious, but he held back and didn't go in to look.

It was certainly no good place.

He himself was fine—but if his older brother and older sister followed him, he couldn't lead them astray; otherwise, Master would surely tap his head.

Although Jin Hua Street was prosperous, it had its tiers.

Wang Lai could only afford to visit secluded brothels, cramped gambling dens, and low-class taverns.

Living in drunken oblivion, indulging in drinking, eating, gambling, and prostitution, he squandered all the ill-gotten gains from corpses—then he began "earning" spiritual stones.

He had to "earn" spiritual stones—he still owed money to the gambling dens.

A horse doesn't grow fat without night grass; a man doesn't grow rich without unexpected wealth.

As Mo Hua expected, Wang Lai's methods of "earning" spiritual stones were all illicit.

Theft, fraud, scams, robbery—all of it.

He earned tips by serving as a lackey for a disciple of a Nan Yue City aristocratic family, beating people and clearing paths; he extorted protection money from small merchants;

He conspired with others in gambling dens to swindle spiritual stones from visiting cultivators; he ambushed travelers on roads and stole their belongings;

And he'd teamed up with a female cultivator from a brothel to pull off a "Immortal Jump" scam and swindle spiritual stones…

Mo Hua was truly astonished.

Mine cultivators earned spiritual stones in only one way: diligently, yet painfully and exhausting.

But Wang Lai did no honest work, yet lived in luxury every day…

The more diligent one was, the harder one worked, the poorer one became.

This world truly oppressed honest cultivators.

Mo Hua felt a pang of reflection, yet also some confusion.

He remembered Lu Ming saying that when these ruffians ran out of spiritual stones, they'd go to the mines, work a few days as miners, dig for a few spiritual stones.

Yet these past days, Wang Lai had indeed been completely broke, with not a single spiritual stone to his name.

But he had never entered the mines once, never dug a single vein.

"Something's off…"

Mo Hua frowned.

This Wang Lai seems to have no connection whatsoever with the mine.

That should be unlikely.

Mo Hua waited patiently, and after several days, he discovered that Wang Lai was finally going into the mine.

Because he had found an old mining cultivator and whispered secretly:

"Inside the mine shafts, there are high-grade ores secretly hoarded by the Lu family. Let's steal some—we'll never want for food or drink for the rest of our lives…"

Stealing ore…

Mo Hua's pupils shrank slightly.

The five missing mining cultivators had apparently died in the mine shafts because they stole ore…

Stealing ore is the greatest taboo among mining cultivators.

Why would the five dead mining cultivators suddenly think of stealing ore?

Mo Hua looked at Wang Lai, his eyes gathering cold light.

(End of Chapter)