Chapter 431: Zhang Quan

Mo Hua felt this matter was shrouded in suspicion, but after pondering it repeatedly, he found no clear lead.

Once we capture that gray-robed cultivator, things will improve.

Then we'll have a breakthrough.

After the battle at Hundred Flowers Pavilion, Mo Hua had nearly uncovered the gray-robed cultivator's hidden cards.

Now, setting a trap for him would be much easier.

On the way back, Mo Hua lost himself in thought, then sighed.

These past days, he had followed his usual cultivation routine, and his cultivation had grown steadily.

But his spiritual sense had stalled at Twelve Marks, unable to advance further.

First, because he had no Twelve-Mark array patterns to study, so his spiritual sense grew slowly;

second, because of the Dao Stele.

Since Mo Hua had used the Dao Stele to comprehend the Dao's essence, the stele had been overloaded and still hadn't fully recovered.

Mo Hua had drastically reduced his daily array practice, and his spiritual sense had increased barely at all.

At this rate, he might not break past Thirteen Marks even when reaching Foundation Establishment.

The Dao Stele's recovery was slow, and First-Rank Twelve-Mark arrays were even harder to find.

Mo Hua had searched for so many days and found nothing.

At present, the only lead still lay in finding Yan Jiaoxi.

But where was Yan Jiaoxi?

Mo Hua sighed again.

Bai Zisheng looked surprised and asked:

"Mo Hua, are you troubled?"

Mo Hua nodded. "My spiritual sense is growing too slowly…"

Without finding Yan Jiaoxi, he couldn't find the Ultimate Array; without the Ultimate Array, he couldn't hone his spiritual sense; without honing his spiritual sense, he couldn't cultivate the Dao through spiritual sense, as Mr. Zhuang had said.

Cultivate the ultimate spiritual sense, exhaust the arrays, and ascend to the Dao.

Mo Hua's current spiritual sense still fell far short of Mr. Zhuang's standard.

"How many marks is your spiritual sense now?"

Bai Zisheng asked curiously.

He knew Mo Hua's spiritual sense was strong, at Foundation Establishment level, but he'd never asked for specifics.

The Ultimate Arrays Mo Hua studied—he had never learned them, couldn't learn them, and couldn't possibly master them.

Mo Hua muttered, "Just Twelve Marks…"

Bai Zisheng blinked. "What?"

"Twelve…"

Bai Zisheng fell silent.

Just Twelve Marks…

That's nearly the upper limit for early Foundation Establishment spiritual sense.

Usually, an array master at Foundation Establishment with Ten Marks could begin studying Second-Rank arrays.

Most Second-Rank array masters started with Eleven or Twelve Marks.

Bai Zisheng had never heard of a Qi Refinement cultivator possessing Twelve-Mark spiritual sense.

And judging by his expression, Mo Hua wasn't pleased.

He looked reluctant, dissatisfied.

Getting a gift and still complaining!

Bai Zisheng gritted his teeth, unable to resist ruffling Mo Hua's hair.

Even Bai Zi Xi beside him couldn't help but join in, scratching Mo Hua's hair too.

Mo Hua was helplessly resigned.

But what could he do—he was the junior brother; he wouldn't hold it against his junior elder brothers and sister.

After returning to the cave dwelling,

Mo Hua took out a Si Nan Mother Array compass.

On this compass was engraved the Si Nan Mother Array.

The corresponding Si Nan Child Arrays, Mo Hua had micro-engraved onto thin needles cast from refined iron.

Mo Hua had previously given these needles to Bai Zisheng, instructing him to secretly stick them into the gray-robed cultivator's clothing or body during their confrontation.

Then, by tracking the Child Arrays' positions through the Mother Array, he could locate the gray-robed cultivator.

The gray-robed cultivator had hired assassins to kill miners, then bought their corpses—no one knew what he was doing.

But it certainly wasn't anything good.

The pill he took during today's battle, which transformed corpses into powerful simulacra, was bloody and sinister—likely forged from corpses.

Over the past decades, countless miners had died because of him.

Countless miner families had been shattered as a result.

Miners already lived in hardship, struggling to survive, yet still preyed upon by such heretical arts, dying without a whole body.

Mo Hua's face turned icy.

So this gray-robed cultivator must be killed!

But before killing him, Mo Hua wanted to ask if he knew where Yan Jiaoxi was.

Yan Jiaoxi vanished in the mines.

The worst case is that he was killed by Wang Lai and others, and his corpse was sold to the gray-robed cultivator.

There is another possibility: that Instructor Yan discovered something and followed the trail, investigating further…

If so, Instructor Yan likely had contact with the gray-robed cultivator.

Regardless, Mo Hua must confirm it.

Yet on the compass of the Zi-Mu Array, there were no light dots, meaning there was no trace of the gray-robed cultivator.

"Broken?"

Bai Zisheng frowned.

Mo Hua checked the array and shook his head. "It's not broken."

"Then… did he find your Zi needles?"

"Even if he found them, if the needles were discarded or damaged, the compass would still show some reaction."

Bai Zi Xi thought for a moment, then said slowly:

"Because of the concealment technique?"

Mo Hua froze, then understood.

The gray-robed cultivator possesses a concealment technique—he can遁 into the earth, masking the array's aura and disrupting the connection between the mother and child arrays.

If the mother array shows nothing, either he's still inside the tunnel and hasn't emerged,

or the gray-robed cultivator is using his concealment technique, burrowing somewhere underground.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then said:

"Wait."

As a beast hunter, one must have patience when hunting prey.

It was what his father, Diemoshan Sect, taught him.

Two days later, Sister Situ came and told Mo Hua that Dao Ting Si had uncovered the gray-robed cultivator's identity.

"His name is Zhang Quan, a cultivator from Nan Yue City; his family has generations ago operated a coffin shop…"

"Coffin shop?" Mo Hua blinked.

"That means coffin."

"Oh." Mo Hua understood.

Running a coffin business…

It still fits the gray-robed cultivator's appearance, demeanor, and actions.

Sister Situ continued:

"Thirty years ago, Zhang Quan's parents died, and he took over the coffin shop alone…"

"Zhang Quan's aura is gloomy; he doesn't converse with neighboring cultivators, but since he deals in death-related goods, no one finds it strange."

"Zhang Quan occasionally gambles and frequently visits brothels…"

"I asked several female cultivators at Bai Hua Lou; they said Zhang Quan often stays at brothels but rarely shows his true face."

"None of the cultivators who know Zhang Quan realize he is a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Mo Hua asked: "Have you been to Zhang Quan's residence?"

Sister Situ nodded. "We went. The shop was closed. We broke in and found all the coffins burned, and other items destroyed as well."

"We don't know if he did it himself or had an accomplice helping him destroy evidence."

"The question now is: what is he using the corpses for?"

"Was the pill he took that day made from corpses?"

"If so, where was it made? Where is the furnace? How did he obtain the formula? And through what channels did he buy the herbs for the demonic pill?"

"Did he make it himself, or is someone helping him?"

"Besides that, does he have other hidden intentions…"

…

Sister Situ finished recounting the matter and sighed:

"Dao Ting Si has issued a wanted notice. If we capture him, all these questions should be answered."

Then she glanced at Mo Hua, her expression uneasy:

"Be careful these days."

"That day at Bai Hua Lou, he tried desperately to kill you. Now that he's hiding in the shadows, he might come after you…"

Mo Hua nodded. "Mm. I'm aware."

Sister Situ still felt uneasy.

Mo Hua said: "Don't worry. I'm with my senior brothers and sisters—they'll protect me."

Sister Situ finally relaxed, chatted for a while, drank a few cups of tea, and left.

But Mo Hua's gaze sharpened.

His spiritual sense is strong, and he knows concealment techniques—Zhang Quan could never find him.

And now, it's not him hunting Mo Hua—it's Mo Hua hunting him.

The young Mo Hua is the hunter; the Foundation Establishment Zhang Quan is the prey.

In the following days, whenever Mo Hua had free time, he would take out the Si Nan compass and check its movements.

On the third day's afternoon, the compass finally lit up.

Two light dots glowed together; another light dot was dim.

It seems Zhang Quan found one Zi needle and snapped it off, discarding it.

The other two, he didn't find—so they must still be on him.

Mo Hua's spirits lifted.

He finally showed his hand...

Mo Hua took out the map of Nanyue City again and found that the location of the bright spot was a remote mine outside the city.

There were many mines outside Nanyue City.

Some of these mines belonged to the Lu family, some to the Nanyue Sect, some to the Dao Ting Si, and some were occupied by other families large and small, sects, or dead men.

Some mines were currently being excavated; some, for various reasons, had not yet been excavated;

And some mines had already been completely excavated and abandoned.

The place where Zhang Quan was hiding was an abandoned mine.

Mo Hua and his two companions, cloaked in capes and concealing their figures, left Nanyue City and arrived at the mine where Zhang Quan was hiding.

This was a very small mine, dirty and messy.

Because it had been abandoned, there was not a trace of human presence.

In its place, between the mines, there lingered a stale, deathly aura.

Mo Hua swept his divine sense across, his gaze turning slightly cold.

Within this mine, there were quite a few eerie, sinister auras.

The miner-cultivator corpses Zhang Quan had bought were probably hidden here.

(End of chapter)