Chapter 462: Clues

Mo Hua gathered the information and returned to the master-disciple quartet's cave dwelling.

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi had also returned, and told Mo Hua the leads they had uncovered.

Bai Zisheng went to the marketplace, teahouses, and taverns—noisy places—and learned mostly of the Lu family's misdeeds and scandals.

Bai Zi Xi visited several female cultivators and the wives of male cultivators in Nan Yue City, and uncovered mostly gossip and rumors about the Lu family.

Mo Hua began compiling the information and listing suspects.

He tried to deduce who in the Lu family was most likely the traitor.

But the Lu family was large, with intricate clan relationships, and hard to sort through at once.

There were not only elder members of the main clan, but also external guest masters.

Some of the main clan elders weren't truly part of the clan, and some external guest masters might have familial ties…

Mo Hua felt dizzy and couldn't help saying:

"This is so messy…"

Bai Zisheng nodded: "Families are like this—the bigger the family, the more tangled the bloodlines, relationships, and connections…"

"The Lu family is still relatively simple. If it were our Bai family, it'd be even more complicated."

"Even during festivals and holidays, visiting and gift-giving involve countless rules."

Mo Hua listened and grew weary, helplessly shaking his head.

Bai Zisheng glanced at the pile of Lu family relationships before him and asked:

"Do you have the Lu family genealogy? If you had it, things would be clearer. Otherwise, who's related to whom, who's whose child, who shares the same father—you'd just be guessing…"

"The Lu family genealogy… such a thing should be unobtainable to outsiders, right…?"

Mo Hua frowned, then froze.

He remembered—Lu Chengyun, the Lu family patriarch, had once given him a special "genealogy."

It was something Lu Chengyun secretly gave Mo Hua to lure him into becoming a son-in-law.

Mo Hua opened his storage bag and rummaged for a long time before pulling out the "genealogy" from a pile of array books and array diagrams.

Bai Zisheng exclaimed in surprise: "You actually have it?"

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded. "Only a partial copy, but we can still sort through it."

Mo Hua opened the genealogy.

The three leaned in together to look.

As they studied it, Bai Zi Xi noticed something odd. She looked up at Mo Hua, eyes filled with doubt:

"Why is this genealogy filled entirely with Misses?"

Bai Zisheng also nodded. "They all look quite nice…"

Mo Hua's face flushed slightly. "Lu Chengyun gave it to me—I didn't know what it was."

Bai Zi Xi's gaze grew suspicious. "Really didn't know?"

"Mm, mm." Mo Hua nodded vigorously.

Bai Zi Xi studied Mo Hua's face. Seeing his eyes fixed on her, clear and honest, she gave a slight nod and dropped the matter.

Mo Hua didn't know why, but he felt a faint sigh of relief.

The three then began sorting out the Lu family's relationships.

This genealogy was simple—it only listed the main line, collateral branches, and the blood ties and closeness of other women connected to the Lu family.

It also included portraits of the women.

Alongside, it briefly described their elemental affinities and talents.

These were all family secrets.

Had Mo Hua not shown such extraordinary array talent, becoming a Grade One Array Master at such a young age,

Lu Chengyun would never have given him this genealogy.

This genealogy was incomplete, containing only part of the Lu family's lineage.

But even this portion was enough for Mo Hua and the others to untangle the threads and roughly map out the Lu family's cultivator relationships.

Mo Hua ultimately narrowed down five names:

Lu Huaiyi, Lu Huaiseng, Lu Huaide, Pei Cai, and Jiang Long.

The three with the Lu surname were all sons-in-law.

And all of them, to some degree, understood arrays.

They were highly valued within the Lu family, held real power, and had all managed mines—even now, they occasionally went to oversee them.

Pei Cai and Jiang Long were outsiders.

One was a reverend, the other a guest master.

Both held significant status in the Lu family.

One married a Lu woman but was not a son-in-law.

The other taught arrays within the Lu family.

All five resembled the traitor of the Xiao Ling Yin Sect.

Mo Hua said: "Let's investigate these five first."

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi both nodded.

For a month, the three either surveilled, followed, or inquired—but found no results.

Lu Huaiyi, Lu Huaiseng, and Lu Huaide were all sons-in-law, but their family backgrounds before marriage were clear and verifiable.

Their circumstances hadn't changed much since.

They were timid before marrying in, but became arrogant and domineering afterward.

This change aligns with human nature and is not unusual.

Pei Cai and Jiang Long.

One lives a quiet, stable life of cultivation, focused only on himself and uninterested in outside affairs.

The other teaches formations by day and spends his nights enjoying himself on Jin Hua Street, corrupted by Lu Family's decadence and willingly drowning in it.

None of these men seem like scheming types.

There's nothing suspicious, no signs of bloodshed or sinister magic.

Mo Hua grew puzzled. "Could I have guessed wrong?"

In the following days, there was no progress.

Until this day, Elder Su sent another invitation, asking Mo Hua for tea.

Mo Hua thought it over, his heart stirred slightly, and he agreed.

Elder Su was close to the Lu Family and had deep ties with Lu Chengyun.

Before uncovering the traitor in the Lu Family, it's better to keep contact to a minimum.

But with no progress now, Mo Hua thought, why not go drink tea with Elder Su and see if any clues emerge?

Mo Hua had an inexplicable intuition.

He felt that on Elder Su's person, faintly hidden, lay some crucial piece of information.

Mo Hua frowned.

Since learning Divine Insight Calculation, and using calculation to deduce formations, sometimes, deep in his mind, a faint premonition would surface.

His heart would also harbor inexplicable intuitions.

These intuitions were clear.

But when he probed deeper, there was no discernible pattern…

It felt similar to when Mo Hua comprehended the Daoic essence of formations.

That sensation of faintly touching something, yet separated by mountains and rivers, hazy and impossible to fully grasp.

Mo Hua remembered Mr. Zhuang saying that all things under heaven and earth conform to the Dao.

If formations conform to the Dao, all things conform to the Dao, cultivators conform to the Dao—then are the actions and deeds of cultivators also in accord with the Dao?

If so, could comprehending the Heavenly Dao allow one, to some degree, to foresee the future and avoid misfortune?

Mo Hua felt Mr. Zhuang sometimes acted in ways that were profoundly mysterious.

It seemed like a form of foresight into heavenly fate.

But how could one achieve such a thing?

By endlessly studying formations, endlessly comprehending formation principles, endlessly using calculation to penetrate the Great Dao?

To perceive things clearly, foretell fortune and misfortune, seek advantage and avoid harm…

If I truly mastered this, would I become a "little fortune-teller"?

Mo Hua kept pondering this in his mind.

Until he arrived at the Su residence, sat in the pavilion, and drank Elder Su's fine tea—he remained lost in thought, distracted.

Elder Su asked cautiously, "Young Master, do you have something on your mind?"

Mo Hua snapped back to himself and nodded. "A little. I was thinking."

Elder Su nodded approvingly:

"Whether walking, sitting, lying down, eating, or drinking tea, you never stop pondering and contemplating formations… No wonder, at such a young age, you've achieved such profound mastery of formations—truly admirable…"

Mo Hua thought Elder Su's praise felt awkward.

And it wasn't even accurate.

But since he was praising him, Mo Hua couldn't say so outright.

And even if the praise was off, he was still being praised—and he couldn't help feeling pleased.

Mo Hua returned the compliment:

"Your formations are excellent too, Elder Su! And…"

Mo Hua thought of a word and said: "... you really understand life."

He still remembered how Elder Su frequented brothels and treated Bai Hua Pavilion like home…

Elder Su, unaware of Mo Hua's thoughts, stroked his beard, delighted, and kept saying:

"Drink tea, drink tea! This tea is a rare treasure I've kept for a long time—I never serve it to ordinary guests…"

The tea was indeed excellent.

The two drank for a while; when the tea was finished, they still felt unsatisfied.

Elder Su ordered his disciple to brew another pot.

The disciple who brewed the tea was the one who always followed Elder Su—his face was delicate, with a gentle, refined beauty, yet still held a touch of youthful stubbornness.

Mo Hua had come often enough to recognize him well.

But this time, he felt the disciple looked even more familiar.

After brewing the tea, the disciple received Elder Su's nod and instruction:

"Shuisheng, you may go."

Shuisheng?

Mo Hua froze.

He stared again at the disciple.

This disciple's talent for formations was average, he wasn't particularly respectful to Elder Su, and sometimes he was clumsy—why did Elder Su always keep him close?

Mo Hua glanced at him several more times.

Only then did he realize that this disciple bore a striking resemblance to Elder Su, and his spiritual energy seemed to share a common origin.

Shuixian…

Even after Shuixian had walked far away, Mo Hua still stared at his back.

Elder Su noticed Mo Hua staring at his disciple, his eyes growing brighter by the moment, and felt a twinge of unease.

"Young Master, what are you… looking at?"

"I'm looking at your little disciple."

Elder Su chuckled awkwardly:

"Just a little disciple—what's there to look at…?"

Mo Hua glanced silently at Elder Su, then asked softly:

"This little disciple… isn't he your illegitimate son…?"

Elder Su choked on his tea, coughed several times, and hastily covered his shock with a nervous laugh: "Young Master, you're joking."

Mo Hua whispered quietly:

"Sister Shuixian…"

Elder Su's hands trembled, knocking over his cup, as he stared at Mo Hua in disbelief:

"You… how did you know?"

Mo Hua's eyes narrowed like a cunning fox—he thought, So it's true.

(End of Chapter)