Chapter 665: Luring the Killers

What do we do now?

Hao Xuan instinctively looked at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment and said, "First, find Cheng Mo and the others—they're still being hunted. If we leave them be, they're likely doomed…"

"But…" Hao Xuan said weakly, "we're only two people… those traffickers number at least twenty…"

"Did you send a distress message using the Grand Void Token?" Mo Hua asked.

Hao Xuan nodded, then shook his head.

"I sent one, but it didn't work—this is a wilderness, the geomagnetic field is weak, easily disturbed, and far from the sect. The distress signal might not even get through…"

Mo Hua, upon hearing this, froze and tried using his own Grand Void Token.

He found the geomagnetic force indeed faint, the magnetic runes disrupted—truly, the message couldn't be sent.

He had never needed to call for help on past missions; he hadn't known the Grand Void Token had such limitations…

Mo Hua then tried the message token given to him by Uncle Gu.

The ink characters dimmed, flickering faintly.

The geomagnetic signal showed clear lag—he couldn't tell if it had been sent, but it was clearly better than the Grand Void Token.

Mo Hua frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and began to understand.

The Grand Void Token's array is more advanced, but also far more complex; messaging is merely one basic function among many, so it performs worse than a dedicated message token.

The arrays within the Grand Void Token are controlled by a central array pivot.

The central array pivot is located at the Grand Void Gate's main gate.

The closer you are to the main gate, the stronger the Grand Void Token's geomagnetic signal; the farther you go, the weaker the magnetic flow becomes.

Moreover, we are now beyond the Qianxue Province border, separated by an entire province—both the Grand Void Token and the message token will be severely restricted in function.

Whether they'll even work is uncertain…

But regardless, the distress message must be sent.

Mo Hua sent the message:

"Uncle Gu, there are over twenty traffickers in the wilderness outside Xiao Yun City…"

After that, Mo Hua left it alone.

Asking for help requires an attempt, but one shouldn't rely on it too heavily.

Mo Hua asked Hao Xuan, "Which way did Cheng Mo and the others flee?"

Hao Xuan thought for a moment, then pointed, "They ran toward that hill to the west…"

Mo Hua looked toward the hill.

The night was deep, pitch black—searching there could take hours.

Mo Hua asked Hao Xuan, "How is your injury?"

Hao Xuan grimaced, "I can go with you, but I won't be able to fight—I can't help at all…"

"It's fine," Mo Hua said.

He didn't need Hao Xuan to fight.

The enemy outnumbered them; with Hao Xuan's cultivation, his involvement would be useless anyway.

He just needed to guide the way.

The two prepared to leave, but before departing, Mo Hua wanted to check the two black-robed cultivators inside the cave—search their bodies, examine their faces.

He wanted to know: what identities did these traffickers, daring to sell cultivators near the Qianxue Province border, truly hold?

The black-robed cultivators inside the cave had their legs severed by the Golden Blade Array and were finished off by Mo Hua's Fireball Technique—now their bodies were charred black.

But Mo Hua's Fireball Technique deliberately avoided their faces, preserving them as clues.

The cave's lantern light was dim.

The black-robed cultivator lay on the ground, completely dead.

Mo Hua stepped closer, lifted his mask—and his pupils shrank.

Beneath the black cloth lay a face of rotting flesh, unrecognizable, even the blood blackened and foul.

"This is…"

Mo Hua extended his spiritual sense, scrutinizing closely—unable to believe it.

"Demon energy…"

This black-robed cultivator, before death, had released his own demon energy, corrupting his flesh, blurring his features, and polluting his spiritual power.

To prevent identification.

Mo Hua hurried outside the cave.

Outside lay another dead black-robed cultivator, killed by the Earthfire Array—but his body, too, had been corroded by demon energy, reduced to a pile of rotting flesh.

Mo Hua's heart grew cold.

He had never encountered anything like this before…

After death, self-destructing the body, defiling one's spiritual power, refusing to reveal identity.

But…

Mo Hua frowned.

Where had their demon energy come from?

Why had he noticed nothing of it before?

Hao Xuan, running behind Mo Hua, also saw the corrupted bodies and covered his mouth, stammering, "How… how did these two end up like this?"

Mo Hua shook his head, then searched their storage bags—inside, besides some spirit stones, pills, and standard-issue spiritual tools, he found no other clues to their identities.

Mo Hua shook his head, then rummaged through their storage bags once more. Inside, apart from some spirit stones, elixir pills, and standard-issue spirit artifacts in common use, there were no other clues to their identities.

"So cautious..."

Mo Hua muttered silently.

Hao Xuan said: "Then we..."

Mo Hua said: "Forget it, finding Cheng Mo and the others is the priority."

After all, there were over twenty of them.

Two are dead, but many are still alive.

Mo Hua didn't believe that each of them could destroy their Dao body and conceal their identity before dying...

"Let's go." Mo Hua said.

"Oh." Hao Xuan nodded.

He didn't understand any of this, but following Mo Hua was surely never wrong.

After all, Mo Hua had just saved him.

Hao Xuan still remembered his parents' solemn advice before he entered the sect:

"Xuan'er, though you have a Void-Dawning Ancestor, you are merely one of his one hundred and fifty-six great-grandsons—he may not even remember who you are..."

"Your talent is neither outstanding nor terrible, and your temperament isn't ruthless enough—you'll find it hard to stand out in the sect."

"If that's the case, find a way to secure a safety net..."

"It doesn't matter if you can't master other skills—just perfect your movement technique."

"When traveling the cultivation world, if you encounter danger, run if you can; if you absolutely can't escape, stick tightly to someone reliable and don't try to be a hero."

Hao Xuan had a gut feeling that Mo Hua was exactly the kind of "reliable" cultivator his parents had described.

Even though he was younger than him, weaker in cultivation, and shorter in stature.

Yet he set traps, killed, and looted corpses with an air of great "proficiency."

Though slightly frightening, calling him "Little Senior Brother" and following him was probably right...

Hao Xuan nodded silently.

Afterward, Hao Xuan led the way; both of them used their movement techniques to head toward the western side of the desolate mountain.

Hao Xuan had a Wind Spirit Root and practiced a Wind-style movement technique, which he mastered well.

To his surprise, Mo Hua's movement technique was also highly unusual—his posture light, motion fluid, crossing mountains and valleys without effort.

After walking for half an hour, they faced a vast forest.

The forest was dense and deep, the night pitch-black, making the path ahead utterly invisible.

Hao Xuan couldn't recognize the way; he looked left and right, then silently turned to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua gazed into the distance; faint threads of cause and effect shimmered in his gaze. After a moment, he said: "Follow me."

"Mm." Hao Xuan nodded eagerly.

Thus, Mo Hua led again, with Hao Xuan following behind.

They wound left and right through the trees; though the ground left no trace, Mo Hua always found a path to walk.

Hao Xuan watched, puzzled.

After walking for an unknown length of time, bloodstains reappeared on the ground.

The trees on both sides bore marks of swords, axes, and chisels, and still carried residual traces of earth and fire spiritual energy.

"Open-Mountain Axe! Li Huo Sword!"

"It's Cheng Mo and Situ Jian!"

Hao Xuan was secretly startled and finally couldn't help asking in a low voice:

"Mo Hua, how did you find this..."

Mo Hua said solemnly: "Intuition!"

"Oh..."

Hao Xuan was half-skeptical, unsure whether he should believe it...

Mo Hua whispered: "Just ahead, not far. Let's go take a look."

"Alright." Hao Xuan said nervously.

So both lowered their forms and advanced a few steps; as Hao Xuan turned his head, he suddenly realized Mo Hua had vanished—he panicked and trembled:

"Mo... Hua..."

Mo Hua's figure reappeared beside him.

Hao Xuan was startled.

"I forgot—you can't vanish." Mo Hua reached into his storage pouch, pulled out a jade pendant, and handed it to Hao Xuan: "This is Water-Stealth Jade. A kind uncle from Dao Ting Si gave it to me—'lent' it to me. Use it for now; it grants invisibility."

Hao Xuan took it dumbly and nodded.

Then both activated their concealment techniques and moved closer to the other side of the forest.

On the other side of the forest was a gentle, open slope, with a small stream below, its banks littered with broken stones.

At the stream, two groups of cultivators were locked in battle.

One side wore black robes and masks, totaling nine people.

The other side had only three.

Mo Hua glanced with the corner of his eye and recognized them immediately.

One, with multiple bloodied wounds across his upper body, wielding two large axes as if cornered and shouting loudly, was Cheng Mo.

The other, wielding the Li Huo Sword with a pale face, was Situ Jian.

The third disciple, handsome and martial, wielded a long spear and fought fiercely against the black-robed cultivators; though weary from prolonged combat, his cultivation base was also formidable.

Mo Hua glanced at him and realized he didn't recognize this person.

"Who is that person…"

Mo Hua pointed at the disciple wielding the long spear, lowered his voice, and asked Hao Xuan.

Hao Xuan stole a quick glance and whispered:

"His name is Yang Qianjun. He's from the same cohort as us, but not the same disciple residence, so we don't attend classes together. You probably haven't seen him…"

"Oh, oh."

Mo Hua nodded.

Yang Qianjun… surname Yang… uses a spear…

Mo Hua said softly, "A disciple of the Yang family of the Dao Soldier Division?"

Hao Xuan looked a little surprised. "You know the Yang family too?"

"I know a little…"

Hao Xuan nodded and said, "Yes, he's from the main branch of the Yang family. He studies the spear art passed down through their ancestors, and his cultivation is very strong…"

"The Cheng family has ties with the Yang family, and Cheng Mo knows Yang Qianjun too."

"We're doing this mission to capture three early Foundation Establishment criminal cultivators, so we called him along. The five of us will act together."

"Oh." Mo Hua nodded, then asked in confusion:

"The five of you—you, Cheng Mo, Sister Situ, Yang Qianjun… who's the last one?"

"Yi Li…" Hao Xuan said.

Mo Hua was startled. "Yi Li… the 'Yi' family of Elder Yi, the Dao Art Elder?"

"That's right." Hao Xuan looked around, didn't see Yi Li's figure, and sighed:

"I wonder how Yi Li is doing…"

"Did he escape, or… the odds don't look good…"

Hao Xuan's expression was very worried.

Mo Hua released his divine sense, swept the area once, then suddenly pointed at a cultivator collapsed in a corner and said:

"Is that Yi Li?"

Hao Xuan looked in the direction Mo Hua was pointing, his expression froze for a moment, then he nodded rapidly:

"Yes, that's Yi Li!"

Mo Hua understood at once.

Surname Yi, a member of the Yi family—he must specialize in spells, a spiritual cultivator.

In this kind of melee, spiritual cultivators are at a serious disadvantage.

Especially when they're outnumbered, they're even easier to single out.

In the middle of a chaotic fight, a spiritual cultivator like him would definitely be surrounded at close range and be the first one taken down.

Fortunately, he had only fainted, so his life was not in danger for now.

But after a while, that might not hold…

Mo Hua observed the situation again.

These black-robed cultivators all had very solid foundations. If Mo Hua's guess was right, they were most likely also from noble families.

Given that, Cheng Mo and the other two on the other side might not be able to hold out much longer either.

The three of them, besieged by nine, were slowing down move by move, their spiritual power circulation growing sluggish—it was obvious they were gritting their teeth and barely holding on.

The fact that they'd lasted this long was already impressive.

Hao Xuan watched, looking a bit nervous.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then said to Hao Xuan, "Your movement technique is pretty good, right?"

Hao Xuan, not understanding, slowly nodded. "My parents were afraid something bad might happen to me, so they had me specialize in movement techniques…"

Mo Hua then said softly, "In a bit, pop your head out, curse them a few times, lure them over here, and I'll use a formation to deal with them…"

Hao Xuan was startled, then nodded.

The enemy had more people, they had fewer—indeed, only a formation could give them a chance to win.

But…

Hao Xuan looked left and right. "Where is there a formation?"

"Don't worry…" Mo Hua said. "You just lure them over, and I'll have it set up."

Seeing Hao Xuan didn't believe him, Mo Hua emphasized:

"I set up formations really fast!"

"Alright…"

Hao Xuan muttered. He was just about to get up when another question occurred to him:

"How do I lure them…"

Mo Hua patiently explained, "You just have to pop your head out, let them see you, then pretend to panic and run for your life. They'll definitely split off some people to come after you."

"Would they really be that stupid…" Hao Xuan was a little worried.

Mo Hua said, "They want to silence us by killing everyone—they can't let any news leak. So as long as you show yourself, no matter what, they'll come after you."

"But what if they don't chase…"

"Then you curse at them."

Hao Xuan looked a bit troubled. "I'm not really good at cursing people…"

"No problem," Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "I'll teach you!"

Hao Xuan was startled. "Do you curse people often?"

Mo Hua immediately shook his head. "I can't curse people either. I just happen to know an elder who's very good at it, and by chance, I happened to pick up a few curse words…"

Mo Hua quietly told Hao Xuan some curse words.

After hearing them, Hao Xuan was greatly shocked.

It was as if a frog at the bottom of a well had jumped out of the wellhead—he now realized that someone in this world could curse like this…

"Remember them?" Mo Hua asked.

Hao Xuan nodded solemnly.

"Good, go now!" Mo Hua said. "But remember, don't fight. Once they chase you, just run…"

"Got it!"

So Hao Xuan gathered his courage, stepped out of the forest, stood at its edge, and shouted toward the black-robed cultivators attacking Cheng Mo and the others:

"Cheng Mo! Hold on! I'm here!"

Then he charged toward them.

The black-robed cultivators froze for an instant.

Then they recognized Hao Xuan; seeing him charging into their trap, their gazes turned fierce, and they drew their blades with sneers.

Hao Xuan was startled and immediately turned and ran back.

The black-robed cultivators exchanged glances.

One of them frowned for a moment, then coldly said, "Chase him! Don't let him get away!"

"Yes!"

Two black-robed cultivators nodded and drew their blades, chasing after Hao Xuan.

Following Mo Hua's instructions, Hao Xuan led the two into the forest, circled left and right, and hid behind a large rock.

Then—Boom—the ground exploded.

A violent surge of spiritual energy rippled through the air.

Hao Xuan's heart tightened; when he looked up again, he saw the two black-robed cultivators lying motionless on the ground.

And beside them, Mo Hua had already begun using Fireball Technique to finish them off.

The procedure was seamless, the technique polished.

Hao Xuan almost suspected his "little senior brother" was a seasoned con artist and murderer.

After Mo Hua finished the executions, Hao Xuan rushed over—but saw Mo Hua looking unhappy.

"Senior brother, what's wrong?"

Mo Hua pointed at the two dead black-robed cultivators.

Hao Xuan looked and saw their flesh and blood were shredded, their faces unrecognizable.

Exactly the same as the corpses of the two black-robed men before.

"When alive, you can't sense demonic energy—but the moment they die, the demonic energy goes wild, corrupting and rotting flesh and spiritual energy alike…"

Mo Hua's expression was solemn.

Hao Xuan was also startled.

He was a scion of a righteous sect family; he had only heard tales of the demonic path's sinister methods, never seen them with his own eyes—until now.

It was as if the dangers of cultivation had suddenly become real…

Mo Hua, however, was unfazed.

He stood up and gave Hao Xuan another "luring" route.

Then Hao Xuan returned to the mountain stream and shouted toward the group of black-robed cultivators: "I'm back!"

The black-robed cultivators paused again.

But they did not chase him.

Even fools knew something was wrong this time.

So Hao Xuan remembered Mo Hua's lessons and shouted loudly, but precisely:

"You bunch of cowards…"

"Wimps!"

"When you were born, did you leave your guts back in your mother's womb?"

"I'm cursing you like this, and you still hide like turtles!"

"Is your father a turtle? Are you all spawn of green-headed Wang Ba, so good at enduring?"

"If that's the case, why not introduce me to your mother? Maybe she can give you more turtle brothers…"

…

The black-robed cultivators were stunned by the curses.

Even Cheng Mo and the others were incredulous.

This Hao Xuan… could he be possessed?

He never cursed before—how could his cursing skill have improved so drastically in such a short time?

Cheng Mo and the others were baffled.

The black-robed cultivators snapped out of it—but couldn't take it anymore.

One gritted his teeth and said, "Big brother, let me kill that brat!"

"Cut him into pieces!"

The leader of the black-robed cultivators frowned. "There must be a trick…"

Another black-robed man nodded and said:

"The two brothers who chased him before are gone now—we don't know if they were lured away or ambushed."

But someone roared:

"I don't care! He has humiliated me so badly—today I will gut him alive to vent my fury!"

The leader of the black-robed cultivators frowned: "No."

The man sneered, "Don't forget, you have no authority to command me. I listened to your orders before only out of respect—but in terms of status, I'm not much below you!"

The leader of the black-robed cultivators grew furious, "You!"

But the black-robed man ignored him, and instead pointed to two others himself:

"Let's go. Though we must not reveal our identities, our origins make it unacceptable to endure such humiliation!"

Thus, the three black-robed men chased after Hao Xuan into the mountains.

In the clearing, only four black-robed cultivators remained.

Four against three—though still numerically superior, the advantage was now slim.

Cheng Mo and his two companions also regained confidence, seeing hope for escape—and even counterattack.

On the other side, the three black-robed men sneered viciously as they chased Hao Xuan into the forest.

They believed, with three against one, it would be effortless.

Even if there were ambushes, as long as they were careful, there would be no major threat.

But they had no idea who was waiting for them in this dark, shadowy forest...

Half an hour later.

The formation flared red, then flames spread everywhere.

After the smoke and dust cleared.

The three black-robed men, once so arrogant, lay stiffly on the ground, dead.

——

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(End of Chapter)