Chapter 680: The Dragon Across the River

Another fish cultivator sighed helplessly: "Alright, alright, I'm useless, born to a life of poverty, there's nothing I can do."

He gripped the gills of a wriggling spirit fish and tossed it into the bamboo basket. "Father, let's get to work, or the water spirits will come ashore soon."

The elder fish cultivator finally bowed his head and resumed his labor.

Beside them, a ten-year-old Qi Condensation cultivator picked up a grade-one small fish and looked up to say:

"Grandpa, even third-grade fish won't help—third-grade family sons, even if they join a sect, still get bullied."

The elder fish cultivator froze.

The Qi Condensation boy continued:

"It's true—Zhu's third son, relying on his Jin Dan grandfather, looks down on everyone; when we played together, he was always arrogant…"

"After joining the sect, he could only trail behind the children of great families, bowing and scraping like a lackey, never again as proud as before…"

"Sometimes when the sect had its ten-day break and he came home, he'd sit there like a fool, silent for hours; when we called him to play, he ignored us."

The elder fish cultivator shook his head. "That's called joining a sect, gaining knowledge, learning propriety—what do you brats understand?"

"Clans endure for thousands of years; their descendants are the finest among men. Zhu San'er is lucky to study alongside these chosen ones."

"A person who doesn't learn becomes useless. Learning from the great families can only be right…"

The young fish cultivator pursed his lips but dared not defy his grandfather, so he said no more.

After finishing his lecture, the elder fish cultivator glanced at Mo Hua and quickly waved his hand.

"Kid, hurry along—your small frame, if a water spirit drags you into the water, you won't survive."

But Mo Hua was troubled by what he'd just heard and asked:

"Old man, you said six people were killed… killed by water spirits—was one of them a Young Master?"

The elder fish cultivator nodded.

"Which family's Young Master?"

The elder fish cultivator shook his head. "How would I know? Just some young master from a nearby clan—whether big or small, I have no idea…"

Mo Hua frowned. "Why would a clan's young master come to the Yan Shui River?"

Another Foundation Establishment fish cultivator sneered. "What else? To play, of course."

"Play?" Mo Hua blinked.

"It's the Rouge Boats…"

Before the Foundation Establishment fish cultivator could finish, his father slapped his shoulder. "Don't say everything—you'll corrupt the child."

But Mo Hua's senses were sharp—he remembered those three words.

"Rouge Boats?"

The elder fish cultivator waved him off. "Nothing important. Kids should focus on cultivation—don't ask about such things."

The more he refused to speak, the more curious Mo Hua became.

No matter how Mo Hua pressed, the fish cultivators refused to say another word.

The other fish cultivators began bustling about, mending nets and sorting the mixed grades of spirit fish into baskets, then sealing them with crude arrays.

This was their livelihood—their whole family depended on these spirit fish.

Mo Hua didn't want to intrude further.

But they'd told him so much already—they'd helped him. Mo Hua felt he should return the favor.

His gaze swept over the nets and baskets; most were worn, their arrays frayed.

Mo Hua estimated briefly, then said: "These arrays on the nets will fail after five or six uses—want me to fix them?"

The fish cultivators all paused.

The elder fish cultivator said: "Young brother… you're an array master?"

"Mm!"

Mo Hua nodded.

The elder fish cultivator stared at Mo Hua in shock, then blushed slightly. "We… we don't have any spirit stones."

"It's fine," Mo Hua smiled. "Just a small favor."

Mo Hua reached out, about to point—then remembered he should stay low-key, act like an ordinary array master.

"I'm an ordinary array master… an ordinary array master…"

Mo Hua muttered to himself twice, then pulled out a brush, dipped it in ink, and meticulously repaired every crude array on the nets and baskets.

His brushwork was neat, effortless, radiating a distinctly "professional" air.

The Qi Condensation boy stared in awe.

The two Foundation Establishment fish cultivators were deeply grateful and thanked Mo Hua repeatedly.

"Young brother, thank you so much—if you don't mind, come home with us later, I'll cook you some fresh spirit fish."

The elder fish cultivator pointed far off. "Not far—just that little fishing village over there."

Fresh spirit fish!

Mo Hua's eyes lit up—he really wanted to taste them—but he had urgent business and couldn't afford to dawdle.

At that moment, the Grand Void Token trembled.

Mo Hua pulled it out and saw a message from Hao Xuan—he perked up instantly and took his leave.

"Old man, my fish just bit! I've got to go!"

With that, Mo Hua's form blurred like water, wrapped in faint blue light, his feet stirring wind—he vanished in a few blinks.

The fish cultivators stared, stunned:

Such exquisite body technique—no wonder he's from a great sect…

…

An incense stick later, Mo Hua and Hao Xuan met up, and Cheng Mo was there too.

Hao Xuan said to Mo Hua:

"There was movement in the water just now."

He showed Mo Hua the array disc; Mo Hua glanced at it and understood at once.

A cultivator had indeed swum past the Water Pattern Array, and the disturbed spiritual energy had triggered the array, leaving traces on the disc.

The river was dangerous, filled with aquatic beasts.

A cultivator who could swim freely underwater must not be ordinary—he must have cultivated a water-elemental technique and mastered aquatic movement; he is very likely the "River Dragon."

But now, the traces on the array disc were fading slowly.

Clearly, the River Dragon was hiding beneath the water, and no one knew where he had swum to.

"What do we do?"

Hao Xuan whispered to Mo Hua.

He knew his own limits well—his cultivation level and Dao methods were average among the prodigies, his cultivation experience was lacking, and he wasn't clever in handling situations…

So when serving the sect, one must cling tightly to the "thighs"!

Hao Xuan gazed at Mo Hua with innocent eyes.

Mo Hua looked up at the water's surface, compared it with his experience as a "Beast Hunter," and mused:

"Mountains are perilous, full of beasts; Beast Hunters always stick to fixed mountain paths."

"Similarly, water is dangerous, full of aquatic demons—the River Dragon swimming underwater must have fixed 'water routes'…"

"He swam past here, so this is one of his 'water routes.'"

"The water is too dangerous for us to enter—we can only wait here, like a farmer waiting for a rabbit to run into a stump…"

Cheng Mo frowned, "Even if we catch him, then what?"

Mo Hua recalled Gu Changhuai's warning: "Trap him with an array, drag him ashore without leaving water traces, then apprehend him."

Drag him ashore…

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, his eyes brightening. "Wait for me a moment…" Without waiting for a reply, he dashed off again.

Cheng Mo and the others stared blankly.

Half an hour later, Mo Hua returned, holding a storage bag—inside were two fishing nets, soaked in water, tangled with aquatic weeds, and reeking of fish.

These two nets were bought by Mo Hua from the old fisher-cultivator just now.

The old fisher-cultivator didn't know what Mo Hua intended, but said, "These are old nets, young brother—take them, use them, just return them when you're done."

But Mo Hua still paid him spiritual stones.

Because once he modified them, the nets would be unrecognizable—he couldn't bring himself to return them.

Besides, old nets were better than new ones.

Old nets, soaked in water for years, coated with weeds and fish odor, could be disguised easily in water and go unnoticed.

Fishing nets were also a kind of spiritual artifact.

Mo Hua had Cheng Mo and the others help him dismantle the nets completely.

Once dismantled, the internal array patterns inside the nets were exposed.

Unlike his earlier simple repairs, Mo Hua now intended to use the nets as array mediums to reconstruct their internal arrays.

First, Mo Hua drew a Rank-One Concealment Array.

A Rank-One Concealment Array wasn't especially effective, but underwater, where vision was blurred, it would suffice.

Additionally, Mo Hua drew a Rank-Two Fifteen-Stroke "Water Net Array."

A Rank-Two Thirteen-Stroke "Water Poison Array."

A Rank-Two Fourteen-Stroke "Yi Wood Binding Body Array," and the "Drowning Array," among others…

For safety, Mo Hua also attached barbed hooks to the nets, coated with paralyzing poison.

The dense arrays and greenish poison made Cheng Mo and the others' scalps tingle.

Only now did they understand what Mo Hua meant by "Prepare thoroughly, or fail utterly."

After preparation, Mo Hua had Cheng Mo and the others jointly cast the nets into the water, blocking the River Dragon's likely water route.

Then Mo Hua instructed: "Once the River Dragon is caught in the net, immediately pull him ashore together…"

"Once ashore, don't stop—keep dragging him toward that small grove, don't let him near the riverbank, or he'll jump back in and escape…"

Mo Hua led them to pick positions in the grove, nodded, then took out his array disc and buried it in the ground.

Cheng Mo opened his mouth in surprise: "Are we setting up an array here too?"

"Naturally," Mo Hua said, "Each additional array adds another tactic, increases our chances, and reduces risk."

"The more tactics, the better—the more arrays, the better."

"Oh…" Cheng Mo, always impulsive, nodded slowly, half-understanding.

Si Tu Jian and Yang Qianjun exchanged glances, their eyes filled with admiration.

Their little senior brother was too cautious…

Yang Qianjun didn't attend Mo Hua's array classes, but after spending so long with Cheng Mo and the others, he had gradually come to accept Mo Hua as their "little senior brother."

Hao Xuan, watching from the side, frowned.

"Little senior brother, your method seems… off."

Mo Hua paused. "What's off?"

Hao Xuan recalled, then said slowly:

"Last time I saw you set up arrays, it wasn't like this—you didn't use array discs or flags. In the blink of an eye, arrays appeared on the ground."

"Those black-robed men—one appeared, one exploded; a whole squad appeared, a whole squad exploded…"

"Why are you still dragging your feet burying the array plate now?"

Cheng Mo and the others silently turned to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua's expression was serious as he told Hao Xuan, "You're mistaken."

Hao Xuan froze for a moment.

Mo Hua's face was utterly serious, his tone certain: "I've always set up arrays this way!"

"It was too dark that night; you didn't see clearly, and because you were being chased, you lost too much blood and were too tense—you misread it…"

Mo Hua patted Hao Xuan on the shoulder. "Think carefully—wasn't it like that?"

Hao Xuan was bewildered by Mo Hua's words.

He thought back: that night, the darkness was deep, the mountains pitch-black, and his corner of the eye had bled—he truly hadn't seen clearly…

If Mo Hua had been crouching on the ground burying the array…

With such dark skies, his own tension, and the distance between them, it would've been normal not to see.

Hao Xuan nodded, suddenly understanding:

"Senior Brother, you're right—I must've misseen it!"

Mo Hua nodded, satisfied.

Cheng Mo and the others had no doubts; they couldn't possibly understand arrays better than Mo Hua…

After setting up the array, Mo Hua mentioned a few key points, and then they hid by the riverbank and waited.

They waited until dusk, until the sun sank behind the mountains and the evening glow painted the river crimson, yet not a single stir occurred.

Even though Cheng Mo and the others were alert, they eventually couldn't stay awake—their eyelids grew heavy, their spirits dulled.

Mo Hua was also bored, but he had sat on the ground early, drawing arrays and solving them for fun.

As he solved, Mo Hua suddenly froze, looked up at the Yan Shui River, his spiritual sense sweeping over the water, his eyes narrowing as he whispered:

"They're coming!"

Cheng Mo and the others snapped alert, immediately gripping the fishing net's ropes as previously agreed.

But they remembered Mo Hua's instructions and did not release their spiritual sense to spy on the water.

Cheng Mo and the others were all at Foundation Establishment early stage, while the River Dragon was at Foundation Establishment middle stage—the cultivation gap meant that recklessly releasing spiritual sense to spy would easily be detected.

So they stood ready, waiting silently.

Only Mo Hua used his spiritual sense to observe the water's movements.

Amidst a void of white, all things in the water shed their original forms and colors, transforming into chaotic states of spiritual energy.

Amidst swirling hues, a long human shadow drifted with the current—like a dragon, yet also like a giant white fish.

When this "giant white fish" lazily swam into the fishing net, now blended with the riverbed's mud and weeds, Mo Hua's eyes lit up and he whispered:

"Reel it in!"

Cheng Mo and the others, upon hearing the signal, immediately unleashed their full strength and sharply pulled the net shut.

The empty water suddenly burst with blue-green net-like light—the hidden "fishing net" emerged, its layered arrays activating and rapidly contracting.

The once leisurely "giant white fish" was startled, had no time to react, and was instantly caught in the net, dragged toward the shore.

The "giant white fish" roared in fury and struggled, but found the net unbearably tough, its surface densely covered with arrays—though he didn't know which ones, they combined concealment, entrapment, and binding—surely crafted by a master arrayist.

No matter how he twisted and writhed, he could not break free.

The "giant white fish" pulled out a hook-claw spiritual artifact, intending to tear open the net.

But as he struggled, the net's barbs had already pierced his flesh, and the poison seeped into his blood, paralyzing his body, rendering him momentarily motionless.

Though the poison wasn't potent, and the paralysis lasted only a moment.

Yet in that brief span, he was already dragged, netted, onto the riverbank.

Mo Hua watched nearby as the array's light flashed once, the net retracted, and under the dim amber glow of dusk, the "giant white fish" was hauled ashore.

This "fish" was a man, bare-chested, his skin Bai Xi, his eyebrows faint, his face bizarre, resembling a water spirit.

It was none other than the cultivator known as the River Dragon.

The River Dragon, the moment he hit land, began screaming: "Who the hell are you, you sneaky little scoundrels, ambushing me?!"

Mo Hua didn't waste words—he waved his hand.

Cheng Mo and the others understood, and as planned, the four of them pulled the net's ropes, dragging the River Dragon toward the small woods by the shore.

Once off the shore, into the woods, the River Dragon, without his river, was no longer a dragon—just a worm.

The River Dragon clearly knew this.

Now the poison's effect was fading, his limbs no longer paralyzed, and he still carried river water—his cultivation could still flow at full strength.

The River Dragon unleashed all his power, slashing violently with his Three-Jiao Hook—but the net didn't budge.

"Damn it, what kind of net is this?!"

The River Dragon cursed inwardly, then slashed several times at the net's corners with his sharp Three-Jiao Hook.

Finally, he sliced through a weak spot in the array's netting.

The River Dragon's body merged with water, like a flood dragon, slipping through the gap, trying to escape the net's grip.

Just as he squeezed halfway out, Mo Hua noticed.

Mo Hua pointed a finger and trapped the River Dragon with a Water Prison technique.

The River Dragon sneered coldly: "A water technique? You think that can hold me?"

He shrank his body, flowing like water, slipping free from the Water Prison.

But that brief delay allowed Cheng Mo and the others to realize something was wrong—they yanked hard, twisting the net like a rope around the River Dragon's neck.

The River Dragon was choked by the net, momentarily immobilized.

At that moment, Hao Xuan moved like the wind, appearing behind the River Dragon, raising the Thousand-Jun Club Mo Hua had given him, and brought it down hard on the River Dragon's occiput.

The river dragon's head went blank.

Cheng Mo and the others seized the chance, using the net as a rope to twist around the river dragon's neck and drag him deep into the small grove.

Mo Hua hid in the shadows, his eyes glinting faintly as he used his spiritual sense to activate the formation.

The Second-Rank Earth Burial Formation activated.

Gray light flowed across the ground; the earth sank inward like a funeral coffin, swallowing the river dragon whole.

Earth overcomes water.

The water qi on the river dragon's body gradually drained away, and his internal water-element spiritual energy accelerated its loss…

Everywhere he was targeted, everywhere he was manipulated, step by step sinking deeper into someone else's trap—a sense of helpless despair surged into his heart.

The river dragon's face turned pale as he roared in fury:

"Fuck, who the hell are you?!"

"Are you dogs of the Dao Ting Si?"

"Or friends from the underworld?"

"Who the hell set this formation and ambushed me?!"

As he cursed, the river dragon struggled—and finally, relying on his Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivation, he broke free from the Earth Burial Formation.

Mo Hua said nothing, only waved his hand.

Cheng Mo raised his twin axes, Sister Situ summoned her Li Huo Sword, and Yang Qianjun gripped his long spear.

Hao Xuan lifted his staff—he had never used a staff before; like other noble youths, he wielded a sword. But in actual combat, he found his mediocre swordplay useless—his staff was far more effective.

The four began their encirclement attack on the river dragon.

Filled with rage, the river dragon clashed with Cheng Mo and the others—but after a few moments, he was stunned.

These… are just kids?

They look like fresh recruits, barely Foundation Establishment early stage?

Impossible!

The river dragon's pupils shrank sharply.

How could a group of inexperienced kids set up such a tightly woven killing trap?

And those meticulously constructed formations…

There must be a cultivator behind them—skilled in formations, cunning, ruthless—who's directing this?

Who is this person?

Did he set this trap to claim the Dao Ting Si's bounty, earn sect merit, seek revenge—or…

Does he know my secret?

A chill ran through the river dragon's heart.

He wanted to flee, but it was too late—he had lost his chance.

Cheng Mo and the others weren't easy prey.

If the river dragon were at full strength, submerged in water, stirring up chaos, they would have been no match.

But now he was ashore, a "land-bound dragon," weakened step by step by Mo Hua's formations—his abilities halved, how could he possibly stand against Cheng Mo and the others?

Mo Hua didn't move, only maintained his concealment, sitting atop the big tree, observing the river dragon's movements, watching for any escape attempt.

The rest, Cheng Mo and the others could handle.

Indeed, within half an hour, Hao Xuan lunged forward and shattered the river dragon's right arm.

The river dragon cried out in pain, and his Three Shark Claws clattered to the ground.

Yang Qianjun seized the opening, driving his spear into the river dragon's left thigh; Sister Situ summoned her Li Huo Sword and pierced his right thigh.

The river dragon groaned twice, sweat pouring down his face.

Cheng Mo kicked him from behind, sending him crashing to his knees, then placed his twin axes against the river dragon's neck.

The Foundation Establishment mid-stage killer, notorious along the Yan Shui River as the "River Dragon," was finally subdued.

All combatants exhaled in relief.

Mo Hua nodded, about to step forward and let the river dragon experience firsthand the taste of his repeatedly refined "Formation Iron Plate," hoping to extract some secrets from him.

But before he could leap down from the tree, his gaze suddenly turned icy, and he shouted sharply:

"Cheng Mo, watch out!"

Cheng Mo froze, then immediately sensed danger—he spun sideways, raising his twin axes before him.

From afar, a sharp golden sword qi sliced through the air and struck his axes.

Golden light blazed, the sword qi brilliant and pure.

Cheng Mo's axes blocked the sword qi, but the residual spiritual force still numbed his Hukou, forcing him to stagger back three steps.

Standing firm, Cheng Mo was both shocked and furious:

"Ambushing from the shadows? Who the fuck?!"

"Watch your mouth!"

A young but grim voice echoed from afar.

Moments later, a group of cultivators walked slowly forward—the lead figure was a noble young master in brocade robes edged with gold thread, his face pale and refined, his gaze haughty.

"You little brats dare steal my 'prey'?"

(End of Chapter)