Chapter 742: Conspiracy

Mo Hua looked at this tiny thing, smaller than himself, and sighed, then grew somewhat angry.

To kidnap a child this young…

Jiang Laoda and his gang truly deserve to die.

I should've fed them a few more fireballs…

The eatery was dilapidated, covered in scorch marks.

The child glanced around, grew even more frightened, his small face pale as snow, eyes glistening with tears—but he held back his sobs.

Mo Hua asked softly: "Are you alright…?"

The child stole a glance at Mo Hua, then slowly nodded.

Mo Hua asked: "What's your name?"

The child opened his mouth to speak, but paused, as if remembering something, then shook his head without answering.

Mo Hua paused slightly, then understood.

This child probably dares not reveal his surname.

To reveal his surname would expose his identity, and risk having his parents blackmailed by malicious parties.

For a child this young, having such caution is a good thing—Mo Hua didn't press him.

He asked again: "Then what should I call you?"

The child thought for a moment, seeing Mo Hua's clear gaze and gentle features; though older, Mo Hua wasn't much older than him.

Much better than those monstrous villains…

He finally whispered timidly: "My parents call me 'Yu'er'…"

"Yu'er?"

Like Ru, like Yu

They named him this, hoping their child would grow up gentle as jade.

Mo Hua asked: "Where are your parents?"

Yu'er's expression turned sorrowful, and he shook his head.

For a kidnapped child, not knowing where his parents are—this was only natural…

The child's face was pale as Bai Bai; clearly, these past days had been filled with fear and dread.

Mo Hua felt a pang of pity, thought for a moment, then said: "I'll take you to find your parents…"

Yu'er's dim eyes suddenly brightened, filled with a humble, fragile hope, staring fixedly at Mo Hua:

"Really…?"

As if afraid Mo Hua was lying, his gaze held a fragile, yearning plea.

He must've been hurt by the cruelty of human hearts after being kidnapped—no longer trusting others…

"Mm. If you're not found, your parents will surely be heartbroken…"

Mo Hua said gently.

Yu'er's tears fell like pearls, "I… I miss my mother…"

"Let's go," said Mo Hua.

"Mm," Yu'er wiped his tears and nodded.

Mo Hua lifted him out of the crate.

Yu'er saw the surroundings—the corpses of numerous cultivators, gruesome and scattered—and his face grew even paler as he looked at Mo Hua:

"These bad people… are…"

Mo Hua looked solemn: "I don't know who killed them…"

Yu'er blinked in surprise.

Mo Hua paused, then began earnestly making things up: "I came to Qianzhou to study, passed through here, and was looking for an eatery to fill my stomach…"

"But when I entered the eatery, this was what I saw…"

"These cultivators were killed by someone—left utterly clean, no trace…"

"I noticed something odd about the crate, so I opened it—and saved you…"

…

Mo Hua made it sound as if he had nothing to do with any of it.

He was merely a passing, unknown, kind older brother.

But Yu'er eyed Mo Hua suspiciously:

"Really?"

Mo Hua nodded seriously.

Yu'er glanced at Mo Hua, then at the corpses littering the ground—it all felt strangely off.

This child was quite sharp…

Mo Hua said: "Let's hurry. Otherwise, your parents will surely worry about you…"

These words pulled Yu'er's thoughts back.

"Mm, mm," Yu'er nodded eagerly.

Mo Hua took a cloak from his storage pouch and draped it over Yu'er.

It was a concealment cloak, used back in Nanyue City when he and his junior brother and sister had been shadowing targets.

It bore a concealment array painted by Mo Hua.

Though only a rank-one array, the dusk was falling—enough to hide them from prying eyes.

More traffickers might come soon—better to be cautious.

"This is..."

Yu'er, covered by the cloak, looked puzzled.

"Don't ask yet. Put it on."

"Oh."

Yu'er nodded obediently, clumsily wrapping the oversized cloak around himself.

Suddenly he looked around, his expression turning sorrowful, as if reluctant.

Mo Hua asked, "What's wrong?"

Yu'er glanced at the scattered corpses on the ground and whispered, "These people... they have parents too, don't they? If they're dead, won't their parents... never see them again..."

"Won't they... be heartbroken too..."

Mo Hua was startled.

He hadn't expected this child to be so pure and kind-hearted...

Even though Jiang Laoda and these others had kidnapped him...

Mo Hua thought for a moment: not knowing the wickedness of human nature, being too innocent, might not be a good thing—but this child was only four or five years old; at this age, it was better to remain innocent.

The world could accommodate countless wicked people, and countless selfish ones.

Why then could it not accommodate a single kind-hearted child?

Mo Hua therefore said, "Don't worry—these people had no parents."

Yu'er froze, then was stunned:

"Can people really have no parents?"

Mo Hua said, "Most people have them, but some don't—they have no parents."

Yu'er's understanding was overturned; he remained dazed for a long while, but after careful thought, this kind stranger who had saved him didn't seem to have any reason to lie to him.

Yu'er's heart felt a little better.

If they had no parents, then no one would grieve for them when they died...

That was almost a good thing...

Yu'er nodded, silently thinking to himself:

"It's really great that these bad people had no parents!"

Having reassured Yu'er, Mo Hua surveyed the surroundings again and erased all the array patterns he had just deduced, calculated, and marked, along with the traces of breaking the array.

The crate...

Mo Hua thought for a moment, took apart the crate into wooden planks, and put them into his storage bag.

These planks bore residual, unknown array patterns.

They should be stored away and studied carefully when time permitted.

Then Mo Hua pointed a finger and cast a Fireball Technique, completely destroying the remaining two storage crates, burning the scattered wood shavings into charcoal and mixing them together.

Mo Hua's movements were clean, efficient, and swift—totaling only about ten breaths.

Yu'er blinked, unable to help asking:

"Brother, why are you so skilled at this...?"

Mo Hua paused, then replied without changing expression:

"I learned this from a kind uncle—it's experience for traveling outside..."

"So children must study hard, or they'll suffer greatly when they walk the cultivation world!"

Yu'er didn't fully understand, but still nodded seriously.

Everything was tidied up; all traces were erased.

Time to leave.

Mo Hua took Yu'er's hand, concealed their forms, and left the eatery.

A young cultivator of about ten, and a smaller one, walked hand in hand toward the distant Qingzhou City...

But the dimming sky and concealed forms meant no one saw them...

After Mo Hua left, a few minutes later, four or five black-robed cultivators arrived at the eatery.

Their faces were covered in black cloth, indistinct; only their eyes, cold and sinister, were visible.

Yet that coldness and sinister gaze turned to shock and disbelief upon seeing the eatery's condition.

"Where are the people?"

"All dead?!"

The black-robed cultivators all drew in sharp breaths.

"Who did this?"

"Don't know..."

"Where's the 'merchandise'?"

The black-robed cultivators immediately released their spiritual senses, scanning the surroundings; moments later, they spotted the shattered fragments of the storage crates in the corner of the eatery.

"Was it... a ransom killing?"

Everyone found it hard to believe.

"No..." one black-robed cultivator frowned, "no flesh or blood remains..."

"And the crates are wrong..."

"Where's Mr.'s crate?"

"Was it taken apart? Or destroyed?"

"The box has Mr.'s array on it — who could dismantle it? The box lives, the people live; the box dies, the people die…"

"Not necessarily. Qianzhou is full of capable people — nothing is impossible…"

The few of them argued back and forth.

Suddenly someone asked: "Big Brother, what do we do?"

The cultivator called "Big Brother" was also dressed all in black; from his clothing, nothing stood out — only a pair of eyes, with a glint of essence contained within, and as he glanced about, it was like an eagle's gaze and a wolf's wary look.

The black-clad "Big Brother" looked around and said hoarsely:

"Boss Jiang and the others… looks like they walked into an ambush, died to the last man…"

"This batch of 'goods,' box and people alike, was all hijacked…"

"Black eating black?" someone asked in confusion.

The others said angrily: "We gave the word beforehand — who on the road has the guts to dare eat our 'goods'?"

"Men die for wealth, birds die for food. This batch of 'goods' is too fat — there's nothing they wouldn't dare…"

"Even if it's black eating black, who has the ability to do the eating?"

The black-clad Big Brother's gaze darkened as it swept across everyone's faces, and he said thoughtfully:

"The ground is still warm, scorched black — these are traces of an array…"

"The array's power is great, but its setup is elaborate…"

"This shows that someone learned the news in advance, laid out an array here beforehand, and then, borrowing the array's might, ambushed and killed twelve people, Boss Jiang included!"

"And snatched the food from the tiger's mouth — stole our 'goods'!"

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