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Chapter 153: Mediation (Part 1)
Chapter 153: Mediation (Part 1)
After the battle, the demon hunters cleaned up the battlefield.
Injured demon hunters would be given medical treatment.
As for the Qian Family's cultivators, they were stripped of their storage bags and spiritual artifacts, tossed outside to their fate—whether they lived or died depended on whether the Qian Family would bother to rescue them.
Additionally, all spoils of war had to be handed over, categorized, and then distributed according to merit and the needs of the cultivators.
In the mine, Elder Yu sat cross-legged on a large rock.
The demon hunters took turns approaching him, handing over the storage bags they had collected.
Mo Hua, his pockets stuffed with storage bags, walked up to Elder Yu, ready to turn them in.
Elder Yu was taken aback. "What are you doing?"
"Turning them in," Mo Hua replied.
Elder Yu gave him a slight glare. "What are you, a kid, doing getting involved in this? Go play with these yourself."
"Oh." Mo Hua sat down to one side.
After a while, Elder Yu couldn't help but ask, driven by curiosity, "Where did you get all these storage bags from?"
Mo Hua scratched his head sheepishly. "I picked them up from the escaped cultivators from the Qian Family at the foot of the mountain."
"You picked them up?"
"Yeah." Mo Hua explained, "If any of the Qian Family cultivators were on their own, I'd take care of them and then take their storage bags."
Elder Yu stared at him, thinking he was joking.
Even if the cultivators from the Qian Family were alone, they were still proper late-stage Qi Refining cultivators! How could a kid his age deal with them?
And he made it sound so casual, as if he were just eating candied hawthorn berries...
Elder Yu frowned, then asked, "Have you learned any spells?"
"Yeah, I learned the Fireball Technique."
"Oh."
Elder Yu nodded. That made a bit more sense.
But then he frowned again.
Something wasn't adding up. The Fireball Technique wasn't that easy to use effectively.
Casting spells required one to condense their qi, and if one wasn't proficient, even hitting the target could be a challenge...
Elder Yu wanted to ask more, but other demon hunters had come forward to hand in their storage bags, so he didn't get the chance.
"Elder Yu, do I really not need to hand these in?" Mo Hua asked quietly.
"If you picked them up outside the mine, consider it your own skill. Besides, we're not so destitute that we'd take things from a child."
"Thank you, Elder Yu!"
Mo Hua happily kept the storage bags.
After the mine was tidied up, Elder Yu sent people to guard it and then instructed the injured demon hunters to return and recuperate.
Mo Shan also left. He wasn't injured, as his vine armor, inscribed with the Golden Armor Formation, hadn't been torn by the magical beasts, let alone the swords and blades of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators.
He intended to escort Mo Hua home, especially since Mo Hua was now effectively "carrying a fortune."
Upon returning home, Mo Hua closed the door, took the storage bags from his pockets, and dumped them on the table before opening them one by one.
Mo Shan watched with a complicated expression.
He didn't know how his son had managed to 'pick up' so many storage bags...
There were around a dozen storage bags, filled with a wide variety of items.
Mostly, there were spirit stones, spiritual artifacts, pills, and robes, along with some miscellaneous items of little value.
There were also a few colorful booklets featuring alluring female cultivators doing all sorts of strange things.
Mo Hua had just started flipping through them when Mo Shan confiscated them.
Mo Hua pouted, feeling a bit disappointed. "I wonder what was drawn inside..."
It didn't take long to sort through the dozen or so storage bags.
There were three to four hundred spirit stones alone, plus some raw spirit stones, pills, spiritual artifacts, and other items—all together, it was probably worth five to six hundred spirit stones.
Five to six hundred spirit stones! Mo Hua couldn't help but marvel.
No wonder people often said that just as a horse needs night grass to grow fat, a person needs unexpected wealth to become rich.
However, this was a business best left untouched.
Mo Hua still wanted to be a law-abiding, respectable cultivator.
Unless, of course, he came across fools like the Qian Family who were both evil and stupid...
Mo Shan gave Mo Hua all the spirit stones from the storage bags for his cultivation and to learn array formations. Mo Shan took the rest—the spiritual artifacts, pills, robes, and vine armor.
The Qian Family had suffered a huge loss this time and would undoubtedly seek retribution.
After all, the battle between the demon hunters and the Qian family had resulted in significant casualties. Out of moral obligation and principle, the Dao Court could not stand idly by.
The Chief Magistrate of the Dao Court personally sought out Elder Yu.
Mo Hua, having heard the news, tagged along with his father out of curiosity.
Elder Yu and the Chief Magistrate spoke in private for a long while, and no one knew what they discussed. When they emerged, both men wore grim expressions.
It seemed the meeting had not ended on a positive note.
What could they have talked about?
Mo Hua was extremely curious, but he knew that Elder Yu wouldn't divulge any details to him if he asked.
Just then, he spotted Zhang Lan, who was following behind the Chief Magistrate.
Zhang Lan held the position of the Registrar at the Dao Court, a high-ranking role, and as a member of a prominent family, his presence on such an occasion was only natural.
As Zhang Lan walked, he felt a familiar gaze upon him.
Turning his head, he saw that it was indeed Mo Hua.
Mo Hua winked at him.
Sighing inwardly, Zhang Lan pretended not to notice and turned away, continuing on his path.
In the afternoon, finding some free time, he made his way to Mo Hua's eatery for a drink.
Mo Hua personally poured him a drink, his eyes fixed eagerly upon Zhang Lan.
Zhang Lan sighed in resignation. "Ask away. What do you want to know?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "What did Elder Yu and your Chief Magistrate discuss this morning?"
Zhang Lan coughed and lowered his voice. "It was about the spirit mine. You know about that, right?"
Mo Hua nodded.
Although he had expected as much, Zhang Lan's confirmation still surprised him somewhat. "How much do you know?"
"I know everything. I was even there the day the spirit mine was taken," Zhang Lan replied.
Mo Hua had also picked up around ten storage bags...
Of course, he didn't voice this thought aloud.
Zhang Lan, as a cultivator of the Dao Court, had his own position to consider, and Mo Hua didn't want to put him in a difficult spot.
Mo Hua "considerately" spared Zhang Lan from any potential embarrassment.
Zhang Lan sighed. "You're certainly bold."
A battle between cultivators, and this young man dared to involve himself.
Zhang Lan explained, "Since you already know so much, I won't beat around the bush. With such a big incident causing casualties on both sides, the Chief Magistrate naturally wants to calm the situation. The Qian family agrees, but their demand is that your side gives up the spirit mine, and in return, they won't pursue the matter further..."
Mo Hua huffed in displeasure. "They're dreaming!"
"That's exactly what Elder Yu said," Zhang Lan confirmed.
Of course, his words were laced with profanities, some so crude that Zhang Lan himself had never heard them before.
Zhang Lan had met many Foundation Establishment cultivators, and while Elder Yu might not have been the most powerful among them, he was undoubtedly the most foul-mouthed.
"What happens now?" Mo Hua asked.
Zhang Lan sighed. "Nothing much can be done. At this point, the Dao Court can't really interfere."
"Huh?"
Mo Hua's eyes widened in confusion.
You mean the Dao Court is powerless in this situation? Zhang Lan shrugged helplessly. "The Dao Court only has so many cultivators. We can maintain order and deal with the occasional rogue cultivator, but when it comes to conflicts between two powerful forces, it's beyond our control."
Zhang Lan added, "At least, the Dao Court in Tongxian City is incapable of handling this. The most we can do is mediate and urge both sides to follow the common rules of engagement."
Mo Hua asked, "What are the 'common' rules?"
Zhang Lan's expression turned solemn as he lowered his voice. "The nameless peak where the spirit mine is located will serve as the boundary. Outside the peak, neither side can kill without reason, but on the peak itself, you fight and kill as you please, until both sides have had their fill of battle..."
"Deaths that occur there will go unnoticed by anyone but yourselves. The Dao Court will turn a blind eye and won't report it to the higher authorities."
A simple, brutal, and savage solution.
Hearing this, Mo Hua's eyes turned steely.
In other words, the true fierce battle was yet to come...
(End of Chapter)
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