Chapter 418: Tracking
Chapter 418: Tracking
Mo Hua shared the information he had gathered with Si Tu Fang.
Si Tu Fang's eyebrows furrowed in anger as she thought about the impoverished widow and her orphans. "This is outrageous!"
These people were taking advantage of the dead and profiting from their misfortune.
The next day, Si Tu Fang brought along some cultivators from the Dao Court and found Wang Lai and his cohorts at the gambling house. They were taken to the Dao Court for interrogation, and the extorted spirit stones were confiscated.
Si Tu Fang returned the spirit stones to the miner's family, but there was little she could do about Wang Lai and the others.
While they had forcefully demanded compensation for the miner and kept most of the spirit stones for themselves, their crime was not considered severe enough for a heavy punishment.
The Dao Court couldn't sentence them to a harsh penalty.
Si Tu Fang wanted to dig up their past misdeeds and punish them for multiple crimes.
These local bullies must have had a long list of wicked deeds, but with the miner's family being weak and afraid of retaliation, no one dared to step forward and identify them.
Left with no choice, Si Tu Fang could only imprison them for a month, subject them to wooden punishment, and then release them after thirty lashes.
The first thing Wang Lai and his gang did after leaving the Dao prison was to team up with a bunch of local thugs and head to the deceased miner's home, where they threatened and extorted the family, taking back the spirit stones and even injuring several people in the process. They brazenly declared:
"If you dare to report this to the Dao Court again, we'll wipe out your entire family!"
Si Tu Fang shared this latest development with Mo Hua.
In the courtyard of the cave mansion, Si Tu Fang seethed with anger. "I wanted to throw them back into the Dao prison, but several of the older executives stopped me..."
"They told me it would be pointless," she continued. "They've seen many similar cases over the years."
"Unless we truly kill these thugs, they'll keep coming back like a sticky plaster that can't be shaken off."
"Arrest them, imprison them, release them... it's an endless cycle."
"As the Chief Justice of the Dao Court, I'm not afraid of them, but in the end, it's the poor and helpless miners who suffer at their hands..." Si Tu Fang's expression reflected her deep frustration.
After chatting for a while, Si Tu Fang left with a troubled face.
Mo Hua sat in the courtyard, his eyebrows knitted in thought.
Bai Zi Sheng and Bai Zi Xi had just finished learning about array formations from Master Zhuang and were leaving when they passed by the courtyard and saw Mo Hua deep in contemplation under a large tree.
Bai Zi Sheng rushed to Mo Hua and asked, "What's wrong?"
Mo Hua hesitated for a moment before recounting the incident involving Wang Lai and his gang.
Bai Zi Sheng angrily exclaimed, "Let's slaughter them!"
Bai Zi Xi's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"We must act according to the rules and abide by the Dao laws," Mo Hua said. "We can't just kill them unless they've committed a capital offense..."
Bai Zi Sheng muttered, "I think they've already crossed that line..."
Mo Hua gave him a sidelong glance.
Bai Zi Sheng fell silent.
Then his eyes widened in realization, and he looked at Mo Hua suspiciously. "Are you plotting something devious?"
"How could it be devious?" Mo Hua asked, slightly annoyed.
"You're definitely planning to trick them," Bai Zi Sheng asserted.
Bai Zi Xi also looked at Mo Hua with a puzzled expression.
"It's not exactly tricking them..." Mo Hua thought for a moment before replying, "I plan to secretly track their movements and see what they're up to on a typical day. Perhaps we can find some evidence to use against them."
Given their long history of misdeeds, these cultivators must have left some traces or clues.
"Tracking?" Bai Zi Sheng's eyes lit up at the idea.
"You can't go," Mo Hua stated firmly.
Bai Zi Sheng's face fell in disappointment. "Why not?"
"You don't know how to use stealth techniques."
"I don't need to..."
"Of course, you do!" Mo Hua insisted, arching her delicate eyebrows. "You need to conceal yourself to track them effectively. Going openly would be like treating them like fools."
"Alright..." Bai Zi Sheng's enthusiasm waned.
Bai Zi Xi gently coughed, subtly reminding Bai Zi Sheng, and then glanced at Mo Hua.
Bai Zi Sheng suddenly understood, and with a look of realization, he said to Mo Hua, "That's right! You know how to create stealth arrays!"
"My stealth array isn't that effective..." Mo Hua tried to deflect.
Bai Zi Xi shook her head. "Your stealth array is excellent; it's the robe you use that's inadequate."
Bai Zi Sheng eagerly nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes! You're my junior martial brother. How could your array formations be inferior? It's the robe that's the problem."
"I'll get you a top-quality robe," Bai Zi Sheng continued. "You set up the stealth array for us, and then we can go track down those villains together."
Bai Zi Sheng's mind was racing with excitement, and he added, "As your senior martial brother, I can't let you take on this risk alone. My conscience wouldn't allow it."
Mo Hua looked at him silently for a moment. "Is it your 'conscience' or your 'playful heart' that's bothering you?"
Bai Zi Sheng, his thoughts laid bare, scratched his head sheepishly. "Both, actually."
He had been cooped up with Master Zhuang for several days, studying complex and profound array formations, and his head was spinning.
Now that he had the chance to go out and have some fun with Mo Hua, he wasn't going to let it pass.
Mo Hua asked, his curiosity piqued, "What about Master? Aren't you supposed to be learning array formations from him?"
'It's fine,' Bai Zi Sheng assured. 'Master hasn't taught us anything new lately, so we just need to review in our free time.'
Mo Hua still hesitated.
Bai Zi Sheng looked at him expectantly.
Bai Zi Xi's eyes sparkled as well.
Mo Hua sighed, 'Alright, but you must keep a low profile and be cautious...''
'And you have to listen to me,' Mo Hua emphasized.
With their junior martial brother's words, the older siblings obediently nodded.
Then, Mo Hua began to draw the stealth array.
The Daoist robes were too cumbersome. They couldn't very well wear another layer of clothing over their existing attire; while it might work for stealth, it would be very noticeable otherwise, not to mention restrictive.
Bai Zi Xi offered Mo Hua several garments to choose from.
Considering the array, Mo Hua examined each piece before finally settling on a cloak-like cape.
This hooded garment could be worn over their clothes, providing warmth and protection from the elements, and the hood could conceal their faces.
The weather in the Little Barbarian State was hot, so Mo Hua chose three lightweight capes.
These capes were specially crafted and of superior quality.
Mo Hua drew the stealth array on the capes.
The trio tested the array, and it worked wonderfully.
At the very least, nothing could be discerned by the naked eye.
Of course, Mo Hua's powerful spiritual sense could still detect his senior martial siblings, but Bai Zi Sheng and Bai Zi Xi were unable to sense him.
Once they were prepared, the three of them began their surveillance.
Their target was Wang Lai, also known as Wang Laipi, the leader of this gang of local bullies.
He wasn't tall, but his cultivation was not weak, having reached the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining. Among this group of thugs, he had the deepest cultivation.
With an Earth-attribute spirit root, he cultivated his body and practiced a standard set of techniques. He was skilled with a ring-pommeled dao named the 'Mountain-Cleaving Dao.'
Usually, he was idle and often stirred up trouble.
When he had spirit stones, he indulged in drinking, women, gambling, and debauchery without restraint.
The street he frequented was called Jin Hua Street, located in the northern part of Nanyue City, and it was the most prosperous area in the entire city.
Naturally, it was also the most corrupt.
There were brothels, theaters, taverns, and gambling houses—everything one could imagine.
There were also some places that Mo Hua had never seen or even imagined, and he felt no desire to explore them.
Regardless, he was curious, but he restrained himself and didn't venture inside.
After all, they were definitely not decent places.
He could take care of himself, but with his senior martial siblings in tow, he couldn't afford to lead them astray, or his master would surely scold him.
Although Jin Hua Street was bustling, there was a clear hierarchy even among the establishments there.
The places Wang Lai frequented were mostly secluded brothels, narrow gambling dens, and low-end taverns.
He indulged in a decadent lifestyle of drinking, women, gambling, and debauchery, squandering the ill-gotten gains from the dead miner. When he ran out of spirit stones, Wang Lai set out to 'earn' more.
He had no choice but to earn spirit stones; he still owed money to the gambling house.
As the saying goes, 'a horse needs night grass to grow fat, and a man needs ill-gotten gains to prosper.'
As Mo Hua expected, Wang Lai's methods of earning spirit stones were less than savory.
He stole, cheated, scammed, and robbed.
He acted as a henchman for a disciple of a prominent Nanyue City family, earning rewards by beating people up; he extorted protection fees from small merchants; he colluded with the gambling house to cheat outsider cultivators; and he even ambushed people along the road, stealing their possessions.
He also teamed up with a female cultivator from a brothel to pull a 'sweetheart swindle,' extorting spirit stones from their victims.
Mo Hua was truly eye-opening.
Miner cultivators only had one way to earn spirit stones: hard work, which was both bitter and exhausting.
Yet here was Wang Lai, avoiding honest labor and living a life of luxury...
The harder and more diligent one was, the more bitter their life became.
This world truly took advantage of honest cultivators.
Mo Hua sighed inwardly, and at the same time, a question nagged at him.
He recalled Lu Ming mentioning that when these local bullies were truly out of spirit stones, they would go to the mines and work as miner cultivators for a few days, digging for spirit stones.
Indeed, there had been times when Wang Lai was completely broke, not a single spirit stone to his name.
Yet during those times, he had never once stepped into the mines or dug for spirit stones.
'Something's not right...'
Mo Hua frowned.
This Wang Lai seemed to have no connection to the mines at all.
That didn't seem likely.
Mo Hua waited patiently, and a few days later, he noticed that Wang Lai was finally going to enter the mines.
He had found an elderly miner cultivator and whispered to him, 'There are secret high-grade ores hidden in the mine shafts, belonging to the Lu Family. Let's steal some, and we won't have to worry about food and drink for the rest of our lives...'
Stealing ore...
Mo Hua's pupils narrowed.
Those five missing miner cultivators had apparently died in the mine shaft because they tried to steal ore...
And stealing ore was a serious taboo among miner cultivators.
Why would those five miner cultivators, who had met a tragic end, suddenly think of stealing ore? Mo Hua's gaze at Wang Lai turned icy.
(End of Chapter)
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