Chapter 585: Mr. Tu
Chapter 585: Mr. Tu
In a forbidden land within Qianzhou, there existed a hidden underground chamber, shrouded in darkness and an eerie atmosphere.
Within this chamber lay an altar, upon which rested a massive skull. It had the face of a man, curved horns, vicious fangs, and was stained with blood, its whiteness now a sinister sight.
Kneeling before this skull was Mr. Tu. His face was pale and emanated a green glow. His fingers were long and appeared to have been soaked in blood for too long, with cracks running through them, filled with crimson liquid.
Mr. Tu's eyes were hollow, as if something had taken residence within them. He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse, as if speaking to someone else yet also lost in his own thoughts:
"That person is dead, their bones stripped bare. The gates of Return to Nothingness will open sooner or later..."
"The living shall die, and the dead shall rise..."
"The grand plan that has spanned tens of thousands of years is about to bear fruit..."
"Everything was calculated..."
"That child...must be obtained. Goodness breeds evil, and his blood, his flesh, and his sea of consciousness are the perfect offerings. His spiritual sense is the ideal 'divine fetus'..."
"But...he was 'stolen'..."
Mr. Tu's numb expression twisted with pain and anger, and his eyes seeped blood. It was as if he was being reprimanded, his heart filled with fear, shame, and hatred.
"It's not my fault, not my fault..." he stuttered, trembling. After a long while, he calmed down and continued, "That child is gone, and no one knows where he is. Searching for him is like seeking a needle in a haystack..."
"But that child has a mother, and a father..."
"They can have another..."
"With the Four Symbols Demon Array, the Feathered Demon Embryo, and the tainted cause and effect, as long as his mother leaves Qingzhou City, we can confuse the heavens' secrets and capture her..."
"This action will anger the Dao Court and offend the officials and the Wen family, ruining a millennium of planning. The magic users of Qianzhou will perish..."
"But..."
"To die for the Divine Master is their honor."
"As long as we capture the child's mother, it will all be worth it..."
"With her, we can control Official Shang..."
Mr. Tu let out a cold laugh. "Shang Guan Ce is deep and calculating, cold-hearted, and scheming. But with a single drink and a single peck, his son, deeply emotional, with an obvious Achilles' heel, is easy to manipulate..."
"...We will force them to have another child."
"This child will have the pure bloodline of the Shang and Wen families. From birth, they will be in our control, the perfect replacement."
"However..." Mr. Tu coughed up blood. "...I miscalculated again..."
"Someone has tampered with our cause and effect!" Mr. Tu said angrily.
His eyes turned scarlet, and his voice became sharp and insane, no longer human: "Who? Who is it?!"
A voice, neither human nor beast, echoed within the chamber.
After a long silence, Mr. Tu coughed a few times and regained his composure. "I don't know..."
"I can't calculate it..."
"No," Mr. Tu gritted his teeth, "I dare not calculate..."
"I see a dense fog obscuring the secrets of heaven, endless mountains of corpses, a sea of corpses, a pair of blood-red, cruel eyes, the depths of exploitation, and the perversion of the Great Dao..."
"This is the aura of Dao sin..."
"I..." Mr. Tu's eyes widened in fear, his teeth chattering. "...I dare not calculate...
"...I will be polluted..."
"I dare not..."
Mr. Tu shivered with fear, banging his head on the ground until it bled. He kept muttering, "I dare not..."
But soon, blood seeped from the human-faced ram horns.
A sinister thought invaded Mr. Tu's sea of consciousness, and he instantly snapped back to clarity, his gaze calming.
"Yes...that's right."
"This can't be..."
Mr. Tu mumbled, "This...this can't be true...The Dao sin is just an illusion, a means to obscure the secrets of heaven."
"If this person truly cultivates Dao sin...I would already be dead..."
"This person is a liar..."
"He deceived me."
"Who is he?"
Mr. Tu frowned, asking and answering himself: "I once wore 'human skin' and personally went to that restaurant to observe...My array was broken, leaving some traces, but the method used to break it was clumsy and unskilled..."
"He must have done it on purpose..."
"He's toying with me, deceiving me!"
"A clumsy and unskilled method couldn't have broken the array. Whoever truly broke it wouldn't be so unskilled..."
"This person...has deep intentions, is very insidious and cunning..."
"...and is an extremely skilled array master..."
"Undoubtedly, he's also an old monster..."
"What does he look like...?"
Mr. Tu began to sketch an image of this person in his mind...
Middle-aged or perhaps older, a few hundred years old, with a hooked nose and wrinkles extending from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were sharp, and his inner light was restrained. He likely appeared gentle on the surface, but when he smiled, it was with sinister and venomous intent...
Mr. Tu felt his guess was close to the mark.
He took a deep breath, his gaze filled with malice. "You dare ruin the Divine Master's grand plan..."
"One day, I will find you and tear you apart..."
"Your flesh and blood will be offered as a three-life sacrifice to demons; your living soul will be the offering, sacrificed to the Divine Master..."
"May you suffer in the purgatory of desolate mountains for eternity, never to be reborn..."
"May you know that the Divine Master's authority is inviolable, and the ruler of the Great Wasteland is eternal and immortal!"
Mr. Tu's expression was fanatical, fearless...
...
Meanwhile, Mo Hua, known for "eating" people, was unaware that someone else harbored plans to offer him as a sacrifice to be "eaten."
To express her gratitude to Mo Hua, Wen Renwan treated him to a lavish meal at the largest and most expensive restaurant in Qingzhou City.
Mo Hua was seeing so many exotic and extravagant dishes for the first time, and although he didn't understand them, they certainly looked expensive.
The table was filled with dishes he had never seen before.
Due to their exorbitant prices, the sensation of having them in his mouth felt rather peculiar.
Mo Hua couldn't quite tell if they tasted good or bad.
He only felt like he was chewing on 'spirit stones' instead of food...
Fortunately, he wasn't a picky eater, and he enjoyed the meal nonetheless.
Yuer sat next to Mo Hua, not feeling hungry but seeing how happily Mo Hua was eating, he followed suit like a little gourmet, eating whatever Mo Hua ate.
Wen Renwan, on the other hand, kept her eyes fixed on Yuer, afraid that if she blinked, her child would disappear again.
She still felt like she was dreaming.
Initially, she had merely held on to a slim hope amidst despair, but she never expected that by stepping out for a moment, she would truly find the child she had been thinking about day and night.
Wen Renwan found it incredible.
As for Shangguan Yi, he was utterly incredulous.
When he heard that Yuer had been found, he rushed over, and upon seeing Yuer, he felt a mix of joy, astonishment, and confusion, muttering:
"This is impossible..."
It defied the secrets of heaven and the principles of cause and effect. Things shouldn't be, and couldn't possibly be, like this...
Wen Renwan gave him a cold look.
Shangguan Yi was also considerate enough to not overstay his welcome.
With the mother and child safe, the worry in his heart dissipated, and as for his wife, he would slowly coax her later.
Shangguan Yi expressed his gratitude to Mo Hua and said, "If there is anything you need in the future, young friend, please don't hesitate to ask. The Shangguan family..."
"I'm not interested." Wen Renwan interrupted coldly, "Leave now. I have no appetite with you here."
Shangguan Yi smiled bitterly and left reluctantly, but before he departed, he gave Mo Hua a thoughtful glance, deep in thought.
In addition to Shangguan Yi, Mo Hua also met a young master by the surname Gu.
He was extremely handsome, with a paper fan in his hand and an air of nonchalant elegance, although he did give off a rather arrogant vibe.
"This is my cousin, Gu Changhuai," Wen Renwan introduced.
Mo Hua politely greeted him, "Uncle Gu, it's nice to meet you."
Gu Changhuai was quite surprised but only expressed his gratitude without asking anything further. After a while, he took his leave.
As he departed, he, too, gave Mo Hua a curious glance.
In his aloof gaze, there was a hint of deep suspicion.
Mo Hua quietly asked Wen Renwan, "Aunt Wen, is this Uncle Gu not very well-liked? The way he looks at people is a bit strange..."
Wen Renwan was taken aback for a moment before she burst into laughter, "Don't mind him. Changhuai has a good heart, but he's a bit wild and arrogant due to his youth."
"Also, it's his first time meeting you, so he might come across as distant, but don't take it to heart."
"Mmhmm." Mo Hua nodded.
"By the way," Mo Hua asked, "what about that handsome and gentle-tempered uncle from earlier? Is he Yuer's father?"
Wen Renwan replied with a hint of disdain, "Yes..."
She briefly explained Yuer's background to Mo Hua.
Yuer was the product of a union between the Shangguan and Wen families, carrying the purest bloodlines of both clans. Thus, Yuer's full name was "Shangguan Yuer."
Mo Hua was eating what seemed like a chicken leg, although he had no idea what kind of spiritual beast or bird it belonged to, and he remained calm, even a little dazed.
"Have you heard of the Wen family?" Wen Renwan asked curiously.
Mo Hua shook his head.
"What about the Shangguan family?"
Mo Hua shook his head again.
He was from Tongxian City, a small place in Lizhou, and he knew very little about the influential families of Qianzhou.
The map of Qianzhou he had obtained did mark some influential families, but Mo Hua hadn't paid much attention to them...
His focus had been on the major sects near the border of Qianzhou.
Moreover, these influential families were complicated.
When it came to their backgrounds, origins, power, and history, they all claimed to have thousands or even tens of thousands of years of heritage...
Mo Hua couldn't differentiate between them at all.
Wen Renwan was surprised. She hadn't expected that Mo Hua truly knew nothing about them.
"You... aren't from Qianzhou, are you?"
Wen Renwan asked indirectly.
"Mmhmm," Mo Hua nodded, "I'm a rogue cultivator. My home is in Lizhou, a small second-rate immortal city. My parents are only at the Qi Refining stage..."
Wen Renwan's eyes widened in surprise, "Then how did you end up in Qianzhou?"
"I came here to seek knowledge!"
"Are you here alone?"
"Yes, my parents are very busy, and they are only at the Qi Refining stage as well, so the journey would be too dangerous for them. I didn't want them to worry, so I came by myself..."
Wen Renwan didn't know what to say. She felt like the child's words were somewhat contradictory...
She sighed softly, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
It required not only strong cultivation but also ample experience, exceptional talent, unwavering determination, and resilience.
Yet, here was Mo Hua, who appeared to be just a child of ten years old.
At his age, the offspring of influential families were still enjoying carefree lives, unaware of life's hardships and the maliciousness of others.
Wen Renwan looked at Mo Hua with a hint of pity in her eyes.
She instructed Yuer, "From now on, you must learn more from your brother Mo."
"Yes, yes!" Yuer nodded vigorously.
Wen Renwan affectionately ruffled Yuer's hair and then hesitated, her gaze falling on Mo Hua as she asked, "Then... how did you manage to rescue Yuer?"
Mo Hua was Yuer's savior, and out of politeness, Wen Renwan refrained from probing further with her spiritual sense.
However, it was apparent that Mo Hua was only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
His blood qi was weak, his spiritual power wasn't particularly strong, he was a rogue cultivator from a humble background, and he didn't seem to possess any remarkable spiritual artifacts.
Even if he had a high-grade artifact, his current spiritual power might not be sufficient to wield it effectively.
How could such a young cultivator have rescued her Yuer? Could he have single-handedly killed over a dozen child traffickers?
Mo Hua replied shyly, "I was just lucky to have passed by at the right time. I saw that the child traffickers were all dead for some unknown reason, and Yuer was locked in a box, so I 'picked' him up and brought him to Qingzhou City..."
Mo Hua stuck to his original story.
He was merely a kind-hearted passerby who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
It was all just a stroke of luck.
Wen Renwan was taken aback by his words and couldn't help but harbor some doubts.
It all seemed too coincidental...
How could the child traffickers have died for no reason? And how could he have just happened to find Yuer? Something seemed amiss...
Noticing Wen Renwan's skepticism, Mo Hua sighed and assumed a look of "hindsight fear," "Speaking of which, Yuer is indeed blessed with good fortune and a strong life force."
"If I had been a little less lucky and hadn't encountered him, he might have been taken by someone else, and that would have been troublesome..."
Wen Renwan's heart skipped a beat.
Indeed!
If Yuer had been "picked up" by someone with ulterior motives or a scheming cultivator, he would have been in grave danger!
As she pondered Mo Hua's words, she found them increasingly reasonable.
Shangguan Yi had told her that Yuer had fallen into the hands of a scheming expert, and his chances of escape were slim...
But sometimes, fate intervenes.
By a twist of fate, Yuer was rescued by Mo Hua.
This proved that Yuer was blessed with good fortune and favorable circumstances!
As a mother, who wouldn't want their child to have a fortunate life? Wen Renwan's heart warmed at the thought.
Of course, Mo Hua was also lucky.
But shouldn't she be glad about Mo Hua's luck? If he hadn't been lucky, he wouldn't have been able to save Yuer, and she might never have seen her son again...
The more Wen Renwan thought about it, the more convinced she became, and she nodded in agreement.
Mo Hua was right! Yuer was blessed with good fortune! And if Yuer could be lucky, why couldn't Mo Hua be fortunate as well?
There was nothing wrong with a fortunate child rescuing another blessed child. With this thought, Wen Renwan's heart was settled, and she believed Mo Hua's words seven or eight parts. The more she looked at Mo Hua, the more she liked him, and the more grateful she felt. Thus, she sincerely asked, "Mo Hua, you have done a great service to the Shangguan and Wen families. Is there anything you desire?"
Mo Hua was taken aback, feeling a bit embarrassed.
He had rescued Yuer on a whim, and now asking for a reward seemed a bit like... exploiting his kindness?
Moreover, he had grown rather fond of Yuer.
Aunt Wen had also treated him to a delicious meal.
Mo Hua thought for a moment and decided that instead of a reward, he would ask for a small favor.
"Aunt Wen, can you send me to the Qian Dao Sect?"
Although they were currently in the Qianzhou State, they were at the edge of the state's boundary. The Qianzhou State was a fifth-grade state with an expansive territory, and it would take some time for him to travel there on his own.
If he was late and missed the opportunity to join the sect, it would be a pity.
Wen Renwan misunderstood his request and felt ashamed and hesitant as she replied, "The Qian Dao Sect is one of the 'Four Great Sects,' and their requirements are extremely high. With the Wen family's connections, it might be difficult..."
Mo Hua was surprised by her reaction and quickly shook his head. "Aunt Wen, just send me there, that's all..."
Wen Renwan was perplexed. "Send you there?"
"Yes."
Mo Hua thought for a moment and felt that Yuer had a kind heart, Aunt Wen was also very nice, and the Wen family was a prominent clan. Thus, he saw no harm in revealing the truth. "I have an entry token..."
Wen Renwan was stunned, and her voice trembled as she asked, "An entry token to the Qian Dao Sect?!"
(End of Chapter)
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