Chapter 77: The Demon Hunting Festival
Chapter 77: The Demon Hunting Festival
Mo Hua originally thought that Zhang Lan's comment about having time to play with him was just polite chatter, but he didn't expect him to be serious.
After that day, Zhang Lan would frequently visit the eatery, ordering a jar of wine and a plate of meat. He would sit and watch the bustling street, spending his entire morning there. On the rare occasions he saw Mo Hua, he would complain, "Where do you run off to every day? I've come by several times but never seen you."
With a serious expression on his young face, Mo Hua replied, "I'm not like you. I'm very busy."
"What could you possibly be busy with?" Zhang Lan scoffed.
Mo Hua counted off his activities on his fingers, listing them one by one, "Daily routine cultivation, practicing array formations when I have time, reading array tomes when I'm tired, visiting my teacher with some snacks and asking him questions, and helping the uncles and aunties in the neighborhood with their array formations..."
Zhang Lan listened with a growing headache. "Alright, alright, I concede. You've bested me."
Compared to Mo Hua, an eleven or twelve-year-old junior disciple with such a packed schedule, Zhang Lan, a cultivator from the Daoting Si, felt a twinge of guilt for spending his days drinking at this eatery.
And to think that when his father scolded him, pointing his finger in his face, he would remain unperturbed.
"Right, are there any interesting places in Tongxian City?" Zhang Lan asked.
"I'm a good kid. I don't indulge in playful things. How would I know?" Mo Hua refused to answer. Who knew what his definition of 'interesting' was? He was still a child, and there were some things unsuitable for children.
"Then, how about bustling places?" Zhang Lan asked, settling for the next best option.
"The eastern side of South Street is livelier," Mo Hua replied.
"I've been there. There aren't many cultivators or shops. It's boring," Zhang Lan said, showing little interest.
"Of course, it won't be bustling if you go during the day," Mo Hua said. "Not everyone is like you, neglecting their duties. Most people have to make a living."
Zhang Lan was left speechless. After thinking about it, he realized that what Mo Hua said was true—he was indeed neglecting his duties.
"So, when is it bustling?" Zhang Lan asked.
Mo Hua thought for a moment and replied, "The day after tomorrow. It's the Demon Hunting Festival, a once-a-year celebration and the liveliest time."
"What's the Demon Hunting Festival?"
Mo Hua explained, "It's a festival where demon hunters celebrate their harvest. October is the peak season for demon hunting, after which demon beast activity decreases, and the profits from hunting diminish. Demon hunters usually hunt more demons during October and sell their catches during the festival. After that, they rest for a while, and you can find all sorts of goods in the markets. It's very lively."
Zhang Lan was surprised. "You know quite a bit."
"Of course," Mo Hua patted his chest proudly. "I'm quite the little boss around here."
Zhang Lan couldn't help but chuckle, but he was also intrigued by the Demon Hunting Festival. "Okay, then I'll go check it out the day after tomorrow." With that, he flicked his sleeves, preparing to leave.
Mo Hua watched him curiously and asked, "Didn't you forget to pay the bill?"
"I left a few dozen spirit stones at the counter. They can just deduct it from that," Zhang Lan said nonchalantly.
Mo Hua clicked his tongue. Zhang Lan's attitude made him seem like the type who was used to being taken advantage of.
Then, he continued reading his array tome, thinking that he would learn a few more array formations in the next two days and take a break during the Demon Hunting Festival to play with Dahou and the others.
When Baizi Sheng heard that Mo Hua was going to the Demon Hunting Festival, he was so envious that his mouth almost watered.
The Bai family had strict rules, and even though they weren't at the family estate, Xue Yi still expected them to cultivate daily. On top of that, she had arranged for them to study pill refining, array formations, and artifact refining without missing a single lesson.
Perhaps because they weren't at the family estate, Xue Yi was afraid that they would fall behind the other disciples of the family, so she was even more strict. Many of the books on pill refining, artifact refining, and cultivation that Mo Hua glanced at seemed profoundly abstruse and incomprehensible.
Fortunately, he could understand the books on array formations, and they didn't seem too difficult.
Everything they were learning, Mo Hua could also learn. Whenever they sought guidance, he would listen from the sidelines. Some of the concepts were abstruse, but not so profound that they required Master Zhuang's personal instruction.
Moreover, even if Master Zhuang didn't teach them anything, their cultivation was meticulously planned by the Bai family, leaving no need for Master Zhuang's involvement.
Of the group, only Mo Hua frequently visited Master Zhuang's library, bringing snacks and asking questions.
As far as he knew, the Bai siblings merely cultivated and studied in the small pavilion. Aside from the customary greetings and occasional queries, they had never sought a private audience with Master Zhuang.
This puzzled Mo Hua greatly.
Or perhaps, he thought, there were some things that Master Zhuang would not teach to named disciples and would only impart to formally accepted disciples?
Was this their motivation for persistently seeking Master Zhuang's guidance—to be accepted as formal disciples and learn more advanced techniques?
There was a significant distinction between named disciples and formally accepted disciples. Named disciples could only address their master as "Mister," while formal disciples could address them as "Master" or "Teacher."
In the cultivation world, the relationship between master and disciple was taken extremely seriously. The saying "one day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father" was not an exaggeration. Take Da Zhu, for example; he had been taken in by Master Chen as a disciple and was treated like a surrogate son. In the future, he would be expected to care for Master Chen in his old age.
Because the bond between master and disciple was so strong, betraying one's sect was considered one of the most heinous acts in the cultivation world.
Mo Hua stroked his chin, a question forming in his mind: "Would Master Zhuang accept me as a formal disciple?"
Comparing his own cultivation, spirit root, talent, and family background to that of the Bai siblings, Mo Hua quickly tempered his expectations.
It was best not to aim too high.
With that thought, Mo Hua quietly dismissed the unrealistic idea.
In two days, it would be the Demon Hunting Festival.
The Demon Hunting Festival was one of the biggest celebrations in Tongxian City, even surpassing the Lotus Festival in scale.
Tongxian City's cultivators, whether impoverished solitary cultivators or wealthy family cultivators, had been preparing for the festival well in advance. From the morning onwards, the city buzzed with festive energy, and by evening, it was ablaze with lights.
During the festival, the streets would be bustling with people, and the eateries would be busy. Thus, Liu Ruhua would stay at home, helping Jiang Ayi and several temporarily hired aunties manage the business.
Mo Shan, on the other hand, would be busy contacting buyers, selling the spoils of the hunting team's efforts over the past month—hides, bones, and Demon Cores of fiendish beasts. As the next few months would be the off-season for demon hunting, with lower profits, many cultivators relied on this stash of Spirit Stones to sustain them until the following year.
This left Mo Hua to roam the streets with Dahou and the others.
However, Dahou and his friends had one more item on their agenda: attending the Demon Hunting Ceremony.
Every year, as part of the Demon Hunting Festival, a ceremony was held to initiate young cultivators above the sixth layer of Qi Refining into the ranks of demon hunters.
For solitary cultivators in Tongxian City, the sixth layer of Qi Refining represented a watershed moment—it marked the pinnacle of the middle stages of Qi Refining and offered a glimmer of hope for breaking through to the late stages.
At the middle stages, cultivators could learn simple spells or martial arts techniques, and their spiritual power and physical bodies were relatively robust, giving them a fighting chance against demonic beasts.
Advancing from the middle to the late stages of Qi Refining was a significant step, as in Tongxian City, where most cultivators were at the Qi Refining stage, reaching the late stages was a common aspiration.
However, this step was fraught with variables, and many cultivators never managed to take it due to limitations in spirit stones, spirit roots, or cultivation techniques.
Therefore, for solitary cultivators, achieving the sixth layer of Qi Refining qualified them to become full-fledged demon hunters. And with that title came the expectation that they would make a living by hunting demonic beasts.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
