Chapter 91: Parents
After talking with Zhang Lan during the day, Mo Hua spent the rest of the day reading the copy of the Compendium of a Thousand-Array that Mister Zhuang had given him. He turned pages all day, picking out several formations that he could actually use, planning to learn them over the next few days and finish a few array drawings to carry with him just in case.
One must not wish harm on others, but one must also guard against harm.
Mo Hua currently had too few means of self-protection; relying on formations alone was clearly insufficient.
The Qian Xing incident had given Mo Hua a wake-up call. Even though the Dao Court had rules, cultivators didn't necessarily follow them. The Heavens grant cultivators power, and slaughter follows power like a shadow.
After all, Mo Hua was a cultivator now. Body cultivators fought with martial arts; spiritual cultivators took lives with spells. If he knew nothing at all, in the dangers of the cultivation world he wouldn't live long enough to care for his parents in their old age…
Of course Mo Hua could focus only on being a formation master, find a safe place that didn't hunt beasts or clash with other cultivators, and spend his days researching arrays in peace.
But leaving his life to the goodwill of others wasn't a good choice.
He didn't know whether someday, somewhere, some cultivator he met would turn murderous toward him. If anyone harbored murderous intent and he had no means to defend himself, his only option would be to offer his neck.
So how to protect himself?
Mo Hua thought it over.
Becoming a body cultivator was impossible—this lifetime, it wouldn't happen.
With Mo Hua's build, tempering the body and learning martial combat to wrestle people would be no different from throwing himself away.
That left only spiritual cultivation.
But Mo Hua's talent for spiritual cultivation wasn't exceptional.
His spiritual roots were only passable; his qi-sea couldn't hold much spiritual power. The Celestial Evolution Art he cultivated offered no special bonus to spiritual power, so his spirit energy was somewhat thin compared to other cultivators at the same level.
Compared to prodigies like Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi, Mo Hua's spiritual power could even be called meager.
And the amount of spiritual power directly relates to the potency of spells.
"Forget it—wait until fifth layer Qi-Refining. I can't learn spells yet," Mo Hua sighed.
At fifth layer Qi-Refining, body cultivators can learn body-tempering martial arts and spiritual cultivators can start learning spells because they have enough spiritual power to manipulate and use Dao techniques. By sixth layer many cultivators must fend for themselves; learning then would already be late.
After turning it over in his mind, for now he could only rely on formations.
Mo Hua sighed again and obediently dove into his Sea of Consciousness, practicing a few new formations on the Dao stele.
...
Mo Shan, who had been out all day, returned home at this time.
"I asked around," he said. "Hua'er didn't do anything wrong. It was Qian Xing who deliberately caused trouble and tried to lay hands on Mo Hua. Fortunately Dàzhù and the others stepped in, so it turned out all right."
Liu Ruhua breathed a sigh of relief, then worried, "Do you think the Qian family will make trouble for Hua'er?"
Mo Shan snorted coldly. "They dare? The Qian family has influence, sure, but our Demon Hunters who fight beasts for a living are not to be trifled with. Unless it's a Foundation Establishment cultivator, if they come here they won't return whole."
When Mo Shan said that, a hard edge came into him—the kind of aura formed from years of fighting demon beasts, something that made people shiver. Liu Ruhua seldom saw this expression in her husband; at home he was gentle and considerate. She took his hand and asked softly, "But what if the Qian family really brings out a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"
Mo Shan shook his head. "They won't. The Qian family has Foundation elders, and we have them too. If Foundation cultivators stepped in it would blow up; neither side would end well."
"Did you tell the elders about this?" she asked.
"I did. I actually wanted to make trouble for the Qian family. In Tōngxiān City it's complicated, but up here in the mountains our Demon Hunter team has the final say. Making them suffer would be easy—except the elder didn't agree." Mo Shan sounded displeased.
"The elder wanted you to consider the bigger picture?" Liu Ruhua asked.
"No." Mo Shan hesitated, then said, "The elder said there's no excuse to pick a fight right now."
"No excuse?" Liu Ruhua looked puzzled.
Mo Shan leaned closer and lowered his voice. "The elder said: Qian Xing bullied Mo Hua, but Mo Hua came out fine while Qian Xing was left badly wounded and nearly unrecognizable… In that situation it's hard to find an excuse to create trouble."
Seeing this unfamiliar side of the elder, Liu Ruhua couldn't help asking, "And if there was an excuse?"
"If there was an excuse, then we'd be in the right. We'd make them pay spirit stones. The Demon Hunter team is short of funds lately—paying out spirit stones has become a problem and the elder's worried. If there were a reason, he'd have already gone to squeeze them for a few stones."
Liu Ruhua: "…"
"Don't worry," Mo Shan said with a smile. "Although Mo Hua is physically weak and can't be a Demon Hunter himself, he's one of us. If anything happens, the elder won't stand by. If we let these clans keep bullying people, we poor Demon Hunters won't survive."
Liu Ruhua relaxed, then asked with curiosity, "You said Qian Xing was gravely injured—how did that happen? The Qian family has retainers and guards; how did he get hurt?"
Mo Shan's expression grew complex. "Guess."
Liu Ruhua glared at him in mock reproach, thought a moment, and said, "Dàzhù and the others beat him up?"
Mo Shan shook his head.
"Then some other nearby Demon Hunters stepped in to help?"
"No."
Liu Ruhua guessed several times more and was wrong each time. Finally she shook her head. "I can't guess it. It can't be that Hua'er did it, right?"
Mo Shan raised an eyebrow. "You guessed right, Hua'er did it."
Liu Ruhua's mouth gaped. "Impossible. He's just a kid, and his cultivation is so low—how could he seriously injure Qian Xing?"
Mo Shan's expression was complicated. "I don't believe it either; by ordinary logic it's impossible. But someone saw it. That day Hua'er was held by Qian Xing, when he broke free he splashed spirit ink and wounded Qian Xing's eye, then slipped a paper with a drawn formation into Qian Xing's chest. At the same time he crushed a spirit stone. After kicking Qian Xing, Hua'er himself was knocked back and fell; at that moment the formation detonated and Qian Xing was blown away."
Liu Ruhua listened with her eyes wide, then covered her mouth and laughed. "Hua'er didn't come out so badly after all."
Mo Shan laughed too. "A few scrapes—probably from falling. He had a bruise on his neck; Mister Feng put on some medicine and it'll be fine. Compared to Qian Xing, who looked like charcoaled coal, Hua'er really didn't lose out."
"Do many people know about this?" Liu Ruhua asked.
"Few people know, and even if it's said aloud, nobody would believe it. Hua'er is so young and only at fourth layer Qi-Refining—his parents don't even believe it; why would others?"
Liu Ruhua nodded. "That's for the best—then the Qian family won't come after Hua. Still, we should thank Dàzhù and those kids. If they hadn't stepped in, Hua would have had a hard time."
The thought made Liu Ruhua shudder a little.
"Tomorrow we'll prepare something to give to Master Chen and the others," she said.
"All right."
"Don't worry," Mo Shan added with a smile. "Our son's well-liked. Even without Dàzhù, other cultivators would help. I heard even Dao Court Division's Law Enforcer Zhang is familiar with him…"
Liu Ruhua remembered the scene from that day and chuckled. "He even bought Enforcer Zhang a drink, small but clever."
Mo Shan pulled her into his arms. "Relax. I told our Demon Hunter brothers to keep an eye out. If anyone tries to trouble Hua'er again, I'll make sure they suffer for it."
(End of Chapter)