Chapter 108: Progress
After that, whenever Mo Hua had free time, he would head to Mister Zhuang's Forgetful Meditation Abode to spar with Bai Zisheng in body techniques.
Bai Zisheng was highly perceptive, his grasp of movement arts improved with every sparring session. Yet Mo Hua's progress was even faster.
At first, Bai Zisheng had the upper hand, but once Mo Hua's Flowing-Water Step grew more refined, within twenty exchanges Bai Zisheng could hardly touch the jade pendant hanging at Mo Hua's neck.
So the two agreed to extend the spar from twenty rounds to forty, just so they could keep practicing longer.
"Something's off…"
After one bout, Bai Zisheng frowned.
"What's off?" Mo Hua asked.
"Your movement technique, it's a little strange."
Mo Hua blinked in confusion.
"It looks completely ordinary, nothing special. But somehow, it's slippery as an eel. I can see I'm about to grab you, and then—swish—you slip right through my fingers every time!"
Mo Hua chuckled. "Doesn't that mean this body art isn't ordinary?"
Bai Zisheng shook his head. "This technique moves the body by guiding it with spiritual power, sure. But there are many arts that use spiritual force to move the body, I've never seen one so tricky to deal with."
Mo Hua tilted his head. "Isn't it just using Divine-Sense to guide spiritual power, channeling it through certain meridians and acupoints to pull the body along? Is that really so difficult?"
Technically, it wasn't difficult, but to manipulate spiritual power with Divine-Sense so precisely, down to the finest control, was anything but simple.
Bai Zisheng studied him again.
Mo Hua was only at the fifth level of Qi-Refining, yet his Divine-Sense was strong enough to draw formations of eight runes. He had seen Mo Hua inscribe formations before, his brush danced like a dragon, strokes flowing swiftly, completing a six- or seven-rune formation in one go.
Bai Zisheng was briefly speechless, unsure whether the strange thing was the technique… or Mo Hua himself.
Still, he didn't dwell on it. There were countless cultivators and endless arts in the cultivation world, some people simply excelled more at certain paths than others.
That Mo Hua's movement technique could hold its own against him, even when he suppressed his cultivation, was enough to make Bai Zisheng delighted.
After that, every day he'd finish his assignments early, then sit under the great pagoda tree, waiting for Mo Hua to come spar.
...
One day, Bai Zisheng suddenly asked, "You're learning this movement art to dodge cultivators' spells, right?"
"Mm." Mo Hua nodded. "Not just cultivators—demonic beasts, too."
After all, he might have to enter the Black Mountain someday, and the beasts there were far deadlier than cultivators.
"Then you'd better practice against beasts," Bai Zisheng said casually, biting into a piece of meat.
"Huh?" Mo Hua froze.
"Beasts attack differently from humans," Bai Zisheng explained. "You can dodge a cultivator's spell, but that doesn't mean you can dodge a beast's claws."
"Oh…" Mo Hua's eyes lit with realization.
Beasts were huge, their bodies powerful, claws and fangs sharp. Most moved on four limbs, their attack patterns completely different from humans.
Not to mention, many beasts could also strike with venomous tails, spines, saliva, or cracking jaws, attacks that were bizarre and unpredictable.
Mo Hua scratched his head. "But where am I supposed to find beasts to spar with? If I'm not careful, I might just end up being their meal…"
"I'm just saying. Be cautious, that's all." Bai Zisheng waved it off lightly.
But Mo Hua took it to heart.
He mentally weighed the odds of being killed by a cultivator versus being bitten to death by a beast…
…and concluded that the latter was far more likely.
The Black Mountain was treacherous, full of strange, ferocious creatures.
If he was to set foot there someday, he would need to face them, and their raw strength, speed, and unpredictable attacks were unlike anything human cultivators could match.
"How should I spar with a beast? …Don't tell me I should become a beast hunter?"
Mo Hua thought about it, then quickly dismissed the idea.
...
A few days later, Mo Hua was reading a formation book at the restaurant.
He could now draw formations of eight runes. To save spiritual ink, he didn't practice drawing every day, he mostly studied formation theory instead.
He also couldn't go spar with Bai Zisheng daily anymore.
Aunt Xue had found out about their sparring, thanks to Bai Zisheng's own loose tongue when bragging about it.
She was displeased, thinking Bai Zisheng was playing too much and distracting Mo Hua from his formation studies. As punishment, she assigned Bai Zisheng even more homework.
Mo Hua tried pleading for him, explaining that he was the one who wanted to practice movement arts, and Bai Zisheng was just helping.
But Aunt Xue didn't buy it. She knew Mo Hua was born frail, how could he suddenly decide to practice body movement techniques?
Assuming Mo Hua was just covering for Bai Zisheng, she sighed, "Good child, I know you mean well for the young master, but rules are rules."
Then she went back and promptly gave Bai Zisheng even more assignments.
Mo Hua could only sigh helplessly. After that, he occasionally brought Bai Zisheng some snacks to comfort him.
Even Zhang Lan, who used to drop by the restaurant often, seemed to have gotten busy lately, Mo Hua hadn't seen him for quite some time.
Life grew quiet again. Mo Hua spent most days alone, reading formation books.
One afternoon, as he sat reading, Aunt Jiang came over carrying a bowl of steaming chicken soup. "Drink it while it's hot," she said warmly.
Aunt Jiang's full name was Jiang Yun. Her husband's surname was Chu, he had once been a beast hunter but was badly injured on a hunt. With no other source of income and a hungry child at home, Liu Ruhua had taken pity on her and invited her to work at the restaurant. Over time, their family's fortunes improved, and color had returned to her face.
Though her husband could no longer hunt, he was skilled with traps. Occasionally, he went into the mountains to capture weak demonic beasts, selling them for spirit stones to help with expenses. Sometimes, he even caught spirit beasts.
These were likely the pets of some noble clan or sect elder who had wandered into the wild and gradually turned half-demonic. Their spiritual aura was faint, but their meat was far tastier than that of common beasts.
Jiang Yun would stew such spirit beasts into delicious broths, and she always saved a portion for Mo Hua.
She also made wonderful pastries, roasted pine nuts, and had learned several dishes from Liu Ruhua. Her cooking was excellent.
"Thank you, Aunt Jiang!" Mo Hua said happily, savoring the rich chicken soup.
Seeing him enjoy it brought a gentle smile to Jiang Yun's face, though she was too shy to say much.
"Right, how's that Wood-Binding Formation I gave Uncle Chu working out?" Mo Hua asked suddenly.
"Very well," Jiang Yun nodded. "Every time your Uncle Chu returns from the mountains, he praises your array. The beasts caught in the traps no longer damage their pelts struggling."
Normally, trapped beasts would thrash and bite, ruining their hides and lowering their value.
When Mo Hua heard about this, he had looked through the Thousand Arrays Compendium and found the Wood-Binding Formation, a small array that could restrain captured beasts.
Though it cost a spirit stone to activate, it kept the pelts completely intact, earning far more spirit stones in return.
"It's just that…" Jiang Yun hesitated.
"Is there a problem with the formation?" Mo Hua asked.
"No, no," she waved her hands quickly. "The array's fine. It's just, your Uncle Chu caught a young beast not long ago. It got trapped for days… but somehow didn't die. He brought it home, and now we don't quite know what to do with it…"
"A young beast?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up.
(End of Chapter)