Chapter 224: The Ten Thousand Fireworks
Mo Shan smiled and nodded. "Yes."
"Are demonic beasts really that hard to deal with?"
"They're indeed troublesome. Demonic beasts possess extremely strong blood essence and thick hides. Under ordinary circumstances, it takes five or six cultivators of the same realm working together to hunt one successfully. To be safe, eight or nine would be better."
Bai Zisheng thought for a moment, then asked, "Then, Uncle Mo, do you think someone like me could kill one alone?"
"To kill one alone… not likely. Being killed by one, however, is quite possible." Mo Hua muttered this while gnawing on a chicken leg.
Bai Zisheng glared at him unhappily.
Mo Shan chuckled. "For now, no. But in the future, when your cultivation improves, there'll certainly be hope."
Bai Zisheng brightened instantly, deeply encouraged.
"Father, lying is wrong," Mo Hua said dryly.
Bai Zisheng puffed up indignantly. "Uncle Mo is a demon hunter, he obviously knows better than you."
He had asked Mo Hua before whether he could hunt a Demonic beast alone.
Mo Hua had said no. Bai Zisheng had been dissatisfied, yet Mo Hua had fought demonic beasts himself, while he had not, so he had been forced to give Mo Hua's opinion some credit.
Now that Uncle Mo was saying he had great potential, perhaps he could one day slay a beast by himself.
After all, Uncle Mo was a genuine professional demon hunter, while Mo Hua was merely a small Formation Master who relied on trickery and arrays to trap beasts.
Mo Shan continued, "Even if one day you could hunt a beast alone, it's still best to bring companions. Demonic beasts are cunning beyond belief."
Bai Zisheng nodded seriously. "Don't worry, Uncle Mo. I know my limits."
He often listened to Mo Hua tell stories about beast hunting, some firsthand, others secondhand.
In many stories, demon hunters lost their lives because they grew careless and were ambushed, deceived, or lured by feigned death. Those tales had long left a deep impression on him.
Then he asked curiously, "Is the inner region of Black Mountain much more dangerous than the outer region?"
Mo Hua, still at the sixth level of Qi-Refining, could only operate in the outer mountains. His accounts of Black Mountain's dangers never went beyond that area.
Tales of poisonous mists, monster lairs, and deadly terrain fascinated Bai Zisheng. If the outer region was already so perilous, how terrifying must the inner region be?
Mo Hua listened carefully while chewing, cheeks puffed out. He had never entered the inner mountains yet, but he knew that one day he would.
What he knew of them came only from fragments told by other demon hunters.
Seeing two pairs of dark eyes fixed upon him, Mo Shan sat down and began explaining patiently.
"The miasma, mist forests, and poisonous marshes... everything found in the outer range also exists in the inner range. Only there, the miasma is thicker, the fog denser, and the poisons far more potent."
"The beasts in the inner mountains are mostly at the late stage of First-Grade, extremely powerful. If you're unlucky, you might even encounter a Second-Grade beast, then you'd truly be facing certain death."
Mo Hua asked, "Father, have you ever seen a Second-Grade beast?"
Mo Shan nodded. "Only from afar. Its blood essence was so strong it dyed an entire forest red. We were lucky to notice it early and avoided it before it saw us. It looked full and sleepy, so it ignored us entirely."
Mo Hua exhaled in relief.
Bai Zisheng asked, "Can a Second-Grade beast be killed?"
"It's very difficult," Mo Shan sighed. "At least five or six Foundation Establishment cultivators, sometimes even seven or eight, are needed. Such numbers aren't easy to gather."
Mo Hua frowned slightly. "Father, will you ever encounter another Second-Grade beast?"
Seeing the worry in his son's eyes, Mo Shan's heart softened, and he smiled reassuringly.
"The inner mountains are vast, and Second-Grade beasts are few. Even if they're there, meeting one by chance is unlikely. Their blood essence is also so intense it can be detected from far away. As long as one stays alert and avoids them early, life isn't at risk."
Mo Hua nodded, comforted.
Mo Shan then continued, "But truthfully, what's most dangerous in the inner mountains isn't the beasts or the terrain... it's people."
Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng exchanged surprised looks.
"Other demon hunters? Or different cultivators?" Mo Hua asked.
"Both. Some foreign demon hunters deliberately steal others' prey. Others—wandering cultivators of all kinds—have sinister motives."
Mo Hua tilted his head. "Why have I never met such people in the outer range?"
Mo Shan smiled faintly. "Because Black Mountain is enormous. The portion connected to Tōngxiān City is only one part. The outer range here borders only the city, not other regions. The inner range, however, is different."
"The mountain paths there twist endlessly, linking to other territories. Cultivators from the southern borders often pass through the inner range when traveling or trading."
"The inner mountains are gloomy and oppressive. Such places stir dark thoughts. Robbery, murder, plunder... they happen often. The culprits destroy the corpses and erase all traces. No one ever knows."
Mo Hua felt a chill creep up his spine.
Demonic beasts were dangerous, but human hearts were worse.
In this world, those who devoured others were not always beasts. Sometimes, they were people.
Seeing the two children's faces tense with unease, Mo Shan realized this was hardly festive conversation for a holiday. He quickly changed the subject, telling amusing hunting anecdotes instead.
Bai Zisheng listened with fascination, it was his first time hearing them.
Mo Hua, however, had heard most of them before. Yet now that he had experienced Black Mountain firsthand, the same tales carried a new depth, he could sense the lurking peril behind each "funny" story.
Before long, dusk arrived, and Liu Ruhua invited them to stay for dinner.
Bai Zisheng's eyes brightened, but Aunt Xue gently declined.
"Thank you, Sister Liu. We've already disturbed you long enough, it's time we returned."
Liu Ruhua did not press them further and walked them to the door with Mo Hua.
Bai Zisheng dragged his feet, clearly reluctant to leave.
Here, there was food, drink, stories, and someone to chat with. At home, there was only cultivation and endless study.
Bai Zixi's expression was calm, but a trace of quiet regret flickered in her eyes.
Mo Hua, living freely and unbound, could play whenever he pleased despite his daily training and formation practice. The Bai siblings, on the other hand, were confined by strict schedules.
Sensing their disappointment, Mo Hua's eyes lit up with an idea.
"Aunt Xue," he said brightly, "on the fifteenth, there'll be lanterns and fireworks. You should all come watch!"
Aunt Xue smiled warmly but shook her head. "That's kind of you, but we'll pass on the fireworks."
Mo Hua grinned. "You should come! The fireworks are powered by formations, ones I drew. They're really beautiful."
Aunt Xue blinked in surprise. "You drew them?"
"Mhm." Mo Hua nodded proudly. "It took me a lot of work to get them right!"
In truth, it hadn't taken long at all, firework arrays were simple, after all.
Seeing his confident expression, Aunt Xue couldn't help but laugh softly. After a pause, she nodded.
"Then, when you set them off, we'll come and watch."
Bai Zisheng's face lit up with joy, and he cast Mo Hua a grateful look. Bai Zixi's eyes also brightened faintly.
...
On the night of the Lantern Festival, the streets of Tōngxiān City were ablaze with light.
Mo Hua double-checked the Firework Composite Array and, finding no problem, nodded with satisfaction.
The array consisted of multiple ordinary firework arrays linked together. It was less than First-Rank and required few runes, easy for him to inscribe.
He had drawn the arrays along both sides of the river embankment, using the stone as the medium. Once a spirit stone was crushed and infused with spiritual energy, the array would activate, launching fireworks into the sky.
He had chosen stone over paper because paper medium arrays burned away after one use, unable to contain the array's spiritual force.
Stone medium arrays, however, could be reused many times.
This way, not only the Lantern Festival, but every future celebration could be marked with dazzling fireworks.
Mo Hua submitted a request to Elder Yu for reimbursement for the spirit stones used in the array.
Since the formation was simple and consumed little energy, Elder Yu readily approved.
At the hour of Xu (around 7–9 p.m.), Mo Hua activated the array.
Then he ran to the stone bridge, where he joined his parents, Bai Zisheng, Bai Zixi, and Aunt Xue to watch.
After fifteen breaths, the runes ignited.
Brilliant lines of light flared along both riverbanks, merging into streams of color that shot skyward. In an instant, the night exploded in radiant blossoms, bursts upon bursts, cascading and blooming like ten thousand trees of starlight, like rain made of stars.
The dark sky became a vast tapestry upon which the fireworks embroidered a magnificent brocade of shimmering hues.
It was a sea of brilliance, boundless and breathtaking.
Across the city, countless cultivators looked up, faces illuminated by the splendid light that painted every street and alley of Tōngxiān City in color.
(End of Chapter)