Chapter 1310: A Knock on the door at Midnight

Chapter 1309: A Knock on the door at Midnight

The next day, Mo Hua set off. Before leaving, he bade farewell to Administrator Huangfu and Administrator Shangguan.

“Senior Brother Huangfu, Senior Brother Shangguan, take care.”

As Administrators, Huangfu and Shangguan were burdened with heavy duties. There was no way they could leave their posts to accompany Mo Hua in capturing Little Senior Brother.

But True-Person Zhuge could.

Because he was an Honorary Consecrator of the Imperial Celestial Bureau. Put nicely, it meant “unburdened by worldly affairs, unstrained by paperwork.” Put bluntly, it meant he had nothing to do.

“You take care as well,” Administrator Huangfu said with a smile to Mo Hua. He glanced at True-Person Zhuge, then said to Mo Hua, “It’s good to have him take you out. Saves him from having nothing to do all day but come pester us for tea. You know how it is, we’re busy people. We can’t compare to a True-Person like him, lofty and idle.”

Mo Hua nodded, understanding.

Putting himself in their shoes, when he was busy, he didn’t much like having an idle person like True-Person Zhuge hovering around him either.

“Then I’ll take my leave. When I get the chance, I’ll come back and drink tea with you two senior brothers,” Mo Hua said.

Administrator Huangfu and Administrator Shangguan both nodded happily. “Good, good. If Junior Brother Mo comes for tea, we’d be delighted.”

Everything else, True-Person Zhuge could pretend not to hear.

But this line was too much.

So when I come to drink tea, you find me annoying.

But when this kid comes to drink tea, you’re delighted?

That’s blatant double standards. Shameless flattery!

True-Person Zhuge shot the two fellow disciples a look of disdain and said leisurely, “Cultivating the Dao requires seeking truth, being the same inside and out. Hypocrisy and sycophancy like yours will never let you break through Feather Ascension and become true ‘True-Persons.’”

Administrator Huangfu and Administrator Shangguan frowned. “You cursed crow.”

Administrator Shangguan also said to Mo Hua, “Hurry up and take him away. We’ve got plenty to do and need to get back to work.”

Mo Hua smiled and cupped his hands. “Senior Brothers, farewell.”

“Stay safe. Take care,” Administrator Huangfu and Administrator Shangguan said.

“Brother Zhuge, you take care too,” Administrator Huangfu sighed. Then his gaze sank slightly. “As for the Huá Clan…”

True-Person Zhuge nodded calmly. “I know.”

After that, no one said anything more. They exchanged a few polite words and then parted ways.

Under the slightly worried gazes of Administrators Huangfu and Shangguan, True-Person Zhuge and Mo Hua left the temporary Privy Hall and headed for the Huá Clan’s encampment.

…

On the Huá Clan’s side, everything was already prepared.

After the two parties met and exchanged a few simple words, they set out.

The Huá Clan’s group included True-Person Huá, five Golden Core cultivators, over a dozen Foundation Establishment prodigies, and other elite Dao Court soldiers—around fifty people in total—setting off together to arrest the Bai Clan’s prodigy, Bai Zisheng.

Among them, Mo Hua was the oddest one out.

At the same time, he was also the most “naturally familiar.” Once he blended into the Huá Clan’s group, he acted like an insider—eating whatever, drinking whatever, asking for things without hesitation.

Out of respect for True-Person Zhuge, the Huá Clan didn’t dare neglect him.

They traveled in grand clan carriages.

The two True-Persons shared one carriage; the others rode together in three more.

Mo Hua tagged along with True-Person Zhuge, riding in a “True-Person–grade” carriage, in first class.

After they set off, inside the spacious carriage, Mo Hua sat by the window, munching on spirit fruits while gazing at the scenery outside.

Behind the screen partition inside the carriage, True-Person Huá chatted with True-Person Zhuge.

True-Person Huá glanced at Mo Hua and said slowly, “…Brother Zhuge, this doesn’t quite seem like something you’d do.”

True-Person Zhuge reclined halfway, fanning himself, and sighed lightly. “No choice. Got entangled with a ‘trouble magnet.’ Can’t shake him off, and can’t just ignore him either.”

True-Person Huá didn’t quite believe it. “There’s someone even you can’t shake off? This little brother… does he have something to do with your Great Void Sect’s ancestor? Or perhaps with the Zhuge clan…?”

True-Person Zhuge waved his hand. “Don’t probe me.”

So it wasn’t convenient for True-Person Huá to ask further.

After thinking a bit, True-Person Zhuge asked in return, “Brother Huá, this also doesn’t seem like something you would do?”

True-Person Huá was startled. “What do you mean?”

True-Person Zhuge said, “The Bai Clan. That prodigy.”

True-Person Huá didn’t answer.

True-Person Zhuge’s gaze was clear as he stared at him. “It’s true that my temperament is indolent—that’s due to the Dao I cultivate. I don’t tax my mind or spirit and am detached from external things. But you, Brother Huá, are actually the same. When there’s no benefit, you’re just as ‘indolent’ and don’t care.”

“This Bai Clan matter was never a good errand. You really didn’t need to provoke it.”

“But now, you…”

True-Person Huá shook his head and sighed. “The Dao Court has issued an order. There’s no shaking it off.”

True-Person Zhuge shook his head. “There’s still something you can’t shake off?”

True-Person Huá paused, looked at True-Person Zhuge, then pointed at Mo Hua, who was sprawled by the window gnawing on melons and fruits, and said helplessly, “Brother Zhuge, have you shaken yours off?”

True-Person Zhuge’s expression turned complicated. He sighed, and the conversation couldn’t go on.

The two True-Persons seemed to be chatting idly, yet each harbored their own thoughts.

What they said might be inaudible to others.

But Mo Hua could hear a little.

His Divine Sense was astonishingly strong.

Still, in terms of realm, he was far inferior to Feathered Ascension, so he couldn’t hear everything, only fragments. From those, he vaguely sensed that True-Person Zhuge seemed to find him a “trouble magnet” and wanted to shake him off.

Mo Hua was magnanimous and didn’t take it to heart.

When that day really came, who knew who would be shaking off whom.

Mo Hua’s mind wasn’t on that anyway. He was focused on the view outside the window.

He had been confined for a long time, cut off from news, and lacked understanding of the current situation in the Great Wilderness.

This trip had two purposes: to capture Little Senior Brother, and also to learn about the present state of the Great Wilderness.

Wherever one goes, one must first familiarize oneself with the environment. Only after understanding it can one act properly.

This was an instinct Mo Hua had developed since childhood as a demon hunter.

But what he saw outside now was utter chaos.

This area was close to the front lines where the Dao Court and the Great Wilderness Royal Court were fighting, and at the same time it was a “tributary” region outside the Royal Court’s direct control.

Here, barbarian civilians and Dao soldiers mingled, and along the road there were often small-scale skirmishes.

Great Wilderness tribes conquered by the Dao Court had their people reduced to prisoners, shackled in chains, herded along like pigs and sheep.

Victorious clans carved up the tribes’ lands and wealth.

Mo Hua even saw several well-dressed clan youths fighting each other—faces twisted in rage—just to seize a few barbarian women as female slaves.

Mo Hua was somewhat dazed.

For a moment, he couldn’t tell who the real barbarians were.

The Great Wilderness kept barbarian slaves and was deemed savage and backward.

Yet these people from the Nine Provinces—who, by rights, cultivated the Dao and had received moral teachings—once they arrived here, were also seizing land, killing people, fighting over women, and abusing barbarian slaves.

It seemed that the only difference was their fine clothes. In their bones, they didn’t appear fundamentally different from the so-called savage barbarians of the Great Wilderness.

Mo Hua looked at everything before him, his thoughts heavy.

But these matters were beyond his reach for now. And thankfully, not all clans were like this.

There were still some clans that strictly restrained their descendants and did not treat barbarian slaves so harshly.

One kind of rice feeds a hundred kinds of people.

Even among clans, the differences were vast.

And so, the group continued onward.

But Bai Zisheng was powerful, roaming alone through the Great Wilderness, and capturing him was not something that could be done in a day or two.

So, two days later, everyone stopped to rest at a certain Second-Grade mountain realm, in front of a manor temporarily built by the Huá Clan to house its powerful figures.

Mo Hua jumped down from the carriage and turned to look at the manor.

The entire estate was enormous—reserved and restrained on the outside, extravagantly luxurious within—perfectly in line with the consistent style of a great family like the Hua clan.

Mo Hua was not unfamiliar with this kind of manor layout.

Back in the Desolate Wilderness lands, some of the strongholds Elder You had built followed a very similar design.

Mo Hua had raided Elder You’s places far too many times, so at first glance he felt a strange sense of familiarity.

By now, the sky was gradually darkening.

After entering the Huá Clan manor, it naturally became time for the evening banquet.

The banquet was lavish—better even than what Mo Hua had eaten when he was a Divine-Shaman.

True-Person Zhuge and True-Person Huá sat in the seats of highest honor.

One after another, many Huá Clan cultivators, as well as high-ranking figures from other noble clans, came to pay their respects to True-Person Huá.

True-Person Huá was the Feathered Ascension cultivator responsible for the Great Wilderness war efforts of the Huá Clan, wielding immense authority. Thus, all these people regarded him with awe and trepidation—whatever True-Person Huá asked, they answered.

Mo Hua, however, ignored all of this and focused solely on eating with great gusto.

He had seen plenty of occasions like this.

Besides, what did the Huá Clan’s social formalities have to do with him?

The banquet continued.

Mo Hua continued eating on his own.

After the senior family figures had finished paying their respects, soon many young family geniuses, dignified and impressive in bearing, came to greet True-Person Huá as well.

Among these geniuses were members of the Huá Clan and others related to the Hua clan by blood or marriage. Each was extraordinarily talented, with an imposing presence.

True-Person Huá met them one by one, speaking gently yet with authority, offering words of encouragement for their cultivation.

These disciples withdrew with profuse thanks.

But before leaving, every one of them would glance at Mo Hua.

There was no helping it, Mo Hua’s seating position was simply too high, too conspicuous.

Throughout the entire banquet, his seat was second only to True-Person Huá and True-Person Zhuge’s. It was higher than that of many Huá Clan elders at the peak of the Golden Core realm, and even several levels above many direct-descendant Huá Clan members.

In the eyes of noble clans that placed great emphasis on seniority and qualifications, this was truly incomprehensible.

Judging from appearance alone, Mo Hua was nothing more than an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Though his brows and eyes were picturesque and his demeanor natural, he lacked that air of noble “prestige” typical of aristocratic heirs, not resembling a direct descendant at all.

And his table manners were atrocious, what noble clan scion ate chicken legs by grabbing them with his hands?

Quite a few people looked askance at Mo Hua, secretly pointing and whispering.

Mo Hua did not care in the slightest.

Not to mention being gossiped about, back in the Desolate Wilderness lands, there had been countless people who wanted to kill him, filling the mountains and plains.

Mo Hua just kept eating.

But at some unknown moment, amid the noisy banquet, everything suddenly fell silent.

Only the faint clinking of jade pendants and soft, scattered footsteps could be heard.

Mo Hua, immersed in eating, found this strange. He looked up… and froze.

In the main hall, a woman was walking in, surrounded by a group of maidservants.

She was extremely beautiful, dressed in garments woven with gold thread and jade filaments, layers of snowy, moonlike gauze. A golden phoenix hairpin set with red jade adorned her thick black hair, accentuating her fair brow. She held her head high, her expression cool and aloof, tinged with pride. She walked through the hall full of talented young cultivators, her gaze never shifting even slightly.

The young geniuses present all seemed captivated by her—some revealed admiration in their eyes, others felt ashamed of themselves, wanting to look yet not daring to. Her gaze did not linger in the slightest, and she went straight up to True-Person Huá, gracefully performing a salute.

“Uncle.”

True-Person Huá nodded.

She also saluted True-Person Zhuge. “Greetings, True-Person.”

True-Person Zhuge likewise nodded faintly.

True-Person Huá said, “Care to eat a little?”

The woman seemed to find the banquet too noisy and shook her head. “No need. I only came to pay my respects to Uncle. After that, I’ll return.”

True-Person Huá went along with her. “Very well.”

Without delay, she performed another perfectly proper and elegant salute to True-Person Huá and True-Person Zhuge, then said:

“Ping’er takes her leave.”

She turned to go, but as she did, the corner of her eye caught sight of Mo Hua, who had been keeping his head down, silently gnawing on a chicken leg.

With her proud temperament, she normally wouldn’t spare ordinary people a second glance, and this should have been no different.

Yet after that brief glance, she suddenly froze, then couldn’t help turning her head back to look at Mo Hua again.

Mo Hua lowered his head even further.

True-Person Huá and True-Person Zhuge exchanged looks.

The woman stopped walking. She also lowered her head slightly, carefully scrutinizing Mo Hua’s face, then suddenly extended a jade-like finger and pointed at him.

“It’s you!”

Mo Hua sighed inwardly, but his face remained blank as he said, “What?”

She snorted coldly. “Stop pretending. I have a good memory. I remember you.”

True-Person Zhuge looked at her, then at Mo Hua, and asked with a strange expression, “You two… know each other?”

Mo Hua shook his head decisively. “I don’t know her.”

True-Person Huá was also somewhat taken aback.

The woman looked at Mo Hua and sneered. “In Desert City, you were that—”

Halfway through, she suddenly remembered something and stopped herself, saying no more.

Mo Hua knew he had been recognized.

This beautiful woman in splendid robes was precisely that Miss Huá from Desert City, the one who had once been ceremoniously welcomed by Young Master Tuoba.

But Mo Hua absolutely could not admit it. Stubborn as a dead duck, he said, “You’ve got the wrong person. I don’t know you at all.”

Miss Huá seemed to think of something and no longer pressed Mo Hua.

Some matters were not things she could tell others.

“Fine. Let’s say I mistook you for someone else,” Miss Huá said. She then turned to True-Person Huá. “Uncle, I’m hungry. I’ll eat a bit after all.”

True-Person Huá called out, “Someone come, set a seat and lay out a banquet for the eldest miss.”

“No need,” Miss Huá said crisply. After speaking, she sat down right beside Mo Hua. “I’ll sit here.”

She sat quite close. Mo Hua felt his body stiffen and could not help shifting aside, as if dodging a ‘plague spirit.’

Seeing Mo Hua avoid her, Miss Huá seemed a bit annoyed and shifted closer to him instead.

Mo Hua dared not move again. If he moved any further, he would end up in True-Person Zhuge’s arms.

The banquet then continued. Miss Huá kept leaning over to whisper to Mo Hua:

“What’s your name?”

“Who are you?”

“You… why were you there?”

Mo Hua held his breath and focused his mind, not responding to a single word. He only kept his head down, peacefully gnawing on his chicken leg.

But when a tree wishes to be still, the wind will not cease.

Mo Hua wanted to keep a low profile, but there was simply no way to do so.

The moon among the stars, Miss Huá herself, was seated right beside him, chattering nonstop.

During the banquet, no one knew how many young geniuses—whether out of jealousy, malice, or anger—directed their gazes at him. Mo Hua felt as though needles were pricking his body; even the chicken leg in his hand no longer tasted good.

In this way, after who knew how long, Mo Hua finally endured until the banquet ended.

As soon as it ended, Mo Hua hurried back to his guest room and shut the door to rest.

…

Night fell. All was silent.

Mo Hua was lying on the table reading a formation manual when suddenly a loud banging sound rang out on the door.

Mo Hua did not even need to think to know who was knocking.

When a boy is traveling outside, and a woman knocks on his door in the middle of the night, there’s no need to overthink it—she’s definitely here to harm you.

Mo Hua paid no attention and continued reading on his own.

But the knocking did not stop.

It kept banging loudly for quite some time, yet Mo Hua still ignored it.

The person outside seemed to grow angry. With a loud bang, she kicked the door open and walked into Mo Hua’s room.