Chapter 304: Commander Yang
Zhang Lan had previously resolved not to let Mo Hua enter the mountain, but now that something had come up and he had to ask for Mo Hua’s help, he couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward about it.
Mo Hua, however, didn’t mind. Whatever Zhang Lan wanted him to help with was probably related to wiping out Black Mountain Stronghold.
As long as he could annihilate that nest and kill every evil cultivator inside, he was more than happy to lend a hand.
Zhang Lan led Mo Hua into the inner mountain and arrived at a desolate peak.
The mountainside was full of pockmarks and scars, traces of many battles fought by cultivators—but the marks were old. There were still several excavated mine tunnels visible on the slope.
Mo Hua was surprised.
This mountain was Nameless Peak—the very same one where they had once competed with the Qian Family over a small spiritual mine.
The traces of battle surrounding them were left behind from that conflict between the demon hunters and the Qian Family cultivators—though most of the damage had been caused by his own Earthfire Array explosions.
He hadn’t expected the Dao Soldiers to secretly station themselves here.
When Zhang Lan and Mo Hua reached the base of the mountain, Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense could already perceive flickering silhouettes within the mine tunnels.
These cultivators’ auras were steady and disciplined—clearly Dao Soldiers dispatched by the Dao Court.
Suddenly, Mo Hua’s expression tightened—someone had noticed his Divine-Sense probing!
And that someone was a Foundation Establishment cultivator!
At that same moment, a tall, broad-shouldered cultivator with a square face and stern gaze appeared at a cave entrance halfway up the slope.
His expression was grave; Divine-Sense swept outward, eyes sharp and carrying a faint killing intent.
But when he spotted Zhang Lan and Mo Hua at the mountain’s foot, his face softened slightly. He gave Zhang Lan a curt nod before turning and walking back into the tunnel.
“Reached Foundation Establishment and already putting on airs…”
Zhang Lan muttered under his breath, a little disdainfully.
Though his voice was low, Mo Hua still caught it and asked curiously,
“Uncle Zhang, you know him?”
“Sort of,” Zhang Lan said tersely. He didn’t elaborate, only added, “Let’s go up.”
Mo Hua nodded.
Among the shrubs and boulders near the mine entrance, many Dao Soldiers in uniform armor stood guard, long spears in hand and vigilance in their eyes.
Mo Hua wasn’t surprised—he had already sensed them with his Divine-Sense.
Zhang Lan, on the other hand, walked with complete composure, as if he were a regular visitor here.
The Dao Soldiers clearly recognized him too. They all cupped their hands respectfully.
“Registrar Zhang!”
One of them stepped forward and led Zhang Lan and Mo Hua into a large stone chamber inside the mine.
The chamber was spacious—suitable both for living and for holding meetings.
Mo Hua remembered this place. Back when they had fought over the mine, Elder Yu had stayed here. Next door was a smaller, cozy chamber where Mo Hua himself had lived—warm, comfortable, drawing arrays, and eating beef every day.
He hadn’t expected the place to become a temporary Dao Soldier outpost.
The large chamber’s structure was unchanged, but the furnishings were completely different.
Around the room stood a set of gleaming silver armor, a red-tasseled spear, and in the center a large table bearing a sand table with a detailed map upon it.
The sand table’s layout looked strikingly similar to Black Mountain Stronghold.
And standing before it was the same stern Foundation Establishment commander from before.
When the commander saw Zhang Lan, he gave a brief nod in greeting, then frowned and said,
“Didn’t I tell you to bring an array master? Where is he?”
Zhang Lan pushed Mo Hua forward. “Here he is.”
The commander froze for a moment—then glared, beard bristling.
“Zhang Lan! Damn it, I’ve refrained from thrashing you only because I’m now in Foundation Establishment and bullying a Qi-Refining cultivator would be beneath me. But if you keep fooling around, I’ll stop holding back!”
Zhang Lan snorted coldly. “Open your eyes, you ignorant ox! Take a good look—this child is a real, bona fide array master. He’s usually far too busy, and if not for my personal request, you wouldn’t even have been able to invite him here!”
“Bullshit!”
The commander—Yang Tongling—swore at him. “A brat this young, what array could he possibly know? Do you think I don’t understand arrays at all?”
Unfazed, Zhang Lan retorted, “Fine then, I’ll write to my mother right now and tell her you called her ‘bullshit.’ Let’s see if she doesn’t flay you alive…”
Yang Tongling’s eyelid twitched. “Nonsense! I was scolding you! Don’t twist my words!”
“What’s the difference between cursing me and cursing my mother?” Zhang Lan said righteously.
“There’s a huge difference! Can you at least try to act your age?”
“My age? I’m thirty-one—a man in his prime, handsome, charming, and full of grace!”
…
Mo Hua was utterly dumbfounded.
These two grown men were arguing more childishly than he ever had.
After bickering until their throats were dry, both sat down and sipped their tea.
It was only then that Yang Tongling realized—arguing with a Qi-Refining cultivator in front of a kid, while being a Foundation Establishment commander himself, was rather disgraceful.
Still, Zhang Lan’s irritating personality made it hard not to argue with him.
Yang coughed lightly, pretending nothing had happened, and turned to Mo Hua with a forcedly mild tone.
“Young man, are you really an array master?”
But with his stern, square face, his expression looked more like that of a suspicious uncle up to no good.
Not sure how to address him, Mo Hua glanced at Zhang Lan.
Zhang Lan quickly said, “His surname is Yang. You can call him Commander Yang.”
Mo Hua replied crisply, “Commander Yang, Uncle Zhang is telling the truth—I am an array master.”
Commander Yang nodded slightly, sighing inwardly.
This Zhang Lan… truly a troublemaker. Such an important task, and he brings a child to handle it?
Judging by the boy’s age, he couldn’t have studied formations for long—
—but with no one else here who understood arrays (truthfully, among all the Dao Soldiers, the number who could even read array scripts could be counted on one hand), there was little choice.
After a sip of tea, Yang Tongling asked, “So… how far have you gotten in your studies?”
Mo Hua answered humbly, “Not far—just reached the first grade.”
Pffft!
Yang Tongling spewed tea all over the sand table, soaking the map.
Zhang Lan suddenly felt immensely satisfied, raising an eyebrow and teasing, “Look at you, acting like you’ve never seen the world. It’s just a ten-year-old First-Grade Array Master. No need to be so shocked.”
His tone was casual, but inside, Zhang Lan was laughing his head off.
Yang Tongling swore again. “Bullshit! Since when did the cultivation world have so many geniuses? A kid barely ten years old, already a First-Grade Array Master—and you just happened to find one?”
Zhang Lan shrugged. “Believe it or don’t.”
“Fine, then show me one of his arrays.”
Zhang Lan pointed at the center of the sand table. “There. That one.”
Yang Tongling looked down. The map of Black Mountain Stronghold lay before him.
He froze, then barked, “Don’t talk nonsense! The report to the Dao Court said the Dao Court Division of Tōngxiān City risked their lives to infiltrate the stronghold and drew this formation map! Now you’re saying he drew it?”
Zhang Lan smiled and told Mo Hua, “Show Commander Yang your waist token.”
Mo Hua blinked, then understood. He took out the bronze waist token the Dao Court Division had given him.
Yang Tongling was stunned again.
Zhang Lan grinned. “See that? Bronze waist token—he’s a cultivator of our Dao Court Division. So the map he drew is a Dao Court Division map.”
Yang Tongling was speechless for a long moment before muttering,
“Bronze waist tokens are… unofficial.”
“Unofficial or not, still under the Dao Court Division.”
Yang frowned. “Then if the map really was drawn by this kid, that should count as a contribution. Why didn’t the report list his name?”
Zhang Lan curled his lip. “Who would believe it? Would you?”
Yang Tongling looked at the small boy before him, then at the sand table—the intricate, profound, perfectly executed map filled with First-Grade Formation structures—and sighed silently.
Any cultivator with even basic formation knowledge wouldn’t believe it.
He, naturally, didn’t either.
(End of Chapter)