Chapter 380: The Plan

Bai Zixi simply stopped cultivating. She laid out a blanket, leaned comfortably against the bedside, and listened to her senior brother and little junior brother talking.

Bai Zisheng and Mo Hua were still whispering to each other.

“The Sun Family is too rich!” Mo Hua muttered softly.

“How so?” Bai Zisheng didn’t quite get it.

“Such a huge estate, so many servants and maids… Even the guest rooms are so well-decorated. Most of the furniture and ornaments here are spirit tools, all inscribed with arrays. The arrays are rough, sure, but they’re still valuable…”

Mo Hua sighed in admiration.

Things like this wouldn’t stand out in a large immortal city, but in a remote place like Qianjia Town, they looked ridiculously out of place.

Even in Tōngxiān City, the Qian Family’s residence wasn’t as luxurious as this.

Bai Zisheng nodded, though he was usually careless and had little concept of how valuable spirit stones really were.

Bai Zixi, however, looked thoughtful.

“So what do we do next?” Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua, lying on the soft blanket, thought for a moment and said,

“I need to find the Absolute Formation hidden somewhere in this town.”

“What kind of Absolute Formation?”

Mo Hua shook his head. “Mister Zhuang didn’t say, and I don’t know yet.”

“Does he know where it’s hidden?” Bai Zisheng asked curiously.

Lowering his voice, Mo Hua whispered,

“I’m guessing he definitely knows—but he’s not telling me. Probably wants me to find it myself.”

“That’s gonna be troublesome…” Bai Zisheng muttered.

Then he asked again, “Mo Hua, do you really have to learn Absolute Formations?”

Absolute Formations were notoriously difficult—time-consuming, mentally exhausting, and spiritually draining. Some were obscure and of limited use.

The Dao Court’s ranking standards didn’t even include Absolute Formations.

Most formation masters never bothered to study them.

But Mo Hua nodded seriously. “I have to.”

He started counting on his fingers.

“I’ll start with an eleven-rune Absolute Formation to temper my Divine-Sense to twelve runes. Then I’ll find a twelve-rune Absolute Formation to reach thirteen runes, and after that, a thirteen-rune one…”

Bai Zisheng’s scalp went numb.

Even Bai Zixi looked astonished, staring blankly at Mo Hua.

“Can you… really do that?” Bai Zisheng asked nervously.

A first-grade, ten-rune formation master was already unheard of—and he wanted to go for thirteen?!

“Even if I can’t, I’ll still learn. If I keep learning, one day I’ll manage it.”

Mo Hua nodded resolutely. “My spiritual root is poor, and I can’t cultivate the body, so this is the only path left to me.”

Bai Zisheng felt a headache coming on but also a pang of sympathy for his little junior. As the senior brother, he thumped his chest and declared,

“Then I’ll help you!”

After saying that, he glanced at his sister.

Bai Zixi nodded as well.

“Right—Zixi and I will help you!”

“No need to trouble yourselves.” Mo Hua tried to refuse.

Bai Zisheng frowned. “You’re my junior brother—no need for politeness. Just say what you need.”

“…Alright then.”

Since they insisted, Mo Hua didn’t hold back.

“This Absolute Formation is either hidden in the Sun Family estate or somewhere in town. We’ll split up—you and Senior Sister investigate the Suns, and I’ll check the town for clues.”

He laid out his plan.

The Sun Family treated Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi with great enthusiasm, but paid less attention to him.

Clearly, they recognized the noble aura and extraordinary talent of these two and were eager to curry favor.

If those two probed around or made small requests, the Suns would be much more open.

Mo Hua, being young, would likely just be brushed off—or even looked down on—if he tried.

Bai Zisheng nodded, then frowned. “But how do you know all that?”

“I calculated it.”

“…Calculated?”

“I sensed the spiritual flow of the formations, derived the rune patterns through the energy’s resonance, and from that, inferred the formation’s position…”

Mo Hua explained.

Bai Zisheng frowned harder. That already sounded like a headache.

“Are your calculations even accurate?” he asked dubiously.

Mo Hua sighed. “That’s exactly why I need your help! If I could calculate precisely, I’d already know where the formation is and wouldn’t need to search for it…”

“Oh, so you’re just half-trained then.”

“Even half-trained, it’s still hard to learn!”

Mo Hua defended himself proudly.

Bai Zisheng paused, then nodded. Fair enough—Mo Hua might be half-trained, but he himself wasn’t even that.

In fact, he didn’t understand Divine-Sense derivation at all.

If Mo Hua and Mister Zhuang hadn’t mentioned it, even with the Bai Family’s decent formation heritage, he probably wouldn’t have heard of it.

Feeling a little deflated, he perked up again and asked, “Think I could learn it too?”

Mo Hua thought for a moment. “You can—after your Divine-Sense reaches Foundation Establishment. By then, Master will probably teach you.”

“Alright…” Bai Zisheng sighed.

He was still a bit away from Foundation Establishment.

Then Mo Hua suddenly thought of something else. “By the way, you two apprenticed under Mister Zhuang to learn a formation, right? Has Master taught you yet?”

Bai Zisheng nodded. “He has.”

Mo Hua froze. “When?”

They’d barely been apart these days—how could he have missed it?

Bai Zisheng hesitated, then confessed,

“When you went to pick grass and feed Big White…”

Mo Hua blinked.

That short a time, and Mister Zhuang had already given them private lessons?

But then again, Mister Zhuang had also given him private lessons, so it evened out.

Bai Zisheng looked a little guilty.

“Master said you couldn’t learn this one, so we couldn’t let you see.”

“Why can’t I learn it?” Mo Hua asked, puzzled.

Bai Zisheng shook his head. “He didn’t say.”

Mo Hua frowned slightly, lost in thought.

Bai Zisheng thought he was upset and quickly offered, “How about I secretly teach it to you?”

He shot a glance at Bai Zixi.

She blinked innocently, pretending not to notice.

Mo Hua was moved but still shook his head.

“Master must have his reasons. If I were meant to learn it, he’d teach me. Since he didn’t, there’s a reason for it.”

After all, things like Spirit-Reversal formations, Divine-Sense derivation, and Formation Collapse—those were all extremely advanced topics, and Mister Zhuang had taught him every one of them.

If there was something he didn’t teach, it had to be for a good reason.

And even if Mister Zhuang truly chose not to teach him, that was fine—he’d already been far too generous as a teacher.

Both Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi looked at Mo Hua in mild surprise, then relaxed visibly.

They’d been feeling guilty for secretly learning behind his back, but now that everything was clear, their hearts were lighter.

Bai Zisheng thumped his chest again, full of confidence.

“Don’t worry! I’ll help you find that Absolute Formation. So what if it’s in the Sun Family? Tomorrow, I’ll turn their whole place upside down!”

Bai Zixi sighed helplessly.

Mo Hua gave him an exasperated look. “If we’re searching for something, we have to keep it low-profile. Don’t let them notice.”

Bai Zisheng scratched his head. “Oh… right.”

Then the three little heads huddled together again, whispering and scheming.

They discussed how to investigate, what excuses to use, what kind of formation it might be, what effects it had, and where it might be hidden.

Mostly, it was Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng talking, while Bai Zixi just listened quietly.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Mister Zhuang slowly opened his eyes. His gaze held both melancholy and satisfaction.

—

The next morning, after breakfast, the three split up.

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi subtly hinted at their noble family background.

Sun Ze, thrilled beyond measure, personally offered to guide them around the Sun estate. On the surface, he seemed to answer every question—but how much of it was true was another matter.

Mo Hua, on the other hand, said he wanted to stroll around town and find food for Big White, the horse.

The Sun Family offered their own fodder, but Mo Hua complained it wasn’t good enough.

They offered to send someone with him—he refused. They offered other reasons—he shot them all down.

Left with no choice, they watched as the boy slipped out the Sun estate gates alone.

Sun Yi frowned slightly and said to Mister Zhuang,

“That young one’s still a child. Wandering off alone could be dangerous.”

Mister Zhuang only said calmly, “It’s fine.”

In all of Qianjia Town, the only Foundation Establishment cultivator was the Sun Family’s patriarch himself.

With Mo Hua’s current abilities, no one outside the Sun Family could pose a threat to him.

Once outside, Mo Hua immediately felt the scenery change.

The Sun Family’s mansion was grand and resplendent—

—but the streets beyond were desolate, covered in the wear and tear of sun and rain.

As if two completely different worlds existed side by side.

Mo Hua sighed softly.

Then he walked along the main street, exploring the town.

Qianjia Town wasn’t large; in less than half an hour, he had surveyed every array in it.

They were all extremely crude—mostly three or four-rune apprentice-level arrays.

Nothing unusual.

“No sign of it…” Mo Hua murmured, frowning.

“Could it be that the Absolute Formation is really hidden in the Sun estate?”

That patriarch seemed to be a formation master himself—it wouldn’t be strange for him to collect ancient, forgotten formations.

And with the Sun Family’s wealth, even an inherited Absolute Formation wouldn’t be impossible.

Just as Mo Hua was about to return, something in his peripheral vision caught his eye—a stretch of spirit fields in the distance.

Plot after plot, neatly arranged between two mountains.

At the moment, they were filled with spiritual rice.

The mountain breeze rippled across them, making the lush green waves shimmer like a jade lake.

Above the fields, a faint mist of spiritual energy hung in the air.

Mo Hua swept his Divine-Sense over them and softly exclaimed, “Huh?”

Then he stepped forward, heading toward the emerald-tide fields.

(End of Chapter)