Chapter 412: The Abode

Lu Ming had been thoroughly dealt with by Mo Hua and had become completely obedient.

Situh Fang, on the other hand, was a bit taken aback. On the way back, she kept stealing glances at Mo Hua, her mind full of doubts.

This kid, Mo Hua, looked so obedient and innocent.

Yet when it came to framing, threatening, interrogating, and coercing… he was so skilled.

Who taught him all this?

The group left the Lu family’s mine.

From here on, the Dao Court Division would take over.

They would handle everything: finding the miner, determining the cause of death, whether it was the act of a cultivator, identifying the culprit, and even the matter of compensation.

Situh Fang relaxed and said to Mo Hua:

“Thanks for your help this time. When I have the chance, I’ll treat you to something good to eat!”

“Thank you, Sister Situh!”

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then added quietly:

“Sister Situh, if the Dao Court Division finds any clues about the culprit, could you let me know?”

Situh Fang frowned slightly.

The Dao Court Division never leaks details of an ongoing case.

But Mo Hua had helped greatly this time. Without him, they wouldn’t even have found the miner’s corpse. So maybe telling him wouldn’t hurt.

Thinking this over, Situh Fang asked curiously:

“How did you find that mine?”

She had wanted to ask while at the mine.

Why was there a formation on an ordinary stone wall? How did Mo Hua know that behind the stone wall was a cave?

Mo Hua modestly said:

“My divine sense is a bit stronger, I know a little about formations, and I happened to discover it.”

Situh Fang’s expression was complex; for a moment, she didn’t know whether to believe him.

But she didn’t press further. She nodded and said:

“I see. If I get any clues, I’ll secretly tell you.”

Mo Hua smiled:

“Thank you, Sister Situh.”

Afterward, they said their goodbyes.

Before leaving, Mo Hua gave Lu Ming a meaningful look:

“You know what to say and what not to say, right?”

Lu Ming shivered in fear, nodding repeatedly:

“Understood, understood!”

Mo Hua nodded with satisfaction.

After leaving the Lu family’s mine, Mo Hua and the others returned to the Nanyue Inn and told Mister Zhuang about what happened at the mine.

Mister Zhuang frowned silently.

Mo Hua spoke in a low voice:

“Master, I suspect the culprit might hold clues to a Supreme Formation.”

Mister Zhuang smiled slightly:

“How did you figure that out?”

“The dead miner… seemed to carry a trace of a Supreme Formation’s aura…”

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi looked at each other, clueless since they couldn’t use divine-sense calculation.

“Do you know which Supreme Formation it is?” Mister Zhuang asked.

Mo Hua shook his head, a little disappointed:

“The aura is too faint, and the formation’s trace is shallow… I can’t calculate it…”

“But…” Mo Hua recalled something, his tone wary:

“This trace of the Supreme Formation feels… sinister…”

“Sinister…”

Mister Zhuang’s gaze flickered ambiguously.

“Master, can a Supreme Formation exist in a sinister formation?” Mo Hua asked.

Mister Zhuang nodded:

“There is light, and there is darkness. Formations are no different.”

“What’s the difference between a sinister Supreme Formation and a normal one?”

Mister Zhuang glanced at the curious Mo Hua and suddenly smiled:

“This is something you’ll need to figure out yourself. I won’t tell you.”

“Figure it out myself?”

Mo Hua froze, muttering quietly:

“But I don’t understand it yet…”

Mister Zhuang chuckled:

“When you find this Supreme Formation, you’ll naturally understand.”

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up:

“So Master, there really is a Supreme Formation hidden somewhere in Nanyue City?”

Mister Zhuang was momentarily startled, then gave a wry smile:

“Who knows? I haven’t left the inn, how could I know…”

Mo Hua’s big eyes flickered as he stared at Mister Zhuang, then gradually grew certain in his heart.

There had to be one!

Whenever Mister Zhuang showed that teasing expression, it always meant there was something real.

Mister Zhuang gently shook his head and patted Mo Hua’s little head:

“You’ll probably be staying here a while. Find an abode to live in; the inn is too noisy and inconvenient.”

“An abode?” Mo Hua was a bit surprised.

He had never lived in an abode before.

In the cultivation world, abodes were generally very expensive.

In Tongxian City, only renowned or well-connected cultivators could afford to buy one with spirit stones—like Master Luo, a first-rank formation master, or Elder An of the An family.

Although Mo Hua was also a first-rank formation master, he wasn’t as “well-off” as Master Luo. Usually, he only charged a small fee for drawing formations.

For wandering cultivators in Dongshan Village, he hadn’t even collected spirit stones.

They could provide their own spirit ink.

It was just free formation practice for him.

So although he wasn’t short on spirit stones now, he wasn’t nearly that wealthy.

“An abode… is very expensive, right…” Mo Hua said weakly.

Seeing Mo Hua’s expression, Mister Zhuang smiled warmly:

“You’re now a first-rank formation master. It would be strange not to live in an abode with that status.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry about spirit stones,” Mister Zhuang said.

“Later, you and your senior brothers and sisters will go to the city to pick an abode.”

Since Mister Zhuang had said so, Mo Hua could only nod, then asked:

“What kind of abode should we pick?”

“Look at the spiritual energy, the orientation, the formations, the Five Elements,” Mister Zhuang said.

Mo Hua was momentarily stunned, then gradually realized.

His master was testing him.

On the surface, it was choosing an abode; in reality, it was to assess his understanding of formations, spiritual energy, and the principles of cultivation.

“Understood, Master.”

That afternoon, Mo Hua followed Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to the streets of Nanyue City to rent an abode.

Buying one would be too expensive, and they only needed a temporary place.

Mo Hua had never lived in an abode before, but he knew how to find one.

Having grown up in Tongxian City, he had always been well-liked among cultivators his age like Da Hu and Da Zhu.

Later, as a formation master, he had even wider connections.

Through experience, he understood the workings among lower-tier cultivators.

Although Nanyue City wasn’t Tongxian City, the customs of lower-tier wandering cultivators were similar.

Generally, the rental or sale of abodes was handled through intermediaries called “tooth houses.”

The intermediaries were called “tooth men.”

Mo Hua went to a tooth house and found a clever tooth man, saying he wanted to rent an abode.

The tooth man glanced at the three children, puzzled and slightly cold.

He thought Mo Hua was joking.

Three kids, renting an abode?

Mo Hua tossed him a spirit stone.

The tooth man froze, weighed the stone, and immediately smiled:

“Three young friends, what kind of abode do you want to see?”

Whether they rented or not, the tooth man had already profited from the stone.

Even if they didn’t buy, he still earned a spirit stone just for showing them around.

Mo Hua didn’t know exactly what kind of abode he wanted, so he said:

“Show us around.”

“All right!”

The tooth man eagerly led them, showing them every abode listed in the tooth house’s registry.

As he led them, he chatted nonstop:

“This abode is nice, big and spacious…”

“This one is also nice, small but exquisite…”

“This one is nice, high ground, very imposing…”

“This one is nice, low ground, very low-key…”

No matter what, he found something to praise: big was “spacious,” small was “exquisite,” high was “imposing,” low was “low-key.”

Mo Hua quietly took note, thinking he should learn this style of speech.

Once mastered, he could flatter people without hesitation.

At first, the tooth man was restrained, but realizing his guests were three kids, he relaxed and began speaking bluntly…

“This abode is nice, but just for show. Looks good, but uncomfortable to live in…”

“This abode? Forget it, cut corners in construction…”

“This one’s a shame—fake mountains and waters, formations intact, but someone died here…”

“How did they die?”

Mo Hua’s curiosity piqued.

“That’s unclear…” The tooth man shook his head.

“Some say they overexerted during cultivation and went mad, severing their meridians; some say enemies sought revenge, cutting them down; others say they offended the Lu family and were killed, then tossed into the mine…”

“Did the Lu family really do such things?”

“Well…” The tooth man realized he’d said too much and laughed nervously:

“Just rumors, just rumors…”

At the next abode, he said:

“This one’s also fine, exquisite and beautiful layout, the garden has floral formations activated with spirit stones, flowers bloom in abundance, fragrance everywhere—but better not rent this one…”

“Why not?”

Lowering his voice, the tooth man said:

“This is the Dao Court Division Chief’s place… for keeping a mistress…”

Mo Hua was shocked:

“You even know this?”

The tooth man shrugged:

“Outsiders don’t know this gossip, but insiders like us hear it every day; our ears are thickened by it.”

Bai Zisheng asked:

“And then?”

The tooth man grinned mischievously:

“Then it blew up. The chief’s legitimate wife caught them, tore the mistress’s face, and used poison powder on the wounds, leaving her disfigured for life.”

“The chief tried to stop it, but couldn’t. He was also torn up badly…”

Mo Hua was stunned and after a while sighed:

“The life of cultivators in Nanyue City is… quite eventful…”

The tooth man snorted lightly:

“Full and well-fed, they seek pleasures. With no worries about food, drink, or spirit stones, they naturally look for entertainment. All kinds of messy things happen…”

(End of Chapter)