Chapter 413: One Slash

The tooth man chatted idly about the gossip in Nanyue City while showing Mo Hua around the cave dwelling.

Mo Hua, on the other hand, was carefully observing the layout of the dwelling, silently taking note of what Mister Zhuang had said.

“Look at the spiritual energy, the orientation, the formations, the Five Elements…”

Since the Dao Court unified, the cultivation world had developed for over twenty thousand years. Cultivators had multiplied into the millions, yet the natural spiritual energy of the world had gradually thinned.

Now, the spiritual energy that naturally existed in the world was insufficient to sustain a cultivator’s training.

Yet spiritual energy still existed between heaven and earth.

It was just that this energy was either sparse, mixed, or polluted, making it impossible for cultivators to absorb and refine it.

Mo Hua silently pondered:

“What did my master want me to see when he told me to observe the spiritual energy?”

“What’s so special about spiritual energy anyway?”

He unleashed his Divine Sense, observing the ethereal spiritual energy lingering throughout the dwelling. After a while, he gradually realized something:

What Mister Zhuang wanted him to observe wasn’t the spiritual energy itself, but its flow.

When spiritual energy flows, the qi circulates freely, and the dwelling becomes suitable for habitation.

The wind doesn’t always blow, but the movement of spiritual energy is constant.

However, this flow was extremely subtle and required patience to sense and careful discernment.

Orientation was easier to understand.

East, west, south, north—up and down.

The placement of the dwelling within the entire immortal city, and its orientation, all had significance.

As for formations, there was even less to explain.

Mo Hua was a first-rank formation master, even a first-rank chief formation master, having constructed a Five-Element first-rank demon-slaying grand array, mastered twelve Divine-Sense runes, and even learned arrays beyond the first rank.

For someone like Mo Hua now, anything related to formations was relatively simple.

Especially first-rank Qi-Refining arrays.

Nanyue City was only a second-rank immortal city.

The highest cultivators here had only reached Foundation Establishment, and the formation masters were at most first-rank.

The arrays used in these dwellings were mainly first-rank, and even first-rank nine-rune arrays were rare. Most were simple six- or seven-rune arrays.

Mo Hua could see through these arrays at a glance, without any calculations.

To him, six- or seven-rune arrays were no different from basic array patterns.

Finally, the Five Elements…

Mo Hua remembered the principles of elemental generation and overcoming that he had applied when constructing arrays for refining instruments.

In Daoist architecture, different rooms and different arrays all involved the interplay of the Five Elements.

How to use Metal to generate Water and store it; Water to generate Wood to nourish plants; Earth to generate Metal to reinforce the structure…

Mo Hua observed, calculated, and muttered to himself with confidence.

The tooth man couldn’t help but glance at him in surprise.

This young cultivator didn’t seem like an amateur.

And he was extremely familiar with the arrays in the dwelling…

He seemed to have a solid foundation in array arts.

Could he be a disciple of a great formation master, here to help his master choose a dwelling?

The tooth man’s spirits lifted, and his smile grew even more sincere.

Formation masters…

Even if you can’t please them, you mustn’t offend them.

…

The tooth man enthusiastically led Mo Hua and the others to inspect every cave dwelling his guild had available.

After examining them, Mo Hua carefully considered and initially shortlisted three dwellings, asking Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi:

“So, what do you think?”

Bai Zixi didn’t say anything.

Bai Zisheng, however, was not entirely satisfied.

“Not big enough, not grand enough, not enough rooms, and the alchemy and refining facilities are too basic.”

Mo Hua glanced at him. “Do you want to pick then?”

Bai Zisheng thought for a moment but backed down:

“Better not. Master asked you to choose, so it’s best you do it.”

Just listening to talk of spiritual energy, layout, formations, and the Five Elements made his head hurt.

If Mo Hua picked wrong, Master wouldn’t punish him.

But if he picked wrong, who knows? Maybe he’d have to copy books or draw hundreds of formation diagrams…

Bai Zisheng glanced at Mo Hua and murmured in his heart:

“Could Mo Hua be Master’s blood relative? Otherwise, why would Master treat him so well?”

Then he immediately dismissed the idea:

“Impossible, Master Zhuang’s relatives couldn’t have such poor spiritual roots like Mo Hua.”

Mo Hua frowned. “Are you badmouthing me again?”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You said it in your heart.”

Bai Zisheng opened his mouth: “Mo Hua, have you become so sharp that you know what others are thinking?”

Mo Hua lightly snorted, saying nothing.

Since his Divine Sense had grown stronger and he had learned calculations, he could vaguely perceive certain things.

Of course, he mainly knew what Bai Zisheng was thinking because he was too familiar with him.

Bai Zisheng was cautious with outsiders, but with familiar people, especially a junior brother he spent all day with, his thoughts were written all over his face.

Bai Zisheng asked about the main matter: “So which dwelling shall we choose?”

Mo Hua said, “I’ve picked according to Master’s standards of spiritual energy, layout, formations, and Five Elements. These three are all similar, so pick whichever you like.”

Bai Zisheng scratched his head.

He didn’t think any of them were great, but truly, they were all about the same.

Mo Hua looked at Bai Zixi. “Junior Sister, which one do you like?”

Bai Zisheng also looked at his sister.

Bai Zixi thought for a moment, then gently pointed with her delicate finger at one dwelling:

“This one.”

Mo Hua glanced at it. This dwelling wasn’t particularly special, but it had a pond in the courtyard, a lawn by the pond, and a large tree on the lawn.

The layout was different, yet it reminded him slightly of the mountain residence in South Mountain of Tongxian City where they had studied under Mister Zhuang.

Especially that big tree in the courtyard.

Mo Hua nodded. “Then this one it is.”

He showed the dwelling’s blueprint to Mister Zhuang.

Mister Zhuang merely glanced at it and nodded. “Not bad.”

Mo Hua felt a surge of joy. His previous considerations had been correct.

Since Mister Zhuang agreed, the next step was to go to The tooth man and rent the dwelling.

The tooth man was surprised.

He hadn’t expected the three of them to really rent it.

“Are you really renting it?” The tooth man asked again to confirm.

Mo Hua nodded. Before he could speak, Bai Zixi’s clear voice said:

“No rent.”

Not only The tooth man froze, but Mo Hua was stunned as well.

Bai Zixi said calmly:

“We’re buying it.”

Mo Hua whispered, “Junior Sister, buying it… will take a lot of spirit stones…”

Bai Zixi shook her head. “Not much.”

She lightly patted the golden-threaded, phoenix-patterned storage pouch at her waist and softly told Mo Hua:

“Before leaving, Aunt Xue gave me all the spirit stones…”

Seeing Mo Hua’s concern, she added:

“A lot… a lot…”

Mo Hua was shocked.

This little junior sister of his was actually a rich young lady…

Then he wondered, “Can this small pouch really hold all that?”

Bai Zixi nodded. “It can hold them all.”

Mo Hua understood.

This storage pouch was clearly an extraordinary spiritual tool.

Ordinary storage pouches for wandering cultivators had limited space and couldn’t hold much.

Large items required a storage chest.

But Mo Hua knew some storage spiritual tools had vast internal space, though they were extremely expensive—he certainly couldn’t afford them.

He eyed the golden phoenix pouch curiously, wondering just how much it could hold, but he felt embarrassed to rummage through his junior sister’s pouch.

Meanwhile, The tooth man was ecstatic.

Originally it was a rental—now it was a purchase.

A big deal had just turned into an even bigger deal.

The tooth man immediately smiled. “This dwelling originally costs forty thousand spirit stones. If you young friends want to buy it, our guild can give a discount—thirty-eight thousand spirit stones!”

Just as Bai Zixi was about to nod, Mo Hua snapped angrily:

“Wait!”

Thirty-eight thousand spirit stones?!

What a rip-off!

A wandering Foundation Establishment cultivator could barely spend ten thousand spirit stones.

Ten thousand spirit stones would take a wandering cultivator thirty years to save, without eating or drinking.

And how could anyone survive without eating or drinking?

What if unexpected events occurred and they urgently needed spirit stones? They’d probably be broke, let alone save ten thousand spirit stones, they might not even save a hundred.

And one dwelling costs thirty-five thousand spirit stones?

Save without eating or drinking for a hundred years?

Why is a single dwelling so expensive?

Mo Hua frowned, a little angry.

The tooth man helplessly said, “That’s just the market price; there’s nothing we can do…”

Then he rambled on about the Dao Court, families, and land, implying the dwelling was indeed expensive, so don’t blame them.

“The market’s been like this for years…”

Seeing their predicament, Mo Hua said:

“Then make it cheaper.”

Even though he didn’t have to pay, his junior sister’s spirit stones were still spirit stones.

Thirty thousand spirit stones—he felt for her.

“Can’t lower it…” The tooth man looked troubled. “Young brother, your eye is good. This dwelling you picked, though it looks modest, has perfect feng shui—it’s an excellent choice…”

Mo Hua squinted slightly. “Your formation here isn’t good.”

The tooth man was slightly taken aback, displeased:

“How can the formation here be bad? Not to mention anything else, this array balances all Five Elements, offense and defense, prevents thieves and enemies, ventilates and nourishes the energy. The formation grade is real first-rank, personally drawn by a master, almost brand new…”

The tooth man’s words tumbled out fluently, full of exaggeration.

Mo Hua pointed to a spot on the ground. “This formation is broken.”

The tooth man froze. “Broken… broken?”

Mo Hua nodded. “The second array line of the Earth-and-Stone formation has a broken medium…”

Mo Hua stepped forward a few paces, looking up. “This formation is drawn incorrectly.”

“The Fourth-Light Array, fourth line, fifth stroke is wrong…”

The tooth man gaped.

Mo Hua turned to the courtyard. “There were originally four formation diagrams here, but they failed, and no one repaired them. Maybe even you didn’t know…”

“Also, this formation here is wrong…”

“This one isn’t wrong, but uses poor spiritual ink. It’ll fail in two months.”

“Here, formations conflict…”

“What is drawn here…”

“Here…”

…

The tooth man was dumbstruck.

Who was this young cultivator?

He hadn’t even shown him the dwelling’s formation diagrams…

Formations were confidential, diagrams sealed, and not to be shown before a deal was completed.

Yet this young cultivator, after just a few glances, could point out every flaw in the dwelling’s formations as if reciting from memory?

Whether a dwelling looked good, was comfortable, or had a good layout was subjective.

One person’s opinion wasn’t definitive.

But formation issues were factual—unmistakable.

And here someone had clearly seen through them…

The tooth man was terrified, cold sweat pouring down.

After Mo Hua finished listing the defects, his eyes glinted, and taking The tooth man off guard, he struck hard with one slash:

“Twenty thousand spirit stones!”

He opened his mouth wide—almost halving the price with one stroke.

The tooth man shuddered, barely steadying himself…