Chapter 418: Tail

Mo Hua relayed the information he’d gathered to Situ Fang.

Thinking of the impoverished orphaned family, Situ Fang’s delicate brows knitted tightly, anger flaring.

“Outrageous!”

This was robbing the dead and preying on the defenseless!

The next day, she brought cultivators from the Dao Court Division to the gambling den, found Wang Lai and his group, dragged them back to the Dao Court Division, and interrogated them.

Along the way, she confiscated the spirit stones they had extorted.

Situ Fang returned those spirit stones to the miner’s family, but regarding Wang Lai’s group, there really wasn’t much she could do.

Wang Lai and the others had forced their way into demanding “compensation” on behalf of the miners and pocketed most of it themselves. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a crime severe enough to be punished too harshly.

The Dao Court Division couldn’t legally impose a heavy sentence.

Situ Fang wanted to dig into their past and punish them for all their accumulated crimes.

These thugs had been plaguing the area for years—they were guaranteed to have a long record of misdeeds.

But the miners were all weak, afraid of retaliation, and no one dared testify.

Situ Fang had no choice. She could only lock them up for one month, apply the Wooden Punishment, give them thirty heavy blows, and release them.

The moment Wang Lai and the others walked out of the Dao prison, their first action was to gather more thugs, rush to the deceased miner’s home, threaten and extort the family again, rob back the spirit stones, injure several people, and even warn:

“If you dare report to the Dao Court Division again, we’ll wipe out your whole family!”

Situ Fang later recounted this to Mo Hua.

In the small courtyard of the dwelling, Situ Fang was so furious her teeth were clenched.

“I wanted to throw them back into the Dao prison, but several senior officers stopped me…”

“They told me it’s useless. These sorts of things—they’ve seen too many over the years.”

“Unless you kill these thugs outright, you can never get rid of them. They cling like leeches.”

“Arrest them, jail them, release them… repeat forever.”

“I’m a Dao Court Division officer, so I’m not afraid of them. But the ones who will keep suffering are the poor miners below who get bullied…”

Deep helplessness filled her expression.

After chatting for a while, Situ Fang left with a sorrowful face.

Mo Hua sat alone in the courtyard, frowning as he pondered.

Just then, Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi finished learning formations with Mister Zhuang. As they passed the courtyard, they spotted Mo Hua sitting under the big tree in deep thought.

Bai Zisheng ran up to him and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then told them about Wang Lai and the others.

Bai Zisheng instantly flared up. “Just kill them!”

Bai Zixi also frowned slightly.

Mo Hua said, “We have to follow proper rules and Dao laws. If they haven’t committed a capital crime, we can’t just kill them casually…”

Bai Zisheng muttered, “I think they’ve already earned death…”

Mo Hua glanced at him.

Bai Zisheng immediately shut up.

Then his expression froze, and he eyed Mo Hua suspiciously.

“Are you plotting something shady again?”

Mo Hua said unhappily, “How can you call it shady?”

“You’re definitely planning to trick someone…” Bai Zisheng insisted.

Even Bai Zixi looked curiously at Mo Hua.

“It doesn’t count as trickery…” Mo Hua thought it over. “I want to secretly follow them and see what they do every day—to find some evidence.”

If they had committed so many vile acts, they were bound to leave traces.

“Follow them?” Bai Zisheng’s eyes lit up.

“You can’t go,” Mo Hua said.

Bai Zisheng’s excitement popped like a bubble. “Why not?”

“You don’t know concealment techniques.”

“I don’t need them, right…?”

“Of course you do!” Mo Hua raised a thin eyebrow. “You need to hide your presence before you tail someone. If you follow them openly, do you take them for idiots?”

“…Fine…”

Bai Zisheng deflated.

Bai Zixi gave a light cough, subtly reminding him, then glanced at Mo Hua.

Bai Zisheng froze—then realization struck.

“Right! You know Concealment Formations!”

“My concealment formation isn’t that effective…” Mo Hua tried to dodge.

Bai Zixi shook her head. “Your concealment formation works very well. It’s just your Dao robe that’s inadequate.”

Bai Zisheng immediately nodded vigorously:

“Exactly, exactly! You’re my junior brother—how could your formation be bad? It’s the robe that’s bad!”

“I’ll get you some top-grade robes. You draw concealment formations for us. Then we can track those villains together.”

His abacus clattered loudly in his head. Then he declared self-righteously:

“I’m your senior brother—how could I let you take all the risk alone? My conscience wouldn’t let me sleep!”

Mo Hua stared at him silently.

“Is it your conscience or your playful heart that won’t let you sleep…”

Bai Zisheng, exposed, chuckled awkwardly.

“Both. Definitely both.”

These past few days, Mister Zhuang had locked him down to study deep, complicated formation theory. His head felt like it had doubled in size.

Now that he had a chance to go out with Mo Hua for a few days, he was determined not to miss it.

Mo Hua asked doubtfully, “And what about Master? Aren’t you supposed to be studying formations?”

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi had been learning formations nonstop.

Formations he himself wasn’t allowed to learn.

“It’s fine. Master isn’t teaching anything new these days. As long as we review in our spare time, it’s enough.”

Mo Hua still hesitated.

Bai Zisheng stared at him with hopeful puppy eyes.

Bai Zixi’s eyes were also bright and expectant.

Mo Hua sighed. “Alright. But we must keep a low profile. Be careful…”

“You must listen to me,” he added.

Once the little junior brother said this, both the senior brother and senior sister nodded obediently.

After that, Mo Hua began drawing the concealment formations.

Dao robes were too bulky. They couldn’t wear another robe over their clothes—concealed or not, that would draw attention and hinder movement.

Bai Zixi selected several outfits for Mo Hua to choose from.

Combining formation needs with practicality, Mo Hua finally chose cloak-style mantles.

Hooded, worn over the clothes, they could keep one warm, block dust, and hide the face.

The region of Little Wilderness was hot, so Mo Hua selected three thinner cloaks.

These cloaks were crafted with special techniques—they were superior spiritual tools.

Mo Hua drew the concealment formations onto them.

Once the three tried them, the effect was excellent.

At least to the naked eye, nothing could be seen.

Of course, Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense was too strong—he could still detect his senior brother and sister. But Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi couldn’t detect Mo Hua at all.

Once preparations were complete, the three began tailing.

Their target: Wang Lai.

Wang Lai, also known as Wang the Rascal, was the leader of the thug group.

Short but not weak—he was peak Qi-Refining Ninth Level, the highest cultivation among the thugs.

He had an Earth spiritual root and trained in body refinement. His technique was ordinary, and he used a ring-hilted blade. His Dao art was Mountain-Cleaving Blade.

He idled about daily, stirring trouble wherever he went.

With spirit stones, he indulged in every vice—eating, drinking, gambling, and visiting brothels.

He frequented a street called Jinhua Street, in the northern part of Nanyue City—its most prosperous district.

Naturally, also its most corrupt.

Brothels, entertainment houses, inns, gambling dens—everything was there.

Many places Mo Hua had never even heard of… and probably didn’t want to.

Though curious, he restrained himself and didn’t go peek.

Besides, he had two junior siblings with him—he couldn’t lead them astray. Otherwise, Master would knock his head for sure.

Jinhua Street was large, but divided by quality.

Wang Lai could only afford low-tier brothels, cramped gambling dens, and cheap taverns.

After indulging himself with the money he’d robbed from the dead, he eventually ran out of spirit stones and began “earning” again.

He had to—he owed gambling debts.

No wild horse fattens without night grass; no man gets rich without illicit gains.

Just as Mo Hua expected, Wang Lai’s methods of “earning” spirit stones couldn’t see the light of day.

Theft, fraud, scams, robbery—

Acting as a lackey for some Nanyue clan disciple and getting tipped for beating people up…

Extorting protection fees from small vendors…

Partnering with gambling houses to scam out-of-town cultivators…

Banditry on the streets…

And even working with a brothel cultivatrix to run a “immortal honeytrap” scam…

Mo Hua was stunned by how “inventive” he was.

Miners had only one way to earn spirit stones—hard labor, endless toil.

Yet Wang Lai, who did no honest work, lived in constant luxury…

The harder the honest people worked, the more they suffered.

This world truly bullied honest cultivators.

Mo Hua sighed inwardly. But he also felt something wasn’t right.

He remembered Lu Ming saying that when these thugs had no spirit stones left, they’d go to the mines and work as miners for a few days.

Wang Lai, however, despite being penniless for days at a time, had never once entered the mines.

“Something’s off…”

Mo Hua frowned.

Wang Lai seemed to have no connection with the mines at all.

But that shouldn’t be possible.

Mo Hua waited patiently—and after a few more days, Wang Lai finally prepared to enter the mines.

Because he whispered to an elderly miner:

“There’s top-grade ore hidden in the mine—an exclusive treasure of the Lu family. We sneak in, take a bit, and we’ll live comfortably for the rest of our lives…”

Ore theft…

Mo Hua’s pupils contracted.

Those five missing miners supposedly died because they stole ore…

And stealing ore was a grave taboo among miners.

Why would those five miners suddenly think of stealing ore?

Mo Hua looked at Wang Lai, cold light gathering in his eyes.