Chapter 423: Disappearance
There was something unusual in the mine, so they couldn’t stay long.
Mo Hua and the others left the mine and returned to Nanyue City. They found a place to rest for a while.
Wang Lai was covered in wounds, looking miserable, but he was still breathing.
Mo Hua roused him and, while they had some time, asked him a few more questions.
By dawn, there was nothing more to learn, so Mo Hua handed Wang Lai over to Situ Fang.
At the same time, he told her everything—about Wang Lai and the deeds of those hooligans.
Old Yu and the other two bore witness.
Situ Fang was both shocked and furious.
She never expected that Wang Lai and those thugs could commit such heinous acts.
Killing people for spirit stones, and then even demanding compensation.
Her brows rose, and she said angrily:
“Leave the rest to me. I’ll first take Wang Lai to the Dao Prison, interrogate him for accomplices, and then round them all up!”
“Are you sure the Dao Court Division in Nanyue City will be okay with this?” Mo Hua asked.
Unlike in Tongxian City, the Dao Court Division in Nanyue City was murky, and the officials in charge were not necessarily good people.
Situ Fang frowned, thought for a moment, and sighed:
“I’ll be careful and follow all the regulations. The people in charge shouldn’t have anything to say.”
Mo Hua nodded. “Mm, take care, Sister Situ.”
“Don’t worry.”
She nodded, then glanced at the three of them, saying with some emotion:
“We really owe you this time.”
Mo Hua waved his hand. “It was nothing, just a small effort.”
Situ Fang patted Mo Hua’s shoulder. “I’ll treat you to a meal another day.”
Then she escorted Wang Lai away.
Old Yu and the other two also expressed their heartfelt thanks to Mo Hua.
“Thank you, three young lords, thank you!”
“Thanks, benefactors!”
Mo Hua said, “No need to thank me. Go home early and rest your wounds.”
After performing another bow of gratitude, they felt lucky to have survived and went home with a sense of relief.
They had almost died in the mine.
They had almost been separated from their families forever…
After Old Yu and the others left, Bai Zisheng asked Mo Hua:
“What do we do next?”
Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, “I’m going back to the mine.”
Bai Zisheng was shocked. “Are you crazy? Going back there is suicide!”
Mo Hua pointed toward the sky.
The sun was high.
Bai Zisheng then realized it was daytime.
Even if the mine was “haunted,” that only happened at midnight.
“What are you going to do in the mine now?” Bai Zisheng asked.
Mo Hua’s gaze deepened. “I want to see what became of those hooligans’ corpses…”
Bai Zisheng’s expression turned serious. “Then we’ll go together.”
Mo Hua shook his head. “No need, I can go alone. You don’t know concealment techniques. Even though your cloaks have concealment arrays, they aren’t complete. They work at night, but during the day, they leave faint traces that can be noticed.”
Bai Zisheng shrugged. “If we get discovered, so what? It’s not a big deal…”
No one in the mine could stop him.
Mo Hua said, “This mine belongs to the Lu family. During the day, there might be Foundation Establishment cultivators present. If we’re discovered, even if we escape, we’d alert them and expose our whereabouts.”
“If the Lu family becomes cautious, it will be inconvenient for our next investigation.”
Bai Zisheng asked, “But if you go alone, what if you encounter a Foundation Establishment cultivator? Isn’t that dangerous too?”
Mo Hua shook his head. “The Lu family cultivators won’t find me.”
He had concealment techniques, concealment arrays, and the Foundation Establishment’s Twelve-Pattern Divine Sense—there was no way the Lu family cultivators could detect him.
“Oh, right.”
Bai Zisheng nodded but still looked worried.
Bai Zixi said, “You go in alone; we’ll wait outside to assist.”
Mo Hua wanted to protest, but Bai Zixi gave him a faint look and said softly, “I’m your senior sister.”
Mo Hua had no choice but to agree.
After a short rest, they set off again, returning to the Lu family mine.
By now, the day was fully bright, and the morning glow filled the sky.
The mine was already operating.
Miners arrived one after another, enduring the heat, swinging their pickaxes to extract ore.
The mine was noisy and bustling again, with none of the night’s eerie silence.
Mo Hua concealed himself and confidently walked into the mine.
Indeed, a Lu family elder, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, sat in the shade drinking tea, watching the miners toil.
A pretty maid fanned him.
Mo Hua passed by casually.
The elder noticed nothing, his eyes darting shamelessly over the maid’s figure.
Mo Hua shook his head at such disgraceful behavior.
He walked through the crowd and entered the mine, going deep to the spot where Wang Lai had attempted murder the night before.
The area was empty.
No miners were there, and no traces of anyone remained.
The hooligans Mo Hua had left here the night before had also disappeared.
No miners came because this was deep in the mine—remote, quiet, and with no ore to dig.
But what about those hooligans? Dead? No bones left?
They had done many evil deeds; if they were dead, with no trace, it didn’t matter.
Yet Mo Hua wanted to know exactly how they had died…
He expanded his Divine Sense, perceiving everything in the ghostly white vision.
The stone walls were cold, a faint black-gray.
Blood energy lingered, faint and weak, left from the night before, almost dissipated.
Among the blood energy, some mixed with black death energy, winding along the ground and tracing the walls further in.
Mo Hua quietly opened his eyes, locking his Divine Sense onto the blood energy, following it along the wall bit by bit.
After a while, the blood trail ended.
Ahead was a stone wall.
A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed a formation drawn on the wall.
Behind it was certainly a Lu family-excavated tunnel.
Mo Hua’s gaze tightened.
“Judging from the traces… these hooligans were dragged all the way into the tunnel by something…”
What happened inside the tunnel, Mo Hua did not know.
Most likely, the hooligans, like the five missing miners, had been eaten by something…
Mo Hua hesitated, wanting to dispel the formation and enter the tunnel.
But as soon as he started, he stopped.
He moved his Divine Sense, calculated for a moment, and slowly retracted his hand.
“Someone… reinforced the formation…”
Not only was the wall sturdier, but layers of warning formations had been added inside.
Mo Hua could dispel them, but he wasn’t sure if doing so would trigger something and alert the Lu family cultivators.
Or perhaps the Lu family deliberately drew the formations to lure him?
After weighing it, Mo Hua decided it was too risky.
If he were trapped in the mine, it would be bad.
He sighed and turned to leave, a layer of doubt hanging over him.
Why did the Lu family build these tunnels in the mine?
What secrets were hidden inside…
As he left, he eavesdropped on nearby miners.
But he heard nothing useful.
The miners hadn’t discovered the missing hooligans either.
Those hooligans, like the five miners, had simply vanished into the mine…
…
After leaving the mine, Mo Hua reunited with Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi.
“Did you find anything?” Bai Zixi asked.
Mo Hua told them about the hooligans.
Bai Zisheng snorted. “Serves them right!”
Then he wondered aloud, “The Lu family… could they be doing something shady?”
Mo Hua shook his head. “Not clear yet.”
“If not the Lu family, then someone else?”
“That Wang Lai mentioned a gray-clothed cultivator, right?”
Mo Hua nodded. “At this point, we can only start with that gray-clothed cultivator.”
The three of them walked back.
Mo Hua’s expression was still somewhat gloomy.
Bai Zixi asked, “What’s wrong?”
Mo Hua sighed. “I’m worried about Instructor Yan…”
“Situ Sister said that once Instructor Yan entered the mine, he disappeared. No one has seen him since…”
“I’m worried he might have been harmed by Wang Lai and the others…”
Bai Zisheng nodded involuntarily. “It’s possible…”
Mo Hua frowned even more.
Bai Zixi softly reassured him, “Good people have heaven’s favor. Instructor Yan may not have been harmed.”
Bai Zisheng realized his earlier words were inappropriate and scratched his head awkwardly:
“I was just guessing. Instructor Yan might have found other clues and left Nanyue City to investigate on his own.”
Mo Hua knew his senior siblings were trying to comfort him. Though it didn’t make much logical sense, he felt a bit better.
“Let’s hope Instructor Yan is safe…” he thought silently.
Seeing Mo Hua still unhappy, Bai Zisheng changed the topic:
“Are we going to investigate that gray-clothed cultivator?”
Mo Hua nodded. “Yes.”
No trade, no murder.
It was the gray-clothed cultivator who wanted to buy corpses, which is why he incited Wang Lai and the others to kill miners.
The source lies with that gray-clothed cultivator.
Even if Wang Lai were eliminated, there would still be Zhao Lai, Qian Lai, Li Lai…
As long as the gray-clothed cultivator remained, other cultivators would kill miners for spirit stones.
Evil must be eradicated, the root removed.
Bai Zisheng nodded repeatedly.
Then he raised a question: “Wang Lai said he met that gray-clothed cultivator at a brothel, so…”
Bai Zisheng’s expression turned serious:
“Do we go to the brothel?”
This question even stumped Mo Hua.
(End of this Chapter)