Chapter 431: Zhang Quan

Mo Hua felt that this matter was full of uncertainties. He thought it over again and again but couldn’t come up with any clear leads.

It would be easier once they caught the gray-clothed cultivator.

Then everything would have a breakthrough.

After the battle at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, Mo Hua had roughly figured out the gray-clothed cultivator’s trump cards.

Attacking him later would be much easier.

On the way back, Mo Hua pondered his thoughts and then sighed.

These past few days, he had been cultivating as usual, and his cultivation level had increased steadily.

But the growth of his Divine-Sense had stalled at twelve patterns, unable to advance further.

One reason was that there were no twelve-pattern formations for him to study, so the growth of his Divine-Sense was slow. The second was the Dao Monument.

Since Mo Hua had used the Dao Monument to comprehend the Dao essence, it had become overloaded and still hadn’t fully recovered.

Mo Hua’s daily formation practice had greatly decreased, and the growth of his Divine-Sense was minimal.

At this pace, even at the Foundation Establishment stage, his Divine-Sense might not break through thirteen patterns.

The Dao Monument recovered slowly, and top-grade twelve-pattern formations were even harder to find.

After searching for so long, Mo Hua had still found nothing.

At present, the only lead seemed to be finding Instructor Yan.

But where exactly was Instructor Yan?

Mo Hua sighed again.

Bai Zisheng, a little surprised, asked, “Mo Hua, are you troubled?”

Mo Hua nodded. “The growth of my Divine-Sense is too slow…”

Without finding Instructor Yan, he couldn’t find the Absolute Formation. Without the Absolute Formation, he couldn’t refine his Divine-Sense. Without refining his Divine-Sense, he couldn’t follow Mister Zhuang’s instructions to prove the Dao through Divine-Sense.

To cultivate supreme Divine-Sense, master formations, and reach the pinnacle of the Dao.

Mo Hua’s current Divine-Sense was still far from the standard given by Mister Zhuang.

“How many patterns does your Divine-Sense have now?”

Bai Zisheng asked curiously.

He only knew that Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense was strong, at a Foundation Establishment level, but had never asked precisely how strong it was.

The Absolute Formations Mo Hua studied were beyond his capability to learn.

Mo Hua muttered, “Only twelve patterns…”

Bai Zisheng was slightly stunned. “How many?”

“Twelve…”

Bai Zisheng fell silent.

Only twelve patterns… that was nearly the limit of Divine-Sense for early Foundation Establishment.

Ordinarily, a Formation Master at the Foundation Establishment stage with ten patterns of Divine-Sense could begin learning second-grade formations. Most second-grade formation masters started with eleven or twelve patterns.

This was the first time Bai Zisheng had heard of a Qi-Refining cultivator with twelve-pattern Divine-Sense.

And Mo Hua didn’t look pleased either, showing reluctance and dissatisfaction.

Getting a bonus and still acting coy!

Bai Zisheng, annoyed, couldn’t help scratching Mo Hua’s head.

Even Bai Zixi on the side couldn’t resist and scratched Mo Hua’s hair along with him.

Mo Hua was helpless. But being the junior disciple, he didn’t argue with his senior brother and sister.

When they returned to the cave dwelling, Mo Hua took out a South-Pointing Mother Formation compass.

On this compass was drawn a South-Pointing Mother Formation.

The corresponding South-Pointing Child Formations were engraved by Mo Hua with fine precision onto iron needles.

He had given these needles to Bai Zisheng in advance so that during a confrontation with the gray-clothed cultivator, they could be secretly embedded in the cultivator’s clothes or on his body.

Using the Mother Formation as a reference, Mo Hua could then track the child formations’ positions and trace the gray-clothed cultivator’s whereabouts.

This gray-clothed cultivator had hired assassins to kill miners and had bought their corpses—what he was up to was unknown.

But it was certainly not good.

The pills he had taken during the fight, which could transform corpses and greatly increase his strength, were probably made from human bodies.

In the past decades, countless miners had lost their lives because of this.

Countless miner families had been torn apart.

Miners already lived hard lives, struggling to survive, yet these twisted paths threatened them, leaving no whole corpses behind.

Mo Hua’s expression hardened.

This gray-clothed cultivator had to be eliminated!

Before doing so, however, Mo Hua wanted to find out whether he knew anything about Instructor Yan’s whereabouts.

Instructor Yan had gone missing in the mines.

The worst-case scenario was that he had been killed by Wang Lai and others, and his body sold to the gray-clothed cultivator.

Another possibility was that Instructor Yan had discovered something and traced it…

In that case, he might have had some connection to the gray-clothed cultivator.

In any case, Mo Hua had to confirm it.

Yet the compass of the South-Pointing Mother Formation showed no lights, meaning there was no trace of the gray-clothed cultivator.

“Something’s wrong?”

Bai Zisheng frowned.

Mo Hua checked the formation and shook his head. “It’s not broken.”

“Then… did he discover your child needles?”

“Even if he discovered them, if the needles were discarded or damaged, the compass would still react somewhat.”

Bai Zixi thought for a moment and said slowly, “Could it be his escape technique?”

Mo Hua was startled, then understood.

The gray-clothed cultivator could use underground escape techniques, concealing the formation’s aura and disrupting the connection between the Mother and Child formations.

If the Mother Formation didn’t show anything, either he was still in the tunnel or he had used escape techniques somewhere underground.

Mo Hua said, “Let’s wait.”

As a hunter, patience was essential. This was a lesson from his father, Mo Shan.

Two days later, Situ Fang came, informing Mo Hua that the Dao Court Division had identified the gray-clothed cultivator.

“This person is named Zhang Quan, a cultivator from Nanyue City. His family has run a coffin business for generations…”

“Coffin business?” Mo Hua was slightly surprised.

“Yes, coffins.”

“Oh,” Mo Hua understood.

The coffin business matched the gray-clothed cultivator’s demeanor and actions.

Situ Fang continued, “Thirty years ago, Zhang Quan’s parents died, and he ran the coffin shop alone…”

“Zhang Quan’s aura is somewhat gloomy. He doesn’t socialize with neighboring cultivators, but since he deals with the dead, people didn’t think much of it.”

“Zhang Quan occasionally gambles and frequently visits brothels…”

“I asked several female cultivators from the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. They said Zhang Quan often stayed at the brothel, rarely showing his true face.”

“Even cultivators who knew Zhang Quan didn’t realize he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

Mo Hua asked, “Has anyone been to Zhang Quan’s residence?”

Situ Fang nodded, “Yes. The shop was closed. We broke in and found all the coffins burned, and other items destroyed.”

“It’s unknown whether he did it himself or had accomplices to destroy evidence.”

“The question now is, what is he buying corpses for?”

“Were the pills he took made from corpses?”

“If so, where were they refined? Where is the alchemy furnace? How was the formula obtained? Where were the herbs for the evil pills sourced?”

“Did he refine them himself, or did someone help?”

“Besides this, does he have other secret motives…”

After finishing, Situ Fang sighed, “The Dao Court Division has issued a wanted notice. If he’s caught, all these matters should be clarified.”

She glanced at Mo Hua, still concerned.

“Be careful these days. That day at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, he tried everything to kill you. Now that he’s hiding, he might target you…”

Mo Hua nodded. “I’m aware of the situation.”

Situ Fang was still uneasy.

Mo Hua said, “Don’t worry. I’m with my senior brother and sister; they will protect me.”

Only then did Situ Fang relax. They chatted briefly, drank some tea, and left.

Mo Hua’s gaze darkened slightly.

With his strong Divine-Sense and concealment techniques, Zhang Quan could not find him.

Now, it wasn’t Zhang Quan hunting Mo Hua—it was Mo Hua hunting him.

The young Mo Hua was the hunter; the Foundation Establishment Zhang Quan was the prey.

In the following days, whenever he had free time, Mo Hua would check the South-Pointing compass for any movement.

On the afternoon of the third day, the compass finally lit up.

Two lights shone together, while another was dim.

It seemed Zhang Quan had discovered one needle and broken it, discarding it.

The other two remained undetected, likely still on him.

Mo Hua’s spirit lifted.

Finally, a clue…

He took out a map of Nanyue City and found the lights corresponded to a remote abandoned mine outside the city.

There were many mines outside Nanyue City.

Some belonged to the Lu family, some to the Nanyue Sect, some to the Dao Court Division, and others to various families, sects, or private owners.

Some mines were being exploited, some were unused, and some had been exhausted and abandoned.

Zhang Quan was hiding in one of the abandoned mines.

Mo Hua and the others, cloaked and concealed, left Nanyue City and arrived at Zhang Quan’s hideout.

It was a small, filthy, and messy mine.

Being abandoned, it had no sign of life.

Instead, the space between mines was filled with stale, dead air.

Mo Hua scanned with his Divine-Sense, his gaze turning cold.

This mine carried many sinister auras.

The miner corpses Zhang Quan had purchased were likely hidden here.