The Quest for Immortality

”Borrowing help?”

”Mm-hmm.” Mo Hua nodded.

”What do you need people for?”

”I have some business that requires assistance. Six layers of Qi cultivation will suffice—no, four will do,” Mo Hua stated.

Yu Chengyi wanted to ask what Mo Hua needed them for, but knowing Mo Hua was an array master, and that it would be related to array formations—which he knew little about—he realized it would be futile to inquire.

His father, Elder Yu, had instructed him to take care of Mo Hua. If he failed to do so and his father learned of it, he would face severe consequences.

His father always showed a warm face to Mo Hua but not to him.

Yu Chengyi tensed up inside and promptly said, ”It’s a trivial matter, no problem.”

Mo Hua thought he would have to spend more words persuading him, but Yu Chengyi agreed so readily, making him happy:

”Thank you, Uncle Yu!”

Yu Chengyi selected a few cultivators at the sixth level of Qi cultivation from behind him and ordered them to follow Mo Hua and ensure his safety, ready to assist him with anything he needed.

Still worried, he also spoke to an older demon hunter:

”Old Zhao, you follow too, just to keep an eye on things.”

Old Zhao looked surprised but nodded and said, ”Alright.”

”Uncle Yu, that’s enough, we don’t need so many people,” Mo Hua quickly interjected.

The demon hunter known as ’Old Zhao,’ who had a robust aura, was probably at the later stages of Qi cultivation, plus the five at the mid-stage, made them quite a sizable group.

He only intended to hunt a mid-stage first-grade demonic beast, not needing so many people.

Yu Chengyi waved his hand dismissively, ”It’s fine, let them follow; it gives me peace of mind.”

Better to have more people than necessary, in case anything unexpected happened. Mo Hua was still a junior array master, and if anything went wrong, his father would surely skin him alive!

This was Dahei Mountain, after all, a place teeming with demonic beasts and not to be underestimated.

If he could, he would have gone along too.

”Are you sure you have enough people left, Uncle Yu?” Mo Hua asked, somewhat concerned.

Yu Chengyi’s heart warmed, and he patted Mo Hua on the shoulder, saying:

”It’s okay, the ones left are all experienced; you can be at ease.”

Mo Hua nodded, then said, ”Then we’ll be going first, goodbye, Uncle Yu!”

”Go on.” Yu Chengyi said, and after thinking a bit more, he added:

”Wrap up your affairs quickly and don’t linger in the mountains. Dahei Mountain is dangerous.”

Mo Hua then led several demon hunters through the mountain.

”Brother Mo, what are we doing exactly?”

A young demon hunter quietly asked.

Mo Hua turned around, surprised: ”Da Ping?”

Da Ping, surname Zhou, his father Zhou Cheng had once requested Mo Hua to set up an Iron Armor Array and had even personally thanked him.

Mo Hua had only met Da Ping once, thus he didn’t recognize him in the crowd until Zhou Da Ping spoke, and his familiar voice jogged his memory.

Zhou Da Ping was somewhat introverted and shyly said: ”Brother Mo, you remember me?”

”Mm-hmm.” Mo Hua replied, ”I’m taking you to hunt demonic beasts.”

Zhou Da Ping was stunned, and the other demon hunters exchanged glances.

Old Zhao was also inwardly shocked.

Such a bold young lad!

With just a few mid-stage Qi cultivators, whether they could come back intact from hunting demonic beasts was uncertain...

No wonder Yu Chengyi had him keep an eye on them.

Zhou Da Ping hesitated: ”Brother Mo, we... can’t kill demonic beasts.”

After speaking, he timidly asked, ”What rank of demonic beast?”

If it was an early first-grade, it might be manageable.

”Um, mid first-grade, but we can’t take on a later-stage one.”

Zhou Da Ping felt a sinking feeling; they couldn’t even handle a mid-stage, let alone a later-stage...

”Don’t worry.” Mo Hua patted his chest, ”I’ve planned everything, just leave it to me!”

Zhou Da Ping wanted to say more, but didn’t know what else to say, and could only follow Mo Hua reluctantly.

Old Zhao was now on high alert.

These kids didn’t know the gravity of the situation, but having spent many years on Dahei Mountain, he knew that even a mid-stage first-grade demonic beast was not to be trifilled with.

Yu Chengyi had asked him to keep an eye on them, and he couldn’t afford to fail.

”Hopefully, nothing goes wrong...”

Old Zhao could only pray silently.

Mo Hua led them along the mountain path and then stopped at the edge of a forest and cliff, a junction of two paths where the terrain was narrow—a bottleneck for beasts entering or exiting the forest.

With deep wild grass and rocky obstructions nearby, it provided good cover.

Mo Hua set the trap, laid down an array, erased their tracks, and covered their scent with Blood Grass. Then, they hid behind the rocks.

”We’ll wait here, and when the demonic beast arrives and triggers the trap, I’ll activate the array, and then... no, then you’ll take action,” Mo Hua instructed.

He wouldn’t be adding to the trouble.

Zhou Da Ping and the others nodded, while Old Zhao raised an eyebrow.

He had heard that Mo Shan’s young son was quite adept at drawing arrays.

But this was a demonic beast—thick-skinned and tough-fleshed. Could an array really be effective?

Old Zhao’s brow furrowed again.

Zhou Da Ping was uneasy, ”Brother Mo, are you sure this will work?”

Mo Hua reassured him, ”Don’t worry, I’ve tested it, it’ll work.”

Zhou Da Ping nodded, still a bit uneasy, gripping his knife tightly.

The other demon hunters, all young as well, were also tense, barely daring to breathe.

The wait was agonizing, their expressions serious.

Only Mo Hua appeared relaxed, even bored, and began idly drawing array patterns with a grass stalk on the ground.

After some time, Da Ping gently nudged Mo Hua, ”Brother Mo... it’s coming.”

His voice trembled slightly from nervousness.

Mo Hua instantly perked up, threw aside the grass stalk, and peeked out, indeed seeing a goat-like demonic beast emerge from the forest.

Its eyes were blood-red, its mouth covered in fresh blood, seemingly just having torn apart its prey.

But perhaps because it was too full, its vigilance was low.

As it slowly walked into the trap and was caught by the Wood Binding Array, Mo Hua threw a fireball from afar, igniting the Earth Fire Array.

An explosion sounded, flames swirled, spiritual energy overflowed, and the surrounding rocks shattered.

Zhou Da Ping and the others were dumbstruck.

Mo Hua shouted, ”Go for it!”

They finally snapped back to reality, and without hesitation, drew swords and threw punches, rushing at the demonic beast.

Before long, the beast lay on the ground.

Mo Hua popped his head out from a distance and asked, ”Is it dead?”

Seeing the beast already lying on the ground after a few exchanges, Zhou Da Ping was stunned for a long moment before slowly saying:

”It’s... it’s dead.”

Mo Hua then rushed forward, using the Blood Drawing Technique to extract the demonic blood.

The bright red demonic blood, guided by Mo Hua’s spiritual sense, flowed into a bottle.

”Brother Mo, this is for...”

Zhou Da Ping couldn’t help but ask.

”Drawing arrays,” Mo Hua replied while collecting blood.

”Oh,” Zhou Da Ping said no more.

After Mo Hua finished collecting blood, seeing Zhou Da Ping and the others still standing there foolishly, he asked:

”Aren’t you going to skin it?”

”Eh?”

”It’s a demonic beast, skin it, debone it, sell it.”

They then snapped back to reality, busily processing the beast and putting it in storage bags.

Mo Hua calculated the costs for them, how many spirit stones the array used, how many to activate the array. After selling the beast and deducting these costs, the spirit stones would be split among everyone.

Da Ping hurriedly shook his head, ”No way, this is all your doing, how can we take the spirit stones?”

The others also declined.

”You helped, you deserve this!”

”But...”

Mo Hua wouldn’t let them refuse, waved goodbye, ”I’m heading back now, next time I need help, I’ll call you.” Saying this, he happily went home.

Da Ping and the others stood there, exchanging glances, their expressions somewhat complex.

The demonic beast sold for seven or eight spirit stones each.

They had never earned so many spirit stones before...