The Quest for Immortality

Mo Hua revealed himself and asked in surprise, ”When did you see me?”

Elder Yu smiled faintly, ”Of course, from the moment you entered.”

Mo Hua’s face showed a bit of discouragement; it seemed he couldn’t hide from a Foundation Building cultivator after all.

”Was it through your spiritual sense?” Mo Hua asked again.

Elder Yu shook his head slightly, ”No, I heard you.”

”Heard me?” Mo Hua was stunned.

”That’s right,” Elder Yu said. ”I’ve been a demon hunter for many years, spending most of my time in the mountains hunting demonic beasts. I can detect even the slightest disturbance.”

”Moreover, this is my home. I often sit in the living room drinking tea. When the room is empty and suddenly there’s another presence, how could I not notice?” Elder Yu explained kindly, looking at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua nodded, acknowledging the reasonableness of Elder Yu’s explanation. After thinking for a moment, his eyes lit up.

”So, if the environment were more chaotic and I remained still and silent, would you be able to detect me?”

”Hmm...” Elder Yu stroked his beard, somewhat hesitant.

Saying he couldn’t detect would hurt his pride as a Foundation Building elder. But claiming he could, he wasn’t entirely sure.

When Mo Hua entered the room earlier, he hadn’t noticed at first. It wasn’t until he heard Mo Hua’s light footsteps that he pinpointed the location and used his spiritual sense to confirm a faint human figure, realizing it was a small cultivator using concealment techniques.

The presence was very familiar. And among those who could use concealment techniques, were young, and dared to play in his living room, only Mo Hua fit the bill.

Elder Yu had pretended not to see him, teasing Mo Hua for a bit. But now, in retrospect, if not for the sound and his deliberate spiritual sweep, he might not have detected Mo Hua.

Elder Yu frowned, thought for a moment, and finally admitted, ”In such a scenario, it’s hard to say.”

Mo Hua’s eyes brightened. ”Elder Yu, why don’t we test it?”

Elder Yu wanted to say he had other things to do, but seeing Mo Hua’s eager eyes, he couldn’t say it.

”Anyway, it’s nothing important. Consider it a break, playing with Mo Hua,” Elder Yu thought to himself, also curious about the effectiveness of Mo Hua’s concealment technique.

”Alright, let’s find a place to test if I can detect you,” Elder Yu nodded and smiled.

They went outside Tongxian City to a secluded mountain foot. The area was densely wooded with lush vegetation.

”I’ll hide in the forest first, and you can come find me,” Mo Hua said, then walked into the forest, hiding in the bushes behind a large tree. He then used his concealment technique, becoming invisible, remaining still and silent.

After counting to fifteen, Elder Yu entered the forest, releasing his spiritual sense, frowning. At first glance, he really couldn’t find Mo Hua’s figure.

Elder Yu had to calm down and search the bushes methodically. After a cup of tea’s time, he finally detected a faint figure in the bushes behind a large tree.

Elder Yu raised his eyebrows, feeling relieved. He had found him; otherwise, it would have been embarrassing.

Elder Yu coughed and looked at the bushes where Mo Hua was hiding, saying casually, ”Come out.”

Mo Hua revealed himself, not disappointed but rather expectant, asking Elder Yu, ”Elder, how was my concealment technique?”

Being found was expected; Mo Hua just wanted to test how effective his technique was against a Foundation Building cultivator.

”Not bad,” Elder Yu nodded approvingly. ”If you stay still and silent, an ordinary Foundation Building cultivator might not detect you without deliberately using their spiritual sense.”

Mo Hua was delighted.

”However,” Elder Yu reminded, ”the strength of a Foundation Building cultivator’s spiritual sense varies. Just because I couldn’t detect you doesn’t mean others can’t. You must still be cautious.”

”I understand, Elder,” Mo Hua said seriously.

Elder Yu nodded, feeling a bit sentimental. To be able to conceal to this extent was impressive. How strong was Mo Hua’s spiritual sense now? Could it be nearing the Foundation Building stage?

Elder Yu pondered, suddenly recalling something, and asked, ”How did you learn the concealment technique?”

He had been curious before but hadn’t had the chance to ask. If he remembered correctly, the concealment technique was typically only learnable by those with single water spiritual roots or very special yin spiritual roots.

Mo Hua had minor five-element spiritual roots with mixed water elements, making it unlikely he could learn the concealment technique.

Mo Hua smiled mysteriously, ”I drew an array.”

”Oh,” Elder Yu realized.

Mo Hua was an array master, naturally solving problems with arrays.

”Is this array rare?” Elder Yu asked.

In his experience, he hadn’t heard of any array master creating a concealment array, nor had he seen a concealment spiritual tool. He had only seen a few cultivators who could use concealment techniques, like Diao Laosan, but such cultivators were rare.

Mo Hua nodded, ”Yes, it’s very hard to learn.”

The concealment array, though a nine-pattern array, required special strokes, and the spiritual sense needed to draw it was almost nine and a half patterns.

Ordinary first-grade array masters didn’t have the necessary spiritual sense, making it rare.

Elder Yu nodded slightly.

If Mo Hua said it was hard to learn, it must indeed be difficult, which explained why he had never seen it.

Curious again, Elder Yu asked, ”With this array, is everything truly invisible?”

Mo Hua activated the concealment array alone, becoming invisible except for faint outlines of his hands and head.

Elder Yu was a bit disappointed, ”The array still has flaws; the concealment isn’t perfect.”

”Yes,” Mo Hua agreed. ”That’s why I learned a half-baked concealment technique and combined it with the flawed array to achieve invisibility.”

Using either method alone was ineffective, but together, they achieved invisibility.

”This is double concealment... well, one and a half,” Mo Hua said.

Elder Yu stroked his chin, pondering, ”Your combined method seems more effective than pure concealment techniques, especially at night.”

In the dark, even if someone saw through one layer of concealment, Mo Hua still had another layer, avoiding detection. Normal cultivators wouldn’t expect someone to have two layers of concealment.

Mo Hua smiled proudly.

Being praised by a Foundation Building elder for his concealment effectiveness made his efforts worthwhile.

As they chatted, it grew late. Elder Yu suddenly remembered, ”I forgot, I still have things to do.”

”Important things?”

”Not really,” Elder Yu smiled. ”It’s getting late; let’s head back.”

”Okay.”

Elder Yu escorted Mo Hua back. At the South Street junction, Elder Yu gave Mo Hua a few more instructions before heading to the artifact crafting shop.

Mo Hua walked home alone, in a good mood. Mastering the concealment technique gave him more options for ambush, escape, and stealth.

No one could see him anyway.

Mo Hua couldn’t help but laugh, humming a tune as he walked. Suddenly, he stopped, a shiver running through him.

Invisible...

Elder Yu’s earlier words echoed in his mind: ”With this array, is everything truly invisible...”

Array hidden... invisible...

In Mo Hua’s mind, the image of that cliff and the abyss below it suddenly surfaced.

”Could it be... hidden by a concealment array?”

Mo Hua’s pupils contracted as he muttered to himself.