The Quest for Immortality

Cheng Mo and the others were very puzzled, ”Junior Brother, what do you need these things for?”

Mo Hua replied seriously, ”This matter is related to the top-secret affairs of the Taoist Court, so I cannot tell you yet, and without acquiring these items to research, I’m not very certain...”

Taoist Court’s top secret!

A chill ran through the hearts of the disciples.

As expected of Junior Brother, he even knows about the Taoist Court’s top secrets.

”But,” a disciple asked doubtfully, ”encrypted letters are still good, but blank jade slips, letter tokens with messages erased... Aren’t these useless?”

”It’s fine, I have my methods,” Mo Hua said calmly.

”Oh, okay.”

The disciples nodded somewhat blankly.

The Yuan Magnetic Formation method is considered an alternative branch of the Eight Trigrams Thunder Formation, but it stands apart from the orthodox and universally taught Five Elements Eight Trigrams Formation method.

The Taixu Gate does not teach it, and these disciples, typically, have very limited exposure to it and know very little about it.

After thinking for a while, Mo Hua added, ”If clues are found, we can offer a reward through the Taoist Court and everybody can join in and make some merit points.”

Offer rewards through the Taoist Court!

Everyone was shocked.

Cheng Mo was still fine, he knew that Mo Hua had some connections with the Taoist Court.

Beyond their shock, the other disciples were pleasantly surprised, and when they looked at Mo Hua again, their eyes held a different light, even a touch of respect.

Having the backing of a noble family, seeking help from family elders to do something with the Taoist Court isn’t much.

But within the Sect, being able to get the Taoist Court to issue a reward on one’s own means something entirely different.

Moreover, good rewards are highly valuable and must be competed for.

Not only must they compete with fellow disciples, but also with those in higher years.

Often times, the least experienced disciples like them can only take on simple tasks or those left over by others.

Naturally, the merit points earned are also very modest.

”Don’t worry, Junior Brother, we’ve got this!”

The group of disciples promised one after another.

Thus, in the following period, fellow disciples approached Mo Hua every now and then, offering up ”treasures”:

”Junior Brother, Junior Brother, I used the method you taught, caught a thief who is very good in water, found a demon bone on him that looks like a water demon’s bone, can you have a look and see if there’s any trickery...”

”Junior Brother, your Eight Trigrams Mountain Stone Armor really works well. Those evil cultivators who practiced demon techniques and were extremely strong couldn’t hurt us with their punches and kicks at all. These are some jade slips found on them, the Taoist Court checked them but discovered nothing, can you take a look...”

”Junior Brother, I found a broken sword, not sure if it’s of any use...”

”I caught a rapist and got a jade slip, please take a look, Junior Brother...”

...

In less than half a month, Mo Hua had collected a pile of stuff.

All sorts of things.

Some of them are indeed Evil Artifacts used by demon cultivators, but after the demon cultivators are caught, most of their storage bags are confiscated by the Taoist Court.

Anything with an obvious Demonic Qi cannot be brought into the Taixu Gate.

So what Mo Hua got were just bits and pieces, marginal artifacts.

These artifacts were of no significant use.

However, through Calculation, Mo Hua could vaguely perceive that these artifacts carried blood-colored karmic ties attached to them.

It seemed that recently there was a cruel demon cultivator using these evil artifacts, cold-bloodedly slaughtering cultivators.

Also, there were some sheep horns.

But they were truly just ordinary sheep demon horns, and had nothing to do with the Great Wilderness Evil God.

There were no Sect tokens either...

In Mo Hua’s estimation, since these demon cultivators could gather together, it was definitely not spontaneous; at the very least, there was a small organization, or possibly a branch of a Demon Sect.

If so, there would likely be Demon Sect Tokens.

Demon Sect Tokens, in principle, should be similar to Taixu Gate’s or other Sect Tokens, built on the foundation of the Yuan Magnetic Formation and expanded in function.

The basic ones would have communication functionality.

If more high-end, there would be something akin to the ”Merit Pavilion” in Taixu Gate which holds many of the Sect’s treasures...

If he could get one of these tokens, there would be a lot more ”research” to be done.

Mo Hua was very eager in his heart.

It’s just that such Sect Tokens had not been found yet.

Instead, Mo Hua obtained a Letter Token.

A few days later, Yang Qianjun handed a Letter Token to Mo Hua and said:

”Cheng Mo and the others were doing a task in a Second Grade Little Immortal City called Qingping City near the Qianxue State Boundary. After the task was completed and we were on our way back, we saw a cultivator sneaking around, clearly not resembling one from Qingping City, so we casually asked him a few questions.”

”The cultivator’s answers were watertight, but his eyes occasionally dodged, as if he was hiding something.”

”I found it strange, so pretended to leave but actually returned and secretly followed him, and discovered that this cultivator was using a human skin as a mask to disguise himself, with unknown motives.”

”Cheng Mo and a few of us joined forces to subdue him and sent him to the Taoist Court. Everything else was confiscated by the Taoist Court, but this Letter Token had everything wiped from it, so I brought it back for you...”

Mo Hua took the Letter Token and examined it for a moment.

This was a light green Letter Token, soaked with the scent of medicinal Pills and blood.

Divine Sense probed into the Letter Token, and indeed, it was blank inside, everything had been erased.

At first glance, it certainly appeared so.

But with a contemplative look in his eyes, Mo Hua’s profound gaze swept over it, and he could see beneath the appearance of blankness were chaotic Unfixed Magnetic Patterns, regular Fixed Magnetic Patterns, and the subtle and indestructible Secondary Thunder Patterns.

Traces remain after the rain; echoes linger after the geese have flown.

Beneath all appearances, there are traces, it’s just that some people can’t see them.