The Quest for Immortality

Gu Changhuai and Xia Canonical Official were busy handling the aftermath.

The surroundings were empty; besides the bodies of the water bandits scattered around haphazardly, only Mo Hua was left.

Feeling a bit bored, he jumped back onto the high platform, sat on its edge, and gazed at the distant scenery.

An hour later, it was 6 A.M.

The east had brightened, the sun gradually rose, driving away the water mist on the island, and the radiant morning sun shone on the bodies of the water bandits littering the ground.

Mo Hua sat on the high platform, silently watching the sun rise.

But the water bandits beneath his feet would never see it again.

...

Another two hours passed, and the Taoist Court had finished handling the aftermath.

It was quicker than Xia Canonical Official had expected.

Because Mo Hua had already searched the island, all they had to do was count the heads, tally the loot, and bring everything back to the Taoist Court.

Mo Hua’s thorough search had saved them a lot of effort.

Xia Canonical Official sighed in his heart.

After tallying everything, they assembled their manpower.

Some water bandits who weren’t dead were knocked unconscious, chained up, and taken back to the Taoist Court as well.

Then everyone boarded the Spirit Boat and headed back home.

On their way there, it was night, the river water was chilly, and the surroundings were dim and oppressive.

On their way back, it was already morning, the sunlight was clear, scattering on the river’s surface, sparkling brightly.

Everyone felt slightly more at ease in their hearts.

Only Xiao Tianquan was expressionless, lost in thought.

After traveling for another hour, the Spirit Boat docked, and everyone stepped onto the ground, feeling much more secure.

Upon returning, they would handle the treatment for the injured and compensation for the casualties, and the matter of the water bandits would be temporarily concluded.

Fighting always involves casualties and injuries.

The cultivators who worked in the Taoist Court for years understood this well.

Though Mo Hua felt regret, he had done everything he could.

Otherwise, breaking the Eight Gates Eight Trigrams Array on the island with the water bandits and the tough battle under their formation would have resulted in even more severe casualties for the Taoist Court.

Compared to the results of eliminating the bandits, the casualties this time were already considered very small.

Afterwards, there wasn’t much for Mo Hua to do.

He planned to return to the Sect to study the good things he had just acquired, but at that moment, he heard a voice by his ear saying:

”Xia Canonical Official, should we examine the Storage Bags?”

Everyone was stunned by this statement.

Xia Canonical Official was also a bit puzzled.

Gu Changhuai’s gaze was somewhat cold as he looked at the speaker.

The speaker was none other than Xiao Tianquan.

Xia Canonical Official said calmly, ”Weren’t they already checked?”

According to the Taoist Court’s rules, all the cultivators of the Taoist Court are not allowed to carry their own Storage Bags during missions.

For special missions, the Taoist Court provides standardized Storage Bags for the Supervisors and Enforcement Leaders to store their Spiritual Artifacts and some Spirit Stones and Pills specifically supplied by the Taoist Court.

After the mission is completed, the Storage Bags are collected and verified one by one.

This is to ensure that the cultivators within the Taoist Court do not secretly stash ”spoils” and pocket them during missions.

Although this rule can’t completely eliminate ”private hoarding,” it can prevent about eighty to ninety percent of it.

And that’s enough.

No rule can be a hundred percent effective, but preventing the majority of corruption is considered quite effective.

Previously on the island, Xia Canonical Official had, of course, followed the procedures and checked all the cultivators’ Storage Bags.

”Yes, checked, but not all...” Xiao Tianquan said, then silently glanced at Mo Hua, ”This little brother’s Storage Bag wasn’t checked.”

He wore a serious expression, adhering to a ”business is business” attitude.

Xia Canonical Official couldn’t help but frown.

Gu Changhuai’s expression was indifferent, ”He’s not part of our Taoist Court.”

Xiao Tianquan said solemnly, ”Even though he’s not from the Taoist Court, since he’s working with the Taoist Court, he should follow the Taoist Court’s rules...”

Xiao Tianquan looked at Gu Changhuai with eyes full of keen light, ”Could it be that Supervisor Gu is trying to protect this little brother?”

Gu Changhuai’s eyelids twitched slightly, and his gaze grew even colder.

The atmosphere turned somewhat stiff for a moment.

Xia Canonical Official turned her head, glanced at Mo Hua, and looked troubled.

Logically speaking, it should be checked.

But Mo Hua’s situation was special; if no one had mentioned it, no one would have been so tactless as to think of checking a little cultivator’s Storage Bag.

But now that Xiao Tianquan had brought it up, it had to be rigorously addressed.

Otherwise, as Xia family’s Canonical Official, it would be hard for her to command respect.

The Xia family was full of geniuses, and the pressure of competition among the disciples was immense.

She could command everyone, but behind her back, tongues would undoubtedly wag and gossip.

Just, if they were really to examine Mo Hua...

Xia Canonical Official glanced at Mo Hua, her eyes probing.

Mo Hua touched his right thumb, where the Storage Ring that was connected to his flesh and unseen by others was, nodded and said:

”Everyone else’s was checked, I shouldn’t be an exception.”

He was straightforward, handing the Storage Bag over to Xia Canonical Official.

Xia Canonical Official looked at Mo Hua with some surprise, then sent her Divine Sense into the Storage Bag and took everything out inside.

There were some Spirit Stones, but not many.

There were some backup Pills with the Taixu Gate’s Sect imprint, some with the Gu family’s mark.

These Pills were gifts from Elder Murong and Wenren Wan to Mo Hua.

In addition, there were some Spirit Swords, Spiritual Artifacts, formation coals, etc.

But all of them appeared to be legally obtained, without a single piece of water bandit ”loot.”

The only unusual thing was the Formation Diagrams.

A large pile of Formation Diagrams, densely packed, layered on top of each other.

Moreover, the composition of these Formation Diagrams was extremely complex.