The Quest for Immortality

Elder Ji led Mo Hua and found Manager Wang’s mistress.

This mistress was a woman in a green dress, eyes smoky and movements sultry. When Elder Ji mentioned Manager Wang, she curled her lip and said:

”That heartless bastard, don’t even bring him up.”

Elder Ji grew impatient. ”Where is he?”

The woman in green said, ”Gone. Years ago he gave me Flower Spirit Stones to keep me. Once the Flower Spirit Stones were used up and he went broke, he didn’t dare come see me again.”

Elder Ji gnashed his teeth in hatred. ”Did he ever tell you where he actually went?”

The woman in green sneered. ”How would I know what that stinking man’s up to?”

Elder Ji was at his wits’ end.

If Mo Hua weren’t here, he had ten thousand ways of dealing with women.

But with Mo Hua watching, he didn’t dare act too wantonly.

Mo Hua’s gaze swept once, taking in this woman’s whole household at a glance. Suddenly he caught sight of a Jade Pendant, and a thought stirred in his mind as he said:

”This Jade Pendant, is it Manager Wang’s?”

The woman in green’s face changed slightly, but under Mo Hua’s gaze, for some reason she didn’t quite dare lie. ”Y-yes, he gave it to me...”

Mo Hua hooked a finger; with his Divine Sense pulling, he used Object Manipulation across the air and had the Jade Pendant fall into his hand.

The woman in green’s eyes widened in shock. Only now did she realize that this youth standing behind the scarred-chest man, handsome to an absurd degree, was actually also a Foundation Establishment expert.

Mo Hua rubbed the Jade Pendant, his mind moving slightly. He took out twenty Spirit Stones and tossed them to the woman in green.

”I’m buying this Jade Pendant.”

The woman in green lit up at the sight of the Spirit Stones and hurriedly said, ”Thank you, young master.”

Mo Hua said to Elder Ji, ”Let’s go.”

Elder Ji had no choice but to leave with Mo Hua. When they reached the door, Elder Ji stopped and said to Mo Hua:

”Young Master Mo, how about you go on ahead? I’ll ’prepare’ this little lass properly, make sure she wishes she were dead, and then she’ll spill everything.”

Mo Hua’s gaze cooled slightly, a bit disgusted, but thinking that this was just what Elder Ji was like, he didn’t hold it against him. He merely shook his head and said:

”She doesn’t know anything.”

Elder Ji was puzzled. ”How do you know?”

Mo Hua said blandly, ”No one can lie in front of me...”

At least among Cultivators below Golden Core, no one yet had the ability to hide from the insight of his Divine Sense.

Elder Ji’s heart gave a jolt, his expression turning solemn. ”Then...”

Mo Hua rubbed the Jade Pendant in his hand and said calmly, ”We already have a lead.”

Elder Ji didn’t understand.

Mo Hua said, ”Follow me.” Then his gaze grew deep, white light of Heavenly secret Calculation flowing in his eyes. Through the surface of the present world, he peered at the white threads of karmic qi on the Jade Pendant, silently Calculating the flow of this qi.

Ever since he’d learned the Great Wilderness Demon Bone Divination Skill, Mo Hua’s understanding of karma had grown ever more thorough.

Along with that, his control over Heavenly secret Calculation had also deepened by a few degrees.

His perception of karmic qi had become sharper than before.

For ordinary Cultivators, he didn’t even need to use the Divination Skill of Demon Bone; with just an old item as a karmic medium, a bit of Calculation in his heart was enough to trace out some karmic qi.

Mo Hua followed the qi on the Jade Pendant, passed through the Little Post City, and finally left the main street, heading straight for the outer city in the northwest corner, to a tall warehouse.

Mo Hua raised his eyes to the warehouse, confirming that the karmic qi stopped right in front of it.

Elder Ji didn’t hesitate and stepped up to knock, but the knocking sounded dull and strange, and no one responded.

Elder Ji let out a wolf-like shout, Strength surging into his hand, veins bulging on his fist, and was about to blast the warehouse door open by brute force.

Just then, a Cultivator walked out from the side and shouted angrily:

”Where’d this brute come from, daring to damage my warehouse door?”

Elder Ji’s face darkened. He turned his head and saw that the newcomer was a short, stocky Cultivator. At once his expression brightened:

”Manager Wang!”

Manager Wang was also stunned at the sight of Elder Ji. ”Elder Ji?” He looked around, his expression extremely bewildered. ”You could even find me here?”

Elder Ji glanced at Mo Hua and felt more and more that this ”Young Master Mo” had eerie methods that were as unfathomable as a Ghost God—earlier like a ghost, now like some kind of Religious con man.

But he didn’t dare say it, only grabbed Manager Wang in one go. ”I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Come, I’ve got something to ask you.”

Manager Wang seemed a bit nervous. ”This isn’t a place to talk...” He looked around again, then beckoned to Elder Ji. ”Come with me.”

He led Elder Ji and Mo Hua into a small room nearby.

Inside were tea and wine, and some fruit and dried snacks half eaten.

Elder Ji sneered. ”You’re living quite the leisurely life.”

Manager Wang smiled obsequiously. ”Just scraping by for a bite to eat.”

Elder Ji suddenly frowned. ”You had a perfectly good post at the post station and quit. What are you doing here?”

Manager Wang sighed helplessly. ”Elder Ji, it’s not like you don’t know. The post station job is a dead-end post, you can’t earn many Spirit Stones. I’m the sort who spends Spirit Stones with a loose hand. If I kept muddling along at the post station, I’d starve to death...”

Elder Ji asked him, ”So working in this warehouse, you can earn Spirit Stones?”

Manager Wang smiled but said nothing.

Elder Ji knew this Manager Wang was greedy, scheming, fond of doing shady business. He couldn’t be bothered to pursue it and only said:

”I’m going to ask you something. You’d better answer honestly... Ten years ago, that ’cargo’ I handed to you—where did you ship it?”

”Ten years ago?” Manager Wang pulled a bitter face. ”How could I still remember that?”

Elder Ji’s expression turned ugly. ”The cargo was sealed. It was a... Monster Beasts, chained to death, locked in a beast cage, wrapped again in demon-hide paper. From the outside, it just looked like a big crate of Monster Beasts hides and bones...”

Manager Wang’s face lit with realization. ”I... kind of remember...”

Elder Ji hastily asked, ”Where was it sent?”

Manager Wang said, ”That was Great Sect cargo, loaded onto a ’sand boat.’ The route should have been the Sand Sea on the Li State border...”

Elder Ji’s expression changed. ”The Sand Sea—that means it crossed the Li State border and was sent into the Great Wilderness?”

Manager Wang nodded. ”It should be...”

”Where in the Great Wilderness?”

Manager Wang was embarrassed. ”It was too long ago. I can’t possibly remember every little thing. I’ll have to find a way to check the records at the post station.”

Elder Ji said, ”Then you go check.”

Manager Wang smiled wryly. ”I resigned from the post station job. How am I supposed to go check?”

Elder Ji ran out of patience and snarled viciously:

”To hell with that, why would I care? I don’t care what methods you use—go check it for me. If you find it, all’s well. If you don’t, I die, and you can forget about living either.”

Manager Wang’s face went deathly pale. ”This...”

Elder Ji sneered. ”I’ll give you...”

Here Elder Ji paused, turned to look at Mo Hua, and probed, ”Ten days?”

Mo Hua silently watched him.

Elder Ji lowered his voice. ”Nine days?”

Seeing that Mo Hua’s face was still indifferent, Elder Ji gritted his teeth. ”Five days. Five days it is!”

Mo Hua gave a slight nod.

Elder Ji turned back to Manager Wang and said, ”Five days. You bring me the answer. Otherwise, to hell with it, don’t blame me for getting rough.”

Manager Wang’s Cultivation was only Foundation Establishment Early Stage; he was no match for Elder Ji at all. With his life being threatened by Elder Ji, he could only nod fearfully again and again:

”I...I’ll think of something...”

”Don’t even think about playing tricks. My head’s already hanging at my belt, and yours is the same,” Elder Ji threatened.

Manager Wang could only give a bitter smile.

Over the days that followed, Mo Hua had Elder Ji suffer a few more nightmares, shifting the pressure onto him.

Elder Ji, in turn, shifted that pressure onto Manager Wang.

And Manager Wang did not disappoint Elder Ji’s expectations. He went all out and, in just four days, managed to uncover the whereabouts of that ”cargo”...