Chapter 817 – Pursuit and Assassination
"Dao Tribunal…"
Mo Hua's expression was grave as he muttered, "So what you're saying is—the Yin Water Sect colluded with the Dao Tribunal to secretly make a move against you?"
"Precisely."
Mo Hua frowned in doubt. "How do you know all this?"
It was one thing if it was just the Yin Water Sect.
But the Dao Tribunal? That was a deep and murky pool. Even if there were shady dealings within it, it shouldn't be something a fugitive descendant of the Water Prison Sect would know.
The old man sneered coldly. "Don't forget what lineage the Water Prison Sect hails from. That word 'Prison' in Water 'Prison' Sect comes from 'Dao Prison'. Our sect's cultivators have served in the Dao Tribunal across generations. We were skilled in pursuit, masters of punishment. In secret, we were even treated as the Dao Tribunal's attack dogs—anything dirty, anything underhanded, we were the ones who carried it out. With my background, how could I not know the filth within?"
"Besides, the Yin Water Sect is just a puppet—a resurrection of the Water Prison Sect under a borrowed name. Them working with the Dao Tribunal? Perfectly normal."
"The attempt on my life, the annihilation of the Yu family—all of it appears to have no trace of the Tribunal's hand. But to someone with inside knowledge like me? Their fingerprints are everywhere."
Mo Hua said, "But the Dao Tribunal's internal structure is complicated, right? Cultivators from various sects and families, all mixed together—you can't paint them all with one brush."
The old man replied, "The Dao Tribunal is like a giant dye vat—once you fall in, no matter what color you were, you'll get dyed eventually. What you were before doesn't matter."
Mo Hua furrowed his brow.
The old man looked at him, sighed, and said earnestly:
"You're clever, cautious, and your methods are no less capable than some old fogeys who've survived in the cultivation world for decades—but you're still young. You haven't seen how truly treacherous the human heart can be."
"This world—lust clouds judgment, greed corrupts the soul. But power? Power devours the soul."
"The Dao Tribunal holds life and death in its grasp, passing its authority down generation after generation. In time, rot is inevitable—that's one of the oldest, unshakable truths."
"And remember, the Dao Tribunal has stood for twenty thousand years. That's more than enough time to let worms grow into monsters."
Mo Hua's gaze sharpened. "There must still be honest cultivators within the Tribunal…"
The old man sneered, "Real clean, or just pretending to be? Who can tell? Even the clearest stream turns murky in the dye vat. And if you insist on staying clean, do you know how many people will wish you dead?"
Mo Hua gave a faint nod.
The old man looked at him, emotions shifting in his eyes, and sighed.
"I've said my piece. The choice is yours. I won't ask for your help—only that you honor our agreement. Do not reveal my whereabouts. If disaster comes because of it and the Water Prison Sect's legacy ends, I'll die with resentment, and even as a ghost, I'll come looking for you…"
Even if you turn into a ghost, I'm not the least bit afraid...
Mo Hua thought to himself.
But after a pause, he said, "This pot you're handing me is way too heavy—Yin Water Sect and Dao Tribunal? I can't carry all that. I'll try to help, but I can't promise anything. As for your whereabouts—don't worry. I won't breathe a word."
The old man looked grateful. "Then I thank you, little friend."
Mo Hua nodded. "One more thing…"
His tone grew cold. "Those two children earlier—they're descendants of the Yu family, aren't they? You passed Water Prison Sect techniques to them. Aren't you afraid the Yin Water Sect will find out and slaughter the entire fishing village?"
The old man froze.
He had been deliberately hiding their identities, not wanting to expose Little Shunzi and Little Shuizi.
But this young cultivator had already seen through it all.
With a bitter face, the old man sighed, "I really… had no choice."
"If I pass it on, they might die. But if I don't, and I die, then the Water Prison Sect's legacy dies with me. How could I face my ancestors then…"
Overcome with emotion, his face turned pale, and he began coughing violently, blood staining his lips.
Mo Hua shook his head. There was nothing left to blame him for.
"Just rest for now. If you're willing, I'll find a carriage tomorrow and take you somewhere safe to recover."
The old man clasped his hands respectfully. "Much obliged."
"I won't disturb you, then." Mo Hua turned to leave, only to be stopped.
"Little friend…"
He turned around, looked at the dense killing arrays layered across the cave entrance, and felt a headache coming. "These arrays…"
"Oh, don't worry. I won't kill you," Mo Hua said.
"That's not what I meant—" The old man grimaced.
Can't you take them down at least?
The whole cave was covered in killing arrays—it was like sleeping in a house filled with explosives. Who could sleep like that?
But Mo Hua ignored him and walked off.
Take them down yourself if you want to.
He'd put in so much effort drawing those arrays. He hadn't even gotten to use them—no way he'd just wipe them out.
Okay, fine—he was mostly just lazy.
They weren't set up at his place anyway.
The old man stood in front of the cave, watching Mo Hua disappear into the distance, then shook his head helplessly.
This young cultivator… was kind of a rogue.
Night deepened, the moon was bleak, and there was no other place to stay.
The old man gave a long, bitter sigh and went back into the cave.
Anyway… it was the last night.
——
After leaving the desolate mountain, Mo Hua returned to the little fishing village.
He confirmed that both Little Shunzi and Little Shuizi had made it back safely and were fast asleep.
Only then did he finally feel at ease.
But this situation couldn't go on like this.
After thinking for a bit, Mo Hua took out his message talisman and sent a transmission to Gu Changhuai:
"Uncle Gu, there's something important…"
Moments later, Gu Changhuai responded irritably:
"What time do you think it is? Why aren't you asleep?"
Mo Hua looked up. The sky was pitch black—well past midnight, likely around the third watch.
Okay, maybe it was pretty late…
"But you're not asleep either, Uncle Gu."
"Dao Tribunal's got a lot going on…"
Mo Hua: "Didn't they already strip your power?"
Gu Changhuai: "…"
Mo Hua blinked, suddenly understanding.
"Uncle Gu… don't tell me… you've fallen for that Instructor Hua? Can't eat, can't sleep, lovesick, are we?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Gu Changhuai was seething.
If that brat were standing in front of him, he'd yank his ears off.
"There's a new Adjudicator in the Tribunal. Complicated. Busy…"
Mo Hua blinked. "A new Adjudicator? Who?"
"You wouldn't know even if I told you. And stop nosing into Dao Tribunal affairs."
"Oh."
"Now, what did you want at this hour?"
Mo Hua was about to explain but suddenly recalled what that old man—Yu Canghai—had said.
He paused, then asked:
"Uncle Gu… would you say the Gu family is considered a 'clean stream'?"
Gu Changhuai frowned and thought for a while before replying:
"I don't like that term. As Dao Tribunal cultivators, we follow the Dao Laws, uphold justice. Arrest who must be arrested, execute who must be executed. That's what matters. This whole 'clean stream' thing… is meaningless."
"But… yes. In the eyes of others, the Gu family is seen as one of the clean ones…"
Mo Hua nodded, now understanding.
Only then did he say,
"I met someone. He's connected to the Yu Family Stronghold. He says their extermination was orchestrated by the Yin Water Sect using demonic cultivators."
"Also… he's a descendant of the Water Prison Sect."
Even in the dead of night, after a long day's work, Gu Changhuai's tired expression vanished the moment he heard this.
"Is that true?"
Mo Hua sighed. "Have I ever lied to you?"
You've lied plenty…
Gu Changhuai thought.
But now wasn't the time to bicker.
"Where are you now?"
"Small fishing village."
"The one by the Misty River?" Gu Changhuai frowned. "Why are you there?"
"It's a long story. I'll explain when we meet."
Sending messages through talisman was too slow anyway.
Plus, he still had to sort out what could and couldn't be said.
"Alright!" Gu Changhuai replied after a pause. "I'm still at the Dao Tribunal in Qianxue Prefecture and can't get away just yet. Once I finish things here, I'll come to you in the morning."
"Okay." Mo Hua nodded.
After ending the transmission, he sat in the treetop at the village entrance, deep in thought.
This was big—too big. Too many forces were involved.
He could stir the waters a little, but there was no way he could contain them all.
Even keeping that old Water Prison cultivator safe was already beyond his capabilities.
After much deliberation, he knew he could only rely on Uncle Gu.
But there was a problem.
Mo Hua trusted Uncle Gu.
Sure, the man had a bad temper, a sour face, spoke bluntly, and wasn't the least bit gentle—but he was a good person.
The old man from the Water Prison Sect, though… that wasn't so certain.
He was deeply suspicious of Dao Tribunal cultivators. If he found out Gu Changhuai was an Adjudicator, he might not cooperate.
"Forget it, I'll figure it out when the time comes…"
Mo Hua thought.
Besides, that old guy might not be telling the full truth anyway.
Having Uncle Gu—an actual Golden Core Adjudicator—there might shake more out of him.
Afterward, Mo Hua sat in meditation, sinking his divine sense into his consciousness sea to continue practicing arrays on the Dao Tablet.
He now had nineteen lines of divine sense, meaning he could learn even more formations. Every breath, every second had to be used well.
Only by learning more formations and tempering his divine sense to its limits… could he access even more powerful formations in the future.
Time passed until dawn broke in the east.
Mo Hua opened his eyes, exhaled deeply, and stretched lazily.
Then, taking advantage of the morning spiritual energy, he drew out some spirit stones, cultivated a little, and began waiting for Gu Changhuai.
In the fishing village, the fishermen were already rising for another day of hard work.
Mo Hua sat in the treetop, but after a while, he felt strangely impatient.
He sent a message:
"Uncle Gu, when are you getting here?"
No reply.
It took quite a while before Gu Changhuai responded, sounding a bit helpless:
"The new Adjudicator is a bit of a handful. I can't get away yet. I'll be there in two hours."
"Alright. Make sure you hire a bigger carriage," Mo Hua replied.
"Got it."
After that, Mo Hua could only patiently continue waiting.
But the more he waited, the more he suddenly realized something:
That old man from the Water Prison Sect... he didn't run away, did he?
They had met by chance and shared no ties. Although the old man had told him so much about the past, that didn't mean he truly trusted him.
"Better go check..."
Mo Hua thought to himself.
Without wasting any time, he got up and retraced the path that Xiaoshunzi and Xiaoshuizi had taken the night before, climbing up the wild mountain with nimble steps along the cliff wall.
When he reached the cave, the densely layered killing arrays were still there.
But with a sweep of his divine sense, Mo Hua discovered the cave was completely empty—no trace of anyone's presence.
"He ran..."
Mo Hua sighed.
Thinking about it, though, it wasn't exactly unexpected.
That old man from the Water Prison Sect had lost his sect and family, was being hunted, and saw enemies in every direction. Trusting someone easily was just not an option.
And judging by the dark cloud on his brow, with death looming, now that he had fled, he probably wouldn't live much longer.
"Should I chase after him?"
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then gave up on the idea.
If the old man didn't trust him, then there was no point in meddling any further. Saving him once was enough.
Other people's fates... deserved a bit of respect.
Those fated to die—should die.
Mo Hua turned to leave, but halfway down the mountain, he suddenly frowned.
"Something's off..."
Turning back, he released his divine sense, sweeping the surroundings. His gaze sharpened.
"Someone else has been here..."
The trampled grass showed signs of broken stems—multiple people's footprints.
There were also lingering, chaotic traces of spiritual power in the air—of various elements, but predominantly cold water-attribute qi.
Human presence.
With Mo Hua's divine sense bordering on divine-grade, he was extremely sensitive to such residual spiritual energy.
He walked up to the cave entrance.
Even though it was broad daylight, the interior of the cave was pitch black.
Mo Hua hesitated but didn't rush in. Instead, he summoned a small tiger puppet to scout the way. Only when it triggered no traps did he cautiously enter.
The cave was narrow and worn.
Inside, there were bloodstains, broken spiritual tools, empty pill bottles, and blood-soaked clothing...
The old man had clearly left.
Judging by the traces, he had left in a hurry—clearly having sensed that someone was coming to kill him and was forced to flee early.
"The pursuers already arrived?"
Mo Hua's expression shifted slightly. His eyes darkened, and the lines of karma shimmered into view.
Moments later, he activated a concealment technique, hiding his presence. Leaving the cave, he followed a certain thread of karmic qi deeper into the mountains.
This was a barren mountain, covered only with weeds, wild shrubs—no beasts or minerals of value.
The nearby fishermen-cultivators lived off fishing and rarely ventured into the mountains.
The deeper he went, the more desolate it became.
But it was precisely due to this desolation that spiritual traces and karmic fluctuations stood out more clearly.
Mo Hua followed the trail for an unknown length of time, until sounds suddenly echoed ahead.
He approached and saw seven or eight cultivators surrounding and attacking an old man—
—Yu Canghai of the Water Prison Sect.
The attackers wore mismatched robes, all masked, with fierce killing intent. Their cultivation ranged from late Foundation Establishment to peak Foundation Establishment.
They weren't confronting him head-on, but using a rotation tactic to slowly wear him down.
Yu Canghai was already gravely wounded. Now, being besieged like this, his face had gone deathly pale.
Among the attackers, the leader shouted:
"Old man! You're at death's door! Why not surrender now and spare yourself needless suffering?"
Yu Canghai's voice trembled with exhaustion, but he still roared:
"You bastards! Even if I die today, I'll drag some of you down with me!"
He unleashed his spiritual power—needles of water-qi shot out in all directions.
The masked attackers immediately retreated, not daring to clash directly. They waited for his strength to wane before swarming him like rabid dogs again.
Even a fierce tiger couldn't fend off a pack of wolves.
Let alone a heavily wounded tiger.
He was relying purely on the foundation of a Golden Core cultivator to barely hold on.
But it was obvious—he wouldn't last long.
Yu Canghai's face grew increasingly desperate.
"Is this how the Water Prison Sect's legacy ends…?"
Just then, a clear young voice rang out nearby:
"Senior!"
The battlefield froze for a moment.
Everyone turned to the source and saw Mo Hua, face "tense," standing at the edge.
His expression was determined:
"Senior, I will carry on the legacy of the Water Prison Sect. I won't fail your expectations!"
And with that, he turned and bolted.
Everyone was stunned.
Even Yu Canghai was momentarily dazed—then realized the youth was diverting the enemy's attention.
Sure enough, the masked assassins' expressions changed.
"Boss, what do we do?"
"Another survivor?!"
"He's getting away!"
The leader cursed:
"Split up! Three of you chase that brat! The rest follow me—don't let the old man live!"
"Yes!"
One assassin with particularly sinister eyes volunteered:
"I'll go too. I'm good at tracking. That little ghost won't escape me."
The leader hesitated, then nodded.
And so, four assassins broke off to chase Mo Hua.
The remaining four continued attacking Yu Canghai.
With the pressure easing, Yu Canghai was momentarily relieved—but his heart quickly sank again.
"That boy's only mid-Foundation Establishment… being chased by four late-Foundation killers—can he even survive…?"
Though he was touched, he also felt regret.
"That was too reckless…"
Meanwhile, Mo Hua indeed didn't "escape."
He led the four assassins on a merry chase through the forest in a wide circle.
"You little rat! Stop running!"
"Keep running and I'll break your legs—make you beg to die!"
Mo Hua looked "panicked," his back retreating in haste.
Eventually, he "accidentally" ran back to the old cave where Yu Canghai had hidden before.
Apparently "fleeing blindly," he dove straight into the cave.
The pursuers hesitated outside.
"There are arrays…"
"Do we go in?"
Three of them looked to the one with sinister eyes—the clear leader.
The man observed the formations and sneered coldly:
"Those arrays were obviously set up by that old bastard Yu Canghai."
"What could this brat know about arrays at his age?"
"But what if…" one of them hesitated.
"Doesn't matter," the leader said coolly. "They're probably killing arrays. If they explode, the kid dies too. Even if he can control them, he'd never have the guts to drag us all down with him."
The others nodded in agreement.
"No time to waste. Let's go in and catch this little brat like a turtle in a jar. We'll use him to threaten that old man."
"Capture both of them and torture them to death. Then the Water Prison Sect will be completely wiped out."
The sinister-eyed cultivator sneered coldly.
Then, the four of them formed up and stepped into the cave side-by-side.
But once inside—they found it completely empty.
"What's going on...?"
"Where is he?"
The sinister-eyed cultivator frowned, deep in thought. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. A bad feeling surged up in his chest as he sharply turned to look outside the cave.
Only then did he see that the young cultivator they had been chasing was already standing outside the cave—no one knew when he had gotten there—with a calm smile on his face, completely lacking the panic from before.
Mo Hua had only pretended to run into the cave.
The moment he entered, he quietly activated his concealment technique and slipped back out—luring all four of them inside instead.
"Damn it, we've fallen into a trap!"
The four of them were instantly alarmed and tried to flee.
But Mo Hua wasn't going to give them that chance.
Before they could even move, the Mo Hua outside the cave softly said:
"Explode."
Countless high-grade second-rank killing formations instantly erupted. Fire flared, golden blades sliced the air, and lethal forces surged from the earth.
With a thunderous boom, the formations detonated.
Violent spiritual power blasted through the area, completely obliterating the cave and annihilating the four masked cultivators.
With so many high-grade killing formations—even Yu Canghai, a Golden Core cultivator, had been cautious around them. Foundation Establishment cultivators like these four had no hope of surviving.
Mo Hua nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. The formations I drew finally came in handy—no waste."
Waste was shameful.
After all, he had worked hard to draw them using spiritual ink, spirit stones, and his divine sense. Not using them would've been a pity.
With the four assassins dealt with, Mo Hua retraced his steps to find Yu Canghai.
Back in the deep forest, he found only three attackers left surrounding Yu Canghai.
One of them now lay on the ground, face dark as ink, seemingly poisoned by water qi, barely clinging to life.
Mo Hua was a little surprised.
"As expected, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse."
Yu Canghai was still quite formidable.
When Mo Hua reappeared, not only Yu Canghai, but the three remaining assassins were visibly shocked.
"How did you escape, brat?" the lead assassin growled.
Mo Hua smiled gently.
"I killed the ones chasing me. Of course I escaped."
Those words made all the cultivators' faces change drastically.
Mo Hua didn't waste time chatting. He was already conjuring a fireball.
About the time it takes to burn a stick of incense later, the remaining three were also dead.
Two versus three—with Mo Hua and Yu Canghai working together, these three Foundation Establishment assassins lost their numbers advantage and were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter.
Thus, all eight assassins were wiped out.
Corpses littered the ground.
Yu Canghai stared at Mo Hua in stunned silence, deeply shaken.
"Just who is this youth? Clearly only at mid-Foundation Establishment… not particularly strong at first glance, but to kill late-Foundation cultivators so easily…"
But Mo Hua's expression remained calm as he said to Yu Canghai:
"Sit down and meditate. Heal your injuries."
Don't die on me now. I didn't save you for nothing.
Yu Canghai sighed and bowed respectfully.
"Many thanks!"
This time, the "thank you" came from the heart.
While Yu Canghai began meditating to recover, Mo Hua began the classic cultivator ritual: "loot the corpses."
But from the four who had just died, he didn't find anything valuable—just some spare spirit stones and pills in their storage bags.
Mo Hua was a little disappointed.
"Pretty cautious, huh…"
Then he remembered—the other four masked cultivators he had blown up at the cave.
Once Yu Canghai had recovered a bit, the two of them returned to the mountain cave.
The cave had been blown to bits, traces of the formation still visible.
Yu Canghai finally realized that Mo Hua hadn't been lying. Those other four really had died at his hands. A chill crept into his heart.
"Truly, don't judge a book by its cover."
"The younger they look, the more ruthlessly they kill."
Mo Hua pondered briefly, then pointed at the rubble.
"Senior, help me dig those four out."
Yu Canghai didn't know what Mo Hua was up to, but followed the instructions and began clearing the rocks.
Though still injured, he had rested a bit. Digging up some rubble wasn't too difficult.
In less than half an hour, the four corpses were lined up neatly.
Mo Hua lifted their masks—he didn't recognize any of them.
And since they had died to killing formations, most of their faces were half-destroyed, making identification even harder.
He searched their bodies.
Still no valuable results.
It seemed they had traveled light to keep a low profile. Their storage bags only had basic pills, spiritual tools, and some loose spirit stones.
"No clues…"
Mo Hua shook his head and sighed.
Still, he wasn't willing to give up. Relying on his experience with the Dao Court enforcers and his extensive dealings with criminal cultivators, he activated his divine sense and searched their bodies inch by inch…
Eventually, he found something odd.
One of the four had a tooth that felt… different.
"A tooth?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up.
He remembered—some criminal cultivators would smash out one of their real teeth and implant a fake one to hide a miniature storage compartment.
These were tiny—only large enough to hold something the size of a palm—but extremely well hidden.
If he hadn't had experience catching these kinds of criminals, he never would've noticed.
Mo Hua pulled the fake tooth out, then used his divine sense to extract the item inside.
It was a command token.
And it looked very familiar.
Mo Hua frowned, examined it for a moment… then his expression changed.
It was a Dao Court Enforcer Token!
He had been around Gu Changhuai long enough to recognize most of the Dao Court's tokens.
Low-level ones—like his own unofficial bronze waist tag.
Higher-level ones—like Gu Changhuai's "Adjudicator Token."
Most common were those worn by internal enforcers—these "Enforcer Tokens."
Gu An and Gu Quan both carried these.
Mo Hua's expression darkened. He flipped the token over—and his pupils contracted.
On the back, a single character was engraved:
"Xiao (肖)!"
The Xiao family of the Dao Court!
The man he had blown up… was an enforcer from the Xiao family?!
Mo Hua fell silent. A bad feeling crept into his chest.
After a moment of thought, he pulled out his message token and quietly contacted Gu Changhuai:
"Uncle Gu… you'd better get over here. Quick."
Moments later, Gu Changhuai replied:
"What happened?"
Mo Hua:
"I… think I might've blown up an enforcer from the Xiao family..."
Far away, in the Qianxue Dao Court, Gu Changhuai saw this message—and nearly crushed his transmission token in shock.
(End of this Chapter)