Chapter 824: River Bandits
The Dao Court's influence was vast, its connections intricate, and its intelligence network highly efficient. Though it might not always penetrate the deepest of secrets, when it came to official matters, it could uncover surface-level clues with impressive thoroughness.
This saved Mo Hua a lot of trouble.
If he had to gather this information personally, tracking everything down one by one, it would've taken him months without much progress.
"As expected, one must be flexible. Sometimes, taking shortcuts is perfectly acceptable."
"Hugging the Dao Court's thigh isn't the worst idea either…"
Mo Hua nodded in agreement with himself, then focused on the river chart of the Smokywater River in his hands.
The map marked locations where Water Yama had previously appeared, as well as suspected regions of activity along the Smokywater's course.
Mo Hua didn't know how exactly Magistrate Xia had uncovered all this information.
But given her backing from the Dao Court, it wasn't too surprising. At the very least, it was within the bounds of what Mo Hua expected.
Water Yama was a big fish.
It was time to cast the net and reel him in.
The chart was dotted with circles and marks—simple on paper, but each point represented a vast stretch of river in the sprawling expanse of the Smokywater.
"The area's still too broad… I need to narrow it down more."
Mo Hua recalled his understanding of the Smokywater River—its docks, currents, and terrain—alongside what he knew of Water Yama's temperament and habits. He began piecing together the various clues they had gathered.
These factors became the "causes."
Mo Hua's eyes deepened as his spiritual sense stirred, deducing the "effects" from the causes.
On the river chart, faint lines of cause and effect wove together, sketching out a hidden web.
Without any formal Heaven's Secrets techniques or guidance from an elder, Mo Hua could only rely on objective facts, gut instinct, and his own experience to slowly piece together how to use the art of fate deduction.
Moments later, threads of cause-and-effect stretched along the river, overlapping with several previously marked locations.
Mo Hua noted them all, then passed the information along to Magistrate Xia.
"Big Sis Xia…"
"Address me as 'Magistrate Xia,'" the transmission corrected coldly.
"Oh—Magistrate Xia," Mo Hua quickly adjusted. "According to my intel, these spots on the map are highly suspicious."
Back at the Dao Court, Magistrate Xia, still busy under lamplight, furrowed her brow. "How did you learn about these locations?"
I calculated them…
Mo Hua said nothing aloud, of course.
Instead, he vaguely replied, "I'm not sure either. Someone told me."
Magistrate Xia shook her head slightly and responded through the transmission, "Fine. I'll make time to personally inspect the Smokywater River."
A line on a map was just that—in reality, it could mean a massive stretch of river. You wouldn't understand the situation unless you went there in person.
"Magistrate Xia, you should go the day after tomorrow," Mo Hua suggested.
"Why?" she asked, puzzled.
"Because I have time off," Mo Hua said, perfectly straightforward.
Magistrate Xia went silent for a moment, her brow twitching. "You want to come with me?"
"Yep!" Mo Hua replied cheerfully.
"But… you're only at mid-stage Foundation Establishment. It could be dangerous," Magistrate Xia voiced her concern.
"It's fine," Mo Hua said, "I'll bring Uncle Gu. He'll protect me."
Magistrate Xia's expression twitched.
This kid sounded like Gu Changhuai was his personal bodyguard…
Gu Changhuai, a bodyguard…
Magistrate Xia thought of his eternally frosty face and, strangely enough, found the image oddly fitting.
"…Alright then," she agreed.
"Thanks, Magistrate Xia!" Mo Hua said happily.
Two days later, on his time off, Mo Hua rose early, packed up, and hired a carriage to head for Qingzhou City.
To stay discreet, he didn't go to the Gu residence. Instead, he waited at a teahouse in Qingzhou as they had agreed.
When he arrived, he looked up and saw that Gu Changhuai and Magistrate Xia were already there.
Both were seasoned Dao Court officers—decisive and punctual. If they weren't delayed by official duties, they'd always arrive on time.
However, although they sat at the same table, they had each ordered their own pot of tea and were drinking silently, without a single word exchanged.
They looked like two complete strangers.
Mo Hua shook his head and sighed.
A rock won't bloom.
An iron tree won't bend.
It really was worrying.
He approached, greeted the two, sipped some tea, and nibbled on a few pastries before all three rose and left together.
After confirming they weren't being tailed, they hired a covered carriage and headed down toward the lower reaches of the Smokywater River.
There, at a ferry crossing, Gu Changhuai rented a small boat.
The three boarded and rowed into the depths of the Smokywater.
The river's expanse was vast, branching into many tributaries, the flow patterns complicated and chaotic.
Beneath the waters, fierce aquatic beasts lurked.
Mo Hua had only ever stayed by the riverbank before. This was his first time riding a boat into the middle of the river.
The boat bobbed atop emerald-green waters, surrounded on all sides by glittering waves. Sky and water merged, no shore in sight.
Mo Hua was both fascinated and a little seasick as the boat swayed gently.
They followed the paths Mo Hua had deduced on the map—based on cause-and-effect tracing—and spread their spiritual senses to search for clues along the way.
As the sun rose higher, its rays lit the waters like a mirror, almost blinding in their brilliance.
Before long, they found traces:
—"There are shallow banks with footprints."
—"Some water beast corpses… already rotting in the river. But the wounds are strange—like they were pierced by some powerful, evil artifact."
—"There's a heavy scent of blood nearby…"
—"Fragments of spiritual tools lie sunken beneath the waters."
...
"Seems like a group of criminal cultivators was here recently. But…"
Gu Changhuai frowned.
The vastness of the river and the surging waters had already erased most tracks. It was impossible to determine where the culprits had gone.
And with the many forks and offshoots in the area, they had no idea which direction to search next.
As they were puzzling over their next move, a small fishing boat approached in the distance.
There were several fishermen cultivators on board, wearing straw hats and casting nets under the sun.
Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "How about we ask them?"
Gu Changhuai and Magistrate Xia thought for a moment and nodded.
As the fishing boat neared, the trio rowed their boat over to intercept.
The two boats came side by side. Gu Changhuai and Magistrate Xia gave a slight nod before asking:
"Seen any suspicious cultivators nearby?"
The four fishermen, busy hauling in nets, looked startled. They tensed up immediately and shook their heads repeatedly.
Magistrate Xia tried asking a few more questions, but got nothing in return.
The fishermen gave a hasty salute, then silently rowed away with wary expressions.
Mo Hua sighed. "Uncle Gu, Magistrate Xia… You won't get anything like that. Even if they knew something, they'd never tell you."
Both were Magistrates of the Dao Court. Their very presence carried an aura of authority—and they were both Golden Core cultivators.
Mo Hua was used to them, so it didn't feel strange.
But to common fishermen cultivators, these two were intimidating, powerful figures. Meeting them in the middle of the vast Smokywater? No one would dare say a word.
Gu Changhuai's expression remained as frosty as ever.
He was born like this. No changing that.
Even Magistrate Xia furrowed her brow slightly.
She was born into the Xia family and had rarely interacted with these lower-class rogue cultivators.
Mo Hua sighed, "Let me do the asking."
A moment later, another fishing boat approached.
Mo Hua stood at the bow, greeted them, and when the boat came closer, he leapt aboard with a bright smile and greeted them warmly: "Greetings, brothers!" He then took out some spirit wine and jerky to offer them, explaining that they were traveling by boat to visit relatives but had lost their way and weren't sure which route to take, so he hoped to ask for directions.
His eyes were clear, his looks handsome, and his stature not imposing. He didn't come across as overbearing, with a gentle and friendly air that made him naturally likable.
Not to mention—he came bearing spirit wine and meat.
To these fishing cultivators, that was high-grade stuff.
In no time, the fishermen on the boat were treating Mo Hua with great enthusiasm.
Mo Hua sat with them, drinking and eating, chatting warmly. By the time he got up to leave, they were calling him "little brother" with affection and even invited him to their homes as a guest.
Mo Hua gifted them another jar of wine, waved goodbye, and returned to his own boat.
Once aboard, he nodded and said, "Got everything we need!"
Magistrate Xia and Gu Changhuai were a bit dazed.
Mo Hua recalled the earlier conversation and pointed ahead toward a stretch of river:
"There's a fork in the water here—it's not visible to the naked eye, but there are four or five separate channels hidden among the dense aquatic plants. It's very easy to hide a trail here."
"And there are definitely suspicious cultivators in the area."
"According to those big brothers, there's a gang of murderous water bandits haunting this region. They appear and vanish unpredictably and kill anyone they meet."
"But these water bandits only come out at night. So all the fishermen in the area make sure to finish fishing by day. As soon as the sun sets, they hurry home."
"If anyone dares travel at night and runs into those bandits… their lives might end right here."
Magistrate Xia frowned. "Why didn't they report this to the Dao Court?"
Mo Hua replied helplessly, "Even if they did, it wouldn't help. This isn't an Immortal City. Many of the fishing cultivators don't even have formal cultivator registration. The Dao Court doesn't really want to get involved. Even if they do want to, the river terrain here is too complicated—it's difficult to act."
Magistrate Xia was a bit stunned.
In Daozhou, everything revolved around Immortal Cities. Cultivator registration was strictly managed, and situations like this were unheard of.
She turned and cast a silent glance at Gu Changhuai before saying coldly:
"This just shows how ineffective and overstaffed the Dao Court in Qianxue Prefecture is."
Gu Changhuai said indifferently, "Don't forget, you're part of the Qianxue Prefecture Dao Court now too."
The two glared at each other.
Mo Hua nodded quietly to himself.
Not bad.
Their relationship had improved—they were bickering now.
After exchanging a few more jabs, the two backed off. After all, they were Magistrates—they wouldn't lose sight of the bigger picture.
Right now, the priority was still capturing Water Yama.
Magistrate Xia glanced at the tangled waterways ahead. After a moment of contemplation, her expression tightened slightly.
"I'll return and dispatch more personnel. We'll search each waterway, one by one, and sweep the entire area."
Gu Changhuai countered, "Don't rush. If too many people move in at once, we'll startle the target."
Magistrate Xia narrowed her eyes at him. "Then what do you suggest?"
Gu Changhuai paused, eyes flashing. He tilted his chin toward Mo Hua.
"Ask this kid."
Magistrate Xia blinked, confused. "Mo Hua?"
Mo Hua had intended to stay low-key… but given the situation, that was no longer an option.
Capturing Water Yama took precedence.
"Do you still have the broken blade from earlier—the one embedded in the water beast?" Mo Hua asked.
Gu Changhuai handed him a dark red, broken dagger.
Mo Hua placed it at the front of the boat, then sat cross-legged and focused his mind.
Magistrate Xia watched in silence, unsure what he was doing. Just as she began to feel puzzled, Mo Hua's aura suddenly shifted—from bright and gentle, to deep and mysterious.
It was as if…
The friendly young man had become an unfathomable monster.
At the same time, a strange, mystical energy began radiating from Mo Hua's body.
Moments later, the eerie sensation faded. Mo Hua's expression returned to normal as he pointed to one of the waterways ahead:
"Take the center route and veer right—you'll find the owner of the broken blade."
Magistrate Xia was visibly shaken.
"That's it? You've… already found the way?"
She looked confused, then her pupils shrank as she suddenly blurted out:
"Heaven's Secrets Art?!"
Gu Changhuai was startled and quickly looked at Mo Hua as well.
Mo Hua blinked and asked, "What's Heaven's Secrets Art?"
Magistrate Xia stared into his clear eyes, dumbfounded. "You don't know what Heaven's Secrets Art is?"
Mo Hua nodded.
He actually did know a bit.
But what he knew was all cobbled together from guesses and personal experimentation—just a wild, self-learned method. Nothing formal, and certainly not something scholarly or systematic.
So technically… saying he didn't know was not a lie.
Magistrate Xia frowned. "Then what did you just use?"
Mo Hua blinked innocently. "It's something I picked up back in my hometown in Lizhou. I learned it from a passing, ragged-robed, but kind-hearted and benevolent-looking old Taoist."
"It's a path-finding divination method. It uses spiritual sense to 'divine' the right direction—helpful for finding lost people or items in the mountains."
He sounded completely convincing.
Magistrate Xia, who knew very little about Heaven's Secrets techniques herself, thought about it and found the explanation plausible.
This so-called "Path-Finding Divination Method" probably belonged to those grassroots, folk-level Heaven's Secrets techniques—common among low-level cultivators.
They might reveal minor threads of karma occasionally, but compared to true Heaven's Secrets Arts, they were worlds apart.
As for the ragged, kind, and kindly-faced old Taoist…
That… actually didn't sound too unreasonable.
In the cultivation world, there were indeed many wandering experts or eccentric mystics.
It was perfectly normal for them to possess strange and obscure techniques.
Magistrate Xia quietly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
She knew it—how could someone at mere Foundation Establishment possibly have learned true Heaven's Secrets Arts?
Still, she warned Mo Hua:
"Don't use this kind of technique so casually in front of others again. And don't recklessly divine things…"
"Why?" Mo Hua asked.
Magistrate Xia's expression turned serious.
"Even if it's just a minor karmic method, it still touches on the principle of 'karma.' It can greatly drain your spiritual sense, and more importantly, it may cause fluctuations in your fate. Worst of all, if your divination involves the karma of some powerful cultivator, you might enrage them—and face karmic backlash. And you're only Foundation Establishment…"
She looked at Mo Hua, her eyes filled with concern.
"…Such violent karmic backlash is something a child like you simply can't endure."
There's backlash from karma?
Mo Hua's heart tightened, and he nodded solemnly.
But then he recalled—he'd already performed quite a few karmic calculations along the way. And so far, he hadn't provoked any powerful experts or triggered any karmic retaliation.
Was it just good luck?
Or had his Master silently made arrangements behind the scenes to protect him?
Either way, he'd better be more cautious from now on.
As for Water Yama… this one should still be safe. At least karmically, there shouldn't be too many taboos.
So the three of them continued sailing down the waterway that Mo Hua had divined.
The farther they went, the more complex the river terrain became. It was increasingly difficult to find the right direction.
This was the lower course of the river, where silt had built up, forming occasional sandbars overgrown with waist-high weeds.
Thus, their little boat had to stop frequently.
Mo Hua would take out the broken blade and perform another divination, realigning their heading.
Magistrate Xia silently observed him, increasingly puzzled.
All Heaven's Secrets and karmic methods, as well as divine sense arts, consumed spiritual energy. Especially anything involving karmic formulas or Heaven's Secrets—those drained spiritual sense even more severely.
Yet this boy had performed so many divinations… and still hadn't run dry?
Just how deep was his divine sense?
Magistrate Xia was quietly shocked.
Of course, no matter how strong Mo Hua's divine sense was, it couldn't last forever.
Especially this kind of divination—it involved two types of Heaven's Secrets deduction, which made it extremely taxing.
After a few more rounds, Mo Hua's spiritual sense was nearly exhausted.
But ahead of them were still patches of water grass, muddy flats, and tangled waterways—no people, no clues.
So Mo Hua forced himself to stay calm and sat down to meditate, recovering his spiritual sense.
About half an hour later, he opened his eyes—his spiritual sense had mostly recovered.
But he dared not divine again.
Using Heaven's Secrets arts to boost divination accuracy harmed the Sea of Consciousness.
He had used it too many times today, and now his Sea of Consciousness was faintly stinging.
Spiritual sense could be replenished through meditation, but damage to the Sea of Consciousness could not.
Besides, water routes were far trickier than land routes—especially in such a complex terrain. Using Heaven's Secrets divination to navigate them was many times harder.
Mo Hua sighed.
Water Yama… that damn turtle really knew how to hide.
Seeing Mo Hua's face a little pale, Gu Changhuai softly asked, "You alright?"
Mo Hua nodded. "I'm okay, just…"
He glanced ahead—at the dense reeds, muddy shoals, and water channels of varying depths—and said with frustration:
"Looks like we won't get anything today…"
Magistrate Xia looked up at the sky and agreed:
"It's getting late. If these water bandits only move at night, then once night falls, we'll be easily discovered."
"And with nightfall, it'll be pitch black. The river will be dangerous, and water beasts will be active—it could get risky…"
The two of them were Golden Core cultivators—it wouldn't matter much to them.
But Mo Hua was only at mid-Foundation Establishment. His blood was still weak—if danger came in the dark, he likely wouldn't make it.
Gu Changhuai said, "Let's head back for now. We'll come again tomorrow."
Mo Hua nodded.
But deep inside, he was reluctant.
They had come so far… and now they had to turn back?
Yes, they could come again tomorrow—but some matters couldn't wait. Who knew what might change in just one day?
As he pondered this, Gu Changhuai had already turned the boat around and was slowly sailing upstream.
They had only been sailing a short while when Mo Hua suddenly froze, as if sensing something unusual. He quickly closed his eyes and extended his divine sense as far as it could reach, trying to sense everything around him.
Soon, a faint, broken whisper drifted into his ears.
"Benefactor…"
Mo Hua paused, startled, and looked down toward the sound.
He spotted, beside the boat's edge, a small silver fish desperately swishing its tail—chasing after his little boat.
"…Little Silverfish?"
(End of this Chapter)