Chapter 827: Night Kill
Gu Changhuai looked slightly annoyed, his expression cold as he said:
"You're not worried that these Xiao family members might be pledging allegiance to the Xia family on the surface, but secretly still colluding with the Yin Water Sect and sabotaging this operation?"
Magistrate Xia shook her head and replied calmly, "That decision isn't mine to make. My uncle is well aware of the situation."
"Your uncle?" Gu Changhuai's gaze sharpened. "You mean… Inspector Xia?"
"Yes," Magistrate Xia nodded. "The Xia family's operations in the Qianxue Province are all under my uncle's full control."
Gu Changhuai fell silent.
When matters involved a Dao Court inspector, even a magistrate like him had to hold his tongue.
He turned his head, no longer looking at Magistrate Xia, and instead gazed into the murky river water, brows furrowed in thought.
Magistrate Xia also looked straight ahead, her expression steady and resolute.
The two seemed to have had a disagreement—neither looked at the other.
Mo Hua sighed softly but was also deep in thought.
Inspector Xia… who's that?
Inspector… sounded like a higher rank than a magistrate. If he could silence Uncle Gu, then his cultivation was likely at least at the Feathering stage, and he held real power.
"This Inspector Xia received a tip-off from the Xiao family, and using the chaos caused by the Ten Thousand Demon Valley incident and the excuse of declining academic conduct in Qianxue Province, inserted himself into the Dao Court's affairs here…"
Step one: investigate the Yin Water Sect.
But for what purpose?
Was it to serve the Dao Court and uphold its laws?
Mo Hua shook his head.
And after investigating the Yin Water Sect—what next?
What would the Xia family, or rather this Inspector Xia, do next?
Mo Hua frowned. The situation was growing increasingly messy.
Everyone wanted to get their hands in the pot. Qianxue Province was becoming a bubbling stew.
"I'll think about this later…"
The priority now was still capturing Water Yama.
Mo Hua had initially been confident, but the moment the Xiao family got involved, a vague unease crept in.
Things were getting too complicated.
Could Inspector Xia really trust the Xiao family that much? To let them take part in an operation as critical as wiping out the water bandits and capturing Water Yama?
Mo Hua had doubts.
He couldn't make sense of it—until he suddenly remembered a lesson Venerable Elder Xun had once taught him:
"Never approach a situation solely from your own perspective. Doing so leads to shortsightedness and a narrow view, and you won't even realize when you're trapped in your own thoughts."
"You must learn to look at things from a higher vantage point—observe from above."
"Put yourself in the shoes of a patriarch or ancestor, and consider how they see things…"
"Think like an ancestor…"
Even if Inspector Xia wasn't literally an old ancestor, his position was certainly high-ranking. Naturally, he viewed things from above.
Mo Hua tried to do the same.
Water Yama was important to him.
But to a cultivator like Inspector Xia, someone of that level might not even warrant attention.
Water Yama… was just a pawn.
Maybe even the Xiao family and the Yin Water Sect were both pawns.
Perhaps this was a classic "use a tiger to swallow a wolf" tactic—let the Xiao family take down Water Yama to provide evidence against the Yin Water Sect… but at the same time—
To test the Xiao family.
If the Xiao family sincerely did the job—wiped out the water bandits and captured Water Yama—it would prove their loyalty.
But if they played both sides, secretly sabotaging things…
Then after dealing with the Yin Water Sect, this Inspector Xia might just turn around and take out the Xiao family too.
Use the tiger, then slay both tiger and wolf.
The more Mo Hua thought about it, the more it made sense. He couldn't help but murmur in his heart:
"These people… so scheming… and so dirty…"
In the darkness of night, the river was dim and gloomy. The fleet pressed forward.
Mo Hua sat at the prow, pointing the way.
A silver streak of light danced through the water ahead—it was the little silver fish, happily leading the way for Mo Hua.
No one else could see it.
They passed through a wide river stretch and entered the natural marshland "maze," where the water channels narrowed, mud accumulated, and boat movement became difficult.
Magistrate Xia ordered all boats to line up, bow to stern, like a single snake, so they wouldn't get lost or stuck.
Eventually, they arrived at the island.
Mo Hua raised his eyes. The moon was cold, the wind high, and the night deep. The little island was still nestled quietly in the river as before, like a dormant beast lying in wait.
Magistrate Xia waved her hand. "Conceal."
The spirit boats trembled slightly. A soft hum rose, and each was enveloped by a faint shimmering light—concealment enchantments activated.
Mo Hua was startled.
Concealed Spirit Boats!
All thirty-plus boats were enchanted to hide themselves!
The Xia family really was filthy rich.
Mo Hua sighed inwardly.
Once hidden, the boats slipped quietly into the reeds and water plants around the island.
Magistrate Xia gathered the leading officers and laid out the detailed operation plan:
"This is the array diagram of the island. It was…"
She glanced at Mo Hua, then added calmly:
"…designed by a skilled array master after personally surveying the area."
"The diagram outlines the internal formation layout and marks the positions of the eight trigrams and eight gates…"
"We strike around the hour of Hai (9–11 PM). That's when the bandits leave the island to plunder. The gate will be wide open. We'll intercept them on the way, kill a wave, then break through the main gate and storm inside."
"Once inside, that's the critical part."
"The gate they use is the Kan Gate. If things go well, we'll breach it by the hour of Zi (11 PM–1 AM)."
"After that, the bandits will activate their formation. Every half hour, the eight gates will shift positions within the array."
"Here is the gate rotation sequence. All unit leaders, memorize it."
"Ignore the rest—just block the Dumen and Jingmen (two neutral gates), and the Kaimen, Xiumen, and Shengmen (three auspicious gates). Especially the Shengmen—it must be sealed to prevent the bandits from escaping."
"Of course, we can't rely on manpower alone."
"Outside the island, at the seven other gate points besides Kan, we'll set up trap formations—to bind, trap, or even eliminate fleeing bandits."
"These formations have already been prepared in advance."
"Gu Dian Si and I will handle removing the island's outer sentries. Everyone else must deploy their assigned formations before battle begins."
...
When Magistrate Xia finished giving orders, all the commanding officers responded solemnly and in unison:
"Yes!"
But at the same time, many of them couldn't help but feel a bit impressed.
Especially Xiao Tianquan, who praised aloud:
"The Xia family truly lives up to its name as a powerful clan. Such deep foundations! To be able to enlist such a skilled array master in so little time and crack the formation on this island—truly impressive."
He then asked curiously,
"May I ask… who is this gentleman? What is his name and background? Might I have the honor of meeting him?"
Standing right next to Xiao Tianquan, Mo Hua blinked.
"That 'gentleman' is standing right next to you…" Magistrate Xia thought silently.
Of course, she couldn't reveal Mo Hua's identity, so she simply said,
"This matter is confidential. I cannot disclose it."
Xiao Tianquan quickly replied,
"I was out of line."
"Enough," Magistrate Xia cut the talk short with her usual decisive tone.
"Time is of the essence. Begin the operation now. Don't give the water bandits any chance to escape. Strike with thunderous force—exterminate them all!"
The officers bowed solemnly and replied in unison:
"Understood!"
Then, under the cover of night, dozens of concealed spirit boats began moving in an orderly fashion, weaving a massive net across the Yan Shui River to gradually encircle the island where the water bandits had holed up.
Step one: remove the sentries.
This had to be done silently, without even the slightest slip-up. So the task was left to Gu Changhuai and Magistrate Xia—two Golden Core cultivators.
The night grew darker. A water bandit on sentry duty near the island yawned drowsily.
The island was desolate, rarely visited by outsiders. After so long, the bandits had become lax, no longer on high alert.
Just as the sentry yawned, a pale hand suddenly clamped over his mouth.
His eyes went wide in shock, but before he could shout, a swordtip burst from his chest. Wind-type spiritual power followed the blade into his body, slicing through his organs and meridians into a shredded mess.
The bandit struggled briefly before his eyes dimmed and his life ended.
Gu Changhuai turned after killing the man, only to see that Magistrate Xia had already slit another sentry's throat with a short dagger.
A layer of icy frost coated her blade.
The moment she cut the man's throat, the frost sealed his mouth and nose, preventing any sound. Even his blood began to freeze in place.
Within seconds, the bandit's face turned purple, his body frozen solid—dead on the spot.
Gu Changhuai raised an eyebrow.
It was his first time seeing Magistrate Xia in action.
Silent, lethal, icy—just like her personality.
Mo Hua, watching from afar, was also surprised.
"Ice Spirit Root…"
It was his first time seeing a cultivator with an Ice Spirit Root.
Among spiritual roots, the common ones followed the Five Elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. There were also three uncommon ones: Wind, Ice, and Thunder.
Wind roots were rare but not unheard of—like Gu Changhuai.
But Ice roots were extremely rare. Mo Hua had only seen one—Magistrate Xia.
As for natural Thunder roots, capable of wielding terrifying lightning arts—they were rarer still.
With the sentries taken care of, Mo Hua led his team in placing trap arrays around the island's edges to entrap the enemy.
He placed fishing nets in the water.
These weren't ordinary nets. They were specially crafted—with arrays etched into them, barbed hooks, and coated with poison.
Once the traps were set, the group moved to the next spot.
Same pattern: Gu Changhuai and Magistrate Xia handled stealth kills to ensure the area was safe. Then Mo Hua's team laid down array formations and trap artifacts.
However, the island turned out to be larger than Mo Hua had estimated, and time was tight. The hastily crafted array cores weren't quite enough.
By the time they finished setting traps at six of the eight gates, over a hundred cores and trap tools had been used up.
Only two gates remained.
One was the Kan Gate, the path the bandits used to exit—and the Dao Court would use to storm in—so it didn't need trapping.
But the other was the Li Gate, directly opposite the Kan Gate. That one couldn't be ignored.
"I'll station men here," Magistrate Xia suggested.
Mo Hua thought for a moment and shook his head.
"We can't divide our forces. It'll disrupt the entire plan."
"Then… this gate—?"
"I have a solution," Mo Hua said.
He reached into his storage ring and pulled out several ugly-looking, foul-smelling blood pills, along with some fishy water algae.
He had prepared these in advance.
"These blood pills are refined from monster beast innards. They stink terribly—cultivators can't stand them—but monsters love them."
"And this algae, known as 'Fishstink Weed' by the fishermen back at that village, is also used to attract water beasts."
"If we don't have enough traps—we let the beasts do the job."
"We toss the blood pills and fishstink weed near the Li Gate. That'll bait the nearby water beasts to gather."
"That way, the Li Gate becomes an artificial 'Death Gate.'"
"If any bandits try to escape into the water through there, they'll find a swarm of water beasts waiting to eat them alive."
"No matter how well they swim, they won't survive. The moment they dive in—they're dead."
These water bandits could die—but they could not be allowed to escape.
Magistrate Xia paused, then gave Mo Hua a deep look before nodding.
"Alright."
She couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This young boy is… really clever.
He thought up such a method in so little time. A bit ruthless, maybe, but for a bunch of murderous water bandits—it's perfect.
Gu Changhuai, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all.
He knew this was something Mo Hua had likely prepared long ago.
In fact, using beasts to ambush enemies—this probably wasn't even Mo Hua's first time.
Someone had definitely fallen for this trick before…
With the plan finalized, Mo Hua began "chumming the water."
He tossed the Fishstink Weed and the monster-belly blood pills into the river.
The smell was horrendous.
Magistrate Xia instinctively covered her nose, then curiously asked:
"Are those pills… supposed to look like that? Why are they all lumpy and ugly like rotten dates?"
"No…" Mo Hua replied quietly.
"It's just because… I made them…"
His pill refinement skills were abysmal.
These weren't proper medicinal pills. He just threw together whatever he thought water beasts would like and haphazardly refined them into this hideous mess.
Mo Hua looked a bit helpless.
His array formations might look beautiful, but his pills… were just plain ugly. Not much he could do about it.
Magistrate Xia glanced at Mo Hua's clean, handsome face… then at the ugly lumps in his hand… and said nothing.
Once the bait was set, everything was finally in place.
Everyone crouched quietly among the aquatic plants, waiting for the Hour of the Boar (亥時) to arrive.
The night deepened.
A crescent moon hung at the edge of the sky—sharp as a blade, glinting with a chilling edge.
The air was heavy, thick with a killing aura.
After an unknown stretch of time, Gu Changhuai, who had been sitting with his eyes closed in meditation, suddenly opened them.
—There was a sound from the island.
A loud creak.
It was the sound of a large door swinging open.
Then came the sound of boats splashing into the water, mingled with coarse, raucous voices.
"Off to the hunt again…"
"Wonder what we'll bag tonight."
"Kill the men quick, I don't care. But be gentle with the women. Don't go chopping heads off with one stroke—ruins the appetite."
"You bastard, what—sexist now? Kill men, spare women?"
"Tch. Like you're any better."
…
More boats came. The voices grew louder.
Soon, a small group of around fifty to sixty water bandits had floated off the island in boats, stranded midway—neither fully departed nor anchored.
Suddenly—
A wind blade sliced through the mist.
A bald bandit who had been laughing loudly just a second ago was instantly decapitated—his head sent flying, blood spraying like a fountain, his body thudding lifelessly into the river.
The chatter stopped abruptly.
The entire area fell deathly silent.
Then, someone among the bandits gasped in horror:
"What the hell was that?!"
"Why's his head gone?!"
"Water demon ambush?!"
Darkness pressed in from all sides, river mist thickening—within it, an invisible killing intent began to seep forward.
Some of the more perceptive bandits finally sensed something was wrong.
"It's people—! We're being atta—!"
A short sword coated in icy spiritual energy slashed his throat.
His cry was cut off.
His blood froze.
His life was snuffed out in silence.
Behind him, Magistrate Xia wiped her blade clean, her face frosty and expression grim.
"Kill."
Her command was calm—but absolute.
Suddenly, cries of battle erupted all around.
The once empty and quiet water was now filled with the shadowy outlines of countless boats.
Each boat held about ten well-armed enforcers, all bristling with spiritual weapons and deadly intent.
At Magistrate Xia's order, they drew their long swords, leapt onto the bandits' boats, and began hacking.
Swords clashed. Blood flew.
In the blink of an eye, over a dozen bandits were killed.
Some were beheaded. Some had their arms severed. Others were stabbed through the heart—blood spilling like a spring, dying the river red.
The bandits were panicked.
"Ambush!"
"Shit!"
"Where'd these bastards come from?!"
"Standard-issue spiritual swords—they're from the damn Dao Court!"
Cursing and roaring, the bandits' ferocity flared.
They were outlaws, desperate men. Faced with blood and battle, their violent instincts surged to the surface.
They too drew their weapons—many of them blood-colored evil artifacts—and began to fight back.
But…
They were outnumbered, caught off guard, and on unstable water.
They didn't stand a chance against the prepared enforcers of the Dao Court.
Not to mention—two Golden Core cultivators, Gu Changhuai and Magistrate Xia, were leading the charge.
The bandits were quickly pushed back, one after another falling.
Some tried to flee toward the island—but were blocked by their own comrades still fighting behind them.
The chaos created a bottleneck. Trapped between enemies and allies, they could only flail around in panic, becoming easy pickings for the Dao Court's blades.
At the island's Kan Gate—a gate made of timber and stone, protected by formation inscriptions—the scene grew even bloodier.
Behind that gate was the heart of the bandits' lair.
The enforcers advanced relentlessly—each step claiming more lives.
"Quick! Close the gate!" someone shouted in terror.
"Those bastards are coming in!"
But as the gate started to shut, bandits still outside shouted in anger:
"Shut the gate, my ass! I'm still out here!"
As they argued and shoved—
Gu Changhuai arrived.
He drew a feather fan, summoned his spiritual energy, and waved—
Several razor-sharp wind blades burst forth, instantly shredding several bandits.
Then, in a flash, Gu Changhuai leapt forward, body like a gust of wind, charging through the gate.
The bandits inside tried to surround him.
But they were merely Foundation Establishment cultivators, albeit bloodstained killers—still, in direct combat, they were no match for someone like Gu Changhuai, a true elite raised in a powerful clan.
Magistrate Xia followed right behind, icy sword glinting, freezing and slicing throats as she went.
In mere moments, the Kan Gate was covered in corpses.
Gu Changhuai activated his spiritual energy and, following Mo Hua's prior instructions, forcefully broke through the formations inside the gate.
With the formations gone, the gate—just stone and wood—crumbled instantly.
The entrance to the bandits' lair lay wide open.
More than 400 Dao Court enforcers, eyes sharp and blades drawn, surged in like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves.
It was now exactly midnight (子時).
Inside the bandits' stronghold, the Eight Gates began their rotation.
The enforcers stormed in.
The bandits resisted.
Then, just as Mo Hua had predicted—they began fleeing in different directions, guided by the shifting of the Eight Gates…
Everything was happening just as planned.
But Mo Hua didn't go in.
He stayed on his hidden boat, away from the chaos.
A full-on cultivator melee was still too dangerous.
He poured himself a small cup of sweet lychee wine, squinted his eyes, and drank slowly, calmly.
Meanwhile, in the stronghold, the battle raged fiercer than ever.
And the stench of blood thickened with each passing moment…
(End of this Chapter)