233 Rescue_1
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The number of cultivators coming from outside Tongxian City had been gradually increasing.
Two months later, Mo Hua sat on a boulder in Inner Mountain, looking at the Compass Disk in his hand and furrowing his brow.
Before, when light spots appeared on the compass, Mo Hua rushed over only to find that most of the time it was Monster Hunters hunting Monster Beasts, or Monster Beasts fighting for territory—seldom were there cultivators fighting to the death.
Occasionally, there were some unfamiliar Monster Hunters, who dressed differently and practiced Taoist skills and used Spiritual Artifacts that were unlike those from Tongxian City, presumably from afar, but they were few in number and rarely encountered.
But now it was different.
In the Inner Mountain of Big Black Mountain, Mo Hua often saw unfamiliar faces.
The light on the Compass Disk indicating battles had greatly increased, many involving outside cultivators.
Conflicts between cultivators were also suddenly on the rise.
Some disputes were over Monster Beasts, others were sparked by mere verbal disagreements that escalated into physical confrontations, and there were even cultivators who were clearly looking to cause trouble.
What was even worse was the naked robbery and murder!
Mo Hua once came across a cargo cart, its goods gone, surrounded by bloodstains and the scattered limbs of cultivators.
From the looks of the nearby signs, it was evident that a group of merchants had been ambushed by cultivators, their goods taken, with all the people killed.
Subsequently, Monster Beasts attracted by the scent of blood came and consumed the corpses.
The sight was chaotic, the state of death was tragic.
Mo Hua felt unsettled as he looked on, his heart aching with compassion, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
The days to come in Inner Mountain were likely to be anything but peaceful.
Fortunately, the Monster Hunters from Tongxian City were gradually growing stronger, with more hands and mostly clad in iron armor, wielding first-grade blades, standing out amongst the several nearby Immortal Cities in strength.
These foreign cultivators wouldn’t dare to provoke the local Monster Hunters so easily.
But what the future held was uncertain.
However, let Elder Yu worry about these things; Mo Hua decided instead to save up some Spiritual Ink, practice his formations, enhance his Divine Sense, and see if he could achieve Foundation Establishment.
Mo Hua gathered his thoughts and then ate some dried meat and drank some juice fermented from wild fruits.
This juice had been chilled by the Cold Air Formation, giving it a sour, sweet, and icy taste as he drank.
Mo Hua felt much better.
After a while, the Compass Disk lit up again, and Mo Hua packed his things and, using the Water Passing Step, made his way nimbly through the forest and over the rocks.
From a great distance, Mo Hua released his Divine Sense, took a simple sweep, and felt somewhat disappointed.
It was another cultivators’ fight.
Mo Hua sighed.
Generally, Mo Hua did not interfere in brawls between cultivators.
He was only at the Qi Refining seventh level, and the only attack spell he knew was the Fireball Technique; though he was quite proficient in the Water Passing Step and self-preservation wasn’t a problem, he had little desire to invite trouble.
Moreover, disputes among cultivators were often such that merely passing by and glancing over did not make it easy to discern right from wrong.
Those in a weaker position were not necessarily the good ones, and those in a dominant position were not necessarily bad ones.
Those with fierce appearances were not necessarily villains, and those with kind-looking faces were even less likely to be good folks.
As the saying goes, “Appearances are deceiving.”
Mo Hua decided to do as he always did, take a sneak peek for a moment or two—after all, he had nothing else to do at the moment.
With his Divine Sense, cultivators at the stage of Qi Refinement would not be able to detect him at all.
Mo Hua climbed onto a rocky area, concealed his breath, and surreptitiously peered out from behind the vegetation.
On the rugged and narrow mountain path, two groups of cultivators were engaged in combat.
The cultivators of both sides were mostly at the later stages of Qi Refinement.
One side consisted of only four people: three men and a woman at a disadvantage, desperately defending several boxes of luggage.
The other side had seven people, dressed in various outfits and with unfamiliar faces, and they were assaulting the small group of four cultivators.
Furthermore, their onslaught was getting fiercer by the minute, and it seemed the four cultivators wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
Robbery?
Mo Hua frowned and continued to look on, soon realizing that something was amiss.
Those four cultivators, he seemed to recognize them.
“`
A middle-aged cultivator, with a few faint scars on his face, had a good relationship with his father, Mo Shan, and had even made a special trip to visit the Mo Hua family.
Mo Hua remembered his name was Ji Qingbai; she called him Uncle Ji.
The young, scholarly-looking cultivator beside him was Ji Qingbai’s son, named Ji Li.