Mo Hua held the compass, swaying until noon. When hunger struck, he sprawled in the grass eating the beef his mother had made.
While eating, Mo Hua suddenly sensed some movement. Looking up through the blades of grass, he saw several cultivators walking this way from a distance.
Their attire didn’t resemble that of Monster Hunters.
Mo Hua’s expression tensed as he lay down and stealthily released his Divine Sense.
His Divine Sense detected three people approaching—two men and one woman—all in the late stages of Qi Refinement, their spiritual power subtle and elusive, hard to probe. They seemed to be arguing about something.
Mo Hua pricked up his ears, listening with curiosity.
“…Been searching for days, found nothing…” a man’s voice came intermittently.
“Be patient… that person is extremely cunning…”
“…Despicable and shameless… If we catch him, I will tear him to pieces…” A woman’s voice this time.
Who are they talking about? Surely not Uncle Zhao…
Mo Hua held his breath and concentrated, listening carefully.
The three people were getting closer, and their voices became clearer. Among them was a voice that Mo Hua found somewhat familiar.
“…If we still can’t find him, you two should go back first,” said the man who was leading the group.
“I won’t go back!” the woman protested.
“So this is the capability of the Taoist Court from Tongxian City? Can’t even find one person?” the other man said, his tone somewhat mocking.
“That thief is all too familiar with Big Black Mountain. It’s like looking for a needle in the ocean, trying to find him like this.”
“We must fish out that needle from the ocean…”
“You’re not local cultivators; you don’t understand. Big Black Mountain is riddled with Monster Beasts, exceedingly dangerous…”
“It’s just a Second Grade state boundary’s monster-infested mountain. How dangerous can it be?”
“Only the ignorant are fearless…”
“Hmph, I’m not like you, so cowardly! In this mountain, whether it’s Monster Beasts or that thief, I’ll slay each one I see…”
The man in front stopped suddenly, sneering:
“Stop bragging. You’ve been watched for quite a while and haven’t even noticed?”
“What are you talking about?”
“What surveillance?”
After a moment of silence, the man abruptly drew his sword and pointed it toward the bushes where Mo Hua was hiding, saying coldly:
“Stop hiding, come out!”
Upon hearing this, the other two were momentarily stunned, and then a fleeting look of horror flashed in their eyes. They both retreated half a step, drew their swords, and looked sternly in the direction the man’s sword pointed.
The mountain was rugged, the wild grass lush, but there was no sign of anything unusual.
The more it seemed so, the more frightened they became.
The sword-wielding man’s expression was stark, and he became cautious.
If he hadn’t momentarily used his Divine Sense and discovered an almost imperceptible figure in the grass, they would still be unaware they were being spied upon!
All three cultivators, in the late stage of Qi Refinement, were unaware that someone had been scrutinizing them with Divine Sense all along!
The stronger the Divine Sense, the deeper the cultivation. Plus, being adept at concealment and crafty in tactics…
As this thought crossed the man with the sword’s mind, his back turned icy cold.
Realizing he had been discovered, Mo Hua in the bushes slowly stood up.
The three saw the grass stir slightly, and then a skinny figure appeared.
He had strange branches growing from his head and wore robes resembling those of a cultivator, but they were stained with large patches of grass juice, and his face was covered in grime, making it difficult to see clearly.
His spiritual power also seemed weak. No, it was more like he was deliberately concealing his aura.
“Is it a person? Or a Monster Beast?”
The tension on the face of the man with the sword intensified, a chill growing in his heart as he wondered whether to act.
Then he saw the creature, whether person or Monster Beast, wave at him and cheerfully called out:
“Uncle Zhang, long time no see!”
The sword-wielding man was stunned.
He recognized the voice, he also recognized that figure…
“Mo… Mo Hua?!”
“Mm-hmm,” Mo Hua nodded happily.
Zhang Lan was completely dumbstruck, and the sword in his hand clattered to the ground.