Bai Zixi glanced at Mo Hua, wiped away the little faces on the ground, and then said, "Let's go."
"Okay."
Mo Hua nodded his head and looked at the ground one more time before leaving.
One more smiling face remained on the ground, its lines simple, the strokes natural, and the smile sketched at the corners of the mouth, innocent and pure.
Just looking at it made one's heart overflow with joy.
Mo Hua couldn't help but wonder, what was Senior Sister thinking while drawing these little faces?
What expression did she wear as she drew them?
Was it like these little faces, also with a smile at the corners of her mouth?
What did Senior Sister look like when she smiled?
Mo Hua was a bit distracted.
"Junior Brother?"
Bai Zixi turned her head and saw Mo Hua standing still, so she called out to him.
"Oh."
Mo Hua came back to his senses, squinting his eyes as he smiled, and with a movement technique, quickly followed her.
After leaving the Corpse Walking Stronghold, Mo Hua found Situ Fang.
Bai Zisheng had already informed Situ Fang of the situation.
Situ Fang said, "I've written back to the Clan and informed Elder Jin about this matter too. The Clan has also agreed to the eradication of the Corpse Walking Stronghold…"
"This will be under the name of the Taoist Court, but in fact, the people we'll use are from my Situ Family."
Mo Hua nodded.
The Taoist Court's forces were unreliable, and to eradicate the Corpse Walking Stronghold, the Taoist Court's manpower would definitely be insufficient.
But the Situ Family…
Mo Hua then asked, "How many Cultivators will the Situ Family deploy?"
"Over two hundred," Situ Fang replied.
Mo Hua was surprised, "That many?"
South Yue City was only a little Immortal City, and Situ Fang was there only for training, yet she was able to mobilize so many Cultivators.
And these were not ordinary Cultivators, but those skilled in battle, ready for the eradication mission, proficient in Taoist Skills.
Situ Fang explained, "I utilized my father's connections."
Mo Hua wondered, "Isn't this... a bit of an overkill?"
"That's over two hundred cultivators, not too bad, right..." Situ Fang said.
"No," Mo Hua thought for a moment and then spoke more frankly:
"This matter doesn't actually benefit the Situ Family much, does it..."
Clans have vastly different family traditions.
Some clans are undoubtedly profit-driven, exploiting and bullying others with their power.
But there are also families with upright traditions, whose members loathe evil—should any family member deviate from ancestral teachings and make a mistake, they would be severely punished.
In more extreme cases, they would be expunged from the family records and expelled from the clan.
Even if the Situ Family is particularly upright in its conduct, it's unlikely they would mobilize so many people for something as unrelated as the Corpse Walking Stronghold in South Yue City.
Situ Fang hesitated briefly and decided there was no need to hide the truth, and thus she said to Mo Hua:
"It's not of much benefit to the Situ Family, but it's beneficial to me."
Mo Hua was somewhat puzzled.
Then Situ Fang explained:
"The status of a clan's disciples isn't determined solely by their cultivation or talent."
"Cultivation through personal experiences is actually a form of assessment."
"Whoever performs well during these experiences, achieves great merit, and makes significant contributions is more valued, and their future status within the clan will also be higher,"
"This time, it was my father thinking of my future, who used his connections to mobilize some clan manpower."
"Eliminating the Corpse Walking Stronghold—if I can earn merit in this, the Situ Family will bypass the Taoist Court's officials in South Yue City and report directly to the Taoist Court."
Of course, this is only part of the reason.
Situ Fang glanced at Mo Hua and the other two.
The willingness of her father to agree was, to a certain extent, influenced by Mo Hua's three's presence.
A Formation Master with boundless prospects and two children from great clans—even if not consciously courting their favor, it was necessary to cultivate a good relationship with them.
Thinking of this, Situ Fang said with a bit of shame: