"Little gentleman, will you stay to play for a while, or..."
"It's getting late, I should head home," Mo Hua said.
This statement made perfect sense coming from Mo Hua, but hearing it in a brothel at that time felt rather odd.
Elder Su expressed his regret, "Alright then."
Mo Hua saw the look of unfulfilled desire on his face and whispered:
"How about this, we head back first, and Elder Su, you can stay a while longer?"
Elder Su seemed tempted but hurriedly shook his head:
"No, no, no, what kind of person do you take me for? I'm not familiar with this place and there's nothing... no real fun to be had here..."
Elder Su said insincerely.
Mo Hua looked at Elder Su with a smile that was not quite a smile.
Feeling Mo Hua's gaze, Elder Su felt somewhat sheepish.
Soon, the group left Hundred Flower Tower, with Elder Su looking a bit downcast along the way.
This was his first experience of such "virtuous conduct," passing through fields of flowers untouched.
To thank Elder Su, Mo Hua presented him with some rare Formation Diagrams.
Elder Su was somewhat shocked, "Is this for me?"
Mo Hua nodded. "It's the least I can do."
Only then did Elder Su cheer up, forgetting all about the flirtatious beauties as he flipped through the Formation Diagrams, unable to put them down.
As they walked, Mo Hua suddenly asked Elder Su:
"Elder, the girls in Hundred Flower Tower, are they all pretty miserable?"
Elder Su paused, and the smile on his face gradually faded.
He sighed. "Yes, they are."
"Most of them come from the mines, sold into the brothel, lives adrift like duckweed, rarely meeting a good end. Even if one wanted to help, it's not feasible..."
Curious, Mo Hua asked, "Have you thought about helping them?"
Elder Su nodded and then looked rather embarrassed, "Although I do have personal desires and occasionally linger here, it's always consensual, and I cannot bear to see them treated so poorly."
"But I cannot help them."
"Even if I could, I might only help one or two. With so many brothels on Jinhua Street and so many female cultivators, I can't help everyone..."
"Besides, even if I could help them, it would be futile."
Elder Su sighed again.
"Why is that?" Mo Hua queried.
Elder Su pointed to the dark mines in the distance, his tone grave:
"The root of these brothels is not on this street but in the mines."
"As long as the Mining Cultivators in the mines remain impoverished, forced to sell their sons and daughters, these brothels will stand forever, never lacking female cultivators..."
"Of course, there are those who have fallen willingly, who do not cherish themselves, but they are a minority."
"The majority of female cultivators abhor this life, not wishing to spend their days in such a quagmire..."
Elder Su took a deep breath, sounding somewhat powerless:
"But this isn't a problem Foundation Building Cultivators can resolve."
Mo Hua's gaze flickered as if contemplating something.
Then he praised, "Elder Su, you are a good man."
Elder Su smiled and nodded, but after a moment, he paused, then quickly shook his head:
"No, no, it's not that, it has nothing to do with me, all this is something I heard from a 'Taoist Friend'..."
Mo Hua said, "This 'Taoist Friend' you spoke of..."
Elder Su waved his hand, "It's not me, not me..."
...
The issue of the brothel couldn't be solved for now, and Mo Hua decided to focus on tracking down the grey-clothed cultivator.
After parting with Elder Su, Mo Hua and the three gathered in their cave dwelling to discuss.
"Should we slaughter that grey-clothed cultivator?" Bai Zisheng asked.
Mo Hua clenched his small hand, "Capture first, interrogate next, then execute!"
"It's difficult to capture a Foundation Establishment, isn't it?"
Mo Hua nodded, "It's a bit tricky, just the three of us."
"So what do you plan to do?" Bai Zisheng asked.
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then whispered conspiratorially, "We report it to the Taoist Court Official..."
"Report?"
"Yes." Mo Hua said assertively, "This man hires killers and traffics bodies, violating the Taoist Law, utterly sinful. It's natural to report it to the Taoist Court Official. They'll capture him; why should we exert the effort?"
Bai Zisheng said, "But if the Taoist Court Official catches him, won't we be unable to find out the information?"
"We won't," Mo Hua said mysteriously, "The Taoist Court has our people!"
Bai Zixi was somewhat puzzled, "Our people... do you mean Sister Situ? She can't really be considered 'our people'..." Read new adventures at empire
"Whether she is or not doesn't matter; the result is the same."
As long as the Court Officials can extract the information, by asking Situ Fang, he would surely know everything clearly.
With their good relationship, Situ Fang would definitely not hide anything from him.
So, ending up in the hands of the Court is as good as being caught by them.
Bai Zisheng then asked, "What if the Taoist Court Official can't capture him?"
Mo Hua said in a low voice, "Then we'll just have to let the snipe and the clam fight, and reap the benefits like the fisherman..."