The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 1119 (Patreon)

Chapter 1119: Thanks

The surroundings fell deathly silent.

Everyone stared in shock, at a loss for words.

None of them had expected that Elder Duan of the Gray Wolf Sect—dignified, Foundation Establishment—would be killed in the blink of an eye. A single Fireball pierced his chest, fired by the fair, pure-looking youth before them, a boy who seemed harmless to man and beast alike.

What terrifying cultivation.

What a horrifying Fireball.

Who in the world was this youth?

Elder Sun of the Gray Wolf Sect, who had held back until now, looked at Mo Hua with wary eyes and asked in a low voice, “Sir, what is your background?”

Mo Hua said, “Just a passerby, a kindhearted cultivator.”

Elder Sun’s gaze cooled. He cursed Mo Hua’s slipperiness in his heart, but the memory of that Fireball made him too afraid to act rashly.

He didn’t even dare blame Mo Hua for Elder Duan’s death.

He feared that if he pressed the issue, this young cultivator would take a dark turn and want to “silence witnesses.”

Elder Sun merely cupped his hands. “This was all a misunderstanding. The grievance is settled. Let’s keep to our own wells and rivers and go our separate ways.”

He said it lightly.

Mo Hua shook his head. “What you’re really thinking is to placate me first, lull me into carelessness, then report back to the Gray Wolf Sect and bring more cultivators to kill me, isn’t it?”

Elder Sun’s heart gave a heavy thump, though his face forced calm. “This matter has nothing to do with me. How would I dare make trouble for you…”

But while he spoke, his palm secretly hooked a wolf-claw dart. Seeing Mo Hua briefly lost in thought, he flicked his wrist and sent the poison-tempered dart shooting toward Mo Hua’s heart with a hidden burst of force.

“Young master, look out!”

Chief Escort Luo knew some of the Gray Wolf Sect’s dirty killing moves. The instant Elder Sun struck, he called out a warning.

But by the time he spoke, it was already too late.

The dart traced a streak of purple-black light and was upon Mo Hua’s chest.

“Hit?!”

Elder Sun’s expression lit with joy, but in the next instant his face went chalk white.

He saw the youth’s body sway like water. With a gentle ripple he slipped past the vicious hidden weapon.

Looking again, he saw that same youth, face cold, fair fingers pointing at him as he said mildly:

“You wanted to kill me?”

Elder Sun felt his soul fly apart. He babbled, “A misunderstanding—an old man’s slip of the hand—please don’t hold it against me…”

He had already turned to run as he said “slip.”

He hadn’t gone far before a bloody red light flashed at the edge of his vision. Searing pain tore through his right leg; his movement faltered, and he fell headlong.

Looking down, Elder Sun found his right leg blasted away by a Fireball.

The wound was charred black, with a thread of baleful aura within that chilled his heart.

This Fireball was simply too fast—and far too strong…

Seeing the Foundation Establishment Elder Duan killed, and the powerful Elder Sun felled by a single Fireball, the remaining Gray Wolf Sect disciples trembled all over and bolted in panic.

Mo Hua glanced at Chief Escort Luo.

Chief Escort Luo blinked, then instantly understood and shouted, “Catch them—don’t let them get away!”

He was the first to act, grabbing the ringed saber from the ground and slashing out a blade aura. With one stroke he dropped a Gray Wolf Sect disciple.

The other escort chiefs and escorts, though injured, also moved against the rest.

Their cultivation was weaker; under normal circumstances they weren’t a match for Gray Wolf disciples. But dragging things out for a moment or two was no problem.

In that brief span, Chief Escort Luo and Ying Niang came up, ringed saber and soft sword weaving, and put down the remaining five peak Qi Refining Gray Wolf disciples.

Even so, none of them dared deliver killing blows.

The Gray Wolf Sect wasn’t an enemy a small escort bureau could afford to offend.

The captured disciples were bound and thrown to the ground.

Elder Sun, his right leg charred away by a Fireball, was also pressed down by Chief Escort Luo.

On the surface, the situation was safe.

But Chief Escort Luo’s heart clenched. From years of hard knocks in Gray Wolf City, he knew that what came next was the most troublesome part.

These people could not be killed. Kill them, and it would be a death-feud with the Gray Wolf Sect.

Nor could they be released. Let them go and it would be “releasing the tiger back to the mountain”—disaster would come all the same.

Whether to kill or release—neither was a way out.

Chief Escort Luo was caught between choices, anxiety gnawing at him. He looked toward Mo Hua and asked in a low voice, “Young master, what do you think we should…”

Mo Hua pondered a moment and sighed. “I am not someone who kills the innocent indiscriminately…”

Chief Escort Luo nodded slowly.

Mo Hua continued, “So kill them all.”

Chief Escort Luo froze. “Didn’t you just say you don’t kill indiscriminately?”

Mo Hua said, “I said I don’t kill the ‘innocent.’ These people aren’t innocent.”

Chief Escort Luo paused, then nodded.

The Gray Wolf Sect was a local tyrant, its conduct domineering. Its disciples had done no small number of vile deeds. They hardly counted as “innocent.”

Mo Hua brought two fingers together and condensed a Fireball, but in the next instant he snuffed the spell, lowered his hand, and turned to Chief Escort Luo, saying evenly:

“I’m a little ‘soft-hearted.’ I don’t much like killing with my own hands.”

He was a bit wary of a backlash from accumulated baleful aura.

Chief Escort Luo instantly grasped what Mo Hua meant.

Young Master Mo was asking that they “share weal and woe.”

He had personally killed Elder Duan, a Foundation Establishment elder of the Gray Wolf Sect. That was to offend the sect to the core.

Since that was so, they had to stain their hands with Gray Wolf blood as well, to earn his trust.

If there was killing, everyone needed to have a share.

Chief Escort Luo felt a chill inside.

But then he thought: though Elder Duan died at Young Master Mo’s hand, the root of the trouble lay with his own escort bureau—and with his daughter.

By that reckoning, it was Young Master Mo who had drawn his blade to right a wrong and helped the Luo family’s escort bureau.

Now that Young Master Mo had killed Elder Duan and offended the Gray Wolf Sect—

How could he possibly wash his hands of it and leave Young Master Mo in a perilous position?

Besides, the Gray Wolf Sect’s lot deserved to die.

Chief Escort Luo gritted his teeth. Anger rose in his eyes as he hefted the ringed saber and strode toward Elder Sun.

Elder Sun was aghast.

Previously, as a Gray Wolf Sect elder, his status was lofty. He had nothing but disdain for this “wild” Foundation Establishment who’d clawed his way up alone, and he had never shown Chief Escort Luo a pleasant face.

Now, though, seeing Chief Escort Luo approach with that great blade, Elder Sun felt fear at last. “Chief Escort Luo, we can talk this out. If you kill me, you’ll completely offend the Gray Wolf Sect. Think it through.”

Seeing the killing intent on Chief Escort Luo’s face, Elder Sun secretly palmed a wolf-poison dart, trying to launch a sneak attack—only for Mo Hua to send a Fireball that blasted his right arm useless.

Chief Escort Luo had already come up. He raised the blade high and, under the elder’s horrified gaze, took Elder Sun’s head.

Elder Sun died then and there.

Chief Escort Luo turned and said to the escorts, “Come here. Each of you, take a stab.”

The men of the bureau hesitated, but remembering the Gray Wolf Sect’s tyranny and today’s humiliation, they drew blades one after another and hacked at Elder Sun.

After that, the escort corps cut down the rest of the Gray Wolf Sect disciples.

Thus, two elders and several peak Qi Refining disciples of the Gray Wolf Sect were completely wiped out.

Corpses lay across the ground, blood soaking into the mud.

Chief Escort Luo looked at all this, his expression distant—part exultation at rising to resist after long oppression, part shock and dread at taking lives, and part confusion and fear for what the future now held.

He sighed and cupped his hands to Mo Hua. “Young master, this is as far as we can take you. We can’t return to Gray Wolf City. From here on, it’s life on the road. We’ll meet again if fate allows.”

Mo Hua was surprised. “You’re not going back to Gray Wolf City?”

Chief Escort Luo’s expression was complicated.

This Young Master Mo looked pure and guileless, yet acted with crisp, ruthless decisiveness.

Though ruthless in action, his way of speaking still carried a clear… innocence.

“We killed people from the Gray Wolf Sect,” Chief Escort Luo said. “If we go back, we’re throwing ourselves into the net. Not even a burial for our bones.”

Even if they reported it to the Dao Court, it would still be their fault.

Besides, the Dao Court couldn’t restrain the Gray Wolf Sect.

Mo Hua nodded, then asked, “And your business in Gray Wolf City?”

Chief Escort Luo’s heart ached, but he was helpless. “Let it go. As long as we’re alive, we can build again somewhere else…”

Mo Hua nodded. Chief Escort Luo was indeed a clear-headed man, and decent in conduct.

Mo Hua said, “It’s fine. Go back to the city. Throwing your business away is a pity; starting from nothing is easier said than done.”

Chief Escort Luo gave him a plaintive look and repeated, “We killed people from the Gray Wolf Sect…”

Mo Hua waved it off. “You don’t say it, I won’t say it, and no one will know. Besides…”

Mo Hua spoke with utter conviction. “If no one knows we killed them, then we didn’t kill them.”

Chief Escort Luo was dumbfounded.

How could this little brother state such ridiculous logic with such righteousness?!

Yet when he thought carefully, somehow… that did seem to make sense?

“But…” Ying Niang hesitated. “We left so many traces…”

“No problem,” Mo Hua said with confidence. “We’ll ‘destroy the corpses and erase the traces’…”

He was very familiar with this sort of thing.

Mo Hua tossed out a few Fireballs and gave all the corpses a simple “cremation.”

Then he laid down formations. The soil around them churned into flowing sand, covering the blood and scorch marks.

He melted the entire hillside, triggering a man-made “landslide,” pushing everything over the cliff.

Just like that, all was scattered to the winds and sand.

The evidence and karma were buried at the foot of the mountain.

The escort bureau’s cultivators were all dumbstruck.

They hadn’t imagined there was someone in this world who used the Fireball Technique and formations like this…

Fireballs to burn the bodies; formations to bury them.

With a gaze that mixed “reverence” and “fear,” Chief Escort Luo looked at Mo Hua and asked softly, “Young master, forgive my boldness… what did you do before this…”

Why was he so practiced at destroying bodies and erasing traces?

Mo Hua answered without missing a beat, “Nothing much. I have an uncle surnamed Gu who serves in the Dao Court. I learned these methods from him.”

“The Dao Court…”

Chief Escort Luo understood.

This was family tradition—a proper inheritance.

Not the habits of a man addicted to killing.

He quietly breathed out in relief.

Mo Hua said, “Come into the city with me. Pretend nothing happened. As long as you don’t leak a word, the Gray Wolf Sect won’t trace it to you.”

Chief Escort Luo felt a bit steadier, though worry still lingered.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that killing a Gray Wolf elder and disciples one moment, then swaggering into the city the next, required nerves of steel.

Mo Hua read his thoughts and said, “This is called doing the reverse of expectation. The most dangerous move often proves the safest—so long as your thinking is meticulous and your guts are big enough, there’s nothing you can’t do.”

For some reason, Chief Escort Luo felt that no matter how outrageous the words, once they came out of Mo Hua’s mouth, they all sounded perfectly reasonable.

He couldn’t help nodding.

“Also,” Mo Hua added to reassure him, “I told you I have acquaintances in the Gray Wolf Sect. They invited me to join them, with the highest courtesy.”

“This acquaintance has very high status and strong connections.”

“You come into the city with me, and in the eyes of the Gray Wolf Sect you’ll count as half ‘our own.’ They won’t suspect you.”

Chief Escort Luo finally relaxed and nodded. “All right.”

Even so, they didn’t continue toward the northwest gate, so as not to arouse suspicion.

They looped through the mountains instead, letting the mountain wind wash the smell of blood and violence from their bodies and settling their minds. Then, like nothing had happened, they entered Gray Wolf City through the north gate.

At the city gate, Gray Wolf Sect disciples were still conducting inspections.

The convoy was stopped.

Chief Escort Luo felt uneasy, but Mo Hua had already changed his face and tone. Chin high, an air of arrogance about him, he casually flicked a token to a Gray Wolf Sect disciple.

The disciple was annoyed at first, but as soon as he saw the token his face changed. He bowed respectfully to Mo Hua. “We did not realize you were a honored guest of the Sect Master. Please forgive us.”

A stir ran through the crowd. Chief Escort Luo’s scalp prickled.

The Sect Master’s… honored guest?

This “acquaintance” of Young Master Mo’s was actually the Gray Wolf Sect’s Sect Master.

The Sect Master himself had invited Young Master Mo to take a post in the sect?

So Young Master Mo’s backing was this great?

Except…

Chief Escort Luo’s expression grew even more complex.

After a while, a Gray Wolf Sect elder came in person and cupped his hands to Mo Hua. “Young master, please move to the rear hall for tea. The Sect Master will personally come to receive you shortly.”

The Sect Master would personally come to receive him?!

Chief Escort Luo was aghast.

Mo Hua, however, acted as if it were nothing, a man used to big scenes. He merely nodded with a hint of hauteur and pointed to Chief Escort Luo and the others. “These are my friends. Do not slight them.”

The Gray Wolf elder cupped his hands. “Yes.” He gestured. “Please.”

Mo Hua and Chief Escort Luo’s group followed him into the city and were arranged in a hall with tea.

The elder offered a few perfunctory courtesies, then withdrew, leaving Mo Hua unbothered.

Seeing the hall spacious and quiet, with no one else around, Chief Escort Luo opened his mouth more than once, but, wary of something, forced himself to hold his tongue.

Mo Hua swept his divine sense around, then turned back and said to Chief Escort Luo, “There’s no one nearby, and no ears behind the walls. If you have something to say, speak plainly.”

Chief Escort Luo hesitated, then said slowly, “Young Master Mo… you know the Gray Wolf Sect’s Sect Master?”

Mo Hua nodded. “He’s the one who invited me.”

Chief Escort Luo’s expression turned oddly indescribable.

Mo Hua said, “No need to worry. I know the Sect Master. Two elders dying—so long as we don’t say anything—no one will blame us.”

“No…” Chief Escort Luo lowered his voice. “Do you know the Sect Master’s surname?”

Mo Hua blinked.

Chief Escort Luo gave a bitter smile. “The Gray Wolf Sect’s Sect Master’s surname is Duan. That Elder Duan just now… was his nephew.”

Mo Hua’s expression became… rather interesting.

“You could have mentioned that earlier…”

“You didn’t ask, and I didn’t know there was that sort of relationship…” Chief Escort Luo said wryly.

Mo Hua let out a helpless sigh.

The Sect Master of the Gray Wolf Sect had invited him to serve in the sect.

And the first thing Mo Hua did at the city gate was kill the Sect Master’s flesh-and-blood nephew?

Mo Hua thought a moment. His face smoothed over again and he said calmly, “No matter. Since it wasn’t us who killed him, it doesn’t matter who the dead man is…”

Chief Escort Luo had no idea what to say.

He snuck a glance up at Mo Hua.

After killing the Golden Core Sect Master’s own nephew, Young Master Mo strode into the city anyway, was treated as a guest of honor by the Gray Wolf Sect, and was about to meet the Sect Master face to face.

Chief Escort Luo felt shock—and utter admiration.

Most important of all, the young man’s bearing never wavered. Not a flicker on his face to give anything away.

Calm in great matters.

So young, yet so composed—he was bound to accomplish great things.

Chief Escort Luo marveled inwardly.

What he didn’t know was that Mo Hua had already grasped the method of the Heart-Demon Seed. He could play with others’ hearts—and his own.

If he wanted to fool others, he had to fool himself first.

So long as he believed he hadn’t killed anyone, he truly would count himself as having killed no one.

The karmic cause was there, but at least nothing could be read from his face.

Mo Hua was utterly at ease. Chief Escort Luo, however, was not.

He couldn’t help feeling guilty. And the thought that he was about to meet the third-grade Gray Wolf Sect’s Golden Core Sect Master, a man like a ravenous tiger or wolf whose very name inspired dread, made his legs tremble and cold sweat trickle down his back.

Mo Hua said, “Relax. Don’t be nervous. This is a small scene.”

Chief Escort Luo’s nerves were taut. “Young Master Mo, when the time comes… what should I say?”

Mo Hua kept it simple. “You don’t need to say much. Just say you escorted me to Gray Wolf City. That’s all.”

Chief Escort Luo was uneasy. “Will that really work?”

Mo Hua nodded. “Don’t worry. Not only will he not suspect you, he might even thank you.”

Chief Escort Luo could only smile bitterly.

Another half hour passed. Just as Chief Escort Luo felt needles under his seat, footsteps sounded outside the hall.

A man in a wolf-fur cloak stepped in with long strides—cultivation deep, expression stern and shadowed, eyes cutting like an eagle’s. The air of the hall sank under his presence.

Mo Hua rose and saluted. “Sect Master, long time no see.”

The Gray Wolf Sect’s Sect Master showed a smile that was dignified yet not without warmth. “Brother Mo, forgive me for failing to welcome you from afar.”

Mo Hua smiled as well. “Forgive my unannounced visit. I hope you won’t mind, Sect Master.”

The Sect Master shook his head. “Your coming is what I hoped for, Brother Mo. Immortal-Passage City is too small a place. How could a dragon among men like you hide in a corner and waste such talent?”

Mo Hua cupped his hands. “You flatter me, Sect Master.”

The two chatted and laughed, leaving everyone present—including many Gray Wolf cultivators—quietly astonished.

The Sect Master was notoriously ruthless; he almost never smiled.

Those who could make him treat them with such courtesy were few and far between in the whole of Gray Wolf City.

After exchanging a few reminiscences with Mo Hua, the Sect Master took the upper seat. His sharp gaze flicked to Chief Escort Luo.

Chief Escort Luo shuddered.

The pressure of a Golden Core was not something a mere early Foundation Establishment cultivator could bear.

All the more so when he had just killed a Gray Wolf elder and six disciples outside the city.

The Sect Master said coolly, “And this is… the chief of the Luo Family Escort Bureau?”

Chief Escort Luo hurriedly stood and bowed. “Yes.”

The Sect Master’s eyes narrowed slightly, doubt in his look. “Chief Escort Luo, why are you with Young Master Mo?”

“Young Master Mo… didn’t know the way. By chance we met near the border of the Small Realm’s state, and he returned to Gray Wolf City with our convoy.”

Chief Escort Luo’s heart pounded, but he recited what Mo Hua had taught him.

The Sect Master scanned him, saw that he trembled under the weight of his aura and looked uneasy—perfectly normal—and after a moment’s thought, he nodded slightly and said with approval:

“In that case… many thanks, Chief Escort Luo.”

…Thanked…

Chief Escort Luo went blank, unsure how he ought to react.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed Mo Hua’s deadpan logic and “innocent” arson today, you’re my kind of reader. If you can, please consider supporting the translation on Patreon—it seriously keeps this going and I will be eternally grateful. Also, a quick rating or review on NovelUpdates helps new readers find the series; your few words make a huge difference!

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