The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 1147 (Patreon)

Chapter 1147: Dried Fish

Those eyes, bright as bronze bells, searched the crowd of cultivators for that familiar figure.

Almost at the same time, the tall and imposing Young Master Tuoba also sensed the tiger demon’s abnormality. His expression turned cold, and his gaze—sharp as a blade—swept toward Mo Hua.

That gaze burned with anger.

Mo Hua could only lower his head further and edge behind a burly barbarian cultivator to hide.

In front of him, several scions of great clans and a few wilderness cultivators found themselves fixed under Young Master Tuoba’s stern stare. Terror gripped their hearts.

They had no idea what had happened. One after another, they bowed with clasped hands, backs bending lower and lower, their attitude so deferential it bordered on servility.

Young Master Tuoba looked over them one by one, and naturally his eyes passed over Mo Hua as well.

But Mo Hua was only a menial, head down, tray of tea in hand—so inconspicuous he was nearly invisible.

Young Master Tuoba did not spare him a second glance.

His attention remained on the “nobles” in front of Mo Hua, scrutinizing each of them in turn.

Just then, the great tiger seemed to catch sight of something. It couldn’t help but give a low roar. Demonic power burst from it by instinct, and the seals and chains binding its body trembled as if it meant to break free.

Eight peak-Foundation body-refining brutes could not hold it.

Dragged to and fro by the tiger, they swayed wildly, faces turning red with strain. The paving stones underfoot cracked inch by inch.

Young Master Tuoba’s face darkened. “Beast! Still won’t obey?!”

He drew a tiger-head-pattern Vajra whip and snapped it hard. The lash struck the great tiger’s flank and opened a bloody welt.

Fury flared in the tiger. It bunched to pounce at Young Master Tuoba.

The eight peak-Foundation brutes blanched and drove their blood qi to the limit. Muscles bulged, and they hauled on the golden chains with all their strength, binding the tiger’s four limbs.

Several Golden Core cultivators nearby also stepped in, faces cold, casting spells to pin the tiger to the ground.

Young Master Tuoba lashed it a few more times, then spoke half with resentment, half with spite:

“An ungrateful beast. This young master gives you a chance, and you refuse to submit—daring even to harbor ill intent toward me? You deserve a beating!”

The Vajra whip fell again and again.

The tiger demon would not yield, but under layer upon layer of chains and arrays and a press of Foundation and even Golden Core cultivators, it couldn’t break free. Before long it was flayed and bloody.

Mo Hua watched, his brows knitting.

Yet Young Master Tuoba was still not appeased. He kept striking until the great tiger finally lay sprawled, spirit listless and ferocity gone. Only then did he put away the tiger-head Vajra whip and give an order:

“Drag it off. Keep a close watch.”

“Yes!”

The eight Foundation brutes hauled the mangled tiger away.

Before it was taken out, the grievously wounded tiger slowly opened its eyes and cast a blank look in Mo Hua’s direction.

Its bell-like pupils trembled once, then closed again.

The fierce tiger demon was subdued, whipped, and led away.

A long trail of blood was left on the ground.

All around, cultivators fell silent as cicadas, not daring to make a sound.

Young Master Tuoba’s anger had not fully cooled. He couldn’t help glancing again toward where Mo Hua stood, puzzlement rising in his heart:

“What did this tiger see to make it act so out of character…?”

“On ordinary days it’s savage and irritable, with no good temper for anyone…”

A trace of inexplicable jealousy stirred in his chest.

But after looking for quite a while, he still could not pick out anyone among the crowd whose bearing was extraordinary enough to make a ‘king’ among beasts turn its head.

Confounded and increasingly irritable, his expression grew more frightening.

Knowing Young Master Tuoba’s moods were mercurial, everyone became all the more cautious, not daring to speak a word.

A moment later, Young Master Tuoba snorted. “Begin the beast bouts.”

Everyone let out a breath.

Everything proceeded as usual.

In the arena, demonic beasts began to tear each other apart. The stench of blood thickened.

Riled up by what they’d seen, the previously muted atmosphere gradually grew heated again.

Young Master Tuoba sat in the place of honor, watching coldly. He said nothing, but his face showed his sour mood.

Today had originally been his day to “fight the tiger” and “tame the tiger.” It had all fallen apart.

The more he thought on it, the more agitated he felt. He turned and slapped a steward across the face.

The steward covered his cheek, forced a smile, and kept pouring out flattery.

Mo Hua’s gaze cooled.

When a day of beast-fighting ended and the “nobles” departed, servants and slaves began clearing tables and teapots, tidying the viewing platforms, dealing with beast corpses and severed limbs, and washing away the blood.

Crouched on the ground, Mo Hua scrubbed at the nearly dried bloodstains of the tiger demon.

No one noticed him surreptitiously pouring the rinsed tiger blood into a small vial.

…

Night fell. Darkness pooled.

Servants and slaves went to sleep.

The arena lay deathly still, only the faint, stifled roars of beasts sounding now and then from the dark.

On his bed, Mo Hua opened his eyes.

He slipped lightly to the floor, took out a brazier, a wolf bone, and phosphorescent fire. Following the demon-bone divination of the Great Wilderness, he cast the lots. When the flames leapt and the wolf bone cracked with fissures, he placed the “tiger blood” taken during the day into the brazier.

Light and shadow flickered in the flame.

Threads of causality unfolded to Mo Hua’s sight.

Then the fire died. The wolf bone was riddled with cracks.

Mo Hua erased every trace, tapped a finger to undo the door’s lock array, and let his presence fade until he disappeared into the dark.

The beast prison of the arena at night was pitch-black and eerie.

Mo Hua moved through the cells like a man who knew every turn.

He had worked menial jobs in the outer compound and poured tea in the inner compound. Over these days, he had already mapped the prison’s layout down to the last detail.

He passed through the prison and the secret cells, turning seven times and eight, until he came at last to a blind wall.

In his karmic sight, strands of blood-thread pierced the wall and stretched farther within.

He spread out his divine sense and calculated, prying apart the arrays that sealed the area until their pattern lay bare in his mind.

The formation’s structure sketched itself within him.

Mo Hua drew a line with his finger and, guiding ink with divine sense, undid the array without a sound.

A hidden door opened.

He slipped inside, and the stronger scent of demon blood pricked his nose. It was exactly the same as the great tiger’s blood from daytime.

Mo Hua continued inward until he reached a special cell engraved with totems.

It was tightly warded: arrays everywhere, iron bars forged of refined steel, and a third-grade lock sealing the door fast.

The cell within was fairly spacious. A massive tiger demon, striped in black and white, lay sprawled there.

Its body was covered in scars.

Many of them had already scabbed—whether from medicine or from the sheer richness of its blood qi and its strong recovery.

The tiger lay with eyes closed. It had clearly been tormented a good deal; its spirit was in poor shape.

Looking at it, Mo Hua felt a nameless ache and let out a quiet sigh.

The sigh was very soft and, in the dim cell, barely noticeable.

But the tiger started violently, head lifting in alarm. A bright, suspicious light flashed in those bell-like eyes as it stared hard at the darkness before it.

There was nothing in the dark.

No one stepped forward. No one spoke.

Disappointment slowly crept into the tiger’s gaze.

Suddenly, something flicked out from the dark and landed before its nose.

The tiger opened its jaws on reflex and bit down. Lowering its head, it found a strip of dried fish between its teeth.

It froze—and then its whole body trembled with excitement.

It faced the darkness and gave two throaty calls.

But there was no further response. That familiar, faint aura gradually faded.

Whoever it was had already gone.

The tiger stood dazed for a moment, then took the dried fish in its mouth and returned to lie down in its spot.

The dried fish was actually quite large, cut from a big river fish.

But the tiger’s body was larger still, so the fish looked like a “little dried fish” clamped between those fangs.

The taste was familiar—the flavor of childhood.

The tiger tucked the dried fish under its paw, stuck out its big tongue, and began to lick it bit by bit, savoring the taste.

As it licked, it gave a low whine, dropped its head to the ground, and looked desolate—aggrieved, even.

…

Mo Hua wiped away every trace and restored the arrays. Then he retraced his route, returned to his room, lay down, and began to plan.

He had to get the tiger out.

But in the current situation, it would be hard.

The arena itself didn’t matter.

A mere beast-fighting arena, guarded only by Golden Core cultivators, its arrays mainly second-grade with a scattering of third-grade—Mo Hua could destroy it with hardly any effort.

The problem was: after it’s destroyed, then what? The tiger demon was still a demon. The moment it appeared in an Immortal City, everyone would want it dead.

Great Desert City was a fourth-grade Immortal City, home to a large number of Golden Core cultivators and even Ascension True Persons of the fourth grade.

A handful of Golden Cores he could ignore. A crowd of them was different.

Not to mention the Ascension experts.

The gap across two great realms was too vast. If it truly came to blows, he would have no chance to fight back.

Worse, in a fourth-grade city like Great Desert City, Ascension experts could fly at will. With the boundless sands on all sides, there would be no escape.

There was also that Young Master Tuoba…

Mo Hua didn’t know his background, but from his bearing and presence alone, he was definitely no ordinary figure.

This arena was likely tied closely to him.

Moreover, Young Master Tuoba seemed to care a great deal about the tiger.

If Mo Hua blew up the arena and snatched the tiger from his hands, that would mean an irreconcilable feud.

Kill Young Master Tuoba…

First, it would be breaking the killing precept and stirring up a life-bane.

Second, if he killed that man, he would surely enrage the power behind him and bring a blood calamity down on his own head.

This was the Great Wilderness, in Great Desert City—not Qianxue Province, and not the Great Void Sect.

He was alone here, with no patron and no backing. If one of the native great powers of the Wilderness set their sights on him, he would be in a most troublesome situation.

It was getting complicated.

Mo Hua sighed.

There was another problem: the tiger was far too big now.

When it was little, it had been like a kitten.

If it were still “kitten-sized,” he could tuck it into his arms and go.

But now it was huge, brimming with blood qi, demonic aura surging, ferocity rolling off it. Wherever it went, people would panic.

With a tiger that big, getting it out would be impossible unless everyone else was blind and deaf.

Mo Hua’s brows drew together.

…

A way to save the tiger wouldn’t come easily in the short term.

Until he had a plan, Mo Hua kept doing what he always did—pouring tea and serving the “nobles” in the inner compound day after day.

When he had time, he quietly sounded out other servants about Young Master Tuoba’s background.

But the other servants all turned pale.

“You dare ask about the Tuoba clan?”

Seeing that Mo Hua didn’t understand, one servant whispered, “Do you know what that surname means?”

Mo Hua did not.

Someone nudged him: “The master of a fourth-grade great sect—the Great Wilderness Sect—his surname is Tuoba.”

Mo Hua’s heart moved. “Then this Young Master Tuoba is from the sect master’s direct line?”

No one answered.

Every servant sealed his lips.

The slaves were numb and even less willing to speak.

Mo Hua’s heart sank. He asked no more.

If Young Master Tuoba truly belonged to the Great Wilderness Sect’s main line, the matter would be thornier still.

Directly under the Dao Court, a fourth-grade great sect that garrisoned the Great Wilderness and restrained the local royal clan—

In their own territory, such “monopoly” sects really did have the capital to act with impunity. Not something to offend lightly.

He could only watch and wait for an opening.

…

A few days later, a steward suddenly sought Mo Hua out. “Tomorrow, would you be willing to serve Young Master Tuoba?”

Mo Hua started. “Young Master Tuoba?”

The steward nodded. “Among all these servants, you work the most carefully and diligently, so I’m specially promoting you and giving you this opportunity.”

“Young Master Tuoba is the true ‘master’ here. If you attend him well and win his favor, he might grant you a steward’s post one day. Then you’d really defy the heavens and rise to the top…”

Mo Hua seemed tempted and asked, “Steward, what would I have to do?”

“No need for anything special—just do as usual,” the steward said. “As always: don’t listen, don’t ask, don’t meddle. Be wood.”

Mo Hua pretended to ponder. After a moment, a glint of ambition flashed in his eyes and he nodded.

“Alright.”

The steward saw that gleam and chuckled, then said, “Tomorrow, you’ll attend on Young Master Tuoba.”

There was a hint of appreciation and expectation in his tone.

That night, when Mo Hua returned to the servants’ quarters and swept the place once with divine sense, he found two people missing.

Following their lingering auras, he came to where a batch of beast corpses awaited disposal—and found two emaciated servant corpses.

Each face bore a single palm print.

The force of those blows had shattered their skulls and snapped their necks.

The method looked familiar.

Mo Hua vaguely recalled that days earlier, Young Master Tuoba had slapped a steward that way.

Only, that steward’s cultivation was high. A few smiles and it was over.

But these two qi-refining servants had died from a single slap, their bodies tossed away like trash.

Mo Hua’s eyes turned cold.

The next day, he followed the steward’s instructions and went to serve Young Master Tuoba.

Of course, “serve” meant only to stand by, read the room, pour tea and wine.

Young Master Tuoba didn’t so much as glance at him.

Mo Hua understood immediately. The steward’s promises were empty talk—painting a pie in the air.

Two servants had died under Young Master Tuoba’s hand.

Mo Hua was merely filling the vacancy.

As for “winning favor,” “being granted a steward’s post,” “rising high”—that was a joke.

Young Master Tuoba would never remember who he was.

If he truly were nothing more than a “servant,” then getting through a day at this post without being slapped to death would already count as “great good fortune.”

Servants weren’t people. They were consumables.

Like the cups and saucers that held wine and fruit.

If they broke, they broke. You replaced them.

Still, getting close to Young Master Tuoba was an opportunity.

Mo Hua stood with meticulous composure, strictly by the book, saying nothing and leaking not a wisp of aura, presence so faint he might as well not exist.

What surprised him was that Young Master Tuoba was different today. He wasn’t watching beast fights—he was hosting guests.

The hall chosen for the banquet was the most luxurious.

The food and wine were the finest.

Every arrangement was top-tier.

Even a proud man like Young Master Tuoba seemed to take this banquet very seriously.

Mo Hua watched and wondered.

Who on earth was he entertaining?

He calmed his breath and observed quietly.

The wine and dishes—various spirit beast meats—were all laid out.

After about half an hour, people arrived at the door.

A short, heavy-set Golden Core cultivator and a tall, gaunt Foundation cultivator entered and saluted Young Master Tuoba on the dais.

The pudgy Golden Core cupped his hands. “I greet Young Master Tuoba.”

Tuoba inclined his head.

The tall Foundation cultivator at the side had a sharp, gloomy face and a firm set to his expression. There was a hint of madness and obsession in his eyes. He also saluted Young Master Tuoba but said nothing.

Young Master Tuoba glanced at him and likewise said nothing.

But Mo Hua, waiting at the side, started.

This tall Foundation cultivator looked awfully familiar. He seemed… to have seen him somewhere before. Who was he?

Mo Hua frowned, searching his scattered, fading memories for the thread.

Suddenly his heart gave a jolt. He remembered.

It was—

Li San?!

Back in Qianxue Province, when he was at odds with the Demonic Sect, he had used the Thunder-Magnetic Token and the name of “Elder You” to entice a certain elite disciple to exchange for the second-grade Reverse Spirit Array Diagram and personally hand it over.

That disciple—

Li San.

But… how could it be Li San?!

Mo Hua’s thoughts whirled. He couldn’t make sense of it.

Wasn’t Li San captured and thrown into the Dao Prison? How had he gotten out?

And why had he come thousands of miles from Qianxue Province all the way to the Great Wilderness?

And the pudgy Golden Core elder beside him—who was he…

Mo Hua took a glance and was sure he had never met this Golden Core before.

Yet some faint, familiar feeling tugged at him.

As if this person had crossed paths with him many times in karma.

Who could he be?

Mo Hua frowned, pondered for a beat—and a strange name popped into his mind.

His heart gave a small thump.

Could he be…

Elder You?

That Elder You of the Demonic Sect in Qianxue Province, the one who was so slick and smooth?

The same Elder You who had hired him by messenger through the demonic token to do thunder-magnetic business?

The same…

Elder You who still owed him one million eight hundred thousand spirit stones?

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this chapter’s mix of tension and tenderness (that dried fish… 😭), please consider supporting me—my Patreon keeps the translations flowing and lets me tackle extra chapters for you. I would be super grateful for any help there. Also, if you have a moment, dropping a rating or review on NovelUpdates really helps more readers find this series. You’re awesome!

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