The Quest for Immortality

”Dare to steal my pig?”

Mo Hua’s voice was crisp, carrying a faint tone of disdain.

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother knelt before him, feeling utterly humiliated.

He had been blasted by a Formation, struck by blades and axes, and even poisoned. His body was now riddled with wounds.

But as someone in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, his foundation wasn’t weak. Though his injuries were severe, they were not fatal.

Moreover, his bones were still quite sturdy. He stubbornly cursed:

”A pack of little bastards!”

Hearing this, Cheng Mo slapped him hard across the face.

Blood seeped from the corner of the Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother’s mouth. His gaze was venomous, yet his voice remained defiant. Gritting his teeth, he said:

”Today, the tiger has fallen to the plains, ending up in the hands of little mongrels like you. I’ll accept this humiliation for now! But I swear, I will settle this score. Just wait.”

Mo Hua raised an eyebrow.

Bones this hard?

He asked curiously, ”You’re not afraid that we might kill you?”

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother sneered, ”You don’t dare to kill me.”

Mo Hua paused for a moment, then his thoughts clicked into place.

Indeed...

He truly couldn’t kill this man.

If it were a Sin Cultivator, Evil Cultivator, or Demon Cultivator, it would be another story. But this man was from the Sever Gold Sect, one of the Twelve Sects within the Qianxue State Boundary. He hadn’t committed any major violations of Taoist Law. If they truly killed him, the Sever Gold Sect would undoubtedly seek justice.

The Taoist Court wouldn’t stand idly by either.

What’s more, they were in Refining Demon Mountain now.

Though the mountain was known for its monster beasts and perilous environment, it wasn’t a lawless zone.

Mo Hua sank into deep thought.

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother, seeing this, became even more certain that Mo Hua wouldn’t dare kill him. His expression grew more brazen and fearless.

”Kid, let me give you a piece of advice: don’t make an enemy of my Sever Gold Sect. You have no idea of our power!”

Mo Hua curled his lip in disdain.

What’s so arrogant about a man kneeling on the ground?

”If the Sever Gold Sect was truly so powerful, you wouldn’t be kneeling here before me.”

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother’s chest tightened with frustration, his face twitching. But he forced himself to maintain a defiant and cold sneer.

Cheng Mo found this stubborn attitude repulsive and said:

”Senior Brother, are we really letting him live?”

Mo Hua asked, ”Do you want to kill him?”

Cheng Mo shook his head.

He was merely asking.

Though reckless, he wasn’t foolish.

If they really killed him, it would bring big trouble. It would be hard to explain to the Sever Gold Sect, Taixu Gate, the Taoist Court, or even their own Cheng Family in Qianxue State.

A little roughing up should suffice.

Mo Hua nodded and said, ”Strip him naked, hang him on a tree, and draw a turtle on him.”

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother froze for a moment, then his expression changed drastically.

Such humiliation was worse than death!

”You little bastards, dare you?!” the Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother roared in anger.

Mo Hua raised an eyebrow. He decided to show this man, with action, exactly how daring he was.

”Tie him up, hang him, and draw the turtle.”

”On it!”

Cheng Mo didn’t hold back. He immediately stripped off the Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother’s Taoist Robe, tied him up with a spirit-binding rope artifact, and prepared to hang him on a tree.

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother, consumed with rage yet powerless to resist, could only seethe silently as the towering Cheng Mo carried out the task. Humiliated and livid, he muttered venomously:

”I will never forgive you for this!”

”This humiliation, I’ll make you pay back a hundredfold!”

Mo Hua kindly reminded him, ”Then next time, be more careful. If you’re this useless and land in our hands again, I’ll make you kneel a hundred times and draw a hundred turtles on you.”

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother’s eyes reddened with fury. ”It’s because you fought dirty, ambushing me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have...”

Mo Hua was speechless. ”Do you think this is some child’s play, talking about ’fighting dirty’? You’re a grown man, so childish. All your cultivation might as well have gone to the dogs...”

”All your eating seems to have done is make you grow taller, not smarter, huh?”

”And besides, if we’re talking about underhanded tactics, we can’t even compare to your Sever Gold Sect...”

”Relying on numbers, shamelessly robbing junior disciples of their monster beasts.”

”Fine, you robbed them. But then you were counter-robbed. And not only that, you couldn’t even win the fight. Now you’re kneeling before us.”

”Kneeling isn’t the worst of it, but getting stripped, hung on a tree, and having a turtle drawn on you...”

Mo Hua sighed. ”I admit I overestimated the disciples of the Sever Gold Sect.”

”To think I prepared so many tricks, yet you’re not even as tough as the pig I killed earlier...”

The Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother was so furious that he coughed up blood on the spot.

Hao Xuan reminded, ”Stop it, Senior Brother. If you keep talking, he’s going to die of anger.”

If that happened, it wouldn’t be the weapons or poisons that did him in, but Mo Hua’s words. When the Taoist Court investigated, how could they explain that?

”Oh.”

Mo Hua glanced at the Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother hanging on the tree. His face was pale, breath shallow, and he seemed more dead than alive. Only then did Mo Hua halt his tirade.

But Mo Hua remained true to his word and dipped a brush in Spiritual Ink, drawing a turtle on the man’s chest.

The turtle was drawn with impeccable realism.

Mo Hua was quite pleased with his work.

At that moment, the Sever Gold Sect Senior Brother rolled his eyes and fainted outright in anger.

”Is he dead?” Situ Jian asked.

Mo Hua checked his breathing. ”Luckily, no.”

”Good, as long as he’s not dead.”

”Pack up, we’re done here.”

”Got it!”

Then, like a windstorm, they began to loot the storage bags. But halfway through the process, someone suddenly realized something:

”Wait, are we allowed to take the storage bags?”

”Seems... not.”

Situ Jian mused, ”Beating up a disciple from Sever Gold Sect will definitely cause them to hold grudges, but it’s not a big deal.”

”But if we take their storage bags, that counts as robbing cultivators. The optics of that aren’t great.”

”Moreover, if their storage bag contains Sect legacy items, like the Sever Gold Sword Controlling Technique or something, taking it would undoubtedly make us targets of Sever Gold Sect’s wrath...”