The Quest for Immortality

Besides, Mo Hua also gave each of them a set of water-avoiding armor and taught them some water-repelling and demon-avoiding spells, so that if something went wrong, they could jump ship and escape.

Situ Jian had a letter token in his hand.

This was something specifically for the Taoist Court, and Mo Hua had specially requested it from Gu Changhuai.

Mistwater City is quite far from the Taixu Gate. Without the Yuan Magnetic Core as a relay, with the Yuan Magnetic weakened upon reaching the Mistwater River, the Taixu Token might not transmit a message.

Therefore, this kind of letter token, which doesn’t rely on the Yuan Magnetic Array for relay and can transmit one-on-one within a certain range, became very necessary.

As for Mo Hua himself, he had to think of another way to sneak in.

Mo Hua wandered around outside.

In Mistwater City, a branch of the Mistwater River flows through, so there are many ferry ports in the city, and now at each port, there are plenty of exquisite boats.

All these boats set off together onto the Mistwater River at 5 p.m.

But the problem is, from the surface, all the boats are mixed together, colorful and indistinguishable, making it impossible to tell which ones are regular boats and which are the ”Rouge Boats” filled with hidden pleasures.

After finding them, he still had to figure out how to sneak in.

Mo Hua tried several times but found he couldn’t locate the Rouge Boat nor figure a good way to sneak onto the boats.

Seeing the sun nearing noon, he had to first find a place to fill his stomach and see if he could think of any other ideas after eating.

With limited time, Mo Hua opted for convenience, so he just looked for a small food stall near the market town, picked some of his favorite small dishes, and ate them with noodles until he was full.

When settling the bill, it was a total of five Spirit Stones.

The shop owner, holding the five Spirit Stones, beamed with joy and kept complimenting Mo Hua.

Mo Hua, however, suddenly felt a bit dazed.

Five...

Ordinary cultivators with diligent businesses usually earn Spirit Stones one by one, and when they spend Spirit Stones, they spend them one by one too.

But on the boat.

A single ticket costs a hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

Mo Hua turned to glance around.

Most of the market town consisted of small vendors, doing business that involved a few Spirit Stones transactions.

Even so, they live their lives through hard work, without complaint.

In this world, some cultivators struggle to get by on a few Spirit Stones.

But there are also cultivators who squander hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands for momentary pleasure.

Mistwater City holds a lantern festival, bustling with traffic, seemingly prosperous.

But is this prosperity truly prosperity?

Underneath this prosperity, who would spare a glance at these poor cultivators?

Mo Hua’s pupils shrank slightly, a complex feeling welling up within.

”The Human Dao diminishes from those who lack to serve those with excess.”

The so-called ”prosperity” itself might just be an expression of human ”exploitation” reaching a certain level.

Things that reach an extreme must reverse, prosperity that reaches an extreme must decline.

The prosperity gained through exploitation is, in essence, just a process toward ”decline.”

Mo Hua inexplicably thought of the Ancestor of the Qian Family on Big Black Mountain, thought of the Uncle who raised a ”Taoist Demon,” and silently sighed. .

...

After the meal, Mo Hua continued to roam around Mistwater City.

But there was still no progress with the Rouge Boat.

”Perhaps I should find Uncle Gu and mix with him?”

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

Uncle Gu has many Taoist Court people. A covert investigation like this must absolutely not be done with them.

You cannot put all your eggs in one basket.

Moreover, Uncle Gu cannot know that I got rejected from the ship because I ”didn’t look like someone who frequented brothels.”

”So what to do?”

Mo Hua racked his brain, unable to think of a solution, and decided to cast a divination.

He found a teahouse, ordered a private room, ordered a pot of Cloud Mist Tea, and in the swirling mist, took out three copper coins.

”What to divine? The Rouge Boat?”

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then wanted to toss the copper coins, but suddenly, he felt a sharp pang in his heart.

It seemed as if there was a black-purple cause-and-effect entwining, a giant poppy flower opening its maw, wanting to swallow him whole...

Mo Hua’s pupils shook, and he clenched the copper coins abruptly, halting the divination.

”Cannot divine...”

The three words ”Rouge Boat” seemed to contain great cause-and-effect.

It felt like once divined, it would trigger something, be sensed by certain people, and lead to some unknown danger...

The earlier scene was an intuitive omen of cause-and-effect.

”Cannot divine, then what should I do?”

Mo Hua thought for a bit, and with a flicker of his Divine Thought, suddenly realized that it was not that he couldn’t divine at all, but that the three words ”Rouge Boat” couldn’t be divined.

Rouge Boat can’t be divined, divining it leads to cause-and-effect hidden risks, but it doesn’t mean nothing else can be divined.

He could take an indirect approach, start from other matters.

What other matters?

Water Yama? Gui Water Sect? Mistwater River’s altar?

The causes and effects attached to these didn’t seem small...

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, suddenly thought of something, and his eyes lit up.

”Senior Sister Ye!”

Senior Sister Ye might just be an ”insignificant” victim in the Rouge Boat incident, but her cause-and-effect could be used as a trigger.

Mo Hua opened his palm again, silently reciting ”Ye Jin’s death,” then tossed the copper coins, and when they fell back into his hand, Mo Hua looked at the hexagram.

Two heads and one tails.

The two heads were stacked together.

”What does it mean?”

Mo Hua was a bit confused.

After all, without systematic heavenly secret inheritance, he couldn’t understand the basic copper coin divination hexagrams.

Does this mean the culprit is two people?

One head one tails.

But why is one of the heads two stacked together?

Mo Hua couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to make it even simpler.

”The culprit who killed Ye Jin...”

No, Senior Sister Ye Jin committed suicide.

The one who forced her to death?