The Quest for Immortality

On the road afterward, Elder Ji, who had personally killed a dozen or so corpse cultivators of Yin Corpse Valley, felt flustered, growing more and more regretful the more he thought about it, vexed beyond measure.

He hated himself for how he had, in a moment of cowardice, actually bowed to Mo Hua’s ”tyranny” and made a move to kill cultivators of the great Demon Path sect Yin Corpse Valley.

This time he really had brought a great disaster down upon himself.

But the people were already dead; regret was useless.

Elder Ji could only whip the horses harder to leave Half Mountain City as fast as possible, so as not to be hunted down by Yin Corpse Valley’s cultivators, and at the same time hope that from here on out he would no longer encounter those gloomy, ill-omened cultivators.

Mo Hua, on the other hand, looked completely indifferent.

When the Blood Sacrifice Array collapsed, the Demon Cultivators who died by his hand were truly beyond counting.

In terms of killing Demon Cultivators, even if Elder Ji killed without pause for a full hundred years, compared to Mo Hua’s ”record,” it would still be no more than a drop in the bucket.

Now, killing a mere dozen or so corpse cultivators of Yin Corpse Valley was as easy as drinking water.

Mo Hua simply did not care.

Besides, these corpse cultivators had all been killed by Elder Ji’s hand; the main karmic burden could not really be laid on him.

The two continued south.

Elder Ji, afraid of being sought out by Yin Corpse Valley for revenge, did not dare relax in the slightest along the way, and the speed of the carriage was very fast.

The carriage traveled another few hundred li forward, entered a stretch of Desolate Mountains, and ran into a large band of refugees.

These refugees were Loose Cultivators whose nearby Immortal Cities had fallen into ruin, forcing them to flee for their lives.

Some refugees, driven by extreme hunger, began to attack the carriage.

Elder Ji truly wanted to kill a few to use them as a warning to others, but for Mo Hua’s sake, he did not dare actually go for the kill; he only meted out a slight punishment before letting them go.

Going farther ahead, they entered the mountain forests.

Again and again, cultivators attacked the carriage.

These people’s faces were full of Evil Spirits, dressed in prison garb; by the looks of it, they were Sin Cultivators and Evil Cultivitors who had escaped from the Taoist Court, blades in hand, the blades stained with blood, surrounding the carriage.

Mo Hua sat inside the carriage, his expression indifferent.

Elder Ji estimated that Mo Hua’s meaning was likely that they could be killed.

Just then, he had also had enough of being harassed all the way and was holding in a bellyful of anger; he swung up his broadsword, no longer holding back, and slaughtered most of these Sin Cultivators and Evil Cultivitors.

Only a few lucky ones, seeing the situation, fled; Elder Ji could not be bothered to chase them, spat, and drove the carriage onward.

On the road afterward, disturbances of this sort were still quite numerous.

Refugees, mountain bandits, Sin Cultivators, and all sorts of cultivators of unclear origin were mixed together, like ants, fleeing in all directions across the land of Li State...

All along the way, Mo Hua watched everything in silence, saying nothing.

He wanted to give these refugees a place where they could settle.

But the scope of this upheaval was truly too great; as he was now, he simply did not have the ability to quell this calamity, and could only watch in silence.

Mo Hua even felt a trace of guilt arise in his heart.

That Desolate Heaven Dragon Flag which had served as the beacon of war had been lit in his hand.

In other words, he was the ”prime instigator” of all this.

But after thinking it over, Mo Hua felt he was overthinking it; the grand trend of heaven and earth was already set, and the rebellion had long since been plotted by others. All of this was destined within the Heavenly secret, a great trend that could not be changed.

Whether he lit the Dragon Flag or not, it would all be the same; the objective reality would not change in the slightest.

Mo Hua furrowed his brow and let out a soft sigh.

...

The journey afterward was fraught with several more twists and turns.

And the farther south they went, the more unsettled the road became.

Immortal Cities reduced to ruins, refugees scattered everywhere, cultivators looting, killing, and burning, the occasional glimpse of mangled cultivators’ corpses...

Even Elder Ji, who was long used to doing bad things, had gone a bit pale.

”Damn it, the world really has changed...”

After living rough in the wind and dew for over a month, the two, Mo Hua and Elder Ji, finally arrived at Little Post City, several thousand li away.

Outside Little Post City, Mo Hua looked up and felt quite surprised.

Compared to the war-torn lands elsewhere, Little Post City here was truly much more peaceful; it was even bustling with people, looking quite lively.

If not for everything he had seen and heard along the way, the desolation and devastation everywhere, Mo Hua might even have thought that what lay before his eyes was only an illusion of his own.

”Is this really Little Post City?”

Mo Hua turned his head to look at Elder Ji and asked.

Elder Ji’s expression was stunned; he, too, seemed somewhat unable to believe it, muttering:

”Judging by the bearings, it should be right... I pulled strings and ran business here a few times before...”

Mo Hua swept his Divine Sense over the city and suddenly detected several deep and powerful auras of Golden Core Cultivators, and he couldn’t help but frown:

”Little Post City is a Third-grade Immortal City?”

Elder Ji said, ”It’s a Second Grade Immortal City, but in a Third-Grade State Boundary.”

Mo Hua looked over at Elder Ji.

Elder Ji then explained, ”This is a post city, used specifically as a transport hub. But the place is too remote and too poor; there are very few cultivators who live here permanently.”

”The passing cultivators are mostly itinerant traders of modest means; they’re basically Qi Refinement, with very few Foundation Establishment, let alone Golden Core.”

”Therefore, although this Little Post City lies within a Third-Grade State Boundary, it has no Golden Core Cultivators at all and can only be considered a Second Grade Immortal City.”

”But now, for some reason, even though there’s clearly war, there are instead more people...”

Looking at the bustling city before him, Elder Ji also knit his brows, then turned to ask Mo Hua, ”Young Master, you think...”

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then said, ”It’s fine. Let’s enter the city first.”

Elder Ji hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping.

Mo Hua said, ”If you’ve got something to say, then say it.”

Elder Ji gave an awkward laugh. ”Young Master, look, all along the way I’ve driven the carriage for you, led the way for you, killed for you. Even if I’ve no merits, I’ve had my share of hardship.”

”If we can’t find that Steward later, it really has nothing to do with me; I truly can’t help it. I’m just asking, could you maybe spare my life...”

Mo Hua’s face remained indifferent, his mood unreadable.