After his conversation with Zhang Lan during the day, Mo Hua took the Thousand Arrays Compendium given by Mr. Zhuang and flipped through it all day long. He found several array techniques that could be used and planned to learn them first in the coming days. After mastering them, he would draw a few copies to carry with him for emergencies.
One should not harbor malicious intentions, but one must guard against others.
Currently, Mo Hua's means of self-protection were too few, relying solely on arrays clearly wasn't enough.
The incident involving Qian Xing served as a wake-up call for Mo Hua. Even though the Dao Court has laws, not all cultivators necessarily abide by them. The Dao of Heaven grants cultivators power, and killing has always shadowed power.
Being a cultivator now, physical cultivators fight with martial arts, and spiritual cultivators seek lives with their spells. If he knew nothing, in the perilous world of cultivation, he wouldn't live long enough to take care of his parents in their old age...
Of course, Mo Hua could solely focus on being an array master, find a safe place, neither struggling with demonic beasts nor conflicting with other cultivators, and just concentrate on studying arrays, leading a stable life.
But to entrust one’s life to the kindness of others is never a good choice.
After all, Mo Hua didn't know when and where he would meet a cultivator who might harbor the intent to kill him. If a cultivator harbored such intent and he had no means of self-protection, other than to be slaughtered, he had no other choice.
So, how could he protect himself?
Becoming a physical cultivator was impossible, not in this lifetime.
With Mo Hua’s physique, attempting physical cultivation, learning cultivation martial arts, and engaging in hand-to-hand combat would be no different from courting death.
Then he could only be a spiritual cultivator.
But as a spiritual cultivator, Mo Hua's talent was not particularly good either.
His spiritual roots were only considered mediocre; his Qi sea couldn’t contain too much spiritual power, and the technique he practiced, Heavenly Proliferation Technique, didn't provide any special enhancements to spiritual power. This led to his spiritual power being somewhat weaker compared to cultivators of the same realm.
This was in comparison with cultivators of similar talent. If compared with prodigies like Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi, Mo Hua's spiritual power could even be described as "miserable."
And the amount of spiritual power is closely related to the power of spells.
"Let's wait until the fifth level of Qi cultivation," Mo Hua sighed.
At the fifth level of Qi cultivation, physical cultivators could learn body refining martial arts, and spiritual cultivators could learn spells, as they would have sufficient spiritual power to operate the Dao.
And by the sixth level of Qi cultivation, many cultivators needed to make their own living. By then, it would be too late to start learning.
Thinking it over, for now, he could only rely on arrays.
Mo Hua sighed again and earnestly entered the sea of consciousness to practice a few new arrays on the Dao Stele.
After a day out, Mo Shan also returned home.
"I've asked around; Hua'er did nothing wrong. It was Qian Xing from the Qian family who deliberately stirred up trouble and even intended to harm Mo Hua. Thankfully, Da Zhu and the others took action, and it turned out to be a close call without any harm."
Liu Ruhua breathed a sigh of relief, then worriedly said, "The Qian family won’t cause trouble for Hua'er, right?"
Mo Shan snorted coldly, "They dare not? Although the Qian family is powerful, we hunters who fight demonic beasts and lick blood off our blades are not vegetarians. Unless it's a Foundation Building cultivator, as long as they dare to come, they won’t be able to return intact!"
When Mo Shan said this, he exuded a fierce aura, a demeanor formed from years of battling with demonic beasts, which was slightly chilling to behold.
Liu Ruhua rarely saw her husband show such an expression. Usually at home, Mo Shan was very gentle and considerate. She held her husband’s hand and asked softly, "What if the Qian family really sends a Foundation Building cultivator?"
Mo Shan shook his head, "They won’t. The Qian family has Foundation Building elders, and so do our demon hunters. Once Foundation Building cultivators get involved, it would escalate things, and neither side would end well."
"Did you mention this to the elder?"
"I did. Initially, I wanted to trouble the Qian family. It’s not easy to say in Tongxian City, but in these mountains, it
’s the demon hunters who have the say. I wanted to make them suffer a bit, but the elder didn’t agree..."
"Did the elder ask you all to consider the bigger picture?"
"Not exactly." Mo Shan hesitated, then said, "The elder mentioned that now is not the time to start trouble without a reason."
"Without a reason?" Liu Ruhua looked puzzled.
Mo Shan whispered, "The elder said that since Qian Xing bullied Mo Hua and ended up severely injured while Mo Hua is unscathed, it’s hard to justify starting trouble under such circumstances."
This was the first time Liu Ruhua had seen such a side of the elder, and she couldn’t help asking, "What if there was a reason?"
"With a reason, we would be justified. Then we could start the trouble and make them compensate with spirit stones. The demon hunting team has been tight lately, unable to distribute spirit stones, and the elder has been very anxious. If there was a reason, he would have gone to shake them down long ago."
Liu Ruhua: "..."
"Rest assured, although Mo Hua is frail and cannot be a demon hunter, he is still considered a part of the demon hunters. In such situations, the elder won’t stand idly by. Otherwise, if we let these families bully us as they usually do, we poor demon hunters wouldn’t be able to survive," Mo Shan reassured his wife.
Liu Ruhua then felt relieved, then curiously said, "You mentioned Qian Xing was severely injured? The Qian family has followers and guards; how could he get hurt?"
Mo Shan’s expression turned meaningful, "Guess."
Liu Ruhua’s beautiful eyes widened as she looked at her husband, thought for a moment, and said, "Was it Da Zhu and the others who did it?"
Mo Shan shook his head.
"Then, was it other demon hunters nearby who helped?"
"That’s not it either."
...
Liu Ruhua guessed a few more times, all wrong, then shook her head, "Then I can’t guess. It couldn’t possibly be Hua'er who hurt him."
Mo Shan raised an eyebrow, "You guessed it right, it was Hua'er."
Liu Ruhua’s mouth fell open, "Impossible, Hua'er is so young, and his cultivation is low, how could he severely injure Qian Xing?"
Mo Shan’s expression was complex, "I didn’t believe it either. Logically, it’s impossible. But indeed, someone saw it. That day, when Hua'er was held hostage by Qian Xing and struggled free, Hua'er splashed spirit ink on Qian Xing’s eyes and then stuffed a piece of paper with an array drawn on it into Qian Xing’s bosom. At the same time, he crushed a spirit stone. When he kicked Qian Xing, and was himself thrown to the ground by the shock, the array exploded, and Qian Xing was blown away..."
Liu Ruhua listened in stunned silence, then covered her mouth and laughed, "Hua'er really didn’t suffer a loss."
Mo Shan also laughed, "He got a few scratches, mostly from falling and scraping himself, and had some bruises on his neck. Old Master Feng applied some medicine, and he was fine. Compared to Qian Xing, who looked like a burnt piece of charcoal, he really didn’t lose out."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"Not many people know, and even if it were told, no one would believe it. Hua'er is still young, and only at the fourth level of Qi cultivation. Even we as parents don’t believe it, let alone others."
Liu Ruhua nodded, "That’s good, the Qian family won’t trouble Hua'er. But we really have to thank Da Zhu and those kids; otherwise, Hua'er might have suffered."
Liu Ruhua still felt a bit frightened thinking about it.
"Yeah, we’ll prepare some gifts tomorrow and send them to Master Chen and the others."
"Alright."
"But don’t worry," Mo Shan added with a smile, "Our son is well-liked. Even without Da Zhu, other cultivators would help. I hear even the Chief Steward of the Dao Court is quite familiar with Hua'er..."
Liu Ruhua remembered the scene she saw during the day and couldn’t help but laugh, "He even invited the Chief Steward for a drink. He really is a little devil."
Mo Shan embraced Liu Ruhua, "Don’t worry. I’ve told the brothers in the demon hunting team to keep an eye out. If anyone tries to cause trouble for Hua'er again, I’ll make sure they regret it."