Hidden Moth-Chapter 442 - 250: Pure Virtue Amidst Frost, Secret Fragrance in the Dark Chamber

Chapter 442: Chapter 250: Pure Virtue Amidst Frost, Secret Fragrance in the Dark Chamber

He Kao did go to work as usual, setting out early from Pugang Town, covering a commute of over thirty kilometers, which took about an hour.

Before going upstairs, he touched a branch in the greenery, almost mirroring the actions of Mei Guyu from yesterday, but this branch was much thinner, just a small segment about as long as a finger.

The branch seemed unchanged, but he had already broken it, yet it was fixed in place with the Object Control Skill, like performing a little magic trick.

From the moment He Kao took the elevator upstairs to when he entered the office to organize his things, the branch remained on the tree, occasionally trembling slightly, as if stirred by the wind.

His divine sense now formed a fine strand, capable of reaching a maximum distance of about one and a half kilometers in open areas. Sitting in the ninth-floor office, he could also control a small branch downstairs, though it consumed more divine power.

The branch stayed in place for another half an hour before finally falling to the ground, as He Kao had already begun working in earnest.

Drinking tea, going up and down the stairs, and tidying the desk, while he did these tasks that required little focus, he could hold an object still, only occasionally causing slight disturbances.

But when he needed to focus on something else, like writing code or debugging programs, he couldn’t maintain it.

Holding an object still requires just a thought, how could it be impossible in between intention and distraction? He actually didn’t understand yet that to achieve such a realm, at least Tier Five Cultivation is required.

The work wasn’t always intense; during short breaks, He Kao didn’t always toy with the same tree. He switched his spell target to a leaf on another tree.

This leaf was already withered but still clung tenaciously to the branch. He Kao’s spell cut off the stem, then it lingered in place for ten minutes before gently drifting down in the wind.

He Kao restrained his mana meticulously, and his divine sense was condensed with great precision, hardly touching anything else. Slyly cultivating spells during work breaks went unnoticed by anyone.

In the afternoon, President E arrived and immediately immersed herself in the busy work. He Kao sensed that the entire department might have to stay late today, and indeed, before leaving, President E announced a meeting.

Gao Xue’e was quite considerate of her subordinates, letting everyone have dinner first, then gathering all department staff to discuss and arrange the work schedules before and after the Spring Festival, clearly preparing to take a leave of absence for herself.

One advantage of leaving late was that there was no traffic on the road anymore. He Kao took only half an hour to reach Pugang Town; by then, it was close to eleven o’clock.

In fact, around three-thirty in the afternoon, he discovered something: someone had opened the secret door of his secret chamber. But outwardly, he remained calm, only secretly grousing in his heart—

Who is this person? A newcomer who hasn’t figured things out yet!

The small building at He Kao’s home was once a standard outdated internet celebrity check-in spot, and for a while, sorcerers who quietly visited Qi Yuan would come to take a look, secretly searching the place.

At that time, Elder Jiang was still living in seclusion in Pugang Town, and Elder Gu had also arrived at Qi Yuan.

He Kao’s house was within the coverage of the Array of Ten Thousand Woods Rejuvenation, centered on a Jade Phoenix Tree. The elders surely knew who intruded and might have written it down in their little notebook.

Later, some disciples of the Magic Sect got into trouble, and the Ancestral Hall then began to implement an information management system, conveniently dealing with a group and there were rumors that He Kao was a Secret Disciple of an elder, making many realize this might be a trap.

Calling it a trap might be inappropriate, but it was at least a scenario orchestrated by the upper echelon of the Magic Sect.

With a series of fortuitous events, it was "confirmed" that He Kao himself was not the Hidden Moth, but the so-called "Qi Yuan Incident" was just a means for some people to lure out the Hidden Moth... and so things quieted down here.

Among the Magic Sect disciples, there might be unscrupulous ones, but fools were rare.

Even if uninformed, news-delayed independent cultivators from the Jianghu wanted to scout, He Kao was out on business trips a few months ago; the empty house was free to search, no need to wait until now.

Choosing to scout now might also be related to the arrival of Mei Guyu.

Not only was the house equipped with surveillance, but He Kao also set up several monitoring points in the town. Very hidden, these allowed him to observe his small building from various distant angles, leaving almost no blind spots.

Several monitoring spots in He Kao’s house had been tampered with, or the intruder had found ways to avoid them, capturing no useful information. The intruder was clearly no simpleton, their divine sense able to sense these hidden cameras in advance.

This was within He Kao’s expectations; thinking back to when Qian Guran was at Tier Three Cultivation, he already had this skill.

But the surveillance he had set up further away was still intact. Modern towns are full of various surveillance, you can’t tell who’s installed them all, and those scouting couldn’t possibly tamper with them all.

More importantly, there was a trigger installed inside the secret chamber door. If someone opened the door, as long as He Kao wasn’t in the Grotto Heaven, he would immediately receive a signal.

After reviewing this surveillance information, He Kao indeed discovered something.

The intruder wore clothing with a seemingly camouflage effect, moved nimbly, and had entered from the backyard, appearing familiar with the terrain in the area.

Although this person also wore a hat made of the same material as the clothing, He Kao had a hunch they were bald since the exposed part under the brim showed no sign of hair.

Due to the distance of the camera, the captured images were of limited resolution, even after technology-enhancement processing, the intruder’s face remained unclear, possibly due to some concealing technique.

He Kao noticed that the shoes he was wearing were quite special. Although he couldn’t see them clearly, they felt like very old-fashioned cloth shoes, roughly judging to be white soles with black uppers.

What’s even more peculiar is that this person came out of the yard within seconds after sneaking in, staying for less than a minute in total. Was it solely to sneak into the secret room for a glance?

Upon careful thought, it’s possible. If he were truly a master, other things could be probed with Divine Sense from outside. He Kao’s home didn’t lose anything, and if it were an ordinary person, they wouldn’t even notice anyone had visited.

He Kao compiled the surveillance records into a file and sent it to Li Xiuyuan, so the people on Elder Li’s side could investigate thoroughly.

After coming home, he did a simple wash-up and went into the secret room as usual.

The secret room is an elongated shape, about two meters wide and over five meters long, sectioned into suites by He Kao using special building materials. The outer room had a concealed ventilation structure, and the inner room was a small quiet chamber of two by three meters.

Inside the quiet chamber, there was nothing but a meditation cushion, clearly a place specifically for sitting and cultivation.

Even if someone opened the hidden door to enter the secret room, they wouldn’t access much at first, because there was another door to the inner quiet chamber, but He Kao could timely detect any movement.

Though aware that someone had surveyed the place during the day, He Kao didn’t change his itinerary. He had purposely built the secret room for this purpose.

After fastening the door, he arrived the next instant at the abandoned tech park in the north suburb of Nanhua City. Inside the central building of the park, wearing the Hidden Moth Gauze, he met with Lan Jiwan and Ye Liangcheng.

Both had been busy with factory matters in Nanhua recently, and today was the scheduled meeting day, prompting their special arrival.

Two months ago, not only did He Kao invest six million to acquire ten percent of Huishiming Brand’s shares, but Lan Jiwan also negotiated a collaboration with Li Chun.

Using the funds left by Bitter Tea, Lan Jiwan packaged a purchase of a small processing factory equipped with several devices, including CNC machine tools and 3D printers, along with two master craftsmen and four apprentices.

The main business of the factory handles special customization, with all sorts of bizarre order channels, also taking orders related to Techniques, such as processing special materials, original components of Magical Artifacts, and various special products’ packaging.

Some tasks simply couldn’t be done without a Tier Three Sorcerer in charge.

Lan Jiwan is a Tier Three Sorcerer, and with her "fellow sect junior brother" Ye Liangcheng partnering, handling the orders meant profits were not an issue. Li Chun personally funded three million to take a thirty percent stake.

They formally registered a new company called "Jiuliang Customization," of which Lan Jiwan is the major shareholder, actually representing the Sect’s holdings, while Ye Liangcheng took the role of the legal representative and processing factory manager.

On the surface, Jiuliang Customization has no relation to He Kao, but in the shadows, it’s an industry of the Hidden Moth Sect.

Now that all formalities have been completed, Huish Trading gradually introduced some of the original order channels over, and the processing factory began to return to normal operations, having completed several orders already.

Ordinary tasks are left to the original master craftsmen, and for segments machines and ordinary workers couldn’t handle, Ye Liangcheng and Lan Jiwan took over...

From last month until now, deducting salaries for the manager and workers, along with daily expenditures like utilities, the gross profit on the books has reached over a hundred thousand.

This amount isn’t much, considering machine depreciation and engaging two Tier Three Sorcerers, it can even be seen as meager. However, every beginning is difficult, and it’s ultimately a positive start, with promises for better prospects in the future.

This also signifies that "Hidden Moth Sect" has its first industry, finally having a relatively stable income source.

More importantly, Lan Jiwan and Ye Liangcheng no longer need to hide, as they can use a public identity to formally interact with Magic Sect Disciples.

These obviously deserved a celebration, as both felt greatly invigorated, and today was about reporting their work to the Sect Leader Senior Brother. After discussing "Sect Matters" and inquiring about recent cultivation progress, He Kao asked Lan Jiwan to stay behind alone.

This was the last time He Kao would "heal" Lan Jiwan; the toxins in her viscera and meridians were to be thoroughly removed, hence He Kao still came at the appointed time tonight.

The complete elimination of residual toxins, accompanied by nurturing of Ice Skin Jade Bone, meant being granted new life for Lan Jiwan. She felt immense anticipation, yet also an inexplicable sense of regret and loss.

Because the Sect Leader Senior Brother wouldn’t need to cast healing techniques for her anymore.

The location was still Lan Jiwan’s quiet chamber, where they tacitly kept the lights off, perhaps to avoid awkwardness. But keeping the lights off was self-deception because when Divine Sense permeated the whole body’s meridians, what could be left unfelt?

The beads in He Kao’s hand emitted a faint white light, slightly illuminating the outline of Lan Jiwan’s body through her clothes. Though there was no other movement, it felt more intimate than any other intimate act could ever be...

Every time Lan Jiwan’s clothes were drenched, and after the Sect Leader collected his power, her voice in the dark spoke weakly and tremblingly, feeling like she’s finely brewed tea.

He Kao, although nonchalant, inexplicably felt a bit scummy himself.

Meanwhile, at a distant, secluded Qixia Mountain outside of Qi Yuan, an elderly monk also pondered in a dark room—where exactly is the Hidden Moth Grotto Heaven?

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