MTL - Asking About Longevity-Chapter 678 Yanshui River

Chapter 678 Yanshui River

 The reward was snatched away instantly, and all the disciples were depressed.

He and Uncle Gu "colluded" with each other and successfully snatched the ink painting with a reward. He was in a happy mood and his eyes were smiling.

 He looked at the task items carefully again.

 Wanted Bounty: Dragon Crossing the River.

 In the middle stage of foundation building, he practiced sin cultivation and practiced the water-based skill "White Wave Jue". He was proficient in the nature of water and often lurked in rivers, sinking ships and killing people. He looked like a "water ghost".

The hook-claw spiritual weapon is used, and its origin is unknown. It is suspected to be a water-based spiritual weapon: the three shark claws, and the claws are quenched with water poison.

Remember: this person's skills are stronger when exposed to water. If not necessary, do not fight with him in the water to avoid unexpected events.

There is a line of small characters after ˆ:

“Trapped him with formations, captured him on the shore, without any trace of water, and then arrested him.”

 This line of text is added extra.

 “Oh, right.” Cheng Mo immediately realized his mistake. It had nothing to do with the “backstage”.

 For the sake of fairness, the sect's "merit" mechanism is relatively independent and is not subject to other interference.

Cheng Mo was shocked and curious, "Mo Hua, how did you get this reward?"

Arrived at the border of Qianxue Prefecture, most of the comings and goings were in the mountains, and there were few interactions with rivers and water system monks.

Cheng Mo couldn't help but sigh.

Mo Hua wrote down the key points in the dossier and prepared several water formations. He found Cheng Mo the next day and said straight to the point:

Dao Tingsi judged based on the perpetrator's cultivation, skills, and weapons, that this person was most likely a criminal cultivator with many evil deeds—

 “One hundred and twenty?!”

 The river water was stained with blood, attracting a number of aquatic monsters, which bit and devoured the remaining people.

Cheng Mo opened his mouth wide, a little in disbelief.

In addition, there is a dossier attached to the reward:

 The third day of March, Yanshui River.

Mo Hua guessed that this was a reminder specially given to him by Uncle Gu.

A group of fellow disciples stared at him, and there were too many monks and too little food.

There were six traders who crossed the river by boat and reached the lower section of the Yanshui River. The boat capsized and the traders fell into the water.

Mo Hua feels that as a "little senior brother", he should take care of these "little junior brothers".

 “Mo Hua, your backstage is so tough!”

 After all, I was born in Tongxian City, Lizhou, adjacent to the Daheishan Mountains.

 “It’s you, my little senior brother, with high skills and strong connections!”

Mo Hua raised his head slightly, with a reserved and calm look on his face.

Mo Hua nodded.

How many operations must be done behind the scenes...

Cheng Mo and the others are pitiful. It's hard to earn even ten or twenty points of merit.

Cheng Mo praised.

 All means must be in order and in compliance with regulations, and there is no possibility of "favoritism".

How strong must be the relationship with Daotingsi...

 There are also a group of senior brothers and sisters with higher cultivation, older qualifications and more experience competing with them.

 “Don’t ask, I have a way!”

 He has not accepted a reward of more than 50 points for quite some time.

 One man was strangled and his throat was torn out by the monks in the water.

Cheng Mo didn’t even dare to think about it.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Mo Hua took action, it was one hundred and twenty points!

Out of friendship, Mo Hua did not receive any kickbacks.

 At Daotingsi, all business is done in a business-like manner.

“There is a reward, six hundred merit points, one hundred and twenty merit points divided equally between each person.”

  None of the six people survived.

But, ink painting!

Just one year after starting the profession, at the early stage of foundation building, I was able to surpass all the brothers and sisters, "seize the food from the wolf's mouth", and receive a reward of 600 merit points!

Mo Hua was unhappy, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Uncle Gu, although he has a cold face, as if someone owes him a spiritual stone, he is still very considerate occasionally."

This look, in Cheng Mo's eyes, became more and more light-hearted and "unfathomable".

"Martial Law".

He scanned the streets, looked at the gates, and accepted a lot of various rewards. He knew that it would be difficult to accept rewards for high merit.

At this moment, he felt that Mo Hua's whole body was emitting a dazzling light.

 “Senior brother, you eat chicken legs.”

Cheng Mo immediately presented the "offering" - a chicken leg that was crispy on the outside, tender on the outside, fat and fragrant, and came from the precious golden pheasant.

Mo Hua took the chicken drumstick calmly and took a bite. The taste was fragrant and he was very satisfied.

However, he still reminded Cheng Mo:

“This bounty is more dangerous, so you should think about it carefully.”

 In the middle stage of foundation building, it would not be easy for Cheng Mo and others to deal with the sin cultivator who is proficient in water properties and has sophisticated methods.

Cheng Mo said: "Don't worry, I know what's going on!"

 One hundred and twenty points of merit!

 This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

 Others who want to take this risk may not have the opportunity yet.

"Okay." Mo Hua nodded and said, "Then you and Situ and the others get ready. We will set off the day after tomorrow after a ten-day break."

"no problem!"

 Cheng Mo agreed immediately.

 …

Soon after the break, after class, Mo Hua met Cheng Mo and others at the disciple's residence.

There are five people in total. In addition to Mo Hua, there are also Cheng Mo, Situ Jian, Hao Xuan and Yang Qianjun.

 Cheng Mo, Situ Jian and Hao Xuan, like Mo Hua, are all disciples of "Taiyi Ju". They live in the middle of the disciple residence and attend classes together on weekdays.

All three of them have taken Mo Hua’s formation class, so they all call Mo Hua “little senior brother”.

Yang Qianjun is an exception. He is from "Taijiaju". He has never taken a class in ink painting, and he does not call him "little senior brother" in ink painting.

But he and Cheng Mo have a good relationship. Last time, they fought side by side and lived and died together during the human trafficker incident, and their friendship became even deeper.

Yang Qianjun himself was born in the Yang family of the Taoist Army. He was an upright man and practiced Taoism well.

Mo Hua has some friendship with the Yang family, so I took him with me on this mission.

 As for Yi Li...

　　He is a pure spiritual practitioner. It is better to fight with more people and less people. He can cast spells from a distance.

 Once he was outnumbered and he was approached by the enemy, he was the first one to be knocked down.

So Yi Li listened to Mo Hua's suggestion and went to learn the magic to protect himself and escape. Mo Hua didn't take him with him this time.

 After the five people were ready, Mo Hua led the team and headed for the Yanshui River.

On the way, Mo Hua told a few people what he should pay attention to.

 Including the "dragon crossing the river"'s cultivation, skills, spiritual weapons, habits, habitual killing methods, etc.

 Cheng Mo and others looked slightly solemn.

They usually accept rewards, but most of them are criminal cultivators in the early stage of foundation building, and not many in the middle stage of foundation building.

 Even if there is, it is relatively weak.

Either you have just entered the middle stage and your cultivation is not deep, or your skills are not good, or your Taoism is mediocre, and there is no true sense of sinful cultivation, where you are full of evil deeds and killing people.

  But the person "江龙" is different.

This kind of person is an old martial artist in the world of cultivation. They have practiced for many years and have a solid foundation. They also have special skills and ruthless methods. They have rich experience in killing people or escaping.

 It was completely different from the monks they met before.

 The only person who can compare with him is probably the leader of the traffickers in black.

The leader in black was also in the middle stage of foundation building. Even if he faced the siege of Cheng Mo and the others, he was still able to handle it with ease.

 Even though everyone tried their best, the leader in black was not left behind.

Even if Mo Hua hadn't led the black-clothed leader away, they might have died at the hands of the black-clothed leader.

 Until the end, they didn’t know where the leader in black had gone.

 Thinking of this, Cheng Mo and others felt a lingering fear.

They couldn't help but feel a little nervous when they thought about the "dragon crossing the river" that they were about to face, which might be equally ferocious.

 Ink painting looks calm.

  Catching the "Dragon Crossing the River" in the middle stage of foundation building is just a small scene.

Over the past year or so, the number of sin cultivators who fell into his hands has been as many as ninety if not one hundred.

Of course, some of them are "miscellaneous fish" who make up the numbers. There are not so many prominent ones like "River Crossing Dragon", probably only a few dozen.

He has almost finished Boss Jiang’s list.

 And this "dragon crossing the river" is also a character on the list.

 When he thought of this, Mo Hua frowned slightly.

 He always felt that this list was very inconsistent.

The monks on the list all have unique skills and good cultivation. They even practice forbidden techniques such as "Fire Buddha". In the second-level state, they are regarded as unsolvable and powerful leaders of demon cultivators.

  Boss Jiang, who was in the early stages of foundation building, even though he had a trump card in the "Gold-Breaking Sword Control Technique" and had more than a dozen personal dealer brothers, how could he have such a "notorious" list?

 This is very unreasonable…

Mo Hua had some vague speculation before that this list might not belong to Boss Jiang at all.

 If it doesn’t belong to Boss Jiang, who does it belong to?

How are the monks on the list related to each other?

 Why are these names recorded in such a secretive way on such a jade slip?

Mo Hua took out the list and looked at it carefully.

 Among the list, the most powerful Fire Buddha is dead.

Most of the remaining monks were either dead or captured.

 The remaining small parts are either missing or hidden somewhere and no longer appear. There are very few clues left today.

The only one who has recently exposed his head and then caught his tail, is this "dragon crossing the river"...

“Catch the dragon crossing the river and see if we can find any clues...”

 "Teach Cheng Mo and the others some exercise..."

 “Try a new formation medium…”

"Then…"

Mo Hua raised his head slightly, looked far away, and through the car window, he had a panoramic view of the Qianzhou scene outside the car, and said silently in his heart:

We also need to take a look at what the bottom of Qianxue Prefecture, where aristocratic families are gathered, sects are numerous, and prosperous, is like...

The sky is moving vigorously, and a gentleman strives to constantly strengthen himself;

 The terrain is kun, and a gentleman carries his wealth with great virtue.

 When monks seek enlightenment, they should not only look up at the sky, but also occasionally look down at the ground.

 …

 The carriage moves with the wind, and the scenery outside the window changes.

I don’t know how long it took, but the green mountains and rivers receded, revealing a vast river on both sides of the road.

 The water surface is as vast as a flat mirror, and the smoke is thick and the same color as the sky.

 Yanshui River.

This is a long and flowing river near the border of Qianxue State, spanning several small state borders.

The breeze blew by, causing light ripples, and the fresh water vapor of the river waves came over the surface.

Mo Hua took a deep breath and felt the cool breeze entering his arms, feeling relaxed and happy.

 After walking for dozens of miles, we arrived at a ferry.

The ferry is not big, and there are several spiritual boats stationed there. There are monks coming and going, going ashore and disembarking constantly.

 Yanshui River has a wide water surface and long upstream and downstream waterways.

Although monks can learn some "water-crossing" body skills, they can apply spiritual power to the soles of their feet and cross the river by walking on water as if they were walking on flat ground.

 However, this type of movement consumes more spiritual energy. Once the spiritual energy is exhausted midway, you will drown in the water.

 The most dangerous ones are the various aquatic monsters at the bottom of the river.

These aquatic monsters, of varying grades, are born with water. They are powerful and like to eat people.

While crossing the water, or after drowning, if a monk is attacked by a water monster, he will become the monster's prey once he is defeated.

 Therefore, when monks cross rivers, they are still accustomed to taking "spiritual boats" to cross the water and resist monsters.

 The larger the spirit boat, the safer it is.

The six traders who died in the river were riding in a "small boat". The materials used were probably not good, and the formation was not strong enough, so they were pierced by the "River Crossing Dragon".

 The spirit boat capsized and six people were also buried in the water.

As for the river-crossing dragon, it can freely shuttle through the water and avoid monsters. It probably has its own unique methods.

Based on Daotingsi’s files, Mo Hua roughly determined the places where the six people died:

 Downstream of the ferry, a twenty-mile stretch of river.

A few people sat in a carriage and traveled another twenty miles to the vicinity of the river.

 You can see the wild grass on both sides of the bank is lush and green, dotted with yellow flowers, like a green carpet spread at both ends.

 The jade-like river in the middle flows gurglingly.

 The scenery is beautiful and interesting, not like a place where people have died.

Cheng Mo glanced at Mo Hua and asked in a low voice: "Mo Hua, do you know where those six people died?"

Ink Hua’s eyes were deep, he peered for a moment, and pointed to a section of the river with lush water and grass on the shore:

"There."

Cheng Mo and others approached the shore and glanced at the Miaomiao water, feeling a little confused.

 There is nothing but water.

The water plants are rippling in the water, and even if they are stained with blood, they have already melted away.

 But in Mo Hua’s eyes, there are indeed faint blood-colored chains of cause and effect on the water.

 Obviously, someone died here not long ago, and died miserably.

 “Mo Hua, what should we do now?” Cheng Mo asked.

Situ Jian and others also looked at the ink paintings.

 In their previous missions, the clues were clear and it was easier to find people. Unlike now, there are few clues and the wilderness is empty, making people confused.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment and said: "There are monks from Daotingsi guarding the upstream and downstream rivers. The dragon crossing the river should not be able to leave this part of the river..."

“The technique used by Guojiang Longxiu is the Bailang Jue. He is proficient in the nature of water. It has advantages and disadvantages.”

“The advantage is that he is as comfortable as a fish in the water, but the disadvantage is that once he gets out of the water, his strength is greatly reduced.”

“So, he shouldn’t dare to go too far from the water. He is probably hiding in a certain section of the river near here…”

Mo Hua took out several formation disks that had been prepared long ago. "On these formation disks, I drew water pattern formations, which can monitor the flow of spiritual power in the water..."

Afraid that they would not understand, Mo Hua said: "It's like the Sinan Formation used in water, or the Xiaoyuan Magnetic Formation."

“This array plate is made in duplicate, one is used to set up the array, and the other is used to monitor...”

"You throw the array plates used for setting up the formation into the water, one at a time."

“Then we’ll sit back and wait for the rabbit to catch the dragon crossing the river…”

 Cheng Mo and the others were not aware of the seriousness and nodded one after another.

So they split up, each looking for a suitable position, and threw the water pattern array far into the water.

 But this section of the river is too wide, and the water pattern array can only cover a small section of the waterway near the shore.

 Ink painting is just a matter of luck.

It is not easy to catch such monks who are proficient in water properties in the river. This is the best way at the moment.

 After that, everyone separated and stationed on the shore, holding the array disk for monitoring the water pattern array, staring at the movement of the water pattern array.

Mo Hua also warned: "If there is any movement, don't rush to take action. Use the Taixu Order to call people first, and then we can make long-term plans after everyone meets up."

"Um."

 Cheng Mo and others nodded.

 After that, it will be a long process of "waiting for the rabbit".

 This process requires patience.

Mo Hua was sitting on the branch of a big tree on the shore, holding a grass root in his mouth, crossing his legs, staring at the water pattern array used for monitoring, and looking at the scenery in the distance.

There was no movement for a full hour.

 There was no summons in the Taixu Order.

Just when Mo Hua was feeling bored, he saw a small boat sailing upstream. There were three or five monks on the boat pulling fishing nets. There seemed to be a lot of fish in the fishing nets.

 The ink painting was slightly startled.

 “It can’t be...a dragon crossing the river, right?”

He released his consciousness and took a closer look, only to realize that it was not the case.

The people on the boat were just ordinary monks, two foundation builders and three Qi refiners. They were dressed simply. Although their bodies were heavy with moisture, they had almost no murderous aura.

  It should be an ordinary "fishing repairman" nearby.

The so-called "fishing cultivators" are monks who make a living by raising and catching spiritual fish.

Mo Hua thought for a while, then jumped down from the tree and walked towards the group of monks.

As he got closer, Mo Hua discovered that these monks had slightly sad faces, their feet were stained with mud, and they also had a relatively strong fishy smell.

 They poured out the spiritual fish caught in the fishing net and put them into another basket.

These spiritual fishes are either of the first grade or of the second grade.

 Because they are fed with cheap spiritual animals, they have spiritual energy but no demonic energy. They will not eat people, and they do not have the ferocity of monsters.

Several fishing cultivators noticed someone approaching and looked alert. When they saw Mo Hua, they all breathed a sigh of relief when they found out that he was just a young cultivator with cute features.

 A fisherman asked kindly: "Little brother, where are you from?"

Mo Hua said: "I come from Qianxuezhoujie."

When the people heard this, their expressions showed a bit of respect, "Sect disciples?"

Mo Hua nodded.

“It’s incredible,” an older fish cultivator said casually, “Being able to join a sect in the Qianxue Prefecture is one of the best talents.”

“Little brother, you must also have high-grade spiritual roots, right?”

Mo Hua couldn't help but blush slightly, "I'm... a little bit worse..."

Yu Xiu said: "That's too bad!"

Mo Hua didn't really want to talk about "spiritual roots", so he changed the topic and asked: "Uncle, are you fishing?"

"Yes." The elder Yuxiu nodded and said, he was a little confused and asked: "Little brother, what are you doing here by yourself in the Yanshui River?"

 “I’m here to ‘fish’!” Mo Hua nodded.

“Fishing?” The elder fisherman was startled.

This kid has no fishing rod and no bait, so what kind of fish can he catch?

Hearing this, another fishing cultivator quickly waved his hand and said, "My child, stop fishing and leave quickly."

Mo Hua asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"

The fisherman pointed downstream, "Someone died a few days ago, and the corpse was chewed beyond recognition by a water monster. Now I heard that the man-eating water monster is still wandering around."

 “Oh.” Mo Hua nodded.

Daotingsi did not disclose it to the outside world, and these fishing cultivators did not know the truth, so they could only spread rumors.

 They thought the monks were dragged into the water and eaten by "water monsters".

Yuxiu sighed: "Six people have died, and there is still a young master."

“Young Master?” Mo Hua was confused, “Didn’t you say there were six traders?”

Yu Xiu shook his head, "He is a young master. It is said that he comes from a noble family."

“Aristocratic family?” Mo Hua asked curiously, “Which aristocratic family?”

 Another Yu Xiu said to that Chang Yu Xiu:

“Dad, what kind of aristocratic family is it? It’s a third-grade family. Those who are neither above nor below can’t reach the threshold of a ‘noble family’.”

The elder Yuxiu said angrily:

“What happened to the third rank? Why is the third rank not a noble family? Before I die, if you can build a third rank family, I will really die without regrets..."

 (End of this chapter)