Progress

Since then, whenever Mo Hua had time, he would visit Mr. Zhuang's "Zuowang Residence" to spar with Bai Zisheng in martial arts.

Bai Zisheng had a very high comprehension ability. With each spar, his martial arts became more proficient, but Mo Hua's progress in martial arts was even faster.

Initially, Bai Zisheng had the upper hand, but as Mo Hua's Evanescent Water Step became more refined, within twenty rounds, it became difficult for Bai Zisheng to snatch the jade pendant hanging around Mo Hua's neck.

In order to spar longer, they extended the sparring sessions from twenty rounds to forty.

"Something's not right..."

After one session, Bai Zisheng frowned.

"What's wrong?" Mo Hua asked.

"Your martial arts, there's something peculiar about them..."

Mo Hua looked puzzled.

"They seem ordinary at first glance, nothing special, but they're slippery. Just when I thought I had caught you, your figure would flicker, slipping away from my grasp. I can't seem to catch you no matter what..."

"Doesn't that just prove that this martial art isn't ordinary?" Mo Hua retorted.

Bai Zisheng shook his head. "This martial art fundamentally uses spiritual power to manipulate the physical body. There are many martial arts that use spiritual power in this way, but I've never seen one so tricky."

Mo Hua didn't understand. "Isn't it just using spiritual sense to guide spiritual power, directing it through certain meridians and acupoints to move the body? Why would that be difficult?"

It wasn't difficult per se, but being able to manipulate spiritual power with such precision and detail using spiritual sense was no simple feat.

Bai Zisheng looked at Mo Hua again.

At this point, Mo Hua was at the fifth level of Qi Refinement, but his spiritual sense was sufficient to draw eight array patterns. Bai Zisheng had seen Mo Hua draw arrays before—his strokes were swift and precise, able to complete a six or seven-line array in no time.

Bai Zisheng paused, momentarily unsure if the peculiarity lay in Mo Hua's martial art or in Mo Hua himself...

However, he didn't dwell on it. The cultivation world was vast, with myriad techniques and spells. Some cultivators indeed excelled in certain types of spells more than others.

Mo Hua's martial arts were on par with Bai Zisheng's suppressed cultivation level, and Bai Zisheng was delighted beyond measure.

From then on, every day, Bai Zisheng finished his homework early and sat under the big locust tree, waiting for Mo Hua to come spar with him in martial arts.

Suddenly one day, Bai Zisheng asked, "You learned this martial art to evade cultivators' techniques?"

"Yeah." Mo Hua nodded, "Apart from cultivators, there are also demon beasts."

He couldn't predict when he might venture into the Great Black Mountain. The demon beasts there were much stronger than cultivators.

"You better practice with demon beasts too," Bai Zisheng said casually while eating meat.

"Huh?" Mo Hua was stunned.

Bai Zisheng continued, "A demon beast's attack is different from that of human cultivators. You might evade cultivators, but that doesn't mean you can evade demon beasts."

"Oh." Mo Hua suddenly realized.

Demon beasts were massive, physically robust, with sharp claws and teeth, often walking on all fours. Their attack trajectories were entirely different from those of cultivators.

Moreover, some demon beasts were skilled in attacks using venomous tails, thorns, saliva, or jagged teeth, making their methods even more cunning and tricky.

Mo Hua scratched his head. "But I can't find any demon beasts to practice with. I might accidentally get eaten by one..."

"I was just suggesting it. Pay attention on your own," Bai Zisheng said casually.

But Mo Hua took his words to heart.

He internally weighed the probabilities of being killed by a cultivator versus being bitten to death by a demon beast.

He felt that the latter was more likely.

The Great Black Mountain was treacherous and unpredictable, with fierce and cunning demon beasts.

Once he entered the Great Black Mountain in the future, he would have to face demon beasts. The brute strength, speed, and unpredictable maneuvers of demon beasts were beyond what cultivators could compare with.

"How do you spar with demon beasts? Should I try to become a demon hunter?" Mo Hua pondered for a moment but decided against it.

A few days later, Mo Hua was reading a formation book at the eatery.

He had mastered the eight-line formation and could draw it effortlessly. To save spiritual ink, he didn't draw every day, instead opting to read formation books when he had spare time.

He couldn't spar with Bai Zisheng every day either.

The matter of Bai Zisheng and Mo Hua sparring became known to Aunt Xue, inadvertently revealed in Bai Zisheng's excitement.

Aunt Xue was somewhat displeased, feeling Bai Zisheng was too playful and had disrupted Mo Hua's study of formations. Thus, she assigned him more chores.

Mo Hua tried to explain to Aunt Xue that he wanted to practice martial arts, so Bai Zisheng sparred with him.

But Aunt Xue clearly didn't believe him. She knew Mo Hua was naturally frail; how could he suddenly want to learn martial arts?

Thinking Mo Hua was covering for Bai Zisheng, she said sternly, "Good child, I know you're doing it for the young master's sake, but rules must be followed."

After scolding Mo Hua, Aunt Xue returned and gave Bai Zisheng even more tasks.

Mo Hua could only occasionally bring Bai Zisheng some food as a consolation.

Zhang Lan, who used to frequent the eatery, seemed to have something going on suddenly and became busy. It had been quite some time since Mo Hua had seen him.

Mo Hua suddenly found himself quieter, spending his time alone reading formation books.

As Mo Hua was engrossed in reading, Aunt Jiang brought over a bowl of chicken soup for him to drink while it was still hot.

Aunt Jiang's given name was Yun, and her husband's surname was Chu. She was also a demon hunter. Previously injured while demon hunting, their family had no other income and even had a child who couldn't eat. At the suggestion of Liu Ruhua, she came to help at the eatery, and their situation gradually improved, with her complexion looking much better now.

Although her husband couldn't hunt demons, he was adept at setting traps. Occasionally, he would go up the mountain to catch some weaker demon beasts, sell them for spirit stones, and support their household. Sometimes, they even caught spiritual beasts.

These spiritual beasts were likely raised by clans or sect elders and had inadvertently wandered into the mountains, gradually becoming demonic but still retaining much of their flesh quality compared to demon beasts.

Aunt Jiang stewed these spiritual beasts into delicious meat soup and always saved some for Mo Hua.

Aunt Jiang was skilled in pastries and could fry pine nuts. Her culinary skills, learned from Liu Ruhua, were excellent.

"Thank you, Aunt Jiang!" Mo Hua happily drank the delicious chicken soup and thanked her.

Mo Hua enjoyed the meal, and Aunt Jiang was also pleased, though she was not good with words, just smiling shyly.

"Oh, by the way, Uncle Chu found the wooden binding formation useful last time?" Mo Hua remembered and asked.

"Yeah, it was really useful," Aunt Jiang nodded, "Every time Uncle Chu comes back from the mountain, he praises how effective that formation is. Now the demon beasts caught in the traps don't damage their fur and skin."

The demon beasts trapped in the pits often struggled violently, causing damage to their fur and skin, which meant they couldn't sell them for many spirit stones.

After hearing this, Mo Hua found a formation in the "Thousand Formation Records" called the "Wooden Binding Formation." It could bind demon beasts. Although it required a spirit stone to activate, if the demon beasts had intact fur and skin, they could sell them for many more spirit stones.

"It's just..." Aunt Jiang hesitated.

"Is there something wrong with the formation?" Mo Hua asked.

"No, no," Aunt Jiang waved her hand, "It's not the formation. It's that Uncle Chu caught a young demon beast before. It's been trapped in the pit for several days and still hasn't died. Uncle Chu brought it back, but doesn't know what to do with it..."

"Young demon beast?" Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

(End of the chapter)