Chapter 132: Missing

Mo Hua was preparing to formally draw the Si Nan Zi Mu Array.

He went to find Master Chen to refine a simple compass and several dozen stone needles. The mother array of the Si Nan Zi Mu Array only had one set and was drawn on the compass. The child arrays could have many and were drawn on the stone needles.

There was no direct connection between the child arrays; they only sensed each other through the mother array. Although there were many child arrays, they were controlled by the array hub and still functioned as a single array. Therefore, the Si Nan Zi Mu Array could only be considered a complex array containing two single arrays.

Mo Hua spent half a day drawing, and the array was finished. Afterward, he prepared to test its effectiveness.

Mo Hua entered the Da Hei Shan, set up a trap and the array, and then inserted the stone needles more than ten zhang away. He let Da Hu and the other two watch nearby, while Mo Hua himself, holding the Si Nan Mother Array, ran far away.

After walking for more than half a shi chen, Mo Hua finally stopped. He found a patch of grass to squat in and stared at the compass in his hand.

Mo Hua waited and waited until he was a bit sleepy. Just then, a point on the compass suddenly lit up. The lit-up point corresponded exactly to the stone needle Mo Hua had inserted.

Mo Hua's spirits lifted, and he immediately ran back. By the time he arrived, the demonic beast had already been killed by Da Hu and the others and lay on the ground, its blood still fresh.

Mo Hua walked over, pressed his finger on the demonic beast's heart pulse, and found that the beast's blood still had vitality and could be drawn with his divine sense. He then took out a jade bottle and urged the blood-drawing technique to collect the demonic blood.

After filling about eight or nine bottles of blood, Mo Hua stopped. He ran to the stone needle again and saw that it was safe and sound, undamaged. A smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

"Mo Hua, are you done?"

"Yes, I'm done!"

Da Hu and the other two didn't know what Mo Hua was fiddling with the compass for, but they guessed it was related to the array. They didn't understand arrays, so they didn't ask. However, seeing Mo Hua complete his task smoothly, they also couldn't help but smile.

The several people, as usual, peeled the skin and removed the bones from the bloody demonic beast and put them into their storage bags. They sold the spirit stones, and in the evening, they delivered them to Mo Hua's home again.

Mo Hua waved goodbye to Da Hu and the others and continued to wander within the Da Hei Shan, placing the stone needles carved with the Si Nan Zi Array. The locations of the stone needles were mostly roads, mountain paths, and forests that demonic beasts or demon hunters had to pass, as well as suitable places for traps.

Mo Hua spent three or four days placing all the several dozen stone needles. With this, the outer mountain was basically under Mo Hua's control. While it wasn't to say that he knew every rustle of leaves in the wind, at least when cultivators or demonic beasts fought and generated fluctuations in spirit power, Mo Hua could know about it immediately by looking at the compass.

In the following days, Mo Hua simply held the compass and ran around the outer mountain, busy and happy. When a light point on the compass lit up, it meant a battle had occurred.

The majority of the time, it was because a ground fire array had exploded, or fluctuations were produced by new demon hunters encircling demonic beasts. When Mo Hua rushed there, the battle had basically entered its final stage. He waited for a while until the demonic beast was dead, and then he could go up and collect the blood.

Some of the time, it was other demon hunters encircling and killing demonic beasts. By rights, the prey of a small team of demon hunters was not allowed to be touched by others. However, Mo Hua was an acquaintance, a very familiar kind.

Most demon hunters had entrusted Mo Hua to draw arrays for them and had received favors. Some, although they hadn't entrusted him, also wanted to build some relationship with Mo Hua, so that in the future, if they had a need for arrays, it would be easy to ask. So generally, demon hunting teams didn't mind Mo Hua collecting some blood from the demonic beasts they killed. Anyway, they didn't use demonic blood.

Again, some were demonic beasts fighting each other, and the impact of demonic power produced fluctuations. Demonic beasts seeking mates, seeking food, hunting, and contending for territory would all cause fights.

Approaching rashly when demonic beasts were fighting was too risky. Mo Hua could only observe from afar, learning a lot and recording the habits or characteristics of the demonic beasts, as well as some special demonic power abilities or enraged states of demonic beasts.

For a cultivator at the Qi Refining stage, Mo Hua's divine sense was already very strong. Observing from afar, he could even use his divine sense to spy on the state of the demonic power within the demonic beasts' meridians without being detected by the beasts.

Just like this, Mo Hua's cultivation gradually increased, and he gradually touched the barrier of the sixth layer of Qi Refining. He also hoarded more and more demonic blood, totaling hundreds of bottles.

Mo Hua was well-prepared and thought that after his realm broke through, he could aim for the Nine Patterns First Grade Array Master.

In the following days, Mo Hua cultivated and learned arrays peacefully.

Several days later, it was evening. Mo Hua and his mother, Liu Ru Hua, were at home, waiting for Mo Shan to return for dinner. Suddenly, a heavy rain poured down for nearly half a shi chen.

After the rain stopped, Mo Shan returned, but his expression was serious. He casually ate a few mouthfuls of rice, took some dry food, and then wanted to go out again.

Mo Hua couldn't help but ask, "Dad, what happened?"

Mo Shan initially didn't want to say, but thinking that Mo Hua could already survive alone in the Da Hei Shan and was no longer that weak child from his childhood, he said solemnly, "Old Zhao is missing."

Mo Hua was slightly startled. "Is it Uncle Zhao, the one who is medium-built, has thick eyebrows, and knows the Splitting Mountain Palm method?"

Mo Shan was taken aback. "You know?"

"Yes." Mo Hua nodded. That day when he went to find Uncle Yu to borrow people, Uncle Yu had called out "Old Zhao," and the late-stage Qi Refining cultivator he was referring to was precisely him.

Mo Shan nodded and said, "Correct."

"Where did he disappear?"

"Da Hei Shan."

"I'll go look too."

Mo Shan was about to refuse, but after thinking for a bit, he said again, "You follow me, and don't get separated."

"Okay."

Liu Ru Hua prepared some more food for the father and son to take, and admonished them with a worried face, "Be careful on the road."

Mo Shan took Mo Hua out, and they didn't go directly up the Da Hei Shan, but first arrived at Elder Yu's home. Elder Yu's home was more spacious, but the furnishings were relatively simple. There were quite a few demon hunters standing in the room.

Elder Yu's gaze swept over Mo Shan. Seeing Mo Hua beside Mo Shan, he showed a slight surprise, but still nodded to Mo Hua, showing a kind smile.

Afterward, he said solemnly, "Old Zhao is missing. I've already sent Cheng Yi to lead people to search, but there's no news yet."

"Maybe he was just blocked on the mountain by the heavy rain. He found a place to hide, and will come down the mountain when the day breaks tomorrow," a demon hunter guessed.

Elder Yu shook his head and said, "Old Zhao's wife came over and said her husband is missing."

Elder Yu then explained the matter a bit. Old Zhao's wife was pregnant, already five or six months along. Old Zhao had heard from an alchemist that there was a medicinal herb called Bai Ji Shen which could nourish Qi and stabilize the fetus. He had found a stalk in the mountain, picked it, and prepared to bring it down the mountain for his wife.

But the demon beasts he hunted that day were a bit tricky, and it delayed him for some time. When he came down the mountain later, he discovered that his storage bag was broken and the Bai Ji Shen was lost.

Old Zhao guessed he lost it during the fight with the demonic beasts, so he told his wife that he would go into the mountain to look for it and would return quickly.

As soon as Old Zhao entered the mountain, the heavy rain poured down. After the rain stopped, he still hadn't returned. Originally, it was common for demon hunters to have matters and stay overnight in the mountain. However, Old Zhao's wife inexplicably felt a surge of panic and palpitations, as if she would never see her husband again.

She couldn't explain this palpitation, but it was extremely strong. In her utter helplessness, she could only beg Elder Yu to entrust him to send people to search in the mountain.

Elder Yu sighed, "Better safe than sorry. Everyone suffers a bit of hardship; it's always better than Old Zhao losing his life. Otherwise, with an orphan and a widow left behind, how will they live?"

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