Chapter 305: Fog Forest

Commander Yang assigned three teams of Dao soldiers. They all wore sturdy armor and carried sharp weapons with deep cultivation.

Commander Yang sternly ordered them, "This trip must ensure Mr. Xiao Mo's safety. Otherwise, military law will be enforced!"

"Yes!" the Dao soldiers replied in unison.

Afterward, Commander Yang led the way with the three teams of Dao soldiers, escorting Mo Hua to the foggy forest in the deep mountains. Mo Hua and Zhang Lan walked at the rear.

Along the way, Mo Hua quietly asked Zhang Lan, "Uncle Zhang, are you and Commander Yang very close?"

"Sort of, I guess."

"It looks like you have a very good relationship."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhang Lan curled his lip. "Where is the relationship good?"

"It just looks very good."

Zhang Lan slightly glared at Mo Hua and explained:

"Our Zhang family and Yang family have had marriage ties since ancient times. The elders are related by marriage and often interact. He and I are similar in age, and we've known each other since we were young. Of course, we also haven't gotten along since we were young."

"I see you arguing so happily, it doesn't look like you don't get along..."

Mo Hua silently said in his heart.

Zhang Lan glanced at Mo Hua. "Are you talking bad about me in your heart?"

Mo Hua shook his head. "No."

Zhang Lan lightly snorted.

Mo Hua then asked, "Uncle Zhang, since you are similar in age and have known each other since you were young, why has Commander Yang reached Foundation Establishment, while you are only at Qi Refining Layer Nine? Is it because your talent isn't as good as his?"

"What do you know?" Zhang Lan lowered his voice and said, "This is what I call accumulating thickly and releasing thinly, not competing for temporary speed, but seeking the long-term great dao."

Mo Hua softly muttered, "I didn't see it..."

Zhang Lan resentfully pinched Mo Hua's small face. "It's just Foundation Establishment. If I want to, I can reach Foundation Establishment tomorrow."

Mo Hua obviously didn't believe him. "Foundation Establishment isn't like a large cabbage. How can it be that easy?"

"That's difficult for rogue cultivators. For aristocratic family disciples, Foundation Establishment is just a matter of reaching out and grasping it. The difficulty lies in how to properly temper the dao foundation during the Qi Refining period."

Mo Hua nodded. Mister Zhuang and Zi Sheng Zi Xi also said the same thing.

"But..." Mo Hua couldn't help but say, "You've been tempering for too long..."

He had already been tempering for over thirty years...

Zhang Lan sighed. "My body is not my own."

Mo Hua quietly moved closer to Zhang Lan and said with concern, "Uncle Zhang, if you have any worries, just say them out. I'll keep it a secret for you."

Zhang Lan glanced at Mo Hua. "You just want to listen to a story, right?"

Mo Hua smiled awkwardly.

Zhang Lan helplessly shook his head. "It's not a big deal. It's just that once I reach Foundation Establishment, I have to enter into a marriage alliance for the family and marry a woman I don't like."

"Do you have someone you like?" Mo Hua asked.

Zhang Lan scratched his head. "You're still young, don't ask about these things. Focus on cultivating and learning array methods."

"I cultivate very diligently," Mo Hua said. "It's just boring on the road, so I'm chatting with you to pass the time."

Zhang Lan's face darkened, somewhat between tears and laughter. Did he dare to think that he was being used to pass the time...

The two of them whispered and chatted along the way.

When they reached the edge of the foggy forest, everyone found a large mountain rock to conceal themselves behind.

Mo Hua poked out his small head and looked around at the opposite side for a while. Then, he released his divine sense and borrowed Xu Bai's divine sense view to perceive the remnants of spiritual power on the opposite side.

The instant Mo Hua released his divine sense, Commander Yang was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, muttering in his heart, "Impossible..."

After a while, Mo Hua retracted his divine sense and nodded:

"The position of the fog array has indeed changed, and the quantity has also increased."

Zhang Lan's gaze condensed. "Have they detected something?"

Commander Yang's expression was firm. "If they haven't detected anything, we will attack them by surprise. If they have detected something, we will engage them head-on and eliminate them all! No matter what, what we need to do is the same."

Mo Hua nodded. After a slight thought, he said:

"Commander Yang, you all guard here. I'll go in and take a look first. If I don't encounter any evil cultivators, I will draw a map of the foggy forest's guide. If I discover evil cultivators, I'll come back and call you all. Everyone can secretly capture him and take him back for a harsh interrogation to see what we can learn."

Commander Yang was startled and immediately refused:

"That's too dangerous. I'll go with you."

Mo Hua shook his head. "If we go in together, the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, which is easy to alert the enemy. If I go in alone, the enemy is in the light and I am in the dark, and they won't discover me."

Commander Yang didn't understand. "If you go in alone, how are you in the dark?"

As he finished speaking, he was stunned because Mo Hua disappeared from his sight, quietly and without a sound, not revealing a trace.

Commander Yang looked at Zhang Lan in disbelief. "It's unexpectedly a concealment technique?"

Zhang Lan nodded.

Commander Yang frowned and thought for a moment, still shaking his head. "Concealment techniques also have flaws and will be detected by divine sense..."

He was speaking when he suddenly became stunned.

Because he released his divine sense, there was simply no sign of Mo Hua in his divine sense view.

Connecting this to his previous guess, Commander Yang's eyes widened, and his voice trembled slightly:

"Foundation Establishment divine sense?!"

Zhang Lan again pretended to be calm and nodded, patting Commander Yang's shoulder, frowning:

"How can you be a good commander when you're so easily startled? When you go out, don't say you know me. I can't afford to lose this person..."

"Get lost!" Commander Yang lowered his voice. "Where have I ever seen a cultivator in the Qi Refining period who has Foundation Establishment divine sense?"

"Haven't you just seen one?"

The shock in Commander Yang's eyes didn't fade. He murmured, "How exactly did he do it..."

"You don't need to ask about that."

Zhang Lan suddenly thought of something and admonished with a serious expression, "Absolutely don't say anything about this matter. Mo Hua is of uncertain origin, and he might be envied by others."

Commander Yang glanced at Zhang Lan. "Don't worry, I'm not like you, doing things unreliably."

After finishing, Commander Yang looked around at the several Dao soldiers nearby:

"The words I and Registrar Zhang just spoke concern a secret. If you heard them, just keep them in your hearts and don't leak a single bit."

Commander Yang's expression was severe. The several Dao soldiers were also his trusted aides. Hearing this, they had grave expressions and all cupped their hands:

"We strictly obey the Commander's command!"

Zhang Lan nodded. "Don't say it, you actually look a bit like a commander now..."

Commander Yang rolled his eyes at him and didn't bother to argue.

Mo Hua then concealed his figure and quietly entered the foggy forest without a sound.

There were more fog arrays, and the fog was thicker, but these had no effect on Mo Hua.

According to Mister Zhuang, everything has a surface appearance and also its original appearance.

In this foggy forest, the fog is the surface appearance, and the array methods are the original appearance.

Mo Hua had already learned the First Grade Ten Patterns Reverse Spirit Array. The ordinary First Grade Nine Patterns Fog Arrays were already considered relatively "coarse and shallow" array methods in his eyes.

Mo Hua roughly glanced a few times and saw through the array methods in these foggy forests.

Mo Hua used Passing Water Steps to climb to the top of a tree, took out paper and pen, and marked out the positions of all the fog arrays in the foggy forest.

From the outside to the inside, Mo Hua outlined the paths through the deep mountains stroke by stroke.

Following the outer edge of the foggy forest, along the positions of the fog arrays, he came all the way to the front of Black Mountain Stronghold's gate without encountering a single evil cultivator.

Mo Hua couldn't help but frown.

Among the evil cultivators in Black Mountain Stronghold, only the Third Boss is a First Grade array master. These fog arrays were also set up by him personally.

The Third Boss rearranged the fog array once, so he should have discovered something?

But what exactly did he discover?

Did he discover that Black Mountain Stronghold's wall corner had been dug?

Did he discover the fragmented array method that had been solved?

Or did he discover Mo Hua's identity?

Mo Hua couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he decided not to think about it for now. Anyway, he would understand everything when the Dao soldiers broke into Black Mountain Stronghold, suppressed and killed this group of evil cultivators.

Black Mountain Stronghold would certainly not go there again. Drawing out the map of the foggy forest's guide meant the purpose of this trip had been achieved.

Mo Hua got up to leave and prepare to go back.

Before leaving, he turned and looked at Black Mountain Stronghold again.

A long-held doubt surfaced in his heart:

How exactly was this large Black Mountain Stronghold built?