Chapter 412: A Single Cut

The tooth-faced man chatted with Mo Hua about trivial matters in Nanyuecheng while introducing the cave mansion.

Mo Hua, on the other hand, observed the exterior layout of the cave mansion while recalling Mr. Zhuang's words.

"Look at the spiritual energy, look at the position, look at the array, look at the five elements..."

After the unification of the Dao Court and over twenty thousand years of development in the cultivation world, cultivators had multiplied by billions, yet the spiritual energy in the heaven and earth had gradually thinned.

The naturally existing spiritual energy between heaven and earth today was no longer sufficient to support cultivators' cultivation.

But spiritual energy did exist between heaven and earth.

It was just that this spiritual energy was either thin, mixed, or impure, making it impossible for cultivators to absorb and refine.

Mo Hua pondered silently in his heart:

"Master told me to look at the spiritual energy, what should I look at?"

"What's there to see about spiritual energy?"

Mo Hua released his divine sense, observing the spiritual energy lingering above the cave mansion. He watched for a moment and gradually understood, gaining some insight.

Mr. Zhuang wasn't telling him to look at the spiritual energy itself, but at the flow of spiritual energy.

If the spiritual energy flowed, then the energy mechanism was smooth, and the cave mansion was suitable for living.

The wind wasn't always present, but the flow of spiritual power was always there.

Only this kind of flow was very subtle, requiring patience to perceive and careful distinction.

The position was also very easy to understand.

Southeast, northwest, up, and down were the four directions.

The location of the cave mansion, its placement within the overall layout of the immortal city, and its facing direction all had significance.

The array was even more self-evident.

Mo Hua was a first-grade array master, and also a first-grade main array master, primarily responsible for constructing the Five Elements First Grade Demon Slaying Great Array. His divine sense had twelve patterns, and he had also learned advanced arrays beyond the first grade.

For the current Mo Hua, anything involving arrays was the simplest.

Especially first-grade Qi Refining stage arrays.

This Nanyuecheng was only a second-grade immortal city.

The highest cultivation was only Foundation Building, and the array masters were at most first-grade.

The arrays applied in this cave mansion were also primarily first-grade, with very few having nine patterns. Most were simple arrays with six or seven patterns.

Mo Hua could see through these arrays at a glance, even without deriving calculations.

Arrays with six or seven patterns were no different from basic array patterns to the current Mo Hua.

Finally, there were the Five Elements...

Mo Hua still remembered the principles of mutual generation and mutual overcoming of the Five Elements when he constructed array diagrams for the refining workshop.

The construction of the cultivation path, the different rooms, and the various arrays all involved the truth of the Five Elements' mutual generation and overcoming.

How to utilize metal to generate water, accumulating and nurturing water sources; using water to generate wood, nourishing flowers and plants; using earth to generate metal, reinforcing the house...

Mo Hua looked, calculated, and recited confidently.

The tooth-faced man couldn't help but look at Mo Hua in surprise.

This young cultivator didn't seem like an outsider.

Moreover, he was extremely familiar with the arrays inside the cave mansion...

He seemed to have quite a bit of foundation in arrays.

Perhaps he was an apprentice of a major array master, here to choose a cave mansion on behalf of his master?

The tooth-faced man's spirits lifted, and the smile on his face became even more sincere.

An array master...

Even if he couldn't flatter, he absolutely couldn't offend.

The tooth-faced man was very enthusiastic, leading Mo Hua and the other two through all the cave mansions in the brokerage.

Mo Hua looked around, thought carefully, and initially finalized three cave mansions. He asked Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi:

"How about these?"

Bai Zixi didn't say anything.

Bai Zisheng wasn't very satisfied.

"Not big enough, not grand enough, not enough rooms, and the facilities for refining pills and tools are too simple."

Mo Hua glanced at him, "Then you choose?"

Bai Zisheng thought for a moment and backed down:

"Forget it, Master told you to pick, so you should do it."

Listening to things like spiritual energy, patterns, arrays, and the Five Elements just gave him a headache.

If Mo Hua chose incorrectly, Master wouldn't punish him.

If he chose incorrectly, that wouldn't be good, perhaps he would be punished by copying scriptures, or drawing several hundred arrays...

Bai Zisheng looked at Mo Hua again, muttering in his heart:

"Mo Hua couldn't possibly be a blood relative of Master, could he? Otherwise, why would Master treat him so well?"

Bai Zisheng speculated, then immediately denied it in his heart:

"Impossible, a descendant of Mr. Zhuang, their spiritual root couldn't be as bad as Mo Hua's!"

Mo Hua frowned, "Are you speaking ill of me again?"

"I didn't speak!"

"You said it in your heart."

Bai Zisheng opened his mouth, "Mo Hua, have you become a spirit? Can you know what others are thinking in their hearts?"

Mo Hua hummed lightly, not speaking.

Ever since his divine sense became strong and he learned derivation and calculation, he would vaguely have some perception of certain matters in his heart.

Of course, the main reason he knew what Bai Zisheng was thinking was because he was too familiar with him.

Bai Zisheng was guarded towards outsiders, but towards familiar people, especially his junior brothers who were with him daily, everything in his heart was written on his face.

Bai Zisheng then asked about the proper matter: "Then, which cave mansion should we choose?"

Mo Hua said: "I have chosen according to the standards Master mentioned: spiritual energy, pattern, array, and Five Elements. These three are all about the same. Whichever you like, choose that one."

Bai Zisheng scratched his head.

He felt that none of them were particularly good, but when it came to truly choosing, they were all about the same.

Mo Hua looked at Bai Zixi, "Little senior sister, which one do you like?"

Bai Zisheng also looked at his sister.

Bai Zixi thought for a moment, her slender white finger gently pointed, pointing at a cave mansion diagram and saying:

"This one."

Mo Hua looked, this cave mansion had nothing particularly special, except that there was a pond in the courtyard, a lawn beside the pond, and a big tree on the lawn.

Although the pattern was different, it was somewhat similar to the mountain residence on South Mountain in Tongxiancheng, where they sought knowledge from Mr. Zhuang.

Especially the big tree in the courtyard.

Mo Hua then nodded: "Then let's take this one."

Mo Hua showed the cave mansion diagram to Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang only glanced at it once, then nodded: "Not bad."

Mo Hua was delighted in his heart. It seemed that his previous considerations were correct.

Since Mr. Zhuang agreed, the next step was to find the tooth-faced man to rent the cave mansion.

The tooth-faced man was very surprised when he heard this.

He didn't expect that Mo Hua and the other two actually wanted to rent.

"Do you really want to rent?" The tooth-faced man confirmed again.

Mo Hua nodded, but before he could speak, Bai Zixi on the side said clearly:

"Not renting."

Not only was the tooth-faced man stunned, but Mo Hua was also stunned.

Bai Zixi said faintly:

"We're buying."

Mo Hua said in a low voice: "Senior sister, buying will cost a lot of spiritual stones..."

Bai Zixi shook her head, "Not a lot."

She gently patted the storage bag with the gold thread embroidered phoenix pattern at her waist and said softly to Mo Hua:

"Before we left, Aunt Xue gave me all the spiritual stones..."

After she finished, she was afraid that Mo Hua would worry, so she added: "Very, very many..."

Mo Hua was a bit shocked.

This little senior sister was actually a little rich woman...

Immediately, he had some doubts again, "Can this small storage bag hold me?"

Bai Zixi nodded, "It can hold you."

Mo Hua understood.

This storage bag should be an extraordinary spiritual tool.

The space in the storage bags used by ordinary rogue cultivators was limited and couldn't hold too many things.

If transporting large items, they needed to use storage boxes.

But Mo Hua knew that some storage spiritual tools had very large spaces inside, of course, they were also very precious, at least Mo Hua himself couldn't afford them.

Mo Hua looked at the gold thread phoenix pattern storage bag again, curious in his heart, and very much wanted to know exactly how many things it could hold inside.

But he didn't feel it was right to flip through his little senior sister's storage bag.

The tooth-faced man on the other side was overjoyed when he heard the words.

Originally it was a rental, unexpectedly it became a purchase.

The big business became an even bigger business.

The tooth-faced man immediately laughed: "This cave mansion is originally priced at forty thousand spiritual stones. If a few young friends want to buy it, this brokerage can offer a discounted price of thirty-eight thousand spiritual stones!"

Just as Bai Zixi was about to nod, Mo Hua said angrily:

"Wait a minute!"

Thirty-eight thousand spiritual stones?!

Are you trying to trick ghosts?

It only cost ten thousand spiritual stones for an ordinary rogue cultivator to build their foundation.

This ten thousand spiritual stones would require rogue cultivators to save for more than thirty years without eating or drinking.

Moreover, how could rogue cultivators possibly not eat or drink?

And how could things go smoothly?

If they encountered misfortunes and urgently needed spiritual stones, there was a high probability that their expenses would exceed their income. Not to mention ten thousand spiritual stones, they couldn't even save one hundred spiritual stones.

This one cave mansion, you want thirty-five thousand spiritual stones?

Save for a hundred years without eating or drinking?

Just one cave mansion, what makes it so expensive?

Mo Hua furrowed his brows, a little angry.

The tooth-faced man was helpless: "The market is like this, we can't do anything either..."

Then he said something about the Dao Court department, families, land, and so on, meaning that the cave mansion was indeed expensive, and it wasn't their fault.

"The market has been like this for several years..."

Mo Hua saw that they were indeed in a difficult situation, so he said:

"Then make it a little cheaper."

"Can't be cheaper..." The tooth-faced man had a difficult expression, "Little brother, you have good eyesight. You picked this cave mansion. Although it looks inconspicuous, the Feng Shui is smooth, and it is a top choice..."

Mo Hua's eyes narrowed slightly, "The array in this cave mansion is not good."

The tooth-faced man was slightly startled, somewhat displeased:

"The array here is still not good? Not to mention anything else, just this array alone is complete with the Five Elements, combining offense and defense. It can both defend against thieves and enemies, and also ventilate and nourish energy. And the grade of this array, it is a real first-grade array, personally drawn by an array master, and it is almost new..."

The tooth-faced man was eloquent, praising it to the skies.

Mo Hua then pointed at a spot on the ground and said: "The array here is broken."

The tooth-faced man was stunned, "Broken... broken?"

Mo Hua nodded, "The earth stone array, the array medium of the second array pattern is broken..."

Mo Hua walked a few steps forward, raised his head, and said again:

"The array drawn here is wrong."

"The bright lamp array, the fourth array pattern, the fifth stroke is drawn incorrectly..."

The tooth-faced man's mouth was wide open.

Mo Hua turned his head again and looked at the courtyard, "There were originally four sets of arrays here, but they are invalid, and no one has repaired them. Perhaps even you don't know..."

"And, the array here is also wrong..."

"The array here is not drawn incorrectly, but inferior spiritual ink was used, and it will be invalid after two months."

"And here, the arrays conflict..."

"What is drawn here..."

"Here..."

The tooth-faced man was completely dumbfounded.

What was the origin of this young cultivator?

He hadn't given this young cultivator the array diagram of this cave mansion to look at...

Arrays were secrets, and array diagrams were all sealed. They couldn't be taken out before the transaction was completed.

But this young cultivator, after just a few glances, was able to explain all the problems with the arrays in this cave mansion "as if they were family heirlooms"?

Whether a cave mansion looks good, whether it is suitable for living, and whether the pattern is good.

These are subjective issues.

Each person has their own opinion, and it cannot be considered accurate.

But the problems with the arrays are real, and cannot be faked...

Moreover, they were seen through so clearly by someone...

The tooth-faced man was lost in thought, cold sweat streaming down.

Mo Hua finished listing the problems, his eyes flashing, then he took advantage of his unpreparedness and ruthlessly slashed:

"Twenty thousand spiritual stones!"

Opening his mouth wide like a lion, he almost halved the price with one slash.

The tooth-faced man shivered all over, almost unable to stand steady...

(End of this chapter)