Chapter 838: Hatred

As the Lantern Festival approached, Shui Yan Cheng was bustling.Traffic on the streets flowed like water and galloped like horses, with all sorts of cultivators crossing paths, market stalls were dense, and the air was filled with the clamor of voices.Mo Hua and his companions found a small tavern, asked for a private room, and after confirming there were no eavesdroppers, began to speak in low voices."At this critical juncture, the higher ups in the sect don't seem to want to set sail...""But below they're making a big fuss, after all, everyone relies on this to make extra money.""Moreover, the wind has passed, the Dao Ting Division over there has already stopped, no actions are being seen.""As for the even higher Dao Ting, they always just put on a show. Something happened, take some spirit stones to smooth it over, and then it lightly passes.""Some other families are also applying pressure, after all, it's not just us... it's not Gui Shui Men alone eating this meal, others also want to eat meat...""Therefore, this time's ship still sails, but more hidden."Wang Chen, who knew the inside story, told Mo Hua everything.Mo Hua nodded, saw Wang Chen's face full of worry, and then said:"Don't worry, I left a record for you at the Dao Ting Division. You were coerced by the sect to do this kind of thing. As long as you have no other intentions and don't commit a major mistake, when the matter of Gui Shui Men is exposed, you can be exempted from punishment."Wang Chen was greatly joyful, cupped his hands and said: "Many thanks..."He looked at Mo Hua, not knowing how to address him.Hao Xuan then prompted him: "Little senior brother.""Oh," Wang Chen then also unclearly followed, shouting, "Many thanks little senior brother."Mo Hua nodded, just accepting it by default."All of Gui Shui Men's ships are moored during the day. After sunset, probably at the You hour, they will all set off together and sail into the Shui Yan He.""Among them, one part of the ships are just normal pleasure boats for tourists to release lanterns and view the scenery, while another part looks the same on the outside, but the destination is different, and the use is completely different..."Wang Chen said to Mo Hua."Need to wait until sunset ah..." Mo Hua murmured.Wang Chen nodded, "But you can board the ship in advance. I've spoken with the senior brother responsible for this matter, and I can bring you all over in advance. You all can play on the ship for a while, first familiarize yourselves with the situation, and when the You hour arrives, you will naturally sail to your destination along with the other ships.""Is your senior brother reliable?" Cheng Mo asked.Wang Chen pondered and said: "He's actually not a very reliable person, but he's very greedy for money. I gave him some spirit stones, and looking at the spirit stones, he should be reliable.""Good." Mo Hua nodded.After the discussion finished, Wang Chen then brought Mo Hua and his companions in front of an exquisite and luxurious large pleasure boat.In front of the pleasure boat, there were Gui Shui Men disciples guarding it. Tourists relied on tokens to board the ship."Little senior brother, wait a moment."Wang Chen said to Mo Hua and the others, then ran to the front of the ship and said something to a senior brother of Gui Shui Men.That senior brother looked at Mo Hua and his companions from afar, slightly nodded, and then waved his hand at them.Mo Hua and his companions walked forward."Follow me..."This Gui Shui Men senior brother said, then absent-mindedly led the way.But he did not bring Mo Hua and his companions onto the ship. Instead, he brought everyone to a nearby quiet small warehouse with no one around. He then opened his mouth and said:"One person ten ten thousand spirit stones."Mo Hua was startled, "So expensive?"The Gui Shui Men senior brother was disdainful, "Do you know where you are all going? What kind of ecstatic enjoyment place is that? Ten ten thousand spirit stones is already discounted, and this is still looking at Junior Brother Wang's face, otherwise it would be at least eleven ten thousand."Mo Hua was somewhat hesitant, but finally gritted his teeth and said: "Alright ba..."This was all for investigating the case. If it were him alone, he would die before spending these unjust spirit stones.Moreover, he planned to find Uncle Gu to "reimburse" him afterwards.Hao Xuan and his companions also felt a bit of heartache, but they were all disciples of family clans, not to the point of being unable to afford it. And Mo Hua said that this was entrusted by the Dao Ting Division and they could earn a lot of merits.Merits were something that spirit stones couldn't exchange.As long as they could earn merits, spending some spirit stones was worth it.If the spirit stones weren't enough, they could also use some equivalent precious spirit tools to offset the cost.Everyone handed over a storage bag filled with spirit stones or spirit tools to this Gui Shui Men senior brother.But when it was Mo Hua's turn, this Gui Shui Men senior brother stared at Mo Hua, looked him up and down, pondered for a moment, then suddenly changed his mind, shook his head and said:"He's not okay.""How is he not okay?" Wang Chen asked doubtfully.This Gui Shui Men senior brother's face was serious, "You all know what kind of place I'm bringing you to, right?""Look at his appearance," he pointed at Mo Hua, lowered his voice and said, "...does he look like someone who visits brothels?"Mo Hua couldn't stand it.Being refused once was fine, but being continuously refused twice.Mo Hua said angrily: "How am I not like someone who visits brothels!"Si Tu Jian hurriedly pulled his sleeve, his expression a mixture of crying and laughing.This wasn't a good thing either...No need to argue about this.But this Gui Shui Men senior brother just wouldn't let Mo Hua board the ship. He wouldn't let him, no matter what, and wouldn't let him even if he added spirit stones.Wang Chen's pleading was also useless."Although this senior brother of mine has this little hobby and likes to earn some spirit stones, the rules from above cannot be broken, at least not too obviously.""His face is too tender, it's not okay, it's really not okay..."Finally, after talking with no result and having no other way, Mo Hua was still the only one excluded, watching Cheng Mo, Si Tu Jian, and Hao Xuan board the ship with wide eyes.Mo Hua was somewhat angry, but also somewhat worried about Hao Xuan and the others.However, it was good that he had prepared some means beforehand.Cheng Mo and the other two all had arrays that he had prepared in advance, used to protect themselves in case of accidents.Besides that, Mo Hua also gave each of them a set of water-avoiding armor, taught them some incantations to ward off water demons, and told them that if they found the situation wasn't right, they should jump ship and escape.Si Tu Jian also had a transmission order in his hand.This was specialized by the Dao Ting Division, and Mo Hua had specifically asked for it from Gu Chang Huai.Shui Yan Cheng was relatively far from Tai Xu Men, and there was no Yuan magnetic hub for transfer. Upon arriving at the Shui Yan He, the Yuan magnetic power would be even weaker, and the Tai Xu Order might not transmit messages.Therefore, this kind of transmission order that didn't rely on the Yuan magnetic large array for transfer and could transmit messages one-to-one within a certain range was very necessary.As for Mo Hua himself, he could only think of other ways to sneak in.Mo Hua strolled around outside for a bit.Inside Shui Yan Cheng, there was a branch of the Shui Yan He flowing through, so there were quite a few ferry points in the city. Now, each ferry point had quite a few exquisite pleasure boats.These pleasure boats would all go down the Shui Yan He together at the You hour.But the problem was, from the surface, all the ships were mixed together, colorful, and it was fundamentally impossible to distinguish which were normal pleasure boats and which were hidden romantic "rouge boats".After finding one, he still needed to be able to sneak in again.Mo Hua tried several times and found that he couldn't find a rouge boat and didn't have a good way to sneak onto a pleasure boat either.Seeing the sun approaching noon, he could only find a place first, fill his stomach, and see if he had other ideas after eating his fill.Time was limited, so for convenience, Mo Hua could only find a small food shop near the market, picked a few small dishes he liked to eat, and ate a full meal with noodles.When settling the bill, the total was five spirit stones.The shop owner, holding five spirit stones, smiled like a flower and kept saying good things to Mo Hua.Mo Hua was suddenly somewhat in a daze.Five pieces...Ordinary cultivators who worked hard and operated normally earned spirit stones one piece at a time every day, and spent spirit stones one piece at a time as well.But on the pleasure boat.One ticket was ten ten thousand spirit stones.Mo Hua turned his head and looked around.In the market, most were small vendors. Their businesses also mostly involved one or two spirit stones in and out.Despite this, they also lived hard lives, enduring labor without complaint.In this world, some cultivators struggled to make ends meet with just a few spirit stones.But there were also cultivators who squandered ten ten thousand or even several ten ten thousand for a moment's enjoyment.Shui Yan Cheng held the Lantern Festival, and the traffic was like water, seeming prosperous.But was this prosperity real prosperity?Beneath the prosperity, who would spare a glance for these poor cultivators?Mo Hua's pupils slightly shrunk, and his heart felt indescribable."The human way, it harms the insufficient to serve the surplus."So-called "prosperity" itself might also just be a manifestation of the "exploitation" of the human way to a certain extent.Things reach their extreme and will reverse. Prosperity reaches its extreme and will decline.Prosperity brought by exploitation is essentially just a process of "decline".Mo Hua inexplicably thought of the old ancestor of the Qian family in Da Hei Shan, thought of the Shibo who raised "Dao Nie", and silently sighed.After eating, Mo Hua still wandered around in Shui Yan Cheng.But there was still no progress on the matter of the rouge boat."Or, go find Uncle Gu and mix in with him?"Mo Hua thought for a bit, then shook his head.There were many people from the Dao Ting Division on Uncle Gu's side. This kind of secret investigation could definitely not be done with them.Don't put all your eggs in one basket.Moreover, he couldn't let Uncle Gu know that he was refused boarding because he "didn't look like someone who visited brothels"."Then what to do?"Mo Hua thought and thought, couldn't think of a way, then decided to calculate a divination.He found a teahouse, asked for a private room, ordered a pot of Yun Wu tea, and then in the misty haze, took out three copper coins."Calculate what? Rouge boat?"Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then wanted to throw the copper coins, but in an instant, his heart suddenly palpitated.Before his eyes, black and purple karma seemed to be entwining, a huge poppy flower opened its big mouth, wanting to swallow him...Mo Hua's pupils shook, he suddenly clenched the copper coins, and stopped the divination."Cannot calculate..."The three words "rouge boat" seemed to contain great karma.As if once calculated, it would touch something, be detected by some people, and encounter some unknown dangers...The scene just now was just an intuition of a karmic omen."Cannot calculate, then what to do?"Mo Hua thought for a bit, his divine sense moved, and he suddenly thought that it shouldn't be that he couldn't calculate, but that the three words "rouge boat" couldn't be calculated.The rouge boat couldn't be calculated, and calculating it would have karmic hidden dangers, but that didn't mean other matters couldn't be calculated.He could beat around the bush and start from other matters.What other matters?Shui Yan Luo? Gui Shui Men? Shui Yan He altar?These were all stained with considerable karma...Mo Hua pondered for a moment, suddenly thought of something, and his eyes brightened."Ye Shijie!"Ye Shijie was possibly just an "insignificant" victim in the rouge boat incident, but her karma could be used as a guide.Mo Hua spread open his palm again, silently recited "Ye Jin's death" in his heart, then threw up the copper coins, waited for the copper coins to fall back into his palm, and then looked at the divination image.Two positive and one negative.Among them, the two positive copper coins were stacked together."What does this mean?"Mo Hua was somewhat confused.After all, he had no systematic heavenly mechanism inheritance, and he fundamentally couldn't understand even the basic copper coin divination images.This meant that the murderer was two people?One positive and one negative.But why were the two positive copper coins stacked together?Mo Hua couldn't think clearly. He decided to calculate something even simpler."The murderer who killed Ye Jin..."Not right, Ye Jin Shijie committed suicide.The murderer who forced her to death?Possibly many people, not good to calculate...Then he could only calculate "people related to Ye Jin..."Mo Hua threw the copper coins again. This time the divination image was much simpler. The three copper coins were connected in a line, with white karmic qi machine floating above them.Pointing to... a direction?Mo Hua guessed, feeling that his calculation shouldn't be wrong.He put away the copper coins, paid for the tea, then left the teahouse, following the direction guided by the white karmic qi machine above the copper coins, walking forward all the time.He passed through streets, went through markets, arrived at a ferry point, and then crossed over rows of colorful spirit boats. The karmic qi machine finally lingered in front of a ship that was obviously smaller and somewhat old.Mo Hua raised his head and carefully sized it up.There was no obvious mark on this ship. He didn't know which sect or family clan it belonged to.Moreover, this ship was clearly old, with an old structure. He didn't know what it was used for before, but it was now temporarily modified into a pleasure boat.The ship itself wasn't particularly eye-catching among the crowd of luxurious pleasure boats.At this time, people were coming and going, some boarding the ship and some disembarking, but entering and exiting all required tokens."Is there Ye Jin Shijie's karma on this ship?"Mo Hua frowned slightly.A projection array was arranged on the ship, and he had no token, so he couldn't sneak in. He could only first find a teahouse nearby, sit and drink tea, and observe for a while.About half an hour passed. While drinking tea, Mo Hua's heart suddenly jumped. He looked up and saw a green-clothed cultivator coming down from the ship.This person was middle-aged, with a cultivation aura probably around the peak of Foundation Establishment. His hair was half-white, his expression was calm, his gaze was indifferent, but there was a hint of sorrow and stubbornness in his eyes.Passing cultivators all saluted and greeted him.He also returned the salute one by one."Shui Yan Luo?" Mo Hua's gaze sharpened, then he secretly said, "Doesn't seem like it..."Shui Yan Luo had one arm cut off by Uncle Gu and was not lightly injured.While this green-clothed cultivator's body had no wounds.His body aura was also different from Shui Yan Luo's.While pondering, the green-clothed cultivator got off the ship and walked directly to a nearby tavern.Mo Hua hesitated for a moment, then followed, seeing the green-clothed cultivator go up to the second floor alone and enter a private room. He seemed to be discussing matters with someone. Not long after, two other cultivators walked down.These two cultivators wore casual clothes, but Mo Hua could sense the strong water spirit power aura on their bodies."They are people from Gui Shui Men..."Moreover, these two people were muttering as they walked:"This old man, hiring his ship, he also didn't bargain...""...He slaughtered a sum..."They seemed to be discussing a business deal.Although their voices were small, Mo Hua still heard them.After these two people left, Mo Hua pondered slightly, then had a plan in his heart.He got up and went up to the second floor, found the green-clothed cultivator's private room, and without pretending, directly pushed the door and entered.Inside the private room, the green-clothed cultivator, who was frowning and pondering, saw the room suddenly open and someone disturbing him. His expression was slightly angry.But after seeing Mo Hua's face, he was involuntarily startled."This young master, we seem... not acquainted?"The green-clothed cultivator's gaze slightly sank and said."It doesn't matter if we're not acquainted, we're acquainted now..."Mo Hua was also not verbose, and went straight to the point, "I want to ask you for a small favor."The green-clothed cultivator frowned tightly and tentatively asked: "What favor?"Mo Hua slowly said: "Bring me onto your ship. Tonight, the place you all go to, I also want to go."The green-clothed cultivator's expression changed upon hearing the words, and he immediately coldly laughed:"Young master, please don't joke. Ye's ship is already full and cannot carry the young master."After finishing, he flicked his sleeve, got up, and wanted to leave.Mo Hua raised his eyebrows and said in a low voice: "Ye Hong!"The green-clothed cultivator was startled, turned his head to look at Mo Hua, and said with a heavy gaze: "You know Ye?"Then he pondered slightly and suddenly understood in his heart.If he didn't know himself, it would be impossible to come to his door so openly.He sized Mo Hua up again.Mo Hua was not wearing sect robes, only ordinary clothes. Although his clothing was plain, his face was as handsome as jade, and his gaze was as clear as water. His overall demeanor was even more extraordinary. Compared to himself, who had been an elder in the clan all year round, he was not inferior in momentum.The green-clothed cultivator knew that this young master's origin was unclear and was probably not easy to provoke, so he said:"Even if the young master knows Ye, it's useless. The ship is already full and cannot carry others. The young master can take care of himself. Ye bids farewell..."The green-clothed cultivator perfunctorily cupped his hands and got up to leave.He didn't look sideways or glance at Mo Hua. As he brushed past Mo Hua, and was about to walk out of the private room, he heard Mo Hua's ice-cold voice from behind say:"Your pair of children, they are all dead, right..."The green-clothed cultivator's body trembled, he suddenly turned his head back, looked at Mo Hua with both eyes red, and said with a trembling voice:"You... who exactly are you?"Mo Hua only said indifferently: "Do you want to take revenge or not?"The green-clothed cultivator suppressed his emotions and said calmly:"Birth, old age, sickness, and death are normal in life. Where there is birth, there is death. The world is all like this. My pair of children just walked one step ahead of me..."Mo Hua said: "Your son died on the Shui Yan He. The ship was deliberately capsized, his throat was cut, and he was torn apart and swallowed by water demons...""Your daughter died in the sect. She lit a big fire and burned herself to death alive, in order to turn into a vengeful ghost out of pain and despair and seek revenge on those who harmed her..."Mo Hua's words were like sharp knives, stabbing into the man's heart one by one.The man tightly clenched his fists, his fingernails digging into his flesh. He finally sighed and said indifferently:"They are already dead. What's the use of saying these things? I am just lingering on, ending this remaining life...""No," Mo Hua shook his head, looked at the green-clothed cultivator, and silently said: "You want to take revenge."He could sense the deep anger in the man's divine soul, as well as boundless hatred.A person in middle age, with both children dead.This unwilling hatred was red like blood.The green-clothed cultivator's expression suddenly changed as Mo Hua exposed the long-hidden traces in his heart. A trace of killing intent even rose in his eyes.Mo Hua said calmly: "If you don't believe me, you won't be able to take revenge in this lifetime."Cannot take revenge in this lifetime...Cannot take revenge in this lifetime!!This sentence seemed to provoke the green-clothed cultivator. His expression was angry, the suppressed vicious qi in his heart surged up, and his mind was even somewhat deranged.In an instant, his eyes were full of bloodshot threads, and he looked at Mo Hua viciously, as if he would consider Mo Hua an enemy.Mo Hua's face showed neither joy nor anger, and a golden sword light flickered lightly in his eyes.As his gaze touched this sword light, even for a moment, the killing intent and vicious qi that had been suppressed for who knows how long in the green-clothed cultivator's eyes surged up, then like an avalanche, dissipated instantly.He only felt his divine sense sting, and his mind was muddled.But Mo Hua's hand was very light, only stopping at a point. A moment later, the man also recovered, the vicious qi dissipated, and his mind became clear.He looked at Mo Hua with lingering fear in his heart, his eyes containing deep dread:"You... who exactly are you?"Mo Hua's expression was calm and he didn't speak.The man knew that Mo Hua didn't want to reveal his identity for the time being, so he didn't ask further.Then he locked his brows tightly, hesitated for a long time, and finally sighed, slowly saying:"Good, as long as I can avenge my wronged children, I can do anything..."