Chapter 678 Smoky River

The reward was snatched away instantly, and all the disciples were depressed.

Mo Hua, who "colluded" with Uncle Gu and successfully grabbed the reward, was in a happy mood and his eyes were smiling.

He looked at the task items carefully again.

Wanted Bounty: Dragon Crossing the River.

In the middle stage of foundation building, he practiced sin cultivation and practiced the water-based skill "White Waves Technique". He was proficient in the nature of water and often lurked in rivers, sinking ships and killing people, and looked like a "water ghost".

The claw-like spiritual weapon used is of unknown origin. It is suspected to be a water-based spiritual weapon: the three shark claws. The claws are quenched with water poison.

Remember: This person's skills are stronger when exposed to water. If not necessary, do not fight with him in the water to avoid unexpected events.

There is a line of small print at the back:

"Trapped him with formations, captured him on the shore, without any trace of water, and then captured him."

This line of text is extra.

Mo Hua guessed that this was a reminder specially given to him by Uncle Gu.

After all, he was born in Tongxian City, Lizhou, adjacent to the Daheishan Mountains, and had a mountain to rely on.

When I arrived at the border of Qianxue State, most of my comings and goings were in the mountains, and I rarely interacted with rivers and water monks.

"Uncle Gu, although he has a cold face, as if someone owes him spiritual stones, he is still very considerate occasionally."

Mo Hua nodded.

In addition, there is a dossier attached to the reward:

On the third day of March, Yanshui River.

Six traders took a boat to cross the river and reached the lower section of the Yanshui River. The boat capsized and the traders fell into the water.

One man was strangled and his throat was torn out by the monks in the water.

The blood-stained river water attracted a number of aquatic monsters, which bit and devoured the remaining people.

None of the six people survived.

Daotingsi judged based on the perpetrator's cultivation level, martial arts and weapon, that this person was most likely a criminal cultivator with many evil deeds——

"Martial Law".

Mo Hua wrote down the key points in the dossier and prepared several water formations. He found Cheng Mo the next day and said straight to the point:

"There is a reward for six hundred merit points, and one hundred and twenty merit points will be divided equally between each person."

Out of friendship, Mo Hua did not take any kickbacks.

Cheng Mo and the others were pitiful. It was hard to earn even ten or twenty points of merit.

Mo Hua felt that as a "little senior brother", he should take care of these "little junior brothers".

"One hundred and twenty?!"

Cheng Mo opened his mouth wide in disbelief.

It has been quite some time since he accepted a reward of more than 50 points.

Unexpectedly, when Mo Hua made his move, it was one hundred and twenty points!

Cheng Mo was shocked and curious, "Mo Hua, how did you get this reward?"

"Don't ask, I have my own way!"

Mo Hua raised his head slightly, with a reserved and calm look on his face.

In Cheng Mo's eyes, this look became more and more effortless and "unfathomable".

"Mo Hua, you are so tough backstage!"

Cheng Mo couldn't help but sigh.

Mo Hua was unhappy, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Oh, right." Cheng Mo immediately realized his mistake. It had nothing to do with the "backstage".

"It's you, little senior brother, with high methods and strong connections!"

Cheng Mo praised.

He scanned the streets, looked at the gates, and accepted a lot of various rewards. He knew that rewards for high merit were difficult to accept.

A group of fellow disciples stared at him, there were too many monks and too little food.

There are also a group of senior brothers and sisters with higher cultivation, older qualifications and more experience competing with them.

For the sake of fairness, the sect's "merit" mechanism is relatively independent and not subject to other interference.

At Daotingsi, everything is business-like.

All means must be in order and in compliance with regulations, and there is no possibility of "favoritism".

But, ink painting!

After just one year of entry and early foundation building, he was able to surpass all the senior brothers and sisters, "seize the food from the wolf's mouth", and receive a reward of 600 merit points!

How many operations must be done behind the scenes...

How strong must be the relationship with Daotingsi...

Cheng Mo didn't even dare to think about it.

At this moment, he felt that Mo Hua's entire body was emitting a dazzling light.

"Senior brother, please eat chicken legs."

Cheng Mo immediately presented the "offering" - a chicken leg that was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, fat and fragrant, and came from the precious golden pheasant.

Mo Hua took the chicken leg with peace of mind and took a bite. The taste was fragrant and he was very satisfied.

However, he still reminded Cheng Mo:

"This reward is more dangerous, so you should think about it carefully."

In the middle stage of foundation building, it would not be easy for Cheng Mo and the others to deal with the sin cultivator who is proficient in water-based skills and has sophisticated methods.

Cheng Mo said: "Don't worry, I know it well!"

One hundred and twenty points of merit!

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

If others want to take this risk, I'm afraid they don't have the opportunity yet.

"Okay." Mo Hua nodded and said, "Then you, Situ and the others get ready. We will set off the day after tomorrow after ten days off."

"no problem!"

Cheng Mo agreed immediately.

…

Soon after the break, after class, Mo Hua met Cheng Mo and the others at the disciple's residence.

There were five people in total, besides Mo Hua, there were also Cheng Mo, Situ Jian, Hao Xuan and Yang Qianjun.

Cheng Mo, Situ Jian and Hao Xuan, like Mo Hua, are all disciples of "Taiyi Ju". They live in a disciple residence and attend classes together on weekdays.

All three of them have taken Mo Hua's formation class, so they all call Mo Hua "little senior brother".

Yang Qianjun is an exception. He is from "Taijiaju". He has never taken an ink painting class, and he does not call him "little senior brother" in ink painting.

However, he and Cheng Mo have a good relationship. During the last human trafficker incident, they fought side by side and lived and died together, and their friendship became even deeper.

Yang Qianjun himself was born in the Yang family of the Taoist Military Department. He was upright and had a good cultivation of Taoism.

Mo Hua had some friendship with the Yang family, so he took him along on this mission.

As for Yi Li...

He was a pure spiritual practitioner. It was okay for him to fight with more people against fewer people. He could cast spells from a distance.

Once he was outnumbered and the enemy approached him, he was the first to be knocked down.

So Yi Li listened to Mo Hua's advice and went to learn the spells of self-defense and escape. Mo Hua did not take him this time.

After the five people were ready, Mo Hua led the team to Yanshui River.

On the way, Mo Hua told them the points to pay attention to again.

Including the cultivation, skills, spiritual tools, habits, and usual means of killing of "Crossing the River Dragon".

Cheng Mo and others looked a little solemn.

They usually accept bounties, but most of them are sinners in the early stage of foundation building, and there are not many in the middle stage of foundation building.

Even if there are, they are relatively weak.

Either they have just entered the middle stage, their cultivation is not deep, or their skills are not good, or their Taoism is mediocre, and there is no real evildoer who has committed countless crimes and killed countless people.

But "Guojianglong" is different.

This kind of person is an old man in the cultivation world. He has practiced for many years and has a solid foundation. He has special skills and ruthless means. Whether it is killing or escaping, he has rich experience.

He is completely different from the cultivators they met before.

The only one who can compare with him is probably the leader of the black-clothed human traffickers before.

That black-clothed leader is also in the middle stage of foundation building. Even when facing the siege of Cheng Mo and the other five, he is still at ease.

Even if everyone tried their best, they did not leave the black-clothed leader behind.

In fact, if Mo Hua had not led the black-clothed leader away, they might have died in the hands of the black-clothed leader at that time.

Until the end, they didn't know where the black-clothed leader went.

Thinking of this, Cheng Mo and his friends were still frightened.

Thinking of the "Crossing the River Dragon" that might be equally ferocious, they couldn't help but get a little nervous.

Mo Hua was calm.

Catching a "Crossing the River Dragon" in the middle stage of foundation building was just a small event.

In the past year or so, he had caught at least 90 criminals.

Of course, some of them were "small fish" who made up the numbers. There were not so many well-known ones like "Crossing the River Dragon", probably only a few dozen.

He had almost caught all the people on Boss Jiang's list.

And this "Crossing the River Dragon" was also a person on the list.

Mo Hua frowned slightly when he thought of this.

He always felt that this list was very inconsistent.

The cultivators on the list all had unique skills and good cultivation. There was also "Fire Buddha" who practiced forbidden techniques and was a powerful demon cultivator leader who could be said to be unsolvable in the second-grade state.

Boss Jiang, who is only in the early stage of foundation building, has the trump card of "Broken Gold and Driving Sword Art" and has more than ten human traffickers, but how can he have such a "notorious" list?

This is very unreasonable...

Mo Hua had some guesses before that this list might not belong to Boss Jiang at all.

If it's not Boss Jiang, then whose could it be?

What is the connection between the cultivators on the list?

Why are these names recorded in such a jade slip in such a secret way?

Mo Hua took out the list and looked at it carefully.

Among the cultivators on the list, the most powerful Fire Buddha died.

Most of the other cultivators either died or were captured.

The remaining small part either disappeared or hid somewhere unknown and never showed up again.

There are very few clues now.

The only one who has recently shown his head and then caught his tail is this "Crossing the River Dragon"...

"Catch the Crossing the River Dragon and see if we can find clues..."

"Train Cheng Mo and the others..."

"Try a new array medium..."

"Then..."

Mo Hua raised his head slightly, looked far away, and through the car window, he took in the scenery of Qianzhou outside the car, and said silently in his heart:

I also want to see what the bottom of Qianxuezhou, where aristocratic families gather and sects stand, is like...

The sky is vigorous, and the gentleman strives for self-improvement;

The earth is low, and the gentleman carries things with virtue.

When a cultivator seeks the truth, he cannot only look up at the sky, but also look down at the ground occasionally.

...

The carriage moved with the wind, and the scenery outside the window changed.

I don't know how long it took, the lush mountains and rivers retreated, and a vast river appeared on both sides of the road.

The water surface was vast like a flat mirror, and the smoke was hazy, the same color as the sky.

Yanshui River

This is near the border of Qianxuezhou, a river with abundant water and long flow that spans several small states.

The breeze blew, creating light ripples, and the fresh water vapor of the river water and waves came over.

Mo Hua took a deep breath, feeling the breeze in his arms, feeling relaxed and happy.

After walking for dozens of miles, he arrived at a ferry.

The ferry was not big, with several spiritual boats parked there. There were cultivators coming and going, going ashore and going down, interlacing non-stop.

The Yanshui River has a wide surface, and the upstream and downstream waterways are long.

Although cultivators can learn some "crossing the water" body skills, covering the spiritual power under their feet, stepping on the water to cross the river, as if walking on flat ground.

But this kind of body skills consumes spiritual power. Once the spiritual power is exhausted halfway, they will drown in the water.

The most dangerous are the various aquatic monsters at the bottom of the river.

These aquatic monsters are of different ranks, born with water, powerful, and like to eat people.

When crossing water, or after drowning, if a monk is attacked by a water monster, he will become the monster's prey if he loses.

Therefore, when ordinary monks cross rivers, they are still accustomed to taking "spirit boats" to cross the water and resist monsters.

The larger the spirit boat, the safer it is.

The six traders who died in the river were riding in "small boats". The materials were probably not good, and the formations were not strong enough, so they were pierced by the "River Crossing Dragon".

The spirit boat capsized and six people were buried in the water.

As for the dragon crossing the river, it can travel freely in the water and avoid monsters, so it probably has its own unique methods.

According to Daotingsi's files, Mo Hua roughly determined the places where the six people died:

Downstream of the ferry, there is a twenty-mile stretch of river.

Several people rode in a carriage and traveled another twenty miles to the vicinity of the river.

You can see the lush green grass on both sides of the bank, dotted with yellow flowers, like a green carpet spread at both ends.

The jade-like river in the middle flows gurglingly.

The scenery is beautiful and interesting, not like a place where people have died.

Cheng Mo glanced at Mo Hua and asked in a low voice: "Mo Hua, do you know where those six people died?"

Mo Hua's eyes were deep and he peered for a moment, then pointed to a section of the river with lush water and grass on the bank and said:

"There."

Cheng Mo and others approached the shore and looked at the Miaomiao water, feeling a little confused.

There is nothing but water.

The water plants rippled in the water, and even if they were stained with blood, they would have been completely transformed.

But in Mo Hua's eyes, there are indeed faint blood-colored causal chains on the water.

Apparently someone died here not long ago, and died miserably.

"Mo Hua, what should we do now?" Cheng Mo asked.

Situ Jian and others also looked at the ink painting.

In their previous missions, the clues were clear and the person was easier to find. Unlike now, there were few clues and the wilderness was so empty that people couldn't figure it out.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment and said: "There are monks from Daotingsi guarding the upstream and downstream areas. The dragon crossing the river should not be able to leave this part of the river..."

"Guojiang Longxiu's technique is "Bailang Jue". He is proficient in the nature of water. It has advantages and disadvantages."

"The advantage is that he is like a fish in water, but the disadvantage is that once he gets out of the water, his strength is greatly reduced."

"So, he shouldn't dare to go too far from the water. He is probably hiding in a certain section of the river near here..."

Mo Hua took out several formation disks that had been prepared long ago, "On these formation disks, I drew water pattern formations, which can monitor the flow of spiritual power in the water..."

Afraid that they would not understand, Mo Hua said: "It's like the Sinan Formation used in water, or the Xiaoyuan Magnetic Formation."

"This array disk is made in duplicate, one is used to set up the array, and the other is used to monitor..."

"You throw the formation disks used for setting up the formation into the water, one at a time."

"Then we'll sit back and wait, waiting to catch the 'dragon crossing the river'..."

Cheng Mo and others didn't realize it, and nodded one after another.

So several people moved separately, each looking for a suitable position, and threw the water pattern array far into the water.

But this section of the river is too wide, and the water pattern array can only cover a small section of the waterway near the shore.

Ink painting is just a matter of luck.

It is not easy to catch such a monk who is proficient in water properties in the river. This is currently the best way.

After that, everyone separated and stationed on the shore, holding the array disk for monitoring the water pattern array, staring at the movement of the water pattern array.

Mo Hua also warned: "If there is any movement, don't rush to take action. Use the Taixu Order to call people first, and we can make long-term plans after everyone gathers."

"Um."

Cheng Mo and others nodded.

After that, it is a long process of "waiting for the rabbit".

This process requires patience.

Mo Hua was sitting on the branch of a big tree on the shore, holding a grass root in his mouth, crossing his legs, staring at the water pattern array used for monitoring, and looking at the scenery in the distance.

For a full hour, there was no movement.

There was no summons in the Taixu Order.

When Mo Hua felt bored, he saw a small boat sailing upstream. There were three or five monks on the boat pulling fishing nets. There seemed to be a lot of fish in the fishing nets.

Mo Hua was slightly startled.

"It can't be...a dragon crossing the river, right?"

He released his consciousness and took a closer look, only to realize that it was not the case.

The people on the boat were just ordinary monks, two foundation builders and three Qi refiners. They were dressed simply. Although their bodies were heavy with moisture, they had almost no killing aura.

It should be an ordinary "fishing repairman" nearby.

The so-called "fishing cultivators" are monks who make a living by raising and catching spiritual fish.

Mo Hua thought for a while, then jumped down from the tree and walked towards the group of monks.

As he got closer, Mo Hua discovered that these monks had slightly sad faces, their feet were stained with mud, and they also had a relatively strong fishy smell.

They poured out the spiritual fish caught in the fishing net and put them into another basket.

There are some of these spiritual fishes of the first grade and some of the second grade.

Because it is fed with cheap spiritual food, it has spiritual energy but no demonic energy. It will not eat people and does not have the ferocity of monsters.

Several fishing cultivators noticed someone approaching and looked alert. When they saw Mo Hua, they all breathed a sigh of relief when they found out that he was just a young cultivator with cute features.

A fisherman asked kindly: "Little brother, where are you from?"

Mo Hua said: "I come from Qianxue Prefecture."

Upon hearing this, several people's expressions showed a bit of respect, "Sect disciple?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"It's incredible," an older fish cultivator said, "The talent that can be worshiped by a sect in the Qianxue State is one of the best."

"Little brother, you must also have high-grade spiritual roots, right?"

Mo Hua couldn't help blushing, "I... I'm a little short..."

The fisherman said, "That's a big deal!"

Mo Hua didn't want to talk about "spiritual roots", so he changed the subject and asked, "Uncle, are you fishing?"

"Yes." The older fisherman nodded, and then he was a little confused and asked, "Little brother, what are you doing here in the Yanshui River alone?"

"I'm here to 'fish'!" Mo Hua nodded.

"Fishing?" The older fisherman was stunned.

This kid, without a fishing rod or bait, what kind of fish is he fishing for?

Another fisherman heard this and waved his hand and said, "Kid, stop fishing and leave quickly."

Mo Hua asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

The fisherman pointed downstream, "Some time ago, someone died, and the body was gnawed beyond recognition by a water monster. Now I heard that the man-eating water monster is still roaming nearby."

"Oh." Mo Hua nodded.

Daotingsi did not disclose the truth to the public, and these fishermen did not know the truth, so they could only spread rumors.

They thought that those monks were dragged into the water and eaten by the "water monster".

The fisherman sighed: "Six people died, and there was also a young master."

"Young master?" Mo Hua was puzzled, "Didn't they say that there were six vendors?"

The fisherman shook his head, "It was a young master, and it is said that he was from a noble family."

"Noble family?" Mo Hua asked curiously, "Which noble family?"

Another fisherman said to the older fisherman:

"Dad, what noble family? It's just a third-grade family, neither up nor down, and it can't reach the threshold of a 'noble family'."

The older fisherman said angrily:

"What's wrong with the third grade? How can the third grade not be a noble family? Before I die, if you can build a third-grade family, I will really die without regrets..."