After the “merit” permissions were opened, the disciples were obviously all very busy. They came from aristocratic families, perhaps not lacking spirit stones and other cultivation resources, but some rare inheritances, prestige within the sect, and even spots in the inner sect were all things to strive for diligently. This itself was also a kind of invisible competition. The more merit one had, it meant they had contributed the most to the sect, received more recognition from sect elders, and among disciples, had a higher right to speak. Everyone was a prodigy, even if polite on the surface and emphasizing camaraderie, in their hearts no one would truly submit to anyone else. Earning merit involved both their own interests and the “face” of their fellow disciples. At their age, face was possibly more important than “interests.”

Thus, the disciples of the same sect were all enthusiastic. As long as they had free time, they would go receive various “bounties,” complete tasks, and earn merit. This left Mo Hua feeling a bit lost for a while. Originally, at noon, after finishing his meal, he could still digest his food on the grass, basking in the sun and chatting with his fellow disciples. But now that “merit” was open, everyone had disappeared. Cheng Mo went to guard the gate. Si Tu Jian went to sweep the streets. Zheng Fang buried himself in receiving array tasks… Other people also all found ways to earn merit. Instead, Mo Hua was alone, like there was no one else. Only little Yu Er accompanied him in the sun, occasionally rolling happily on the grass.

When he was back with the Shangguan family, Yu Er was required to sit and lie properly, to be well-mannered and poised, to have the demeanor of a great aristocratic family disciple, and was very restrained. When he arrived at the sect, no one managed him, and he became much livelier. Even rolling on the grass, no one would scold him. Mo Hua even smiled at him, and Yu Er was overjoyed. Seeing Yu Er so happy, Mo Hua also felt relieved. As for the matter of merit, it wasn’t that he wasn’t anxious. But he already looked down on these “entry-level” tasks. Of course, some entry-level tasks still looked down on him. For example, guarding the gate, sweeping the streets, and so on… Even if Mo Hua really wanted to experience it, others would dislike his weak body and wouldn’t let him take it.

And his current merit was still over a thousand. This was accumulated from catching evil cultivators and drawing arrays for a long time, and what was left after buying quite a few arrays. Furthermore, the matter of the Fire Buddha should still bring in a sum of merit. It was just that the Dao Ting Si was always redundant and slow in handling things, blocking things up and down, and he didn’t know when it would be issued. But no matter what, over a thousand merit was also a “huge sum.” While other disciples relied on these entry-level tasks, to save up this much merit, they didn’t know how long it would take. Mo Hua suddenly had a feeling of having already graduated, and then watching his fellow disciples still “failing and retaking exams” with a composed look…

However, over a thousand merit would definitely not be enough for future use. Especially when he still wanted to learn arrays. If rare arrays were really expensive, that would be a bottomless pit. Now that he was just in the early stage of foundation building, because he followed senior brothers and senior sisters and mixed tasks with the Dao Ting Si, the merit he earned was used to learn second-grade middle-level arrays, and he barely had some surplus. But in the future, when learning second-grade high-level arrays, it was possible that his income would not cover his expenses. And what if there were also absolute arrays within the Tai Xu Door? How much merit would absolute arrays require? Mo Hua didn’t even dare to think about it. So he still needed to prepare for a rainy day, make plans early, and save more merit. Merit was always better to have more of.

On the rest day, Mo Hua still went to find Senior Sister Murong, wanting to continue following her to mix tasks. Who knew that Murong Cai Yun still had an apologetic look on her face. “Junior Brother, this year, we may not have free time to go out and do tasks…” Mo Hua was stunned. Murong Cai Yun explained: “We disciples in the middle stage of foundation building are going to enter the Refine Demon Mountain.”

“Refine Demon Mountain!” Mo Hua’s eyes brightened. He remembered that before, Si Tu Jian seemed to have told him. Within the Qian Xue state boundary, there was a ‘Refine Demon Mountain’. There were many demon beasts inside the mountain, and some of them were still places where powerful cultivators specialized in capturing rare varieties in the mountain. The purpose was to let sect disciples experience actual combat, temper their Dao methods, and collaborate to slay demons…

“Are there many demon beasts inside?” “Um.” Murong Cai Yun said, “The Refine Demon Mountain is very large, with complex terrain, and there are many demon beasts inside. There are many rare materials on the bodies of the demon beasts, which can be used to refine spirit tools.”

“Is this Refine Demon Mountain ours, the Tai Xu Door?” Mo Hua doubted. Murong Cai Yun laughed: “No, although our Tai Xu Door’s influence is not small, we don’t have the ability to control the entire Refine Demon Mountain…”

“The Refine Demon Mountain is nominally owned by the entire Qian Xue state boundary, and is jointly supervised by the four great sects, eight great gates, and twelve flows.” “Disciples of all sects can enter the mountain to hunt demons.” “Demon beasts that are hunted can be skinned and boned by oneself to get materials for refining tools, or they can be sold to the sect in exchange for merit…” “Of course, it’s best to use them yourself.” “Some special schools of sword cultivators, the materials needed to refine their own school’s spirit swords, can only be obtained by hunting specific demon beasts in the Refine Demon Mountain, such as bones, claws, essence blood or inner elixirs, etc…” “Some extremely rare demon beast materials, if sold to the sect, can also be exchanged for decent merit…” “Therefore, for disciples in the middle stage of foundation building, the most important source of merit is the demon beasts in the Refine Demon Mountain…”

Mo Hua listened with his eyes shining brightly. Hunting demons! Merit! He felt the bloodline of his master, who hunted demons, stirring. Murong Cai Yun seemed to see through his thoughts and sighed. After getting along with Mo Hua for so long, how could she not see what her little junior brother was thinking. Although sometimes, Mo Hua’s divine sense was profound, and his inner heart was deep and unfathomable. But sometimes, his heart was very pure, and his little thoughts were all written on his face.

“You can’t go,” Murong Cai Yun said. Mo Hua was startled, “Why…” Murong Cai Yun listed them one by one: “First, you are only in the early stage of foundation building, your cultivation is not enough; second, you have only been here for the second year, your time limit is not enough; third, entering the Refine Demon Mountain requires a door talisman, and you are not qualified for this door talisman, so you cannot buy it…”

Mo Hua said in a low voice: “Can I sneak in?” Murong Cai Yun glared at him slightly, “There’s an array seal, how can you sneak in?” Mo Hua’s eyes lit up, “What grade is the array?” Murong Cai Yun shook her head, “I don’t know that, but it should at least be a fifth-grade array.”

“Fifth grade…” Mo Hua was a little regretful. A fifth-grade array was too high in grade, and he couldn’t touch it. Otherwise, maybe he could secretly open a door and sneak in to see. But he was also very curious, what kind of array was a fifth-grade array exactly. “In short,” Murong Cai Yun admonished, “don’t think about the matter of Refine Demon Mountain for now…” “As for these tasks, if you have trouble, tell me, and I will definitely help you when I have free time.” Mo Hua’s heart was moved, and he nodded: “Don’t worry, Senior Sister, you go about your business first, don’t mind me!”

After separating from Murong Cai Yun, Mo Hua walked towards the disciples’ residence by himself. As he walked, he pondered in his heart. “Senior Sister Murong is going to enter the Refine Demon Mountain…” “Then Senior Brother Shangguan, Senior Brother Feng, and Senior Sister Qian Qian, they should also enter the mountain…” “After all, the Refine Demon Mountain is the main source of merit for disciples in the middle stage of foundation building.”

This way, there would be no one to take him to play. Although he could say that he was now a bit familiar with the Dao Ting Si side. But the Dao Ting Si was after all the Dao Ting Si, not the sect. It was very complex inside, and the water was also murky. The merit earned there could not necessarily be turned into the sect’s “merit”. Even if it could be turned, the process was also redundant and lengthy.

“Then… should I find some people to play with?” Who should he find? Cheng Mo, Si Tu Jian, and the others? Mo Hua shook his head slightly. Their cultivation was all just in the early stage of foundation building. Before, he had always followed senior brothers and senior sisters in the middle stage of foundation building, executives of the Dao Ting Si in the late stage of foundation building, and Uncle Gu from the Gu Dian Si in the Golden Core stage. It was fine if he didn’t upgrade, how could he still downgrade? But thinking about it, there seemed to be no other people. Mo Hua pondered for half a day and sighed. “Let’s talk about it later…” First, he should do his own things well.

After returning to the disciples’ residence, Mo Hua meditated in his room and closed his eyes to cultivate. He only opened his eyes when his qi sea was full and his meridians were slightly swollen. “Cultivate!” From now on, he would spend more time on cultivation every day. Although cultivation was a slow and steady process, emphasizing continuous cultivation and natural breakthrough, putting in a little more effort every day would naturally make his cultivation progress faster.

Mo Hua thought about it. The second year in the sect was actually very boring. His divine sense realm was stuck in cultivation. The bottleneck from sixteen patterns to seventeen patterns was the bottleneck of divine sense from the middle stage of foundation building to the late stage of foundation building. This bottleneck was like a chasm. Even if Mo Hua drew arrays every day, tempered his divine sense, and occasionally protected little Yu Er from being invaded by nightmares, conveniently earning a little “extra income”. But his divine sense was, after all, too far ahead of his level. It would be very difficult to break this obstacle in a short time.

His divine sense was stuck, which meant Mo Hua’s array level could not continue to rise. He could only broaden his array foundation and continue to learn other arrays within the second-grade sixteen patterns… It was just that this kind of array, after all, had no challenge, and learning more was a bit tiring… Mo Hua sighed. He wanted to learn higher-level arrays. Especially Yuan Magnetic type arrays, the construction of those higher and deeper magnetic patterns and the use of secondary thunder patterns, Mo Hua had long coveted them. But if his divine sense did not break through, he had no way to learn them now.

Mo Hua was a little helpless. After a month, because Senior Sister Murong and the others had all entered the Refine Demon Mountain, Mo Hua also rarely went out to do tasks. By himself, he could not receive “bounties” above the middle stage of foundation building. The bounties in the early stage of foundation building yielded too little merit. Doing them by himself was a bit of a waste of time. It was better to draw some more second-grade arrays by himself. This way, he didn’t need to run around, and he could earn more merit.

Mo Hua just felt a bit bored. He couldn’t go out to do bounties. His cultivation increased slowly, bit by bit, but he couldn’t break through the realm. His divine sense also gradually strengthened, bit by bit, but he also couldn’t break through the realm. Yu Er occasionally still encountered nightmares in the evening, with demons disturbing him, but there were no more sheep bone offerings. As for spells, he had almost learned what he should learn. The technique structure of the Little Meteorite Technique was already very stable. He had also learned quite a few other second-grade functional arrays…

In a short time, he had no pursuits… His life was as flat as water, without surprise or joy. Mo Hua suddenly felt that he should actively find some things to learn… He thought for a bit, and then picked up the 《Break Gold Imperial Sword Art》, wanting to practice sword qi. When it came to refining sword qi, Mo Hua’s foundation was too poor. Other disciples who cultivated swords in the sect themselves had family inheritances, and began practicing sword moves and cultivating sword qi from childhood. Then, for every realm they cultivated higher, their sword qi would become a bit sharper. Cultivating to the later stage, man and sword united, and sword qi pierced the sky and penetrated the ground.

Mo Hua was from a scattered cultivator origin, and before foundation building, he basically did not touch a sword. The only time he encountered a sword was when Zhang Lan taught him the Passing Water Step. To display the array, he let Mo Hua take a sword and stab him. That luxurious heavy treasure sword, Mo Hua couldn’t even lift… In the end, he could only use a tree branch as a substitute. Therefore, if he really wanted to cultivate swords, Mo Hua had no foundation at all, let alone compete with other sword cultivators and compare their strengths…

But he was idle anyway, and people always wanted a little pursuit. Mo Hua then made cultivating the sword art his way of “enriching his mind and passing the time”. Even if he couldn’t cultivate it, being able to know himself and his enemy, and restrain sword cultivators, was also a good thing. This sword art belonged to the Break Gold Door. Mo Hua was also not good at cultivating it publicly, so he found a secluded small woods, bought a second-hand broken spirit sword, and practiced it by himself.

The Break Gold Imperial Sword Art was a metal-element sword art. Mo Hua had a small Five Elements spirit root, which also contained a part of the metal spirit root. He could indeed practice it. After practicing for a while, Mo Hua discovered a problem. This thing called sword qi, it seemed that condensing it was indeed very strenuous. The sword cultivators he had seen were Uncle Zhang Lan, Senior Brother Ouyang Feng, Senior Brother Shangguan Xu, and Si Tu Jian, who was in the same batch as him. When they used swords, the sword qi they inspired was without exception stable in shape, sharp in intent, and not weak in power. But the sword qi he cultivated… Mo Hua found it somewhat difficult to evaluate…

The sword qi that was condensed, first of all, its shape was not fixed. If you called it a “sword”, it was almost like a “stick”, and occasionally it was like a “tree branch”… The sword qi was also not sharp. Cutting a tree bark, sometimes it couldn’t even cut it… Let alone its power. He casually threw a fireball, and its killing power was higher than this “sword qi”… Mo Hua fell into deep confusion. “Is my talent for practicing swords… really this bad?” “It shouldn’t be that bad…” “Or is it that everything is difficult at the beginning, and I just haven’t gotten started yet?” Mo Hua couldn’t think clearly, so he simply didn’t think. Anyway, there was nothing else to practice, so he would just practice it for fun… Whatever it became, it became. There was no need to put pressure on himself. If he really couldn’t cultivate it, he would just treat it as preparing for a rainy day, laying a bit of a foundation for sword cultivators, in preparation for the future 《Tai Xu Divine Thought Transform Sword True Art》.

“Divine Thought Transform Sword True Art,” as the name suggested, should be different from ordinary sword arts. Not being able to cultivate ordinary sword arts did not necessarily mean not being able to cultivate “Divine Thought Transform Sword”. Mo Hua sighed. This was the only way he could comfort himself… After tea and meals, when Mo Hua had free time, he would find a small woods and casually chop a few swords to practice. The sword qi scattered, the trees were unmoved, only leaves fluttered down. Fortunately, Mo Hua was not discouraged. He just treated it as “trimming branches” for the sect’s trees.

In this way, another period of time passed. One day, when Mo Hua returned to the disciples’ residence, he encountered several disciples on the road whispering. Mo Hua fixed his eyes and found that it was unexpectedly Cheng Mo, Si Tu Jian, and three other disciples he was not too familiar with. Mo Hua quietly walked closer, and just heard them saying intermittently: “In two days… rest day…” “Outside Qing state city…” “Pretend to be a senior brother… finally received it…” “Not dangerous…” “It doesn’t matter… five of us are enough…” “Just catch a person…” “Hand to capture…” “…Ah!!”

Before Cheng Mo finished speaking, he suddenly realized that someone was standing behind him, which scared him and made his face turn pale. He only relaxed when he realized it was Mo Hua. “Mo Hua, you scared me…” Then he complained: “Why were you secretly listening to us speak?” Mo Hua had a speechless expression, “This is a proper road, I walked over upright, stopped upright, and listened to you speak upright…” “Your vigilance is poor, how can you blame me?”

Cheng Mo was speechless, and then mumbled: “Who knew you walked like a cat, not only without a sound, but also without a breath…” Mo Hua looked at them suspiciously, “You… are plotting some bad idea, aren’t you?” Cheng Mo was like a student who was caught in the wrong place by the “instructor,” and immediately became nervous. “We were just talking about some… cultivation matters…” Mo Hua had a face full of disbelief. Cheng Mo then said: “Really!” After saying that, he felt something was wrong. Mo Hua was neither an elder nor an instructor, merely a “little senior brother” who taught them arrays and whom they dared not offend. Why was he so nervous? Cheng Mo immediately straightened his body.

Mo Hua said in a low voice: “Do you want to secretly take the Dao Ting Si’s bounty?” Cheng Mo was startled, “How did you know?” Mo Hua curled his lip. It was all stuff he had left behind, and they were still acting mysterious… Si Tu Jian lowered his voice: “Mo Hua, don’t tell anyone…” Cheng Mo also kept nodding. After thinking about it, he felt that this lacked sincerity. Generally, in this kind of situation, they should “bribe” him a bit.

Cheng Mo then said: “Mo Hua, you guarantee not to tell anyone, and after the matter is done, we…” Cheng Mo hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, “… will divide some merit to you!” Mo Hua was curious, “How much will you divide?” Cheng Mo was tangled. They were just doing these tasks, and originally didn’t earn much merit, and what they earned wasn’t sustainable. “Divide…” Cheng Mo made up his mind, “Divide ten points to you!” Mo Hua: “…”

Cheng Mo saw that Mo Hua was not speaking, and was a little shocked: “You won’t still think it’s too little, right?” “Ten points… is not much, is it…” Mo Hua said. Cheng Mo was heartbroken: “You really don’t manage a household and don’t know the price of firewood and rice. Do you know how many days I have to guard the gate and how many times I have to sweep the streets for these ten points of merit?!” “Do you think these points of merit are easy to earn?!”

“Alright, alright…” Mo Hua said helplessly, “I won’t tell anyone, and I don’t want your merit, but it’s very dangerous to go out, so be careful yourselves…” Cheng Mo was stunned, and then immediately smiled, putting his arm around Mo Hua’s shoulder and saying: “You truly are my good brother! If you have anything in the future, I’ll cover you!” Si Tu Jian also looked at Mo Hua gratefully. But seeing Cheng Mo’s proud look, another disciple couldn’t help but say: “Don’t put gold on your face, why would Mo Hua need you to cover him?”

Cheng Mo said: “What do you know?” “How can I not know?” “One fence needs three stakes, and a good man still needs three helpers…” “Are you also a good man? At most, you’re a rotten stake…” Mo Hua saw them arguing and was too lazy to bother, he only admonished them: “Be careful when you go out…” “Some evil cultivators are very cunning…” After that, Mo Hua left.

Mo Hua was not too worried. Although Cheng Mo and the five others were disciples in the early stage of foundation building, they were all from aristocratic families, with a deep cultivation foundation themselves, and the Dao methods they cultivated were also not weak. If the five people joined hands, even if they encountered an ordinary middle stage of foundation building, even if they couldn’t win, they could still escape. Moreover, the one they were catching this time should only be an evil cultivator in the early stage of foundation building, so he didn’t think there would be a big problem.

A few days later, Mo Hua clearly saw that Cheng Mo and the others did indeed take advantage of the rest day to secretly leave the sect. In less than two days, several people returned in high spirits. Mo Hua didn’t need to think to know that their task had obviously been completed smoothly. Especially Cheng Mo, it seemed that he had made no small contribution to this task, and his whole person was proud. The Tai Xu Door had not yet allowed these disciples to take on such tasks of apprehending evil cultivators. One reason was that evil cultivators were mostly vicious. While the sect’s disciples were raised honorably from childhood, and were arrogant, they were very easy to be schemed against if they suddenly fought with evil cultivators.

Cheng Mo and the others themselves had decent strength and good luck. Because they took the tasks secretly, they were considered among the fellow disciples, except for Mo Hua, to be the first batch of disciples who successfully completed this kind of wanted “bounty”. This kind of matter was naturally the most showy. The elders didn’t know, or perhaps, they just closed one eye. But this matter gradually spread among the disciples. Quite a few disciples also began to think about going out. After all, entry-level tasks accumulated merit too slowly and were boring and tasteless, far less fresh and exciting than this kind of apprehending “bounty”, and the income was also high. Some disciples secretly asked Cheng Mo how to take tasks, what to pay attention to when going out, what pills to prepare, and so on… Cheng Mo became even more proud.

But he did not forget Mo Hua. One day during a meal, Cheng Mo secretly found Mo Hua, “Next time I do a task, I’ll take you with me…” Mo Hua was startled, “You’ll take me?” “Um!” Cheng Mo said, “The four of us, plus you, you don’t need to do anything, just run errands and do odd jobs, and I’ll divide the merit to you when the time comes…” Mo Hua’s mood was complex, and he was still a little moved. But he still shook his head. He didn’t need Cheng Mo to take him. And he didn’t care about those few points of merit…

Cheng Mo thought Mo Hua didn’t trust him, and swore: “When it comes to arrays, I admit you are the big brother! But when it really comes to going out to do bounties and apprehend evil cultivators, with your small arms and legs, you just won’t cut it, you have to recognize me as the big brother!” Mo Hua’s face was expressionless, “Oh…” (This chapter is complete)