Chapter 11: The Eldest Young Lady

Chapter 1393: The Eldest Young Lady

Mo Hua said in surprise, “Flower Vase… (Huaping)…?”

“Huá Pīng, not ‘flower vase(huaping)’!” Huá Pīng shot him a cold glare. “Call me that again and I’ll kill you.”

Mo Hua silently took a sip of tea, not bothering to argue with a woman.

Huá Pīng glanced at the tea in his hand, her expression turning even worse. She repeated, “How are you here?”

“Why can’t I be here?” Mo Hua exhaled softly after a sip, looking perfectly at ease.

Huá Pīng frowned. “Weren’t you in the Great Wilderness?”

Mo Hua replied, “Weren’t you there too?”

“I came back.”

“So I’m not allowed to come back?”

Her brows furrowed even tighter. No matter how much she thought about it, she simply couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing.

Why was this brat Mo Hua in Zixi’s blessed land?

One was a disciple of the Great Void Sect, the other the reclusive, heaven-blessed direct daughter of the Bai Clan... people whose paths should never cross. They had been separated by tens of thousands of miles before, so how did they suddenly end up in the same courtyard?

Moreover, Zixi’s personal blessed land never allowed any man to enter.

This brat…

Huá Pīng’s expression turned extremely grim, her eyes flashing with hostility. “What’s your relationship with Zixi?”

Mo Hua said, “Guess.”

Though he didn’t answer, Huá Pīng was sharp, especially when it came to Zixi. Her mind raced.

In an instant, she recalled something, her expression shifting in shock.

“Do you know Bai Zisheng?”

Mo Hua looked a little surprised.

Then Huá Pīng suddenly realized, they had known each other all along!

Back in the Great Wilderness, Mo Hua opposing Bai Zisheng had likely been nothing more than an act.

Otherwise, how could someone as seemingly weak as Mo Hua defeat Zixi’s elder brother—a prodigy with Azure Dragon bloodline—in a single strike?

And if Mo Hua knew Bai Zisheng, then naturally, he could know Zixi as well.

Huá Pīng’s gaze sharpened.

When she mentioned Bai Zisheng, Mo Hua’s thoughts also shifted, he clearly realized something.

Back then, this Huá Clan’s eldest young lady had dared to defy True-Person Huá and release the Dragon-Confining Heavy Shackles on his Little Senior Brother…

At the time, Mo Hua had found it strange.

Now that he thought about it, the reason Huá Pīng helped Bai Zisheng was likely because she knew his Senior Sister.

This woman… seemed to have ulterior motives.

Mo Hua narrowed his eyes at Huá Pīng.

Their gazes met, and Huá Pīng grew even more agitated. She demanded, “Speak! What’s your relationship with Zixi?”

Before he could answer, a little girl in fine gold-and-jade attire walked out from the courtyard.

When Huá Pīng saw her, she gritted her teeth. “Xiao Ju!”

Xiao Ju was equally shocked. “Bad woman!”

Huá Pīng said, “Brew me some tea!”

Xiao Ju puffed up proudly. “No way! The tea I brew is only for Sister Zixi!”

Huá Pīng pointed at Mo Hua and demanded, “Then why can this man drink your tea?”

Xiao Ju panicked, but quickly spun her clever little head and said seriously, “I didn’t brew it. The tea he’s drinking was made by himself. It has nothing to do with me.”

After speaking, she hurriedly glanced at Mo Hua, afraid he might expose her and ruin her principles in front of the bad woman.

Mo Hua said, “That’s right. I brewed it myself. It has nothing to do with Xiao Ju.”

Xiao Ju let out a huge sigh of relief.

Huá Pīng only sneered inwardly. This Mo Hua brat was truly cunning, who knew what tricks he’d used to even win over this stubborn Xiao Ju. If this went on…

Letting him stay by Zixi’s side... wouldn’t that be disastrous?

Huá Pīng felt a sudden panic. She reached out and grabbed Mo Hua. “Come with me.”

Mo Hua was unwilling.

Just as they were pulling and tugging, a figure in white slowly stepped out from the room.

Elegant beyond compare, her beauty transcendent, upon seeing the commotion in the courtyard, she said in slight surprise:

“Huá Pīng?”

The moment Huá Pīng heard that voice, her body trembled. She looked up, and seeing the person before her even more ethereal and stunning than before, her cheeks flushed as she froze in a daze.

The usually arrogant and willful eldest young lady of the Huá Clan suddenly revealed a shy, bashful expression.

Mo Hua was completely stunned.

Bai Zixi glanced at Hua Ping, then at her hand tugging at Mo Hua.

Hua Ping immediately reacted, quickly releasing Mo Hua and stammering, “Zixi… are you... how are you doing?”

Bai Zixi’s gaze shifted slightly. She nodded. “I am fine.”

Huá Pīng stared at Zixi, her heart filled with longing, countless emotions tangled within. It felt like she had a thousand words to say, but when the moment came, she feared being too abrupt and couldn’t say a single one.

Mo Hua rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Bai Zixi then said, “Sit down first,”

“Okay.” Huá Pīng obediently sat at the white jade table in the courtyard, her gaze lingering on Bai Zixi.

Bai Zixi also sat down beside her.

With an outsider present, she chose a seat slightly farther from Mo Hua.

“Is something the matter?” Bai Zixi asked softly.

Huá Pīng finally snapped out of her daze. But sitting in front of Zixi, seeing that flawless face and sensing that cool, faint fragrance, her mind went blank. It took her a while to regain her composure before she murmured,: "I just...p-passed by...to see you...

…utterly hopeless.

Mo Hua sighed at the sight.

Huá Pīng shot him a fierce glare.

Bai Zixi asked, “Did you come to Kun Province for something?”

Huá Pīng nodded. “There are some matters in the clan I need to handle…”

Then she suddenly remembered something. Her expression changed, and she pointed at Mo Hua.

“Who is this person?”

Bai Zixi tilted her head slightly. “Mo Hua. You already know him, don’t you?”

“No…” Huá Pīng sounded a bit annoyed, her words catching before she finally asked, “Why is he here? He… he…”

Hua Ping seemed hesitant to ask, but ultimately endured the pain and asked,

"What... is his relationship with you?"

Bai Zixi thought for a moment. “He’s my junior brother.”

Huá Pīng froze. “Junior brother?”

Bai Zixi nodded.

Huá Pīng frowned. “From where?”

“He is…” Bai Zixi said calmly, “a distant relative from one branch of the Bai Clan. We cultivated together when we were young.”

Distant relative… cultivated together since childhood…

The two words “childhood sweethearts” suddenly leapt into Huá Pīng’s mind, stabbing painfully at her heart.

She cast another resentful glance at Mo Hua.

She and Zixi couldn’t even be considered childhood sweethearts, so how did this detestable brat get so lucky?

Mo Hua silently sipped his tea, ignoring her.

The more Huá Pīng looked, the angrier she became. “Then how did he end up in this Little Blessed Land?”

“He was injured,” Bai Zixi replied, then added, “very seriously.”

“It’s been so long, your injuries should be healed by now, right?” Huá Pīng glared viciously at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua choked on his tea, coughed a few times, his face turning pale, looking quite weak.

Huá Pīng gritted her teeth in frustration. Then her eyes shifted, and suddenly she smiled charmingly, speaking gently to Mo Hua:

“How about you come with me and I have someone treat your injuries?”

Mo Hua rolled his eyes.

Going to the Huá Clan... was that for treatment, or to be sliced into specimens?

Huá Pīng then said to Bai Zixi, “Zixi, even if he’s your junior brother, he’s still a man. Keeping him in the Little Blessed Land will harm your reputation.”

Bai Zixi replied calmly, “It doesn’t matter.” She had never cared much about what others said.

Huá Pīng grew even angrier.

She had originally come full of anticipation, to claim credit before Zixi and share some private words with her.

Yet this Mo Hua had appeared out of nowhere, ruining her plans and completely spoiling her mood.

Huá Pīng had a strange feeling, like she had schemed everywhere outside, only to have her “home base stolen” by Mo Hua.

She wished she could devour him alive. She stayed a while longer, but it was getting late, and she had to leave.

Not a single thing she wanted to do had been accomplished. Once she got busy later, she might not even have time to visit Zixi again.

Moreover, Huá Pīng knew that Zixi cultivated diligently.

If she kept coming and disturbing her, affecting her cultivation, it would lower Zixi’s favor toward her, and that would be a regret too late to fix.

Every bit of Zixi’s goodwill toward her was extremely precious.

Huá Pīng shot Mo Hua another fierce glare before saying, “It’s getting late, I should head back.”

Bai Zixi nodded. “Take care.”

Huá Pīng looked at Bai Zixi with deep reluctance, her face full of tender affection. But when she turned to Mo Hua, her expression instantly darkened, her face changing faster than flipping a page.

“You…” Huá Pīng had intended to warn him, but with Zixi present, she couldn’t say much. So she only said lightly, “Take care of yourself. Rest well, and recover from your injuries as soon as possible…”

Mo Hua’s expression turned subtle as he nodded. “Oh…”

With a cold snort, Huá Pīng got up and left.

The Little Blessed Land became quiet again.

Seeing her gone, Xiao Ju finally let out a long breath. “That bad woman finally left!”

Bai Zixi thought for a moment, then turned to look at Mo Hua, her expression a bit strange as she said, “You… know Hua Ping?”

Mo Hua sighed. “Back in the Great Wilderness, I met her a few times…”

Bai Zixi nodded and didn’t ask further.

Mo Hua was also a bit curious and asked, “Little Senior Sister, you know Hua Ping too?”

Bai Zixi gave a light nod. “Among great clans, there’s always interaction. I’ve seen her a few times…”

Mo Hua let out an “oh.”

…

Within the secluded XiaoLuan Mountain Blessed Land, Hua Ping’s sudden appearance as an uninvited guest, and her equally sudden departure, caused a brief stir that gradually settled back into calm.

Mo Hua had thought that Hua Ping wouldn’t come again anytime soon.

Unexpectedly, just two days later, she made her presence felt again.

She didn’t come in person—apparently busy with clan affairs, unable to spare herself, and unwilling to delay Zixi’s cultivation—so although she didn’t show up, her gifts did.

The Hua Clan was a great clan with immense wealth, and Hua Ping was its eldest young lady, so every gift she sent was extremely valuable.

Many of the calligraphy, paintings, spiritual items, tools, and plants were things Mo Hua had never seen before.

She even sent Xiao Ju some fresh oranges.

But Xiao Ju had quite the backbone. She merely sneered, “Lord Xiao Ju does not eat alms,” and showed complete disdain for the oranges.

Thus, all those oranges ended up in Mo Hua’s stomach.

Fairly speaking, they were quite sweet.

Though compared to the golden, juice-bursting spiritual oranges Xiao Ju had described, they still fell a bit short.

Most likely, they didn’t meet Lord Xiao Ju’s internal standards for orange quality, hence her firm attitude.

What surprised Mo Hua even more was that the “Flower Vase Young Lady” had actually sent him gifts too.

Not only did she send gifts to True Person Rong, to Little Senior Sister, and to Xiao Ju, she even sent some to him, an “outsider.”

Mo Hua was quite surprised and couldn’t understand it.

He inspected Huá Pīng’s gift four or five times but found nothing unusual.

They were all formation books, formation diagrams, brushes, and spirit ink, things Mo Hua commonly used and currently lacked.

She had even sent him a jade slip. At the top, it read: “To Young Master Mo.”

What followed were a string of blessings:

Wishing Young Master Mo diligence in cultivation, improvement in formations, early ascension to Feathered Ascension, and mastery-level attainment in formations.

May Young Master Mo have blessings as vast as the Eastern Sea, longevity like the Southern Mountains, smooth fortune, good health, and an immeasurable Dao path…

The wording was so elaborate that it even gave Mo Hua the absurd feeling:

“Is this Hua Ping secretly in love with me…?”

Mo Hua himself found it strange.

Little Senior Sister’s gaze toward him also became somewhat odd, leaving Mo Hua with an inexplicable sense of helplessness.

…

That night, after returning to his room, Mo Hua still couldn’t make sense of it.

He took out the jade slip of “well-wishes” Hua Ping had given him and examined it again. Then, with a slight movement of his divine sense, he detected a trace of Primordial Magnetism fluctuation.

This meant that the jade slip had been “encrypted” using Primordial Magnetism.

Mo Hua’s attainments in primordial magnetism weren’t low. Back in the Qianxue Prefecture Realm, he had devoted significant effort to both primordial magnetism and thunder-magnetism, and was well-versed in encryption and decryption.

Huá Pīng likely knew he was a monstrous formation master and anticipated that he would notice something unusual, so she had used primordial magnetism to encrypt the text.

Mo Hua did not disappoint her expectations. After half an hour, he deciphered the primordial magnetic patterns within the jade slip.

Once the encryption was broken, the blessings inside: “fortune as vast as the Eastern Sea, longevity as enduring as the Southern Mountain, smooth progress, and limitless Dao path”... revealed their true form, transforming into a single brutal sentence:

“Touch even a single finger of Zixi, and I’ll kill you!!”

Mo Hua sat in his chair, his expression complicated.

The key point was… he had already touched Senior Sister’s finger.

So now he could only wait to be killed?

Mo Hua shook his head helplessly.

Back in the Great Wilderness, he had never imagined that he would end up having such a connection with this Flower Vase young lady…

Then his thoughts shifted, and he couldn’t help but think of something else:

Did this Huá Clan young lady… know the truth about the Great Wilderness?

Did she know that their Huá Clan ancestor had already fallen into his martial uncle’s hands, and might even have been turned into an Strange Dao puppet?

Judging from Huá Pīng’s current willful, unruly, and lawless demeanor, it was difficult for Mo Hua to tell whether she knew anything at all, or how much she knew.

Soon after, Mo Hua realized he was overthinking it.

A battle between Profound-Hollow-Void cultivators was not so simple.

Among the seven Void ancestors, the Huá Clan ancestor had the deepest cultivation and the most formidable schemes. He should be able to hold out for a very long time under his martial uncle’s hands, and might even have a chance to escape in the end.

A heaven-reaching Huá Clan ancestor’s affairs were not something a mere Golden Core cultivator like him needed to worry about.

As for Huá Pīng, Mo Hua could not be bothered with her either. He still had plenty of proper matters to attend to.

Mo Hua tossed aside Huá Pīng’s “blessings,” calmed his mind, and continued focusing on studying formations.

But what he did not expect was that this matter was far from over.

...

Over the next several days, Mo Hua unexpectedly received a continuous stream of gifts.

And these gifts were not from Huá Pīng, but from various aristocratic clans and factions across Kun Province, sent by unknown young women.

All of them were addressed as: “To Young Master Mo.”

The messages inside the jade slips were all polite words: Wishing Young Master Mo good health, peace, smooth fortune, and a smooth Dao path.

After deciphering them at night, however, these “blessings” revealed their true nature one by one, making Mo Hua’s scalp tingle:

“Who are you? What is your relationship with Sister Bai?!”

“How dare you live together with Sister Bai?!”

“If you dare defile Sister Bai, you’re dead!”

And some were even blunt and direct, expressing their intent without restraint:

“Kill you! Kill you!”

Sitting in his room, Mo Hua felt the surrounding air turn inexplicably cold and eerie… honestly a bit frightening.

“Could these… all be Huá Pīng’s doing?”

Mo Hua couldn’t help but mutter inwardly.

No wonder his senior sister had reminded him to “be careful of women”…

At this rate, it probably wouldn’t end anytime soon. Who knew what else was waiting for him?

Mo Hua sighed.

...

And as expected, a few days later, True Person Rong came to find Mo Hua with a serious expression.

“The Earth Sect has sent word. They know your injuries have almost healed and want to meet you to discuss some things…”

“The Earth Sect?” Mo Hua was taken aback.

True Person Rong nodded.

“At the beginning, you were taken in by the Earth Sect. I was the one who brought you here.”

Of course, it was mainly Zixi who spoke up for it; otherwise she would not have bothered.

But now that the Earth Sect insisted on meeting Mo Hua, she could not easily refuse.

“Where are we meeting?” Mo Hua asked.

True Person Rong replied slowly:

“In… the main hall of the Earth Sect.”

(End of Chapter)