Sunlight slanted across the stone steps.
The battered old pipe in Old Lü's hand halted midair.
He tilted his head to look at the youth beside him,froze for a moment,then a look of half-scolding amusement surfaced on his face.
"You brat,what got into you today?Why the sudden questions about all this stale old business?"
Mo Fan didn't avoid his gaze.
He just gave an entirely natural,rueful laugh.
"Uncle Lü,you know I came down with a serious illness these past couple of days."
"Lately,I keep feeling like a lot of things from when I was little have gone blurry in my head.No matter how I try,I can't recall them clearly."
"I just got a bit curious all of a sudden...where did I actually come from?"
Hearing that was the reason,the confusion in Old Lü's eyes faded somewhat.
He took two pat-pat pulls on his pipe,exhaled a mouthful of grayish-white smoke,and his gaze gradually turned deep and distant.
"You..."
Old Lüsighed.
His eyes settled on the old tree in the yard as he slowly recalled.
"Truth is,I didn't raise you as my own flesh and blood."
"I don't know who your father and mother were,and I know even less where you came from."
"About ten years or so ago,I suppose.You were only three or four then."
"One morning,when the steward was taking count of that batch of mortal orphans newly delivered to the servant district,there you were,mixed in among them without anyone knowing how."
Old Lüshook his head.
"The Azure Cloud Sect's outer territory is vast.Every year there are countless orphans left homeless by natural disasters,man-made calamities,and demon beast attacks."
"To accumulate some merit,and to replenish its servants,the Sect takes in a batch every so often."
"So back then,mixed in with that crowd of mud-caked kids,you really didn't look like anything special."
Mo Fan listened quietly,though he couldn't quite hide a flicker of disappointment.
That's it?
The trail seemed to dead-end right there.
An utterly unremarkable orphan.
But then Old Lühesitated,knocked the bowl of his pipe against the sole of his shoe,and shifted tack.
"Although..."
"There is one thing about you as a child that does seem pretty strange,now that I think back on it."
Mo Fan's gaze sharpened.
"What thing?"
"That frame of bones of yours."
Old Lülooked Mo Fan up and down.
"When you were small,you grew up eating off a hundred families'charity,a meal here and a meal missed there."
"But your physical foundation was extraordinarily good.Solid bone structure,and you rarely came down with anything serious."
"Later on,the first time Elder Lin Dong came down to our servant district to feel bones and pick people,he took one look and settled on you."
"He was so excited he was trembling,insisting you were some once-in-a-century seed of cultivation!"
At this point,Old Lüshook his head with a bitter smile.
"Back then,the whole servant district figured you were destined to soar,to rise to wealth and glory."
"And then..."
"Came the day of the Spirit Testing Ceremony."
"You put your hand on the Spirit Testing Stele,and what lit up was a ball of murky gray light."
"Five-Element Waste Spirit Root."
"And the most useless kind at that."
Old Lüsighed.
"Elder Lin Dong couldn't accept it,and you took quite a blow yourself."
"From then on,you became more and more withdrawn,like a sealed gourd."
Mo Fan fell silent.
Lin Dong.
The Spirit Testing Stele.
He already knew all of this from the original owner's residual memories.
So he pressed on.
"Then what about my birth parents?"
"When I was brought here,I wasn't carrying any token?Or...really not a single scrap of information was left behind?"
Old Lüshook his head firmly.
"No."
"Nothing at all."
"All I remember is,when the steward was registering you in the roster,he asked what your name was,and'Lu Xiaoqi,'you gave that name yourself."
Old Lülooked at Mo Fan and said in earnest:
"But when he asked where your home was,who your parents were,how you'd ended up following those refugees all the way to the Azure Cloud Sect..."
"All you'd do was shake your head."
"Couldn't explain a single bit of it."
Hearing this,Mo Fan's pupils contracted slightly.
He finally realized something he'd never seriously considered before.
He'd always assumed those blanks in his mind regarding Lu Xiaoqi's childhood were caused by incomplete soul fusion after transmigrating.
But looking at it now...
That didn't seem to be it at all.
Those blanks hadn't appeared after Mo Fan transmigrated.
The original owner,Lu Xiaoqi himself,had never known where he came from since he was a child!
At that thought,the confusion in Mo Fan's heart only deepened.
But he didn't press further.
Judging by Old Lü's manner,this was probably the extent of what he knew.
Just as Mo Fan was about to let it go,Old Lüsuddenly seemed to think of something and mentioned it in the most offhand way.
"Speaking of that surname of yours,'Lu'..."
"When I was young,I did hear some passing rogue cultivators mention that in the heart of our Great Xia Dynasty,over in Dragon Capital,there's supposedly an exceedingly illustrious great clan."
"Surnamed Lu as well."
Mo Fan's heart gave a faint jump.
"The Lu Family of Dragon Capital?"
He looked at Old Lüand asked probingly:
"Are you saying I might be connected to that clan?"
"Go on,get out of here!"
Old Lürolled his eyes sourly and blew out a thick mouthful of smoke.
"You brat really dare to dream!"
"That's an immortal clan powerful enough to summon wind and rain in Dragon Capital."
"There are plenty of people surnamed Lu under heaven.You think they're all one family?"
Old Lütapped his pipe.
"I was just running my mouth."
Mo Fan laughed helplessly.
He didn't pursue it.
Still,those words...
The Lu Family of Dragon Capital.
He quietly filed them away in his heart.
Coincidence,fine.
Actually connected somehow,also fine.
At least it was the only thing he'd heard so far that might tie into Lu Xiaoqi's origins.
Just as the two of them were chatting...
Creak...
The courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open.
A-Song came hurrying in from outside.
"Brother Qi!Uncle Lü!"
There was still a fine layer of sweat on A-Song's forehead,clearly from rushing back the whole way.
"Master sent a Voice Transmission Jade Slip telling me to return to the Dao Asking Palace as soon as possible.Says he has some coursework to examine me on."
"Well,that's wonderful!Proper business comes first!"
The moment Old Lüheard it was the Sect Master calling,he stood right up.
"The Sect Master's coursework is nothing to be careless about.Hurry on back!"
A-Song nodded.
But right before leaving,he suddenly seemed to remember something.
He glanced at Old Lü,then pulled Mo Fan aside and lowered his voice.
"Brother Qi."
"That business at Abandoned Sword Cliff on the back mountain..."
"Are you really sure I shouldn't report it to Master when I get back and have him send people to investigate thoroughly?"
A-Song was clearly still preoccupied with the demon beast riot that had nearly turned into a catastrophe.
Hearing this,Mo Fan finally remembered there was this loose end he hadn't fully tied off.
Not only had that Formless Demon Embryo already been dealt with...
It had,through a bizarre chain of accidents,even become his avatar,Mo You.
An appalling demonic aberration like that...
If he really let people from the inner sect come down and comb through the place...
Even one thread of a clue discovered would be more than enough to land him in serious trouble.
"No need."
Mo Fan's expression was exceedingly calm as he patted A-Song's shoulder with a hint of certainty.
"I went back down quietly last night to confirm it again."
Mo Fan said it without flushing or so much as a skipped heartbeat.
"It really was several powerful mutated demon beasts down there fighting over territory and stirring up trouble."
"The source has been dealt with now,and those maddened demon beasts on the outskirts have pretty much recovered."
"There won't be any more big problems."
A-Song scratched his head.
Looking at how utterly assured Brother Qi seemed,he still had a bit of doubt in his heart,but in the end,he nodded anyway.
"Well,if you say so,Brother Qi,then it should be fine."
A-Song let out a breath of relief.
"Then I won't bring it up with Master.No sense alarming the inner sect and having them turn things upside down over here on Old Lü's end again."
Looking at A-Song's utter,unshakable faith in him...
Mo Fan silently wiped away a cold sweat inside.
This kid...
Way too damn easy to fool sometimes.
Still...
That was exactly the result he wanted.
Afterward,the group had a simple lunch together in the courtyard.
After the meal,Mo Fan also made a trip to see the steward in charge of the relocation,telling him the anomaly on the back mountain had largely subsided.
And over these past few days,the agitated demon beasts on the outskirts had indeed gradually returned to normal.
Seeing this,the steward was naturally happy to have one less matter on his plate.
He only said they'd observe for a few more days.
If there truly were no new anomalies on the back mountain,then that large-scale relocation wouldn't be worth putting everyone through after all.
The sun sank westward.
As they were leaving,Old Lüstood outside the courtyard gate,watching the two brothers about to return to the inner sect.
He merely waved the pipe in his hand with a squinting smile.
"Alright then."
"Off you go,back to busying yourselves with your great Daos."
"When you've got time..."
"Remember to come back for a meal."
A-Song answered loudly and cheerfully.
Mo Fan nodded with a smile too.
And with that,the two left the servant district.
At the fork in the mountain road...
A-Song rode his sword back toward the main peak.
While Mo Fan set foot once more on the road leading to that desolate abandoned mine.
Back to Hundred Forging Peak.
Night fell.
Inside the stone house in the Hundred Forging Peak ravine...
Mo Fan sat alone,cross-legged,on the bed.
No lamp was lit.
Only cold moonlight came through the window lattice,falling quietly across the floor.
All was utterly silent around him.
Mo Fan wasn't cultivating.
Instead,what surfaced irrepressibly in his mind were those four words Mo You had mentioned that day in the Necrotic Realm.
[Nether River Bone Lotus]
The most suitable material for shaping form...
Mo Fan's fingers tapped lightly against his knee,his gaze turning deeper bit by bit in the darkness.
That name...
He wasn't unfamiliar with it in the slightest.
He remembered clearly.
Down in the abandoned mine pit below Hundred Forging Peak...
Xiao Hai had once told that mysterious Lord Li,with his own mouth...
That in the middle and lower levels of that pit...
There very likely existed a genuine[Nether River Bone Lotus]!
"Back then,hearing that even Golden Core cultivators coveted something like that,I figured the water here was too deep."
Mo Fan murmured to himself in the darkness.
Then slowly lowered his head.
With a flicker of will...
The panel surfaced.
[Level:LV.22]
[Realm:Foundation Establishment(Body)/Undead Mentor]
Mo Fan rubbed his chin.
The corner of his mouth hooked upward,bit by bit.
"Before,I didn't dare get involved..."
"But now..."
He stood up.
Walked to the window.
And gazed out at Hundred Forging Peak,now fully sunk into darkness.
A moment later...
Mo Fan suddenly smiled.
"How about tonight..."
"I go back down and take another look?"