Chapter 55: Shopping

After the lotus lanterns were released, it was not yet late, so the group continued to stroll along the streets.

Perhaps because of their previous bickering, Bai Zisheng had grown familiar with Mo Hua; he was no longer polite and had become much more talkative.

"Mo Hua, what are those cultivators doing?"

Bai Zisheng pointed toward a platform and asked curiously.

Mo Hua followed his gaze and saw several cultivators, dressed as demon hunters, fighting a "demon beast" that resembled an ox on a simple stage.

The "demon beast" had a copper-colored head and brocade-like skin with shiny fur, looking incredibly lifelike, but it was actually a cultivator disguised under animal skins.

"Oh, it's a demon-fighting play."

"Demon-fighting? Fighting demon beasts?" Bai Zisheng's interest was instantly piqued.

"Most cultivators in Tongxian City make a living by hunting demons. They are constantly fighting demon beasts in their daily lives, so during festivals and celebrations, demon hunters perform demon-fighting plays. It is both for entertainment and a tradition among demon hunters."

As he finished speaking, the play on stage reached a climax.

Several demon hunters, each wielding a blade, let out a loud shout, and a layer of raging fire instantly wrapped around their blades. One swung a fist, the wind from the punch whistling loudly, while another stood at a distance, performing hand seals. Several fireballs emerged before him, instantly engaging in combat with the "demon beast." For a moment, spiritual energy overflowed and light shimmered everywhere.

"Wow! Blazing Flame Blade, Gale Fist, and Fireball Technique!"

A child nearby shouted excitedly, clapping their small hands.

Bai Zisheng was no better; his face was flushed as he watched intently.

Mo Hua couldn't help but ask, "You're already in the late stage of Qi Refinement, right? You should have learned some Daoist techniques by now..."

*Why does he act like he's never seen the world before...*

Bai Zisheng rolled his eyes at Mo Hua. "Of course I know Daoist techniques. It's just that my mother won't let me use them. She says that for a Qi Refinement cultivator, building a solid foundation is the most important thing. Learning mediocre Daoist techniques to fight others is the act of a brute. If one gets injured and damages their foundation, it will ruin their future cultivation."

"Oh," Mo Hua hummed.

For great families, the Qi Refinement stage was merely for building a foundation; one only needed to focus on cultivation, as there would be no need to use Daoist techniques.

However, for ordinary rogue cultivators, they might remain in the Qi Refinement stage for their entire lives. They had no choice but to learn various Daoist techniques during this stage to fight demon beasts, licking blood off the edge of a blade just to survive.

"If only the low-level rogue cultivators didn't have to live such hard lives," Mo Hua sighed with complex emotions.

Besides the demon-fighting plays, there were also novel Daoist technique acrobatics, fascinating shadow puppetry, wooden dogs that ran around when fed a few fragments of spirit stones, and all sorts of fragrant snacks...

After wandering around for a while, Bai Zisheng looked excited and unsatisfied, while Bai Zixi's small face was flushed, looking even more radiant than the lanterns in the sky.

Even as the sky grew dark, the group was still not ready to leave, but they eventually had to part ways and return home.

"Thank you for everything this time. You showed us the local customs of Tongxian City."

Aunt Xue thanked Mo Hua, then produced a small box from somewhere and handed it to him.

"These are some pastries I bought on the way. Please take them as a gift. They didn't cost many spirit stones, so you won't refuse, will you?"

Mo Hua stopped declining and accepted them gracefully, saying happily, "Thank you, Aunt Xue."

Aunt Xue nodded with a gentle smile.

Bai Zisheng said to Mo Hua, "If you have time to visit Qianzhou in the future, I'll take you to see the Heaven-Worshipping Ceremony. It might not be as lively as this place, but the scale is massive, with all sorts of rare spirit beasts, flying vessels, and palanquins. It's guaranteed to open your eyes."

"Mhm, mhm!"

Mo Hua felt a sense of longing, wondering just how grand the atmosphere of those ten-thousand-year-old families and sects in Qianzhou must be.

However, he didn't know if he would ever be able to go in this lifetime.

The cultivation world was vast and boundless. Li Province alone had countless immortal cities, and Tongxian City was just one insignificant small city among them. With Mo Hua's current cultivation, even leaving Tongxian City would be difficult, let alone leaving Li Province for the unknown Qianzhou.

After bidding farewell to the Bai siblings, Mo Hua found Da Hu and the other two.

The three children had also enjoyed themselves immensely. Upon seeing Mo Hua, they stuffed a pile of strange things into his arms, including various trinkets and a white tiger sugar sculpture.

"You have to eat the sugar sculpture quickly, or it'll melt," Xiao Hu urged Mo Hua, before enthusiastically introducing the trinkets and telling him how to play with them.

None of these were expensive; most could be bought for one or two fragments of spirit stones, but they were novel and clever, and there were some Mo Hua truly had never seen before.

Mo Hua shared the pastries Aunt Xue gave him with his three companions, then began studying the toys in his hands while licking the sugar sculpture.

As the three of them ate the pastries and walked home with Mo Hua, Xiao Hu suddenly asked halfway

"Mo Hua, you won't be staying with the young master and lady of the Bai family forever, will you?"

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Hu shook his head and said nothing.

Mo Hua thought they might have a grudge against the Bai siblings, but after a moment, Xiao Hu said hesitantly

"That little girl from the Bai family... she's just too beautiful..."

Mo Hua was stunned. "Is being beautiful a bad thing?"

Xiao Hu said, "You can't play with beautiful girls."

Da Hu and Shuang Hu nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Why..."

Shuang Hu said solemnly, "My mother said that beautiful women make men stupid. The more beautiful the woman, the stupider the man becomes!"

"Exactly, exactly! My father met a beautiful woman and ran away from home, only to be swindled out of his money and his life."

"That's right, that's right. I've also heard that many cultivators with good spiritual roots wasted their cultivation because they married beautiful Dao companions, and ended up achieving nothing."

"Yes, yes! I only looked at that little girl once and I felt dazed; my brain couldn't even function. If I looked more, I might turn into an idiot. It's too terrifying..."

"Indeed, too terrifying..."

Shuang Hu patted Mo Hua on the shoulder. "Mo Hua, you're the smartest among us, and you might even become an Array Master in the future. If you turn into an idiot, it'll be a disaster."

Da Hu and Xiao Hu also looked at Mo Hua with concern.

Mo Hua didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After thinking about it, he felt... it actually made sense, so he said

"There's nothing we can do about it. We all study arrays under the Teacher; we see him all the time."

"Then it's over." The three children all looked solemn.

Mo Hua laughed. "Drawing arrays makes people smarter. I'll just draw more arrays in the future; I shouldn't become too stupid."

"Does drawing arrays really make people smarter?" Xiao Hu asked.

"Of course," Shuang Hu said. "Isn't Mo Hua smarter than us because he's so good at drawing arrays?"

Mo Hua said, "Then do you want to learn arrays? I can teach you."

The three of them had decent physical cultivation talent, but they had no talent for drawing arrays; they got headaches just looking at dense array patterns.

Xiao Hu hesitated for a long time before finally making a firm decision

"Forget it. If drawing arrays is the only way to become smart, then I'd rather be an idiot for the rest of my life!"