Mo Hua stared at the chessboard, deep in thought.
For some reason, Lu Zhenlong felt a faint chill in her heart. Whenever Mo Hua started using his head, she felt that he was dangerous.
“By the way,” Lu Zhenlong asked, “what did you come to the Lu family for?”
Mo Hua, pulled from his thoughts, looked up at her. “You don’t know?”
“How would I know?” Lu Zhenlong said, puzzled. “I’m not a worm in your belly.”
Mo Hua’s expression turned subtle. “Your mother didn’t tell you anything?”
“She only said to entertain the guests,” Lu Zhenlong replied. “I don’t have to do anything special. Just sit in the pavilion, eat some fruit, and play a little ches”
Mo Hua saw the odd look on Lu Zhenlong’s face and shook his head. Then he asked, “Then you must know that your mother has been worrying about a marriage alliance for you.”
Lu Zhenlong nodded. “Men marry when they’re of age, and women marry when they’re of age. A marriage alliance is only natural.”
“Then do you know whom you’re supposed to marry?” Mo Hua asked.
Lu Zhenlong silently grumbled, but after a moment’s thought, she didn’t hide it from Mo Hua. She had just teased the “Great Demon King” Mo Hua, so she was in a very good mood.
“Many of the Lu family’s direct descendants have already made marriage alliances with the Earth Sect. I expect I’m no exception. From what my mother means, it seems I’m to be betrothed to the Earth Sect’s eldest young master…”
Mo Hua’s gaze carried an indescribable implication.
The pearl of the Lu family marrying the most powerful eldest young master of the Earth Sect. On the surface, it was indeed a well-matched union.
But…
“Do you know,” Mo Hua asked Lu Zhenlong, “what kind of person the Earth Sect’s eldest young master really is?”
“Huh?” Lu Zhenlong pinched her chin, hesitated, then said, “How would I know? But I’ve heard the clan’s elders say that the eldest young master of the Earth Sect is handsome and martial, has a top-grade spiritual root, noble blood, an upright character, and steady conduct. He can bear great responsibility and has considerable prestige in the Earth Sect. He’s a man worth entrusting with one’s life; the very best match for a marriage alliance.”
Mo Hua’s expression became even stranger.
Lu Zhenlong was not entirely dull; she could read expressions. She immediately asked, “What? Is that wrong?”
Mo Hua almost said something, but on second thought, this was someone else’s marriage, and it concerned a marriage alliance between the Lu family and the Earth Sect. He wasn’t that close to Lu Zhenlong, so he couldn’t be bothered to speak.
But Lu Zhenlong had grown wary. “Do you know something?”
Mo Hua shook his head.
“Tell me,” she said.
“I can’t say.”
The more Mo Hua refused, the more suspicious Lu Zhenlong became. With a cold face, she said, “If you don’t tell me, I’ll cling to you. I’ll go to you every day from now on and stir up trouble to make your life miserable.”
Mo Hua rubbed his forehead lightly. Women really were a hassle.
“Hurry up and tell me!” Lu Zhenlong urged. Marriage was the greatest affair of her life.
Mo Hua hesitated for a long time before giving only a faint hint. “That eldest young master is a frequent visitor to brothels. He’s infatuated with the flower queen of the Jade Spring Pavilion.”
He could stop there. The more serious matters, the young master’s vices, the noxious flower he doted on, the rotten karma, he did not mention.
Even so, Lu Zhenlong’s face went slightly pale.
On the surface, he was the handsome, martial, noble-blooded, upright, prestigious “eldest young master” of the Earth Sect.
Behind the scenes, he was a brothel regular, lingering in the pleasure quarters and obsessed with a courtesan.
Even she, as dense as she was, knew what that meant.
Then Lu Zhenlong felt it strange and asked Mo Hua, “How do you know he’s a frequent visitor to brothels?”
“Oh,” Mo Hua said casually, “I went there too, and happened to see him.”
Lu Zhenlong’s brain shut down for a long while. Then she looked at Mo Hua in disbelief. “Someone like you actually visits brothels?”
Lu Zhenlong was shocked, though for entirely different reasons.
The Earth Sect’s eldest young master going to a brothel shocked her because the so-called handsome, upright young master of a great family was outwardly impressive but inwardly corrupt.
Mo Hua going to a brothel was the opposite. What shocked her was that someone like Mo Hua could be interested in women at all!
She had always thought that an anomaly like Mo Hua, with a mind different from ordinary people’s, would never be interested in women. After all, back at the Sword Discussion Assembly, he had blasted her own face with a fireball.
And yet he had gone to a brothel?
Lu Zhenlong was baffled. “What were you doing at a brothel?”
Mo Hua thought for a moment. “There are demonic cultivators in the brothel. I went to investigate.”
Lu Zhenlong was startled at first, then suddenly understood. “I see…”
This time it was Mo Hua’s turn to be surprised. “You believe me?”
Lu Zhenlong nodded. “If you went to investigate demonic cultivators, then that’s perfectly normal.”
Demonic cultivators were certainly more attractive to Mo Hua than women.
The key was that Lu Zhenlong could not imagine a fiend like Mo Hua actually liking women.
If a fiend like him truly liked a woman, then the woman he liked was probably terrifying, a monster of a woman.
This was like attracts like; people of the same nature drew each other.
Mo Hua’s eyes darkened as he looked at Lu Zhenlong. “What are you thinking?”
Lu Zhenlong startled and hurriedly hid her thoughts. “Nothing…”
As Lu Zhenlong was thinking, she suddenly sighed deeply.
Mo Hua asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lu Zhenlong sighed. “I’m just lamenting. My Lu family’s old ancestor really picked a wonderful marriage for me. An eldest young master who’s a brothel regular and obsessed with a flower queen. If I had gone into that marriage knowing nothing, my future days would have been truly blessed.”
Mo Hua sipped his tea in silence and said nothing.
The marriage alliance and that young master’s affair were sensitive topics; he was not in a good position to say much. Having warned her this far was already the best he could do. After all, Lu Zhenlong was more or less half an acquaintance. If he could warn her, he would.
Lu Zhenlong looked at Mo Hua and thought to herself that this Mo Hua didn’t seem so bad after all. Occasionally, he could do a good deed. She wanted to say a word of thanks, but she had long been used to being proud, and she had always regarded Mo Hua as an enemy. The words “thank you” reached her lips but refused to come out.
Mo Hua’s spiritual sense was powerful, and he keenly noticed Lu Zhenlong’s emotion. Suddenly struck by a thought, he asked, “Is it absolutely necessary for Lu family disciples to make a marriage alliance with the Earth Sect?”
Lu Zhenlong was silent for a moment, then nodded. Since Mo Hua had helped her, there was no need to hide such a small matter from him.
Mo Hua asked, “Was it the same before?”
“No, it wasn’t,” Lu Zhenlong said. “Only in this generation.”
Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened. “Is it because the Earth Sect and your Lu family have some deeper exchange of interest?”
That question was far too sensitive, and Lu Zhenlong fell silent.
Mo Hua read her expression and basically understood. “Your Lu family and the Earth Sect… have some great plan that requires marriage alliances to cement your mutual interests, am I right?”
Lu Zhenlong’s expression cooled. “How could I possibly tell you that?”
“You don’t know, do you?” Mo Hua said.
Lu Zhenlong sneered. “I am the eldest daughter of the Lu family. How could I not know?”
With her status, she spent every day by the side of high-ranking elders. A bit of wind would carry more news to her than to anyone else.
Mo Hua smiled. “You’re bluffing.”
Lu Zhenlong sneered. “Mo Hua, do you take me for a fool? Do you think such a clumsy provocation would work on me?”
Mo Hua sighed. “So you saw through me.”
Lu Zhenlong grew even angrier.
Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, “I told you the true face of the Earth Sect’s eldest young master. Doesn’t that count as defusing a mine for you?”
Lu Zhenlong was unhappy, but still answered truthfully, “More or less.”
Mo Hua nodded. “There you have it. I helped you, so by common courtesy, it shouldn’t be excessive for you to reveal a little news in return.”
“This…” Lu Zhenlong frowned, but still shook her head. “Don’t take me for a fool. I am the eldest daughter of the Lu family. When it comes to the Lu family’s interests, we all rise and fall together. I would never sacrifice the Lu family’s interests to tell you anything.”
Mo Hua said calmly, “You would never sacrifice the Lu family’s interests. But what if the Lu family is going to sacrifice yours?”
Lu Zhenlong was stunned.
Mo Hua’s gaze hardened as he continued, “Marriage is a lifelong matter, how could it be treated as a joke? Marry the wrong person, and it can ruin your entire life.”
“You don’t actually think that you are the only one who knows what the Earth Sect’s eldest young master is like, do you?”
“Your mother, the Lu family’s high-ranking elders, the Lu family’s old ancestor; they have sharp ears and sharp sources. Could they have heard nothing?”
“Could they truly not know that marrying this ‘upright’ eldest young master would ruin your life?”
“They know. Yet they still went along with it. For the sake of the clan’s interests, they are pushing you into a fire pit.”
“Worse, they even found people to deceive you, whispering fine words about the Earth Sect’s eldest young master in your ear, making you believe he was the perfect match.”
“When you happily marry over and discover it is a fire pit, it will be too late to jump out.”
“Your marriage for this entire life will be buried in that fire pit, completely ruined.”
Lu Zhenlong’s smile was completely gone. Her face gradually turned pale.
She was a pampered eldest daughter, used to comfort, raised in the love of her parents and elders. She usually did not think about such things. But that did not mean she could not understand.
Some things were simply things she was unwilling to think about.
She did not want to think that her kind-faced parents and elders, who doted on her as if she were a treasure, could be so ruthless as to push her into a fire pit.
She could not accept it at once, but Mo Hua’s cold, realistic words were eating into her heart bit by bit.
“So…” Mo Hua said in a low voice. “You are a child of the Lu family, one with the Lu family’s interests.”
“But sometimes, you are the Lu family’s interest.”
“You are not willing to sacrifice the clan’s interests, but once the clan gains even greater interests, it will sacrifice you.”
“Think it over carefully, do you want to sacrifice yourself?”
Lu Zhenlong’s expression flickered. Then she looked at Mo Hua. “You… would you help me?”
Mo Hua shook his head. “Why should I help you?”
Lu Zhenlong froze, then was angry.
Mo Hua said, “I’m a busy man. I don’t get involved in every idle matter. Besides, you are a disciple of the Purple Cloud Sect, while I am the Little Senior Brother of the Taixu Sect. You aren’t even a disciple of my sect. Why would I help you?”
Lu Zhenlong gritted her teeth. This Mo Hua was truly hateful.
After a while, she steeled herself and said, “Fine… I’ll tell you that matter.”
Mo Hua raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Lu Zhenlong nodded. “Anyway, I don’t know much. There’s no harm in telling you. And if I was allowed to learn it, it probably isn’t too secret.”
Mo Hua paused. He thought to himself that this Lu Zhenlong, for all her bluster, could be surprisingly sharp-headed now and then.
He nodded. “All right.”
Lu Zhenlong thought a moment, then said, “I won’t hide it from you. I don’t have the standing to take part in the Lu family’s big affairs, and my parents never told me anything, let alone a great scheme devised by the Lu family and the Earth Sect.”
“But once, I happened to pass by my father’s study, and I heard him talking with… several Feather Transformation seniors from the Earth Sect whose names I didn’t know.”
“They were extremely careful. They used Feather Transformation spiritual power to block sound and seal off karma.”
“But guards may hold off thieves from outside; it’s the thief inside the house who is hardest to guard against. I used—,” she coughed, not about to reveal her ace in the hole, “—and still managed to hear part of the conversation.”
“Those words, after all, had been stolen from Feather Transformation experts. They were shattered and scattered beyond recognition, so I don’t know exactly what they were discussing.”
“All I know is that one word appeared again and again in those stray fragments…”
“One word?” Mo Hua was surprised.
Lu Zhenlong nodded.
“What word?” Mo Hua asked.
Lu Zhenlong said, “I can’t say it out loud.”
Mo Hua’s expression turned unhappy.
“I can’t say it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t tell you,” Lu Zhenlong frowned. “Words, once spoken, bring ruin. Haven’t you even learned this much about karma?”
Mo Hua was momentarily at a loss, struck speechless by her mockery of his lack of common karma sense.
Lu Zhenlong said, “Give me your hand.”
Mo Hua hesitated.
“Hurry up,” she said impatiently.
Mo Hua reluctantly extended his right hand.
Lu Zhenlong stretched out a pale, slender finger, dipped it in the wine cup on the table, and traced two crooked characters on Mo Hua’s palm.
Mo Hua looked at the two wine-written characters, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
The next moment, he clenched his fist, sent fire spiritual power through his palm, and burned the wine away, leaving not the slightest trace.
Seeing this, Lu Zhenlong nodded in satisfaction. “Apt pupil indeed.”
The “Great Demon King” Mo Hua really was sharp—he didn’t even need to be reminded.
Lu Zhenlong went on, “I’ve told you those two characters. I don’t know anything else. Even if I did, I couldn’t say any more.”
Mo Hua nodded lightly. Thinking about those two characters he had just erased from his hand, his gaze turned grave. “Thank you.”
Lu Zhenlong felt a little strange hearing Mo Hua say thanks, but she happily nodded. Then she said, “I helped you, so from now on, when I’m in trouble, you have to help me too. Or if there’s crucial news about my future marriage, like that eldest young master, you have to find a way to let me know.”
Mo Hua nodded. “It’s a deal.”
Lu Zhenlong nodded in satisfaction.
And so, the two formed a temporary alliance.
Because the pavilion was a relatively private place for the young male and female prodigies of great families to meet, many close elders of the Lu family, under everyone’s watchful eyes, saw only the two young people playing chess and whispering together.
The atmosphere was so harmonious that it even bordered on “intimate,” but no one could guess what they had actually been talking about.
Before long, Madam Lu arrived. Seeing Mo Hua and Lu Zhenlong had finished their game and were eating melon together while chatting, she found the scene odd.
She remembered that whenever her daughter brought up Mo Hua, she would grit her teeth and gnash in annoyance.
Yet in the blink of an eye, how had the two become so “congenial”?
Seeing Madam Lu, Mo Hua stood and saluted with cupped fists. “Madam Lu.”
Madam Lu changed to a smiling expression and nodded. “Immortal Bai has finished her business over there. She’s ready to return to Little Luan Mountain.”
Mo Hua nodded. “Then I, too, will take my leave.”
“This visit was too short, and we were remiss in hospitality. Next time you’re free, come to the Lu family again, and I’ll hold a proper banquet for you.”
Mo Hua smiled gently. “I am honored by your kindness, Madam Lu. I will be sure to come next time.”
Madam Lu nodded, then led Mo Hua away to search for Immortal Bai.
Immortal Bai looked at Mo Hua with a rather strange expression, realizing she had underestimated him earlier. She had not expected Mo Hua to be so good at pleasing girls.
Immortal Bai's mood was subtle. She said to Mo Hua, “Return to Little Luan Mountain.”
Mo Hua nodded. His right hand unconsciously rubbed his palm again, wiping away the two characters Lu Zhenlong had written in wine, leaving not a trace.
But his eyes contained a barely visible gravity.