Chapter 261: Chapter 260: Map_1

“I’ll go back and ask Bald Tuo again,” Zhang Lan said.

“Mm.”

Mo Hua nodded, feeling there was something eerie about the situation that needed to be clarified.

For the rest of the time, Zhang Lan had the Enforcement Leaders log the ill-gotten gains, registering each item into the records. Tomorrow, officials from the Taoist Court would come over to transport these items back to Tongxian City.

Mo Hua and his companions planned to spend the night on Inner Mountain.

After tidying up the cave, they prepared to set off toward the camp.

Just as they were about to leave, Mo Hua suddenly uttered, “Huh?”

Zhang Lan turned around and hastily asked, “What’s wrong?”

Mo Hua pointed to a small corner, “There’s something here.”

On hearing this, Zhang Lan’s eyes lit up. He walked to the corner Mo Hua had pointed to, released his Divine Sense, and after inspecting carefully, exclaimed in surprise,

“There really is a hidden compartment.”

Previously, it was obscured by clutter, which is why no one noticed it.

Now that the cave was cleared, Mo Hua’s Divine Sense detected the hidden compartment.

“Is there a formation?” Zhang Lan asked.

“No,” Mo Hua shook his head.

Zhang Lan then looked at Mo Shan, “Brother Mo, it’s up to you.”

Mo Shan nodded, clenched his fist which soon flared with intense fire, and slammed a punch into the corner’s rock wall.

The rock wall creaked and cracks appeared.

Mo Shan continued this way for several rounds until all the rock was shattered.

Behind the broken wall was a small hidden compartment the size of a square inch, within which there was a wooden box.

Zhang Lan took out the wooden box, scanned it with his Divine Sense, found no danger, and opened it.

Mo Hua also leaned in to take a look.

Inside the wooden box were two books and a map.

One book was “Changfeng Jue,” and the other was “Gale Technique.”

Changfeng Jue is a cultivation technique related to wind-based spiritual power, while Gale Technique is a movement technique of the same category, both of which were learned by Bald Tuo.

It appeared that this hidden compartment was where Bald Tuo used to stash his things.

As for the map, it looked like a navigation map.

The lines on it roughly sketched the mountainous terrain and cliffs. The handwriting was sloppy, and there were no annotations, making it difficult to determine what the map was at first glance.

Zhang Lan said, “These cultivation techniques and movement techniques are valuable, but since cultivators with a Wind Spiritual Root are rare, there’re few who can learn them. Copy them down later; you could sell them or trade for other Taoist skills. They should be worth quite a bit of Spirit Stones.”

“As for this map…” Zhang Lan frowned and asked Mo Hua, “Can you make out where this map is of?”

Zhang Lan was not familiar with the area surrounding Tongxian City, especially the paths on Big Black Mountain.

He didn’t use maps often.

He remembered that Mo Hua had hand-drawn a map of Big Black Mountain, marking every road, stream, forest, and tree with great clarity.

If it really was a map of Big Black Mountain, Mo Hua should be able to recognize it.

Taking the map, Mo Hua scrutinized it, feeling puzzled.

It looked both familiar and strange to him.

“This mountain outline, it resembles a map of Big Black Mountain, but the specifics are beyond my recognition,” Mo Hua commented, then turned to ask Mo Shan,

“Dad, can you make it out?”

After studying it for a while, Mo Shan found it peculiar and suggested, “Didn’t you draw maps of the Inner and Outer Mountains? Bring them and compare.”

“Oh, right.” Mo Hua nodded, took out the map he had drawn, and spread it on the ground.

Bald Tuo was captured, the den of the Sin Cultivators was destroyed, and Lu Hui was dead; with nothing pressing at hand, the three of them began studying the maps in detail.

After half an hour of thorough inspection, they could not locate a corresponding area.

Zhang Lan suggested, “It might be a map of the mountains outside of Tongxian City around Big Black Mountain.”

Mo Hua nodded, feeling that was very likely.

Big Black Mountain was vast, and beyond the section near Tongxian City, its terrain spread across other regions.

If that were the case, it was no wonder Mo Hua found it familiar yet couldn’t locate the corresponding landforms.

“We can go back and ask Bald Tuo where this map came from and what it’s for,” Mo Hua considered, then said.

Bald Tuo had hidden this map with his cultivation techniques and movement techniques, clearly attaching great importance to it, which likely meant it held significant secrets.

Mo Hua also copied down the map.

“`

After spending the night on Big Black Mountain, the three of them got up early the next day and returned to Tongxian City accompanied by mountain dew and the morning sun.

After resting briefly, Mo Hua went straight to the Taoist Court to find Zhang Lan and asked,

“Are you going to interrogate Bald Tuo? Take me with you.”

Zhang Lan was somewhat embarrassed, “The interrogation of the Taoist Court cannot be heard by outsiders…”

“I had a hand in catching Bald Tuo; how can I be an outsider?”

“That’s true in principle, but rules are rules,” Zhang Lan declined tactfully.

“Fine, I’ll ask the Court Leader.”

As Mo Hua said this, he began to walk out. Zhang Lan quickly grabbed him and said, “Why are you looking for the Court Leader?”

“If you can’t make the decision, naturally the Court Leader should.”

“The Court Leader won’t agree.”

Mo Hua gave a sly smile, “How do you know the Court Leader won’t agree?”

Zhang Lan thought for a moment and realized that the Court Leader might indeed not refuse.

After all, Bald Tuo was captured with Mo Hua’s help, and now that it was time for the interrogation, Mo Hua wanting to listen in seemed reasonable.

Plus, Mo Hua had a wide network and many sources of information, some things he might even know better than Zhang Lan, the Supervisor.

Having him help with the interrogation might really yield some results.

The old Court Leader already admired Mo Hua, and besides, Mo Hua was a first-class Formation Master; such prestige would certainly be given the due respect.

Zhang Lan’s expression was complicated. He sighed, “There will be some blood during the interrogation…”

Halfway through his sentence, Zhang Lan suddenly realized that Mo Hua was still a Monster Hunter who was accustomed to seeing cultivators and monster beasts fight to the death and bloodshed. He had likely seen plenty of such scenes.

With that in mind, Zhang Lan gave up and said, “Come with me.”

Mo Hua smiled, “Thank you, Uncle Zhang.”

The torture room of the Taoist Prison was located in a dark corner to the west.

Mo Hua followed Zhang Lan into the torture room and immediately smelled blood and rot. The room was dimly lit, with torture instruments hanging on the walls, dark blood stains on the floor, and a furnace burning branding irons.

The smell of blood was oppressive and stifling.

No wonder Zhang Lan didn’t want him to come here.

Zhang Lan instructed him, “Just listen from the side. If you feel uncomfortable, go out and get some fresh air. This isn’t a nice place; if you can avoid it, you should.”

“Thank you, Uncle Zhang!”

Mo Hua thanked him again.

Zhang Lan smiled faintly and patted Mo Hua’s shoulder. He then ordered the guards to bring in Bald Tuo.

Mo Hua found a relatively clean stool to sit on. Soon, he heard the clanking of chains and looked up to see several Enforcement Leaders bringing in Bald Tuo, his bones pierced with iron chains.

Bald Tuo was covered in wounds, his figure bedraggled, it seemed he hadn’t had an easy time in the Taoist Prison.

The guards tied Bald Tuo to the rack.

Zhang Lan put on a cold face and said,

“Bald Tuo, I’m going to ask you a few questions. If you tell the truth, you can suffer less.”

Bald Tuo kept his eyes closed, showing neither agreement nor dissent.

Zhang Lan asked several questions, but Bald Tuo remained silent, even under torture he didn’t utter a sound.

He appeared to be a pig not afraid of being scalded by boiling water.

Bald Tuo knew he was undoubtedly going to die this time, and he saw the Taoist Court’s cultivators as nothing but lapdogs. Having been caught by the Taoist Court once again, he couldn’t be bothered to say anything.

For a man at death’s door, at this moment, all he could do was wait for death.

After asking several times and applying torture a few times, Zhang Lan eventually shook his head in helplessness.

Then, he noticed Mo Hua making eye signals to him.

Zhang Lan thought for a moment and nodded.

Mo Hua sauntered forward and asked with a smile, “Big Baldie, do you know about the Water Prison Technique?”

Bald Tuo heard a crisp voice by his ear, and when he looked up, he saw a young cultivator with a beaming smile looking back at him.

What was a little kid doing in the Taoist Court’s torture chamber?

And this figure and aura seemed familiar, perhaps the Little Demon Hunter who had rescued Ji Qingbai the other day.

Bald Tuo felt puzzled, and he asked, “What Water Prison Technique?”

Mo Hua gave a faint smile, raised his little hand, and spiritual power chains condensed, locking onto Bald Tuo.

This spell…

Bald Tuo’s heart thundered, his eyes widening with shock.

“It’s you!”