Chapter 735 – Mountain Sweep
"Break their bones... you mean, beat them up real good?" Cheng Mo asked.
Mo Hua nodded.
Cheng Mo lit up, but then frowned. "But the Broken Gold Sect disciples are real sneaky. Always hiding and slinking around—it's hard to track them down..."
"No problem," Mo Hua said. "Gather some people. This rest day, I'll go into the mountain with you all."
His fellow disciples were being bullied—as the "Little Senior Brother," there was no way he could just sit back and do nothing!
"Alright!" Cheng Mo nodded.
A few days later, on the rest day, Cheng Mo gathered twenty disciples as instructed by Mo Hua.
These twenty were all the type Mo Hua frequently called on for missions, friendly with Cheng Mo, and had shared tasks, rewards, and merit points together.
As the twenty disciples assembled before Mo Hua, they bowed and called out in unison:
"Little Senior Brother!"
Mo Hua nodded, expression serious. "This time, we're going into Demon Refining Mountain for one thing only—to deal with Broken Gold Sect!"
"Their armor's tricky—my Metal-Cutting Blade Technique doesn't even scratch it..."
"But the method is simple."
On the surface, the dense forests and mountains didn't reveal anything unusual.
To avoid drawing attention, Mo Hua, Cheng Mo, and the rest—a total of twenty-five people—entered Demon Refining Mountain in separate groups and met up beneath a certain slope within the mountain.
"I want to see just how shameless they can get..."
A faint feeling arose—like seeing through the true nature of all things.
"I'll hold them off—you guys run—"
Cheng Mo then charged in with his group, and chaos broke out: blades clashed, spiritual energy flared, and shouts rang out:
"Who goes there?!"
"Motherf—! You said you'd stall them—why the hell are you the one running?!"
"There's more in the water!"
The Broken Gold Sect disciples weren't dumb—they hid well.
After giving instructions, the team moved out.
Just like that, all those Broken Gold Sect disciples hiding with ill intent throughout the mountain were pointed out by Mo Hua, one after another.
Mo Hua walked at the front, scanning the mountains and forests around him with his transformed seventeen-mark spiritual sense, bolstered by some minor calculations.
"We'll split into groups of twenty. Wear armor that counters metal and carry metal-countering spirit tools. Go straight in and sweep the area!"
After a moment of sensing, Mo Hua raised a hand and pointed.
"Trash."
Broken Gold Sect might've been filthy in conduct, but they had no shortage of creative underhanded tactics.
"Alright..."
In a field of ethereal white, rocks, trees, birds, serpents—all their physical forms peeled away, revealing spiritual or demonic energies beneath.
The disciples lit up with excitement.
"Idiots."
"Suppress them with spells..."
As Mo Hua walked, he pointed them out one by one.
With greater numbers and armor tailored to counter theirs, the fights were practically one-sided.
And under Mo Hua's spiritual detection—whether hiding with stealth artifacts, using the terrain for cover, or concealing their auras with foliage—none of the Broken Gold Sect disciples could escape.
Their tricks? Worthless before Mo Hua.
Just like that, amidst raucous noise and mockery, the Broken Gold Sect disciples were taken down one after another.
Mo Hua unrolled a map on the table.
"Damn it, how are they finding us?!"
"Five of them squatting in that bush over there."
"Five more behind that big rock."
"A few underground, using Earth Escape Technique..."
"And seven sitting in the trees over there."
They'd been harassed again and again in Demon Refining Mountain—wounded, humiliated, wasting huge chunks of time, and barely earning any merit. They were seething with pent-up anger.
"Any Broken Gold Sect disciple caught with malicious intent—beat them, strip their robes, paint turtles on them, and hang them from the trees!"
After regrouping, the "map sweep" officially began.
The Broken Gold Sect was truly shameless—if they couldn't win, they ran, and if they escaped, they came back later to harass again. It was maddening.
"You damn Great Void brats!"
True to his word, Mo Hua stripped their robes, painted turtles on them, and hung them from the trees for all to see—humiliating them thoroughly.
That was the cost of being scum.
After cleaning out one batch, Mo Hua waved his hand.
"Next..."
The twenty-plus disciples continued forward.
Mo Hua scouted and pointed them out. Cheng Mo's squad captured the Broken Gold Sect disciples and gave them the "hanging turtle" treatment.
Under Mo Hua's lead, they followed their planned route, swept through the mountain, and punished every Broken Gold disciple they encountered.
By the time dusk approached, the group finally left Demon Refining Mountain.
Mo Hua, thinking ahead, also led them to hunt a few spirit beasts, stripped the materials, and sold them at the mountain gate to earn some merit points for the group.
The beasts were few and the group was large, so each person only received a little over a hundred points—just enough to cover the entry ticket cost.
They didn't make a profit, but at least they didn't take a loss!
That was Mo Hua's bottom line.
With their anger vented, everyone returned to the sect cheerfully to drink.
After night fell, inside Broken Gold Sect—
A disciple came back and reported the Demon Refining Mountain incident to a tall, skinny senior brother.
That senior had a visible injury on his shoulder—a mark left by an axe.
His movements were sluggish, likely due to lingering poison.
He was currently focused on reading a bestiary of spirit beasts.
"Senior Brother Jin, something bad happened—"
The disciple rushed in.
The senior brother frowned, clearly displeased. "What is it?"
"We..." The disciple caught his breath, lowered his voice, and said, "We were ambushed by Great Void Sect..."
The Broken Gold senior frowned. "And?"
"They had more people than us... and they fought dirty. I don't know what kind of trick they used, but they dragged out every last one of our disciples who were hiding in the mountain..."
The disciple repeated himself, "They had more people, and they were underhanded. We couldn't match them, got beat up, and then—"
He paused.
The senior frowned. "And then what?"
The disciple peeked at him cautiously and muttered, "Then... we ended up like you, Senior Brother..."
The senior froze. "What do you mean, 'like me'?"
"Stripped... turtle drawings... hung on trees..."
Each word stabbed him in the heart like a blade.
His face flushed with rage—he slammed the table into splinters and trembled with fury.
Utter humiliation!
This was the most degrading moment of his life!
And the worst part?
The ones who humiliated him were just a bunch of mid-stage Foundation Establishment juniors, far beneath him in both rank and cultivation.
Every time he thought about it, he ground his teeth in fury.
The disciple trembled in fear on the side.
After a long time, this Broken Gold Sect senior—who'd had his sword technique broken, robes stripped, body hung on a branch, and a turtle doodled on him by Mo Hua's crew—finally forced down his rage and, face like frost, said coldly:
"Who led the charge on the Great Void side?"
The disciple replied, "Not sure. But the one at the front was a tall guy with a big axe."
A big axe!
Of course!
A cold light flashed in the senior's eyes.
"Senior Brother Jin, what should we do next?" the disciple asked carefully.
Senior Brother Jin thought for a moment, then sneered:
"If they want a fight—we'll give them one!"
The disciple's eyes lit up. "Senior Brother, are you going to take action?"
Senior Brother Jin's face darkened.
"Me? Personally?"
He had already stepped in once—and that's exactly why he ended up in such a humiliating state.
The Broken Gold Sect senior had a narrow heart and a frosty gaze. He looked at the junior disciple before him, clearly scheming something in his mind.
After a moment, he said:
"We can't. Not yet. I and the other senior brothers of Broken Gold Sect cannot act for now."
"Last time, it was only because those little brats snatched spirit beasts from us that I made a move."
"But now it's a conflict between disciples of the same generation. If we senior brothers intervene again, it'll just look like bullying the weak."
"Even if there's a valid reason, once word gets out, it'll be used against us."
"We of Broken Gold Sect stand tall and act righteously, unafraid of slander, but we can't give others a handle to grab onto."
"So this matter still needs to be handled by your generation. This battle—you all have to fight it yourselves."
"But…" The disciple looked uneasy. "I'm afraid… we might not be a match for the Great Void Sect…"
The senior's face turned cold. "You're a Broken Gold Sect disciple. Where's your backbone? Why are you praising the enemy and killing your own morale?"
He sneered. "Though our sect is only ranked among the 'Twelfth-Streams,' that's because of bias in the previous ranking evaluation—it underestimated us."
"Today, Broken Gold Sect is rising strong. We're not what we used to be."
"That Great Void Sect, on the other hand, gets weaker with every generation. It's already become the bottom of the Eight Great Sects—only the name remains."
"Senior Brother speaks the truth!"
The disciple quickly echoed in agreement, but still looked uncertain. "But… Senior Brother, you don't know this—they all have armor that counters metal…"
"Our Broken Gold Sect disciples mainly have Metal Spirit Roots and use metal-based techniques."
"But when those spells hit that anti-metal armor, the power's greatly reduced."
"Body cultivators are a bit better off, but still don't gain the upper hand…"
"In a direct fight, we're not afraid of Great Void, but they're sneaky and relying on those spirit tools and armor—we'll be at a disadvantage…"
The senior brother frowned.
He already knew about this—and found it very suspicious.
Normally, armor tailored to counter a single element—like anti-metal armor—was difficult to mass-produce. If you did mass-produce it, you'd definitely lose money.
Having one or two? Understandable.
But every single person wearing the same model of armor, all inscribed with anti-metal formations? That was fishy.
It meant someone—or some faction—was deliberately targeting Broken Gold Sect, sparing no expense to develop and supply custom spirit gear to counter their techniques.
The senior brother's expression darkened. After a moment, he said:
"I have my own plans. Go rally the disciples. Tomorrow, we'll show the Great Void Sect what we're made of."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
The disciple accepted the order and left.
The senior stood up from the disciples' quarters and walked down the glittering golden steps, heading toward another area of the sect—where a beautifully decorated, luxurious cave-dwelling stood.
It wasn't the residence of an elder—but of a disciple.
A beautiful female disciple opened the door and welcomed him in, leading him all the way to the sitting room.
Inside sat a young nobleman in elegant robes, handsome in appearance, leisurely sipping tea.
The woman leaned in and whispered something. The nobleman nodded and hooked her chin flirtatiously, murmuring something suggestive.
The female disciple walked away bashfully.
The senior brother kept his gaze straight, not daring to look directly, but his eyes still snuck a few glances at her graceful figure as she left, heart filled with envy.
This wasn't an elder's quarters—it was a disciple's personal cave residence.
Private housing. Female attendants.
All of it blatantly against sect rules.
Not just here—across most sects in all of Qianxue Prefecture, this kind of setup would violate sect regulations.
But rules only applied to ordinary people.
Some people were simply born above rules, basking in wealth and privilege most cultivators would never even sniff in a lifetime.
The senior brother turned his gaze to the nobleman in the center.
Jin Yicai.
A direct descendant of the Jin Clan, the ruling family of Broken Gold Sect.
His father's side had held top positions in the sect for generations. His mother's side had ties to the Central Dao Court's Seven Halls—an influential name in all of Dao Prefecture.
This exquisite cave was personally requested by his mother, so her one precious son could live in style.
Her words were: "Jin Yicai was born noble and extraordinary—how could he possibly live among common disciples?"
And that beautiful girl from earlier? Not a servant.
She was a noble-born disciple with a top-grade spirit root.
In public, she was the very image of an untouchable goddess—talented and graceful, admired by all.
But here in this cave?
She was just a warm-bodied plaything.
Jin Yicai had it all—bloodline, talent, and even his own private cave.
Countless daughters of mid-tier noble families within the sect were eager to cling to his robes, desperate to marry into the Jin family.
He didn't even need to lift a finger—just leave the cave door cracked open, and each night, beautiful women of all kinds would crawl into his bed, offering themselves willingly.
Even if they were used and discarded, they'd do it with a smile.
His female attendants rotated every few days.
These things were a flagrant violation of sect rules.
The higher-ups in Broken Gold Sect knew all about it—but most simply turned a blind eye.
The senior brother felt a surge of jealousy and resentment.
Before Jin Yicai promoted him, before he was allowed into this cave—he'd known nothing of this.
It was only after witnessing it firsthand that he realized:
Those "immortal maidens" praised and admired by the sect, who seemed so pure and proper on the surface, could be so shameless behind closed doors.
Those high-sounding sect rules?
A joke for people like them.
Fame and fortune had completely rotted their hearts.
What the senior brother hated wasn't the greed or decadence itself.
What he hated… was that none of it belonged to him.
But now it was different. He'd attached himself to Jin Yicai.
As long as he followed Jin Yicai step by step, even if he didn't come from a great family—he could rise above, carve out his name, and walk a path paved in gold.
He could already smell the fragrance of glory.
It was seductive—just like the perfumed scent of that beautiful female disciple who had just left—intoxicating.
Just then, a voice came from inside the room—calm and tinged with arrogance.
"Jin Gui, what is it?"
The Broken Gold Sect senior, addressed as Jin Gui, immediately gathered his thoughts and respectfully replied:
"Great Void Sect is still stirring up trouble."
The robed and regal Jin Yicai, dressed in robes woven with golden threads and bearing a lazy expression, immediately frowned upon hearing this.
Jin Gui continued, "They're all equipped with anti-metal spirit tools—ordinary disciples likely won't stand a chance."
Jin Yicai sneered, "Anti-metal tools? How clever they think they are…"
He gave a slight nod. "Spread my word. Have the direct-line Jin clan disciples who've trained in the Broken Gold Sword Technique to proficiency, and whose swords have been forged—send them to have some fun with the Great Void Sect…"
After speaking, he let out a cold snort. "Do they really think my Broken Gold Sect is some ragtag rabble?"
Jin Gui responded, "Yes, young master."
Jin Yicai paused for a moment, then lifted his eyes slightly. "What about the spirit beasts?"
Jin Gui lowered his head a bit and reported, "According to your instructions, we've already captured seventeen types from the list in the bestiary. The remaining ones are rare and still being searched for…"
Jin Yicai's expression darkened in dissatisfaction.
Sensing his mood, Jin Gui's heart sank, and he quickly added:
"The Demon-Taming Mountain is vast and rugged, with deep forests and countless beasts. It's not easy to find them. Moreover, the Great Void Sect disciples have been a constant hindrance lately, limiting our movement…"
"Once we deal with them, I swear we'll gather the rest within half a month!"
Only then did Jin Yicai nod. "Don't disappoint me."
Jin Gui swore immediately, "Rest assured, young master!"
The room fell quiet.
Jin Yicai calmly sipped his tea.
Jin Gui stood there respectfully, silent and still.
The room was lavishly decorated, scented with fragrant incense drifting from a censer.
A scene of luxury and leisure.
But as Jin Yicai drank his tea, a strange sense of irritation stirred within him.
If that incident hadn't occurred, he wouldn't be under house arrest by his father, confined to this cave-dwelling, not even his mother's pleas able to sway the decision.
Even crucial matters like this one had to be handled by others in his stead.
His father had given him a brutal scolding over it.
From childhood to now, he had never been reprimanded like that.
Fury surged within him. With a sharp crack, he crushed the teacup in his hand.
Jin Gui jumped in fright.
Not long after, the beautiful female disciple from before entered gracefully, wiped the spilled tea, replaced the cup, and refilled it with a new brew. Her eyes sparkled with charm, and her elegant movements were deliberately seductive as she retreated.
Jin Gui kept his head lowered, but couldn't help stealing a few more glances out of the corner of his eye.
Women like her—sect elites of the highest quality—were never within his reach.
His subtle expression didn't escape Jin Yicai's notice.
Jin Yicai smirked faintly and said lightly:
"You remember everything I told you?"
Jin Gui immediately replied, "Yes, I do!"
"Good." Jin Yicai gently skimmed the surface of the tea with the lid. "This matter is critical. Failure is not an option. If you manage to carry out my instructions well…"
He sipped again and said:
"I'll bring you aboard."
Jin Gui's entire body jolted. Overwhelmed with joy, he ignored all decorum and dropped to his knees, kowtowing on the spot.
"Thank you, Young Master!"
"Thank you for your favor!"
"From this day on, I will brave fire and water for Young Master—I shall follow your lead without question!"
Jin Gui, elated beyond measure, pledged his loyalty with all the solemnity of an oath.
Jin Yicai nodded in approval, glancing at Jin Gui kneeling before him—but deep inside, he thought with faint disdain:
"The way he looks right now… exactly like a dog."
The next day, Mo Hua led his team back into the Demon-Taming Mountain to continue sweeping the area.
But this time—something was off.
The Broken Gold Sect disciples had gotten stronger.
Though still clad in the same golden robes, their expressions were more arrogant, their spiritual roots clearly of higher grade, their cultivation deeper, their sword auras sharper—and the golden spirit swords they wielded were clearly superior.
Moreover, they were all cultivating high-level sword arts.
Once the two sides clashed, the pressure on the Great Void Sect spiked sharply.
Mo Hua had no choice—he had to join the fight himself.
Fortunately, though these Broken Gold Sect disciples were strong, they were still at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. With Mo Hua's current strength—his formidable divine sense, near-instant fireball spells, and various insidious control techniques—he could still shine brightly in such group battles.
Not to mention, he had array formations too.
So while the battle was tougher this time, Mo Hua and his group still emerged victorious—though with more injuries than before.
The Broken Gold Sect lost again, but this time, their losses weren't as embarrassing.
At the very least, not many of them ended up stripped, painted with turtle drawings, and hung from trees.
Both sides exchanged a few harsh words and withdrew.
Back at the sect, the Great Void disciples began treating their wounds.
Mo Hua examined the injuries and realized a troubling issue:
The anti-metal armor didn't seem very effective anymore.
The armor was inscribed with formations designed to counter gold-element spells, boasting high resistance to metal-based spiritual power.
But the new Broken Gold disciples seemed to be core disciples.
They were cultivating the true, refined Broken Gold Sword Technique.
When powered by this sword art, even though the sword energy still counted as gold-element, its essence was sword qi.
The anti-metal armor only countered "metal"—its defense against sword qi was negligible.
Which explained why more of the Great Void disciples were injured this time.
But then… how do you defend against sword qi?
What even was sword qi? How was it different from ordinary spiritual power? Why was it stronger than normal spells?
There were eight days left until the next rest period.
Mo Hua decided to use the time to figure it out.
If not, the next time they fought, even more of his fellow disciples would be hurt—and fighting Broken Gold Sect would no longer be worth the cost.
So he specifically went to ask Elder Yi, who taught them Dao techniques.
Afterward, he also sought out a few sword cultivators like Situ Jian to ask more questions—and only then did he start to understand.
The power of a sword cultivator lay, most simply, in their sword qi.
And the strength of sword qi relied partly on the sword itself.
Spirit swords…
Mo Hua suddenly thought of the Broken Gold disciples' luxurious golden spirit swords—and a spark flashed in his eyes.
"The Broken Gold Sect's spirit swords…"
(End of Chapter)