Chapter 242 The Ruthless Senior Brother of the Path ...

Heng Mo neither said yes nor no, maintaining that obviously feigned innocent expression. "If you insist on thinking that way, then there's nothing I can do."

Since he was pretending to be stupid, the Second Elder could only glare at him and couldn't really do anything about it.

It's just that his junior brother's only child didn't do anything bad. The kid isn't familiar with him, so he's a little wary. It's perfectly normal.

He really would beat up Heng Mo for something like this? If that happens, when his junior brother comes out of seclusion, he'll probably get the third brother to challenge him to eight fights a day.

Rather than resorting to physical force, the Second Elder preferred to use his brain. The two cultivators squatted side by side, cracking sunflower seeds and chatting like old men in a village.

After chatting and eating two pounds of sunflower seeds and three pounds of potato chips, the Second Elder still couldn't get anything out of his junior nephew. In the end, he could only pinch Heng Mo's face hard.

"Don't act impulsively in times of trouble. Protecting yourself is the most important thing. We old guys can handle Xuan Ling. There's no need for a little kid like you to risk your life. Your master is almost five hundred years old and only took you in as his only heir. You can't get hurt, or he'll be very sad..."

The Second Elder seemed to have given up on further investigation. After giving some careful instructions and confirming that Heng Mo would not act rashly without a plan, he prepared to turn and leave.

He had only taken a few steps when he suddenly felt something was amiss. He turned to look at Heng Mo and asked, "Did you alter the formation in your master's courtyard as well?"

Although the formation was not activated, its aura was clearly off. The Second Elder hadn't come much, but he remembered very clearly that there was absolutely no lightning power in this formation originally.

Heng Mo paused for a while before seemingly remembering what he was talking about, and then slowly said, "Oh, this? It hasn't been changed, just a few things have been added."

Meeting the Second Elder's suspicious gaze, Heng Mo slowly explained, "I went out to train before, and I picked up a lightning-struck vine by the roadside and casually stuck it into the formation."

His tone was as if he had casually picked up a cabbage. The Second Elder stared at him for a long time, but in the end, he just wiped his face and said nothing.

It's really no wonder that a Nascent Soul stage ancestor who has lived for nearly seven hundred years is acting like a naive young boy who has never seen the world. With Heng Mo's actions, even a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator would be startled into jumping like a rabbit.

He knew that Heng Mo had gone out for his first training trip a few days ago, but what kind of disciple would obtain so many rare and precious treasures on their first training trip, before even leaving the house?!

Whether it's the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus, the Hundred Water Gold, or the Lightning Strike Vine, they are all things that can only be encountered by chance. How could Heng Mo just pick them up so easily when he went out?!

Lin You, who was hiding to the side, swung her legs and ate sunflower seeds. She casually commented that the Second Elder seemed to have a much richer expression and was much more approachable than when she last met him.

Heng Mo's cultivation level was low, so he dared not send her a telepathic message for fear of being discovered. He could only secretly send a private message to express his agreement, and also complained that the Second Elder was harder to deal with than the Third Elder, and that she was more cunning than a lotus root.

The lightning-struck vine is not a vine scorched by lightning. Legend has it that this thing was born in the place where the divine lightning of the nine heavens struck when a cultivator ascended to immortality, absorbing the residual power of the lightning tribulation and the energy of the earth veins.

Although Heng Mo only has a small section of lightning-struck vine, once placed in the protective formation, it will naturally carry the power of a heavenly tribulation when the formation is activated.

The most formidable aspect of the Lightning Vine is that once the formation is activated, the power of lightning is instantly unleashed. Unless the formation is deactivated again using a formation plate, even a Nascent Soul cultivator like Xuan Ling would be struck by lightning if he tried to break the formation.

The thunderclouds of heavenly tribulation are not ordinary attacks; their power is automatically adjusted according to the cultivator's cultivation level. Even those who have reached the Tribulation Transcending stage still face the Ascension Tribulation.

If Xuan Ling insists on breaking the formation, the experience will be no less than undergoing a tribulation; he will likely suffer greatly, if not die.

The Second Elder looked at Heng Mo, who was still obedient and innocent, and chuckled: "I will tell your master the truth when he comes out of seclusion."

Heng Mo immediately stopped laughing. He was always obedient and well-behaved in front of his master, the kind of person his elders liked the most.

If the Second Elder really exposes him, although his master won't distance himself from him because of this, he will definitely be worried. If a mere Qi Refining cultivator dares to cause trouble for a Nascent Soul cultivator, then his master will be on tenterhooks every time he goes out in the future!

"Ahem, Second Master Uncle, please wait a moment. I have some questions about cultivation to ask you. Please stay a while longer, have a seat and some tea."

The cultivation world is indeed very convenient in some ways. For example, with a storage bag, Heng Mo quickly prepared comfortable tables and chairs, exquisite and delicious snacks, and tea brewed from the tea leaves that his sect leader had given to his master outside the originally empty seclusion room.

The Second Elder flicked off the non-existent dust from his sleeves, sat down leisurely, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and nodded in satisfaction.

Although his tea-brewing skills were less than satisfactory, the Second Elder felt that the tea was brewed by his junior apprentice, who had been beating around the bush with him for so long and had ultimately pretended to be stupid.

The snacks were all Heng Mo's specialty. Usually, apart from the Seventh Elder, only the Third Elder, who was shameless enough to try them all, would be fed randomly. The Second Elder, who was in seclusion, ate the least.

Relying on the fact that cultivators wouldn't overeat, the Second Elder tasted all the snacks and drank a whole pot of tea before looking at Heng Mo with satisfaction:

"Speak, what do you want to ask? Since your master will be in seclusion for a long time, if there is anything you don't understand or encounter any trouble during this time, feel free to ask your senior uncle."

The Second Elder was finding Heng Mo increasingly pleasing to the eye. Although he was a bit cunning, he had definitely put a lot of thought into his master, otherwise he wouldn't have cared about Xiao Qi's attitude.

How could such a clever, quick-witted, resourceful, and filial child not be my own apprentice?

The Second Elder took a sip of tea with a hint of regret, and then heard Heng Mo's humble and gentle voice: "Second Senior Uncle, have you ever heard of the Barrier-Breaking Pill? I was lucky enough to get a few. It's fine for Third Senior Uncle, but I don't know how to make sure the other senior uncles take them without any mistakes."

"Pfft, cough cough cough!!" The Second Elder, a dignified Nascent Soul stage cultivator, was choked by a cup of tea and was flustered. It took him a while to catch his breath.

Seeing Heng Mo's still innocent eyes, the Second Elder pointed at him and said, "You can talk nonsense about anything!"

The Breakthrough Pill, a legendary top-grade pill that can break through all bottlenecks below the Tribulation Transcending stage, is something that even a junior like Heng Mo, let alone Xuan Ling, could not obtain.

He even got a few. That brat just wanted to get revenge on him, so he deliberately said those things while he was drinking tea.

The Second Elder looked at Heng Mo and had a feeling that Heng Mo had recorded his disheveled appearance with the recording stone, just to keep him in check and prevent him from ruining Heng Mo's image as a good boy in front of his master.

The Second Elder was not disgusted by his little scheme; in fact, he felt a sense of pride that someone had been chosen to carry on the legacy. However, he did not want others to see his disheveled state and simply regarded it as a consensus reached with him.

Heng Mo was unaware that the clever man had already imagined eight hundred scenarios. Seeing that the Second Elder did not believe him, he simply replaced the pill with a Breakthrough Pill and gave it to him.

He once inquired with the Third Elder during a casual chat that among his master's six senior brothers, the second, third, and fourth senior uncles had all reached the bottleneck of their breakthrough.

The eldest master uncle had to take on the responsibility of the sect after becoming the sect leader, which delayed his cultivation. The fifth and sixth master uncles were younger, and now all three of them are in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

Heng Mo doesn't earn many points from completing tasks, but he earns quite a few points by submitting items, which is more than enough to exchange for three Breakthrough Pills.

The Second Elder held the dark, round dumpling in his hand, smelling its slightly sweet aroma, and said with a teasing expression, "Isn't this the kind of candy you gave your master, the kind called chocolate? He treasured it like it was something, and only gave me one."

The Golden Finger Mall's Breakthrough Pills offer a choice of taste and appearance. Hengmo had previously set the appearance and taste of the chocolate beans, and didn't plan to change it this time.

Seeing his second senior uncle casually toss the Breakthrough Pill into his mouth like a chocolate bean and chew it, Heng Mo didn't remind him again. Anyway, breaking through from the Nascent Soul stage to the Divine Transformation stage didn't require a tribulation of lightning, and at most he would just go into seclusion for a while.

Their master doted on the children in every way possible, because he and Shen Ting often came to listen to lectures and cultivate, so there was naturally a cultivation room for the two of them in this courtyard.

There's a ready-made spot, and it's protected by an array. My second senior uncle's breakthrough won't be affected. So what if he ate it? In the cultivation world, people like to talk about opportunities. Isn't this a kind of fate?

The Second Elder chewed on the familiar taste and couldn't help but nod. He was just about to ask Heng Mo if there were any more of these candies so he could offer a jar to his senior master when he suddenly felt a clarity in his mind and the bottleneck in his consciousness began to loosen.

He only had time to glance at Heng Mo in shock before he immediately sat cross-legged. Even when Heng Mo lifted him up and carried him to his own cultivation chamber, he didn't move an inch.

Before focusing on his cultivation breakthrough, two thoughts flashed through the Second Elder's mind:

One is that Heng Mo's seemingly nonsensical claim that he has several Breakthrough Pills is actually true!

Another thing is, which alchemist was so stupid as to make the Breakthrough Pill taste like candy?

Taking advantage of the fact that the Second Elder had just entered meditation and his spiritual energy had not yet been circulated, Heng Mo quickly stuffed the person into his own cultivation chamber, and then continued to squat at the door eating melon seeds and acting as a protector.

Meanwhile, the Third Elder was furious upon receiving news that Xuan Ling wanted to seize the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus. If the Sect Leader hadn't known his temper and made special efforts to appease and assure him, he might have already stormed Xuan Ling's mountain.

Even with the guarantee, the Third Elder was still fuming on the mountaintop, jumping up and down and cursing Xuan Ling for a long time. After thinking it over, he was still not at ease, so he went to find Heng Mo to discuss the matter of the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus with him.

Although having Xiao Qi take the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus before her cultivation is fully consolidated will slightly affect the medicine's efficacy, it's still better than having it all taken away by Xuan Ling.

"Xiao Mo, don't wait for the right time to bathe and burn incense. Right now, just feed your master the medicine, then set up a secluded meditation room, stuff him inside, and everything will be solved!"

The Third Elder put his arm around Heng Mo's shoulder, revealing a rare serious expression: "If Xuan Ling comes to cause you trouble because of this, just say that the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus was stolen by your Third Uncle and then forced into your master's mouth."

-----------------------

Author's Note: [Owl emoji]