"Husband!!!" After reading the secret letter, the four wives looked stricken, tears spilling from their eyes.
They had already considered the possibility that life and death had parted them. In these times, it was normal for someone to leave home and not return for several years; the roads were long, after all, and travel was difficult. But there was another possible reason for never coming home: death.
Still, when his death was truly confirmed, they could not hold back their grief.
The face of that handsome, confident man also surfaced unbidden in Mo Caihuan's mind. He had always looked as though victory was firmly in his grasp. Outwardly, he seemed a compassionate healer, but beneath that facade, he was a ruthless genius.
She was quite grateful to this father she had acquired by chance. Without the foundations he had laid, her life after transmigrating would not have been so comfortable. Though she could not cultivate, she had food and drink aplenty and could study martial arts and medicine. Without the first generation's hard work to build a fortune, how could the second generation enjoy it?
She shed a few tears as well, then said, "I'll go get Eldest Sister and Second Sister."
The moment her eldest sister heard that their father had died, her legs gave way, and she collapsed against her younger sister.
"Eldest Sister, please try to bear your grief," Mo Caihuan comforted her. "You still have us."
Her eldest sister truly was an orphan now. Both her birth parents were dead, and the family consisted entirely of her stepmothers and their daughters.
Her second sister was deeply grieved by the news too. Her parents had been Mo Juren's trusted followers, risking their lives for the Whale-Jiao Society until they finally gave them up. Mo Juren had adopted their orphaned daughter and treated her exactly like his own children. Mo Fengwu was endlessly grateful to him, and she too covered her face and wept.
The women gathered in one room and cried, like pear blossoms drenched in rain.
The fourth wife sent servants to buy mourning clothes, white cloth, candles, and paper ingots, and to set up a mourning hall to honor her late husband.
"How should we deal with the murderer?" the second wife asked.
"According to our husband, Han Li risked coming to the Mo Residence because he wanted the Warm Sun Jade. Once we've learned the truth about our husband's death, we'll offer his head to our husband's spirit," the fourth wife said through gritted teeth.
Mo Caihuan said nothing. Han Li was a cultivator, and this roomful of women really could not subdue him. Of course, it would be nice if they could extort a few things from him, but unfortunately, Han Li had no materials for body tempering on him.
Though he was a cultivator, he was only at the Qi Refining Stage and had little to his name.
The next day, when Han Li entered the small building, he saw plain white curtains and mourning drapes. All the women in the room had changed into mourning clothes, and he immediately realized that Mo Juren's death had been exposed.
He smiled bitterly to himself. He had checked the letter several times, yet he had still failed to guard against that old fox, Mo Juren. The man must have written with an invisible medicinal solution to deceive him.
Now that the truth was out, he stopped pretending to be a dutiful disciple and looked haughtily at his master's wives.
Seeing his attitude, the fourth wife knew that he had indeed been aware of the truth. "How dare you!" she snapped. "You treacherous disciple, betraying your master and defiling your lineage! You dare act so arrogantly in your master's mourning hall? You deserve to die!"
"Madam, if you have something to say, say it. I don't want to hear nonsense, and I don't want to waste words either," Han Li said expressionlessly. Even if they attacked, he had nothing to fear.
Besides, he had killed in self-defense and had every right to stand his ground. No one would consider that a betrayal of his master and lineage.
His brazen arrogance infuriated them all.
The second wife remained relatively calm. "Tell me, did you kill your master?"
"You could say I did it, or you could say he killed himself," Han Li answered truthfully.
The second wife grew angry too. "If you killed him, you killed him! What nonsense are you spouting?"
"How do you know I was the one who caused his death? Did you see it with your own eyes?" Han Li knew that Mo Juren must have written the letter while he was still alive, so naturally, he could not have predicted how he would die.
"Mothers, Eldest Sister, Second Sister, let me question him," Mo Caihuan said.
"Go ahead," the fourth wife said. "Make him tell us every detail of our husband's death, so he can't claim that the Mo Residence falsely accused him."
"Falsely accused me? What grand words. Do you really think I'm afraid of the Mo Residence or your Whale-Jiao Society? If Master Mo hadn't been my master for several years and taught me a good deal of medicine, and if bullying women wouldn't damage my reputation... You lot? With one hand, I could slaughter my way through the Mo Residence until not even its chickens and dogs knew peace." Han Li had a temper too.
Mo Caihuan knew what gave him his confidence. "My father left the Mo Family eight years ago, and many things have changed. You might be able to kill us, but cultivators would hunt you down afterward."
"Cultivators? You know about cultivators too?" Surprise showed plainly on Han Li's dark face.
"Jia Yuan City is a major crossroads. Cultivators fly overhead from time to time, and sometimes even fight outside the city. Is it so strange that we know about them?" Mo Caihuan said. "Incidentally, I'm now a nominal disciple of a cultivation sect. If you kill me, you'll be making an enemy of that sect."
Han Li drew a deep breath, regretting his arrogance. His heart lurched. This third young lady really is the most mysterious person in the Mo Residence. He had been in Jia Yuan City for half a month and gathered plenty of information, most of it about the third young lady's countless exploits. This girl, who was about the same age as his younger sister, was actually a disciple of a cultivation sect?
"You're a cultivator too?"
"I have no spiritual root. I'm only a nominal disciple of a cultivation sect, but my master is a cultivator. All of this happened after my father left, so he didn't know either," Mo Caihuan said. "Now, can you answer our questions? As long as you can prove that my father killed himself, you can take the Warm Sun Jade."
Han Li no longer dared act arrogantly. He could only say, "Ask away."
"How did you become my father's disciple?"
Hearing a question he could answer, Han Li recounted everything faithfully. "I was ten at the time and took part in the Seven Mysteries Sect's entrance selection. Unfortunately, I didn't pass and could only become an outer disciple. As it happened, Master Mo was staying temporarily at the Seven Mysteries Sect after helping its sect master. He needed assistants, so he took me as his disciple."
"What happened afterward?"
"He taught me an extremely difficult cultivation method, which was actually a method for immortal cultivation. When I succeeded in practicing it, Master Mo became very excited and kept urging me to cultivate. Only later did I learn that he wanted to seize my body."
"Why did my father want to seize your body?"
"I don't know much either. I can only tell you what I know. Master Mo encountered a dying cultivator and, overcome by greed, tried to kill him and steal his treasures. Instead, the cultivator struck back, causing his body to age prematurely. He was only in his thirties but looked sixty or seventy. His body was no longer usable, and he wanted to cultivate, so he needed to seize a body with a spiritual root. That cultivator, Yu Zitong, taught him all of this."
"Who was Yu Zitong?"
"The cultivator Master Mo killed. Though his body died, his Nascent Soul took refuge inside Master Mo's body. Yu Zitong was the one who helped him devise the Possession plan."
Their expressions changed drastically at this revelation. Possession was far too remote from the lives of mortals.
"And then you killed my father?" Mo Caihuan continued.
"That's right, but you would have fought back in that situation too. Besides, Yu Zitong taught him how to Possess a body without telling Master Mo the rules. During Possession, the strength of the Nascent Souls is pitted against each other. If your Nascent Soul isn't strong enough, you fail. Yu Zitong deliberately withheld that information, hoping Master Mo and I would both be badly wounded, so he could reap the fisherman's reward and obtain a body again."
"How despicable," her second sister, Mo Fengwu, could not help saying.
The others thought the same. Cultivators truly were despicable.
"Mothers, it seems Father was indeed in the wrong first," Mo Caihuan said.
The four mothers did not know what to say. Finally, the second wife said, "That cultivator was simply too cunning. Our husband fell for his trick."
Han Li thought, If Master Mo hadn't tried to murder him for his treasures, he wouldn't have aged prematurely in the first place. They won't mention a single fault of their husband's.
Mo Caihuan stepped forward and cupped her fist. "Greetings, Senior Brother."
Han Li hurriedly stepped aside, unwilling to form any connection with the Mo Family. "Give me the jade so I can rid myself of the Yin Poison in my body, and I'll be grateful."
"I'll go get it," Mo Caihuan said.
Han Li watched her graceful figure leave. When she returned, she held a blue drawstring pouch.
"Here."
Han Li took the faintly fragrant pouch, his thoughts briefly running wild like an unbridled horse and a restless monkey. But then he noticed that its weight was wrong. He opened it and found several glowing stones inside, along with the jade.