Mo Hu watch as the first person, a man that looked to be 16 years of age, appeared to be running from the other four members of the group. The four that were pursuing the first were three boys and a girl, and by Mo Hu's calculations, they would intercept him very quickly. Six second later, the group had cornered the boy and were holding a conversation with him.
'I wonder how many people are on this island, I barely explored the area around me and haven't found anyone but I shouldn't be surprised that others live here too,' Mo Hu thought to himself as he stealthily made his way closer to where the group of people currently where.
"Young master Song," the boy being chased called out, "why have you followed me to here?"
The leader of the group was a boy also about sixteen years of age, wearing expensive robes and carrying a fan a sea, "Feng Kai, I thought we had an agreement before we entered the protection array. You would lead us to the cave of the senior who stays on this island, everyone would do their best to become his disciple and the one chosen would help the rest."
Feng Kai, doing his best to not erupt at Young master Song's words retorted, "The elders couldn't find the senior's location, what makes you think that I have?"
"Well, everyone is aware of your selfish nature, which was made evident when you rushed off without us when we first entered the island, isn't that correct everybody?" Young master Song replied.
The other three smiled and nodded their heads voicing their agreement of Song's accusations.
"That's because the protection array of this island is very strong and it takes five elders using the sect's artifacts to create an opportunity every five years, and yet you are willing to waste this precious time on something in which you have no evidence of wasting my time and yours!" Feng Kai explained, the frustration visible on his face.
After Feng Kai pointed out the futility of their request, the young master's frustration boiled over and he and others resorted to violence, harming Feng Kai and threatening to make his future days in sect harder upon their return.
"Well it appears either he doesn't know more or isn't afraid of death, but we can't kill him. He is right about one thing, it's already been four hours and only twenty hours are left before we have to return. Let's gather what we can, but we can keep an eye on him and maybe we still have a chance he is trying to tricks us." Young master Song explained to his followers and they agreed and quickly left. Mo Hu waited for an hour and then slowly made his way to the injured boy. Summoning a pill from his ring that should be to cure injuries, he placed it in Feng Kai's mouth.
'I'm sorry, but this is what I can do for now. Your fate is up to you now.' Mo Hu said internally to comfort the boy but mostly to comfort himself.
Mo Hu retreated back to his hiding spot and after an hour he watched as Feng Kai woke up and after keeping himself for injury, left in the same direction as the other group.
Mo Hu maintained his vigilance, waiting another hour after their departure before slowly making his way back to his cave. As he traveled, he reviewed the conversation that he had heard from the teenagers.
'Since when was a powerful protection array deployed on this island? And these people aren't from the island? What is an array? I think I can answer these questions myself so I won't bother the senior.' Mo Hu has too many questions in his mind.
Since his solitude had been disturbed, when he made it home he took extra time to camouflage the entrance and spent the rest of the door reading through scrolls and manuals trying to learn more about arrays. As he skimmed through all the documents he made an effort to sort everything by subject and relevance. As evening set in, he came across a manual for apprentice level array formations and decided to start there.
He began reading, 'As one of the four major professions of the cultivation world (array formations, artifact refining, alchemy, and talisman making), array formation masters are rare and admired by cultivators of all levels. To become an array formation apprentice, one must study runes as almost all formations are created using runes. Some examples of exceptions could be sword formations and natural formations…'
Mo Hu had a realization that all the strange characters that were at the cave door, cave walls, and the cultivation room spirit gathering array were runes. He tried to explain it in his own understanding, thinking to himself, 'Runes are used in one way or another in all four professions of this world. It sounds like to me that runes perform the dual functions of circuitry and computer programming, but what is affected is the world. If I learn the runes and arrange or "program" them I can create machines, computers, weapons, or more.'
Excitement filled his face, 'If there is one thing I'm good at, it's memorizing data!'
Mo Hu started making adjustments to his daily schedule to include gathering food and water, taking time to cultivate, and memorizing runes. When he thought back about the unannounced visitors, he decided he needed to practice martial and spiritual techniques to defend or hide himself or the ability to quickly escape. He felt relieved that he had time as he remembered that they would only return in five years. With that thought in mind, he picked up the manual and started memorizing runes.