Mo Shan was momentarily stunned.
"I also want to accompany Hua'er, see him marry and have children, watch our grandchildren grow up..." Liu Ruhua's eyes revealed longing. "But who can predict the future?"
Mo Shan comforted his wife, "You don't need to worry."
Liu Ruhua shook her head. "I'm not worried. I know you're worried about Hua'er encountering danger. But for cultivators, how can they avoid dangers throughout their lives?"
Mo Shan pondered for a moment and nodded involuntarily.
For cultivators, even if their lives were smooth, they would inevitably face setbacks and dangers a few times. Especially for them, wandering cultivators who struggled to survive.
Liu Ruhua continued, "As the saying goes, parents' love for their children leads them to plan far ahead. We're just Qi Refining cultivators; we can't keep him safe from danger. All we can do is teach him to face it."
Mo Shan fell silent, stroking his wife's long hair with a look of acceptance.
"You're right. Cultivation is long and we can't take care of him forever. We can only teach him to take care of himself."
The next evening, Mo Shan called Mo Hua into the courtyard and said, "How's your body technique training coming along?"
Mo Hua thought his father was going to reprimand him and hesitated before saying, "It's coming along decently."
Mo Shan nodded. "Let me test it."
Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "Alright!"
He also wanted to see if his father, a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, could decipher his Flowing Water Steps.
Mo Hua walked ten meters away, turned around, and fixed his gaze on Mo Shan, saying, "Dad, I'm ready."
"Good, be careful," Mo Shan replied.
As soon as Mo Shan finished speaking, his figure blurred and a residual image shot towards Mo Hua.
So fast!
Mo Hua was surprised. He released his spiritual awareness, activated his spiritual power, and drifted backward.
Mo Hua retreated halfway, unable to see his father's trace in his spiritual awareness. Suddenly, he felt a faint pressure behind him. His heart skipped a beat, and he lightly turned to float to the left.
Mo Shan, who appeared behind Mo Hua at some point, missed his grab and looked slightly surprised. He immediately moved his body, extending his right hand toward Mo Hua.
Mo Hua's expression became serious.
Mo Shan's speed was too fast, and with years of battling with demonic beasts, his experience was rich. His figure was sometimes real and sometimes illusory. In Mo Hua's spiritual awareness, he could hardly perceive Mo Shan's figure.
By the time he sensed it, Mo Shan was often already beside him.
Mo Shan's spiritual awareness wasn't much stronger than Mo Hua's. Mo Hua couldn't perceive him simply because Mo Shan moved too fast and his actions were decisive, deceiving Mo Hua's judgment.
Mo Hua couldn't help but sigh; his combat experience was far from sufficient.
The two sparred for a few more rounds. Mo Hua dodged awkwardly and was often at a disadvantage, but he managed to hold on.
With several rounds of pursuit and evasion, Mo Hua's perception of Mo Shan's figure finally became clearer and easier to identify.
Mo Hua's dodging gradually became more systematic.
Mo Shan would feint attacks from one direction while striking unexpectedly from another. Mo Hua also learned to balance between feints and actual movements, catching Mo Shan off guard.
The more they fought, the more composed Mo Hua's body technique became.
Just as Mo Hua's body technique was reaching a peak, Mo Shan suddenly grabbed him without leaving a trace and lifted him up by the collar.
Mo Hua was dumbfounded. "Dad, you can catch me like this!"
Mo Shan snorted. "You still need more practice with this body technique."
Despite saying so, Mo Shan was inwardly shaken.
Mo Hua's body technique far exceeded his expectations! During the chase just now, even cultivators at the same level as him might not have been able to dodge every move.
Not only did Mo Hua evade successfully, but he also appeared effortless. Apart from initial panic, he grew more composed as the battle progressed. His footwork was elegant, his movements strategic, on par with some seasoned demon hunters.
Moreover, this body technique was invisible and traceless. It was impossible to discern where the force came from, how it was leveraged, or how it was retracted using conventional martial techniques.
Using ordinary martial arts to analyze it was futile.
Mo Shan also hadn't seen through this body technique. He simply relied on years of life-and-death battles, as well as his familiarity with his son, to guess where Mo Hua would appear and made a casual move.
Otherwise, he might have had to go through dozens of rounds, waiting for Mo Hua's stamina to weaken and expose a flaw before he could catch him.
Mo Shan's heart surged with emotions.
Mo Hua is only at the fifth level of Qi Refining...
Seeing his father standing still with a calm expression, neither happy nor angry but seemingly absent-minded, Mo Hua asked, "Dad?"
Mo Shan snapped out of his thoughts, looked at Mo Hua, and after a moment said, "Your body technique is decent, but you still need more practice. Don't slack off!"
"Okay," Mo Hua nodded.
Though it was a kind of praise, he felt somewhat pleased.
"Dad, have you also learned body techniques?" Mo Hua asked again.
Mo Shan shook his head, "What I have isn't exactly a body technique. It's just something I grasped to avoid injuries in battles with demonic beasts, and I've picked up a few things from observing others, piecing them together."
"A purely practical body technique?" Mo Hua asked with reverence.
"You could say that."
Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "Could you teach me?"
Mo Shan hesitated, "Haven't you already learned a body technique? Don't mix things up; focus on mastering one."
"I just want to learn from it," Mo Hua replied.
After a brief thought, Mo Shan nodded, "Alright."
Mo Shan demonstrated several basic footwork movements to Mo Hua.
Some movements resembled the Flowing Water Steps but with slight differences. Some were simple-looking advances and retreats, while others were fragmented techniques from different body techniques. In the end, these were combined into a concise and sharp body technique.
It seemed like a hodgepodge, but Mo Hua didn't underestimate it at all.
For him right now, this was the most threatening set of techniques, and he couldn't figure out how to counter it.
Simple, efficient, without unnecessary movements, emphasizing adaptability and winning without a set plan.
It could be said to be full of flaws, yet if used well, it could also be said to have none.
If he could integrate these movements into the Flowing Water Steps, would it make the Flowing Water Steps even more powerful?
Mo Hua was invigorated, earnestly memorizing these techniques and planning to practice them more when he found the time.
Thinking of the body technique Mo Hua had just used, Mo Shan still found it unbelievable and asked, "Is this technique taught by Officer Zhang?"
"Uncle Zhang told me not to say," Mo Hua replied.
"Ah," Mo Shan nodded, thinking to himself, Isn't that the same as saying it...
"Dad, aren't you angry anymore?" Mo Hua asked quietly.
Mo Shan glared at him, "You know when I'm angry now?"
Mo Hua chuckled.
"Get up early tomorrow morning," Mo Shan said.
"Tomorrow morning?" Mo Hua was taken aback.
Mo Shan said nothing more and turned to leave.
The next day at dawn, Mo Hua got up and went to the courtyard, where he saw his father Mo Shan already waiting.
"Your mother made breakfast; have something first," Mo Shan said.
After breakfast, Mo Shan took Mo Hua out of the house.
They walked through the early morning streets, passed through the gates of Tongxian City, and stepped onto the mountain path outside the city.
"Dad, where are we going?" Mo Hua couldn't help but ask.
Mo Shan remained silent for a moment and then said, "I'm taking you into the Great Black Mountain!"
(End of the Chapter)