Chapter 1316: Chapter 749: Chips (Added for Alliance Hierarch Ziyabulieleizui~) On the way back, Mo Hua just so happened to be traveling the same route as Linghu Xiao. Taia Sect’s Taia Mountain, Rushing Void Sect’s Mount Chongxu, and Taixu Sect’s Taixu Mountain—all part of the Three Mountains—were situated close to each other. Their directions to return to their respective sects overlapped. Linghu Xiao remained as cold and distant as ever; he didn’t smile or speak. But occasionally, he would glance at Mo Hua. Mo Hua noticed his gaze and turned, puzzled: "What is it?" Linghu Xiao replied seriously, "You promised to spar with me." Mo Hua froze. "When did I ever say that?" Linghu Xiao seemed a little angry. "Just now, in the mountains!" He frowned. "Do you intend to break your promise?" Mo Hua thought for a moment, then shook his head. "What I said was, ’We’ll see when there’s time...’" "Then when do you have time?" Linghu Xiao asked. Mo Hua sighed. He had only said that casually. Who in their right mind would be so bored as to actually spar with him... "By the way," Mo Hua changed the topic quickly, afraid Linghu Xiao would press the issue further, "the Sever Gold Sect has been stealing your monster beasts this entire time. Don’t you want to take them back?" "That’s my own business," Linghu Xiao said. "But if they keep stealing, doesn’t that mean you won’t earn any merit points?" Mo Hua pressed on. Linghu Xiao remained silent. Then, his expression turned slightly colder, and a sharp Sword Intent flashed in his gaze—his entire presence exuding a cutting edge: "Once my Sword Dao is complete, none of them will be able to withstand even a single sword from me. I’ll settle the score thoroughly then." Mo Hua nodded slightly. A genius spoke with such confidence, indeed. "But right now, your Sword Dao isn’t complete, is it?" Linghu Xiao froze again. It was true—his Sword Dao wasn’t yet perfected. At this point, he still couldn’t "dominate all around," so he had no rebuttal. Mo Hua pondered for a bit, then began to gently "guide" him: "You’re cultivating the Sword Dao. Whether you need a Spirit Sword, Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, or top-secret sect cultivation techniques or swordsmanship, they all require merit points, don’t they?" "From my perspective, your merit points don’t seem very abundant..." Linghu Xiao had originally wanted to argue that his swordsmanship was strong and that he earned quite a lot of merit points by slaying monster beasts. But when he thought about how Mo Hua had casually handed over more than a thousand merit points to him without even blinking an eye... He realized Mo Hua’s "family’s wealth" was likely as deep and unfathomable as his abilities. Linghu Xiao lost the confidence to refute. Mo Hua continued seriously: "You’re being robbed of monster beasts by Sever Gold Sect. You’re not earning merit points. That means both your Sword Heart and your Sword Dao progress slower, and the day you perfect your Sword Dao gets further and further away..." "And you’ll have no chance to regain your dignity." "The less merit points you earn, the slower your Sword Dao cultivation. The further behind you fall, the more Sever Gold Sect will provoke and humiliate you..." "It’s a vicious cycle..." "Someday, when your Sword Dao finally achieves perfection, and you want to take revenge against those Sever Gold Sect disciples—" "By then, they might have already graduated and be off enjoying their lives somewhere far away." "If you won’t even encounter them in the future..." Mo Hua sighed. "In this life, you might never be able to avenge yourself. You might never be able to let go of this grudge..." Linghu Xiao, hearing Mo Hua’s words, was momentarily stunned and thought it made a lot of sense. If things kept going as they were now, Mo Hua’s prediction would most likely become a reality. This grudge—if not resolved now—might well linger forever. Observing Linghu Xiao’s expression, Mo Hua added: "So, as the saying goes, a gentleman doesn’t delay revenge until the next day. If it’s possible to settle the score, you should do it early; otherwise, it’ll be too late once even the flowers wither." Linghu Xiao, silent for a while after hearing Mo Hua’s reasoning, frowned and said: "Why are you telling me this?" Mo Hua sighed. "You and I met by fate. Besides, we’re all part of the Three Mountains lineage—our ancestors were one family. We should help each other and not make distinctions." Linghu Xiao was a bit skeptical, but his instinct told him that Mo Hua wasn’t lying or trying to set a trap for him. It seemed like Mo Hua was sincerely trying to help. "How do you intend to help me?" Linghu Xiao asked hesitantly. Mo Hua’s face lit up with a bright smile, exuding warmth: "Come hunt monster beasts at Taixu Sect’s mountain. Sever Gold Sect is too afraid of us to cross the boundary, let alone rob your monster beasts." Linghu Xiao froze, frowning slightly. Too afraid of Taixu Sect to trespass... Since he joined the mountains late and was somewhat reclusive, he mostly focused on his swordsmanship and seldom paid attention to other matters. He wasn’t aware of the disputes between Taixu Sect and Sever Gold Sect. However, in his impression, Taixu Sect wasn’t necessarily stronger than Sever Gold Sect. And Sever Gold Sect was known for its shamelessness and underhanded tactics. How had they ended up being intimidated by Taixu Sect? Linghu Xiao couldn’t quite understand. "Moreover..." Mo Hua seized the opening while Linghu Xiao was distracted. "You could team up with Taixu Sect disciples to hunt monster beasts together, which would help earn merit points faster." Mo Hua had already calculated this. With the power of Linghu Xiao’s Sword Qi, he only needed to pair up with someone to scout monster beasts, set traps, and arrange formations. Once the formation exploded and weakened the monster beast, Linghu Xiao could likely finish it off with one sword stroke. If one sword wasn’t enough, then two swords at most. But Linghu Xiao looked a bit resistant. "I don’t team up with others," he said. "Why not?" Mo Hua asked. Linghu Xiao lifted his head slightly, his voice cold: "I aim to perfect my swordsmanship, and the path of a Sword Cultivator is destined to be a lonely one..." Mo Hua was speechless. After a long moment, he took a deep breath, visibly exasperated: "Why are you obsessing over this nonsense?" "What does perfecting swordsmanship have to do with being lonely?" "If your swordsmanship becomes strong, you can choose to be lonely if you want. If your swordsmanship is weak, what’s the point of being lonely? You might be cut down by someone, and no one will even bother to bury you..." "The key is cultivating swordsmanship!" "And cultivating swordsmanship requires merit points." "Right now, the priority is to earn as many merit points as possible, as quickly as possible, and then concentrate your resources to rapidly improve your Sword Dao..."