Chapter 228 - 184: Giant of the Mo Family

"Never mind." Although Mo Ban felt a pang of disappointment, he didn’t press the issue. His gaze shifted, landing on Bi Xuan, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes. "Xiaoxuan!"

"Grandmaster!" Bi Xuan said respectfully. His body tensed instinctively with nerves. Though a disciple of Mo Wen, he wasn’t well-acquainted with Mo Ban—but he was, of course, aware of Mo Ban’s true identity.

Mo Ban was the younger brother of the current Giant of the Mo Family. In the entire Mo Family, he was considered a major figure.

Chu Bamboo could be so relaxed and at ease in front of Mo Ban, but Bi Xuan wouldn’t dare.

"You seem to be well-acquainted with Mr. Chu!" Although it was phrased as a question, Mo Ban’s tone was quite certain.

"Mr. Chu and I are colleagues, I suppose," Bi Xuan admitted honestly.

"Colleagues... Hmm?" Mo Ban realized something was wrong. His brow furrowed, and his gaze flickered over to Chu Bamboo, his voice tinged with uncertain surprise. "If I recall correctly, your job is with the Police Chief Bureau’s Special Operations Brigade, isn’t it?"

After Bi Xuan confirmed it, Mo Ban took a deep breath, his expression turning solemn and grave. "In other words, Mr. Chu, you already know ’Kung Fu’?"

Chu Bamboo nodded immediately.

"Impossible!" Mo Wen cried out. Noticing everyone in the room staring at him, his lips moved, but no words came out.

"So that’s how it is..." Chu Bamboo’s gaze swept over Mo Wen and Mo Ban. Mo Ban had lost his composure—a rare sight—and was glaring at Mo Wen with a dark expression. Mo Wen, in turn, was cowering like Bi Xuan before Li Kang. The situation was all too obvious. Chu Bamboo thought for a moment and instantly understood.

"It seems you once wanted to recruit me into the Moisture Teaching, so you tested my cultivation aptitude? And it looks like... you didn’t find any?"

Mo Ban didn’t answer, but in this situation, silence was the best answer.

Chu Bamboo sighed internally. ’It seems I actually had chances to step into the Extraordinary World before... but since I supposedly had no aptitude, they all slipped by.’

’Yes, I’m sure of it now. It can’t have been just the Moisture Teaching that tested me. I just wonder... which other sects did?’

"I’m rather curious, who is your teacher!" Mo Ban’s voice shed its earlier warmth, becoming flat and emotionless. His gaze fell upon Zhang Hai. ’Could the host from the God Worship Sect be here with him because...’

The corner of Zhang Hai’s eye twitched. He quickly raised his hands, a wry look on his face. "It has nothing to do with me! In fact, if you saw how I interact with Mr. Zhu... you’d probably suspect that Mr. Zhu is *my* teacher!"

"Alright, don’t read too much into it... I don’t have a master!" Chu Bamboo glanced at Mo Ban, whose eyes had lit up. Before the old man could voice the intention that even Zhang Hai had guessed, Chu Bamboo cut straight to the point. "And don’t even think about taking me as your disciple!"

"I know I’ve said this many times, but you old-timers! Why is it that the moment you see me step into the Extraordinary Realm without a master, you all try to pull this stunt?" Chu Bamboo sighed. ’Being too outstanding has this one drawback—someone’s always trying to be my ’daddy’.’

"...That’s different!" Although Mo Ban tried his best to suppress his emotions, his many disciples could still sense his slight anxiety. "Others might be after you for your status, but we’re after you for your talent in mathematics!"

"What is arithmetic? It is the Truth of this world! The foundation of everything... We in the Moisture Teaching hold it in the highest esteem, yet the world is deeply prejudiced against mathematics... My senior brother and I have discussed this. We both agree that when it comes to the path of arithmetic, we have yet to truly master it. And this is despite us being considered at the Peak of this discipline."

"But... in you, we see the possibility for arithmetic to advance even further!"

Mo Ban took two quick breaths. Seeing Chu Bamboo completely unmoved, he immediately offered the best solution he could. "If you feel my strength is insufficient, I can also accept you as a disciple on my brother’s behalf! With my senior brother’s status as the Giant of the Mo Family, taking you as a disciple... that would in no way be a disgrace to you."

The room fell deathly silent.

Zhang Hai was dumbfounded. ’No way, are you serious? Hold on... you don’t even need to ask the Giant for permission? That means the Giant already agreed to this long ago...’

What kind of figure was the Giant of the Mo Family? In the Mortal World, he was the Heaven-Supporting Jade Pillar of the civil engineering profession... In the Extraordinary World, he was a titan on par with the Master of the Confucian Academy in the Imperial Capital and the Pope of the God Worship Sect, the one in charge of the great Moisture Teaching!

However...

"I said, I refuse!" Chu Bamboo stated flatly.

Zhang Hai’s eye twitched. He was speechless.

’He just... refused... without a hint of hesitation?!’

Mo Ban sighed softly, though he didn’t seem surprised.

Chu Bamboo remained perfectly calm, letting Zhang Hai have his existential crisis, letting the numerous Mo Family disciples across from him burn with envy and hatred, and letting Bi Xuan’s face twist with the desire to rush forward and take his place—

’Taking on a master is meaningless for me. I don’t need the protection that comes with it...’

’Or rather, if I ever really need to call for backup, I could get the Mo Family to come help me based on our prior friendship, even without becoming a disciple. So what’s the point? Besides, even if I did become a disciple, the most they’d likely do is give me a Cultivation Technique and then leave me to my own devices!’

’The Giant of the Mo Family is notoriously busy. These Brothers Tu Mu in front of me are already impossible to find from morning till night... and the Giant is the most extreme case of them all!’

’He can go a whole year without showing up at the Moisture Teaching, and it won’t affect its operations in the slightest... Just hearing Mo Ban say he’d accept a disciple on his brother’s behalf told me everything I needed to know—the man himself wasn’t even planning to show up.’

"...Fine!" Mo Ban’s lips moved. Seeing he was about to continue persuading him, Chu Bamboo immediately changed the subject. "I actually came here today to ask for a favor!"

"...I knew it!" Hearing this, Mo Ban actually let out a sigh of relief. After all, he’d had dealings with Chu Bamboo before. When he saw him show up at his door, he was sure he had a favor to ask. It definitely wasn’t just to inquire about arithmetic, as he’d claimed! After all, if he just wanted to ask questions... when couldn’t he do that? Why would he specifically bring a host from the God Worship Sect with him?

As Chu Bamboo’s gaze turned to him with a slight nod, Zhang Hai grabbed the assassin, who was wrapped in red cloth on the floor. With a sharp tug, the red cloth dissolved into a crimson mist, which then, with a clench of his fist, reformed into a red cloth in his palm.

"...KILL!" The Shadow Killer’s face was savage. His shadow burst forth. Trapped inside the red cloth, his five senses had been completely blocked. He couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t even kill himself, suffering torment in a void of nothingness.

In fact, being knocked unconscious by Zhang Hai’s fists at the very beginning had been a strange form of relief.

So, having been awake inside the cloth for a while, he was now on the verge of madness. He spotted Chu Bamboo at a glance, identifying him as the person the All-Powerful Divine Envoy wanted him to kill and the source of his current predicament. In that instant, his shadow transformed into a sharp blade and shot straight towards his target...

In the next instant, space seemed to freeze.

A cold voice, devoid of any trace of emotion, rang out.

"Do you take me for a dead man?"

Ripples spread through the void. One, two, three... a dense swarm! There were too many. A careful count would reveal twenty or thirty of them.

Countless iron chains shot out, each tipped with a spear that pierced directly through the bodies of the Shadow Killer and his shadow.

"...Ngh, AHHH!!" It was a pain beyond description. His collarbones, his abdomen, his arms, his femurs... every part of him was pierced through!

The assassin was now suspended in mid-air, brutally impaled by more than twenty chains running through his body. Forget struggling; he felt excruciating pain even when perfectly still.

His shadow struggled ceaselessly, but it too was unable to move.

"...Mo... Mo..."

The assassin squeezed out two syllables from between his teeth before screaming again, his mind a chaotic mess of fear and pain. ’How... how could I be so fragile...? Even against Lord Apostle, it would probably be just like this, right? Just who is this old man?!’

"King’s Treasure!" Chu Bamboo was stunned. If those ripples just had a layer of gold painted on them, he felt...

"What, are you interested?" Mo Ban smiled. At the same time, he was inwardly confused. ’What the hell is King’s Treasure? Could it be he’s seen a Divine Technique similar to mine before?’

"I already have my own Divine Techniques... you’re not going to tell me you can teach me another one, are you?" Chu Bamboo rolled his eyes. This made Mo Ban choke for a moment. He thought for a second, then said, "You have a point! If you hadn’t already entered the First Realm... I actually could have passed this Divine Technique down to you."

’Another inheritable Divine Technique?’ Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes, thoughts churning in his mind. ’The only inheritable Divine Technique I know of is the one from the Celestial Secret Lineage, which I learned about from Huo Qiming...’

’Although, that inheritance seems to have a major restriction: only one can exist per generation!’

"Um, the reason we brought him here is..." Seeing Chu Bamboo lost in thought, Zhang Hai, despite complaining inwardly—’This is so unreliable! It’s clearly your business, so why are you making me do it?’—still swallowed his complaints and explained their detailed request.

"Reforge him into a weapon? I understand!" Mo Ban pondered for a moment, then said with a grave expression, "State your requirements..."

"A Forbidden Artifact, or a Spiritual Artifact..."

Zhang Hai glanced at Chu Bamboo, then stated the answer they had discussed and confirmed in the car earlier.

"You’re sure a Forbidden Artifact will be enough?" Mo Ban asked thoughtfully.

Chu Bamboo looked calm. A Forbidden Artifact was more than enough for him. After all, any contamination could be wiped away with a reset.

To put it bluntly, he would only use the Forbidden Artifact as a trump card, not as a regularly used weapon.

"If it’s a Forbidden Artifact," Mo Ban hesitated slightly, "I can help you procure the materials... but you’ll have to pay for them!"

A Spiritual Artifact, on the other hand, would have been quite troublesome. That would have required Chu Bamboo to gather the resources himself. This had nothing to do with Chu Bamboo’s relationship with the Moisture Teaching, but rather with their rules and regulations.

"How much?" Chu Bamboo asked. ’Inwardly, he was already wondering which rich, unscrupulous capitalist he should go shake down later.’

"Thirty thousand Qian Coins!" Seeing Chu Bamboo’s expression change slightly, Mo Ban gave a wry laugh. "And I’ve already given you a discount on top of a discount!"

"Master is right," Mo Wen said quietly. "Master rarely forges Artifacts personally anymore... Wait, Master, why are you looking at me? Don’t tell me..."

"I’m getting on in years!" Mo Ban shot a sideways glance at Mo Wen and snorted coldly. ’If Chu Bamboo had been willing to become a disciple—even a disciple of my elusive senior brother, with me accepting him on my brother’s behalf—then I wouldn’t have minded doing it myself... But now? Forget it! Besides, Mo Wen is more than capable of forging this kind of weapon.’

"F-Fine," Mo Wen said, his expression stiff and his face mournful. "Mr. Chu... this is a really good price. The cost of the materials alone... is probably over twenty-five thousand!"

This was truly, genuinely a friends-and-family discount!

Listening from the side, Bi Xuan’s eyes turned red with envy. If he were in Chu Bamboo’s position and asked for a discount, his master would probably spin him like a top—but when it came to Chu Bamboo, his master automatically started lowering the price without him even saying a word.

"Alright, you guys can front the money for now," Chu Bamboo said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "As for the payment, I’ll get it to you in a while."