I’ve Reloaded the Save File! [Transmigration] 24p1

24: The Hu Family p1

The little thief’s voice was girlish. By the time she was caught by the guards due to exhaustion, Mo Xiao had confirmed her gender. This so-called little thief was just a half-grown little girl.

In fact, when the little thief passed by, Mo Xiao had already noticed her actions. Perhaps because her first impression of the little thief was not bad, Mo Xiao casually put the thing she had stuffed into her storage space without showing any abnormality.

“Nonsense, I clearly saw you steal it. That’s something our young master needs for cultivation. I advise you to hand it over quickly, otherwise when our steward arrives, you’ll have to suffer a bit,” the guard threatened, directly restraining her with a staff.

“I said I didn’t take it, so I didn’t take it! You’re framing me!” The little thief’s neck was pinned by the staff, forcing her to lie on the ground. “Is this how the Hu family does things? Bullying others with your power.”

“Nonsense, I clearly…” Before the guard could finish, a man dressed as a steward arrived nearby on horseback.

“Have you found the Star Stone?” The steward dismounted, his sharp gaze sweeping over the onlookers before finally landing on the little thief on the ground. “Is this the person who stole the Star Stone?”

“No, I didn’t take it,” the little thief shouted. “You clearly lost it yourselves and didn’t want to take responsibility, so you’re blaming me.”

Seeing the growing crowd of onlookers, the steward’s face became serious. “If what you say is true, then you wouldn’t mind if we search you, right?”

“I don’t mind, but if you don’t find any Star Stone on me, you have to compensate me with one hundred spirit stones!” the little thief said after some hesitation.

The steward nodded and motioned for the guards to search her.

“Wait,” seeing the guards approaching, a look of terror appeared on the little thief’s face. “You’re not going to search a little girl like me in public, are you? That’s indecent!”

“…” The steward’s expression stiffened. To protect his master’s reputation, he could only suppress his anger. “I wonder if any female cultivator present would be willing to do Hu a small favor. Hu is willing to offer ten spirit stones as a token of gratitude.”

“I am willing,” as soon as the steward’s voice fell, a young female cultivator at the mid-Qi Refinement stage stood up.

The steward nodded. “Then I’ll have to trouble you, fellow Daoist.”

The female cultivator didn’t waste any words. She went straight to the little thief and checked her accessories to see if they were storage artifacts, then carefully examined her clothes, and finally, not feeling at ease, she checked her hair and shoes.

The little thief was currently restrained. Since the female cultivator’s actions were not excessive, she simply stood still and let her be searched.

“Steward Hu, I have carefully checked twice. This young lady only has a few simple accessories on her. There is no Star Stone,” the female cultivator said with a cupped hand salute.

The steward’s brow furrowed slightly. He took out ten low-grade spirit stones and gave them to the cultivator. “It seems we have misunderstood you, little friend. I am truly sorry.”

“I told you, I was framed,” the little thief had long expected this result. She patted the dust off her clothes with a relaxed expression. “Steward Hu, when will you give me my one hundred spirit stones?”

“I was in a hurry and didn’t bring any spirit stones with me. If you don’t mind, little friend, you can come back to the Hu family with us to get them,” the steward forced a smile, his eyes meeting the little thief’s.

“This…” Before the little thief could finish, she suddenly stopped, and her body went limp, collapsing to the ground.

“This little friend seems to have exhausted her spiritual energy. The Hu family is responsible for this matter,” the smile on the steward’s face became much more genuine. “Someone, quickly carry the little friend and take her back to the mansion to be treated.”

“Yes,” the guard at the side quickly reacted, roughly hoisting her onto his shoulder.

Although the surrounding people were somewhat dissatisfied with the Hu family’s actions, the Hu family was one of the three major families in Fenghua City. It was not worth it to go against them for a little Qi Refinement cultivator.

Seeing this, Zuo Wuyi tugged at Mo Xiao’s sleeve, asking with her eyes if she should intervene. If there were no accidents, this little thief would probably never have a chance to come out after being taken into the Hu family.

Mo Xiao sensed the so-called Star Stone in her storage space with her divine sense. Her expression changed slightly, and she shook her head at Zuo Wuyi.

After Steward Hu had taken the person away, Zuo Wuyi couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked in a low voice, “Mo Xiao, is there something wrong with that thing?”

Mo Xiao nodded. Only after casting a soundproof barrier around them did she speak. “I sensed the aura of another cultivator on it.”

“What does that mean?” Zuo Wuyi didn’t understand. “Could it be that this Star Stone belongs to someone else?”

“Junior Sister, you mean there’s someone else’s spiritual energy on it?” Yun Yu seemed to have thought of something, her brow furrowing slightly. “Junior Sister, let me see that Star Stone.”

Mo Xiao nodded. After enveloping the so-called Star Stone with her own spiritual energy, she handed it to Yun Yu.

Yun Yu took the Star Stone and looked at it. Her face darkened, and she directly crushed the Star Stone in her hand. “It seems we’ll have to stay here for a while.”

Zuo Wuyi was a little confused, but this was not the place to talk. She suppressed her questions. Only after they had found a teahouse and entered a private room did she ask.

“It’s normal that you don’t know, Little Junior Sister. The so-called Star Stone just now actually has another name, Spirit Storage Stone. As the name suggests, it’s something that can store spiritual energy,” As the Eldest Senior Sister, Yun Yu knew the most and the most complete information.

“It’s a bit shameful to say, but this Spirit Storage Stone material was actually accidentally created by an elder of the Wen Dao Sect’s Artifact Pavilion,” Yun Yu sighed. “The Spirit Storage Stone is a very good carrier of spiritual energy. If it is integrated into a sword embryo, the spirit sword forged will be about twice as powerful as one without it.”

“Of course, such a spirit sword also has its drawbacks. It will usually be scrapped after a year or two. Before the elder could continue to research and improve it, someone discovered that after spiritual energy entered the Spirit Storage Stone, it became extremely easy for the human body to absorb, and then things got out of hand.”

“After the elder found out, he immediately dealt with that batch of disciples and destroyed all the Spirit Storage Stones he could find. I didn’t expect that after nearly fifty years, I would still see this kind of Spirit Storage Stone, and it was even given the name Star Stone.”

Zuo Wuyi listened to Yun Yu’s explanation with a serious expression. Only after she stopped did she ask, “Can this kind of Star Stone only be made by that elder of the Wen Dao Sect?”

Yun Yu nodded. “That elder’s spiritual root and cultivation technique are quite special. Only he can make this kind of Star Stone.”

“If the Star Stone has this effect, many people would want to get it, right?” Zuo Wuyi asked. “Didn’t anyone force the elder to continue refining it?”

“This kind of Star Stone also has usage restrictions. If you want to extract the cultivation from another person, your own cultivation must be a major stage higher than theirs,” Mo Xiao added in a timely manner. “This kind of Star Stone can at most withstand the power of the Nascent Soul stage, and Spirit Transformation stage cultivators are all reputable people. They disdain to use such methods.”

Zuo Wuyi nodded. That made sense. If this so-called Star Stone was only useful against low-level cultivators, then it would indeed be easy to control.

“Normally, the lifespan of this kind of Star Stone is very short. Even if a few pieces were not dealt with before, it’s been decades now. They should be close to losing their effectiveness,” Yun Yu muttered to herself. “It doesn’t make sense for them to still exist now.”

Mo Xiao thought for a moment. “Perhaps they had more Star Stones left over back then. Didn’t the elder say that one Star Stone can be used repeatedly for about seven or eight hundred times? We sword cultivators use our swords a lot, so they get scrapped in a year or two. If it’s just used for extracting and storing spiritual energy, once a month, it can be used for decades.”

Yun Yu nodded. That speculation also made sense. “I hope this Star Stone was just left over by accident.”

Although Mo Xiao did not intervene in the little thief’s matter on the spot, it did not mean they would not interfere. After the sky darkened, the three of them changed into night clothes, put on artifacts that could conceal their aura, and quietly sneaked into the Hu family.

“That little girl still hasn’t said anything? Her lips are too tight!” In a courtyard on the west side of the Hu family, two people dressed as guards were talking to each other.

“Why bother with her? Anyway, if we still can’t get anything out of her tomorrow, that little girl will probably be dead. If you feel sorry for her, we two brothers can choose a good place to bury her then,” Guard number two said, sitting down with a plop.

“Then what about Old Mu? What punishment will he get for losing the Star Stone?” Guard number one followed suit, sitting down against the wall.

“Old Mu, he’s probably done for. If the Star Stone can’t be found, we’ll just pretend we never saw him,” Guard number two sighed, then started to chat with Guard number one about some trivial matters.

Seeing that the two of them were no longer talking about the little thief, Mo Xiao and Zuo Wuyi exchanged a look, nodded in tacit understanding, and in the next breath, they were beside the two guards. Before they could react, they were knocked out with a single chop.

“Go in?” Yun Yu floated over.

“There are traces of spiritual energy here,” Mo Xiao sensed with her divine sense and pointed in a direction.

“Let’s go,” Yun Yu said in a low voice. The three of them then lowered their bodies and sped forward with spiritual energy. If anyone were present, they would probably feel three gusts of wind blowing past.

After walking for about six hundred meters, a small team of patrolling guards appeared. Except for the team leader who was at the Foundation Establishment stage, the other four were all at the late Qi Refinement stage. Even though Mo Xiao’s group was only three meters away from them, they didn’t feel anything and quickly walked away.