My mother is the white moonlight of the cultivation world.

The old man stared wide-eyed at the card, his already squinted eyes wide.

He had a strong hand, but it consisted of straights and pairs.

Should we remove the license plate?

He hesitated.

"You...you've made such a big one all at once, can you even hold back what's behind you?!" Elder Tree Root's root whiskers trembled with anger.

Hua Yue smiled but remained silent, played a small card, and looked up at Xi Ming.

Upon receiving the signal, Xi Ming, mimicking Hua Yue, also drew a card from his own deck and slowly placed it on the table.

It is also a "Pure Heart Three-Leaf Lotus".

"Follow." His voice was calm, yet it drove Elder Tree Roots more insane than any boast.

"You two!" The old man pointed at them, speechless for a long time.

So all that hard work playing his cards for half a day turned out to be two peasants each holding a 2, just waiting for him to play most of his cards before they came to finish him off.

This is simply bullying honest people!

"It's your turn," Hua Yue kindly reminded her.

The tree root elder grumbled and reluctantly shouted, "I can't afford it!"

It was Hua Yue's turn to play her card.

She no longer stood on ceremony, her fingers lightly tracing over the wooden plaques painted with exotic flowers and plants, and pulled out five.

「顺子，从聚灵五色梅到地脉龙鳞花。」她将牌甩在桌上，「3、4、5、6、7、8。」

The old tree root's face turned green.

He happened to have a straight, but he had one less card than Hua Yue, so he couldn't control it.

"Pass!" he shouted impatiently.

Xi Ming glanced at his cards, then at Hua Yue, and shook his head: "Pass."

"My turn." Hua Yue had a faint smile on her face. She drew three cards and took one with her.

"Three with one".

Three "Vermilion Bird Feather Crown Flower" cards, along with one insignificant "Bone-Eating Datura" card.

The tree root elder's expression was even more unpleasant.

His hand was completely dismantled, and Hua Yue's move directly hit his weak spot.

He could only watch helplessly, shouting in frustration, "Pass!"

Xi Ming simply said, "Pass."

Hua Yue glanced at the few cards remaining in Elder Tree Root's hand, and had already calculated everything clearly in her mind.

She looked at Xi Ming and gestured with her eyes.

Xi Ming immediately understood, and he took out a pair of cards from his hand and placed them on the table.

"A pair."

Those were a pair of "Primordial Golden Ingot Trees," gleaming with golden light and exuding an air of nobility.

"Bomb!" Elder Tree Root finally found his chance. He slammed down four identical cards, "Four Peony Robes!"

A bomb made up of four Queens is incredibly powerful.

But he was only gloating for less than a second when he saw Hua Yue slowly draw two cards from her hand.

One of them is that carefree clown laughing.

One of them is of that woman in fiery red.

"Royal Flush".

Hua Yue gently placed the "King" painting depicting her mother, Hua Zhishuang, on top of the pile of "Rainbow Peony" paintings.

The movement was very light, yet it seemed to be mocking, as if asking, "Is there anything bigger than a royal flush?"

Elder Tree Roots was completely dejected. He looked at the last lone card in his hand, sighed deeply, and laid it out on the table.

"I lost, I lost! You young people have no respect for the elderly or the young!"

Hua Yue chuckled softly and played the last card in her hand.

"Thank you for your kind offer, Elder."

A group of little flower fairies swarmed around Hua Yue and Xi Ming, dancing around them and cheering loudly in celebration of the farmers' victory.

Elder Tree Root waved his hand. Although he complained, there was little anger on his face. Instead, he showed a hint of appreciation for meeting a kindred spirit.

He stroked his beard again and slowly began, "A bet's a bet. You want to know where the seeds of the Shaoguang Sacrifice Orchid are, listen carefully."

He cleared his throat and recited in an ancient and melodious tone:

"My home is at the end of the water, with a stone roof and the moon as its hook."

"I hear nothing of worldly affairs, only the sound of a golden bird knocking on a jade boat."

After he finished reading, he closed his eyes, looking as if to say, "I've said all I have to say, now you can figure it out yourselves."

Hua Yue silently recited these four lines of poetry several times in her heart.

The literal meaning is not difficult, but when put together, it's like a riddle.

"The end of the water..." she murmured to herself, "could be the source of a stream, the top of a waterfall, or... the end of an underground river?"

This secret realm is so vast, and the water has so many ends.

"The roof is made of stone, and the hook is made of moonlight." She continued her analysis, "This means that the seed is hidden in a stone cave, and the entrance of the cave is curved, shaped like a crescent moon."

This is a fairly clear characteristic.

But what does the last line, "I hear nothing of human affairs, only the sound of a golden bird knocking on a jade boat," mean?

When Hua Yue heard the name "Golden Bird," the first thing that came to mind was the sun.

"Knocking on a jade boat" sounds like birds pecking at a small jade boat.

That's too abstract.

As she frowned in thought, Xi Ming suddenly spoke up beside her.

"The water cycle has an end, and I can sense the end of all the water veins in this area."

Hua Yue was taken aback. This person's perception of nature far surpassed that of ordinary people. Just who was he?

"And what about the last sentence?" she asked hurriedly.

"The 'Golden Bird' represents the sunlight. 'Knocking' is an action with a fixed time and trajectory. The 'Jade Boat' is a container for receiving light; it is made of stone and has a texture similar to jade." Xi Ming's explanation was simple, direct, and to the core of the matter.

Hua Yue suddenly understood!

"I understand!" She clapped her hands excitedly. "The place where the 'Farewell to the Orchid Festival' is hidden is a stone cave with a crescent-shaped entrance! This cave is at the end of a certain stream, and every day at a specific moment, sunlight shines precisely into the cave like a bird pecking at rice, landing on a jade trough or basin!"

"The seed is very likely in that spot where the sun shines!"

Xi Ming looked at her and nodded, seemingly affirming her analysis.

"Let's go!" Hua Yue didn't linger any longer. She cupped her hands in thanks to Elder Tree Root, "Thank you for your guidance, Elder!"

Elder Tree Roots kept his eyes closed, but the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, and his root beard twitched.

The flower fairies lingered around Hua Yue for a few moments, reluctant to part, until she had gone quite far before they dispersed in twos and threes.

With Xi Ming as a "human cheat code," finding the end of the water vein becomes exceptionally easy.

He simply closed his eyes and sensed for a moment before pointing in a direction.

The two walked through a woodland covered with glowing mushrooms, rounded a steaming, colorful hot spring, and sure enough, they saw a stream flowing gently down the mountainside ahead.

"Go up." Xi Ming said succinctly.

The two went upstream against the current, and the terrain became increasingly steep until they finally arrived at the foot of a cliff.

The stream gushes out from a crevice in the rock halfway up the cliff, forming a long, narrow waterfall.

"The end of the water should be inside there." Hua Yue looked up at the crevice in the rock.

Next, we need to find the stone cave with the "moon hook" shape.

There are many caves and crevices of all sizes on this cliff.

The two searched carefully along the cliff face.

Half an hour later, Hua Yue stopped in front of an inconspicuous cliff. It was hidden by dense vines, and when she pushed them aside, she found a cave entrance.

The entrance to the cave is small, allowing only one person to bend over and enter. The upper part of the cave is a perfect crescent shape.

found it!

Hua Yue was overjoyed and was about to go in when Xi Ming stopped her.

"etc."

Hua Yue turned around, puzzled.

Xi Ming didn't look at her. His gaze was fixed on the direction the two had come from. In his eyes, which were as bright as molten gold, the pure curiosity from before was gone, replaced by a hint of coldness that was hard to detect.

Hua Yue followed his gaze and saw only a quiet grove of trees. The wind blew and the leaves rustled, and there was nothing unusual about it.

But she trusted Xi Ming's judgment.

"Someone's there?" she asked in a low voice, her entire body instantly on high alert.

Xi Ming nodded slightly, his voice extremely soft, almost blending into the sound of the wind.

"two."

"A good spell to conceal one's presence, but..."

He paused, then spoke in a statement of fact, uttering words that sent a chill down Hua Yue's spine.

"...Their murderous aura couldn't be hidden."