Mo Huai finished explaining to Xiao Ye. He had made up an excuse and said that he did give the rough men some money but they still messed with Hou.
He agreed he would go with her and tell the guards the next day. As he was walking back to his room, he thought
'Another day here shouldn't be too bad. Cang Ying seemed dangerous, I felt he was attacking Hou but before I could do anything, it seems it was neutralised by his unique physiology...lucky'
Mo Huai had noticed that the flies had attacked Hou with the mark still attached to Hou, however he saw that the threat was completely absorbed and made null by Hou's body and chose not to move.
He reached his room, and even from the outside he could feel what Hou was doing. He could feel in the ambient air, the cognition laws created by the people in the inn were being drawn up.
'Impressive, already meditating without me needing to say anything. These cognition laws, quite innovative for a beginner. I haven't taught him about them yet, but they should help him recover and think more.'
He then opened the door and interrupted Hou's meditation. He saw Hou sitting on his bed cross legged and stood to face him,
"I made an excuse with Xiao Ye, she understands now. Though she wants to bring us to the guards tomorrow so we'll have to stay here one more day before the inheritance, is that fine?"
Hou heard this and internally he was jumping with joy, this was exactly what he needed!
While internally he was thanking Xiao Ye, externally he coughed and spoke,
"Well, I think it's fine. Really it's up to you, whether you think it's safe."
Hou had already mentally cross-referenced where the nearest guard's station is on the map, and the closest route brought them around the Rotten Sewer District.
The Rotten Sewer District was, as the name implies, underground and also hidden. Xiao Ye might not have known about it, so they could pass right above the district while walking in a safe area.
'Yes, now hopefully Cang Ying notices I'm above the district and comes to take me. But how do I make sure that Mo Huai doesn't stop him....'
"Actually Hou, I have something to tell you with Cang Ying. You were actually already attacked,"
Hou feigned confusion and shock, his mouth swung open. Mo Huai continued,
"I would have done something to help, but luckily you were saved by your Celestial Law Amplifying Physique. This goes to show though, danger is always around the corner, don't get cocky because I am here"
"That might explain something actually,"
"Go on..."
Hou had thought up a solution to get Mo Huai to allow him to be attacked, he would hint at it being beneficial!
"Just now, when I was meditating and absorbing laws, it felt different than before. I felt even stronger, my mental energy was more persuasive to laws and I could cultivate faster. Is this because of what you said happened?"
Mo Huai furrowed his eyes and thought for a moment,
"...maybe. We're still not sure what the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique is but we do have some ideas that it's got a separate consciousness, perhaps when it absorbed whatever attack it was it was strengthened. This meant that whenever you used mental energy it was strengthened....? I can't say yet, but this is an exciting idea. I'll bring it up with Huan Die and Sect Master."
"Thank you, what should I do for the rest of the day?"
Hou had already done all that he needed by saying that. Just by implanting the idea into Mo Huai's mind that the attack was a good thing, he might allow him to be attacked again if Cang Ying acts tomorrow.
"Hmm, this morning I said I'd teach you more about treasures so we'll do a short lesson on that then sleep early for tomorrow."
Hou nodded and stopped meditating, fully focusing his attention on Mo Huai and the coming lesson.
"So let me ask you a question, how do treasures work? I told you the different types of treasures but what are they actually doing?"
"They...use a technique like we do ourselves?"
"Bingo, you've got the idea. All treasures are, are things that use your mental energy in set ways to activate the different laws. It all depends on the creator, the creator can place laws on the treasure and freeze them."
"Why would they freeze them, what do you mean?"
"Well, let's think about it logically, if you just randomly put the laws in the treasure, what would happen?"
"Well, I guess it would just...be there. Or activate. Yeah, now that I think of it, I get it. If it was a fire treasure, without doing something it would just be set on fire by injecting fire laws. Okay, I understand, continue," Hou quickly realised his fault in his thinking.
"Good, you completely forgot about that, didn't you? If you get too used to things, you might forget to question them. So how does treasures work? Well, the laws are put into place with a specific expression built from the creator's specific impression of them. Treasure makers are extremely specialised, if they do not have a good impression on the law, they cannot work with them."
"But how do they actually 'freeze' the laws?" Hou still didn't get the real reason why.
"There are many different ways, it is not one set procedure. The idea is, any way to 'set' the laws is used, it might also depend on the laws being 'set'. For example, cognition laws can be set with a precise injection of mental energy. This is all due to cognition laws being highly manipulable by mental energy, it might not work with other laws."
"I see, that does make sense. It's not such a simple thing that can be explained for every law... Thank you."
"Let's end the lesson here today, but before you sleep I want you to do what you were doing before I entered the room. Meditate for cognition laws, however don't use them instantly, just place them carefully in the body."
"Why, what will that do?"
"Cognition laws are an extremely safe law, if you place them in the body, it can be used like mutation in false cultivation, but intentionally. You can induce higher thinking while asleep and solve problems of the waking day!"
"So they're extremely safe, but not completely?"
"Not fully indeed, nothing is fully safe. These cognition laws are wild and impure. They are tainted by memory and other knowledge, all from those who accidentally produced them. But in small doses there's no danger and they might help you with inspiration, even helping you."