Mhm, I find my self at disagreement with the character read of others that Mo Hanying would take personal offence to usintroducing Boli to Zhuan Kun and having him attend her competition and will try my best to explain why.
She, above else, seeks to not make pointless enemies and I believe that counts Zhuan Kun. At no point in the story have we seen indication for a point of conflict between Zhuan Kun and Mo Hanying to flair up besides the the rumor's amongst our circle of disciples commenting on the big 3 nobles.
Mo hanying however has more potential conflict points with Geng considering her attempts to befriend Nokai and normalize her to the rest of the sect who is afraid of her for being apart of the tribes of the sunset country or otherwise called 'barbarian'.
Hell, look at her philosophy of how to deal with enemies, trying to find lines and making enemies back down willingly or weakening their position and command/respect amongst allies in this quote here from the story.
"I… am not sure I follow," you answer after a few moments of thought.
"History has taught us the lesson, Kong Zhi, that no one truly wants to be the villain. In great conflicts, all sides always want to believe that they are pillars of righteous justice and that all their actions are backed by the mandate of heaven. If they are confronted with the knowledge that they would truly be the villain, they will cease the conflict themselves."
You're not sure what you expected, but you're fairly certain it wasn't that. You're not really sure that it rings true to your ears either. "Perhaps," you allow. "But I doubt everyone thinks of themselves as some shining beacon. Some might not care what others think as long as it brings their rival low."
Mo Hanying nods. "Some may indeed consider that a worthy trade. After all, some wars have waged on for long enough that sides believe that whatever actions they may take are justified, no matter the consequences. But still, I would extend my hand- in public. I would do so in such a way that any who look on know that I have done anything and everything I can to end this conflict."
"And that paints a picture in the minds of those who look on; one where you are the aggrieved, regretful victim who wants nothing more than to live peacefully and your foe is a hate-filled monster." Mo Hanying's smile grows edges as she clenches her fist. "What happens then, Kong Zhi? What happens when someone is painted so?"
Slowly, you force your mind down the unfamiliar paths that Mo Hanying has led you. "They… lose respect," you say. "Even if they don't care what others think, those others will still think less of them."
"Precisely," she replies. "Their allies are suddenly much less willing to give aid. It is one thing to aid a friend seeking to right a wrong; it is quite another to throw power and reputation behind a one-sided feud. Their friends are suddenly not quite so friendly. Their opportunities fade away. Their power suddenly consists entirely of what they themselves can muster- and no matter how powerful they are, they are less powerful than all of your friends, not to mention any new allies you may have gained for your act of mercy."
"So yes, Kong Zhi. That is my own philosophy. Extend peace in public. If they decline, then they have sewn their own fate. But if they accept, at worst, the conflict is over. At best, you gain a new ally of your own- and allies can be found in the strangest of places."
She lowers her arm and smiles at you. "The best allies can only be found in strange places. Don't you agree?"
Mo Hanying stops and glances at the pillar before shaking her head. "Where does the time go?" she muses. "We need to prepare to leave."
As she gathers her things together again, you take a half-step towards her. "Wait," you say. "You never answered my question. Why did you choose to befriend Nokai?"
Mo Hanying pauses and glances back towards you, face mildly confused. "Truly?" she asks. "I thought I answered your question quite thoroughly."
Skill Up: Sense Motive +1!
She's willing to try and befriend Nokai who is apart of the many enemies her father faced in the expedition force into sunset country to try and not have an eternal enemy and as we could see when we attended Nokai's ascension of her spirit beasts, he doesn't exactly take to kind to this and is thus at negative rep with us and I can imagine he doesn't like what Mo Hanyings doing with Nokai and normalizing her to the sect.
Like let's be real here, she's a person who can make a word mean a thousand little other things and if she wanted us to do the competition proper she could have just said so but she didn't.
Her interest in us lies in our bluntness and quite frankly weird nature to do strange things completely out of the blue to get results.
Zhuan Kun has been described by Ves as essentially batman who doesn't know money, who pays and tips in silver talents and would probably be surprised that their is such a thing as bronze talents and has been said to fucking buy Sun Yujin his fate tech for 50 unspecified talents and shrug it of when he hears the price of it from his servent as "Ah, not to much then" just because he wanted a a strong cool sparing partner.
He lives in his own world with fuck you I have money from what i've gathered and has no real reason to try and cause conflict with Mo Hanying as he constantly spar's and neither would Mo Hanying have any real reason to cause pointless conflict with Zhuan since it is not her philosophy to just start it out of the blue.
like even disregarding that both Mo Hanying and Zhuan Kun have REASON to have points of conflict with Geng.
Mo obviously because both us and Nokai don't like him and their vying for influence over Nokai for different reasons.
Zhuan because he took away a talented sparring partner.
"Of course!" Ong Fu shoots back. "Did you hear? Yuen Yin has left Lord Zhuan's company!"
Cho Pao rolls his eyes. "How exactly is that news?" he grunts out in between shovelfuls. "People leave Lord Zhuan's company every week."
"Oh, but this is different," Ong Fu responds. She leans forward on her fence, a catlike smile growing on her face at the sheer joy of imparting such news. "Yuen Yin did not leave because she could not handle Lord Zhuan's training regime. She left because Lord Geng made her an offer."
The words are enough to give Cho Pao pause. "Wait, Yuen Yin accepted an offer from Lord Geng? I thought that she despised his court!"
"She does!" Ong Fu answers. "Or at least, she did! But-"
***
"-it appears her hatred only ran as far as Luo Kuei," Cho Pao continues. "The two encountered each other in Elder Fensui's training and developed a hearty disdain for each other. Lord Geng supported Luo Kuei, but when Yuen Yin's talents became apparent, he was happy to trade out his services for hers."
Qu Ying shakes his head even as he reaches out his hand. Cho Pao obligingly passes over a small jar which Qu Ying upends over the plucked bird in front of him. A quick exercise of anam ignites the flame and soon, the savory smell of crisping duck begins to waft through the house they share. "That… I cannot say I am surprised, but that seems awfully hasty of Lord Geng. Yuen Yin may have superior talent, but Luo Kuei was loyal without question."
"You would think so!" Cho Pao responds. "But it seems that Luo Kuei was not as loyal as he appears. I heard that he was in attendance for a round of Lady Mo's competition."
"So was half the sect," Qu Ying responds. The Immortal Chef scrutinizes his entree carefully. He will only have a narrow window to remove it from the heat before too much fat would have rendered and the meat would become dry and tough . "That is hardly grounds for distrust. "
"It was enough for Lord Geng," comes the answer. "He was only too happy to allow a duel that Luo Kuei could not flee from. Apparently, that was the price of Yuen Yin's solemn oath of loyalty. They say it was over in moments."
Qu Ying is only half paying attention. His hands dart out, ignoring the flames of his oven, and pluck the duck from it's resting place. Once his prize is secure he turns back to his friend and tears off a leg. As he offers it, he muses, "What a shame for poor Luo Kuei. To have Lord Geng's patronage ripped from you because you chose the wrong afternoon's entertainment."
Yes you got this right, fucking Geng yeeted his loyal follower for fucking attending Mo's event and duel which half the sect attended just to yeet talent away from Zhuan Kuns group.
Lol, both Zhuan and Mo have more points in common for shared conflict with Geng, while conflict between Zhuan and Mo Hanying is just fluff we got from people commenting on the big three nobles in the sect.
Mo made this tournament to observe our character so let's try something out of the ball park for her. Try to develop a connection with Zhuan and have him attend Mo Hanyings crafting tournement.
I can imagine the reeing from Geng when he hears of the nuetral noble appearing with Mo Hanying and what better way to introduce ourselves then to have a charm to face punch Zhuan Kun good.
"Oh, there was no coincidence to it," Mo Hanying answers freely. "I asked one of my childhood friends to keep an eye on several people while I was in closed cultivation. You happened to make a very short list with some elite company."
You don't need to be a genius to figure out what that means. "So you've been spying on me," you bite back. "What… why?"
"Because of a saying my Father once told me," Mo Hanying replies calmly. "'A soldier lost in confusion cannot help but wander into an enemy's spear.' And frankly Kong Zhi, you confuse me. I thought it prudent to remedy that."
"...I confuse you?" you ask. "That is quite the statement. I have left every conversation we have ever had more baffled than I was going in."
"Thank you!" she answers promptly. Still, despite the contents of your conversation, she stretches. "But this is no time for further flattery. Yes, Kong Zhi, you confuse me. You are an aloof charmcrafter who is the sole son of a clan Patriarch who has held his seat uncontested for decades and yet has only one child. You strike the very ideal image of a dedicated artisan, save for the times you lower your miststeel and raise your fists. You care little for the affairs of the sect and your fellows, save those times that you do. It is quite bewildering."
"Have you considered asking me to assuage your curiosity?" you reply. "Perhaps asking a question would do more to help you pierce whatever mystery I offer better than another hidden test?"
Mo Hanying snorts. "Ah, sometimes I wish more were like you, Kong Zhi. The world would be a far more interesting place."
"But very well; we shall try to do this your way," she stops stretching and straightens up, looking you in the eye. "I have one sole question for you: why?"
Her interest in us as a person is how wierd, blunt, and strange in how we go about gettig our results, first it was the night we slept in her hut, the next it was participating in her duel despite being a crafter, next was us surprisingly being honest and seeking a good friendship with Nokai, next was her laughing at us for training Teng Lim who was spying on us, next was her realizing we knew so little on her family that she had to explain to us because Zhi to BUSY CRAFTING, and finally it is whatever the fuck happened to us and our limbs, joining a strange unknown elder, us leading an expedition into the deeps despite being a crafter, and so much more.
If we don't fucking go crash through a wall like kool aid man and say "OHHH YEAHHHH" when attending Mo's final judging toruney then what the fuck was our spamming of craft FV for?
I don't see any real reason for a point of conflict between Mo Hanying and Zhuan Kun so i don't see any harm no foul. Mo doesn't start pointless conflicts and to be honest both Zhuan and Mo have more reasons for shared interest in conflict with Geng considering he yeeted one of Zhuan Kuns talents who he may have been interested in like he did for Sun Yujin.
Let's fucking try lads, we have so many interesting actions to do, we could spar with Zhuan's group and develop Zhi's combat skills or hell even our friends. We can explore and do so much, is adding training via a duplicate of us that we'll outlevel once FV done really an action worth adding lads?
Let's fucking try to get Zhuan Kun in the comp mates, I really see litle reason for conflict of interests if we bring him in and Mo doesn't start pointless conflicts and may be interested in an introduction to him if possible and it would be fucking WACK.
Anywho, that's my read on Mo and Zhuan and why I think the fear of angering Mo or Zhuan to be a bit overblown.
As many leave Zhuan's group and he doesn't rage at them like Geng does. Let's cause Geng a heart attack mates.