Chapter 1057

The path of the demonic god may well be a road paved with mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

That Mr. Tu has already committed atrocities too numerous to record.

The atrocities he is yet to commit are the true horror.

Mo Hua's gaze was heavy.

Only he, the "Fierce God" who has clashed repeatedly with the demonic god, understands the secrets within.

The other sect prodigies cannot comprehend them.

They merely gaze upon the dark, bloody demon valley, struck by fear—but clearly fail to grasp what true "fear" is.

They are still young, their blood hot and bold; after a brief moment of dread, a fierce righteous fury rises within them.

Especially the prodigies of the Sida Sect—they were always heaven-chosen above all others, tricked by demonic cultivators to this point, even forced to turn on their own sectmates; beneath their pain, they had long been seething with rage.

Now that a chance to escape death lies before them, they naturally wish to fight hard, break through directly, and wipe away their shame.

Ao Zheng clenched his fists until they crackled like thunder, and said coldly:

"These flesh demons are nothing. If we, the Qianxue prodigies, unite and charge straight through, we will surely carve a path of blood."

His words carried great passion, and others quickly echoed:

"Good!"

"Charge! Kill demons if they stand in our way, slay devils if they block us!"

But those who responded were mostly disciples of the Sida Sect; the Eight Gate disciples barely spoke at all.

Among the Sida Sect, Ao Zheng and Shen Cangfeng and a few others, though their blood boiled, had not lost reason; before charging, they glanced at Mo Hua, as if seeking his approval.

Mo Hua nodded and said calmly:

"You can try charging."

Hearing this, Ao Zheng grew uncertain, probing: "Really? We can try?"

"Try it. Worst case, you just die…"

Mo Hua's expression remained utterly calm.

Ao Zheng and the others fell silent.

They realized Mo Hua was mocking them.

Mo Hua glanced at them, exhaled sharply, and said with exasperation: "When you make decisions, don't you have any sense of your own strength?"

"Before you fight, don't you assess whether you can even win?"

"Don't you first weigh your own worth?"

"Can you possibly defeat so many demons? Can your reckless courage possibly kill them all?"

"Carve a path of blood?"

"On that path of blood, it's your own blood that will flow—what meaning is there in carving it out? Do you want to die faster?"

The Sida Sect prodigies were scolded into silence by Mo Hua, the Profound Heaven Sect disciple, yet not one dared to retort—they could only pretend to be dead.

Dead.

Seeing they had quieted, Mo Hua said no more.

These prodigies had been geniuses since childhood, always towering above their peers, rarely facing rivals even among their own sect—believing that if their cultivation was high and their strength great, they could slaughter anyone alone, utterly failing to grasp the importance of "quantity."

Quality surpasses quantity.

But extreme quantity is itself more terrifying than quality.

Even high-level cultivators can be overwhelmed and crushed to death by oceans of low-level disciples throwing their lives away.

The demons in this valley, individually, may not seem powerful—but their numbers are unimaginable; once swamped by their tidal wave, even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, let alone ordinary Jin Dan cultivators, would have no chance of survival.

Sister Situ asked: "Little Brother, what do we do now?"

Mo Hua sighed faintly: "Let's go back. I'll think of a way."

The group could only retrace their steps, returning to the Array Core Hall.

This hall was no place to stay long—but for now, there was simply no better refuge.

Within the hall, all the prodigy disciples frowned, deeply troubled.

Outside the valley, the dense, ocean-like demons formed an impassable chasm; with their strength, they could never kill them all or break through.

Earlier, they had been relieved that few demonic cultivators guarded the evil array within Yanluoshan—but now it was clear: with so many demons guarding the gate, Yanluoshan itself was a mountain of demons, making it unnecessary to station many demonic cultivators at all.

Mo Hua also frowned in thought.

The Great Desert Blood Sacrifice Array nurtured countless demons.

These countless demons were both the "offerings" of the array and its foundational pillars.

Once the array activated, the demons would surge forth without restraint, causing massive slaughter and continuously supplying the array with more "offerings."

And these demons were extremely sensitive to the scent of flesh.

Once they crossed the bridge above the valley, they would inevitably be surrounded and slaughtered.

None of them could possibly resist these demons.

Moreover, the only passage above the valley was that stone bridge.

Mo Hua didn't need to think much—he could deduce from his experience as an array master that the bridge was surely lined with trap arrays.

It might even have self-destruct arrays installed.

Once they stepped onto it, the bridge would collapse, plunging them into the demon valley—everyone would surely die.

"What do we do?"

"If we can't do it ourselves, can we borrow strength?"

Mo Hua frowned tightly, then suddenly asked the group: "Can your sect tokens still be used? Try."

All the sect prodigies withdrew their sect tokens and attempted to activate them.

Then they all shook their heads in turn:

"The Sect Command Seal hasn't reacted at all…"

"Do any of you have personal message seals?"

A few disciples took out specially made message seals, tried to establish contact, and all shook their heads: "No luck."

Mo Hua nodded, not surprised at all.

If the Sect Command Seals or message seals could be used, someone would've already tried.

Inside the evil array, ordinary electromagnetic fluctuations must all be blocked.

Since Mr. Tu set up such a grand scheme, he must have planned thoroughly—he wouldn't make such a basic mistake and leave loopholes for them.

But they couldn't possibly avoid using electromagnetic energy altogether.

An evil array of this scale, involved in such a vast conspiracy, couldn't operate without central coordination.

Without some form of "messaging" capability, even coordinated action would be impossible.

Mo Hua glanced at the corpse of the evil array master, then at the loot taken from the corpse, and said:

"Pry open all the teeth of these evil array masters, one by one, and check again—see if any tokens are hidden inside."

"Also, go through every storage pouch again and find every single token for me."

Though none understood Mo Hua's intent, they all followed his orders—some pried teeth, others rummaged through storage pouches. Soon, Mo Hua held seven or eight tokens.

These tokens were mostly made of bone, bloody and sinister, all "escaped fish."

After all, evil array masters acted deceptively—over eighty of them—and with time so tight, even Mo Hua's sharpness couldn't possibly strip every corpse clean in one pass.

Mo Hua examined each token one by one, discarding most, keeping only one.

This token was not made of bone, but of jade, inscribed with two ancient, rugged characters:

Da Huang.

"Da Huang Token?"

Mo Hua was slightly surprised, studied it further, and discovered this token was, in fact, a "Sect Command Seal."

"Da Huang… Sect?"

Mo Hua felt the name was familiar, but couldn't immediately place it.

Moreover, with only the two characters "Da Huang," he couldn't be certain the sect's name was Da Huang Sect.

It was more likely a faction that venerated the "Lord of Da Huang."

"If it's a Sect Command Seal, it must sustain a sect force, carry its sect's lineage, and allow communication among sect members."

"Since this token was found on an evil array master, its electromagnetic signals must have been 'permitted' by the evil array."

Mo Hua's eyes lit up, and he began studying the "Da Huang Token."

This Da Huang Token was "encrypted" and sealed—unusable by outsiders.

But such encryption couldn't stop Mo Hua, the Thunder-Magnetic Array Master.

Having studied thunder-magnetic array techniques for a long time, he was thoroughly familiar with decrypting such seals.

He had all the necessary tools stored in his Nai Zi Ring, just in case.

Mo Hua took out several sub-thunder-mark libraries, jade slips, and array plates related to "thunder-magnetic," laid them neatly on the ground, and began skillfully performing precise, complex seal-breaking and crypt-decoding.

This was likewise a highly advanced and obscure array art.

The other disciples watched, utterly baffled, but inwardly, they were already numb.

No matter what array Mo Hua conjured, they no longer found it astonishing—even no longer felt inferior.

One only compares oneself to humans, not to "demons."

Different species—no point forcing a comparison.

After a complex but orderly sequence of operations, Mo Hua finally broke the seal, unraveled the crypt, and penetrated the Da Huang Token.

Inside the Da Huang Token, there were indeed some sect techniques and Dao methods—but they were black-gray, as if deliberately "sealed," their contents obscured.

Mo Hua was curious, but knew the situation was urgent—this was no time to break seals and steal lineages.

He turned his focus entirely to the "messaging" magnetic marks within the Da Huang Token.

The Da Huang Token contained numerous magnetic pathways and dense sub-thunder-mark traces, meaning it held connections to many "sect members," and its owner had exchanged frequent messages with them.

The owner of the Da Huang Token was a dead evil array master who served Mr. Tu.

That meant the numerous "Da Huang" sect members were all Mr. Tu's underlings.

That meant Mo Hua could use the Da Huang Token to send messages out.

Mo Hua felt a surge of joy—but then froze:

"Send it out… but to whom?"

"Anyone who receives a Da Huang Token message must be one of Mr. Tu's underlings. Am I sending a plea for help to Mr. Tu's own men?"

Isn't that helping myself get caught?

Mo Hua rested his chin in his hand, frowning in thought.

Though trapped inside the blood sacrifice array and unaware of what had happened outside, he could still deduce from general logic:

"Hundreds of heaven-favored prodigies from Qianxue Province were forcibly dragged by Mr. Tu into this evil array—no sect, no clan, not even Dao Ting Si, could remain inactive…"

"They must be attempting to break the array, rescue their sect prodigies—or at least capture and slaughter some of the demonic cult's underlings to weaken the array's power."

"If conflict erupts, some of Mr. Tu's underlings must have fallen—or died—at Dao Ting Si's hands."

"Is it possible… that similar demonic cult 'tokens' have also been seized by Qianxue Dao Ting Si?"

"If I transmit a 'rescue' magnetic signal onto those tokens, Dao Ting Si might receive it—and then, from within and without, rescue the trapped prodigies of Qianxue's sects…"

Could there be a possibility... that similar evil cultivator 'tokens' have fallen into the hands of the Dao Ting Si?

As long as the 'distress' magnetic patterns are transmitted onto these tokens, they might be received by the Dao Ting Si, enabling an inside-outside pincer movement to rescue the imprisoned prodigies from the various sects of Qianxue...

But this brought up another problem:

Mo Hua himself couldn't tell which tokens had fallen into the hands of Dao Ting Si, and which might still be in the claws of Mr. Tu.

He could only send them out randomly.

If he sent the wrong one, Mr. Tu's claws might spot it immediately, exposing everything.

What to do…

Mo Hua's gaze sharpened, and suddenly a thought stirred in his heart.

"Let's try…"

At a time like this, you had to rely on luck—and a little "understanding."

Using the Thunder-Magnet Doll, Mo Hua manipulated the magnetic patterns, inputting commands into the Great Wilderness Token to form text:

"Gu Changhuai has committed countless evils; he is the greatest thorn in my master's heart."

"He slew the Venerable Huo Fotuo, destroyed the Bishan Holy Temple, killed the Water Yama, blew up the Rouge Boat, caused chaos in the Long Wang Temple—his crimes are countless, deserving death."

"Now that the great array is complete, believers, heed this command: spare no cost to kill Gu Changhuai—failure is not an option!"

…

At this moment, both sides were surely thinking only of killing each other.

To kill, one must kill the "greatest threat."

And Uncle Gu was clearly on the "must-kill" list of the demonic god.

This message, buried among chaotic ones, would not seem odd even if noticed.

After writing it, Mo Hua sent it out in a mass broadcast.

Many demonic god claws, demonic cultivators, evil cultivators, and devil cultivators received this message.

Some of these devil cultivators had originally been ordered to kill Gu Changhuai; receiving this message was normal.

The vast majority of devil cultivators were violent and bloodthirsty; they glanced at it and ignored it.

After all, they only wanted to kill—anyone they saw, they killed; they didn't care whether the target was "Gu Changhuai" or not.

But while they ignored it, someone could not overlook it.

Outside Luoshan, in a camp.

A group of Dao Ting Si Gu Diansi gathered, staring at the blood-red sky and the astonishing great array in the distance, their hearts burning with anxiety.

The finest prodigies of the Four Si Sects, Eight Gates, and Twelve Schools of Qian Xue were all trapped inside the array.

These prodigies were tied to the great families of Qian Xue—this matter was far too significant.

If these disciples could be rescued, Dao Ting Si might at least have something to explain.

But if they failed to rescue them, and all these prodigies died inside the array, it would surely spark a catastrophic disaster.

Dao Ting Si would have to take the blame, whether they wanted to or not.

If the various factions blamed them, these Gu Diansi might all lose their positions.

Worse still, those who held the rank of Gu Diansi in Dao Ting Si were mostly from noble families.

Among the trapped prodigies were their own descendants or nephews, bearing the entire family's hopes and future—now hanging by a thread—how could they not be desperate?

But the demonic array before them was truly powerful and strange.

Dao Ting Si, together with the various sects and clans, had attacked for days without finding a breakthrough, losing many men instead.

The blood-red array of Luoshan was like a bloody "colossus," seated in the mountains, endlessly devouring life, absorbing blood qi, growing stronger, giving them no chance to strike.

The blood-colored grand array atop Yanluo Mountain was like a "colossal beast" of blood, seated within the mountain, ceaselessly devouring living beings and absorbing blood qi, growing ever stronger, giving them no opening to act at all.

They still did not know whether the sect prodigies inside were alive or dead.

Even "death" was not the worst possibility.

If they were corrupted by demonic qi and fell into the devil path, it would bring shame upon the noble families and clans—and with their extraordinary talent, they might even be exploited by the devil path, rising in the future to become monstrous, blood-soaked devil lords…

Once tainted by evil qi and fallen into the demonic path, it would undoubtedly bring disgrace upon one's Shijiahe Sect, and might even — thanks to such an outstanding natural talent — be exploited by the demonic path instead, growing in the future into a mass-murdering, sin-ridden demonic overlord…

The Dao Ting Si officials felt a massive stone pressing on their hearts, suffocating them.

All they could do was hurry, spare no cost, and prepare for the next assault.

Hoping that in repeated attacks, they might find a weakness in the array.

While the Gu Diansi were deliberating, an officer quietly approached Gu Changhuai and handed him a crude, unmarked token, whispering:

"Gu Diansi, be careful—someone seems to be deliberately trying to kill you…"

Gu Changhuai frowned: "Who?"

The officer pointed at the token: "Take a look yourself…"

Gu Changhuai took the token, glanced at it briefly, and paid it little mind.

He was a Gu Diansi of Dao Ting Si—he did a job that made enemies, arresting and killing many; countless demonic and evil cultivators wanted him dead.

In recent days, he had received countless messages like this.

Gu Changhuai returned the token and ordered: "Keep watching these tokens—if you find any unusual messages, notify me immediately."

Since becoming familiar with Mo Hua, influenced by him, Gu Changhuai had become highly sensitive to "letter tokens."

Now, Mo Hua was trapped inside the array, his fate unknown—Gu Changhuai said nothing aloud, but inwardly he was anxious.

He thought of Mo Hua's sharp mind, diverse methods, and especially his mastery of electromagnetic letter transmission—perhaps Mo Hua could send a message out through the letter tokens; thus, among all spoils, any item capable of transmitting messages, Gu Changhuai seized and ordered strict surveillance—any anomaly, he must be informed immediately.

Unfortunately, so far, Gu Changhuai had received no message from Mo Hua.

Other newly assigned, or even Dao Ting Si-reassigned Gu Diansi, thought Gu Changhuai was somewhat "delusional."

Trapped inside a demonic array, cut off from the outside world—how could a Foundation Establishment disciple possibly send a message out?

Other newly transferred Gu Diansi, even those dispatched from the Dao Court, also felt Gu Changhuai was somewhat "fantastical."

They were all sealed inside the Evil Dao Grand Array, cut off from the outside world—how could a Foundation Establishment disciple possibly send a message out?

Gu Changhuai refused to give up, his mind fixed entirely on Mo Hua.

The messenger official bowed his hands and was about to withdraw.

Just as he turned, in a flash, Gu Changhuai suddenly froze and called out, "Wait."

The official looked puzzled. "Gu Diansi..."

Gu Changhuai said, "Show me that token again."

The official respectfully handed the token to Gu Changhuai.

Gu Changhuai took the token and examined it word by word, meticulously, then drew in a sharp breath and murmured:

"Mo Hua..."

The other Diansi preparing for battle heard this and looked over in surprise.

Xia Diansi, elegant and beautiful, asked Gu Changhuai, "What's wrong?"

Gu Changhuai stared blankly, barely believing it: "This message... came from Mo Hua."

At these words, everyone's expressions turned shocked.

Xia Diansi glanced at the text on the token and saw nothing unusual; she frowned and asked, "Are you certain?"

Gu Changhuai nodded.

Assassinate the Venerable Huo Fotuo, destroy the Bishan Sacred Hall, kill Shui Yanluo, blow up the Yanzhi Boat, cause chaos in the Long Wang Temple...

On the surface, all these acts indeed appeared linked to Gu Changhuai.

But upon closer thought, many of these acts were in fact carried out by Mo Hua.

For instance, the "assassination of Huo Fotuo"—Gu Changhuai knew this was the official cover story; the true truth was that Mo Hua had pierced Huo Fotuo's heart with a terrifying fireball technique.

In other words, the one who truly killed Huo Fotuo was Mo Hua.

And then there was "the explosion of the Yanzhi Boat."

The Yanzhi Boat was destroyed by an array—and those arrays, too, were crafted by Mo Hua...

Only a handful of those who directly participated in these events knew the true details.

Of those, only two had been involved in all of them and knew every secret.

One was this "scapegoat" Dao Ting Si Diansi.

The other was the "originator," Mo Hua.

That is to say, every detail tied to this message—except for himself—was known only to Mo Hua.

This message, demanding his death at any cost, must have been sent by Mo Hua himself...

This message to "kill him at all costs" must have been sent out through Mo Hua's hands…

(End of Chapter)