Chapter 1242: Mr. Tu?

But… how could this be possible? Struck by tribulation lightning, how could he possibly not be dead?

Unless…

Mo Hua frowned, and relying on his keen causal intuition, immediately had a guess:

"Unless this Mr. Tu has more than one life…"

Mo Hua's heart gave a small jolt.

As the number one hound of the Great Wasteland Evil God, no one knew how long Mr. Tu had actually lived, how many skins he had shed, or how many physical bodies he possessed.

If he could split his flesh, perhaps he could also split his divine sense.

What the tribulation lightning killed was only one of his lives.

If he still had other lives, naturally he could still live.

As long as he had a flesh-body embryo, his memories remained, his inheritance remained, and his faith in the Great Wasteland Evil God remained, he could "live" again.

Although it seemed somewhat unbelievable, placed on Mr. Tu, it was by no means impossible.

A centipede, though dead, does not stiffen — one must not underestimate the cultivation knowledge and experience of these old monsters who have long since abandoned their humanity and lived for a very, very long time.

"Never thought that in the end, it would actually be an 'old acquaintance'…"

Mo Hua muttered to himself, then couldn't help but think again: "If it really is Mr. Tu… what is his purpose?"

"Is he still thinking of… resurrecting the Great Wasteland Evil God?"

"His scheme in the Qianxue State Boundary failed, but that's fine — life always has its failures. As long as the green mountains remain, one need not fear the lack of firewood. After falling, one must get back up; the road of life still goes on. So he thought to make a comeback in the Great Wasteland, lay out a new plan, and for the descent of the Lord of the Great Wasteland, devote himself wholeheartedly once more…"

Mo Hua actually felt a trace of "respect" for Mr. Tu in his heart.

Although Mr. Tu had done every evil deed imaginable, his faith was truly devout, and he was extremely tenacious, unyielding in the face of setbacks for the sake of his ideals.

A person like this, whatever he did, would mostly succeed.

If only he hadn't insisted on resurrecting the Evil God, and hadn't happened to run into me…

But the problem was…

This Great Wasteland — it's Senior Uncle-Master's territory, isn't it?

Could Mr. Tu really resurrect the Great Wasteland Evil God right under Senior Uncle-Master's nose?

The difficulty of this was many times greater than resurrecting the Evil God in the Qianxue State Boundary.

Mo Hua's brow furrowed again. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized a problem: since this Great Wasteland was Senior Uncle-Master's territory, then Mr. Tu's movements and his deeds would certainly not escape Senior Uncle-Master's notice.

Were Mr. Tu's actions tacitly approved by Senior Uncle-Master?

No — going further, were Mr. Tu's actions perhaps… instructed by Senior Uncle-Master?

Was Mr. Tu now working for Senior Uncle-Master?

Mo Hua's heart gave a sudden lurch. For a moment it was hard to believe, but thinking it over carefully, the more he thought, the more reasonable it seemed.

This way, many things could be explained.

Even back in the Qianxue State Boundary, many problems Mo Hua had once found puzzling could now probably be explained.

Including the incident at the Shen family mine, the sinking of the Lonely Mountain Divine Hall, and the subtle, sinister, eerie feeling he had sensed amid the various upheavals.

Behind all of these, perhaps Senior Uncle-Master had secretly intervened and exerted his influence.

Even including Mr. Tu being struck dead by tribulation lightning…

Now that Mo Hua thought about it, he felt this was extremely likely to be Senior Uncle-Master's underhanded move from behind the scenes.

A quasi-third-grade evil-path grand formation, when he had collapsed and detonated it, was certainly immensely powerful — but cultivators of the Feather Transformation realm, if they truly couldn't withstand it, wouldn't they have run?

How could they possibly have been forced to the point of losing control of their cultivation, violating the Heavenly Dao's taboo, and dying under tribulation lightning?

But if Senior Uncle-Master had stepped in, then it would be completely different.

It was Senior Uncle-Master who made them die.

And he made these several Feather Transformation cultivators die in the collapse of the Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice grand formation that they themselves had brewed.

The karma of the Feather Transformation deaths became an iron weight, and along with those myriad fierce ghosts and vengeful spirits, was borne upon his fate.

This way, everything had an explanation.

The more Mo Hua thought, the colder he felt inside.

Then Mr. Tu, now on the soil of the Great Wasteland, on Senior Uncle-Master's chessboard, continuing to spread the evil path and nurture the Evil God — was that also Senior Uncle-Master's will?

Had Mr. Tu, from a believer of the Lord of the Great Wasteland, directly become Senior Uncle-Master's "puppet"?

The corruption of the Savage God was guided by Mr. Tu — then what about the Famine grand formation?

Could it be that behind the scenes, it was also Mr. Tu leading it? Pushing it forward?

Mo Hua suddenly recalled that what Mr. Tu had done in the Qianxue State Boundary was precisely constructing blood sacrifice grand formations and nurturing Evil Gods.

Now returned to the Great Wasteland, what he was doing was also advancing the Famine grand formation and polluting the Evil God.

Could this also be considered… the right specialty, the right experience?

Senior Uncle-Master had precisely taken note of this point about Mr. Tu, so he set up a scheme to kill one of his lives, then designed to lure the still-surviving Mr. Tu to the Great Wasteland, so that he himself could build grand formations, spread famine, nurture Evil Gods, and create calamities?

In an instant, Mo Hua's thoughts spun rapidly, linking all of this together, and he couldn't help but feel a chill down his back.

Within these matters he had never thought through carefully, there were actually so many intricate connections hidden.

Senior Uncle-Master's scheming was truly unfathomable.

These were things he could think of now — but in events he hadn't thought of, or hadn't experienced, would Senior Uncle-Master's shadow also be present?

So this is… the rumored "Guile" Daoist…

Mo Hua's expression was utterly solemn.

Beside him, Lord Lugu and Chifeng were also seeing for the first time this present-world demon and Divine-Walking Lord Wuzhu of their hearts display such a grave, even somewhat terrifying, expression.

Mo Hua came back to himself and looked toward Elder She.

"Mr. Tu… Elder She…"

He suddenly remembered—back when he was at the border of Qianxue Province and had entered the Evil God fishing village to save Xiaoshunzi and Xiaoshuizi, he had indeed encountered someone who called himself "Master She."

This person had been locked into the Dao Prison, and later whether he died or not, Mo Hua couldn't remember clearly. He only remembered that this "Master She" had once said he had a trace of Great Wasteland Jin Dan bloodline in him.

The surname "She"—if he wasn't someone from within the Jin Dan, he was likely a noble who Zhen Shifeng the Jin Dan, or else he was of the Lord Wuzhu clan.

Mr. Tu, too, had once been a Lord Wuzhu of the Great Wasteland.

Counting it this way, Mr. Tu and this Elder She did indeed share some connection, and indeed could be considered this Elder She's "senior."

Mo Hua studied Elder She for a moment and asked, "That Tu… senior, what else did he tell you?"

Elder She said, "Nothing else. That elder only told me some secret arts, letting me borrow power from… the heavens, with all manner of uncanny, spirit-and-ghost-defying might."

"Borrowing power from 'the heavens'…" Mo Hua's gaze darkened slightly. "Or borrowing power from the 'Divine Lord'?"

Elder She was Sun Yi Leng, then his face changed drastically. "You… how do you know? How do you know I was praying to the Divine Lord for blessing?"

These were words that senior had told him alone; he had never leaked them to outsiders.

Every time he drew those uncanny, spirit-defying holy patterns, he recited the Divine Lord's honored name in secret.

Chifeng sneered, "You falsely take the 'Divine Lord's' name—how could my lord the Lord Wuzhu not know?"

Elder She's expression went pale; clearly he was beginning to doubt himself.

Yet Mo Hua's expression held a trace of something strange.

In truth, there were some things he couldn't easily say.

The "Divine Lord" this Elder She worshipped was, in fact, the true "Divine Lord" of the Great Wasteland.

The "Divine Lord" he himself, as a Lord Wuzhu, proclaimed was, in fact, the false one.

All the divine miracles stemmed from his own divine-path abilities; there had never been any Divine Lord bestowing blessings upon him.

But no one knew this, and Mo Hua would not allow anyone to know.

"Where is that senior you speak of now?" Mo Hua asked.

Elder She said, "That senior appears and disappears like a spirit. To this day, I've only met him once; I don't know his whereabouts."

Mo Hua frowned.

And so the trail went cold again…

Unable to find "Mr. Tu," many things were left hanging.

Mo Hua looked at Elder She, his gaze somewhat piercing, deep as pool water.

Elder She's eyes flickered for an instant, and Mo Hua said, "That's not right—you're still hiding something from me."

Elder She hurriedly said, "No, Mr., your insight is like a torch—I wouldn't dare conceal anything…"

Mo Hua paid no heed to his flattery. He quickly ran through the whole sequence of cause and effect in his mind, and amid the tangled events, soon caught another thread of karmic connection:

The Shugu Tribe!

Raising evil gods—any tribe could do it.

But so far, the Bifang Tribe seemed especially "fond" of the Shugu Tribe.

Back then, in the Shugu Secret Branch, that ox-bone half-evil god was very likely something the Bifang Tribe had deliberately raised.

They had used some scheme or other to lure the barbarian god into depravity within the Shugu Secret Branch, breed out an evil god, and create disaster.

Then, with Bi Jie leading the charge and Elder She secretly directing things, they launched a full-scale assault on the Shugu Secret Branch.

Only, Mr. Tu had perhaps truly only passed down some "clever shortcut" divine-path arrays; he hadn't passed down a single bit of truly exquisite divine-path knowledge.

Thus, although the Bifang Tribe had indeed raised an evil god, they had no proper follow-up methods. As a result, the two Jin Dan cultivators and over two hundred barbarian soldiers of the Bifang Tribe who rashly entered the divine temple all died at the hands of the very evil god they themselves had polluted into being.

In a certain sense, it was karmic retribution.

The later destruction of the General Shi Gu Tribe, though partly because the Shugu Tribe's great chieftain feared the General Shi Gu clan's merit eclipsing his own, was also secretly manipulated by the Bifang Tribe.

But the question arose…

"Why does the Bifang Tribe so badly want to harm the Shugu Tribe? Why specifically target the Shugu Tribe's barbarian god for depravity?"

This question, Mo Hua hadn't paid much attention to before.

Because in the Barbarian Wastes, that was simply how things were.

Wanting to harm someone needed no reason.

Between any two tribes, going back three generations, there was likely some grudge.

Between one another, as long as they stayed together, conflict was bound to arise; any small clash would grow into hatred, then into battle, and finally into a kill-or-be-killed war between tribes.

Therefore, Mo Hua wasn't at all surprised that the Bifang Tribe was targeting the Shugu Tribe.

Just as he himself was targeting the Bifang Tribe, and had also tricked the Shugu Tribe.

But now, with Mr. Tu's shadow appearing in this matter, it was very likely no longer a simple matter of tribal grudges.

A master chess player doesn't make idle moves.

So it was with his martial uncle, and so it was with Mr. Tu.

He had passed the divine-path array down to Elder She.

Afterward, Elder She began to make moves against the Shugu Tribe's barbarian god.

This suggested that this matter was very likely Mr. Tu's own "instruction."

He lent the divine-path inheritance to Elder She for the purpose of making him move against the Shugu Tribe.

But the question was… why?

Why did Mr. Tu insist on moving against the Shugu Tribe?

In doing so, he must have had some other intention.

Could it be… he wanted to obtain something from within the Shugu Tribe?

Or even more, it was actually martial uncle who wanted to obtain something from the Shugu Tribe?

Just what was there inside the Shugu Tribe?

Watching Mo Hua looked at Elder She, just about to ask, when he suddenly became aware of Lord Lugu beside him. He thought for a moment, then held the question back.

Some things he could deduce on his own; he didn't need to ask to know.

Even if he asked, Elder She might not tell the truth, and since it concerned Mr. Tu, he had to be all the more cautious.

"Mr. Tu… the Bonecraft Division…"

Watching Mo Hua thought for a moment, then pointed at Elder She and said to Chifeng beside him, "Cripple his four limbs, don't let him run. Take him back for further interrogation."

"Alright." Chifeng nodded, immediately struck out, crippling Elder She's four limbs, and bound him with chains.

Elder She cursed Watching Mo Hua furiously in his heart, yet did not dare make a sound.

Chifeng took Elder She back first.

In the night, Lord Lugu's gaze was dark and sullen. He was about to follow back as well, when he was suddenly called to a halt by Watching Mo Hua.

"Lord Lugu."

Lord Lugu turned his head and looked at Watching Mo Hua.

Watching Mo Hua looked back at Lord Lugu, his gaze clear and penetrating, as if he had seen straight through Lord Lugu's intent: "This Elder She cannot be killed yet."

Lord Lugu's intent had been seen through, but his face showed no ripple.

Watching Mo Hua was a "demon"—naturally able to peer into the human heart.

Yet his meaning remained utterly firm, his eyes filled with indifference: "The Bifang Division murdered my elder brother. Every single person of the Bifang Division must die."

Watching Mo Hua said, "This man, I still have use for."

But Lord Lugu remained unmoved. Being useful to Watching Mo Hua held no meaning whatsoever for him.

In other matters, he might fear Watching Mo Hua and compromise a little, but before the Bifang Division, which bore the grudge of "killing his brother," he had only one choice: kill them all, root and branch.

In fact, for him to have the patience to let Watching Mo Hua ask so many questions without killing Elder She was already giving Watching Mo Hua face.

Watching Mo Hua knew Lord Lugu was stubborn. His gaze flickered slightly, and he opened his mouth to ask:

"You want to avenge your elder brother, but have you realized that the Bifang Division is not truly your enemy? Without the Bifang Division, there would be other tribes. So long as someone wants your elder brother dead, he would have died sooner or later."

Lord Lugu's gaze was icy, his expression ugly.

He knew exactly who Watching Mo Hua was referring to.

The Great Chieftain of the Bonecraft Division.

Without the Great Chieftain's tacit approval and covert aid, even if the Bifang Division were stronger, they might not necessarily have been able to deal with a great general of his Bonecraft Division—especially one as powerful as General Shi Gu.

"You want to take revenge on the Bifang Division, but don't you want to take revenge on the Great Chieftain of the Bonecraft Division?" Watching Mo Hua's voice was somewhat low. "Or is it that… toward the Bifang Division you burn with hatred, but toward your own tribe's Great Chieftain you would bow down and submit, letting bygones be bygones?"

Lord Lugu looked at Watching Mo Hua, a hint of barely suppressed fury already in his eyes.

Watching Mo Hua said no more. After all, he was not truly a demon of this world—he was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

If Lord Lugu truly flew into a rage, he himself would be in great danger.

Lord Lugu's expression was icy. After a moment of thought, he asked, "What exactly does Lord Wuzhu mean by all this?"

Watching Mo Hua said directly, "Listen to me, and I can help you."

Lord Lugu's eyelid twitched. "Help me?"

Watching Mo Hua nodded. His voice carried not a trace of beguilement, his words calm, yet as if a heart-stirring demon:

"I will help you storm into the Bonecraft Division's main camp, kill the Great Chieftain of the Bonecraft Division, and avenge your elder brother."

(End of chapter)