Chapter 275: The Managers

Mr. Zhu had spoken to Mo Hua about the contemplation maps.

In the cultivation world, there were no cultivation methods to train the spirit sense; the only way to enhance the spirit sense through external means was via contemplation maps.

Contemplation maps were extremely rare, and even among powerful clans and aristocratic families, they were secret heirlooms.

The Third Manager—the middle-aged malevolent array master Mo Hua had previously seen.

He had become a Grade-One Array Master and even had potential to break into Grade-Two; he must have inherited array techniques.

And after all these years in Great Heishan, he had killed countless cultivators and seized vast amounts of cultivation resources and lineages; having a contemplation map was not surprising.

Mo Hua was deeply curious.

He had long wanted to know what a contemplation map truly was.

Could one really enhance the spirit sense merely by contemplating the image?

But Mr. Zhu had warned him that contemplation maps carried unknown dangers—do not probe too deeply, do not rely on them—and so Mo Hua had not taken it seriously before.

Even without using a contemplation map to enhance the spirit sense, just seeing one would be enlightening.

The Third Manager might possess one right now.

If the contemplation map truly could enhance the spirit sense through contemplation, perhaps he could attain the spirit sense required for Foundation Establishment sooner, and become a Foundation Establishment cultivator earlier.

Otherwise, at the current rate of spirit sense growth, reaching Foundation Establishment would take far too long.

Mo Hua felt a flicker of excitement, but after thinking it over, he grew discouraged.

The Third Manager was not only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but also a malevolent array master.

How could he possibly get a chance to steal the map?

Not even stealing—just hiding nearby to observe alongside him would likely be extremely dangerous.

"Forget it. If one day I can completely dismantle Great Heishan, then I'll think of a way to get that map."

Besides, this was only his speculation.

The thing the Third Manager held might not even be a contemplation map—it could just be a rare array diagram.

Right now, gathering intelligence was more urgent.

Mo Hua calmed his mind and continued eavesdropping quietly.

After the scar-faced man finished speaking, the pale-faced man looked startled and asked, "What kind of map?"

The scar-faced man refused to answer.

The pale-faced man kept prattling, until the scar-faced man finally snapped and cursed:

"How the hell should I know? Do I have enough heads to go looking at the Third Manager's things?"

The pale-faced man sighed in regret, then asked again:

"You've been here a long time—have you ever seen the First Manager?"

The pale-faced man had joined the gang later and knew less; the scar-faced man had been here longer and had more seniority.

But when it came to the First Manager, the scar-faced man shook his head:

"The First Manager appears and vanishes like a divine dragon—no one, not even elders older than me in the stockade, have necessarily seen him."

The pale-faced man asked again: "What about the other managers?"

The scar-faced man glanced at him. "You want to become a manager?"

The pale-faced man chuckled awkwardly, but inwardly thought: Isn't that obvious?

Who in Great Heishan didn't want to be a manager?

Becoming a manager meant absolute control within Great Heishan—far higher status than ordinary malevolent cultivators, vastly more power, and the freedom to do whatever you wanted.

A flicker of greed passed through the pale-faced man's eyes.

The scar-faced man saw through his thoughts and mocked: "Then let me tell you—consider whether you're even cut out for it."

"If you want to be a manager, first you must be a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"The managers of Great Heishan—the First Manager is inscrutable; the Second Manager is cold-blooded, with an extreme killing instinct."

"The Second Manager hasn't been seen these past few days; word is the First Manager ordered everyone to lay low recently, but the Second Manager couldn't suppress his bloodlust and went to another Xiancheng to kill people."

"The Third Manager is an array master—his status, you should understand. Every single array in Great Heishan, from start to finish, was laid out by him. Aside from the First Manager, no one dares offend him."

"As for the Fourth Manager—the previous Fourth Manager died; this one is newly promoted. He likes to drink blood—cross him, and you'll be drained into a dried corpse."

The scar-faced man sneered: "Which one's position do you think you could replace to become a manager?"

The pale-faced man's face twitched, yet he still boasted:

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—no one can say for sure what the future holds."

The scar-faced man snorted coldly. "Thirty years from now, you'll probably be dead."

Being a malevolent cultivator in Great Heishan was no safe life—let alone reaching Foundation Establishment or becoming a manager, few even lived to die of old age.

The two glared at each other in silence and drank their wine in solitude.

Mo Hua sat quietly, pondering.

His guess was right—Great Heishan indeed had four managers!

He had seen the Third and Fourth Managers.

The Second Manager was away and hadn't returned.

The First Manager appeared and vanished like a divine dragon—likely either in seclusion or not in the stockade at all.

In other words, Mo Hua only needed to watch out for the Third and Fourth Managers.

Avoid them, and he would be safe.

The only thing troubling Mo Hua was the First Manager's cultivation level.

As the First Manager, he must be the original malevolent cultivator who founded Great Heishan.

With so many ruthless malevolent cultivators under him, his cultivation level must be extremely high.

He didn't know whether the man was at mid-Foundation Establishment or late-Foundation Establishment.

If he truly was mid- to late-Foundation Establishment, that would be terrifying.

Master Yu is only at early-Foundation Establishment—how could anyone possibly fight him?

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

But this wasn't something he could worry about; right now, he should focus on drawing the map and gathering more intelligence.

In the following days, Mo Hua began drawing the map of Great Heishan Shanzhai.

He marked every road, building, dwelling of the evil cultivators, and iron cages holding captured cultivators, starting from the mountain gate.

He also noted which areas had which arrays and what to watch out for.

He used the arrays to reverse-engineer the layout of Great Heishan Shanzhai's structures.

Even for those doors tightly shut, sealed off from all view, Mo Hua could roughly guess their purposes.

At night, Mo Hua still secretly listened to Scarface and Whiteface talking.

The evil cultivators in Great Heishan Shanzhai rarely spoke.

These two were exceptions.

Probably because they were on night watch—without conversation, they'd be unbearably bored.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, hid nearby, listening to them, hoping to catch useful information.

In Great Heishan Shanzhai, danger lurked everywhere; Mo Hua couldn't practice arrays on the Dao Stele at night.

But if he slipped into his soul sea for a moment and meditated before the Dao Stele, even without sleep, he still remained spirited.

At night, the Fourth Boss went out to drink blood, and the Third Boss stayed locked inside.

For Mo Hua, this was the safest time.

Scarface and Whiteface chatted for a long time, then suddenly began arguing again.

Mo Hua caught the gist of it.

Scarface had a terrifying appearance, yet he cultivated the Twin Cultivation technique.

Whiteface, pale and frail-looking, cultivated the Soul Absorption technique—drawing others' Qi to replenish himself.

Whiteface was lustful and wanted to learn Twin Cultivation from Scarface, to absorb Yin and nourish Yang.

Scarface ignored him.

Whiteface, enraged and humiliated, sneered: "With your face like that, why bother with Twin Cultivation? Aren't you afraid women will be repulsed just by looking at you?"

Scarface retorted: "With your weak, depleted body, what good would Twin Cultivation do you? You'll just drain your own life trying."

They exchanged a few more insults, then began fighting.

Scarface was a Body Cultivator; Whiteface was a Spirit Cultivator.

Scarface relied on his movement to close in on Whiteface, while Whiteface dodged with his own agility and suppressed him with spells, his hand flicking out to summon and launch fireballs.

The spell he used was also Fireball Spell.

Mo Hua froze in surprise, then felt displeased:

"What kind of noodle-boy is this, using the same spell as me?"

He watched a few more moments, then softly uttered, "Huh?"

Whiteface's Fireball Spell really did seem stronger than his own.

Though slower and less accurate than his, the fireballs were darker in hue and possessed considerable power.

It wasn't due to cultivation level.

A Spirit Cultivator at Qi Condensation Ninth Layer wouldn't normally produce such power with Fireball Spell.

Could Whiteface have some secret trick to Fireball Spell?