Chapter 439

Mo Hua took out the map of the wastelands south of Nanyue City.

It was called a map, but its material was crude, the lines simple, merely sketching some mountain contours—with no other details whatsoever.

This stretch of wasteland saw almost no human traffic, so no detailed maps existed.

The one Mo Hua held had been obtained earlier from Sister Situ, a mountain and river topography map recorded by the Dao Ting Si of Nanyue City.

Mo Hua recalled the trajectory of the light dots on the South-Pointing Compass and traced Zhang Quan's path onto the map.

Zhang Quan's movements appeared chaotic, but all his routes concentrated within the forest between two peaks east of the wasteland.

He came here to return to his hideout.

Therefore, the place where he forged and hid corpses must be nearby.

And to avoid being tracked, he would dare not linger near his hideout.

Thus, his hideout's location was most likely west of where he had been lingering.

The two locations faced each other across a great mountain.

Mo Hua voiced his hypothesis.

Bai Zixi asked skeptically:

"How do you know that?"

Mo Hua said: "I'm a beast hunter—I often track demons in the mountains. This is basic hunter knowledge."

"But Zhang Quan isn't a demon."

"Close enough—he's hardly human anyway. His habits are probably much like a demon's."

Bai Zixi nodded, then asked:

"What if you're wrong?"

"So what if I am? It doesn't matter," Mo Hua said indifferently.

Bai Zixi sighed: "Alright…"

Either way, they had to search—having a direction was better than none.

Mo Hua and the other two temporarily abandoned Zhang Quan, crossed a mountain range, reached the west side of the wasteland, and began searching for Zhang Quan's hiding place.

Mo Hua wasn't worried about Zhang Quan.

The South-Pointing Compass ensured Zhang Quan couldn't escape his grasp—they could ignore him for now and let him play hide-and-seek with himself.

Once they found Zhang Quan's hiding place, they could even turn the tables, lie in wait, and trap him.

The west side of Nanyue's wasteland held nothing special.

Just withered yellow grass, low trees, dry rocky cliffs, and steep peaks.

The three searched together for a while, then split up to search separately—still found nothing.

At least on the surface, only wasteland grass and rocks.

Beyond that, more endless wastelands stretched out, but they were too distant and too vast to search effectively.

Bai Zixi asked doubtfully: "Nothing?"

Mo Hua shook his head. "Not necessarily—we've only searched once."

Beast hunters never search a mountain just once.

The first pass is just a rough survey of terrain, building a general impression in the mind so that, when cross-referenced with the map, the path becomes clear.

Then, based on experience, they select routes and search meticulously.

Mo Hua recalled the terrain, guessing which spots could be used for corpse forging or hiding, which had unusual topography, which carried suspicious energy signatures…

Then he pulled out a brush and sketched a route, continuing his search.

This time, Mo Hua searched with great care.

At each location, he sat cross-legged, released his spiritual sense, and sensed the faint flow of spiritual energy through heaven and earth, as well as the movement of all kinds of energies within the mountains.

Simultaneously, he mentally calculated, checking for traces of arrays.

Bai Zixi and Bai Zi Xi guarded Mo Hua beside him, ready to fend off any attack from cultivators or demons.

After finishing his search, Mo Hua opened his eyes, rose, and moved to the next spot—searching one by one.

This kind of search was tedious.

And it required mental calculation, consuming heavy spiritual sense.

Fortunately, Mo Hua was patient enough, his spiritual sense was strong, and he had mastered meditation techniques, so his spiritual sense recovered quickly.

Thus, moving and pausing, beside a cluster of barren rocks, Mo Hua suddenly exclaimed, "Huh?"

Bai Zixi's eyes lit up. "Found it?"

Mo Hua nodded slightly. "There's an array."

Bai Zixi released his spiritual sense, scanning the area, then helplessly said: "Where?"

He detected nothing.

Mo Hua pointed at the cluster of bare rocks before them. "These rocks are the array."

Bai Zixi looked at the rocks—smooth, barren, massive, numerous, piled together to completely block one side of the peak.

"What kind of array is this?"

Mo Hua shook his head. "I don't know. It looks like… some kind of earth-based illusion technique. Wait a moment…"

Saying this, Mo Hua sat cross-legged again.

He closed his eyes, concentrated, and picked up a branch to draw something on the ground.

Half an hour later, Mo Hua opened his eyes and pointed at the pattern on the ground.

"The array pattern is like this."

Bai Zixi gaped. "You even guessed the array pattern?"

Mo Hua corrected him: "It's 'calculate,' not 'guess.'"

"Calculate" makes you look professional, like a first-grade array master with deep attainments should do.

"Guess" sounds amateurish, with a whiff of bluffing.

Bai Zisheng clicked his tongue in wonder and asked:

"Did your master teach you derivation calculation?"

Mo Hua nodded.

Bai Zisheng was full of envy.

Once you learn divine sense derivation, you can see through arrays.

The array master on this barren mountain was clearly using arrays to hide his tracks, but because the arrays were laid down, in Mo Hua's eyes they were as plain as day.

And through derivation, he could even deduce the specific array patterns.

That's just shameless…

Bai Zisheng sighed.

Too bad his divine sense wasn't strong enough yet; he still couldn't learn it.

Of course, even if he could learn it, he probably wouldn't be able to; even if he learned it, he might not be able to use it as well as Mo Hua.

When it came to arrays, this little junior brother of his had always been a "little freak" in his heart…

Mo Hua suddenly felt something, and looked at Bai Zisheng with unfriendly eyes:

"Talking bad about me again?"

Bai Zisheng was utterly helpless. "I was praising you in my heart…"

Mo Hua gave a light snort. "You think I believe that?"

Bai Zisheng sighed, had to apologize, then quickly changed the subject:

"How do we break this array?"

Mo Hua said, "No need to break it; this is just to mislead people."

He released his divine sense, peered through, and said:

"Follow me."

Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi nodded.

Mo Hua walked straight up to the bare rock, then gently reached out, and his fingers sank into the stone.

Mo Hua kept walking forward and walked straight into the rock.

Bai Zisheng was startled, and Bai Zixi also froze slightly.

This bare, bald rock had all been an illusion, not a real object.

The two exchanged a glance, then followed Mo Hua in.

After entering the rock, it was pitch black ahead, but Mo Hua seemed to know everything clearly, leading the way as if he knew the place intimately.

After walking for a while, light appeared before them, and a great stone gate stood ahead.

The gate was gloomy, wreathed in deathly qi, with a faint stench of rot at the entrance.

And on the gate, three mottled, crude characters were carved:

Walking Corpse Stronghold.

Mo Hua frowned. Walking Corpse Stronghold?

The three didn't go straight in; instead they concealed their figures, found a big rock nearby, crouched beneath it, three little heads pressed together.

"Another Shanzhai…"

"A stronghold in the mountains is naturally a Shanzhai," Bai Zixi said.

"Walking Corpse Stronghold… this stronghold can't be for refining corpses, can it…"

"Very possible."

"This is a bit troublesome now…"

"What's wrong?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "Since it's a Shanzhai, that means inside there won't be just one cultivator, but many cultivators…"

"Zhang Quan isn't alone either; he should be a leader, at least a boss."

Bai Zisheng asked, "So what do we do now, charge in and slaughter them all?"

Mo Hua was helpless. "Can you kill them all?"

"How would I know without trying?"

Bai Zisheng's eyes were bright, his expression eager to try, wishing he could charge in right now and wipe out the Shanzhai.

Bai Zixi silently twisted his arm, and only then did he behave.

Mo Hua said, "Everything must be planned ahead; we can't act rashly. I'll go in hidden first and see how things stand."

"You're going alone?"

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded. "I'm familiar with this sort of thing."

Back then, he had snuck into Great Heishan all by himself, without anyone noticing.

At that time, sneaking into Great Heishan had still been somewhat dangerous.

But now it was different.

Now his divine sense was deeper, his concealment arts stronger, and his arrays far surpassed those of an ordinary first-grade array master; even facing Foundation Establishment, he wasn't afraid.

Mo Hua might not be able to beat a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but with his concealment, Foundation Establishment couldn't see him either.

Bai Zixi disagreed. "We go together!"

Bai Zisheng also chimed in with a nod.

Mo Hua shook his head. "You can't hide well—you'll be spotted by Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Bai Zi Xi still felt uneasy.

Mo Hua said, "I'll go in. You wait here to cover me. If anything goes wrong, I'll light a flare—you rush in to help me."

Though he said so, such a scenario was unlikely to occur.

Bai Zi Xi thought for a moment, found no better plan, and nodded.

Bai Zisheng looked disappointed, then warned:

"If trouble arises, don't panic—light the flare right away. Brother will rush in and slaughter them… no, protect you!"

Bai Zisheng was still thinking about fighting.

Mo Hua felt a bit exasperated.

After that, Mo Hua said nothing more, but concealed his form and slipped quietly into the Corpse Village.

Before entering the Corpse Village, Mo Hua extended his spiritual sense, confirmed the positions of several cultivators at the gate, then quietly avoided them and slipped around inside.

He then found a concealed spot and stretched his spiritual sense to its limit.

Each time, he released it briefly, then swiftly retracted it.

Like a dragonfly skimming water, leaving no trace.

After a few minutes passed, he released his spiritual sense again.

He probed with his spiritual sense three or four times this way, detecting no anomalies, and finally let out a faint breath of relief.

It seemed the Corpse Village had no Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Or perhaps, though there were some, their spiritual sense was too weak to detect Mo Hua's surveillance.

Mo Hua's demeanor grew much calmer.

He began observing the layout of the Corpse Village and its cultivators.

The Corpse Village was built against the mountain, its structure simple: wooden huts and excavated caves.

What was not simple was the thick aura of corpse energy and the many lifeless, stagnant qi signatures.

With just a light sweep of his spiritual sense, Mo Hua could detect many coffins.

Most were wooden coffins, but a few, heavier with corpse energy, were iron coffins forged from refined iron and maintained by demonic arrays.

The corpses nurtured inside must be stronger Iron Corpses.

There were many dead in the village, few living.

The living cultivators didn't all appear to be Corpse Cultivators.

Only a few cultivators, clad in gray robes with pale skin, could control corpses.

Most others looked more like bandits.

Mo Hua was surprised.

Beyond that, there were the arrays.

As expected, the Corpse Village was surrounded by numerous arrays.

Most of these arrays were below Rank One, ranging from seven to nine seals at most.

Mo Hua dismantled a few arrays and examined them closely—then froze.

The brushwork of these array seals was familiar to him.

Neat and precise, even somewhat rigid.

When he studied array seals at the Tongxian Sect, he had used exactly this style as his model.

This… was Master Yan's array design…

(End of Chapter)