Chapter 445

"I'll sneak in first, rescue Teacher Yan, then dismantle the Corpse Village's formation—once the defense is gone, it'll be much easier to storm in."

"Ordinary corpse cultivators and corpses—I can tamper with the formations, but there are too many, and time is too short; I can't act easily, so I'll leave them to you."

"But as for those iron corpses, I'll find a way to deal with them..."

Mo Hua calculated silently.

Sister Situ said in surprise:

"How are you going to deal with the iron corpses?"

Mo Hua held up two fingers: "There are two methods..."

"The best way is for me to steal Zhang Quan's corpse-controlling bell—without it, Zhang Quan can't control the iron corpses, effectively cutting off his own arms."

"But the corpse-controlling bell is extremely important; Zhang Quan will carry it with him at all times, so I may not be able to steal it."

"If I can't steal it, I'll tamper with the formations on the iron corpses themselves, causing them to go berserk—once chaos breaks out inside the village, we'll strike en masse, and the Corpse Village will surely be finished."

Mo Hua had laid out the plan clearly.

Sister Situ frowned.

It sounded simple enough, but actually carrying it out would likely be extremely risky.

She couldn't help asking, "Will it work?"

Mo Hua calculated: "Dismantling the formation is easy—I have a ninety percent chance..."

Mo Hua actually wanted to say one hundred percent, because for him now, dismantling a Grade One formation—or even some formations below Grade One—was utterly trivial.

But one must never be overconfident; always leave some room for error, so he only said ninety percent.

"... Stealing Zhang Quan's corpse-controlling bell has very low odds—perhaps only a ten to twenty percent chance;"

"Tampering with the iron corpses has about a fifty to sixty percent chance—one, I don't know exactly what formations are on them, since I've never studied them; two, they're heavily guarded, and I may not get a chance to get close..."

Mo Hua spoke clearly.

Sister Situ felt a flush of shame.

This boy Mo Hua could gather intelligence, analyze it, and then devise strategies based on it.

His thinking was meticulous, his actions precise and composed.

And he was a formation master...

No wonder Zhang Lan said Yang Jiyong had gone to great lengths to recruit Mo Hua into the Dao Soldier Bureau.

Sister Situ nodded:

"Fine, we'll do it your way."

Afterwards, Sister Situ summoned two elder members of the Situ clan.

One was Situ Jin; the other was a slender, tall Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The group discussed further details: the timing of the assault, ambush positions, spirit weapon allocation, pill procurement, and cultivation master coordination.

After finalizing the plan, two nights later, over two hundred Situ clan cultivators assembled and set out for the wasteland mountains south of Nanyue City.

The wasteland mountains were dark at night, the moon cold, the forest deep.

Withered grass and twisted trees cast bizarre, distorted shadows.

Occasional beast growls echoed, like weeping, like lamenting, deepening the desolation.

All wore black robes, teeth clenched, moving swiftly in silence, until midnight, guided by Mo Hua, they reached the outskirts of the Corpse Village.

Before them lay a barren stone forest.

Mo Hua lowered his voice: "I'll go in first—wait for my signal."

Without waiting for Sister Situ's reply, he vanished silently.

Sister Situ blinked in surprise.

The two Situ clan elders behind her also froze, then their eyes widened in shock.

Gone?

Just like that—no trace, no aura, vanished completely?

They were Foundation Establishment cultivators, yet they couldn't fathom how Mo Hua disappeared—his spiritual sense swept the surroundings, but found nothing, not a single trace.

They couldn't detect the concealment of a Qi Condensation cultivator?

What kind of concealment technique was this?

While they were stunned, Mo Hua had already activated the Flowing Water Step and slipped stealthily into the Corpse Village.

Before the Corpse Village's gate, there were four or five more guards than the day before.

Clearly, Zhang Quan still wasn't fully confident.

Around the gate, the fake version of Teacher Yan's "Dust-Display Formation" had been deployed.

Mo Hua, concealed, walked boldly through the "Dust-Display Formation," then leapt silently onto the rooftop and, with practiced ease, found Teacher Yan's room.

It was late; Teacher Yan was still reading a formation book.

Mo Hua extended his spiritual sense, confirmed no one was nearby, then slipped inside and whispered to Teacher Yan:

"Teacher Yan, I'm rescuing you tonight—pack up quickly."

Teacher Yan, deeply absorbed in his book, was startled when a low voice suddenly spoke from the dark corner.

Upon recognizing the voice, he was surprised but said nothing—only nodded calmly.

Then Teacher Yan rose and quietly began gathering his formation books and diagrams.

Meanwhile, Mo Hua used this time to dismantle the Corpse Village's defensive formations.

Mo Hua dismantled them quickly.

Since he didn't need to hide the traces or worry about damaging the formations, he moved like a brush in a master's hand—simple, brutal, direct.

By dawn, when the battle began, all these formations would be destroyed anyway.

So Mo Hua didn't need to stand on ceremony either.

If a formation was easy to undo, he would undo it.

If it was more complex and he couldn't be bothered, he would draw some Reverse-Spirit Arrays.

Once these arrays activated, the spiritual energy would flow in reverse and the array patterns would tangle, causing the formations to self-destruct.

Only, this kind of self-destruction had relatively small power—nowhere near the level of a formation collapsing.

Mo Hua's original intention was only to destroy the formations.

Not to use the formations to kill the corpse cultivators of the Walking Corpse Stronghold.

He didn't have that kind of skill yet.

Within the vast Walking Corpse Stronghold, Mo Hua knew the place like the back of his hand, running here and there.

Sometimes climbing walls, sometimes scrambling over rooftops, sometimes up onto the rafters, sometimes crawling into mountain caves…

The formations inside the stronghold, whether by undoing or destroying, he wrecked them one by one.

This route had also been planned out by Mo Hua in advance, and simulated several times in his mind.

Striving to wreck the most formations in the shortest time.

Two or three hours later, the formations inside the Walking Corpse Stronghold had been wrecked seven or eight tenths of the way by Mo Hua.

Mo Hua was a bit tired, rested for a while, thought it over, then went to Zhang Quan's secret chamber again.

Zhang Quan was meditating and resting.

His Corpse-Control Bell was in his storage bag, and the storage bag was at his waist.

Mo Hua had observed him for many days—Zhang Quan never let the bell leave the bag, nor the bag leave his person.

The Corpse-Control Bell, he had always kept in his storage bag and carried on his person, never once taking it out.

Unless they knocked him out cold, otherwise they couldn't get the storage bag, nor snatch the Corpse-Control Bell.

And Mo Hua was only at Qi Refining, so in a straight fight he definitely wasn't Zhang Quan's match.

He also didn't have the talent and cultivation of Senior Brother or Senior Sister.

Even if he tried to club him from behind, he couldn't knock Zhang Quan out.

Mo Hua felt it was a bit of a pity.

It seemed his guess was right—under normal circumstances, he couldn't steal the Corpse-Control Bell.

Zhang Quan wasn't a fool; he wouldn't give him that chance.

Mo Hua went to the Corpse-Hiding Grotto again.

The Corpse-Hiding Grotto was what the Walking Corpse Stronghold used to refine and raise jiangshi.

The coffins of those few Iron Corpses were placed at the deepest part of the Corpse-Hiding Grotto.

Mo Hua took a look—several corpse cultivators were keeping watch through the night, and there were warning arrays nearby, so he couldn't get close either.

These few Iron Corpses hadn't been guarded before.

It seemed Zhang Quan had taken a loss and learned his lesson, so he didn't dare be careless in the slightest.

"This is troublesome now…"

Mo Hua furrowed his brow.

The bell couldn't be stolen, and he couldn't tamper with the Iron Corpses.

If it really came to a fight, they would definitely be at a disadvantage.

Mo Hua thought it over and gave a slight shake of his head.

It looked like, relying on himself alone, there was no way to resolve it for now.

Mo Hua then got up and left the Walking Corpse Stronghold first.

Outside the stronghold, he met Sister Situ and reported honestly:

"I've undone the formations, but I couldn't steal the Corpse-Control Bell, and I couldn't get close to the Iron Corpses."

Sister Situ was slightly startled.

Being able to undo the formations was already beyond her expectations.

As for the Corpse-Control Bell and the Iron Corpses, she hadn't expected those to begin with.

"It's fine, being able to undo the formations is already very good," Sister Situ said. "Next, shall we proceed according to plan?"

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded. "But we don't need to force a direct assault—mainly harass, and cause chaos inside the stronghold."

"Good," Sister Situ said.

Mo Hua looked at Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi again and said:

"While the chaos is going on, let's rescue Instructor Yan first."

"Mm." Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi nodded.

So they took advantage of the time before dawn, when people's vigilance was flagging.

Sister Situ, along with two Foundation Establishment elders of the Situ family, led over two hundred Situ family cultivators in black clothes, moving stealthily into the Walking Corpse Stronghold.

At the main gate of the Walking Corpse Stronghold, several corpse cultivators were stoking a fire and drinking, chatting in a muddled way.

The Foundation Establishment elders took the lead, relying on their swift movement arts—in the blink of an eye, they were beside these corpse cultivators, then struck with full force, with the momentum of Lei Ting, wiping out all the gatekeeper corpse cultivators!

After confirming no one was around, they let the other Situ family cultivators catch up.

After killing several waves like this, they were still discovered by the corpse cultivators.

The alarm bell of the Walking Corpse Stronghold rang out loudly.

In the pitch-black night, dots of torches lit up, illuminating the stronghold bright as day.

The bandits drew their blades, and the corpse cultivators shook their Corpse-Control Bells.

One by one the coffins trembled, the lids were flung open, and walking corpses crawled out from within…

Sister Situ's eyes flashed with cold light, and she said coldly:

"Kill!"

The cultivators of the Situ clan also stopped hiding their qi, drawing swords and blades, activating their spiritual energy, and shouting loudly:

"Kill!"

In an instant, the Shanzhai's killing intent shook the mountains.

Blades clashed, spiritual energy erupted.

On the other side, Mo Hua had already rescued Yan Jiaoxi, bringing Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi with him.

Mo Hua said: "Brothers and sisters, take Yan Jiaoxi out first."

Bai Zisheng asked: "What about you?"

"I have something else to do."

Bai Zisheng shook his head and said: "No, this place is too dangerous. You and Zi Xi take Yan Mr. out—I'll stay behind to cover your retreat!"

Bai Zisheng spoke with righteous indignation.

Mo Hua saw through his intentions at a glance: "You just want to stay behind to fight, don't you…"

Bai Zisheng protested: "Nonsense, am I really that kind of person?"

Yet as he said it, he sounded somewhat guilty.

Mo Hua then persuaded him: "I'll go find Zhang Quan first, keep watch on him, make sure he doesn't escape…"

"You take Yan Jiaoxi out, then come back to find me—we'll regroup and capture Zhang Quan."

Upon hearing this, Bai Zisheng's eyes lit up: "Good!"

Bai Zi Xi glanced at Mo Hua and whispered a warning:

"Be careful."

"Mm-hmm." Mo Hua nodded.

Yan Jiaoxi also looked at Mo Hua, his expression worried, as if wanting to say more—but Bai Zisheng pulled him away.

Come back soon.

He wanted to return quickly to kill that bastard Zhang Quan.

After Yan Jiaoxi left, Mo Hua glanced around, his thoughts shifting, and reinforced some arrays within the room.

This way, even if the corpse cultivators sensed something amiss and tried to break in, they'd have to go through more Zhou Zhe.

After completing the arrays, Mo Hua activated his concealment technique and slipped into Zhang Quan's secret chamber.

Zhang Quan's secret chamber was, to Mo Hua, like a free inn—he could come and go as he pleased.

Yet Zhang Quan remained completely unaware.

He was speaking in hushed tones with several lead corpse cultivators, his expression solemn:

"... How could there be enemies?"

"... How did they find the Shanzhai?"

"How many are there?"

"It's too dark to see clearly."

"At least a hundred or two hundred, maybe four or five hundred…"

"Which faction? Dao Ting Si?"

"Doesn't look like it… they're wearing black robes, identities unknown."

"Probably another faction."

"Damn it, out of nowhere, they've attacked our door! How insolent!"

"Are there any Foundation Establishment cultivators?"

"Seems like one or two…"

"Boss, what should we do?"

…

Zhang Quan pondered for a moment, then sneered: "Do they really think Shanzhai is a soft target?"

A dark glint flashed in his eyes:

"Issue the order: awaken all Iron Corpses. Since they've come, don't let them leave—we haven't had new 'merchandise' in a long time, time to take in some more."

One corpse cultivator hesitated:

"Boss, we few may struggle to control the Iron Corpses… I'm afraid…"

Zhang Quan fell silent, as if hesitating.

After a moment, he gritted his teeth and spat angrily:

"No problem—I'll set up the altar, burn incense, bow to the ancestral master's portrait, and invoke the Corpse-Control Bell!"

"Let these invading Feng Xiaoxiao become food for the Iron Corpses' bellies!"

The corpse cultivators rejoiced, their expressions energized: "Boss, you're brilliant!"

But Mo Hua froze upon hearing this.

Set up an altar and invoke the bell?

Bow to the ancestral master's portrait?

If he's invoking the bell, won't he have to take it out?

If he takes it out, won't I have a chance to steal it?

After all, in direct combat against these corpse cultivators and fearless zombies, our side would surely suffer heavy casualties.

If I seize the bronze bell, we'll avoid many losses.

There was one other thing that troubled Mo Hua.

Bowing to the ancestral master's portrait?

What ancestral master was this?

And what portrait was this?

Could it be…

(End of Chapter)