Chapter 457

Mo Hua exterminated the zombie disciple, "consumed" its malevolent thought, and began meditating to refine it.

Within the malevolent thought were fragmented memories.

All of them concerned the crafting, raising, and controlling of zombies.

The Zhang family had passed down through generations, engaging in sinister acts—openly selling coffins, secretly crafting zombies.

This disciple was no different.

He was also an ancestor of Zhang Quan.

But his talent was mediocre; he only reached Qi Refinement, and before long, zombie poison invaded his heart, turning him into a walking corpse.

The Zhangs feared he would expose them, so they killed him and sealed his spiritual awareness within the Ancestral Portrait.

Like many other ancestors of the Zhang family.

When alive, he became a zombie; when dead, he remained a zombie—so the malevolent thought manifested after death was also a zombie.

The entire Zhang clan were themselves half-human, half-zombie.

As Mo Hua refined the malevolent thought, a cold, putrid, decaying desire also contaminated his spiritual awareness.

A bloodlust arose in Mo Hua's heart.

As if he himself had become a zombie, craving flesh and blood, eager to devour living beings.

As the malevolent thought entered his heart, Mo Hua immediately entered meditation, calming his mind and discarding distracting desires.

Mo Hua was not alarmed.

As Mr. Zhuang had said, each time a malevolent thought entered the heart, it was a test of one's Dao heart.

Whether one could uphold their original intention and preserve their Dao heart amid overwhelming material desires and entangling evil desires was crucial for a cultivator.

Once the Dao heart was breached and the original intention extinguished, one would easily stray off the path and defy the Heavenly Dao.

No one is born immune to all evil.

The Dao heart must be forged bit by bit.

Mo Hua planned to start with small malevolent thoughts, tempering his will, clarifying his mind gradually.

Little by little, strengthening his Dao heart.

Until one day, he would be impervious to all evil.

Even if a demonic god entered his mind or heavenly demons disrupted his heart, his spirit would remain a clear mirror, untouched by dust.

The zombie disciple was quickly refined by Mo Hua.

Its faint malevolent thought was also discarded by Mo Hua.

Mo Hua's spiritual awareness had noticeably increased.

This was the most significant increase in Mo Hua's spiritual awareness in months.

But it was still not enough.

Mo Hua clicked his tongue, feeling unsatisfied.

The zombie disciple was only Qi Refinement; his spiritual awareness was weak, and after removing the malevolent thought, little remained.

This amount of spiritual awareness wasn't even enough to fill a tooth gap.

Mo Hua felt regretful, so he opened his eyes.

Bai Zisheng was staring at him intently; as soon as Mo Hua opened his eyes, he asked:

"How was it?"

Mo Hua said: "It's fine."

Bai Zisheng exhaled in relief and asked:

"What's next?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said: "I'll take another look. You still do as I told you before…"

"Mm-hmm," Bai Zisheng nodded. "Knock you out, call the master, burn the painting, scatter the ashes…"

Though slightly different from what Mo Hua had said, it was close enough.

Mo Hua carefully opened again the painting, ostensibly the "Ancestral Portrait," but in truth the "Zombie Portrait."

He took another look.

The figures in the painting were the same—they turned their heads and looked at him.

The face revealed was still that of a zombie.

Again, a zombie rose from the painting, leapt out, and entered Mo Hua's spiritual sea.

This time, Mo Hua allowed two zombies in, then closed the painting again.

These two zombies were still only Qi Refinement; by human standards, they were Zhang family disciples; by zombie standards, they were merely walking corpses.

After leaping into Mo Hua's spiritual sea, the two zombies glanced at each other, their faces filled with ecstatic joy.

This spiritual sea was too vast.

The spiritual awareness within was too abundant.

It would feed them for a long time.

They might even devour enough to reach Foundation Establishment!

Who would have thought this young cultivator's spiritual sea was such a feast?

But before they could rejoice for long,

A fireball shot in with a whistle and exploded instantly.

It blasted one walking corpse flying, crimson flames scorching its entire body, forcing it to writhe in agony on the ground.

The other walking corpse froze.

What was that?

Fireball Technique?

Where did the Fireball Technique come from in my mind-sea?

Soon it knew where the Fireball Technique came from.

For not far away, a young cultivator with delicate features stared deeply, expressionless, his small finger pointing at it.

Before the corpse could react, a fireball condensed between the young cultivator's fingers.

The fireball was extremely fast, extremely precise, and extremely brutal.

In an instant, it flew to its face.

The corpse's deathly white pupils were filled with red flame, then its entire body was blasted backward by the Fireball Technique, crashing to the ground, writhing in the agony of burning fire.

This pain was very real.

The corpse nearly forgot it was already dead, that it had no physical body.

It felt fear.

Who exactly is this young cultivator?

Mo Hua had no intention of wasting words.

Time was limited; strike swiftly and end it.

He wouldn't play hide-and-seek this time—Foundation Establishment corpses couldn't probe the depths of the Zhang family's Laozu.

Mo Hua acted simply and brutally, annihilating both corpses with the Fireball Technique.

After annihilating them, he refined the malevolent thoughts, strengthening his mind-sea.

Afterwards, Mo Hua repeated the process: unrolling the scroll, releasing the corpse, blasting it with fireball, refining the malevolent thoughts.

Though the Foundation Establishment malevolent thoughts were weak, they accumulated into something substantial; after "eating" several corpses, Mo Hua felt his mind-sea had noticeably strengthened.

But it was still not enough.

This time, he set his sights on the several ancestral elders in the front rows of the Zhang family.

Those seated near the front were among the most distinguished ancestors of the Zhang family—at least they were Zhang family elders.

The malevolent thoughts of elders should be stronger.

But how could he lure them into his mind-sea?

Mo Hua thought for a moment, his eyes brightening slightly.

He took out two sheets of paper: one covered the Zhang family's Laozu, the other covered the last-row descendants.

Only the middle row, resembling the elders, remained visible.

Mo Hua randomly picked one and stared fixedly at him.

Within a few breaths, the "man" turned his head and looked at Mo Hua.

Same zombie face.

Hooked nose, slanted eyes, sinister expression, ashen face.

It was a Iron Corpse!

Seeing Mo Hua, its expression turned vicious; then, in its gray-white eyes, a flash of greed appeared—and in an instant, it lunged into Mo Hua's mind-sea.

Upon entering Mo Hua's mind-sea, the Iron Corpse froze.

Even though it was an elder who had seen much, it was stunned by Mo Hua's mind-sea.

Then it let out a cackling laugh.

Its laugh was hoarse, its throat ruined, shrill and unbearable.

Mo Hua, hidden nearby, nodded.

It seems even the Iron Corpse elder couldn't see through my concealment…

Mo Hua picked up his staff and crept silently behind the Iron Corpse, raising the Thousand-Jun Staff high, then bringing it down hard on the Iron Corpse's skull.

The Thousand-Jun Staff struck the Iron Corpse's occiput.

Mo Hua even heard a "clang!"

Like the sound of metal striking metal.

His palm trembled slightly, numbed by the impact.

The Iron Corpse elder staggered, its face twisted in pain and confusion; it turned to see Mo Hua, and its expression turned even more startled.

After a moment, it regained its composure, its gaze growing greedier.

It looked at Mo Hua as if he were a thousand-year-old ginseng.

But Mo Hua felt a pang of regret.

It seems the Iron Corpse's strength was still formidable.

The sneak attack did little damage.

This Iron Corpse elder's form was solid, unlike ordinary corpses, which would scatter slightly after a single blow.

After being struck by Mo Hua's staff, it only staggered a few steps, showing pain but no real injury.

The two faced off, neither daring to move first.

The Iron Corpse elder couldn't fathom Mo Hua's true strength; though it coveted him, it also feared him.

It studied Mo Hua carefully, then glanced around, suddenly realizing, its voice hoarse:

"So that's why several of my disciples entered your mind-sea and never came out—you've murdered them!"

Spiritual sense manifested, profound mind-sea.

It rivaled even this Iron Corpse elder's own.

Those Zhang disciples of Corpse Realm were no match for this young cultivator.

Dying at his hands was only natural.

Mo Hua said nothing in response.

Elder Iron Corpse's expression turned stern, "You killed my Zhang family disciples—what crime do you deserve?"

Mo Hua muttered to himself:

"I don't just plan to kill your Zhang family disciples—I'll kill your Zhang family Laozu too…"

But outwardly, he merely said indifferently:

"They wanted to eat me, so I killed them—they brought it upon themselves."

Elder Iron Corpse sneered, "They only wanted to devour a few bites of your spiritual awareness—you killed them instead. For such a young one, your methods are excessively cruel."

Mo Hua was stunned. "Have you turned into a corpse so long that your brain rotted? How can you say such things?"

Elder Iron Corpse let out a cold snort.

It was calculating Mo Hua's strength in its mind.

This brat's spiritual awareness manifested visibly—likely a innate talent.

But spiritual confrontation isn't that simple.

Even if this brat has some talent, how could he compare to the Zhang family's centuries-old Corpse Dao techniques?

A few minor disciples? Perhaps this brat could pick up scraps.

But since he let me in, this brat is now a grand feast for the entire Zhang family!

Elder Iron Corpse stared at the fresh, adorable Mo Hua and couldn't help licking its lips.

Mo Hua understood its intent and coldly sneered inside:

"Who's whose feast isn't decided yet."

Elder Iron Corpse, unable to hold back, looked at Mo Hua.

It suddenly opened its massive mouth, revealing rows of sharp fangs coated in foul, putrid corpse poison, then transformed into a streak of green light and lunged straight at Mo Hua.

Its attack seemed fast, but every motion had already been seen through by Mo Hua.

Mo Hua activated the Flowing Water Step and evaded Elder Iron Corpse's lunge with ease.

Elder Iron Corpse pressed forward relentlessly, changing tactics continuously, slashing with razor claws from multiple angles—yet Mo Hua dodged every single strike.

In the end, Mo Hua even stepped on Elder Iron Corpse's head before retreating calmly.

Elder Iron Corpse was furious and enraged.

This brat dared to humiliate it?

It prepared to lunge again, but noticed Mo Hua, now at a distance, pointing a finger remotely—suddenly, flames erupted.

A fireball roared toward it.

Elder Iron Corpse's pupils shrank; it barely had time to cross its arms before its face.

Then the fireball exploded right before it.

Its sleeves burned away, revealing arms of iron-blue, corpse-like skin.

The iron arms were charred black.

Flames licked at its entire body.

Elder Iron Corpse sucked in a sharp breath.

Fireball Technique?

How is that possible?

How can spiritual awareness condense into a spell?

It realized something was wrong…

This brat isn't just lucky or blessed with innate talent to manifest spiritual awareness.

He must possess an inheritance of spiritual mind techniques!

Manifesting spells within the spiritual sea.

Such a method is extremely advanced—it had dwelled in this painting for so long, devoured countless cultivators' spiritual awareness, yet had never seen it, not even heard of it before.

Even Laozu probably didn't know this technique.

Elder Iron Corpse felt fear rise within it.

"Need to plan carefully…"

Fighting this brat alone is unwise.

Must gather the entire Zhang family's strength, devise another plan, kill this brat, then divide and feast on his spiritual awareness.

If the chance arises, seize his inheritance!

The Zhang family's power will surge dramatically!

Elder Iron Corpse made its decision and began to retreat.

Mo Hua instantly perceived its intent.

Since it wanted to run, Mo Hua wouldn't be polite.

He reversed his hand, casting a Water Prison to immobilize Elder Iron Corpse, then unleashed fireball after fireball—flames roaring, engulfing Elder Iron Corpse entirely.

Moments later, the fire faded, smoke and dust spread everywhere.

Elder Iron Corpse roared and stepped out from the smoke and fire.

Its eyes burned crimson, its body swollen, skin iron-blue and blackened—it had fully corpse-transformed, its overall strength having climbed another notch.

"Brat, you've angered me!"

Elder Iron Corpse, corpse-transformed and enraged.

But to Mo Hua, it made no difference.

He still used the Water Prison to restrain it, then blasted it with fireballs.

The Iron Corpse Elder, with nowhere to expend his strength, could only be suppressed by Mo Hua; he knew things were dire, and with all his might, he charged through the blast of the Fireball Spell to reach Mo Hua's side.

But when he looked up, the figure was already gone.

Mo Hua had already used the Flowing Water Step to retreat calmly, reestablishing distance, then trapping him with the Water Prison Spell, then blasting him with the Fireball Spell…

Amidst flying flames, the Iron Corpse Elder's face twisted in fury, his body disheveled, his heart filled with dread.

He had lived for so many years, devoured so many cultivators—and yet he was completely no match for this young cultivator?

He was being suppressed by these spells, with no chance to retaliate?

Was he now just a punching bag, frozen in place and beaten at leisure?

The Iron Corpse Elder could not believe it.

But Mo Hua also frowned.

It seemed… he couldn't kill it.

After further corpse transformation, its flesh and skin had become too hard.

Fireball Spells alone could suppress and defeat it, but killing it was difficult.

If they kept this up, his spiritual sense might drain, his spells weaken, and it would find an opening to escape.

Mo Hua's gaze turned cold. "I need a way to kill it."

The Iron Corpse Elder understood this too.

He was no match for Mo Hua, so he could only endure the Fireball Spells, minimize damage, and wait until Mo Hua's spiritual sense was exhausted—then he might escape, even counterattack.

But suppressing with spells would drain spiritual sense just as much.

This brat wouldn't last long…

Indeed, moments later, the Fireball Spells stopped.

The Iron Corpse Elder's heart leapt with joy; as he raised his head, he saw Mo Hua with eyes closed, deep in concentration, doing something unknown.

The Iron Corpse Elder froze.

What was this brat up to?

Lost in thought? Given up?

Or had his spiritual sense malfunctioned?

Should he flee now, or rush forward and kill him?

As he hesitated, he suddenly sensed something wrong.

The aura around him had changed.

The Iron Corpse Elder looked down sharply—and saw, beneath his feet, countless thin, pale-blue spiritual threads, winding and twisting, flowing on their own, forming intricate, mysterious patterns.

The Iron Corpse Elder's eyes widened.

What was this?

He sensed danger and tried to flee—but it was too late.

Mo Hua had finished his first array.

It was the Golden Lock Array.

The pale-blue spiritual energy formed the array on the ground, then emitted Jin Guang, solidifying into segments of spiritual chains that bound the Iron Corpse Elder tightly in place.

The Iron Corpse Elder tried several times—he could not break free.

Moments later, the second array was also complete.

It was the Meltfire Array.

The instant the array patterns formed, the pale-blue spiritual energy blazed with blinding red light; the ground turned into a sea of fire, like a blazing furnace, trapping and roasting the Iron Corpse Elder within.

The Iron Corpse Elder felt terror.

Arrays?

This brat was an array master?

But do array masters draw arrays like this?

Without brush or ink, merely by spiritual intent, he could form such arrays so quickly?

Arrays follow the Dao of Heaven—spiritual intent suffers the greatest assault from them.

Especially such lifelike, powerful arrays.

The Iron Corpse Elder trembled inside.

"Damn it. I've been outwitted."

He'd only been hungry, come out to eat something—and now he was being roasted by some brat from nowhere?

The cultivation world is truly treacherous!

Even a brat is this dangerous.

Facing death, the Iron Corpse Elder resolved to fight with all his strength one last time.

For an instant, he broke free of the Golden Lock Array—but Mo Hua's Water Prison Spell pinned him again; moments later, the spiritual energy on the Golden Lock Array restored itself, reforming into golden chains that locked him fast.

And the Meltfire Array, like a furnace, burned his body without cease.

A dull blade cutting flesh—it will eventually cut through.

The Iron Corpse Elder felt despair.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, observed the Iron Corpse Elder, then asked curiously:

"Is your corpse transformation technique passed down from your ancestor?"

The Iron Corpse Elder gritted his teeth:

"So what if it is?"

"Do you have any other tricks?" Mo Hua asked.

The Iron Corpse Elder frowned but said nothing.

"You have no other tricks left—you'll die here today," Mo Hua said with false kindness.

The Iron Corpse Elder was so furious he couldn't speak.

Mo Hua rubbed his chin, pondering.

This Iron Corpse Elder truly seems to have exhausted all his methods—there are no other tricks left.

Mo Hua sighed, somewhat regretful, somewhat disappointed:

"Did your Laozu really pass down only this much to you?"

The Iron Corpse Elder sneered: "Of course not—my Laozu has countless methods; how could you, a mere little…"

As he spoke, he suddenly fell silent, then froze in shock.

Is this brat trying to draw out my words?

What's his intent?

What does he want to know?

Laozu…

He wants to uncover my Laozu's methods—could it be… he's plotting against my Laozu?

The Iron Corpse Elder's heart trembled with fear.

No, impossible.

How could a mere brat possibly…

The Iron Corpse Elder froze, then his face twisted in horror.

No—it's possible!

With this brat's unimaginable abilities within the soul sea, he truly might harm my Laozu!

If he succeeds, if he uncovers my Laozu's methods, then my Laozu, my Laozu…

My Laozu is in danger!

The Iron Corpse Elder's heart shuddered.

Mo Hua, seeing that his intentions had been uncovered, sighed regretfully:

"It would've been better to remain a foolish ghost."

Once you understand everything, I'll have to kill you.

Though Mo Hua never intended to let him live in the first place.

Mo Hua wasted no more time—he focused on activating the array, directly refining the terrified Iron Corpse Elder, then swallowed him whole.

Mo Hua's soul awareness grew significantly stronger.

After swallowing him, Mo Hua couldn't fully refine him yet—he'd need several days to slowly work on it.

Occasional evil thoughts occasionally surfaced from deep within his heart.

Mo Hua could only calm himself through meditation later, gradually quieting the evil thoughts within.

After exiting the soul sea, Mo Hua opened his eyes and glanced at the Zhang family's ancestral portrait.

The portrait still held many zombies—several Iron Corpses, along with Zhang Quan's Laozu.

One by one…

None of them will escape!

I wonder if swallowing them all at once will push my soul awareness straight to Thirteen Stripes…

Mo Hua couldn't help but imagine it.

Bai Zisheng noticed and asked: "You… are you alright?"

Mo Hua snapped back to himself and shook his head. "I'm fine."

But Bai Zisheng frowned. "Something's off…"

Bai Zi Xi's eyes, like still water, fixed on Mo Hua for a moment, then asked in confusion:

"Why does your face look so… sinister?"

Mo Hua rubbed his small face. "I ate something bad—I need to digest it."

This chapter is a bit long—over five thousand characters—and I wrote it late~

(End of Chapter)