Chapter 458: Unrest

Afterward, Mo Hua spent several days "digesting" the Iron Corpse Elder and purifying its evil thoughts, his spiritual sense growing by a great deal.

"No wonder he's the Iron Corpse Elder—his spiritual perception rivals Foundation Establishment…"

Mo Hua was overjoyed inside.

With his spiritual sense strengthened, and now able to manifest spiritual energy into spells and arrays during spiritual perception battles, Mo Hua's control over spiritual energy became even more refined, and his understanding of the Ling Shu Array deepened another layer.

But that was as far as he could go.

No matter how much he practiced or pondered afterward, he could not gain further insight.

His understanding of the Ling Shu Array had hit a bottleneck.

Mo Hua thought about it and decided this wasn't his own problem.

After all, studying the Ling Shu Array had not yet drained his spiritual sense or pushed his comprehension of the Dao to the point of exhaustion or impossibility.

Now that he'd hit a bottleneck, it must be an issue with the array itself.

The Ling Shu Array he held was incomplete.

An incomplete array could not lead to full enlightenment of spiritual energy's fundamental principle.

"I'll need to find a way to locate the complete Ling Shu Array…"

Mo Hua murmured silently to himself.

In the time ahead, he must first deal with the Zhang family's "zombie" diagram.

One by one, he would "consume" the zombies in the diagram, from weakest to strongest.

Fight to feed, consume the disciples and grand-disciples, strengthen his spiritual sense, then finally confront the zombie ancestor.

That was Zhang Quan's Laozu.

But according to the Iron Corpse Elder, this zombie Laozu still had many tricks.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

He needed to find out its true nature before he could devise a strategy to counter it.

Moreover, Mo Hua was still not fully proficient in manifesting spiritual perception.

Though he had fought many times before and his manifested spells and arrays looked decent enough, Mo Hua was still dissatisfied.

The manifested spiritual energy was not real enough;

the manifested spells lacked sufficient power;

and the manifested arrays were still too slow…

This level of skill was more than enough to handle minor zombies.

It could barely subdue and kill the Iron Corpse Elder.

But facing the Zhang family's zombie Laozu, Mo Hua had no confidence at all.

Although to ordinary cultivators, the Zhang family's evil aura, their entire clan turned into zombies, having devoured countless people, made them extremely powerful,

being able to subdue Walking Corpses and Iron Corpses was already impressive.

But Mo Hua felt he was Master Zhuang's disciple.

Since his master had taught him spiritual perception manifestation, he absolutely had to master it extremely well—otherwise he would disgrace his master and betray his master's expectations.

So his spiritual sense must be refined to the extreme.

Spiritual perception manifestation must also be refined to the extreme!

Manifesting spells and arrays requires spiritual energy manifestation as a foundation.

Manifesting spiritual energy requires deep understanding of spiritual energy's essence.

The deeper the understanding, the more real the manifestation, the greater the power.

And understanding spiritual energy's essence ties directly to the Ling Shu Array.

So while "consuming" zombies, Mo Hua would begin preparing to find the complete Ling Shu Array.

Moreover, the Ling Shu Array was connected to the traitor of the Lesser Lingyin Sect.

Master Yan had spent most of his life trying to settle this sect grudge.

His lifelong obsession was to recover the Ling Shu Array and slay the traitor who had betrayed his master and destroyed his sect.

Master Yan had shown Mo Hua great kindness and opportunity.

A drop of kindness deserves a gushing spring in return.

If the mastermind behind the mine's zombie cultivators was truly that traitor of the Lesser Lingyin Sect, Mo Hua had no objection to letting the damned die where they deserved.

…

Clues to the Ling Shu Array were hidden on Zhang Quan, who was imprisoned in Dao Ting Si.

These past days, Mo Hua's focus had been entirely on hunting zombies.

But he had kept tabs on the news from Dao Ting Si.

When Sister Situ Fang and Sister Situ Jin came to deliver gifts, Mo Hua casually probed for information.

Sister Situ Fang's gift consisted of array diagrams and some array texts.

This was what had been agreed upon earlier.

It was both Sister Situ Fang's gratitude and the Situ family's gesture of goodwill.

Merit deserves reward.

He had rendered great assistance in the Walking Corpse Village matter.

Especially since it involved array-related items.

Mo Hua accepted them without guilt.

In addition, there were brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, the Situ family's special spiritual fruits, and various kinds of spiritual meats.

Not precious, but thoughtful.

Mo Hua also accepted them.

Spirit fruits can be made into pastries for Little Sister to eat.

Spirit meat should be stewed for Master and Little Brother to eat.

There were also some strange, odd fruits, unknown in taste, but they looked crisp and dry, so Mo Hua planned to stir-fry them and let Old Puppet taste them…

After accepting the gifts, serving tea, and exchanging pleasantries, Mo Hua asked:

"How is Zhang Quan doing?"

Situ Jin hesitated.

Situ Fang paused for a moment, then shook her head and said:

"We got nothing out of him…"

"Did you use torture?"

"We did," Situ Fang sighed. "We broke five or six sticks on him, but he still wouldn't speak—not a single word."

Mo Hua asked in confusion, "Doesn't he feel pain?"

Situ Jin frowned and explained:

"It seems to be a special technique that hardens the skin and flesh, numbing sensation and blocking pain."

"What about other methods?" Mo Hua thought for a moment and added:

"I remember Uncle Zhang telling me Dao Ting Si's punishments are varied—finger clamps, severing meridians, poisoning the eyes…"

"What kind of things did Zhang Lan tell you…?"

Situ Fang silently scolded him in her mind.

She noted down what Mo Hua had said.

Next time she went to the Zhang household to complain, Zhang Lan's "crimes" would have one more charge.

Then Situ Fang helplessly said, "We tried them all—but none worked."

"Alright…"

Mo Hua felt disappointed.

"I'll think of another way to ask. If Zhang Quan says anything, I'll tell you," Situ Fang said.

"Mm-mm, thank you, Sister Situ!"

Mo Hua also nodded.

After Situ Fang and Situ Jin left, Mo Hua pondered:

"How can I make Zhang Quan confess?"

Could arrays be used for interrogation…?

Before Mo Hua could come up with anything, two days later at night, Nan Yue City suddenly erupted in chaos.

The streets were crowded with figures, flickering with firelight.

There were noisy shouts from cultivators and dense fluctuations of spiritual energy.

Mo Hua heard the commotion, but at that moment he was chasing a zombie in his consciousness sea and couldn't spare attention, so he ignored it.

The next day, Situ Fang came.

She bore wounds and looked exhausted.

Mo Hua asked with concern, "Sister Situ, what happened?"

Situ Fang regretfully said, "Zhang Quan is dead."

Mo Hua froze. "Dead?"

Situ Fang sighed. "At midnight last night, cultivators broke into the prison—wearing black robes, moving stealthily. By the time Dao Ting Si noticed, it was already too late…"

Dao Ting Si had indeed been lax in defense.

But mostly, none of them had expected anyone would dare to break into Dao Ting Si's prison.

That was defying Dao Ting.

If discovered, it would mean punishment and collateral liability!

Mo Hua's expression also turned solemn as he asked:

"Did they break in to rescue Zhang Quan?"

Situ Fang nodded.

Mo Hua frowned. "If they broke in to save Zhang Quan, then why did he die?"

Situ Fang said, "The battle was chaotic. No one knew who stabbed Zhang Quan through the heart, then set fire—burning nearly half the prison, along with Zhang Quan's corpse…"

Mo Hua frowned. "Stabbed Zhang Quan through the heart… That person must be Foundation Establishment."

"Yes," Situ Fang also frowned tightly. "The prison breakers included Foundation Establishment. Dao Ting Si had Foundation Establishment. Other sects and clans, hearing of Dao Ting Si's chaos, also sent Foundation Establishment to join the fight…"

"In the chaos, no one knew who killed Zhang Quan or who set the fire."

"This matter… is strange," Mo Hua mused.

Situ Fang nodded. "I suspect the prison break was a ruse—the real goal was to kill and silence him."

"What happened to those prison-breaker cultivators?" Mo Hua asked.

Situ Fang helplessly said, "They all died."

Mo Hua opened his mouth in surprise. "All of them?"

"Mm."

"Really… not a single survivor?"

"Yes." Situ Fang sighed helplessly. "Even these dead bandits may not have been real bandits."

"What were their identities?"

"Still investigating, but it may not yield anything."

Mo Hua frowned and muttered: "They're all dead..."

"Then shouldn't the Dao Ting Si bear great responsibility for this?" Mo Hua asked again.

Jailbreaks like this should surely be investigated to the end.

Sister Situ thought for a moment, then shook her head:

"Hard to say..."

Indeed, two days later, the matter was dropped again.

Sister Situ found Mo Hua, her expression angry yet helpless.

Mo Hua also learned the outcome of the incident from Sister Situ.

In the report submitted by Qian Zhangsi of Nan Yue City to the Dao Ting:

"On the first day of the fourth month in the Dao Calendar year 20,025..."

"Unknown black-robed cultivators stormed the prison, suppressed by Lei Ting of the Dao Ting Si; prisoner Zhang Quan died, all raiders executed."

"The Dao Prison suffered partial damage; one officer died, ten injured... two thousand eight hundred thirty-six spirit stones required for compensation..."

Although the prison was breached, all raiders died, and the prisoner died too.

The Dao Ting Si paid a price, but preserved its dignity.

On balance, merits and faults canceled out.

Even if pursued, there was nothing to pursue — because everyone was dead...

At most, they would receive mild reprimands.

Mo Hua was stunned.

This was truly bold and meticulous.

They had carried out such an audacious jailbreak, yet managed to account for it both upward and downward.

In the end, it was all reduced to nothing again...

Mo Hua gave a thoughtful, enigmatic look.

The big fish behind the scenes had surfaced.

But it bit the hook, swallowed the bait, snapped the line, and swam away...

(End of Chapter)