Chapter 477: Little Zombie

Mo Hua wanted to keep it secret from Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan, and sneak into the altar of the Ten Thousand Corpses Formation, which required passing through two doors.

One door was the door of the great hall.

The other door was the mural inside the great hall.

The great hall's door was easier to handle, but the mural was very tricky.

First of all, he didn't know what hand seals Zhang Quan was forming, or what incantations he was chanting.

Zhang Quan wouldn't reveal it either.

Even if Zhang Quan told him, Mo Hua wasn't sure that copying the gestures would actually open the mural.

That zombie mural, like the Withering Ink Screen in the Walking Corpse Stronghold, should both be a type of door-locking spiritual artifact.

If it was a spiritual artifact, then there should be a formation inside it.

This kind of formation wasn't a Five Elements formation, and wasn't within the scope of Mo Hua's expertise.

Even if Mo Hua wanted to solve it, he had no way to.

Even if he could solve it, Lu Chengyun would definitely find out.

Mo Hua had solved the Manifest Dust Formation at the door, and Lu Chengyun had noticed it—let alone such a secretive door-locking formation on the zombie mural at the altar entrance outside the Ten Thousand Corpses Formation.

Brute-forcing the formation was even less of an option.

The screen in the Walking Corpse Stronghold had been smashed to pieces by Mo Hua with his Thousand-Jun Rod.

But this place was different from the Walking Corpse Stronghold—he couldn't pull off that kind of smash-and-grab.

Besides, the corpse mine was sealed, and he couldn't run either.

If he smashed the mural and broke into the altar, even if Lu Chengyun were a pig, he'd know Mo Hua was up to no good, with bad water in his belly.

"What should I do?"

Mo Hua was a bit stumped.

How could he bypass the mural and enter the Ten Thousand Corpses Altar?

Whenever he had time, he thought about this problem.

But he thought for a long time without any good solution, until one day, after he entered through the mural, he discovered that Zhang Quan had used a mechanism to close the mural's door.

Mo Hua was taken aback.

A mechanism?

This mural had a mechanism?

He hadn't noticed it at all before.

Mo Hua looked a few more times and found that the mechanism was a stone gate—simple and plain; if Zhang Quan hadn't used it, he wouldn't have realized it himself.

Mo Hua furrowed his brow.

Meaning, entering this mural from outside was very difficult.

One had to know the method, form hand seals, chant incantations, and activate the mural to manifest the zombie's gaping maw.

But exiting from inside was very simple—just pull down the gate.

Guarded against outsiders, but not against insiders…

Mo Hua thought for a moment and felt that made sense.

Those who could enter were either Lu Chengyun or Zhang Quan.

Even Mo Hua, the half-outsider, was right under their noses, so there was nothing to worry about.

So they only needed to guard against people coming in from outside, not against those already inside.

Setting up obstacles outside was only natural.

Setting up obstacles inside would be superfluous.

Mo Hua was a formation master, his mind always focused on complex formations, and he hadn't expected such a plain mechanism.

This was a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.

Mo Hua nodded, secretly reminding himself.

Just because he was a formation master, he shouldn't be biased and keep staring only at formations.

Complex problems sometimes had simple solutions.

To enter the Ten Thousand Corpses Altar, someone just needed to pull down the gate…

But Mo Hua froze again.

This problem seemed simple, but…

How to pull the gate?

Who would pull the gate for him?

He couldn't exactly ask Lu Chengyun to pull the gate open for him.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then realized that as a formation master, in most cases, he could only use formations…

This seemingly simple problem still seemed to require a complex formation to solve.

…

Over the next few days, Mo Hua kept looking for an opportunity.

Finally, on this day, Lu Chengyun was halfway through drawing his formation when he was called away temporarily.

Mo Hua immediately stood up and moved far away from Zhang Quan.

Zhang Quan frowned and said, "What are you doing?"

"Staying away from you," Mo Hua said.

Zhang Quan's gaze darkened. "What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid you'll harm me."

Mo Hua spoke with unshakable conviction.

Zhang Quan hated him—not for one or two days, but long since; even a blind man could see it.

Zhang Quan snorted coldly, "I'm not that petty."

"That's hard to say. You may know a man's face, but never his heart. Just by looking at your face, I can tell your intentions are foul—your insides must be teeming with malice."

Zhang Quan's gaze turned icy. "Little brat, you'd better not anger me."

"And what if I do?"

Mo Hua snorted, then right before Zhang Quan's eyes, activated the Concealment Technique—his figure slowly vanished.

Zhang Quan froze, then gasped in shock.

What is this brat planning?

He scanned the surroundings several times—no trace of Mo Hua.

He swept his spiritual sense across the area—still no sign of Mo Hua.

He waited a long while—no movement, no sound from anywhere.

It seemed he had merely hidden himself to avoid being found.

Zhang Quan seethed inwardly:

"This brat has such insane caution—he won't give me even a sliver of an opening!"

Zhang Quan clenched his teeth and called out to the surroundings:

"Where are you?"

"Come out!"

"I'm listening to Brother Lu's words—I won't trouble you, rest assured…"

"Come out quickly…"

…

Mo Hua naturally ignored him.

At a remote corner of the Ten Thousand Corpses Array, the hidden Mo Hua quietly opened a coffin.

Though the Ten Thousand Corpses Array was only a replicated formation, it descended from the Great Ten Thousand Corpses Array and was itself vast in scale.

Within the formation, many coffins had been arranged.

Above the formation stood an opulent altar.

Mo Hua was young and small in stature; hidden and silent, he used the coffins and altar as cover—Zhang Quan could not possibly detect him.

Inside the coffin lay a small zombie, chosen deliberately by Mo Hua after days of observation.

This corpse was not old—likely only seventeen or eighteen years old, recently refined by Zhang Quan; the Spirit Pivot Array on its chest had been drawn only recently, its markings still fresh.

A cultivator of seventeen or eighteen…

Was he murdered unjustly? Or killed by a Corpse Cultivator? Or perhaps slain by the Lu family?

Even in death, they turned him into a zombie to do evil, to serve as their henchman.

Mo Hua sighed softly in his heart.

Time was limited; Mo Hua set aside his lamentations and calmly began altering the Spirit Pivot Array on the zombie's heart meridian.

The Spirit Pivot Array contained peculiar array markings.

Mo Hua had not noticed this before.

Because the Spirit Pivot Arrays he himself drew were mostly identical.

Later, after seeing the complete Spirit Pivot Array diagram, and spending these days secretly observing Lu Chengyun draw arrays, he compared them repeatedly—and finally realized his understanding of the Spirit Pivot Array had been incomplete.

He had overlooked certain subtle details.

This detail was the array marking.

Different types of Spirit Pivot Arrays, or even different instances of the same type, each bore a unique array marking—distinct from all others.

Mo Hua had noticed it before, but never thought deeply about it.

Because this array marking carried no special meaning.

No matter how it was drawn, it seemed to have no effect on the Spirit Pivot Array's function.

But after days of study and comparing it with numerous Spirit Pivot Arrays in the Ten Thousand Corpses Array, Mo Hua gradually understood.

This array marking was crucial—it was a sequence marking used to identify the identity of the Spirit Pivot Array.

Like an array "code."

Identical Spirit Pivot Arrays shared the same sequence marking—their array "code."

Within the same sequence, the main body of the marking was identical, but subtle differences existed—additions or deletions of strokes, or changes in direction or order—to distinguish sequence levels.

Only when the array "code" matched could the Spirit Pivot Array enforce hierarchical control based on authority weight.

Corpses, Iron Corpses, and the zombies within bronze coffins all used the same type of "code" marking, but with progressively increasing weight levels, enabling unified control.

But Mo Hua's little tigers were different.

Mo Hua had indeed copied the arrays from the corpses and iron corpses.

But Lu Chengyun used demonic array techniques, while Mo Hua used orthodox array methods.

Thus, their sequence markings had subtly diverged.

Lu Chengyun could control the zombies—but not Mo Hua's little tigers.

And Mo Hua could control his little tigers—but could not control the zombies in the corpse mine.

Unless… he altered the sequence marking on the zombies.

Change the sequence marking, and you change the code—equivalent to changing the authorization.

What Mo Hua now wished to alter was the unique sequence marking on the small zombie—the one used to distinguish authority and identify identity.

Mo Hua picked only one small corpse.

The corpse was not an iron corpse.

In the corpse mine, there were many corpses, and the lower-tier array patterns of the Lingshu Array were numerous.

One more or one less, Lu Chengyun would never notice.

Of course, the main reason was that Lu Chengyun simply could not imagine another cultivator could master the Lingshu Array.

And even sneak into the corpse mine under his nose, and alter his array "codes" within the Ten Thousand Corpses Array.

To those who know, it's easy; to those who don't, it's impossible.

Altering a single lower-tier Lingshu Array pattern was as easy as breathing for Mo Hua.

With a flick of his small hand, three strokes and two lines, he altered the array pattern.

He removed this small corpse from the Lingshu sequence of the Ten Thousand Corpses Array.

Then he added a new array pattern.

This pattern was the sequence he had used on Little Tiger.

After altering this pattern, the small corpse was now controlled by the Lingshu Array on Mo Hua's great tiger, just like Little Tiger.

To the eye, it still looked like a corpse.

But within the Lingshu Array's sequence, it was no longer a "small corpse"—it was now a "little tiger."

After finishing the array alteration, Mo Hua returned to his original spot as if nothing had happened, picked up his brush, and continued drawing the core of the Ten Thousand Corpses Revival Array.

He drew this core slowly, delaying for a long time.

Now it was nearly complete.

Zhang Quan was still shouting for Mo Hua to "come out," but when he looked over, Mo Hua was already back in place, focused intently on drawing the array.

Zhang Quan's gaze sharpened. "You're not running?"

Mo Hua sneered. "Why would I run? You wouldn't dare lay a hand on me."

Zhang Quan growled, "Then what was that just now...?"

Mo Hua smiled sweetly. "I was bored. I was just teasing you."

He then curled his lip. "Who knew you were so stupid—like an idiot—couldn't even find me. Totally boring."

Zhang Quan was about to explode in anger.

Lu Chengyun had already appeared at the door.

Zhang Quan suppressed his fury. He wanted to tell Lu Chengyun about Mo Hua's misdeeds, but then remembered that anything he said against Mo Hua, Lu Chengyun would never believe.

And Mo Hua, it seemed, really hadn't done anything...

Hidden himself to mock him?

Even Zhang Quan felt embarrassed saying such a thing aloud.

Zhang Quan could only sulk into silence.

Lu Chengyun noticed their strained expressions but wasn't surprised—he acted as if nothing had happened.

In a remote corner of the vast Ten Thousand Corpses Array, a plain coffin held a small corpse, its sequence array pattern tampered with.

Lu Chengyun had no way of knowing this.

At night, after shedding Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense surveillance, Mo Hua concealed his form and quietly returned to the hall.

The hall's door was locked.

Mo Hua released his spiritual sense, confirmed no one was around, and used his spiritual sense to secretly control the great tiger.

The great tiger had been left in a corner of the hall during the day.

Now, drawn by Mo Hua's spiritual sense, it leapt to the door, pushed open the bolt, and opened the door for Mo Hua.

The hall's door was simple.

Opening it from inside would not trigger the array.

Mo Hua stepped through the door and walked to the mural.

Then, using his spiritual sense to control the great tiger, he activated the Lingshu Array on the small corpse through the great tiger's own Lingshu Array.

Their sequence patterns matched; their array "codes" were identical.

The great tiger could control the small corpse.

This indirect control was more subtle, harder for Lu Chengyun to detect.

After a while, Mo Hua's spiritual sense stirred slightly.

He could sense the connection to the small corpse's array.

He directed the small corpse to push open the coffin lid, slowly rise, and walk to the entrance, pulling the wall's gate lever.

Simultaneously, on the mural, the ink blurred and merged, layers becoming clear, forming the face of a half-human, half-corpse being.

The face was stern and cruel, its gaze greedy, radiating ferocity and horror.

Its open mouth became the entrance to the mural.

Mo Hua stared at the face for a moment, memorized it silently, then his eyes brightened as he stepped into the Ten Thousand Corpses Altar.

Inside were the Ten Thousand Corpses Revival Array, the golden altar, the bronze corpse coffins...

During the day, with watchers present, he was restrained.

Now, at night, he could enter unseen and unguessed, and do as he pleased.

(End of Chapter)