Chapter 489: One Hand Covers the Sky

"Good!" Lu Chengyun nodded.

Zhang Quan's face was full of rage.

Lu Chengyun glanced at Zhang Quan with indifference. "What do you intend to do?"

Zhang Quan suppressed his rage, his eyes burning with ambition, and said coldly:

"What else can we do?"

"The Corpse King lies dormant, while walking corpses mine ore—isn't that like letting a fierce sword gather dust?"

"When the Corpse King emerges, it should command all corpses, crush all opposition, and dominate the prefecture!"

"With the Corpse King, with so many iron corpses, and so many walking corpses."

"Across the entire Xiao Huang Prefecture—no, even the neighboring prefectures—what force could stand against us?"

"Wherever the zombie army marches, corpses litter the land."

"Any who defy us? Swallowed and slaughtered utterly!"

"Without lifting a finger, we seize Nan Yue City first, then gradually conquer Xiao Huang Prefecture, and slowly devour the neighboring second-grade prefectures…"

"We turn corpses into killers, then kill again to make more corpses!"

"Cycle after cycle, endlessly repeating, our power grows stronger!"

"Thus we can establish a mighty Corpse Dao Mo Sect, glorify our ancestors, and stand supreme in one realm!"

"At that time, you and I will be the founding ancestors of the Corpse Sect—what is a mere clan lord's position worth?"

…

As if envisioning this vision, Zhang Quan's face flushed crimson, his eyes bloodshot, his expression exhilarated.

But Lu Chengyun remained unmoved; instead, he sneered.

"Naive!"

Zhang Quan's face darkened, glaring at Lu Chengyun with hostile eyes.

Lu Chengyun didn't care; he replied coldly:

"Your Zhang family may have passed down Corpse Dao for generations and have some pedigree, but you're still a minor clan—single heirs generation after generation, few in number, so your vision is narrow, your scope limited…"

"Dominate a prefecture? Found a sect? Establish a Mo Sect?" Lu Chengyun sneered. "Do you think this is child's play?"

"One second-grade Corpse King? Dozens of iron corpses? What kind of dominance is that?"

"Do you think Dao Ting Si is made of straw?"

"Dao Ting Si unifies the Nine Provinces. Even ancient Mo Dao titans with ten-thousand-year lineages know to lie low, scheme in shadows, and dare not show their faces. What do we have? A few first- and second-grade corpses? Do you think we can seize prefectures and claim dominance?"

"Are we even worthy?"

Zhang Quan's face alternated between green and red.

Lu Chengyun shook his head and sighed:

"You only know how to make corpses. You know next to nothing about this cultivation world, and have no true understanding of Dao Ting Si's power."

"We act in secret—build a corpse mine, raise a few walking corpses, stay hidden and unobtrusive. Dao Ting Si might not even care."

"Even if they wanted to care, they might not be willing to pay the price to fight us to the death."

"But if you openly flaunt your banner—claiming to carry on Corpse Dao and establish a Mo Sect—you commit Dao Ting Si's greatest taboo!"

"Dao Ting Si will spare no cost to destroy you utterly!"

"Once word leaks, within three days, hundreds or even thousands of Foundation Establishment Dao soldiers will march in, wielding silver spears, clad in golden armor, their formation vast, storming straight to your door."

"They'll slaughter you and me, and every walking corpse, every iron corpse in this corpse mine—grind your bones to dust, scatter your ashes!"

"Even ten Corpse Kings won't save you!"

"A Corpse King is nothing—nothing like a great demon, great corpse, or great ghost, those rare calamities that appear once in a thousand years. What grounds do you have? How dare you provoke Dao Ting Si? How dare you violate their greatest taboo?"

"Because you're stupid? Or because you're tired of living?"

Lu Chengyun's tone held no courtesy.

Zhang Quan couldn't speak a word; a storm of rage built inside him, and he burst out:

"But we can't just… mine ore…"

Lu Chengyun's gaze turned grim. "That's why I say your vision is too small."

Zhang Quan froze.

Lu Chengyun sneered. "What's wrong with mining ore?"

"What does mining ore bring you?"

"Spirit stones!"

"Who in this world doesn't need spirit stones? Who ever has too many? Without spirit stones, how do you cultivate? How do you seek the Dao?"

Zhang Quan frowned, lost in thought.

Lu Chengyun's gaze was cold and detached:

"The cultivators of Nan Yue City—alive, they mine ore for my Lu family; dead, turned into corpses, they still mine ore for my Lu family!"

"Life and death alike, they are enslaved by my Lu family!"

"By day, the living mine; by night, the dead mine."

"This mine will produce endlessly; my Lu family will have an unending flow of spirit stones!"

"Spirit stones are the foundation!"

"With these spirit stones, we bribe Dao Ting Si officials, we bribe every faction, turn them into 'pigs'—fatten them with greed, dumb them with indulgence, fill their desires until they can only survive by relying on our Lu family. Only then can we truly run rampant in Xiao Huang Prefecture!"

"Dominance? What good is dominance?"

"Becoming a demon? So what if you become a demon?"

"Dao Ting Si has unified everything—any demon cultivator who dares to show his face has long been wiped out, left with no grave to bury his bones!"

"True demonic cultivation requires learning to cling to the Dao Ting Si, monopolize industries, amass Spirit Stones, suck the blood of provincial cultivators, enslave them with power, oppress them with status, and exploit them with Spirit Stones..."

"Not through slaughter, not through corpse poison, not through demonic arts..."

"Openly eat their flesh, drink their blood, and strengthen yourself!"

"Even if the Dao Ting investigates, they will find nothing."

"The local Dao Ting Si is ours; the local sects are of the same breath and spirit; the local clans depend on our breath..."

"Those below—the miner cultivators—are lowly and voiceless, trampled beneath our feet; they dare not speak, and even if they did, no one would believe them..."

"This is how Spirit Stones are truly used!"

"This is true, absolute domination!"

Lu Chengyun's voice was decisive, his gaze profound.

Zhang Quan's expression shifted unpredictably.

Mo Hua, hiding behind the altar, listened in heart-pounding dread.

Within the Ten Thousand Corpses Altar, silence reigned.

After a moment, Lu Chengyun said softly:

"Brother Zhang, do you understand?"

Zhang Quan snapped back to himself, his eyelids twitching slightly, nodding half-understandingly.

Lu Chengyun gave a slight nod, then added with deep implication:

"If you use these corpses to kill, the Dao Ting will kill us."

"But if you make them mine for mining, earn Spirit Stones, and give them to the Dao Ting Si—even to the Dao Ting itself..."

"They won't kill us; they'll beg us to kill more people, forge more corpses, mine more ore, and send them even more Spirit Stones..."

"Times have changed—even demonic cultivation isn't all about fighting and killing anymore..."

"Brother Zhang, think it over carefully..."

After speaking, Lu Chengyun patted Zhang Quan on the shoulder and turned to leave.

Within the altar, only Zhang Quan remained.

Of course, so did Mo Hua.

Mo Hua hid behind the altar, his heart shaken, cold sweat seeping down his back.

This Lu Chengyun was even more venomous than he'd imagined.

And his scheming was even more terrifying.

If he truly succeeded, he'd dominate both orthodox and demonic paths, bribing everyone.

Then this corpse mine might truly take root like a thousand-year-old tree, its roots entwined deep within the mountain, anchored by profit, stretching upward and downward, so firmly entrenched it could never be uprooted again...

Mo Hua drew a sharp breath—then at that moment, he heard a voice.

"Nonsense!"

Mo Hua froze.

It was Zhang Quan's voice.

After Lu Chengyun had left, Zhang Quan finally exploded:

"Absolute rubbish!"

"To abandon our role as ancestral masters of the demonic sect, to submit to the Dao Ting, to flatter the Dao Ting Si, to fawn over every power, and become their dog—utterly incomprehensible!"

"Make corpses mine forever?"

"Corpses that don't eat flesh or drink blood—what kind of corpses are those?"

"You're shaming our ancestral master of the Corpse Dao!"

"And worse—you'd send the Spirit Stones earned from mining away?"

"You've become so used to being someone's dog!"

"You say I have narrow vision? I say you've grown fat on your position as clan lord—greedy for wealth and comfort, short-sighted, timid and cowardly!"

"What's the point of crawling and scheming for centuries, compared to the grand ambition of demonic dominion?"

"Establish a demonic sect, revive the Corpse Dao, glorify our ancestral master, etch our evil name into provincial history, earn renown among fellow corpse cultivators—even if we rise briefly only to be crushed by the Dao Ting, reduced to dust and bones—it would still be enough!"

Zhang Quan's expression was noble, his gaze resolute.

Mo Hua fell silent.

This Zhang Quan had his own thoughts...

And perhaps... faith and pursuit in the Corpse Dao?

Mo Hua found it hard to judge.

After scolding Lu Chengyun for a while, Zhang Quan calmed himself, then after a moment, let out a cold laugh and muttered softly:

"Lu Chengyun..."

"Forging corpses isn't something you get to decide alone..."

"... Once the Corpse King is forged, you won't control it anymore..."

"I'm not as timid as you."

"I will bring the Corpse King into the world—iron corpses will slaughter the city, turn Nanyue City into a land of walking corpses, plunge this Xiao Huang Province into a hell, make all cultivators tremble in fear, and show them what true corpse cultivation really is!"

Zhang Quan's voice was icy; after speaking, he snorted and left.

Mo Hua's eyes flashed, a glint of cold light lurking within.

Zhang Quan... Lu Chengyun...

Though their methods differed, neither was good.

No matter who controls the Corpse King, the result will not be good.

One will leave corpses strewn across the land, the other will poison far and wide.

Mo Hua thought again of Zhang Quan's indignant expression, and the words he had just spoken, and his mind stirred.

Zhang Quan is at odds with Lu Chengyun, and from what he said, he also wants to control the Corpse King?

To control the Corpse King, one would have to open the bronze coffin.

If that's the case, wouldn't he himself have a chance?

Mo Hua's eyes flickered.

After this, all of his spare time was spent tailing Zhang Quan.

When Zhang Quan was alone, he was indeed sneaking about, and even set up a formation to block spiritual sense probing — no one knew what he was preparing.

Mo Hua, afraid of alerting his quarry, did not dare to probe closely.

But he knew Zhang Quan would definitely make some underhanded move.

The way he looks right now is exactly the same as when he himself is about to do something shady.

Sure enough, a few days later, one night, taking advantage of Lu Chengyun being busy with affairs and leaving the Corpse Mine to handle clan business, Zhang Quan also slipped out.

Mo Hua hurriedly concealed himself, left his room, and got ahead to the Ten Thousand Corpses Altar to wait for him.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Zhang Quan entered the altar.

Mo Hua still hid behind the altar, secretly watching him.

Seeing no one around, Zhang Quan was furtive and a little nervous; from his storage bag he took out a bronze coffin nail.

Mo Hua's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood.

"So it's a coffin nail!"

This coffin nail is both a key, and also contains a formation.

A normal coffin nail is used to seal a coffin, but this coffin nail is used to open one.

Zhang Quan took out the coffin nail, measured along the coffin lid left and right, found a spot three cun in, and drove the coffin nail into the bronze coffin.

Then on the bronze coffin, an aura flickered faintly.

It seemed as if something had been opened.

Zhang Quan was overjoyed, and immediately lifted the coffin lid, revealing the bronze inner coffin inside, inscribed with a blood formation.

Zhang Quan took out a dagger, cut his palm, and let his blood drip along the grooves on the coffin into it.

Once the blood grooves were filled, Zhang Quan took out a Corpse-Control Bell.

This Corpse-Control Bell was neither stone nor wood, neither bronze nor iron; it was pitch-black all over, with the same eerie blood-patterned veins as those in the bronze coffin.

Zhang Quan shook the Corpse-Control Bell.

The sound was muffled and strange, like a zombie murmuring.

After shaking it for a while, Zhang Quan fed blood to the corpse again, then shook the Corpse-Control Bell once more, and walked with strange steps along the bronze coffin, moving counter to its direction.

Feed blood, shake the bell, walk counter.

His lips moved in incantation.

Though Mo Hua couldn't fully understand, based on his own previous research and the corpse-refining knowledge he'd gathered from Lu Ming, he roughly guessed that this was a special corpse-control technique among corpse-refining methods.

Sure enough, he fed blood seven times, shook the bell seven times, and walked counter seven times.

From within the bronze coffin came the sound of a heartbeat.

It was the heartbeat of a dead person.

Utterly unlike a living person's heartbeat — evil and bizarre.

Mo Hua only had to hear it to feel his whole body uncomfortable, and his heart faintly choking.

Fortunately, that heart only beat faintly once, then stopped.

Zhang Quan, however, was overjoyed.

He resealed the coffin, took the coffin nail, looked around once more, confirmed no one was nearby and no other traces were left, then gave a cold laugh and left the vast, empty altar.

And behind the altar, Mo Hua poked out his little head.

(End of this chapter)