Chapter 491: The Little Yellow Bird

At the fourth watch of the next day, Lu Chengyun returned to the Wanshi Altar, littered with coffins, to redraw the array.

Mo Hua hid behind the altar, watching him secretly.

As usual, Lu Chengyun opened a coffin, took up his brush, poured out blood ink, dipped it, and began painting the array—but as soon as his brush touched the surface, he frowned.

He stared at the array for a long time, his frown deepening, until at last he muttered:

"Wrong…"

"Wrong…"

"This array… has a problem…"

Mo Hua's heart tightened slightly.

So it was discovered.

Lu Chengyun remained puzzled:

"Who altered my array?"

"Who has the ability to change an array I've drawn?"

"And who, beneath my very eyes, slipped into the corpse mine, entered the altar, opened the bronze coffin, and modified my Grade-One, Twelve-Emblem Spirit-Pivot Evil Array?"

Lu Chengyun's gaze flickered with suspicion.

Suddenly, he jolted:

"Is there someone inside this altar?"

He immediately released his spiritual sense, scanning the surroundings.

Mo Hua tucked his small head down, quietly suppressing his aura.

Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense swept over the array, over the coffins, over the altar, then passed over him—finding nothing.

He scanned the area several more times, finally relaxing.

"Was I just paranoid…?"

Lu Chengyun muttered, frowning.

This kind of thing was utterly implausible…

If someone truly could do this, their cultivation must be immensely profound, their methods unfathomable.

A cultivator of such stature, if they wished to deal with me, wouldn't need such sneaky tricks—they could strike me down directly, and I wouldn't stand a chance…

"Array… Mo Hua?"

Lu Chengyun suddenly thought of Mo Hua.

In the entire corpse mine, only Mo Hua had array skills second only to his own.

Could it be Mo Hua who altered my Spirit-Pivot Evil Array?

"No, he lacks the ability."

Lu Chengyun declared firmly.

A Grade-One, Twelve-Emblem Spirit-Pivot Array requires Twelve-Emblem Foundation Establishment spiritual sense.

This young cultivator's spiritual sense may be strong, but he's still at Qi Refining—tops out at ten emblems, possibly even less.

Spiritual sense is the foundation of an array master.

Without twelve emblems of spiritual sense, without using dark arts or borrowing another's spiritual sense, he could never draw the Spirit-Pivot Array.

And this young cultivator's aura is pure, flawless like uncarved jade.

He certainly never practiced dark arts or drawn evil arrays.

Moreover, he couldn't possibly have learned the Spirit-Pivot Array.

It's a Grade-One, Twelve-Emblem ultimate array, transcending rank—I studied it for nearly a century, used dark techniques to lower the threshold, and still barely managed to draw it.

This brat doesn't even have the array diagram—how could he learn it, how could he draw it?

He might have seen the array lines…

But he only glanced at the diagram once, and occasionally, in his spare time, watched me draw the array a few times.

If he could learn it from that, it would be pure fantasy.

Even the highest talent isn't this extreme…

If he could learn it just by glancing a few times, wouldn't all my years of array study be wasted?

Lu Chengyun shook his head.

"It's not him…"

If not Mo Hua, then only one person remains…

"Zhang Quan!"

Lu Chengyun's gaze sharpened.

He glanced again at the array on the bronze coffin, his thoughts shifting.

The array's aura had changed—the evil energy had weakened.

But the array lines remained unchanged.

This suggests the array itself wasn't altered—someone must have used another method to reduce my control over the Corpse King, weakening the array's power and dimming its evil force…

This is corpse-refining technique!

Among all corpse cultivators in the mine, the one most skilled in corpse-refining was naturally Zhang Quan.

Even this bronze coffin had been passed down through the Zhang family's ancestors.

Zhang Quan understood it better than I do—he could have tampered with it behind my back, and that would make perfect sense.

"Zhang Quan…"

Lu Chengyun's gaze grew cold as he murmured silently.

He knew that Zhang Quan had divided loyalties.

Moreover, the two had radically different ideas about how to use the Corpse King.

Zhang Quan had narrow vision and limited ambition, like an ordinary corpse cultivator, only knowing how to refine corpses to kill, and kill to refine corpses, obsessed with establishing a demonic sect and "glorifying his ancestors," unable to see the true nature of this world.

Originally, Lu Chengyun hadn't cared.

After all, the Zhang family's corpse-refining method still had great use for him.

But if Zhang Quan dared to defy great taboos and lay hands on the Corpse King, ruining his grand plan, then he would have no one to blame but himself…

Lu Chengyun's smile turned sinister.

Mo Hua behind the altar, hearing Lu Chengyun say he "had no strength," then hearing him utter "Zhang Quan's" name, also wore a fox-like smile.

But Lu Chengyun clearly still wasn't reassured…

The next day, he asked Mo Hua to calibrate the core of the Ten Thousand Corpses Array, while he himself opened the bronze coffin and began drawing the array.

Mo Hua, as usual, stole a glance into the bronze coffin.

His gaze was filled with curiosity and confusion.

There was no other anomaly.

Lu Chengyun frowned and asked: "Young Master Mo, what do you think of this array?"

Mo Hua nodded and said: "Very profound!"

"Can you understand it?"

Mo Hua stammered: "I understand… a little."

But as he said this, he clearly sounded guilty.

He probably understood nothing at all, yet wanted to save face, so he pretended to know a little.

Lu Chengyun thought to himself.

Then Mo Hua seemed to remember something and said with a childlike expression:

"By the way, Lord Lu, you said once the core is drawn, you'd teach me this array—can you teach me now?"

Mo Hua looked at Lu Chengyun, his eyes clear.

Lu Chengyun's expression froze slightly.

Mo Hua's gaze was too innocent…

So innocent that even doubting him brought a sense of guilt.

"This fool child actually thinks I'll teach him the array?"

Lu Chengyun sighed inwardly, then said gently:

"You're not ready yet. Wait until your spiritual sense grows stronger…"

"Oh."

Mo Hua looked disappointed and left, though he occasionally glanced back, his eyes reluctant.

Seeing this, Lu Chengyun's suspicions vanished entirely; he was certain in his heart:

"It must be Zhang Quan!"

The one tampering with the bronze coffin must be Zhang Quan!

This young cultivator, Mo Hua, though a bit clever, had clear eyes and shallow scheming—he couldn't pull off much deceit.

The only one who could manipulate things under his nose was Zhang Quan!

Lu Chengyun's gaze turned icy as he pondered something in silence.

Where he didn't notice, Mo Hua, facing away, stood with a slightly forlorn back—but his small face was secretly smiling…

…

In the following days, Lu Chengyun showed no outward change, but his gaze toward Zhang Quan subtly carried a chill.

Zhang Quan, guilty at heart, failed to notice.

But all of this was seen by the seemingly innocent Mo Hua.

…

One late night, at the hour of Yin.

In the empty, silent Ten Thousand Corpses Altar.

The murals rippled open, revealing a door; Zhang Quan crept inside.

He glanced around, confirmed no one was present, then opened the bronze coffin, cut his hand with a knife, fed it his blood, walked backward, chanted incantations, and rang a bell to summon corpses…

He had been performing this set of corpse-controlling incantations for several days straight.

Inside the bronze coffin, the Corpse King's heartbeat grew louder and stronger, radiating a power that made the other corpses fear and submit.

After completing the ritual, Zhang Quan's face turned pale, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

The later the incantation progressed, the more blood it required, and the more taxing the refinement became.

But if he could control the Corpse King, it would all be worth it.

Zhang Quan closed the coffin lid, sneered, and left the altar…

The sinister altar returned to silence.

Moments later, a figure slowly stepped out from behind the altar—dressed in brocade and silk, face grim.

It was Lu Chengyun.

He glanced at the murals, then walked to the bronze coffin, unsealed the lid, and examined the array inscribed on the bronze sarcophagus.

The array's power had indeed weakened.

At the same time, the zombies' heartbeats had grown stronger.

Lu Chengyun's gaze turned cold; silently, he pulled out a bone pen, dipped it in human blood, and reinforced the array once more, suppressing the power of the corpse-controlling bell.

After finishing the drawing, reseal the coffin.

Lu Chengyun also sneered, then left the altar.

The altar returned to deathly silence.

Less than a cup of tea's time after Lu Chengyun left, another small head emerged atop the altar.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware the oriole waits behind.

Mo Hua was that little oriole.

While Lu Chengyun hid behind the altar watching Zhang Quan, Mo Hua had been concealed on the stone beam above Lu Chengyun's head, watching both of them.

Now both Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun were gone.

Mo Hua's gaze brightened slightly; he leapt lightly down from the altar, then approached the bronze coffin, used his own-made coffin nails to unseal the array, opened the bronze coffin, and summoned the small zombie to push open the lid.

Beneath the lid lay the inner coffin.

Upon the inner coffin was the array Lu Chengyun had just reinforced.

Mo Hua then took out brush and ink, and continued overlaying his own array atop Lu Chengyun's Spirit Pivot Evil Array…

Zhang Quan refined the corpse.

Lu Chengyun drew the array.

Mo Hua overlaid the array.

This scene played out in turn upon the altar.

Until nearly half a month later, when the Corpse King was nearly complete and ready to emerge from the coffin…

After receiving Mo Hua's message, for nearly half a month, dark currents churned within Nan Yue City, and a tense, solemn dread hung in the air like storm clouds gathering…

Xiao Huang Province border.

Though the sky seemed clear and bright, torrential rain arrived in an instant.

(End of Chapter)