Chapter 649: The Vanished Demon Cultivator

"What can I even do with the Demon Palace in my hands?"

For a moment, Mo Hua's mind swarmed with thoughts, every wicked idea popping up...

It was Gu Changhuai who interrupted him:

"Do you know where Huo Fotuo is?"

Oh right, Huo Fotuo is more urgent...

Mo Hua immediately focused his spirit, controlling the Electromagnetic Array Disc, using the Spiritual Vision Core to take in every movement within the Demon Palace.

But as he watched, Mo Hua's brow furrowed.

"There's nothing..."

Gu Changhuai also froze. "How can there be nothing?"

Mo Hua said: "This Electromagnetic Core originally connected the Outer Hall, Middle Hall, and Inner Hall—but the Inner Hall seems to have its own secrets, sealed off, shrouded in mist; we can't tell what's happening inside..."

"Inner Hall..."

Gu Changhuai's gaze grew cold.

Huo Fotuo must be hiding in the Inner Hall, and the Demon Palace's core secret is probably hidden there too.

The Inner Hall is completely sealed.

"Maybe we should go back and call for help—launch a pincer attack from inside and out?" Gu An whispered.

Gu Changhuai frowned, then asked:

"How many demonic cultivators are inside the Demon Palace?"

Gu An and Gu Quan exchanged glances, both shook their heads, then all three turned to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said: "Based on the number of signals from the restored array, roughly four hundred..."

"Four hundred..."

Gu Changhuai's gaze darkened.

Mo Hua asked: "Uncle Gu, how many personnel can the Dao Ting Si mobilize?"

"If we call on the Executive Officers, we can summon eight hundred—but..."

Gu Changhuai's expression turned solemn, sighing: "In the short term, the number we can mobilize—reliable ones—is maybe three hundred..."

"And among them, those experienced enough to fight demonic cultivators? Probably just over a hundred..."

"..."

Mo Hua understood roughly.

The Dao Ting Si is bloated, overstaffed, and its cultivators are a mixed bag.

There are certainly some cultivators with upright hearts, dedicated to slaying demons and purifying evil—but they are few.

Most are just going through the motions.

Some are opportunists, only moving when there's profit to be made.

There are probably a few moles among them too...

The entire Dao Ting Si is like sludge mixed with clear water, dead fish, and toxic tumors.

You can't rely on it—but you can't ignore it either...

People like Uncle Gu, or Gu An and Gu Quan, are probably rare exceptions.

Gu Quan added: "What if we try luring Huo Fotuo out, then ambush and kill him?"

Gu Changhuai thought for a moment, then shook his head:

"Huo Fotuo isn't an array master. Most array masters are physically weak, poor at combat—easier to kill..."

As Gu Changhuai spoke, he glanced sideways and saw Mo Hua's unhappy expression; he sighed helplessly:

"I'm not talking about you..."

Mo Hua is an array master too, and his body is weak—but he's cunning as a demon, full of tricks; most people can't sneak up on him.

"Hmm."

Mo Hua didn't know what Gu Changhuai was thinking, but he felt it wasn't quite praise, nor outright criticism; he nodded reluctantly.

Gu Changhuai shook his head and continued:

"... Huo Fotuo is different. He's paranoid, excels in fire arts, and has killed countless people..."

"We may not even lure him out—and even if we do, killing him quickly by ambush or force is unlikely..."

"This is a second-grade prefecture; I can't unleash my Jin Dan power—I'm only at the peak of Foundation Establishment."

"If we fail and get surrounded by the many demonic cultivators in this palace, we won't be able to escape..."

And even if we could flee, someone would surely die here...

Gu Changhuai's face was solemn.

Gu An and Gu Quan also frowned tightly.

Once heretical cultivators gain strength, gather in numbers, and hide in low-grade prefectures, they become extremely difficult to handle under the Dao's laws.

Mo Hua also frowned, growing anxious inside.

Unconsciously, two days had passed.

He could now faintly see Huo Fotuo's figure—but a barrier lay between them, leaving him unable to reach him, helpless with frustration.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then his expression turned icy; he declared outright:

"Then let's start killing..."

Gu Changhuai and the other three froze.

"Start killing?"

"Yes!" Mo Hua nodded. "We go in first, wipe out the outer guards, then summon reinforcements to trap the Inner Hall—overwhelm them with numbers, storm the Inner Hall, and kill Huo Fotuo!"

"Solitary Peak Demon Cavern, a celestial cave beyond the heavens."

"Its advantage is isolation from the world, complete internal closure, air-tight secrecy, easy to defend and hard to attack; outsiders cannot enter, nor can they spy on its secrets."

"Its drawback is that once discovered and surrounded, you'll be trapped and find it nearly impossible to escape..."

Gu Changhuai pondered briefly, then nodded slightly:

"That could work..."

"The Demon Palace is heavily guarded; a direct assault would be extremely difficult."

"Even with us inside and out coordinating, casualties would be heavy..."

"So we must first weaken them from within..."

"Kill off the outer and middle-ring demon cultivators, then mobilize the Dao Ting Si enforcers to storm in and surround the inner hall..."

"Then the tide turns—the one surrounded becomes Huo Fotuo."

Dao Ting Si, with numbers against one, even if their morale is scattered and their ranks filled with dead weight, should have no problem.

"But..." Gu Changhuai glanced at Mo Hua, his eyes filled with concern, "this won't be easy to kill."

A few or a dozen is fine, but hundreds of Foundation Establishment demon cultivators? That's a real problem.

"Don't worry." Mo Hua pointed to the array plate behind him, saying:

"I'm using this Yuan Ci Ling Shi Fu Array to guide you..."

"This Yuan Ci Ling Shi Fu Array is now under my control—it's turned 'traitor.' The demon cultivators inside the palace are all blind."

"We can quietly sneak up and assassinate them, one by one!"

"And we won't be detected..."

Mo Hua looked utterly confident.

Gu Changhuai suddenly understood, then couldn't help but be shaken:

To assassinate all the outer hall demon cultivators without alerting the enemy...

He was a Jin Dan; even with heavenly dao suppression, assassinating Foundation Establishment cultivators in batches, a few at a time, was certainly feasible.

But the condition was: not a single one could be detected...

The most critical factor here was the array.

The core Ling Shi Fu Array monitoring the entire Bishan Demon Cavern had... turned traitor...

The enemy's most vital array had become an 'inside traitor.'

To turn another's array to your own use—to plant the enemy's own blade into their heart.

Array masters truly... were terrifying...

Or perhaps...

Gu Changhuai silently glanced at Mo Hua.

Some array masters were simply terrifying...

Mo Hua's eyes gleamed brightly.

He mentally ran through the entire plan once more:

First, use the Ling Shi Fu Array to 'remotely control' Uncle Gu and the other two, assassinating all demon cultivators in the middle and outer halls, eliminating all watchpoints.

Then have Uncle Gu summon reinforcements to surround the inner hall like wrapping dumplings.

Even if Dao Ting Si enforcers were as 'corrupt' as ever, with numbers overwhelming the few, wrapping dumplings should be no problem.

After that...

We'll see how things unfold...

Mo Hua silently thought to himself.

After all, what lay inside the inner hall? The Ling Shi Fu Array showed nothing—he was just as clueless now.

First, surround the inner hall and force Huo Fotuo to show himself.

With all plans settled, Mo Hua pulled a serious face and declared:

"The hunt begins..."

Gu Changhuai found the wording odd, but remembering Mo Hua's usual eccentricity, he let it pass...

Thus, in the gloomy demon cavern, within the stern demon palace,

a silent hunt began.

Mo Hua 'commanded' from the center of the Ling Shi Fu Array, guiding Gu Changhuai and the other three.

"Northwest corner of the middle hall, near the bone statue—on the right side, two demon cultivators will arrive in roughly ten breaths..."

"Kill them freely—no one's around."

Mo Hua sent messages to them using the transmission token Gu Changhuai had given him.

Then Mo Hua fixed his gaze on the array plate.

After a while, within the Ling Shi Fu Array's visual display, two gray-black spiritual energy figures approached from afar.

They were two demon cultivators.

The Ling Shi Array could only show faint spiritual energy silhouettes.

So what Mo Hua saw looked like two dirty, 'spiritual energy dolls.'

These two dirty spiritual energy dolls walked unknowingly into the corner, when suddenly three hazy human shadows appeared beside them.

Because they had concealed their forms, their spiritual energy appeared as a blurred mass, hard to discern clearly.

Had Mo Hua not known beforehand, he might have easily overlooked them.

Then Mo Hua watched as those three hazy spiritual energy dolls stabbed the two dirty ones.

Red afterimages appeared—seemingly blood flowing out.

It might also be the overflow of demonic cultivation energy.

There were also white marks, as if slashed by wind-elemental spiritual power—likely the work of Uncle Gu.

He killed one himself.

Gu An and Gu Quan seemed to use blades; they fought together, their spiritual arcs like full moons, slaying the other demonic cultivator…

Mo Hua watched while mentally picturing the scene, finding it utterly novel.

After the two demonic cultivators were killed, their corpses were tossed into the putrid waters beneath the demonic palace.

This putrid stream seemed originally to have been a "Corpse-Abandoning River…"

Its filthy water mixed with something unknown—either mud or flesh-paste—stinking horribly and shimmering with greenish corruption.

Perhaps it was used by demonic cultivators to discard corpses after murder.

Now, after being killed themselves, they were dumped inside too—fitting retribution.

"Two dead…"

Mo Hua continued studying the array plate, beginning again to "call names," searching for the next "lucky" unfortunate…

Moments later, Mo Hua found another demonic cultivator.

"Keep moving forward…"

"Pass through the corridor, there's a alchemy chamber—hidden in the corner; in seven breaths, a lone demonic cultivator will pass by…"

"Kill him…"

"Good, next…"

"This time, two people and a dog…"

"Move quickly—only one incense stick's time, or you'll be spotted by a five-man patrol coming from behind…"

"Killed again…"

"Killed…"

…

Thus, Mo Hua watched the surveillance and called out names.

The executions were carried out by Gu Changhuai, a Jin Dan, and Gu An and Gu Quan, two late Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Whoever he named died; whoever he pointed at fell dead.

Within the vast demonic palace, demonic cultivators vanished, one after another, silently…

Yet not a single one noticed.

Mo Hua concealed it perfectly.

Before discarding the corpses, Gu Changhuai and the other two would strip the victims' storage bags.

Mo Hua didn't want anything else inside the storage bags.

Of course, even if he did, Gu Changhuai wouldn't give them to him.

After killing the demonic cultivators, Gu Changhuai gave Mo Hua only all the transmission tokens bearing identical skull motifs.

The demonic cultivators had even given these tokens a name: "Book Demon Tokens."

"Just call them transmission tokens—why 'Book Demon Tokens'? So flashy…"

Mo Hua muttered under his breath, slightly disdainful.

But Mo Hua kept all these "Book Demon Tokens."

Nearly every demonic cultivator in the palace possessed one of these "Book Demon Tokens," which allowed them to send messages to each other.

Yet simultaneously, all message content was monitored by the Magnetic Core Array Nexus.

Originally, this had been a demonic array master's tool for "surveilling" demonic cultivators.

Now, it conveniently served Mo Hua's purposes.

Mo Hua's first task now was to monitor the demonic cultivators' "conversations," searching for clues about Huo Fotuo—or other secrets of the demonic palace.

He had not yet uncovered other secrets.

But he finally learned the title of the deceased demonic array master.

When patrolling demonic cultivators sent messages to the Core Array Nexus via Book Demon Tokens, they referred to the dead demonic array master as "Master Yuan."

Master Yuan…

A master skilled in Magnetic Array techniques?

Was that his original surname, or did he adopt it later?

Mo Hua couldn't figure it out.

But it didn't matter.

The original Master Yuan was dead; now, Master Yuan was, in truth, "Mo" Master.

Mo Hua impersonated "Master Yuan," issuing orders to the patrolling demonic cultivators.

And the demonic cultivators knew nothing.

Master Yuan was an erratic, cruel demonic array master—cold-tempered, whose words the demonic cultivators dared not question.

But another matter was more troublesome.

It was the Book Demon Tokens of the dead demonic cultivators…

The Book Demon Tokens of those killed by Gu Changhuai upon Mo Hua's designation could not yet be discarded.

Because if any living demonic cultivator sent a message to these dead ones and received no reply, the assassinations might be exposed.

So Mo Hua had to "play multiple roles," occasionally using these dead cultivators' Book Demon Tokens to reply to others.

Creating the illusion that everyone was still alive, still patrolling normally.

At first, with only a few Book Demon Tokens, it was manageable—Mo Hua could handle it with some effort.

But these demonic cultivators' interests and hobbies are all perverted.

Mo Hua felt out of place.

It was hard to blend into the demonic cultivators' twisted perspective and talk with them.

After all, he was too upright…

Mo Hua sighed silently in his heart.

Thus, in the Book Demon Orders, whenever there was a message, he could only mumble and evade with a few words.

Like "hmm," "oh," "fine," "okay," "you decide," "you're something else," and so on…

But as the Book Demon Orders multiplied, these "hmm" and "oh" replies became monotonous.

And they looked fake, easy to expose.

Mo Hua lay on the Evil Array Master's chair, using his mind for two purposes at once: watching the array plate and naming targets to kill.

And flipping through the Book Demon Orders' records.

He needed to summarize the patterns of demonic cultivators' conversations so he could better "pretend" to be a villain.

After watching for a long time, Mo Hua realized he had overthought it.

These demonic cultivators had wildly different temperaments, were quick-tempered and crude-spoken—there was no need to expend so much effort learning how they spoke; all he needed was to know how to curse.

Most demonic cultivators simply started cursing the moment they disagreed.

If you could curse well, you could act like a demonic cultivator well.

Curse!

Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

He remembered Elder Yu.

If cursing counted as a "realm," then Elder Yu was at least half-step Void-Piercing.

If cursing could enhance cultivation, Elder Yu might have already ascended long ago.

Unfortunately, he was a gentle, well-mannered good boy—he wasn't good at cursing.

At best…

He had passively memorized many of Elder Yu's curses while following him, so now he could just use them.

"These are all Elder Yu's curses—I didn't go bad…"

"I just have a good memory—it's not my fault…"

Mo Hua nodded.

Then he began using the "Book Demon Orders" to unleash curses on the demonic cultivators.

Let these demonic cultivators far away in Qian Province feel Elder Yu's curse power…

…

Demonic Cultivator A: "What the fuck, why haven't you replied all this time?"

Mo Hua replied: "Why should I talk to a piece of trash? Your brain is as dumb as a pig's—how could you understand what I'm saying?"

"Are you drunk?"

"How could my old man get drunk? Unless one day I chop off your pig head and serve it as wine, and your mother cheers me on, then maybe I'll get drunk."

"Good, good! Good you, Corpse Yin Laoer, you bastard…"

Mo Hua frowned, about to get angry, then suddenly realized.

He's cursing Corpse Yin Laoer—what does that have to do with Mo Xiaohua?

He's not cursing me…

"Fine! Even if I, 'Corpse Yin Laoer,' am a bastard, I'm the bastard of your great-grandma and a stray dog—you're the bastard of me and your mother…"

After Mo Hua replied, the other side fell silent.

Maybe he was passed out from rage.

Mo Hua shook his head, "No good—I'm not… no, I'm not even a match for 'Elder Yu.'"

Qian Province is a major province with many sect lineages, but its curse tradition is probably weak.

Mo Hua's fingers flew, his spiritual sense faster—he began searching Elder Yu's "curse records" to reply to the next demonic cultivator.

Demonic Cultivator B: "Idiot, where the hell are you?"

"On your mother's belly…"

…

"The Demon Hall seems quieter now…"

"One by one, they're all like walking corpses—how could it not be quiet?"

…

"So boring… get me a few Misses to cultivate with…"

"What time is it, and all you think about is cultivation through sexual union? Why don't you crush your own cock and use it to patch up your pig brain?"

…

"Are you dead?"

"I'm already dead—don't talk to me…"

"If you're dead, how are you replying?"

"Then why did you ask?"

"I'm just concerned about you, you beast."

"Don't need your beastly concern—I died on your mother, and I'm trying to make sure this world gets one more beast like you before I go…"

…

These curses were all learned from Elder Yu.

Mo Hua didn't really understand what they meant, but his spiritual sense was strong and his memory excellent, so he just remembered them by accident.

They were definitely curses, that's all that mattered.

Used on these demonic cultivators, they were perfectly suited.

After being cursed, none of these demonic cultivators remained emotionally calm.

Some got so angry they misspelled the characters in their replies…

Others even suffered spiritual sense chaos and couldn't reply at all…

Fortunately, among these demonic cultivators, they routinely cursed each other daily; no matter how angry they became, none dared cause trouble in the Demon Palace.

They certainly wouldn't resort to violence over a mere verbal quarrel.

According to Mo Hua's guess, they likely stored this "hatred" firmly in their hearts, waiting to provoke revenge later.

But none of this had anything to do with him.

The "text files" of curses belonged to Elder Yu.

The curse-issuing Demon Orders belonged to these demonic cultivators.

This "hatred" couldn't possibly fall upon him.

Moreover, these "cursing" demonic cultivators had all long since died…

And the number kept growing…

Thus, Mo Hua simultaneously called out names, had Uncle Gu "slash" them, impersonated Master Yuan to issue orders to the demonic cultivators, and also "played multiple roles" to curse them.

For a time, he was busily occupied.

At that moment, a message suddenly arrived on the Magnetic Core Array Plate:

"Master Yuan."

Mo Hua replied on instinct: "If you've got something to say, say it. If you've got a fart to let out, do it. Why are you dragging your feet, you bastard?"

The other side fell silent for a long while.

Then slowly replied: "Master Yuan, your liver fire seems somewhat deficient today."

Mo Hua was taken aback.

Who is this person?

He had a good temper, high quality, could endure being cursed—rare among demonic cultivators…

As Mo Hua was pondering how to reply, the other side sent another message:

"Greed, anger, and delusion are the three poisons, three defilements, three fires. Mixed desires disorder the mind; evil spirits cling to the body. Only by maintaining a pure heart can one suppress these evil fruits…"

Mo Hua frowned, then froze, his mouth falling open.

"Greed, anger, delusion…"

"Pure… evil fruits…"

Could this person be…

Huo Fotuo?!

Mo Hua was stunned.

"Huo Fotuo… is talking to me?"

"And I just cursed him?"

(End of Chapter)