Chapter 657: Meteor Fire Forbidden Art (Bonus Chapter for Patron Mu Bai Jin Yu)

Mo Hua's scalp prickled, but he still smiled:

"Venerable, you're too kind—I can return to my sect on my own, no need for you to escort me. Dao Ting Si is hunting you; you'd better flee while you can…"

Huo Fotuo's gaze sharpened slightly, a smile on his lips: "The one who impersonated 'Master Yuan' and spoke to me that day—was indeed you!"

"No!"

Mo Hua flatly denied it.

But Huo Fotuo had already decided it was him.

"You're the one who stole my Demon Path's Turning Evil True Scripture and the Meteor Fire Forbidden Art from the altar, aren't you?"

Mo Hua looked utterly bewildered: "Venerable, what are you talking about? I don't understand…"

Huo Fotuo's eyelids twitched.

In all his long life, he had never met such an audacious "young disciple."

Mo Hua smiled sheepishly:

"Venerable, if you won't leave, at least let me go…"

Huo Fotuo drew a deep breath and said coldly:

"Do you really think you can escape?"

Seeing Huo Fotuo wouldn't let him go, Mo Hua sighed helplessly:

"If you won't trouble Uncle Gu, why pick on a child like me?"

"No!"

Huo Fotuo's gaze turned sharp: "Gu Changhuai is nowhere near as dangerous as you…"

Mo Hua froze.

"If I can't kill Gu Changhuai today, I can kill him tomorrow…"

"But you are different…"

Huo Fotuo stared fixedly at Mo Hua:

"Your spiritual sense is strong, your concealment is strong, your arrays are strong, your movements are unpredictable, your methods are mysterious and unfathomable, your mind is cunning and deceitful…"

"Yet you're only at the early Foundation Establishment stage. Given time, you will become a great threat…"

Cold killing intent burned in Huo Fotuo's gaze:

"I have a premonition—if I don't kill you today, I'll surely die at your hands someday!"

Mo Hua's eyelids twitched; he forced a smile:

"Venerable, you overestimate me—I'm terribly untalented, not worth your attention…"

But Huo Fotuo had already hardened his resolve to kill.

He slowly walked toward Mo Hua, a cold smile on his compassionate face.

"Young disciple, you stole my Meteor Fire Art—do you even know how to use it?"

Huo Fotuo slowly extended his hand; demonic power surged, flames erupted.

"I'll teach you now…"

At the instant Huo Fotuo raised his hand, Mo Hua also raised his finger and activated an array.

Seeing this, Huo Fotuo's pupils contracted.

This time, he saw clearly.

Mo Hua's fingertip tapped the ground—spiritual ink pierced the air, swiftly coiling into array patterns, forming a complete array.

Spiritual sense controls ink, touches ground to form arrays?!

Huo Fotuo sucked in a sharp breath.

What kind of incomprehensible array technique was this?

Not even Master Yuan, nor any array master he had ever seen or heard of in his entire life, could form arrays so effortlessly, without restriction.

This boy must die!

Otherwise, once his cultivation advances further and his arrays grow stronger, he will become an unimaginable enemy!

Huo Fotuo's killing intent surged.

Beneath his feet, an array formed—the Gen Mountain Array—trapping him in place.

But in an instant, flames erupted violently, utterly destroying the Gen Mountain Array.

With the array destroyed, Mo Hua turned and ran.

Can't win!

Flee now!

Huo Fotuo sneered and chased after him, but after just a few steps, more arrays activated beneath his feet, hindering his movement.

Only now did Huo Fotuo realize: while talking to this brat, he hadn't been idle—he'd been silently drawing dozens of arrays on the ground to delay him.

"Truly a treacherous little brat…"

Huo Fotuo snorted.

He pushed his demonic power to its limit; dense rain of fire swept outward, exploding and obliterating every array Mo Hua had laid nearby.

Then, his body became a blazing inferno as he lunged after Mo Hua.

Mo Hua panicked and immediately sent a message to Gu Changhuai:

"Uncle Gu, save me!!"

"Huo Fotuo is trying to kill me!!!"

He turned back—and saw Huo Fotuo drawing ever closer.

He was early Foundation Establishment; Huo Fotuo was Foundation Establishment peak.

The cultivation gap is too large.

Although his Step of Flowing Water is refined, it excels only in tiny maneuvers—evading and dodging in close quarters—and is not particularly effective for long-distance pursuit or escape.

As the Fire Buddha was about to catch up, Mo Hua moved like flowing water, instantly pivoting to dodge past the Fire Buddha, then turned left and sprinted into the mountain forest.

The Fire Buddha lunged and missed, then frowned.

What is the origin of this body technique…?

When they first met, Mo Hua relied on this body technique to escape with his life from Qiao Qiao Lao Liu and the others.

At that time, the Fire Buddha did not act.

He had assumed it was merely because Qiao Qiao Lao Liu and the others were unskilled in body techniques, allowing Mo Hua to slip away.

But now, having personally pursued him and experienced it firsthand, he realized this water-style body technique was far more troublesome than he had imagined…

Like a "little eel," slippery and impossible to grip.

Seemingly weak, yet extremely hard to kill…

"Then I can't possibly let him live…"

The Fire Buddha said coldly.

Mo Hua activated his Step of Flowing Water and slipped into the forest; the Fire Buddha followed him in.

With rocks and trees obstructing his path, Mo Hua's technique became even more effective; though the Fire Buddha could keep pace, he could not catch or kill him in the short term.

His spells either missed entirely or were blocked by the forest.

The Fire Buddha's gaze darkened with malice, his killing intent intensifying further.

After weaving his body technique for a while, Mo Hua suddenly seized an opening—his figure flickered and merged with the surroundings, his form gradually vanishing…

"So it really is… the Five Elements Concealment Technique…"

The Fire Buddha's gaze sharpened, then he sneered and withdrew a mercury spirit mirror from his robe.

Upon the spirit mirror, silver light spilled everywhere.

With a sweep of the mirror, the Fire Buddha spotted a faint, tiny shadow within the forest.

He flicked his hand, and several points of fire rain, carrying falling meteors, shot forward like flying daggers.

The tiny shadow flickered and vanished, evading the fire rain.

The fire rain exploded with a "Boom—," striking the rocks and melting deep grooves into them, steaming with charred white smoke.

Missing his strike, the Fire Buddha snorted and continued probing with the spirit mirror, searching for Mo Hua's concealed form.

Mo Hua was speechless inside.

The mighty Fire Buddha—does he really need to go to such lengths just to catch a lowly cultivator like me?

Ambush again.

Roadblock again.

Even prepared a specialized spirit artifact to counter my concealment.

When he wiped out the Xie family, he probably just burned them all with falling meteors, slaughtering left and right—without needing this much effort…

But now, there was nothing Mo Hua could do.

He could only hope Gu Shuji would arrive soon to rescue him.

Only then would he have a chance to escape—or counterattack.

Until then, he could only try every means possible to stall and outmaneuver the Fire Buddha.

Meanwhile, on another path:

Gu Changhuai rode his horse, returning from Bishan City toward Qianxue Prefecture's border.

He felt a faint unease, sensing that the Fire Buddha's escape route was too unhidden, too straightforward.

It felt like an attempt to confuse the trail.

Gu Changhuai then thought of Mo Hua, a disciple of Renhui Sect, and couldn't help but grow increasingly anxious.

So he rode alone, deciding to return to Qianxue Prefecture to check.

Halfway there, his transmission talisman suddenly stirred; Gu Changhuai pulled it out and saw the messages Mo Hua had sent:

"The Fire Buddha wants to kill me!"

Gu Changhuai's heart jolted violently, nearly stealing his breath.

The Fire Buddha!

He is hunting Mo Hua!

Behind the transmission talisman was a location in Qingcheng Mountain.

Gu Changhuai drew a deep breath and immediately spurred his horse into a full gallop, racing toward Mo Hua's location with all speed.

At the same time, he began mobilizing all nearby Enforcers, ordering them to rush to Qingcheng Mountain.

Search the mountain thoroughly—surround and kill the Fire Buddha!

The sun set, night deepened.

The spirit horse galloped faster and faster, the scenery on either side blurring into streaks.

Gu Changhuai stared into the distance, frantic with worry, murmuring softly:

"Kid, don't die…"

…

Time slipped away slowly, and before long, it was midnight.

Mo Hua and the Fire Buddha had played hide-and-seek in the mountains for the better part of the night.

Mo Hua was panting from exhaustion.

The Fire Buddha looked utterly incredulous.

Can't catch him…

No matter what, can't catch him.

Even though he himself was at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and had specifically prepared a spiritual artifact to break concealment, in this complex mountain terrain, he simply couldn't catch the brat.

Though it was an unfamiliar, desolate forest, the brat moved as if it were his own backyard.

Excellent body technique, skilled at concealment.

Can hide anywhere.

Sometimes he even uses demonic beasts to drive the tiger to devour the "wolf," obstructing him.

This made Huo Fotuo, who was always accustomed to simple, brutal, all-out slaughter, extremely uncomfortable.

Could this brat be a "demonic beast" in disguise…?

Once he dives into the mountains, it's like a fish entering the sea, a falcon flying into the sky.

Miscalculated…

Huo Fotuo cursed inwardly.

He had originally thought that, having obtained the information, all he needed to do was block the lone brat, break his concealment, and with his own cultivation, crush a Foundation Establishment early-stage brat would be effortless.

But he never imagined this brat would be so troublesome.

Where was there even a trace of a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator?

But the harder he is to kill, the more he must be killed!

If he isn't killed now, and he truly slips into Qianxue Province, cultivates to Foundation Establishment middle-stage, even late-stage—what then?

Killing him then would be unimaginably difficult.

Huo Fotuo's eyes burned crimson as fire.

"Must kill!"

Even if it takes exhausting him, he will wear this brat down to death.

He's only Foundation Establishment early-stage; no matter how long he uses body technique and concealment, his spiritual energy will eventually run out.

When he can no longer hide or evade, I'll burn him alive, reduce him to ashes, to vent my fury.

On the other side, Mo Hua was equally frustrated.

This Huo Fotuo had made up his mind—he was determined to hunt him down.

He'd already led him circling through the mountains for so long, yet he still wouldn't give up.

As if the brat had killed his father…

The leader of a demonic den, and yet so narrow-minded.

If not for being an experienced little demon hunter, a skilled little array master, with excellent body technique and concealment, and sharp wit, he would've been caught long ago.

This can't go on…

Mo Hua quickly sent a message to Gu Changhuai:

"South cliff of Qingcheng Mountain, right mountain path—Uncle Gu, hurry here…"

No reply from the other side; perhaps he was on the move.

Mo Hua sighed, and had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue playing hide-and-seek with Huo Fotuo.

Fortunately, it was already night, the mountain darkness deep, and demonic beasts everywhere—Mo Hua stirred up chaos and took advantage of the confusion.

He could conceal himself, blending into the darkness.

But Huo Fotuo could not.

As he walked through the mountains, he was like a blazing fire—obvious everywhere, easily disturbing the demonic beasts.

This violated the demonic beasts' taboos.

Some high-grade second-rank demonic beasts would engage Huo Fotuo in battle, which ironically helped Mo Hua.

Thus, they kept exhausting each other until deep into the night.

Mo Hua was still caught up with by Huo Fotuo.

Huo Fotuo's expression was cold; he pressed his attack again, striking at Mo Hua, who still relied on body technique and concealment to evade.

But after prolonged exhaustion with Huo Fotuo, Mo Hua's movements had slowed considerably.

Huo Fotuo's eyes gleamed.

"Brat, it's time to die…"

He swept his sleeve, forming a streak of fire that slashed toward Mo Hua.

Mo Hua gave everything he had—he dodged, but his spiritual energy was nearly spent, his body technique unsteady, and he collapsed to the side, disheveled.

Yet Mo Hua gritted his teeth, rose, and sprinted toward a narrow valley.

"Seeking death."

Huo Fotuo sneered and followed Mo Hua into the valley.

As Mo Hua seemed doomed, Huo Fotuo swung another fire blade.

In the darkness, the red fire blade was glaring, brimming with murderous intent.

Just as the fire blade was about to strike Mo Hua, wind blades suddenly shot from both sides, completely canceling it out.

Huo Fotuo froze, turned his head—and saw Gu Changhuai standing afar, his handsome gaze filled with murderous intent.

Meanwhile, Mo Hua used his last strength to activate the array.

The entrance roared—boulders tumbled down, sealing the valley completely.

Huo Fotuo understood at once.

He had been tricked again by this brat.

Pretending to be overmatched, luring him step by step here, then sealing the valley shut.

And in the valley, a powerful enemy awaited him.

This valley was not unescapable.

But whether scaling the cliffs or breaking through the entrance, it would take time—and under the watchful eyes of the powerful enemy, there was no leisure to flee.

That meant only one of him and Gu Changhuai could live.

As for that brat…

Huo Fotuo glanced around, his gaze sinking.

Gone again…

Damn it, another stealth technique!

Huo Fotuo was fed up, but he could no longer spare attention for Mo Hua.

The great battle was about to erupt.

Gu Changhuai knew this might be his final chance to kill Huo Fotuo.

If he failed again, once Huo Fotuo escaped and broke through the realm, ascending to Jin Dan, it would be as hard as climbing to heaven to kill him afterward.

After all, he cultivated a terrifying forbidden art.

Huo Fotuo felt no fear.

This place lay on the edge of Qianxue Province.

If they entered the fifth-rank Qianxue Province, Gu Changhuai would have no restraint—he could unleash his Jin Dan artifacts, and Huo Fotuo would be no match for him.

But within Qingcheng Mountain, the second-rank restriction still held.

If Gu Changhuai could not suppress his cultivation and rashly unleashed Jin Dan power, it would be Gu Changhuai who died.

He could then act first, using Gu Changhuai's flesh and blood to refine the forbidden art and increase his sha energy.

And that brat…

Once Gu Changhuai died, with no one to protect him, he would surely die too!

Even if he had to use the Meteor Fire Art to blast him inch by inch, he would tear him apart and reduce him to ashes!

Huo Fotuo spread his arms, and fire rained from the sky.

Gu Changhuai flicked his folding fan, and winds whipped like blades.

In moments, wind and fire surged together, like a Kong Que spreading its feathers.

Spiritual energy clashed with demonic energy; spells entangled and exploded in succession.

Mo Hua, watching from afar, was filled with dread.

Fortunately, the valley was large enough, and he had hidden far away, so he was temporarily unharmed.

He seized the moment to sit in meditation, restoring his spiritual sense and spiritual energy.

While resting, Mo Hua kept watch on the distant commotion.

After some time, Mo Hua opened his eyes and saw the fierce battle still raging—the sky had just begun to lighten.

Mo Hua's spiritual sense and spiritual energy fully restored, his gaze turned cold.

After midnight, it would be the seventh day.

The last day of his leave.

Within seven days, Huo Fotuo must die!

Mo Hua, who had been chased and cornered all night by Huo Fotuo, had long been seething with rage.

"Want to see me off?"

"I'll send you on your way first!"

Mo Hua slowly rose to his feet, staring at Huo Fotuo—his pupils instantly turned pitch black, as if draped in deep night.

Huo Fotuo, locked in combat with Gu Changhuai, instantly sensed something wrong.

He felt his surrounding sha energy was beginning to slip out of control.

"What's happening?"

Huo Fotuo's heart tightened.

His sha energy had fully recovered after rest—how could it suddenly "lose control"?

"Could it be…?"

Huo Fotuo scanned his surroundings and indeed spotted Mo Hua on one side.

Mo Hua's entire aura was bizarre, but shrouded in darkness, his figure was dim and indiscernible.

In the next instant, a sliver of white energy emerged from within Mo Hua's pitch-black pupils.

The Heavenly Mechanism Calculation, empowered by the cunning stratagem, forcibly reversed the Heavenly Mechanism, inverting cause and effect.

Huo Fotuo felt his vital energy unravel—as if chains had been violently twisted, and his surrounding sha energy began uncontrollably reversing…

Sha energy reversed?!

Huo Fotuo's face turned pale.

How could this brat know this?

What high-level demonic art for reversing sha energy—where did he learn it?!

Is he a true disciple of Mosha Sect?

No, impossible…

This brat isn't a demonic cultivator…

Huo Fotuo's thoughts raced, then he froze.

The *True Scripture of Demonic Sha Reversal* had been stolen by this brat…

He wouldn't have… learned it just now, would he?

A chill surged into his heart.

Huo Fotuo felt his Dao heart nearly shatter.

Before he could think further, the reversed sha energy had already invaded his entire body.

These sha energies, accumulated through the killing of countless beings and his cultivation, now reversed by karmic law, turned against him, flooding entirely into his own consciousness.

To harm others is to harm oneself.

Huo Fotuo's face turned abruptly black and gray.

His consciousness was filled with sha energy, saturated with grotesque hatred and terrifying wails.

Gu Changhuai did not know what had happened, but seeing Huo Fotuo being counterattacked by sha energy, he immediately launched a lethal strike.

Wind blades gathered, coalescing into a tornado spear, roaring toward Huo Fotuo's chest.

At the eleventh hour, Huo Fotuo regained a sliver of clarity.

Seeing the wind blades hurtling toward him, Huo Fotuo crossed his arms, eyes blood-red, and screamed fiercely, weaving all his demonic fire into a fire shield before him.

The tornado spear collided with the demonic fire shield.

Spiritual power and demonic power clashed, wind and fire intertwined; the surrounding rocks and stones were crushed by spiritual force, crumbling into dust inch by inch.

When the spiritual fluctuations subsided.

Huo Fotuo's cassock was now tattered beyond repair.

Both his arms were covered in fine, wind-blade-cut wounds, clearly severe.

On the other side, Gu Changhuai's breath had also weakened considerably, clearly having expended immense spiritual power.

The valley suddenly fell silent.

Gu Changhuai's gaze grew solemn.

After an indeterminate length of time, Huo Fotuo's low laughter echoed.

"Good… good…"

"You've driven me to this…"

Huo Fotuo's voice turned icy, gradually no longer human.

"Since it has come to this, I shall shed this human skin and fully devote myself to the Noble Lord…"

Before his words ended, Huo Fotuo somehow produced a blood pill the size of a dragon's eye.

The blood pill seemed forged from flesh and blood, trembling slightly.

Huo Fotuo shoved the pill into his mouth.

He moved too swiftly—Gu Changhuai's wind blades and Mo Hua's fireballs had no time to stop him.

Upon swallowing the pill, Huo Fotuo's expression twisted grotesquely.

From his chest, two flame hearts violently pulsed, taking on the nascent form of a demonic artifact.

Huo Fotuo's body rapidly swelled, growing two chi taller in an instant.

Filthy karmic fire burned over his entire body.

The flesh on his face was entirely burned away, as if scorched by flame, hideously distorted.

At the same time, his aura surged once more.

"Gu Changhuai…"

Huo Fotuo's voice was hoarse and terrifying.

"Today, if you don't use your Jin Dan power, you die. But if you do use your Jin Dan power, you still die…"

Huo Fotuo waved his hand, and a crimson ghost-faced fire blade tore through the air, its aura terrifying as it struck toward Gu Changhuai.

Gu Changhuai looked solemn, flicked his folding fan to form a wind shield—but it failed to block it.

The wind shield was split apart by the fire blade.

Gu Changhuai retreated several steps and spat out a mouthful of blood.

He gritted his teeth: "You beast… you've even stopped being human…"

Huo Fotuo sneered, "When you say 'human,' you mean this 'human' skin?"

"How many in this world wear this skin while committing demonic deeds?"

"Those who wear human skin are sometimes more beastly than beasts…"

Gu Changhuai, enraged, unleashed wind blades once more, striking at Huo Fotuo.

But this time, Huo Fotuo made no effort to dodge—he let the wind blades strike him, slicing through his flesh and tearing open his skin.

Instantly, the severed flesh and skin regenerated as before.

"Regenerating flesh?"

Gu Changhuai's face paled slightly, a chill gripping his heart.

If this were true, he could never kill this "beast"-transformed Huo Fotuo.

At that moment, Mo Hua called out from the side:

"Uncle Gu, strike his heart meridian!"

Gu Changhuai froze, then understood.

Huo Fotuo's heart meridian nurtured the embryonic form of his life-spirit demonic artifact.

It was both the source of all his demonic power and his fatal weakness.

Huo Fotuo's expression changed, "Little beast!"

Yet when he scanned with his consciousness, he still could not locate Mo Hua.

After shedding his Shi Renxing, his demonic power grew stronger and his flesh could regenerate, but without "humanity," his consciousness regressed…

Huo Fotuo could not see Mo Hua.

In that brief moment, Gu Changhuai also began, according to Mo Hua's instructions, controlling the wind blades to forcibly shred the heart meridian of Huo Fotuo.

Huo Fotuo's eyes blazed with fury, but he could only try to shield his chest with his left arm to block the wind blades.

His right arm unleashed a spell, engaging Gu Changhuai in close combat.

After enduring several consecutive battles, Gu Changhuai's spiritual energy suddenly grew sluggish.

Only then did he realize his spiritual energy was nearly depleted.

Gu Changhuai felt a bitter taste in his heart.

He was, after all, only a human.

Even with abundant spiritual energy, he could not, like Huo Fotuo, kill others to extract malevolent essences, replenish himself with demonic Jin Dan, abandon his human form, descend into demonic corruption, and regain regenerated flesh.

Human strength has its limits.

Gu Changhuai suddenly felt a sharp pain in his meridians.

He knew this was a sign of overuse—his meridians, constantly forming spells, had already been damaged.

If he kept pushing, he would truly be drained to the last drop…

And Mo Hua…

Gu Changhuai bit his lower lip until blood trickled down, his heart burning with rage:

"To hell with it!"

"No matter what, I must kill Huo Fotuo first!"

"Activate the Jin Dan power directly…"

"Take a gamble…"

"See whether I kill Huo Fotuo first—or whether Heaven kills me first…"

In Gu Changhuai's eyes, a relentless killing intent ignited. His dantian blazed with dantian fire; a fine radiance enveloped his body, and on his right hand manifested a seven-colored peacock feather fan—radiant with shimmering light and astonishing spiritual energy.

Huo Fotuo froze.

It stared at Gu Changhuai, both fearful and astonished.

It had not expected Gu Changhuai would truly dare…

To use Jin Dan power within this Second-Rank realm…

He truly wasn't afraid of death…

Huo Fotuo's gaze held a flicker of mocking amusement.

Gu Changhuai's face was as cold as water, his killing intent bone-chilling; his life-essence treasure had already manifested, and Jin Dan power was now in motion.

At that moment, he suddenly froze, then his pupils sharply dilated.

Huo Fotuo stood right before him.

And at this very instant, Gu Changhuai saw a blurred human silhouette—while Huo Fotuo's attention was fixed on him and he was smirking—slipping soundlessly behind Huo Fotuo.

Then…

From empty air, two tiny hands appeared out of nowhere.

Each palm formed a fireball.

Just ordinary, unremarkable fireballs.

But in an instant, the flames transformed.

As if crushed by an immense force, the two fireballs slammed together, then twisted grotesquely.

Inside each fireball, something collapsed and was forcibly fused together…

The aura of the spell instantly twisted and mutated.

The internal spiritual structure shifted, strange patterns emerged, reconfigured, accompanied by immense spiritual energy.

The two fireballs writhed, deformed, and fused into a single, smaller, yet far more terrifying sphere—pale purple-black, wrapped in swirling magma-like flames.

Huo Fotuo sensed something was wrong.

He felt something terrifying coalescing behind his back.

He tried to turn—but it was too late.

A familiar, crisp, yet icy voice sounded in his ear:

"You want to teach me spells?"

In that instant, searing, unbearable pain erupted across his back.

It was the sensation of terrifying fire-based spiritual energy burning his flesh.

Then came a violent, yet controlled, explosion.

Huo Fotuo saw only distorted spiritual energy and savage flames surge past his vision.

When he looked down, he saw his chest had been blasted clean through—a dark, gaping hole.

(End of Chapter)