Chapter 852: Stealing Sounds (Bonus Chapter for Ally

Finally!

I've finally caught you with your pants down…

Mo Hua was overjoyed inside, but kept his face expressionless, only frowning and asking: "What altar?"

"The altar for offering tributes to the Divine Master…"

"Where?"

"It's…" Mr. Wu hesitated.

Mo Hua kindly reminded him: "Xiao Diansi has a terrible temper—if you don't speak, he'll slit your belly open and rip out your guts."

Mr. Wu panicked and hurriedly said: "Right inside the inner hall of the Long Wang Temple!"

Mo Hua's eyes flickered, then he shook his head.

"Something's off. You're not asking for anything, not making a single demand—just handing over the altar's location so easily? There must be a trap…"

Mr. Wu gave a bitter smile. "The knife's in your hands—I'm just meat on the chopping block. How could I dare make demands? As long as you spare my life, that's enough. If I die, I can't offer my life and blood to the Divine Master."

This Mr. Wu, even at death's door, still thinks of his "Divine Master."

His mind must've been washed clean into nothing.

Mo Hua shook his head.

Xiao Diansi, silent for a moment, grew impatient and no longer wished to delay—he pointed his longsword at Mr. Wu's throat, his narrow eyes flashing a glint of sharpness as he coldly said:

"Lead us to the altar. Retrieve the fishbone token you've hidden, and I won't kill you."

Mr. Wu, with the blade at his throat, trembled and said: "Alright, I'll take you there right away…"

The altar he'd longed for—Mo Hua wanted to go desperately.

But with so many watching, he had to pretend hesitation, feigning deep concern as he said:

"This might be a trick…"

Xiao Diansi shook his head. "No matter."

Mo Hua added, "This Mr. Wu may not have good intentions. That altar might not be a good place either…"

Xiao Diansi said: "We're many, with four Jin Dan here in the Long Wang Temple—we have nothing to fear. As for Mr. Wu…"

"On this journey, if there's even the slightest disturbance, I'll kill him first."

Mr. Wu's cheek twitched, but he dared not speak.

He was only at Foundation Establishment—unless he transformed into that scale-covered, invulnerable dragon-monster, he had no chance against Xiao Diansi.

Mo Hua finally sighed, reluctantly saying:

"If that's the case, then we'll follow Xiao Diansi's lead—let's go see the altar."

Xiao Diansi nodded, pointing his sword at Mr. Wu: "Mr. Wu, lead the way."

Mr. Wu's face darkened, but under their control, he had no choice—he had to agree.

"Follow me, everyone…"

Mr. Wu glanced around at the corpses of the temple guards scattered on the ground, bowed nervously, then turned and walked toward the Yecha Hall.

Inside the Yecha Hall, they saw dozens of statues—each with limbs, scaled skin, grotesque faces, blue cheeks, and fanged jaws.

Mo Hua muttered to himself.

These Yecha statues bore a striking resemblance to the monster Mr. Wu had become.

Yet Mr. Wu didn't even glance at the statues—he kept walking forward.

After passing the Yecha Hall and several more halls, they reached the central hall of the Long Wang Temple.

But as soon as they entered, the ground was drenched in blood—everyone's expressions shifted slightly.

Everywhere they looked, the central hall's pavilions and halls were mostly destroyed—beams collapsed, leaving only broken walls and ruins, empty and desolate.

The ground around them was soaked in filthy, bloody water.

The blood was black, foul-smelling, yet seemed to brim with potent evil energy.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, pulled out an iron rod, dipped it in the water, then lifted it up—the iron rod had already been corroded, its metal loose and black-red inside.

Mo Hua turned to Mr. Wu and asked:

"Is this blood used to draw a demonic array?"

Mr. Wu's heart pounded wildly, but he feigned confusion and panic: "Young Master, what demonic array? I don't know…"

"Aren't you an array master?" Mo Hua asked.

"I am indeed an array master, but I truly know nothing about this blood."

"Then what happened to this hall? Why is it all collapsed?"

"This…" Mr. Wu hesitated.

Mo Hua's tone grew colder: "You can claim ignorance about the people outside—killed and eaten by you. But this temple, reduced to ruins like this—this didn't happen overnight. You're the head of this Long Wang Temple—don't tell me you didn't know?"

Mr. Wu's face twitched slightly: "By the Divine Master's decree, the Long Wang Temple was to be demolished and rebuilt—so all these halls were torn down, planned for reconstruction, but…"

Mr. Wu sighed helplessly: "... before we could even begin, this disaster struck. All the temple guards died. I don't know why it turned out this way. I truly have no idea where this blood came from…"

Mo Hua frowned, silent.

Xiao Diansi's gaze was cold as he scanned the surroundings, then spoke:

"Enough. Talking won't help. Make him hurry—find the altar, get the fishbone token, and get out of this ruined temple."

Mo Hua nodded, saying nothing more.

Mr. Wu walked quietly ahead, leading the way.

But the blood on the ground was too foul for cultivators to tread—so they had to find alternate paths through the ruins, wasting more time.

After stumbling through the broken central hall and crossing the sea of crimson blood,

beyond the central hall lay a massive gate before them.

The gate was five or six men tall, crowned by the temple eaves, broad and heavy, carved with murals; where the two doors met, a grotesque ram's head shaped like a massive stone lock loomed.

The ram's mouth gaped wide, imposing and terrifying, clamping the two doors shut.

This was the gate separating the central hall from the inner hall.

It was also the gate sealing off the altar.

Mo Hua stared at the grotesque yet familiar and strangely comforting ram's head, faintly sensing the intoxicating, irresistible aura behind the door—his heart thudded "thump-thump."

He dropped the pretense and asked the Witch Master directly:

"How do we open it?"

The Witch Master said: "This gate… isn't easy to open…"

"No nonsense," Mo Hua said coldly.

"Alright, alright…"

The Witch Master hurriedly replied, muttering inwardly: This brat—why was he so wary just now, yet suddenly so eager?

Throughout this journey, this brat had been far too shrewd.

He could find fault in the tiniest detail.

His eyes were clear as water, yet occasionally as deep as an abyss; when he stared at you, you felt uneasy all over.

The Witch Master dared not deceive him, so he said:

"To open this gate takes time… Originally, preparations had to begin a full day before the sacrifice: offerings placed, incense burned to inform the Divine Master, petitioning for divine approval before the gate could be opened…"

Mo Hua frowned. "Explain more clearly."

"Yes, yes," the Witch Master said. "Simply put: you must place offerings, present a human sacrifice; after one day, if the Divine Master grants approval, the gate will open naturally."

"Why does it take a full day?" Mo Hua asked.

The Witch Master smiled bitterly. "That's the Divine Master's rule—opening this gate requires one full day. Why? I'm merely the Divine Master's servant; how could I know?"

Mo Hua's brow twitched slightly, but he said nothing; instead, he ordered:

"Open it now."

The Witch Master hesitated. "To open this gate… requires a human sacrifice…"

"What's a human sacrifice?"

"It must be a living person—used as the 'sacrifice'—to open the gate…"

Mo Hua's expression turned icy. "Don't waste my time with this nonsense. I only want the gate open. Figure out the rest yourself."

"Human sacrifice? Dog sacrifice? You go get it. If you can't, kill yourself and offer up your own corpse as the 'human sacrifice.'"

The Witch Master's face wore a forced smile, but inside, he seethed with rage.

This brat was truly hateful!

He'll be punished by the Divine Master one day—dying without even a grave!

Mo Hua didn't coddle the Witch Master.

He'd dealt with too many of these cunning, inhuman, ghostly "masters" and knew their nature well.

If you don't pressure them, you'll never know what tricks they've hidden.

"Hurry up and open it. Don't play games—or I'll slit your belly open!" Mo Hua threatened.

Beside him, Xiao Diansi gripped his longsword, eyes sharp and watchful.

The Witch Master sighed, no longer daring to feign ignorance. He walked to a statue beside the gate, turned a mechanism, and drew out three boxes from the statue's abdomen.

The boxes were engraved with arrays; Mo Hua recognized them at once as ice-type arrays—likely for cold storage.

The Witch Master opened the boxes. Inside lay three pulsing hearts.

Unknown whether human or demonic, unknown how long they'd been stored, yet their blood still looked fresh, trembling faintly as they were removed from the boxes.

The Witch Master placed the three hearts into the ram's horn carvings' mouths.

Instantly, the ram's mouth split into several fangs, gripping the three hearts.

Blood seeped out, drawn along the fangs into the ram's horn carving, then seeped into the surrounding carvings, flowing through the blood grooves to activate the strange patterns.

But the process was painfully slow.

"When the blood grooves are filled, the gate will open," the Witch Master said.

Mo Hua watched as the gate slowly began to open, nodded, and ceased pressuring the Witch Master.

Since the gate required a full day to open,

everyone could only wait silently. Some were wounded and needed to find a place to sit and rest.

But the problem was: Mo Hua's group had never been allies. Though outwardly peaceful, suspicion and distrust lingered between them.

Thus, during rest, they naturally separated, each finding a spot among the broken walls before the ram-horn gate to sit and meditate, all while staying alert and watching each other.

The Witch Master stood alone.

Xie Liu, Shui Yanluo, and Xiao Diansi grouped together.

Xiao Tian pondered for a moment, lost in thought, then temporarily joined Xiao Diansi.

Mo Hua naturally stayed with Gu Changhuai and Xia Diansi.

Ouyang Feng and Hua Qianqian were dragged along by him to sit and heal near Xia Diansi.

Xiao Diansi noticed but made no move to stop them; he merely glanced at Mo Hua and warned:

"The water prison force in that Ta'amen boy's body, and the Gui Shui poison on that Huabai Valley girl—only I can dispel the water prison force, and only I can cure the Gui Shui poison…"

His implication: Don't try anything.

Ouyang Feng and Hua Qianqian were still his hostages.

Mo Hua found the situation troublesome, but outwardly waved his hand carelessly. "Got it, got it. Xiao Diansi, don't worry—I won't run off with them."

Xiao Diansi's expression remained impassive, showing no emotion, then turned and walked away.

Afterwards, Mo Hua found a clean spot and let everyone rest.

They were surrounded by broken walls and rubble, which was fairly safe, and from there they could see the ram's-horn gate not far away, check the progress of the blood groove, and estimate when the gate would open.

Gu Changhuai and Xia Diansi sat on the ground, keeping watch over Xiao Diansi and the others.

Ouyang Feng and Hua Qianqian, under the protection of the two, sat in meditation—one healing injuries, the other suppressing the poison.

Mo Hua sat for a while too, then felt the ground was a bit cold.

This Long Wang Temple sat in the middle of Yanshui River; moisture seeped in everywhere, and the chill was bone-deep.

It had been fine while fighting and hurrying along, but now that he'd settled down and was sitting on the ground, he felt a cold, chilly sensation over his body.

Mo Hua took out a warm blanket, wrapped himself up, turned to glance at Gu Changhuai and the others, thought for a moment, then took out a few more blankets and handed one to each person.

He often went out and frequently slept outdoors, so fluffy blankets in his storage bag were a must.

This was a habit he'd picked up back when he was traveling with his master, senior brother, and senior sister.

Everyone was a little surprised, but they didn't refuse; they thanked Mo Hua, took the blankets, draped them over themselves, and indeed felt warm all over, and couldn't help but be grateful for Mo Hua's thoughtfulness and consideration.

After that, no one spoke; they sat in meditation and rested.

The surroundings fell silent.

Wrapped in his blanket, Mo Hua took the opportunity to quietly mull over the matter of the Long Wang Temple in his mind.

Some things others didn't pay attention to, but he couldn't afford not to take to heart.

After all, the great dangers within the Dao of Divine Sense, the great crises among evil gods and demons—others had never seen them with their own eyes, never experienced them personally, so naturally they wouldn't understand.

And the matter of this Long Wang Temple, at first glance, might seem like nothing, but thinking it over carefully, there were just too many things that felt off…

"Is the altar really behind this gate?"

"Could there be other dangers inside?"

"What exactly happened to this Mr. Wu? Is he hiding some other dirty tricks?"

"Where is the dragon blood?"

"And then, all these broken walls and ruins everywhere… what for? Breaking ground to rebuild—what are they rebuilding?"

"…"

Mo Hua went over every little detail of the journey bit by bit, guessing at answers in his mind, then verifying them back and forth.

While deep in thought, Mo Hua suddenly started, sensing something amiss.

This is… the aura of a formation?

Someone secretly setting up a formation?

Who?

Right under his very nose, secretly setting up a formation?

Mo Hua quietly turned his head, using the somewhat dim light inside the Long Wang Temple, and sneakily looked over—only then did he discover that the person setting up the formation…

Was actually Xiao Diansi!

Mo Hua was slightly startled in his heart, did a little deduction, then quietly let out a breath of relief.

"It's a sound-isolating formation, not some dangerous killing formation, trapping formation, or evil formation…"

Probably wanted to have a private conversation, afraid of being overheard.

Mo Hua set his mind at ease.

He picked up his train of thought from earlier and continued pondering, but as he thought, Mo Hua started again.

"A private conversation?"

Mo Hua's heart was suddenly very curious, and his eyes lit up slightly.

Someone, right in front of him, setting up a sound-isolating formation to say unspeakable private things—how could he possibly hold back…

Mo Hua thought it over, then sneakily took out two more blankets, wrapped up his own head as well, pretending to rest, but his body quietly slipped out from inside the blankets, then cast a concealment art and stealthily slipped away.

Xia Diansi, beside him, watched wide-eyed as Mo Hua just slipped away like that, and couldn't help but open his mouth.

Gu Changhuai, however, was used to it; he even personally tucked Mo Hua's blanket in for him, making Mo Hua this "blanket person" look a little more convincing.

Mo Hua, concealed, quietly approached Xiao Diansi, and stopped at a distance of several zhang from Xiao Diansi.

Xiao Diansi was, after all, a Jin Dan cultivator, so he didn't dare get too close.

Mo Hua looked around, found a corner, squatted down, looked up sneakily, and discovered that Xiao Diansi at this moment, within the range of the sound-isolating formation, was saying something to Water Yama.

The two of them had solemn expressions, their voices low—clearly discussing some confidential matter.

"Confidential matter…"

Mo Hua's heart itched for a moment; after thinking, he very "gently" released his divine sense to sense the sound-isolating formation on the ground.

This sound-isolating formation was second-grade.

In a second-grade territory, only second-grade formations could be used.

Since it was a second-grade formation, then it was simple.

Mo Hua did a little calculation in his heart and figured out the interval of spiritual power circulation inside the sound-isolating formation—this interval was the inherent "flaw" of the formation.

Then he took out a silver needle inscribed with a "sound-stealing formation" using fine-engraving techniques, flicked it lightly with a bent finger, and shot this silver needle into the flaw of the sound-isolating formation.

The silver needle was very light, the sound extremely faint.

And the sound-isolating formation not only isolated sound from inside to outside, but also from outside to inside, so Xiao Diansi did not notice.

Of course, mainly he couldn't imagine that someone could eavesdrop on his conversation by such means.

The sound-stealing silver needle broke into the formation; Mo Hua took out the corresponding silk thread, wound it by his ear, and in just a moment, he could indeed hear voices.

At first, the voices were still a bit broken and fragmented, but gradually they became clear:

"More trouble than worth…"

"…I already saved you once before, who would have thought you were still so useless…"

"... If it weren't for opening that thing, I wouldn't give a damn whether you live or die?"

Mo Hua, upon hearing this, was momentarily stunned.

Open... that thing?

What thing?

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then his heart jolted—"Could it be... opening the Water Prison Sealed Casket?!"

This smiling tiger wants to use Water Yánluó to open the Water Prison Sealed Casket?

Mo Hua's thoughts churned heavily for a moment, then he calmed himself and continued eavesdropping.

"Big brother, it's not that I'm incompetent—these sudden changes are simply too unexpected, as if every move I made was anticipated..."

Water Yánluó said in a low voice.

Xiao Diansi's expression was cold and indifferent. "I don't want excuses."

Water Yánluó fell silent, daring not to speak further.

Xiao Diansi turned his head and glanced at Water Yánluó. "Where's that thing?"

Water Yánluó's face turned instantly pale.

Seeing Water Yánluó's expression, Xiao Diansi frowned slightly, then after a moment's thought, his pupils shrank—he suddenly widened his eyes and said in a chilling tone:

"Don't tell me... you lost it..."

"Not lost," Water Yánluó said, trembling. "It's just... not with me anymore."

Xiao Diansi's eyes glinted with murderous intent, and he laughed bitterly:

"Good, good—you've gotten so powerful you can lose that thing. Didn't I warn you? Your life can be lost, but that casket must not suffer even the slightest mishap?"

Water Yánluó gritted his teeth. "Big brother, forgive me—I was careless, tricked by a villain, and that casket was stolen from me."

"I'm already doing everything I can to reclaim it—I won't let you down."

Xiao Diansi frowned. "Who has the casket now?"

Water Yánluó said: "It's in... in the hands of that brat named Mo Hua."

Mo Hua, who was eavesdropping, instinctively shrank his head.

Xiao Diansi, however, looked dazed, as if he hadn't heard clearly. "Who?"

"Mo Hua..." Water Yánluó whispered.

"Which Mo Hua?"

"The one... the one you just spoke to a moment ago—that Mo Hua."

Xiao Diansi opened his mouth, his expression twisting into something utterly bewildered.

The one who stole the Water Prison Sealed Casket was that same brat he'd originally wanted to capture as a hostage but failed to catch—then traveled with for miles, discussed plans with, and teamed up with to capture Mr. Wu?!

This brat stole his most precious treasure, then strolled right in front of him as if nothing had happened.

And he, Xiao Diansi, knew nothing!

At this moment, Xiao Diansi truly wanted to kill Water Yánluó.

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