Chapter 439: The Zombie Village
Chapter 439: The Zombie Village
Mo Hua took out the map of the desolate mountains near Nan Yue City.
It was called a map, but it was coarse in quality and simple in its lines, merely sketching out the contours of the mountains with no other details.
These desolate mountains were rarely traversed, hence the lack of a detailed map.
The one Mo Hua held in his hands was a map of the terrain, obtained previously from Si Tu Fang, and recorded by the Dao Ting Si of Nan Yue City.
Mo Hua recalled the trajectory of the light spots on the compass and, on the map, sketched out Zhang Quan's movements.
Zhang Quan's path seemed erratic, but all his routes concentrated in the forests between two mountain peaks to the east of the desolate mountains.
He came to this place to return to his lair.
Thus, the place where he refines and hides the corpses must be nearby.
And to avoid being tracked, he wouldn't dare linger near his lair.
So, the location of his lair was most likely to the west of where he had been loitering.
The two places were separated by a large mountain range, facing each other in the distance.
Mo Hua voiced his speculation.
Bai Zi Sheng asked in doubt:
"How do you know that?"
Mo Hua replied, "I'm a demon hunter, often tracking demons in the mountains. This is a basic skill for us."
"But Zhang Quan isn't a demon."
"It's similar. Anyway, he can hardly be considered human, and his habits are probably similar to those of demons."
Bai Zi Sheng nodded and asked, "What if you're wrong?"
"Then I'm wrong," Mo Hua said nonchalantly. "It doesn't really matter."
"Alright then..." Bai Zi Sheng sighed.
Either way, they had to search, and having a direction was better than having none.
Mo Hua and his companions temporarily left Zhang Quan behind, crossed a mountain range to the west of the desolate mountains, and began their search for Zhang Quan's hiding place.
Mo Hua wasn't worried about Zhang Quan.
With the compass, Zhang Quan couldn't escape his grasp, so he could be left alone for now, playing his little game of hide-and-seek.
Once they found Zhang Quan's hiding place, they might even be able to turn the tables on him and set up an ambush.
To the west of Nan Yue's desolate mountains, there was nothing particularly remarkable.
The same dry yellow grass, stunted trees, rocky terrain, and steep peaks met their eyes.
The three of them searched together for a while and then split up, but still found nothing.
At least on the surface, there was only barren grass and rocks.
Further out, there were more desolate mountains, but the distance was considerable, and the scope was too vast to search efficiently.
Bai Zi Sheng asked in confusion, "Nothing?"
Mo Hua shook his head. "Not necessarily. We've only searched once."
Demon hunters wouldn't search an area just once.
The first search was merely to get a general sense of the terrain, to form an impression in their consciousness and thus gain a clear sense of direction when referring to the map.
After that, they would choose routes based on their experience and conduct a detailed search.
Mo Hua recalled the terrain, speculating on places suitable for refining corpses or hiding, areas with unique terrain, and places with suspicious auras...
He then took out a pen and drew a route on the map, continuing the search.
This time, Mo Hua searched very meticulously.
At each stop, he would sit cross-legged, releasing his spiritual sense to perceive the thin flow of spiritual energy between heaven and earth, as well as the various auras circulating in the mountains.
At the same time, he would also use his mind to calculate and observe if there were any traces of arrays.
Bai Zi Sheng and Bai Zi Xi stayed by Mo Hua's side to protect him from possible ambushes by cultivators or demons.
After completing his search, Mo Hua opened his eyes and got up to move on to the next location, searching one place after another.
This kind of search was rather tedious.
It required calculations and consumed a lot of spiritual sense.
Fortunately, Mo Hua was patient, had strong spiritual sense, and had mastered meditation techniques, so his spiritual sense recovered quickly.
As they walked and stopped, Mo Hua suddenly exclaimed, "Oh?"
Bai Zi Sheng's eyes lit up. "You've found something?"
Mo Hua nodded slightly. "There's an array here."
Bai Zi Sheng released his spiritual sense to scan the area but found nothing.
"Where is it?" he asked in dismay.
Mo Hua pointed to the bare stones in front of them. "These are all part of the array."
Bai Zi Sheng looked at the stones, which were large, numerous, and piled up together, blocking an entire mountainside.
"What kind of array is this?"
Mo Hua shook his head. "I don't know. It looks like... a type of earth-based illusion technique. Wait a moment..."
Mo Hua sat down cross-legged on the ground, closing his eyes in deep thought, his brows furrowed in concentration.
He picked up a twig and began to draw something on the ground.
Half an hour later, Mo Hua opened his eyes and pointed to the pattern on the ground.
"The array pattern looks like this."
Bai Zi Sheng's eyes widened in surprise. "You even figured out the array pattern?"
Mo Hua corrected him. "It's not 'guessing,' it's 'calculating.'"
"Calculating" sounded more professional and was what a skilled first-rank array master like him should be doing.
"Guessing" would imply amateurishness and a chance of being wrong.
Bai Zi Sheng clicked his tongue in admiration and asked, "Did your master teach you this calculation technique?"
Mo Hua nodded.
Bai Zi Sheng was filled with envy.
Learning to calculate with spiritual sense meant being able to see through arrays.
The array master in the desolate mountains had tried to hide his tracks using arrays, but because he had deployed arrays, Mo Hua could see through his actions clearly.
Through calculation, he could even deduce the specific array pattern.
What a cheat...
Bai Zi Sheng sighed.
It was a pity that his spiritual sense wasn't strong enough to learn this technique yet.
Of course, even if he could learn it, he probably wouldn't be able to master it, and even if he did, he might not be able to use it as skillfully as Mo Hua.
When it came to arrays, his junior disciple had always been a "little freak" in his eyes...
Suddenly, Mo Hua's expression changed, and he glared at Bai Zi Sheng.
"Were you bad-mouthing me again?"
Bai Zi Sheng sighed and had no choice but to apologize, then quickly changed the subject.
"How do we break this formation?"
"There's no need to break it, it's just a distraction." Mo Hua released his spiritual sense, took a quick look, and said, "Follow me."
Bai Zi Sheng and Bai Zi Xi nodded.
Mo Hua walked straight up to the bare rocks, then gently extended his hand, and his fingers sank into the stone.
Mo Hua continued walking forward, his entire body passing through the stone.
Bai Zi Sheng was startled, and Bai Zi Xi was also taken aback.
These bare rocks, which seemed so solid, were actually an illusion and not real objects.
The two glanced at each other and then followed Mo Hua into the stone.
After passing through the rocks, they were met with darkness, but Mo Hua seemed to know exactly where he was going, leading the way confidently.
After a moment, their eyes adjusted to the light, and they found themselves in front of a stone gate.
The gate was ominous, shrouded in death, and a faint putrid smell hung in the air around it.
On the gate were three faded, crudely-painted characters: Zombie Village.
Mo Hua frowned, "Zombie Village?"
The three did not enter directly but hid themselves and found a large rock nearby to crouch behind, their heads close together.
"Another mountain village..." Bai Zi Xi commented.
"It's a village in the mountains, so of course, it's a mountain village." Bai Zi Xi replied.
"Zombie Village... This village isn't used for refining corpses, is it...?" Bai Zi Sheng asked.
"It's possible." Mo Hua replied.
"That would make things a bit tricky..."
"What's wrong?"
Mo Hua thought for a moment, "Since it's a mountain village, it means there won't be just one cultivator inside, but many..."
"Zhang Quan is not alone, but rather a leader, at least a head of the household."
"What do we do now? Do we charge in and slaughter them all?" Bai Zi Sheng asked eagerly.
"Can you even kill them all?" Mo Hua responded helplessly.
"How would I know if I don't try?" Bai Zi Sheng's eyes shone with excitement, and he was eager to charge into the village and wipe it out.
Bai Zi Xi quietly twisted his arm, and he calmed down.
"We must always be prepared for the future and not act rashly. I'll go in stealthily first to check out the situation." Mo Hua said.
"Are you going alone?"
"Yes." Mo Hua nodded, "I'm familiar with this kind of thing."
Back then, he had sneaked into the Black Mountain Village alone, without anyone knowing.
It had been somewhat dangerous for him to infiltrate the Black Mountain Village at that time.
But now, things were different.
Now, his spiritual sense was deeper and thicker, his stealth techniques were stronger, and his formation skills far surpassed those of an ordinary first-rate formation master. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would not be able to detect him.
Although Mo Hua could not defeat a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could remain unseen thanks to his stealth techniques.
Bai Zi Xi disagreed, "We're going together!"
Bai Zi Sheng also nodded in agreement.
Mo Hua shook his head, "Your stealth skills aren't good enough, a Foundation Establishment cultivator would detect you."
Bai Zi Xi still looked worried.
Mo Hua said, "I'll go in, and you two will wait here to back me up. If anything goes wrong, I'll set off some fireworks, and you'll charge in to help me."
Although he said this, the likelihood of such a situation occurring was slim.
Bai Zi Xi thought about it and couldn't come up with a better plan, so he reluctantly nodded.
Bai Zi Sheng looked a little disappointed, then instructed, "If anything unexpected happens, don't be afraid. Just set off the fireworks, and I'll charge in to protect you..."
Bai Zi Sheng was still eager for a fight.
Mo Hua felt a little helpless.
Without further ado, Mo Hua concealed himself and quietly sneaked into the Zombie Village.
Before entering the Zombie Village, Mo Hua released his spiritual sense to locate the positions of the few cultivators guarding the gate, then quietly avoided them and slipped inside.
He then found a hidden spot and released his spiritual sense to its fullest extent.
Each time, he released it for only a moment before quickly retracting it.
Like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water, he left no traces.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he released his spiritual sense again.
After testing the area in this manner three or four times without detecting anything unusual, Mo Hua finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Zombie Village.
Or perhaps there were, but their spiritual sense was not strong enough to detect Mo Hua's probing.
Mo Hua's attitude relaxed considerably.
He began to observe the layout of the Zombie Village and the cultivators within.
The Zombie Village was built against the mountain, with a simple layout consisting of wooden houses and caves dug into the hillside.
What was not simple, however, was the thick corpse energy and heavy, deathly aura that permeated the village.
With just a casual sweep of his spiritual sense, Mo Hua could detect many coffins.
Most of these coffins were wooden, but there were also a few that were heavier, made of fine iron, and reinforced with evil formations—iron coffins.
The corpses within these iron coffins were likely stronger iron zombies.
There were more dead than alive in the entire village.
The living cultivators did not seem to be exclusively corpse cultivators either.
Only a minority of the cultivators, those dressed in gray robes with pale complexions, seemed capable of controlling the corpses.
The majority of the other cultivators looked more like bandits.
Mo Hua was a little surprised by this.
Aside from that, there were also formations.
As expected, there were quite a few formations surrounding the Zombie Village.
Most of these formations were below first-rate quality, with the lowest being seven or eight lines and the highest being nine lines.
Mo Hua dismantled a few of the formations and examined them carefully, then suddenly paused.
The brushwork of these formation lines was very familiar to him.
It was neat and strict, even a little rigid.
When he had been learning formation lines at Tongxian Gate, these were the types of formation lines he had used as templates.
This was... a formation drawn by Master Yan!
(End of Chapter)
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