Chapter 446: The Folding Screen
Chapter 446: The Folding Screen
Mo Hua's heart stirred, his eyes narrowing as he fixed his gaze on Zhang Quan. He wanted to observe how Zhang Quan would open the altar, perform the bell ritual, and pay respects to the ancestral master.
Furthermore, where exactly was the altar that Zhang Quan intended to open? Mo Hua had searched the Walking Corpse Village thoroughly and hadn't found any signs of an altar.
Zhang Quan instructed one of the corpse cultivators, "Go and prepare the offerings."
The corpse cultivator accepted the task and soon returned with a bandit carrying a clay pot filled with blood.
Zhang Quan nodded, then proceeded to close the door to the secret chamber. After ensuring that there were no "outsiders" present, he solemnly made his way to a folding screen leaning against the wall, adorned with an ancient ink painting of a mountainous landscape.
Zhang Quan performed a series of intricate hand seals and muttered something inaudible.
The folding screen rippled with ink-like mist, creating ripples that eventually dissipated, revealing a hidden entrance.
Mo Hua was slightly startled.
There was another secret chamber within this secret chamber, and he hadn't even noticed it!
He had clearly underestimated Zhang Quan. This man had quite a few secrets up his sleeve.
Mo Hua's thoughts raced as he observed the situation.
Behind the folding screen lay yet another secret chamber.
From Mo Hua's vantage point on the beam, he could only catch a glimpse of a small corner of the room, unable to make out its entirety. However, even that brief glance revealed a lavishly decorated interior with sinister candlelight, bizarre furnishings, and a table draped in golden cloth.
Mo Hua shifted to another beam, hanging upside down as he craned his neck to get a better view.
Now he could see more clearly.
There was indeed an altar within.
Upon the altar rested a portrait.
It was too far away to make out the details, and Mo Hua dared not stare directly, so he only managed a quick glance before averting his gaze.
On the table were the offerings.
However, they were not your typical offerings.
There were three dishes, one containing hand bones, another with foot bones, and the central one holding a skull.
Mo Hua couldn't tell if these were the bones of innocent cultivators or those of Zhang Quan's ancestors.
Candles burned upon the altar, their white wax contrasting with the sickly green flames. The melting wax dripped like tears, pooling at the base of the candles.
Mo Hua suspected that this was corpse wax.
In addition to the macabre offerings, there were also strange and unusual objects arranged on the altar.
As he was not a corpse cultivator himself, he couldn't understand their purpose.
Below the altar lay a coffin.
It was snow-white in color and seemed to be made of neither wood nor stone, nor any metal.
Mo Hua studied it for a long time before realizing that it was likely a bone coffin.
He was slightly astonished by this discovery.
Could this bone coffin also be used for corpse refining? But what kind of corpse would it refine?
He had heard of walking corpses, iron corpses, copper corpses, silver corpses, and even gold corpses, but never a bone corpse...
What use could there be for a zombie that was nothing but bones?
Mo Hua's mind buzzed with skepticism.
Just then, he saw Zhang Quan and the other corpse cultivators bowing before the altar, chanting:
"The petty thieves have invaded, and the ancestor's power shall be revealed..."
"Lend me your divine consciousness, and refine this copper bell..."
"...The copper bell drinks blood, leaving no trace of the corpse..."
"Offer white bones to the ancestral master, and present human consciousness as a feast."
"Ancestors of the Zhang family, behold your descendant, Zhang Quan, bowing before you!"
...
Mo Hua furrowed his brows as he listened.
Ancestors of the Zhang family?
Then the portrait they were venerating must be that of their ancestor.
If this person was both an ancestor and a master, it implied that the Zhang family had acquired the art of corpse refining generations ago and had been passing it down through the generations while running their coffin business.
As for the part about "borrowing divine consciousness, refining the copper bell, presenting human consciousness as a feast," Mo Hua found it increasingly confusing.
At that moment, Zhang Quan opened the bone coffin and, with his pale hand, grabbed the bandit who had brought the blood. He tossed the hapless man into the bone coffin.
The bandit struggled, but he was no match for Zhang Quan, a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage. His attempts to escape were futile, and he could only watch in horror as he was locked inside the bone coffin.
The bandit pleaded and begged, his fingers scratching desperately at the coffin walls, his cries echoing pitifully.
After a short while, the cries stopped, and silence fell within the bone coffin.
When Zhang Quan opened the coffin lid again, the bandit lay lifeless, his eyes wide open in terror, yet his body remained unmoving.
His hands, torn from scratching, were devoid of fingernails, and his flesh was smeared with blood.
Aside from these wounds, there wasn't a single mark on his body.
He had simply died, frozen in a state of shock.
It was as if his soul had been devoured.
A chill ran down Mo Hua's spine, and then he understood.
The phrase "borrowing divine consciousness, refining the copper bell" likely meant borrowing the divine consciousness of the Zhang family ancestor to refine the copper bell, enhancing its power to control corpses.
Among the group of corpse cultivators, Zhang Quan was the only one at the Foundation Establishment stage, so controlling an iron corpse would be well within his capabilities.
However, the other corpse cultivators were only at the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
It would indeed be challenging for them to control an iron corpse of near-Foundation Establishment strength.
Hence, they had to resort to this method of borrowing divine consciousness, allowing the ancestor's consciousness to be imprinted on the copper bell through the refinement process, thus aiding them in controlling the corpses.
"Presenting human consciousness as a feast" meant using the consciousness of living humans as an offering to the Zhang family ancestor.
On the surface, the high altar served as the offering table, and the white bones were the offerings.
In reality, the bone coffin was the true offering table, and the consciousness of living humans was the true offering.
"In that case, this portrait of the Zhang family ancestor is actually a... visualization chart?" Mo Hua's eyes narrowed as he considered this possibility.
The bandit, used as an offering, had his consciousness devoured, dying in a state of terror.
Zhang Quan pulled the bandit's body out of the bone coffin and tossed it aside, ordering, "Take it away to feed the corpses later."
Then he began to mutter something incomprehensible before reaching into his storage bag and retrieving a copper bell adorned with blood-red ropes and strange patterns.
It was the very same copper bell that Mo Hua had been longing to get his hands on!
Mo Hua's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
If his guess was correct, the copper bell contained the Spirit Pivot Formation, a top-grade formation with twelve patterns.
He had to find a way to snatch that copper bell!
And that visualization chart as well! But how could he do it?
Stealing it right under Zhang Quan's nose seemed like a challenging task.
Mo Hua furrowed his brows, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, Zhang Quan continued his ritual before the altar.
He took out three iron cups and placed them on the table. Then, he put the copper bell inside one of the cups and filled it with blood.
"Should I create a disturbance outside to lure Zhang Quan out..."
"Or should I call for Xiao Shi Xiong and Xiao Shi Jie to come and help me snatch it away?"
Before Mo Hua could make a decision, there was a commotion outside, and someone shouted anxiously:
"Master Zhang!"
Zhang Quan was a little annoyed.
The person outside shouted again: "Master Zhang, something big has happened!"
Zhang Quan, who was in the midst of the bell ritual, cursed under his breath and instructed one of the corpse cultivators:
"Go and see what's going on."
The corpse cultivator accepted the task and soon returned, looking flustered:
"Big Master, it's bad!"
Zhang Quan frowned, "What happened?"
The corpse cultivator's voice trembled, "The formations... they're all ruined!"
Zhang Quan's eyes widened in disbelief, "What do you mean all of them are ruined?!?"
"They're... all broken, not a single one can be used..."
Zhang Quan felt his blood boil and a piercing pain in his heart.
He exclaimed in disbelief:
"How is it possible that none of them can be used?"
"It seems... someone tampered with them..."
Zhang Quan's heart turned cold.
He had thought that with the protection of their formations, Walking Corpse Village would be easy to defend and hard to attack, and they could keep any enemies at bay.
After he finished the bell ritual and awakened the Iron Corpse, he could go out and slaughter his enemies.
At the very least, relying on the formations, they should have been able to defend the village.
But he never imagined that the formations he had painstakingly created would all be ruined. Without the formations, Walking Corpse Village had lost its external defenses.
It would be much easier for others to invade now.
But... how was this possible?
Zhang Quan suppressed the anger and shock in his heart and said, "I'll go and see."
However, after taking a few steps, he frowned again.
The blood offering ritual for the bell was not complete yet, and it would take some time.
Someone needed to watch over the blood offering, but he didn't trust anyone else to do it.
Corpse cultivators had cold and indifferent personalities.
Not just him, but all corpse cultivators were like that.
In this village, he didn't trust anyone.
Zhang Quan's gaze swept the room, looking at the few corpse cultivators present one by one.
The other corpse cultivators lowered their heads and avoided his gaze when they met his eyes.
Zhang Quan coldly hmphed and slowly said,
"Follow me, let's go and take a look."
One of the corpse cultivators glanced at him and asked in a low voice,
"Master Zhang, do we need to leave someone to guard the altar..."
Zhang Quan's eyes turned cold, "Do you want to stay?"
The corpse cultivator immediately shook his head in fear, "I dare not."
Zhang Quan gave a sinister smile, "All of you go out. I'll seal the door and set up an array. Not even a mosquito can fly in, so you don't have to worry."
"Yes."
The corpse cultivator bowed his head and agreed, his expression a little disappointed.
The corpse cultivators, carrying the bandit's corpse, left the secret chamber.
Zhang Quan was the last to leave.
Before leaving, he sealed the folding screen.
He performed some gestures and muttered something, and the ink painting on the folding screen transformed back into the dull ink landscape.
Zhang Quan still felt uneasy, so he checked the room several times before finally feeling relieved and carefully stepping out.
Before leaving, he also locked the main door.
Mo Hua remained on the beam, unmoving.
Sure enough, after a while, Zhang Quan returned.
He checked the room again and, finding no traces of intruders, breathed a sigh of relief before locking the main door again and leaving, his footsteps gradually fading away.
Mo Hua hummed to himself:
"You think such a petty trick can fool me?"
He had been aware of Zhang Quan's every move through his spiritual sense.
Only when Mo Hua was certain that Zhang Quan had truly left did he nimbly drop down from the beam.
The room was quiet, and there was no unusual aura coming from the folding screen.
It seemed like an ordinary screen.
Mo Hua studied the folding screen and suddenly understood.
This folding screen was actually a high-quality spiritual artifact, and its refining technique was quite unique, which explained why it had escaped his spiritual sense.
It was probably worth quite a few spirit stones...
"I wonder how Zhang Quan got his hands on this?"
Mo Hua was curious.
Did he steal it? Take it by force? Was it given to him? Or was it passed down from his ancestors?
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
He had to find a way to open the folding screen, enter the altar, and steal the copper bell.
Mo Hua recalled that before Zhang Quan had opened the folding screen, he had muttered something and performed some gestures. Then, the ink painting had transformed, revealing the hidden entrance.
So, Mo Hua tried to do the same, performing random gestures and muttering gibberish, hoping for luck to be on his side.
He didn't even know what he was chanting, it was purely a gamble.
But obviously, this wasn't a matter of luck.
The folding screen remained still.
Mo Hua scratched his head.
Something was wrong...
But he couldn't exactly ask Zhang Quan to come back and demonstrate the gestures and chants again.
Mo Hua frowned in thought.
He remembered Master Zhuang once saying that everything had an appearance and an essence.
The gestures and chants were just the appearance.
The essence was the internal manipulation of spiritual energy.
Looking at it this way, there was also an essential aspect to the folding screen, which was the manipulation of spiritual energy through formations...
Mo Hua examined the folding screen again and finally noticed subtle formation patterns on the legs and edges of the screen.
These formation patterns were extremely tiny and obscure.
What was more troublesome was that Mo Hua didn't recognize them.
Even if he used his spiritual sense to deduce and calculate the complete formation pattern, he still wouldn't know what kind of formation it was.
He could only make a rough guess based on his knowledge of formations.
The formation on the folding screen seemed to be related to sound and visualization.
The chanting was sound, and the gestures were visualization.
Only by chanting the correct incantation and performing the correct gestures, combining the right sounds and movements, could one activate the formation.
But as for the specific formation principles involved, whether it was related to the five elements or other formation rules, Mo Hua had no idea.
"Formations are profound and complex. It seems I still have a lot to learn..."
Mo Hua took out some paper and a brush, carefully copying down the formation patterns he had observed. He decided to study and ponder over them later when he had time.
(End of Chapter)
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