Chapter 467: A Sinister Plot
Chapter 467: A Sinister Plot
Mo Hua accompanied Lu Chengyun back to the Lu family.
On the surface, Lu Chengyun treated Mo Hua with great care and consideration, tending to his every need. However, he also restricted Mo Hua's movements, not allowing him to leave the Lu family's premises, effectively placing him under "house arrest."
Mo Hua approached Lu Chengyun, expressing his desire to visit his home:
"I'll be back soon. I just want to let my junior martial brothers and sisters know so they won't worry."
Lu Chengyun retrieved some paper and a brush, "There's no need for that. Young master can write a letter, and I'll have someone deliver it for you."
Mo Hua waved his hands, "They might not believe a letter. It's better if I go back personally."
Lu Chengyun shook his head,
"You are full of tricks and ideas, so I must be cautious. Writing a letter will suffice."
Mo Hua muttered, "Is the head of the Lu family being too cautious?"
"It's good to be cautious." Lu Chengyun looked at Mo Hua and slowly smiled,
"This time, I set up a revealing formation and mobilized several Foundation Establishment elders before we could invite you here..."
"If I let you go back, with time to prepare, I might not be able to find you, let alone invite you again."
Mo Hua reluctantly agreed, "Alright, I'll write the letter."
Mo Hua took the brush and, on the Lu family's stationery, wrote a letter to Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi.
The letter simply stated that he had been invited by the head of the Lu family and would be staying with them for a while. He asked them not to worry and to take care of their meals, but they would have to cook for themselves.
Mo Hua did not mention Mr. Zhuang in the letter.
He realized that Lu Chengyun seemed unaware that the three of them were traveling with their master.
Mo Hua even speculated that, in Lu Chengyun's perception, there might not even be a person named Mr. Zhuang.
This thought was somewhat bizarre, but when it came to his master, nothing seemed impossible...
After finishing the letter, Mo Hua handed it to Lu Chengyun.
Without even glancing at it, Lu Chengyun called for a servant and instructed them to deliver the letter to Mo Hua's cave abode.
It seemed that as long as Mo Hua stayed, what he wrote in the letter didn't matter.
And so, Mo Hua stayed with the Lu family for a few days.
Lu Chengyun provided him with the best food and drink, even assigning young and beautiful maids to attend to his needs.
Mo Hua also attended some of the Lu family's dinners, sitting beside Lu Chengyun.
During these banquets, the ladies of the Lu family, adorned in colorful outfits and with varying degrees of makeup, would glance at Mo Hua with sparkling eyes.
Mo Hua returned their gazes openly.
After taking a look around, Mo Hua silently compared them in his mind and concluded that none of them were as beautiful as his junior martial sister. Losing interest, he focused on enjoying his meal.
To be fair, the Lu family's food was excellent.
However, the thought that these delicacies were obtained at the cost of the miners' lives, left a bitter taste in Mo Hua's mouth.
Even the cooked meat seemed to carry the scent of blood.
A few days later, one evening, Lu Chengyun found Mo Hua and, shrouded in the darkness of night, his expression indiscernible, said in a flat tone:
"Young master, I will take you to a place."
Mo Hua asked involuntarily:
"What place?"
Lu Chengyun smiled faintly, but it didn't seem like a smile at all, "A place you want to go to."
Mo Hua was a bit puzzled but still followed Lu Chengyun out.
Lu Chengyun led the way, with Mo Hua following, and two Foundation Establishment elders trailing behind.
Mo Hua recognized these two elders.
They held compass-like spiritual devices used for detecting hidden presences.
The group left the Lu family residence, exited Nan Yue City, and arrived at the Lu family's mine.
It was the same mine where the five miners had met their tragic end.
The mine that had experienced a sinister nocturnal disturbance.
And the same mine that Mo Hua had tried to sneak into before but failed due to the tight security.
If Mo Hua's guess was correct,
This mine concealed the existence of zombies.
All of Lu Chengyun's conspiracies and schemes were also hidden within this mine.
Of course, the complete Spirit Pivot Formation diagram must also be located within this mine.
The mine was still guarded by Lu family cultivators.
Lu Chengyun arrived at the mine's entrance but did not go in. Instead, he led Mo Hua along the perimeter of the mine, eventually stopping at a desolate spot marked by a massive stone.
By then, it was already deep into the night.
The mountain was shrouded in darkness and eerie silence, with cold gusts of wind blowing through.
The giant stone loomed, exuding an aura of death.
Mo Hua was taken aback.
Could this stone be the entrance?
He looked around and frowned, finding no signs of any artificial modifications to the stone. It didn't seem like a door.
He released his spiritual sense to probe the area.
There were no illusion formations nearby.
Just then, Lu Chengyun took out a peculiar bell. The bell was pitch-black, neither wooden nor metallic in appearance.
He gently rang the bell, and its sound was deep and dull, lacking the crispness of metal. Instead, it sounded like a dead man's heartbeat.
This enormous stone seemed to have been lifted by sheer force, revealing a deep mountain path behind it.
The path led to a mine that reeked of death.
Lu Chengyun glanced at the stunned Mo Hua and smiled gently. "After you, young master."
Snapping out of his daze, Mo Hua nodded and followed Lu Chengyun into the dark depths.
The putrid stench of rotting corpses made Mo Hua dizzy and nauseous for a moment.
Soon, the pungent odor dissipated, and the path ahead opened up to a startling sight.
Mo Hua's eyes widened in shock as he realized that behind the stone was a mine.
But it was no ordinary mine; it was a mine of the dead.
Coffins were stacked everywhere within the mine, filling the air with an oppressive aura of death.
Mo Hua turned back to look at the entrance.
The colossal stone served as a natural gate, adorned with thick chains that coiled around an iron turntable.
Two tall iron corpses stood by the turntable, the same ones that had been controlled by the black bell, now motionless.
Mo Hua's brows furrowed.
These iron corpses must possess immense strength to be able to lift the massive stone door. They would undoubtedly be formidable opponents in battle.
Was it because there were already so many iron corpses in the mine that Lu Chengyun could afford to spare these two?
Or was it because this entrance was of utmost importance?
Perhaps this door led to a forbidden area, one that must be kept hidden and inaccessible to outsiders.
After they entered the mine, Lu Chengyun rang the bell again.
The iron corpses sprang into action, turning the wheel and pulling the chains to lower the stone door, sealing the mine from the outside world.
Even the cold moonlight could not penetrate this place of deathly silence.
Mo Hua found himself trapped in the enclosed, lifeless mine.
One of the Lu family elders lit a paper lantern, casting a dim yellow glow in the pitch-black mine.
In the flickering light, Lu Chengyun's face appeared, his expression unreadable.
His eyes, however, betrayed a hint of sinister ambition, and his voice held a suppressed excitement. "Young master, this mine is the culmination of my efforts, the cornerstone of the Lu family's grand endeavor!"
Mo Hua was stunned, but he furrowed his brows and asked, "Lord Lu, what is it that you want me to help you with?"
"There's no rush," Lu Chengyun said with a casual smile. "Before that, I'd like us to pay a visit to an old friend."
"An old friend?"
The Lu family elder led the way with the lantern, and Mo Hua followed Lu Chengyun deeper into the dark mine.
They soon reached a cave with a door adorned with complex arrays. The light of the lantern reflected off the arrays, revealing a faint blood-red color.
Mo Hua immediately recognized them as sinister formations.
Lu Chengyun took out a stone talisman, slotted it into a lock, and dispelled the formations.
The Lu family elder pushed open the stone door, and they entered the cave.
The cave was much brighter, with several stone chambers, each inscribed with bright fire formations.
Within these chambers were gray-robed cultivators with pale complexions and an aura of death—clearly, they were corpse cultivators.
Upon seeing Lu Chengyun, these cultivators bowed respectfully.
Lu Chengyun nodded slightly and led Mo Hua to a large hall at the center.
The hall had a finely carved stone table, surrounded by intricate furnishings that included skull heads, bones, and coffin nails, creating a morbidly beautiful atmosphere.
The hall was lined with coffins, and at its center sat a thin, injured man with a grim and pale face—it was Zhang Quan.
Indeed, an "old friend" of Mo Hua.
"As expected," Mo Hua thought.
Zhang Quan was not dead!
Even a centipede, cut into segments, would still wriggle.
Mo Hua had a feeling that Zhang Quan wouldn't go down so easily.
Moreover, the Zhang family had a legacy, with generations of expertise in corpse refining techniques, making Zhang Quan a valuable "asset" in Lu Chengyun's eyes.
Lu Chengyun wouldn't be so quick to discard such a useful person.
Zhang Quan stood up and bowed to Lu Chengyun, his manner respectful.
Before Zhang Quan could say anything, the light in the hall flickered, and his eyes darted towards Lu Chengyun's side, where he spotted the diminutive figure of Mo Hua.
Zhang Quan blinked, unsure if his eyes were deceiving him.
But as he took in Mo Hua's features, his eyes widened in disbelief.
He pointed at Mo Hua, his hand trembling, "Lord Lu, that..."
Lu Chengyun introduced him, "This young master is an extraordinary formation master by the name of Mo Hua."
Zhang Quan needed no introduction.
The very sight of Mo Hua's eyebrows and his every smile seared into Zhang Quan's mind, each reminder a brand of hatred and pain.
Having hidden himself here for so long, Zhang Quan thought of killing Mo Hua every day.
Yet, he never expected that he would lay eyes on the lively Mo Hua in this zombie mine.
Zhang Quan couldn't contain his rage and glared at Mo Hua, intending to take action and slaughter him.
Sensing Zhang Quan's murderous intent, Mo Hua immediately hid behind Lu Chengyun, sticking out his little head and sticking his tongue out at Zhang Quan.
Zhang Quan was almost infuriated again.
Losing his rationality, he finally couldn't take it anymore and struck out at Mo Hua with a palm.
The palm strike was thick with spiritual power, condensed into substance, intending to finish Mo Hua.
However, this strike was intercepted midway by Lu Chengyun.
"Brother Zhang, don't be impulsive."
Lu Chengyun's expression was gentle, but his tone was cold.
Zhang Quan's heart filled with fear, and he calmed down, but his residual anger remained. He said sharply, "House Master, this little brat..."
Lu Chengyun said indifferently, "I know, you have a grudge against him, but that's all in the past..."
Zhang Quan asked incredulously, "Why?"
Lu Chengyun slowly said, "Because our grand undertaking needs Young Master Mo's help. Young Master Mo is now our esteemed guest, so we must not offend him."
Mo Hua also nodded in agreement, "Exactly! Exactly!"
Zhang Quan was furious, but he was helpless.
He glanced at the indifferent Lu Chengyun, his gaze restrained, and finally, his face flushed and paled as he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, I can let bygones be bygones!"
After saying this, Zhang Quan pointed at Mo Hua and said, "But he has to return what he stole from me!"
Mo Hua continued to feign ignorance, "I don't remember stealing anything from you."
Zhang Quan was infuriated, his teeth itching, "The things on the altar!"
"Oh." Mo Hua blinked, "Those things were yours? I saw that no one wanted them, so I took them casually. Even if they're garbage, we shouldn't waste them, right?"
Zhang Quan felt as if his breath was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't speak.
Lu Chengyun sighed, "Young Master, don't anger him."
Mo Hua remained silent.
Lu Chengyun sighed again and said, "It seems like a misunderstanding. How about returning the items to their original owner, and we can let bygones be bygones, Young Master Mo? What do you think?"
Mo Hua hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and said to Zhang Quan, "Alright, I'll do it for the sake of House Master Lu."
Mo Hua began to search through his storage bag and found the dismantled Controlling Zombie Bell in a corner.
After Little Junior Sister took this Controlling Zombie Bell apart, she didn't put it back together.
There weren't any good formations inside, so Mo Hua forgot about it.
Mo Hua held the scattered pieces of the Controlling Zombie Bell and poured them out onto the table with both hands.
When Zhang Quan saw this, he was stunned.
"This... is my Controlling Zombie Bell?"
The blood rope, the strange patterns, the bell body, and the clapper... they were all dismantled, just like a "dismembered" body.
Zhang Quan glared at Mo Hua and asked, "Why did you dismantle it?"
Mo Hua thought to himself that it wasn't him who took it apart, but Little Junior Sister.
However, it didn't make much difference whether it was taken apart by Little Junior Sister or himself.
So Mo Hua said, "I thought it was interesting, so I took it apart to study it..."
Zhang Quan's scalp went numb.
After a long while, he regained his senses and said word for word, "And... my Ancestral Master Painting!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Chengyun's expression also stalled, and his eyes revealed a hint of greed.
Mo Hua was somewhat reluctant, but he also knew that he couldn't lose the big picture for something small, so he reluctantly took out the Ancestral Master Painting.
Zhang Quan felt both guilty and ecstatic.
He felt guilty for being negligent and losing his ancestor, thus disgracing his predecessor.
He was ecstatic because he had now found it again, and he could finally appease the spirit of his ancestor.
Zhang Quan immediately snatched the painting and opened it to look at it, a broad smile spreading across his face.
Yes, it was his Ancestral Master Painting.
But as he looked at it, the smile on his face froze.
Something was wrong...
Why did the painting seem to be missing a few people?
Where were they?
Zhang Quan looked at Mo Hua in disbelief, "Where are my Zhang family's ancestors?"
Mo Hua pointed at the painting in his hand, "Aren't they in the painting?"
Zhang Quan angrily asked, "Then why are a few of them missing?"
Mo Hua shrugged, "How would I know?"
Zhang Quan said hatefully, "The painting was in your hands, how could you not know?"
Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "Maybe they went visiting..."
Zhang Quan's mouth hung open, "Visiting...?"
"Yeah." Mo Hua nodded, looking completely reasonable, "If you stay in one place for too long, you'd want to get out and about, isn't that normal?"
"But the cultivation world is very dangerous. If you go visiting, you might not make it back. If you encounter danger and get eaten by some 'bad thing,' that's also possible..."
This chapter is a bit longer, so it's a bit later than usual~
(End of Chapter)
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