Chapter 469: Eavesdropping
Chapter 469: Eavesdropping
Leaving was temporarily out of the question.
Aside from Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan, just the two iron corpses guarding the door would be formidable opponents in a direct confrontation.
Moreover, when Mo Hua entered the house, he noticed that the surrounding area near the entrance was laced with Revelation Dust Arrays.
In some special places, there were even Shadow-casting Arrays.
The ink traces were fresh, indicating that they had been drawn recently, specifically targeting Mo Hua.
"Once your trump card is exposed, it will be countered..."
Mo Hua shook his head helplessly.
However, since they were arrays, it didn't matter.
Mo Hua didn't take this matter to heart.
It was already past midnight.
Mo Hua pretended to lie down and sleep, but his spiritual sense sank into his sea of consciousness, practicing the incomplete Ling Shu Array on the Dao stele for the entire night.
The next day, he woke up and continued his routine cultivation.
He decided to make the best of his current situation, remaining unaffected by external matters.
Someone brought meals to Mo Hua's door.
Mo Hua ate when it was time to eat and drank when it was time to drink, without any restraint.
Several days passed like this, and although Lu Chengyun hadn't looked for Mo Hua, Mo Hua was starting to get bored. So, he took the initiative to find Lu Chengyun and asked, "Lord Lu, is there anything you would like me to do?"
Lu Chengyun smiled and said, "There's no hurry. We still need a few more days to prepare, so Young Master Mo can rest for now."
Although it was called rest, it was akin to being "soft-detained."
Since he now knew Lu Chengyun's secret, Lu Chengyun probably wanted to keep him confined, fearing that he would cause trouble.
"Alright," Mo Hua nodded.
Lu Chengyun added, "If Young Master Mo feels bored, you can walk around and explore."
"Really?"
Lu Chengyun smiled, "Of course."
With Lu Chengyun's permission, Mo Hua naturally didn't stand on ceremony.
The next day, he walked out and casually pointed at a passing corpse cultivator, "You, come here."
The corpse cultivator walked over and bowed, "Young Master Mo, what are your orders?"
"Take me for a tour."
The corpse cultivator was taken aback but dared not neglect Mo Hua, knowing that he was Lu Chengyun's honored guest.
Thus, the corpse cultivator led Mo Hua on a tour of the place.
After the tour, Mo Hua realized that he was actually in a massive stone palace that had been excavated from a mine.
The numerous stone chambers were all part of this stone palace.
The stone palace was grandiose, gloomy, yet crude.
Most of the furnishings were related to corpse refinement.
Mo Hua found it novel at first, but after a few rounds, he felt bored.
This stone palace had been recently constructed, and there wasn't much to explore.
Monotonous stone chambers were everywhere.
Depressing corpse cultivators, pitch-black coffins, and eerie zombies filled the place.
There were arrays, but they weren't particularly ingenious.
Some places had their stone doors tightly sealed, obviously hiding something, but he wasn't allowed to enter or even inquire about them.
Mo Hua felt displeased.
This Lu Chengyun was only generous on the surface but was actually quite guarded, fearing that his secrets would be leaked.
It was like inviting someone for a meal and saying, "Eat whatever you like," but only serving radishes and cabbage without any "good stuff."
After spending a few days in the corpse mine, Mo Hua became familiar with the place.
In fact, he even started to feel rather comfortable.
Aside from not being able to pry into any secrets, everything else was fine.
The corpse cultivators dared not offend Mo Hua, and they tried their best to satisfy his needs, whether it was food, drink, research materials, or array practice, providing him with whatever ink, paper, and brushes he required.
During these days, Mo Hua didn't see Zhang Quan.
He guessed that Zhang Quan was deliberately avoiding him, afraid of being angered again.
If Zhang Quan lost his sanity again and attacked him, it would be equivalent to defying Lu Chengyun, and he definitely wouldn't have a good outcome.
Mo Hua didn't go looking for Zhang Quan either.
There was no point in finding him now, as it wasn't the right time to reclaim the "Zombie Chart" yet.
Continuing to wander around like this wasn't a solution.
On the surface, Mo Hua had already familiarized himself with the basic layout of the stone palace, but that wasn't enough.
He needed to find a way to gather information about the more secretive areas.
Mo Hua thought of trying the Concealment Technique.
The Revelation Dust Array and the Shadow-casting Array were both first-grade arrays, so tampering with them wouldn't be difficult.
The challenging part was doing so without Lu Chengyun noticing.
Mo Hua thought for a moment and suddenly realized that it was impossible to avoid Lu Chengyun's detection.
Being discovered by him was actually more reasonable.
Lu Chengyun was suspicious by nature, and if he were too cautious, Lu Chengyun would grow suspicious.
It would be better to make some small moves under Lu Chengyun's watchful eyes, letting him think that he was unaware of his prying.
Mo Hua's eyes flickered as he formed a plan.
He first put on his cloak and activated the array on it, using it to conceal his figure.
Then, he quietly walked to the door and undid the Revelation Dust Array.
As expected, the moment the Revelation Dust Array was undone, it was discovered.
A strand of spiritual sense descended, sweeping through Mo Hua's room, searching for his figure.
This strand of spiritual sense belonged to Lu Chengyun.
Mo Hua was very familiar with it.
During these days, there would occasionally be strands of spiritual sense eavesdropping on him.
Gentle, subtle, carrying a hint of coldness, it was difficult for others to perceive, but to Mo Hua's senses, it was crystal clear.
This strand of spiritual sense had the same aura as Lu Chengyun.
From this, Mo Hua deduced that Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense was around twelve strands, not yet reaching thirteen.
It was similar to his own, but slightly weaker.
Although Lu Chengyun's cultivation was at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, and he was an array master, his spiritual sense strength seemed average.
Compared to ordinary cultivators, he was naturally not weak.
However, compared to Mo Hua, he fell short.
Mo Hua's spiritual sense had been twelve strands before, and after refining several of the Zhang family's zombie ancestors, he was now close to the peak of twelve strands, but he hadn't reached thirteen yet.
And he estimated that it would take some time to break through to thirteen strands.
Mo Hua then became puzzled, "Lu Chengyun is at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, and he studies arrays every day. Why hasn't his spiritual sense reached thirteen strands yet?
Within the corpse mine, Lu Chengyun had the highest cultivation and the strongest spiritual sense.
The fact that his spiritual sense hadn't reached thirteen strands meant that none of the corpse cultivators in the mine, including the Lu family elders, would have a stronger spiritual sense than Mo Hua.
Moreover, Mo Hua had never revealed to Lu Chengyun that his spiritual sense had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
Even Elder Su was unaware of this.
So, in Lu Chengyun's perception, Mo Hua's spiritual sense should conform to the limits of a Qi Refining cultivator, falling somewhere between nine and ten strands.
Mo Hua's eyes narrowed slightly.
With his spiritual sense not as strong as his own, and unaware of the true extent of Mo Hua's abilities, things would be much easier.
Mo Hua activated the Concealment Array, no longer restraining his spiritual sense, but instead, releasing a faint aura.
This aura was enough to catch Lu Chengyun's attention.
As expected, after a moment, Mo Hua sensed a subtle strand of spiritual sense landing on him.
This thread of spiritual sense belonged to Lu Chengyun.
Mo Hua pretended not to notice and quietly slipped out of the room.
He had undone the Revelation Dust Array at the door, so his figure wasn't revealed.
Mo Hua stepped out, acting furtively, and inspected each of the previously odd stone chambers.
While these chambers held secrets, they weren't particularly significant.
Even if he discovered them, Lu Chengyun might not care.
Indeed, as Mo Hua snooped around, Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense remained completely undisturbed.
After checking each chamber, Mo Hua discovered some superficial secrets and returned to his own stone chamber, lying down on the bed.
Soon after, Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense withdrew.
The next day, when Lu Chengyun saw Mo Hua, he didn't say anything.
However, Mo Hua feigned a "guilty" expression, his gaze shifting slightly.
Lu Chengyun maintained a neutral expression, but after Mo Hua left, a slight smile curved his lips, suggesting that he had everything under control.
"So, it was the Concealment Array..."
Lu Chengyun shook his head slightly. "Such a petty trick, how could it hide the heavens and cover the earth..."
Indeed, Lu Chengyun was aware of Mo Hua's every move after he activated the Concealment Array.
Wherever Mo Hua went under the cover of invisibility, Lu Chengyun knew clearly.
After several days, Lu Chengyun also became somewhat lax.
The places Mo Hua visited and the secrets he uncovered were of little importance.
That evening, as usual, Mo Hua went out invisible, wandered around, and returned to find that Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense had withdrawn early.
It seemed like Lu Chengyun had lost interest in him.
Mo Hua lay on the bed, not moving a muscle.
As expected, a moment later, Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense returned.
Mo Hua continued to pretend to be asleep.
This went on for three to four rounds until past the hour of chou (1 am-3 am)
, when Lu Chengyun finally stopped.
Mo Hua felt mentally exhausted.
This Lu Chengyun truly had a heavy dose of paranoia...
For the duration of a cup of tea, there was no sign of any spiritual sense spying on him.
Mo Hua quietly got up, donned the invisibility cloak, and used the Concealment Technique, doubling down on his stealth by suppressing his spiritual sense to the extreme before quietly stepping out of the room.
This was the "Rabbits Have Three Burrows" tactic that Elder Yu had taught him.
During the day, he would openly tour the corpse mine; at night, under Lu Chengyun's watchful gaze, he would use the Concealment Array to explore trivial secrets;
Then, when Lu Chengyun let down his guard, he would employ complete invisibility, sneaking unseen to uncover the true secrets of the corpse mine...
For instance, how many Iron Corpses and Walking Corpses were there in the mine?
What was the array for refining corpses?
Where was the Ling Shu Array?
What were the Lu family's ulterior motives?
...
There was a lot that Mo Hua wanted to know.
He first went to several sealed stone chambers, quietly creating a small opening in each to peek inside, and found that they indeed housed iron coffins.
Within the iron coffins lay the Iron Corpses.
There were about a dozen similar sealed chambers that he had counted during the day.
So, there were likely a dozen or more Iron Corpses, and there could be even more...
Additionally, there were some secret chambers.
Within these chambers were altars, but they didn't house ancestral charts or the like.
Instead, they held sculptures of ghosts and ghouls, and other bizarre objects like zombie limbs.
Mo Hua couldn't quite understand their purpose.
There were also some places that he hadn't had time to visit yet due to time constraints.
As he continued his exploration, Mo Hua eventually reached the main entrance.
This gate was the entrance to the stone palace.
It separated the stone palace, where the corpse cultivators lived and practiced their art, from the mine outside.
Within the stone palace were numerous stone chambers.
The corpse cultivators carried out their daily activities, refined corpses, and controlled them within this palace.
Outside the stone palace was the mine.
Mo Hua had only glanced at it when he first arrived, seeing nothing but darkness and coffins, which struck him as odd.
Mo Hua wanted to take a look at the mine, but the large gate stood in his way.
There was an array painted on the gate.
After calculating with his spiritual sense, Mo Hua found that he could undo this array, but doing so would undoubtedly alert Lu Chengyun, so he couldn't act yet.
Just then, Mo Hua heard the sound of bells coming from beyond the gate.
After the bells rang, countless zombies seemed to crawl out of their coffins, creating a strange, clanging din as they went about their mysterious tasks.
These sounds accumulated, forming a cacophonous river.
Even with a sound-blocking array in place, the noise was overwhelming and grating.
There was a sense of dissonance, like the dead laboring in the underworld as if the dead were living and working like the living.
Mo Hua frowned.
"What is this Lu Chengyun up to, refining so many zombies?"
"Could it be... that they're mining?"
... I forgot to do one thing, it seems there isn't a reader group yet...
After thinking about it, I decided not to open one for now.
I'm afraid you guys will criticize me. (￣▽￣)
Then I won't be in the mood to write~
(End of Chapter)
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