Chapter 480: Scheming
Chapter 480: Scheming
Mo Hua continued to study the Myriad Corpse Restoration Formation.
Having designed the formation's eye himself, Mo Hua was intimately familiar with it, so he focused his attention on the formation's core and lines.
After some time, Mo Hua gained a general understanding of the Myriad Corpse Formation's function.
The Myriad Corpse Restoration Formation, along with the unabridged Myriad Corpse Grand Formation, served similar purposes, differing only in scale.
This formation had two main uses: first, large-scale corpse refinement.
Within the formation, numerous coffins were embedded as media, interconnected by formation lines and coordinated by the formation's core, with the formation eye providing energy. This allowed for the "batch production" of zombies.
The second use was enhanced corpse control.
With the Spirit Pivot Formation as its core, it constructed a complete set of sequential formations centered on bronze corpses, with iron corpses as the hub and walking corpses as the foundation.
Control was layered and coordinated.
This required a profound foundation in formation techniques.
Lu Chengyun was a man with dubious morals, but he was indeed talented and accomplished when it came to formations.
It was just that he didn't channel his talents in the right direction.
Mo Hua shook his head.
He had mostly figured out the Myriad Corpse Formation, and the next object of his attention was the altar.
The golden altar shone brilliantly.
The beast-gold incense burner emitted curling smoke.
The jade candleholder was exquisite and luxurious, its candles flickering with an eerie light.
The wax on these candles seemed to be made from corpse oil, refined from who knew how many people.
On the altar were arranged five-colored spirit flowers, golden-yellow banners, and flood dragon-patterned lanterns.
Pig and sheep spirit meats were offered before the altar.
These spirit meats were also extremely precious.
The miners struggling for their lives outside might never get to taste them in their lifetimes.
Mo Hua sighed softly.
On the altar, there were also strange and bizarre objects covered by yellow cloth, resembling sculptures, mythical beasts, or mummified corpses.
Even his spiritual sense couldn't penetrate the cloth to discern what they truly were.
"Should I take a look under the cloth?"
Mo Hua reached out halfway but paused.
He hesitated.
Would uncovering it be dangerous? Would Lu Chengyun notice?
What if there was a zombie or a mythical beast-like dangerous creature under the cloth, and removing the cover would release it from its seal?
Although he could escape using the Flowing Water Steps or the Concealment Technique, it would be impossible for him to suppress such a creature with his cultivation.
If the creature caused a disturbance, it would alert Lu Chengyun.
And if it wasn't a dangerous creature but something like a "Visualization Chart," a wooden or stone statue infested with evil thoughts and sinister spirits, he would still be in danger.
Ever since he had encountered Gui Daoren's "Eerie Shadow," Mo Hua had become much more cautious.
He no longer believed that his manifested spiritual sense could overpower everything.
It was better to be prudent when faced with uncertainty, especially when dealing with unknown dangers.
Mo Hua was curious and tempted, eager to know what was hidden under the yellow cloth on the altar.
But he didn't dare to remove it rashly.
After a moment of internal struggle, he decided to let it be.
Better safe than sorry.
He was alone in the Corpse Mine, without his master or senior disciples to back him up, unlike in Nanyue City.
It was wiser to be a little cowardly in such situations.
Reluctantly, Mo Hua averted his gaze from the altar and turned his attention back to the Myriad Corpse Restoration Formation, specifically the bronze coffin above the formation eye in the center.
The Spirit Pivot Formation within this bronze coffin contained the ultimate sequential formation lines.
If the formation's authority took effect, the zombie within this coffin would, upon refinement, possess the highest authority and be able to command the iron corpses at the Foundation Establishment stage, thereby ruling over all the walking corpses in the entire Corpse Mine.
Through the Spirit Pivot Formation, Lu Chengyun had perfected the art of controlling corpses.
He was not only the head of the Lu family but also the supreme master of zombies in this small state of Xiaohuang.
Mo Hua propped his chin with his hand, a mischievous idea forming in his mind.
"Should I destroy this bronze coffin?"
"Or should I destroy the entire Myriad Corpse Restoration Formation?"
"End it all in one fell swoop..."
"Cut off Lu Chengyun's ambitions."
"Let his century of hard work go down the drain, his efforts amount to nothing..."
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
Deriving the formation would take time.
Setting up a counter formation would also take time.
Lu Chengyun was suspicious and cautious, and he might not give him the opportunity.
Or...
Mo Hua frowned as he considered further.
There would be an opportunity as long as he was patient. Lu Chengyun, as the head of the family, had many responsibilities and couldn't possibly watch over this place all the time.
As long as he was a little negligent and gave Mo Hua a chance to activate the counter formation, his century-long foundation would be destroyed in an instant...
"But what if the mine collapses after the formation is destroyed?" Mo Hua continued his train of thought.
"Will I be able to get out?"
Perhaps he could set up the counter formation, escape, and then use puppets to trigger the collapse of the formation?
However, this was the interior of a mine.
Once the formation was destroyed, there would likely be uncontrollable explosions and collapses, possibly causing a chain reaction that would not only destroy the Corpse Mine but also the entire mine.
Moreover, the power of the grand formation when it collapsed would be immense. But since this was a restoration formation, its power might not be as catastrophic as he imagined. At most, it would destroy the Myriad Corpse Formation and the bronze coffin.
However, if the bronze coffin were destroyed... The highest-level sequential formation lines of the Spirit Pivot Formation would fail.
Would the other zombies go berserk as a result? If they lost control, they would instinctively crave flesh and blood, targeting humans to feed upon. With their vast numbers, they could create a zombie tide, spreading corpse poison and bringing calamity upon all of Nanyue City.
Mo Hua could escape, and even if he were infected with corpse poison, he had ways to cure himself. But what about those poor, struggling solitary cultivators? If they couldn't escape, they would become fodder for the zombies.
Even a single bite, without the proper pills to treat the infection, would allow the corpse poison to spread and erode their spiritual channels, causing them to undergo a corpse transformation and turn into mindless shells.
Mo Hua tried to consider every possibility, but no matter what he thought or did, there seemed to be some oversight, some flaw in his plan. This was becoming tricky...
Mo Hua sighed. "What if I tamper with the formation on the bronze coffin directly?" he wondered, his gaze falling upon the coffin before him.
He had often observed this coffin during the day, even sneaking glances while Lu Chengyun drew the Spirit Pivot evil formation. It was a double-layered coffin, with an outer and inner casket. Lu Chengyun's formation was inscribed on the inner bronze casket, not directly on the zombie itself.
But what lay within the inner casket? Was there a zombie, and if so, what level was it? A walking corpse? An iron corpse...
Logically, the next steps should be copper, silver, and gold corpses...
Bronze coffin... Could it be a copper corpse?
But from Lu Chengyun's hints, it didn't seem quite right.
A copper corpse should be very powerful, possibly possessing the cultivation of the latter stages of the Foundation Establishment.
Lu Chengyun was only at the early stages of Foundation Establishment. Could he really suppress a copper corpse? If he couldn't and still attempted to refine it, wouldn't that be seeking death? If a Corpse Refiner were to be counter-attacked by their creation, they would surely be devoured, leaving not even their bones behind.
Lu Chengyun was so cunning; surely he wouldn't do something so foolish...
But if it wasn't a copper corpse, then what kind of corpse was it? Mo Hua racked his brains, suddenly realizing that he didn't even know the most basic information.
Aside from the names of the different types of zombies—walking corpses, iron corpses, copper corpses, silver corpses, and gold corpses—which he had heard from his third senior sister, he was completely clueless about Corpse Refinement! He was a total amateur in this field.
It was like a cultivator who didn't understand formations trying to figure out formation problems based on experience alone. All he was doing now was guessing and speculating about the categories of Corpse Refinement.
When a layman tried to understand the intricacies of an expert's field, it was easy to make assumptions and oversights.
Did Corpse Refinement have levels? Were gold, silver, copper, and iron the grades or just types?
What effects and taboos did the different types of corpses have? He was vague and uncertain about all of it.
With ordinary walking corpses and iron corpses, his shallow understanding might suffice.
But Lu Chengyun was clearly using a more "advanced" Corpse Refinement technique, and his half-baked knowledge might not be enough to discern anything useful...
Mo Hua fell into another conundrum.
Knowledge came from practice.
He couldn't possibly start learning Corpse Refinement just to understand these things, nor could he begin refining corpses himself...
Mo Hua thought about it and dismissed the idea of refining corpses himself. However, he resolved to steal a few books on Corpse Refinement from a Corpse Cultivator when he had the chance. Knowing your enemy was crucial.
The cultivation world was treacherous.
To survive in this world, cultivators needed a broad range of knowledge.
There were some things one might not do, but one had to at least be aware of them.
Otherwise, when faced with a "cognitive barrier," no amount of intelligence would help, and one might even end up outsmarting oneself and sealing one's own doom without ever understanding why.
Mo Hua nodded slightly, then turned his attention to opening the bronze coffin.
The coffin was double-layered, with an outer and inner casket, and the zombie was likely sealed within the inner bronze casket, where Lu Chengyun had inscribed his formation.
Mo Hua planned to open the outer casket without touching the inner one, just as Lu Chengyun had done, which should be relatively safe.
However, Mo Hua was surprised to find that he couldn't even open the outer coffin. The entire bronze coffin seemed to be sealed shut. He fiddled with it several times but couldn't get it open, and he couldn't tell if it was sealed with a formation or a physical lock.
Mo Hua sighed. This trip had yielded some results, but they were less than he had hoped for.
He had figured out the Myriad Corpse Formation, but he still didn't know what was offered on the altar or sealed within the bronze coffin.
"Looks like I'll have to think of another way..." Mo Hua's eyes flickered as he thought to himself.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
