https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-489-Hiding-the-Sky-with-One-Hand/12542432/
Chapter 490: The Coffin Nail
Chapter 490: The Coffin Nail
"A coffin nail..."
Mo Hua ran up to the bronze coffin, remembering the spot that Zhang Quan had measured. Indeed, on one edge of the coffin lid, he found a small indentation.
The indentation was closed, and only by inserting a bronze coffin nail could the coffin be opened.
Inside the indentation was an inscribed array, but since it was closed, the array was hidden, and Mo Hua did not discover it at first glance.
How was it to be opened?
Ordinary coffin nails were used to seal coffins.
But this bronze coffin went against convention, using a nail to open it instead.
That coffin nail was the key.
Lu Chengyun likely had one in his possession.
And Zhang Quan seemed to have another.
Mo Hua frowned.
Lu Chengyun was overly suspicious, and he surely wouldn't leave two keys for such an important item as the Corpse King's coffin.
The key that Zhang Quan had must have been kept secretly by him.
Mo Hua examined the bronze coffin once more.
The coffin was crudely styled, with dark green patina, appearing quite ancient. It was likely used for refining ancient corpses, and if he guessed correctly, it should have been passed down from Zhang Quan's ancestors.
Zhang Quan had lent this bronze coffin to Lu Chengyun, but he had kept a key for himself—that bronze nail.
It seemed that both men had their own agendas and were cautious of each other.
The coffin nail was the key to the bronze coffin...
Now, the question was, how could he obtain that nail? Mo Hua frowned in thought.
There was no way he could get his hands on Lu Chengyun's nail.
As for Zhang Quan's, there might be a chance, but the risk was also great...
Zhang Quan hated him to the core, and after the incidents in the Zombie Village involving the Soul Controlling Bell and the theft of his ancestor's portrait, he would definitely keep important items on his person at all times to prevent Mo Hua from taking advantage again.
Mo Hua sighed.
This was the downside of being stealthy.
When others were unprepared, one could do as they pleased.
But once one was suspected, they would be constrained in everything they did.
As Mo Hua couldn't think of a good idea for the time being, he decided to return and ponder the problem further.
But he truly was at a loss.
Neither Lu Chengyun nor Zhang Quan was giving him an opportunity.
With no progress being made, Mo Hua felt a bit stuck, so he thought that perhaps he should just leave for now and reconsider his options later.
After some thought, he went to find Lu Chengyun and said, "Lord Lu, I've finished setting up the eye of the Myriad Corpse Formation. I've been here in the mine for quite some time now, and it's rather dull and boring. May I please be allowed to return?"
As expected, Lu Chengyun didn't agree, only smiling gently, "Young Master Mo, please be patient. Although the eye of the formation has been constructed, the array itself hasn't been activated yet. We don't know if there are any errors, so I'd like to ask you to stay a little longer."
"But... I'm afraid my junior martial brothers and sisters will worry about me," Mo Hua hesitated.
Lu Chengyun laughed, "In just half a month, once the formation is activated, I will send you back myself."
"Alright then, please don't go back on your word, Lord Lu..."
Mo Hua said helplessly.
Lu Chengyun nodded, "Definitely."
Mo Hua left feeling a bit dejected.
Lu Chengyun watched his departing figure, finally relaxing completely.
He truly was just a child...
Children were impulsive, intolerant of loneliness, and prone to seeking entertainment.
Their emotions were written plainly on their faces, whether they were happy or sad.
"He's still too young and inexperienced, and his mind isn't deep enough yet..."
"I'm afraid he won't be able to shoulder great responsibilities..."
Lu Chengyun shook his head.
In the cultivation world, one couldn't rely solely on talent to sail smoothly. Nor could one depend on a little cleverness to always escape danger.
One had to endure some hardship to be tempered.
One had to stumble a few times to grow.
It was just that if one stumbled here, they would never have a chance to grow again...
A sinister smile curved Lu Chengyun's lips.
From then on, Lu Chengyun was even more indulgent towards Mo Hua, even to the point of being permissive.
No matter what Mo Hua did, he didn't get angry.
He also rarely used his spiritual sense to monitor the boy.
Mo Hua felt a sense of foreboding in his heart.
This indulgence was similar to how one treated the dead.
It was like the "last meal" given to a prisoner before their execution, which was always more lavish than their usual fare.
Lu Chengyun had murderous intentions, and he saw Mo Hua as a dead man, so it didn't matter what he did.
Mo Hua shook his head, inwardly denouncing Lu Chengyun: "This Lu Chengyun seems magnanimous, but who would have thought that his heart is so narrow?
"He can actually bear to take the life of a thirteen-year-old, a little cultivator who is harmless and has such good talent for formations...
"Or is it that my talent is too good, and he's jealous?"
"It seems that only mediocrities are safe from jealousy..."
Mo Hua sighed, feeling a bit conceited.
Since Lu Chengyun wouldn't let him leave, Mo Hua had no choice but to stay for the time being. He decided to stay and continue thinking of a way to get his hands on the bronze coffin.
"If you won't let me leave, then I'll expose your coffin!"
Mo Hua secretly vowed with a vicious thought.
In the following days, Mo Hua would hide near the Myriad Corpse Altar every night, secretly observing Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan.
The two men seemed to have coordinated their actions, with one coming each day.
Lu Chengyun would open the coffin and draw the Spirit Pivot Evil Formation.
Zhang Quan would open the coffin, swear an oath with blood, and ring the bell to control the zombies.
Each man had their own method, both aiming to control the Corpse King.
Mo Hua was curious about whom the Corpse King would obey once it was refined.
In addition, Mo Hua paid close attention to the bronze coffin nail.
He carefully noted its size, length, material, and the array inscribed on it.
Every time Zhang Quan opened the coffin, the lid would expose the array patterns inside, and Mo Hua would start deducing—first, to calculate what kind of array was sealing the bronze coffin, and second, to deduce the array inscribed on the nail.
Mo Hua spied on them for several days and secretly deduced for several more before finally figuring it out, but he was also greatly disappointed.
He had thought that the bronze coffin was sealed so tightly that the array inside must be something high-level.
But he never expected it to be just a combination of two low-grade seven-pattern copper lock formations, one positive and one negative.
Mo Hua then realized that he had overlooked something.
Mo Hua shook his head, feeling greatly disappointed in the Zhang family. He had expected that such an ancient coffin passed down from their ancestors would contain some high-level arrays. But it seemed he had overestimated them.
Now that he understood the sealing array of the coffin and the construction of the array on the coffin nail, the rest should be simple.
"Since I can't steal the key, I'll just have to make my own," Mo Hua thought to himself. After all, the core of it was the array, and as long as he understood the array, everything else would fall into place.
He wondered if there were any specific requirements for the material of the coffin nail, whether it also needed to be made of bronze...
If so, he currently lacked a suitable array medium.
Mo Hua decided to try with other materials first.
Strictly speaking, the coffin nail was a type of evil artifact.
Since Mo Hua didn't understand artifact refinement, much less the refinement of evil artifacts, it was impossible for him to refine one himself.
He could only 'borrow' one.
In the stone hall, with so many coffins and coffin nails, he could just pick any ordinary coffin and borrow one of its nails without any issues.
But there was a trick to it.
He couldn't borrow from the iron coffins.
The iron coffins were used to seal iron corpses, which were rare. Borrowing a coffin nail from an iron coffin would easily be noticed, and it might also cause the iron corpse to go out of control.
So he could only borrow from an ordinary wooden coffin first.
Mo Hua selected an ancient-looking wooden coffin from among the countless coffins in the Myriad Corpse Formation.
There were seven coffin nails hammered into the coffin, securing it shut.
Within the coffin lay a walking corpse.
Mo Hua first used an array to dissipate the evil energy and corpse energy of the walking corpse, then painted a wooden prison array to temporarily seal its corpse body to prevent it from going berserk during the process.
Now it was time to pull out the nail.
The nails on the ordinary coffins were made of iron, firmly hammered into the coffin lid.
Mo Hua chose one that was similar in size, trying to pull it out with his hand, but it wouldn't budge.
Then he remembered that he cultivated spiritual energy, not physical energy, so his strength was quite weak.
Reluctantly, he called for the little zombie.
The little zombie pushed open the coffin lid and hopped over to Mo Hua. With ease, it pulled out the iron nail from the wooden coffin, as per Mo Hua's instructions.
Mo Hua nodded in satisfaction and dipped his brush in ink, carefully painting the copper lock array for unsealing on the coffin nail.
Then he embedded the nail into the hidden indentation on the bronze coffin.
The coffin lid moved slightly but didn't open.
Mo Hua observed the situation and found that the iron nail was slightly too short, not fitting perfectly, and because it didn't fit, the array patterns didn't align, preventing the coffin from opening.
He pulled out the coffin nail, erased the array patterns, made some adjustments, and repainted the array.
This time, it worked.
The bronze coffin creaked slightly, as if an internal latch had been released, and at the same time, the arrays under the coffin lid unlocked in unison.
Mo Hua pushed on the coffin lid, but it was still quite difficult to move, leaving him feeling helpless. Once again, he had to call for the little zombie to help him open the lid.
Under the coffin lid was a bronze casket.
It was similar to what Mo Hua had seen before when he secretly spied on Lu Chengyun painting the Spirit Pivot Evil Formation on the Corpse King.
The difference was in the arrays, which were deeper and had a heavier blood color.
Mo Hua carefully examined the bronze casket, studying the arrays and deducing their functions, combining this new knowledge with what he already knew about corpse refinement.
The refinement method for the "Corpse King" was indeed unique.
The heart meridian and the corpse body were separated.
Inside the bronze coffin was the heart of Lu Chengyun's ancestor.
And under the yellow cloth on the altar lay the corpse body of Lu Chengyun's ancestor, with its heart removed.
These two parts were refined using different methods.
One was refined, and the other was sacrificed.
The sacrifice required an altar.
While the refinement required a coffin, human blood, and arrays.
Only after the "sacrifice" and "refinement" would the Corpse King be truly complete.
Lu Chengyun's method was to paint the Spirit Pivot Evil Formation on the heart meridian of the zombie.
Then, he deepened the array over and over again, imprinting it deeply onto the heart meridian of his ancestor.
This allowed him to completely control his ancestor.
Mo Hua stroked his chin in thought, "If Lu Chengyun can paint the array, does that mean I can too?"
"But if I paint it, Lu Chengyun will definitely notice..."
"Then I'll just paint over the array?"
"I'll paint the same array patterns as him, but while he uses human blood and evil energy, I'll use ink and spiritual energy."
"Then I'll overlay the array, rewriting his array patterns..."
However, even if the array patterns remained the same, the aura of the array would change.
Changing from evil energy to spiritual energy, although weak, would likely still be noticed by the cautious Lu Chengyun...
Mo Hua frowned. If Lu Chengyun discovered that someone had tampered with the bronze coffin, things would become difficult.
Suddenly, he paused.
He was planning to tamper with the bronze coffin.
And Zhang Quan had already done so.
With his strong spiritual sense and stealth capabilities, and with the little zombie to open the way, he could sneak into the altar without Lu Chengyun's knowledge.
Even if Lu Chengyun suspected something, he would likely suspect Zhang Quan.
After some thought, Mo Hua had an idea: he would first paint over the array and observe Lu Chengyun's reaction.
If Lu Chengyun suspected something, he would stop.
If Lu Chengyun didn't suspect anything, he would continue.
He would also add his own control over the Corpse King! With Lu Chengyun's Spirit Pivot Evil Formation, his own Spirit Pivot Supreme Array, and Zhang Quan's ancient bell for controlling zombies, the three of them would control the Corpse King together.
Even if ultimate control didn't lie with him, it wouldn't be entirely in Lu Chengyun's hands either.
As long as Lu Chengyun couldn't fully control the Corpse King and mobilize all the iron corpses, the overall strength of the corpse cultivators would be greatly diminished.
Mo Hua's eyes lit up as he began to paint, stealthily overlaying his array over Lu Chengyun's without anyone's knowledge...
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
