Chapter 491: A Little Chatterbox
Chapter 491: A Little Chatterbox
The next day, at the eerie hour of midnight, Lu Chengyun arrived once more at the Altar of Ten Thousand Corpses, which was strewn with coffins, to draw his array.
Mo Hua hid behind the altar, secretly observing him.
Lu Chengyun went through his usual routine: opening a coffin, taking out his brush, pouring out blood ink, and dipping the brush into it to start drawing the array. But as soon as he began to paint, his brow furrowed.
He stared at the array, his expression growing more perplexed by the moment, until he finally murmured, "Something's wrong... This array... There's an issue..."
A chill ran down Mo Hua's spine.
His modifications had been discovered.
Lu Chengyun was still perplexed. "Who altered my formation? Who has the ability to modify the formation I've drawn? And who dared to sneak into the Corpse Mine, sneak past the altar, open the bronze coffin, and tamper with my Ling Chu Xi Formation, a first-rate twelve-patterned formation?"
Lu Chengyun's gaze darted around, filled with suspicion.
Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. "Could there be someone hiding in this altar?"
He quickly released his spiritual sense, scanning his surroundings.
Mo Hua, the little fox, curled up and hid, suppressing his aura.
Lu Chengyun's spiritual sense swept over the array, the coffins, the altar, and even Mo Hua, but he found nothing.
After scanning the area several times, Lu Chengyun finally relaxed. "Am I being too paranoid?" he muttered to himself.
The situation was rather bizarre. If someone had indeed done this, they must possess an extremely high level of cultivation and incredibly cunning means. Such a senior cultivator wouldn't need to resort to stealthy tricks if they wanted to deal with him; they could simply face him head-on, and he wouldn't stand a chance.
"Array... Mo Hua?" Lu Chengyun suddenly thought of Mo Hua.
Among all the cultivators in the Corpse Mine, Mo Hua was the only one whose skill in arrays came close to his own.
Could it be Mo Hua who altered his Ling Chu Xi array? "No, he doesn't have the ability," Lu Chengyun denied immediately.
The Ling Chu Xi array, a first-rate twelve-patterned array, required a twelve-patterned foundation-establishment spiritual sense.
While Mo Hua, the young cultivator, had strong spiritual sense, he was still at the Qi Refining stage. At most, he might have ten patterns, or perhaps not even that.
Spiritual sense was the foundation of an array master. Without a twelve-patterned spiritual sense, one couldn't create the Ling Chu Xi array without resorting to unorthodox methods or borrowing external spiritual sense.
And this young cultivator had a pure and unblemished aura. He clearly hadn't practiced any evil cultivation techniques or drawn any evil arrays.
Moreover, it was impossible for him to have learned the Ling Chu Xi array. It was an ultimate array, transcending tiers, and Lu Chengyun himself had spent nearly a century studying it, only able to draw it by employing devious methods to lower the requirements.
How could this little brat learn and draw it without even having seen the array diagram? He had only caught a brief glimpse of the array diagram...
It was absurd to think that he could have mastered it by piecing together those fragmented glimpses and watching Lu Chengyun draw it a few times. Even with high talent, it wasn't feasible.
If he could learn Lu Chengyun's arrays just by glancing at them, then all the arrays Lu Chengyun had drawn over the years would be as good as fed to dogs.
Lu Chengyun shook his head. "It can't be him..."
If it wasn't Mo Hua, then there was only one other person it could be...
"Zhang Quan!" Lu Chengyun's gaze sharpened.
He glanced at the array on the bronze coffin, his thoughts stirring.
The array's aura had changed; its evil energy had diminished.
However, the array patterns remained unchanged.
This suggested that the array itself might not have been altered, but someone had likely used other means to reduce Lu Chengyun's control over the Corpse King, thereby weakening the array's effectiveness and reducing its sinister influence.
This was a corpse refinement technique! Among all the corpse cultivators in the entire Corpse Mine, Zhang Quan was undoubtedly the most proficient in the art of corpse refinement.
In fact, the bronze coffin itself was a heirloom passed down in the Zhang family.
It was plausible that Zhang Quan, with his knowledge, could have made adjustments behind Lu Chengyun's back.
"Zhang Quan..." Lu Chengyun's eyes turned cold as he muttered the name.
He knew that Zhang Quan had ulterior motives.
Furthermore, the two of them had very different ideas about how to utilize the Corpse King.
Zhang Quan lacked ambition and vision. Like most corpse cultivators, he was focused solely on refining corpses to kill, and killing to refine corpses. He dreamed of establishing a demonic sect and bringing glory to his ancestors, unable to see the true nature of the world.
Initially, Lu Chengyun hadn't paid much attention to Zhang Quan's ambitions.
After all, the Zhang family's corpse refinement technique was of great use to him.
But if Zhang Quan dared to tamper with the Corpse King and ruin Lu Chengyun's grand plan, he would have no one to blame but himself...
A sinister smile curved Lu Chengyun's lips.
Behind the altar, Mo Hua heard Lu Chengyun deny his ability and then mutter Zhang Quan's name. A mischievous smile, like that of a little fox, appeared on his face.
However, it seemed that Lu Chengyun was still not at ease...
The following day, Lu Chengyun invited Mo Hua to adjust the array eye of the Ten Thousand Corpse Array while he himself opened the bronze coffin to start drawing the array.
Mo Hua nodded and said, "It's very profound!"
"Can you understand it?" Lu Chengyun probed.
Mo Hua hesitated, "I... I understand a little." His voice held a hint of guilt, as if he was trying to save face by pretending to know more than he actually did.
'As I thought, he doesn't understand anything,' Lu Chengyun mused.
Suddenly, Mo Hua seemed to remember something, and his face lit up innocently as he asked, "Right, Lord Lu, you said that you would teach me this array after the array eye was completed. Can you teach me now?"
Mo Hua looked at Lu Chengyun with clear eyes, free from any deceit.
Lu Chengyun was taken aback by the pure gaze. It was so innocent that he felt a tinge of guilt just from being suspected.
'This foolish child actually believes that I will teach him the array?' Lu Chengyun sighed inwardly. "You're not ready yet. Come back when your spiritual sense is stronger," he said gently.
"Oh." Mo Hua's face fell, and he left with a hint of disappointment. However, he couldn't help but glance back occasionally, his eyes reluctant to leave.
Seeing this, Lu Chengyun's doubts vanished, and he became certain. "It has to be Zhang Quan!" he asserted to himself.
The one who tampered with the bronze coffin must be Zhang Quan!
Although Mo Hua, the little cultivator, was a bit clever, his gaze was too pure and his heart too simple to scheme much.
The only one capable of acting under his nose was Zhang Quan!
Lu Chengyun's eyes turned icy as he pondered his next move.
Unbeknownst to him, behind his back, Mo Hua, with a disappointed look on his face, was secretly smiling...
...
In the following days, Lu Chengyun kept a straight face, but his eyes toward Zhang Quan held a subtle chill.
Zhang Quan, with his guilty conscience, remained oblivious.
However, the innocent-looking Mo Hua noticed everything.
...
One night, at the eerie hour of three o'clock.
In the vast and silent Altar of Ten Thousand Corpses.
The mural rippled, revealing a hidden door, and Zhang Quan tiptoed in.
He looked around cautiously to ensure no one was present, then opened the bronze coffin. With a knife, he cut his hand and fed his blood to the corpse, walking backward and chanting incantations while ringing a bell to control the corpse...
This set of corpse-controlling incantations had been performed by Zhang Quan for several days in a row.
And within the bronze coffin, the heartbeat of the Corpse King grew stronger and more powerful, carrying an aura that made the other corpses fearful and submissive.
Upon completing the ritual, Zhang Quan's face turned pale, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
As this set of incantations progressed, it required more and more blood, and the refinement process became increasingly demanding.
But if he could control the Corpse King, it would all be worth it.
Zhang Quan closed the coffin lid and left the altar with a cold smile...
The eerie altar fell silent once more.
Soon after, a figure emerged from behind the altar, dressed in fine robes, his face grim.
It was Lu Chengyun.
He glanced at the mural and then walked to the bronze coffin, unsealing the lid and examining the array on it.
As expected, the array's effectiveness had diminished further.
At the same time, the heartbeat of the zombie had grown stronger.
Lu Chengyun's eyes turned icy, and he silently took out a bone pen, dipped it in human blood, and reinforced one of the arrays, suppressing the power of the control bell.
After finishing the modifications, he resealed the coffin.
With a cold smile, Lu Chengyun left the altar.
Once again, the altar fell silent.
Shortly after Lu Chengyun's departure, a small head poked out from behind the altar.
Just as a mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—Mo Hua was that oriole.
While Lu Chengyun had been watching Zhang Quan from his hiding place, Mo Hua had been perched on the stone beam above Lu Chengyun's head, observing them both.
Now that Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun were gone, Mo Hua's eyes lit up. He gracefully jumped down from the altar and made his way to the bronze coffin. Using a self-made coffin nail, he unsealed the array, opened the coffin, and summoned a small zombie to help him lift the coffin lid.
Beneath the lid lay the coffin case.
On top of the case was the array that Lu Chengyun had just reinforced.
Mo Hua took out his brush and ink and began to overlay his own array on top of Lu Chengyun's Ling Chu Xi array...
Zhang Quan refined the corpse.
Lu Chengyun drew his arrays.
And Mo Hua secretly altered Lu Chengyun's arrays.
This scene played out repeatedly within the eerie altar for over half a month, until the Corpse King's refinement was complete, and it was time for the coffin to be opened...
Meanwhile, for the past half a month, upon receiving Mo Hua's message, the city of Nanyue had been shrouded in hidden undercurrents, with a sense of impending doom hanging heavy in the air...
In the vicinity of Xiaohuang State.
What seemed like clear skies one moment would turn into a torrential downpour the next.
(End of Chapter)
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