Chapter 501: Helpless
Chapter 501: Helpless
Elder Song was, of course, afraid.
Zhang Quan didn't understand, but he did.
This young boy, who appeared youthful with a hint of immaturity on his face, possessed a solid divine sense and profound aura. He could also manifest spells and array formations...
He clearly had the heritage of some major clan or family.
Moreover, he had hidden his presence, ambushed them with an array, and used spells that could both trap and kill.
It was evident that he had extensive battle experience and was adept in tactics.
Not to mention that their group had been caught off guard, losing two members and leaving another crippled. Zhang Quan and Elder Song, though still alive, were severely injured and greatly weakened.
Even if they had all been at their peak condition, facing this young cultivator would likely have resulted in more losses than victories.
Up until now, he still didn't know what other tricks this young boy had up his sleeve.
Elder Song's heart raced with urgency.
He had to run!
He must!
If he stayed, he would be handing himself over to his demise.
As for Zhang Quan, he was the junior; it was only right that he take the lead and sacrifice himself for his elders. This was also a display of his "filial piety."
Under Zhang Quan's disbelieving gaze, Elder Song's stooped figure fled in a panic, his back betraying any semblance of the dignity befitting an elder.
Just as Elder Song reached the edge of Mo Hua's sea of consciousness, about to escape...
Mo Hua pointed a finger, casting the Water Prison Technique.
Blue silk-like threads flowed and transformed into a confining prison, binding Elder Song in place.
Elder Song's eyes widened in surprise.
Such a fast spell!
His cloudy eyes shifted, and his body shrunk as he performed a technique, shedding his skin like a bamboo shoot shedding its outer layers, freeing himself from the constraints of the Water Prison Technique.
A hint of surprise flashed across Mo Hua's face.
As expected of a renowned Elder of the Zhang family, he had some skills.
Mo Hua pointed another finger, and the Water Prison Technique manifested once more, trapping Elder Song again.
Elder Song found himself confined again, cursing inwardly, "What kind of spell is this?!
"This spell is not meant to kill, but to control."
"How can there be a cultivator in this world who specializes in such disgusting spells?!"
Elder Song shed his skin once more, shrinking slightly, and escaped again.
Mo Hua's small hand casually pointed forward, and the Water Prison Technique emerged yet again, confining the diminutive Elder Song.
At the same time, golden array patterns appeared beneath Elder Song's feet.
In just a few breaths, the patterns condensed into the Golden Lock Array, radiant with golden light and locking him firmly in place.
Escape was just within reach.
Clearly, just a few more steps would have taken him to freedom.
If he could make it out, he could report to the Old Ancestor, gather the elders of the Zhang family across generations, and charge in together to slaughter this little brat and tear him apart!
But those few steps seemed utterly impossible for Elder Song.
No matter how he struggled or exerted himself, he couldn't seem to escape the grasp of this young boy.
Filled with rage, Elder Song gave up on fleeing. His body swelled, his face turning blue and his white eyes turning bloodshot, filled with blood vessels.
"Good! Little brat, you've gone too far! Today, either you die or I do!"
Elder Song's aura surged.
Mo Hua's expression turned solemn as he witnessed this development.
This Elder Song seemed to hold a relatively high status within the Zhang family, and his experience was evident. Mo Hua wanted to see what other tricks this Elder Song had up his sleeve...
A fierce battle was about to erupt...
After a while, as the time it takes to drink a cup of tea...
Mo Hua looked at Elder Song lying on the ground, his face bruised and swollen, his breath weak, and couldn't help but feel speechless...
You don't have much in the way of skills, do you?
From start to finish, Elder Song had been suppressed by Mo Hua's spells and array formations. While attacking, Mo Hua had also controlled him with the Water Prison Technique and the Golden Lock Array.
Elder Song would take a few steps only to be trapped again, becoming an easy target for Mo Hua's precise strikes.
He tried to advance a few more steps but was confined once more, relentlessly bombarded by spells.
He didn't even make it in front of Mo Hua before he was knocked to the ground, barely conscious and lying there helplessly...
And to think he had put on such a show of determination earlier.
Mo Hua was speechless and couldn't help but address the defeated Elder Song, "I overestimated you. You're quite pathetic..."
Lying on the ground, Elder Song spat out a mouthful of blood.
He felt incredibly wronged.
It wasn't that he was weak, but that he hadn't been given a chance to display his true strength.
He had been controlled the entire time, unable to get close or even land a single blow. With his strength diminished to a fraction of its peak, anyone would have suffered the same fate.
Five "zombies" from the Zhang family had entered.
Two had been reduced to ashes, one was crippled, and now Zhang Quan and Elder Song lay on the ground...
Seeing Elder Song, a predecessor of the Zhang family, treated like a captive and beaten so ruthlessly without any chance to fight back, Zhang Quan's face turned deathly pale.
It was only then that he truly understood the vast difference between himself and Mo Hua.
Outside, Mo Hua had been insidious and troublesome.
But within the sea of consciousness, Mo Hua was downright terrifying!
How had their Zhang family managed to offend this "little ancestor"?
Bombarded by the Earthfire Array and Fireball Technique, his body battered and his divine sense waning, Elder Song felt a sense of urgency and hatred. "Little friend, what exactly do you want to do?"
Mo Hua smiled faintly, "I want to do to you what you wanted to do to me."
Elder Song was taken aback, his face contorting with shock:
This little brat, he wants to devour me?!
Elder Song's thoughts raced, and he quickly said, "Young friend, you cultivate the righteous path, and you walk the righteous way. As for us, we are evil, we are ghostly thoughts. Listen to this old man's advice: devouring us will taint your heart and corrupt your foundation. It will cause great problems with your temperament, so you must not eat us!"
"It won't..." Mo Hua smiled.
This smile, innocent yet carrying a hint of mischief.
It won't?
Why not?
Zhang Quan thought about it carefully, and his body suddenly trembled as if he had fallen into an ice cave. "The Zhang family's ancestors who went missing... were they all... 'eaten' by you?!”
The residual souls of the Zhang family's ancestors resided within the Ancestral Master Painting. Unless they were seeking food, they rarely left.
Mo Hua paused, then smiled, revealing his white teeth. "You've guessed it..."
Zhang Quan and Elder Song trembled.
"Offending our Zhang family will bring you no benefit!" Elder Song exclaimed, his voice carrying a hint of fear beneath the bluster.
Zhang Quan added, his voice filled with hatred, "Our ancestors will not let you off the hook!"
But Mo Hua remained unfazed, even licking his lips as his gaze held a hint of intrigue.
Zhang Quan's eyes widened in horror as a terrible thought occurred to him. Could it be that this little brat intended to "eat" even their venerable ancestor of the Zhang family?
Elder Song, too, realized the gravity of the situation, and fear gripped them both. Their revered ancestor! Someone dared to target their ancestor!
What's more, this young cultivator possessed a profound and unfathomable divine sense, a deep and cunning mind, and terrifying means. He had turned the tables on them, and now they faced a formidable enemy.
Mo Hua, seeing the fear in their eyes, sighed, "You know too much..."
With a casual gesture of his finger, a fireball erupted, the spiritual power surging and blasting the two elders, leaving only faint shadows as they hovered on the brink of annihilation...
The sea of consciousness was suddenly much quieter.
Mo Hua heaved a sigh of relief and sat down cross-legged, pondering a question: "Should I 'eat' them?"
If he did, his spiritual sense would undoubtedly strengthen, but it might not reach the thirteenth level. There was a bottleneck between the twelfth and thirteenth levels, making it challenging to break through. Moreover, consuming them would require time for refinement, and he didn't have that luxury at the moment.
Within the Patriarch's Portrait, numerous Zhang family ancestors remained, and if he began the refinement process, they could take advantage of his occupied state. He was alone, and they were many. It would be a dangerous situation.
Shaking his head, Mo Hua acknowledged the risks. He could handle one or two, maybe even three or four, but if their numbers grew, it would become unmanageable, and he couldn't afford any mistakes. If he were caught off guard, injured, and surrounded, the consequences could be dire.
He was in the Corpse Mine, not in the safety of his master's cave abode, and without his master's protection or the assistance of his senior martial brothers and sisters, any danger could prove fatal.
So, he had to be cautious, extremely cautious. Especially with the presence of the Zhang family's ancestor.
Mo Hua was unsure what tricks this ancient foe might have up his sleeve, and he had yet to face him directly. But he could surmise that one who had lived so long and consumed so many cultivators would undoubtedly possess a formidable divine sense, a deep and cunning mind, and a host of deadly techniques.
The odds were stacked against him—facing both a numerical disadvantage and the presence of a powerful enemy. It was a difficult situation.
"What should I do?" Mo Hua pondered, stroking his chin.
Then, his eyes lit up as an idea struck him.
Zombies!
Controlling the undead!
The Zhang family's ancestors were all zombies, and as such, they could be controlled!
And in his arsenal, he had a profound and secret method of controlling the undead—the Spirit Pivot Array!
"I can use the Spirit Pivot Array to control the Zhang family's zombie elders and disciples and make them turn on their own ancestor..." Mo Hua mused. "I'll watch from the sidelines, pick them off one by one, and strike when the opportunity presents itself."
"It's a low-risk strategy, and it's efficient."
"This way, the Zhang family's ancestor will be the one facing the odds, surrounded by his own kin..."
The tide had turned, and the defensive had become the offensive!
Mo Hua's eyes gleamed with excitement as he nodded in satisfaction. He then set about preparing for his plan.
First, he needed to test whether the Spirit Pivot Array would indeed work within his sea of consciousness.
There were three figures nearby: Elder Song, Elder Si, and Zhang Quan. They were all mind-bodies, resembling zombies, and they had been severely wounded by Mo Hua's array and spells, their divine senses injured and their forms dim.
Mo Hua chose Zhang Quan and Elder Song, and with his spiritual sense, he manifested the intricate array patterns, inscribing the Spirit Pivot Array on their heart meridians.
As soon as the array was complete, it flashed with bright blue light and merged into their bodies. The array patterns then transformed into slender threads, like veins, tendrils, or stitching needles, moving through their bodies, sewing them together, and taking complete control.
Mo Hua understood how the Spirit Pivot Array worked.
He had only used it before on the wooden puppet tiger and a few zombies, but those had been simpler applications. The zombie he had used it on was small, and he had only altered the sequence of the array patterns without rebuilding the Spirit Pivot Array from scratch. With the Corpse King, he had merely overlaid the array, stealing control from Lu Chengyun without fully reconstructing it.
Now, within his sea of consciousness, Mo Hua could clearly observe the process of the array's manifestation and control over the evil thoughts of the Iron Zombie. Every detail was clear to him.
It was only then that Mo Hua truly grasped the intricacies and principles of the Spirit Pivot Array, realizing that his previous understanding had been superficial.
His mastery and comprehension of the Spirit Pivot Array gradually deepened...
At the same time, Zhang Quan and Elder Song, the two zombie elders, had the Spirit Pivot Array imprinted on their heart meridians by Mo Hua, with spirit strands spreading throughout their bodies, taking complete control.
With a thought from Mo Hua, the two elders were manipulated to stand up.
Indeed, under Mo Hua's mental command, the two stood up straight.
However, their eyes remained closed, devoid of consciousness, like true puppets.
Mo Hua controlled Zhang Quan to raise his hand and slap Elder Song, then manipulated Elder Song to do the same to Zhang Quan.
After that, he made them repeatedly slap each other.
Neither of them resisted.
Mo Hua then controlled them to fight each other.
They obeyed his command.
However, due to their severe injuries and Mo Hua's control, their movements were clumsy and their attacks lacked power.
Mo Hua was disappointed.
They were too weak...
With this level of strength, they couldn't pose any threat to the Zhang family's ancestors.
"What if I wake them up?" Mo Hua decided to give it a try.
He completely refined the two disciples and the severely injured Elder Si of the Zhang family using the Molten Fire Array and fed them to Zhang Quan and Elder Song.
As expected, the two elders' injuries healed, and their auras gradually strengthened.
After a moment, Zhang Quan and Elder Song opened their eyes.
They were surprised to find that their injuries had healed and their strength had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent.
Then, to their further surprise, they realized that their "bodies" were no longer their own.
No matter what they wanted to do, their bodies wouldn't move.
Meanwhile, Mo Hua watched them with a smile.
The two elders' hearts sank.
What sinister plan was this little brat concocting now?
"You are now my 'people' and must obey my commands!" Mo Hua ordered.
Zhang Quan felt this was absurd.
What is this little brat talking about? How could I possibly be his "person" and follow his commands? I want nothing more than to kill him!
Mo Hua commanded, "Zhang Quan, slap Elder Song."
Zhang Quan coldly smiled in his heart, "You want me to slap him, so I slap him? How could I possibly do such a disrespectful thing..."
Before he could finish his thought, he found his hand had already slapped Elder Song's face...
Zhang Quan was stunned.
Elder Song was even more astonished.
Why would Zhang Quan, his junior, listen to this little brat's order and slap him, his senior?
Mo Hua was pleased and then ordered Elder Song, "Now, slap him back."
As expected, Elder Song slapped Zhang Quan.
At this point, the two of them realized something was amiss.
Zhang Quan angrily asked, "Little brat, what have you done to us?"
Elder Song also asked in shock and anger, "What are you trying to do?"
Mo Hua replied, "How could I possibly tell you? Do you think I'm stupid?"
Then he muttered, "I can't let them talk, or they'll expose my plan..."
Could he make them shut up? With a thought, Mo Hua caused the heart meridians of Zhang Quan and Elder Song to glow with a faint blue light, and the array patterns emerged, giving rise to spirit strands that moved upwards like needles, sewing their mouths shut.
Zhang Quan and Elder Song widened their eyes in horror, their expressions filled with fear, but they couldn't utter a word.
Mo Hua narrowed his eyes and smiled.
That's better.
Zombies should act like zombies and refrain from idle chatter!
He then concealed himself, sat cross-legged, and waited for other zombie elders of the Zhang family to arrive, intending to test the control effect of the Spirit Pivot Array.
After a while, as expected, another zombie elder, accompanied by two zombie disciples, entered Mo Hua's sea of consciousness.
As soon as this zombie elder entered the sea of consciousness, before he could even marvel at the depth and purity of Mo Hua's spiritual sense, he noticed that Zhang Quan and Elder Song were standing there like wooden posts.
The two elders looked strange.
Their clothes were tattered and charred, as if they had been through a fierce battle.
However, their auras were calm and steady, even exuding a sense of righteousness, which didn't seem like the aftermath of a battle...
"Elder Song?"
The zombie elder frowned and asked.
Elder Song stood motionless, his eyes open but devoid of any reaction.
The zombie elder was perplexed and called out again, "Elder Song?"
"What happened?"
"Where's Elder Si and the other two disciples?"
"Why do you look like this?"
The zombie elder asked many questions, but Elder Song remained silent.
The zombie elder's frown deepened.
Just then, Elder Song suddenly attacked, his fingers like sharp claws, swift as the wind, aiming straight for the zombie elder's heart meridian.
The zombie elder was taken aback and quickly dodged, but his chest was still torn open, revealing a bloody wound.
The zombie elder roared in anger, "Elder Song, what do you mean by this?"
Elder Song's attacks became more aggressive, as if he didn't care about his own life, each strike more vicious than the last.
The zombie elder struggled to defend himself and gritted his teeth, "Zhang Song, what do you intend by this?"
"Are you planning to betray us?"
"Do you intend to slaughter our own elders?"
"How will you explain this to our ancestors?"
"Are you planning to rebel?"
Elder Song's face was expressionless, but his heart was bitter.
I don't want to fight my own kin, and I'm not doing this willingly...
It's not my fault...
It's that vicious, hateful, despicable, sly, and shameless little brat's fault!
It's him! He's the one who took away my control over myself!
(End of Chapter)
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