Chapter 692: Sword Mark
Chapter 692: Sword Mark
(Thank you to Alliance Leader, Yeya Bulzie, for the reward!)
As soon as Mo Hua set foot on the ground, his spiritual sense stung.
His vision was filled with a vivid red.
He heard sinister laughter, painful cries, and desperate wails.
It was as if time had reversed, flowing back to reveal glimpses of the tragic scenes that had unfolded in this fishing village hundreds of years ago.
This village had once been thoroughly drenched in blood...
In a flash of realization, Mo Hua caught a glimpse of the truth.
Within the bloody mist, pitiful wails echoed as all the fisher cultivators were slaughtered. Their blood soaked into the earth, staining the soil and, along with the water, polluting that which presided over the fishing village...
A pale golden deity.
This deity...
Mo Hua focused his spiritual sense, trying to discern the deity's features, but at that moment, the bloody mist surged, obscuring everything.
The eyes of the deity also turned crimson, revealing murderous intent towards Mo Hua, who dared to peer into the cause and effect.
Mo Hua broke out in a cold sweat and abruptly opened his eyes.
The surroundings were gloomy and eerie.
The air was heavy with the stench of fish and aged decay, and the soil beneath his feet was a deep red.
It seemed as if blood and earth had become one, though they had long since dried and fallen silent.
Aside from that, the area was quiet, the bloody mist was not thick, and there were no blood leeches floating about. It seemed safer here than outside the village.
"Young Master Mo, are you alright?" Gu An asked worriedly.
Mo Hua had suddenly turned pale and fainted, as if he had seen something terrifying, and his expression was grim.
"I'm fine," Mo Hua said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "The atmosphere is too oppressive. I had a nightmare and needed to calm myself."
Gu An, Gu Quan, and Yu He: "..."
Mo Hua recalled the scenes that had flashed through his mind and made some speculations.
The fisher cultivators of the small fishing village had been corrupted by the evil god, and then they had all been silenced.
The cultivators who had destroyed the village were shrouded in black, their faces hidden, their identities unknown.
The small fishing village used to have a deity.
This deity emanated a pale golden light, indicating a high status, but it had been corrupted by the evil god.
As for the outcome...
Mo Hua sighed as he looked at the blood-soaked fishing village.
The believers had been slaughtered, and the village polluted.
The fate of this deity was undoubtedly sealed.
It was now an evil god itself.
However...
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
For some reason, the fate of this fishing village seemed familiar, as if he had witnessed a similar scene somewhere before.
Mo Hua concentrated, his pupils narrowing as he tried to recall.
The Xie family!
The Xie family, annihilated by Hu Fo Tu, had also been slaughtered, their deaths tragic. And when he had first entered their home, the signs of karmic cause and effect had appeared.
Mo Hua's thoughts returned to the Xie family.
Although Hu Fo Tu was dead and the Demon Cave of Bi Shan had been eradicated, along with the destruction of the Demon Temple within, Mo Hua felt that there was still a deep karmic connection that had not been unravelled.
"Could there be some connection between the Xie family and this fishing village?" Mo Hua wondered as he looked towards the deepest part of the village, his gaze filled with intrigue.
However, the pressing matter at hand was to rescue the innocent children before they became sacrifices to the evil god.
"I'll go in stealthily to check the situation. You three find a place to hide. If you hear any noise, come and rescue me. If there's no sound, wait here and don't let anyone discover you."
Mo Hua instructed them.
Gu An and Gu Quan had their concerns, but they nodded obediently.
Yu He was anxious about his son, but he had to suppress his restlessness and wait patiently.
Mo Hua nodded slightly.
Although Gu An and Gu Quan had the Shui Yin Yu, such spiritual artifacts had limited concealment abilities, and the two lacked sufficient stealth experience.
This kind of stealth mission was a job for him.
As Mo Hua turned to leave, he suddenly remembered something and took out three spiritual artifacts that calmed the mind and soothed the soul from his pocket, handing them to the three of them.
"These are spiritual artifacts to protect your consciousness. One for each of you, wear them well."
Gu An was familiar with these artifacts. They were the ones that Young Master Chang Huai had ordered them to retrieve from the Gu family storeroom and give to Young Master Mo.
Gu An was puzzled, "Young Master, what exactly are these consciousness-protecting artifacts for? Surely they're not just for calming the mind?"
"They're to protect your sea of consciousness."
"Protect the sea of consciousness?"
"Yes." Mo Hua nodded, "The explanation is a bit complicated, but just know that they are crucial for your safety."
"Alright!" Seeing the seriousness in Mo Hua's eyes, Gu An solemnly accepted the artifacts but then looked at him with concern, "You're giving us the artifacts, but what about you, Young Master?"
"I don't need them." Mo Hua said confidently.
These artifacts were not of much use to him.
His spiritual sense was, in itself, an excellent artifact for soul protection!
Gu An and Gu Quan didn't quite understand, but they still admired Young Master Mo's prowess.
The three of them waited at the original spot.
Mo Hua, invisible, skillfully navigated the fishing village to gather information.
The village was completely deserted, with collapsed stone walls and withered thatch everywhere, along with remnants of destruction from when the village was ravaged.
After taking a few steps, Mo Hua noticed a large fishing house in the distance with flickering lights and vague figures moving within.
Mo Hua's eyebrows raised slightly as he cautiously approached.
However, before he could get close to the house, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he paused.
"This is..."
Mo Hua turned and walked closer to inspect. He discovered a stone pillar by the roadside that had been cut in half, leaving a distinct sword mark.
Mo Hua wanted to try to observe this sword mark and comprehend some of the sword qi techniques. However, his rudimentary understanding of sword techniques was far from sufficient for such a challenging sword comprehension.
If his sword qi was inadequate, what about his sword intent? Mo Hua released his spiritual sense, perceiving the sword intent within the break.
On the surface, extremely faint sword rays appeared, persisting for hundreds of years without fading, which greatly surprised Mo Hua. But these sword rays were still too weak to provide any insights.
Mo Hua's pupils deepened as the heavenly mechanism patterns emerged in his eyes. Using his heavenly mechanism calculations, he amplified the heavenly mechanism derivation, and as he focused his gaze, the atmosphere around the break suddenly turned sharp.
A faint blue cold light, extremely sharp, revealed its full edge.
Mo Hua's eyes stung slightly, and even his sea of consciousness felt an intense oppressive force, as if a sword cultivator master was pointing a sharp treasure sword between his eyebrows.
Then, everything disappeared in an instant.
The faint sword rays on the surface completely vanished, and the sword principles existing in the heavenly mechanism derivations also disappeared without a trace.
Mo Hua was stunned for a moment, lost in thought.
"This is... Sword Soul Transformation..."
That pure and extreme killing intent, the chillingly sharp sword intent that peaked at the pinnacle, and the breathtakingly beautiful sword qi manifested by the sword soul in a fleeting moment, all left Mo Hua's heart shaken and unable to calm down for a long time.
Mo Hua was distracted for a moment, and then his eyes shone brightly, dazzlingly so.
"This is... Sword Soul Transformation..."
"And most likely, it's the Sword Truth of the Great Void, the Sword Manual of the Void God..."
He had finally witnessed with his own eyes and personally experienced the Sword Soul, truly transformed by the spiritual sense!
Mo Hua touched the broken stone pillar again.
Unfortunately, there was nothing left on the stone pillar.
But that didn't matter.
Where there's one, there's bound to be another.
That senior sword cultivator from back then had entered the fishing village, which was polluted by the evil god and full of hidden dangers. It was unlikely that he had only drawn his sword once.
There must be other traces of "Sword Soul Transformation" in this fishing village.
As long as he observed them one by one, even if he couldn't truly learn the Sword Soul Transformation, he should be able to roughly imitate it and learn some spiritual sense application techniques by copying the method.
Mo Hua was full of anticipation.
He just didn't know where else in the fishing village there might be sword marks...
As Mo Hua pondered, he suddenly paused, realizing that he hadn't taken care of an important matter.
"First save people, saving people is the priority..."
Mo Hua silently reminded himself.
He would deal with the "sword mark" matter later.
Then, he once again concealed his figure and continued towards the large fishing house in front of him.
There were no formations or other protective measures around the fishing house.
Probably, the cultivators residing in the fishing village didn't expect outsiders to come here, so they didn't bother to set up additional defenses.
This gave Mo Hua an opportunity.
The door of the fishing house was tightly closed, and there were voices coming from inside.
Mo Hua nimbly climbed onto the roof of the fishing house, using both his hands and feet, and looked inside through the gaps in the thatched roof.
Although the fishing house was large, the furnishings were shabby. The room was lit by a dim yellow lamp.
There were several cultivators inside, sitting around a table drinking alcohol.
Most of these cultivators wore black clothes, except for one who had a full beard, dark skin, and robust muscles—it was Over-the-River Dragon.
The alcohol they were drinking was strong, with a pungent smell. On the table, there were several dishes of fried snacks and some dried fish as accompaniments to the alcohol.
As they ate and drank, they chatted idly and complained about various things.
Mo Hua pricked up his ears and heard them talking about things like "bird weather," "gloomy places," "deaths," "bad luck," and so on.
Among their topics, he also heard the name... "Gu Chang Huai"?
"That bastard Gu Chang Huai..."
"I don't know what he's been up to lately, but he's been after me for several months, and he won't leave me alone..."
"I'll kill him sooner or later!"
"You're full of shit. How dare you, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, think of killing a Golden Core cultivator? Are you out of your mind?"
"You know nothing! Don't underestimate the young! Sooner or later, I'll also reach the Golden Core stage, refine mercury to attain the Dao, cultivate an upper-grade Golden Core, and learn the sect's supreme sword manual. Then, I'll show that Gu bastard who's boss!"
"...I'll definitely humiliate him in every way possible before killing him!"
"Alright, stop dreaming..."
"It's strange, though. That Gu guy, as a third-grade inspector, used to only catch Golden Core cultivators who committed crimes. How come, in the past year, he suddenly went crazy and started going after Foundation Establishment cultivators as well?"
One of the men in black spoke with a slightly deep voice, "Do you think he might have... discovered something?"
The atmosphere turned slightly stagnant.
The leader of the group, a man in black with sharp eyes, took a sip of alcohol and said in a low voice, "According to the master's speculation, there is a higher-up secretly instructing Gu Chang Huai to deliberately go against us."
"Who is it?"
Someone impatiently said, "Damn, you idiot, didn't you just say it's a higher-up? How are we supposed to know who it is?"
"True higher-ups always keep themselves hidden."
"You mother..."
"Alright!" The leader of the group interrupted coldly, "We're all from prestigious families, so watch your language."
"Yes, big brother..."
The others replied softly.
The group fell silent as they continued drinking. After a while, someone brought up a new topic, and they started chatting casually again.
However, their conversation turned lewd, mostly discussing which family's daughters were beautiful, which sect's female disciples had good figures, or which type of spiritual root females were interesting...
Mo Hua listened for a while, his brows furrowed in displeasure.
After a while, someone suddenly asked Over-the-River Dragon, "Li Yu, you mothercker, why are you so quiet? All you're doing is drinking by yourself?"
Over-the-River Dragon seemed distracted, his brow furrowed as he replied, "I always feel like something is off..."
"What's off about it?"
Over-the-River Dragon's eyes narrowed slightly. "I always feel like someone is watching me..."
On the roof, Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly averted his gaze, lying down low. However, he started to silently recite the 'Flowing Water Steps' incantation, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.
Below, Over-the-River Dragon continued, "To be honest, I felt like someone was watching me back when I was in the Jail of the Path, too. After I faked my death and escaped into the Misty River, it was fine at first, and I was free.
"But after a while, for some unknown reason, it felt like something was watching me again. It's not constant; it watches for a while, then stops for about ten days or so, and I don't know why..."
Mo Hua thought to himself, "Because I have to go back to class..."
Over-the-River Dragon's expression was confused. "But that's impossible. On land, I don't say anything, but in the water, with my White Wave Art and White Wave Body Technique, I merge with the Misty River. For so many years, no one has been able to keep track of me..."
"So, this matter is very suspicious..."
The leader of the black-robed men, his eyes darkened, asked, "Have you investigated it?"
"I have." Over-the-River Dragon nodded. "I've used all the means at my disposal, but I haven't found any traces..."
"Then that's that."
"You're probably just being paranoid."
"But..." Over-the-River Dragon hesitated, a serious look in his eyes. "Just now, I felt that vague sense of being watched again..."
The men present were startled, and then they all cursed:
"You coward!"
"Paranoid..."
"Don't lose your nerve just because you messed up once and were bested by a few newly initiated sect disciples! Stop being a scaredy-cat..."
"It's possible that someone is watching you outside, but how could anyone possibly find their way here?"
"If someone really did enter..." The leader of the black-robed men said in a low voice.
The group fell silent for a moment.
The leader continued, his voice cold, "Then there must be a traitor among us."
The faces of the black-robed men tightened.
The leader's voice was icy. "Someone must have leaked the information about the array patterns at the well entrance, how to feed the fish demon, and the path to enter the village..."
The black-robed cultivators' expressions turned tense.
"Big Brother, you know my loyalty..."
"Big Brother, I've always served you faithfully..."
"Big Brother..."
The leader waved his hand to stop them. "I know, you're all loyal. So the secrets of the fishing village couldn't have been leaked by any of you."
"And in the Second Grade State realm, without knowing the array patterns at the well entrance, without knowing how to feed the demon, and without knowing the path to enter the village, no one could have possibly found their way here unnoticed."
The leader looked at Over-the-River Dragon and said, "So you don't have to worry."
Upon hearing this, Over-the-River Dragon heaved a sigh of relief and forced a smile. "Big Brother is right. We're all brothers who swore a blood oath. Who would dare leak these secrets?"
The leader nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Just relax and follow the young master's instructions. The young master will not mistreat you, and he will definitely protect you."
"Yes," Over-the-River Dragon said respectfully.
On the roof, Mo Hua frowned upon hearing the mention of a 'young master' again.
Which young master?
Who was this young master? The Golden Young Master?
Probably not...
As Mo Hua was deep in thought, he heard one of the men below ask, "Big Brother, how much longer will we have to stay in this village?"
"Yeah, it's so gloomy and eerie here. This isn't a place for the living."
The leader replied calmly, "Not much longer. Once the River God finishes consuming the offerings, we'll use them to refine pills, and then we can leave..."
Mo Hua's heart sank as he heard this.
The River God was consuming the offerings?
And they were going to use them to refine pills?
Those offerings... Could they be referring to Old Yu's two grandchildren?
"Once the River God finishes consuming the offerings... So, the River God has already started 'consuming'?"
Mo Hua's expression turned grave.
"Time is running out..."
The situation was more urgent than he had anticipated.
Mo Hua quietly left the large fishing house and looked around. He then chose a direction and continued along the roofs towards the back of the fishing village.
Behind the large fishing house was another sealed fishing house.
Mo Hua climbed onto the roof of this house and found a gap to peer inside. As soon as he saw what was inside, his pupils contracted.
This was a pill refining room.
Inside the pill room, there were dissected remains of cultivators' skeletons everywhere.
In the center of the pill room was a white bone pill furnace, with a sinister green flame burning inside, giving off an eerie aura.
In front of the furnace were several herbs.
These herbs, with their purple, green, and red hues intertwining, looked bizarre, and they were even slowly wriggling.
In front of the white bone pill furnace was a cultivator refining pills.
This person had disheveled hair and was wearing a pill refining robe. His face was marked with blood patterns, and his aura was sinister and insane. From his appearance, he seemed to be an evil pill master.
(End of Chapter)
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