Chapter 1282: Debt‑Collecting Murder

Chapter 1281: Debt‑Collecting Murder

“Shugu Tribe’s curses… Causality Locking…”

Within the tall, vast, and magnificently gilded Divine-Shaman Sacred Hall.

Big Tiger used his massive body to “shield” Mo Hua on the high seat. His huge head rested beside Mo Hua’s hand, eyes closed in quiet repose.

Mo Hua, expression cold, slowly unfolded the bone slip the Shugu ancestor had given him—and silently read through it.

The Shugu Tribe’s curses locked onto causality to kill without form.

But they required a descendant of the same bloodline to serve as a “sacrifice,” an offering in exchange for life and death.

This “exchange” meant nothing to Mo Hua.

With the strength of his Divine‑Sense, whatever he wanted to kill, he could erase outright.

And anything his Divine‑Sense couldn’t erase, these curses certainly couldn’t kill either.

In the end, “curse arts” were nothing but a form of Divine‑Sense killing art, merely appearing like curses.

They did not possess the true “rule‑level” power that transcended cultivation like real curses did.

At least, the Shugu Tribe’s curses did not.

As for whether genuine rule‑level causal curse power existed—Mo Hua figured he’d only know once his cultivation reached a higher realm.

For now, the Shugu curse techniques were enough to give him reference.

He “discarded the jewel and kept the box,” abandoning the core of the Shugu curses and studying only their causality‑locking technique.

Mo Hua’s divinity‑purified nature, mind clear as a mirror, brought his understanding of causality to a new height.

After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Mo Hua had mastered most of the Shugu curse’s “locking” method. Combined with what the Shugu ancestor had previously said about “causal lines,” Mo Hua now saw the method of causal locking with crystal clarity.

After that, he planned to use the “curse lock” to target Elder You and break the Hua Clan’s setup.

It was the only method he had found after long contemplation.

The key to it all—was Tie Shù‑Gu.

Mo Hua had long suspected that Tie Shù‑Gu, having left the White‑Bone Mausoleum, carried some hidden problem—but he hadn’t figured out what.

Not until the divine nature of his personality suppressed his human nature.

With pure divinity, his insight pierced through all people, things, and objects—nothing could hide.

Only then did he discover that within Tie Shù‑Gu’s Sea of Consciousness, the remnant soul of the Shugu ancestor was parasitizing.

This supposedly “revived” ancestor had been lurking beside him all along, diligently “serving” him.

Mo Hua thus “extorted” all these secrets of causality and methods straight out of the ancestor’s mouth.

In the White‑Bone Mausoleum, Mo Hua had shown him some courtesy.

But now that he followed Mo Hua outside, Mo Hua would no longer be polite.

And it turned out the Shugu ancestor really did know quite a lot.

He even revealed a great secret… the Great Wilderness Straw‑Dog Fate Technique…

Mo Hua’s gaze narrowed slightly.

Whose hands this technique had fallen into was still unknown.

But that could wait—right now, the priority was the Hua Clan and Elder You.

He had already learned the method of “curse locking”—the next step was to find a “causal line” that could locate Elder You, something he could lock onto and “cut” him.

With Elder You dead, the Hua Clan’s chessboard in the Great Wilderness would inevitably fall into chaos.

And once chaos erupted, he could seize the moment—uprooting the Hua Clan’s forces entirely, slaughtering every last one of their claws and fangs standing in his way. Anyone interfering with his “grand game” would die.

Mo Hua condensed a Golden‑Blade Technique, cut his fingertip, and used his blood to draw a curse‑sigil resembling a White‑Bone Mountain Demon.

When the mark was completed, it glowed red—and within it, a tiny causal “curse‑imp” stirred restlessly.

Mo Hua pressed his hand atop the causality sigil, recalling every detail of his interactions with Elder You, searching for a causal thread-line he could use to lock onto him.

But every attempt failed.

Either the causal line was too unstable and snapped shortly after forming…

Or it was too obvious—cut off the instant he tried locking it.

Either Elder You carried a heavenly‑mystery protective artifact…

Or the Hua Clan’s old ancestor was secretly shielding Elder You’s karma.

Likely both.

Chess players—especially masters—never moved a piece without guarding it. Otherwise, losing that piece could instantly tilt the whole board.

Mo Hua tried for a long time yet found no stable, hidden, uncuttable causal line to lock Elder You. His brows slowly furrowed.

After a moment of thought, he decided to search further into the past.

Since things in the Great Wilderness were already “open cards,” many of Elder You’s causal lines were heavily protected.

Then he would trace back to the beginning.

To when he first met Elder You.

But when Mo Hua attempted to trace back with Divine‑Sense—he suddenly froze. His mind went blank—he couldn’t recall what interactions he’d even had with Elder You back in Qianxue Prefecture…

Mo Hua’s brows tightened further.

He knew this meant his “human nature” had eroded to the point where past memories were beginning to blur into vast patches of emptiness.

This was already serious.

Mo Hua felt anxious and faintly sorrowful.

But at the same time… a strange sense of delight flickered within him.

His divinity was rejoicing—rejoicing that he was shedding his mortal identity, severing past memory, erasing human ties… step by step approaching true “godhood.”

Mo Hua turned to Big Tiger.

With the prompt of his “Dao‑Heart Seeding Demon,” his memories related to Big Tiger resurfaced bit by bit. After a long silence, he finally remembered his own name:

“Mo Hua.”

When the name surfaced, he felt slightly better—as though his human nature had regained the tiniest “anchor.” Yet he also sensed that this anchor was loosening.

Even the name “Mo Hua” no longer seemed to matter much to him.

He barely cared who he was… or whether he was still “Mo Hua”…

Mo Hua pressed his lips tightly.

Big Tiger seemed to notice something, opening his eyes with sorrowful concern. He couldn’t do anything but rub his head against Mo Hua, trying to keep him from sinking too deeply into loneliness.

Mo Hua took a deep breath, gently stroked Big Tiger, and sighed:

“I’m… fine…”

Big Tiger clearly didn’t believe him. Its large eyes blinked anxiously.

Mo Hua shook his head and refocused on Elder You.

He strained to recall every detail from Qianxue Prefecture, searching for clues—but the inside of his mind remained blank.

The people and events of the past felt like bubbles—unreal, ephemeral.

And whenever he tried to think of them, his Divine‑Sense throbbed in pain—his divinity rejecting human memories.

Mo Hua endured the pain and forced himself to think.

After a long struggle—he finally remembered one thing:

Debt!

Back in Qianxue Prefecture, Elder You had “hired” him to draw formations—and owed him 1,800,000 spirit stones!

One million eight hundred thousand!

A rather impressive sum.

Mo Hua, with his fading humanity, had nearly forgotten.

Debt was a form of causality. A large unpaid debt was an even larger causal weight.

In other words—Mo Hua was Elder You’s creditor, and Elder You was a shameless debtor.

This “debt causality” was objective, solid, and practically unshakeable. Heavy too—1.8 million spirit stones’ worth. And the best part—this was a private debt, known only between them.

A cross‑province private debt—no one else knew.

Elder You might not even remember he owed it.

Debtors were rarely self‑aware.

Meaning—this causal line was extremely well hidden.

Debts have owners. Cause has source.

All Mo Hua needed was to follow this defined and undeniable causal line to lock Elder You’s location—letting Elder You be unable to escape causality’s pursuit… without ever realizing it.

A dangerous glint appeared in Mo Hua’s eyes.

“If you don’t repay what you owe me… interest will be collected.”

…

Third Grade Territory, Ghost‑Wailing Mountain Realm

A region outside the Divine-Shaman’s control.

In the vast desert where gloomy winds howled…

Inside a mountain stronghold, Elder You, resting on his bed, suddenly jolted upright.

His expression flickered wildly as he muttered:

“What… is happening? Why do I feel… such dread?”

His heart pounded wildly—like a man who had committed a colossal sin and was about to suffer retribution…

“Who… is doing this…?”

“Someone is using… causality against me?”

Elder You hurriedly took out a sword‑talisman and hung it over his chest. He arranged twelve golden jade‑mouse statues to protect himself.

He even wore the heavenly‑mystery heart‑shielding bronze mirror given by the old ancestor.

Only after all this did he feel slightly more at ease—but he still couldn’t comprehend who could possibly plot against him. With the old ancestor guarding him, who had that ability?

Shaking his head, thinking it a false alarm, he lay back down to rest.

These days, he had been engaged in a constant struggle—overt and covert—with that blasted Great Wilderness Divine-Shaman. His spirit was exhausted; he needed rest to devise a way to end that deity’s Divine-Shaman once and for all.

As long as the Divine-Shaman died—the greatest threat would be gone.

Then the Hua Clan could dominate the entire Wildlands, and from there seize control of the whole Great Wilderness—pursuing even grander ventures…

“Kill the Divine-Shaman…”

“Kill the Divine-Shaman…”

Lying in bed, Elder You repeated the phrase over and over, imagining the lofty Divine-Shaman flayed and butchered at his hands. The rage and frustration in his heart lessened, giving him faint comfort.

“These days, this was the only way Elder You could sleep.

After the catastrophic business loss—a fortune so massive it felt as though he’d been flayed alive—he could only drift off by fantasizing about murdering that Divine‑Shaman Lord.

Without these fantasies, he couldn’t even close his eyes.”

Dreaming of killing the Divine-Shaman soothed his mind, helping him rest.

Time passed, little by little…

After an unknown interval, when Elder You opened his eyes again, he suddenly sensed the room had grown colder.

It was as if… he were in a room storing corpses.

Simultaneously, an icy chill, nearly devoid of life, crept up along his spine.

Though it was extremely cold and eerie, it remained almost imperceptible.

If not for the slight trembling of the sword talisman around his neck, the glow of the Heart-Protecting Mirror on his chest, and the faint hum of the golden rat statues, Elder You might not have sensed anything at all. Yet now, everything felt wrong.

Releasing his Divine Sense, Elder You’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Not good!”

He attempted to rise.

The instant he moved, a cold, dead hand claw shot up from beneath him, clutching his neck. Its long nails pierced flesh, even seeping corpse poison into his bloodstream.

“Late-stage Golden Core corpse?!”

Elder You’s face went pale. The next instant, his skin began to deform and swell, eventually turning into a human-shaped “skin ball.”

The corpse claw tore abruptly.

The skin ball burst, human skin shattering into fragments, flying in every direction.

Yet Elder You’s figure appeared five zhang away.

Using some unknown, bizarre technique, he exploded his own skin as a decoy, escaping the grasp of the claw.

The fleeing Elder You was covered in blood, and his skin gradually healed.

Simultaneously, his face, bloodied and torn, slowly restored to its original form.

A “Skin-Shedding Talisman” had been ruined.

Anger and shock surged within him.

Who could it be?!

Someone had traced his location and dispatched such a vicious corpse to assassinate him?!

With the ancestral sword talisman and the protective Heaven-Secret treasures, any attempt to spy on him should have been blocked or severed.

No one could possibly calculate his causality under the Hua family ancestor’s protection and the divine treasure’s shield.

At least, not here in the Great Wilderness…

“Impossible…”

Elder You’s gaze contorted with rage.

At that moment, the ground heaved, soil and stones flying, revealing a towering corpse.

The corpse wore layers of dark heavy armor, inscribed with earth-based formations, blending its aura into the land, making it difficult to detect. Its right hand still clutched a layer of human skin, looking grotesque.

From its eye sockets, a deep, eerie blue light radiated, revealing merciless killing intent.

The instant Elder You met its gaze, his scalp tingled. At the same time, he recognized it.

The Divine-Shaman’s undying servant!

The Shi-Gu General!

It was the Divine-Shaman!

He had traced Elder You’s position and sent his corpse general to silently burrow through the night, coming to kill him!

Elder You’s heart turned icy. In all his years in the cultivation world, this was the first time he had been so precisely tracked, his territory invaded, and a corpse general sent to ambush him inside his own room…

Meanwhile, on a distant mountain ridge,

Mo Hua, clad in the Divine-Shaman’s robes, stood atop the peak, the Golden Core Sacred Tiger beside him.

Lu-Gu led a group of heavily armored soldiers behind him.

A strange blue light flickered across Mo Hua’s eyes. With a gentle wave of his hand: “Kill!”

Lu-Gu growled, “Kill!”

He charged forward at the forefront, wielding the Demon-Slaying Bone Blade, leading his troops like nightmarish soldiers toward the Hua family’s core outpost in the Ghost Wailing Mountain Realm.

At the same instant the blue light flashed in Mo Hua’s eyes, inside the outpost, the Shi-Gu corpse’s eyes blazed with sudden killing intent. Its grotesque ferocious Taotie patterns appeared one by one across the heavy armor.

With a roar, Shi-Gu surged forward with a wind of death, aiming at Elder You.

Following its master, of the same origin and bearing the Taotie patterns, it would slay all enemies.

The two Taotie patterns seemed to resonate.

Shi-Gu’s movements became more skilled.

Its spiritual power circulated more swiftly.

Its aura was further amplified, and its Taotie ferocity increased.

Even Elder You’s face could not hide a flicker of fear.

(End of this Chapter)