Chapter 1357: This Cultivator Cannot Be Left Alone
Chapter 1356: This Cultivator Cannot Be Left Alone
Mo Hua knew he could not delay any longer. He had to find a way to form a high-grade Golden Core and defy fate.
Given the situation, he could no longer remain low-key.
Though his voice was not loud, his words were extremely piercing.
For a moment, everyone’s gaze converged on Mo Hua.
The righteous elders looked solemn; the demonic leaders stared with savage hostility.
All the prodigies of both righteous and demonic paths stared at Mo Hua in astonishment, thinking they must have misheard.
Ghost-Child Wanderer glared viciously at him. “Boy, what did you say?”
Mo Hua frowned. “Are your ears deaf? Do I need to repeat it?”
So he repeated his arrogant words:
“I said… you a bunch of Golden Cores have been fighting for half a day and still can’t kill a single Shentu Ao. How laughable.”
After speaking, Mo Hua pointed at Ghost-Child Wanderer and the demonic cultivators.
“Especially you Golden Core demons—big and tall, fierce-looking, pretending to be terrifying. But once you fight, you’re all useless trash. You cultivated demonic arts straight into a dog’s stomach—completely useless…”
Mo Hua pointed at their noses and cursed them.
The righteous prodigies were stunned.
Especially Feng Zichen and the others from the Qianxue Prefecture.
They knew Mo Hua, he looked gentle but was actually arrogant.
But they never imagined he could be this arrogant.
And… did he not care about the occasion when he lost his temper?
Who were these people before them? These were Golden Core demonic cultivators who killed without blinking, even the infamous peak-stage Golden Core Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord.
A great demon of Myriad Demon Mountains that even Feathered Ascension experts had failed to capture.
Had Mo Hua forgotten he was only Foundation Establishment?
You’re not even Golden Core!
Scolding fellow Foundation Establishment prodigies is one thing, but how did you end up scolding an entire group of Golden Core demons?!
The righteous prodigies could only stand frozen, emotions tangled.
After a moment of shock, the demonic saint-sons and prodigies all turned grim.
As for the Golden Core demons, being scolded by a mere Foundation Establishment junior, their faces twisted with rage, killing intent surging.
Ghost-Child Wanderer immediately roared:
“Damn it, he’s courting death! I’ll kill this brat, twist off his head, and refine it into a skull!”
Silver Corpse Elder said coldly,
“I happen to need a slave corpse.”
Madam Rui laughed sinisterly,
“Give him to me. I’ll make him beg for death and never obtain it…”
A vicious light flashed in the eyes of the Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord. He stepped forward, surging demonic energy carrying him straight to Mo Hua, intending to slap him to death.
An elder of the Dragon Cauldron Sect blocked the strike head-on.
A sword cultivator elder of the Xiao clan sighed and condensed Heavenly Sword Sect sword arts, forcibly driving the Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord back.
After retreating several steps, his expression cold and severe, the Mountain Lord pointed at Mo Hua:
“Hand that boy over. Let me eat him alive. Otherwise, the matter of the Dragon Pool is off the table, righteous and demonic paths will settle life and death right here.”
Elder Xuanyuan frowned, cursing Mo Hua inwardly for ruining matters.
Mo Hua, however, looked at the Mountain Lord and sneered:
“I call you trash and you refuse to admit it. A dignified peak Golden Core mountain lord who can’t kill Shentu Ao, so you vent your rage on a Foundation Establishment junior. You’ve completely disgraced Myriad Demon Mountains.”
Demonic energy surged around the Mountain Lord; his face twisted with fury.
The Dragon Cauldron Sect elder tugged Mo Hua hurriedly.
“Alright, alright, stop talking…”
The elders of the Four Sects and Eight Gates could only sigh inwardly.
They had long heard that Mo Hua had a poisonous tongue. Seeing it today, it truly lived up to the rumors.
Even a peak Golden Core great demon could be verbally shattered by that Foundation Establishment mouth of his.
Not to mention disciples of the same generation.
No wonder so many disciples once shouted:
Sword debates may be lost, but Mo Hua must die.
Eyes bloodshot, the Mountain Lord stared at Mo Hua, killing intent surging as he prepared to kill him at any cost.
Mo Hua suddenly sneered:
“I can help you kill this Shentu Ao.”
The Mountain Lord froze.
Everyone else’s expressions changed.
Ghost-Child Wanderer frowned.
“Boy, what did you say?”
Mo Hua snapped back,
“Are your ears deaf? I said, you can’t kill Shentu Ao. I can.”
Ghost-Child Wanderer’s blood surged with rage.
“You wretched brat! Talking nonsense! Shentu Ao is someone you can kill? Who do you think you are?!”
Mo Hua remained calm.
“If you don’t believe me, forget it. We can keep dragging this out and die one by one. But…”
He let out a low chuckle.
“Don’t blame me for not warning you. If this drags on, Shentu Ao will devour enough people and enter a berserk state. Once berserk, his demonic energy will surge, his killing intent will intensify, and he’ll devour every living person present. Whoever survives will depend purely on fate…”
His words sent chills through the crowd.
The last royal descendant of the Great Wilderness—the monster left behind by that Daoist—was already terrifying beyond reason.
If he could grow even more violent, who could stop him?
If he slaughtered them all, it might truly be no exaggeration.
Ghost-Child Wanderer frowned. “How do you know so much?”
Mo Hua smiled and ignored him.
“You—” Ghost-Child Wanderer fumed.
The demonic Golden Cores frowned deeply, unsure whether Mo Hua spoke truth.
Among the righteous side, a Xiao Clan elder asked:
“Mo Hua, is what you say true? Do you really have a way to take down Shentu Ao?”
This sword cultivator elder had just protected him, so Mo Hua softened his tone.
“Of course.”
“But…” the elder frowned, “how?”
He could not understand how a Foundation Establishment cultivator could deal with Shentu Ao.
In truth, none of the Golden Core elders present could understand.
Mo Hua stopped withholding and said with faint arrogance:
“You must have sensed it during the clash. Shentu Ao’s strength comes entirely from the evil demonic dragon patterns on his body. Those patterns are, in essence, an absolute secret formation beyond Dao Court classification.”
“Break the formation, and Shentu Ao collapses.”
“If the formation remains, the only option is to trade human lives to exhaust him.”
“One misstep, and it’s like throwing meat buns at a dog—the buns only grow fewer while the dog grows fatter…”
Mo Hua compared the Golden Cores to meat buns.
They felt indignant but could not refute it, the battle had indeed unfolded exactly as he described.
And Shentu Ao had indeed grown stronger…
The Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord stared coldly at him.
“And you are saying that you can break that… formation?”
“Hard to say,” Mo Hua replied. “But I can try.”
The Mountain Lord sneered. “You?”
Mo Hua glanced at him lightly. “I am the Qianxue Formation Dao Champion.”
The Mountain Lord frowned.
He did not know what rank this title of “Qianxue Formation Dao Champion” represented, but it certainly did impressive.
Mo Hua added instantly:
“I also solved the formations of the Four Symbols Palace.”
The Mountain Lord’s pupils shrank. He looked toward the righteous cultivators and saw that the Dao Court elders remained silent, clearly acquiescing to Mo Hua’s claim. His heart trembled even more.
This kid’s spiritual root aptitude is like mud, yet his attainment in formations is actually this high?
He had found the path through the Four Symbols Palace…
The demonic saint-sons and young masters all looked at Mo Hua with dark expressions.
Even the eyes of the Joyous-Union Sect’s saintess revealed a strange glimmer.
Mo Hua said, “If you trust me, then follow my arrangements. If everyone joins forces, I naturally have a way to suppress Shentu Ao.”
“If you don’t trust me, then forget it.”
“Anyway, to me the Dragon Pool is merely a place to form a Golden Core. If I can’t form one here, I’ll find somewhere else. It makes no difference.”
“Whether the Royal court falls or the Great Wilderness perishes has nothing to do with a nobody like me… you can fend for yourselves.”
Mo Hua looked completely unconcerned.
Everyone could tell he truly did not care.
His spiritual roots were only intermediate-lower grade. At best he would form an intermediate-lower grade Golden Core.
With such a low-grade Golden Core, where one forms it makes little difference.
The Dragon Pool truly was optional for him.
And the fate of the Great Wilderness indeed had little to do with him.
By contrast, the geniuses of the righteous and demonic paths with top-grade or even supreme-grade spiritual roots had to enter the Dragon Pool.
The elders of both paths also had to kill Shentu Ao and sever the Great Wilderness bloodline completely, or the grand plan would be ruined.
Mo Hua could afford not to hurry.
They could not.
On the righteous side, several elders nodded.
“Very well. No time to delay. We can try.”
Back in the Four Symbols Palace, they had already followed Mo Hua’s “orders” once to break a formation and tasted the benefits.
Deep down, they had developed a certain habit. Acting according to Mo Hua’s intent no longer felt so unacceptable.
By contrast, the demonic leaders all wore cold expressions.
“Brat, who do you think you are—”
“You think we would trust you?”
“A mere Foundation Establishment dares to act arrogant before us?”
“Utterly audacious…”
…
In the end, it was the Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord who suppressed the debate.
“Let the boy try once. If it works, fine. But…”
His icy gaze fixed on Mo Hua.
“If you are a useless braggart, don’t blame me when I skin you, tear out your tendons, and devour you alive.”
His demonic aura was terrifying; his gaze savage.
Mo Hua merely smiled faintly, unconcerned.
Regarding Shentu Ao, he already had a draft plan in mind.
Based on the characteristics of the Four Symbols Strange-Dao Dragon Diagram he had just deduced, Shentu Ao’s traits—brutal offense, extreme defense, flesh devouring, ultra-fast regeneration, iterative evolution—and his understanding of righteous and demonic techniques, Mo Hua drafted an initial encirclement plan.
“Follow the plan. Let’s test it first,” Mo Hua said.
Shentu Ao was indeed too strong. The Strange-Dao dragon diagram on his body was his Martial Uncle’s handiwork.
Mo Hua knew the encirclement would not succeed easily. They needed to test it.
More importantly, righteous and demonic factions could never be of one mind.
Even within the righteous path, and within the demonic path, each side harbored countless hidden motives.
Leading them was far harder than leading his own junior brothers of the Great Void Sect.
Even so, this had to be done with full effort.
Without the joint strength of Golden Core cultivators from both paths, suppressing Shentu Ao—or even finding the Dragon Pool entrance—would be impossible.
Thus, Mo Hua led the Golden Core cultivators of both paths in their first encirclement.
As expected, it failed.
Yet despite the failure, the Golden Core elders fell silent.
They did not question Mo Hua.
Because during the battle, they clearly discovered that Mo Hua’s tactics completely suppressed Shentu Ao.
Not brute force suppression, but structured tactical suppression.
This meant Mo Hua, who had not fought Shentu Ao and barely seen him, had nearly grasped all his weaknesses, understood his combat habits, and even predicted his battle logic.
It was astonishing.
Yet the facts lay before them.
The failure was not due to flawed tactics, but because each of them harbored ulterior motives and cooperated poorly.
Both sides knew this well.
Thus, none dared question Mo Hua.
Mo Hua did not blame them. “Rest. Then continue.”
After regrouping, the second encirclement began.
It failed again.
After several deaths, they were forced to retreat from the Dragon Hall.
This time, Mo Hua could not hold back.
Standing atop the Dragon Hall steps, he scolded the Golden Core cultivators of both paths one by one:
“I tolerated the first failure. People make mistakes. But you repeat the same errors?”
“Didn’t I say sword flight is for formation pressure? Three-man groups: first group controls swords, second charges power, third prepares. Rotate continuously, no breaks. How can something this simple go wrong?”
“And I told you, Yin Corpse Valley must use century-old corpses devoid of life-force. Don’t throw fresh corpses with blood still wet at Shentu Ao!”
“Was I unclear? Did refining corpses also refine away your brains?”
…
“Ten exchanges at most for each Beast cultivator from Myriad Demon Mountains! If you fight longer, your bloodlust overwhelms you and you become meat buns!”
“Skull Cave, Ghost-Child Wanderer, so many skulls around your neck. Can you add one for your own brain? Ghost techniques against Shentu Ao? He’s dead. Do the dead fear ghosts?”
“…Joyous-Union Sect, stop using seduction arts. He’s already dead, are you trying to flirt with a corpse?”
…
“And you, Demonic Sword Sect, how many layers have you cultivated? Where’s the killing power? Saving strength to assassinate righteous cultivators? Drop the schemes. If Shentu Ao kills you, your demonic sword is scrap metal.”
“Useless mud, wasting thought on everything but the battle…”
…
Mo Hua stood on the steps, pointing and scolding until both factions’ elders were drenched in humiliation.
His presence was overwhelming.
Every word he spoke was correct.
Not a single elder dared retort. Their faces flushed red with suppressed fury.
The geniuses watching from afar were dumbfounded, unable to comprehend how their elders were being scolded speechless by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator.
After venting, Mo Hua concluded sternly:
“I don’t care whether you are righteous or demonic. Right now, what I say goes. If you don’t want to die and want to kill Shentu Ao and enter the Dragon Pool, follow my instructions.”
Silence filled the hall.
No one responded.
No one opposed him.
Mo Hua nodded.
The third encirclement failed, but Shentu Ao was visibly weakened.
The fourth failed, but yielded more experience.
Finally, the fifth encirclement.
By now, Mo Hua had stripped away nearly all of Shentu Ao’s weaknesses and refined the tactics accordingly.
With Mo Hua’s guidance and accumulated experience, the Golden Core elders were now familiar with Shentu Ao’s techniques.
Even his bizarre formation-driven transformations were predicted in advance.
And Mo Hua’s relentless “scolding” kept morale high.
The elders grew increasingly united and battle-fierce.
The Dao Court clans deployed third-grade formations for defense and containment.
Talismans were used for emergency response and concentrated bombardment.
Body cultivators handled encirclement.
Sword cultivators and spiritual cultivators suppressed from range.
The demonic side focused on offense.
The Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord led the main assault.
As a peak-stage Golden Core demonic overlord, he could confront Shentu Ao head-on without being overly affected by demonic qi.
Other Beast cultivators rotated in ten-exchange intervals, as ordered.
These frontal measures depleted Shentu Ao’s demonic qi and reduced the formation’s energy supply.
Yin Corpse Valley fed lifeless ancient zombies to him.
Unable to distinguish life from death, he consumed them, causing dead flesh to accumulate and hinder the formation’s circulation.
The Joyous-Union Sect abandoned seduction arts and used poisoned needles.
Ghost-Child Wanderer used a skull artifact to influence Shentu Ao’s residual malevolent thoughts.
Blood Refinement Sect banners created sinister fog to hinder movement.
Meanwhile, the Demonic Sword cultivators of the Demonic Sword Sect no longer dared hold back. Driving their blood-dripping swords, they struck at Shentu Ao with full force…
…
Within the Dragon Hall, righteous and demonic techniques intermingled in orderly chaos.
Bloodlight and spiritual power crisscrossed.
Talismans flared. Zombies crawled. Skulls scattered. Blood swords filled the air.
Top Golden Core cultivators of both paths fought together.
And at the center stood Mo Hua—the monstrous formation genius—deducing, predicting, and controlling the battlefield.
Even Shentu Ao, that terrifying monster, could not prevail.
After countless exchanges, his demonic qi was exhausted.
Having devoured too much dead flesh, his body bloated and the Strange-Dao formation could no longer circulate.
The blood pool, too, was temporarily sealed off with treasures at Mo Hua’s command.
Shentu Ao had reached his most “weakened” state.
Yet he still roared and struggled. His flesh writhed, as if a “demonic dragon” swam beneath his skin.
Seeing this, the Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord rushed forward. Following Mo Hua’s instructions, he crippled Shentu Ao’s joints and struck more than a dozen acupoints along the spine—including Dazhui, Zhiyang, and Mingmen — which served as nodes of the Strange-Dao dragon diagram.
This dragon diagram had fused with Shentu Ao’s body and bore some resemblance to Mo Hua’s own life-bound formation.
Mo Hua had inscribed the Taotie Twelve-Meridian Spiritual Skeleton Life-Bound Formation upon himself, so he understood the structural composition of the dragon diagram within Shentu Ao.
Even so, Shentu Ao struggled like a centipede that would not stiffen in death.
His flesh continued writhing. Joints and acupoints began repairing themselves.
The Mountain Lord’s eyelid twitched. He immediately produced a bone-severing blade and, driving peak Golden Core demonic power, forcibly split open Shentu Ao’s back, revealing the pitch-black, grotesque formation patterns within.
Mo Hua’s scalp tingled, but he did not dare delay.
Having observed the battle from afar, he activated the Flowing-Water Step and flashed forward, closing to within several dozen zhang of Shentu Ao.
He crushed an ink vial. With a forward grasp of his fingers, the ink flowed into a winding stream, coiling like small serpents within his palm.
This display of formation mastery was nothing short of miraculous; the elders stared in stunned silence.
“Go,” Mo Hua whispered.
The ink hovering in the air seemed to heed his command. It danced through the air, tracing several thin lines before drilling straight into Shentu Ao’s back.
Once inside, the ink lines automatically condensed into a formation.
No one knew what Mo Hua had drawn within Shentu Ao’s body.
But after the ink lines dissipated, the massive demonic creature that was Shentu Ao became like a puppet with its core severed. The black blood receded. His killing intent vanished. The formation patterns dimmed. Like a mass of flesh that had lost its “soul,” he slowly sank to one knee.
All killing intent ceased.
The monstrous Shentu Ao seemed truly “dead,” no longer moving at all.
The great hall, moments ago filled with slaughter, fell instantly into deathly silence.
Everyone panted heavily, staring blankly at Shentu Ao as the terror in their hearts gradually subsided.
Yet within moments, an incredulous shock slowly surfaced in their minds.
Shentu Ao… was dead…
That boy actually possessed the means… to suppress this nearly invincible horror.
But he… was only Foundation Establishment…
In that instant, nearly every Golden Core elder present—righteous and demonic alike—felt an uncontrollable surge of killing intent.
This brat must die!
At peak-stage Foundation Establishment he already possessed such ability. If he were allowed to grow further, what then?
Shentu Ao was indeed a terrifying monster… but the fact that this boy could suppress such a horror meant he too was a genuine monster.
Shentu Ao’s terror was visible.
This boy’s terror, unless he acted, could not be seen at all.
Even more terrifying was the fact that… he was only at Foundation Establishment!
Still stabilizing his Dao foundation. He had not even formed a core.
This brat… cannot be left alive!
The Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord trembled inwardly, killing intent rising in his eyes. But when he looked around, Mo Hua was nowhere to be seen.
His expression changed. He immediately spread his divine sense across the Dragon Hall, then suddenly looked toward the depths of the great hall.
Behind the blood pool, with Shentu Ao’s death, the rotting flesh around it had withered. At some unknown moment, a gigantic white skeletal dragon head had been revealed.
At the dragon skull’s throat lay a long passage formed of bone.
At that moment, a flicker of water-light flashed within the passage.
It seemed that someone, seizing the instant when everyone was stunned by Shentu Ao’s death, had vanished using concealment techniques and slipped ahead into the dragon-skull bone passage, previously sealed by the blood pool of the Dragon Hall…
(TN: The author chose the worst possible time to take leave.)