Chapter 1370
Chapter 1370: Ancestral Court
Mo Hua thought it over, yet still felt uneasy.
This child’s origins were strange, burdened with immense karmic ties. Dān Líng’s identity was also special; both openly and in secret, many would covet her. She was not safe.
Mo Hua summoned Situ Jian, pondered briefly, and instructed:
“It’s already the Chou hour (1:00 AM to 3:00 AM). When dawn just begins to break, you all leave together. Along the way, you must ensure Dān Líng’s safety.”
“And travel together with the prodigies from the Four Sects and Eight Gates of the Qianxue prefecture realm. Look after one another.”
“I can’t be certain whether chaos will break out next, but if you Qianxue sect forces stay together, strength in numbers will make things much safer.”
“If any of those Qianxue prodigies—Feng Zichen, Ao Zheng, Xiao Ruohan…—refuse, tell them this is my decision.”
“If they help you, they help me. Once this is over, I will owe them a favor.”
“But if they dare stir trouble and ruin matters through recklessness, tell them that when I have time, I will settle accounts with them one by one…”
Mo Hua’s gaze turned cold.
Situ Jian felt a chill in his heart. Little Senior Brother’s presence had become increasingly intimidating. He nodded.
“Little Senior Brother, rest assured. I’ll tell them.”
Situ Jian also understood that Little Senior Brother was not only protecting Dān Líng, but also protecting him, and the members of the Situ clan.
With Little Senior Brother’s authority, gathering everyone together to advance and retreat as one would make the journey far safer.
Those Qianxue prodigies would most likely give Little Senior Brother face.
After all, without him tearing apart the Great Wilderness Dragon Emperor and breaking the Dragon Pool’s “bloodline” threshold, in this scheme meticulously arranged by the Dao Province aristocratic clans, these “outsider” prodigies from the Qianxue realm might never have entered the Dragon Pool to form their Cores.
Little Senior Brother’s favor was not only his to repay, those prodigies owed it as well.
Not to mention that Little Senior Brother, now at the Golden Core realm, had grown increasingly unfathomable… and frightening.
There was a kind of strength about him that defied normal cultivation logic. Clearly Golden Core, yet his vitality and spiritual power were nothing remarkable…
Situ Jian felt too embarrassed to voice such thoughts. Then he grew worried.
“Little Senior Brother, what about you? Aren’t you leaving with us?”
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
He knew himself well. In the Great Wilderness, he had done far too many outrageous things and attracted too much attention. Having these people follow him might not be wise.
Moreover, he still had other matters to handle.
At the very least, he needed to see Senior Brother Bai Zisheng and confirm his condition.
If he were to leave, he must also bid farewell to True-Person Zhuge and thank him for his care and protection.
“I still have some matters to attend to,” Mo Hua said. “You go ahead. Once I finish, I’ll catch up.”
Situ Jian knew Little Senior Brother always had his own plans. He nodded. “Alright.”
Mo Hua glanced once more at the group.
Situ Fang and Situ Jian looked at him with worry.
Dān Líng held the child in her arms, her gaze filled with deep sorrow.
Mo Hua paused slightly, then turned and left.
…
He first went to the Imperial Celestial Bureau’s encampment, hoping to see Senior Brother.
But the Bureau’s cultivators refused to let him in.
He then inquired about True-Person Zhuge’s whereabouts and learned that True-Person Zhuge had not returned all night.
Mo Hua’s brows furrowed.
If True-Person Zhuge had not returned, that meant since their separation, he had remained in the Dragon Pool the entire night?
He had said he needed to “handle the aftermath”, but what aftermath was he dealing with?
Ever since the Great Wilderness Dao-Sin Calamity was annihilated by the Imperial Celestial Bureau’s Central Ziwei Heaven Seven-Star Killing Formation and everything had seemingly settled, Mo Hua had felt a vague unease lingering in his heart.
Now, for some reason, that unease had suddenly grown heavier.
“What exactly is True-Person Zhuge doing?”
“And at the Dragon Pool…”
After long contemplation, Mo Hua ultimately decided to see for himself.
Time could not be wasted. He left the Royal Court Palace and headed toward the Dragon Pool.
Dawn had begun to brighten. With the Great Wilderness war concluded, the Dao soldiers had already begun their return march, and many aristocratic clan disciples were also setting out on their triumphant journey home.
This brutal barbarian war—sparked by the Great Wilderness Royal clan’s rebellion and stretching nearly a decade—had finally come to an end.
Battle-weary soldiers were returning home.
Within the Royal Court, ranks of Dao soldiers marched northward.
Yet Mo Hua moved against the tide, alone, heading south toward the Dragon Pool.
Before long, he found himself once again before the Four Symbols Palace.
Guards still stood watch.
Previously, when searching for Qing Zhu to save the infant, time had been pressing, and he had not thought much of it.
But now, seeing several Golden Core cultivators stationed there—and even the late-stage Golden-Core Commander of the Yang Clan—his heart sank.
The Yang Clan was a Dao soldier lineage, a core military power.
A late-stage Golden-Core commander was a general in his own right.
Yet these core military leaders were guarding the Four Symbols Palace gates. That meant they were safeguarding… something of even greater importance.
Mo Hua’s eyes sharpened. Using the same method as before, he slipped past the guards and entered the Four Symbols Palace.
Inside, a familiar aura lingered.
Without hesitation, he activated his movement technique and passed through the complex Four Symbols labyrinth.
Beyond the maze lay a long flight of steps. At the end stood the Dragon Hall of the Great Wilderness.
He crossed the steps and arrived before the hall, only to find more Dao soldiers stationed there.
Outside the hall, the corpse of the already-dead Shentu Ao remained bound within the Blazing Fire Formation, being refined bit by bit.
Black flesh melted into corpse-oil-like dark fluid, dripping onto the ground.
Shentu Ao’s face was mutilated, his eye sockets hollow… he seemed unable to rest in death.
The entire scene radiated cold brutality and an eerie stillness.
Seeing this, Mo Hua’s unease deepened. A faint chill of dread rose in his heart.
He did not look further at Shentu Ao’s corpse. Passing through the guards and commanders, he entered the Dragon Hall.
Inside, traces of the earlier battle remained.
Black bloodstains and rotting flesh lingered in every corner.
Mo Hua swept his gaze across the hall, frowning as he continued forward. Several Golden Core commanders patrolled the area, yet none could detect Mo Hua, whose Divine Sense had reached the peak of twenty-nine patterns.
Passing through the Dragon Hall, he entered the Dragon Bone Passage.
Within the passage, nothing appeared unusual. The only difference was that the “restrictions” within the corridor had completely dissipated.
The Great Wilderness “dragon qi” was profoundly mysterious, derived from the corpse of a true dragon and used to power the entire Dragon Pool.
Not only did the Dragon Pool’s operation depend upon dragon qi…
The Restrictive force within the Dragon Bone Passage, which repelled all above the Golden Core realm, also originated from true dragon qi.
But now the dragon qi was gone, and the restrictions had been lifted.
That was why, earlier the Golden Core elders of both righteous and demonic paths, along with Feathered Ascension True-Person Zhuge and True-Person Huá had been able to step directly into the Dragon Pool.
“The restrictions… are lifted…”
Restrictions… lifted…
Mo Hua had not considered it carefully before, but the more he thought about it now, the more an indescribable chill crept into his bones.
He hesitated no longer. Accelerating his movement technique, he left the Dragon Bone Passage.
After passing through it, he arrived at the Dragon Pool.
Inside, everything looked the same as before: dragon qi exhausted, the pool dried up, trenches carved across the ground from Dao techniques and battle. The corpses of the Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord and the others still lay where they had fallen.
But strangely, aside from a few corpses, there was not a single living person in the entire Dragon Pool.
True-Person Zhuge was nowhere to be seen.
Frowning, Mo Hua first approached and examined the three bodies of the Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord and his companions.
They were dead—utterly without breath—just as before, killed by his hand, taken off guard, their deaths almost peaceful.
Mo Hua lifted his head.
Above the Dragon Pool’s dome stood six towering thrones. The six Feathered Ascension Dragon Lords and princes of the Great Wilderness had already melted into black sludge of blood and flesh.
The dome stood above the pool, separated from it, used for observing prodigies forming their Golden Core.
Perhaps in the past, the Dragon Emperor of the Great Wilderness, along with the Dragon Lords and princes, had sat high upon that dome, personally watching the royal prodigies condense their cores in the Dragon Pool, absorbing dragon qi and triggering wondrous phenomena—bearing witness to the empire’s golden age.
But now, everything had turned to ash.
The Dragon Lords upon the thrones had become blackened rot.
The Royal bloodline was nearly extinguished.
Enemy prodigies had trampled the Royal Court, defiled the blood of the Great Wilderness, and divided its dragon qi among themselves.
The flourishing dynasty of the past had been buried in blood and slaughter.
If the ancestors of the Great Wilderness had foreseen today’s ruin, who knew what they would have felt…
A trace of age-worn melancholy rose in Mo Hua’s heart.
He gathered his thoughts and surveyed the surroundings again, his brow tightening.
“True-Person Zhuge… where exactly did he go?”
“Did I guess wrong? Is he no longer in the Dragon Pool… or…”
Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened. Releasing his Divine-Sense, relying on his powerful foundation and delicate perception, he searched the entire Dragon Pool.
Soon, he detected something amiss.
Activating his movement technique, his steps light as water, he walked halfway around along the massive dragon bones and finally stopped before a pitch-black opening.
It was a dragon-bone cave.
From the outside it looked utterly ordinary, fused with the skeleton of the true dragon, incapable of drawing attention.
But Mo Hua already understood the structural layout of Transforming the Mortals into Dragons Formation. He knew this cave was not part of the core formation hub.
Moreover, near the cave were traces of karmic tracing and a Seven-Star formation.
With Mo Hua’s keen insight, he recognized at once that these were marks left behind by True-Person Zhuge.
True-Person Zhuge must have used karmic tracing to locate the source, then employed a Seven-Star formation to forcibly excavate this long-sealed dragon-bone opening.
“True-Person Zhuge… truly has further schemes…”
Mo Hua stood before the entrance, pondering for a long time. He pinched his fingers and made a simple calculation, but derived little useful information. Even fortune and misfortune seemed like a muddy abyss, blurred and indistinct.
“Perhaps… I should forget it?”
“The waters seem far too deep…”
He turned, intending to leave the Dragon Pool, but his heart grew restless, as if something momentous were about to occur within.
Just then, from inside the dragon-bone cave, a strange fluctuation of formation energy leaked out.
It was a formation fluctuation utterly unfamiliar to Mo Hua, yet vast and powerful. Only a faint trace escaped—ordinary cultivators might not even perceive it.
But Mo Hua keenly captured that extraordinary, boundless formation aura.
Mo Hua had never possessed much resistance toward formations—especially unfamiliar and powerful ones.
In an instant, his mind was completely hooked. As if guided by unseen forces, he stepped into the dragon-bone cave.
Inside, it was pitch black.
After a few steps, Mo Hua came to his senses and felt some regret, but since he had come this far, he had to investigate.
He wanted to know what True-Person Zhuge was plotting.
And what formation lay within.
Concealing himself and holding his breath, Mo Hua cautiously proceeded deeper.
It was a one-way tunnel, seemingly freshly excavated. The walls consisted partly of dragon bone and partly of ancient stone.
The passage was utterly empty. There was not even the faintest trace of life.
Mo Hua walked in darkness for a long time before a light finally appeared ahead.
Within that light shimmered brilliant sky-blue starlight, dazzling and abrupt amid the dead black silence of the bone cave.
Mo Hua’s spirits lifted, yet his steps grew lighter and more cautious.
Fortunately, no danger arose. Soon he exited the dragon-bone cave and arrived before a massive stone wall.
The wall appeared ordinary, yet it emitted a suffocating chill.
Directly before it stood an ancient gate. Its age was unknowable; time had eroded it into a dark, dull, unsightly relic.
Only one thing stood before the gate…
a stone stele.
Upon it were two ancient barbaric characters, steeped in rugged desolation and sorrow.
It was a very ancient and obscure script of the Great Wilderness.
But the well-read Mo Hua recognized it.
“Ancestral Court…”
He murmured the words silently in his heart, and in that instant, stormy waves surged within his chest.
“The Great Wilderness’s… Ancestral Court?”
The burial ground of the ancestors of the Great Wilderness, sealed for endless years and lost through untold ages… the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court of legend?
Previously, as the Divine-Shaman of the Desolate Wilderness, Mo Hua had combed through the records of every tribe, yet never once found any mention of the Ancestral Court.
And yet, who would have thought that the entrance to the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court would be hidden within the Dragon-Bone Cave of the forbidden Dragon Pool…
And now, he stood before the very gates of the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court.
Mo Hua took a deep breath. His heart trembled uncontrollably, and the unease buried deep within him surged outward.
He could sense it, the Ancestral Court of the Great Wilderness was by no means a benevolent place.
Many unknown secrets—including the inscrutable True-Person Zhuge, and that Martial Uncle whose “shadow never dispersed” yet who had never shown himself—were very likely hidden within this ancient Ancestral Court at this very moment.
And he himself seemed already very close to some deeply concealed secret and conspiracy in that vast chessboard of life and death, of destiny’s rise and fall, that encompassed the entire Great Wilderness.
Many unresolved mysteries were likely hidden just beyond this gate.
Mo Hua stood there for a long time, like a lone skiff upon the sea, his thoughts surging and rising without rest.
Should he enter?
That thought flickered through his mind hundreds of times in an instant.
In the end, as though driven by fate, he sighed softly and slowly walked toward the gates of the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court.
But as he reached the gate, Mo Hua’s brows knit slightly.
The gate of the Ancestral Court already stood open.
Yet upon the ancient doors, a curtain of brilliant starlight now completely sealed it shut.
Clearly, True-Person Zhuge had personally opened the Ancestral Court of the Great Wilderness. After entering, he had sealed its gate with a formation.
The sealing formation was a Fourth-grade Seven-Star Formation.
Looking at the formation before him, Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened.
(End of Chapter)