Chapter 1410: Low-End Work
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Chapter 1408: Low-End Work
“…a burial ground for hiding in order to… evade Corpse Dissolution…”
Mo Hua’s heart sank as he asked, “Then who… is buried down here?”
Old Mo smiled. “Evading Corpse Dissolution is a grave crime in the eyes of the Dao Court. Anyone daring to do this would cover it up completely, and so thoroughly they’d rather slash apart their own face and erase their name beyond recognition rather than let anyone find out…”
“Unless you personally go underground and dig up the grave, no one can know who’s buried inside…”
“However,” Old Mo added after a pause, “based on current information, the one buried here is most likely a powerful elder of some clan in Kun Province… at the very least, a once-renowned Golden Core expert.”
“A renowned Golden Core expert…” Mo Hua’s eyes flickered as he glanced at the others, then turned back to ask Old Mo:
“Wouldn’t entering the tomb of someone like that be extremely dangerous?”
A Golden Core expert would at the very least be at the mid-to-late Golden Core stage.
If they went to the trouble of secretly burying themselves here to evade Corpse Dissolution, who knew what schemes they had prepared? There would certainly be mechanisms and deadly traps to prevent grave robbers.
Mo Hua said, “All five of us are only at the early Golden Core stage. If something goes wrong down there… wouldn’t we all just die inside?”
And you still dare to go?
Old Mo replied calmly, “Fortune favors the bold. This is the kind of business people like us deal in.”
If you’re afraid of death, why rob tombs? Without taking risks, how could one ever strike it rich?
Mo Hua was taken aback and found himself at a loss for words.
Seeing this, Old Mo assumed Mo Hua was frightened and reassured him,
“Don’t worry, young master. Even if the cultivator buried here was a Golden Core expert in life, once dead, with body fallen and Dao dispersed, they’re no different from a corpse…”
“We’re five Golden Cores. There’s no reason to fear a dead body. And if things really go south, we can always run.”
Mo Hua asked again, “But what if… there’s a corpse transformation?”
Old Mo’s expression changed slightly, then he shook his head with a faint smile. “That won’t happen.”
“Why?” Mo Hua asked.
Old Mo said, “Young Master, you don’t go underground often, so you’re unaware of the intricacies. This old man can’t go into too much detail, but I can say that since the tomb’s owner managed to evade the Corpse Dissolution Decree, they must have been well-versed in burial arts and would have taken every precaution to prevent their own ‘corpse transformation’…”
“And corpse transformation is quite easy to detect.”
“Outsiders might not notice, but people like us, who spend years underground, can sometimes just taste the soil, smell the air, and know whether a tomb is clean or ‘tainted’…”
Old Mo spoke confidently.
Mo Hua nodded.
At a glance, this Old Mo was clearly a professional. Much of his experience was probably reliable.
Every trade has its masters.
Even if he didn’t plan to enter this line of work, learning a bit more wasn’t a bad thing.
Old Mo glanced at Mo Hua. Seeing that he seemed convinced, his gaze softened and his tone grew more familiar as he said:
“By the way, we’ve been talking for a while now, and I only know your surname is Mo. May I ask… what your given name is?”
Mo Hua was about to answer but pretended to hesitated, as if holding back his words.
Old Mo’s gaze shifted, then he sighed again, “Young master, despite your youth, your formation skills are so remarkable, truly something this old man has rarely seen in his life. I wonder, young master, who is your master? Where do you serve?”
Mo Hua still found it difficult to answer.
Old Mo then asked, “What is it? Is there something you cannot say?”
Mo Hua nodded and sighed, “It’s not that I don’t want to say, but before setting out, Manager Zhao specifically instructed me not to reveal my name and to avoid speaking too much with you all.”
Mo Hua’s tone was sincere, and he spoke the truth.
Old Mo silently cursed Manager Zhao in his heart.
Finally, he had encountered such a naive newcomer, a Formation Master as precious as a treasure, yet Manager Zhao was guarding him so tightly that he couldn’t even find an opportunity to make a move.
Outwardly, Old Mo maintained a warm smile.
“Manager Zhao is absolutely right. He is only looking out for your well-being, young master.”
Mo Hua nodded.
Old Mo pondered in his heart, about to ask more…
Just then, a voice came from the distance: “Found it…”
Old Mo turned toward the sound and saw the scholar holding a compass walking over. “The Five Elements’ Metal and Earth energies are reacting. Southeast direction, about a hundred zhang away.”
Old Mo had no choice but to drop the conversation and nodded.
Business came first.
He led everyone to the location indicated by the scholar.
After surveying the surroundings, Old Mo found a patch of grass, lay flat on the ground, and pressed his ear to the soil, listening for something. After a moment, he stood, walked about ten steps to the right, then lay down again to listen.
He even picked up a few clumps of dirt, put them in his mouth, and tasted them.
No one knew what it tasted like, but Old Mo seemed to savor it, his expression pleased.
“Good soil. Not contaminated at all. Not a trace of yin energy.”
Hearing this, everyone showed faint smiles.
“Probably a rich haul,” Da Shan said.
Old Mo nodded. “Anyone buried here would have plenty of burial goods. We might make a small fortune this time.”
The fair-faced scholar licked his lips.
The newcomer named “Qian Jin” had a gleam in his eyes. His first time going underground, and already a chance to profit, it was a good omen for him.
“Time is of the essence,” Old Mo said to the burly man named Da Shan. “Start digging.”
Da Shan nodded, then stripped off his shirt, revealing muscles like forged iron.
Mo Hua glanced over and noticed a tattoo on his back—a depiction of a mighty divine general, eyes blazing, beard flaring, lifting a mountain.
This tattoo was likely part of the man’s inheritance.
Mo Hua was curious but didn’t think it appropriate to ask. After all, they were engaged in shady business, and asking too much would be impolite.
Da Shan began digging downward.
As a body cultivator, he was strong, skilled, and methodical. His progress was swift.
Before long, he had dug a long tunnel, over ten zhang deep.
Digging further, the soil disappeared, replaced by stone walls.
At the sight of stone wall, Da Shan perked up.
Old Mo nodded. “That’s right. This is the place. Keep digging.”
They were approaching the underground tomb chamber.
At this point, stone and soil were entirely different.
Moreover, this tomb had been constructed by a Golden Core expert to evade Corpse Dissolution, so the stone materials were exceptionally hard.
But Old Mo and his group were clearly seasoned professionals. These difficulties were already within their expectations.
The one named Da Shan began channeling Golden Core power. The tattoo on his back glowed brilliantly, as if the mighty divine general within had come to life, infusing a certain force into his body.
His five fingers instantly doubled in size, becoming as hard as iron. Gripping the stone wall felt like squeezing tofu.
With a rustling sound, the stone wall crumbled into fine powder under his grasp.
Mo Hua watched in silent amazement.
This was a technique used by body cultivators, condensing Golden Core power into a single point, channeling it into the fingers, specifically for tomb raiding.
The mighty divine general tattoo on the man’s back was likely his Life Bound magic treasure.
The cultivation world truly had all kinds of strange inheritances, for every possible trade.
Seeing that Da Shan would take some time to finish digging, Mo Hua asked Old Mo,
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Old Mo replied, “No need. These are just minor tasks for now, no need to trouble you, young master. Once we’re below and encounter formation-related problems, we’ll trouble you to step in.”
There was no need to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It wasn’t yet time for a master like Mo Hua to take action.
Mo Hua nodded, content to stand by and watch, while silently pondering to himself.
Before joining this underground “burial” expedition, he had felt some reservations, more or less.
After all, he came from a respectable background and wasn’t the sort of person who casually dug up graves for a living.
(TN: Author forgot about Mo Hua’s adventures in Shugu Ancestral graveyard, refining corpse puppets, and eating zombie clan ancestors from Nanyue City)
(This novel was translated by “Aberto D. Tempest”. Read latest chapters at “AbertoVerse.com”)
The reasons he agreed to Manager Zhao’s request for this trip were, first, because he was genuinely short on Spirit stones, he needed far too many.
Secondly, he wanted to adapt to local customs, experience Kun Province’s native “activities,” and get familiar with the local “customs and practices,” and understand how this whole “burial” business actually worked.
But now that this matter was connected to “Corpse Dissolution,” the situation was different.
Mo Hua was quite curious to see how exactly does one evade corpse dissolution?
And what happens after evading it?
Moreover, if someone had avoided the Dao Court’s “Corpse Dissolution Registry” and secretly buried the body, then this tomb was clearly “illegal.”
At the very least, under the Dao Court’s rules, it counted as an unauthorized burial.
So, it probably wasn’t too presumptuous for him to intrude and observe the actual situation…
Mo Hua nodded silently, settling his thoughts.
Then he suddenly remembered something and asked Old Mo, “How much longer will the digging take?”
“Probably…” Old Mo calculated. “About half a shichen more.”
(TN: i.e. One Hour)
“Alright,” Mo Hua nodded. “I’ve got something to do. I’ll look around nearby and come back in half a shichen.”
“Nearby?”
“Mm, nearby. Very close.”
Old Mo frowned, but it wasn’t appropriate to go against Mo Hua’s wishes and risk offending this young formation master, so he said, “Don’t go too far.”
“Mm.” Mo Hua nodded and temporarily left.
He wandered around the surrounding wasteland, looking here and there. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He grabbed a few wild grasses, fiddled with them a bit, found them unsuitable, and tossed them away with some regret… then continued searching for more.
Old Mo secretly kept an eye on him the entire time. Naturally suspicious, he wanted to see what Mo Hua was up to. But seeing him just pulling wild grass and trying to weave something out of it, his brain momentarily short-circuited, completely unable to comprehend the situation.
Just how old was this young master Mo?
Why did he like playing with wild grass in his spare time?
Old Mo’s brows furrowed into a knot. In all his years, he had met many people, but he had never seen a Golden Core cultivator with such a… peculiar hobby.
This Young Master Mo was truly… indescribably odd.
Old Mo muttered to himself inwardly.
Meanwhile, Mo Hua spent the entire half shichen pulling wild grass, but ultimately still couldn’t find anything suitable. He couldn’t help but wonder.
“Still not right?”
“In a place like Kun Province… where is the truly lowly wild grass?”
Mo Hua frowned. He could sense that the nearby grasses were already very close to the kind he used to make “Fate Art Straw Dogs.”
But unfortunately, they were still lacking something.
Mo Hua felt a bit regretful.
At that moment, Da Shan had already dug through the tomb and leapt out, saying, “Done. Opened a hole, we can go in now.”
Old Mo crouched by the opening, stuck his head inside, sniffed the earthy air, confirmed again, and then nodded.
“It’s fine.”
Then he gave instructions: “Da Shan goes first, I go second, Young Master Mo third. Scholar and Qian Jin, you two bring up the rear. Make sure to protect Young Master Mo. It doesn’t matter if you get a little injured, but Young Master Mo must not suffer even a scratch.”
Everyone nodded.
The Scholar and Qian Jin both glanced at Mo Hua, a trace of envy—even jealousy—flashing in their eyes.
They were all early-stage Golden Core cultivators, yet the difference in status and treatment between them and Mo Hua was like heaven and earth.
But they also knew there was nothing to be done about it, formations were too difficult to learn, and Formation Masters were far too valuable.
And a Formation Master willing to dirty his hands and descend underground with them was even rarer.
They could only blame fate for not granting them the talent to study formations. They simply couldn’t earn a living that way.
Following Old Mo’s instructions, everyone jumped into the tomb opening in order.
Before entering, Old Mo and the others pressed their palms together and silently recited, “Kṣitigarbha protect us.”
Mo Hua thought for a moment, deciding he shouldn’t break from tradition, and so he also recited “Kṣitigarbha protect me,” before following Old Mo and jumping down.
Darkness engulfed his vision as his body descended underground. Before long, his divine sense detected the ground.
Mo Hua activated the Flowing-Water Step, landing lightly and silently on the floor.
The moment he landed, a wave of stale, decayed air rushed at him, making him feel a bit dizzy. Just then, he heard Old Mo’s voice in his ear:
“Hold your breath. Seal your meridians. Circulate your spiritual power internally.”
Mo Hua followed the instructions and immediately felt much better. He thought to himself: these grave robbers sure know quite a few handy tricks.
Soon after, the sounds of landing echoed one after another as all five had landed.
Old Mo said, “Scholar, you go first. Check for any trap mechanisms.”
“Mm.” The Scholar nodded and walked ahead, still holding his compass, probing for traps along the path.
The others followed behind.
In truth, whether there were traps or not, Mo Hua could tell everything with a sweep of his divine sense. There was no need for the Scholar to scout at all.
But Mo Hua was, after all, a “newcomer,” and newcomers should behave properly.
He wasn’t going to do two people’s work for one person’s pay. He was just here on a job, not to steal others’ roles.
So he quietly followed along, saying nothing.
The Scholar was indeed experienced. Along the way, he disarmed many traps, things like poison sand, mercury, earth arrows, iron stones, and more.
Eventually, they stopped in front of a wall. The Scholar halted, helpless.
“There’s a large formation here.”
Small mechanism-based traps he could deal with using his experience.
But something like this—a fully interconnected formation network, where touching one part affected the whole—was beyond him. As he wasn’t a formation master, he was at a loss.
Everyone turned to look at Mo Hua.
Old Mo cupped his hands. “Young Master Mo, we’re counting on you.”
Mo Hua nodded, stepped forward, and examined the wall with his divine sense. Suddenly, his heart sank. He turned and said:
“There are Third-Grade formations here. I can’t break them…”
He hadn’t forgotten that, on the surface, he was only a Second-Grade high-tier formation master, with only a Second-Grade high-tier certification ring.
In that case, he couldn’t break Third-Grade formations, even if he actually could, he shouldn’t.
Mo Hua was also puzzled.
Old Mo and the others should know his formation ability was only Second-Grade, so why bring him to rob a Third-Grade Golden Core tomb?
Old Mo, however, wasn’t surprised. Knowing Mo Hua lacked tomb-raiding experience, he waved his hand and said.
“Young Master, it’s not that complicated, we’re not asking you to break them.”
Seeing Mo Hua’s confusion, Old Mo explained:
“The formations in this tomb, though labeled Third-Grade, are actually a mix, mostly Second-Grade with a small portion of Third-Grade.”
“There aren’t many true Third-Grade formations. And since the tomb owner violated the Dao Court’s ‘corpse dissolution decree,’ few formation masters would dare design high-tier formations for him. So most of the tomb still uses Second-Grade formations.”
“What you need to do, Young Master Mo, isn’t to break these formations. Instead, based on your experience and knowledge, you need to separate the Second-Grade and Third-Grade formation sections behind this wall and mark out the structurally weak points.”
“Once that’s done, I’ll have Da Shan directly smash through the formation…”
Mo Hua listened, his emotions… complicated.
Turns out, he had overthought things.
They hadn’t brought him here to break formations at all… They just wanted him to observe the formation structure and mark an “X” on the wall.
Everything else was none of his concern.
That made earning these spirit stones far too easy.
After thinking it over, Mo Hua realized it made sense…
Breaking formations was a highly advanced field of formation study. Though it was something he used so often it felt trivial, for other formation masters, it was extremely difficult.
Mo Hua couldn’t compare himself to other Formation Masters.
For ordinary formation masters, even breaking common formations was challenging, let alone Third-Grade ones.
As for Old Mo and the others—just a few early-stage Golden Core cultivators—it was impossible for them to hire a Third-Grade formation master capable of breaking formations.
Thus, their requirement had been simple from the start.
Find a formation master, examine the layout of the tomb’s formations, identify the weakest points, and then brute-force their way through.
This was way too simple.
The technical level of the formation work was far too low…
Mo Hua could have done this kind of job even before graduating from the Great Void Sect.
Were Formation Masters in Kun Province really making a living this easily? What kind of low-level work was this?
Mo Hua frowned.
Old Mo asked worriedly, “Young Master Mo, is it too difficult?”
Mo Hua replied silently, “Indeed… it’s not easy…”
Old Mo sighed, “I know it’s difficult, so I must trouble you to put in more effort. If this succeeds, this old man will make the decision to give you an extra ten percent of the spirit stones…”
The others also looked at Mo Hua with hopeful eyes.
Mo Hua sighed, his conscience already aching a bit, and said:
“Fine… I’ll do my best…”