Chapter 1414: Mechanism Formation

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Chapter 1412: Mechanism Formation

That piece of Heavenly Crystal treasure was still stained with fresh blood, carrying the lingering warmth of a human life, but this trace of warmth, like Qian Jin’s life, quickly faded away.

Mo Hua held the Heavenly Crystal, his expression somewhat complicated.

Da Shan and the Scholar glanced at the Heavenly Crystal in Mo Hua’s hand, a flicker of greed flashing in their eyes, but they quickly averted their gazes.

Young Master Mo was a Formation Master. No one dared say anything about him taking this Heavenly Crystal.

It was just that…

Da Shan looked at Old Mo, then at Qian Jin lying in a pool of blood, already cold and lifeless. He frowned and said:

“Old Mo, why did you kill him?”

Scholar also sighed. “If you didn’t want to share the Heavenly Crystal with him, you could’ve just made him spit it out. Was there really a need to kill him?”

Old Mo remained unmoved, his expression calm as he replied.

“If it were just petty gains, sharing wouldn’t matter. But the Heavenly Crystal is different. How could someone who didn’t contribute much expect to share such a treasure?”

Then Old Mo sneered. “Don’t blame me for being pragmatic. if you’re alive, you should at least be useful.”

“He was useless the whole way, only did a bit of trivial work, and still had the nerve to pocket the Heavenly Crystal. If he doesn’t die, who should?”

The Scholar said nothing more.

Qian Jin was just a newcomer, not particularly close to anyone in the group. And earlier, when he spoke frivolously about the girls of Jade Spring Pavilion, the Scholar had already found him distasteful. Now that he was dead, he couldn’t be bothered to care.

Da Shan didn’t dwell on it either, merely stating calmly:

“In our line of work, newcomers are meant to be used as sandbags, blocking evil spirits, or serving as scapegoats.”

“Only those who survive being ‘scapegoats’ prove their fate is tough enough to earn a place in this trade.”

“Since he didn’t survive, there’s nothing to be done… it just means his fate ends here.”

Entering the earth was gambling with one’s life. The saying “getting rich overnight or dying on the spot” was no joke.

If one wanted to strike it rich and entered the tomb to gamble with their life, they had to accept the outcome of losing the gamble and dying.

Moreover, Heavenly Crystal was extremely valuable and rare, with no clear market price.

Dividing four Heavenly Crystals among five people was indeed a tricky matter.

Da Shan tacitly accepted the current situation.

Qian Jin’s death stirred no waves.

Besides, Old Mo was right, this newcomer truly wasn’t very useful. Apart from serving as a “scapegoat,” he had no other skills.

Whether he came along or not made no difference. Dying sooner or later didn’t change much.

Mo Hua sighed inwardly, deeply aware of how pragmatic and ruthless these tomb raiders were.

When it came to truly taking a life, it often happened in the blink of an eye, with no chance to react.

Even Mo Hua hadn’t entirely anticipated it.

Of course, the main reason was the darkness underground. He couldn’t see Qian Jin’s forehead, so he hadn’t detected his death omen in advance.

Mo Hua rubbed the Heavenly Crystal in his hand again.

With just that light touch, he could sense the astonishing spiritual energy contained within the crystal.

Moreover, this spiritual energy was completely different from the energy he usually refined from spirit stones.

It almost felt as if the spiritual energy itself was alive—flowing, moving.

Logically speaking, he shouldn’t have touched this Heavenly Crystal.

But it was simply too precious, too mysterious. Mo Hua found it hard to let go.

“Sure enough… humans are greedy…”

“I’m no exception…”

Greed was part of human nature, impossible to overcome.

Mo Hua murmured inwardly, then quietly stored the Heavenly Crystal into his Storage Bag.

Da Shan and the Scholar said nothing upon seeing this.

Old Mo merely smiled faintly, then said, “Let’s continue. The good stuff is still ahead.”

…

Afterward, the four of them began walking along the passage, heading deeper into the tomb.

The passage stretched endlessly, with blue flames burning along both sides, casting an eerie glow into the seemingly bottomless tomb chamber.

Old Mo explained, “These are spirit fire, flames formed by burning spiritual power. If spirit fire is present, it means this passage is a mechanism passage.”

Da Shan and the Scholar remained expressionless, clearly familiar with this.

Mo Hua nodded slightly. He knew Old Mo was explaining it specifically for him.

After all, among the four, he was the only outsider, not well-versed in the ways of tomb-raiding.

In a sense, he was like Qian Jin, a newcomer fresh to the trade.

The difference was that he was a Formation Master, and therefore highly valuable.

That was why Qian Jin had died, while he still lived.

The four walked along the spirit-fire mechanism passage corridor for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick when the Scholar suddenly stopped.

Old Mo asked, “What wrong?”

The Scholar pointed ahead, frowning. “There’s a mechanism Formation up ahead… and it’s third-grade. Even a Golden Core cultivator would die if they triggered it by mistake.”

“A Mechanism Formation…” Old Mo pondered for a moment before turning to look at Mo Hua.

But the Scholar shook his head. “Looking at Young Master Mo won’t help. Though it’s called a ‘Mechanism Formation,’ it has little to do with actual formations. It’s essentially pure artifact mechanisms, designed specifically to counter Formation Masters.”

Among all cultivation disciplines, formations were the most widely applied and the most powerful.

Thus, in tombs, the strongest defenses and killing methods were usually formation-based.

But everything had its drawbacks. If one relied too heavily on formations, encountering a skilled Formation Master could render those defenses useless.

So tomb builders also constructed mechanisms that did not rely on formations at all, purely driven by artifact craftsmanship.

These mechanisms were designed to guard against Formation Masters, operating purely through physical means.

If an overconfident Formation Master who didn’t understand mechanisms stepped in recklessly, they would be instantly shredded.

Mo Hua’s expression remained calm, though he was clearly a bit displeased.

Old Mo turned to the Scholar. “With your skill in mechanisms, can you calculate a safe path?”

The Scholar sighed. “I’ll try my best…”

Old Mo nodded sincerely. “I’m counting on you.”

The Scholar then took out several jade slips, mechanism blueprints, and counting rods, laying them on the ground as he began drawing diagrams and calculating something.

Mo Hua watched silently from the side, though he could only grasp the general idea.

He knew this likely belonged to a niche branch of artifact crafting, involving mechanism construction and trap variations.

But as the saying goes, different trades are like different mountains. Mo Hua hadn’t studied much of this pure artifact-crafting mechanism art, so he couldn’t fully understand its intricacies. Let alone this kind of mechanism “craftsmanship” that the Scholar used to make a living from tomb raiding was even less easy to comprehend.

After a long while, the Scholar used his counting rods and compass to deduce the structure, sketching grids onto the blueprint.

Once finished, he recalculated and verified it, then said, “This should work…”

Turning to the others, he explained:

“The mechanism path ahead has threads in the air and floor tiles underfoot. Both the threads and the floor tiles are connected to the tomb’s mechanisms. If you step on the wrong tile or touch the wrong thread, the third-grade Mechanism Formation will activate and shred you to pieces… it’s extremely dangerous.”

“Don’t use movement techniques, spiritual fluctuations might trigger something. You can only walk slowly.”

“I’ll go first. Follow my steps, avoid the threads, and do not make a mistake.”

Everyone nodded.

Afterward, the Scholar led the way, still holding his compass and clutching counting rods. Step by step, he advanced according to the blueprint he had calculated.

Old Mo, Da Shan, and Mo Hua followed behind him.

This was a third-grade mechanism—no trivial matter—so everyone proceeded with extreme caution.

Old Mo was experienced, Da Shan steady, and Mo Hua both experienced and steady.

Following the Scholar’s path, the three naturally made not a single mistake.

Thus, the journey remained relatively quiet.

Walking through the mechanism passage, stepping on the intricate tiles and watching the fine threads crisscrossing in the air, Mo Hua couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity of the passage’s construction.

The world of cultivation was vast and boundless. Not only were formations profound, but every field had its own extraordinary and intricate techniques.

Though many disciplines were not as mysterious as formations, mastering them still required immense effort.

This mechanism art was likely no different.

Lost in thought, Mo Hua followed the others step by step, proceeding methodically.

Deciphering this Mechanism Formation was extremely taxing, every step required careful consideration.

Fortunately, Mo Hua himself didn’t need to exert any effort. He only had to dutifully follow along, so it was relatively easy for him.

At the same time, as he advanced, he quietly memorized the correct path through the mechanism passage.

After walking for a while, the Scholar suddenly stopped again. His face slightly pale, cold sweat forming on his forehead.

Mo Hua immediately recognized it, this was a sign of mild divine-sense overexertion, something he, as a Formation Master, was very familiar with.

In truth, anything a cultivator did would consume Divine-Sense. The moment one’s mind stirred, Divine-Sense would be expended, every thought carried a cost.

It was just that most ordinary actions barely consumed any Divine-Sense.

But some activities were exceptions—such as deep study, contemplation, comprehension, deduction, and prolonged control of spiritual energy or objects.

Among them, the most typical was studying formations, which consumed the most Divine-Sense.

Aside from formations, other cultivation paths like alchemy, talismans, and artifacts generally didn’t require high Divine-Sense consumption.

But once it involved deeper-level knowledge, like mechanism art, which required large amounts of complex calculations and deductions, the consumption of Divine-Sense became significant.

And unlike Formation Masters, mechanism masters didn’t have a strong foundation in Divine-Sense, making such calculations particularly strenuous.

It was already quite impressive that the Scholar had managed to calculate this far.

Mo Hua wanted to help him, but although his Divine-Sense calculation ability was strong, he knew nothing about mechanism art and lacked any foundation in artifact refining. He had no idea how to assist.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time the scholar was doing such calculations. He already had experience.

He took a pill, stood still with his eyes closed to rest, and after a short while, opened them again and resumed calculating.

The scholar’s Divine-Sense wasn’t particularly strong, especially compared to Mo Hua.

But calculating mechanism art wasn’t as abstract or difficult as deducing formations.

So he could still hold on.

Mo Hua let out a quiet breath of relief.

Just like that, after calculating for a while, the scholar led everyone forward step by step again.

It seemed like they were merely walking forward, but figuring out where and how to walk required an immense amount of time and effort.

After walking for an unknown length of time, the group finally saw that ahead, the spirit flames had gone out, and the architectural style around them had changed.

This meant that the long mechanism passage was nearing its end.

A wave of joy washed over everyone’s hearts.

The scholar revealed a delighted expression as well. He then adjusted his counting rods and took another step forward.

But the moment he took that step, his expression suddenly changed, and he hurriedly pulled his foot back, his face turning extremely grave.

Da Shan asked, “What’s wrong?”

The scholar frowned. “It feels like… I can’t control my own steps anymore…”

Da Shan frowned. “What do you mean?”

The scholar was equally puzzled. He sniffed the air, and his expression abruptly changed in shock.

“It’s illusion powder!”

“Illusion powder?”

The scholar nodded, his voice turning cold. “Somewhere in this mechanism passage, a mind-confusing powder has been laid out. It doesn’t take effect initially, but as you near the end, its potency suddenly intensifies, instantly affecting the mind, causing people to misstep and die within the mechanism passage…”

Da Shan’s face immediately turned grim. “Can we force our way through by controlling our limbs?””

The scholar shook his head. “Even controlling your limbs requires Divine-Sense. Divine-Sense is influenced by the mind. If your mind is in chaos, your Divine-Sense becomes chaotic, and naturally your body can’t be controlled.”

Hearing this, Mo Hua also sniffed the air. He could indeed detect a faint scent within the tomb passage, but his mind showed no reaction at all.

He didn’t know whether it was because the powder’s potency was weak or because his Dao Heart (resolve) was too steadfast…

Da Shan’s expression grew solemn. “What should we do then?”

The scholar pondered for a moment and said, “Use treasures to stabilize the mind.” He looked at everyone. “Since you dared to enter this tomb, you should all have such items, right?”

Old Mo and Da Shan both nodded.

Mo Hua also nodded.

The scholar said, “Then it’s simple. This kind of illusionary method is dangerous because it’s hard to guard against. But once discovered, and with countering treasures, it’s not difficult to deal with.”

Afterward, the scholar took out a mechanism mouse from his sleeve, wound it up, input something into it, and placed it on the ground. Then he said:

“The path this mechanism mouse takes is correct. In a moment, use your treasures to stabilize your minds and follow it forward.”

Everyone nodded. “Alright.”

After that, the group began to act according to the plan.

Old Mo swallowed a pill and took out a leaf, placing it in his mouth to clear his mind and calm his spirit.

The scholar took out a jade pendant and pressed it against his forehead.

Da Shan stuck a rare paper talisman onto his forehead, it burned like fire, using pain to maintain him rationality.

Mo Hua casually found a cloth strip and wrapped it around his head, pretending it was a treasure to calm his mind.

Then the mechanism mouse began to crawl forward.

Da Shan followed behind the mechanical mouse, walking first, with Mo Hua second.

Old Mo lagged half a beat behind, taking third place, while the scholar walked last.

The four of them formed a line, following the mechanism mouse as they began traversing the final stretch of the mechanism passage.

Everything went smoothly, and before long, Da Shan quickly reached the end.

But at the instant he stepped onto solid ground, the scent of the illusion powder in the air suddenly grew stronger.

The paper talisman on Da Shan’s forehead seemed to have lost its effect. His gaze dimmed, and though he had already reached the end, he groggily tried to turn back.

Mo Hua, walking behind Da Shan, saw the situation and knew there was no time to waste. He kicked Da Shan back with a swift motion.

His strength wasn’t great, but Da Shan, in his dazed state, was easily pushed back.

Mo Hua then leapt onto the ground, but a sudden sense of foreboding struck him. He turned to look back and saw that the scholar’s eyes also looked off.

He seemed to have inhaled too much illusion powder. Desire surged within him, his breathing grew rapid, and he muttered something under his breath as his foot was about to step in the wrong place.

Seeing this, Mo Hua’s heart skipped a beat. However, spells could not be used in the mechanism passage. He immediately widened his eyes and sent out a Divine-Dread Sword toward scholar.

Not daring to use too much force, he employed only the faintest trace of Divine Sense intent in this Divine-Dread Sword, just enough to jolt the scholar awake.

Startled by the strike, Scholar visibly regained some clarity and quickly realized how dangerously close he had come to losing his rationality, and nearly stepped into danger.

Cold sweat dripped down his back as he slowly let out a sigh of relief.

But at that exact moment, a pink sachet embroidered with orchids suddenly appeared before him.

From within the sachet drifted a alluringly seductive fragrance, a blend of cosmetics and a woman’s body scent, a familiar, tender, and lingering aroma that Scholar knew all too well.

The scholar froze. His mind, which had just regained clarity, began to sink once more.

As if recalling certain intimate memories, his expression turned intoxicated, and he murmured softly, “Miao’er… you… wait for me…”

He reached out, trying to touch the sachet.

But the sachet was suddenly tossed into the distance.

Scholar’s expression changed, and as if his soul had been snatched away, he lunged for the sachet. Yet the moment he took a step forward, his foot triggered a mechanism.

The floor tiles beneath him instantly transformed, like a demon opening its maw, clamping down tightly on Scholar’s foot.

The pain jolted him back to his senses once more.

The scholar struggled desperately, but couldn’t break free. At the same time, a whistling sound tore through the air as three flaming arrows shot forward with immense force, piercing his chest.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His face turned deathly pale as he realized his fate.

Then, more mechanisms were triggered.

Water blades slashed, fire bolts from repeating crossbows rained down, thorned rollers crushed, poisoned wooden bindings constricted, massive stones grinders pressed down…

Layer upon layer of Third-Grade mechanisms brutally tortured his body, crushing him into a mangled mass of flesh and blood.

The “scholar,” who had studied mechanisms his entire life and robbed tombs for most of it, ultimately died within the Mechanism Formation of a tomb, his death tragic and miserable.

Mo Hua watched silently, then turned his gaze elsewhere.

On the other side, Old Mo, already ashore, quietly tucked a storage bag into his robes, then turned back, looking at Mo Hua with a calm expression.