Chapter 1416: Human or Ghost

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Chapter 1414: Human or Ghost

The risk of opening the coffin was far greater than the risk of killing all his companions.

After opening the coffin, it was uncertain what could be gained. But as long as he killed all his companions, then all the Heavenly Crystals would be his…

Once he obtained the Heavenly Crystals, he wouldn’t need to risk his life venturing into the tomb again to reap enormous profits.

Once he obtained the Heavenly Crystals, he wouldn’t need to risk entering tombs anymore and could still reap enormous profits.

Mo Hua pondered silently.

Be greedy when it was time to be greedy, be cautious when it was time to be cautious. Usually low-key and ordinary, but when it came time to strike, decisive and ruthless, holding nothing back, using every method to maximize gains and minimize risk. This kind of decisiveness and cunningness was truly remarkable..

As the saying goes, among any three people, there is always one who can be my teacher.

There were indeed some aspects of Old Mo worth learning.

A faint trace of respect arose in Mo Hua’s heart. He then looked at Old Mo and asked, “So… are you going to kill me now?”

Old Mo smiled. “Young Master jests…”

Mo Hua asked, “If you kill me, you can take all four Heavenly Crystals for yourself. Are you really not tempted to kill me?”

Old Mo found it strange—why was this Young Master Mo so eager for him to kill him?

Still, he shook his head. “This old man is not someone who fails to recognize what’s valuable. No matter how precious Heavenly Crystals are, can they compare to you, Young Master? Besides, I already have three. One more or one less doesn’t make much difference.”.

Old Mo glanced at Mo Hua. “Consider the Heavenly Crystal in your hand as your reward for this journey.”

Mo Hua was somewhat surprised. “You’re being so generous?”

Old Mo nodded. “Naturally.”

Mo Hua asked again, “Then you’ll let me go?”

Old Mo smiled again. “Young Master, your words sound distant… When have I ever ‘detained’ you? Whether above ground or below, you’ve always been free to come and go as you please…”

Mo Hua nodded, about to praise Old Mo a little, when he heard him say:

“However…”

Old Mo took out several pills with red edges and green patterns from his storage bag and said to Mo Hua:

“I have a few pills here. I’d like to ask Young Master to take them…”

Mo Hua silently looked at the somewhat dubious colored pills in Old Mo’s hand and asked, “Poison pills?”

Old Mo said, “Not exactly. They are just slightly toxic. After taking them, you only need to take the antidote regularly. But there’s no need to worry about that, I have plenty of antidotes on me. As long as you stay with me, you won’t lack them…”

Mo Hua’s expression turned odd. “So I should thank you?”

Old Mo’s wrinkled old face bloomed like a chrysanthemum. “Not at all, not at all. It’s just a small effort. Young Master overpraises.”

Mo Hua asked again, “And if I don’t take them?”

The smile on Old Mo’s face faded slightly. He sighed and said slowly, “Young Master, don’t make things difficult for this old man…”

“Following me will only benefit you.”

Mo Hua pointed at Da Shan’s corpse and shook his head. “You even killed Scholar and Da Shan… They worked with you for years and still ended up like this. I’ve only just met you. If I trust you, I might end up the same way someday…”

Old Mo shook his head repeatedly. “How can that be the same?”

With a sincere expression, he said, “Young Master, what is your status? What is your talent? How could Scholar and Da Shan possibly compare to you?”

A young and promising formation master, wandering in the wild, such a person was truly rare.

For the sake of silencing witnesses this time, the Scholar could be killed, Da Shan could be killed, but this “Young Master Mo,” Old Mo truly couldn’t bear to kill him.

He must do everything possible to keep this Young Master Mo under his control.

Old Mo sighed, “If I’m not mistaken, young master, you only have an Inferior-Grade Golden Core with early stage cultivation and know a few spells. You’re as weak as a kitten. Unless absolutely necessary, I really don’t want to resort to force and risk harming your noble body…”

Mo Hua remained expressionless.

Seeing Mo Hua’s expression, Old Mo felt that belittling him like this might damage young master Mo’s goodwill toward him. A thought flashed through his mind, and he added:

“Young Master Mo, are you perhaps interested in the Jade Spring Pavilion?”

Mo Hua’s expression shifted slightly. “Jade Spring Pavilion?”

Old Mo quickly nodded, speaking generously, “I’ll take you to the Jade Spring Pavilion for a good time. The girls there are soft-bodied, tender and supple, skilled in every art of the bed. They’ll surely captivate you, making you forget all else…”

“Uh…” Mo Hua hesitated. “That… doesn’t seem very appropriate…”

With one glance at Mo Hua’s demeanor, Old Mo immediately understood—young and innocent, probably hadn’t experienced women and unaware of their pleasures.

If he were thrown into a den of rouge and powder, immersed in the gentle embrace of flesh for a while, letting him experience the wonders of women and develop a taste for it, he would naturally become easier to “tame.”

Even heroes struggle to resist the allure of beauty.

For such a young and talented man, women were the easiest way to control him. With beauties by his side, there was no worry he wouldn’t be swayed.

Old Mo had seen this kind of thing countless times.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about it,” Old Mo said. “Men and women enjoying each other is only human nature.”

Mo Hua indeed seemed somewhat tempted, but still hesitated. “Then what about Manager Zhao? How do we explain things to him?”

Old Mo shook his head. “Explain what? The dead can’t speak. Who would know what happened in the tomb? After this job, we go our separate way. With these Heavenly Crystals, reaching late-stage Golden Core shouldn’t be a problem. With some luck, we might even glimpse the path to Feathered Ascension…”

Feathered Ascension…

Mo Hua’s heart stirred slightly, but he frowned and said:

“But… Manager Zhao has treated me well. He introduced this deal to me. If I just take the benefits and leave, wouldn’t that be a bit ungrateful?”

Old Mo let out a contemptuous laugh and shook his head.

“Young Master, you’re still too naive…”

“You really think Zhao Dongming is any good? He’s a merchant. Merchants value profit over loyalty. He treats you well only because you’re useful to him. The moment you lose your value, he won’t even spare you a glance…”

“That’s how all merchants in this world are.”

Mo Hua nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Old Mo said, “So? Take my pill and work with me from now on. I guarantee you’ll be surrounded by wealth and beauties every day, enjoying endless luxury and pleasures…”

Mo Hua looked again at the red-and-green pills in Old Mo’s hand and said, “Alright…”

Old Mo’s expression brightened with joy.

“But…” Mo Hua added, “I have one small wish.”

Old Mo frowned. “A wish? What wish?”

Mo Hua pointed toward the tomb door and said:

“You open that tomb door, open the coffin, and then I’ll take the pill and go with you to the Jade Spring Pavilion.”

Old Mo was stunned, then frowned.

“You’re still thinking about what’s inside the coffin? Didn’t I say it already: contentment brings happiness, and know when enough is enough. Earning these few Heavenly Crystals is already more than enough.”

Mo Hua said, “But don’t you want to know what’s inside that coffin?”

Of course Old Mo wanted to know, more than that, he wanted to take it for himself.

But some windfalls required risking one’s life. Old Mo was already rich beyond measure now; he didn’t want to gamble with his life anymore.

He shook his head. “No. This is a tomb of the Earth Sect. It must not be opened. We can’t afford to offend them.”

Mo Hua asked, “Just opening it for a quick look… the Earth Sect won’t find out, right?”

Old Mo sighed helplessly. “Young Master Mo, forget it. Stop while you can. This tomb really must not be opened.”

Here he was, a ruthless grave robber, now advising someone else to stop.

Yet Mo Hua still insisted, “Just open it and take a look…”

“As long as you open the coffin and take a look, just see what’s inside…” Mo Hua tempted him, “In the future, I’ll help you draw formations. Whatever formation you want, I can draw it for you…”

Old Mo sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to open it. But Scholar and Da Shan are dead. I only have one mechanical arm, I can’t open the tomb door, nor the coffin…”

Mo Hua said, “It’s fine. I’ll help you.”

Old Mo was puzzled. “You… help me? How?”

Mo Hua said, “I’ll help you break the formation…”

Old Mo chuckled and shook his head, thinking to himself: You’re only at the early Golden Core stage—how could you break a third-grade formation? You…

But then his expression slowly changed.

Because he saw this young master Mo before him gently raise his hand lightly, and strands of spiritual ink rose from the ground like the hair of a female ghost, swirling around him.

As Young Master Mo pointed a finger, these hair-like strands of Spirit Ink snaked their way onto the tomb door, coalescing into various intricate formations that seeped into the stone wall.

Various dark glimmers flickered and vanished… and then the  formations within the tomb door seemed to melt away…

The scene was indescribably eerie.

Old Mo’s scalp began to tingle.

Suddenly, he recalled certain stories.

It was said… that some malevolent ghosts in tombs could parasitize the flesh of the living, going to great lengths to lure people from the surface to rob tombs for profit, only to kill them inside and devour them as food.

The tomb’s ghostly blue light fell upon Mo Hua’s overly pale and handsome face.

Old Mo’s pupils gradually dilated, his chest tightening, making it hard to breathe.

At that moment, Mo Hua’s voice came again: “It’s done. Try lifting the tomb door again…”

Those words made Old Mo’s very soul tremble.

Old Mo stood there blankly for a moment, silently inhaled a breath of cold air, then nodded. “Alright… I’ll try.”

He got up calmly, walked to the tomb door, and once again wedged his mechanical arm into the crack.

As the mechanism activated, the once extremely heavy tomb door was effortlessly opened.

Yet Old Mo’s heart sank into an icy abyss, devoid of any joy.

Just then, Mo Hua’s voice sounded again beside his ear, “The door’s finally open. Let’s go in…”

This time, there was even a trace of excitement in that voice.

Old Mo held his breath, forcibly suppressing the trembling of his body, and with legs as heavy as lead, step by step, walked into the tomb.

Beyond the door lay the final tomb chamber.

Inside, there was only a crude earthen coffin.

Beneath the coffin was an extremely complex formation. Apart from that, the chamber was completely empty.

Yet the yin energy concentration here was the heaviest, and there was already a faint stench of rotting putrid stench of corpse qi.

Both the yin energy and corpse stench originated from the coffin in the center.

Old Mo’s eyelids began to twitch violently.

Having robbed tombs for years, he knew something was very wrong with this place. Under normal circumstances, he would have turned around and fled immediately… but now, at this moment, he didn’t dare make any rash moves.

And just then, Mo Hua’s voice sounded once more: “Open the coffin.”

Old Mo hesitated. He didn’t want to open it. Yet Mo Hua’s voice seemed to carry a strange, eerie power.

Old Mo found himself involuntarily stepping forward, extending his aged, trembling hand as he rested it on the earthen coffin.

With just a gentle push, the lid opened.

Old Mo’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly held his breath, not daring to make the slightest sound, and slowly leaned in to look inside.

That single glance nearly made his heart stop.

Yet he endured it, not making a single sound.

Mo Hua asked from a distance, “What did you see?”

Old Mo kept his mouth shut, saying nothing.

Mo Hua found it strange, so he slowly walked forward as well, leaned over the tall coffin, and looked inside.

At that glance, Mo Hua’s expression also changed.

There was indeed a corpse lying inside, but at this moment, its abdomen had been sliced open, exposing rotting organs. Its limbs bore numerous knife marks, where flesh had been split apart revealing the bone.

“This…”

Mo Hua felt a slight chill in his heart, unsure what had happened to the tomb’s owner…

Just as he was about to ask Old Mo what could have caused this, he suddenly saw a short dagger pierced through his chest from behind.

Mo Hua slowly turned his head to look at Old Mo.

At some point, Old Mo had already moved behind him, his face twisted with ferocity, using that same sinister dagger—the same one he had used to kill Da Shan—to stab through Mo Hua’s back.

Mo Hua asked slowly, “Why did you kill me…?”

Old Mo’s expression shifted, his eyes filled with fear, delight, and relief, as he said coldly:

“Young Master Mo, I don’t know what you are, but don’t blame me…”

Old Mo curled his lips, about to drive the dagger deeper, but his ferocious expression suddenly froze as he sensed something wrong with the feel of the strike…

He felt none of the solid sensation of a dagger piercing flesh, penetrating a chest, drawing blood, and taking a life.

Instead, the point of impact felt empty, as if… stabbing into a ghost.

Old Mo’s pupils shrank sharply. When he looked up again, he saw Mo Hua’s figure blur, his body distorting, and finally dissolving entirely into a mist of water.

Old Mo’s face twitched several times. He then turned his head… only to see Mo Hua standing at a distance, completely unharmed.

A chill crept into Old Mo’s heart as he asked in a trembling voice, “You… what exactly are you… human or ghost?”

Mo Hua asked in confusion, “Why would you think I’m a ghost?”

Old Mo almost wished he could pull out a mirror and make Mo Hua take a good look at himself… at how eerie he looked in the tomb.

Especially the way he had just drawn those formations.

And that… ghost-like movement technique of unknown origin.

Even if he wasn’t a ghost, he was definitely connected to demons or spirits.

Old Mo just couldn’t be sure whether this Young Master Mo was a ghost cultivator himself, or merely a flesh-and-blood puppet controlled by some demon.

Or perhaps… when this Young Master Mo had still been above ground, he was perfectly normal…

But after entering the tomb, at some unknown moment, he had violated a taboo, allowing some demon or vengeful spirit to invade his Sea of Consciousness, leading to such bizarre behavior?

Regardless of the truth, once targeted by such a sinister existence, there would be no escape unless it was eliminated.

Ghost cultivators, flesh puppets, demonic possession… though intangible, all ultimately relied on a tangible physical body.

“First kill this Young Master Mo’s body, burn it to ashes, grind the bones to dust…”

Driven by fear, Old Mo steeled his resolve and was just about to make a killing move against Mo Hua when suddenly, an inexplicable chill rose along his back again.

Suppressing his terror, Old Mo slowly turned his head to look… Only to see that, at some unknown moment, the corpse inside the coffin had already sat up. A pair of ferocious, rotting eyes were silently staring straight at him…