Chapter 436: Corpse Refinement

Sitú Fang laughed and cried at the same time. “Who taught you to say that?”

“Elder Yu!”

“The Elder Yu from the Tōngxiān City demon hunting expedition?”

“Mm.” Mo Hua nodded.

Sitú Fang sighed and agreed, “Elder Yu speaks wisely. You should listen to him more in the future, and not your Uncle Zhang.”

Mo Hua nodded outwardly, but inwardly grumbled, “That’s because you’ve never heard Elder Yu curse someone, or you wouldn’t say that…”

Sitú Fang hadn’t had much contact with Elder Yu, so she didn’t really know what kind of elder he was.

She probably imagined him as a venerable, kindly, and gentle senior…

Mo Hua shook his head and said, “Let the zombies burn. Zhang Quan has done so many evil deeds—there will definitely be other leads. We can find them later.”

“Though this isn’t entirely bad,” Mo Hua continued after a moment, “at least now we know the Director’s crooked, so next time we can be more careful.”

“Mm.”

Sitú Fang nodded, feeling a little better.

She had been busy all day yesterday and was exhausted. She had rested only briefly, and then the Director secretly sabotaged everything, leaving her efforts wasted.

Sitú Fang felt frustrated, guilty, and apologetic toward Mo Hua.

But Mo Hua didn’t mind at all. Instead, he comforted her.

What a good kid…

Sitú Fang solemnly said, “This time it’s my fault. I owe you one. Next time, if you need help, just tell me.”

Mo Hua smiled warmly, “Okay!”

After sending Sitú Fang away, Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi emerged—they had been eavesdropping the whole time.

Bai Zisheng asked, “We kept a few zombies. Should we tell Sister Sitú?”

“Not yet.”

“Why? She’s on our side, right?” Bai Zisheng was puzzled.

Mo Hua considered Sitú Fang’s safety. “Better to let Sister Sitú handle the aftermath later. She’s only at Qi Refining, while Zhang Quan is at Foundation Establishment and a corpse cultivator. A direct fight would be dangerous for her.”

Bai Zisheng thought for a moment and said, “True.”

Bai Zixi nodded as well.

The three of them didn’t realize that even they themselves were only at Qi Refining…

The matter of the zombies was temporarily resolved.

The Dao Court Division had destroyed evidence and left no leads. Officially, the incident was considered closed.

No one knew, however, that Mo Hua had secretly kept a few zombies. Nor did anyone know why he kept them…

In a small side room,

Mo Hua placed two coffins in front of him.

Inside were the zombies he had stolen.

The surrounding area was covered with formations he had drawn:

Soundproofing, air-sealing, earth-fixing, subterranean fire, earthen prison, wood-binding…

Bai Zisheng looked around and asked, “Isn’t this a bit over the top?”

Mo Hua’s face was serious. “When a lion hunts a rabbit, it gives full effort. Everything must be meticulous. No mistakes can be allowed…”

Bai Zisheng glanced at the formations again, speechless.

This is way too meticulous…

It looked like some tangled Spider Cave…

Mo Hua’s divine sense had twelve strands now, and his formation skills were far above first-grade.

These casually drawn first-grade formations were countless layers deep, layered one over another.

Bai Zisheng thought Mo Hua was just itching to draw formations for fun.

Mo Hua wasn’t quite satisfied yet.

He inspected the formations again, and seeing empty corners, added more, filling the entire side room.

Now it looked complete…

He nodded and began “opening the coffins for inspection.”

Bai Zisheng opened a coffin. The zombies lay stiff and motionless.

Mo Hua, unfamiliar with zombie behavior, asked Bai Zixi, “Little Senior Sister, do zombies not move?”

Bai Zixi explained, “There are many types. Some arise naturally, some are artificially refined…”

“Natural zombies form from accumulated resentment, gathered yin, and filth over years, eventually becoming corpses. They are ferocious, bloodthirsty, and will kill and eat anything alive.”

“Artificially refined zombies are weaker. They require a cultivator to control them with a dark artifact. If uncontrolled, they usually remain dormant in their coffins, cultivating corpse energy, only showing minimal instinctual movement…”

“But if they lose control, they behave like natural zombies, drawn to blood and flesh, killing and devouring…”

“Oh,” Mo Hua nodded repeatedly, then pointed to the coffins. “These ones aren’t out of control, right?”

“They are.” Bai Zixi said.

Mo Hua froze. “They are?”

Bai Zixi nodded. “They’re out of control, but these low-level zombies are weak and have exhausted their corpse energy. Even uncontrolled, they can’t move—unless…”

“Unless you feed them blood?” Mo Hua asked.

“Mm, anything with blood energy will do.”

“And then?”

Bai Zixi’s eyes glimmered. “They will revive and continuously hunt for flesh to feed on…”

Mo Hua frowned. “Still dangerous…”

Then he asked hesitantly, “If bitten by a zombie, can someone turn into one?”

“Possibly.”

“Why only possibly?”

Bai Zixi explained, “Zombies carry corpse poison.”

Mo Hua frowned. “Corpse poison?”

Bai Zixi raised a tiny finger. “It’s essentially corpse energy, similar to spiritual energy but inherently wicked. It corrupts a cultivator’s blood, causing them to become a zombie.”

“Low or weak corpse poison only causes minor transformation.”

“But if the poison is strong or enters the heart meridian, the cultivator can fully turn into a zombie.”

She warned, “You mustn’t get bitten. You’re weak, and the poison would hit harder.”

“Mm-hm.” Mo Hua nodded repeatedly.

He began thinking of ways to control zombies and avoid being bitten to prevent chaos in battle.

But that could wait.

“How is an artificial zombie made?” Mo Hua asked after a moment.

“They need blood, filth, some evil herbs, and a refinement coffin—also called a nurturing coffin,” Bai Zixi said.

“I’ve never refined one myself, so I don’t know the exact method.”

Ordinary family disciples were forbidden from learning dark or demonic arts to avoid corrupting their hearts. Only later, when traveling or seeking education, would they be warned about evil techniques to prevent falling victim to them.

Mo Hua looked at Bai Zixi, impressed. She was like a refined encyclopedia of cultivation knowledge. “Little Senior Sister, you know so much!”

Bai Zixi remained calm, only her clear eyes showing a hint of pride.

Bai Zisheng snorted. “Brown-noser.”

“I don’t know…” Bai Zisheng muttered, feeling inferior in knowledge.

Mo Hua patted him on the shoulder. “It’s important to know your limits…”

Bai Zisheng finally registered this and couldn’t help scratching Mo Hua’s small head.

With an understanding of corpse refinement, Mo Hua turned to studying formations.

First, the coffins.

These were refinement coffins, combining corpse refinement, storage, and nurturing—a kind of dark spiritual tool.

Each zombie had its own coffin.

Coffin quality matched zombie rank: wooden, iron, bronze, or gold.

Mo Hua couldn’t help grumbling.

In life, rank matters; in death, coffins are also ranked. How meticulous…

Zhang Quan ran a coffin shop. These coffins were probably his own work.

But the formations weren’t his.

Zhang Quan wasn’t a formation master.

Mo Hua examined the coffin formations, frowning.

They weren’t absolute arrays, only ordinary earth-based dark arrays.

The array core was earth-based, with human blood ink, powdered bones, and other foul substances.

Array conduits were bone fragments inlaid in the coffin.

Array eyes were decayed hearts, possibly preserved or refined, with mixed blood, filth, and spiritual energy to power the corpse array.

The arrays were gruesome but primitive in principle.

Mo Hua wasn’t impressed.

What truly concerned him were the formations at the zombies’ heart meridians.

If he guessed correctly, that array was a true absolute array.

He called, “Little Senior Brother.”

Bai Zisheng nodded, then grimaced, suppressing nausea as he used a dagger to carefully cut open the zombie chests, revealing formations embedded in flesh and blood.

Mo Hua observed and recorded on paper, extending his divine sense to calculate and deduce the array patterns.

The process was slow and prone to error. Mistakes required starting over.

Mo Hua spent the entire day analyzing all the corpses, comparing them, and finally reconstructed a complete array.

He studied the diagram gravely.

It indeed contained twelve patterns.

A true first-grade twelve-pattern absolute array!

But he didn’t dare practice it—it was likely a dark formation for corpse refinement…

I can’t learn it to refine corpses myself…