Chapter 457: Uprising

Chapter 458: Uprising

Afterwards, Mo Hua spent several days “digesting” Iron Corpse Elder, purifying its evil intent, and his Divine-Sense grew by a significant margin.

“Truly worthy of Iron-Corpse Elder, his Divine-Sense is comparable to Foundation Establishment…”

Mo Hua felt immense joy in his heart.

With his Divine-Sense strengthened, and with the Divine-Sense manifesting during battles—condensing spiritual energy into spells and formations—Mo Hua’s control over spiritual energy became far more precise, and his understanding of the Spirit-Pivot Formation deepened another layer.

But it stopped there.

No matter how much he practiced or contemplated afterward, he couldn’t grasp anything further.

His insight into the Spirit-Pivot Formation had hit a bottleneck.

Mo Hua pondered and felt this likely wasn’t his own limitation.

After all, studying the Spirit-Pivot Formation, whether in terms of Divine-Sense consumption or comprehension of the laws, hadn’t reached a point of exhaustion or extreme difficulty.

If he had hit a bottleneck now, it had to be the formation itself.

The Spirit-Pivot Formation in his hands was incomplete.

An incomplete formation cannot fully reveal the essence of spiritual energy.

“It seems I need to find a complete Spirit-Pivot Formation…”

Mo Hua silently resolved.

For the time being, his first task was still to handle the “zombie” diagram from the Zhang family.

He would “devour” the zombies in the diagram one by one, from weakest to strongest.

Using battle to cultivate battle—consuming the disciples, strengthening his Divine-Sense, and ultimately confronting the progenitor of the zombies.

That would be Zhang Quan’s ancient ancestor.

However, according to Iron-Corpse Elder, this zombie progenitor had many tricks up its sleeve.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

He needed to find out its full capabilities to devise a proper strategy.

Moreover, he wasn’t yet fully adept at manifesting Divine-Sense.

Though previous encounters had allowed him to manifest spells and formations with some semblance, Mo Hua was still not satisfied.

The manifested spiritual energy didn’t feel real enough;

The manifested spells lacked full potency;

And the manifested formations were still a bit slow…

At this level, dealing with minor zombies was easy.

Even facing Iron-Corpse Elder, he could barely suppress him.

But facing the Zhang family’s zombie progenitor, Mo Hua felt uncertain.

For ordinary cultivators, the Zhang clan—filled with evil intent and zombies, having devoured countless people—was already extremely powerful.

Being able to suppress the walking dead and Tie Shi was already impressive.

But Mo Hua felt that, as Mister Zhuang’s disciple, he had to excel.

Since his master had taught him Divine-Sense manifestation, he had to master it perfectly, or he would disgrace his master and fail to live up to his expectations.

Thus, his Divine-Sense must be cultivated to the utmost.

The manifestation of Divine-Sense must also reach its peak!

Manifesting spells and formations requires a foundation in spiritual energy manifestation.

And manifesting spiritual energy requires understanding its true essence.

The deeper the understanding, the more authentic the manifestation, and the stronger its power.

Understanding the essence of spiritual energy involves the Spirit-Pivot Formation.

So while “devouring” zombies, Mo Hua also began preparing to find the complete Spirit-Pivot Formation.

Besides, the Spirit-Pivot Formation was also connected to a traitor from the Little Lingyin Sect.

Instructor Yan had spent most of his life trying to resolve this sect feud.

His lifelong obsession was to recover the Spirit-Pivot Formation and personally eliminate the traitor who betrayed his master and destroyed the sect.

Instructor Yan had shown Mo Hua great favor.

A drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring.

If the mastermind behind the mining zombies truly was that traitor from the Little Lingyin Sect, Mo Hua didn’t mind letting the deserving die their due death.

…

Clues to the Spirit-Pivot Formation were hidden with Zhang Quan, who was imprisoned in the Dao Court Division.

In recent days, Mo Hua’s focus had been entirely on catching zombies.

But he had kept an eye on the news from the Dao Court Division.

When Situ Fang and Situ Jin came to deliver gifts, Mo Hua casually inquired indirectly.

The gifts from Situ Fang included formation diagrams and some formation manuals.

This had been agreed upon beforehand.

It was both a token of gratitude from Situ Fang and a gesture of goodwill from the Situ family.

Merit deserves reward.

He had greatly helped with the Walking Dead Village incident.

Moreover, it was related to formations.

Mo Hua accepted the gifts without hesitation.

Besides that, there were some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, the Situ family’s spiritual fruit specialties, and various kinds of spiritual meat.

Not particularly valuable, but thoughtfully prepared.

Mo Hua accepted them as well.

The spiritual fruits could be made into pastries for his Little Senior Sister.

The spiritual meat would be stewed for his Master and Little Senior Brother.

There were also some strange fruits of unknown taste, but since they looked crisp, Mo Hua planned to fry them for Elder Kui to try…

After receiving the gifts, sharing tea, and exchanging a few pleasantries, Mo Hua asked:

“How is Zhang Quan over there?”

Situ Jin hesitated.

Situ Fang paused, then shook her head:

“We couldn’t get anything out of him…”

“Did you use punishment?”

“Yes,” sighed Situ Fang, “five or six sticks were broken, but he wouldn’t speak, not a single word.”

Mo Hua asked in confusion, “Doesn’t he feel pain?”

Situ Jin frowned and explained:

“It seems to be a special technique, making the flesh stiff and the senses numb, so he doesn’t feel pain.”

“What about other methods?” Mo Hua thought for a moment and added:

“I remember Uncle Zhang told me that Dao Court Division punishments are varied—fingers can be clamped, meridians cut, eyes poisoned…”

“What exactly did Zhang Lan tell you…”

Situ Fang mentally groaned.

She made a note of Mo Hua’s words.

Next time she went to complain at the Zhang family, Zhang Lan’s “crimes” would add another entry.

Then Situ Fang said helplessly:

“We tried, but it didn’t work.”

“Alright…”

Mo Hua felt a bit disappointed.

“I’ll try to ask again; if Zhang Quan says anything, I’ll let you know,” said Situ Fang.

“Mm, thank you, Sister Situ!”

Mo Hua nodded.

After Situ Fang and Situ Jin left, Mo Hua pondered:

“How can I get Zhang Quan to confess?”

Could a formation be used for punishment…?

Before Mo Hua could figure it out, two nights later, chaos erupted in Nanyue City.

The streets were crowded with people and dotted with fires.

There were loud shouts from cultivators and dense fluctuations of spiritual energy.

Mo Hua heard the commotion, but he was in his Sea of Consciousness capturing zombies and couldn’t be distracted, so he ignored it.

The next day, Situ Fang arrived.

She was injured and looked haggard.

Mo Hua asked with concern:

“Sister Situ, what happened?”

Situ Fang regretfully said:

“Zhang Quan is dead.”

Mo Hua was stunned, “Dead?”

Situ Fang sighed:

“At midnight last night, cultivators raided the prison, dressed in black and acting covertly. By the time the Dao Court Division noticed, it was too late…”

Indeed, the Dao Court Division had been lax in defense.

But more importantly, no one expected someone to be bold enough to raid the Dao Court prison.

This was defiance against the Dao Court.

If discovered, those responsible would be punished and implicated!

Mo Hua’s expression turned serious, asking:

“Did they raid the prison to rescue Zhang Quan?”

Situ Fang nodded.

Mo Hua was puzzled: “If it was to rescue Zhang Quan, why did he still die?”

Situ Fang explained:

“The battle was chaotic. No one knows who, but Zhang Quan was stabbed with a single sword, then a fire was set, burning almost half of the Dao prison along with Zhang Quan’s body…”

Mo Hua frowned, “Stabbed with a single sword… That person must be Foundation Establishment.”

“Yes,” Situ Fang also frowned. “There were Foundation Establishment cultivators in the prison raid, Foundation Establishment in the Dao Court Division, and other sects and clans. When they heard of the chaos, Foundation Establishment came to assist…”

“In the confusion, no one knows who killed Zhang Quan, nor who set the fire.”

“This is… strange,” Mo Hua thought.

Situ Fang nodded:

“I suspect the raid was a pretense; the real goal was to kill him and cover it up.”

“What happened to those raiders later?” Mo Hua asked.

Situ Fang sighed helplessly:

“All of them died too.”

Mo Hua gaped in surprise, “All of them?”

“Yes.”

“Really… not a single survivor?”

“Yes,” Situ Fang sighed. “Even those dead raiders might not have truly been raiders.”

“What about their identities?”

“Still under investigation, but may yield nothing.”

Mo Hua frowned, murmuring: “All dead…?”

“Then the Dao Court Division must bear much responsibility for this,” Mo Hua asked again.

A prison raid like this should be thoroughly investigated.

Situ Fang thought for a moment, then shook her head:

“Hard to say…”

Indeed, two days later, the matter quietly fizzled out.

Situ Fang found Mo Hua, her expression a mix of anger and helplessness.

From her, Mo Hua learned the outcome.

The Nanyue City Qianzhang Division’s report to the Dao Court read:

“In the 20,025th year of the Dao Calendar, April 1st…

Unknown black-clad cultivators raided the prisoners, but were swiftly suppressed by the Dao Court Division. Prisoner Zhang Quan died; all raiders executed.

Half of the Dao prison damaged; one death and ten injuries among the staff… Two thousand eight hundred thirty-six spirit stones needed for compensation…”

Though the prison was raided, all raiders and the prisoner were dead.

The Dao Court Division paid some cost but maintained its reputation.

Overall, merits and faults balanced out.

Even if pursued, there was nothing to pursue, since everyone was dead…

At most, some minor reprimand.

Mo Hua was shocked.

This was audacious and meticulous.

Clearly committing a bold prison raid, yet accounting to both superiors and subordinates.

In the end, major incidents became minor, minor matters resolved…

Mo Hua’s gaze was intriguing.

The big fish behind the scenes had surfaced.

But it bit the hook, ate the bait, broke the line, and swam away…