Chapter 476: The Little Zombie

Chapter 477: The Little Zombie

Mo Hua wanted to sneak into the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation altar without Lu Chengyun or Zhang Quan noticing, passing through two gates.

One gate was the hall’s door.

The other gate was the mural inside the hall.

The hall’s door was easy enough, but the mural was tricky.

First, he didn’t know the hand seals or incantations Zhang Quan used.

And Zhang Quan wouldn’t reveal them.

Even if Zhang Quan told him, Mo Hua couldn’t be sure that copying it blindly would actually open the mural.

That zombie mural, like the Inkless Screen in the Walking Corpse Stronghold, was probably a spiritual artifact acting as a gate lock.

If it was a spiritual artifact, it must contain a formation.

Such formations weren’t Five-Element formations, so they were beyond Mo Hua’s expertise.

Even if he wanted to solve it, he had no way.

And even if he could, Lu Chengyun would surely notice.

He had already detected when Mo Hua dismantled the hall’s Dust-Revealing Formation, let alone the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation altar entrance, with the zombie mural, a highly secretive gate lock formation.

Forcefully breaking the formation was out of the question.

In the Walking Corpse Stronghold, Mo Hua smashed a screen with his thousand-pound staff.

But this place wasn’t the same; he couldn’t just grab something and run.

Besides, the corpse mine was sealed—he couldn’t escape.

Smash the mural and storm the altar, and even Lu Chengyun, no matter how slow, would know Mo Hua harbored ill intentions.

“What should I do?”

Mo Hua was troubled.

How could he bypass the mural and enter the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Altar?

He thought about it whenever he had the chance.

But no matter how long he pondered, no good solution appeared—until one day, after entering the mural, he discovered that Zhang Quan had set a mechanism that closed the mural’s door.

Mo Hua was stunned.

A mechanism?

This mural had a mechanism?

He hadn’t noticed it before.

Looking closer, he saw it was a simple stone sluice gate, plain and unremarkable. Zhang Quan hadn’t used it, so Mo Hua hadn’t even realized it existed.

Mo Hua frowned.

This meant the mural was difficult to enter from the outside.

One needed to know the method, perform the hand seals, recite the incantations, and open the mural to manifest the zombie’s gaping mouth.

But exiting from the inside was easy: just pull the sluice gate.

Defend against outsiders, but not insiders…

Mo Hua considered it and realized it made sense.

The only ones who could enter were Lu Chengyun or Zhang Quan.

Even a half-outsider like himself was under their watchful eyes—nothing to worry about.

So they only guarded against outside intruders, not those already inside.

Setting obstacles outside was logical.

Setting them inside would be unnecessary.

Mo Hua, as a formation master, always focused on complex formations, never considering such a simple mechanism.

It was a case of missing what’s right under the lamp.

He nodded, reminding himself:

Being a formation master doesn’t mean you can only see formations.

Sometimes, complex problems have simple solutions.

To enter the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Altar, someone could simply pull the sluice gate…

But Mo Hua froze.

This seemed simple, but…

Who would pull the sluice for him?

He couldn’t expect Lu Chengyun to open it for him.

Mo Hua realized: as a formation master, most of the time, he still had to rely on formations…

This seemingly simple problem might still require a complex formation to solve.

…

For the next few days, Mo Hua searched for an opportunity.

Finally, one day, Lu Chengyun paused his formation work halfway and stepped out for a moment.

Mo Hua immediately got up, keeping his distance from Zhang Quan.

Zhang Quan frowned: “What are you doing?”

“Staying away from you,” Mo Hua replied.

Zhang Quan’s eyes darkened: “What do you mean?”

“I’m afraid you’ll harm me.”

Mo Hua spoke confidently.

It wasn’t a secret that Zhang Quan hated him.

Zhang Quan snorted coldly: “I’m not that petty.”

“That’s hard to say. Appearances can be deceiving; your face shows nothing, but your heart hides ill intentions,” Mo Hua said.

Zhang Quan’s gaze turned cold: “Little brat, you’d better not anger me.”

“So what if I do?”

Mo Hua snorted and, in front of Zhang Quan, activated his concealment technique, gradually vanishing.

Zhang Quan was startled.

What was this little brat doing?

He looked around but saw no trace of Mo Hua.

Even scanning with Divine-Sense revealed nothing.

After a while, there was still no movement.

It seemed Mo Hua had only hidden to avoid him.

Zhang Quan cursed inwardly:

“This little brat is way too cautious—giving me zero chance!”

He gritted his teeth and called out:

“Where are you?”

“Come out!”

“I’m following Brother Lu’s instructions, won’t trouble you, don’t worry…”

“Come out quickly…”

…

Mo Hua ignored him.

In a secluded corner of the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation, the hidden Mo Hua quietly opened a coffin.

Though only a reduced formation, the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation was vast.

Many coffins were arranged inside, with a luxurious altar above.

Mo Hua, small and light, concealed, used the coffins and altar as cover; Zhang Quan couldn’t detect him.

Inside one coffin was a small zombie Mo Hua had observed for days and deliberately chosen.

This zombie wasn’t very old, maybe seventeen or eighteen, recently turned by Zhang Quan. Its Spirit-Pivot Formation on the chest was new.

Seventeen- or eighteen-year-old cultivators…

Whether wrongfully killed, killed by corpse cultivators, or by the Lu family, they were turned into zombies after death to commit crimes.

Mo Hua sighed slightly.

Time was limited, so he focused on the Spirit-Pivot Formation at the little zombie’s heart meridian.

The formation contained some unique array markings.

Mo Hua hadn’t noticed this before.

His previous Spirit-Pivot Formations were generally uniform.

After comparing several complete Spirit-Pivot Formation diagrams with what he secretly observed of Lu Chengyun, he realized his understanding had gaps.

Some details had escaped him.

This detail was the array marking.

Different Spirit-Pivot Formations—or even the same type—had a special sequence marking, unique and distinguishing.

Mo Hua had noticed it before but hadn’t thought much of it.

He assumed the marking had no special meaning.

No matter how it was drawn, it didn’t affect the Spirit-Pivot Formation’s operation.

But after days of study and comparing with most Spirit-Pivot Formations in the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation, Mo Hua gradually understood.

This marking was crucial, used to identify the Spirit-Pivot Formation’s identity—a kind of “array code.”

The same Spirit-Pivot Formation shared the same sequence marking, the “array code.”

Within the same type, the main marking was identical, with minor variations—strokes added or removed, directions reversed—to distinguish the sequence.

Only with these “array codes” could the Spirit-Pivot Formation control layers according to weight.

Walking corpses, iron corpses, and zombies in bronze coffins used the same “code,” layer by layer, controlling them all.

But the little tigers Mo Hua created were different.

He had copied formations from the walking and iron corpses, but Lu Chengyun used forbidden formation techniques, while Mo Hua used orthodox methods.

Thus, their sequence markings differed invisibly.

Lu Chengyun could control zombies but not Mo Hua’s little tigers.

Mo Hua could control the little tigers but not the corpses in the mine.

Unless… he altered the zombies’ sequence markings.

Changing the sequence markings changed the code, effectively changing the authority.

Mo Hua now aimed to modify the special sequence marking on the little zombie, which distinguished weight and identified its position.

He chose only one small walking corpse.

Walking corpses weren’t iron corpses.

The mine had many, and the Spirit-Pivot Formation’s lower-level markings were numerous.

Adding or removing one would go unnoticed by Lu Chengyun.

More importantly, Lu Chengyun never expected another cultivator could learn the Spirit-Pivot Formation, sneak into the corpse mine, and secretly modify his formation “code.”

For Mo Hua, altering a lower-level marking was easy.

With a few strokes, he modified the array.

He removed this little zombie from the formation’s sequence.

Then he added a marking of his own—the same code he used for the little tigers.

Now the little zombie was controlled by Mo Hua’s big tiger’s Spirit-Pivot Formation.

Outwardly, it still looked like a zombie.

But in the formation’s sequence, it was no longer a “little zombie” but a “little tiger.”

After finishing, Mo Hua returned to his original position and continued drawing the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation’s array nodes.

He deliberately drew this node slowly, buying more time.

Now it was almost done.

Zhang Quan was still calling for Mo Hua to “come out,” but when he looked, Mo Hua was focused on drawing the formation.

Zhang Quan narrowed his eyes: “You’re not running?”

Mo Hua sneered: “Run? You wouldn’t dare touch me.”

Zhang Quan was furious: “Then just now…”

Mo Hua smiled: “I was bored, just teasing you.”

Then he smirked: “Who knew you were so dumb, like a fool, couldn’t find me at all—so boring.”

Zhang Quan was about to explode.

Lu Chengyun appeared at the door.

Zhang Quan had to suppress his anger. He wanted to speak ill of Mo Hua to Lu Chengyun, but realized anything against Mo Hua wouldn’t be believed.

And Mo Hua had truly done nothing…

Hiding and teasing him?

Even saying it would be embarrassing.

Zhang Quan had no choice but to stay silent.

Lu Chengyun saw the tension and didn’t react, as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, in a secluded corner of the vast Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation, an ordinary coffin held a small walking corpse whose sequence marking had been tampered with.

Lu Chengyun had no way of knowing.

At night, after evading Lu Chengyun’s Divine-Sense, Mo Hua again concealed himself and quietly approached the hall.

The hall’s door was locked.

Mo Hua released his Divine-Sense, found no one around, and secretly controlled the big tiger.

The big tiger, left in the hall corner during the day, now, guided by Mo Hua, leapt to the door, pushed the latch, and opened it.

The hall’s door was simple.

Opening it from the inside didn’t trigger any formation.

Mo Hua entered the hall and approached the mural.

He then used his Divine-Sense to control the big tiger, which, through its Spirit-Pivot Formation, activated the little zombie’s formation.

The sequence markings matched, the array codes aligned.

The big tiger could now control the little zombie.

This indirect control was subtler and harder for Lu Chengyun to detect.

After a while, Mo Hua sensed the connection with the little zombie’s formation.

He guided the little zombie, who pushed open the coffin lid, slowly got up, and walked to the entrance, pulling the wall’s sluice gate.

Meanwhile, on the mural, ink merged chaotically, gradually forming a half-human, half-corpse face.

The face was stern and harsh, with greedy, terrifying eyes.

Its gaping mouth became the mural’s entrance.

Mo Hua studied the face, memorized it, then brightened and stepped into the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Altar.

Inside were the Ten-Thousand-Corpse Formation, golden altar, and bronze coffins…

During the day, he had been restricted.

At night, unseen, he could act freely.