Chapter 483: Ungrateful Wolf
Chapter 484: Ungrateful Wolf
Lu Chengyun walked into the altar, opened the bronze coffin, and began drawing the formation.
As the head of the family, Lu Chengyun was usually busy. Occasionally, if something came up during the day, he would return to the altar at night to draw the Spiritual-Pivot Blood Formation.
Mo Hua, seeing that he hadn’t noticed him, let out a slight sigh of relief.
It seemed Lu Chengyun’s Divine Sense was indeed weaker than his own; without careful attention, his concealment couldn’t be easily detected.
Still, he couldn’t afford carelessness or expose himself.
If Lu Chengyun discovered him sneaking into the altar in the middle of the night, no matter what he said, Lu Chengyun would never trust him again. Most likely, he would kill him and turn him into a small zombie.
Mo Hua obediently stayed hidden behind the altar.
Lu Chengyun continued drawing the formation, completely unaware that someone else was present.
In the silent altar, the only sounds were the faint rustling of brush on paper and the slight dampness of ink.
Once Lu Chengyun focused on the formation, he became entirely absorbed. Mo Hua stole glances at him from the corner of his eye.
Lu Chengyun didn’t notice. Mo Hua nodded slightly.
The Spiritual-Pivot Formation was difficult to draw.
It required absolute concentration, consuming a large amount of Divine Sense. All of one’s focus had to be on the formation lines, leaving no room for distractions.
Mo Hua, however, didn’t dare be overt. He kept his mind calm and clear, free of any emotion, killing intent, or stray thoughts, observing Lu Chengyun’s work with a serene and unobtrusive gaze.
His Divine Sense remained pure and lucid, unlikely to attract attention.
Although Lu Chengyun’s formation was also a Spiritual-Pivot Evil Formation, it differed slightly from the versions drawn during the day.
Lu Chengyun was highly suspicious.
Even though he thought Mo Hua couldn’t understand or learn the formation, he still left certain variations and modifications when drawing it in front of him. Extra formation lines, altered formation nodes, subtle differences in some of the more sinister techniques.
Mo Hua suddenly understood.
Earlier, when he had observed Lu Chengyun drawing formations, he thought the deviations were mistakes or simply deviations from standard methods. Now he realized Lu Chengyun had been deliberately misleading him.
“Truly cunning…”
What Lu Chengyun didn’t know was that Mo Hua had already learned most of the Spiritual-Pivot Formation before this. Later, when Lu Chengyun demonstrated the Spiritual-Pivot Formation in front of him, Mo Hua memorized the remaining portions in just a few glances.
He didn’t need to watch Lu Chengyun draw to have learned the formation. Observing was purely to fill gaps, spot any backdoors, not to truly learn from him.
All of Lu Chengyun’s schemes were wasted effort.
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
Lu Chengyun’s caution reminded him of one thing: the Spiritual-Pivot Absolute Formation was Lu Chengyun’s core secret. It allowed him to control the Corpse King and command the horde of zombies. It was his lifeline.
He would never teach it to anyone, including Mo Hua. Any prior promise to teach him was just empty words.
Mo Hua’s mind tensed.
Lu Chengyun probably still believed he was the only person in the entire Xiaohuang Prefecture who could understand the Spiritual-Pivot Formation sequence.
He was the king of the Corpse Kings.
So Mo Hua absolutely could not let Lu Chengyun discover that he had learned the formation. If he did, Lu Chengyun would see that Mo Hua could disrupt his control over the Iron Corpses and walking corpses, and he would be killed without mercy.
No matter how talented Mo Hua was, it wouldn’t matter.
“Even if I were his father, he’d still find a way to kill me…” Mo Hua thought silently.
A person capable of betraying and murdering his master, killing to craft corpses—there was no hope for conscience.
Mo Hua took the opportunity to further observe Lu Chengyun’s techniques.
With no one else in the altar, Lu Chengyun no longer held back, drawing the Spiritual-Pivot Evil Formation with full focus.
He used a bone brush, dipped in human blood, on the bronze coffin.
A green light glimmered in his eyes, as if channeling some sinister Divine Sense.
Thanks to this, Lu Chengyun’s strokes were skilled and swift.
Mo Hua was somewhat surprised. The methods of the Evil Formation were indeed effective.
If a formation master lacked comprehension and couldn’t draw complete formation lines, they might rely on unconventional materials—human skin, blood, bones—to assist their work. Cultivators were naturally attuned to spiritual energy, and using human materials reduced difficulty and increased power.
But these were just shortcuts—essentially, cheating.
Mo Hua nodded.
Lu Chengyun’s formation skill was still slightly inferior to his own; after all, Mo Hua had drawn the Spiritual-Pivot Formation properly, without shortcuts.
“Seems I’m quite capable…” Mo Hua felt a faint sense of pride.
Lu Chengyun continued his work.
Mo Hua continued to observe him from the corner of his eye.
While watching, he began to wonder: how exactly did Lu Chengyun refine the Corpse King? If the altar offered the corpse of the Lu family ancestor, “Lu Bopi,” then what was sealed in this bronze coffin?
Lu Chengyun drew the Spiritual-Pivot Evil Formation over and over, seemingly deepening it as part of the refinement process.
But with the corpse already on the altar, where was the formation being deepened? Or was this Corpse King special—a unique method of refinement?
As Mo Hua pondered, Lu Chengyun finished a formation and, drained of Divine Sense, paused to rest.
In the empty altar, he meditated briefly, then suddenly furrowed his brow, opened his eyes sharply, and said coldly:
“Watching me again?”
Mo Hua jumped.
“Discovered?”
Lu Chengyun turned suddenly, icy gaze fixed on the altar.
Mo Hua curled into a small ball, calming his mind, suppressing his presence, remaining silent.
Lu Chengyun slowly rose, stepped to the altar, and sneered:
“Are you… still restless in death?”
Mo Hua froze.
Restless in death? Not talking about him?
Lu Chengyun hadn’t noticed him…
Mo Hua slowly relaxed.
“Watching me… restless in death… altar…”
Mo Hua realized immediately. Lu Chengyun thought the Lu family ancestor was watching him! The corpse on the altar was indeed the ancestor, who had been wronged by Lu Chengyun and could not rest peacefully.
“Damn undying thing!”
Alone in the altar, Lu Chengyun tore away his refined exterior, suddenly grotesque and hysterical:
“Greedy fool!”
“Old beast!”
“Despised me because I married in?”
“Belittled me!”
“Called me a dog raised by the Lu family, an untrainable ingrate…”
Lu Chengyun sneered, “But the spiritual stones I mined with the corpses, you still accepted, didn’t you?”
“The ‘dead meat’ my dog brought back, you still ate, didn’t you?”
“Never satisfied…”
“And when I lied to you at the end, promising eternal life through corpse transformation, you actually believed it?”
“Heaven’s way is constant; life and death are not so easily tricked!”
“Becoming a zombie and thinking you’ll live forever? Dream on!”
After venting, he smiled coldly:
“Actually, I should thank you.”
“Thank you for giving birth to that bad and stupid daughter.”
“Thank you for your greed, which allowed me to become head of the Lu family.”
“Otherwise, even with the Spiritual-Pivot Formation, I could never build the corpse mine, the Ten-Thousand Corpses Formation, or refine a Corpse King…”
“This corpse mine was built with your Lu family’s manpower, this Ten-Thousand Corpses Formation with your family’s wealth.”
“Now, it all serves as my wedding gift!”
Lu Chengyun smiled grimly.
“You never expected this…”
“In life, you held power, and I obeyed, serving your Lu family like a beast of burden. Whatever you said was law.”
“But in death, transformed into a zombie, you must obey me, become my servant, my property, my slave.”
“The Lu family still bears the name, but it’s no longer your Lu Tianliang’s ‘Lu,’ it’s my Lu Chengyun’s ‘Lu’!”
After speaking, the altar trembled slightly.
Beneath the yellow cloth, the corpse aura was thick, as if violent energy surged within.
The Lu family ancestor had died, leaving only residual instinct and traces of consciousness.
Lu Chengyun, far from fearing it, was delighted:
“Good!”
“The angrier you are, the stronger the corpse aura, the more the resulting corpse will match my intention!”
The corpse aura surged, then gradually calmed, still carrying traces of discontent.
Lu Chengyun snorted coldly:
“Your time has ended. Once refined into a corpse and bound by the Spiritual-Pivot Formation, you’ll be my servant, trapped forever in my control.”
He then flicked his sleeve and returned to the bronze coffin, meditating to restore his Divine Sense.
Every word, exactly as spoken, was heard by Mo Hua hiding behind the altar.
Mo Hua couldn’t help but admire silently: Lu Chengyun was truly a remarkable person.
The Lu family ancestor had really found a treasure.
Lu Chengyun and the Lu family—a perfect match, like a wolf entering the wolf’s den.