Chapter 487: Ambition
Chapter 488: Ambition
After a family cultivator dies, they are buried in the ancestral tomb.
Within the ancestral tomb lie the graves of successive family heads, elders, and deeply accomplished cultivators.
The Lu family was no exception.
Among the Lu family’s tombs, there were undoubtedly many Foundation Establishment-level cultivator corpses.
Could it be that Lu Chengyun had really dug up the Lu family ancestral tombs, using the corpses of generations of family heads and elders to refine iron corpses?
Mo Hua drew a small breath of cold air.
This Lu Chengyun really dared to think and act…
To refine corpses, he even dug up the Lu family’s ancestral tombs.
Even if the Lu family patriarch were still alive, he’d probably die of rage…
Mo Hua furrowed his brow further.
But if that were the case, it posed a huge problem.
Over forty iron corpses, tens of thousands of walking corpses.
If they were to confront Lu Chengyun head-on, there would be no chance of victory.
If he called for help…
The Situ family had some foundation, but they surely couldn’t mobilize cultivators capable of matching these zombies.
The Dao Court Division of Nanyue City was in collusion with the Lu family.
If they didn’t interfere, that would already be fortunate.
The largest sect in Nanyue City, the Nanyue Sect, was also closely affiliated with the Lu family.
Even if the Nanyue Sect were not colluding with the Lu family and were willing to oppose them, they still wouldn’t be able to match these zombies.
The only other hope was the Dao Court, mobilizing the Dao troops to suppress the corpse mine…
But mobilizing Dao troops was far from simple.
The procedures were cumbersome, requests hard to approve, and marching troops was costly.
Moreover, half-measures wouldn’t suffice; to suppress the corpse mine, the manpower and resources required would be substantial.
The Dao Court had the capability, but they might not be willing to pay such a price.
For a second-grade prefecture, a small, impoverished, remote minor immortal city, spending large amounts of spirit stones and mobilizing numerous Dao troops would surely be financially unsustainable…
And the enemy was zombies.
Iron-bodied corpses, copper-headed, iron-armed; walking corpses fearless of death, devouring flesh endlessly, and with infectious corpse poison…
If a full-scale battle erupted, casualties among the Dao troops would be severe.
The Dao troops might not be willing to risk that.
And if defeated, not only would the Dao troops suffer catastrophic losses, but Nanyue City would be instantly engulfed by the wave of corpses, turning it into a dead city…
Engulfed by a corpse wave…
Thinking of that scene, Mo Hua sighed.
Mine cultivators already lived hard lives; if they also became walking corpses, their parents and children tearing each other apart, suffering worse than death, dying without rest… it would be utterly tragic…
Was there anything he could do?
Mo Hua pondered silently.
Collapsing the formation…
He had considered it before, but it wasn’t suitable.
It could easily trigger the mine, endangering the mine cultivators.
If he collapsed the “Corpse King,” causing the corpse horde to go out of control, the danger would likely be even greater.
Moreover, his master had said not to collapse a formation unless absolutely necessary, and even then, not to let others see it.
Collapsing the corpse mine would be too conspicuous, exposing his own identity and bringing trouble to his master.
Mo Hua’s mind turned again:
“If I can’t collapse it, then I can only target the ‘Corpse King.’”
To catch the thief, first catch the ringleader.
Lu Chengyun could control the Corpse King with the Spiritual-Pivot Formation.
And Mo Hua himself knew the Spiritual-Pivot Formation; if he could draw it, he could control it too.
If he could really control the Corpse King, he could resolve the corpse mine crisis without shedding blood, and even use the corpse to kill Lu Chengyun.
“But how to control the Corpse King?”
Mo Hua thought carefully:
To control the Corpse King, he needed to draw a formation; to draw a formation, he had to open the bronze coffin…
But even if he drew the formation, how could he avoid being discovered by Lu Chengyun?
Lu Chengyun was no Zhang Quan.
Zhang Quan knew nothing of formations, but Lu Chengyun was very skilled.
He was at the Foundation Establishment stage, a genuine first-grade formation master, far surpassing ordinary first-grade practitioners.
Just slightly below Mo Hua in strength.
He should be superior in formations.
But trying to secretly tamper with a formation under Lu Chengyun’s watch while he was drawing it would be a fool’s errand.
Unless he was both blind and stupid.
Lu Chengyun was clearly neither.
A blind fool wouldn’t be able to marry into the Lu family, become the head, and dig up the ancestral tombs…
Mo Hua pondered for a long time but couldn’t think of a good plan, feeling helpless.
“Forget it, better to first figure out how to open the bronze coffin…”
See what’s inside first.
But he had to consider both sides.
While busy on his end, preparations had to be made outside as well.
Mo Hua wrote a letter and had Little Tiger deliver it to his junior sister.
The letter detailed the corpse mine, including a map, the structure of the stone hall, the skills and techniques of the corpse cultivators, and the staggering numbers: over forty iron corpses and tens of thousands of walking corpses.
He urged them to prepare in advance.
Ideally, they should gather enough cultivators to deal with the corpse mine before the Corpse King was refined, to prevent future disasters.
Although Mo Hua thought that was unlikely, he still sent the warning.
Whether so many cultivators could actually be gathered was beyond his control.
The next step was opening the bronze coffin.
The secret to opening it lay with Lu Chengyun.
Whenever he had time, Mo Hua would sneak into the Ten-Thousand-Corpses Altar to observe Lu Chengyun, curious to see how he opened the coffin.
But Lu Chengyun was cautious, his movements subtle.
Mo Hua watched several times but couldn’t see clearly.
He could only roughly estimate that opening the bronze coffin required both a key and a formation.
But he couldn’t steal the key, nor could he see the formation.
Just when Mo Hua was at a loss, late that night, unexpectedly, Zhang Quan appeared at the altar with Lu Chengyun.
The two spoke in low voices.
Mo Hua perked up, listening closely.
“…The Ten-Thousand-Corpses Formation is almost complete…”
“The formation core is built…”
“Refine the spirit stones to form spiritual energy, then corrupt it with evil blood to turn it into malevolent energy… only then can the formation be activated…”
“How long will it take?”
“Soon, a few days at most.”
“Indeed the Lu family head, well-coordinated,” Zhang Quan flattered.
Lu Chengyun smiled: “Brother Zhang is too polite. Without the coffins you refined and the ancestral corpse-refining method, how could I have completed this Ten-Thousand-Corpses Formation?”
Talking about the Ten-Thousand-Corpses Formation?
Mo Hua murmured in his mind, observing them secretly.
Lu Chengyun looked at the formation and sighed:
“We also owe thanks to that young master…”
“Using righteous formations to build the core, and using evil formations to convert energy—I had originally only imagined this, never thought it would actually work…”
“And this formation core is large and complex; I never expected that young master, stumbling as he was, would actually construct it. Truly exceptional talent…”
“This formation core is difficult…” Lu Chengyun sighed.
Mo Hua felt puzzled.
Difficult?
He had only hidden his skill, drawing it slowly on purpose, yet Lu Chengyun actually considered the core difficult…
What was difficult about it?
He thought it was fairly simple…
Mo Hua shook his head.
Although Lu Chengyun was praising him, calling a mere replicated formation core “difficult” didn’t give him any sense of accomplishment…
Zhang Quan felt somewhat uneasy, and sarcastically said:
“Talent is fine, but he’s quite insidious…”
Lu Chengyun, knowing his resentment, merely shook his head slightly and said nothing, instead turning his gaze back to the formation core, his expression complex.
The core of this replicated formation was almost complete, the embryonic form of the grand formation…
Embryonic form of a grand formation…
This child’s talent was truly terrifying.
Lu Chengyun sighed inwardly, then his gaze darkened slightly, a faint smile on his lips as he murmured:
“What a pity…”
Meanwhile, Zhang Quan looked at the bronze coffin, his eyes gleaming with greed, and couldn’t help but ask:
“Brother Lu, how long until the ‘Corpse King’ is born?”
Lu Chengyun returned to full awareness, his eyes shining: “Soon…”
“When the Ten-Thousand-Corpses Formation is complete, the surging malevolent energy nourishes the bronze coffin, and within less than a month, the ‘Corpse King’ will be refined and ready to open the coffin…”
Zhang Quan trembled with excitement, praising:
“Excellent! Excellent!”
He circled the bronze coffin, his gaze animated:
“Without the Corpse King to command them, we as corpse cultivators can only control one or two walking corpses at a time. Even with the Control-Corpse Bells, at most three.”
“But once the Corpse King is refined, it can command all the iron corpses!”
“Ten, even dozens of iron corpses at once, aided by thousands of walking corpses, this small desolate prefecture could rampage unchecked, slaughtering in all directions!”
“No enemies below Golden Core.”
“We could dominate everything—we, in fact, would be the heaven of this small desolate prefecture!”
Zhang Quan’s ambition surged, his expression excited, voice trembling.
Lu Chengyun, much calmer, shook his head and said evenly:
“Brother Zhang, you are mistaken. The Corpse King will remain in the corpse mine. It won’t leave, and it certainly won’t go on a killing spree…”
Zhang Quan frowned: “Then what’s it staying here for?”
Lu Chengyun said lightly: “This is a mine. Naturally, it stays here to mine.”
Zhang Quan found it hard to believe, indignantly:
“After all our effort, our sweat and blood, planning for a century, killing so many, refining so many corpses, and it’s just for mining?”