The Quest for Immortality

Mo Hua followed the roof, avoiding the Corpse Cultivators, left the gate of the Corpse Walking Stronghold, went under a large rock, and met up with Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi.

Bai Zisheng asked, ”Why did it take you so long?”

Mo Hua chuckled and said, ”I found Instructor Yan!”

”Instructor Yan is alright, isn’t he?” Continue your adventure with empire

”Yes,” Mo Hua nodded, ”We’ll rescue Instructor Yan in a few days.”

Bai Zisheng looked perplexed, ”Why wait a few days? Just rescue now. I’ll rush in and slaughter all those Corpse Cultivators!”

Mo Hua was indifferent, ”Sure, then you go.”

Bai Zisheng paused, then scratched his head and said:

”Forget it. You’re craftier. Let’s follow your plan.”

Mo Hua was displeased, ”You’re the one full of crafty ideas.”

Bai Zisheng muttered to himself:

”I wish I could have more crafty ideas. Sadly, my nature is too upright to think of such things.”

Mo Hua murmured softly, ”I think you’re just dull…”

Bai Zisheng ruffled Mo Hua’s hair, ”You dare call your senior brother dull again?”

...

The two bickered and argued incessantly.

Bai Zixi picked up a stick and knocked each of their heads once, ”Focus on the matter at hand!”

”Oh.”

The two quickly complied.

And so, the trio began to discuss what to do next.

Bai Zisheng thought for a while and then said:

”We set up an ambush on the inevitable path, then capture Zhang Quan. With no leader, the Corpse Walking Stronghold will be in chaos, and we can take the opportunity to wipe it out…”

Just as Mo Hua was about to nod, something suddenly occurred to him, and he shook his head and said:

”No, that won’t work.”

”Why not?” asked Bai Zisheng, puzzled.

Mo Hua pondered, ”Behind Zhang Quan, there must be someone else.”

”Who?”

”The person drawing Formations for him.”

Mo Hua’s expression grew serious, ”The Formation Diagrams Instructor Yan drew for the Corpse Walking Stronghold were standard Five Elements Formations, and they were all for architectural purposes.”

”But the ones used for Corpse Refinement are completely different Evil Formations.”

”Zhang Quan cannot draw such Formations, and from what I’ve seen, it seems that no one else in the Stronghold can, either.”

”At least from the Corpse Cultivators I’ve seen, none can produce such Formations.”

”Moreover, these are the Spiritual Pivot Formations of the Minor Hidden Spirit Sect, which are not something ordinary Formation Masters can produce.”

”Without figuring out who this person is, killing Zhang Quan and razing the Black Mountain Stronghold won’t solve anything.”

”Formations are the key, as long as this person knows about Formations, they will continue to kill people, buy corpses, refine corpses…”

”And,” Mo Hua paused, then sighed, adding:

”This Ultimate Formation is an inheritance of Instructor Yan’s Sect, and I don’t want any Cultivator to use it for evil…”

Bai Zisheng nodded and said, ”Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

Bai Zixi also slightly nodded and asked Mo Hua:

”Have you figured out what to do?”

”Yes,” Mo Hua nodded, then said:

”We’ll let Zhang Quan return to the Corpse Walking Stronghold, then we’ll spy on him to see who he meets with, who is helping him with Formations…”

”After clarifying these matters, we’ll inform Sister Situ and join forces with the Taoist Court to take down the Corpse Walking Stronghold.”

”Then capture Zhang Quan, take his Corpse Controlling Bell, and restore the Spirit Pivot Formation Chart.”

”And best of all, we’ll drag out the Cultivator behind him as well…”

”Eliminate the root to prevent future troubles…”

...

Mo Hua explained everything systematically.

Bai Zisheng nodded his agreement but still expressed his concern:

”It probably won’t go that smoothly…”

”Master always said to plan ahead and prepare for the unexpected, but plans can’t keep up with changes. We’ll have to adapt accordingly when the time comes,” Mo Hua said.

”Alright!”

After the discussion, the three of them began to act according to their plan.

The first step was to wait for Zhang Quan to return to the Stronghold.

But this first step met with some unexpected trouble.

Zhang Quan seemed overly cautious…

He was still wandering around the desolate mountains, crawling into caves, hiding in the forest, setting traps, fighting a battle of wits with the air. He stubbornly refused to return to the Stronghold.

Zhang Quan thought he was being thorough, but he didn’t know that all his actions were being observed by Mo Hua.

Mo Hua was puzzled by his behavior.

Did he really need to be this cautious…

And it seemed like he could keep this up indefinitely.

Mo Hua was finding it exhausting just watching.

Even someone as patient as Mo Hua was starting to run out of patience.

So the three of them agreed to split up and proceed separately.

Mo Hua went back to the Corpse Walking Stronghold first, to get a clear picture of the internal layout and map out the Architectural Formation, and also to chat with Instructor Yan to see if anything had been overlooked.

Bai Zixi stayed outside the Stronghold to back up Mo Hua.

Bai Zisheng went to find Situ Fang to discuss manpower arrangements in advance, to prepare for the extermination of the Corpse Walking Stronghold.

It took a full five days before Zhang Quan returned to the Stronghold.

He looked haggard and worn out, but inside, he felt a great weight lifted.

After an intellectual struggle with an invisible, and actually nonexistent, pursuer, Zhang Quan expended a lot of wit and tricks and finally confirmed that he had shaken off Mo Hua’s tracking. Only then did he dare to return confidently to his den of Corpse Refinement.

Occasionally, he still felt a subtle sensation.

As if something, like a bone-clinging maggot, was sticking to him.

But after spending so much time and employing so many measures, even if there was something following him, it should have been thrown off by now.

Zhang Quan sneered to himself.

Having lived for so many years, his experience in Tao Cultivation far exceeded that of the greenhorn he was dealing with.

That little ghost skilled in concealment would never be able to trace my steps again!

Zhang Quan felt greatly relieved, filled with joy, and with big strides, he returned to his secret, unknown to others, and unspeakable Corpse Walking Stronghold.

At this time, Mo Hua had already been waiting for him at his old home for a long time.

Seeing Zhang Quan enter, Mo Hua felt even happier than Zhang Quan did.

Staying in the Corpse Walking Stronghold these past few days, Mo Hua hid himself well, nearly having figured out everything about the stronghold, and he was starting to get bored, looking for things to do.

He even counted how many coffins there were in the stronghold...

Zhang Quan swaggered through the entrance of Corpse Walking Stronghold.

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up as he executed the Water Passing Step, lightly leaping across rooftops, and then entered the deepest room. He climbed up onto the beam, sat cross-legged, and waited patiently.

This room was spacious, concealed, and the formations were complete, and it was filled with everything related to Corpse Refinement.

He guessed this was Zhang Quan’s secret chamber.

As expected, after a while, Zhang Quan walked into the room, right beneath where Mo Hua was perched.

Mo Hua hid himself, even drawing a Concealment Formation nearby in advance.

Zhang Quan was completely unaware.

The room was silent; on the surface, it seemed that only Zhang Quan was present.

Zhang Quan let out a long sigh of relief, then burned incense and bathed, changed into a respectable set of clothes, sat in meditation to regulate his breathing for a while before Corpse Cultivators came one after another to report the situation of the stronghold to him.

The Corpse Cultivators reported respectfully; Zhang Quan sat elevated, listening intently, while Mo Hua, sitting above his head, pricked up his ears to eavesdrop.

Most of the things reported by the Corpse Cultivators were minor affairs of the stronghold.

That month, they robbed several traveling merchants, killed a few Cultivators, bought a few corpses...

They refined several Walking Corpses, succeeded with a few, failed with several;

Spent many Spirit Stones, consumed numerous materials;

Which Corpse Refinement materials were running low and needed restocking, which Zombies had lost control and needed to be dealt with, and so on...

These were all scattered details.

Listening from above, Mo Hua gradually understood the operation and procedures of Corpse Walking Stronghold.

The stronghold had bandits, had Corpse Cultivators.

Ordinary bandits that dared to kill people, were willing to kill people, and had killed before, could join Corpse Walking Stronghold.

But entering Corpse Walking Stronghold did not guarantee being taught the ways of Corpse Refinement.

One had to go through an assessment, endure some seniority, and gain Zhang Quan’s trust, to become a legit Corpse Cultivator.

Corpse Cultivators were those who refined corpses and controlled corpses, the Corpse Path Demon Cultivators.

Corpse Cultivators refining corpses required Cultivator corpses.

The sources of corpses were several.

One was through robbery and murder.

The Cultivators within the stronghold, before joining, were either Sin Cultivators or bandits, accustomed to robbing and murdering.

But this ”loot” included not just Spirit Stones and Spiritual Artifacts, but also the bodies of Cultivators.

The bandits of Corpse Walking Stronghold would kill people, then bring the corpses back to be used for Corpse Refinement.

The second was to buy.

Employing people like Wang Lai to kill Mining Cultivators, buying corpses.

Or to purchase them from tomb raiders who dug up graves.

Of course, the main source was still the Mining Cultivators.

After all, there were many mines in South Yue City and numerous Mining Cultivators, and in their eyes, Mining Cultivators’ lives were cheap, not worth much Spirit Stones.

After buying the corpses, came Corpse Refinement.

Mo Hua had taken a cursory look at this before.

The means of Corpse Refinement, indeed as Sister Situ said, required herbs, Corpse Raising Coffins, Corpse Controlling Bells, etc.

But the specific techniques became somewhat complicated.

Which herbs to use, in what proportions, to boil into a foul-smelling medicinal juice.

Then, to soak the corpse in the medicinal juice.

After enough soaking time, place it into a Corpse Raising Coffin for refinement.

During Corpse Refinement, Corpse Cultivators would walk back and forth around the coffin every day, while walking, shaking the Corpse Controlling Bronze Bell.

This process had numerous steps, but the division of labor was clear.

Just like the herbs in Alchemy, the refined iron in Artifact Refining, the Corpse Cultivators of Corpse Walking Stronghold saw corpses as a ”material” for refining, not as people.

Their expressions were cold and numb, as if it were perfectly natural.

Mo Hua frowned as he watched.

He even thought of directly drawing some Reversed Spirit Formations, to collapse the Corpse Walking Stronghold altogether.

But upon reflection, he held back.

Impatience could ruin grand plans; he could not act impulsively.

The Corps Cultivators of Corpse Walking Stronghold, continued to report the minor matters of the stronghold, but did not touch on the formations related to Corpse Refinement.

Mo Hua listened for several days without any clue, until after three days, he overheard something.

A Corpse Cultivator, in a low voice, asked Zhang Quan,

”Householder, shall we send the corpses?”

Hearing this, Mo Hua was intrigued.

Send corpses?

What corpses? Where to? Why send them?

Could it be... for Formation Painting?

Mo Hua remembered that in Corpse Walking Stronghold, some of the newly refined Walking Corpses had no formations on the heart meridian.

Since there were none, then they must be painted.

Send corpses... that means it’s not that he himself would paint them, nor that they would be painted within Corpse Walking Stronghold, but instead they were sent out for someone else, for someone else to help him paint?

Mo Hua strained his attention, very curious to know exactly where these corpses were being sent, to whom, and who would help Zhang Quan with the Formation Painting?

But Zhang Quan just shook his head, ”No.”

That Corpse Cultivator looked a bit startled before hesitatingly saying,

”If we don’t send them soon, it might be too late. Those Zombies... can’t be controlled...”

Zhang Quan’s gaze turned cold, ”If they can’t be controlled, then dispose of them, feed them to other Zombies. Do I need to teach you this?”

That Corpse Cultivator quickly bowed his head and said, ”Yes.”

After the Corpse Cultivator stepped down, Zhang Quan huffed coldly and began to meditate.

Mo Hua, however, frowned slightly.

This Zhang Quan, he seemed not very cooperative.