Immortality Through Array Formations

I couldn't leave for the time being.

Not to mention Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan, even the two Iron Corpses guarding the door were not opponents I could face head-on.

Moreover, when Mo Hua entered the room, he noticed that around the entrance, Expose Dust Formations were laid out.

In some special places, there were also Expose Shadow Formations.

The ink was fresh; it was clear they had been drawn not long before, specifically to guard against Mo Hua.

"When your trump card is known, it will be targeted..."

Mo Hua shook his head, somewhat helpless.

But as long as it was about Formations, it was no big deal.

Mo Hua didn't take this matter to heart.

It was already past 1 p.m.

Mo Hua pretended to lie down and sleep, but his Divine Sense sank into the Sea of Consciousness, practicing an incomplete Spiritual Pivot Formation on the Taoist Stele all night.

The next day he awoke, he went through his routine Qi Refinement.

"Make the best of it," he thought, not at all affected by external affairs or objects.

Someone brought food to Mo Hua's door.

Mo Hua ate when he should eat and drank when he should drink, not feeling constrained at all.

A few days passed like this, Lu Chengyun never sought Mo Hua, but Mo Hua was already feeling bored, so he went to find Lu Chengyun and asked,

"Family Head Lu, is there anything you need me to do?"

Lu Chengyun said with a smile,

"There's no rush. We'll need a few more days to prepare. The gentleman can rest for now."

Speaking of rest, it was more like a "gentle imprisonment."

Now that his secret was known, it was necessary to confine me, presumably to prevent me from causing trouble.

"All right," Mo Hua nodded.

Lu Chengyun added, "If the gentleman finds it dull, you can wander around a bit."

"Really?"

Lu Chengyun said with a smile, "Of course."

Since Lu Chengyun said so, Mo Hua certainly didn't stand on ceremony.

The next day, he left his room and casually beckoned to a passing Corpse cultivator, "Come here."

The Corpse cultivator came over and bowed, saying,

"Gentleman, what can I do for you?"

"Show me around."

The Corpse cultivator was taken aback but, remembering that Mo Hua was a respected guest of Lu Chengyun, didn't dare to neglect him.

So, the Corpse cultivator took Mo Hua around for a tour.

After the tour, Mo Hua realized that the place he was in was a massive Stone Palace, hewn from within a mine.

The numerous chambers were all part of this Stone Palace.

The Stone Palace was majestic, eerie but also rudimentary.

Most furnishings were related to Corpse Refinement.

At first, Mo Hua found it novel but after a few rounds, he found it dull.

The Stone Palace was newly constructed; there wasn't much to see.

Everywhere were monotonous chambers.

Or dim, gloomy Corpse cultivators, pitch-dark coffins, and sinister Zombies.

There were Formations, but they were not particularly clever.

In some areas, the stone doors were tightly sealed. It was clear they contained secrets, but they were off-limits and inquiring further was prohibited.

Mo Hua inwardly scoffed.

This Lu Chengyun put on a show of generosity but in fact kept a tight watch, afraid of leaking secrets.

It's like inviting someone to dine, saying "Help yourself," but only serving radishes and cabbages, without a drop of "oil."

After spending a few days in the Corpse Mine, Mo Hua began to feel familiar with it.

He even started to feel somewhat at ease.

Apart from not being able to probe secrets, everything else was not bad.

The Corpse cultivators dared not offend Mo Hua. They even tried to fulfill any of his requests, whether he wanted to eat, drink, study something, practice Formations or if he needed any ink, paper, or writing brushes.

In these past few days, Mo Hua hadn't seen Zhang Quan.

He probably stayed away intentionally, fearing he'd become enraged.

If he lost his wits and attacked me out of anger, it would be tantamount to defying Lu Chengyun and he certainly wouldn't come out of it well.

Mo Hua didn't seek out Zhang Quan.

It was pointless to look for him now, as it wasn't the time to reclaim the "Zombie Image."

Wandering around like this wasn't the solution.

On the surface, Mo Hua had familiarized himself with the basic layout of the Stone Palace, but that wasn't enough.

He needed to find a way to inquire about some hidden places.

Mo Hua wanted to try using the Concealment Technique.

The Expose Dust Formation and the Expose Shadow Formation were Formations not surpassing the first grade, and tinkering with them wouldn't be difficult.

The challenge lay in how not to get caught by Lu Chengyun.

After some thought, Mo Hua suddenly realized that not being discovered by Lu Chengyun was impossible.

It made more sense to be discovered by him.

Lu Chengyun was suspicious by nature; if I was too honest, it would surely raise his doubts.

It would be better to make some minor movements under his watch.

I thought I hadn't been detected by him, but in reality, he did detect it, so in turn, he wouldn't be suspicious.

Mo Hua's gaze flickered, and he had an idea.

He first put on a cloak, activated the Formation on it, and with the help of the Formation, concealed his figure.

Then he went to the door and quietly disabled the Expose Dust Formation.

The moment the Expose Dust Formation was disabled, it was indeed detected.

A stream of Divine Sense descended and swept back and forth inside Mo Hua's room, searching for Mo Hua's figure.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This Divine Sense belonged to Lu Chengyun.

Mo Hua was familiar with it.

In these past days, Divine Sense occasionally peered at Mo Hua.

Gentle, subtle, with a hint of coldness, it was hard to notice.

But in Mo Hua's perception, it was clear as day.

This wisp of Divine Sense was identical to Lu Chengyun's aura.

From this, Mo Hua deduced that Lu Chengyun's Divine Sense was also around the level of Twelve Stripes, and certainly not at Thirteen Stripes.

Comparable to himself, but slightly weaker.

Although Lu Chengyun's Cultivation was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Initial Stage and he was also a Formation Master, it seemed that the strength of his Divine Sense was quite ordinary.

Compared to the average Cultivator, of course, it wasn't weak.

But compared to Mo Hua, it was somewhat inferior.

Previously, Mo Hua's Divine Sense was a solid Twelve Stripes.

Having refined several zombies from the Zhang Family ancestors, he was now nearing the peak of twelve stripes, but still hadn't reached thirteen.

Moreover, to break through to thirteen stripes, he estimated that he still had a distance to go.

Mo Hua immediately had some doubts:

"Lu Chengyun is at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Initial Stage and also studies Formation every day, so why hasn't his Divine Sense reached thirteen stripes?"

"Could it be because he draws Evil Formations daily, seeking shortcuts and failing to properly temper his Divine Sense?"

However, not having reached thirteen stripes was also good.

In the Corpse Mine, Lu Chengyun had the highest cultivation and the strongest Divine Sense.

His Divine Sense being weaker than thirteen stripes meant that, within the Corpse Mine, all the corpse cultivators, along with the Lu Family elders, would not have a stronger Divine Sense than him.

Moreover, he had always kept from revealing to Lu Chengyun that his Divine Sense had already reached Foundation Establishment.

Even Elder Su did not know.

So, in Lu Chengyun's perception, his Divine Sense should conform to the limit of a Qi Refinement cultivator, between nine to ten stripes.

Mo Hua's eyes flickered slightly.

With a weaker Divine Sense, and unaware of how strong his own was, that would be easy to handle.

Mo Hua activated the Concealment Formation, then no longer restrained his Divine Sense but released a bit of presence instead.

This bit of presence was enough for Lu Chengyun to perceive.

Indeed, after a short while, Mo Hua detected a faint Divine Sense resting upon him.

This strand of Divine Sense was Lu Chengyun's.

Mo Hua pretended not to notice and then sneaked out the door.

The Expose Dust Formation at the door was undone by Mo Hua, so it didn't reveal his figure.

Mo Hua sneaked out of the door, looking around all the somewhat eerie chambers one by one.

These chambers, though secretive, did not contain many secrets.

Even if he discovered them himself, it was unlikely that Lu Chengyun would care.

Indeed, after Mo Hua's lengthy investigation, Lu Chengyun's Divine Sense showed no fluctuations whatsoever.

Mo Hua checked around, uncovered some superficial secrets, and then returned to the chamber, lying down on the bed again.

A moment later, Lu Chengyun's Divine Sense withdrew.

The next day, when Lu Chengyun saw Mo Hua, he didn't say anything.

But Mo Hua acted as though he was feeling "guilty," his gaze somewhat evasive.

Lu Chengyun appeared indifferent, and after Mo Hua left, the corner of his mouth revealed a smile as if everything was under control.

"So it's a Concealment Formation..."

Lu Chengyun shook his head slightly, "A mere trifle, how could it deceive the heavens and cross the sea..."

Indeed, Mo Hua's subsequent actions didn't escape Lu Chengyun's notice.

After Mo Hua concealed his figure, wherever he went, Lu Chengyun knew every detail.

After several days, Lu Chengyun also became a bit negligent.

The places Mo Hua visited, the secrets he discovered, were utterly inconsequential.

That night, Mo Hua invisibly went out as usual, strolling around, and upon return, found that Lu Chengyun's Divine Sense had already been withdrawn early.

It seemed he had lost interest in Mo Hua.

Mo Hua lay on the bed, not moving.

Sure enough, after a short while, Lu Chengyun's Divine Sense returned.

Mo Hua continued to feign sleep honestly.

This went on three or four times until after 1 a.m. when Lu Chengyun finally settled down.

Mo Hua felt a bit worn out.

This Lu Chengyun really was extremely suspicious...

For a good long while, there was no Divine Sense probing.

Mo Hua then quietly got up from the bed, donned a cloak of invisibility, used the Concealment Technique, and with a double concealment, further constricted his Divine Sense to the utmost, and quietly left the room.

A wary rabbit has three burrows, as Elder Yu taught him.

By day, he roamed the Corpse Mine openly and honorably;

By night, he activated the Concealment Formation to probe some trivial secrets right under Lu Chengyun's nose;

When Lu Chengyun relaxed his vigilance, he then employed full concealment, unbeknownst to gods and ghosts, to peek at the true secrets within the Corpse Mine...

Like, how many Iron Corpses are there in this Corpse Mine? How many Walking Corpses?

What is the Formation used for Corpse Refinement?

Where is the Spiritual Pivot Formation?

What exactly is the Lu Family's conspiracy?

...

Mo Hua wanted to know a lot of things.

First, he went to several sealed chambers and quietly made a small opening to peek inside and indeed found iron coffins concealed within.

Inside the iron coffins lay Iron Corpses.

Similar sealed chambers like these, Mo Hua counted during the day; there were over ten of them.

That is to say, there might be more than ten Iron Corpses, and possibly even more...

Besides, there were also some secret rooms.

Inside these secret rooms, there were also altars with offerings on them.

However, the offerings were no longer the likes of Ancestral Master Pictures.

Instead, they were various bizarre items, such as monster sculptures and zombie limbs.

Mo Hua didn't quite understand.

And there were some places, due to time constraints, that Mo Hua hadn't managed to visit.

Wandering around, Mo Hua arrived at the main entrance.

This main entrance was the door to the Stone Palace.

What separated here was the Stone Palace from the outside mine shafts.

Inside the Stone Palace, there were many chambers for the corpse cultivators to reside.

The corpse cultivators lived, refined corpses, and controlled corpses all within the Stone Palace.

Outside the Stone Palace were the mine shafts.

Mo Hua only glanced at it when he came in, a pitch-black expanse filled with coffins, very strange indeed.

Mo Hua wanted to take a look at the mine shafts, but in front of him was the large door.

Above the door, Formation was inscribed.

After Divine Sense Calculation, Mo Hua found that he could unravel this Formation, but once he did, he would inevitably alarm Lu Chengyun, so he couldn't act yet.

At that moment, Mo Hua heard the sound of bells coming from outside the door.

After the ringing of bells, it seemed as if countless zombies were climbing out of their coffins, clinking and clanking, producing eerie noises, somehow busying themselves with something.

These sounds, bit by bit, merged into a river.

Even through the Sound Isolation Formation, it was jarringly loud and grating to the ear.

It was as if in the dead silence of the netherworld, corpses worked as if they were alive; the discordance was unsettling.

Mo Hua frowned.

"What exactly is this Lu Chengyun doing, refining so many zombies?"

"It can't be... he isn't mining with them, is he...?"