The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 1125 (Patreon)

Chapter 1125: The Curtain Falls

Mo Hua’s mind wavered.

Elder Zhao continued, “Young Master Mo, you are a disciple of a fifth-rank great sect. You should have the heart to uphold the righteous path and punish evil. Do you truly mean to aid the wicked, to doom the poor cultivators of Gray Wolf City to never rise again, and to cast the cultivators of Immortal-Passage City into a sea of misery?”

Mo Hua’s face tightened with conflict. “But these arrays of yours can’t kill the sect master. He’s a Golden Core cultivator…”

Elder Zhao shook his head. “I have my own plans. Young Master Mo need not worry. So long as you don’t leak this matter, that will suffice.”

Mo Hua frowned in thought. After a moment, he slowly nodded. “All right…”

Seeing that Mo Hua was nearly persuaded, Elder Zhao pressed further:

“In addition, I have an unreasonable request. I hope Young Master Mo will agree.”

Mo Hua blinked. “What is it?”

“I hope Young Master Mo can lure the sect master into this array.”

Mo Hua jolted and shook his head at once. “No. Not exposing this is already doing the sect master wrong—how could I go so far as to harm him? Though he used me, he has treated me fairly well. I can’t repay kindness with betrayal.”

Elder Zhao said heavily, “Then can Young Master Mo bear to watch the loose cultivators of Gray Wolf City be oppressed to death, and Immortal-Passage City fall into calamity?”

“This…” Mo Hua knit his brows.

Elder Zhao fixed his gaze on Mo Hua and sighed softly. “This task was mine to shoulder; I shouldn’t trouble you. But I’m incompetent. That man surnamed Duan is deeply suspicious of me. If I invite him, he’ll surely grow wary. If he won’t step into the trap, I have no confidence I can kill him…

“But that man surnamed Duan values you extremely and trusts your arrays.

“Looking across the whole Gray Wolf Sect, only you, Young Master Mo, can draw him into the snare.”

Mo Hua hesitated.

Elder Zhao gritted his teeth and actually knelt to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua started and hurried to support him. “Elder Zhao, what are you doing?”

The others were also shocked.

“Elder Zhao!”

“Brother Zhao!”

“What is this…”

Elder Zhao remained on his knees, his face solemn. “I beg Young Master Mo—for the sake of Gray Wolf City, for the Gray Wolf Sect, for all the cultivators suffering in this city—lend me your aid!”

The other elders and disciples who moments ago had their swords drawn at Mo Hua now sheathed their weapons and knelt to him as well.

“We beg Young Master Mo—lend us your aid!”

Mo Hua let out a quiet sigh. He thought to himself that Elder Zhao truly was a master at acting.

This gambit of reason and emotion, lowering his status to kneel—he played it too well.

There really were no easy characters in this Gray Wolf Sect.

Some cultivators might not have high cultivation, but after mixing at the bottom for so long, their ways of grasping the human heart ran deep.

To see through worldly matters is learning; to master human relations is an art.

I should learn from them.

Mo Hua at once assumed a moved expression. Looking at Elder Zhao, his eyes filled with admiration and emotion.

He nodded solemnly. “Very well. I’ll think of a way.”

…

After returning, Mo Hua sought out the Gray Wolf Sect Master and spoke bluntly:

“The arrays at the artifact-refining shop won’t do. At this rate, forget building a large shop above second-grade—even finishing on schedule will be a problem…”

The Gray Wolf Sect Master frowned. “Young Master Mo, why do you say that?”

Mo Hua said directly, “Elder Zhao won’t do. His level in arrays is too poor.”

He paused, then added, “Of course, I admit that as the sect’s chief array elder, Elder Zhao has some merits. But when it comes to practical setup, his plans are hollow—riddled with holes and far from realistic…”

Mo Hua criticized Elder Zhao’s arrays for a while, then said, “Let me plan these arrays. I can certainly do better.”

Mo Hua’s manner was arrogant.

The sect master felt gratified, though outwardly he advised, “Young Master Mo, your talent is great and your starting point is high, but your seniority is still shallow. Why not follow Elder Zhao and finish the arraying for the shop? With some experience…”

“No need!” Mo Hua sneered. “I’ve more than enough experience with arrays; I don’t care about one or two shops.”

“Besides, Sect Master, you invited me here specifically—surely not to have me play second fiddle to Elder Zhao, right?”

The sect master appreciated Mo Hua’s ambition, but still hesitated. “In this, Elder Zhao may have complaints.”

Mo Hua said, “You are the sect master. Will a single elder make you hesitate?”

“Elder Zhao is no ordinary elder. How about this…” The sect master glanced at Mo Hua. “Produce a planning diagram and compare with Elder Zhao. If your plan is indeed superior, then we’ll do everything as you say.

“From then on, all arrays in the Gray Wolf Sect will be decided by you.

“You will be the sect’s First Array Elder.”

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up. “Good!”

The sect master smiled faintly.

Mo Hua’s gaze flickered, and he added, “In that case, three days from now, let’s compete in the artifact-refining shop. Sect Master, I must trouble you to be present as witness.”

The sect master paused, a trace of suspicion flashing in his eyes.

Mo Hua, however, looked at him with a meaningful gaze.

After a moment of thought, the sect master slowly nodded. “Very well. I will be the witness.”

Thus the matter was set.

Afterward, the sect master called Elder Zhao over and spoke of the array contest in Mo Hua’s presence.

Elder Zhao’s expression was cold.

Mo Hua said blandly, “Elder Zhao, just watch. Arrays don’t lie.”

Elder Zhao shot Mo Hua a sharp glance. “Fine.”

…

In the following three days, Mo Hua mainly used his time to experiment on his “toy,” testing his newly developed Eerie Path Technique, Karmic Demonic Seed.

In the remaining time, he casually drew some planning diagrams to make a show of effort.

Soon, the third day arrived.

Inside the unfinished artifact-refining shop in Gray Wolf City…

Mo Hua and Elder Zhao’s contest began.

Because it concerned the core diagrams of the sect’s artifact-refining shop, the contest was relatively confidential.

There were few onlookers: only the sect master’s trusted aides and a dozen or so high-ranking elders.

The procedure was simple.

Both sides presented their diagrams, debated and questioned each other. In the end, the one whose diagram revealed more flaws during the debate would lose.

Elder Zhao’s diagram was the original plan.

Mo Hua’s diagram was something he’d sketched at random, yet even so it was much better than Elder Zhao’s—though it too had many gaps.

Mo Hua and Elder Zhao argued endlessly.

Halfway through, they reached a node at an array pivot and could not agree, neither willing to give way.

In the end, only the sect master could decide.

The sect master suspected nothing and personally stepped forward, moving between Mo Hua and Elder Zhao to look down at their diagrams.

At that moment, Mo Hua and Elder Zhao exchanged a glance.

Mo Hua moved with his footwork technique and quietly drifted back.

Almost simultaneously, Elder Zhao drew a wolf-patterned longsword and, without warning, thrust at the sect master.

The sect master was naturally suspicious and keenly perceptive. Sensing killing intent, his face changed; he retreated a step.

At the same time, he condensed a wolf-claw artifact in his right hand and slashed backward, ripping out a streak of golden light that met Elder Zhao’s wolf-patterned sword head-on.

Surprisingly, the wolf-claw artifact failed to stop the sword. The blade swept it aside and carved a long gash across his forearm.

The sect master glared at Elder Zhao, eyes ferocious. “Spirit power crystallization—you’re actually Golden Core?”

Elder Zhao sneered. “I am an array master; my divine sense surpasses yours. I’ve hidden it for so long—just for today.”

The sect master bared a grin. “What now? You want to kill me? With you—do you think you can?”

Elder Zhao crushed a jade talisman.

In an instant, the earth shook. Array lines lit up on the ground, layer upon layer, sealing the surroundings completely and trapping the sect master within the field.

Elder Zhao leveled his sword at the sect master. “Today, only one of us leaves alive.”

The sect master looked at the surrounding patterns, surprised. “A second-grade high-tier array?”

He turned to Elder Zhao and sighed lightly. “Though it has only seventeen patterns, it is enough to boast of. A pity…”

Elder Zhao coldly snorted. “Die.”

He flicked his sword, and Golden Core sword aura—carrying the might of the Gray Wolf—lanced straight for the sect master’s throat.

It was the Gray Wolf Sect’s secret sword art.

Elder Zhao, with Golden Core cultivation, not only excelled at arrays; even his swordplay was no small matter.

But he could not match the sect master’s vicious ruthlessness and was suppressed at every turn.

Now that a golden opportunity had presented itself, he naturally sought to settle everything in one stroke—behead the sect master and seize his place—so every strike was a killing move.

The sect master could not sit and wait for death. He at once unleashed the Gray Wolf Seven Mysteries Claw and clashed with Elder Zhao.

Within the trapping array, two Golden Cores battled.

Crystal-like Golden Core spiritual power collided, power overflowing and gouging deep marks across the floor.

A second-grade high-tier trapping array could not permanently hold a Golden Core.

But breaking the array as a Golden Core took time, and forcing it would inevitably reveal openings to the opponent.

Thus, if Elder Zhao insisted on a fight to the death, the sect master could only accompany him to the end.

Outside the trapping array, Foundation Establishment elders fought.

The elders loyal to Elder Zhao and those loyal to the sect master paired off, locked in a hard struggle.

The entire shop fell into chaos in an instant.

Array light shook again and again. Killing intent surged and ebbed.

And Mo Hua stood apart, quietly watching it all.

The melee dragged on for nearly half an hour with no winner.

At this point, Elder Zhao sensed something wrong.

“No…” He swept the sect master back with one stroke and demanded, “I laid so many killing arrays on the ground. Why haven’t you triggered a single one?”

In cultivation, he and the sect master were evenly matched.

Neither could kill the other quickly.

Those arrays were the chips meant to break the balance.

A second-grade high-tier array might not kill a Golden Core, but it could restrain and ambush a Golden Core, causing real injury.

In a duel on the edge of life and death, such injuries could accumulate into a fatal difference.

But what baffled Elder Zhao was this: the killing arrays he himself had laid—why had that man surnamed Duan not stepped on a single one?

The sect master let out a gloomy chuckle. “Because Young Master Mo already told me everything!”

“Your scheme, your thoughts, and…your diagrams, as well as the weak points in the killing arrays you laid.”

“Young Master Mo had already informed me of every detail in secret!”

Elder Zhao paled and turned, furious, toward Mo Hua. “You…”

Mo Hua’s expression was cool. “Your arrays couldn’t kill the sect master. If the plan failed, I’d be the one in trouble.”

Elder Zhao gritted out, “That man surnamed Duan harbors ill intent. Even if you don’t care about yourself, do you not care about Immortal-Passage City?”

Mo Hua said coldly, “Immortal-Passage City can’t help me form my core. Why should I care about them?”

Elder Zhao’s heart burned with hate.

This selfish, ungrateful brat! His grand plan—ruined by him!

He wore a righteous face, yet did all manner of sinister, venomous deeds.

“Sect Master Duan,” Mo Hua said calmly, “the rest is up to you.”

The sect master smiled faintly. “Rest easy, Young Master Mo.”

He drew a deep breath, then let out a long wolfish howl. His meridians and bones crackled, his frame swelled, his back hunched—half man, half wolf—and his eyes flashed with a blood-red gleam.

With his howl…

The other Gray Wolf elders also showed signs of “wolf-form.” Bloodlust surged, and their strength rose a notch.

Elder Zhao’s face changed drastically.

Mo Hua’s eyes narrowed.

The sides clashed again, and the tide turned at once.

Elder Zhao’s faction suffered a brutal blow.

They were no match for the blood-maddened, wolf-formed sect master and his trusted elders.

In only a few dozen exchanges, Elder Zhao was covered in wounds.

He had formed his Golden Core more recently; he lacked experience and the vicious resolve for slaughter.

Before, he could still maneuver. Now that the sect master fought in earnest, he was utterly outmatched.

Elder Zhao could only detonate some killing arrays to buy time.

But the situation grew worse and worse.

Before long, Elder Zhao was driven into a corner, with no way out.

“It’s over…”

Elder Zhao slumped, a bitter smile on his face.

A snarling grin crept across the sect master’s features.

Wolf-shaped and savage, the wolf-claw artifact had nearly fused with his hand. From above, he raked down at Elder Zhao’s throat.

Just then, Mo Hua’s expression changed. He cried out, “Sect Master! No! Move to the dead angle three zhang to your right!”

The sect master froze.

He didn’t know why he should move, but subconsciously, he already trusted Mo Hua.

Especially in matters of arrays—Mo Hua held an unquestionable “authority.”

Hearing the urgency in Mo Hua’s voice, the sect master almost reflexively sidestepped into the dead angle three zhang to the right.

The instant he set foot there—

A streak of black light flashed.

All sounds seemed to vanish for a heartbeat.

Then on the array, black Disintegration Force spread, a terrifying reversal erupted.

Between life and death, the sect master jolted with fear and darted aside, but he was still a beat slow. His right arm, along with his right leg, was partially erased.

In an instant, the Gray Wolf Sect Master—crippled of a hand and a leg—collapsed like a paralyzed wolf-dog, face twisted with rage and terror.

“What the hell…is that?!”

“An array?!”

The sudden turn stunned everyone. They stared at the scene, eyes aghast.

“The sect master…is crippled?”

Elder Zhao, the second-grade array master closest to the blast, had seen the array “collapse” with his own eyes. He felt a tempest surging through his heart.

At that moment, a calm youth’s voice sounded:

“Elder Zhao, kill the sect master.”

Elder Zhao started, whipping his head toward Mo Hua. “Young Master Mo, you…”

Mo Hua said evenly, “I told you—your arrays can’t kill him. So…we use mine.”

Elder Zhao’s breath caught, eyes full of disbelief.

The sect master’s eyes bulged with hatred as he glared at Mo Hua. “You little wretch…”

“Kill,” Mo Hua whispered.

Elder Zhao’s gaze went cold.

He didn’t know what eerie method a mere Foundation Establishment Mo Hua had used, nor what profound array could so grievously wound a Golden Core.

But time was tight, and there was no room to think.

If the sect master was to die, now was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Kill!

Elder Zhao drew a deep breath, raised his sword, and moved to sever the sect master’s head.

The sect master, panic-stricken, shouted, “Mister Wu, save me!”

As the words fell, one man in the crowd tore off his wolf robe, revealing black garb and a blurred face. He raised a xun-like flute made from a wolf’s skull and blew.

In an instant, an even fiercer wolf’s howl swept the field, shaking the heart.

All Gray Wolf elders—no matter their allegiance—lost their reason at the sound. Hair sprouted over their bodies, their limbs turned to claws, blood-red wolf patterns surfaced on their backs.

Mister Wu pointed at Elder Zhao.

Those “wolf-formed” cultivators, like trained Dao soldiers, surged in unison to tear Elder Zhao apart.

Elder Zhao’s face changed; he could only turn to block the mindless pack.

He was already wounded from the deadly battle, his spiritual power nearly spent.

Now beset by a swarm of fearless “werewolves,” he was pressed on every side, miserable and hard-pressed.

He wanted to kill Mister Wu, but he had no chance.

At this moment, the heavily injured sect master finally caught his breath.

He crawled away on hands and knee, gulped down a few pills for flesh regeneration and blood recovery.

But that pitch-black array power was some strange thing; the erased flesh could not regrow.

The more he thought, the angrier he became. With a vicious face, he glared at Mo Hua and roared:

“Mister Wu, seize this two-faced little beast! I’ll grind him to dust to vent my hatred!”

Mister Wu’s icy eyes fell on Mo Hua as he blew the wolf-skull xun.

Killing intent locked onto Mo Hua.

Several werewolves nearby, eyes crimson, raced on all fours from four directions to converge on Mo Hua.

These werewolves had all been late Foundation Establishment elders; after transformation, their strength climbed higher.

Short of Golden Core, being surrounded meant almost certain death.

Elder Zhao wanted to help, but mired in desperate battle, he could not spare a hand. He could only watch, eyes wide.

Just as the four werewolves, arrayed at the four corners, pounced in—

In the blink of an eye, Mo Hua vanished.

Everyone stared in shock.

Mister Wu instantly spread his divine sense. A faintly red spiritual sense washed over the area—but there was no one.

Suddenly, a chill touched his back. A strange shadow seemed to stand right behind him.

Mister Wu’s pupils dilated as he turned—and saw Mo Hua, bored to the point of weariness, speaking in a cool, uncanny voice:

“You’re useless… die.”

That voice was like a “key,” opening the door of eerie thoughts in Mister Wu’s heart.

An indescribable wave of negativity—gray despair, decadence, self-loathing, pain, suppression—flooded Mister Wu’s mind, stirring the will to die.

The familiar feeling shocked him to the core. “You—it’s you… you…”

But he could no longer speak.

He drew a dagger to cut his own throat—

But the dagger had no edge.

He drew a sword to stab his heart—

But the sword was made of wood.

He tried to take poison—but the poisons had been secretly replaced.

Even a wolf pattern flickered on his brow, rousing his savagery and suppressing his will to die.

Mister Wu had indeed arranged many safeguards to keep himself from committing suicide.

But that was before he faced Mo Hua directly.

Now, with the true body of the eerie will before him, he had no strength to turn back.

He exhausted every method yet could not “kill himself.” In desperation, he used both hands to tear out his own heart. Kneeling before Mo Hua, drenched in blood, he breathed his last.

The sight was truly horrific.

The Gray Wolf Sect Master—famed for his sinister cruelty—now wore a bloodless face, completely pale.

Just one sentence—and that man of a thousand strange arts, Mister Wu, clawed out his own heart and died?

What kind of monster was this Young Master Mo?

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