The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 1126 (Patreon)

Chapter 1126: The Great Feast

Mr. Wu tore out his own heart and died.

The wolf-head xun broke the melody; the surrounding “werewolves” lost Mr. Wu’s control, their flesh and skin regressed, they reverted to human form and collapsed to the ground in pieces.

Mo Hua looked at Elder Zhao — still that pale, picture-like face, still those clear, innocent eyes — but to Elder Zhao, his heart chilled faintly.

At the same time, Elder Zhao understood Mo Hua’s meaning.

Mo Hua had told him to kill.

Elder Zhao leaned on his wolf-patterned long sword, pushed himself up, drew on the last of his golden core spiritual power, and thrust his blade at the not-far-away Sect Master of the Gray Wolf Sect.

The Gray Wolf Sect master, with the formation collapsed and one arm and one leg ruined, even fighting with his last breath was no match for Elder Zhao.

Besides, Mo Hua’s intimidation on him was too great.

At the thought of Mo Hua — like some beguiling demon — one phrase had made Mr. Wu die by his own hand; the Sect Master of Gray Wolf Sect shivered all over as if plunged into an ice cellar.

He only struggled for a few dozen exchanges before Elder Zhao pierced his heart pulse with a single sword and then slit his throat.

This man, who until not long ago had lorded over Gray Wolf City and enjoyed pomp and privilege, now in a blink had his head and body sundered, his life ended on the spot.

A lifetime of glory ruined in a single dawn.

Elder Zhao held no fondness for the Gray Wolf Sect master.

But seeing him die by his sword, his lifetime’s achievements overturned, hundreds of years of life gone in an instant, a strange pang of regret nonetheless rose in his chest.

With that, the forge shop incident came to an end.

The struggle for the third-rank Gray Wolf Sect mastership drew its curtain.

Only Elder Zhao and Mo Hua remained standing in the field.

Elder Zhao lifted his eyes and looked at Mo Hua deeply; the youth seemed at once naive, at once cunning, at once pure, at once profound — he stood in the sun with bright, handsome features, yet as if enveloped in dense fog, strange and inscrutable, leaving no trace that could be discerned.

This “innocent” youth had toyed with everyone like pawns in his hand.

Everyone seemed his “playthings,” strings in his fingers, manipulated to act.

He even killed without touching a hand — a word could take a life, blood never smeared on his hands.

The more Elder Zhao thought, the more fearful he felt; his throat went dry and he dared not meet Mo Hua’s eyes.

Mo Hua met Elder Zhao’s gaze and said softly, “Elder Zhao……”

Elder Zhao flinched and asked, “Mo… Mo Gongzi… any orders?”

Mo Hua said, “About the aftermath……”

Elder Zhao forced a gentle smile. “The aftermath — the Gray Wolf Sect will handle it properly. Mo Gongzi needn’t trouble.”

Mo Hua asked, “How will you handle it?”

Elder Zhao watched his expression and slowly said, “Mo Gongzi, you…”

“I’m just passing through. Your Gray Wolf Sect’s affairs are none of mine,” Mo Hua said.

Elder Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, then his face grew solemn. “The sect master practiced a method wrong and died suddenly; the Gray Wolf Sect should arrange a funeral for Sect Master Duan, bury him with honors.”

Mo Hua nodded and looked at Elder Zhao, cupping his hands slightly: “Then shall I address you as ‘Sect Master Zhao’?”

Elder Zhao’s face brightened, but he hesitated. “That… is still premature…”

Mo Hua thought it was modesty. Elder Zhao continued, “To be Sect Master of Gray Wolf Sect one must have certain qualifications.”

“Qualifications?” Mo Hua did not quite understand. “Isn’t your Gray Wolf Sect profit-driven? Everyone scratches out a living; whoever wins takes the position. What qualifications?”

Elder Zhao said, “That may be so, but there is still a line of inheritance…”

“If you want to become sect master, you must go to the ancestral shrine, swear an oath with blood, write a mastership decree, burn incense and祭祖 (offerances to ancestors), seek the recognition of the ancestral spirits. Only when the ancestors approve is one qualified to be the Gray Wolf Sect master.”

“You mean…” Mo Hua said slowly, “the ancestral spirits of the Gray Wolf Sect?”

At that moment Elder Zhao did not yet know what would happen, and nodded: “Yes.”

Mo Hua was pleased. “Take me to see them.”

“Please, Mo Gongzi.” Elder Zhao began to lead the way.

They had only walked a few steps when Mo Hua suddenly remembered something and said, “Wait.”

Elder Zhao was taken aback.

Mo Hua turned back, walked to where Mr. Wu — who had torn out his heart and died — lay, and reached for his storage pouch. After rifling a few times, sensing something amiss, he looked up at Elder Zhao. “Elder Zhao, do you mind……”

Elder Zhao was sensible and hurriedly said, “Please, go ahead.”

Mo Hua then brazenly searched Mr. Wu’s storage pouch.

He pulled out a wolf-head xun.

The wolf-head xun was wolf-shaped and howled like a wolf — a crude, barbaric-style odd instrument.

Mo Hua didn’t know how to use it, so he pocketed it for the time being.

There were also some books and jade slips, but their contents were not rare and nothing Mo Hua wanted.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment and asked Elder Zhao, “Where did this Mr. Wu live?”

Elder Zhao frowned. “I’ve never seen this man before; he hasn’t been in the sect previously.”

Mo Hua asked again, “Does your Gray Wolf Sect have any forbidden places?”

“Yes.” Elder Zhao said, “But the cursed grounds of Gray Wolf Sect can be entered only by the sect master…”

Mo Hua nodded. “Then when you become sect master.”

Elder Zhao’s expression grew complicated.

The post of Gray Wolf Sect master was the position countless sect disciples longed for and begged for — now from Mo Gongzi’s mouth it sounded like a mere cabbage in a field.

But things had reached their present state; indeed this was the closest Elder Zhao had come in his life to becoming sect master.

“All right.”

Elder Zhao ordered men to tidy the scene a little.

They sealed the bodies of the Gray Wolf Sect master, Mr. Wu, and the elders who had died in the battle, and conveyed them back to the Gray Wolf Sect.

Mo Hua and Elder Zhao returned to the sect together.

They went to the ancestral shrine on the back mountain of the Gray Wolf Sect.

“Originally the election and appointment of a sect master should be decided at a grand meeting with elders and disciples to witness it……” Elder Zhao said.

“But now, given the emergency, we’ll skip the meeting……”

Mo Hua nodded. “All those formalities can be waived.”

He looked up at the rows of ancestral tablets in front of the shrine and asked, “What comes next?”

Elder Zhao said, “I must use blood to write the sect-master decree, place it on the altar, and beg the ancestors’ approval. If the ancestors approve, they will leave a Gray Wolf blood seal on the decree.”

Mo Hua urged him, “Hurry and write.”

Elder Zhao had no choice. He took out a strip of wolf-skin paper, bit his finger, and devoutly wrote blood-characters declaring his name, origin, background, cultivation level, the techniques he cultivated, why he wanted to be sect master, his qualifications, what he would do for the Gray Wolf Sect as master… and so on.

Mo Hua glanced at it and saw that Elder Zhao’s words were earnest and fluent, evidently a prepared draft — he had long coveted the mastership and prepared for it.

Mo Hua did not blame his ambition.

Opportunities are for those who prepare.

In the time it took one incense stick to burn, Elder Zhao finished writing.

Afterward he arranged his robes, burned incense and worshipped, kowtowed before the Gray Wolf ancestral tablets, prayed, and performed a series of rituals. Then, head bowed and bending, he held the blood-written decree in both hands and presented it before the tablets to seek the ancestors’ reply.

Elder Zhao’s face was uneasy, like a disciple awaiting a test result; he knelt respectfully before the tablets and waited.

After an uncertain span, a gust of wind carrying wolf howls swept through as if some invisible presence had descended.

Elder Zhao’s expression jolted.

He realized the result had come.

He kowtowed three times, took the decree and looked — his face instantly drained.

There was nothing on the decree.

Obviously the Gray Wolf Sect ancestors did not recognize him as “sect master.”

Elder Zhao forced a bitter smile.

Mo Hua did not understand. “You need that piece of paper’s approval? You’re already at Golden Core; why care so much?”

Elder Zhao sighed. “It’s the rule. Without the decree I can still claim the mastership, but the name would be illegitimate. Moreover, there are many places in the Gray Wolf Sect — the back mountain and forbidden grounds — that I would have no right to enter…”

“I understand……” Mo Hua nodded, reached out his hand and said, “Give me the decree. I’ll talk to them.”

Elder Zhao was stunned. “Talk… talk to them?”

Before he could say more, Mo Hua had taken the wolf-skin decree from his hand, circled past the tablets, and walked into the shrine’s inner hall.

Elder Zhao wanted to stop him but dared not — he could only watch helplessly.

…

In the inner hall of the Gray Wolf Sect shrine stood a huge wolf-head statue.

Mo Hua’s divine sense swept the place: formations covered the area, and the wolf’s gaping mouth was a secret door.

Beyond the mouth lay the Gray Wolf Sect tomb.

The tomb’s guardian formations were composite arrays of second- and third-rank patterns, likely paid for at great cost to a third-rank array master.

Mo Hua was not yet a Golden Core and could not break a third-rank formation.

But the formation at the entrance, to save cost, had only a few third-rank nodes; most were second-rank.

Mo Hua, wanting ease, used his divine sense to manipulate ink in reverse-spirit formation to collapse most of the second-rank formations, leaving a black entrance.

A cold wind wafted from the opening, mingled with intermittent wolf howls.

Mo Hua did not hesitate. Gripping Elder Zhao’s “decree,” he stepped into the tomb entrance.

Beyond the entrance lay a long corridor.

The passage descended into darkness; at the end was a gloomy tomb.

The tomb was ancient, but in the center someone had set up a newly built altar, seemingly erected only a few years ago.

On the altar were offerings and a wolf-head painted with fresh blood.

The altar’s style bore clear Great Wilderness characteristics; Mo Hua found it familiar, yet on closer inspection it had many differences.

It was likely a related but distinct lineage.

For some reason, ever since he embarked on the path of divine-sense Dao-transformation, Mo Hua had felt a strange intimacy when seeing altars.

He hopped lightly onto the altar and, with practiced ease, sat in its center.

A wave of comfort spread through him.

Then a heavy drowsiness followed.

His divine sense felt tugged and drawn, signaling an out-of-body pull.

Mo Hua soon closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

When he opened them again he found himself inside a large hall with a barbaric style.

Around the hall were wolf statues.

On the high seat sat many wolf-robed cultivators.

Those wolf-robed cultivators exuded an evil, demonic aura; most were third-rank evil fiends.

Mo Hua’s mouth nearly watered.

At that moment one of the ancestral spirits pointed at Mo Hua and rebuked him harshly:

“What petty wretch dares to barge into our shrine, into the Gray Wolf tomb, and desecrate our altar…”

Mo Hua swept his gaze around, inhaled deeply the long-missed scent of fiendishness, suppressed his excitement, and asked back: “Why don’t you approve Elder Zhao as sect master? Elder Zhao, though somewhat hypocritical, is a decent person.”

“Nonsense!” one Gray Wolf ancestor sneered. “Who are you, a junior, to boss about our Gray Wolf Sect’s affairs?”

“You, however…” He glared at Mo Hua; his eyes flashed with a wolfish, covetous, demonic light and blood-like drool ran from his mouth.

“Do you know where this is and yet dare to storm in?”

As they scrutinized Mo Hua, he too observed them.

Mo Hua’s divine-sense form appeared as a child; he reined in his aura so his spirit did not radiate — he looked like a plump, lively “lamb” with a clear, delicious divine sense.

This fat “lamb” had wandered into a wolfpack.

Many of the Gray Wolf ancestors licked their lips inwardly.

“I don’t care what place this is……” Mo Hua remained calm and continued to ask, “Why won’t you let Elder Zhao be sect master?”

A thin, sallow Gray Wolf ancestor muttered with a dark smile: “Wolf nature dictates we eat flesh for a thousand li. A Gray Wolf Sect must have wolf nature — fight, kill, and seize.”

“That Zhao fellow’s cultivation is passable, but his heart is too weak; he has no ruthlessness, no semblance of a Gray Wolf Sect master.”

Mo Hua suggested, “Can’t you negotiate? I think he’s fine.”

His words drew derisive laughter.

Clearly no one took seriously this “childish” opinion.

Mo Hua sighed.

“So there’s nothing to negotiate…”

Nothing to negotiate — excellent.

A faint smile curled Mo Hua’s lips. He stared at them and, serious, asked, “One more question……”

“You were not like this half-human, half-wolf form before, were you?”

At this, the Gray Wolf ancestors’ expressions all changed.

Mo Hua read their faces and slightly bowed. Then he asked: “Did you transform into wolves because of the altar in the ancestral tomb?”

“Who ordered the altar built? Who showed you the rite to worship it?”

“What path are you truly trying to cultivate?”

At his words, the fiend among them with the deepest divine sense and the strongest killing intent immediately extended a wolf claw and coldly ordered: “Kill him!”

“Tear his soul apart, chew it to pieces, leave no bone.”

Before the command fell, one Gray Wolf ancestor leapt down from the high hall; initially half-human, half-wolf, he ran on all fours for a few paces and then transformed into a pure wolf demon, baring sharp fangs to bite Mo Hua’s head off.

It seemed intent on swallowing his entire skull.

But before it could reach him, a golden light flashed and the wolf fiend was dismembered; its limbs fell apart and splattered on the floor.

In an instant the hall fell silent.

Most of the wolf-ancestors in fiend form were stunned; they had no idea what Mo Hua had done.

How had a mere blink killed a Golden Core elder-level fiend, tearing them to pieces?

A fierce unease gripped them.

Weren’t they, by following their inheritance’s secrets, transformed into powerful fiends, immune to death?

Here in Gray Wolf State, in third-ranked Gray Wolf City, fiends of third rank gathering together should be almost untouchable.

So why — why had they been slain?

And by a smooth-skinned little runt who looked like a dog being butchered; he hadn’t even realized how he had been cut down.

What on earth was this kid? What was he?

The Gray Wolf ancestors were all shaken.

Mo Hua, however, looked thoughtful.

When a person kills a person, killing qi is born.

Killing fiends, on the other hand, did not produce the same killing qi.

After all, fiends are not human.

Mo Hua had just tested that on the leaping wolf fiend.

Killing that fiend indeed did not generate murderous energy.

He had also briefly used his Divine Sense Sword — his divine sense had a little sting and backlash, but not excessive.

This meant in his mind that divine-sense-into-sword was still usable.

Only that he could not yet let his divine sense leave his body; for now he used the Slaying God Sword only in the real world.

Because the recognition sea and the present world are two concepts: using the Slaying God Sword by projecting from the brow would break the barrier of illusion and reality, exposing the soul to the real world; not only would divine sense be severely drained, the backlash would be fiercer and killing-qi’s counter-blow more violent.

But those were details for later.

What mattered now was to have a good “meal.”

Mo Hua had been hungry for a long time and would no longer be polite.

Let’s eat!

Flaming formations spread through the wolf hall.

Golden sword lights crossed the air.

Five-element spells roiled without cease.

The Gray Wolf ancestors, now fiends, were struck with terror.

As fiends they only knew one or two “forms” of transformation and mostly divine-sense melee; they had never seen such a profusion of formations, sword techniques, and spells interweaving — a transcendent, overwhelming divine-sense method.

They could not comprehend why, though their divine senses were at the Golden Core level, before Mo Hua they fell like rotten wood, utterly collapsed.

No matter how they struggled, they could not muster a shred of counterforce — only cold despair.

They did not understand what sort of being in heaven and earth could wield such invulnerable divine-sense power.

No one told them.

Mo Hua wasted no words; with thunderous methods he delivered extinction.

He wiped out the Gray Wolf ancestors who had become fiends, down to the last.

After slaughtering them clean, Mo Hua used an earth-fire formation to burn the fiends’ divine senses, cleansing away the evil energy, then opened his mouth and sucked them all into his belly.

But he did not refine them then; he kept them for later tasting.

This was not the Qianxue State; times were hard and one could not squander. When rare good food came, one must ration and savor.

Mo Hua glanced around to ensure nothing was missed, then withdrew from the wolf hall.

In the Gray Wolf tomb, Mo Hua opened his eyes, inspected the altar and memorized its structure in his mind, then clutched the wolf-skin decree and left.

Back in the inner hall, he bypassed the tablets and returned to the shrine.

Elder Zhao was still waiting in the shrine.

Mo Hua handed him the wolf-skin decree. “All right. You are now the Gray Wolf Sect master. The master’s decree bears a blood seal.”

Elder Zhao’s face lit with joy as he accepted the decree, but his smile froze.

Indeed, there was a blood seal on the decree, but… the seal looked somewhat too “carefree” and casual…

Elder Zhao stole a glance at Mo Hua and whispered, “Mo Gongzi, this blood seal… would it be……”

Mo Hua nodded. “Yes — I drew it myself.”

Elder Zhao: “……”

Silence hung for a moment. Elder Zhao asked in a low voice, “Then what do the Gray Wolf Sect ancestors mean……”

Mo Hua sighed softly. “I spoke to them sincerely, but your Gray Wolf ancestors did not approve you; they think your temperament is unsuitable for being sect master.”

Elder Zhao’s face darkened. “So then……”

Mo Hua said, “So I killed them all and drew a blood seal for you to be sect master.”

Elder Zhao’s head buzzed and his legs gave out; he collapsed to the ground.

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