The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 1139 (Patreon)

Chapter 1139: Instant Kill

In a remote mountain realm.

Mo Hua used Flowing Water Step, his figure like a ribbon of waterlight as he fled with all his might.

Elder Xu and three other elders of Yin Corpse Valley, corpse qi billowing, chased from behind.

After another stretch of pursuit, they passed a valley where scattered villages nestled among the slopes. Within those villages lived clusters of rogue cultivators.

Elder Ma was just about to veer over and slaughter the villages.

Right then, Mo Hua, who was fleeing ahead, seemed to sense something. He frantically spurred his spiritual power, and his escape technique sped up again.

Elder Ma paused, momentarily surprised.

Elder Xu sneered. “The brat fears we’ll butcher the villages, so he’s anxious to lure us away faster.”

“But when he runs flat out like this, his spiritual power won’t last long…”

All along the way, they had seen it too: Mo Hua’s foundation of spiritual power was actually very shallow.

Before, he could run only by relying on bizarre concealment and movement techniques to cling to life. Now that he was fleeing at full speed, his consumption soared; he simply couldn’t hold on for long and would soon be spent.

This was the difference between the righteous path and the demonic path.

The demonic path does not balk at any means; many things are correspondingly easier to do.

But the righteous path is not so. One must keep a righteous heart, take the common folk into account, avoid harming the innocent; there are too many restraints upon one’s actions.

In this world, walking the righteous path is far harder than walking the demonic path.

If one is not careful, one may lose one’s life on account of a few insignificant, humble cultivators.

Elder Ma glanced at Elder Xu. “Those rogues—should we kill them or not?”

Sensing Mo Hua’s figure fleeing in panic within his divine sense, Elder Xu gave a gloomy smile. “Give the boy some face for now. We won’t kill them.”

Elder Ma nodded. “At this speed, in less than an hour his spiritual power will be exhausted…”

Elder Xu’s gaze was venomous. All the mockery and humiliation along the way—he had etched them into his heart.

If he caught this brat, he would certainly “work” him over properly.

“After him!”

The four elders of Yin Corpse Valley accelerated and closed in on Mo Hua.

Thus, after another half hour of pursuit, Mo Hua’s flight gradually slowed. Plainly, without trickery and running flat out, his spiritual power consumption was too great; he was struggling to sustain it.

The four exchanged delighted looks, their eyes turning feral.

Just then, Mo Hua—who had been hugging the edge of a second-grade mountain range as he fled—suddenly turned, darting toward an unknown third-grade territory to the side.

They all froze, confused at heart.

“Does the brat want to die? He dares run into a third-grade province?”

Until now, the reason Mo Hua could drag out four Golden Cores from Yin Corpse Valley for so long—aside from his own uncanny, unfathomable techniques—was a key external condition: he had only fled within second-grade provincial territory.

The second-grade provinces were his “shield.”

Under the restraints of Heavenly Dao, the four Golden Core elders of Yin Corpse Valley did not dare exercise their full cultivation.

But once he entered a third-grade province, without the protection of those restraints, he was a mere Foundation Establishment surrounded by four Golden Cores. Other than death, what else could there be?

Elder Xu frowned.

Had the brat gone mad?

It shouldn’t be… All the way here, though the boy was somewhat arrogant, his mind and methods were cunning enough.

He would never do something meaningless.

Elder Ma said in a low voice, “Could someone in the third-grade province ahead be waiting to receive him? Or some other ambush?”

Elder Xu’s expression turned grave.

None of that was impossible.

With his cultivation so strange, the boy’s background would not be small; his sect must have a master.

“We can’t drag this out!” Elder Xu’s eyes flashed. “Bite down on him. The instant he enters the third-grade province, we erupt with Golden Core power and seize him with full force. Do it fast—do not delay, lest change arise!”

The others nodded. “Yes!”

Soon after, in less than half an hour, Mo Hua already showed signs of “running dry.”

Elder Xu’s eyes gleamed with killing intent, but an instant later Mo Hua’s figure suddenly blurred and dispersed into water mist, vanishing.

The elders of Yin Corpse Valley halted.

Mo Hua had disappeared again.

Grinding his teeth, Elder Xu used the same old trick—summoning a “Dizang Corpse” and feeding it with blood.

But this time he fed a great deal.

This Dizang Corpse was not to be summoned lightly.

For the sake of tracking Mo Hua along the way, Elder Xu had already summoned it more times than was wise. The once “docile” Dizang Corpse had drunk so much of his blood it had grown greedy.

Summon it a few more times, and the Dizang Corpse might “lose control” and turn on him, its “master.”

After all, every “strange corpse” bound by a corpse contract hopes for its corpse master to die.

Then it can devour the master and thereby grow and transform further.

Seeing the greed in the Dizang Corpse’s eyes, Elder Xu knew they could delay no more.

He immediately used obscure corpse-speech to ask after Mo Hua’s whereabouts, then pointed off to the right front, snarling:

“The boy has entered a third-grade territory—kill!”

The four elders of Yin Corpse Valley erupted at once, crossed the mountain line, and plunged into the third-grade province.

Yet after a short run, there was not a soul around, and no trace of Mo Hua’s aura within their divine sense.

Elder Xu frowned, wavering—when, suddenly, the murmuring voice of corpse-speech sounded by his ear again.

For some reason the Dizang Corpse “kindly” told him where Mo Hua was, and even asked for no more blood.

As the corpse master, Elder Xu, for the moment, did not think too hard.

Following its guidance, he focused his divine sense and found the hidden Mo Hua within a gorge.

With a wave of his hand he stirred green corpse qi and shrouded the gorge.

Within a third-grade province, he could fully wield his Golden Core cultivation; the range of his corpse-path sorcery broadened and its might grew.

Forced to the wall, Mo Hua could only reveal himself and continue his ragged flight.

And the instant Mo Hua showed himself, the other three experienced elders of Yin Corpse Valley bared their eyes, surging their Golden Core power with full force.

Crystalline, blood-scarlet demonic power spread over them. Of the three Golden Core corpse cultivators—one corpse-transformed bodily, one summoned a bronze corpse, and one held a corpse-pattern blood sword—rushing to kill Mo Hua.

Elder Xu followed close behind, charging into the gorge.

Four Golden Core demon cultivators, encircling at full power, killing intent overflowing—against a Foundation Establishment, it was almost certain death.

Yet the instant the four stepped into the gorge, five-colored radiance flashed.

All around the canyon walls, mottled array patterns lit up in dense profusion.

The four Yin Corpse Valley elders’ expressions changed.

Arrays! And so many…

The traces were fresh—were all these drawn on the spot?

Could a formation master truly manage such a thing?

While the four were stunned, the arrays detonated.

Time had been short; to draw faster, Mo Hua had laid only early second-grade arrays, their power unimpressive.

To Golden Cores they posed scant threat.

But the long, narrow gorge was half-collapsed by the blasts. The cliff faces on both sides began to crumble, burying the elders beneath cascading rock.

Pressed by the moment, the four were forced to split up and dodge falling stone.

Rumbles rolled; dust billowed. Mountainsides fell; rubble littered the world.

Moments later, in a corner where rocks had piled up, stone was blasted aside by demonic force and the haze dispersed.

Elder Xu strode out from the debris, his face ice-cold.

“Blowing up the gorge to slow us…”

“Petty tricks.”

Being made to eat dust again and again by a Foundation Establishment brat, Elder Xu of Yin Corpse Valley had run out of patience; his eyes were full of murderous rage.

But all around was only broken rock. A sweep of his divine sense found no trace of Mo Hua.

As he hesitated, the whispering corpse-speech brushed his ear again:

“Go west…”

Elder Xu took a step—then a prickle of wariness rose in his heart. Something felt wrong.

Why had the Dizang Corpse suddenly become so obedient—guiding him without even drinking blood?

Had it… finally been tamed after drinking its fill?

A flash of elation stirred his heart, but reason smothered it down.

He composed himself and looked west.

To the west lay a narrow stony path of tumbled rocks, leading toward a dark, unknown mouth of the valley.

An inexplicable unease stirred within him—he felt he should not go. Yet after careful thought, a cold laugh rose:

“I’m truly regressing with age…”

“I, a dignified elder of Yin Corpse Valley, a grand demonic sect on the corpse path—am I fearing a mere Foundation Establishment?”

“What should I fear? That he’ll kill me?”

With a snort and a vicious gaze, Elder Xu walked the way the Dizang Corpse had indicated.

He had not gone far before he sensed the breath of a living person. Advancing several dozen more zhang and nearing the mouth of the gorge, he saw a youth standing upon a boulder ahead.

The youth’s eyes were closed; two fingers rested between his brows.

Elder Xu found it odd—and the youth somewhat laughable.

Yet for some reason, the hairs on his body bristled instinctively. His meridians and bones trembled; an unaccountable chill of fear seeped from his heart.

Startled, Elder Xu’s pupils contracted. In the next instant, he saw Mo Hua open his eyes.

They were a pair of astonishingly beautiful eyes.

Clear and limpid as a spring, deep and restrained like amber. Within the pupils, gold, black, and white intertwined and flowed, emanating an ancient and mysterious charm.

They were also a pair of terrifying eyes.

They held the majesty of one who rules over all beings, the coldness that severs everything, and the murderous sin of a bottomless abyss.

An exceedingly handsome face, and exceedingly terrifying eyes.

Between those god-and-devil eyes gathered a strand of endless edge, as if it could cut down all existence under heaven.

And that was the last scene Elder Xu beheld in his life.

Mo Hua drew a finger; an invisible, dazzling sword light tore through the air.

It was over in the briefest span—virtually a single instant.

Elder Xu had only just appeared. He had only glanced at Mo Hua when the long-gathered God-Slaying Sword pierced into his eyes, shattered his sea of consciousness, ground his divine will to pieces, and annihilated his soul.

A trace of uncomprehending terror remained on Elder Xu’s face. His gaze went blank, then empty. He fell to his knees as his soul perished.

With a single sword, life and death were decided.

Almost at the same time, the moment Mo Hua’s divine will transformed into a sword and left his body, he became a streak of waterlight, flashed up to Elder Xu, and with wind-like speed snatched away the storage pouch at his waist. Then he dissolved into water-mist and vanished in an instant.

What remained at the scene was only Elder Xu’s corpse.

Before long, footsteps sounded in the distance, along with the crash of a bronze corpse smashing aside fallen rock.

The other three Golden Core elders of Yin Corpse Valley regrouped. Each controlling a zombie, they came striding over, calling as they walked:

“Elder Xu, that damned brat ran—”

They broke off, all three suddenly freezing.

Seeing Elder Xu kneeling on both knees, they were baffled.

Coming closer, they looked upon his pale face and felt his lifebreath—at once their expressions changed wildly.

“D…dead?!”

Dead?!

How… could he be dead?!

The three elders of Yin Corpse Valley stared wide-eyed, pupils quivering.

Four Golden Core elders had pursued a Foundation Establishment cultivator. They had separated only a cup of tea’s time apart—so short! And in that span, Elder Xu, whose cultivation was far from weak, had just… died?!

Absurd!

How was that possible?!

But the fact lay before them.

One elder’s voice trembled. “How… did Elder Xu die…”

Elder Ma stepped forward to examine the wounds on Elder Xu’s body—and the more he looked, the colder he felt.

“No wounds on the flesh, no marks of spells, no damage to spiritual power—no traces at all…”

Yet Elder Xu had died inexplicably.

The only mark was in his eyes—glazed and empty—as if a ghost-god had hooked away his soul, leaving only a dead shell behind.

The three felt their hair stand on end, a chill crawling over their skin.

Then another question struck them:

“Who… killed Elder Xu?”

Who possessed such uncanny means to erase, in so short a time and without a trace, a Golden Core demon cultivator of Yin Corpse Valley, one with orthodox corpse-path inheritance and a Dizang strange corpse for protection?

Who…

The image of a ghostlike youth rose in their minds.

One elder rasped, “Could it be… that brat…”

Elder Ma’s face changed. He snapped in a low voice:

“Silence! A mere Foundation Establishment, kill Elder Xu, a Golden Core elder of Yin Corpse Valley? What do you take our elders for—straw and mud?”

“And with what would he kill him?”

“From the moment we split to Elder Xu’s death was but a few blinks. Could he really ‘instantly kill’ a Golden Core in so short a time? Would he still be Foundation Establishment? He’d be on the verge of Ascension.”

The other two elders nodded heavily.

They too found it far too inconceivable.

“Then… who was it that killed Elder Xu?” one asked in a low voice.

Elder Ma fell silent, saying nothing.

“Elder Ma…” Another Golden Core of Yin Corpse Valley spoke with dread. “The question now is… do we continue chasing that brat?”

Even the air went quiet.

Elder Ma’s gaze flickered. He shook his head.

“We can’t. Elder Xu is dead. Without the Dizang Corpse, we have no idea where that brat has gone, nor where he’ll flee next…”

At these words, the other two elders unconsciously breathed easier.

They all knew: while Elder Xu likely had not died by the boy’s hand, his death must be connected to that boy.

Otherwise, in good health, in the Golden Core realm, Elder Xu would never suddenly “drop dead” without wound or illness.

Mo Hua’s silhouette had cast a strange shadow over their hearts.

Though they did not know what secret the boy hid—

Whether he bore some kind of life-protecting supreme treasure, or an untouchable karmic tie, or some master guarding him in the dark—

With Elder Xu as the lesson, they absolutely could not pursue recklessly again.

Otherwise they might meet the same end: dead in the blink of an eye, with no idea why.

Moreover, Elder Ma was right.

Without Elder Xu, without the Dizang Corpse, they could not find the boy at all.

“Right—the storage pouch of Elder Xu…” one elder suddenly said.

Elder Ma’s heart gave an involuntary jolt.

Storage pouch!

His face stayed still, but his eyes swept the gorge like lightning, filled with greedy hope—then, moments later, with disappointment.

It was gone…

Elder Ma looked up and met the other two elders’ eyes. In that instant they understood one another, but none spoke it aloud.

“It seems someone took it…”

“That brat took it?”

“Likely…”

Their gazes flickered.

For a moment, Elder Ma even felt the urge to continue hunting Mo Hua, but he forced it down.

There was something more urgent.

“We shouldn’t delay. Send Elder Xu’s corpse back to Yin Corpse Valley immediately.”

Elder Ma’s expression grew grave. “Elder Xu kept a Dizang Corpse and signed a corpse contract. After death there will be corpse-path backlash; the Dizang will devour its master. If we don’t get his body back early, once the Dizang gnaws his flesh and blood and the body is incomplete, we truly won’t be able to clear our names.”

Elder Xu was dead.

The storage pouch was gone.

If the corpse were damaged—

The patriarch of Elder Xu’s line within Yin Corpse Valley would surely think the three of them murdered a fellow elder, stole his inheritance, then fed him to the Dizang to destroy the evidence.

That crime, they could not bear.

Just then, the ground subtly heaved.

Something beneath stirred, a once-docile aura turning violent.

Elder Ma’s face changed drastically. “Not good. The beast has slipped its leash—it’s going to ‘devour its master’…”

“Strange corpses” on the corpse path cannot be judged by normal tiers.

If one follows the laws of the corpse path, fine. If one goes against them, no one can predict what these beasts will become.

“Quick! Isolate it from the soil and take Elder Xu’s remains!” Elder Ma barked.

One elder immediately produced an iron coffin and sealed Elder Xu’s remains within, cutting off the earth’s qi.

Another elder summoned a bronze corpse and an iron corpse to lift the coffin, and they withdrew swiftly.

Elder Ma walked last. Before leaving he turned once more, gazing far off, as if seeking Mo Hua’s silhouette. At last he sighed, unwilling. “A pity…”

He suppressed his greed, stopped dwelling on it, and with the other two Golden Cores of Yin Corpse Valley escorted Elder Xu’s remains away from that territory.

…

Dozens of li away, inside a mountain cave.

Illusion Array, Divine Mist Array, Concealment Array, and Five Elements Gen-Mountain Defense Array were layered atop one another, masking and shielding the cave.

Mo Hua sat cross-legged within.

He had forcefully used the Great Void Divine Thought Sword Transformation Technique to kill a Golden Core elder.

A double transgression.

The dual backlash of baleful qi was about to arrive.

Sure enough, within moments the fate-pattern he was suppressing began to riot.

Pitch-black baleful qi reversed from his fate-pattern and seeped into his sea of consciousness.

The grim death-aura of murder slowly invaded his soul, assimilating his Dao heart.

Mo Hua’s skin turned ghastly white in an instant.

The blackness at his brow grew so dark it terrified.

He was like a monstrous demonic fetus about to be born into the world, steeped in boundless sin.

A chill from the Nine Hells seemed to seep into his marrow, impossible to expel, setting his whole body to trembling.

This was only the pain of the flesh.

What Mo Hua found harder to bear was that his memories were growing blurred.

Bits and pieces of the past seemed soaked in the foul water condensing from baleful qi, fading to black and white, then beginning to vanish.

Mo Hua was forgetting, bit by bit, the people and things of the past.

He was even, little by little, forgetting who he himself was…

Whew—Mo Hua finally turned the tables, but that “instant kill” came at a brutal price. If you enjoyed the tension, please consider supporting me on Patreon—every pledge keeps the translations flowing and helps me survive the cultivation grind. Also, I’d be super grateful if you could rate or review this on NovelUpdates; your feedback really helps more readers find the story.

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