Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 955: Dragon Diagram

In the deep pit of the tomb, atop the bright yellow bronze coffin, the fierce battle was still raging.

Blood winds and rain swept the battlefield, torn limbs filled the air.

The massive flesh-and-blood corpse statue roared in fury like a monstrous beast, swinging its enormous arms and commanding hundreds, even thousands, of corpse wights.

Facing it stood the black-robed giant, draped in a wicked dragon, surging with overwhelming blood energy. The Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation fully activated, unleashing a terrifying aura that could stand toe-to-toe with the monstrous corpse statue.

Every punch this man threw released a dragon-shaped projection.

Each dragon shadow roared with a draconic cry, carrying incredible might, crashing down upon the colossal corpse statue.

The power of the wicked dragon was unimaginably fierce—even this mighty corpse statue couldn't withstand it.

Chunks of flesh and limbs were obliterated by dragon punches, blasted into nothingness, scattered into ash.

This overwhelming display didn't just infuriate the corpse statue—it left the others deeply shaken.

Especially Lord Hui, who wore a look of utter shock.

"That's... a dragon?!"

He had never expected that the quiet giant who'd said nothing the entire journey actually possessed such terrifying wicked dragon power.

Stone was just as stunned.

Even the three other black-robed cultivators were emotionally stirred, their expressions complicated.

The black-robed elder's face was filled with arrogance—tinged with fanaticism.

The black-robed nobleman looked on with envy, murmuring:

"So this... is the dragon of the Great Wilderness..."

Another black-robed man, now deep in combat, tore off his own robe, revealing a hulking physique like a grizzly bear—his back tattooed with a fierce and grotesque demonic mark.

He crushed a corpse wight with his bare hands, then looked up at the dragon-tattooed figure—his eyes filled with desire.

That desire also carried traces of jealousy and greed.

Among the cultivators present, some were shocked, some wary, and others calculating.

Only Mo Hua was working in secret—quietly deducing array patterns, trying to "steal" the formation.

Using the thick corpse qi, combined with the flooding spiritual energy and blood aura as cover, Mo Hua stayed hidden at a distance, activating both Heavenly Pattern Deduction and Mystic Insight to peer into the secrets of this classified Great Wilderness Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation.

In his eyes, black, white, and gold light interwove.

His powerful mental energy poured out like a flood.

Ancient, mysterious, primitive formation runes—imbued with a primordial aura—unfolded within his mind, one by one.

At the same time, Mo Hua began to draw on the ground, sketching with spiritual ink, recording each rune swiftly.

On the ashen earth, streaks of black marks began to take shape, gradually assembling into what looked like the scales and claws of a dragon.

First came the claws, then the scales, tail, body, fins...

Bit by bit, the outline of a dragon formed from pure formation lines—until it reached the head.

But the moment he tried to construct the dragon's head, the entire process stalled.

The deduction abruptly slowed.

Mo Hua's sea of consciousness began to ache with sharp, needle-like stabs. His divine sense was nearing depletion.

Even with Mystic Insight supporting the deduction, it was now exceeding the limits of what his spirit and mind could bear. His eyes throbbed in pain—almost as if blood was about to seep from the corners.

He had clearly hit a bottleneck—a blockage in the path of deduction.

No matter how much he pushed, how hard he tried, he could not surpass this bottleneck, unable to derive the complete formation of the dragon's head.

Blood nearly welled up in his eyes. The stabbing pain in his soul grew sharper.

Mo Hua knew he had reached his limit—and could only give up with reluctance.

"My divine sense still isn't strong enough. Even peak Nineteen Runes isn't enough…"

"My deduction techniques and Mystic Insight are still lacking."

Mo Hua sighed, gently rubbing the corners of his eyes. Then he looked down at the array diagram he'd drawn on the ground.

The Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation—its diagram was a complete dragon shape… except the dragon's head was missing.

The body had a total of eighteen runes.

That was the farthest Mo Hua could push his deduction.

As for the missing dragon head—it lay beyond the limits of Mo Hua's current spiritual sense and deduction capacity.

From the incomplete diagram, he estimated that the complete formation likely contained nineteen runes, but more likely twenty or even twenty-one—a top-grade formation.

In other words, the Azure Dragon Formation tattooed on the Demon Sect Commander's back wasn't just a Great Wilderness Four Symbols Formation. It was a Divine Beast Formation among the Four Symbols—moreover, it was a secret, forbidden formation above the second-grade, with twenty or more runes.

"What a shame…" Mo Hua thought to himself.

If only his divine sense and deduction skills were stronger—maybe he could have calculated the entire formation.

Instead, he was left with a dragon that had claws and a tail—but no head.

"But even if I had figured it out, it's probably useless…"

Mo Hua carefully studied the Azure Dragon diagram he'd derived—and began to frown.

Though it was shaped like a dragon, its bones were stark and twisted, the lines reversed and jagged. The claws were unnaturally sharp, and its imposing aura gave off a sense of corruption.

"It's an evil formation…"

If that was the case—then he couldn't learn it.

Mo Hua wasn't arrogant enough to ignore the warnings of his master, Venerable Elder Xun, and the guidance of countless elders along his path.

He wouldn't foolishly and arrogantly go dabbling in demonic formations.

"Ignore your elders, suffer on the spot."

He could still tell the difference between righteous and wicked.

"Then what about my own Life-Bound Formation Diagram...?"

"What should I do with this incomplete Azure Dragon diagram?"

Purify evil into good?

But where could he even get the complete version?

Surely he couldn't kill the Demon Sect Commander, flay the skin off his back, and transcribe the whole thing?

Mo Hua furrowed his brows deeply.

But time was tight—there was no room to dwell.

He transferred the deduced formation into a jade slip, stored it in his storage ring, and then wiped away every trace of the drawn formation from the ground before letting out a breath of relief. Only then did he look back toward the distant battlefield.

The fight with the flesh-and-blood corpse statue was still ongoing—but clearly approaching its conclusion.

The late Golden Core Realm Demon Sect Commander, bearer of the evil Azure Dragon Formation, was terrifyingly powerful in battle.

The Calamitous Qi sustaining the corpse's rebirth had been sealed by the bone fragment the black-robed elder had summoned.

Its heart was now bound by a thread of white qi, completely suppressed.

"That bone fragment… could it be… a dragon bone?"

"A dragon bone… can suppress the Calamitous Qi of a Dao Calamity?"

Mo Hua's eyes brightened. This was the first he'd heard of such a thing.

And with the dragon bone suppressing it, the "Calamitous Qi" inside the flesh-and-blood corpse statue truly began to fade.

Without the power of that law, the seemingly mighty corpse statue was nothing more than a massive walking corpse—no match for the cultivators present.

After several more dozen exchanges, with a thunderous roar, the Demon Sect Commander punched the corpse statue square in the head.

A black-red dragon shadow burst through its skull.

The statue's flesh and bones crumbled—its massive body collapsed.

The death qi and yin energy lost their core and began to dissipate.

The massive flesh-and-blood corpse statue had finally been annihilated.

Its foundation destroyed, its yin qi gone, and the Calamitous Qi bound by the dragon bone finally dimmed away.

"We won..."

Lord Hui was in disbelief. Then, his gaze slowly turned to the demon sect commander—proud and imposing, a wicked dragon upon his back. Deep fear and wariness surged in his eyes.

In that brief moment, he made up his mind. He cupped his hands to the black-robed figures and said,

"Everyone, the task of killing that foul corpse is complete. My mission is done, so... I shall take my leave."

"Hold on," said the black-robed elder.

Lord Hui's body froze.

The black-robed elder said,

"Now that the corpse has been slain, and the bronze coffin lies before us, doesn't Lord Hui want a share of the spoils?"

Lord Hui forced a smile.

"I didn't contribute much to the corpse-slaying effort. One shouldn't claim rewards without merit. Naturally, I dare not take a share."

The black-robed elder shook his head.

"We agreed beforehand—fifty-fifty. Now that the deed is done, how can I go back on my word?"

A chill ran through Lord Hui's heart.

He realized he'd walked straight into a tiger's den.

These black-robed cultivators were real demon cultivators—and terrifyingly powerful, even able to cultivate a wicked dragon.

Anything involving a dragon was never ordinary.

Lord Hui wanted no part of this mess.

If he could slip away now—carrying the rat's storage pouch and even taking a young "array master genius" to raise and make use of—he'd still come out ahead.

But clearly, the black-robed elder had no intention of letting him go.

These people were ruthless. They had killed the monstrous corpse statue. Killing him would be even easier.

Lord Hui had no choice but to brace himself and say:

"Then... I respectfully accept."

The black-robed elder then turned and beckoned to Mo Hua from afar.

Mo Hua was startled but ran over nonetheless.

The elder said,

"Little brother, when we open the coffin, you can pick something too."

"Really?" Mo Hua looked surprised.

"Of course." The elder nodded.

"You contributed to this tomb raid too—you deserve a share."

"Many thanks, senior." On the surface, Mo Hua acted flattered, but in his heart, he was deeply suspicious:

Why would this old man offer me a share?

What is he really planning?

Of course, part of him couldn't help but feel a spark of anticipation.

Such a massive bright yellow bronze coffin—what treasures might lie inside?

Soon after, the group worked together to clear out the bronze coffin, burn away the corpse's flesh, and began their search.

But once the remains were cleared and the rotted meat burned away, the enormous coffin's bottom was completely empty.

No tomb owner.

No burial goods.

Not even the trace of the "Evil Fetus" Mo Hua had hoped to find.

It was as if the entire coffin was only meant to bury dead bodies.

Lord Hui's expression changed drastically as he realized something.

The black-robed figures fell silent.

The young black-robed nobleman frowned, pondered briefly, then looked coldly at the elder and said:

"Second Elder, this isn't what you told us."

"Young Master Xuan, calm yourself," said the black-robed elder hoarsely.

But his expression also revealed some confusion.

Clearly, they hadn't found what they were looking for either.

This situation was just as unexpected for them.

Mo Hua kept his head lowered, expression neutral, but his thoughts were spinning rapidly.

He was starting to piece it together.

Among these four black-robed figures:

The dragon-tattooed demon cultivator was clearly the Demon Sect Commander.

The one with the grizzly-bear-like physique was the "Elder Bear" of the Demon Sect.

He was one of the "escaped fish" from the joint siege by the Dao Court and the Great Void Sect.

According to Elder Xun Ziyou, this Elder Bear was one of the three Golden Core demon elders from Ten Thousand Demon Valley in Monster Hunting Mountain.

Back then, when Mo Hua infiltrated the valley, he'd done so while these three elders were away. So they'd never met face-to-face.

Elder Xun had also said one of those demon elders had died at the Demon Refining Mountain—how exactly, no one knew. He had deep claw marks in his chest as if he'd been torn open. His storage ring was gone. The demonic tattoos on his skin had been flayed off, making identification impossible.

Another one, the serpent demon elder, had been killed by Elder Xun during the Demon Sect's purge at Yanluo Mountain.

The last remaining one—was this bear-like brute standing right here.

He was the only surviving Golden Core demon from Ten Thousand Demon Valley.

As for the black-robed elder, addressed as "Second Elder"...

Mo Hua thought for a moment. He must be that legendary figure in the Demon Sect—second only to the commander—known as the Second Elder.

But wasn't the Second Elder supposed to be dead?

Did he fake his death? Or pull off some kind of shedding escape trick?

Mo Hua frowned. He couldn't make sense of it yet.

Still, when he performed his earlier divinations, he hadn't been far off—these three individuals all had karmic entanglements with him.

The only exception... was this young noble.

The Second Elder had called him "Young Master Xuan."

But based on what Mo Hua knew of the Demon Sect—especially via their Thunder-Magnetic Formations—there was no such person as "Young Master Xuan" in their ranks.

And Mo Hua was sure—he'd never seen him before.

So who was he? And what connection might he have with Mo Hua?

But the strangest question of all—why had these powerful Demon Sect cultivators come to Lone Mountain to dig up this tomb?

What exactly were they after?

Why was this tomb built in the Shen family's mining mountain?

And why did the bronze coffin contain so many corpses?

Where had they all come from?

The mine... the Shen family... Dao Calamity...

Mo Hua's doubts grew deeper, and his gaze gradually turned cold.

"Did we... search the wrong place?" the black-robed youth, "Young Master Xuan," frowned and said,

"The Shen family's mine is huge. The tomb we're looking for might not be here at all."

"Otherwise, this bright yellow bronze coffin... shouldn't be completely empty."

"Did the Shen family build other tombs? Was this one just a decoy?"

Lord Hui's eyes flickered—he remained silent.

Just then, Mo Hua suddenly thought of something and asked,

"Where's Shen Qingsheng?"

"Shen Qingsheng?"

"The young master from the Shen family who was captured with us," Mo Hua explained. "Where is he?"

"Uh..." Lord Hui and the others exchanged awkward glances.

"We... might've lost him?"

"When did that happen?"

"Probably..." Stone furrowed his brow in thought. "Back at that forked tunnel."

Shen Qingsheng had been in the custody of Rat.

But when the group was attacked by hordes of corpse spirits and scattered, Rat focused entirely on chasing Mo Hua, completely forgetting Shen Qingsheng.

And Shen Qingsheng wasn't exactly important—live or die, no one cared. So he was just... forgotten.

Now that they'd raided a tomb and found an empty coffin, Mo Hua thought of the Shen family, which reminded him of Shen Qingsheng.

"That Shen family brat," the black-robed elder said with a frown, voice slow and deliberate, "Find him. We have some questions."

Lord Hui nodded.

So the group began retracing their steps.

Of course, they all knew the truth—this underground palace was riddled with corpse spirits and packed with strange developments. Whether Shen Qingsheng could be found was highly uncertain.

Even if they did find him—whether he was dead or alive was another matter.

But they still had to try.

Returning to the forked tunnel, the path was tangled with earth formations and crisscrossing passages, so navigation naturally fell to Mo Hua.

He held his compass in one hand, subtly fiddling with coins in the other, divining Shen Qingsheng's aura—and was surprised to find it still clear. Apparently, the guy hadn't died.

"Good men die young, but nuisances live forever"—guess that wasn't just a saying.

Mo Hua followed the aura, leading the way through countless winding tunnels.

Eventually, they found Shen Qingsheng curled up in the corner of a wall.

He lay trembling on the ground, his body surrounded by a faint golden glow—a protective treasure of some sort.

But right now, four or five corpse spirits were crawling all over him.

These rotting corpses gnashed their teeth and bit at him furiously, but the glow kept them from tearing into his flesh.

So Shen Qingsheng, by sheer dumb luck and treasure-armor, managed to survive.

Seeing him still besieged by the corpses, Lord Hui stepped forward, drew his blade, and hacked the creatures apart one by one, rescuing the Shen family scion.

Shen Qingsheng had been so terrified he hadn't dared breathe. Now, seeing the corpse spirits slaughtered, he immediately snarled, twisted with rage, and began stomping the corpses with all his might, spitting:

"Filthy, ugly, lowly mine cultivators!"

Mo Hua's gaze turned cold. He said darkly,

"How do you know... those corpse spirits were mine cultivators?"

Shen Qingsheng's face paled.

"Isn't that... obvious? This is a mine, it's—"

"Enough," Lord Hui cut in. "Who cares if they're mine cultivators. Let me ask you—this mine, it belongs to your Shen family, right?"

"Yes..." Shen Qingsheng replied.

"Then this tomb, buried under the mine—it was built by your Shen family too?"

"I... I don't know."

Lord Hui reached out and grabbed Shen Qingsheng by the throat.

"Kid, don't play dumb with me. Tell me honestly—why did the Shen family build this tomb? What's it really for?"

There was a sharp edge to his voice, and a hint of fear beneath it.

Shen Qingsheng stammered,

"I... I really don't know... I'm too young to be involved in the clan's affairs... I really don't know..."

"Tch. Useless brat." Lord Hui flung Shen Qingsheng to the ground.

Shen Qingsheng stumbled and collapsed, a hateful glint in his eye, but he dared not talk back.

Mo Hua's gaze deepened. He glanced at Shen Qingsheng, then up at Lord Hui—and in the latter's eyes, he saw something else:

Unease. And fear within his soul.

"Shen Qingsheng may not know much—but Lord Hui... clearly suspects something."

Mo Hua was about to speak, to press Lord Hui and trick the truth out of him—when the black-robed elder suddenly spoke, his voice raspy and calm:

"Lord Hui, at this point, why keep secrets?"

Mo Hua froze, heart tightening slightly.

This Second Elder of the Demon Sect—who could suppress demonic energy with dragon bone—was indeed terrifying.

Mo Hua had noticed Lord Hui's secrecy... and so had he.

Lord Hui's eyelid twitched.

"Senior... what do you mean by that?"

The black-robed elder said,

"I asked an old friend to dig through the genealogies of Mount Mao. That's how I traced the main line and found Lord Hui—the man exiled from the sect. I trust your Dao attainments from Mao Mountain... won't let me down."

They'd traced his origins, rummaged through family records, confirmed his roots in Mao Mountain.

Lord Hui's heart skipped a beat.

He'd thought this job was just good luck—business falling into his lap.

But now he realized—he'd been targeted from the start.

(End of this Chapter)