Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 972: Divine Statue

Everything had originally gone according to his plan.

The Shen family, Shentu Ao, the Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation—all were within his calculations. In the end, they were all supposed to die within the nightmare, becoming nourishment for the God-Lord's embryonic form.

Nothing wasted.

Everything accounted for.

And yet—why?

How did he miscalculate so badly that the God-Lord himself was gone?

"Mister Tu" trembled in terror, staring hard at Mo Hua, roaring, "Speak! What happened?!"

What could Mo Hua possibly say?

"Your so-called God-Lord got himself killed by me… again?

And that leftover divine marrow? I'm about to have it as a snack?"

If he really said that, Mister Tu would 100% go feral, rip him apart, bone and all.

Mo Hua, nervous and fearful, feigned confusion:

"I don't know what you're talking about… your 'Lord'? What the heck is that?"

Seeing Mo Hua's blank expression, Mister Tu frowned, thoughts spinning wildly.

This kid was just Foundation Establishment… too weak, cultivation too shallow—

He probably didn't know anything about the nightmare.

But then… what went wrong?

What did I miss?!

A vein on Mister Tu's forehead pulsed. A chill spread in his heart.

"Could it be… Xun Ziyou?!

That sword cultivator elder from the Great Void Sect!"

"I was plotting against the Great Void Sect—but they were plotting against me too?!"

"They used my scheme against me—deliberately sent a sword cultivator elder into Lone Mountain, all the way into the temple… and then I personally threw him into the nightmare?!"

"Was their target all along… the God-Lord's embryo?!"

"And that sword cultivator elder—he might've cultivated… the True Technique of Divine Sword Manifestation from Spirit Sense?!"

Mister Tu's pale body twisted in horror, bones trembling.

"I… I personally delivered the Great Void Sect's 'God-Slaying Sword'… right to the God-Lord's face?!"

"I invited the wolf into the house?!"

The Divine Punishment brand began to ache faintly.

Scenes of purgatorial torment flashed through his mind.

Mister Tu turned deathly pale, then muttered again, "No… impossible…"

"That sword elder… was only at late Golden Core Realm.

How could he have learned Spirit-Sword Manifestation?!"

"Even if he had—how could someone at his level possibly harm the God-Lord?!"

"No… no, that's not right…"

His mind was a storm of confusion. As he looked around, he spotted Xun Ziyou lying unconscious on the ground. A flicker of killing intent passed through his eyes.

"No matter what, I need to eliminate the threat."

"Destroy his body—and no matter how strong his spirit is, whether he cultivated that divine technique or not—he will die."

Step by step, Mister Tu approached the unconscious Xun Ziyou.

"He's trying to kill Elder Xun!"

Mo Hua immediately saw through Mister Tu's intent. His heart tensed.

But he was only Foundation Establishment—no match for Mister Tu's monstrous puppet body.

His spirit had been nearly exhausted from the nightmare battle. He couldn't even use Divine Dread Eye to disrupt him.

Just then, a figure in the hall suddenly stirred and slowly stood up.

Mo Hua turned to look—and was startled.

"Shen Shouxing?!"

"He's… not dead?"

"He was pulled into the nightmare too?"

"Now that the nightmare collapsed, his consciousness has awakened?"

"But… why didn't I see him in the nightmare?"

Mo Hua had many doubts, but no time to think them through.

He watched as the pale, blood-drenched demon puppet, possessed by Mister Tu, advanced toward Elder Xun.

Suddenly, Mo Hua had an idea. His eyes widened in faux shock and he pointed at Mister Tu, shouting:

"It was you! You killed Shen Qingsheng!"

Mister Tu froze.

The dazed Shen Shouxing's eyes instantly turned blood-red, and he slowly looked toward Mister Tu.

The sight before him—this grotesque puppet, holding a human skin in one hand, a bloody ritual dagger in the other—was an image of horror.

He looked like nothing less than a murderer.

Shen Shouxing, stirred by the gory scene, trembled, his voice hoarse:

"You… killed Qinger?"

"You… killed… my only son?!"

His eyes bloodshot, his breathing ragged.

Mister Tu stayed silent. He didn't deny it.

Technically, Shen Qingsheng had indeed died because of him. He triggered the nightmare, sacrificing everyone's consciousness to the evil fetus.

So if Shen Qingsheng died inside the nightmare, he was responsible.

(Of course, Mister Tu didn't know that Mo Hua turned Shen Qingsheng into a flying piggie kite to feed ghosts. But silence still counted as guilt.)

Shen Shouxing felt like he'd been struck by lightning.

Then hatred, like a wildfire, erupted from his heart.

He drew his sword with a snarl and charged at Mister Tu, his killing intent blazing.

"You'll pay for my son's life!!"

Furious beyond reason, his sword struck with everything he had.

Mister Tu didn't dare be careless—he had to drop Xun Ziyou and engage Shen Shouxing in battle.

Brutal swordplay clashed against dark, venomous attacks. The two figures collided in a whirlwind of blood and blades.

Mo Hua, who had just successfully pulled off a "let the tiger fight the wolf" move, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Taking advantage of the fight, he crept toward Xun Ziyou and whispered:

"Elder Xun, wake up…"

"Hey…"

"Please wake up—we'll all die here if you don't!"

Still no response.

In desperation, Mo Hua pinched his philtrum, tugged his ear—

"Seriously, if you don't wake up, we're screwed!"

Whether it was Mo Hua's desperate yelling or the pain in his ear, Elder Xun finally furrowed his brow and slowly opened his eyes.

"Elder Xun, you're awake?!" Mo Hua said, overjoyed.

Elder Xun's spiritual sea still felt clouded and splitting with pain. He wanted to speak, but couldn't open his mouth.

Mo Hua quickly said:

"Don't talk—just focus on recovering!"

Elder Xun nodded, began to examine his meridians, circulate spiritual power, and suppress the pain.

Mo Hua let out a breath of relief.

"Good… as long as he's awake."

With Elder Xun alive, Mo Hua at least had some backup.

Otherwise, Mister Tu might really tear him apart.

"We still need to wake up Master Gu and Supervisor Fan."

Mo Hua looked around, spotted the two, and repeated his earlier trick—tugging ears, yelling.

After much effort, he finally roused them.

"Young Lord Mo…" Gu Shifu's divine sense still ached.

The nightmare had taken a toll on all their minds.

"Shh…" Mo Hua motioned for silence. Seeing Shen Shouxing and Mister Tu still locked in battle, he whispered:

"Let's bail."

Xun Ziyou, Gu Shifu, Fan Supervisor, and Mo Hua quietly slipped out of the temple.

Mister Tu noticed—but Shen Shouxing was ferocious and determined to kill him. Mister Tu had no time to spare.

Worse, Xun Ziyou had regained consciousness.

He'd missed his chance to silence him.

If that guy really had cultivated Spirit-Sword Manifestation, Mister Tu had no chance.

All he could do was watch the group leave.

And so, they made it out safely.

"We're… just leaving like this?" Xun Ziyou asked.

Mo Hua hesitated.

He'd only managed to copy half of the Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation from Shentu Ao's body before Mister Tu interrupted him.

Now, with Shentu Ao skinned by that very man, the complete formation was likely in Mister Tu's hands.

That had probably been part of Mister Tu's plan all along.

If Mo Hua wanted the formation, he'd have to steal it back from Mister Tu.

But… he really didn't want to dive back into that swamp.

Mister Tu was just too creepy.

Shen Shouxing had gone mad.

If they kept tangling with him and the others, who knew what might happen?

Too many had already died in this Lone Mountain tomb. Just surviving and walking out alive was already a victory.

"If you don't cut off trouble, you'll suffer chaos in the end..."

Mo Hua gritted his teeth. "We leave. Now!"

After experiencing the nightmare together, Xun Ziyou no longer regarded Mo Hua as just some Foundation Establishment junior. Especially now—in this bizarre and deadly situation—he trusted Mo Hua's judgment even more.

Xun Ziyou nodded. "Alright."

The group withdrew from the grand hall and retraced their steps, passing through the outer perimeter.

Surrounding the grand hall were rows of radiant golden statues, exquisite and opulent—each a representation of Lord Huangshan.

Suddenly, Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat. He stopped in his tracks.

A divine statue?!

"Lord Huangshan asked me to take something out of the tomb… Could it have been… his lifebound divine statue?!"

Mo Hua frowned, deep in thought.

A lifebound divine statue was the foundation of a god's existence.

Each god only had one—utterly unique and irreplaceable.

If it was damaged, the god's essence could be destroyed. At worst, the god would perish and their Dao collapse. At best, their origin would be crippled, their vitality severely wounded...

Such a thing was far more important than divine marrow. It must not be revealed to anyone.

To a god, if anything surpassed divine marrow in importance, it was this lifebound divine statue.

Lord Huangshan hadn't said anything directly—probably because he feared revealing too much, letting others or even other divine entities sense the karmic threads and steal his foundation.

Mo Hua's heart trembled slightly.

"But where… would he have hidden it?"

He looked up and around at the surrounding temple.

It was filled with densely packed statues of mountain gods—each in different poses and attire.

Some stood, some sat, some lay down. Some wore golden armor, others fine robes, some donned scholarly garments, and others heavy cloaks...

"Could Lord Huangshan's lifebound statue be hidden among these?"

"Maybe all these statues weren't just for show… Maybe he knew danger was coming, and deliberately hid the real one among them—a 'tree hidden in the forest' tactic—using all these decoys to obscure the true one…"

The more Mo Hua thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

"Mo Hua, what is it?" Xun Ziyou asked, seeing Mo Hua suddenly frozen, deep in thought.

After a pause, Mo Hua said, "Elder Xun, help me find a statue."

"A statue?"

"Yes." Mo Hua nodded.

Mister Tu and Shen Shouxing were still locked in combat—they still had time. Mo Hua needed to find Lord Huangshan's lifebound divine statue and take it out of Lone Mountain's tomb.

That had been Lord Huangshan's final request.

In the nightmare, Lord Huangshan had helped—and even saved him. If it hadn't been for his self-sacrifice against the evil fetus, none of them might have escaped.

But now, with all the tangled plots around Lone Mountain and so many unknown variables, if they didn't find it now, they might never get another chance.

Otherwise, Lord Huangshan's divine statue would be buried forever in the mass grave beneath the mountain—never to see the light of day.

Not to mention… he'd left Mo Hua a "great gift."

In both reason and emotion, Mo Hua had to find it.

Seeing his resolve, Xun Ziyou didn't press for details. He nodded and asked, "What kind of statue are we looking for?"

Mo Hua frowned. He wasn't entirely sure. "One that looks… strange. Or just… stands out. Something clearly unique."

Xun Ziyou turned his head to look at the bizarre and wildly varied statues all around, and muttered, "…Let's just start looking."

And so, Mo Hua—with a slightly confused Elder Xun, Master Gu, and Supervisor Fan—began searching through the sea of mountain god statues… for that one lifebound divine statue.

Back inside the grand hall—

Shen Shouxing and the puppet body possessed by Mister Tu were still engaged in brutal combat.

Especially Shen Shouxing—he was like a rabid beast, ignoring injury or death, using every strike to kill.

He was at the peak of Golden Core, and when driven mad, fought like a vicious hound. Mister Tu struggled to keep up.

As the battle dragged on, Shen Shouxing's injuries worsened, and his vision began to dim—veiled in a shadowy haze.

Yet paradoxically, his clarity increased.

Through the blurred mess of blood and movement, he caught a glimpse of the other face… the second face growing atop the puppet's head.

It was a refined, elegant face—but it exuded cruelty and apathy.

And he recognized that face.

His pupils shrank. "You… you're Elder Shen?!"

The demon-puppet's twisted face froze for a moment. He frowned.

"How… did you recognize me?"

He was the God-Lord's servant—his mind had long transcended that of ordinary cultivators. An entity from another plane.

To most cultivators, all they could see was the puppet body—not the blood-shadow soul parasitizing it. They couldn't perceive his true form.

But Shen Shouxing had seen it.

Shen Shouxing was in disbelief. But after thinking for a moment, it all came together. He growled,

"It was you… everything… was you!"

His face went pale, teeth clenched.

"It was your idea to dig up Lone Mountain.

You taught me how to use corpse-sealing rituals.

You said it would bring me glory and boundless cultivation!"

Mister Tu no longer bothered pretending. He coldly replied:

"And was I wrong? Haven't you thrived these past years?

Sitting as the Shen family's true power-holder—wielding authority and prestige.

Haven't you lived like a storm-summoning king?"

"No. No… that's not right…" Shen Shouxing's gaze trembled. "It was all a setup. I… I was just your pawn."

He looked deeply at Mister Tu's possessed form and said darkly:

"You were never some old Dao elder with a scholarly family background…

What… what the hell are you really?!"

Mister Tu simply grinned coldly, saying nothing.

A chill crept down Shen Shouxing's spine.

All this time, he'd thought his Shen family was the biggest winner—seizing the mines of Lone Mountain and eliminating troublesome rogue cultivators.

But now he saw the truth.

They weren't the winners at all.

Something darker… more twisted… had been lurking behind them the whole time.

The noble clans had been so busy hoarding profits and sweeping things under the rug, they never noticed.

Shen Shouxing's heart filled with bitter regret.

Mister Tu sneered, his voice sharp and sinister:

"We both got what we wanted. Why call it manipulation?

Without my help, how would the Shen family rise?

How would you have become an elder?"

"Everything you had—I gave you."

That final sentence struck something deep inside Shen Shouxing.

"Glory? Wealth?" he muttered, a tear of blood at the corner of his eye. He gave a bitter, mocking laugh.

"What use is glory or wealth…?"

"My son is dead. My only son is dead."

"I have… no heir."

"I have no heir. My bloodline ends here."

"The family's interests, the power and status I spent a lifetime fighting for… in the end, no one will inherit it. It was all a fleeting illusion. A grand robe made for someone else."

"A lifetime of struggle… all for nothing…"

"This is… retribution."

A sense of bitter absurdity, a few threads of sorrow, then a wave of utter despair surged within Shen Shouxing's heart.

His son was dead. His lineage ended. Hope was lost.

It was like a key had been turned, unlocking something deep within.

And in that instant… a seed sprouted.

Shen Shouxing's eyes turned a murky gray-black. His will extinguished. His spirit snapped.

"Let's die together…"

He threw away his sword, and like a rabid beast, pounced on Mister Tu—biting and clawing with hands, feet, and even teeth, trying to rip into his flesh.

"Gone mad, have you?" Mister Tu sneered.

"People who chase fame and profit, with no true Dao heart… are nothing more than toys."

He manipulated the demonic puppet body, locking into savage combat with the crazed Shen Shouxing.

But once a cultivator's Dao heart collapses, leaving only instinct behind, they lose the precision of their techniques. Their killing strength actually drops.

So while Shen Shouxing looked terrifying, his power wasn't what it had been. His frenzied biting only left superficial wounds on Mister Tu.

Especially since those wounds didn't matter much—not on the monstrous, twisted flesh of a 'human demon.'

Mister Tu didn't even care.

What he didn't notice was that, after Shen Shouxing's bites, faint wisps of eerie gray mist were slowly seeping into his flesh—then vanishing without a trace...

Elsewhere, Mo Hua, still searching for the lifebound divine statue, suddenly felt a cold shiver crawl up his scalp.

A chill crept over his heart.

But just as quickly as it came, the feeling vanished. By the time Mo Hua tried to focus on it, there was nothing left to sense.

"What… was that?" Mo Hua frowned deeply. He tried to deduce something—but didn't even know what he was supposed to deduce.

And time was short. Finding the divine statue came first. He had to push the unease aside.

But… the search still wasn't going well.

The outer walls of the shrine were lined with so many statues that it really did feel like a "forest of gods." And they were all unique in posture and design—he couldn't tell which one was Lord Huangshan's real one.

Makes sense though. If it were that easy to find, the statue would've already fallen into Mister Tu or the evil god's hands.

Still… if even he couldn't find it, what chance did anyone else have?

And if he didn't find it—how could he fulfill Lord Huangshan's final request?

He forced himself to calm down and thought back on Huangshan's last words:

"If we are truly friends… take mine… and leave this mountain."

If we are friends… then take his 'lifebound statue' and leave.

Mo Hua pondered it—thinking there might be a second meaning.

If they were truly friends… he should be able to recognize Lord Huangshan's lifebound divine statue?

But why?

Their friendship began with the fallen Huangshan Lord from Withered Mountain.

Bits and pieces of their past flashed through Mo Hua's mind like a slideshow…

Then suddenly—he remembered something.

A long time ago, feeling sorry for Huangshan's miserable state, Mo Hua had brought him some offerings—chicken, duck, fish—and shared a meal.

Afterwards, Huangshan led him behind the broken temple, to a cliff.

There, overgrown with ancient vines, was a steep staircase.

At the bottom of the stairs… was a cave.

Inside the cave was a hidden divine statue.

Mo Hua gradually recalled its appearance: tall and dignified, with a long, narrow face and solemn gaze—resembling Huangshan himself. It was cast entirely in fine bronze, with parts plated in gold.

Far superior to the shabby mud sculpture in the temple…

Lord Huangshan had treated this statue like a treasure—hidden deep, never shown to anyone. Had Mo Hua not been a true friend, he would've never been allowed to see it.

That statue likely wasn't his lifebound divine statue—but must have been the closest replica.

After all, the real one was buried deep in Lone Mountain. In his fallen state, Lord Huangshan wouldn't dare try to retrieve it.

So he created a false one—a substitute, a keepsake.

Even if fake, it should resemble the original closely.

That was the clue Lord Huangshan had given him.

Cause and effect.

Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

He visualized that cliffside statue from the cave—and extended his spiritual sense across the grand hall, scanning every statue.

He compared each image from memory to the sea of statues around him.

His mind raced—sharp and precise.

One after another, divine statues flashed through his consciousness like a river of images...

Then—

His heart jolted.

He opened his eyes wide.

"Elder Xun, come with me!"

Though confused, Elder Xun nodded and followed.

Mo Hua led the group to an unremarkable corner of the hall.

There stood a divine statue.

Surprisingly—it wasn't large. Only half a man's height. And it didn't look particularly exquisite or grand.

Its features sat between the majestic Lord Huangshan of Lone Mountain, and the fallen Lord Huangshan of Withered Mountain—leaning more toward the latter.

Tucked away in a forgotten corner, it looked rather plain compared to the other statues.

It even felt… like a counterfeit.

"Is this… really his lifebound statue?" Mo Hua hesitated.

He only had one chance. If he took the wrong one—they were doomed.

He frowned deeply, caught in painful indecision.

Just then—Elder Xun suddenly frowned and asked softly:

"Mo Hua… what are you looking at?"

…What?

Mo Hua froze and turned to look at him. "Elder Xun… you can't see it?"

(End of this Chapter)