Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 652 — Home Invasion

Evil flames raged across Fire Buddha's body.

Just as Gu Changhuai was about to warn the others to stay alert, he heard Xiao Tianquan sneer:

"A mere devil, alone and outnumbered. No matter how strong he is, one man can't hold the line."

"Everyone, surround and kill this demonic scum!"

"Whoever slays Fire Buddha will earn great merit!"

Gu Changhuai frowned.

Several enforcers, greedy for credit, had stars in their eyes the moment they heard the words "great merit." They immediately surged with spiritual power and charged at Fire Buddha with full force.

No matter how strong Fire Buddha was, he was still only at the Peak Foundation Establishment stage.

Most of the enforcers were in the late Foundation Establishment realm themselves. The gap wasn't huge—while they might not win in a one-on-one fight, they could hold their own for a while.

And if they got lucky and took him down, well… the title of Dianshi (Magistrate) might not be far off.

A few bold enforcers took the lead, charging straight at Fire Buddha.

Flames blazed around Fire Buddha, his stance as immovable as a mountain.

Suddenly, his expression darkened. A murderous gleam flashed in his eyes, and his aura abruptly shifted.

"Not good!" Gu Changhuai's face changed.

Before he could finish speaking, he flicked open his folding fan, sending out waves of wind blades, trying to interrupt Fire Buddha's incoming killing strike.

Fire Buddha curled his lip in a cold smile. His red kasaya surged and condensed into a wall of fire.

The wind blades collided with the fire wall.

Both were annihilated—blades vanished, and flames scattered.

Gu Changhuai, unable to draw on his Core Formation power, still held a slight edge over Peak Foundation Establishment Fire Buddha—but only barely.

This initial exchange revealed the two were nearly evenly matched.

After fending off the wind blades, Fire Buddha's eyes turned blood-red, overflowing with killing intent.

He looked like a feral beast baring its fangs.

The flames burning around him suddenly darkened into a grayish-black, and his aura began to distort.

From the void came whispers of pain, howls of terror.

As if all the souls who had perished beneath his spells had become manifestations of karmic slaughter.

That immense slaughter energy twisted into sinister Sha Qi (煞氣 – baleful aura).

The baleful aura fused into his spells, spreading alongside the rising flames, engulfing the entire hall.

A shadow settled over everyone's hearts. Their Dao hearts wavered, and fear crept in unbidden.

At that moment, Fire Buddha seemed like a demon lord from hell itself—wreathed in karmic fire, burdened by endless sins.

Especially for those Dao Court cultivators closest to him.

In their eyes, the once-benevolent "Buddha" suddenly became a man-eating demon, his aura cruel and terrifying.

The baleful aura invaded their minds.

A soul-deep fear took hold.

Their limbs weakened, their teeth clenched, but they couldn't stop themselves from trembling.

Their spiritual power and physical control failed under the weight of fear.

The fear of death… was dragging them toward death.

Fire Buddha sneered and raised a hand—manifesting a blade of fire.

With a single sweep, a crimson arc of flame carved through the air, slaughtering the terrified enforcers, whose minds had already been shattered by Sha Qi and no longer resisted.

Gu Changhuai burned with fury—but he also felt a chill in his bones.

"Sha Qi?!"

His eyes turned icy.

"Demonic scum! How did the 'Sha-Infused Spellcasting' of the Demon-Sha Sect end up in your hands?!"

Fire Buddha pressed his palms together and said calmly:

"My Buddha is merciful. He granted me this art so that I may use karmic flames to… 'liberate' all beings."

"You bald thief! You're spouting dogshit!" Gu Changhuai roared.

Fire Buddha's expression remained cold. He did not argue—he simply stared back at Gu Changhuai.

In the flickering firelight, his gaze gleamed with both hatred and excitement.

"Back then, you shattered my heart meridian. I was one breath from death…"

"That feeling—hovering between life and death, the terror, the agony—I will never forget it…"

"But now, I have mastered the Falling Flame Art. I've fused slaughter into Sha, Sha into spells, spells into Dharma, and used Buddha to suppress the Sha. Sin, mind, and art… all one."

"My forbidden technique is complete."

"How will you kill me now?"

Fire Buddha chuckled darkly:

"One day, when I break through to the Golden Core realm, I'll hunt down everyone you care about, Gu Changhuai. I'll slaughter them all. And with your blood and grief, I'll forge the ultimate…"

"Golden Core Flame Sha."

Gu Changhuai's fury ignited into a murderous intent as cold as steel.

"Then today—I'll slice you into pieces, grind your bones to dust!"

His spiritual power erupted like a storm. Violent winds howled around him, forming countless blades, densely packed like feathers.

Fire Buddha's face finally shifted slightly—there was a flicker of dread in his eyes.

"Gu Clan's high-tier Dao art—Windplume Shattering Wings Technique!"

That was the very technique that had shredded his heart meridian back then—nearly killing him.

And now, years later, its power had only grown stronger.

Yet rather than shrinking back, Fire Buddha's battle lust grew fiercer.

Today, he would use the Sha-Infused Spellcasting and the perfected Falling Flame Forbidden Art to challenge the Gu Clan's proud Dao technique—the one used by their lapdogs in the Dao Court!

He would sever old grudges—and overcome his inner demon!

Fire Buddha's eyes brimmed with evil, and the Sha Qi around him surged to its peak.

Within several zhang, every Dao Court enforcer was overwhelmed by Sha Qi. Fear rooted them to the ground—they couldn't move.

Then Fire Buddha spread his arms wide.

His kasaya ignited with searing flame, condensing into hundreds of fire raindrops.

Each drop carried horrifying demonic energy.

In an instant, they exploded outward like a fiery downpour, raining death upon the fear-paralyzed enforcers.

Gu Changhuai frowned.

He, too, was affected by the Sha Qi—but with his deeper cultivation and firm killing intent, he managed to resist.

Seeing Fire Buddha unleashing this deadly rain of fire to massacre his people—

Gu Changhuai's gaze turned icy. He swept his fan, and the wind blades around him surged like feathers, intercepting the incoming fire rain.

Wind blades and fire rain clashed, flickering and colliding in a chaotic blur.

Spiritual energy burst in all directions.

Most of the fire rain was neutralized by the wind blades.

But a few still slipped through.

When they struck a cultivator, it was like planting a flame seed—the fire erupted instantly, releasing compressed demonic energy.

Flames tinged with Sha Qi consumed the victim in seconds.

Those burned by the Falling Flame rolled on the ground, shrieking in agony.

It was then that the demonic cultivators from the bronze labyrinth arrived.

They had slaughtered many Dao Court enforcers—but they, too, had been cut down by Gu Changhuai. Only around a hundred remained.

The three in the lead—Mo Hua recognized immediately.

The ones who had chased him before:

Bloodwood Cutter, Yin Thunder Son, and Ghostface Sha.

"Big Bro! We're here to help!"

"Let's butcher these Dao Court dogs!"

The demonic cultivators howled with laughter and plunged into the chaos.

Gu Changhuai shouted to his enforcers:

"Leave Fire Buddha to me! Get back—guard against the Sha Qi!"

Then he leapt forward alone, facing Fire Buddha head-on.

The rest of the enforcers scrambled away from Fire Buddha, locking into a life-or-death melee with Bloodwood Cutter and the other demonic cultivators.

The scene turned even more chaotic and bloody.

Spells flew.

Steel clashed.

Spiritual tools met demonic weapons, light and darkness tangled in brutal combat.

The demonic cultivators were bloodied and crazed.

The Dao Court cultivators had murder in their eyes.

No one dared to flee now.

So long as they had breath, they fought.

Anyone who turned their back… would die with a blade in it.

Mo Hua could only stand on the sidelines, watching—there was no way he could join the fray.

His cultivation was only at early Foundation Establishment, and his spiritual power was limited.

Meanwhile, the Dao Court enforcers and the demonic cultivators were all mid to late Foundation Establishment, with a good number at the latter.

His Fireball Technique wouldn't pose much of a threat.

Especially since some of the demonic cultivators were wearing armor or had activated sinister body-protection arts like Blood Armor Technique and Poison Armor Technique.

His fireballs would basically just… tickle them.

As for control abilities…

In a full-blown melee like this—with real blades and real blood—no one needed his little tricks to control the battlefield.

Thankfully, he still had some self-awareness.

He quietly kept his presence hidden, obediently staying out of the way. The last thing he wanted was to draw aggro.

If he carelessly made a move and ended up attracting the attention of Fire Buddha or got caught by the demonic cultivators, he'd just become a burden to Uncle Gu and the others…

And honestly—

Mo Hua stole a glance toward the center of the hall, where Fire Buddha and Uncle Gu were locked in combat.

Fire raged all around Fire Buddha, who resembled a flame demon from the underworld, and Mo Hua couldn't help but click his tongue.

"This Fire Buddha… is way stronger than I thought."

Far beyond his earlier assumptions.

Sha Qi, fire kasaya, and that Falling Flame Forbidden Art…

The Sha Qi alone was terrifying enough to suppress and control enemies.

Once the Sha Qi triggered fear and shook someone's Dao heart, if their willpower was weak, they'd instantly lose the will to resist and become helpless prey for Fire Buddha's blade.

In that case, group tactics were meaningless.

As soon as the Sha Qi was released, everyone fell into terror, and Fire Buddha could just start spamming his forbidden technique in a slaughter spree.

Absolutely insane…

Unless one had an exceptionally firm Dao heart and righteous energy—or came prepared with Sha-resisting spiritual tools—then cultivators of the same realm were completely outmatched by Fire Buddha.

But Sha-resisting tools were likely rare and expensive.

There was no way the Dao Court could afford to equip everyone with one.

And that kasaya of his definitely wasn't some ordinary spiritual tool either.

Then there was the Falling Flame Technique itself…

Fire Buddha and Uncle Gu were going all out, clashing with full force.

This gave Mo Hua the perfect chance to observe and study.

He had been watching closely for a while and discovered that the Falling Flame Technique was actually very different from what he had imagined.

Although it was a forbidden technique, and perhaps even stronger than high-tier arts, at its core, it still followed the conventional framework of spellcasting.

It was a "technique-transformation" spell, not a "spirit-transformation" one.

That is, it was a positive structure: spiritual power channeled into a technique, forming a spell.

It wasn't the reverse kind, where the spell collapses the technique structure and reshapes spiritual power into chaotic effects.

It was only classified as a forbidden technique because it demanded extremely high amounts of spiritual power, had massive destructive force, and easily led to loss of control, mental instability, or excessive killing.

Mo Hua sighed.

"The original version of Falling Flame… I probably can't learn it."

The spiritual power required to build the spell was just too enormous.

Fire Buddha's demonic power was vast and turbulent, like a sea.

The man was basically a walking flame-type beast, with seemingly endless spiritual reserves.

By comparison, Mo Hua's spiritual power was like a trickling stream.

Okay, maybe not that exaggerated… but not far off.

Without a top-grade spiritual root, without a high-grade cultivation method, without a sea of spiritual power in his dantian, it would be impossible to cast such a high-damage forbidden technique.

And that wasn't even the whole story.

From observing how the spiritual power flowed through Fire Buddha's body, Mo Hua noticed that it was as if Fire Buddha had two dantians.

Those were the two "Flame Hearts".

They burned with blazing fire, simultaneously storing spiritual power and casting spells.

With this kind of mutual amplification, Fire Buddha's flame-type spells became even more terrifying…

But as for the underlying principles—Mo Hua was still in the dark.

He just couldn't figure out how the spell was constructed.

After all, no matter how sharp his eyes were, there were limits to what you could understand just by watching…

"Falling Flame Technique…"

Mo Hua felt a pang of envy.

"If I had a good spiritual root, deep spiritual power… I could learn something like this too.

A technique with high spiritual demand and massive power…"

Then I wouldn't be stuck using little fireballs to annoy people every day…

Still, Mo Hua wasn't discouraged.

He might not be able to learn the original Falling Flame, but studying its structure and construction principles—that was totally within reach.

That was his original plan anyway.

But then a thought struck him—and his heart skipped a beat.

He had forgotten something critical.

If Fire Buddha was captured or killed now…

Then the Falling Flame Technique would fall into the Dao Court's hands.

And he'd never get it. Not in this lifetime.

"What do I do?"

He couldn't exactly sneak around and secretly help Fire Buddha escape, could he?

What if Fire Buddha got out and went on another killing spree? That kind of karma would fall on Mo Hua's head!

And besides, looking at the current situation—it wasn't even certain Uncle Gu could actually kill Fire Buddha.

This was within a Tier-2 Immortal City, and Uncle Gu couldn't afford to go all out recklessly.

Letting Fire Buddha escape was clearly not an option either.

Mo Hua's eyes drifted back to Fire Buddha, engulfed in flame and locked in fierce battle—like some infernal Flame Demon.

He frowned slightly.

"Would Fire Buddha carry the technique formula for Falling Flame on him?"

If he did, then there was no way Mo Hua could get it.

If not, then where would he hide it?

Mo Hua shifted his gaze and began subtly scanning the entire great hall.

The hall was grand, ancient, and dark—looked like a ceremonial place where demonic cultivators held rituals.

But based on his instinct and experience, he had a hunch:

There must be a "sacrificial altar" or something like it hidden within.

He knew a lot of corpse cultivators and evil cultivators—they loved their altars.

Fire Buddha probably wasn't any different.

And given Fire Buddha's secretive nature, if he was willing to start a slaughter here in the hall, it likely meant this wasn't the true core of the place.

There had to be a deeper secret within the temple...

"Maybe… I should go look around?" 

"Should I go take a look?"

After all, there wasn't much he could do here anyway.

Mo Hua stole another glance at Fire Buddha—seeing that he and Uncle Gu were already locked in a bloody, frenzied battle—then nodded slowly.

With his stealth technique active, no one noticed his movements.

He concealed his presence and quietly slipped past Fire Buddha and the other demonic cultivators, heading deeper into the great hall…

They could keep fighting their war.

He was going to sneak in and rob the house.

The hall was massive, and the lighting in the back didn't reach very far, leaving the area dim and shadowed.

But after walking all the way to the end, there was nothing suspicious—except for one thing:

A massive wall mural carved into the rear wall.

By the faint, hazy glow of the demonic temple's lamps, Mo Hua could make out the carvings:

A vast, desolate mountain range filled the mural. Thorny brambles covered the land, the terrain was treacherous, and demonic beasts swarmed the wilderness.

"This is… a painting of the Wild Mountains?"

"What does it mean…"

Mo Hua furrowed his brow. He couldn't make sense of it.

He looked around the area again but found nothing else—no statues, no altars, no objects. Everything else had either been removed or destroyed. No clues remained.

Which meant the only possible lead was this grand, sprawling mural.

"A mural, huh…"

That reminded him—back in Liyu Prefecture's Nanyue City, in the Lu Clan's Corpse Mountain Hall, there had also been a mural.

On that mural was the head of the Lu Clan's ancestral zombie.

And its giant mouth? That was the entrance to a sacrificial altar.

These corpse cultivators and demonic freaks always liked to leave traces like that…

"So this mural… might hide an entrance too?"

Having a wide range of experiences really did come in handy…

Mo Hua released his divine sense, scanning the mural for any traces of a formation.

Every inch of it came into view: the twisted, grotesque demonic beasts, the jagged and perilous mountain terrain, the dense and eerie forests…

But even after carefully searching, he couldn't sense the slightest hint of a formation.

"No formation?" Mo Hua blinked in surprise.

Then again, maybe that made sense.

The best way to avoid being detected by a formation master… was simply not to use formations at all.

No runes, no array patterns—nothing to leave a trace.

Even the sharpest formation expert wouldn't be able to spot a weakness if there was nothing to spot.

Still, while there was no array, there was something else.

Mo Hua closed his eyes to focus—and sure enough, he sensed a faint, subtle presence. Something vaguely familiar.

Following that subtle aura, he arrived at a corner of the mural.

This portion of the mural was quite plain—just a few clusters of grass, a couple trees, and a narrow mountain trail.

The trail curled backward, winding through the forest as if it stretched deep into the Wild Mountains.

And the spot in front of him appeared to be the start of that mountain path—the entry point of the mural.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then cautiously reached out to push.

The moment he did, his vision flipped upside-down. A wild, ancient aura rushed out at him—as if the scene within the mural had become real.

When he opened his eyes again, Mo Hua realized he was standing within a mountain.

He tensed slightly and looked around carefully—only to realize this mountain was artificial.

It looked like something that had been carefully carved out—but it was still impressively vast in scale.

The entire demonic temple was built atop this man-made mountain.

The fake mountain's twisted paths and terrain perfectly mirrored the style of the mural's Wild Mountains.

It was as if it had been constructed to resemble the Wild Mountains on purpose.

Mo Hua studied the layout further and discovered something startling—the structure of the mountain subtly aligned with the Heaven-Obscuring Formation.

The internal terrain echoed the external labyrinth structure.

It was a classic "maze within a maze, formation within a formation."

"So many weird things in this demonic temple…"

Mo Hua was momentarily puzzled.

"Could Fire Buddha really have built all this?"

What was this demonic temple for, exactly?

A sacrificial altar? But how? What kind of sacrifice?

What role did Fire Buddha play in all this? What exactly had he done?

Mo Hua couldn't figure it out. He shook his head and continued deeper into the mountain.

Since the structure aligned with the Heaven-Obscuring Formation, the complex mountain paths were no obstacle to him.

Inside the fake mountain, every boulder and blade of grass seemed steeped in strange energy.

But to Mo Hua, it was all just surface-level trickery.

He kept his presence hidden and pressed forward.

After about the time it took to burn a stick of incense, he reached the center of the fake mountain.

As he had guessed—the heart of the mountain maze concealed a sacrificial altar.

(End of Chapter)