Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 648 – The Vanishing Demon Cultivators

"The Demon Palace is in my hands now... what can I do with it?"

For a moment, Mo Hua's mind exploded with possibilities—

And, of course, none of them good.

Schemes, traps, and beautifully sinister ideas sprouted like weeds.

Until Gu Changhuai interrupted him:

"Do you know where the Fire Buddha is?"

Ah, right—Fire Buddha first, mischief later.

Mo Hua immediately focused, took control of the Primordial Magnetic Control Array,

and began scanning the entire Demon Palace via the Spirit-Sight Core.

But the longer he looked, the deeper his frown grew.

"He's not there…"

Gu Changhuai was stunned.

"How could he not be?"

Mo Hua explained,

"This central array connects the outer, middle, and inner halls.

But the inner hall seems to be sealed. Completely isolated. It's a haze in the vision—

I have no idea what's happening in there."

"The inner hall…"

Gu Changhuai's gaze turned cold.

That's likely where Fire Buddha was hiding.

And whatever core secrets the Demon Palace held…

they were definitely sealed in there.

The inner hall was fully closed off.

"Maybe we should retreat and call for reinforcements?" Gu An suggested cautiously.

"Coordinate from inside and out, siege the place together?"

Gu Changhuai frowned.

Then asked:

"How many demon cultivators are in the Demon Palace?"

Gu An and Gu Quan exchanged glances, both shaking their heads.

All three turned toward Mo Hua.

Mo Hua thought for a moment,

"Judging by the transmission activity on the composite array,

there are probably just over 400 of them…"

"Four hundred…"

Gu Changhuai's gaze darkened slightly.

Mo Hua asked,

"Uncle Gu, how many can the Dao Court actually mobilize?"

"If I used my full authority, maybe 800. But…"

Gu Changhuai's expression turned grim,

"In reality, quickly and reliably? Maybe 300…"

"And of those, the ones with real experience fighting demonic cultivators…

Maybe a hundred."

…

Mo Hua got the picture.

The Dao Court was bloated. Bureaucratic.

Its cultivators? A mixed bag.

Sure, there were a few honest and heroic ones who fought evil—

but they were rare.

Most just muddled through.

Some only cared about benefits and profit.

And there were probably some spies, too…

The whole system was like a sludge pit:

a mix of clean water, mud, dead fish, and tumors.

You had to rely on it—

but couldn't rely on it too much.

People like Uncle Gu, Gu An, and Gu Quan…

were likely one in a hundred.

Gu Quan offered another idea:

"What if we lure Fire Buddha out, then ambush him?"

Gu Changhuai thought, then shook his head:

"Fire Buddha isn't an array master.

Most array cultivators are physically weak and not good at fighting. Easy to kill."

Halfway through, he glanced at Mo Hua beside him—who looked quite offended.

Gu Changhuai coughed awkwardly.

"Didn't mean you."

Sure, Mo Hua was physically fragile too.

But he was crafty, devious to the bone—

and definitely not someone easily ambushed.

"Mm." Mo Hua didn't know what Gu Changhuai was thinking,

but the comment didn't sound like an insult…

or a compliment either.

He gave a lukewarm nod.

Gu Changhuai shook his head and continued:

"Fire Buddha is different.

He's suspicious by nature, a master of fire spells, and a merciless killer."

"Even if we manage to lure him out,

ambushing or killing him quickly would be incredibly difficult…"

"And this is a second-grade province.

I can't use my Golden Core power here—just Foundation Establishment level."

"If we mess up, and get surrounded by hundreds of demon cultivators…

we're done for."

Even if they escaped,

someone would definitely lose their life here.

Gu Changhuai's face was grim.

Gu An and Gu Quan were both frowning.

Once evil cultivators formed organized forces, especially hidden in low-grade provinces,

under the restrictions of the Heavenly Dao…

they became incredibly hard to root out.

Mo Hua frowned too, anxious.

Two days had already passed.

He could almost see Fire Buddha's silhouette—

but there was a veil between them.

So close, yet unreachable.

Suddenly, Mo Hua's expression turned cold.

"Let's start killing them."

The three Gu family cultivators were stunned.

"Start… killing?"

"Yes." Mo Hua nodded.

"We clean out the outer guards first, quietly.

Then call in reinforcements to surround the inner hall.

Use numbers to our advantage and siege Fire Buddha!"

"The Lonely Peak Demon Den is a 'Heaven-Sealed Cave.'"

"Its advantage is isolation: tightly sealed, hidden from the world.

Easy to defend, hard to attack. Outsiders can't spy or interfere."

"But its flaw is also that once surrounded… it's a trap. No way out."

Gu Changhuai thought a moment, then nodded slightly.

"That could work…"

"The Demon Palace is heavily guarded.

If we attacked head-on, casualties would be immense."

"Even with an internal team like us coordinating from within…

there'd be a heavy price."

"So we weaken them from the inside first."

"Kill the outer and middle-hall guards.

Then summon the Dao Court's enforcers to attack and trap the inner hall."

"That way, the tables turn—Fire Buddha becomes the one surrounded."

The Dao Court would have the advantage in numbers.

Even if it was disorganized, and full of freeloaders—

numbers win battles.

"But…" Gu Changhuai gave Mo Hua a concerned glance.

"That won't be easy."

A few dozen would be manageable—

but hundreds of Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators?

That's a serious problem.

"Don't worry." Mo Hua pointed to the array behind him.

"I'll use the Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Composite Array to guide you."

(This chapter isn't over yet. Click "Next Page" to continue!)

"This whole composite array? I control it now."

"It's been turned into a traitor."

"The Demon Palace's guards are all blind."

"We can take them out, one by one, without making a sound."

"And no one will even notice…"

Mo Hua looked completely confident.

Gu Changhuai's eyes widened slightly.

To silently eliminate all the guards of the outer hall—

He was a Golden Core cultivator.

Even with power suppressed, he could kill Foundation Establishment enemies in small groups.

The key was not being noticed.

And right now—

the most important formation in the entire Demon Palace,

the surveillance array—had betrayed its masters.

The enemy's greatest weapon

had become their greatest vulnerability.

Using their own array, against them.

Using their own blade, to stab their heart.

Array masters… were truly terrifying.

Or rather…

Gu Changhuai quietly glanced at Mo Hua again.

Some array masters were terrifying beyond belief.

Mo Hua's eyes sparkled with excitement.

He ran the whole plan through his mind one more time:

Use the composite Spirit-Sight array to "remote guide" the Gu trio—

have them stealthily eliminate all the middle and outer-hall guards.

Remove every surveillance point.

Then, have Uncle Gu call in reinforcements.

Surround the inner hall like dumpling filling.

Even if the Dao Court's enforcers were unreliable—

outnumbering the enemy would be enough.

And after that?

Well… we'll play it by ear.

Mo Hua thought to himself.

After all, he still didn't know exactly what was in the inner hall.

The array didn't show anything.

Trap Fire Buddha first.

Then improvise.

Once the plan was settled, Mo Hua's expression turned serious.

"Hunt begins."

Gu Changhuai thought that sounded odd—

but knowing Mo Hua's weird personality, he didn't say anything.

Thus, deep inside the sinister, fortified Demon Palace—

The hunt began… in complete silence.

Mo Hua remained at the Spirit-Sight Core, guiding the Gu trio.

"Northwest corner of the middle hall.

There's a bone idol.

To its right—two demon cultivators will pass by in about ten seconds…"

"Kill them. No one else is nearby."

Mo Hua used the communication talisman Gu Changhuai had given him

to send instructions.

Then he kept his eyes glued to the array disk.

After a short while— The Spirit-Sight Core displayed two grey-black spirit energy shadows approaching.

These were two demon cultivators.

The Spirit-Sight formation could only display faint spiritual energy images.

So, what Mo Hua saw looked like two grimy little "spirit energy figures."

The two grubby-looking spirit silhouettes casually wandered into a corner…

Then suddenly—three blurry figures appeared nearby.

Their auras were hazy, hard to make out clearly, due to being concealed.

If Mo Hua hadn't known ahead of time, he might've missed them entirely.

Then, he watched as those three blurry figures stabbed the dirty spirit figures—swift and deadly.

A flash of red—possibly blood.

Or maybe it was demonic energy leaking out.

There was also a streak of white—looked like wind-type spirit energy slicing through,

likely Uncle Gu's handiwork.

He took down one on his own.

Gu An and Gu Quan seemed to have used blades—

the two of them working together, their spirit arcs like full moons—

took care of the other.

As Mo Hua watched, he mentally replayed the scene with his own dramatic flair—

feeling quite entertained by the whole process.

After the two demon cultivators were slain, their bodies were tossed into the rotting waters beneath the Demon Palace.

That dark pool… looked like it was meant for dumping corpses.

The water was filthy and stank.

It was full of sludge—or maybe flesh-mud—churning together, with a greenish scum floating on top.

Most likely, the demonic cultivators had used it for body disposal before.

Now they were dumped into it themselves.

Karma.

"Two down…"

Mo Hua turned his eyes back to the array disk,

resumed his "roll call," looking for the next lucky sucker.

Soon after, he found another demon cultivator.

"Keep moving forward…"

"There's a pill refining chamber up ahead, tucked in a hallway corner.

Seven seconds from now, a lone demon cultivator will pass by…"

"Kill them."

"Alright, next one…"

"This one's two men and a dog…"

"Move quick. One incense stick's time.

Or a five-man patrol will run into you."

"Killed."

"And another."

…

Just like that, Mo Hua continued his silent roll call from the control hub.

Gu Changhuai—a Golden Core cultivator—along with Gu An and Gu Quan, both late Foundation Establishment, did the dirty work.

Whoever Mo Hua pointed out—died.

The vast Demon Palace…

one demon cultivator after another, quietly vanishing…

Not a single one realized what was happening.

Mo Hua disguised the kills perfectly.

Before tossing the bodies, the trio would also strip the storage pouches.

Mo Hua wasn't interested in anything else inside.

Even if he wanted to take the loot, Gu Changhuai wouldn't hand it over.

Instead, after each kill, Gu Changhuai handed over identical skull-engraved transmission tokens to Mo Hua.

These tokens, apparently, had a name: "Grimoire Orders".

"Tch… Just call them message tokens. Why call it something fancy like Grimoire Order?"

Mo Hua muttered in disgust.

Still, he took them all.

Every demon cultivator in the Demon Palace seemed to carry one.

They were used to message one another.

(This chapter isn't over yet. Click "Next Page" to continue!)

And conveniently, all those messages went through the Magnetic Control Core Array—which Mo Hua now controlled.

Originally, this array was designed by the evil array master to monitor demon cultivators.

Now, it served Mo Hua's plan perfectly.

His first objective:

Spy on their conversations.

Look for clues about Fire Buddha, or hidden secrets of the Demon Palace.

No major secrets had come up yet.

But—he finally learned the name of the now-dead evil array master.

The patrolling demon cultivators referred to him via Grimoire Order messages as:

"Master Yuan."

"Master Yuan"…

A master of Primordial Magnetic arrays?

Was that his surname? Or just a title?

Mo Hua wasn't sure.

But it didn't matter.

The original Master Yuan was dead.

Now the one in charge… was Master Mo.

Mo Hua took over his identity—impersonating "Master Yuan"—

issuing orders to patrolling demon cultivators.

And they had no idea.

"Master Yuan" had a reputation for being temperamental, gloomy, and unpredictable.

No one dared question his words.

But one issue remained—

The dead demon cultivators' Grimoire Orders…

If a living demon cultivator messaged one of the dead ones and didn't get a reply,

the whole silent-assassination operation could unravel.

So Mo Hua had to multi-role—

occasionally using the dead guys' Grimoire Orders to send casual replies.

Just enough to make it seem like they were still alive and patrolling.

At first, when there were only a few tokens, Mo Hua could manage just fine.

Though… the conversations were weird.

Most demon cultivators had some really… twisted interests.

Mo Hua felt completely out of place.

He struggled to match their warped personalities and viewpoints.

After all, he was a kind, polite boy…

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

So, whenever messages came in, he mostly gave vague, dismissive replies:

"Mm."

"Oh."

"Sure."

"Up to you."

"Nice one."

"You're wild."

But as the number of Grimoire Orders piled up,

those replies started sounding too repetitive.

Too fake. Too suspicious.

So Mo Hua lay back in the evil array master's chair, multitasking like a pro—

one eye on the array disk, calling targets…

…while the other skimmed through past Grimoire Order messages.

He was trying to learn how demon cultivators talked, so he could blend in better.

After a long while, Mo Hua realized…

He was overthinking it.

These demon cultivators were all over the place—

hot-tempered, foul-mouthed, completely unpredictable.

No need for subtlety.

As long as he cursed convincingly—

he was good.

Cursing was the key.

Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

He remembered Elder Yu.

If cursing was a cultivation realm, Elder Yu was easily at Half-Step Void Ascension.

If cursing could increase one's cultivation level—

Elder Yu might've ascended long ago.

Sadly, Mo Hua was a well-mannered and courteous child.

Not much of a cusser.

At best…

He'd memorized a bunch of Elder Yu's best insults while following him around.

Now it was time to put that memory to good use.

"These are Elder Yu's insults, not me turning evil…"

"I just have a good memory. Can't blame me…"

Mo Hua nodded seriously.

Then he began unleashing Elder Yu's signature verbal artillery through the Grimoire Orders…

So that demon cultivators all the way in Qianzhou could experience the Elder Yu verbal beatdown…

Demon Cultivator A:

"The hell's wrong with you? Been ages, why aren't you replying?"

Demon Cultivator A:

"You mother—why the hell haven't you replied after all this time?!"

Mo Hua replied:

"Why the hell would I waste words on trash like you? Your brain's made of pig slop—think you can even understand what I'm saying?"

Demon Cultivator A:

"You drunk, bastard?!"

Mo Hua:

"How the hell could this old man ever get drunk? Unless I chop off your pig face and use it as a chaser, and have your mom come cheer me on—maybe then I'll drink too much!"

Demon Cultivator A:

"Fine, fine! You rotting dogspawn, you damn mongrel—!"

Mo Hua furrowed his brows, just about to get angry, when he paused—

Wait a minute…

He's insulting "Shi Lao'er"…

What does that have to do with me, Mo Xiaohua?

He's not even cursing me…

Mo Hua replied:

"Fine! If 'Shi Lao'er' is a mongrel, then at least he's a mongrel born from your grandma and a stray mutt—while you're a mongrel I had with your mom!"

After that, the other side went completely silent.

Mo Hua didn't know if the guy passed out from sheer rage.

Mo Hua shook his head.

"No good… Still can't hold a candle to Elder Yu."

Even though Qianzhou was a major state with deep sect legacies,

when it came to the fine art of verbal abuse, the heritage was clearly lacking.

Mo Hua's fingers flew across the tokens, his divine sense even faster,

searching through Elder Yu's legendary "Insult Archives" to reply to the next one:

Demon Cultivator B:

"You dumbass, where the hell are you?!"

Mo Hua:

"On your mom's belly."

Demon Cultivator C:

"The Demon Palace is getting too quiet lately…"

Mo Hua:

"Quiet? Half of you clowns are already walking corpses. How couldn't it be quiet?"

Demon Cultivator D:

"So bored… Send a few girls over for some dual cultivation…"

Mo Hua:

"You're still thinking about that at a time like this? Why not stomp your 'little brother' flat and use that to patch up your pig brain instead?!"

Demon Cultivator E:

"You dead or something?"

Mo Hua:

"Dead. Don't talk to me."

E:

"If you're dead, how are you replying?!"

Mo Hua:

"Then why the hell are you asking?!"

E:

"I'm just worried about you, you bastard!"

Mo Hua:

"Don't need your bastard-ass concern. I died on top of your mom—

trying to squeeze out one more little beast like you before I croaked."

All of these foul-mouthed lines were originally from Elder Yu.

Mo Hua actually didn't understand most of what they meant.

He just had a freakishly good memory and a sharp divine sense—so he remembered them all.

As long as it was an insult, it worked.

And they were perfect for these demon cultivators.

After getting cursed out, these guys would all get emotional.

Some got so mad they mistyped their own messages.

Some even scrambled their divine sense and couldn't reply at all.

Luckily, demon cultivators were used to cursing each other on the daily.

Even when furious, they didn't dare stir trouble inside the Demon Palace.

Definitely wouldn't start a fight just over some trash talk.

Mo Hua figured most of them were probably bottling up the hatred

—saving it for some good old-fashioned revenge later on.

But none of that had anything to do with him.

The insults came from Elder Yu's script.

The message tokens were the demon cultivators' own.

The grudges would never trace back to him.

Besides… the ones getting cursed out were already dead anyway.

And more were dying by the minute.

So Mo Hua kept multitasking at full throttle—

Calling hits, guiding Uncle Gu to "knife" people…

Pretending to be "Master Yuan" giving commands…

And simultaneously acting out multiple roles to insult demon cultivators.

He was having the time of his life.

Then suddenly—

A message popped up on the Magnetic Control Array Disk:

"Master Yuan."

Mo Hua casually replied:

"Spit it out if you've got something to say. Fart it out if it's just gas.

What're you stalling for, you worthless mutt?"

The other side fell silent for a long time…

Then slowly responded:

"Master Yuan's liver fire seems… a little excessive today."

Mo Hua was taken aback.

Who was this guy?

He actually had manners.

Even after getting cussed out, he kept his cool?

A rare breed among demon cultivators…

Mo Hua was just wondering how to respond, when another message came:

"Greed, anger, and ignorance—three poisons, three filths, three fires.

Desires disturb the heart; evil binds the soul.

Only with a calm and pure mind… can one suppress karmic consequences."

Mo Hua frowned—then froze—mouth agape.

"Greed, anger, ignorance…"

"Purity… karmic consequences…"

Wait a damn minute…

Could this be—

Fire Buddha?!

Mo Hua was dumbfounded.

"F-Fire Buddha's… chatting with me?"

"And I… I cursed him out?!"

(End of Chapter)