Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 1959 - 949: Corpse Fiend (Part 3)

Standing beside Mr. Hui, Stone lowered his voice to a whisper: "Second Master, we are merely on the tomb's outskirts, yet corpse spirits are already prowling. There might be even more further in, perhaps even Third Grade entities..."

A flicker of anxiety passed over Stone’s face.

Mr. Hui’s brow furrowed into a deep scowl, but then a sharp glint entered his eyes. He replied in a heavy tone:

"A tomb without spirits is no tomb at all. The more treacherous the environment, the more it proves the burial site's high status—and the more magnificent the treasures hidden within."

Stone gave a nod and fell silent.

In the business of tomb-raiding, risk and reward are two sides of the same coin.

By that same logic, the presence of extreme danger often heralds the potential for immense wealth.

Seeking fortune amidst peril was a fundamental principle they all understood.

Soon after, the group prepared to move out.

Mo Hua resumed his work on the formation, making a show of unraveling the seals to open the gate.

Nearby, Mr. Hui remained seated, regulating his breathing.

As a seasoned veteran of the trade, he knew that everything within these ancient graves carried an air of malice. He wouldn't let his guard down just because the previous corpse spirit was only Second Grade.

He was well aware of stories where Golden Core peers of his had succumbed to obscure Second Grade corpse poisons, meeting their ends deep underground.

Mr. Hui had heard many such cautionary tales.

Because of this, one had to be exceptionally careful with any injury sustained in a tomb, no matter how trivial it seemed.

While Mr. Hui meditated to stabilize his condition, Mo Hua focused on dismantling the barrier.

Now that a corpse spirit had shown itself, Mo Hua didn't want to waste more time. After a brief period of pretending to struggle with the mechanics, he broke the gate’s formation and swung it open.

Past the threshold lay yet another corridor of shadows.

"This gods-forsaken tomb is massive..." Mousie grumbled with a frown. "It feels like it goes on forever."

"Move it, and quit your whining," Mr. Hui snapped.

He performed a final internal check of his Qi and inspected his wound. Satisfied that there were no complications and no sign of "corpse poison," he stood up and commanded, "Let’s go."

The party ventured further into the dark passage.

Leading the way once more, Mo Hua held his compass steady.

The rest of the group followed closely behind him.

However, the earlier encounter with the "corpse spirit" had put everyone—including the four black-robed figures—on high alert.

These corpse spirits were foul, rotting, and sinister creatures. Most dangerously, they were silent and invisible to Divine Sense, making them terrifyingly unpredictable.

As a result, every person was in a state of maximum readiness, their focus sharpened to a razor's edge.

Mr. Hui was especially tense. Both corpse spirits had fixated on him; one had clawed at his shoulder while the other had lunged for his face, sinking its revolting fangs into his brow.

Having been bitten once, he was now ten times more wary.

Mr. Hui moved with extreme caution, haunted by the realization that those two spirits might have been stalking them from behind for a long time without anyone noticing...

Except, a sudden thought struck him.

"No... not everyone was oblivious..."

Mr. Hui shifted his gaze toward Mo Hua, a sense of alarm rising within him. "This brat seemed to have sensed them..."

"He mentioned feeling something earlier on the path. He clearly perceived their presence."

"Even if his perception wasn't perfect, such an instinct for danger is incredibly rare, particularly in our line of work..."

Mr. Hui began to view Mo Hua with a new level of appreciation.

"This is a top-tier talent. I can't let him get away; I must keep him under my thumb and make him work for me."

Mr. Hui’s eyes flashed with greed before he smoothed his expression, maintaining his guarded facade as if nothing were amiss.

While Mr. Hui was secretly evaluating Mo Hua, Mo Hua was also quietly keeping an eye on him.

There was a detail Mo Hua had kept to himself.

Mr. Hui believed those corpse spirits were hunting him specifically.

That wasn't true.

The spirits were actually drawn to Mo Hua.

It was just like the nightmare he had experienced in Solitary Mountain City, where distorted vengeful ghosts crawled from the void to tear at his flesh.

These corpse spirits were no different.

However, the spirits were somewhat "dim-witted." While they knew Mo Hua was present, they couldn't pinpoint exactly which person in the group he was.

Mo Hua had attached a fragment of his Divine Thought to Mr. Hui.

Confused by the trace, the two corpse spirits mistook Mr. Hui for their target, which led to the shoulder-clawing and the face-lunging.

Mo Hua had even subtly nudged them along, using small comments to heighten the tension and manipulate their focus.

In moments where Mr. Hui had no room to maneuver, Mo Hua would "warn" him to move in a way that actually left his forehead exposed to the spirits.

But these creatures were far from simple.

Their attacks were all aimed at the cultivator's head.

A bite to the skull allowed a sliver of malignant evil intent to enter the wound, bypass the gates of the Sea of Consciousness, and invade the mind.

The true "corpse poison" of these entities didn't affect the body or Spiritual Power—it targeted the Sea of Consciousness itself.

When Mr. Hui was bitten, a thread of dark, cyan-black poisonous thought had already slipped into his Sea of Consciousness through the gash on his forehead.

Mr. Hui was oblivious, and the others couldn't see it, but it was perfectly clear to Mo Hua.

Naturally, Mo Hua kept his mouth shut—fearing Mr. Hui couldn't handle the grim truth—and instead began covertly tracking the man's condition.

He had always been curious about this.

He wondered what the erosion of demon-type evil thoughts looked like in a normal cultivator, how the process progressed, and what symptoms would arise.

He simply hadn't had a chance to study it until now.

With a live "test subject" right in front of him, Mo Hua was eager to observe the results.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hui hadn't shown any strange behavior yet.

Mo Hua mused that perhaps the "corpse poison" dosage was too low to manifest immediate toxicity.

Or perhaps the Divine Thought of a Third Grade Golden Core cultivator was resilient enough that a Second Grade evil thought had little impact.

It was also possible that the poison was simply in its "incubation period."

"I should see if there are more corpse spirits I can lure over to bite Mr. Hui a few more times."

"If it actually works, then..." Mo Hua’s eyes suddenly lit up with a realization.

"I could capture some evil spirits and try to breed a virus-like 'corpse spirit' of my own."

"In the future, if a Golden Core expert tries to kill me and I can't win in a fair fight, I can secretly infect them with these evil thoughts. I'll rot their Sea of Consciousness, shatter their sanity, and erode their Daoist Heart..."

Mo Hua’s excitement grew as his eyes sparkled.

The more he thought about it, the more he believed the plan was viable.

Still, theory required practice; any hypothesis needed to be proven through real-world testing.

Mo Hua gave a small, satisfied nod.

He continued to lead the group forward, all the while monitoring Mr. Hui to see if his theory on evil thought poisoning would hold true.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hui walked deeper into the tomb, completely unaware that he was being studied, while harboring his own schemes of enslaving Mo Hua for his own gain.