Chapter 1537: The Green-Faced “Living Ghost”

Chapter 1537: The Green-Faced “Living Ghost”

“Uncle Gù's blood... this means Uncle Gù is truly trapped in the old forest of the Thousand Spider Wild Temple?”

“Bleeding... means he's been through battle, been wounded, and is at a disadvantage...”

Mo Hua rubbed the bloodstain between his fingers again and found that the blood was nearly dry, he must have been injured for quite some time.

Clearly, he was being pursued by a powerful enemy, and he couldn't escape.

“This is... a bit dangerous...”

Mo Hua's gaze dimmed slightly. He rubbed the bloodstain with his fingertips, activated his Divine-Sense, and employed the Cause and Effect Method to calculate the owner of this blood.

A moment later, his eyes sharpened. He rose to his feet, activated his Movement Technique, and vanished into the dense forest on the right.

Along the way, the woods were gloomy, and miasma filled the air.

The ancient forest was covered in spiderwebs, with corpses of various spiders and insects hidden in every corner.

Purple, venom-laced Divine Sense Thought Power drifted through the forest like mist.

This was no simple trap laid by the Unorthodox Path.

The gloominess of the forest's aura and the intensity of the Yāo-Sense Thought suggested that something far more ferocious was lurking here.

The entire lightless ancient forest was like a giant spiderweb.

Deep within the forest, it seemed a pair of cold, sinister eyes were watching everything from the shadows.

Mo Hua's Divine-Sense was sharp, and his perception was keen. He could faintly sense that this 'big thing' had some real cultivation behind it.

But whatever this 'big thing' was, it was hiding very well.

And this was its territory. Mo Hua was new here, unfamiliar with the terrain, and couldn't see through its true form for the moment.

All Mo Hua could do was hope that Uncle Gù hadn't been devoured by this big thing yet...

Then Mo Hua's gaze focused, and he followed the cause and effect of the bloodstains, searching the ancient forest for a while longer.

On some tree trunks, beside withered vines, and on the corpses of spider demons, he found traces of cultivator flesh and blood.

But that was all, after that, there were no more clues.

In the dense forest, sunlight couldn't penetrate, and visibility was low.

The ancient trees were tangled and complex, making it impossible to mark one's position.

When Mo Hua extended his powerful Divine-Sense, it felt hazy and foggy, every direction looked the same, and he couldn't distinguish his bearings.

Even his Cause and Effect calculations began to be distorted.

The results he derived seemed to be invisibly pulled and influenced by certain Psychic Art Magnetic Fields within the ancient forest, deviating from their original bearings.

Mo Hua circled around several times, but kept ending up back where he started. His heart sank.

“Truly... there's some skill to this...”

Mo Hua stopped calculating cause and effect altogether and relied purely on his Divine-Sense perception to search for the presence of living people in the Thousand Spider Ancient Forest.

Actually, not just living people, even a moving 'living creature' would do.

He searched for another half day, but all around remained deathly still.

The entire forest, aside from dead spiders, dead insects, and the deathly still fog, had not a trace of life.

Mo Hua had long since lost his way, with no idea where he was or which direction he faced.

Mo Hua furrowed his brow.

Just as he was considering whether to use more extreme, more crude, and less polite methods to determine his position and search the forest, a faint sound came from the distance—it seemed to be people talking.

Mo Hua's mind stirred. Concealing his form, he followed the sound. After walking several li, the voices grew clearer, indeed, people were conversing.

Though Mo Hua was confident in the strength of his Divine-Sense, he still suppressed it to be safe.

All traces of his aura were also concealed to the utmost limit.

His footsteps were as light as falling feathers as he slowly approached, then fixed his gaze forward.

Looking into the forest, there was indeed a group of people gathered together.

These people were tall and burly, wearing tattered armor, with three green streaks painted on their faces, pale pupils, and a pervasive aura of resentment, clearly men with blood on their hands.

Mo Hua frowned slightly.

These cultivators looked like rioters, but they were clearly different from ordinary rioters, their strength was far greater.

At the center of this group of rioters sat a leader, gnawing on some kind of meat.

This leader was enormous in build, even seated, he stood as tall as a man.

His appearance was hideous and ferocious, his face bluish-green, his muscles earthy in color and hard as iron. Bulging veins ran across his limbs, with dark green blood flowing thickly through them.

Though clearly alive, he looked like a “living ghost” with a green face and fangs.

At this moment, this “living ghost” was voraciously devouring a roasted human leg, looking all the more vicious.

And his cultivation was actually at the Late Golden Core Stage, not far from Peak Golden Core.

Mo Hua's gaze darkened.

Just as Mo Hua was watching him, this green-faced living ghost suddenly stopped chewing, his eyes snapping wide open as he turned his head to stare fixedly in Mo Hua's direction. His voice rumbled like a cracked jar:

“The smell of a living person...”

Mo Hua was startled.

The green-faced ghost spat out the meat in his mouth with a “pah,” tossed aside the human leg, and drool seeped from the corners of his mouth as he rasped:

“Fresh... tender... the smell of a living person...”

The other rioters heard this and grew excited, turning to look toward Mo Hua with bloodshot eyes.

In Mo Hua's position, there was clearly nothing, not a trace of aura.

Yet they seemed certain that a delicious “living person” was there.

These people, who had tasted the extreme pangs of 'hunger,' seemed to transcend common sense.

Mo Hua frowned and simply dispelled his concealment, revealing his form.

In the dim, ancient forest, a figure draped in a black robe—his face hidden, only a white chin exposed, eerie and sinister—silently materialized before the group.

The rioters were startled, feeling an inexplicable chill, yet driven by their bloodthirsty nature, their eyes grew even more cruel and excited.

Mo Hua's gaze sank. He pressed his fingers together, about to make his move.

But then the green-faced leader suddenly said in surprise:

“You're one of Master Wu's men?”

Hearing the name Master Wu, the other rioters' expressions shifted, and a hint of reverence appeared in their eyes.

Master Wu?

Mo Hua was briefly taken aback, then his mind stirred. He nodded calmly and said:

“Mhm.”

He only uttered a faint “mhm,” his tone dismissive, yet it seemed profound and inscrutable.

The green-faced leader observed his mist-like black attire, his silent concealment spell, and his elusive, formless aura—indeed, the appearance of a Fāngshì.

He was somewhat convinced, but still uncertain. His gaze turned vicious as he asked gruffly:

“What did Master Wu send you here for?”

Mo Hua pondered briefly, then replied coldly: “You've been too slow. Master Wu has been kept waiting...”

The green-faced leader's heart tightened. “Those people... they're not easy to deal with...”

Mo Hua sneered. “A pack of Dao Court lackeys, what's so hard about dealing with them?”

Hearing this, the green-faced leader had no further doubts and explained:

“Master Wu should also know that these dogs of the Dao Court are no ordinary dogs.”

“The one leading them is an Imperial Dispatched Archive Officer from the Dao Court. His cultivation is only at the Golden Core middle stage, but he's of orthodox lineage, with fierce spells, truly troublesome to deal with...”

“This Venerable One has been hunting them relentlessly these past days. I've already butchered quite a few of the Dao Court's dogs, and some have already fallen into my belly...”

The Green-Faced Leader pointed at the human leg he had just been gnawing on, then added:

“I estimate that after a few more days of hunting, that Archive Officer surnamed Gu will be gutted open by me and devoured clean...”

Mo Hua's gaze turned icy cold at these words. He nodded in approval and said, “You've done well. Master Wu will reward you.”

At the mention of “reward,” the Green-Faced Leader's eyes flickered with displeasure.

Rewards were given from superior to subordinate.

He revered Master Wu, but he didn't consider himself beneath Master Wu's station.

Still, Fāngshì were all like this—short-tempered, arrogant, and petty. They could not be crossed.

The Green-Faced Leader let out a gloomy laugh, the sound thick and grating, like a bellows with a hole in it.

Mo Hua's gaze swept across the Green-Faced Leader's expression, seeing through his thoughts.

The Green-Faced Leader looked back at Mo Hua, then asked with some confusion, “I haven't seen you before...”

Mo Hua sneered, “Oh? Have you seen everyone under Master Wu's command?”

The Green-Faced Leader said no more on that matter, instead asking, “What has Master Wu sent you here for...”

Mo Hua feigned a moment of contemplation, then said solemnly:

“We can delay no longer. If we drag this out, the situation may shift...”

“Master Wu knows that the Dao Court's dogs are not so easily killed. That's why he specifically dispatched me to come assist you, to strike with thunderous force, exterminate the Dao Court's dogs at the earliest opportunity, and advance the greater plan...”

The Green-Faced Leader felt a chill in his heart at these words, then looked at Mo Hua with some suspicion. “You'll assist me?”

Mo Hua deliberately released a measure of Golden Core pressure.

His cultivation was only at the Early Golden Core Stage, but his Divine-Sense was extraordinarily powerful. When he intentionally revealed it, it carried an indescribably eerie sense of oppression.

The Green-Faced Leader dared not underestimate him.

This was the aura unique to a Fāngshì who had steeped himself in the Unorthodox Path for years.

Even if he was only at the Early Golden Core Stage, he couldn't be taken lightly, and moreover, this visitor was Master Wu's special envoy, who surely carried some sinister tricks on his person.

With his assistance, they would surely be able to slaughter those Dao Court dogs to the last.

That Archive Officer surnamed Gu... they'd strip his skin, pull his bones, roast his flesh, boil his marrow, and devour every last bit.

At this thought, the Green-Faced Leader was overjoyed.

That bastard surnamed Gu was indeed a tough bone to crack.

These past days, he had hunted him repeatedly, fought several fierce battles, yet gained no great advantage, in fact, he'd suffered no small amount of hardship himself.

The Green-Faced Leader nodded and said, “Good! With the special envoy assisting me, we'll surely slaughter every last one of these Dao Court dogs!”

“Once these dogs are killed, this Venerable One still has important matters to attend to...”

Mo Hua gave a slight nod.

The Green-Faced Leader rose to his feet. When seated, he stood as tall as a man; when standing, he was even more bizarre and extraordinary—like a malformed little giant, or a vengeful ghost walking the mortal world, radiating a fearsome presence.

Then a fierce glint flashed in the Green-Faced Leader's eyes, like an Evil Ghost opening its eyes in the mortal realm, and he commanded his subordinates:

“Blow the flutes. Summon all our forces. In one surge, we'll kill every last Dao Court dog and eat them all...”

“Yes, Venerable One.”

Several subordinates blew on strange flutes, their notes like night owls, hoarse and grating to the ear.

Before long, a flute sound echoed from the distance in response, followed by the clamor of voices and the rustling of trees. One after another, rioters clad in armor, radiating baleful qi, with vicious expressions, gathered around.

A rough count put them at two to three hundred people.

Seeing this, Mo Hua's expression also darkened slightly.

The green-faced leader said, “Let's go. Time to kill.” Then he led the group forward, walking at the very front.

All the other rioters followed behind the green-faced leader, their eyes savage, drool dripping from the corners of their mouths.

Mo Hua's gaze flickered, and his form moved like a ghostly phantom, blending in among the crowd as they went to kill the Dao Court's lackeys...

...

This Thousand Spider Ancient Forest contained both maze-like deceptions constructed with Unorthodox Path Arts, as well as unknown evil entities dwelling within.

Both Divine-Sense and cause and effect would be somewhat interfered with.

But there was one thing that was rather special.

That was, in this deathly silent forest filled with spider corpses and insect remains, the craving for the scent of living humans had instead become a reliable means of finding one's way.

Mo Hua did not possess this method, because he had never eaten a human.

But this group led by the green-faced living ghost seemed to be well-versed in it.

Even Mo Hua, who was skilled in concealment and could hide his traces to the point of invisibility, could be seen through by them, who could sniff out the delicious scent of human flesh.

Let alone Gu Changhuai and the other Dao Court Division cultivators.

The green-faced leader's tall frame walked at the front, his two ugly, deformed noses sniffing the scent of living humans in the air to determine their direction.

Mo Hua was somewhat curious and quietly sniffed the air himself.

But aside from the stench of decay and the unpleasant smell of insect corpses, he could detect nothing else.

Let alone any delicious scent of living humans.

Mo Hua gave up on that, and at the same time felt relieved—this at least proved that he was a normal person.

These rioters were highly skilled at tracking people.

And Gu Changhuai's group, in order to evade the pursuit of these bizarre rioters, had clearly gone to great lengths.

Along the way, Mo Hua could see that in many places, Uncle Gu and the others had made some modifications, placing pills with strange odors, setting traps, or using methods of misdirection.

But none of it was of any use.

After all, the green-faced leader and his men hunted and foraged based on their instinct for 'eating people.'

Thus, after only an hour, the green-faced leader found traces of Gu Changhuai's group.

“Found them...” The green-faced leader grinned, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

There were dense footprints in the forest, fresh bloodstains, and traces of where they had stopped.

And Mo Hua finally, once again through his karmic intuition, caught the karmic aura of Uncle Gu.

His eyes lit up slightly, but he remained patient, staying blended in among the green-faced leader's group.

Less than half an hour further on, the scene before them suddenly changed.

The surroundings were open, but the ground was in complete disarray.

Huge trees had been felled and laid across the ground, forming natural barriers.

Within the barriers, there were many traces of disturbed soil.

And with a single glance, Mo Hua could see that beneath the ground, numerous formations had been laid, with Trap Formations and Killing Formations being the most prevalent.

These formations were also familiar to Mo Hua, they were standard Five Elements Formations combined with Eight Trigrams, conventional but practical.

These were formations commonly used by the Dao Court Division when handling cases.

But laying such formations at a time like this meant the situation was not looking good.

Mo Hua looked around, and understanding gradually dawned on him.

Uncle Gu and the others must have truly been backed into a corner, unable to discern their direction in the ancient forest's maze, with no escape left.

Under these circumstances, the only option was to exhaust every resource and rely on the fully-formed formations to make a final, desperate defense.

If they could hold the line, they would still have room to catch their breath.

But if they failed to hold, everything would be lost.

Because both the arrangement and activation of formations required a massive expenditure of Spirit stones.

Once a large number of Spirit stones were invested into the operation of a formation, if the formation was broken or destroyed, there would be virtually no room left to maneuver or turn things around.

“To be pushed to this point, Uncle Gù must truly be in a very difficult situation...”

Mo Hua sighed and shook his head.

As for the Green-Faced Leader and his men, they were clearly only sensitive to 'human flesh' and utterly oblivious to formations.

They should have known that traps had been laid beneath the trees before them, but they had no idea what kind of traps they were.

Seeing their prey right across from them, the Green-Faced Leader waved his hand, and a group of his subordinates charged forward.

Then the situation changed abruptly, and killing intent emerged.

On the ground, formations lit up one after another—water and fire working in tandem, earth sinking and metal slaying, wood entangling and fire burning.

Formations were somewhat clumsy and rigid in nature, only capable of waiting for prey to come to them.

In single combat between cultivators, especially in duels between experts, they were cumbersome to set up, easily seen through, and difficult to put to practical use.

But in large-scale defensive counterattacks and formation-charging battles, formations were undoubtedly a devastating weapon.

Especially in dense, large-scale group battles where more people were packed together, the lethality of formations became all the more terrifying.

The Green-Faced Leader's subordinates launched only a single charge before slamming directly into the formation's killing ground. In that instant, the Water-Fire Killing Formation slaughtered more than twenty of them on the spot, severely wounded thirty, and left many others with injuries.

Seeing this, the rest of the men recoiled in fear, retreating step by step.

“Formations?!”

They were all local cultivators from the Qīngchóu Prefecture Realm. Though their hands were stained with blood and they had killed without mercy, they lacked superior inheritances and had little experience dealing with formations.

Let alone this many formations.

One of the subordinates asked the Green-Faced Leader, “Senior, what should we do?”

The Green-Faced Leader's face darkened.

Though he resembled an Evil Ghost, his heart was cunning and selfish, he would not lead the charge himself.

If he charged in first and had his strength drained by the formations, that man surnamed Gù would surely hide in the shadows and find a way to ambush and kill him.

But even though he understood nothing of formations, he knew that their numbers were limited and their killing power was not inexhaustible.

Using lives to fill in the formations was the only option left when no other option existed.

In years of famine, lives were worthless—weren't brothers meant to be cannon fodder?

So the Green-Faced Leader said, “Keep charging.”

Hearing this, his subordinates hesitated.

Seeing this, the Green-Faced Leader flew into a rage and said, “Charge! Anyone who retreats in the face of battle will be executed!”

But his subordinates still hesitated.

Seeing that his men would not obey his orders, the Green-Faced Leader grew even more furious. He tore apart a fleeing deserter with his bare hands and snarled:

“Charge!”

The remaining subordinates, gripped by fear, could only steel themselves and launch another charge.

But the formations before them were far stronger than they had anticipated, and mixed among them were quite a number of Third-Grade Formations.

For ordinary subordinates to charge in was basically suicide.

These intricacies—these brutish thugs could not see them, but Mo Hua saw them with perfect clarity.

Yet he said nothing.

And so, after two more rounds of charging, amid the thunderous roar of exploding formations, another thirty or forty men died, with even more severely wounded.

The Green-Faced Leader had clearly begun to realize something was wrong. His already gloomy face turned even darker.

He had not expected that these lackeys of the Dao Court would still have such tricks up their sleeves, how could the Formation they had laid down be so powerful?

This...

The green-faced leader's expression turned extremely grim. After a moment of thought, a sudden realization struck him, and he turned to look at Mo Hua, who had remained silent all along in the crowd, asking in a low voice:

“Master... do you understand Formations?”

His tone had become considerably more respectful.

Mo Hua pinched his fingers, calculating the number of dead, and finding it sufficient, slowly nodded and said:

“A little.”

(End of Chapter)