Chapter 1577: Tongxian Dao Art

Chapter 1577: Tongxian Dao Art

Gu Changhuai stared at the silver needle for a long time before shaking his head. "None."

There was actually no human flesh in the clay effigy...

Even Mo Hua was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected this revolting clay doll to turn out rather clean, at least it was free of human lives and Baleful Qi.

Lü Jingxiu and Pei Tanggong both breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Yet before they could fully exhale, they heard Mo Hua ask once more:

"What kinds of flesh are there?"

The expressions of Lü Jingxiu and Pei Tanggong shifted slightly, their hearts leaping back into their throats.

Gu Changhuai pondered for a moment. "It seems to be... the flesh of some local minor demon-beasts and livestock. After being brutally tortured and killed, they were minced into paste and sealed inside this clay effigy. Its purpose is unknown..."

Minor demon-beasts, livestock, brutally tortured and slaughtered...

After brief contemplation, Mo Hua nodded. "Never mind. We'll leave that aside for now. Let's open the tomb..."

Gu Changhuai nodded, then turned his gaze toward Mo Hua.

Not just Gu Changhuai, Bai XiaoSheng, Great General Chang, Pei Tanggong, Lü Jingxiu, and Wen Zhuangzhu all turned their eyes upon this Esteemed Master Mo as well.

The surroundings fell silent for a time.

After a moment, Pei Tanggong ventured with visible hesitation, "This tomb... how is it to be opened?"

None of them were Tomb Raiders, nor did they have any experience in Tomb Breaking.

There were no other hands to assist with the excavation, no tools to breach the earth, and no Feng Shui Ritual Altar.

Nor had they seen this Esteemed Master Mo make any other preparations or arrangements. Just an empty phrase, saying to open the tomb, and that was it?

What was going on here?

Everyone stared intently at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua spoke indifferently, "Step back."

His voice was low, yet tinged with an irresistible authority.

Hearing this, everyone's expressions turned solemn. Though they did not know what Esteemed Master Mo intended to do, they dispersed outward, clearing a vast open space for him.

Before the ghost-head tomb entrance, the area instantly became spacious.

Mo Hua stood alone on the spot.

The others stood several fathoms away, their gazes piercing, some skeptical, some perplexed, their minds full of varying thoughts as they watched every single movement of this Esteemed Master Mo.

The surroundings were dead silent, devoid of any anomaly.

Yet only a moment later, they saw Esteemed Master Mo slowly spread his arms. His sleeves fluttered without any wind, and though he seemingly did nothing, in an instant, it felt as if the gates of a deep abyss had been thrown wide open.

An indescribable, invisible pressure surged from this dark-clad Esteemed Master Mo.

Divine-Sense Thoughts as thick as liquid drops saturated the narrow pit.

Lü Jingxiu, a Golden Core middle stage cultivator, was still relatively unaffected; his realm was low and his Divine-Sense weak, so his perception was dim.

However, the several Late Golden Core Stage cultivators present felt as if they had plunged into the depths of an ocean in a single instant, their minds suffocating, their breathing growing difficult.

Yet there was clearly nothing around them, and they had felt nothing tangible beforehand.

Where in the world was this terrifying pressure coming from?

Pei Tanggong and Wen Zhuangzhu exchanged a glance, thoroughly shaken to their cores.

Great General Chang's face was filled with awe and reverence.

Bai XiaoSheng and Gu Changhuai, beholding this terrifying display of Mo Hua that felt both familiar and alien, couldn't help but find it rather unbelievable as well.

And right at that moment, an even more unbelievable scene unfolded.

The Divine-Sense pressure around Mo Hua suddenly skyrocketed. From within his two sleeves, dark spiritual ink threads—fine as gossamer and nimble as serpents—abruptly erupted with a roar. Like myriad pythons bursting forth from their den, they drifted through the Heavenly Cycle, swirling madly around Mo Hua as their center.

Such a bizarre spectacle was enough to make everyone blanch.

Then, Mo Hua pointed with joined fingers, shifting his intent.

The thousands of spiritual ink threads, dense as rainfall and silken as serpents, moved forward along with Mo Hua's fingertips.

In the blink of an eye, they drilled into the soil before the tomb entrance. Amid their whistling rush, they condensed into one Formation Pattern after another, finally linking into an profound Formation suffused with heavy earth energy and sharp, severing might.

The group of Golden Core cultivators present felt their scalps prickle, and they secretly sucked in a breath of cold air.

This was unlike any Formation they had ever seen in their lives.

In fact, they couldn't even tell whether it was a Formation at all.

The rune-patterns were far too complex, the structure too profound, the formation concept too obscure, and the method far too unconventional.

Third-Grade: Earth-Breaking Mountain-Splitting Formation.

One of the rare Earth-Ground Formation categories. Earth is Yang and Ground is Yin; born from the Five Elements yet inverting the Yin and Yang within them, it was a supreme, secret technique of the Earth Sect Shadow Division—a Third-Grade Tomb Breaking Formation that was strictly never taught to outsiders.

Once this Formation was complete, golden light flashed in Mo Hua's eyes. Pointing his fingers, he commanded in a low voice:

"Break!"

The Earth-Breaking Mountain-Splitting Formation whirled into furious operation.

As the Formation Patterns flickered, they seemed to come alive, turning into earthworms that bored into the tomb, relentlessly penetrating the soil, eroding the outer layer, and sundering the defensive structures within the earthen tomb.

No one knew how much time passed, but once the Formation Patterns settled, Mo Hua's gaze flickered slightly, and he uttered another word:

"Open!"

Though the word was soft, it sounded like thunder. The earth trembled, and something within the tomb seemed to shatter into dust.

Then, as if an Esteemed Master were declaring a heavenly decree, his words became reality.

Before the incredulous eyes of the crowd, Great Philanthropist Lü's ghost-head tomb entrance actually, truly, slowly opened in response to that single word: Open.

"It... it opened...?"

Even with Pei Tanggong's centuries of cultivation and composure, in his sheer shock, his voice stammered slightly.

Never before had he imagined that someone in this world would open a tomb like this.

A person simply stood there, spread his arms, unleashed ink threads like serpents, and wove obscure runes.

He uttered the word [break], and the tomb broke.

He uttered the word [open], and the tomb opened.

Just what in the world... was this...

Incomprehensible.

Pei Tanggong slowly turned his head, his cloudy eyes trembling as he looked at Mo Hua.

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he asked in a strained voice:

"What Esteemed Master used just now... was it a Formation, a Magic Spell, or a Fāng Art? In all my years of cultivating the Dao, I have... never even heard of it?"

Not only Pei Tanggong, but Wen Zhuangzhu, a Late Golden Core Stage cultivator, also looked at Mo Hua with an expression of grave solemnity.

Lü Jingxiu was dumbstruck.

Great General Chang's gaze was brimming with pious devotion.

Even Bai XiaoSheng and Gu Changhuai couldn't resist silently looking at Mo Hua with expressions one might use to look at a monster.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Mo Hua slowly lowered his arms, gathered his sleeves, and reined in his aura and Divine Dao Thought Power.

In an instant, it was like a verdant dragon returning to the clouds or a flood dragon plunging into the depths—silent, soundless, and returning the surroundings to tranquility.

Once his aura was completely concealed, Mo Hua adopted a solemn, utterly serious tone and slowly began:

"This method is neither a Formation, nor a Magic Spell, nor a Fāng Art..."

"It was created by the Tongxian Ancestor of our Tongxian Cult, passed down by our Sect Master True-Person, and drafted into an Imperial Decree through supreme, marvelous methods, bestowed upon this Esteemed Master."

"Only through the subtlety of this Tongxian Decree can one form a Formation with a thought, split a mountain with a word, and break a tomb with a single utterance."

"This method was comprehended by our sect's Ancestor while communicating with immortals in a dream, pointing straight to the Great Dao, unifying myriad profound variations into a single art."

"Transforming the Dao into an art, within our Tongxian Cult's Dao Lineage, it is known as..."

"Tongxian Dao Art!"

Mo Hua spouted nonsense with utter confidence, every word drenched in profound mystery.

Like a bolt from the blue, it left Pei Tanggong and the other Golden Core cultivators with their heads buzzing.

Even Bai XiaoSheng and Gu Changhuai, who knew Esteemed Master Mo's background through and through, were struck dumb on the spot.

Had they not known Mo Hua and his origins, they might have actually believed it.

Yet in the next breath, they couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

Mo Hua's Formations were truly growing stronger and stronger.

Not just the Formations themselves, but his methods of casting them were becoming increasingly impossible to decipher.

Of course, what was even stronger was Mo Hua's ability to play the ghost and hoodwink people.

Blending the false with the true, making illusions seem real, there truly wasn't a single flaw to be picked out.

After all, his Formation mastery was genuine; it was merely his storytelling that was ridiculously exaggerated.

Pei Tanggong and the other two, however, were completely in the dark.

This Tongxian Dao Art of Divine Sense Ink Control, Drawing Formation on Ground, forming an art with a single thought, and breaking a tomb with a single word was simply too mind-boggling. The shock it delivered to them was far too overwhelming.

Tongxian Ancestor, Sect Master True-Person, Dao Art, Imperial Decree...

Any single one of these titles was enough to shake their souls.

Yet upon closer reflection, this preposterous [Tongxian Dao Art] had been created by the Tongxian Ancestor, while the Sect Master True-Person—the sect master of the Tongxian Cult—had transcribed it into an Imperial Decree and passed it to this Esteemed Master Mo for his use.

In other words, this was a profound method that could only be wielded by a supreme expert at least at the level of the Tongxian Cult Master.

The art had been created by the Tongxian Ancestor, and the decree written by the Tongxian Cult Master.

This Esteemed Master Mo had merely received the grace to "use" it.

He was borrowing the power of the Tongxian Cult Master's decree to unleash such a terrifying Dao Art.

While it was still shocking, it was no longer as utterly terrifying...

Pei Tanggong felt his mind regain some balance, steadying his Dao Heart. When he looked at Mo Hua again, his gaze held only gravity rather than sheer terror.

A moment later, Wen Zhuangzhu, whose heart had turned cold, also seemed to figure out the trick of the matter. He let out a breath, feeling considerably relieved.

Only Lü Jingxiu, of the Golden Core middle stage, remained thoroughly stunned, staring at Esteemed Master Mo as if looking upon a demon god descended from the heavens.

Mo Hua said slowly, "The tomb is open. Let's head inside to take a look..."

These words jolted everyone to their senses.

Only then did Lü Jingxiu recover, looking toward the wide-open tomb entrance. Realizing that his father was likely buried in this very place, his expression became extremely complicated.

This subtle shift in expression did not escape Mo Hua's eyes.

Mo Hua was somewhat surprised. It seemed the current family head of the Lü Family truly didn't know much about his father, Great Philanthropist Lü.

Could it be that he didn't even know where his own father was buried?

The thought flashed through Mo Hua's mind, but he didn't dwell on it.

Regardless, the tomb was open; once they went in, everything would be revealed.

However, Entering the Earth belongs to Yin, and no tomb is ever benign.

Let alone the tomb of a great philanthropist, its cause and effect would be all the more tangled...

Mo Hua looked back at the crowd, particularly at Gu Changhuai, Bai XiaoSheng, and Great General Chang, and said in a grave voice:

"Once we enter the tomb, the dangers are unknown. Do not leave my sight, and do not act rashly..."

Having seen the Esteemed Master display such divine might, Great General Chang immediately cupped his hands. "We shall obey the Esteemed Master's every command."

Gu Changhuai also nodded.

Though Bai XiaoSheng did not voice his agreement, he knew his boundaries. He understood that in a special situation like this, the last thing one should do was cross Mo Hua.

A "serious" Mo Hua was nothing to joke about.

Otherwise, the one suffering bad luck would certainly be himself.

The three Golden Core cultivators, including Lü Jingxiu, remained silent and said nothing, but at this moment, none of them dared to defy Esteemed Master Mo's wishes.

Mo Hua looked around at everyone, gave a slight nod, and said softly, "Let's go." Taking the lead, he stepped through the tomb entrance carved with the ghost face.

Great General Chang and the left and right protectors followed close behind.

Lü Jingxiu, Pei Tanggong, and Wen Zhuangzhu exchanged looks and quietly followed as well.

And right at the moment Mo Hua stepped through the ghost-faced tomb entrance, a sudden blast of sinister wind blew out of nowhere. Mingled with thick black mist, it was chilling to the bone.

Invisibly, it felt as though some sinister entities were baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, lunging toward everyone's foreheads.

The elderly Pei Tanggong's face fell drastically. "Not good."

Just as he was about to act, he saw Esteemed Master Mo merely raise his head slightly. A glint of cold detachment flashed in his eyes, radiating an imposing aura.

In an instant, the sinister wind dispersed, the black mist rolled backward, and the chill receded.

It seemed that whatever invisible things had come baring their fangs and claws had fled in utter panic, scurrying away with their tails between their legs.

This entire transformation took place in the span of a blink; the black mist came and went, the chill lasting merely a breath, such that most of the group didn't even realize what had transpired.

Bai XiaoSheng and Gu Changhuai were sharp-minded and seemed to sense something, but having seen nothing tangible, they dismissed it after brief thought.

Only Pei Tanggong stared blankly at Mo Hua's back, lost in a daze.

"Tanggong?" Lü Jingxiu called out to him. "Did something happen?"

Pei Tanggong shook his head, his cloudy eyes taking a deep look at Mo Hua. "Nothing..."

With that, he spoke no further and quietly followed behind Mo Hua, stepping into this Lü Family tomb rife with peculiarities.

...

After passing through the tomb entrance, things actually became quite peaceful.

Aside from those initial Little Ghosts that had come to welcome them, there were no other anomalies.

Dark tomb stones, a long corridor, and occasional minor traps that were hardly worth mentioning.

To Mo Hua, the Black-Faced Fiend who had plenty of Tomb Raiding experience and had once been revered as a lead big brother, these were utterly ordinary.

Almost all tombs possessed similar structures.

Only after he casually disarmed a few small mechanisms, identified several branching paths based on the flow of Feng Shui, and walked out of the first corridor did the view before them suddenly open up.

And everything within the tomb was completely different now.

Even Mo Hua was momentarily stunned.

Though he had raided many tombs, he had never imagined that one day, he would behold such a sight beneath the earth:

Spirit stones.

Everywhere one looked, there were Spirit stones.

And they were not individual Spirit stones, but an entire palace carved and hewn from a single, colossal Spirit stone.

The palace doors, pillars, pavilions, eaves, crossbeams, plinths... without exception, were all carved from radiant, crystalline-blue Spirit stone.

The details were exquisite beyond compare, ingenious and delicate, every stroke of the blade showing peerless craftsmanship.

Yet marvelously, all these details blended seamlessly into a unified whole, cast and sculpted entirely from the colossal Spirit stone.

Even Mo Hua, who had seen quite a bit of the world, was left somewhat breathless in admiration.

The others also looked on in stunned silence.

Though a Spirit stone was not some rare Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, a monolithic Spirit stone of such enormous size, coupled with divine craftsmanship that carved it into a seamless palace, its value was probably beyond estimation...

Even Bai XiaoSheng of the Bai Clan had rarely seen a cultivator squander wealth so extravagantly.

In a Fifth or Sixth-Grade Prefecture Realm, it might be one thing.

Yet here in a Third-Grade Prefecture Realm, in the impoverished Qingchou Prefecture, one could actually see such an exaggerated, dazzling creation of Spirit stone...

Moreover, they had used a palace made of Spirit stone as a tomb.

Bai XiaoSheng couldn't help but click his tongue in awe.

Mo Hua's gaze deepened slightly, and he couldn't help turning to Lü Jingxiu to ask, "This great Spirit stone palace, is it the tomb your father built for himself?"

Lü Jingxiu was equally shocked. Hearing the question, his expression grew hesitant, and he mumbled:

"I... I don't know either... Where did this Spirit stone come from..."

Mo Hua shifted his gaze slightly toward Pei Tanggong and Wen Zhuangzhu.

These two local Late Golden Core Stage Great Cultivators of Qingchou were struck dumb by the sight before them, momentarily losing themselves.

They seemed equally awed by the sheer magnificence of this Spirit stone palace.

Yet beneath their shock, a sharp glint flashed in the depths of their eyes, betraying a flicker of greed and sudden realization.

It seemed the two of them... knew the origins of this colossal Spirit stone?

Mo Hua said nothing. He turned back to look at the seamless, carved palace of massive Spirit stone, finding himself momentarily unable to pull his gaze away.

With a stir of his thoughts, Mo Hua suddenly remembered something:

"Earlier, when I divined cause and effect, the hexagram said that in the near future, I would strike 'great wealth'..."

"Could this 'great wealth' be fulfilled right here and now... in this spirit tomb of Great Philanthropist Lü?"

"Is this... how cause and effect works?"

Mo Hua looked up once more at the colossal Spirit stone before him, whose dazzling blue light illuminated the dark underground as bright as day.

For a moment, his own eyes sparkled brilliantly, reflecting the dazzling radiance of the Spirit stone.

If nothing else, this fortune was certainly 'great' enough...

(End of Chapter)