Chapter 292: Intelligence

A group of people, grand and mighty, finally returned to Tongxian City. Elder Yu excused the others and kept back Mo Hua, Mo Shan, Yu Chengyi, Yu Chengwu, and also Zhang Lan from Dao Ting Si.

Elder Yu brought everyone to the reception hall of the South City Weapon Forging Shop. There was no one else around, and with array formations for isolation, it was relatively secluded.

Everyone knew what Elder Yu intended to do, and their expressions were somewhat solemn.

Elder Yu drank a sip of tea and then asked Mo Hua, "Are there indeed sin cultivators in the deep mountains?"

Mo Hua was known for his thoroughness, and having lingered in the deep mountains for so long, he must have made some discoveries.

Thinking about the previous speculations regarding the deep mountains, Elder Yu suspected that what Mo Hua had said earlier was very likely true—that the depths of Dahei Mountain were indeed hiding a group of sin cultivators, and their forces were likely not small.

Mo Hua, however, shook his head and said, "Not sin cultivators."

Elder Yu was slightly startled and then breathed a sigh of relief.

It's good if they're not sin cultivators...

"They are evil cultivators," Mo Hua said.

Elder Yu, who had just relaxed, tensed up again and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Evil cultivators?"

Mo Hua nodded.

Mo Shan and the others looked somewhat astonished. Zhang Lan's expression was even more serious, and he opened his mouth to ask,

"How many?"

"Hundreds."

"More specific?"

"Probably about five or six hundred."

Including Elder Yu, everyone gasped.

Five or six hundred evil cultivators!

Evil cultivators are different from ordinary cultivators. They cultivate evil arts, which are forbidden by Dao Ting, but these arts generally progress quickly, are powerful, and have strange and unpredictable effects, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

The evil cultivators wanted by Dao Ting Si always act alone, rarely in groups, but they didn't expect that in the depths of Dahei Mountain, there would actually be five or six hundred evil cultivators.

Although Zhang Lan knew Mo Hua wouldn't lie, he still couldn't help but say,

"You didn't see wrong, did you?"

Mo Hua said, "I saw them with my own eyes and counted them myself."

Zhang Lan nodded, then suddenly felt something was wrong. "You saw them with your own eyes and counted them yourself. They just let you see them like that?"

"I learned a concealment technique. They couldn't see me."

Concealment technique...

Zhang Lan then remembered that Mo Hua had learned a concealment technique.

Although he had already known this beforehand, looking at the situation, Zhang Lan still found it hard to believe.

This child, Mo Hua, could actually scout information under the noses of five or six hundred evil cultivators and retreat safely.

Zhang Lan felt he should be shocked, but he really couldn't be shocked anymore. He was already somewhat numb and actually felt in his heart that even more absurd things happening to Mo Hua didn't seem that absurd...

"You're really brave..."

Elder Yu asked again, "What else do you know?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then added bit by bit,

"The evil cultivators are all gathered in one mountain stronghold. The name of the mountain stronghold is Heishan Stronghold."

Heishan Stronghold...

Everyone listening became serious.

The mountain stronghold of evil cultivators residing in the depths of Dahei Mountain, Heishan Stronghold, these three words alone sounded somewhat sinister.

"Do you know the location of Heishan Stronghold?" Yu Chengyi asked.

Mo Hua took out a map. The map had two lines drawn on it.

This map was a simple map of the deep mountains, drawn by Mo Hua from memory. Of the two lines, one was the path Mo Hua took, which went through hidden mountain trails between cliffs and led directly to the entrance of Heishan Stronghold.

The other line was the path Mo Hua took back, starting from the gate of Heishan Stronghold and extending towards the edge of Heishan Stronghold, all the way to the inner mountains.

The routes on the map were drawn by Mo Hua from memory and might not be precise, but the general direction wouldn't be wrong.

Everyone looked at the map, somewhat surprised for a moment.

"No wonder you're an array master, your memory is too good." Zhang Lan clicked his tongue and asked curiously, "But the deep mountains are so foggy, how did you know the routes?"

"Because I'm an array master, ah."

Zhang Lan didn't understand.

Mo Hua then explained, "The deep mountain fog was originally not that thick. It's because the third boss of Heishan Stronghold set up a fog array, which makes it difficult to distinguish directions..."

"But I'm an array master. The array he set up just makes it easier for me to distinguish directions."

Zhang Lan nodded, thinking to himself that fortunately Mo Hua was an array master, otherwise they would never have known that the deep mountain fog had such a reason.

Even if they knew the fog was caused by an array, they weren't array masters and didn't understand arrays. Looking at the deep mountains, it was still a foggy mess, and they couldn't see through the intricacies.

This kind of thing could only be seen by someone like Mo Hua, who was proficient in arrays and quick-witted.

Zhang Lan sighed in his heart.

Mo Shan heard this and his expression changed. He asked, "Third boss?"

Mo Hua nodded and said, "The bosses of Heishan Stronghold are all Foundation Establishment evil cultivators."

Mo Shan's expression became serious. "How many bosses are there in total?"

"There are four," Mo Hua replied.

Everyone looked at each other, and their expressions became even heavier.

Elder Yu asked, "Do you know anything else about these four bosses?"

Mo Hua nodded. "I overheard two evil cultivators chatting while on night watch, and I just found out..."

Of course, these two evil cultivators had already been tricked to their deaths by him...

"The big boss founded Heishan Stronghold, has the deepest cultivation, is the oldest in seniority, but is profound and mysterious, and cannot be seen; the second boss is cold-blooded and bloodthirsty, currently out killing people and is not in the stronghold; the third boss is an array master and can draw evil arrays; the fourth boss is newly promoted and likes to drink blood. Human blood is not enough for him to drink, so he goes out at night to drink monster blood..."

Mo Hua then relayed all the information he had gathered about the four bosses of Heishan Stronghold.

Elder Yu listened, becoming more and more surprised. This intelligence was already considered confidential, including not only the identities of the bosses but also the evil arts they were good at and their cultivation habits.

Without Mo Hua, they fundamentally could not have obtained this information.

Four Foundation Establishment evil cultivators!

Elder Yu's brows were tightly furrowed.

Although he had some expectations that these evil cultivators, who had been plotting and secretly developing for so many years, would necessarily have Foundation Establishment cultivators to oversee things, he didn't expect there to be as many as four.

Moreover, they were Foundation Establishment cultivators who cultivated evil path arts.

For a time, everyone's faces were covered with gloom.

Seeing this, Mo Hua couldn't help but ask, "Elder Yu, can we beat them?"

Elder Yu shook his head and said resolutely, "Cannot beat them!"

"No matter what, we can't beat them?"

"Just relying on us, no matter what, we can't beat them."

"Then what should we do?" Mo Hua was also somewhat worried.

Elder Yu looked at Zhang Lan, cupped his hands and said, "We can only entrust this to Dao Ting."

Mo Hua frowned slightly. Dao Ting Si didn't have many people either, but he immediately realized that Elder Yu said "Dao Ting," not "Dao Ting Si."

If so, then what Elder Yu meant could be...

"Dao soldiers?" Mo Hua said in surprise.

Dao soldiers, as the name suggests, are the armies of cultivation, subordinate to Dao Ting and directly governed by Dao Ting.

When the local Dao Ting Si encounters threats that cannot be resolved, they can directly submit a memorial to Dao Ting and request Dao Ting to dispatch Dao soldiers to directly suppress them.

Mo Hua had never seen Dao soldiers, but he had heard that Dao soldiers were extremely strong and mighty.

The evil cultivators of Heishan Stronghold were too powerful. Even if all the demon hunters joined forces, they might not be opponents. Therefore, at this time, the only way was to request the dispatch of Dao soldiers.

Zhang Lan nodded slightly. "I will go back now to find the chief and report the situation as it is, and ask him to submit a memorial to Dao Ting to request the dispatch of Dao soldiers to exterminate the evil cultivators!"

Requesting the dispatch of Dao soldiers was not a matter of a single day. Evaluating the strength of the evil cultivators, the approval of Dao Ting, and the dispatch of Dao soldiers all required time.

There was no time to delay. Zhang Lan got up and was about to leave, but was called back by Mo Hua.

"My intelligence isn't finished yet."

"There's still more?" Zhang Lan couldn't help but say, "How much intelligence did you actually gather? It's still not finished... You haven't thoroughly understood Heishan Stronghold, have you?"

"It's not that exaggerated..." Mo Hua smiled, then took out another map and spread it on the table.

On the map, there were both buildings and complex arrays. At first glance, it was a quite large-scale building array map. Zhang Lan looked carefully, and his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

This was absolutely not an ordinary building array map!

Zhang Lan pointed at the map and said somewhat in disbelief, "This isn't..."

Mo Hua nodded. "It's the layout map of Heishan Stronghold."

Zhang Lan couldn't help but say again, "You stole it?"

"I drew it."

Zhang Lan was somewhat in disbelief. "You can even draw this?"

A layout map that includes the structure of cultivation buildings and array designs, especially for such a large building, must be surveyed on-site, the layout analyzed, and one must also be proficient in arrays...

"I'm an array master, ah." Mo Hua said with a matter-of-course expression.

Zhang Lan didn't want to say anything more.

Alright, you're an array master, you're amazing.

Elder Yu then carefully looked at the map, his heart also full of amazement.

This map was detailed and meticulous. The evil cultivators' residences, imprisoned cells, and even the kitchen were marked on it.

And this map was drawn by Mo Hua under the noses of the evil cultivators, which made it even more valuable.

Elder Yu looked and looked, then suddenly frowned and pointed to a place, saying,

"What is this place?"

This map divided the front stronghold and the back stronghold.

The map of the front stronghold was drawn in detail, but the back stronghold part was simple, probably because the back stronghold was dangerous and Mo Hua didn't know much about it.

But in the simple map of the back stronghold, there was one section that was particularly detailed.

Paths, beast gates, blood arrays, the hall, and even the patterns of the roof beams were all clear, and in the middle of that hall, there was even a pill furnace and a pig drawn.

"This is the evil cultivators' pill room," Mo Hua said.

Zhang Lan's face suddenly changed. "What kind of pill are the evil cultivators refining?"

Mo Hua shook his head. "I don't know, I only know they are using people to refine pills. The whole room is full of blood mist, and some medicinal herbs are like they're alive."

Elder Yu furrowed his brows. He didn't know much about evil cultivators' affairs and didn't know what kind of pill this was.

Zhang Lan's expression, however, was grim, and he said coldly, "They are refining Human Longevity Pills!"

Thank you to book friend 20220812183836149 for the reward.