Chapter 637: Burial Earth Gen Mountain

Hua Lang Jun's death was natural and devoid of any trace of human intervention. He was apprehended by the Dao Court Si, suffered punishment, and after a round of interrogation, was thrown into the Dao Prison. Following that, it was as if he never existed.

With chains shackling him, without food or drink, and his injuries worsening, no one looked at him again, no one spoke to him again. He simply "lived and perished on his own." Even his death seemed unknown to anyone. Moreover, no one collected his corpse. This, however, clearly did not conform to the Dao Court Si's regulations.

Thus, Mo Hua felt that there was a mole within the Dao Court Si. This mole could kill Hua Lang Jun in the strictest, dark, and sunless Dao Prison without anyone knowing, silencing him. And there were obvious clues about the Huo Fo on Hua Lang Jun's body.

Gu Changhuai's face was ashen. He summoned several principal executive officers of the Dao Prison and sternly questioned their responsibility. Those executive officers were full of panic, bowing and prostrating themselves:

"Dian Si, please forgive us, we truly did not know about this...""After the interrogation, no one attended to him.""We don't know why, but he suddenly died.""This lowly official was momentarily negligent and careless, failing to notice the death of this sin cultivator. Please forgive me, Dian Si!"

Their words were about seeking "forgiveness," but all they did was shirk responsibility. If Hua Lang Jun's crimes were discussed, he deserved death. Negligence and carelessness, failing to notice, caused a prisoner who "must die" to die a little earlier. This was originally not a significant fault. Even if reported, at most they would be reprimanded a few times and fined some salary.

Although Gu Changhuai was angry, it was difficult to do anything about them. Furthermore, these two Dao Prison executive officers might truly not know the inside story. Their "negligence and carelessness" might genuinely be just that. However, it was a "negligence and carelessness" controlled by someone else.

But there was one point Mo Hua might be correct about. Some people within the Dao Court Si might not be entirely clean... Even including the incident with Yu'er last time...

Gu Changhuai frowned in thought, his heart suddenly trembling. He abruptly turned around, looking towards Mo Hua beside him. He felt that Mo Hua's aura had suddenly changed just now, becoming very strange, and there was also a hint of an inexplicable mysteriousness, difficult to describe. It was as if he was possessed... Or as if his spiritual sense was undergoing some change.

What was happening? Gu Changhuai's heart was filled with shock and uncertainty. Just then, Mo Hua turned around. A strange black color flashed in his eyes and quickly disappeared, becoming clear and bright again.

"Uncle Gu, what is it?"

Gu Changhuai's eyelids twitched slightly. Mo Hua was still the Mo Hua from before, his eyes clear, yet deep like a secluded pond, their luster restrained, impossible to see the bottom of. But he clearly felt that hint of dangerous and strange aura...

"Illusion, perhaps...""Or perhaps I am too suspicious..."

Gu Changhuai's brows furrowed tightly. Mo Hua blinked. He had indeed taken advantage of Gu Changhuai's distraction, while he was deep in thought about something unknown, to secretly merge with the strange derivation method and peek at Hua Lang Jun's karma. This momentary effort, the change in spiritual sense, was actually detected. As expected of the Dian Si of the Dao Court Si.

Mo Hua's heart was filled with vigilance. It seemed that in front of great cultivators above the Golden Core realm, especially the Dian Si of a major provincial Dao Court Si, this method of fusing with heavenly secrets to spy on karma still needed to be used cautiously. To avoid being noticed by someone with intentions...

Master's heavenly secrets derivation method was still somewhat better; it just stained more karma, but on the surface, it was still an orthodox method. However, Shibo's heavenly secrets strange derivation method was different. In this world, other than Shibo, no one else probably cultivated strange path divine thoughts. In case he was regarded as a "little strange path person," that would be terrible.

Seeing Gu Changhuai still looking at him with a suspicious expression, seeming to still harbor doubts, Mo Hua "attacked first," preemptively asking:

"Uncle Gu, did you discover something?""How did this Hua Lang Jun die?""Who killed him?""Could it be..."

Mo Hua raised his eyebrows and glanced at the two principal executive officers of the Dao Prison beside him. The two executive officers immediately broke out in a cold sweat, one after another saying to Gu Changhuai:

"Gu Dian Si!""Although we were negligent, the death of this sin cultivator truly has nothing to do with us...""How could we dare to knowingly break the law and kill someone in the Dao Prison...""Gu Dian Si, you must see clearly!""Gu Dian Si..."

Gu Changhuai's train of thought was interrupted by the two men's clamor, and he forgot about the matter of confronting Mo Hua.

"Alright." Gu Changhuai's gaze turned cold as he swept his eyes over the two men. "This matter will be handled according to the rules. If a fine is required, then a fine will be issued. You two may leave."

The two men did not dare to defy Gu Changhuai, bowing in unison and saying, "Yes." Then they withdrew. Gu Changhuai wanted to say something to Mo Hua, but he raised his head, looked at the gloomy, enclosed roof of the Dao Prison, shook his head, and dismissed the thought.

"Let's go out first..." Gu Changhuai said."Oh."

Mo Hua then followed Gu Changhuai out of the Dao Prison. Just as they were leaving, Mo Hua quietly turned his head again and looked at the dead Hua Lang Jun. This Hua Lang Jun, in his previous life, was powdered and flowery, handsome and elegant, lingering in the lap of luxury, not knowing how many women he had plucked and supplemented. After his death, no one knew, leaving only tattered clothing and a body of dirty, decaying skin. Indeed, the world's myriad phenomena and the pleasures of the flesh are all empty illusions.

And... Hua Lang Jun's death was too natural. Not a single sign of human intervention. Just now, with his pupils pitch black and the strange derivation merged, he still couldn't see a single trace of karma. The means of killing were extremely skillful.

"The best way to cover up karma is to let it follow its natural course, not to stain karma..." Mo Hua silently noted this in his heart. "Need to learn it well..."

After leaving the Dao Prison, Gu Changhuai's face was ashen. He thought for a moment, then ordered someone to send all of Hua Lang Jun's relics, evidence, and storage bag. Then he went alone to a quiet Tingsi room and examined them himself.

Mo Hua was beside him, stretching his neck, also wanting to take a look. Seeing this, Gu Changhuai hurriedly covered the items, shaking his head and saying, "You cannot look."

"Why?" Mo Hua asked."You are still young..."

Mo Hua didn't understand. Gu Changhuai saw that Mo Hua truly didn't understand, sighed, and reminded him:

"Hua Lang Jun was a 'flower plucking thief'..."

Inside his storage bag, there were techniques for the bedroom, spring palace pictures, merit for plucking and supplementing, records of identifying flowers... a pile of vulgar and low things, not suitable for children... Of course, he couldn't let Mo Hua look. Otherwise, he might learn bad things.

Mo Hua suddenly realized and also remembered that when he caught Hua Lang Jun that time, his shijie Murong also didn't let him look at these things in the storage bag.

"Alright, if I can't look, then I can't look..." Mo Hua just lay on the side, staring at Gu Changhuai.

Gu Changhuai felt uncomfortable being stared at by Mo Hua, so he said somewhat unhappily:

"What are you looking at me for? Go do what you should be doing. I am investigating a case..."

Mo Hua held up three fingers:

"Agreement on Three Chapters!""The third one is, if we go out, I will follow you, not leaving your side for a moment, not acting arbitrarily or recklessly...""You said this yourself!"

Mo Hua was confident and assertive. Gu Changhuai felt a headache. He was careless, he had unintentionally shot himself in the foot again. This child, his mind worked too quickly... Even the smallest loophole could be exploited.

"Alright..."

Gu Changhuai was helpless and simply ignored Mo Hua, examining Hua Lang Jun's storage bag himself, looking for clues. This storage bag was sealed by the Dao Court Si. Cultivators from outside could not come into contact with it. If internal cultivators of the Dao Court Si wanted to tamper with it, they would also necessarily leave traces. Looking now, the items inside did not seem to have been touched by anyone.

Gu Changhuai relied on his many years of experience in handling cases in the Dao Court Si, carefully examining each item, paying attention to every detail, seeking useful clues. However, most of the things inside were not worth looking at. Gu Changhuai became more and more annoyed the more he looked. Finally, when he saw a jade slip, his expression changed, and a hint of understanding appeared in his eyes.

Mo Hua, who couldn't look at the storage bag but could always stare at Gu Changhuai, instantly caught this change in Gu Changhuai's expression. Mo Hua's eyes lit up, "Uncle Gu, did you find a clue?"

Gu Changhuai was just about to nod, but suddenly he shook his head again, put the jade slip away, and said faintly, "No."

"I saw it!" Mo Hua said with certainty."What did you see?""I saw your gaze change," Mo Hua said. "You must have discovered something!"

Gu Changhuai's scalp tingled, and he couldn't help but think in his heart: This little devil Mo Hua must be possessed by some old monster. At such a young age, he was as cunning as a ghost.

But Gu Changhuai still stubbornly said, "I said no means no.""Alright." Mo Hua sighed. He, a dignified Golden Core realm Dian Si of the Dao Court Si, was acting shamelessly and playing the rogue. What could he, a small cultivator, do?

Mo Hua could only retreat and seek the next best thing, asking:

"Uncle Gu, where are we going next?"

Gu Changhuai didn't think, saying, "Hua Lang Jun is dead, the clue is 'broken'..." Then, seeing Mo Hua looking at him with a questioning expression, Gu Changhuai coughed, averted his gaze, and said nonchalantly:

"We can hit the road and go back home."

Mo Hua nodded, "Then, Uncle Gu, you go back first.""Hmm." Gu Changhuai nodded, suddenly startled, "You're not going back?""I still have something to do.""What is it?"

Mo Hua didn't hide it, "I want to go to Bi Shan City and see the annihilated Xie Family."

Gu Changhuai frowned, "The Xie Family has become scorched earth and is sealed by the Dao Court Si. You can't go in. Moreover, Bi Shan City is somewhat dangerous now. You cannot go."

Mo Hua said in a low voice, "How about you take me?"

"No." Gu Changhuai refused.

"Then I will go myself," Mo Hua said. "You go back and tell Aunt Wan that I don't plan to go to the Gu Family. After I go to Bi Shan City, I will return to the sect myself."

Mo Hua was calm, but his eyes were cunning. Gu Changhuai was stunned for a moment, and instantly understood. This boy Mo Hua was threatening him. If he took this boy Mo Hua out and didn't bring him back, his cousin would definitely reprimand him, and it would also worry his cousin. He had to bring him back to his cousin safe and sound. Furthermore, if he was unwilling to go back, he couldn't use force either. Otherwise, if he forcibly abducted him back and he complained, he would have even less to explain to his cousin. After all, it was clear that he was the "little benefactor" of the Shangguan Family and could not be disrespected.

So on this trip, he could only let him have his way. Wherever he went, he would follow... Gu Changhuai was so angry his teeth itched.

Mo Hua waited for Gu Changhuai's reply with a composed expression. Gu Changhuai thought for a long time and finally compromised, "Alright, I will take you, but it's agreed. After you go to Bi Shan City, you will go back to the Gu Family with me, and you won't have any other little ideas."

"Mhm mhm!" Mo Hua smiled and narrowed his eyes, saying, "It's a deal!"

The sky was already late, not suitable for setting off, so the two of them rested in an inn in Luan Shan City for a night. The next day at dawn, after a simple meal, they set off, leaving Luan Shan City and heading towards the nearby Bi Shan City.

This was Mo Hua's second time entering Bi Shan City. Cliffs stretched horizontally, walls stood a thousand ren high, and mountain ridges intertwined. The majority of the cave mansions and buildings were built against the steep cliffs, looking strange, absolute, and grand. However, the atmosphere within the city was somewhat oppressive. Pedestrians on the road came and went, all tight-lipped, their expressions anxious and heavy. The Huo Fo had slaughtered the entire Xie Family in front of the Dao Court Si and the cultivators of the entire city. The Xie Family became a sea of fire, completely cut off, its centuries-old foundation destroyed in a single day. Bi Shan City felt more or less like everyone was in danger.

Gu Changhuai's expression was even more difficult to look at. He had an ashen face the whole way, wishing he could immediately behead and publicly display the Huo Fo and his group of sin cultivators.

Not long after, the two of them arrived at the site of the Xie Family mansion. What met their eyes was a scene of ruins, scorched earth everywhere. On the ground outside the Xie Family, one ground brick after another was embedded. These ground bricks had arrays drawn on them, connected at the head and tail, supporting a faint, invisible barrier that enclosed and isolated the scorched earth of the Xie Family, not allowing outsiders to enter. This was the warning array of the Dao Court Si.

"Just look from outside." Gu Changhuai said. Mo Hua disagreed, but there was no alternative, so he could only separate the warning array and glance inside. With this one glance, he saw some clues. Although it was already completely blackened, the periphery of the Xie Family still retained traces of an array.

"Two-grade Golden Earth Gen Mountain Restoration Array..." Mo Hua murmured. Gu Changhuai was surprised to hear the name of this array.

Mo Hua continued to look, simultaneously releasing his spiritual sense, no longer using the strange derivation method, but only the derivation method to deduce and analyze the remaining spiritual traces of the array, muttering in a low voice:

"The periphery of the Xie Family...""Originally, it was... a two-grade Golden Earth Gen Mountain Restoration Array, a defensive array compounded from the Five Elements Gold and Earth and the Eight Trigrams Gen Mountain...""But the array pattern has been changed by someone...""Only the Gold element array pattern has been changed, the others haven't...""No... by changing the Gold element array pattern, the Earth element array pattern, the array style, and the effect have changed...""The two-grade Golden Earth Gen Mountain Restoration Array has become...""The two-grade 'Burying' Earth Gen Mountain Restoration Array...""This trap array buried the entire Xie Family within its own home..."

The more Gu Changhuai listened, the more shocked he became, saying in a solemn tone:

"Who told you that?"

"What?" Mo Hua was slightly stunned.

"The matter of the Xie Family array..." Gu Changhuai said with a serious expression.

Mo Hua doubted, "Does this kind of thing still need to be told? Can't you see it with a single glance?"

See it with a single glance... Gu Changhuai turned his head and looked at the black scorched earth in front of him. See a big headed ghost with a single glance? How could you see this? It was pitch black, all rubble, everything was burned. What could you see from this?

Gu Changhuai was somewhat skeptical in his heart. What Mo Hua said was basically identical to the information verified by the Dao Court Si... The only difference was that the Dao Court Si had invited several two-grade array masters, who worked day and night, verifying for three full days and carefully comparing them, before they could restore the changes in these arrays from a pile of ruins. And only then did they know exactly what had been tampered with in the Xie Family's array.

But Mo Hua... He just walked over and glanced at it... He didn't even go in to look, just separating the warning array, and he saw everything?

Gu Changhuai's mood was complex. Although the facts were right before him, common sense made him refuse to believe such an absurd matter.

"Did you... really see it?" Gu Changhuai asked with a frown.

"Of course!" Mo Hua said proudly. "I am a disciple of the Tai Xu Sect!" What's more, he also followed Elder Xun to learn array formations. These days, as long as he had merit points, he would exchange them at the Merit Pavilion for array formation studies. He didn't know how many two-grade arrays he had learned. With Elder Xun's guidance and the deep array formation inheritance collected by generations of seniors at the Tai Xu Sect, Mo Hua's array formation foundation was now more solid than before. He was now considered a two-grade array master with the foundation of a true great sect! Although he had no real name, he hadn't yet been graded.

Gu Changhuai's brows furrowed even tighter. What did this have to do with the Tai Xu Sect? The Tai Xu Sect was not a sect known for its array formations. Where did a disciple under its tutelage get such absurd array formation achievements? Even a sect that specialized in array formations would be impossible! What's more, you haven't even been admitted for a full year... How much could you have learned?

Gu Changhuai stared at Mo Hua for several moments, then his mind suddenly stirred, and he asked:

"How about you go in and take a look?"

Mo Hua was shocked, "Really?"

Gu Changhuai nodded. Mo Hua was somewhat doubtful. Uncle Gu... was a bit abnormal... Originally, when he wanted to enter the Xie Family to look, he wasn't allowed. Now that he hadn't said anything, he was taking the initiative to let him enter and look. Although this was a good thing, he couldn't refuse.

"Okay!" Mo Hua nodded.

Gu Changhuai took out a gold waist token. This waist token was made of pure gold, elegant and luxurious. Compared to Mo Hua's own shabby bronze waist token, it looked significantly more valuable. Mo Hua looked at it with some envy. Although for now, he could only look.

Gu Changhuai held the gold waist token in his hand and gently swiped it across the warning array. A faint, invisible barrier was opened.

"Let's go." Gu Changhuai took the lead and walked in.

Mo Hua hesitated for a moment, then also stepped forward and, along with Gu Changhuai, crossed the warning array and walked into the Xie Family, where the entire family had been killed. His foot landed directly on the scorched black ground where blood had been burned dry. Suddenly, a mournful cry echoed in his ears. This sound was piercing, containing endless pain.

Under the clear blue sky, Mo Hua's vision became hazy. A sea of fire suddenly appeared in the dark night. In the sea of fire, there were dense figures. They ran, struggled, and roared in pain, like tormented souls in hell. Executioners with ferocious expressions lifted their butcher knives, slaughtering, dismembering, reveling. Blade after blade stabbed into flesh and blood, cutting open chests, cutting open abdomens, taking out bloody internal organs one by one...

The sea of fire boiled, and blood and fire merged. Human faces were ferocious, like demons dancing wildly. And those who died miserably were like livestock being slaughtered...

(End of this chapter)