Chapter 863: Dragon Bone

Gu Changhuai pondered for a moment, then nodded and agreed.

Mo Hua always had his own reasons for doing things.

Although Gu Changhuai couldn't quite figure out Mo Hua's exact intentions, based on his past experiences, listening to Mo Hua usually didn't lead to bad outcomes.

Moreover, Dragon King Temple indeed needed to be investigated.

The sooner it was investigated, the better. If they delayed and others intervened, it was unknown what would become of Dragon King Temple.

"Still the same as before, digging three feet deep, not sparing a single brick or tile?"

Gu Changhuai asked, knowing Mo Hua's modus operandi.

"Hmm."

Mo Hua nodded, but half-way through the nod, he started shaking his head repeatedly. "No, that's not good... we need to be a bit gentler this time."

"Gentler?" Gu Changhuai was surprised. "Why?"

Because this Dragon King Temple is mine now!

Mo Hua silently thought to himself.

But he couldn't say these words out loud. He rolled his eyes and said, "I suspect there might be some 'dirty things' hidden inside."

"Dirty things?"

"Things at the level of divine sense, like ghosts and evil spirits and so on... That Mr. Wu wasn't he always muttering about the god master? That god master, even if not an evil god, is a major evil spirit. So we need to be cautious, lest we truly disturb some unknown entity and invite disaster..."

Mo Hua said seriously.

Gu Changhuai hadn't believed much in evil gods before.

But after spending a long time with the mysterious Mo Hua, and being influenced by him, he had now more or less changed some of his views.

He was in a state of "half belief, half doubt," "could believe or not believe."

Because some strange matters were indeed gradually exceeding his understanding...

"Okay." Gu Changhuai nodded.

Thus, under Mo Hua's leadership, a group of Dao Court Division cultivators, including the internal cultivators from the Gu family and Xia family, began the "cleaning" of Dragon King Temple.

"This is an ancient temple, be gentle, be careful, don't damage a single brick or tile..."

"Those filthy flesh and blood need to be cleaned up..."

"Filthy evil arrays need to be dismantled and used as evidence of crime..."

"If dismantling is not possible, don't force it, just keep them temporarily."

Mo Hua issued "orders" through Gu Changhuai.

He definitely couldn't do these things alone, and if he left Dragon King Temple later, he wouldn't be able to find so many people to help him.

So, he would simply borrow the Dao Court Division's hand to clean the temple for himself.

Inside Dragon King Temple, the flesh and blood were cleared, the evil arrays were cleaned, and the broken walls and ruins were also being cleared little by little.

After about half a day, the entire Dragon King Temple was "renewed."

Although it wasn't neat and solemn, compared to its previous bloody and gloomy state, it was already much better.

Mo Hua also took the opportunity to investigate Dragon King Temple from top to bottom.

From some clues, this indeed was an ancient temple that had existed for many years.

It was even very likely that it had existed before the Great Wilderness Evil God built the altar.

And this Dragon King Temple itself was not built to enshrine the "evil fetus," but indeed to enshrine the "River Dragon King."

The Great Wilderness Evil God had simply "usurped the nest," occupying this Dragon King Temple in Smoke Water River to nurture the god fetus.

But the current Dragon King Temple was already very dilapidated.

Before he arrived, many halls were destroyed.

Connecting this to Mr. Wu's previous words, Mo Hua guessed that it seemed to be because the god master's great enemy—which was himself—was speculated to be coming.

So the person behind the scenes simply implemented a "scorched earth" strategy, ordering everything to be dismantled, killing everyone, refining them into blood corpses, and Mr. Wu also willingly became a "Yaksha."

Although they couldn't ultimately stop him, in this way, the things left in Dragon King Temple were also very limited.

Mo Hua checked the white bone labyrinth again.

This labyrinth also followed a special puzzle array construction.

It had similarities in different forms with the bronze labyrinth in Bi Mountain Demon Cave, in terms of array patterns, array hubs, and the overall array structure.

Mo Hua even suspected that these two sets of puzzle arrays were actually two derived arrays of a single complete array.

Similar puzzle arrays, and the labyrinths built with them, should still be numerous, scattered throughout the Qian Xue State boundaries.

But he temporarily still couldn't comprehend this puzzle array.

Moreover, time was limited, and he couldn't always stay here to research the array.

He still had a more important matter to check.

That was the "dragon."

Ever since he had fused the evil fetus and temporarily became the master of Dragon King Temple, he could perceive a very strong "dragon" causal breath in the depths of Dragon King Temple.

Following this breath, Mo Hua left the labyrinth and went around the inner hall. He discovered a side door on the other side of the inner hall, hidden under broken walls and ruins.

This side door was sealed by giant stones.

Mo Hua then entrusted the Gu family cultivators to clear the giant stones.

After the giant stones were cleared, they indeed discovered a door, blocked by heavy arrays and various mechanisms of a white bone door.

The arrays were very complex, the mechanisms were very dangerous, the door was very hard, and there was no key.

It would be extremely difficult for outsiders to open it.

But Mo Hua was not an outsider; he was now the "master."

He only gently pushed, and accompanied by the sound of gray stones falling, this heavy white bone door, to welcome its master, slowly opened.

After the white bone door was a huge, huge great hall.

This great hall was larger than any temple Mo Hua had seen before.

But the great hall inside was empty, there was nothing inside.

It seemed they were afraid of leaving clues; the murals were erased, the statues were dismantled, the floors were re-laid, and the carved beams and painted rafters were also covered by gray stones.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, vaguely having some guesses in his heart.

This great hall should be the true... Dragon King Hall.

Because it enshrined the "Dragon King," it needed to be built tall and wide, majestic and solemn.

"But the things inside? All destroyed?"

Mo Hua frowned.

This evil god truly wasted good things. A good Dragon King Hall was ruined to this state.

More importantly, it didn't leave anything for him...

Mo Hua was unwilling. He walked around the great hall once, still gaining nothing. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly detected a faint trace of ancient and weakly "sacred" divine soul fluctuation.

He was startled in his heart and immediately turned his head to look.

The divine soul fluctuation came from a very inconspicuous small corner in the great hall. It was empty and looked like nothing was there.

Mo Hua's brows furrowed even tighter.

He slowly walked towards that corner.

But just as he approached the corner, Mo Hua suddenly froze, somewhat puzzled, scratched his head, and had a blank expression.

"I... what am I doing here?"

Mo Hua was puzzled in his heart. He shook his head and turned to leave. He hadn't walked two steps before he suddenly woke up. He immediately turned back and stared intently at that corner, shocked in his heart:

Something is wrong!

This place is hiding something big!

It could even deceive him, and to a certain extent, distort his cognition, which was half-human, half-god, and even "half evil god."

He wasn't convinced and walked towards the corner again.

But as soon as he got close, his expression instantly became blank. He seemed to have forgotten his purpose and started to turn back again.

After walking for a while, he suddenly woke up again and, still unconvinced, walked towards the corner.

Not far away, several Gu family cultivators who were following Mo Hua under Gu Changhuai's orders to protect him, saw Mo Hua acting like he was hitting a wall, repeatedly turning back and forth in that corner. They couldn't help but exchange glances.

But they also dared not speak to disturb him.

After all, Young Master Mo's actions were always a bit strange.

Mo Hua went back and forth several times and knew this wasn't going well. He then began to give himself "suggestions," planting a thought in his dao heart:

"Go to the corner, go to the corner..."

"Don't turn back, don't turn back..."

Mo Hua silently recited these words several times in his heart, then continued forward.

And this "dao heart planting demon" was indeed useful.

Every time he stopped and felt blank about his goal, a thought would float in his heart: "go to the corner."

Like this, he had a direction.

And every time he wanted to turn back, he would remember "don't turn back," thus his steps were firm, moving forward.

Mo Hua treated himself as his own "puppet," firmly executing his purpose according to his own will.

Walking and stopping like this, wanting to turn back but stopping, stumbling, Mo Hua finally walked into the corner.

The moment he stepped into the corner, all divine sense obstacles and blankness suddenly disappeared.

Mo Hua's gaze was clear. He looked closely and discovered that in this very inconspicuous small corner, he didn't know when, a small statue was actually lying there.

The statue was made of white bones.

Mo Hua looked carefully again and was suddenly startled. He then realized something wasn't right.

The bone was white and crystalline, curled neatly, and had fine cloud patterns on it. It looked extremely hard, and a stock of ancient and sacred breath lingered on it.

This was not human white bones, but...

Dragon bones!

A dragon bone statue!

Mo Hua was endlessly shocked in his heart.

Using dragon bones to cast a statue...

His thoughts surged for a time. After a long time, he found another word from his memory:

Life god statue!

This was a god's life god statue!

Moreover, it was very likely... the life god statue of that dragon god enshrined in this ancient Dragon King Temple!

Mo Hua took a deep breath.

This thing was truly terrifying...

He immediately wanted to put this life dragon bone god statue into his storage ring, but after several attempts, he found it was simply impossible.

A life god statue was the origin of a god.

This kind of thing had too much karma, too strong interference, and seemed inherently repellent to void laws, thus unable to be placed in storage space.

"Then what? Just hold it like this?"

Mo Hua had no other choice and only reached out to touch it.

The statue shook, and a stock of ancient breath surged out, but this breath automatically dissolved upon touching Mo Hua, seemingly not repelling him.

Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief, then hugged the dragon bone statue in his arms and walked towards the great hall entrance.

The Gu family cultivators saw him and were somewhat puzzled. "Young Master Mo, why are you walking like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like... holding something..."

Like...

Mo Hua was startled. "You can't see?"

"Can't see what?"

Mo Hua lowered his head, looked at the dragon bone statue in his arms, and then at the blank expressions of the crowd, and shook his head:

"Nothing."

He changed his posture, placing the dragon bone statue properly and tucking it in his arms. At least from the surface, it didn't look like he was holding anything.

And thankfully, this statue wasn't big or heavy. Holding it like this wasn't difficult for him.

"Young Master Mo, do we still need to check this great hall?"

"No need to check, no need to check..."

Mo Hua waved his hand.

All the good things were already tucked in his arms, what was there left to check?

"This place has been emptied, there's nothing here. Let's go out," Mo Hua said, pretending to be regretful.

The others didn't suspect anything either and followed Mo Hua out of the Dragon King Great Hall together.

After leaving the great hall, Mo Hua's heart stirred, and he ran in front of Gu Changhuai again, lingering for a bit.

Gu Changhuai saw him and asked, "Have you finished searching?"

"Still a little bit short," Mo Hua said.

Gu Changhuai nodded and said nothing more.

Mo Hua looked at Gu Changhuai and confirmed his guess in his heart:

"Uncle Gu also can't see it..."

In this entire Dragon King Temple, it seemed only he could see this life dragon bone god statue.

Should he tell Uncle Gu about the statue?

After all, everyone was in the "same group," and Uncle Gu and the Xia Court Division had helped a lot with the trip to Dragon King Temple.

But Mo Hua pondered slightly and felt it was better to forget it.

Anyway, they couldn't see it, so saying it would be in vain.

Moreover, he was now the master of Dragon King Temple, so by rights, everything in Dragon King Temple should belong to him.

Mo Hua then felt at ease and took this dragon bone life god statue.

He found a package, wrapped the statue in it, and carried it openly on his shoulder. But even so, no one felt anything abnormal.

It seemed that everyone, subconsciously, ignored the statue and its package together.

This was a form of "invisibility" similar to a heavenly mechanism method.

Seeing but not seeing, hearing but not hearing.

Mo Hua was even more certain of his guess.

The origin of this statue was definitely not small.

Thereafter, Mo Hua strolled around the vicinity for a while but gained no other insights. He then prepared to return.

Before leaving, he controlled the white bone labyrinth and hid the altar.

He still had a use for this altar and temporarily couldn't destroy it.

Similarly, for this already exposed altar, the Great Wilderness Lord was unlikely to reuse it. He would probably cut off the connection with the altar to avoid having his authority stolen again.

With the white bone labyrinth blocking the way, even if the Dao Court Division came to investigate, they were unlikely to enter the deep altar.

Gu Changhuai also listened to Mo Hua's "suggestion" and directly re-sealed the inner hall door to prevent people from mistakenly entering the white bone labyrinth and becoming food for blood corpses or sacrifices for evil demons.

This matter temporarily came to an end. After that, Mo Hua was just about to leave.

He had already stayed in Dragon King Temple for too long.

Now that everything was prepared, he could return to the sect to prepare a bit and wait for a big meal.

Gu Changhuai was a little uneasy about Mo Hua, afraid that Mo Hua would cause trouble again temporarily. He then planned to personally escort Mo Hua back to Tai Xu Gate to avoid any accidents on the road.

The Xia Court Division also accompanied them.

He also needed to return to the Dao Court Division to handle the aftermath of Rouge Boat, including Dragon King Temple, and even Xiao Town Sea's matters.

And Xiao Tianquan was also on the same boat.

Like this, a group of people, riding a small boat, left Dragon King Temple and sailed towards the vast Smoke Water River.

At the same time, in a sect with jade buildings and qióngyǔ-like structures.

Wearing human skin, using the alias "Elder Shen," the usually elegant and refined Mr. Tu, was in his elder residence, fiddling with a sheep bone compass, his face gloomy, muttering to himself.

"I exhausted all my efforts, laid out this grand scheme, yet unexpectedly... it still didn't go completely as desired."

"Sealing Dragon King Temple, isolating outsiders, killing all temple guards, refining them into blood corpses, turning Mr. Wu into a Yaksha, even the god master fetus descended, yet all couldn't block, let alone take down this vicious god. Truly unbelievable..."

"This vicious god is actually terrifying like this..."

Mr. Tu's gaze was cold and severe, and he sighed slightly.

"However... no harm done. Although the situation is not optimistic, it is still within expectations."

"The evil god fetus is nearly undying and unextinguishable."

"As long as it is parasitized by the god fetus, the divine soul will be polluted and transformed little by little, eventually completely assimilated, becoming the embryo for the god master to hatch."

"Anyone, any god, is no exception."

Mr. Tu smiled ferociously, revealing his pale teeth.

He still remembered the panic and helpless fear he felt at the beginning, when his wisp of divided soul in Ten Thousand Demons Valley was chased and killed by that faceless vicious god with a golden sword.

But now, the cause and effect were reversed.

This vicious god was also finally schemed against by him once.

Just being schemed against once was enough to injure his bones and muscles, pierce deeply into his soul, and very likely doom him eternally.

Even if this vicious god truly resisted the god master's "pollution" and "corruption" and didn't fall into evil fetus, he would at least be unable to use his divine soul power for several years, several decades, or even hundreds of years.

He wouldn't be able to go out again.

He could only hide like a mouse in Tai Xu Gate or some temple, lick his divine soul wounds, live in fear, and no longer block the god master's grand plan.

By the time He revived, the entire Qian Xue State boundaries would have already turned into a purgatory of blood.

And this "false god" would be suppressed forever by the awakened god master!

Mr. Tu let out a yin lěng laugh like a night owl.

But as he laughed, he felt his heart bleeding again.

Especially when he looked at the sheep bone compass above, at those densely packed demons, controlled by the false god's authority, destined to die, Mr. Tu's heart ached severely.

Raising demons was not an easy matter.

These demons were all his painstaking efforts over the years.

It seemed that upon detecting that he had been schemed against, this "vicious god" became angry, truly fearsome.

However, everything was worth it.

Mr. Tu took a deep breath, and a trace of sharp light flashed in his eyes.

"With this vicious god taken care of, the following plans can also continue to move forward..."

"Dragon King Temple is abandoned. Anyway, it has been turned over and over, searched for hundreds of years, and there's nothing good inside."

"The altar's connection has also been cut off to prevent the god master's authority from leaking again."

"As for Rouge Boat, it's a bit of a pity, but since it was discovered, fire cannot be contained by paper."

"Since the Xia family has come, they should be given a bite of meat to eat as well, to let them earn some merit, otherwise this passing fierce tiger cannot be appeased."

"The good show is just beginning..."

A trace of a successful smile appeared at the corners of Mr. Tu's mouth.

On the Smoke Water River.

Mo Hua rode the small boat, looking at the moon reflected in the water, his heart still thinking about Rouge Boat and Dragon King Temple.

Especially the dragon bone statue he had just obtained.

Everyone on the boat had their own thoughts and didn't speak.

The small boat also sailed quietly.

He didn't know how long they had sailed when Mo Hua's divine sense stirred. He suddenly raised his head and looked towards the distant thick night, his expression alert.

"There's a boat?"

And a big boat at that?

Gu Changhuai and the Xia Court Division also detected it and couldn't help but slowly stand up, gripping their knives and swords.

After a moment, a luxurious spirit boat, flashing low-key lights, split the waves and sailed over from the distant black night.

A ship flag hung high on the spirit boat. The flag was embroidered with a dignified and noble "Xia" character, revealing a majestic air in the night.

The Xia Court Division breathed a sigh of relief. "It's Uncle's boat."

"Uncle?" Mo Hua was startled.

Gu Changhuai's expression was somewhat solemn. "It's Xia Jiancha... an inspector from the Central Dao Court's Feather Transformation Realm."