Chapter 974: Divine Idol

Originally, everything was within the plan.

The Shen family, Shen Tu Ao, and the Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation Diagram were all within calculations. Ultimately, all these people would die in the nightmare, becoming "food" for the God Lord's embryo.

Nothing would be wasted.

Everything was within calculation.

But why?

Calculating and calculating, unexpectedly, the God Lord would disappear.

"Mr. Tu" was overcome with great fear, his whole body trembling. He stared intently at Mo Hua and said sternly:

"Speak quickly! What exactly happened?"

How could Mo Hua say?

"Your God Lord was killed by me again."

"The remaining God marrow will immediately be something for my mouth and belly."

If he really dared to say this, Mr. Tu would definitely swallow him whole, skin him alive, tear him to pieces, and even chew his bones into dust.

Mo Hua was nervous and frightened, saying with a blank face, "I don't know, what are you talking about... what about your lord?"

Seeing Mo Hua's blank face, "Mr. Tu"'s eyebrows furrowed tightly, his thoughts racing.

This boy is only at Foundation Building; his realm is too low, and his cultivation is still shallow. Regarding the matter of the nightmare, he indeed may not know the inside story...

But what exactly happened?

What exactly did I overlook?

Mr. Tu's forehead twitched, and his heart turned cold.

Perhaps it was... Xun Zi You!

That sword cultivator elder from the Tai Xu Sect!

"I was calculating the Tai Xu Sect, and the Tai Xu Sect was also calculating me."

"They used a plan against a plan, sending a sword cultivator elder into Solitary Mountain, into the depths of this shrine, and then I personally sent him into the nightmare."

"Their purpose from the beginning was the God Lord's divine embryo."

"And the Tai Xu Sect's sword cultivator elder... what he cultivates is perhaps... the Tai Xu Divine Sense Transforming Sword True Art!"

Mr. Tu's expression was terrified, his pale body twisted slightly, his bones trembling. "I personally sent this 'sword' of the Tai Xu Sect, which slays gods, to the front of the God Lord."

"It was me who led the wolf into the house!"

The mark of divine punishment was faintly aching again.

The scene of purgatory punishment was vivid in his mind.

Mr. Tu's face was deathly pale, and then he said again, "No, impossible..."

"That sword dao elder is only at the late stage of the Golden Core realm; how could he possibly learn Divine Sense Transforming Sword..."

"Even if he learned it, with his realm, how could he possibly injure the God Lord?"

"No, no..."

For a time, Mr. Tu's heart was as chaotic as hemp. He looked around and quickly found Xun Zi You lying on the ground, not yet awake, a trace of killing intent flashing in his eyes.

Regardless, it's best to cut the grass and remove the roots first.

Destroy his physical body, no matter how strong his divine soul is, whether he cultivates Divine Sense Transforming Sword or not, he will ultimately die without a doubt.

Mr. Tu walked step by step towards Xun Zi You.

"He wants to kill Elder Xun!"

Mo Hua saw through Mr. Tu's intention and immediately became anxious.

But he was only at Foundation Building, and in terms of frontal strength, he was fundamentally no match for this pale human demon controlled by Mr. Tu.

The fight with the evil fetus was extremely difficult and had exhausted his divine sense. He could not use the Shocking God Eye Technique to interfere with Mr. Tu either.

Just at this moment, in the great hall, a figure suddenly awoke and slowly stood up.

Mo Hua turned his head and was startled.

Shen Shou Xing!

He wasn't dead!

He was also drawn into the evil god's nightmare.

Now that the nightmare had shattered, his divine consciousness had also awakened.

"But... why didn't I see him in the nightmare..."

Mo Hua was full of doubts for a time.

But the situation was urgent now; there was no time to think so much.

Watching the pale human demon controlled by Mr. Tu's evil thoughts, holding a blood-dripping sacrificial knife, step by step towards Elder Xun, a flash of inspiration struck Mo Hua. He quickly pointed at Mr. Tu and said with a look of shock:

"It's you! You killed Shen Qing Sheng!"

Mr. Tu was startled.

Shen Shou Xing, who was originally somewhat unclear, suddenly had red eyes and slowly looked towards "Mr. Tu".

"Mr. Tu"'s appearance was a deformed face, a deathly pale human demon, holding a human skin in one hand and a sacrificial knife in the other, his hands covered in blood.

He looked like a complete "killer".

Shen Shou Xing was stimulated by this bloody scene. For a time, his heart trembled, and his voice was hoarse. "You... killed Qing Er?"

"You... killed my only son?"

Shen Shou Xing's eyes were full of bloodshot lines.

Mr. Tu was silent, offering no retort.

In a sense, Shen Qing Sheng did die by his hand.

He opened the nightmare, sending the divine senses of all people to the evil fetus. If Shen Qing Sheng died in the nightmare, then he was indeed the "killer".

Of course, he did not know that Shen Qing Sheng was actually raised as a pig by Mo Hua, then sent into the sky like a kite, and fed to those wronged souls and ghosts.

But his silence was equivalent to acquiescence.

Shen Shou Xing was struck by lightning, and then hatred spread like wildfire, instantly igniting the anger in his heart.

Shen Shou Xing drew his sword with his left arm, his gaze ferocious, and rushed towards Mr. Tu, his sword light vicious.

"I want you... to pay with your life for my son!"

Shen Shou Xing was furious to the extreme, and this sword did not hold back.

Mr. Tu did not dare to neglect and had to throw down Xun Zi You and fight with Shen Shou Xing.

Shen Shou Xing's sword moves were ruthless, and Mr. Tu's moves were sinister. For a time, sword energy and bloody light were entangled, and in the inner shrine, human shadows intertwined, fighting hard to separate.

Successfully diverting disaster eastward and driving the tiger to swallow the wolf, Mo Hua finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He took advantage of the time when Mr. Tu and Shen Shou Xing were fighting to secretly approach Xun Zi You and softly shouted:

"Elder Xun, wake up..."

"Hey..."

"Elder Xun, wake up quickly... You must not die."

Xun Zi You still had no reaction at all.

Mo Hua had no choice but to pinch his philtrum again and pull his ears again. "If you don't wake up, we will all die here..."

He didn't know if he heard Mo Hua say he would die here or if his ears were pulled painfully, but Xun Zi You's eyebrows furrowed, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Mo Hua was overjoyed. "Elder Xun, you're awake!"

Elder Xun still felt dizzy in his sea of consciousness, and his head ached as if it would split. He wanted to say something but couldn't open his mouth.

Mo Hua quickly said, "Don't speak, quickly adjust your breath..."

Elder Xun nodded, and then, according to Mo Hua's words, he inwardly viewed his meridians, adjusted his spiritual power, and suppressed the pain in his sea of consciousness at the same time.

Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief.

It's good that he woke up...

And with Elder Xun awake, his own safety was also guaranteed.

Otherwise, Mr. Tu, who had turned into a human demon, really could have killed him.

"There's still Master Gu and Fan Dian Si; I also want to wake them up..."

Mo Hua looked around and found Master Gu and Fan Jin. He started his old trick again, pulling their ears and shouting for a long time, finally waking them up.

"Little Mo young master..."

Master Gu's sea of consciousness similarly had waves of stinging pain.

All kinds of dangers in the nightmare had exhausted their divine consciousness.

"Shhh..." Mo Hua signaled them to be quiet, turned his head, saw that Shen Shou Xing and Mr. Tu were still fighting desperately, and then said in a low voice, "Let's slip away first."

So, the three people, Xun Zi You, Master Gu, and Fan Dian Si, gathered with Mo Hua and quietly left the shrine together.

When Mr. Tu saw this scene, he wanted to keep them, but Shen Shou Xing was too strong, and his desire for revenge was urgent. He was determined to kill Mr. Tu, so he had to go all out and had no free hand at all.

Moreover, Xun Zi You was also awake.

He had already missed the best opportunity to destroy the corpse and kill.

If this Xun Zi You really cultivated the Tai Xu Divine Sense Transforming Sword True Art, then he would be fundamentally no match for this unfathomable Tai Xu Sect sword dao elder.

Mr. Tu could only watch with wide eyes as Mo Hua and the others left.

Mo Hua and the others also smoothly left the shrine.

"We're just leaving like this?" Xun Zi You asked.

Mo Hua also hesitated.

He had only copied half of the Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation on Shen Tu Ao's body when he was interrupted by the suddenly appearing human demon.

This human demon was Mr. Tu.

And now, Shen Tu Ao's skin had been peeled off by Mr. Tu, who had turned into a human demon.

The complete Four Symbols Azure Dragon Formation had already fallen into Mr. Tu's hands.

This must have been planned by this Mr. Tu long ago, and now he had finally gotten what he wanted.

If he wanted this formation diagram, he would have to snatch it back from Mr. Tu's hand.

But he didn't really want to go back and wade through this muddy water again.

This Mr. Tu was too strange.

Shen Shou Xing had also gone mad.

If they continued to get entangled with them, who knew what would happen...

Many people had already died in this Solitary Mountain tomb. Being able to walk out alive was already a victory.

"When to break and not to break, you will suffer chaos..."

Mo Hua gritted his teeth and said, "Go!"

After experiencing those things in the nightmare, Xun Zi You's heart no longer regarded Mo Hua as just a Foundation Building disciple.

Especially in this treacherous situation, he trusted Mo Hua's judgment even more.

Xun Zi You also nodded: "Okay."

The crowd then withdrew from the great hall and returned along the way, passing through the outside of the great hall.

Outside the great hall were rows of golden, dazzling, extremely luxurious statues of Huang Shan Jun.

A spiritual light flashed, and Mo Hua suddenly stopped, his heart skipping a beat.

Statue!

"Huang Shan Jun asked me to bring something out of this Solitary Mountain tomb, the evil god's old nest. Could it be... his life statue?"

Mo Hua couldn't help but frown and think.

A life statue is the foundation of a god's existence.

Every god's life statue is unique, absolutely irreplaceable.

Once a god's life statue is damaged, at worst, the god's existence and dao will be destroyed, the great dao ruined; at best, the origin will be damaged, and vitality greatly injured...

This kind of thing is extremely important and cannot be told to anyone.

For a god, if there is anything more important than God marrow, it can only be the life statue!

Perhaps Huang Shan Jun did not say it clearly because he was afraid of leaking heaven's secrets, being spied on by others or other god-level existences, discerning the cause and effect, and stealing his foundation.

Mo Hua's heart was slightly shocked.

"But where would Shan Jun's life statue be hidden?"

Mo Hua raised his head and looked around the shrine.

On all sides were dense, various shapes, postures, and appearances of mountain god statues.

They were standing, sitting, lying, or wearing golden armor, or splendid robes, or civilian clothes, or draped in large cloaks...

"Is Huang Shan Jun's life statue hidden among these statues?"

He cast so many statues, not for luxury, but because he foresaw the coming crisis, so he "hid a tree in the forest", borrowing this vast number of "fake statues" to hide his "life statue" and avoid being discovered by others.

The more Mo Hua thought about it, the more likely he felt it was.

"Mo Hua, what's wrong?" Xun Zi You saw Mo Hua suddenly stand still, with a look as if thinking, and then spoke to ask.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "Elder Xun, help me find a statue."

"A statue?"

"Hmm." Mo Hua nodded.

Mr. Tu and Shen Shou Xing were in a death fight, so there was still some time. He wanted to find Huang Shan Jun's life statue and bring it out of the Solitary Mountain tomb.

This was Huang Shan Jun's dying entrustment.

In the nightmare, Huang Shan Jun helped him and saved him.

If he hadn't perished together with the evil fetus, none of them would necessarily have escaped from the nightmare.

And the matter of Solitary Mountain involved calculations from all sides, with many major relationships and too many variables.

Suppose he doesn't find it now; once they leave the shrine, they may never have another opportunity to come back.

Huang Shan Jun's life statue will also be buried with this shrine at the bottom of this Solitary Mountain mass grave, never to see daylight.

Moreover, he still gave himself a "big gift".

In terms of emotion and reason, he must find this life statue.

Xun Zi You saw Mo Hua's firm expression, didn't ask more, nodded, and then asked:

"What kind of statue are we looking for?"

Mo Hua frowned. He wasn't too sure and could only say, "Find one that is strange, or one that is clearly different from the others, unique..."

Xun Zi You turned his head and looked at the statues in front, which had various shapes, almost all "different from others," and silently said:

"Let's look, let's look..."

So, Mo Hua just brought the somewhat unclear Elder Xun, Master Gu, and also Fan Dian Si, and went to find that only life statue among the mountain god statues of various shapes.

At this time, in the shrine.

Shen Shou Xing and the human demon possessed by Mr. Tu were still fighting desperately, exchanging blows without rest.

Especially Shen Shou Xing, who was like a madman, disregarding his life, every move was lethal.

He was at the peak of the Golden Core realm. When he went mad, he was like a mad dog, and Mr. Tu had a hard time parrying.

As the fight continued, and his injuries worsened, Shen Shou Xing's gaze gradually dimmed, covered with a layer of gloom.

At the same time, his vision was much clearer.

Vaguely, he saw another face on the top of this human demon monster in front of him.

This face was elegant and refined, but it also revealed a hint of cold cruelty.

And this face, Shen Shou Xing recognized.

His pupils immediately shrunk. "You are unexpectedly... Elder Shen!"

The twisted face of the human demon paused and frowned, saying, "How did you recognize me?"

He was a servant of the God Lord, and his evil thoughts surpassed those of ordinary cultivators; he was an existence from another dimension.

Ordinary cultivators would only see a human demon whose body served as a "puppet." They would fundamentally not see the blood shadow he was parasitizing on the human demon, nor would they see his true appearance.

But now, he was unexpectedly recognized by this Shen Shou Xing...

Shen Shou Xing found it somewhat unbelievable, thought for a moment, and then linked everything together, hatingly saying, "It's you... Everything is you!"

Shen Shou Xing's face was pale, and he gritted his teeth and said:

"The idea for the matter of Solitary Mountain was given to me by you; the tomb sealing corpse method was also given to me by you; it was you who said you could let me rise high and have a boundless dao path..."

Mr. Tu also did not pretend and said coldly:

"Perhaps I was wrong to say these years that you wouldn't rise high? Sitting in the position of the Shen family's influential elder, how could you not call the wind and summon the rain, high-spirited?"

"No, not right..." Shen Shou Xing's gaze trembled. "All this, all of it is you calculating me. I am just... your chess piece..."

Shen Shou Xing looked deeply at Mr. Tu, who was parasitizing on the human demon, and said coldly:

"You are fundamentally not some profound Qian Dao Sect elder with family knowledge. What exactly are you...?"

Mr. Tu smiled sinisterly and did not speak.

Shen Shou Xing only felt a surge of chill in his heart.

He always thought that his Shen family occupying the mine in Solitary Mountain and killing obstructing rogue cultivators was the biggest beneficiary.

But now, looking at it, everything was wrong.

The biggest beneficiary was not their Shen family.

Behind them, there was a more evil thing, always staring at them...

Worldly families seek profit and are busy with hidden dirt and grime, so they fundamentally did not detect it.

Shen Shou Xing regretted endlessly.

Mr. Tu smiled, his smile sharp and gloomy:

"You and I each took what we needed. Say what calculating without me. How could the Shen family rise, and how could you become an elder?"

"All this, it's all what you wanted yourself."

"Your glory and wealth, perhaps all of it was given by me."

This sentence seemed to touch Shen Shou Xing's heartstring.

"Glory and wealth?" Shen Shou Xing's eyes dripped blood, and he smiled mockingly. "What use is glory and wealth?"

"My son is dead; my only son is dead."

"I am cut off from descendants."

"Family interests, power, and position, the things I fought for a lifetime to earn, in the end, no one will inherit them. They are all dreams and bubbles, others' wedding clothes."

"A lifetime's effort, all gone to waste..."

"This is... retribution..."

In Shen Shou Xing's heart, a trace of absurdity arose, several wisps of sorrow, and then turned into thick despair.

His son was dead, his descendants cut off, he was thoroughly despairing.

It was like a key opening the lock of his heart.

The seed in his heart finally sprouted.

Shen Shou Xing's eyes gradually turned grayish-black, completely extinguishing, and his heart naturally became thoroughly mad.

"Let's die together..."

He abandoned his long sword and, like a mad dog, pounced towards Mr. Tu, using his hands and feet together to tear Mr. Tu's body, even opening his mouth and teeth to bite Mr. Tu's flesh.

"Mad!"

Mr. Tu smiled coldly.

"People who seek fame and fortune, whose dao heart is not firm, are ultimately just playthings."

Mr. Tu manipulated the human demon and started fighting with the mad Shen Shou Xing.

Once a cultivator's dao heart is extinguished, only instinct remains, without exquisite dao methods. Instead, they will be much weaker.

Therefore, although Shen Shou Xing's appearance was terrifying, he had lost his divine sense, and his killing power was not strong. He merely left paths of flesh gnawed wounds on Mr. Tu's body while tearing and biting.

These wounds were not serious, especially for the flesh of the originally deformed and turbid "human demon."

Mr. Tu also didn't care.

But he didn't notice that after being torn and bitten by Shen Shou Xing, a wisp of strange gray slowly seeped into his flesh and then disappeared without a trace...

Just as Mo Hua was searching for the life statue, his scalp tingled without reason.

A chill surged into his heart.

But this chill came quickly and went quickly. By the time Mo Hua carefully perceived it, he felt nothing at all.

"What's the matter...?"

Mo Hua's eyebrows were tightly furrowed. He wanted to carefully deduce and calculate something, but he didn't know what to calculate, and the time was urgent. Finding the life statue was important, so he could only temporarily suppress this doubt.

But finding the life statue also made no progress.

Outside the shrine, along the vast wall, there were too many statues. It was truly like a "forest of statues," and their postures were varied, all very special, making it impossible to distinguish which statue was Shan Jun's life statue.

Thinking about it, if it were so easy to find, his life statue would have fallen into the hands of Mr. Tu and the evil god long ago.

But if others can't find it, forget it. You can't make it so hard for me to find...

If he couldn't find the statue, how could he complete Shan Jun's entrustment?

Mo Hua calmed down and reconsidered Shan Jun's last sentence:

"Suppose we are truly friends... Bring my... leave Solitary Mountain."

Suppose they are friends, then just bring his "life statue" and leave Solitary Mountain.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment and felt that this sentence should still have another layer of meaning...

Suppose they are truly friends, then they should be able to recognize what his life statue is?

Why?

He is friends with the fallen Shan Jun. This source must be found from Huang Shan Jun of Withered Mountain.

The fallen Shan Jun...

In his mind, the bits and pieces of interactions with Huang Shan Jun passed by like a horse watching flowers...

Suddenly, Mo Hua remembered something.

A long time ago, one day, he sympathized with Shan Jun's hard life and brought some offerings of chicken, duck, fish, and meat to feed him.

After eating his fill, Huang Shan Jun took him to a cliff behind the broken temple.

Old vines grew thickly on the edge of the cliff, covering a steep stone staircase.

Down the stone steps, there was a cave.

A statue was hidden inside the cave.

Mo Hua gradually recalled the appearance of that statue:

Tall and dignified, with a long and narrow face and majestic eyes, somewhat similar to Huang Shan Jun, and the whole body was cast in fine copper, with some places even plated with a layer of gold.

Compared to the clay sculpture inside the broken temple, it was much stronger. This statue was regarded as a treasure by Huang Shan Jun, hidden very deeply.

If he hadn't had a deep friendship with him, he wouldn't have told him.

That is to say, this was something that only "friends" could see.

The statue under the cliff should not be Huang Shan Jun's life statue, but it was certainly the thing most "similar" to his life statue.

His true life statue was hidden in Solitary Mountain. He didn't dare to come and find it, and given his current fallen appearance, it was fundamentally impossible to find it back.

Therefore, he could only make a fake one as a thought.

Although it was fake, since it was a thought, the appearance should not be very different.

This was cause and effect, and it was also the clue given by Huang Shan Jun!

Mo Hua's eyes brightened.

In his mind, he recalled the appearance of the statue in the cliff cave, and then released his divine consciousness to scan the great hall, comparing the mountain god statue in his mind with the dazzling statues in this great hall one by one.

Mo Hua's mind moved quickly, and his perception was keen.

One after another, statues of various shapes passed by in his mind like fleeting images...

Finally, Mo Hua's heart was shocked, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Elder Xun, follow me!"

Xun Zi You was unclear but nodded.

Mo Hua led the crowd to an inconspicuous corner of the shrine.

In the corner, a statue was placed.

Unexpectedly, this statue was not large, only half the height of a person, and it didn't look that exquisite or luxurious.

The face of the statue was somewhere between the majestic Huang Shan Jun of Solitary Mountain and the fallen Huang Shan Jun of Withered Mountain, even leaning more towards the fallen Shan Jun a bit.

Thrown in the corner, compared to the surrounding statues, it appeared very plain.

It even looked a bit like a "counterfeit."

"Is this... Shan Jun's life statue?"

Mo Hua was somewhat uncertain for a moment.

Opportunity comes only once. If he took the wrong one, that would be the end of it.

Mo Hua's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, very conflicted.

Just at this moment, Xun Zi You suddenly frowned and asked in a low voice, "Mo Hua, what are you... looking at?"

Looking at what?

Mo Hua was startled, turned his head to look at Xun Zi You, and said, "Elder Xun, can't you see?"