Chapter Summaries

Mo Hua and the Bai siblings planned to identify the array master helping Zhang Quan before attacking the Walking Corpse Stronghold. Mo Hua secretly watched Zhang Quan return and learned how the stronghold operated, but the only lead he overheard was Zhang Quan refusing to send out uncontrollable zombies.

• Mo Hua reunited with Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi, then explained that someone besides Zhang Quan must be drawing the corpse-refining arrays.
• Mo Hua proposed secretly tracking Zhang Quan to find the array master, while the group prepared to involve Situ Fang and the Dao Court Office.
• After Zhang Quan spent five days hiding in the Wild Mountain, Mo Hua returned to the stronghold and secretly mapped it while waiting for him.
• Mo Hua hid in Zhang Quan's secret chamber and listened as corpse cultivators reported on the stronghold's crimes, corpse supplies, and refining work.
• A corpse cultivator asked Zhang Quan whether they should deliver some corpses, but Zhang Quan ordered him to destroy the uncontrollable zombies instead.

Mo Hua watched Zhang Quan inside the Walking Corpse Stronghold, but Zhang Quan discovered a hidden needle and ordered a search. After Instructor Yan advised him to install Dust-Revealing Arrays, Mo Hua faced a new obstacle, while Yan realized Mo Hua had dismantled his Array Technique.

• Mo Hua gave Zhang Quan one more chance to deliver corpses while secretly watching him from the stronghold’s rooftops.
• Zhang Quan found the third Sinan Child Needle in a wound and ordered the Walking Corpse Stronghold sealed and searched.
• The searchers found an altered Array Technique on a wall, and Mo Hua followed Zhang Quan to inspect the flaw he had left behind.
• Instructor Yan claimed he had reinforced the wall’s Array Technique and assured Zhang Quan that no intruder could silently break his arrays.
• Instructor Yan recommended Dust-Revealing Arrays to expose intruders using Stealth, and Zhang Quan asked him to install them around the stronghold.
• After Zhang Quan left, Instructor Yan recognized that Mo Hua had dismantled his Array Technique and wondered how skilled Mo Hua had become.

Mo Hua discovered Instructor Yan was deceiving Zhang Quan with a fake Dust-Revealing Array, then joined Bai Zixi and Situ Fang to plan an attack on Walking Corpse Stronghold. After revealing the stronghold’s defenses and forces, Mo Hua said he had a way to improve their chances.

• Instructor Yan prepared a useless Five-Pattern Earth Array while pretending it was a Dust-Revealing Array for Zhang Quan.
• Mo Hua left Walking Corpse Stronghold and met Bai Zixi, then told her he had been discovered and they needed to strike first.
• Situ Fang told Mo Hua that the Situ Clan would provide over two hundred cultivators for an attack under the Dao Court Office’s name.
• Mo Hua explained that Zhang Quan, four or five Iron Corpses, more than two hundred inhabitants, controllable corpses, and defensive arrays made the stronghold dangerous to attack.
• Situ Fang worried the force could suffer heavy casualties, but Mo Hua smiled and said he had a way.

Mo Hua infiltrated Walking Corpse Stronghold, dismantled most of its defensive arrays, and helped Situ Fang’s forces launch an attack while Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi escorted Instructor Yan away. Unable to steal Zhang Quan’s Corpse Control Bell or reach the Iron Corpses, Mo Hua overheard Zhang Quan preparing a ritual for the Blood Corpse Control Bell and wondered whether the ritual might give him a chance to seize it.

• Mo Hua outlined a plan to rescue Instructor Yan and disable Walking Corpse Stronghold’s arrays, then joined Situ Fang and two elders in preparing an assault.
• Mo Hua secretly entered the stronghold, rescued Instructor Yan, and dismantled or sabotaged most of its arrays, but found Zhang Quan’s bell and the guarded Iron Corpses out of reach.
• Situ Fang’s cultivators attacked Walking Corpse Stronghold, and the battle began after the guards discovered them.
• Mo Hua sent Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to escort Instructor Yan out while he returned to Zhang Quan’s Secret Chamber to watch the chief.
• Zhang Quan ordered the Walking Corpses and Iron Corpses awakened and announced that he would perform a ritual for the Blood Corpse Control Bell, prompting Mo Hua to consider stealing it.

Mo Hua watched Zhang Quan secretly consecrate a Corpse Control Bell in a hidden altar chamber, discovering that the Zhang Family ancestor’s portrait was a Visualization Diagram sustained by offerings of human Divine Consciousness. When the stronghold’s arrays were reported broken, Zhang Quan left to investigate, giving Mo Hua a chance to approach the sealed chamber, but Mo Hua could not yet open its screen.

• Zhang Quan revealed a hidden chamber behind a screen, where he worshipped a Zhang Family ancestor and prepared to consecrate a Bronze Bell with blood.
• Zhang Quan sacrificed a bandit in a Bone Coffin, consuming the bandit’s Divine Consciousness to empower the ancestor’s Visualization Diagram and aid corpse control.
• Mo Hua recognized the Bronze Bell as the Corpse Control Bell he wanted and inferred that the altar’s true offering was human Divine Consciousness.
• A Corpse Cultivator reported that all the arrays in Walking Corpse Stronghold had been broken, so Zhang Quan took the others outside and sealed the chamber behind him.
• After confirming Zhang Quan had gone, Mo Hua descended from the beam and tried to open the screen, then discovered its concealed Array Patterns and copied them down for later study.

Mo Hua broke into Zhang Quan’s Secret Chamber, stole the Corpse Control Bells and the ancestor portrait, and escaped. Zhang Quan discovered the ruined arrays and ransacked chamber, then realized Mo Hua might have witnessed his ritual and roared over his losses.

• Mo Hua destroyed the arrays on the screen, smashed it, and entered the Secret Chamber.
• Mo Hua stole the blood-refined Bronze Bells and valuables, resisted the ancestor portrait’s attempt to influence him, then took the portrait and escaped.
• Zhang Quan found Walking Corpse Stronghold’s arrays ruined and discovered Instructor Yan had escaped from his sealed room.
• Zhang Quan suspected Mo Hua had infiltrated the stronghold and rushed back to his Secret Chamber.
• Zhang Quan found the screen and Altar wrecked and the Corpse Control Bells and ancestor portrait missing, then shouted in fury.

Mo Hua stole Zhang Quan’s Corpse Control Bells and ancestral corpse, helping the Situ Clan overwhelm Walking Corpse Stronghold. Zhang Quan was captured after Mo Hua and the Bai siblings stopped his escape, and Mo Hua searched the stronghold while the others dealt with its aftermath.

• Mo Hua revealed that he had stolen the Corpse Control Bells, and Situ Fang and the Situ Elders intensified their assault on Walking Corpse Stronghold.
• Mo Hua found Zhang Quan trying to escape in disguise, and Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi wounded him as he fled.
• Zhang Quan attempted to use Earth Escape Technique and swallow a Blood Variant Pill, but Mo Hua’s attacks thwarted him.
• Zhang Quan collapsed after Mo Hua taunted him, and Mo Hua confirmed he had only fainted before ordering him captured and kept alive.
• Bai Zisheng helped the Situ Clan handle the aftermath while Mo Hua and Bai Zixi searched the stronghold again.

After the Situ Clan captured Walking Corpse Stronghold, Mo Hua searched it for array-bearing objects and learned how the clan would report the victory and distribute merit. As he returned to Nanyue City, he realized Zhang Quan’s zombie operation was larger than the stronghold suggested and saw the Mine Cultivators’ brutal conditions.

• Mo Hua and Bai Zixi searched Walking Corpse Stronghold again, collecting array-bearing objects in Bai Zixi’s Storage Bag while leaving the other spoils for the Situ Clan.
• Cautious Si told Mo Hua that the Situ Clan would report the victory through Nanshan City and have the merit credited to Situ Fang and Mo Hua; the clan also promised Mo Hua ancestral Array Manuals.
• Cautious Si detained Zhang Quan and arranged for the Dao Court Office to handle the walking corpses and destroy the Corpse Refining Coffins, while Mo Hua, Bai Zisheng, and Bai Zixi left for Nanyue City.
• Mo Hua refused to let Bai Zisheng kill Zhang Quan because he wanted to learn who stood behind him, and said the five Iron Corpses and 637 walking corpses at the stronghold were fewer than Zhang Quan’s operation should have produced.
• Mo Hua suspected Zhang Quan had sold or moved corpses elsewhere, then saw Mine Cultivators laboring under brutal conditions and reflected that Nanyue City’s waters ran deep.

Mo Hua and his companions searched the Corpse Control Bell and the Walking Corpse Stronghold’s seized items for the Spirit Pivot Formation, but found no trace of it. He concluded that the formation was probably inscribed on the Iron Corpses, obtained one from Situ Fang, and prepared to open its coffin.

• Mo Hua caught a wild boar with Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi, then cooked it for them, Instructor Yan, and Mr. Zhuang.
• Bai Zixi dismantled Zhang Quan’s Corpse Control Bell, but Mo Hua found only a blood-based formation rather than the Spirit Pivot Absolute Array he sought.
• Mo Hua, Bai Zisheng, and Bai Zixi searched the Walking Corpse Stronghold’s seized formation-related items for a Spirit Pivot Absolute Array but found none.
• Mo Hua reasoned that the Iron Corpses might carry the Spirit Pivot Formation that let Zhang Quan control the walking corpses, and he asked Situ Fang for one to study.
• Situ Fang gave Mo Hua an Iron Corpse, and he secretly hauled its coffin back to the Cave Abode and reinforced the side room with First-Grade Compound Arrays before preparing to open it.

Mo Hua and the Bai siblings discovered that an Iron Corpse bore a Spirit Pivot Formation and subdued it after its hidden controller made it lose control. Mo Hua mastered the formation and realized it belonged to a tiered system, leaving him to wonder what powerful being or object held the highest Authority over all the zombies.

• Mo Hua found a Blood Array beneath the Iron Corpse’s skin, and it activated as someone forced the corpse to lose control.
• Bai Zisheng, Bai Zixi, and Mo Hua fought the Iron Corpse and destroyed the Blood Array on its chest to stop it.
• Mo Hua sealed the subdued Iron Corpse and concluded that its controller had feared him discovering the Array Technique.
• Mo Hua studied the Spirit Pivot Formation and learned to control a wooden tiger with Divine Consciousness.
• Mo Hua realized the Spirit Pivot Formations on Walking Corpses and Iron Corpses belonged to different Authority tiers, and he suspected a higher-level controller commanded them all.

Mo Hua learned that Shen Cai, the traitor who stole the Little Spirit Hidden Sect’s Spirit Pivot Formation Diagram and killed its master, was hiding in Nanyue City under a changed identity. After showing Instructor Yan his reconstructed Spirit Pivot Array and the Wooden Tiger it controlled, Mo Hua resolved to find Shen Cai and help settle Instructor Yan’s grievance.

• Mo Hua told Instructor Yan he might already be involved in the search for the Little Spirit Hidden Sect’s traitor and offered to help investigate.
• Instructor Yan revealed that the traitor was named Shen Cai, had changed his name and possibly his face, and had drawn arrays in Nanyue City.
• Instructor Yan explained that Shen Cai had stolen the Spirit Pivot Formation Diagram and killed their master, and that he hoped to recover the array inheritance.
• Mo Hua showed Instructor Yan the incomplete Spirit Pivot Formation Diagram he had reconstructed from the arrays on walking corpses and Iron Corpses.
• Mo Hua demonstrated how the Spirit Pivot Array controlled a Wooden Tiger, then gave the tiger to Instructor Yan.
• Mo Hua decided to find Shen Cai and help Instructor Yan, while also investigating whether Shen Cai had drawn the Spirit Pivot Evil Array for Zhang Quan.

Mo Hua asked Mr. Zhuang whether he could examine the Zhang Family Ancestor Portrait, which he suspected was a dangerous Visualization Diagram. Mr. Zhuang refused for now, explained how the Spirit Pivot Formation connected to Mo Hua’s Heavenly Derivation Art, and began teaching him the principles of Divine Sense Killing, leaving the portrait as a future practice target.

• Mo Hua realized the Zhang Family Ancestor Portrait might contain Evil Thoughts and brought the crumpled portrait to Mr. Zhuang to ask whether he could examine it.
• Mr. Zhuang told Mo Hua not to inspect the portrait yet and explained that his Heavenly Derivation Art had helped him understand the Spirit Pivot Formation’s principles of controlling lingli with divine consciousness.
• Mr. Zhuang explained that Divine Thought Object Manipulation required Foundation Establishment, though it shared the principle of controlling objects through divine consciousness.
• Mr. Zhuang began teaching Mo Hua that Divine Sense Killing used divine consciousness as its foundation, manifestation as its form, and object control as its method.
• Mr. Zhuang warned Mo Hua that Divine Sense Killing was dangerous and urged him to strengthen his own divine sense rather than depend on external things.
• Mr. Zhuang said Mo Hua could use the Zhang Family Old Ancestor portrait for practice after he learned the methods of Divine Sense Killing.

Mr. Zhuang taught Mo Hua the principles of Divine Sense Manifestation and explained how he could eventually manifest Array Techniques to fight within the Sea of Consciousness. Mo Hua received a guide and planned to test his new skills on Zhang Quan's Old Ancestors.

• Mr. Zhuang explained that divine consciousness forms the foundation of Divine Sense Killing and warned Mo Hua how an Evil Thought could consume an unprepared cultivator.
• Mr. Zhuang said Mo Hua could manifest himself because his divine consciousness was strong and his thoughts were clear, but explained that manifestations required real knowledge and understanding.
• Mr. Zhuang taught Mo Hua that he must manifest Lingli and use One-Thought Completion with Drawing Arrays on the Ground to construct Array Techniques quickly.
• Mo Hua connected the Heavenly Derivation Art, Divine Sense Derivation, and the Spirit Pivot Formation to the skills needed for manifesting Array Techniques, and Mr. Zhuang praised his insight.
• Mr. Zhuang gave Mo Hua the Essential Guide to Divine Sense Manifestation and told him that its power depended on his practice and comprehension.
• Mo Hua put the guide in his Storage Bag and decided to practice Divine Sense Killing on Zhang Quan's Old Ancestors.

Mo Hua learned to manifest lingli, spells, and arrays within his Sea of Consciousness, then opened Zhang Quan's Ancestor Portrait to test his Divine Sense Killing. He shut the painting after one Zombie disciple invaded his Sea of Consciousness, leaving the other Zombies trapped inside the portrait.

• Old Kui worried that Mr. Zhuang's lessons might lead Mo Hua down the path of Ghost Daoist, but Mr. Zhuang said he only hoped his youngest disciple would live and pursue his own Dao.
• Mo Hua practiced Divine Sense Manifestation and learned to manifest the Thousand-Jun Rod, lingli, and several spells within his Sea of Consciousness.
• Mo Hua comprehended how the Spirit Pivot Formation let him control lingli as Spirit Threads and rapidly draw a Seven-Pattern Earth Fire Array.
• After weeks of practice, Mo Hua made modest progress in Divine Sense Killing and asked Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to stand guard while he opened Zhang Quan's Ancestor Portrait.
• Mo Hua saw Zombie-like disciples in the portrait, and one lunged into his Sea of Consciousness before he shut the painting, trapping the others inside.

Mo Hua let a Zhang Family zombie disciple enter his Sea of Consciousness to study how it devoured Divine Consciousness, then trapped and destroyed it. After consuming the zombie’s Evil Thought, he decided to build up his skills by confronting weaker Zhang Family ancestors before targeting their strongest Old Ancestors.

• Mo Hua watched the zombie disciple devour his Divine Consciousness and confirmed that the Concealment Technique hid him from it.
• Mo Hua struck the zombie with the Thousand-Jun Rod, bound it with the Water Prison Technique, and stopped it from escaping.
• The zombie transformed into an iron-blue corpse and lunged at Mo Hua, but Mo Hua’s Fireball Technique blasted it back into its original form.
• Mo Hua realized that his Foundation Establishment strength in the Sea of Consciousness overwhelmed the zombie’s Qi Refining-level power, and he planned to practice against other ancestors before facing Zhang Quan’s Old Ancestors.
• Mo Hua burned the zombie into ash, swallowed its wisps of Divine Thought, and strengthened his Divine Consciousness with its Evil Thought.

Mo Hua repeatedly lured zombies from the Zhang Family Ancestor Portrait into his Sea of Consciousness, refining their Evil Thoughts to strengthen his Divine Sense. After defeating and devouring an Iron Corpse Elder, he turned his attention to the remaining zombies and the Zhang Family Old Ancestors.

• Mo Hua refined a zombie disciple’s Evil Thought, resisted its corrupting influence through meditation, and grew his Divine Sense.
• Mo Hua released Walking Corpses from the portrait, blasted them with Fireball Techniques, and refined their Evil Thoughts for further growth.
• Mo Hua lured an Iron Corpse Elder into his Sea of Consciousness, evaded its attacks, and suppressed it with Water Prison and Fireball Techniques.
• Mo Hua trapped the Iron Corpse Elder in a Gold Lock Array and a Molten Fire Array, questioned it about the Zhang Family Old Ancestors, then refined and devoured it.
• Mo Hua saw the remaining zombies and Old Ancestors in the portrait and resolved to take them one at a time; Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi noticed that Mo Hua seemed strange.

Mo Hua sought a complete Spirit Pivot Formation while preparing to deal with the Zhang Family’s zombies, but Zhang Quan was killed during a suspicious prison break before he could be questioned. The Dao Court Office quietly closed the case, and Mo Hua realized that the powerful figure behind the incident had escaped.

• Mo Hua hit a bottleneck studying the incomplete Spirit Pivot Formation and decided to search for its complete version while continuing to hunt zombies.
• Situ Fang told Mo Hua that Zhang Quan had resisted every interrogation method, leaving Mo Hua to wonder how he could make Zhang Quan confess.
• Black-clad cultivators broke into the Dao Court prison, where Zhang Quan was stabbed to death and the prison was set on fire.
• Situ Fang reported that the alleged prison-breakers had all died, leaving no clear account of who killed Zhang Quan or started the fire.
• The Dao Court Office issued a report that minimized the incident, and Mo Hua concluded that the powerful figure behind it had escaped.

Mo Hua traced the Little Spirit Hidden Sect traitor to the Lu Family and investigated its Mine Mountain, while learning how deeply the family had compromised Nanyue City's Dao Court Office. The chapter ended with Mo Hua confirming that the mine concealed countless zombies and was a Corpse Mine.

• Mo Hua pressed Instructor Yan until he admitted that he suspected the traitor Shen Cai was hiding in the Lu Family, whose array techniques had appeared at the Mine Mountain.
• Instructor Yan explained that the Lu Family was too powerful for him to investigate safely, and Mo Hua reassured him while concealing his own plans.
• Mo Hua asked Situ Fang about Chief Administrator Qian's bribes and learned that the Lu Family had paid him the most; Situ Fang warned Mo Hua not to oppose the family.
• Mo Hua returned to the Lu Family's Mine Mountain and found its defenses strengthened, its guards replaced, and two Foundation Establishment cultivators watching the site.
• At midnight, Mo Hua sensed a faint, concealed aura from the mine and recognized the Corpse Qi and Spirit Pivot Evil Array associated with zombies.
• Mo Hua concluded that the Lu Family's Mine Mountain hid countless zombies and was a Corpse Mine.

Mo Hua learned that the Lu Family hid Zombies in its mine and began investigating the Little Spirit Hidden Sect traitor behind the scheme. After recruiting Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to help, he questioned a broker about the Lu Family and sought Qing Lan’s knowledge, who began explaining the family’s history.

• Mo Hua told Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi about the traitor, the Lu Family’s Mine Mountain, and its hidden Zombies, and they agreed to help him investigate.
• Mo Hua questioned a broker about the Lu Family’s power structure and wrote down the Elders, guest Elders, and offerings he learned about.
• Mo Hua visited Qing Lan at Nanyue Inn and asked her about the Lu Family.
• Qing Lan began tracing the story of Jinhua Street back to the deceased old ancestor of the Lu Family.

Qing Lan told Mo Hua how the Lu Family built its wealth and Jinhua Street by exploiting Mine Cultivators, while corrupting the Dao Court Office. She also revealed Elder Su’s past connection to the deceased Shuixian, leaving Mo Hua with a colder view of the Lu Family’s power and the suffering behind it.

• Qing Lan recounted how the Lu Family’s ancestor, Lu the Skinner, colluded with other families to slash Mine Cultivators’ pay and built Jinhua Street with their earnings.
• Qing Lan explained that the Lu Family’s neglect of mine safety and usurious loans forced Mine Cultivators to sell their children into slavery or brothels, while bribed Chief Administrators ignored the abuses.
• Qing Lan said Lu Chengyun treated Mine Cultivators less harshly than his ancestor, though he still put the Lu Family’s interests first.
• Qing Lan told Mo Hua that Elder Su had been a regular at Hundred Flowers Pavilion, had loved Shuixian, and had wanted to redeem her before she died while carrying his child.
• Mo Hua left the inn and looked toward Mine Mountain and Jinhua Street, reflecting on the Mine Cultivators’ suffering and the Lu Family’s corruption.