Chapter Summaries

Mo Hua learned how a Corpse King was refined and persuaded Lu Ming to investigate the Lu family in exchange for help escaping corpse cultivation. Lu Ming returned with rumors about the Lu family and Lu Chengyun, though the chapter left the details of those rumors unrevealed.

• Mo Hua quizzed Lu Ming about Corpse Kings, and Lu Ming explained their refining requirements and how they commanded zombies who had submitted to them in life.
• Lu Ming begged Mo Hua to help him avoid becoming a Corpse Cultivator, but Mo Hua said he would need a reason to risk offending Patriarch Lu.
• Mo Hua offered to consider saving Lu Ming if he secretly gathered information about the Lu family’s old ancestor and Patriarch Lu.
• Lu Ming discreetly asked other Corpse Cultivators about the Lu family while Mo Hua monitored him.
• Lu Ming reported rumors about the old ancestor’s greed and cruelty, then shared additional rumors about Lu Chengyun and the old ancestor.

Mo Hua learned that Lu Chengyun had married into the Lu Family and risen to power through unusually profitable mines, while the dying ancestor had unexpectedly chosen him over Elder An. After giving Lu Ming a concealing blanket and warning him to stay hidden, Mo Hua returned to the Ten Thousand Corpse Altar, where Lu Chengyun appeared.

• Lu Ming told Mo Hua rumors that the Lu Family ancestor abused female relatives and that Lu Zhu was his daughter, not his great-granddaughter.
• Lu Ming explained that Lu Zhu arranged for Lu Chengyun to marry into the family, and that Lu Chengyun gained authority by managing mines that produced unusually high profits.
• Lu Ming said the ancestor changed his choice of successor from Elder An to Lu Chengyun shortly before dying, and that Elder An later disappeared.
• Mo Hua gave Lu Ming a concealing blanket and warned him not to escape or practice corpse refining.
• Mo Hua returned to the Ten Thousand Corpse Altar and hid when Lu Chengyun entered.

Mo Hua secretly watched Lu Chengyun draw the Spirit Pivot Evil Array and learned that Lu Chengyun had been deceiving the Lu family ancestor while preparing to refine him into a Corpse King. The chapter left Mo Hua still hidden in the altar, knowing Lu Chengyun’s secret and the danger of revealing his own mastery of the array.

• Mo Hua hid in the altar and watched Lu Chengyun draw the Spirit Pivot Evil Array, noticing that Lu Chengyun had deliberately altered earlier demonstrations to mislead him.
• Mo Hua realized Lu Chengyun would kill anyone who learned he had mastered the Spirit Pivot Array, so he resolved to keep his knowledge secret.
• While Lu Chengyun rested, he mistook the ancestor’s lingering presence for someone watching him and revealed how he had deceived the ancestor and seized control of the Lu family.
• Lu Chengyun boasted that he would refine the ancestor into a zombie and enslave him with the Spirit Pivot Formation, while the corpse qi surged beneath the altar’s yellow cloth.
• Lu Chengyun left the altar to recover his divine sense, unaware that Mo Hua had heard everything.

Mo Hua watched Lu Chengyun use Zhang Quan's Ancestor Portrait to nourish his Divine Consciousness and learned how visualization worked for other cultivators. Rather than risk stealing the painting, Mo Hua lured one of its zombie elders into his Sea of Consciousness, where it mistook him for easy prey.

• Lu Chengyun recovered some Divine Consciousness, took out Zhang Quan's Ancestor Portrait, and began visualizing it while burning incense.
• Mo Hua realized the painting could nourish Divine Consciousness through visualization, though the spirits in diagrams had always tried to eat him instead.
• Mo Hua decided he could not steal the painting but could take a bite by drawing one of its zombies out.
• Mo Hua fixed his gaze on a distracted Zhang Family Elder, exposing its zombie form and provoking it to leap into his Sea of Consciousness.

Mo Hua fought and destroyed the Iron Corpse Elder inside his Sea of Consciousness using spells and his Gold Lock Three-Lotus Earth Fire Compound Array. Lu Chengyun finished studying the Visualization Diagram without realizing what had happened, then noticed someone was missing from the portrait and decided to find someone to feed it.

• The Iron Corpse Elder devoured Mo Hua’s Divine Consciousness until Mo Hua revealed himself and attacked it with Fireball Techniques.
• Mo Hua bound the Iron Corpse Elder with Water Prison and a Gold Lock Array, then blasted it with three Earth Fire Arrays.
• Mo Hua destroyed the Iron Corpse Elder with more Fireball Techniques and restrained its remaining green smoke for later refinement.
• Mo Hua withdrew from the Sea of Consciousness and waited while Lu Chengyun continued studying the Visualization Diagram.
• Lu Chengyun finished comprehending the diagram, noticed an ancestor was missing from the portrait, and decided to find someone to feed it.

Mo Hua discovered that the Corpse Mine held vast numbers of Zombies and Iron Corpses, making it a threat to the whole Little Wild State Boundary. As he investigated how Lu Chengyun had gathered so many bodies, he suspected the family head had robbed the Lu Family’s ancestral graves.

• Mo Hua suspected Lu Chengyun planned to use him to feed the Ancestor Portrait, then refined the Iron Corpse Elder’s Thought Body to strengthen his Divine Consciousness.
• Mo Hua sent his junior martial sister clues about Lu Chengyun and the Corpse Mine, and her reply reminded him that his companions were waiting for him to return.
• Mo Hua stole the gate key and discovered a mining pit packed with more than ten thousand Walking Meat, then slipped back into the Stone Hall.
• Mo Hua estimated that the Corpse Mine contained over forty Iron Corpses and wondered where Lu Chengyun had obtained so many cultivator corpses.
• Mo Hua reasoned that the Iron Corpses might have been made from Lu Family Elders and suspected Lu Chengyun had dug up the family’s ancestral graves.

Mo Hua learned that Lu Chengyun was building a Ten Thousand Corpse Array to refine the Corpse King, and began looking for a way to open the Bronze Coffin and stop him. After hearing Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan discuss the array’s imminent completion and the Corpse King’s purpose, Mo Hua realized their plans were nearing fruition.

• Mo Hua concluded that Lu Chengyun had likely used the Lu Family’s ancestral graves to create Iron Corpses, and weighed the danger of the Corpse Mine against the risks of using Array Disintegration.
• Mo Hua decided to focus on controlling the Corpse King, sent Senior Martial Sister a detailed report about the Corpse Mine, and continued watching Lu Chengyun to learn how he opened the Bronze Coffin.
• Mo Hua overheard Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan say that the Ten Thousand Corpse Array would be completed in a few days and that its Array Eye had been built with Mo Hua’s help.
• Lu Chengyun said the array’s evil power would refine the Corpse King in less than a month, while Zhang Quan imagined using it to dominate the Little Wild State Boundary.
• Lu Chengyun revealed that he intended to keep the Corpse King at Mine Mountain to mine, shocking Zhang Quan, who protested that their century of scheming and corpse refining could not have been for that purpose alone.

Lu Chengyun argued that the Corpse Mine should use zombie labor to earn Spirit Stones and quietly entrench the Lu Family, while Zhang Quan secretly planned to unleash the Corpse King. Mo Hua watched Zhang Quan perform a ritual on the Bronze Coffin, awakening a heartbeat within it.

• Zhang Quan proposed using the Corpse King and zombie hordes to conquer neighboring territories, but Lu Chengyun warned that the Dao Court would destroy them if they openly founded a Corpse Dao sect.
• Lu Chengyun urged Zhang Quan to keep the Corpse Mine hidden and use its Spirit Stones to buy influence, while Zhang Quan later rejected his plan and vowed to unleash the Corpse King.
• Mo Hua realized that Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun both posed a threat, then began secretly following Zhang Quan after suspecting he wanted to open the Bronze Coffin.
• Zhang Quan secretly entered the Ten Thousand Corpse Altar, used a Coffin Nail to open the Bronze Coffin, and performed a blood-and-bell ritual on its outer coffin.
• After Zhang Quan repeated the ritual seven times, a sinister heartbeat sounded from inside the Bronze Coffin before stopping, and Zhang Quan resealed it and left.

Mo Hua discovered that he could make a substitute Coffin Nail and open the Bronze Coffin, then learned how Lu Chengyun was binding the Corpse King to his control. He decided to secretly overwrite Lu Chengyun’s array with his own Spirit Pivot Absolute Array and see whether Lu Chengyun noticed.

• Mo Hua found the sealed recess on the Bronze Coffin and learned that a bronze Coffin Nail was needed to open it, but he could not obtain either Lu Chengyun’s or Zhang Quan’s key.
• Lu Chengyun refused Mo Hua’s request to leave the mine, while secretly deciding to kill him and becoming more indulgent toward him.
• Mo Hua watched Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan take turns working with the coffin, then derived the coffin’s simple Copper Lock Arrays and the Coffin Nail’s array.
• Mo Hua borrowed an iron nail from a wooden coffin, inscribed it with the unsealing array, adjusted it until it worked, and opened the Bronze Coffin with Little Zombie’s help.
• Mo Hua studied the arrays and realized the Corpse King’s heart and body were being refined separately, with Lu Chengyun using the Spirit Pivot Evil Array to control the heart.
• Mo Hua began overwriting Lu Chengyun’s array with his own Spirit Pivot Absolute Array, planning to weaken Lu Chengyun’s control and keep Zhang Quan as the likely suspect.

Mo Hua secretly manipulated the array on the Corpse King's coffin while Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan each pursued their own plans for the Corpse King. More than half a month later, as the Corpse King neared completion, Nanyue City was bracing for a coming upheaval.

• Lu Chengyun discovered that the Bronze Coffin array's power had weakened, suspected Zhang Quan, and dismissed the possibility that Mo Hua had altered it.
• Mo Hua pretended to be ignorant of the array, convincing Lu Chengyun that Zhang Quan was responsible.
• Zhang Quan secretly performed corpse-control rituals to strengthen his hold over the Corpse King, while Lu Chengyun watched and reinforced the coffin's array to suppress the Corpse Control Bell.
• After both men left the altar, Mo Hua opened the coffin and overlaid his own array on Lu Chengyun's work.
• For more than half a month, Zhang Quan refined the Corpse King, Lu Chengyun reinforced the array, and Mo Hua continued overlaying it as the Corpse King neared its emergence.
• After receiving Mo Hua's message, forces in Nanyue City stirred, and the Little Wild State Boundary seemed poised for a storm.

Situ Fang sought aid from the Situ Clan against the Corpse Mine, but Situ Wang warned that the danger and lack of benefit made support difficult. Meanwhile, Sect Master Zhao told Elder Su to protect Nanyue Sect by staying close to the Lu Family only while it remained safe and cutting ties if its crimes were exposed.

• Situ Wang told Situ Fang that the Situ Clan could not readily spare cultivators because the Corpse Mine's eighty Iron Corpses and tens of thousands of Walking Corpses posed an extreme risk.
• Situ Fang persuaded Situ Wang to take Mo Hua's warning seriously by explaining that the thirteen-year-old was a First-Grade Array Master.
• Situ Wang advised Situ Fang to leave Nanyue City if the crisis worsened, but she chose to remain and fulfill her duty as the city's Diansi.
• Situ Wang agreed to petition the Situ Clan for more help and seek support from the Dao Soldier Bureau.
• Sect Master Zhao warned Elder Su not to let Nanyue Sect's ties to the Lu Family compromise the sect's principles or survival.
• Sect Master Zhao told Elder Su to keep accepting the Lu Family's Spirit Stones if nothing was wrong, but to cut ties and suppress the family if its wrongdoing was confirmed.

Elder Su and Mo Hua’s allies worried about the looming conflict with the Lu Family, while Mr. Zhuang used an ancient copper coin to draw help toward Nanyue City. Diviners from across the region gathered there, and one of them discovered that Mine Mountain was filled with an immense number of Zombies.

• Sect Master Zhao ordered the sect to avoid the Lu Family for a month and warned Elder Su to stay away from Lu Chengyun.
• Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi discussed their small force and hoped Mo Hua could escape once fighting began.
• Mr. Zhuang told Old Kui he would summon help and used an ancient copper coin to shift fate.
• An emaciated elder divined a location, and he, a middle-aged cultivator, and a young man in white traveled to Nanyue City.
• The three found many other cultivators had gathered after divining the same trace, then the emaciated elder saw Corpse Qi surging from Mine Mountain and cried out at the number of Zombies.

Cultivators gathered in Nanyue City discovered that Mine Mountain held a vast corpse mine and debated whether to intervene. After Brother Wen divined that it was nurturing a Corpse King who could become a Dao Sin, they resolved to alert the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion and seek Dao Court reinforcements.

• Cultivators at the Nanyue Inn argued over the corpse mine, while the gaunt old man suspected Mr. Zhuang had led them there because of it.
• The gaunt old man and the youth in white chose to stay and help, and the middle-aged cultivator reluctantly agreed to remain as well.
• The cultivators discussed gathering reinforcements, investigating local powers, and petitioning the Dao Court to suppress the mine.
• Brother Wen divined that Mine Mountain was nurturing a Corpse King that could become a Dao Sin and bring calamity.
• The white-bearded elder ordered a report to the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion and a request to the Dao Court for Dao Soldiers to suppress the mine and kill the Corpse King.

The Dao Court mobilized cultivators to suppress the Corpse Mine after learning of the Dao Sin, while Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun continued secretly competing to control the Corpse King. Mo Hua expected the awakening in three days, but Zhang Quan revealed the Lu Family Ancestor and awakened it early, leaving Mo Hua caught off guard.

• Elder Ge recognized the omen of a Dao Sin, and the Dao Court ordered Foundation Establishment cultivators and Dao soldiers to gather in Nanyue City and attack the Corpse Mine.
• Mo Hua reinforced his control over the Corpse King, warned his Senior Martial Brother and Senior Martial Sister that it would be refined in three days, and planned to escape during the coming battle.
• Zhang Quan spat blood and announced that his work was done, then uncovered the Lu Family Ancestor's corpse beneath the yellow cloth.
• Zhang Quan placed the Bronze Coffin's eerie heart into the Lu Family Ancestor's chest and chanted a Corpse Path incantation as Lu Chengyun watched from the shadows.
• The Lu Family Ancestor opened its eyes, while Zhang Quan turned frenzied and Lu Chengyun smiled darkly.

Zhang Quan refined the Lu Family Ancestor into a Corpse King, but Lu Chengyun secretly turned the Iron Corpses against him and exposed their conflict. As Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun fought over the Corpse King and their forces, Mo Hua secretly connected his Divine Consciousness to the array and began controlling the Corpse King and some Iron Corpses.

• Zhang Quan used the Corpse Control Bell to command the newly refined Corpse King and more than twenty Iron Corpses, imagining a growing force of Corpse Soldiers.
• Iron Corpses began launching intermittent attacks on Zhang Quan; after suffering repeated bites, he realized Lu Chengyun was controlling them.
• Lu Chengyun emerged, and he and Zhang Quan argued over who had the right to command the Corpse King before fighting.
• Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun both tried to control the Corpse King, but their competing commands left it motionless; they then divided control of the Iron Corpses, with Lu Chengyun commanding thirteen and Zhang Quan eleven.
• As Lu Chengyun gained the advantage in their battle, Mo Hua quietly connected his Divine Consciousness to the array on the Corpse King's chest and took control of the Corpse King and some Iron Corpses.

Mo Hua covertly seized control of some Iron Corpses and repeatedly saved Zhang Quan from Lu Chengyun’s attacks, leading Zhang Quan to believe his ancestor was protecting him. After Mo Hua’s attempt to ambush Lu Chengyun failed against his Silver Silk Soft Armor, Lu Chengyun revealed the Mountain Opening Sword Technique and prepared to finish Zhang Quan.

• Mo Hua secretly took control of some Iron Corpses while Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan fought, and the Iron Corpses repeatedly stopped before killing Zhang Quan.
• Zhang Quan concluded that the Zhang Family ancestor was protecting him and thanked the heavens, while Mo Hua privately noted that Zhang Quan should thank him instead.
• Mo Hua used a controlled Iron Corpse to attack Lu Chengyun from behind, but Lu Chengyun’s Silver Silk Soft Armor prevented serious injury.
• Lu Chengyun revealed that he had cultivated the Mountain Opening Sword Technique found in the Lu Family ancestral grave and prepared to fight Zhang Quan with it.
• Mo Hua cursed Zhang Quan for standing his ground instead of fleeing as Lu Chengyun gathered strength for his sword strike.

Lu Chengyun killed Zhang Quan and took control of the Corpse King, then tried to use the Zhang Family Ancestor Portrait to lure Mo Hua into a coffin as an offering. Mo Hua pretended to be trapped, and the chapter left him hidden inside the coffin, wondering whether Lu Chengyun was feeding him to the portrait or the portrait was feeding him.

• Zhang Quan asked to see the Zhang Family Ancestor Portrait, but Lu Chengyun stabbed him to death and promised to take over the Zhang Family’s legacy.
• Lu Chengyun gained control of the Corpse King and Iron Corpses, searched for Mo Hua, and then returned to check Mo Hua’s room.
• Mo Hua pretended he had stayed in his room, while Lu Chengyun offered to teach him an array after he strengthened his divine sense with the Ancestor Portrait.
• Lu Chengyun brought Mo Hua to a secret altar and ordered him into a coffin, then sealed it and enshrined the portrait.
• Mo Hua used Little Tiger to scratch the coffin and faked a painful death until Lu Chengyun left; afterward, he wondered who was feeding whom.

Mo Hua entered the Zhang Family Visualization Diagram as a sacrifice and discovered that Zhang Quan’s Divine Thought had survived inside the ancestor portrait. When Zhang Quan and four other family spirits entered Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness to devour him, they believed he was helpless, unaware that he was preparing to spring a trap.

• Mo Hua pretended to believe the voice promising him immortality, allowing the Zhang Family spirits to enter his Sea of Consciousness.
• Mo Hua recognized Zhang Quan in the ancestor portrait and realized Zhang Quan had survived as an Evil Spirit within the Visualization Diagram.
• Two elders and three disciples, including Zhang Quan, entered Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness to consume his Divine Consciousness.
• Elder Song praised Zhang Quan and named him first to devour Mo Hua, while Zhang Quan described his past failures to kill the boy.
• Elder Song dismissed Lu Chengyun as a pawn of the ancestors and declared that the spirits would now dine, as Mo Hua listened invisibly.

Mo Hua trapped Zhang Quan and the Zhang Family elders inside his Sea of Consciousness and used arrays to devastate them. After Zhang Quan attacked and Mo Hua easily subdued him, Elder Song fled, leaving Zhang Quan in despair.

• Elder Song and Zhang Quan discovered that Mo Hua’s divine sense was at Foundation Establishment level, while Elder Song revealed that several Zhang Family ancestors had disappeared without a trace.
• Mo Hua detonated a Gold Lock Three-Lotus Earth Fire Compound Array, killing two disciples, knocking Elder Si unconscious, and severely injuring Zhang Quan and Elder Song.
• Mo Hua appeared before the survivors and rejected Elder Song’s offer to leave peacefully, then struck him with another Earth Fire Array when he tried to retreat.
• Zhang Quan and Elder Song decided to kill Mo Hua, but Mo Hua restrained Zhang Quan with Water Prison Technique and repeatedly struck him with Fireball Technique until he fell to one knee.
• Zhang Quan saw Elder Song fleeing and realized he had abandoned their plan to fight Mo Hua together.

Mo Hua defeated Zhang Quan and Elder Song in his Sea of Consciousness, then used the Spirit Pivot Formation to take control of them and prepared to turn the Zhang Family’s zombie elders against their Old Ancestor. When another elder arrived, Mo Hua ordered Elder Song to attack him.

• Elder Song fled, but Mo Hua trapped him with Water Prison Techniques and a Gold Lock Array before defeating him with spells.
• Mo Hua battered Zhang Quan and Elder Song until they learned he had eaten the Zhang Family ancestors who had entered his Sea of Consciousness.
• Mo Hua chose not to eat Zhang Quan and Elder Song immediately and instead used the Spirit Pivot Formation to control their zombie forms.
• Mo Hua restored Zhang Quan and Elder Song by feeding them refined Zhang Family disciples and Elder Si, then demonstrated that he could control their actions and sew their mouths shut.
• A zombie elder entered with two zombie disciples, and Mo Hua commanded the controlled Elder Song to attack him.