“Coffin nail…”

Mo Hua ran to the bronze coffin in front. Recalling Zhang Quan’s measured position, indeed at the edge of the coffin lid, he found a small groove.

The groove was closed.

It must be embedded with a bronze coffin nail to open the bronze coffin.

Inside the groove, an array was engraved, but because it was closed, the array was hidden, so Mo Hua hadn’t discovered it at first.

How to open it?

Ordinary coffin nails are used to seal coffin wood.

But this bronze coffin, contrary to the usual way, uses a coffin nail to open the coffin.

This coffin nail is the key.

Lu Chengyun should have one in his hand.

And Zhang Quan also seemed to have one in his hand.

Mo Hua frowned.

Lu Chengyun was very suspicious. For something as important as the Corpse King coffin, he definitely wouldn’t leave two keys.

The key in Zhang Quan’s hand should be something he kept privately.

Mo Hua looked at the bronze coffin again.

This bronze coffin was ancient and simple in style, with green and dark copper rust, looking very old. It was estimated to have been used for refining ancient corpses and, if he wasn’t mistaken, should have been passed down from Zhang Quan’s ancestor.

Zhang Quan gave this bronze coffin to Lu Chengyun to use, but secretly kept a key, that bronze nail, as a precaution.

It seemed both people had ulterior motives and were guarding against each other.

The coffin nail is the key to the bronze coffin…

Now the problem was, how could he obtain the coffin nail?

Mo Hua frowned and pondered.

He definitely couldn’t get the one belonging to Lu Chengyun.

There was a slight chance with Zhang Quan’s, but the risk was also great…

Zhang Quan hated him to the bone, and after the incident in Xing Shi Cun where the corpse-controlling bell and the ancestor painting were stolen, he would definitely keep important things with him to avoid being taken advantage of by himself again.

Mo Hua sighed.

Being exposed was bad in this regard.

When others were unguarded, everywhere was advantageous.

Once people guarded against you, everywhere was restricted.

Mo Hua couldn’t think of a good idea for a while and could only temporarily go back and then ponder it repeatedly.

But there was really no other way.

Neither Lu Chengyun nor Zhang Quan would give him an opportunity.

Things were not progressing, and Mo Hua felt a bit stuck for a while. He simply thought, should he just go back first and then plan carefully?

He thought for a while, then ran to find Lu Chengyun and said:

“Family Head Lu, the core of the Wan Shi Zhen has been completed. I’ve been in this mine for a bit long, it’s both stuffy and boring. Can you please let me go back first?”

Lu Chengyun indeed didn’t agree, only smiling mildly:

“Little Mister, please be patient. Although the core of the Wan Shi Zhen is built, the array has not yet been activated. I don’t know if there are any errors. Please stay for a few more days, Little Mister.”

“But… I fear Little Senior Brother and Little Senior Sister are worried,” Mo Hua hesitated.

Lu Chengyun smiled:

“It’s only another half a month. Once the array is operational, I will send Little Mister back.”

“Okay, Family Head, you must not break your word…”

Mo Hua said helplessly.

Lu Chengyun nodded, “Certainly.”

Mo Hua then walked away somewhat dejectedly.

Lu Chengyun watched Mo Hua’s back and completely relaxed.

Indeed a child…

Childish nature was heavy, unable to endure loneliness, and somewhat playful.

Every joy and anger showed on his face.

Whether he was happy or not was visible.

“After all, he is young, hasn’t experienced tempering, and his scheming isn’t deep…”

“Probably difficult to achieve great things…”

Lu Chengyun shook his head.

In this cultivation world, you couldn’t just have talent and everything would go smoothly, nor could you just have a little cleverness and turn danger into safety.

You had to endure some hardship to be tempered.

You had to fall a few times to grow.

Only this fall, if it happened here with him, then there would be no opportunity to grow for a lifetime…

Lu Chengyun’s mouth curved into a sinister smile.

Thereafter, Lu Chengyun was more tolerant of Mo Hua, even somewhat indulgent.

No matter what Mo Hua did, he wouldn’t get angry.

He also rarely used his divine sense to stare at Mo Hua again.

A trace of unease arose in Mo Hua’s heart.

This indulgence was a bit like indulging a dead person.

Just like the “last meal” for a death row prisoner before execution, it was always much richer than usual.

Lu Chengyun had killing intent and saw him as a dead person, so whatever he did was indifferent.

Mo Hua shook his head and criticized in his heart:

“This Lu Chengyun, looks generous, yet unexpectedly, his heart is so narrow.”

“A thirteen-year-old, with such good array talent, and such a harmless little cultivator, he can bear to lay hands on…”

“Or is it, my talent is too good, and he is jealous?”

“Indeed, mediocrity is not envied…”

Mo Hua sighed, feeling somewhat smug again.

Lu Chengyun wouldn’t let him go, so Mo Hua couldn’t leave for the time being anyway. He might as well stay and continue to plot for the bronze coffin.

“You won’t let me go, then I’ll overturn your coffin!”

Mo Hua said viciously in his heart.

In the following few days, Mo Hua would squat at the Wan Shi Tan every evening, secretly observing Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan.

These two seemed to have agreed; one day Lu Chengyun would come, the next day Zhang Quan would come.

Lu Chengyun opened the coffin to draw the Ling Shu Xie Zhen.

Zhang Quan opened the coffin to sip blood, shake the bell, and control the zombies.

One person had one method, both wanting to control the Corpse King.

It made Mo Hua a bit curious: after refining, exactly who would this Corpse King listen to?

Besides, Mo Hua paid attention mainly to the bronze coffin nail.

He carefully remembered the size, length, material, and array on the coffin nail.

Every time Zhang Quan opened the coffin, the coffin lid would open, revealing the array patterns inside. Mo Hua began to derive them. First, he calculated exactly what array patterns sealed the bronze coffin.

Second, he derived exactly what array was engraved on the coffin nail.

Mo Hua spied for a few days, then secretly derived for a few days, and finally calculated clearly. At the same time, he was also greatly disappointed.

He still thought that since this bronze coffin was sealed so tightly, the array inside would necessarily be some high-end array.

Yet unexpectedly, it was just a forward and reverse, two copper lock arrays less than seventh grade.

Mo Hua then realized he had overlooked a point.

This bronze coffin was passed down from the Zhang family.

The Zhang family had corpse path inheritance, but no array path foundation.

In other words, a large family was all “array blind.”

What high-end array could be in the things their ancestor left behind?

He had overestimated them…

Mo Hua shook his head, greatly disappointed with the Zhang family.

Knowing the seal coffin array and the structure of the unlock array on the coffin nail made things much simpler.

Mo Hua thought for a while and pondered in his heart:

“Since I can’t steal the key, then I’ll make one myself.”

Anyway, the core was the array. As long as he understood the array, everything would naturally be easy.

He just didn’t know if the material of the coffin nail also had particularities, whether it also needed to be cast from bronze…

If so, then he really had no suitable array medium for the time being.

Mo Hua decided to try with other materials first.

A coffin nail, strictly speaking, counted as a kind of evil tool.

Mo Hua didn’t understand tool refining, let alone refining evil tools. It was definitely impossible for him to refine a coffin nail himself.

He could only “borrow.”

In the stone hall, with so many coffins and so many coffin nails, he could casually find a coffin and borrow one. There shouldn’t be a problem.

But “borrowing” also had particularities.

He couldn’t borrow from iron coffins.

Because iron coffins sealed iron corpses, which were rare. Borrowing a coffin nail from an iron coffin was easy to be discovered and also easy to cause corpse change.

So, he could only first borrow from ordinary wooden coffins.

Mo Hua selected an ancient wooden coffin from the vast number of coffins in the Wan Shi Zhen.

Seven coffin nails were nailed to the wooden coffin.

Inside the coffin lay a Xing Shi.

Mo Hua first used an array to release the Xing Shi’s evil force, then dispersed its corpse qi, and also drew a wooden prison array to temporarily seal its corpse body to prevent it from losing control after changing into a corpse.

After that was pulling out the nail.

Ordinary coffins had iron nails firmly nailed to the coffin lid.

Mo Hua picked one of similar size and wanted to pull it out by hand, but it wouldn’t budge.

He then remembered that he was a spirit cultivator, not a body cultivator, and his strength was very weak.

Mo Hua was helpless and could only call the little zombie.

The little zombie pushed open the coffin lid, hopped to Mo Hua’s front, and according to Mo Hua’s instructions, easily pulled down the iron nail from the wooden coffin.

Mo Hua nodded, dipped a fine brush in ink, and drew the unlock copper lock array on the coffin nail.

Then he embedded the coffin nail into the hidden groove of the bronze coffin.

The coffin lid moved slightly, but didn’t open.

Mo Hua observed for a bit.

He discovered that the iron nail was slightly different in size and wasn’t completely embedded, a section was exposed outside. However, it seemed usable, only because the size was different, the array patterns of the copper lock array didn’t fit, so the coffin couldn’t be opened.

Mo Hua pulled out the coffin nail, wiped off the array patterns, slightly adjusted, and redrew it once.

This time it was effective.

The bronze coffin lightly “creaked,” as if an internal lock buckle had fallen off and some mechanism had opened. At the same time, the arrays under the coffin lid also fit together to unlock.

Mo Hua pushed the coffin lid and found it was still very strenuous. Somewhat helpless, he could only call the little zombie again to help.

The little zombie hopped over again and helped Mo Hua open the coffin lid.

Under the coffin lid was the bronze outer coffin.

And the scene was the same as when Mo Hua had spied on Lu Chengyun drawing the Ling Shu Xie Zhen before.

What was different was that the blood color inside the array was heavier, and the patterns were deeper.

Mo Hua carefully researched the bronze outer coffin.

He derived the arrays on it one by one, pondered over them meticulously, and combined them with the corpse refining method he had understood before. He then had a rough understanding in his heart.

The refining method of the “Corpse King” was indeed special.

The heart pulse and the corpse body were separate.

In the bronze coffin was the heart of the Lu family’s ancestor.

And on the yellow cloth covering the altar was the corpse body from which the Lu family’s ancestor’s heart had been dug out.

These two were treated with different methods.

One was refining, one was sacrificing.

Sacrificing required an altar.

While refining required a coffin, human blood, and an array.

Once the “sacrifice” and “refining” were completed, this Corpse King could be considered truly refined.

What Lu Chengyun was doing was drawing the Ling Shu Xie Zhen on the zombie’s heart pulse.

And repeatedly deepening the array.

He would deeply imprint this array on the heart pulse of the Lu family’s ancestor.

Making the Lu family’s ancestor completely under his control.

Mo Hua rubbed his chin, pondering:

“Lu Chengyun can draw it, does that mean I can’t also draw it?”

“But drawing it will definitely be discovered by Lu Chengyun…”

“Then array overlay?”

“Draw the same array patterns as Lu Chengyun, only he uses human blood to draw, driven by evil force, while I use ink to draw, driven by spirit force.”

“Then the array will cover up and overwrite his array patterns…”

Only in this way, although the array patterns wouldn’t change, the aura of the array patterns would change.

From evil qi to spirit qi, although relatively weak, it was estimated that careful Lu Chengyun would still discover it…

Mo Hua frowned.

Once Lu Chengyun discovered someone had tampered inside the bronze coffin, it wouldn’t be good…

Suddenly, he was startled again.

He wanted to tamper inside the bronze coffin.

While Zhang Quan had already tampered inside.

With his strong divine sense and strong hiding ability, and with the little zombie opening the door to the Ling Shu Zhen, he could secretly slip into the altar without Lu Chengyun knowing.

Lu Chengyun, even if he suspected, should suspect Zhang Quan.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then had an idea:

Overlay it once first and see Lu Chengyun’s reaction.

If he suspected, then stop.

If he didn’t suspect, then continue…

He would also add a control to the Corpse King!

Lu Chengyun’s Ling Shu Xie Zhen, his own Ling Shu Jue Zhen, and Zhang Quan’s corpse-controlling ancient bell.

Three people controlling the corpse.

Even if the final control wasn’t his, it wouldn’t completely fall into Lu Chengyun’s hands either.

As long as he couldn’t completely manipulate the Corpse King and couldn’t mobilize all the iron corpses simultaneously, the strength of the entire corpse cultivation would be greatly discounted.

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up slightly and he began to draw, unknowingly and undetectably overlaying Lu Chengyun’s array patterns…

(End of this chapter)