Chapter 1130: Unleash the Slaughter

Mr. Wu died by tearing out his own heart.

The wolf-head ocarina stopped playing. The surrounding "werewolves," having lost Mr. Wu's control, rapidly degenerated, transforming back into human forms, and scattered, falling onto the ground.

Mo Hua looked at Elder Zhao. His face was still as fair as a painting, his eyes still clear and innocent, but they sent a faint shiver down Elder Zhao's spine.

At the same time, Elder Zhao also understood Mo Hua's intention.

Mo Hua wanted him to kill.

Elder Zhao, leaning on his wolf-patterned longsword, stood up. He channeled his last bit of Golden Core spiritual energy and thrust his sword towards the Canglang Sect Master, who was not far away.

The Canglang Sect Master, weakened by the dissolving formation, had lost an arm and a leg. Even fighting desperately, he was no match for Elder Zhao.

Moreover, Mo Hua's deterrence had a profound effect on him.

Just thinking of Mo Hua, who seemed like a demonic fiend capable of enchanting people, and how a single sentence had driven Mr. Wu to suicide, sent chills through the Canglang Sect Master, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

He only managed to struggle for dozens of rounds before Elder Zhao pierced his heart with a sword, then slit his throat.

This sect master, who had recently been a powerful and domineering figure in Canglang City, now lay decapitated and dead on the spot in an instant.

A lifetime of glory collapsed in a single day.

Elder Zhao had no affection for the Canglang Sect Master. But seeing him die by his own sword, his life's achievements crumble, and hundreds of years of lifespan vanish in an instant, he inexplicably felt a pang of regret.

At this point, the turmoil in the Artifact Forging Guild dissipated.

The struggle for the position of the Third-Rank Canglang Sect Master thus came to an end.

Only Elder Zhao and Mo Hua remained standing in the arena.

Elder Zhao looked up, taking a deep gaze at Mo Hua. He felt that the young man before him was at times innocent, at times cunning; at times simple, at times profound. Though he stood in the sunlight, bright-eyed and handsome, he also seemed enveloped in a thick fog, radiating an eerie aura, with no discernible trace of his true nature.

This "innocent" young man had everyone wrapped around his finger.

Everyone seemed to be his "playthings," manipulated like puppets on his strings.

Furthermore, he didn't even need to lift a finger to kill; his words alone could claim lives, keeping his hands free of blood.

The more Elder Zhao thought about it, the more terrifying he found it, to the point where his throat felt dry and he dared not meet Mo Hua's gaze.

Mo Hua, however, looked at Elder Zhao and softly said, "Elder Zhao..."

Elder Zhao instinctively shuddered and asked, "Young Master Mo... Do you have any instructions?"

Mo Hua replied, "Regarding the aftermath..."

Elder Zhao forced a gentle smile, "The Canglang Sect will handle the aftermath properly, Young Master Mo, you needn't worry."

Mo Hua asked him, "How will you handle it?"

Elder Zhao, observing his expression, slowly said, "Young Master Mo, you..."

"I was just passing by. What happens with your Canglang Sect has nothing to do with me," Mo Hua said.

Elder Zhao sighed in relief, then said with a heavy expression, "The Sect Master's cultivation technique went awry, leading to his sudden death. It is fitting for our Canglang Sect to hold a funeral and give a grand burial for Sect Master Duan."

Mo Hua nodded, looked at Elder Zhao, and cupped his hands, "Then I should address you as 'Sect Master Zhao' now?"

Elder Zhao's expression lit up with joy, but then he suddenly showed some apprehension. "This... it's still too early..."

Mo Hua thought he was being modest, but Elder Zhao said, "To become the Sect Master of Canglang Sect, one needs certain qualifications."

"Qualifications?" Mo Hua didn't quite understand. "Isn't your Canglang Sect a profit-oriented sect? Everyone's just trying to make a living. Whoever wins gets the position, what qualifications do you need?"

Elder Zhao said, "That's true, but ultimately, there's still a lineage of inheritance..."

"To become the Sect Master, one must go to the ancestral hall, swear a blood oath, write a Sect Master's writ, burn incense, and offer sacrifices to the ancestors, seeking their approval. Only when the ancestors approve does one qualify to become the Sect Master of Canglang Sect."

"You mean..." Mo Hua slowly said, "The Canglang Sect's... ancestors?"

At this moment, Elder Zhao, unaware of what was about to happen, nodded and said, "Yes."

Mo Hua was pleased. "Take me to see them."

"Young Master Mo, please follow me." Elder Zhao began to lead the way for Mo Hua.

But after only a few steps, Mo Hua suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait a moment."

Elder Zhao was taken aback.

Mo Hua turned back and walked over to Mr. Wu, who had died by tearing out his own heart. He reached out to search his storage pouch, but after a few rummages, realizing it might be inappropriate, he looked up at Elder Zhao. "Elder Zhao, do you mind..."

Elder Zhao, understanding the implication, quickly said, "Please, go ahead."

Mo Hua then overtly searched Mr. Wu's storage pouch.

From it, he found a wolf-head ocarina.

This wolf-head ocarina, shaped like a wolf's head and sounding like a wolf's howl, was a peculiar instrument with a distinctly primitive style.

Mo Hua didn't know how to use it, so he temporarily kept it.

Among the rest were some books and jade slips, but their contents were not rare, nor did they contain what Mo Hua desired.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then looked up and asked Elder Zhao, "Where did this Mr. Wu live?"

Elder Zhao frowned, "This is my first time seeing this person too. I've never seen him within the sect before."

Mo Hua then asked, "Does your Canglang Sect have any forbidden areas?"

"Yes," Elder Zhao replied, "but only the Sect Master can enter Canglang Sect's forbidden areas..."

Mo Hua nodded, "Then you'd better become the Sect Master first."

Elder Zhao's expression became somewhat complex.

The position of Canglang Sect Master was something countless cultivators in the Canglang Sect yearned for day and night, struggling to attain. Yet, in Young Master Mo's mouth, it seemed as common as a cabbage in the field.

However, as things stood, it was indeed the closest he had ever been to becoming the Canglang Sect Master in his life.

"Alright."

Afterward, Elder Zhao ordered his people to briefly tidy up the scene.

The bodies of the Canglang Sect Master, Mr. Wu, and the elders who died in the battle were all coffined and then transported to the Canglang Sect.

Mo Hua and Elder Zhao also returned to the Canglang Sect together.

The two arrived at the ancestral hall in the back mountain of the Canglang Sect.

"Originally, the election and appointment of a Sect Master would require a Sect Master's Assembly, allowing all the elders to deliberate and all the disciples to witness..."

"But now, given the urgency, we won't hold this assembly..."

Mo Hua nodded, "Such formalities can be waived."

He looked up at the rows of ancestral tablets in front of the Canglang Sect's ancestral hall and asked, "What should we do next?"

Elder Zhao replied, "I must use my blood to write the Sect Master's writ, place it on the altar, and seek the ancestors' approval. If the ancestors approve, they will leave a Canglang Blood Seal on the writ."

Mo Hua urged him, "Write it quickly."

Elder Zhao had no choice but to take out a piece of wolf-skin paper, bite his finger, and piously write in blood, stating his name, origin, background, cultivation realm, cultivated techniques, reasons for wanting to be the Canglang Sect Master, his qualifications for the position, and what he could do for the Canglang Sect after becoming Sect Master... and so on.

Mo Hua glanced at it, noting that Elder Zhao's writing was sincere, his words fluent, and not a single character changed. Clearly, he had prepared this draft long ago, likely coveting the Sect Master position and preparing for it for a considerable time.

Mo Hua didn't fault him for being pragmatic.

Opportunities are always for those who are prepared.

In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Elder Zhao finished writing.

After finishing, he straightened his attire, burned incense, bowed deeply to the ancestral tablets of the Canglang Sect, offered prayers, and went through a series of elaborate procedures. Only then did he, with head bowed and back bent, present the blood-written writ with both hands before the ancestral tablets, seeking the ancestors' reply.

Elder Zhao's face was filled with trepidation, his expression grave, like a sect disciple awaiting examination results.

He knelt respectfully before the ancestral tablets, waiting.

After an unknown period, a chilling wind, carrying the sound of wolf howls, suddenly swept through, as if some invisible presence had descended.

Elder Zhao's expression trembled.

He knew the result had arrived.

Elder Zhao kowtowed three times, then took the Sect Master's writ. Upon seeing it, his face instantly turned ashen.

There was nothing on the writ.

Clearly, the ancestors of the Canglang Sect did not approve of him as Sect Master.

Elder Zhao forced a bitter smile.

Mo Hua, however, didn't understand. "Does it really need this tattered paper's approval? You're already a Golden Core cultivator, why care so much?"

Elder Zhao sighed, "These are the rules. Without the writ, I could naturally declare myself Sect Master. But it would ultimately be an illegitimate claim, and furthermore, I wouldn't be qualified to enter many of the inheritance grounds in Canglang Sect's back mountains and forbidden areas..."

"I see..." Mo Hua nodded, extending his hand to Elder Zhao. "Give me the writ; I'll go talk to them."

Elder Zhao was stunned. "Talk... talk to them?"

Before he could say anything, Mo Hua had already taken the wolf-skin writ from his hand, then bypassed the ancestral tablets and walked into the inner hall of the ancestral hall.

Elder Zhao wanted to stop him but dared not, so he could only watch helplessly.

In the inner hall of the Canglang Sect's ancestral hall, there was a massive wolf-head statue.

Mo Hua's spiritual sense swept over, revealing arrays densely spread around, and the wolf's colossal mouth was a secret door.

The entrance led to the Canglang Sect's mausoleum.

These tomb-guarding formations were complex arrays, mixing Second and Third-Rank elements. They must have been set up by a Third-Rank formation master hired by the Canglang Sect at great cost.

Mo Hua was not yet at the Golden Core stage, so he couldn't break Third-Rank formations.

However, the formations at the entrance, to save costs, only had a few Third-Rank elements, with most still being Second-Rank.

To save trouble, Mo Hua directly used his spiritual sense to control ink, employing a reverse spirit array to dismantle most of the Second-Rank formations, leaving behind a dark, gaping entrance.

A chilling wind emerged from the entrance, interspersed with faint, ethereal wolf howls.

Mo Hua didn't hesitate. Clenching Elder Zhao's "writ," he stepped into the mausoleum's entrance.

Behind the entrance was a long corridor.

The corridor sloped downwards into darkness, leading to a gloomy mausoleum at its end.

The mausoleum was old, but in its center, an altar had been built.

This altar, however, was new, seemingly built only a few years ago.

Offerings were placed on the altar, and wolf heads were drawn with fresh blood.

The altar had a distinct Great Wilderness style, which Mo Hua found somewhat familiar, but on closer inspection, there were many differences.

It should be from the same origin but a different branch.

For some reason, ever since embarking on the divine path of spiritual thought embodiment, Mo Hua felt a strange sense of familiarity whenever he saw an altar.

He tiptoed, then lightly leaped onto the altar, and with practiced ease, sat down in its center.

Upon sitting, a sense of comfort gradually spread throughout his body.

Following that was a deep sense of drowsiness.

His spiritual consciousness felt pulled and attracted by something, showing signs of leaving his physical body.

Soon, Mo Hua closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a grand hall with a distinctly primitive style.

All around the hall were statues of direwolves.

On the high seats were cultivators clad in wolf robes.

All these wolf-robed cultivators exuded an aura of malevolence, and most were Third-Rank evil spirits.

Mo Hua nearly drooled.

At this moment, among the Canglang Sect's ancestors, one pointed at Mo Hua and sternly rebuked, "What petty rogue dares to trespass into our ancestral hall, enter our Canglang Mausoleum, and desecrate our altar..."

Mo Hua's gaze swept around. He took a deep breath of the long-unsmelt demonic aura, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and retorted, "Why do you disagree with Elder Zhao becoming Sect Master? Although Elder Zhao is a bit hypocritical, he's a decent person."

"Absurd!" A Canglang Sect ancestor scoffed. "When has a junior like you been allowed to meddle in the affairs of our Canglang Sect?"

"As for you..."

He looked at Mo Hua, his eyes gleaming with a malevolent light like a greedy wolf, and blood-like saliva even dripped from the corner of his mouth.

"Do you know what kind of place this is? How dare you barge in?"

While Mo Hua observed them, they were also scrutinizing him.

Mo Hua's spiritual consciousness, in its original form, was that of a small child. Now, with his aura contained and his spiritual essence not outwardly apparent, he looked merely like a "little lamb" with abundant and pure, delicious spiritual consciousness.

Now, this plump "lamb" had wandered into a pack of wolves.

Many of the Canglang Sect ancestors secretly salivated.

"I don't care what kind of place this is..." Mo Hua said with a calm expression, still asking them, "Why won't you let Elder Zhao be the Sect Master?"

A scrawny Canglang Sect ancestor sinisterly chuckled, "A wolf's nature is to eat meat for a thousand miles. Since this is the Canglang Sect, our actions must naturally be wolf-like: we must fight, kill, and seize."

"That Zhao boy's cultivation is decent, but his character is too weak. He lacks the ruthlessness and doesn't have the bearing of a Canglang Sect Master."

Mo Hua asked, "Can't we discuss it? I think he's alright."

His words once again provoked a round of mockery.

Clearly, no one paid attention to his "naive" remarks.

Mo Hua sighed.

"So there's nothing to discuss then..."

Nothing to discuss... that's just perfect...

A faint smile curved on Mo Hua's lips. He then scrutinized them and solemnly asked, "Then I'll ask you one more question..."

"Before, you weren't in this half-human, half-wolf form, were you?"

At these words, the expressions of all the Canglang Sect ancestors present changed.

Mo Hua observed their reactions, nodded slightly, and then asked, "Did you turn into wolves because of that altar in the ancestral mausoleum?"

"Who told you to build that altar? And who taught you the sacrificial rituals?"

"What 'Dao' exactly are you trying to cultivate?"

As these words were spoken, one of the Canglang Sect ancestors in the "wolf" pack, whose spiritual consciousness was the deepest and murderous intent the heaviest, immediately extended a wolf claw, pointed at Mo Hua, and chillingly commanded, "Kill him!"

"Tear his divine soul to pieces, chew it to pulp, and gnaw until not a single bone remains."

Before he finished speaking, a Canglang ancestor dashed down from the high platform. Initially half-human, half-wolf, using all four limbs, it transformed into a pure wolf demon after just a few steps, baring sharp fangs and lunging to bite Mo Hua's head.

It seemed to want to swallow Mo Hua's head whole.

But before it could even get close to Mo Hua, a flash of golden light suddenly appeared, and the Canglang demon was completely dismembered, its severed limbs scattering across the ground.

In an instant, silence fell upon the hall.

Most of the Canglang Sect ancestors in their "demon" forms had stunned expressions, utterly unaware of what Mo Hua had just done.

Why, in the blink of an eye, had a demon of Golden Core ancestor level been dismembered and killed?

A strong sense of unease enveloped their hearts.

Hadn't they, according to the secret inherited methods, transformed into powerful, immortal "demons"?

In this Canglang State, in this Third-Rank Canglang City.

Demons, especially Third-Rank ones gathered together, were basically akin to "lawless" existences.

Shouldn't they be the strongest?

But why, why were they still being killed?

And what's more, by a delicate, tender-skinned little one, slaughtered like a dog, not even knowing how they were killed.

Why was this happening?

And what exactly was this boy?

The ancestors of the Canglang Sect were all utterly shocked.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, was lost in thought.

When humans kill humans, malevolent energy is generated.

Killing evil spirits, however, does not.

After all, evil spirits are not humans.

Mo Hua had just experimented with that "leaping" wolf spirit.

After killing that wolf spirit, no malevolent energy was indeed generated.

He had also, for the first time in a while, slightly used his spiritual thought to form a sword.

His spiritual consciousness did feel a slight prickling pain, and there was a backlash, but it wasn't as intense.

This meant that within his Sea of Consciousness, spiritual thought transformation into a sword was still usable.

It just meant he couldn't yet project his spiritual thought out of his body to use the Soul-Slaying Sword in reality.

Because the Sea of Consciousness and the real world are two different concepts, and for the Soul-Slaying Sword to project from his brow, it needs to break through the barrier of reality, exposing his divine soul to the real world. This not only severely overdraws his spiritual consciousness but also carries higher risks and a more intense backlash of malevolent energy.

Of course, none of this mattered now.

Even things like the altar and secrets could be slowly investigated later.

The immediate priority now was to have a "full meal."

Mo Hua had been hungry for a long time, and he had no intention of being polite anymore.

Time to eat!

Fiery red formations began to spread across the Wolf Hall.

Golden sword light intertwined in the air.

Five-element magical arts flowed ceaselessly.

The Canglang Sect's "ancestors" were all terrified.

As demons, they only knew one or two transformation techniques and spiritual consciousness melee. They had never seen such a profound and powerful spiritual consciousness technique, combining formations, sword arts, and magical spells.

They simply didn't understand.

How could spiritual consciousnesses of the same "Golden Core" realm be "slaughtered" like decaying wood before Mo Hua, annihilated with such overwhelming force?

No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't muster even a shred of resistance; there was only cold despair.

They couldn't comprehend what kind of existence in this world could possess such an overwhelmingly powerful and unsolvable spiritual consciousness.

But no one told them.

Mo Hua didn't waste any words, directly delivering a "catastrophic blow" with thunderous means.

He thoroughly annihilated all these Canglang Sect ancestors who had transformed into "demons."

After killing them, Mo Hua used a ground-fire array to incinerate the spiritual consciousnesses of these "demons," first removing their "evil aura," and then opened his small mouth and absorbed them all into his stomach.

But he didn't refine them immediately, saving them to slowly savor once he returned.

He was no longer in the Ganxue State. Life wasn't easy, so he couldn't be too extravagant. A rare good meal had to be carefully managed, chewed slowly and savored.

Mo Hua scanned his surroundings, seeing no omissions, before exiting the Wolf Hall.

In the Canglang Mausoleum, Mo Hua opened his eyes, glanced at the altar once more, committing its form to memory. Only then, clutching the wolf-skin writ, did he stand up and leave.

Leaving the Wolf Mausoleum, he entered the inner hall, then bypassed the ancestral tablets and arrived at the ancestral hall proper.

Elder Zhao was still waiting in the ancestral hall.

Mo Hua handed him the wolf-skin writ. "Alright, you are now the Canglang Sect Master. The Sect Master's writ now has a blood seal."

Elder Zhao's face lit up with joy, but just as he took the writ, his smile froze.

There was indeed a blood seal on the writ, but... the appearance of this blood seal seemed a bit too "casual"...

Elder Zhao secretly glanced at Mo Hua and whispered, "Young Master Mo, this blood seal... could it be..."

Mo Hua nodded. "That's right, I drew it myself."

Elder Zhao: "..."

The atmosphere was silent for a moment. Elder Zhao then quietly asked, "Then what did the ancestors of my Canglang Sect mean..."

Mo Hua softly sighed, "I talked to them sincerely, but your Canglang Sect's ancestors didn't approve of you. They felt your character wasn't suitable for a Sect Master."

Elder Zhao's face fell. "Then..."

Mo Hua said, "So I killed all of them, drew you a blood seal, and let you be the Sect Master."

Elder Zhao felt his head buzz, his legs went limp, and he collapsed onto the ground.