The Quest for Immortality

Mo Hua frowned, deep in thought.

The third-in-command of Heishan Stronghold had seen him.

If he told the Qian family elder about Mo Hua entering Heishan Stronghold and provided a sketch, the elder would naturally recognize him.

Mo Hua had caused the Qian family so much trouble and was also a highly talented young array master. The Qian family elder would surely know his appearance.

The formations at Heishan Stronghold had been tampered with.

Mo Hua had been in Heishan Stronghold; Mo Hua was a young array master.

The Qian family elder would inevitably think that Mo Hua was responsible for all this, and all the blame would fall on Mo Hua.

But it seemed that the Qian family elder was unaware.

Why?

Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened.

The only possibility was that the third-in-command only mentioned the tampered formations but did not report encountering Mo Hua to the Qian family elder.

The tampered formations had aroused the Qian family elder’s vigilance.

Heishan Stronghold had taken defensive measures.

However, they did not expect that the Dao Court would directly submit a request and deploy Dao soldiers to annihilate Heishan Stronghold.

Their precautions were futile.

Since the third-in-command concealed his encounter with Mo Hua, the Qian family elder did not suspect Mo Hua.

Although Mo Hua was an array master, he was also just a young cultivator in his teens with a low cultivation level. The Qian family elder did not know about his concealment technique and Passing Water Step.

With just the information about the tampered formations, the Qian family elder could not possibly think this had anything to do with Mo Hua.

Therefore, in the Qian family elder’s eyes, it seemed that Heishan Stronghold had inexplicably leaked information and was suddenly wiped out by Dao soldiers.

”But why didn’t the third-in-command report seeing me?”

Could it be that the third-in-command was actually a traitor?

Mo Hua was puzzled.

The Qian family elder was unaware of Mo Hua’s involvement, and Elder Yu and others were happy about it. They would never mention Mo Hua.

Elder Yu coldly said, ”The net of heaven is vast and wide, but nothing escapes it. What you do, heaven sees. Your evil deeds have led to this retribution!”

The Qian family elder faintly smiled, ”What a pity, this retribution came a bit late. If it had come earlier, not so many people would have died.”

Everyone was furious.

”No need to waste words with him,” Commander Yang pointed his spear and shouted, ”Kill!”

The Dao soldiers behind him shouted in unison, ”Kill!” and charged towards the Qian family elder following the spear’s direction.

The siege against the Qian family elder officially began.

During the siege, none of the Qian family disciples stepped in to help.

This was expected, but the fact that not a single person took action was still surprising.

To fight against Dao soldiers would be to defy the Dao Court.

The Qian family did not want to commit the grave crime of defiance, and at the critical moment of life and death, no one cared about their elder.

The demon hunters, Dao Court officers, and An family’s Qi refining cultivators mostly did not take action, merely standing opposite the Qian family disciples to intimidate them and prevent any unrest.

The main force besieging the Qian family elder was Elder Yu and the other four early-stage Foundation Building cultivators, along with the several hundred Dao soldiers under Commander Yang.

Mo Hua witnessed the scene of Dao soldiers attacking for the first time.

A team of ten Dao soldiers, with similar spiritual roots and identical techniques, dressed in standard armor and wielding sharp spears, resonated with each other through formations, their spiritual power interlinked, boosting their morale instantly.

During the attack, their movements were synchronized, spears thrusting like dragons, striking at the Qian family elder, then retreating immediately, avoiding prolonged combat.

Meanwhile, another team of Dao soldiers followed up with their attack, a continuous cycle, unrelenting, giving the Qian family elder no chance to catch his breath.

The Qian family elder, surrounded by condensed blood energy, waved his hands, drawing bloody marks in the air, nullifying the attacks one by one, but gradually, he started to struggle.

Commander Yang, Elder Yu, Old Master An, and Chief Supervisor Zhou also joined forces with the Dao soldiers, aiming to exhaust the Qian family elder.

However, after a long time, the Qian family elder’s blood energy remained vigorous.

Elder Yu angrily shouted, ”Old Qian dog, how many people have you killed, how many Longevity Pills have you eaten?!”

The Qian family elder sneered silently.

The attacks intensified.

The Foundation Building cultivators tightly held the Qian family elder in place, preventing his escape.

Commander Yang led the Dao soldiers in the main assault, with a continuous barrage of attacks, gradually depleting the Qian family elder’s spiritual power and exacerbating his injuries, causing his blood energy to dissipate.

Mo Hua watched with a mix of tension and anxiety, understanding something.

Strength overcoming weakness is the law of heaven.

But weakness overcoming strength is also the law of heaven.

When a single cultivator’s power is insufficient, they can unite and fight the strong together.

Just like formations, accumulating array patterns one by one, forming a powerful array with extraordinary power.

Human strength has limits, but with enough people and unity, the power is endless.

The battle continued, and after several hours, the Dao soldiers started to sustain casualties, and the injuries on Elder Yu and others worsened.

The Qian family elder’s breath finally weakened, and his blood energy began to falter.

Several times he tried to break out of the encirclement, but Elder Yu and others risked their lives to stop him, and the Dao soldiers restrained him, repeatedly plunging him back into the besieged situation.

The Qian family elder’s demeanor was no longer as relaxed as before; instead, he became more violent, his blood energy thickening, his eyes filled with a fierce red glare, like a trapped beast struggling before death.

Just as everyone thought that they could eventually kill the Qian family elder, an unexpected change occurred.

A powerful aura suddenly emerged from a corner of the Qian family and headed straight for the battlefield.

Elder Yu recognized the person and exclaimed in anger, ”Grand Elder!”

The newcomer was the Grand Elder of the Qian family, who was also the head of Heishan Stronghold!

The Qian family was in an uproar.

”Grand Elder?”

”Wasn’t the Grand Elder dead?”

”What is going on?”

The Qian family disciples only now realized that their family had hidden so many secrets, and they, as Qian family disciples, were completely unaware.

When the Grand Elder appeared, the Qian family elder tried to escape.

He forced Commander Yang back with a palm strike, avoided the Dao soldiers’ spears, and with a swift slash, drew terrifying blood marks, killing several Dao soldiers instantly.

Commander Yang’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

These Dao soldiers were not only his subordinates but also his comrades-in-arms.

”Old scum, die!”

Commander Yang channeled all his power into his spear, which vibrated and emitted dazzling light, condensing a formidable force.

The Qian family elder’s expression changed, ”Superior Dao technique?”

He wanted to escape, but another team of Dao soldiers entangled him again, preventing his escape.

Moments later, Commander Yang’s spiritual power reached its peak, his aura surging, and then he merged with his spear, charging at the Qian family elder like a dragon. The spear, carrying immense power, pierced through the Qian family elder’s chest.

The golden light entwined around the spear continuously attacked the Qian family elder’s blood energy, destroying his vitality.

Seeing the Qian family elder about to die under the spear, the Grand Elder’s expression darkened. He took a blow from Elder Yu and another from Old Master An, using the force to retreat, and rushed towards Commander Yang, forcing him back with a sinister palm strike.

Commander Yang had to withdraw his attack.

The Qian family elder seized the opportunity to take two blood-red pills. His chest wound wriggled, and the bleeding gradually stopped.

However, these pills only treated the symptoms, not the cause. If this continued, he would surely die!

He must escape...

The Qian family elder mustered all his strength, activated a blood-colored escape technique, and tried to break out again.

Commander Yang wanted to stop him, but his previous Dao technique had exhausted all his spiritual power.

That spear technique, known as the Radiant Golden Spear, was a secret Yang family technique, a superior second-grade Dao technique.

Superior Dao techniques were powerful but consumed a lot of spiritual power and required a long time to charge. They had to be used at the right moment to succeed; otherwise, they either missed the target or left the user vulnerable due to excessive spiritual power consumption.

He had used the spear technique during a moment when the Qian family elder was trapped, hitting him.

However, the Qian family elder, at the mid-stage Foundation Building, had thick blood energy from consuming Longevity Pills. Despite being heavily injured, he did not die.

Elder Yu and others tried to stop the Qian family elder, but the Grand Elder intervened.

The other teams of first-grade Dao soldiers could not stop the Qian family elder, only managing to inflict more wounds on him.

The Qian family elder broke out of the encirclement, silently glanced back at the Grand Elder, and then at everyone, without a word, turned into a blood-red light, and flew out of Tongxian City.

He fled towards Dahei Mountain!

Everyone was too exhausted from the long battle to stop him

, allowing the Qian family elder to escape.

But the Grand Elder was left behind.

The Grand Elder did not want to escape. He fought until he was utterly spent, his life force exhausted, finally kneeling on the ground, blood flowing everywhere.

Elder Yu looked at him silently, sighing, ”Was it worth it?”

The Grand Elder, expressionless, mocked himself, ”A dying person should have died long ago. Anything I do is worth it.”

With that, he slowly closed his eyes.

The Qian family Grand Elder, who had ”died” long ago, was now truly dead.

The siege ended.

Everyone was heavily injured, and some died at the hands of the Qian family elder.

The Qian family elder, severely wounded, escaped to Dahei Mountain.

Mo Hua sat cross-legged on the roof, watching from afar.

He felt both regret and sorrow.

Regret for not being able to kill the Qian family elder, sorrow for the many people who bled and sacrificed in this siege.

Mo Hua thought to himself:

”If I were a second-grade array master and set up a second-grade array, could I have trapped and killed the Qian family elder, preventing so many casualties?”

Mo Hua sighed softly.

It seemed his abilities were still insufficient; his array skills needed improvement.

The path of cultivation is long, and the study of arrays is vast and profound. He still had much to learn and was not strong enough yet...