The Quest for Immortality

Mo Hua’s eyes showed relief, and he nodded: ”Alright.”

...

In the following half month, Mo Hua swallowed several medium and small tribes.

Among them, one or two tribes acted quite barbaric and resisted control.

But unlike the Chasing Cloud Tribe, they had no special abilities, so Mo Hua didn’t hold back, using a bit of force to kill some troublemakers, and they became obedient.

And a few days later, another incident occurred.

A barbarian soldier came to report to Mo Hua, saying one person died and another escaped.

The dead person was the concubine of Young Master Gongtu.

The person who escaped was Young Master Gongtu himself.

Mo Hua went to the scene for a look and found Young Master Gongtu’s concubine half-dressed, with a dagger in her chest, blood staining half of her dress red, and her face showed remnants of fear.

Mo Hua’s expression turned slightly angry.

He had issued a strict order forbidding barbarian soldiers from wantonly insulting women, under severe punishment.

But after investigating, Mo Hua was somewhat surprised by the facts.

It wasn’t that a barbarian soldier developed lust and plotted against Young Master Gongtu’s concubine, failing to rape and then killing her to silence.

Young Master Gongtu and the concubine were Mo Hua’s ”guests”; no one dared act against them.

The one who killed the concubine was none other than Young Master Gongtu himself.

Mo Hua frowned, thought for a moment, and roughly understood.

This was a pair of ”prosperous” couples.

When Young Master Gongtu was the master, he was young, handsome, held high status, wealthy, and spent lavishly.

This concubine naturally devoted herself, enjoying the wealth and splendor given by Young Master Gongtu.

But now, Young Master Gongtu had fallen; his property was seized, his guards gone, and he lived under Mo Hua’s roof, destitute, as ordinary as anyone else.

He certainly felt unwilling and angry inside.

More unwilling than him was his concubine.

Once considered the ”pearl” by the tribe’s young master, doted upon, now just a concubine of a fallen prodigy, living with meager food and clothing.

The more beautiful and accustomed to riches, the less they can bear mediocrity.

Moreover, she had met someone better:

Dan Zhu.

Dan Zhu, with his Golden Core talent, high status, extraordinary talent, perfect appearance, was far superior to Young Master Gongtu, who had enjoyed the tribe’s blessings.

Not to mention, Dan Zhu also had a ”life-saving” favor towards her.

”Out of sight, out of mind.”

People fear comparisons the most.

And fear the most when ambition surpasses reality.

That concubine surely yearned for Dan Zhu day by day, and for Young Master Gongtu, there was no affection left.

Young Master Gongtu’s heart filled with anger and jealousy, accumulated grievances, finally couldn’t bear it, and killed the woman he once loved most.

He thrust the dagger with his own hand into the chest of his beloved concubine.

Then when he sobered up, it was probably too late; impulsiveness and timidity are the nature of such wastrels.

Afraid of punishment or accusation, he fled.

Since he was a ”guest,” Mo Hua didn’t hold him back; finding an excuse to escape was no difficult feat.

Things indeed developed this way...

Mo Hua felt a sudden sense of poignancy.

But he didn’t dwell on the sorrow for long, because disaster was looming. He had to manage the livelihood of tens of thousands of barbarian cultivators while deducing the heavenly secrets and life-and-death situations of the Great Wilderness. Each day, his Divine Sense was on the brink of exhaustion, leaving no time for sentimental matters.

After all, everyone was just passing acquaintances; it wasn’t his place to intervene.

Mo Hua temporarily put this matter aside.

Until a few days later, he saw Young Master Gongtu’s corpse.

Young Master Gongtu was still dead.

He killed his cherished concubine, fled Mo Hua’s domain, and couldn’t escape calamity, dying by the roadside in a desolate mountain.

Everything on him was robbed. Even his skin was stripped, his corpse displayed by the roadside, like a stray dog.

If Mo Hua weren’t proficient in heavenly secrets and familiar with his energy, he wouldn’t have thought that pile of rotting flesh by the roadside was the once proud Young Master Gongtu holding his beloved.

Mo Hua was somewhat dazed and couldn’t help but sigh at the impermanence of the world.

Being born a young master might have been his fortune.

But born into chaos, it was also his misfortune.

The cruelty of fate treats everyone equally.

During peaceful times, as the Young Master, he could enjoy wealth and honor, but in times of disaster, he was nothing more than a ”Young Master,” with no barbarian soldiers to rely on, and unable to withstand the ordinary torment within. Naturally, he could only die in the wilderness, with no one caring.

In the face of true misfortune, beauty and wealth are so fragile that they are infuriating.

Mo Hua sighed lightly, then ordered to have Young Master Gongtu buried, simply erecting a tombstone.

Afterward, he used the Divination Skill to derive the cause and found the culprit who murdered Young Master Gongtu.

These were barbarian cultivators from several wandering tribes, gathering together in chaotic times, roaming around, killing people on sight, and looting whatever they saw.

Mo Hua ordered them killed, which could be considered avenging Young Master Gongtu.

In the stolen goods they looted, Mo Hua found the package of the Young Master of the Gongtu Tribe.

The food in the package had been eaten, and some other things had been ruined, leaving only a token.

This seemed to be the Young Master Order of the Gongtu Tribe.

Mo Hua did not know what use this token had, so he temporarily tossed it into the storage bag and didn’t bother with it.

...

Afterward, Mo Hua’s forces further expanded, reaching a number of forty thousand.

In terms of the number of barbarian cultivators, this was only the standard of a large tribe’s peripheral tribe.

And in terms of military strength, even without counting Lugu at the Late Golden Core Stage, it closely approached the standard main force of a Third Grade large tribe.

Of course, this was after the Royal Court had drawn from it, the military strength of a Third Grade Barbaric Wilderness main force.

The Royal Court of the Great Wilderness, in order to have a decisive battle with the Taoist Court, had already drawn elite forces from various tribes.

The current Barbaric Wilderness forces were incomplete, equivalent to being reaped of ”chives.”

At this point, Mo Hua had to consider temporarily selecting a place to settle the barbarian cultivators.

There were many tough battles to be fought next, and many more complex formations to set up, requiring first to establish a territory, settle down, and then seek development.

But the place where he was currently situated was south of the Hengduan Mountain Range, adjacent to the Land of Famine, unsuitable as a rear base.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and still felt he could only find a way to push north of the Hengduan Mountain Range.

Although by observing the night sky and sensing the earth energy, he could determine that the north was a land of slaughter, a place of conflict among major tribes, even more dangerous.

But now the ”small fish” around had been eaten up. If he wanted to continue developing, he would still have to find a way to expand northward.

Mo Hua then led the crowd to march northwards.

Traveling for some days thus, they approached the steep mountains, resembling being chopped down by a single stroke from heaven and earth, the Vermilion Bird Mountain Range in the Hengduan region.

In the heavenly secret ahead, a red light faintly appeared.

Mo Hua could foresee that beyond the mountain range lay the land of bloody slaughter.

He instructed everyone to first camp outside the Hengduan Mountain, planning to go ahead alone to scout the situation.

Because of the danger of this journey, Mo Hua was very careful and brought along Lugu and Chi Feng, the two with the highest cultivation at the Golden Core stage.

The trio, under the cover of night, set off for the Hengduan Mountain.

Just as they were about to cross the Hengduan Mountain, passing near some small tribes, Mo Hua detected something amiss.

He could smell a hint of blood in the air.

And within the scent of blood, there was a faint, unpleasant aura of... evil thoughts.

”Evil thoughts?”

Mo Hua’s gaze slightly condensed, then he said to Lugu and Chi Feng, ”Something’s not right.”

Lugu and Chi Feng exchanged a glance and both frowned.

Mo Hua said, ”Put on the concealment robes I gave you.”

Chi Feng complied, while Lugu was a bit reluctant but also acquiesced.

Mo Hua also pretended to put on an invisibility cloak himself, then led Lugu and Chi Feng to conceal themselves in the darkness, heading towards a nearby small tribe.

As they approached the tribe, Mo Hua’s gaze turned somber.

This was a very normal small tribe.

But soon, they would be abnormal.

Because drifting in the air was a telekinesis of an Evil God, within it hid a desire to ”eat,” inciting an uncontrollable impulse in people.

And this telekinesis seemed to be gradually growing stronger.

Mo Hua frowned, opened his Divine Sense, and moments later, guided by his Divine Sense, walked into a large square within the tribe.

In the square stood a simple idol.

At the time of deep night, before the idol, there was a figure in a black robe merging into the night, squatting on the ground, drawing something unknown.

Mo Hua quietly approached him from behind, craning his neck to watch him draw.

The black-robed person was drawing very earnestly, but his state seemed a bit off, as if he was caught in some sort of frenzy, with red glowing in his eyes, dipping a finger in blood, as if controlled by someone, drawing divine and bloody formation strokes on the ground.

His expression was extremely focused, even reverent.

As he was drawing, suddenly a clear but gentle voice sounded beside his ear:

”Who taught you to draw formations like this?”