Chapter 759: Opening the Valley
The night was deep, and the dense forest lay in utter silence.
The tall demon cultivator had been decapitated by a single strike from Xun Ziyou's sword and fell stiffly to the ground, his breath extinguished.
Blood flowed across the forest floor.
Mo Hua didn't show the slightest fear. His spiritual sense flared like a torch, scanning over the demon cultivator's body thoroughly. Then he rummaged through the corpse and retrieved a storage pouch and a jade slip.
After a moment's thought, Mo Hua also tore off the black robe from the corpse.
All of it was bloodstained.
He gave them a quick wipe, then started by inspecting the storage pouch.
Inside were the kinds of things a demon cultivator would carry:
A few blood-infused pills, made from who-knows-what flesh.
Several spiritual tools—legit ones too, probably used before the big guy turned demon. He'd likely kept them out of nostalgia.
A bunch of bones, and some mystery jerky made from unknown meat.
Finally, there were some cultivation manuals and jade slips of demonic techniques.
Mo Hua picked up one of the demonic manuals and was just about to open it when—poof!—it vanished from his hands.
Xun Ziyou had snatched it.
"Demonic techniques are wicked and unorthodox. Not for children to read," he said sternly.
"Oh…"
Mo Hua lowered his head and reached for the storage pouch again—snatch!
That too was taken by Xun Ziyou.
"None of this stuff is good. Don't let it corrupt you."
He looked wary.
To him, Mo Hua looked like a curious young boy. An exceptional array cultivator in the making.
But what if, in this demon-haunted place, he read a few lines of a demonic technique out of curiosity? What if a sliver of demonic intent rooted in his heart, leading him astray in the future?
Then Xun Ziyou really would be "guilty beyond redemption." Even if the Old Patriarch didn't flay him, he'd regret it for life.
Mo Hua could only give up and turn to the message talisman.
But the moment he raised it, he instinctively pulled it back and glanced warily at Xun Ziyou—worried that it'd get snatched too.
This time, Xun Ziyou felt a little guilty.
"You go ahead and read it first," he said.
Mo Hua nodded and sent his spiritual sense into the talisman.
The most recent message showed only one incomplete line:
"There's a mole. Quick—"
It was the tall demon cultivator's final message—unfinished and unsent.
And now, it never would be.
Mo Hua erased it immediately.
Aside from that, there were other messages as well.
He browsed through them and found they were mostly orders to demon cultivators, such as:
"Sixteenth of this month: Myriad Demons Valley opens. White Bone Path revealed. All demon cultivators must enter—no delays."
"Mission: Black Ox Demon – 3. Kill."
"Mission: Azure Fox Spirit – 1. Capture alive."
"Note: Failed missions result in three days of punishment in the Demon Refining Urn."
"If you attempt to escape—you will be offered to the Demon Refining Diagram, devoured by ten thousand demons, soul and body annihilated…"
"Demon Refining Urn? Demon Refining Diagram?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up.
"What kind of urn is this?"
"And that diagram… could it be…"
He silently took note.
"What did you find?"
Xun Ziyou asked. Mo Hua's big eyes were spinning with schemes—he was clearly up to something.
"Nothing…" Mo Hua muttered.
He certainly couldn't say, "I'm hungry…"
After a pause, he handed the message talisman over.
"Elder, you take a look."
Xun Ziyou received it and scanned it with his spiritual sense, his gaze turning grim.
These demon cultivators were clearly organized, with strict rules.
But he was still confused.
The contents seemed ordinary enough—so why had Mo Hua's eyes been sparkling with such… excitement?
A little suspicious…
He looked up and saw Mo Hua pulling out brushes, ink, formation paper, and a strange array plate from his storage pouch.
"What are you doing?" Xun Ziyou asked, startled.
"The message talisman has residual magnetic flow traces—probably a record of deleted 'chat logs'. I'm going to reconstruct them," Mo Hua said casually.
Xun Ziyou opened his mouth but didn't speak.
Magnetic flow traces…
This kid even understood Primordial Magnetic Arrays?
And he said he'd "simply" restore them?
That wasn't "simple" at all!
Though Xun Ziyou didn't understand the finer points of array theory, he had met many array masters from the Celestial Pivot Pavilion. He knew that restoring magnetic rune traces was a completely different beast from merely drawing an array.
Restoring them required sub-rune lightning flow manipulation—a very advanced technique that dealt with the essence of Primordial Magnetism. A derivative of Thunder Runes.
After some thought, Xun Ziyou asked:
"Did the Patriarch… teach you this too?"
Mo Hua blinked innocently:
"Who else? You think I figured it out myself?"
Xun Ziyou nodded.
"Fair point."
If the Patriarch hadn't personally taught him, how could he have learned this?
Mo Hua then began reconstructing the scattered magnetic runes.
With practiced ease, he disassembled the talisman, replicated the standard magnetic patterns, sensed and recorded the latent Secondary Thunder Runes, and rebuilt the underlying Primordial Magnetic Array framework.
Bit by bit, the erased traces from the talisman were restored into magnetic ink text.
Xun Ziyou couldn't understand what he was seeing, but he was deeply impressed.
Had Mo Hua not looked so young, Xun Ziyou might've mistaken him for one of those "white-haired, baby-faced" elders from the Celestial Pivot Pavilion!
Gradually, the demon cultivators' deleted "chat logs" began to reappear.
The thunder rune traces were faint and fragmented, so the reconstructed text was scattered and occasionally disordered.
But the message was still readable with a bit of guesswork.
Mo Hua copied the restored text onto another sheet of paper.
Much of it was meaningless chatter—greetings, complaints, demonic cultivation "tips," random madness, and cryptic demon-cult jargon.
But from the mess, Mo Hua pieced together some key intel:
First, about the young demon cultivator who had been killed:
He came from a small clan.
Extremely talented, and a bit proud—he didn't think he was worse than the others.
During a sect gathering, he offended a certain noble "Young Master" by failing to bow and show deference. He was branded as "arrogant and rude."
During a later demon hunt, he was ambushed and lost in the woods of Demon-Refining Mountain.
He ended up captured, brought into Myriad Demons Valley, unknowingly practiced demonic arts, and became a demon cultivator.
Eventually, he was made into someone's "stepping stone."
As for what being a "stepping stone" really meant—how the bait-and-switch worked, how to escape Demon-Refining Mountain, who was helping from the outside, and how they evaded pursuit—none of that was written in the talisman.
Those must've been classified details the tall demon didn't dare record.
Aside from that, there was information about Myriad Demons Valley itself:
The chats mentioned three demon elders.
Their exact cultivation levels weren't listed, but since ascension is forbidden inside Demon-Refining Mountain and they were still called "elders," they had to be Golden Core cultivators—though their exact stage was unknown.
A mysterious "Young Master" was also frequently referenced.
Everything seemed to follow this Young Master's orders.
Yet no one dared speak his name or details—they were extremely cautious.
Myriad Demons Valley also had managers who handled daily affairs. They had considerable authority. Below them were the regular demon cultivators.
…
Mo Hua relayed all the specific information he had gathered to Xun Ziyou in full detail.
Xun Ziyou nodded, looking at Mo Hua with a complicated expression.
"This kid... if he ever goes into intelligence work, it'd be game over for the enemy."
Just a single message talisman, and he had unearthed this many secrets.
Which sect or power could possibly withstand being peeled apart like this?
As they spoke, Mo Hua also voiced a doubt:
"So many demon cultivators in the Myriad Demons Valley… and only three Golden Core elders? Is that really enough to keep them in check?"
Xun Ziyou frowned, thought for a moment, then slowly said:
"Those three Golden Core cultivators are just there to maintain basic order within the valley—to prevent accidents."
"Demon cultivators are numerous, violent, and mad. You can't rely on 'people' to control them. There must be some other kind of forceful restraint…"
Forceful restraint…
Mo Hua's heart stirred. He suddenly thought of the demonic tattoos etched into the demon cultivators' bodies.
"The Four Symbols Array…" he muttered to himself.
Xun Ziyou added:
"Besides, anyone posted as an elder in this Demon-Refining Mountain is definitely no ordinary figure."
He turned toward the eerie depths of the forest, his gaze sharp:
"To dare do something like this right under the noses of the Dao Tribunal and the major sects of Qianxue Province—if they're exposed, it's death to their entire clan, and their sect erased from history."
"No way someone not absolutely trusted would be given this 'important post.'"
"And Golden Core cultivators… in a fifth-grade clan, they'd be considered elite, with promising futures. Not many would willingly give that up to rot away in this bloody, isolated place, neither human nor ghost."
"But if this demonic valley remains hidden, then yes, three Golden Cores are enough to hold it down."
"If it's discovered—"
Xun Ziyou's tone chilled:
"Then even thirty, three hundred Golden Core cultivators would be utterly useless."
Mo Hua paused, then slowly nodded.
That was true…
This was Qianxue Province, filled with powerful noble families and mighty sects.
If the Myriad Demons Valley was exposed, no matter how many Golden Core cultivators were stationed there, they'd be slaughtered like lambs.
But as long as it remained secret—just three would do.
"So Elder Xun," Mo Hua asked sneakily, "are you going to call in reinforcements to wipe out the Myriad Demons Valley?"
Xun Ziyou was just about to respond, but then paused, looked at Mo Hua, and asked:
"What do you think?"
Mo Hua shook his head:
"I'm just a little Foundation Establishment disciple—what could I possibly think?"
Xun Ziyou sighed:
"Say whatever's on your mind."
"Oh." Mo Hua's eyes gleamed as he whispered,
"If we try to attack them outright… I think things could go wrong."
"This Myriad Demons Valley—it's easy to defend, hard to assault."
"If we send too few people, we won't be able to take it quickly—it'll turn into a war of attrition, and there'll be casualties."
"But if we send too many people, the group becomes a mixed bag…"
He gave Xun Ziyou a meaningful look:
"If certain people on the inside aren't clean and sabotage the effort, that would be an even greater disaster."
Xun Ziyou's brow lifted. He nodded.
Mo Hua had a point.
If they wanted to keep this operation under wraps, they could only rely on trusted cultivators from their own sect.
But that meant the entire burden would fall on Great Void Sect alone. Any casualties would be their own.
If they brought in other sects—it risked a leak.
"And there's another issue," Mo Hua continued.
"The entrance to Myriad Demons Valley is protected by an evil formation. According to those demon cultivators, anyone who enters recklessly will be 'cursed, lose their mind, and go mad before dying'…"
"That shows how dangerous the formation is. If we don't disable it first and just charge in, we're going to suffer serious losses."
"You can't break it?" Xun Ziyou asked with a serious look.
As soon as he said it, he regretted it.
He was a late-stage Golden Core elder, and here he was unconsciously pinning his hopes of breaking the formation on a mere Foundation Establishment junior…
What dignity did he even have left?
Thankfully, Mo Hua didn't mind. He just shook his head seriously:
"This formation isn't just evil—it probably also involves divine-sense-based mechanisms. This goes beyond ordinary formation arts. I haven't figured it out yet…"
Even a third-grade formation master who had only studied orthodox formations like the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams would be totally clueless when it came to evil formations and Divine Dao arrays.
Xun Ziyou frowned slightly, then said:
"According to those demon cultivators, 'on the sixteenth of every month, under the full moon, the Myriad Demons Valley opens, and the White Bone Path appears'—only then can it be entered."
"Tomorrow is the sixteenth. I'll wait until the valley opens, try to sneak inside, and see what I can find."
"I'm going too!" Mo Hua immediately said.
"No, you're not."
"What if you run into a formation? If it's a Divine Dao array, and you don't know how to handle it—you'll get exposed, right?"
"Also, just sneaking in isn't enough."
"You'll need a Divine Dao array to conceal your aura and block spiritual detection."
"Can you do that?"
Xun Ziyou was speechless.
Mo Hua repeated:
"I'm going too!"
Xun Ziyou hesitated for a moment, sighed, and gave in:
"Fine. You can come—but once we're in, do NOT run off."
"Mm-hmm!" Mo Hua nodded enthusiastically.
A full-scale raid would cause too much noise and alert the enemy.
And it would also be extremely risky.
So by convention, reconnaissance comes first—gather intel, identify the threat, then move in.
Of course, Mo Hua had his own tiny little selfish motives…
He wanted to see for himself—what exactly were the evil gods up to?
And inside the Myriad Demons Valley… could there be a complete inheritance of the Four Symbols Array and Divine Dao formations?
He wasn't greedy. Just a few blueprints would do.
Also, that "Demon Refining Diagram" mentioned in the demon messages…
He had to get his hands on that.
To see if it was what he suspected…
Mo Hua's eyes gleamed faintly with anticipation.
Mo Hua's eyes glimmered faintly.
Afterward, Xun Ziyou simply wiped away the bloodstains on the ground, then used alchemic flame to burn the corpses of the two demon cultivators. Once done, he and Mo Hua returned together to the depths of the forest.
The two of them squatted atop a tall tree, patiently waiting.
They had to wait for the full moon on the sixteenth, for the opening of the Myriad Demons Valley, and look for a chance to slip inside.
But before that, they needed to bide their time—and make some preparations.
High up in the tree canopy, Mo Hua sat cross-legged on a thick branch, holding two black robes in his hands—the very same ones he had stripped from the two demon cultivators.
He flipped the robes over and over, inspecting them closely, then began slowly picking apart the seams and stitches.
Before long, the robes had been disassembled into patches of cloth.
And sure enough, within the black robes, Mo Hua found exactly what he had been looking for:
—The sequence array runes of a Divine Dao formation!
"As I thought…"
Mo Hua nodded in satisfaction.
From the moment he had seen those black robes on the demon cultivators, he had found something odd about them.
They looked ordinary on the surface—but could somehow mask the wearer's physique and aura to a certain extent.
What's more, the deeper into the forest one went, the better the robes seemed to conceal the aura.
Mo Hua had already analyzed the forest's array once and identified some foundational Divine Dao formation patterns.
Now that he'd torn open the robes and compared them, he realized the runes within the robes matched those in the forest.
Moreover, the robes contained much clearer sequence patterns!
In other words, the formations in the forest and those woven into the robes belonged to the same system.
That meant—by replicating the sequence array runes, he could impersonate the two dead demon cultivators and interface with the Divine Dao formation network embedded in the forest, using it to hide his own presence.
With that, he wouldn't just be relying on stealth—he'd gain divine-sense isolation as well.
Even if he entered the Myriad Demons Valley, he wouldn't be easily discovered.
Mo Hua gave a satisfied nod.
He pulled out two robes—one large, one small.
Both were custom-made spiritual garments, yet to be inscribed with formations.
The small one was for himself.
The large one had originally been prepared for sale—he had planned to draw a formation on it and sell it later.
Now, it would serve as the array medium.
With time to spare, Mo Hua inscribed both robes with the same style of Divine Dao formation as the one in the forest, adjusting the sequence runes to match.
Once finished, the robes functioned much like the black robes worn by the demon cultivators.
He handed the larger robe to Xun Ziyou.
"Elder, wear this."
Xun Ziyou looked confused.
Mo Hua simply said:
"It hides your aura. It'll help us sneak into the Myriad Demons Valley…"
The full technical breakdown would be too complicated—and honestly, Xun Ziyou probably wouldn't understand anyway.
Xun Ziyou was quite self-aware. He nodded and obediently put on the robe.
With preparations complete, the two of them waited patiently atop the tree.
Whenever they had downtime, Mo Hua would glance down at the demon cultivators below.
The more he looked, the more complicated his feelings became.
These demon cultivators—who now seemed ferocious and bloodthirsty—had, in the past, mostly been like him: disciples of the various sects in Qianxue Province.
But now… even if they wanted to return to being human, it was likely too late.
Once someone practiced demonic cultivation, their body and mind gradually shifted toward the beastly, and the path back would be forever closed.
Mo Hua sighed softly.
Then, another thought struck him.
Those who had been lured—or forced—into practicing demon arts… they mostly seemed to come from mid- to low-ranking clans.
The young demon cultivator they'd just killed was one example.
And in the records Mo Hua had browsed from the Demon-Refining Mountain, the "missing" and "dead" disciples also largely came from the same kind of background.
In this world, wandering cultivators were like shrimp, small clans like little fish, and great noble families were the big fish.
Little fish ate the shrimp.
Big fish didn't just eat shrimp—they ate little fish too.
This pressure existed not only between families and powers—it also manifested within sects, in the interactions between disciples.
The evil gods—or rather, the claws and fangs of the evil gods—seemed to be exploiting that very oppression to infiltrate.
But…
"Is it really just that?" Mo Hua frowned.
Were mid- and low-tier clan disciples so bullied that they had no choice but to give in, to be infiltrated by evil gods and turned into their pawns?
"What about the elite disciples of the great clans?" he thought.
"Would the evil gods really just leave them alone?"
Mo Hua's eyes darkened with suspicion.
Time slowly ticked by.
By the banks of the blood creek, in front of the white bone field, the gathered demonic beasts—once restless and noisy—gradually quieted, until silence turned to a heavy, suffocating stillness.
Finally…
Unknowingly, the night of the sixteenth arrived.
The moon was full—but tinged with something eerie and unnatural.
The blood in the creek began to boil.
The bones along the riverbanks began to tremble.
The gathered demonic beasts stirred, unable to suppress their inner agitation and fear.
From afar, a wave of blood-red karmic aura surged.
Mo Hua's eyes sharpened.
In the darkness ahead, the gate to the Myriad Demons Valley…
…was slowly opening.
(End of Chapter)