Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 663: Hao Xuan

What was about to happen?

Mo Hua frowned and poked his head out of the carriage.

Outside, the night was thick and heavy.

The carriage rolled along the road, with a small immortal city not far to the left, and a stretch of desolate mountains to the right.

Mo Hua hesitated, then decided to check things out.

He brought the carriage to a stop, hopped down, tied the horse nearby, and released his divine sense—feeling out for unknown karmic ripples.

There was a trace of blood...

And a faint killing intent.

Mo Hua concealed his presence and silently headed toward the barren mountains on the right, following the trail of that karmic aura.

The ground was covered in withered grass and tangled thorns.

The rocks were jagged and uneven, jabbing at his feet as he walked.

After about a stick of incense's time, Mo Hua noticed something off. He stopped, crouched down, and his eyes darkened.

There were bloodstains on the ground—still fresh, recently spilled.

The gravel was scattered, like someone had run through at full speed.

In the air lingered a faint smell of blood, and a weak trace of spiritual energy.

This was…

Mo Hua's heart tensed.

"Someone's being hunted?"

And the karmic aura—it felt familiar. Dim, but familiar.

Mo Hua focused his mind and began deducing. Suddenly, he froze.

In a brief flash of clairvoyance, he saw two men in black robes chasing a young boy through the dark wilderness under the moonlight.

The moon was cold, their blades gleamed with killing light.

The boy was bleeding...

Then the vision shattered like glass—gone.

The boy...

Mo Hua's eyes narrowed with thought. Then, maintaining his stealth, he continued tracking.

Following the trail of blood and lingering energy, he pursued for several more miles. The narrow mountain path opened into a wider terrain.

The scent of blood in the air thickened.

And the remnants of spiritual energy were even clearer now.

There had definitely been a fierce battle here.

Mo Hua's heart tightened. Sweeping the area with his divine sense, he spotted a large pool of blood up ahead on a mountain slope. The rocks were shattered, parts of the ground collapsed.

Marks of weapon strikes and scorched earth from spells covered the area.

From the looks of it, the fleeing youth had been caught here by the black-robed attackers.

They must've fought.

The boy lost, and was captured.

Most likely… he was still alive.

Or at least… not dead yet.

Otherwise, there would've been corpses or at least mangled remains left behind.

"Captured, but not killed…"

"He should still be nearby…"

Mo Hua's gaze deepened. He pushed his divine sense to the limit, and moments later—his eyes lit up.

There was a hidden cave nearby.

Inside were several blurry auras.

Mo Hua cast his Minor Five Elements Concealment Technique, blending into the surrounding stone and soil. Silent as a shadow, he crept toward the cave.

As he neared the entrance, sounds came from within. The auras grew clearer.

Three people. All at early Foundation Establishment stage.

There were sounds of interrogation inside.

"You little punk… damn it…"

"Who sent you?!"

"Speak!"

"...Motherf—... say it!"

"Where's the rest of your group?"

"What are you here for?"

"What did you see?!"

…

Then came the sounds of whipping and torture. After a while, a faint, broken voice responded:

"I… don't know… cough…"

Mo Hua froze.

That voice… sounded familiar.

He crept closer, peered inside—and saw a dimly lit cave, with a bloodied teenager tied up inside.

Two black-robed cultivators, faces covered, glared viciously.

The teenager…

Mo Hua stared for a moment and then was stunned.

It was someone from his sect—

Hao Xuan?

The Great Void Sect had plenty of disciples in his generation, and Mo Hua didn't know them all.

But he remembered Hao Xuan.

They lived in the same dormitory complex. Though they hadn't interacted much, they were at least acquainted and on decent terms.

Hao Xuan always turned in his formation homework on time, had a diligent attitude, and treated others kindly.

Most importantly, he had called Mo Hua "Senior Brother."

And he'd once bought him a chicken drumstick.

He was one of their own!

Now, that once-friendly Hao Xuan was bloodied and barely breathing.

The two black-robed cultivators were still interrogating him.

But Hao Xuan genuinely seemed to know nothing—he couldn't give them anything.

The two captors began to frown.

"Can't crack him open…"

"What now?"

"How about…"

One of them made a throat-slitting gesture, killing intent rising in his eyes.

Mo Hua's heart jumped.

Who were these two?!

Killing a disciple from the Great Void Sect—a direct heir of a noble clan—just like that?

Hao Xuan's eyes widened in terror. He gasped and cried out:

"I'm a direct heir of the Hao Clan from Qianzhou! Both my parents are late-stage Golden Core cultivators—we even have a Nascent Soul ancestor!"

"I'm a true scion of a noble family—you can't—!"

One of the black-robed men sneered. "That's it? Who isn't, nowadays—"

SMACK!

The other one slapped him hard across the face and growled:

"Shut up!"

The one who spoke first turned pale, realizing he had said too much. He clutched his face and went quiet.

Hao Xuan understood instantly. His face turned ashen with terror.

They were going to silence him.

He—

Before he could think further, one of the black-robed men raised his blade—gleaming coldly under the dim light.

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Just then, a crisp voice rang out from the cave entrance:

"Ah—!"

It sounded like someone was terrified.

Then the sound of someone turning and bolting.

Footsteps echoed away into the night.

Everyone inside the cave froze.

The raised blade stopped mid-air.

The black-robed men snarled, "Someone's here?!"

"How'd they find us?!"

"They must've heard everything we said!"

"And they ran off?!"

One of them cursed, "Damn it—go after them! We can't risk exposure!"

"Alright!"

The other black-robed man activated his movement technique and dashed out of the cave.

But he hadn't gone far when—

BOOM!

A loud explosion shook the air, followed by a blood-curdling scream… and then complete silence.

The black-robed cultivator left in the cave froze, pupils contracting.

"What happened?"

"What was that?!"

He instinctively wanted to call out to his companion but swallowed the words.

They couldn't risk exposure.

Their identities must not be revealed.

All he could do was wait patiently.

But as time passed, the outside remained deathly silent.

The night deepened. The mountain forest was utterly quiet.

Only the occasional screech of a night owl pierced the stillness, sending chills down the spine.

The black-robed cultivator's brows twitched uncontrollably.

He felt a looming sense of mortal danger pressing down on him—so heavy he didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Gripping his blade tightly, he stared fixedly at the cave entrance, eyes unblinking, not daring to look away for even a second.

He was terrified that the moment he blinked, someone would charge in and take his life.

But this silent standoff was draining.

He began to feel as if he wasn't fighting a person—he was battling the entire oppressive night itself.

Everywhere around him felt like a hidden threat.

Finally, he couldn't bear it anymore. He had to look outside.

Gulping nervously, he carefully shuffled toward the cave entrance.

But his eyes were locked on the darkness ahead—he didn't look at his feet.

As he neared the opening—

A flash of golden light!

SPLURT!

Blood splattered everywhere.

Both his legs were instantly slashed open by golden formation light, tendons severed.

The black-robed man's eyes filled with terror.

"A mid-grade formation?! Since when—"

Before he could finish the thought, searing pain exploded through him. He howled in agony as his legs collapsed beneath him and he crumpled to the floor.

Moments later, fireballs lit up the night.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One after another, they smashed into his body.

The black-robed man struggled desperately, but he couldn't withstand the combined power of the formation's killing intent and the non-stop barrage of fireballs and fire-elemental spiritual energy.

His injuries worsened with every second.

Who knows how long it went on, but under the relentless assault, his life force grew weaker and weaker… until it finally disappeared altogether.

He died.

Now just a scorched corpse.

The fireballs paused—briefly.

Then they resumed, continuing to bombard the corpse, blasting every inch of it.

In the pitch-black night, in this hidden cave—

A nameless black-robed cultivator was killed, his body devoured by flames and explosions.

Hao Xuan's face turned deathly pale.

A formation used to kill. Fireballs to lash a corpse. Hiding in the shadows. Ruthless, merciless.

Who the hell was this?!

Way too savage…

Suddenly, the barrage stopped.

The cave fell silent.

Hao Xuan finally realized—

He was the only one left alive.

And even though he couldn't see clearly… he could feel something in the shadows watching him.

And then—it began to walk toward him.

Hao Xuan's eyes filled with fear, his limbs went cold. He trembled uncontrollably.

"Don't… don't come any closer…"

But the figure kept approaching.

The pressure in the air grew heavier with every step.

Just as Hao Xuan was overwhelmed with terror, his face drained of all color—

A short shadow emerged in front of him.

Gradually, it solidified.

And then—an adorable little face appeared.

"Hao Xuan, I came to save you!"

Mo Hua grinned with a pure and innocent smile.

Hao Xuan blinked.

Then stared dumbfounded.

For a moment, he genuinely wondered if he was dreaming.

Everything felt so unreal.

The black-robed killers chasing him… Mo Hua saving him…

It all felt like something that would vanish as soon as the sun rose, and he'd wake up in his bed in the disciples' quarters, grumbling as he got ready for class.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes. Then opened them again.

Nope. Not a dream.

The night was still deep.

The mountain air still bit with cold.

Blood from his forehead trickled into his eyes, burning like fire. His body was covered in wounds, and the chains binding him were embedded deep into his flesh.

That cold glint of the executioner's blade from earlier was still vivid in his mind.

He had been a heartbeat from death…

Hao Xuan stared at Mo Hua for a long time—then suddenly burst into tears.

"Mo Hua…"

He looked at Mo Hua as if seeing his closest family.

He'd never suffered like this in his life. Nearly lost everything.

…

Mo Hua undid the chains binding Hao Xuan and fed him a few pills to stop the bleeding and replenish his qi.

Gradually, Hao Xuan's injuries began to stabilize, and his aura grew steadier.

He finally let out a long sigh of relief and muttered,

"I really thought I was going to die here..."

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then suddenly asked curiously,

"You don't have one of those talismans? The life-saving kind, all golden and shiny…"

Hao Xuan blinked.

"You mean the Lifebound Longevity Talisman?"

"Yeah." Mo Hua nodded.

He remembered Hao Xuan saying earlier that he was a direct descendant of the Hao Clan and had a Dongxu-stage (Cavern Void) ancestor.

But Hao Xuan shook his head and sighed,

"A talisman that precious? Someone like me doesn't deserve it..."

"Sure, I technically have a Dongxu-stage ancestor, but so do a lot of us. I'm like, a great-great-grand-whatever-grandkid. Unless I had some heaven-defying spiritual roots, or my bones were so legendary they shook the ancient past…"

"Or unless I was some unique bloodline, the only heir of that line, the last incense stick on the ancestral altar... Otherwise, no ancestor is going to burn their own cultivation source to plant one of those talismans for me."

"Creating a Lifebound Talisman like that drains your foundational essence..."

"A Dongxu cultivator can only make one—maybe—one in their entire life."

"So unless they're at death's door or have given up on the path entirely, there's no way they'd sacrifice their own dao foundation to make such a heaven-defying talisman for a junior."

"A talisman with the word 'Longevity' in it… It's practically a second life."

Mo Hua was shocked when he heard this.

He knew Lifebound Longevity Talismans were rare—but this rare?

A drop of Dongxu essence... for one descendant's life.

His expression darkened as he suddenly recalled his senior brother and sister…

Back outside Lishan City, to protect him and fight the Saint's Son and his group of Golden Core devil cultivators, they had both shattered their Lifebound Longevity Talismans…

And once those are broken…

That means…

They no longer have any life-saving talismans.

A talisman so precious that even one is extravagant—there's no way another Dongxu ancestor would create a second for them, right?

Mo Hua sighed, his expression full of worry.

"I wonder if Senior Brother and Senior Sister are alright..."

Hao Xuan, thinking Mo Hua was concerned about him, was even more touched. He tried to comfort him,

"Don't worry. I'm fine now."

Mo Hua smiled, "Good… as long as you're okay."

After a moment of silence, Hao Xuan suddenly straightened his posture, looked Mo Hua in the eye, and declared with great seriousness,

"Mo Hua, you saved my life. From this day forward—you're my sworn senior brother!"

Mo Hua tried to downplay it,

"It's what I should've done. Don't dwell on it too much."

But Hao Xuan was dead serious.

Then, after a pause, he tilted his head and asked curiously,

"By the way, Mo—Senior Brother, were you the one who killed those two black-robed cultivators?"

"Since when… are you this powerful?"

"I thought you only knew formations!"

Mo Hua blinked, then sighed dramatically,

"Honestly, my cultivation is pretty bad. I could never beat them in a direct fight. I just laid some formations ahead of time—used a bit of strategy, caught them off guard… it was pure luck that I took them out."

Then he put on a slightly "scared" expression:

"Even thinking about it now gives me chills…"

Hao Xuan nodded.

"Ah… so that's how it was."

But after a moment, his expression shifted.

"...Wait. No, that's not right. One of them was definitely burned to death by fireball spells. And even after they were dead, you still…"

Still kept blasting their corpse with fireballs...

So brutal.

And the technique? Clean, efficient, scarily practiced—nothing about it felt "lucky."

Mo Hua paused, then patted Hao Xuan's shoulder solemnly.

"That's just your imagination. You were injured and out of it—hallucinating."

"They both died from the formation. Had nothing to do with me."

Hao Xuan looked dazed.

Was I... hallucinating...?

Mo Hua, seeing this, immediately changed the subject:

"Anyway, not important. What is important—how did you end up being chased by those two? Who were they?"

Sure enough, Hao Xuan's attention shifted. He thought for a moment, then his eyes suddenly widened.

"There are others!"

"Others?" Mo Hua blinked.

"The ones being hunted!" Hao Xuan said urgently.

Mo Hua frowned.

"What exactly happened?"

Hao Xuan quickly explained:

"There were five of us—me, Cheng Mo, Situ Jian, and the others. We accepted a bounty mission near a nearby immortal city…"

"After finishing the task, we were heading back. But while passing through the wilderness, we spotted a group of suspicious cultivators—faces covered, carrying bags and pushing crates. We didn't know what they were doing…"

"We thought it looked shady, so we decided to follow them secretly."

"But it wasn't long before they noticed us. The moment they did, their expressions changed, and they all drew weapons and attacked us!"

"We fought back, but we were outnumbered. We couldn't win, so we scattered and fled…"

"Just before I ran, I caught a glimpse—inside those sacks and crates…"

Hao Xuan paused, then said coldly:

"They were full of people."

People?

Mo Hua's expression froze. Then a cold light flickered in his eyes.

Again… slavers.

(End of Chapter)