Chapter 776 – Old Servant
"This little brat… what's going on?!"
His own life-bound bone sword, forged from his very skeleton, was crushed like tofu—just like that?
Was this... really a human?!
The old demon cultivator was shocked and confused.
But he wasn't ready to give up.
This little brat might be a powerful enemy, but he, after plotting and preparing for hundreds of years, had finally transformed into a Sword Demon of demonic evil. There was no way he'd let himself be crushed like an ant!
If he didn't fight with everything he had, how would he know who'd ultimately survive?
If he didn't try, how would he know he couldn't win?
"Fine…"
With a body made of bone and limbs of sword remains, the old demon cultivator's grotesque eyes burned with fighting spirit. The bone sword in his hand dripped with venomous demonic Qi, his aura surged violently, and his skeletal frame grew bulkier. Blood-colored sword Qi wrapped around him like a storm.
"Today, I'll show you how terrifying the body of a Sword Demon can be!"
With a fierce glare, he launched himself forward, unleashing his demonic might in a vicious slash.
A massive bone sword surged with dense demonic Qi, cleaving down toward Mo Hua with terrifying force.
The sword was enormous.
Mo Hua wasn't even as tall as the blade.
But his expression remained calm.
He simply raised his fist and threw a light punch.
A small fist versus a gigantic bone sword.
And yet, in an instant, the bone sword was shattered to dust by Mo Hua's punch.
The old demon cultivator's face twisted in horror, but he refused to give up. He attacked with all his strength.
In the blood pool, white bone blades, demonic sword Qi, and wicked sword intent surged in a frenzy.
The old demon cultivator unleashed countless sword techniques.
But no matter whether it was sword bone, sword Qi, or sword intent—no matter how blood-soaked or overwhelming—it was all countered by Mo Hua with a single, unchanging move.
Just one punch.
With each punch, the sword bone shattered, the sword Qi dissipated, and the sword intent vanished.
There was no attack that couldn't be resolved with a single blow from him.
The old demon cultivator grew increasingly terrified—and increasingly desperate.
He had to go all out!
If he didn't, he wouldn't even get the chance to go all out!
His aura shifted again. His pupils turned pitch black. Sword bones grew all over his body, like centipede-like limbs, transforming his form into a giant insect, segment after segment climbing upward. At the same time, the evil aura surrounding him grew denser and darker—nearly reaching the peak of Second Grade…
"This is your fault…!"
The old demon cultivator let out a sinister laugh.
Mo Hua looked at him, unmoved, his gaze still indifferent—even slightly disappointed.
"So boring…"
Mo Hua spoke softly.
The old demon's laughter abruptly stopped. What followed was a bone-deep fear.
In the next instant, Mo Hua vanished.
And when he reappeared, he was already above the old demon's head.
From above, Mo Hua casually kicked downward.
It was like a massive hammer slamming down.
The old demon cultivator was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing violently into the ground.
His entire body ached. Cracks spread across his skull.
But before he could even react, he heard a disturbing "crack crack" sound.
His heart turned cold. Glancing sideways, he was horrified to see all of his bone sword limbs being snapped one by one by Mo Hua's fair little hand—cleanly broken, not a single one left intact.
The old demon struggled with all his might, but it was useless.
By now, Mo Hua had his fingers wrapped around the old demon's spine.
Just a light squeeze—and his spine would snap.
The old demon cultivator was scared out of his wits. In a panic, he cried out:
"Mercy, Ancestor! Please, spare me!"
Mo Hua paused for a moment.
Seeing this, the old demon quickly added:
"Ancestor, please spare me! I'm useful! I have value!"
Mo Hua stepped on his head. "What use?"
Humiliated, the old demon cultivator wanted to scream, but the despair was worse:
Who the hell is this kid? What is he? Why is he so terrifying?!
He never imagined that, as a peak Second Grade Sword Demon, fused with his life-bound evil sword, he would be crushed like an insect—completely powerless before this so-called little ancestor.
Some people… you'll never know how terrifying they are until they strike.
Some situations… you'll never know how hopeless they are until you try.
The old demon cultivator trembled, his voice weak:
"As long as you—so long as you don't kill me, I'll do anything!"
"What can you do?"
Mo Hua towered above him, interrogating like an executioner. One word of nonsense, and the spine would snap.
The old demon panicked, "I can forge swords!"
"Oh?" Mo Hua raised an eyebrow.
"I was a disciple of the Tai'e Sect! A direct member of the Ouyang Clan! I've mastered the art of refining weapons and forging swords! In this Ten Thousand Demons Prison, I've forged countless blades—my skills are honed to perfection!"
"As long as you spare me, Ancestor, I will serve you faithfully and forge swords and refine weapons for you!"
Mo Hua shook his head. "You forgot—you're already dead. You're a sword demon now, an evil spirit. How are you going to forge anything?"
The old demon's face twitched.
Right… he wasn't even a person anymore. Not even a proper demon cultivator.
As a spirit of evil… how could he forge swords?
Mo Hua's small hand tightened on his spine.
The old demon felt an icy chill run through his whole body and quickly shouted:
"I can teach!"
"Teach?"
"Yes!" he cried. "Even if I can't forge anymore, I still have the knowledge and experience! Whatever you want to know—I can teach you everything!"
Mo Hua's expression turned contemplative, his gaze shifting between threatening and calm.
The old demon's heart rose and fell with Mo Hua's every look, full of anxiety.
Suddenly, he blurted:
"Life-bound magic treasures!"
Mo Hua blinked, eyes lighting up slightly.
The old demon was thrilled and seized the opportunity like a lifeline:
"Life-bound treasures! I inherited the most orthodox legacy of the Tai'e Sect—I know how to refine life-bound magic weapons!"
"Spare me, and I'll help you forge your own life-bound treasure!"
"Blades, spears, swords, axes—whatever type of treasure you want, I know how to make it! I'll teach you every method!"
Mo Hua looked doubtful. "And how do I know you're not lying?"
"I can swear a poisonous oath!" the demon said quickly. "I'll swear to the Heavenly Dao—if I lie, may I be struck by lightning, my soul scattered, never to reincarnate!"
Mo Hua thought for a while… then shook his head:
"I already have Junior Brother Mu. He'll make my life-bound treasure."
The old demon blurted, "He's not good enough!"
Mo Hua's expression darkened.
The demon scrambled to explain: "That kid has talent, sure, and persistence—but he's too young, lacks experience. He wasn't taught the Tai'e Sect's core refining techniques!"
Mo Hua raised an eyebrow. "So they didn't teach him, but they taught you?"
The old demon realized his slip. Awkwardly, he said:
"I… I've lived longer. Picked up more tricks over time, that's all…"
Mo Hua stared at him deeply but didn't press further. Instead, he asked:
"Anything else? Just forging swords isn't enough. You'll need to be more useful than that…"
He wasn't a sword cultivator, after all.
His life-bound magic treasure might not even be a spiritual sword.
Besides, that old thing was clearly a con artist—completely untrustworthy. Mo Hua would have to constantly watch out for lies and trickery… what a hassle.
If the thing had no other use, he was going to kill it and eat it.
After all, ever since he was "grounded" by Elder Xun, he hadn't had a proper meal. His divine sense was starving.
He urgently needed to "snack on something" to settle his stomach.
Mo Hua still looked like a cute little kid, with rosy lips and pearly white teeth.
Especially those lips—such an unnaturally bright red.
Looking at them, the old demon cultivator suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
He blurted out, "I know the way out! I can show you how to leave this valley!"
Mo Hua blinked, a little surprised. "You know how to leave?"
The old demon nodded, smiling bitterly. "I've been trapped in this valley too long. I know everything there is to know."
"Especially during the first hundred years—I was obsessed with escape. I spent all my effort mapping the exit routes. I know them like the back of my hand."
"But…"
The old demon's expression dimmed. "Even with all that… I still couldn't get out."
"Why not?" Mo Hua asked.
The old demon replied, "The Ten Thousand Demons Valley is massive—its pathways are twisted and labyrinthine. You have to cross the Demon Prison, the Slaughterhouse, the Demon Refining Cauldron, the Evil Pill Valley… each area crawling with demon cultivators, all heavily guarded. Without the route memorized, there's no way an outsider could make it out."
"But that's not even the worst part…"
The demon cultivator's expression turned grim. "Even if you survive all of that, at the very end, there's a natural barrier you can't cross."
"A barrier?" Mo Hua asked.
The demon nodded. "It's a painting. The core of the entire valley. A painting that nurtures all the monsters, filled with evil spirits. The demon cultivators here call it... the Demon Refining Diagram."
Mo Hua's heart gave a jolt.
The old demon's face was full of fear. "I don't know how you entered this valley… but if I'm right, you're here to save someone."
"To save someone… you have to leave."
"I can guide you, but if you can't get past the Demon Refining Diagram in the end, you'll still be trapped here forever."
"But that's beyond what I can do…"
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright. I'll spare your life."
Since the Demon Refining Diagram was already ahead, he could endure for now.
No need to eat this little shrimp just yet—wouldn't want to ruin his appetite for the main course.
The old demon cultivator felt the cold deathly aura vanish and sighed in relief, knowing he had narrowly escaped death.
He looked up at the childlike Mo Hua and couldn't help but feel deeply unsettled.
The cultivation world was truly cruel.
Even a kid could be more terrifying than a demon.
Mo Hua released his grip from the demon's spine.
The demon staggered to his feet but didn't dare stand fully upright. He only knelt on one knee before Mo Hua to avoid being disrespectful.
Mo Hua looked around at the surrounding formation patterns and suddenly asked:
"I have one more question. Answer honestly."
"Yes, of course," the old demon replied, not daring to object.
Mo Hua pointed at the nearby formation lines. "Where did you learn this formation?"
The old demon froze, hesitating.
Mo Hua's eyes grew more dangerous.
The old demon, trembling, could only confess, "It was… from the Demon Refining Diagram…"
Mo Hua's eyes widened. "From the Demon Refining Diagram?"
"Yes," the demon said. "That formation pattern is drawn directly from it. I don't know its origins, only that it's incredibly profound… it can even seal a remnant soul."
"I secretly copied it down… just in case."
"But I'm no formation master. Even after copying it, I didn't understand it. I couldn't recreate it."
He sighed. "So I practiced day and night, tirelessly tracing it. I used human blood to carve the pattern again and again until it became muscle memory."
"I spent more than two hundred years on it. And somehow, one day… I just mastered it."
Mo Hua suddenly understood. "So that's why you engraved it onto your sword bone—so after you died, your divine sense could transform into a demonic spirit and be sealed inside the sword, turning you into a 'Sword Demon'… a way to live on."
The old demon was stunned.
He hadn't expected the little cultivator to see through all his schemes at a glance.
At this point, he had nothing left to hide. "That's right. I… I had two plans."
"The ideal one was to form a Golden Core, using that Ouyang brat's flesh and blood as a catalyst for my life-bound evil sword. I'd form my core and keep my physical body."
"But if that failed… I'd already gathered some methods in the valley to convert one's divine sense into an evil spirit. If I died horribly, body destroyed, I could still enter the sword bone and become a Sword Demon, living on inside the blade."
Mo Hua's gaze sharpened. "That's not all, is it…"
The old demon shuddered, then forced himself to speak:
"Right… I also planned to use that Ouyang boy's blood to forge the sword, merging blood and blade. That way, the sword would become his life-bound evil sword, with me as the demon within…"
"And he would become my 'sword slave,' bound to my will."
Mo Hua nodded, silently impressed.
This old thing's scheming ran deep.
Mo Hua estimated the time, pondered for a moment, and told the old demon:
"I won't kill you—for now. Show me the way out of the Ten Thousand Demons Valley. But if I find out you're lying…"
He clenched his small fist and smiled coldly.
"Even if you're just an evil spirit, I'll make sure you can't live or die!"
The old demon paled. "I wouldn't dare! I'll do everything the little ancestor commands!"
Mo Hua nodded. "Let me out."
"Yes, yes!" The old demon felt as if he'd been pardoned, quickly retracting all his demonic Qi. His form turned into a long white bone sword and he sent a sound transmission:
"Touch the sword, and you'll exit the blood pool."
Mo Hua frowned slightly, thinking it over. Then he understood.
This blood pool—used for forging the sword—was actually an illusion within the sword itself.
Its entrance and exit were both tied to the old demon's sword form.
To leave, you either had to kill the demon… or make him open the gate voluntarily. There was no third option.
Mo Hua glanced around, thinking:
"Maybe… if I destroyed the divine formation around me, I could collapse the illusion and escape that way too."
But since the old demon was being so cooperative, there was no need to make things difficult.
Mo Hua tapped the bone sword lightly with a finger.
In the next instant, the scenery shifted. When he opened his eyes again—
Ouyang Mu was kneeling in front of him, eyes red and full of worry.
Seeing Mo Hua awaken, Ouyang Mu was stunned at first—then overjoyed.
"Brother Mo! You're okay?!"
When the old demon died, the blood mist dissipated, and Mo Hua collapsed. Ouyang Mu hadn't known what had happened—or what to do.
Seeing him wake now, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Mo Hua nodded. "I'm fine."
"What… what exactly happened? Is that old… that old freak really dead?" Ouyang Mu still looked nervous.
Mo Hua said calmly, "More or less."
"I guess you could say that," Mo Hua replied.
The matter was a bit complicated and tedious to explain, so he didn't bother telling Ouyang Mu the details.
Besides, now wasn't the time.
Although the old demon cultivator had sealed the door, which might buy them a little time, they were bound to be discovered eventually.
He had to think of a proper way to clean up the mess.
He absolutely couldn't let the other demon cultivators—especially Jin Gui—find out what had really happened here. If they started getting suspicious, rescuing the others would be much harder.
Mo Hua glanced around and frowned.
The Golden Lock Array, the Earth Fire Array, the Earth-Slaying Array, the Sword Control marks…
There were too many traces—no way to erase them in a short amount of time.
These techniques were clearly of a cultivator, not a demon. Anyone could tell at a glance.
"In that case… I'll just blow it all up."
Inside the Evil Armory were ghastly green bone flames, a murky blood pool, and heaps of rotten flesh.
If he blew it all up and let everything mix together, the evil aura and blood stench would naturally contaminate any traces of spiritual energy.
Even if formation or sword control traces remained, others would just assume they were from evil arrays or demonic swords.
After thinking it through, Mo Hua looked at Ouyang Mu and said, "Little Wood, you're gonna have to suffer a bit."
Ouyang Mu was startled, unsure what he meant, but still nodded firmly. "Senior Brother, just tell me what to do."
Mo Hua said, "In a bit, I'm going to blow up this room to cover our tracks."
"I'll pick a spot for you to hide. When the formation detonates, the stone wall will collapse—you might get buried."
"When the demon cultivators dig you out, just pretend to be unconscious."
"If they question you, say the old demon suddenly went mad—lost all reason, had a Qi deviation. He killed the guards and closed the door, ranting about dragging the entire Ten Thousand Demons Valley down with him."
"Say you hid far away and narrowly escaped."
"Everything else—you don't know."
Ouyang Mu repeated the story silently in his head to memorize it, then nodded.
Mo Hua began prepping to destroy the room.
There were already existing formation structures—he just needed to tweak them a little.
Once the setup was done, he picked a corner for Ouyang Mu to crouch in and cover his head.
That spot wouldn't be hit by the formation's blast. Some debris might fall, but it wouldn't seriously injure him.
Then Mo Hua picked up the bone sword—the one the old demon had become.
That sword housed the old demon's soul.
He stashed it into his storage ring.
He still needed the thing to guide his way out, after all.
Everything ready, Mo Hua crept out of the armory, then remotely triggered the formations with his divine sense from outside.
In an instant, flames and blood light erupted.
The Evil Armory collapsed with a boom, stones flying in all directions, shaking the surrounding area.
Not long after, Jin Gui—the one in charge—rushed over.
His face was as dark as pig's liver. He immediately ordered the demon cultivators to dig through the rubble.
Mo Hua watched from a distance.
Once he saw Little Wood get dug out—and he seemed mostly unharmed—Mo Hua quietly left.
Little Wood was still useful.
The demon cultivators wouldn't harm him for now.
Besides, figuring out what exactly happened in the Evil Armory would keep them plenty busy for a while.
After leaving, Mo Hua returned to the array control chamber.
There, he dismantled the bone sword.
The thing was too long and a hassle to carry around, so he used his refining skills to disassemble it.
He even used a formation to melt down most of the blade, leaving only the hilt and a short stump of the broken sword.
The old demon's remnant will now resided in that stub—near the part inscribed with divine formation patterns.
So the broken blade wasn't a big deal.
Mo Hua held the broken bone sword and nodded.
Much easier to carry this way.
Next up, he'd have the old demon guide him through the twisted paths of the Ten Thousand Demons Valley—
And eventually, find that final barrier:
The Demon Refining Diagram.
Mo Hua's eyes sparkled in the darkness.
He was eager to see whether this so-called "barrier" could really stop him—
And to witness with his own eyes just how many terrifying demon spirits were truly sealed inside that painting…
(End of this Chapter)