Chapter 309: Chapter 308 Suspicion_1 Mo Hua once again stood in front of the entrance to Black Mountain Stronghold. Two days ago, Black Mountain Stronghold had been breached, with the majority of its evil cultivators eradicated. Of the four Foundation Establishment evil cultivators, the Fourth Householder died in battle, the Second Householder was seriously injured and captured, while the Head Householder and Third Householder escaped with severe injuries and are now being pursued by the Taoist Court and its soldiers. Hidden deep within the mountains, committing myriad acts of evil and once strong for a time, Black Mountain Stronghold was almost completely destroyed. The remaining evil cultivators would be wanted and hunted down. And the main force that destroyed Black Mountain Stronghold was the Taoist Court’s soldiers. Just as Zhang Lan had said, the Taoist soldiers were indeed powerful. Mo Hua had not witnessed it firsthand but had inquired about it from her father, Mo Shan, afterward. It was said that during the battle, wherever the Taoist soldiers’ spears pointed, they were invincible. Underneath their spears, the evil cultivators had hardly any challenger, falling either seriously wounded or dead within a mere moment of clashing. The Taoist soldiers were the sharp blades that maintained the authority of the Taoist Court, symbolizing its strength and majesty. With soldiers as powerful as these under its command, it’s no wonder the Taoist Court has unified the Cultivation World and stood unyielding for twenty thousand years. And these were only the Qi Refinement Realm First-grade Taoist soldiers. Taoist soldiers of a higher grade must be even more terrifying… Mo Hua couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. However, although Black Mountain Stronghold had fallen, she still had many things that she couldn’t understand. Mo Hua looked towards the mountain gate of Black Mountain Stronghold. The Concealment Formation on the gate had failed, and the sinister, blood-stained gate had one of its pillars broken, leaving the entire Black Mountain Stronghold in a state of dilapidation. Mo Hua did not enter through the main gate but instead circled to the nearby high wall. The first time she entered Black Mountain Stronghold, she had undone a Formation at the high wall, dug a hole, and sneaked in that way. That small hole at the corner of the wall was still there. “The evil cultivators didn’t discover this spot?” Mo Hua was somewhat surprised, released her Divine Sense, felt through the high wall for a moment, and then her gaze sharpened suddenly. “No, they did find it!” Behind the hole in the wall, several new Formations were added, including the Golden Bell Formation, Wood Binding Formation, and a few other types of Formations. The Golden Bell Formation was used for alerts, the Wood Binding Formation for trapping people, and the other few formations were put to similar uses. They found the hole and planned to lie in wait like a hunter! If Mo Hua were to enter through the hole again, she would trigger the Formations, alert the evil cultivators, and get trapped by the Formations on the spot. These Formations must have been set up by the Third Householder. Mo Hua hardly needed to think to know that the Third Householder must surely have ordered people to stand guard nearby. The moment the Formations were triggered, they would rush to capture her. But they didn’t manage to wait for Mo Hua—the Black Mountain Stronghold was finished before that… At this point, there were no evil cultivators left in the stronghold, so Mo Hua had nothing to worry about. She took out the Thousand Jun Stick, enlarged the hole at the entrance even more, and in passing destroyed the Formations opposite it. Only then did she re-enter Black Mountain Stronghold through the hole in the wall. At this moment, Black Mountain Stronghold was still bloody but had become more desolate and dead, no longer feeling as oppressive. Mo Hua spent some time following the route she remembered from memory, browsing the front part of the stronghold roughly. Most of the buildings had collapsed, and the items inside had been cleared out, to be handed over to the Taoist Court. The stronghold’s prison was eerily empty. The cultivators who had been captured and imprisoned there without exception had been killed by the evil cultivators. Perhaps the evil cultivators had killed them before the battle; perhaps during the stalemate to replenish their Blood Qi and Spiritual Power; or maybe in a fit of rage during their defeat. In any case, they did not leave a single survivor. The Court Officials and Taoist soldiers had already encoffined these corpses, sealing the coffins to be taken back to the Taoist Court, trying to verify their identities to give an account to their families. If they cannot verify the identities, they would find a nearby spot for burial, erect a makeshift grave, and place a nameless stone. These cultivators met with misfortune and died miserably. After death, they have no one to worship them, no one to remember them, not even anyone to know them, and their gravestones won’t even bear their names. Mo Hua sighed, feeling somewhat disheartened. After checking the front part of the stronghold, Mo Hua proceeded to the rear part and frowned as she looked around. The Formations in the rear stronghold were dense and numerous, far more than when Mo Hua first visited. Formation Painting requires time, and only the Third Householder among the Black Mountain Stronghold knew how to paint such First-grade Formations, so these Formations had been placed well in advance. She estimated that soon after she left, the Third Householder must have begun setting them up. But why? Did they predict something? Mo Hua sat cross-legged on the high wall of the rear stronghold, gazing toward the front stronghold, contemplating inwardly. The front stronghold was too large, difficult to defend, so they concentrated the Formations in the rear stronghold. This way, it would be harder for the Taoist soldiers to attack. Mo Hua had inquired from Leader Yang that, indeed, during the three days of attacking Black Mountain Stronghold, two full days were spent breaking through the Formations of the rear stronghold. The actions of the evil cultivators were as if they knew they would be attacked and were no match, so they set up Formations in the rear stronghold in advance, wishing to resist to the death. The purpose was to… buy time? Mo Hua furrowed his brows, “What’s the point in delaying? Isn’t it just waiting for death in the end?” “Could it be, delaying the time for Alchemy?” Mo Hua turned and headed toward the Pill Room again. Beast Gate was mostly destroyed, and the Formation in front had also been forcefully breached. It seems that the Taoist Soldiers had attacked as well. Mo Hua walked into the Pill Room; the main pillars were collapsing, the ground was cracked, and Foundation Building Cultivators had made their move here with all their might. Blood was splattered everywhere; it was uncertain whether it came from humans or demons. The central White Bone Pill Furnace was damaged too, first pierced by a long spear and then half of the lid was sliced off with a knife, revealing the bone barrier inside, as well as the bloody Evil Formation on the bone barrier. Inside the furnace was some fishy, thick pill fluid, likely the remnants of the Human Life Pill’s concoction. Just a sniff was enough to make one feel nauseous. “Really, can anyone actually ingest such a thing…” Mo Hua muttered to himself as he covered his nose. The Pill Furnace was destroyed, and the oddly shaped medicinal herbs that had been placed around it were also gone. They had probably been confiscated by the Taoist Court, to be handed over, or destroyed on the spot, never to remain in the world. After all, these herbs were for alchemy of Human Pills, detrimental to heaven and earth, and considered forbidden items. It seemed the pills were not successfully refined… Mo Hua then opened the hidden compartment, which was empty, with nothing inside. Neither had the Householder left anything here. Of course, this was normal. If after being stolen from once, you still hide things in the same place, that would indeed make the Householder a fool. Mo Hua looked around the stronghold again and discovered several concealed chambers, meant for secluded cultivation. There was also a treasury room, vacant, which had probably been a hoard of treasures but had been cleared by the Taoist Soldiers Court as well. Beyond that, there was nothing else special about the stronghold. Mo Hua pondered over the entire event carefully. Firstly, the Householder discovered the dug-open corner and the Formation that had been unlocked and began to harbor suspicions. As for how deep those suspicions went, Mo Hua couldn’t know. But Black Mountain Stronghold had taken action. They first altered the Formation of Foggy Forest, laying down more Fog Formations, and then they strengthened the Formation of their stronghold. But it was to no avail. When the Taoist Soldiers came, it seemed like they delayed the attack briefly, but they didn’t hold them off for long, and although they seemed to put up a defense, they didn’t manage to hold out in the end. Black Mountain Stronghold, as expected, was decimated. Looking at it, everything seemed reasonable, but recalling it felt incongruous. Mo Hua thought long and hard, and then it came to him where the incongruity lay: Black Mountain Stronghold seemed to know that it was “going to die,” and that it was certain to “die”; after a slight struggle, they willingly “went to their deaths”… Rather than saying they annihilated Black Mountain Stronghold, it was more like Black Mountain Stronghold was “systematically” and methodically… annihilated. It was as if an invisible hand silently pushed Black Mountain Stronghold to the edge of the knife, and then, naturally, Black Mountain Stronghold straightforwardly led itself to the execution, to be beheaded. Mo Hua’s brows knitted tighter; he left the Pill Room and climbed to a high place to take in the entirety of Black Mountain Stronghold at a glance. Nestled between two encircling mountains, Black Mountain Stronghold covered a vast area. His earlier puzzlement resurfaced: “How exactly was such a large Black Mountain Stronghold built?” The stronghold was enormous, with numerous Formations to construct, requiring a considerable amount of manpower and resources, especially in such a remote location in the deep mountains. Could those Evil Cultivators really have built it on their own? Mo Hua’s brows furrowed. Behind Black Mountain Stronghold, could there be someone providing secret support? If there truly was someone offering covert support, it must be a power within Tongxian City, since it’s the nearest to Big Black Mountain, making clandestine communication most convenient. Mo Hua’s gaze became more intense. The first suspect that came to his mind was the Qian Family. With the Qian Family’s profound background and unscrupulous methods, Mo Hua wouldn’t be surprised at all if they were behind this. But upon further thought, it didn’t seem right. At least for the time being, from what could be seen, there was no connection between the two parties. The Qian Family had no dealings with Black Mountain Stronghold, and among the stronghold, there were no Qian Family cultivators. If he were to blame the Qian Family simply because he had a grudge against them and despised them, it would be rather biased. But if not the Qian Family, then who else could it be? Besides the Qian Family, Tongxian City had other influential powers such as the An Family and Tongxian Gate. But supporting Black Mountain Stronghold didn’t seem to benefit them in any way. Moreover, with their power, they might not be able to support it even if they wanted to. The An Family was constantly suppressed by the Qian Family and could only rely on running the Food Building to survive. If they were really nurturing such a large group of Evil Cultivators, they would have taken revenge on the Qian Family and regained their footing long ago. As for Tongxian Gate, they couldn’t buy back their own Tongxian Peak, so how could they possibly spend their Spirit Stones to support Evil Cultivators? Unable to help himself, Mo Hua scratched his head, momentarily at a loss for an explanation.