Chapter 642 – Secret Chamber
Mo Hua was a little surprised. "You still remember me?"
Jia Ren's eyes blazed with fury as he gnashed his teeth and spat out:
"You little bastard—I'd recognize you even if you turned to ash!"
Gu Changhuai, standing off to the side, was also a bit surprised. He turned to Mo Hua and asked:
"What did you do to him? Why does he hate you so much?"
This Jia Ren, who had just been acting like some hardened, stoic rogue facing death without fear, had suddenly exploded like someone tossed into boiling oil the moment he saw Mo Hua…
Mo Hua frowned in confusion. "I really don't know…"
He thought back.
"That mission was handled by Senior Sister Murong and Senior Brother Feng. I just tagged along and helped a little—barely did anything. I have no idea why he hates me so much."
"Maybe he's the type who bullies the weak and fears the strong—couldn't take on my seniors, so he's focusing on me because I'm younger and weaker?"
Gu Changhuai didn't buy that for a second.
Jia Ren coughed up blood from sheer rage. "You, you—!"
But seeing his hated enemy had made him so furious he could barely think straight, let alone speak clearly.
Mo Hua didn't bother with politeness anymore. He tossed his "iron board" to the ground and said with authority:
"Kneel."
The moment those words left his mouth, Mo Hua paused—suddenly remembering:
The first 'test subject' of this iron board was none other than Jia Ren!
Back then, Jia Ren had still been in a burly form.
Unfortunately, Mo Hua's skills were still rough at the time, and the iron board was a crude prototype.
So even kneeling on it, Jia Ren had gritted his teeth and said nothing.
When Mo Hua had asked, "Does it hurt?"—Jia Ren had stared at him with eyes full of fire, just like now, but hadn't cracked.
That moment left a deep impression.
Since then, Mo Hua had vowed to improve his iron board—one version after another—optimizing it until every criminal who knelt on it would joyfully confess everything.
Now the opportunity had returned. Destiny had circled back…
Mo Hua's eyes lit up as he said to Jia Ren:
"Come on, kneel again."
"Since last time, I've revised this iron board many times. New formations, big improvements…"
"Try kneeling now and tell me—what's different from before?"
"How does it feel?"
"Do you get the urge to tell the truth?"
His tone was curious, childlike, even sincere.
Just not the slightest bit mocking.
But Jia Ren's eyes were already bloodshot.
Gu Changhuai sighed, and finally understood:
Why Jia Ren hated Mo Hua so much.
It was as if Mo Hua had murdered his whole family—he wanted to devour him alive.
And to be honest… Gu kind of got it.
This little brat really could drive someone mad.
Still, Gu Changhuai was curious about the "iron board" himself.
So he grabbed Jia Ren by the shoulder, ignored his struggling, and pressed him down onto the board.
The formation activated instantly.
Mo Hua's latest design had gone "back to basics," ditching complex Bagua arrays in favor of a pure Five Elements formation, creating a compound array using the cycle of generation and suppression.
It borrowed from the basic principles of the Five Elements Demon-Slaying Array, though much smaller in scale.
Its goal wasn't to kill, but to cycle through Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—each delivering its own flavor of spiritual pain:
Gold: Needle-piercing
Wood: Poisonous corrosion
Water: Drowning pressure
Fire: Burning heat
Earth: Suffocating weight
Pain that rotated through the Five Elements, never letting up.
And to avoid knocking someone out too early or breaking their will all at once, the pain was moderated.
It followed the philosophy of "death by a thousand cuts."
Start gentle—then gradually increase the intensity to wear down the victim's resolve and break their psychological defenses.
Mo Hua sighed.
He was a good-hearted cultivator. He really was.
But these criminals were so evil, so stubborn, he'd had no choice but to design these "torture formations" for interrogations.
He hadn't wanted this. Life had forced his hand.
Mo Hua sighed in his heart.
Then immediately leaned in, eyes gleaming, to observe Jia Ren's reactions.
At first, Jia Ren glared at him in contempt, like he was above it all. His face was calm—he even sneered slightly, as if to say:
"That's it? That's your improved version? What a joke."
But very soon, his face changed.
The pain began to deepen.
The layered agony of the Five Elements—rich, intricate, relentless—tore at his flesh.
And slowly, it wore away at his will.
Moments later, Jia Ren was pale as death.
It was like drinking old wine—smooth going down, but with a terrifying afterburn.
A wave of pain surged up to his skull.
Jia Ren's expression twisted in agony. His body shook like a sieve.
But the pain danced on the edge of unconsciousness—never letting him pass out, just dragging him through a sea of suffering.
Gu Changhuai, watching from the side, felt his eyelid twitching.
Dao Enforcement had its own methods of torture. He'd used plenty of nasty tools in his time.
But something like this—so "gentle," so brutal, and so damn creative—was a first.
Mo Hua looked pure and innocent, but he was terrifyingly devious inside.
"So... how's the experience?"
Mo Hua asked brightly, like he'd just served someone a dish and wanted a review.
Jia Ren ground his teeth. "You little brat, one day I'll—arghhh!!"
He let out a hoarse scream.
Mo Hua's expression turned sympathetic.
"If you don't talk... it'll just keep getting worse."
Then he increased the spiritual power feeding the formation.
Jia Ren's features twisted so hard they nearly fell off his skull.
No one knew how long it lasted.
But under the dual torment of Mo Hua's physical pain and emotional infuriation, Jia Ren's Dao heart finally shattered.
He trembled and whispered like a broken man:
"I... I'll talk! I'll talk…"
He could've endured death—but not this combination of searing pain and unrelenting rage.
Mo Hua's eyes lit up.
Jia Ren agreeing to talk proved one thing:
His hard work upgrading the Iron Board was totally worth it.
And he'd just received official validation from his first repeat subject!
Gu Changhuai lifted Jia Ren off the board.
Mo Hua repeated the earlier questions:
"Where is the Fire Buddha?"
"Why did you wipe out the Xie family?"
Jia Ren trembled with sweat, gritting his teeth. "That… I can't say…"
Mo Hua's face darkened. "You playing with me?"
Jia Ren felt a chill in his spine, his knees began to ache. He quickly stammered:
"No, no—definitely not…"
He swallowed hard. "I mean it—I can't say it…"
Mo Hua frowned. "What do you mean?"
Gu Changhuai's gaze sharpened. "A Silence Curse…"
Mo Hua blinked. "Silence Curse?"
Gu explained:
"It's a forbidden technique. A curse woven with spiritual power that forbids someone from saying specific words. If they violate it, it backfires—damaging their throat, even their sea of consciousness."
"That actually exists?"
Mo Hua was shocked. Then his mind spun:
"What if he writes it down?"
A curse that silences speech shouldn't stop writing… right?
Gu shook his head. "That won't work either."
"If it were that easy to bypass, what would be the point of the curse?"
"The whole purpose is to stop the target from leaking anything—in any form."
Mo Hua nodded. "That makes sense…"
So they'd have to go with an indirect approach.
Ask about related topics—but avoid anything like "Fire Buddha," "Xie Clan," or "massacre."
Mo Hua thought a moment, then asked:
"Where's your real storage pouch hidden?"
Jia Ren froze, his eyes trembling with shock.
Even Gu Changhuai was slightly surprised.
Seeing that Jia Ren was reluctant to answer, Mo Hua's gaze grew increasingly dangerous.
Jia Ren's expression darkened. In the end, he sighed and said,
"Bishan City, Rouge Shop, third hidden compartment behind the secret room…"
"Rouge shop… secret room… hidden compartment…"
Mo Hua quietly memorized it.
But as he turned his head, he caught a fleeting glint of cold malice in Jia Ren's eyes.
It vanished almost instantly, and Jia Ren returned to looking anxious and subservient.
Mo Hua sneered inwardly:
"Trying to pull tricks like that in front of me?"
Before long, several Dao Enforcement officers arrived.
They weren't from Bishan City—they were from the Qianxue Prefecture sector.
And they weren't ordinary officers either—they all bore the surname Gu.
The Gu family was only a fourth-tier noble clan, but in Qianxue Prefecture, their status was solid.
That's because generation after generation of Gu family cultivators had served in the Dao Enforcement Division.
Their family had connections—disciples, old friends, and former subordinates—all across Qian Prefecture.
Although Gu Changhuai had a bit of a temper, growing up in such an environment had made him an expert in criminal investigation.
With strong cultivation and his clan's backing, his authority in the Dao Enforcement Division was quite high.
The matter of the Fire Buddha was a highly classified case.
Gu Changhuai still didn't trust outside officers to get involved—he only trusted his own clan's people.
When the officers arrived, they cupped their fists respectfully toward Gu Changhuai:
"Young Master."
Gu Changhuai gave a small nod and pointed at Jia Ren, instructing:
"Watch this man. Don't let him escape—and definitely don't let him die."
"Understood!"
The Gu family officers accepted the order with a salute.
Gu Changhuai nodded, then left with Mo Hua—returning to the Rouge Shop in Bishan City.
Both of them released their divine sense to scan the area.
Once they confirmed no one was watching, they stepped inside.
The Rouge Shop was neatly arranged but rather plain.
A faint scent of cosmetics hung in the air—but it had aged into a slightly sour odor.
Behind the shop was a folding screen.
Behind the screen—a secret room.
It was well hidden, but not from two sharp cultivators like Gu and Mo.
Gu Changhuai, a Dao Enforcement inspector and Golden Core cultivator, had deep experience.
Mo Hua had a powerful divine sense and specialized in formations.
When it came to finding secret chambers, this was his bread and butter.
However, the entrance to the secret room was protected by a formation.
It looked like a second-tier array, meant to seal the doorway.
Not very advanced—but likely hiding some tricks.
Gu Changhuai, while skilled in criminal work, wasn't well-versed in formations.
He hesitated, wondering whether to call in an array master from the Dao Division.
But before he could decide, he blinked—
And saw Mo Hua had already pulled out a brush, dipped it in ink, and was drawing something on the wall outside the secret room.
In the next instant, the sealed door's formation lit up with five-colored patterns—
Then faded one by one.
The sealing array had been unraveled.
The door opened.
It happened so fast—so smoothly—
Gu hadn't even seen what Mo Hua drew.
Gu Changhuai was stunned and looked at Mo Hua.
"You can break formations too?"
Mo Hua nodded.
"This one was easy."
Breaking formations was something he'd practiced since the Qi Refining Stage.
He used it so often that it had become second nature.
And to keep things low-profile, he didn't even use divine sense to control the brush—he just dipped ink and drew honestly, stroke by stroke.
If he had used divine sense, he could've just pointed and undone the formation on the spot…
But doing that in front of Uncle Gu would've been a bit too flashy.
After unlocking the formation, the secret room stood open—dark and silent inside.
Mo Hua hesitated.
"Uncle Gu, why don't you go first?"
Though it was just a secret room in Bishan City, there probably wasn't anything dangerous inside.
It wasn't like the Fire Buddha and his people could be hiding in there.
Still, just in case, Mo Hua was being cautious—no need to charge in blindly.
Let the "tall guy" take the hit if the sky falls. He's the grown-up.
Gu Changhuai nodded and walked in.
After ten breaths passed and no danger emerged, Mo Hua followed.
The moment he stepped into the room, he looked up and saw Gu Changhuai standing in the center, face grim.
Mo Hua looked around.
The space was fairly spacious, but cluttered.
The room was filled with storage pouches—some already opened, some stacked in corners.
Scattered throughout were bloody spirit tools, and various trinkets that looked like they'd been looted from the Xie family.
It seemed someone had sorted through the items—bagging up the "useless" ones to discard later.
Jia Ren had clearly been handling the cleanup.
His talent for disguise made him the best choice for quietly sweeping up the mess.
And indeed—there was a hidden compartment in the chamber.
There was nothing suspicious around it, but it almost certainly had a formation inside…
Gu Changhuai looked hesitant again—thinking about calling an array specialist.
But glancing at Mo Hua's calm expression, he slowly gave up the idea.
"What kind of formation is this?"
Gu asked.
Mo Hua was a little surprised.
This was the first time Uncle Gu had asked him a question about formations.
Mo Hua released his divine sense, carefully studied the hidden compartment's structure, then deduced and said:
"It's a second-tier, fourteen-pattern Earth Sealing Array. It fuses the item with the aura of the surrounding earth and stone, making it difficult for cultivators to detect…"
"The Earth Sealing Array itself is standard."
"What's unusual is that… hidden within it is a nested Primordial Magnetic Array."
"This hidden compartment isn't just part of the formation—it also serves as a kind of array trigger mechanism."
"If the opening method is incorrect, it'll activate the magnetic array, using subtle magnetic currents to transmit information…"
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then slowly concluded:
"Most likely… it would notify certain people that the compartment has been discovered by outsiders—so they can be on guard."
And there it was: Jia Ren's little scheme.
Even with death looming, he still wanted to send a warning.
Gu Changhuai kept a steady expression, but couldn't help feeling a tremor inside.
Just a few ordinary-looking hidden compartments—and Mo Hua could deduce all this just from a glance…
So this is what a true formation master looks like…
Able to grasp the whole picture from a single detail.
"From subtle clues, the greater truth is revealed."
"By observing a single leaf, one can infer the spring and autumn."
After Mo Hua finished explaining, he turned to Gu Changhuai and asked,
"Uncle Gu, did I get it right?"
Gu Changhuai vaguely replied,
"Mm…"
For some reason, he felt a little guilty.
Next came the task of retrieving the contents of the hidden compartment.
Seeing that Gu didn't object, Mo Hua got to work.
As usual, he first carefully drew formation patterns with his brush and disarmed the second-tier Earth Sealing Array.
Then, with precise caution, he avoided all the Primordial Magnetic Array's traps and retrieved a storage pouch hidden inside the compartment.
It was just like a little mouse, silently stealing a chunk of fat from a mousetrap.
Mo Hua handed the storage pouch to Gu Changhuai.
Gu hadn't expected it to be that easy. He sighed helplessly and began examining the contents one by one.
Inside were quite a few spirit stones, and a scroll of cultivation technique titled:
"Fleshform Technique".
It was an evil technique that, once cultivated, would discard one's original appearance—transforming their flesh and skin into an ever-shifting form for easy disguise.
But during this process, a cultivator's sense of self would gradually collapse.
They'd no longer know whether they were male or female, tall or short, fat or thin—eventually forgetting whether they were even human.
Once the body lost control, it would twist and deform grotesquely.
To maintain a human shape, they had to drink human blood.
Mo Hua skimmed through it, then shook his head with a tut.
He had originally wanted to learn some kind of disguise technique, but now that he saw how twisted this was, he gave up on the idea.
If he learned it, and one day his parents, his master, or his junior brothers and sisters couldn't recognize him, what would he do?
Not to mention the "drinking human blood" part…
No thanks.
Besides the Fleshform Technique, there were a few other evil spells—strange but not particularly notable.
Finally, they found a jade slip.
Mo Hua immediately recognized it.
"It's a message token!"
Gu Changhuai's eyes sharpened.
Since Jia Ren hadn't carried it on him, and had no idea he'd been exposed, it was very likely the contents hadn't been erased.
This message token might contain clues about the Fire Buddha's whereabouts!
Gu focused his divine sense—but his expression froze.
Inside the jade slip was a **blank expanse of white—**not a single word.
"What's this…?" Gu frowned.
(Friendly reminder from the web novel: There's more on the next page—keep reading!)
"Was it sealed?" Mo Hua chimed in.
Gu looked at him and said with a numb expression:
"Don't tell me… you can unseal it too?"
"More or less," Mo Hua nodded. "I know a little."
"…How exactly?"
When it came to formation theory, Mo Hua's interest sparked.
Unsealing and decoding—he had studied this thoroughly. And now it was finally time to show off.
"The principle of the seal is based on the magnetic pattern structure of a Primordial Magnetic Array…"
"A fixed magnetic pattern matches a variable magnetic pattern through a certain protocol. This protocol is itself a magnetic current. Once activated, the current produces Secondary Thunder Runes…"
"To unseal it, you locate the sealing rune—the Secondary Thunder Rune—and use it to reverse-interfere with the variable magnetic pattern, dispelling the 'magnetic ink mist,' and restoring the concealed text."
…
Gu Changhuai was stunned stupid.
He could understand every word—but strung together, he understood nothing.
Mo Hua's voice was crisp and logical, but the content was utterly incomprehensible.
All these "magnetics" and "runes" were like dense mist—entering his left ear and flowing straight out the right.
He retained absolutely nothing.
His mind was like a snow-covered field—white, blank, and totally lost.
"That's basically how it works…"
Mo Hua concluded, then asked,
"Uncle Gu, did you understand?"
Gu froze for a moment, then forced a calm tone:
"Mm, I got it…"
He could only pretend in front of Mo Hua.
Even though in truth… he understood not a damn thing.
Terrified that Mo Hua would launch into another lecture, Gu quickly said:
"No time to waste. Let's unseal the jade slip now…"
"Catching the Fire Buddha takes priority!"
"Mm-hmm!" Mo Hua nodded rapidly.
Gu Changhuai didn't know why, but he felt a strange wave of relief inside.
Then he watched as Mo Hua focused intently, staring at the jade slip while sketching bizarre formation runes on paper, muttering softly:
"This isn't it…"
"No…"
"Hmm, looks similar…"
"Still wrong…"
…
Mo Hua looked entirely absorbed—his eyes shimmered like stars.
Gu Changhuai was so captivated that he subconsciously held his breath, afraid to disturb him.
After who knows how long, Mo Hua's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Got it!"
Gu's heart jumped—he could hardly believe it.
"What does it say inside?"
Mo Hua pressed his divine sense into the jade slip.
Inside, there was only a single line of text—eight characters total:
"Bishan Demon Lair, Heaven Beyond Heaven."
(End of Chapter)