Chapter 430: Nine Deaths Evil Gathering Formation!
The starlight was faint. A sliver of moonlight spilled through the branches, painting the ground in mottled shadows. The buildings of Haiyuan Tiancheng stood under the moonlight, their indistinct shapes like rows of ghostly shadows, creating an incredibly terrifying sight.
A figure slowly made his way deeper into Haiyuan Tiancheng, appearing utterly indifferent to the horrific atmosphere around him.
"If this resentment were dealt with, Haiyuan Tiancheng would actually be quite nice," he said to himself.
Haiyuan Tiancheng was divided into four areas—east, south, west, and north. Each area had a different architectural style, but surprisingly, the four distinct designs blended together perfectly. The delineation was clear and the layout was reasonable. There was even a subtle sense of a grand Formation that merged heaven and earth.
"It seems a master guided the construction of this place."
However, the further Lin Mu walked, the deeper the look of surprise on his face became.
Something’s wrong.
The Feng Shui of this location was excellent. With the Azure Dragon and White Tiger guarding its flanks and the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise protecting it, the area gathered the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth. It should have been a superb place to live. But standing within it now felt like being a living person walking through a graveyard; an eerie sensation arose spontaneously.
He circulated his Mana to dispel the encroaching cold.
Lin Mu turned his gaze once again toward the area where the resentment was thickest.
"I can’t believe the resentment here has become so dense that it has twisted the Feng Shui, turning this place into a true death spot!"
Feng Shui could be good or bad, and the same was true for ley line nexuses. Now, the entire Feng Shui layout of Haiyuan Tiancheng had undergone a drastic change, transforming from a nexus of life into a nexus of death. How could any living person possibly survive here?
Lin Mu moved extremely fast, reaching the tallest building in the center in the blink of an eye. This appeared to be the central square of Haiyuan Tiancheng, where a tall tower had been erected. The tower was 33.3 meters high and tapered from bottom to top. It appeared that spaces had been left on each tier, as if something was meant to be placed inside them.
That thick resentment was emanating from the top of the tower, continuously corrupting Haiyuan Tiancheng’s Feng Shui. The vegetation was sparse, the ground was cracked, and even the deliberately constructed artificial river had become stagnant and lifeless.
Lin Mu looked up toward the tower’s spire. A blue Godlight flickered within his eyes, allowing him to see that the body of the tower was covered in various runes painted with blood. Each rune was like a vengeful soul, brimming with Evil Qi.
"The Nine Deaths Evil Gathering Formation!" Lin Mu’s eyes turned cold. "Such cruel methods. They’re preparing to use this formation for their Corpse-Raising Technique!"
The Nine Deaths Evil Gathering Formation required selecting nine people who met certain criteria and using their souls to establish the formation. Once it was complete, the family members of those nine individuals would die one after another, their souls transforming into pure resentment to be absorbed by the tower. The purpose of the formation was to use this resentment to raise the dead.
The Corpse-Raising Technique had always been one of the cruelest and most despised arts in the world. The appearance of any Corpse-Raiser would invariably stir up a storm of blood and fury, drawing the righteous to hunt them down. Lin Mu had encountered a Corpse-Raiser once before, in the ancestral tomb of Huang Ning on Tiger’s Lair Mountain. It had taken that person over a decade to raise a single Zombie with astonishing combat power.
But that person’s Corpse-Raising Technique was nothing compared to this one; it was barely worth mentioning. The Nine Deaths Evil Gathering Formation could sustain itself indefinitely. Even if the one who set it up met with an accident, the formation would persist as long as the tower stood. And breaking this formation was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
The developers who originally chose to build here were either duped or part of the scheme.
"However, since I’ve stumbled upon you, I might as well uproot you," Lin Mu said with a faint smile, as if breaking the formation was a trivial matter.
The method to break the Nine Deaths Evil Gathering Formation was both difficult and simple. The solution was to find all nine corpse-raising points and disable them one by one, before finally dealing with the zombie beneath the tower. Otherwise, even removing the tower would be useless. It would only enrage the zombie below, causing tremendous destruction.
With Lin Mu’s current Cultivation Level, resolving these issues was as easy as turning over his hand.
"If they aren’t dealt with, Luo Li will face major trouble when she tries to develop this area in the future."
Lin Mu smiled slightly and turned toward a building to the south. That was the entrance and exit of Haiyuan Tiancheng, with buildings flanking both sides. He chose the one on the left.
His eyes shone with a divine light as he stopped before a tree in front of the building. It was a willow tree. Its swaying branches appeared somewhat eerie under the moonlight.
Lin Mu smiled faintly and lightly stamped his foot.
BOOM!
The ground trembled slightly, and the soil beneath the willow tree split open, revealing a small jar. Two talismans were affixed to the jar, their runes drawn in blood as expected. Just as Lin Mu was about to destroy it, the jar began to tremble. The two talismans fluttered, on the verge of falling off, as if something inside was about to escape.
CRACK!
Two fissures appeared on the jar, and with a loud BANG, it exploded.
"AGH!"
An ear-piercing shriek rang out as a gray shadow, condensed from resentment, instantly charged at Lin Mu. The shadow’s only discernible feature was the chubby face of a man, though its features were blurred. This was clearly its appearance in life.
"HMPH!"
Seeing the resentful spirit rushing toward him, Lin Mu snorted softly and thrust out his hand, clenching it around the spirit.
BANG!
The resentful spirit stood no chance against Lin Mu and burst apart in his grasp. The remnants of resentment tried to flee, but Lin Mu simply flipped his hand, absorbing all of it into his palm and completely dissipating it. As the resentment vanished, the willow tree withered at a visible rate, crumbling into a pile of rotten wood.
The first corpse-raising point was removed.
Lin Mu gave a slight smile and walked over to the right side of the entrance. There lay the second corpse-raising point, marked by a locust tree.
A locust tree... a tree that naturally gathers Yin energy. No normal person would be unaware of this. It seems this place was deliberately arranged.
Lin Mu’s gaze turned cold. "They deliberately sold this land to Luo Li at a low price for one reason only—to target me!" He laughed coldly. "Too bad for you. It seems you’ve been trying to draw water with a bamboo basket—a complete waste of effort!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Mu stomped his foot again.
ROAR!
This time, his stomp shattered the jar below and the resentful spirit within, giving his adversary no chance to react.
Next, Lin Mu hurried to the third corpse-raising point.
「」
As Lin Mu was dismantling the corpse-raising points in Haiyuan Tiancheng, an elderly man in a hidden underground chamber suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of puzzlement on his face.
Why do I feel so uneasy?
After pondering for a long time without an answer, the old man shook his head and chuckled to himself. "It seems the formation is nearing completion, and I’ve just gotten overly nervous."
With that thought, the old man closed his eyes again, greedily absorbing the vital essence and blood from the two corpses he held.