Mo Hua did not understand Artifact Refining, much less refining Evil Artifacts, so making a coffin nail by himself was definitely impossible.
His only option was to "borrow."
In the midst of the Stone Palace, with so many coffins and coffin nails, it should be alright to borrow from any old coffin.
But there was a knack to "borrowing."
He couldn't borrow from an Iron Corpse's coffin.
Iron Corpses were sealed in iron coffins, which were rare. Borrowing a nail from an iron coffin meant it was easy to get caught and risk initiating a corpse transformation.
Therefore, he had no other choice but to borrow from an ordinary wooden coffin first.
Among the vast array of coffins within the Formation of Ten Thousand Corpses, Mo Hua chose one that was ancient and worn.
There were seven coffin nails hammered into the wooden coffin.
Inside the coffin lay a Walking Corpse.
Using a Formation, Mo Hua first drained away the Evil Power of the Walking Corpse and dispelled its Corpse Qi. Then he drew a Wooden Prison Formation to temporarily seal its corpse so it wouldn't lose control if it transformed.
Then came the task of removing the nails.
The nails on an ordinary wooden coffin were iron and firmly hammered into the coffin lid.
Mo Hua selected one that wasn't much different in size and tried to pull it out with his hands but couldn't budge it.
That's when he remembered he was a Spiritual Cultivator, not a Body Cultivator; his strength was very weak.
Helplessly, Mo Hua had no choice but to call over the little zombie.
The little zombie pushed off the coffin lid, hopped and bounced over to Mo Hua, and effortlessly pulled out the iron nail from the wooden coffin according to Mo Hua's wishes.
Mo Hua nodded, dipped a brush lightly in ink, and drew the unlocking Bronze Lock Formation on the coffin nail.
Then he inserted the coffin nail into the hidden recess on the bronze coffin.
The coffin lid fluttered slightly but did not open.
Mo Hua observed for a moment.
He discovered the size of the iron nail wasn't entirely fit; a little bit protruded on the outside, but it seemed to work. However, because of the size mismatch, the Formation Patterns of the Bronze Lock Formation didn't align, so the coffin couldn't be opened.
Mo Hua removed the coffin nail, wiped off the Formation Patterns, adjusted slightly, and then redrew them.
This time, it indeed worked.
The bronze coffin gave a faint "creak" as though an internal lock had fallen off, initiating some mechanism. Simultaneously, the Formations under the coffin lid also matched and unsealed.
Mo Hua pushed the coffin lid and found it was still quite difficult, and somewhat exasperated, he had to call the little zombie over again for help.
The little zombie hopped over again and helped Mo Hua lift the coffin lid.
Underneath the lid was a bronze outer coffin.
It was the same scene Mo Hua had witnessed when he sneaked a peek at Lu Chengyun drawing the Spirit Pivot Evil Formation.
What was different this time were the Formations inside; they were darker in blood color and the lines were deeper.
Mo Hua studied the bronze outer coffin carefully.
He deduced each Formation on it, cogitated meticulously, and combined this with the Corpse Refinement techniques he had previously learned, forming a rough understanding in his mind.
The method to refine a "Corpse King" was indeed special.
The heart and corpse were separate.
Inside the bronze coffin was the heart of the Lu Family Old Ancestor.
While covered with a yellow cloth on the sacrificial altar was the corpse of the Lu Family Old Ancestor with the heart removed.
These two required different techniques.
One was refining, the other was a ritual.
The ritual needed an altar.
Refining, on the other hand, required a coffin, human blood, and a Formation.
Once the "ritual" and "refining" were complete, the Corpse King would be truly refined.
What Lu Chengyun did was inscribe the Spirit Pivot Evil Formation on the zombie's heart vessels.
He deepened the Formation repeatedly.
To deeply imprint this Formation into the heart vessels of the Lu Family Old Ancestor.
To have complete control over it.
Mo Hua stroked his chin, pondering:
"If Lu Chengyun can inscribe it, doesn't that mean I can too?"
"But if I do so, he will surely discover it..."
"Then should I overwrite his Formation?"
"Draw the same Formation Patterns that he did, except he uses human blood and drives them with Evil Power, and I'll use ink and drive them with Spiritual Power."
"Then cover his Formation, overwrite his Formation Patterns..."
However, doing so, even though the Formation Patterns remained the same, the essence of them would change.
It would shift from Evil Power to Spiritual Energy, which would be more subtle, but Lu Chengyun might still notice it if he was careful and vigilant...
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
Once Lu Chengyun discovered that someone had tampered with the bronze coffin, things would become complicated...
Suddenly, Mo Hua paused in thought.
He intended to fiddle with the inside of the bronze coffin.
But Zhang Quan had already tampered inside it.
His Divine Sense was strong, his concealment was powerful, he knew the Spiritual Pivot Formation, and he had a little zombie to open doors, all of which Lu Chengyun was completely unaware of.
If Lu Chengyun was to be suspicious, he would probably suspect Zhang Quan.
After pondering for a while, Mo Hua came up with a plan:
First, overwrite it and see how Lu Chengyun would react.
If he became suspicious, then stop.
If he wasn't suspicious, then continue...
To also add a layer of my control to the Corpse King!
Lu Chengyun's Spirit Pivot Evil Formation, my own Soul Pivot Ultimate Formation, and Zhang Quan's Corpse Controlling ancient bell.
Tripartite control over the corpse.
Even if ultimately the control wasn't in my hands, it wouldn't fall entirely into Lu Chengyun's either.
As long as he couldn't completely control the Corpse King, couldn't mobilize all the Iron Corpses at the same time, the overall strength of Corpse cultivation would be significantly diminished.
Mo Hua's eyes glinted as he started to write, surreptitiously overwriting Lu Chengyun's Formation Patterns...