272 Black Mountain Stronghold_1
Mo Hua looked on in utter shock.
“Black Mountain Stronghold!”
In the depths of Big Black Mountain, there was actually a stronghold!
The ancient gate of the mountain stronghold seemed to have existed for a hundred years.
The door was splattered with bloodstains, likely from beheading victims and the splashing of blood, which, over the years, had created a nauseating smell of decay.
It looked both sinister and eerie.
“At midnight, present a head to ask the way.”
Mo Hua silently recited in his mind.
To present a head to ask the way, that is the meaning: to kill and behead, using the severed head as a token of introduction, and then the gates of Black Mountain Stronghold would appear.
The appearance of the gate also signified that the sin cultivators within the stronghold accepted you.
Indeed, moments later, accompanied by an ancient and nauseating creaking sound, the gates of Black Mountain Stronghold slowly opened.
The fat cultivator’s face showed a crazed joy as he straightened his Taoist robe and then stepped into Black Mountain Stronghold.
After he entered Black Mountain Stronghold, the creaking sound resumed, and the gates slowly closed and then gradually vanished.
The fat cultivator had also completely disappeared without a trace.
Mo Hua’s eyelid twitched.
So this was how one entered Black Mountain Stronghold…
Hidden so deeply, it’s no wonder that for so many years, no one discovered it.
And it seemed that those who could enter Black Mountain Stronghold were truly all sin cultivators with blood on their hands.
At least this fat one was no good thing.
With six lives on his hands, he turned suddenly on those he had called brothers, swift and ruthless, a sword through the chest, utterly unexpected.
He befriended the thin cultivator simply to bring an alive “token of introduction.” When the time came to chop off the head, it would serve to ask the way into Black Mountain Stronghold.
He probably never gave a second thought to the decapitated thin cultivator.
The path of cultivation is perilous, and the hearts of men, unfathomable.
Mo Hua had witnessed this once more and took it deeply to heart.
With unfamiliar cultivators, it’s always better to be on guard, especially with the ones you hardly know. You can know their faces but not their hearts.
At the same time, Mo Hua had also learned something.
If one must act, it should be like the fat cultivator did, catching the victim off guard.
“What should I do next?” Mo Hua frowned in thought.
Should he sneak in for a look?
This Black Mountain Stronghold was a bit mysterious; without seeing what was inside, he felt somewhat uneasy.
At the very least, get a rough idea of how many sin cultivators there were inside.
Take a stealthy glance without alarming anyone…
Mo Hua silently thought to himself.
But how to sneak in?
Mo Hua was somewhat troubled.
There must have been a Concealment Formation laid over the gate of Black Mountain Stronghold, more densely arranged than the mountain paths between the cliffs.
Without a careful scan with Divine Sense, one would not notice it at all.
Now that the gate was closed and the concealment gone,
unless someone else “presented a head to ask the way,” it likely wouldn’t open again. Surely Mo Hua couldn’t just throw a head in to knock on the door…
Besides, entering from the front, even if Mo Hua could conceal himself, he might still be detected.
Once discovered, it would be dangerous.
“What to do?” Mo Hua pondered.
Even though the gate of Black Mountain Stronghold had disappeared, its outline still emerged in Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness.
Peering at Black Mountain Stronghold with his Divine Sense, Mo Hua’s thoughts raced, gradually forming a plan.
In the path of Tao cultivation, everything relies on formations, especially cultivation buildings.
Although Black Mountain Stronghold was sinister and mysterious, it didn’t appear out of nowhere; it was a cultivation construction built by cultivators, with its concealment, defense, early warning, and other building functions all dependent on formations.
Moreover, there must have been a skilled Formation Master inside the stronghold; if so, then the stronghold might have been built entirely based on formations.
Since it relied on formations, there would be a way to solve the problem.
Mo Hua’s greatest skill was, of course, formation techniques.