Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 2019 - 969: Mountain Lord (2)

"Young Master Mo... just what kind of monster is he..."

"Surely... he must still be 'human', right?"

...

Deep within the grand hall's interior.

A shattered long halberd, coated in filth and gore, lay abandoned upon the floor.

Clad in that dread-inducing demon armor and bearing a resemblance to Lord Yellow Mountain, the malformed evil embryo stood paralyzed.

A wound had been carved into its shoulder. There, the meat pulsed unnaturally, festering with evil energy as thick, foul blood leaked out drop by drop.

The creature remained motionless, appearing to be in a state of confusion.

Seizing this brief window, Mo Hua inhaled sharply, desperate to recover his wind.

However, before he could even steady his breathing, the creature's skin and musculature began to bridge together. Its evil essence was already surging back to life.

The broken long halberd of the evil god manifested once more within its grip.

Mo Hua clenched his teeth, his breath hitching in a mix of exhaustion and alarm.

"He is far too powerful..."

Through this prolonged struggle, a realization had slowly dawned on Mo Hua.

This evil embryo was a failed incarnation. To put it another way, it was the "stillborn" of an evil god, possessing a death aura far more concentrated than that of a standard evil god entity.

It appeared to lack higher consciousness, driven purely by the primal instincts to slaughter and consume.

Its very existence was a chaotic amalgamation of various parts.

It held the core essence of an evil god, the physical remains of demonic monsters, and the collective agony of over ten thousand mining Cultivators who met their ends at Solitary Mountain. Combined with these was the malevolent aura born from such intense suffering.

It was a mess of disorder, deformity, and fused flesh.

Mo Hua recalled sensing a potent, chaotic node from the Divine Authority Tree back in the Great Wilderness; it was clear now that he had been sensing the evil embryo of Solitary Mountain.

Furthermore, the most dominant component within this horror was Lord Yellow Mountain.

A deity who had once reached the peak of the third grade.

Following his death years ago, it seemed the vast corpse of Lord Yellow Mountain fell into the evil god's possession, serving as the "vessel" for the evil embryo's incubation and eventual descent.

Alternatively, this might have been a calculated plot from the very beginning.

A scheme targeting Lord Yellow Mountain specifically.

In the past, Lord Yellow Mountain had been excessively formidable. Within the third-grade domain of Solitary Mountain, even an evil god would have found it difficult to oppose him.

Thus, the evil god orchestrated his corruption and manipulated others to strike him down.

Once tainted, Lord Yellow Mountain became a source of disaster and a hidden peril.

The ancestors of the Taixu Sect were naturally compelled to eliminate him.

After a grueling conflict, the Taixu Sect ancestors succeeded in felling him. Though his body was destroyed and his essence shattered, a tiny fragment of his original awareness managed to escape.

Yet, the "corrupted" and fallen physical form of the Mountain God became the primary fuel for the evil embryo, mutating and becoming one with it.

In one sense, everyone had been played for fools.

These were the deductions Mo Hua made after witnessing the evil embryo’s true form and engaging it in combat.

While the broad strokes were likely accurate, the specific nuances and hidden details remained a mystery.

The absolute truth was likely known only to the Lord Yellow Mountain of that era, the ancestors of the Taixu Sect, or the mastermind behind the evil god—Mr. Tu.

Regardless of the hidden history, Mo Hua could not afford to dwell on it now.

The immediate threat was this failed, twisted, and warped evil embryo that was meant to remain dormant at the base of Solitary Mountain.

The strength of this creature was overwhelming.

Mo Hua bit his lip, a sense of frustration bubbling within him.

The enemy was faster than him, its strikes were more savage, its telekinesis was superior, and its sinister evil energy and black blood could even eat through divine marrow. Encased in demon armor, it was seemingly immune to both steel and fire.

Every time he attempted to utilize the Godslaying Sword, the frenzied evil embryo would cut him off.

He was given no openings whatsoever.

Throughout the entirety of the fight, Mo Hua had failed to gain any significant ground.

The solitary bit of positive news was that even against a peak third-grade opponent, the Godslaying Sword could still penetrate the armor and flesh to inflict damage.

Whether it was enough to actually kill the thing remained to be seen.

The core problem was the lack of opportunity.

The evil embryo simply refused to give him the time required to fully unleash the Godslaying technique.

Because its realm was so high, none of Mo Hua’s crowd-control tactics—be it the Water Prison Technique or various Trapping Formations—had any impact.

"Should I retreat for now?"

Mo Hua weighed his options, thinking that running away might be the most logical path.

Looking at the situation, the evil embryo seemed tethered to the dragon coffin and likely couldn't leave the front of the hall.

"Perhaps I should fight a bit longer, retreat to recover, and then return for another round?"

Even though the embryo was terrifyingly strong, Mo Hua was surprisingly "durable" himself.

By utilizing Divine Thought Taoism and his Divine Thought Sword Techniques, he could manage to hold the creature at bay for a while without being immediately defeated.

If he followed that plan, he would have to slowly chip away at it and wait for a mistake...

As Mo Hua’s mind whirled with strategies to counter his foe, the evil embryo suddenly vanished from his sight.

Alarm spiked in his chest, and Mo Hua threw himself backward.

He was a fraction too slow. A massive, revolting claw reeking of decay lunged at him.

Mo Hua felt several deep, agonizing gashes tear across his back.

The force of the blow sent him soaring like a stone from a sling, slamming hard into the wall of the Divine Temple.

The impact echoed with a heavy thud as cracks spider-webbed across the stone surface.

Mo Hua ground his teeth against the searing pain. He couldn't help but snarl: "Lord Yellow Mountain, I’m putting this on your tab!"

The foundation of this evil embryo's power was, after all, Lord Yellow Mountain.

If not for him, Mo Hua wouldn't be enduring this agony and these life-threatening trials.

But despite the curses and the pain, Mo Hua had to ignore his wounds and force himself to stand up.

He was certain that the next strike from the evil embryo was coming immediately.

This monster wouldn't grant him a moment's peace.

Mo Hua pushed through the suffering, gripping his golden sword and bracing for the next clash. Yet, after several heartbeats of waiting, the area remained eerily still, and the evil embryo did not attack.