Chapter 1015

The sword discussion between Grand Void Gate and Diamond Gate has ended.

Every move, every technique, every advance and retreat, every detail of Mo Hua's footwork during this discussion was copied via "Shadow-Imprint Maps" and sent to all sects, into the hands of the Dao Law Elders overseeing the discussion.

Across Qianxue Province, from the Four Major Sects and Eight Great Gates to the Twelve Flow Sects, many elders were studying Mo Hua's Shadow-Imprint Maps, dissecting each of his actions.

Some sect elders would even hold joint meetings to deliberate on this matter.

In a grand hall, the Shadow-Imprint Map hung high.

On the map, Mo Hua flickered in and out of visibility.

The elders from various sects exchanged opinions:

"So that's how it is…"

"I said all along—this spiritual cultivator, if he didn't learn some survival techniques, how could he possibly survive? With this kid's cunning and wit, he couldn't possibly have no hidden cards… turns out it's concealment art."

"His movement technique is nothing special, but this concealment art is truly exquisite—clearly he put in immense effort."

"Didn't anyone gather this intelligence before?"

"Grand Void Gate treats him like a 'Little Ancestor'—the information was kept too tightly sealed."

"The Dao Court seems to have intervened; they sealed all of Mo Hua's Juan Sect records."

"Some had mentioned before that he knew concealment art, but it was just idle talk, never taken seriously."

"The most critical issue is, no one imagined his concealment art could be this powerful."

"Why?"

"Because… his spiritual sense is strong?"

"Yes. The core of concealment art isn't the art itself—it's spiritual sense."

"Don't forget, when he was at Foundation Establishment mid-stage, he already had nineteen-pattern spiritual sense…"

"Nineteen-pattern peak," someone added. "Nineteen-pattern and nineteen-pattern peak are not the same thing."

A body cultivation elder, unfamiliar with spiritual sense theory, said: "Isn't it still nineteen-pattern… what's the difference?"

"This…"

A learned elder spoke:

"The gap here is enormous…"

"Spiritual sense differs from Qi—ethereal and formless, governed by an entirely different quantification system."

"From Foundation Establishment late-stage to peak, it's still Foundation Establishment—the gap won't exceed a minor realm."

"But between nineteen-pattern and twenty-pattern spiritual sense lies a chasm."

"That chasm is nineteen-pattern peak."

"The difference in spiritual sense between the bottom and top of nineteen-pattern peak is as vast as heaven and earth—no less than the gap from ten-pattern to nineteen-pattern."

"This chasm is Heaven's restriction—and Heaven's gift."

"With this vast chasm in place, Foundation Establishment cultivators cannot breach the 'Heavenly Abyss' of nineteen-pattern peak and greedily covet the twenty-pattern Golden Core spiritual thought realm. This is Heaven's restriction."

"But once a Foundation Establishment cultivator breaks through to Golden Core, his spiritual thought naturally ascends to twenty-pattern."

"Heaven bestows this nineteen-pattern peak spiritual sense upon you—equivalent to doubling your spiritual sense the moment you break into Golden Core. Thus, this is Heaven's gift…"

Some elders understood his scholarly discourse; others remained vaguely confused.

Someone asked: "Then what level is Mo Hua's spiritual sense now? How far into nineteen-pattern peak?"

The elderly elder shook his head: "Who can tell? Nineteen-pattern peak is Heaven's 'Chasm Zone'—there's no standardized measurement."

"Moreover, spiritual sense cannot be cultivated. Few cultivators even reach the threshold of nineteen-pattern peak. Case references are scarce—no scale can be established."

"But regardless, Mo Hua's spiritual sense, though still at nineteen-pattern peak, is certainly stronger than before."

"How much stronger… hard to say."

The elder with the scholar's appearance shook his head.

Everyone frowned, their expressions solemn.

Someone else asked: "Could his spiritual sense already be twenty-pattern?"

The hall fell silent.

All the elders felt a tightness in their chests.

The scholar-like elder frowned, somewhat irritably:

"So you didn't understand a single word I just said?"

"What is a 'Heavenly Abyss'? What is a 'Chasm'? What is 'Heaven's restriction'?"

"If he crossed that abyss, breached that chasm, shattered Heaven's restriction, wouldn't heaven and earth shift violently, with prodigies manifesting in the sky?"

"That would be unthinkable!"

"You're elders now—think before you speak."

The elder who spoke looked embarrassed.

"Then if his spiritual sense is this strong, doesn't that mean… no one can see through his concealment art? Is he invincible in sword discussions?"

"Shi Tiangang is a body cultivator—his spiritual sense is weak, so he couldn't detect it."

"What does body cultivator or not matter? Put up an array master—can his spiritual sense surpass Mo Hua's?"

"Don't forget, in the last Array Discussion, he was the champion. Across Qianxue Province, not a single array prodigy could match him—this was three years ago…"

Everyone fell silent.

But soon, one elder's eyes flashed with an idea:

"Then… use spirit artifacts?"

"Cultivators' spiritual sense has dominance and suppression—those with weaker spiritual sense can't perceive the details of stronger ones and are easily deceived. But spirit artifacts are inanimate—they're not easily affected."

"That's a viable solution."

"Not just spirit artifacts, but also Revealing Dust."

"A cultivator's nature is no different from anyone else's; what sets them apart is their use of things…"

"In that case… that is indeed a way to go about it…"

…

After the elders deliberated, they had more or less reached a plan.

In the next sword debate, Grand Void Gate would face Dragon Cauldron Sect.

Dragon Cauldron Sect, one of the Sida Sect, inherited the Dragon Cauldron Body-Forging method.

It was said that the founding patriarch of Dragon Cauldron Sect had rendered "meritorious service following the dragon," and had deep ties with the Dao Court; thus the "Dragon Cauldron Art Canon" was passed down — using the blood of a karmic dragon to cleanse the sinews and remold the marrow, and using the form of a green cauldron to forge the dharma body.

The Dragon Cauldron Body-Forging method was an extremely superior, ancient inheritance.

Of course, after being passed down to the present, what truly had anything to do with "dragons" was certainly very little.

At most it kept the form, but not the substance.

Mo Hua didn't even need his head to figure that out.

Dragon Cauldron Sect had been inheriting this for so many years, with so many disciples — if they all used "karmic dragon blood to cleanse the sinews and remold the marrow," they would have gone bankrupt long ago.

What manner of being was a dragon?

Even a karmic dragon was incomparably noble.

Where would one find so much blood to let disciples forge their bodies with?

If they really had that much "karmic dragon blood," the Dao Court would certainly be the first to order their sect shut down and make them hand over the "dragon blood" to the public.

If they refused, they'd find a pretext and wipe out the whole sect.

As far as Mo Hua knew, the so-called "karmic dragon blood to cleanse the sinews and remold the marrow" was most likely done using spiritual objects imbued with a karmic dragon's aura — heavenly materials and earthly treasures like "Dragon Blood Fruit" or "Dragon Blood Grass" — to temper the body.

Of course, these heavenly materials and earthly treasures with the word "dragon" in them were also incomparably precious; ordinary cultivators couldn't afford them.

Using them to temper the body, the resulting art would certainly be formidable in power.

Therefore, Dragon Cauldron Sect was one of the Sida Sect.

The disciples who joined Dragon Cauldron Sect all came from wealthy or noble families.

The one fighting Mo Hua this time was a top-tier disciple of Dragon Cauldron Sect, equally deep in cultivation, with a very strong physical body and no mean dharma arts.

The strongest among them, of course, still couldn't compare with Vajra Sect's senior disciple Shi Tiangang.

But their average strength was slightly above that of the Vajra Sect from the previous match.

All five of them were equipped with a "Hidden-Viewing Mirror" and carried Revealing Dust.

The Hidden-Viewing Mirror could pierce through concealment.

Revealing Dust could reveal traces.

Their tactics were fairly direct, and fairly extreme: all five of them would go kill Mo Hua.

As long as even one of them could kill Mo Hua, they would win.

Because this match was a beheading round.

Mo Hua was still the "leader" of Grand Void Gate's first team.

Five Dragon Cauldron Sect experts killing one Foundation Establishment spiritual cultivator.

This spiritual cultivator was also "thin-skinned and fragile," killable with a single punch; moreover, Mo Hua's low-tier movement technique was nothing to worry about, and the only thing worth being wary of — his concealment art — had been countered by all five of them.

Not only the five from Dragon Cauldron Sect, but also the elders of every sect, the upper echelons of every noble house, and even the vast sea of watching cultivators outside the arena — none of them could imagine how Mo Hua could survive.

This was almost a certain-death situation.

On top of that, it happened to be a "beheading match."

As long as they gave it everything and killed Mo Hua, they would win.

As long as they killed Mo Hua, they wouldn't even need to deal with the most troublesome sword-path prodigy Linghu Xiao; Dragon Cauldron Sect would win.

"Heaven does not aid Grand Void Gate; in this round, Mo Hua should die!"

This thought welled up in nearly everyone's heart.

Therefore, the moment the sword debate began—

The five from Dragon Cauldron Sect shouted coldly in unison: "Kill!"

Then, like dragons roaring and tigers howling, their qi and blood surging, the five struck out together, charging at Mo Hua.

Without a word, Mo Hua turned and ran toward the grove.

Linghu Xiao and the other three moved to intercept the five Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples.

But these were five body cultivators who practiced the Dragon Cauldron Art — their strength like dragons and tigers, their bones like bronze cauldrons, high attack, high defense, swift movement.

Under the tactic of "no need to engage, only behead Mo Hua," within only a few exchanges, the five broke through Linghu Xiao and the others' defense from every angle and charged into the grove.

Lin Mu was still, shadows upon shadows, sunlight cut into broken patches, a scene of quiet tranquility — and Mo Hua was nowhere to be seen.

But the five Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples merely wore cold smiles.

Tricks of concealment — playing them once was enough.

This was the Sword Debate Grand Meeting; relying on no real strength, no cultivation or dharma arts, only thinking of petty tricks — scurrying about like flies — would only make people laugh.

Each of the five held a Hidden-Viewing Mirror inlaid with gold and jade, its light clear as a lake, and shone them at the grove from five angles.

Then the cold smiles frozen on all five of their lips stiffened completely.

"Shine again!"

The five shone them once more.

A sweep of white light, and the Hidden-Viewing Mirror clearly displayed every blade of grass, every tree, every insect, every stone in the grove. But that one person, Mo Hua, simply wasn't there.

Not only were the five Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples somewhat dumbfounded, even the dharma elders of every sect outside the arena couldn't help exchanging bewildered glances.

The watching cultivators buzzed with discussion even more; they had seen clearly:

Isn't Mo Hua standing right in front of them? Five people holding Spirit Mirrors—what are they staring at?

"The Spirit Mirror of Concealment Detection can't pierce concealment? Broken?"

"Dragon Cauldron Sect is one of the Sida Sect—shouldn't they be rich? Why are they using this kind of 'expired spirit artifact'?"

"This is the Sword Debate Assembly—how can the Spirit Mirrors issued to disciples fail to pierce concealment? Are they turning themselves into a joke?"

"At least they're one of the Sida Sect—they shouldn't go this far…"

"So what's the situation now…"

……

Inside the arena, the five Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples were equally bewildered.

They never imagined a Spirit Mirror could fail to pierce concealment.

With this, the situation had completely changed.

"Sprinkle Concealment-Dispelling Dust…"

The leader of the Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples immediately said.

The five of them separated, chanted incantations, activated their spiritual awareness, and manipulated objects to scatter dust from a box into the small grove.

This dust floated in the air; once it clung to a body, it could not be shaken off for a short time.

If Mo Hua stepped into the dust, his silhouette would be revealed—he could no longer conceal his form.

But as soon as the Concealment-Dispelling Dust spread through the grove, a sudden gale surged forth, howling, whipping the dust into the air and scattering it beyond the grove.

"Gale Array!"

The Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples gritted their teeth.

Around the small grove, a Gale Array had been laid; once activated, it summoned violent winds to blow away all the Concealment-Dispelling Dust.

"That damn brat is truly cunning!"

With the Spirit Mirrors useless and the Concealment-Dispelling Dust scattered, all their tactics against Mo Hua were rendered useless.

Dragon Cauldron Sect had originally thought they had shown sufficient "respect" to Mo Hua.

They brought spirit artifacts, they used Concealment-Dispelling Dust.

But now it seemed this "respect" was still superficial—not heartfelt at all.

Meanwhile, during this time, Linghu Xiao and the other three had rushed forward.

Unable to find Mo Hua, the five Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples could only fight Linghu Xiao and his group.

Fortunately, their strength was still formidable; in direct confrontation, they were no weaker than Grand Void Gate, and they were five against four.

But as the battle continued, fireballs began flying out of the small grove.

Mo Hua revealed himself, casting spells to support his teammates.

"Kill him!"

The leader of the Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples immediately pointed at Mo Hua and coldly ordered.

Two Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples instantly flashed forward, their movement like a tiger's roar and a dragon's bellow, activating their body techniques and charging into the grove—but all around, the trees were deep and dark; where was Mo Hua's shadow?

They could only retreat again.

But as soon as they stepped out, Mo Hua reappeared, his fingers flicking rapidly—swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—launching fireball spells and Water Prison spells at them.

The two Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples, enraged, charged back into the grove despite the spells.

Just as they entered, Mo Hua vanished again.

They retreated once more, and Mo Hua reappeared, hurling spells at them again.

The five Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples were furious enough to burst their lungs.

The spectators outside the arena were equally enraged, their blood boiling, their heads buzzing.

So despicable!

Truly, so despicable!

In all these years, across all these Sword Debate Assemblies, they had never seen such a shameless, cowardly disciple.

This is the Sword Debate Assembly—so many people are watching.

You don't care about your own face—can your sect afford to lose face too?

Constantly using low-grade spells to annoy people—is that really meaningful?

But Mo Hua truly thought… it was hilarious.

When enemies came, he ran; when they closed in, he concealed himself; when they retreated, he launched spells from afar.

And this back-and-forth tied up two Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples.

The remaining three were being overwhelmed by Linghu Xiao's group and had already taken many Void-Cutting Sword Qi strikes.

Mo Hua had disrupted the Dragon Cauldron Sect's formation.

The Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples realized this was untenable:

"Forget Mo Hua—kill Linghu Xiao first."

It was the only option left.

The other two Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples obeyed, abandoning Mo Hua and rushing back to reinforce their comrades; all five united to surround and attack Linghu Xiao's group.

Instantly, dragon qi surged, cauldron sounds boomed, sword qi swept through, slicing gold and shattering jade.

With no one watching Mo Hua, he was even happier.

He began standing at the edge of the small grove, extending his spiritual awareness, coordinating the entire battlefield, and casting spells without restraint.

Mostly fireball spells, mixed with some Gold Chime spells, Gold Flash spells, Water Prison spells, Wood Bind spells, Quicksand spells… and other minor Five Elements spells with weak power but extremely annoying effects.

The Dragon Cauldron Sect disciples suffered terribly.

In the past, as these heavenly prodigies, they wouldn't even glance at such low-grade Five Elements spells.

In their eyes, only powerful superior Dao arts mattered.

Using such low-grade minor spells would only invite ridicule.

But now, they were repeatedly tormented and humiliated by these low-tier spells, looking foolish and disheveled.

At the Tangtang Sword Discussion Assembly, before the eyes of all sects, clans, and cultivators across the Nine Provinces, they were "abused" by low-grade elemental spells…

At this moment, the disciples of Long Ding Sect finally felt firsthand why so many sects and disciples hated Mo Hua with such bitter fury.

The Sword Discussion continued.

The cultivators from both sides still fought in chaos.

Sword qi, spells flew wildly; fists and kicks crashed violently, the battle fierce.

But allowing Mo Hua to act freely would lead to no good outcome; gradually, Long Ding Sect began to struggle.

Their average strength was high, but the problem was, none of them was a true "Heavenly Prodigy" like Linghu Xiao.

Often, when the battle reached a stalemate, a "Heavenly Prodigy" was needed to break the deadlock and turn the tide.

That was precisely why Heavenly Prodigies were praised by all and awaited by countless others.

Without a Heavenly Prodigy to break the stalemate, the situation would only worsen.

Added to this was their battle against Shi Tiangang of the Golden Armor Sect.

Linghu Xiao had been tempered; his sword qi grew stronger.

Ouyang Xuan and the others had gained experience fighting powerful body cultivators.

Mo Hua's spells had also grown more refined, more cunning, more treacherous.

Thus, Long Ding Sect could only retreat step by step.

And this was not the most infuriating part—the most infuriating was that Long Ding Sect gradually realized, from the very beginning, they had never had a chance to win.

Because this was a "decapitation" match.

Mo Hua was that "leader."

This leader could vanish, and no one could see through his invisibility.

That meant he was naturally invincible.

Even if they killed Linghu Xiao and the other three, it would be useless.

Mo Hua could simply hide somewhere, activate his invisibility, and no one could find him.

If they couldn't find him, they couldn't kill him; they couldn't decapitate him.

From the start, this match was a "deadlock"—utterly unwinnable!

Thinking this, several Long Ding Sect disciples felt their hearts turn cold.

How could you play a match destined to be lost?

Even if they gave their all, the best they could hope for was a draw—but Grand Void Gate would never accept that.

Moreover, their "leader," Mo Hua, could vanish at the first sign of trouble, dodging all harm.

But Long Ding Sect could not.

Their leader could not "hide."

Not only could he not hide—he remained exposed to Grand Void Gate's attacks, constantly struck by Linghu Xiao's sword qi.

A thread of despair spread through their hearts, growing deeper.

But this was the Sword Discussion Assembly; they were disciples of the Sida Sect. Though the situation was dire, they still refused to give up.

In the ensuing battle, Long Ding Sect disciples tried other methods to break this deadlock.

The main one was to lure Mo Hua out and kill him.

Mo Hua was too fragile, with too little margin for error.

If he showed even the slightest carelessness, even the tiniest opening, any one of Long Ding Sect's five could punch him to death.

But Mo Hua's spiritual sense was too strong, too alert; the moment danger so much as stirred, he vanished instantly and slipped into the small grove.

No one knew where he had "crouched."

The spectators outside knew.

They longed to smash the fifth-rank formation and fly into the arena to shout Mo Hua's location to Long Ding Sect's disciples.

Tell them Mo Hua hadn't gone far at all!

He was invisible, perched atop a tree, watching their folly with calm amusement.

But sadly, they could not.

Thus, the situation worsened step by step.

In the end, one of the Sida Sect's own Heavenly Prodigies from the mighty Long Ding Sect was truly disgusted and defeated by Mo Hua's invisibility.

Everyone felt something strange.

They all realized Mo Hua's invisibility technique was… unusual.

It was an "unseeable" invisibility.

This meant Mo Hua would be an "invisible" spirit cultivator…

How do you kill an invisible spirit cultivator?

(End of Chapter)