Chapter 1054: Dao Heart

Mo Hua became the "leader," but in this era, being a leader is hard.

Especially since the disciples of the Si Sect, Eight Gates, and Twelve Schools are all the elite prodigies of their respective sects—born into privilege, gifted, arrogant, each with their own agenda; once gathered, their hearts grow chaotic and hard to control.

They are all "enemies" of the Grand Void Gate, having been defeated by it in the Sword Discussion Assembly.

At the same time, they harbor grievances against each other.

For instance, during the Blood War, the Duanjin Gate ambushed the Lingxiao Gate, leaving it severely weakened.

The Guishui Gate ambushed the Zixia Gate, causing many casualties.

The Qitage Sect also slaughtered one another in the chaos.

Yet their greatest "enemy" is Mo Hua, the "leader."

It could be said that nearly all the prodigies present, especially the top-tier ones, have all "died" at least once at Mo Hua's hands.

Some have "died" more than once.

Forced by circumstances, they must bow to Mo Hua, but deep down, they will never accept it.

They obey with their lips but not their hearts.

Meanwhile, the Evil Dao Array constantly stirs their dark thoughts, hatred, and murderous intent.

Yet now Mo Hua holds power, and they dare not question him.

But among themselves, they inevitably quarrel, target each other, and occasionally clash in minor conflicts.

The most prominent among them is Ye Zhiyuan.

Ye Zhiyuan was once the top sword-flight prodigy of the Daluo Gate—good-looking, but wildly arrogant, foul-mouthed, insulting everyone he met, with terrible interpersonal relations.

Now that the Si Sect, Eight Gates, and Twelve Schools are mixed together, his mouth never stops—he mocks one sect's sword techniques as inadequate, ridicules another's lineage as inferior, as if the entire world's strongest flying sword art belonged solely to his Daluo Sky-Flight Sword.

His words stoked everyone's anger, sparking constant bickering.

Even several disciples of the Grand Void Gate were caught in the crossfire.

But Ye Zhiyuan was foul-mouthed and shameless—no one could out-insult him.

Mo Hua turned to Ye Zhiyuan and asked:

"Ye Zhiyuan, did your father name you this because he knew your sword-flight couldn't go far? Hoping it would make you fly farther?"

This single sentence silenced Ye Zhiyuan instantly.

The once arrogant Ye Zhiyuan froze like he'd swallowed a fly, unable to utter a word.

Ye Zhiyuan fell silent, but the crowd remained restless—after all, hundreds of people gathered here, each with divergent hearts, making conflict inevitable.

Mo Hua spoke coldly: "Don't blame me for not warning you—this is the Evil Dao Array."

"You'd best keep your mouths shut, calm your minds, refrain from useless chatter, and stop blaming or resenting each other, dredging up old grudges."

"Words bring disaster."

"Careless speech amplifies the evil within you and stirs hatred in others."

"These are dark thoughts, karmic flames, fruits of sin."

"If this continues, your grievances will swell, hatred will sprout, murderous intent will stir, your minds will slowly unravel, and you'll eventually become bloodthirsty, descending step by step into demons within the Evil Dao Array…"

"Don't think words are trivial—often, they are the root of calamity…"

The Evil Dao Array uses words as its trigger.

The Dao Heart Seed Demon also uses words as its seed.

But this seemingly ordinary yet profoundly subtle and sinister principle is utterly unknown to these prodigies.

Mo Hua's tone was extremely serious.

Hearing this, the prodigies of the Si Sect, Eight Gates, and Twelve Schools all felt a chill—they realized the gravity of the situation.

"One more thing…" Mo Hua warned, "Don't lightly harbor murderous intent toward me."

"No matter how subtly you direct it, I will know."

"Harboring murderous intent isn't the issue—but I kindly advise you: never actually try to kill me, or the only one who dies will be you."

Mo Hua's gaze swept calmly across the crowd.

Many in the crowd lowered their heads, daring not to meet his eyes.

Mo Hua nodded. "One final point…"

"Don't think I'm some 'great good man' who's self-righteously determined to lead you out of this array."

"If you obey, we work together—and live to walk out."

"If you don't obey, your life or death is no concern of mine."

"And if someone, because of disobedience, falls to demonic influence and 'corrupts,' don't blame me for being merciless…"

"Do you truly wish to become demons?"

The prodigies turned pale.

Especially the words "demon" sent a chill through them.

Not long ago, they had witnessed firsthand how their fellow disciples—those they'd trained beside daily—suddenly turned bloodshot-eyed, faces twisted, aura violent, insane, bloodthirsty, even beastlike, devouring human flesh…

It shattered their entire worldview.

Earlier, when they'd been caught in slaughter, their minds clouded by dark thoughts, they hadn't thought much of it. But now, calm and reflecting, every one of them trembled with dread, their spines cold.

The words "qi deviation" were no joke.

Once corrupted into a demon, their entire lives were over.

They would go from being the admired, brilliant prodigies of the orthodox path, take one misstep, and plunge into the abyss—becoming unseen, reviled "vermin" of the demonic path, who slaughtered their own sectmates, devoured human flesh, and were rejected by their sects, clans, and parents.

And all of this, was merely one step away.

Thinking of this, everyone broke into cold sweat.

Thinking of this, everyone broke out in a cold sweat.

Someone was puzzled:

"We were fine just now—why did we suddenly… qi deviation? Because of… the Evil Dao Grand Array?"

Mo Hua nodded: "Partly because of the Evil Dao Grand Array…"

"This Evil Dao Grand Array uses human blood as ink, human flesh as medium, human bones as pivots, and transforms despair, regret, and killing karma into evil power to activate the array."

"Within the array, evil desires overflow, and invisible evil spirits drift about—any contact gradually corrupts one…"

"But that is only one part. The other reason is the Dao heart."

"Dao heart?"

Everyone froze, then frowned.

Almost everyone said: a Dao cultivator must possess a steadfast Dao heart.

Yet the so-called "Dao heart" was merely a vague, intangible concept.

The Dao heart does not enhance spiritual roots, does not increase talent, does not accelerate cultivation, does not reduce cultivation resources, and is not part of the sect's admission criteria.

Major sects will not admit you as a disciple merely because you have a so-called "Dao heart."

Clan elders will not look at you differently merely because you have a Dao heart.

If your spiritual roots are poor, no matter how strong your Dao heart, your cultivation remains arduous.

If your strength is weak, no matter how strong your Dao heart, you remain at others' mercy.

Thus, the so-called "Dao heart" has no practical meaning whatsoever.

Major sects and great clans never include "Dao heart" in their evaluations.

The so-called "Dao heart" is merely an "useless" thing.

Before this, they would not say it aloud, but inwardly they would sneer at the words "Dao heart."

Yet now, having been tricked by the Evil God and trapped within this Evil Dao Grand Array, having witnessed the surrounding bloodshed firsthand, their perception had changed completely…

Mo Hua said: "The Dao heart is the heart that seeks the Dao."

"If the Dao heart is weak, one becomes controlled by worldly desires—fame, profit, power, material cravings."

"These distracting thoughts and desires sink into the heart."

"Normally, they may seem harmless—but when external evil lures them, these cravings amplify, the Dao heart grows dim, even vanishes, and the cultivator qi deviates, falling into 'evil demon' status."

"The weaker the Dao heart, the faster the descent into demonic transformation."

Mo Hua glanced at them all: "The reason you still retain clarity now is twofold: first, you are lucky—you have not encountered great evils or powerful malevolences; second, your Dao hearts are, relatively speaking, slightly stronger than those of other cultivators."

"Those with weak Dao hearts—"

"—have already lost their mental defenses and been fully corrupted the instant they touched the evil spirits."

One prodigy disciple, shaken to his core, could not accept it, murmuring: "Impossible… we are righteous cultivators…"

Mo Hua looked at him calmly and asked in return: "Are you… truly righteous cultivators?"

"Is your heart truly 'righteous'?"

"Do you cultivate to comprehend the Heavenly Dao and save all beings? Or merely to seize the power of Heaven and Earth, concentrate it within yourself, seeking fame, power, personal immortality, and eternal wealth and honor?"

"Are these things you seek truly 'immortals'?"

"Have you not noticed—the demons seek exactly the same?"

Mo Hua recalled Master Zheng's former teachings to him, and spoke slowly:

"You may be righteous disciples—but righteous and demonic are originally one. The demonic is not born of flesh, nor hatched from eggs—it is transformed."

"The demonic transforms from the righteous—it arises from your Dao hearts…"

…

This speech left every sect prodigy pale-faced and terrified.

They had never heard such words before, nor had anyone ever spoken to them this way.

Even now, they still might not truly understand what Mo Hua was saying.

But these words, like a branding iron, each syllable seared deep into their hearts.

The fates of many prodigies were irrevocably rewritten…

Yet they did not know it yet—not even Mo Hua himself had foreseen it…

…

After speaking these words, Mo Hua said no more.

The hundreds of prodigies from the Si Sect, Eight Gates, and Twelve Schools fell silent, following Mo Hua's instruction: they focused their minds, ceased all desires, suppressed all murderous intent, abandoned all competitive spirit, and refrained from verbal quarrels…

Seeing they had all become "well-behaved," Mo Hua relaxed—he now needed to plan his next move.

Mo Hua's goal was simple: to rescue all of them.

The array still churned, the evil qi deepened, and the evil spirits grew stronger.

He himself was fine—he had always been the one consuming "evil spirits," never had any evil spirit dared to touch him, this "Tai Sui."

If any had, they had all been "eaten" by him.

But the others were not. If they stayed much longer, once the array reached its peak, evil thoughts would drown like oceans, blood would mist, evil spirits would rain down, and even the Divine Array could not protect them—all would die, including his younger brothers from the Grand Void Gate.

Even the sect's brightest talents were still flesh-and-blood cultivators; the Evil God's corruption was still lethally potent for them.

"But how do we leave the array?"

"Inside this array,

is there anyone 'monitoring'?"

"Is anyone watching our every move?"

"Who controls the array, and where are they?"

"Is it that Mr. Tu?"

"But where is that Mr. Tu? Why hasn't he shown himself until now?"

Mo Hua frowned.

Trapped within the array now, with too few clues, he could only deduce based on his own experience—as both the chief "designer" and chief "executor" of the First-Rank Five Elements Demon-Slaying Array.

First, the great array must be controlled by someone.

And the one controlling this great array must be an array master—and a dark array master.

Mr. Tu was likely the one who built the great array.

But the one now controlling it may not be him, for he surely has something far more important to do.

This is within the borders of Qianxue Province, beneath the eyes of great clans and major sects; a dark array activated here, spilling blood qi into the sky, would inevitably draw fierce retaliation from all forces in Qianxue—including Dao Ting Si.

Even if Mr. Tu could handle it, he would surely be stretched too thin.

Moreover, the purpose of this dark array, Mo Hua didn't need to guess—it must be tied to the rebirth of the Lord of Dahuang.

To revive the Lord of Dahuang, a massive dark deity ritual must be involved.

As the chief "array master" of the dark array and chief "ritualist" of the dark deity ritual, Mr. Tu must be extremely busy, unable to oversee everything.

And the place where he now stood was certainly not the entirety of the dark array.

Since it was a dark array, it couldn't be this small; the current scene—including the withered forest and blood marsh—was merely one sealed sub-array within the larger dark array.

Moreover, this region was truly and completely "sealed," otherwise his many actions would have been detected long ago.

The dark deity's minions should have acted already…

This "sealing" was likely tied to the dark deity's own ritual.

The dark deity "feeds," and certainly doesn't wish to be seen.

Yet precisely because it was completely sealed, many array patterns and structural elements were extremely obscure, nearly impossible to detect, leaving him with no clear starting point.

None of them could easily leave either.

"This is troublesome…"

Mo Hua calmed his mind and, relying on his array expertise, thought step by step:

"The darkness is merely surface; the inner logic of the array never changes…"

"The internal structure of the great array cannot be fully sealed—there must be some connection between its parts…"

"If this sub-array is part of the greater array, then there must be an array pivot linking it to the main array pivot…"

"And that pivot must have a corresponding…"

"Array medium."

"The array medium of a dark array should be…" Mo Hua's heart jolted, "a bone stele?"

Those bone steles he and Elder Xun Zixian had seen at Luoshan?

Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, released his spiritual sense, meticulously calculated, sensed the flow of dark energy, studied the turning points of the array and the pathways of dark energy's transmission, then rose and walked straight to a patch of withered forest, pointing at a blood-colored dead tree, and said to the others:

"Cut down the tree, dig up its roots, excavate three feet deep—find a bone stele…"

The others didn't understand, but still did as Mo Hua instructed.

As for why, they didn't ask him to explain—after all, even if he explained, they likely wouldn't understand.

The young prodigies joined forces, quickly severing the great tree, burning its roots, and digging three feet down until they uncovered the bone stele beneath.

The earth vein glowed crimson.

The bone stele was immersed in the crimson, concealed by the earth vein's dark energy—ordinary people could never detect it.

Mo Hua carefully observed the blood-colored array patterns writhing across the bone stele; after a moment, his heart leapt—he realized these dark patterns had originated from the Four Symbols Demon Patterns, and even included variants of the Four Symbols "Dragon Patterns."

This was indeed Mr. Tu's work.

And after Mo Hua's recent study of the Dragon Diagrams' Return, the Four Symbols Demon Patterns and Four Symbols Dragon Patterns had become "old acquaintances" to him—disassembling and tracing their origins had become far simpler.

He couldn't draw a dark array himself, but judging the flow of the array pivot through the patterns posed no great difficulty.

Afterward, as Mo Hua walked, he continued calculating, excavating every bone stele along the way that served as a pivot carrier.

Finally, after digging up more than a dozen steles, Mo Hua—who now fully understood the pivot's flow—arrived at the "root" of these steles: the node where the dark array pivot connected.

A plain, unremarkable cave.

Mo Hua scanned with his spiritual sense, confirmed it was safe, then entered the cave.

The cave was narrow, walls of stone on all sides.

After sensing for a moment, Mo Hua located the right wall, drew several large "X" marks with his brush, then turned to Ao Zeng and the other body cultivators and said:

"Break it down—keep it quiet."

Ao Zeng was reluctant, but still did as Mo Hua ordered.

He was the second-greatest prodigy in Long Ding Sect, after Ao Zhan; his Long Ding Body Refinement Technique was deeply rooted, his strength fierce and vigorous—what seemed like solid stone crumbled beneath his hands like "tofu."

The stone wall was dismantled by Ao Zeng and the others.

As the wall shattered and stones rained down, a flash of crimson appeared—a terrifying, gaping bloodied maw lunged toward them.

It was the monstrous mouth of a great dark entity.

Ao Zeng saw nothing, yet a bone-deep chill surged through him—he wanted to retreat, but didn't know where to go.

At that moment, Mo Hua—who had been prepared—touched his brow with a finger, his eyes flashing with sharpness, his spiritual thought forming a blade that slashed through.

A flash of Jin Guang vanished instantly—the dark entity was erased.

The crimson faded, along with the bone-deep chill; Ao Zeng slowly turned his head toward Mo Hua, not understanding what had happened, but his eyes filled with awe and lingering dread.

The blood-red color faded, and along with it the bone-piercing coldness completely receded. Only then did Ao Zheng slowly turn his head to look at Mo Hua. Though he didn't understand exactly what had happened, he was still shaken, his eyes filled with shock.

Ao Zeng and the others said nothing.

Ao Zheng and the others said nothing.

But Linghu Xiao and Sister Situ and the others were worried: "Young Master Mo, let us go with you."

Mo Hua shook his head. "Don't worry. I'll be safer alone. Stay here. Don't move."

After giving his instructions, Mo Hua's figure gradually faded, vanishing before their eyes.

All of them wore a solemn expression, their hearts uneasy.

On the other side, Mo Hua entered the stone wall's corridor, where all around were demons of every size and shape—deformed, grotesque, hideous, and fiercely cruel.

If not for Mo Hua, any other cultivator who entered would, in an instant, have their soul sea devoured whole by the demons clawing at it.

But now, the situation had reversed.

Mo Hua deliberately suppressed his aura, presenting himself as an ordinary, plain, frail, harmless, flesh-and-blood youth—his soul sense rich, mellow, and sweet.

Countless demons drooled in frenzy, rushing forward one after another, madly burrowing toward his undefended soul sea.

Each was instantly seized by Mo Hua's golden-bodied soul self, crushed to dust, refined in an instant into pure thought-force, nourishing his own soul sense.

Thus, Mo Hua, using himself as bait to "fish and enforce justice," moved stealthily toward the corridor's end.

After walking for an unknown length of time, Mo Hua finally reached the corridor's end.

The corridor's end was sealed by a formation.

Mo Hua used his soul sense to command his ink, silently and unseen unraveling the formation; then he looked ahead and saw the corridor's terminus opening into a great hall housing the formation's core.

Inside the hall, dark and bloody, teemed a throng of demonic formation masters—each wielding bone pens dipped in human blood ink, painting bloody, monstrous formations upon parchment made of human skin.