Chapter 1056: Demon Valley

Inside the Array Core Hall.

The corpses of slain evil array masters piled into a river of bodies; the looted spoils stacked into a small hill.

Mo Hua assigned several people to guard the hall's perimeter, then pointed a finger—spiritual ink formed an array, spreading around the entire hall.

It cleansed the blood qi, sealed off the evil qi, and only then did he sit cross-legged in a comfortable spot, calmly examining the spoils before him.

His spiritual sense was strong and sharp, perceiving every detail, and his speed in sorting through the spoils was extremely fast.

Moreover, Mo Hua had extensive experience in this area.

Of the items on evil array masters—useful or useless, carrying evil qi or not, tainted or clean—which could be kept, which must be destroyed—

He could tell at a glance.

Thus, the disciples of the other sects watched Mo Hua's two pale, delicate hands darting like a groundhog's, so fast they left afterimages.

Before long, the entire hill of spoils had been meticulously inventoried by Mo Hua, not a single item missed.

Daoist and evil items, usable and unusable—all were neatly sorted by Mo Hua into categories.

The prodigies of the various sects stared, stunned.

Too fast!

Too skilled!

Does this Mo Hua spend his days murdering and looting, sorting through spoils? Why is he so skilled?

And these are evil items—why does he understand them so well? While the rest of us were utterly confused by a pile of evil artifacts, he classified them all in a few breaths?

We're all sect disciples, raised under the Nine-Year Cultivation Curriculum—why are you so familiar with evil demons?

Your background must be suspicious.

Had Mo Hua not just led them to exterminate eighty evil array masters, these prodigies might have suspected he was actually a scion of some "Evil Sect Titan," an undercover "Demon Prodigy" planted in Qianxue Grand Sect.

After cleanly and efficiently inventorying the spoils, Mo Hua pointed to a pile of storage bags and ordered:

"These are evil artifacts—useless—"

"These spirit stones are polluted by blood qi."

"These pills were forged from human flesh and blood—do not touch them."

"And these cultivation techniques, scriptures, and evil arts—do not even look at them; they will corrupt you. Burn them all in the River of Blood."

Then Mo Hua pointed to another pile of storage bags: "These spirit stones are usable; these pills are standard, legitimate ones—I've verified them with my spiritual sense, no evil qi or corruption—"

"You may divide them among yourselves, ingest and refine them to restore your spiritual power. We don't know what evil demons lie ahead—prepare thoroughly, be ready."

"And these—"

Mo Hua's instructions were clear, precise, and looked utterly "professional."

After a brief hesitation, the prodigies of the other sects followed Mo Hua's directions.

Gradually, this had become routine.

Some burned evil artifacts; others ingested spirit stones and pills, refining spiritual power—all worked in orderly silence.

Only then did Mo Hua turn his attention to another pile of spoils.

Inside were dense, intricate arrays of complex, obscure array diagrams, scriptures, array mediums, and bone tablets.

These were first-hand array data from the evil grand array.

These were what Mo Hua truly wanted.

Since becoming trapped in the evil grand array, Mo Hua's first thought had never been escape—he wanted to learn and comprehend the array.

This was a grand array—the lifelong pursuit of any array master.

Even an evil grand array was still a grand array.

Constructing a grand array was extremely difficult, requiring vast manpower, spiritual power, and Xi Wuli.

Thus, grand arrays existing in the cultivation world were already exceedingly rare.

A fully activated grand array was even more unattainable.

And for such an array to be fully activated while simultaneously allowing one to be "present within" and learn from it—that condition was even more stringent.

Moreover, the array's grade could not be too high.

The Dao Discourse Mountain Array had activated fully before Mo Hua's eyes—but it was a fifth-grade array, far beyond his current array understanding.

Like a seamless creation of heaven and earth, he could not penetrate its principles, and thus learned nothing.

But the evil grand array before him, through "Descending Pattern Compatibility," hovered between second and third grade.

And because it was hastily activated, many array structures remained incomplete; some array cores had not fully sealed; the eye's circulation and the flow of evil power had not formed closed loops.

This was nearly the perfect practical example for studying the construction of grand arrays above second grade.

For Mo Hua, this was an invaluable opportunity.

Mo Hua steeled his spirit and began urgently poring over the vast quantities of "pattern markings" looted from the evil array masters.

Specific array techniques could be ignored—these were all evil arrays; learning them would contaminate Mo Hua's array knowledge base.

But the structure and core of grand arrays must be studied.

Ignore the specific, surface-level evil array techniques—penetrate from surface to essence, discern the true nature of grand arrays, perceive the flow of their core power, reconstruct their macroscopic central framework.

This concerned an array master's vision.

Likewise, it concerned the experience of a chief array master who constructs grand arrays.

This was the most profound aspect of array study.

Mo Hua flipped through the materials, calculated as he read, and pulled out paper and brush.

He casually sketched out the central structure of the grand array.

Nearby, many sect disciples, while meditating to restore spiritual power, couldn't help stealing glances at Mo Hua, curious what he was drawing.

But after one glance, their scalps prickled.

The handwriting was sloppy, the structure complex, the patterns obscure, utterly abstract.

Individually, they could grasp a little of each array pattern—at least recognize them as second-grade array patterns—but when combined, they became like celestial scripture; not a single line or motif made any sense.

"Is this the world of array masters?"

Everyone stared at Mo Hua, silently stunned.

From the outside, they all looked human, but their minds certainly did not belong to the same "species."

At least, ordinary people should not—and could not—understand these "abstract" array patterns.

Even among the Ten Thousand Array Gate disciples, whose sect was founded on array arts and who had already attained second-grade array master status, watching Mo Hua casually sketch these array patterns and array pivot lines up close left them with trembling minds and suffocating hearts.

For a moment, they even developed intense self-doubt.

Doubting whether they had truly studied array arts before, doubting whether they had truly passed their second-grade array master examination—why did this array diagram, clearly a second-grade one, feel so alien, so incomprehensible?

"Are arrays drawn like this?"

"Have we been learning fake arrays all along?"

During the sword debate earlier, they hadn't felt it so deeply.

But now, right beside Mo Hua, watching him study array arts—especially the principles of grand arrays—the impact was overwhelming,

and utterly exhausting.

Many hearts were shaken, long unable to calm—

And so, time slowly passed.

Mo Hua remained utterly focused, studying the dark array.

He omitted the dark array's outer structure, painstakingly extracting the array pivot framework.

The overall structure, like the trunk and branches of a great tree, was reconstructed on the array paper with sloppy yet profound strokes.

The main trunk of the entire array grew increasingly clear within Mo Hua's mind.

But as he calculated further, his brow gradually tightened.

"Incomplete?"

What he deduced was the array structure centered on his own position, extending outward to encompass most of Luoshan.

But this portion could not form a closed pivot cycle.

This meant the Luoshan array was not the entirety of the dark array.

The full scale of this dark array was far larger than Mo Hua had previously thought.

Even the Luoshan region was merely one "sub-array zone"

of the whole.

This exceeded Mo Hua's existing experience with grand arrays.

At least, it differed entirely from the first-grade Five Elements Demon-Slaying Array he had once constructed.

"No wonder it's a near-third-grade array—"

Mo Hua sighed faintly.

Even with his current divine awareness talent and array mastery, unraveling it felt extraordinarily difficult.

Mo Hua flipped again through the dark array master's "relics," and on a fragment of an ancient array chart, found a few characters:

"Huang Tian Xue Ji."

Mo Hua's heart trembled slightly.

"Is this the array's name? Huang Tian Xue Ji Array—"

These characters carried an ancient, immense malevolence; just hearing them felt bloody, cruel.

Huang Tian Xue "Ji"—

The key likely lay in this "Ji" character; an array designed for "sacrifice" must differ fundamentally from ordinary arrays, beyond the scope of anything he had ever learned. Mo Hua's brow tightened further.

He realized he had underestimated this dark array far too much.

This array was grander, more complex than he had imagined.

And it surely concealed deeper array secrets, far beyond what surface-level study—walking the array once or reverse-engineering the pivot structure from the patterns—could ever reveal.

Mo Hua patiently continued studying for a while longer.

The array's outline grew slightly clearer in his mind.

But that was as far as he could go.

The existing dark array charts plundered from the dark array master were insufficient to support further deep research.

Mo Hua involuntarily thought of the four Jin Dan dark array masters in the secret pivot chamber, drinking wine steeped with malformed eyeballs.

These four Jin Dan dark array masters controlled the core pivots and surely possessed more secrets regarding the Huang Tian Xue Ji Array.

"Kill them, search them, then study their more secret pivots myself?"

Mo Hua's heart stirred with temptation, but after a moment's consideration, he suppressed the killing intent.

Third-grade Jin Dan—this was another great realm, another domain of cultivation entirely.

Moreover, Luoshan was a third-grade territory; within this realm, Jin Dan array masters, especially dark array masters, were not suppressed by heavenly dao—their full cultivation could be unleashed, and the third-grade dark arrays they could activate were profoundly sinister and terrifying.

Moreover, Luoshan is a third-grade territory, and within this territory, Jin Dan cultivators who are array masters—especially evil array masters—are not suppressed by the Dao, allowing them to fully unleash their cultivation and deploy third-grade evil arrays that are profoundly sinister and terrifying.

And there were four Jin Dan dark array masters here.

Mo Hua dared not risk it.

Though he now commanded hundreds of Qian Xue prodigies, plus his divine mind sword, and in a real fight, he might have a chance to slay these four Jin Dan dark array masters,

Although he currently has hundreds of Qianxue prodigies under his command, plus his spiritual sense transformed into swords, if he truly engaged in combat, he would have a chance to slay these four Jin Dan evil array masters.

How many would die depended entirely on the planning, luck, and the cultivation and methods of those four Jin Dan dark array masters.

As for exactly how many will die, it depends on the specific plan, luck, and the cultivation and methods of the four Jin Dan demonic array masters.

And the most critical point was that Mo Hua, being cautious, dared not boldly spy on those four demonic array masters, so he did not know their exact cultivation realm.

If those four Jin Dan demonic array masters were merely at the early stage of Jin Dan, it would be better.

But if one or two of them were mid- or late-stage Jin Dan demonic array masters, the outcome would certainly be worse.

If a real fight broke out, how many prodigies from the various sects would die?

If this had been before, it wouldn't have mattered much—but now Mo Hua was the "leader," and all these prodigies followed him; he couldn't possibly let them all walk to their deaths.

"Forget it. Better to avoid trouble. Attacking these Jin Dan demonic array masters now is still somewhat irrational. Let them live—for now."

Mo Hua muttered to himself.

The study of the Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Array could be postponed.

The immediate priority now was to escape the Xiang Yan Mountain demonic array as quickly as possible.

Over eighty demonic array masters had been slaughtered by him and his group; if this were exposed, it would surely draw retaliation from the demonic gods and demonic cultivators.

No matter how secretly such deeds were carried out, they could only be hidden for a short while—not for long.

Moreover, the demonic aura in the air was growing increasingly thick.

If they didn't escape soon, every problem would only grow more severe.

"Find a way—first, get everyone out."

Mo Hua pondered inwardly, then no longer hesitated, addressing the group: "Pack your things. Follow me."

Entering the great array from outside was difficult, but exiting from within was relatively much easier.

Especially since Mo Hua had killed many demonic array masters and, using the array blueprints they left behind, had already deciphered the structure of the surrounding array on Xiang Yan Mountain to a large extent.

This deciphering was still limited to surface form; it was far from sufficient to "perceive," "control," or even "reconstruct" the array, and fell far short of Mo Hua's own standards.

But for guiding a path, it was more than enough.

After all, rebuilding a house is entirely different in difficulty from merely leading people out of it.

As long as he could get all the prodigies under his care and his junior brothers alive out of Xiang Yan Mountain, the mission would be accomplished.

With a plan in mind, Mo Hua took the lead.

The group of prodigies remained silent, quietly following behind Mo Hua.

One by one, they left the central array chamber and walked along hidden corridors toward the outside of Xiang Yan Mountain.

Along the way, they went up and down, winding and twisting—sometimes climbing cliffs, sometimes crossing beams, sometimes crawling through tunnels.

Mo Hua moved with ease.

Familiarity, as if the Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Array had been built by his own hands; walking through the demonic array felt like strolling through his own courtyard, leaving the others in stunned disbelief.

Thus, their journey proceeded smoothly.

The demonic cultivators on patrol and the alert arrays were almost entirely avoided by Mo Hua.

Occasionally, a few demonic cultivators were encountered and could not be avoided; Mo Hua would subdue them, and then the other prodigies would strike them down.

And they destroyed the corpses to erase all traces.

As they walked, the exit of Xiang Yan Mountain came into view.

Before them lay only a long stone bridge, and beneath it, a black abyss.

But Mo Hua suddenly stopped, his expression growing solemn. "Senior Brother, what's wrong?" Sister Situ asked.

Mo Hua shook his head and sighed. "We can't leave for now."

Sister Situ frowned; the others were puzzled.

Mo Hua pointed into the abyss. "Look below. Be careful. Hold your breath and suppress your aura."

The group followed Mo Hua's instructions, holding their breath and suppressing their qi, then peered downward.

At once, every face turned deathly pale, drained of all color.

The abyss was extremely deep, pitch black—but gazing far into the distance, they could faintly see the earth veins below, stained crimson with blood.

Within those earth veins, clusters of writhing flesh were nourished.

These fleshy masses resembled embryos, dripping black amniotic fluid, wrapped in foul-smelling membranes; through those membranes, faint shapes could be seen—deformed human limbs and grotesque demonic creatures, twisted together in unnatural fusion.

The earth veins nourished them.

Some embryos were still slowly growing, but others had shed their skins, becoming blood-drenched flesh demons, their mouths bristling with fangs, tearing at surrounding flesh remains, slowly eating, slowly evolving.

And these demonic creatures were countless, nearly filling the entire abyss, even spreading along the blood river, extending endlessly farther into the darkness beyond.

In the crimson earth veins, within the endless darkness, how many more embryos had hatched? How many more demons had been nourished?

This scene of hell left every sect disciple trembling, as if plunged into an icy tomb.

If one were to fall into that abyss, the sight was too horrifying to imagine.

Even a slight misstep, drawing the attention of the demons, and they would be overwhelmed by the countless demons below—certainly a death with no burial.

And if these demons were to leave the abyss, surging forth like a tide across the lands, it would mean a catastrophe of total annihilation.

The vast majority of low-level cultivators would become mere prey for the flesh demons.

Every disciple felt fear.

Mo Hua, stunned, in an instant of lightning-fast realization, finally understood why Mr. Tu had killed so many people and raised so many demons.

He understood why, in his dream-demons, he had slain countless demonic and evil creatures, yet in the real world, apart from the fish demons in the blood-red fishing village, he had seen so few flesh-formed demons.

These flesh demons had all been raised by Mr. Tu within the crimson earth veins, within the Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Array.

Mo Hua's gaze sharpened, and slowly, he understood what "Wilderness Blood Sacrifice" truly meant.

The demons forged by the Great Wilderness Sacrifice fell into two categories: one with form, one without form.

Those with form were flesh; those without form were evil spirits.

The followers of the demonic gods sold cultivators, slaughtered entire families, and used killing to create offerings.

Followers of the evil god sell cultivators and slaughter entire families to create offerings through killing.

The flesh and blood of cultivators are used to consecrate flesh-and-blood demons.

The residual spiritual souls of cultivators are used to consecrate demonic evils.

Flesh-and-blood demons wage war upon the mortal world.

Demonic evils create nightmare demons.

In other words, Mr. Feng Tianxue holds full command over two "armies of demons."

One army of demonic evils is nurtured within the altar of the Divine Authority Tree.

One army of flesh-and-blood demons is nurtured within the Great Heavenly Blood Sacrifice Array.

Once the Great Heavenly Blood Sacrifice Array activates, demonic power obscures heaven and earth, and both demon armies will pour forth en masse, descending upon the world.

They will not only slaughter countless cultivators but also devour vast numbers of human spiritual souls, bringing slaughter to the mortal world and despair to the nightmare demons.

Heaven and earth have no mercy; they treat all things as straw dogs.

Eventually, the boundary between reality and nightmare will shatter, merging the mortal world with the nightmare demons, allowing the demonic god to truly descend upon the world.

At that time, from the harmony of heaven and earth, not a single cultivator will remain; all will be cast into suffering and despair, slaughter and terror—whether their flesh and blood or their spiritual souls, all shall become the "offerings" of the Lord of the Great Wasteland.

From life to death, from flesh and blood to spiritual soul, none shall escape.

This is the Great Heavenly Blood Sacrifice.