Chapter 1194: Heaven, Earth, Man

Bi Jie and his Bifang tribal soldiers clung like sticky plaster, fighting without respite.

If this drags on, Danque Tribe's scarce forces will eventually be worn down.

More importantly, it wastes too much of my time.

Time is precious; Mo Hua has many things to do.

He thought for a moment, then sought out the tribal general Chifeng to learn the battlefield situation.

Such "military operations" were something Chifeng, by nature, would never discuss with anyone.

He was a tribal general of Danque Tribe, battle-hardened, with Jin Dan mid-stage cultivation.

This cultivation level in Danque Tribe was sufficient to hold real power as an elder, just one rank below the Great Chief and Great Elder.

On the battlefield, he held absolute "authority" and would never listen to a Foundation Establishment "outsider" giving him orders.

But Mo Hua was different.

Mo Hua was Lord Wuzhu.

After this period of close association, having witnessed Mo Hua's many near-"miraculous" deeds, Chifeng had gradually accepted this hard-to-swallow truth.

Since Mo Hua asked, he must answer.

Though Lord Wuzhu, stationed behind the scenes and living in comfort, surely had no experience commanding troops.

Chifeng paused briefly, then spoke slowly:

"The Shu Gu secret tribe is nestled in a valley, originally easy to defend and hard to attack."

"But the problem is, the Bifang tribe has already attacked once—they know the valley's terrain inside out."

"Now that our Danque Tribe holds the valley, we've shifted from 'easy to defend, hard to attack' to 'a turtle in a jar.'"

"The Bifang tribe lurks in the shadows, suddenly baring their fangs to strike us."

"And their 'fangs' are coated with Blood Fang Poison—over time, we'll bleed out and die."

Chifeng glanced at Mo Hua and admitted:

"If not for Lord Wuzhu, who petitioned the Divine Master for grace and saved our Danque Tribe's people with the mysterious Sacred Glyphs, the situation would be even worse…"

Mo Hua nodded and asked: "Can't we stop the Bifang tribe's ambushes?"

Chifeng said: "In open battle, we're not afraid. But the Bifang tribe is treacherous and cunning—they've used a rare deadly poison, and worse, their ambush timing and locations are impossible to predict."

Mo Hua understood roughly.

The Blood Fang Poison aside for now.

The Yi Mu Hui Chun Array could neutralize this poison's erosion of vitality.

But the Bifang tribe's ambushes were harder to counter.

Danque Tribe was few in number, making defense inherently difficult.

Now, with preparations for tribal armor and supplies still underway, they couldn't spare manpower—they could only endure the blows.

And when, where, the Bifang tribe would strike—utterly unpredictable.

At any time, any place, it could happen.

To counter Bifang's ambushes, Danque Tribe had to expend mental energy, constantly on guard.

We station, they harass.

This round-the-clock passive "defense" drained both troops and spirit.

One slip, and heavy casualties would follow.

Mo Hua mused: "So if we could know in advance when and where the Bifang tribe would strike, victory would be assured…?"

General Chifeng thought this Lord Wuzhu was speaking nonsense.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you'll never be defeated.

If you already know when and where the enemy will attack, how could you not be certain of victory?

The actual troop disparity between Danque and Bifang wasn't that great.

This kind of "informational" advantage was nearly decisive.

Mo Hua asked: "In normal military operations, how do you gather intelligence?"

Chifeng said: "Many methods exist. You can plant moles within the enemy to relay messages."

"You can send scouts to probe frontline movements."

"You can station sentries to patrol and watch for Bifang attacks…"

"But the Bifang tribe has fought for generations—they're experienced, and Bi Jie is gifted and cunning. These methods are too idealistic, unlikely to work."

First, planting moles is impossible.

Scouts would be spotted by Bi Jie and killed.

Sentries couldn't detect night-moving Bifang tribal soldiers.

That's why Danque Tribe suffers constant attacks and harassment, in unbearable agony.

Mo Hua nodded. "I understand. Let me think."

Chifeng froze, unsure what this Lord Wuzhu intended to think about.

Before he could ask, Mo Hua turned and left, returning to Shi Shizhong.

Chifeng stared at Mo Hua's back, his brow furrowed.

…

Inside Shi Shizhong.

Mo Hua ordered no one to disturb him, then took out a brazier, demonic bones, and phosphorescent fire, performing a divination according to the Great Wasteland Demonic Bone Divination Art.

This was the simplest, quickest method Mo Hua could think of to "predict" the Bifang tribe's movements.

Divination.

Now it's impossible to plant a mole.

Lookouts are of little use.

He could still act as a scout—use the Concealment Technique to slip into the Bi Fang tribe's encampment and gather intelligence covertly.

But he is now Lord Wuzhu.

How could a Lord Wuzhu personally go into enemy territory as a "scout"?

Besides, Bi Jie is already at the mid-Jin Dan stage—if Bi Jie sets his sights on Mo Hua, Mo Hua himself is in danger.

To deal with so many people, the cost of an array is too high, and it's prone to friendly fire.

After much thought, he could only fully commit to being a "charlatan" and use causality to perform "divination."

Having stepped into a big pit before, Mo Hua now uses divination with great caution.

He dares not calculate for his senior uncle; he dares not calculate great heavenly destinies and karmic threads; he dares not calculate the fate of the Great Wilderness; he dares not calculate for certain high-level experts, lest he violate some "taboos" and invite others' covetousness.

But fighting the Bi Fang tribe should be fine.

It's just a minor skirmish between tribes, one or two small battles.

Although this battle isn't simple, compared to the true "great terrors" within heavenly destiny and karma, it's utterly insignificant.

At the very least, it certainly won't make him bear another "black mark" like the Fate Curse again.

Mo Hua's heart eased slightly.

After all preparations were complete, the phosphorescent fire was lit, the demonic bones burned, and the bones began to crack.

As usual, Mo Hua "erased all traces" of the divination, then retrieved the cracked bone to examine its hexagram.

But after staring for a long time, Mo Hua's brow furrowed slightly.

"Failed?"

The hexagram revealed nothing—meaning he had calculated nothing at all.

How could this be…

Mo Hua was not arrogant, but he still had basic confidence in his own divination.

In the past, even when recklessly calculating great karmic threads, he had always glimpsed at least some clues.

He had never before calculated nothing at all, like now.

Is it because the karmic threads of military campaigns differ from other matters?

Must one consider heavenly timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony? The internal factors are complex, involving many lives and countless variables… so it's not this simple to calculate?

Or is it because the Bi Fang tribe also has a heavenly destiny expert who has obscured their own karmic threads, preventing enemies from spying on their situation?

Mo Hua frowned, thought for a moment, and decided the second possibility was unlikely.

Heavenly destiny experts aren't common as cabbage—they don't just appear out of nowhere.

Moreover, a "master" capable of obscuring his demonic bone divination technique couldn't possibly be allied with Bi Jie.

At the very least, he'd have to be at the level of Bi Jie's father—the Grand Chief of the Bi Fang tribe.

Then it must be the first possibility?

Military campaigns rely on heavenly timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony—invoking the "Three Talents" of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity—thus they are too complex to easily divinate.

Mo Hua's brow tightened in frustration; he found this troublesome.

The concept of the "Three Talents" also appears in arrays.

But this orthodox Three Talents array is a legacy monopolized by the Dao Court—he has no qualifications to comprehend it, so he knows very little about the related concepts.

If one must understand the "Three Talents" to divinate warfare, then this "threshold" is far too high.

Mo Hua's mood grew solemn, yet he was reluctant to give up.

He was an array master, having studied many complex and difficult arrays, so he deeply understood: the more profound something is, the more obscure and difficult it becomes.

Obscurity and difficulty imply mastery.

And likewise, the harder something is in this world, the more worth it is to pursue.

The more difficult the study, the more worth it is to delve into.

Once the difficulty is overcome, the rewards grow greater, and the principles comprehended become deeper.

Difficulty is, in fact, a form of tempering—a step toward self-strengthening.

"Heaven, Earth, Humanity…"

Mo Hua calmed his mind and pondered slowly, thinking:

"If I can't calculate these Three Talents together, what if I calculate them separately? Calculate the heavenly timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony as individual karmic threads, then synthesize them and calculate once more?"

The overall karmic thread is too vast to calculate—so break it apart, calculate each piece individually.

With this idea, Mo Hua immediately began trying.

He calculated separately the "heavenly timing" of the Bone Secret Division's location, the "geographical terrain," and the "human intent" of the Bi Fang tribe.

But Mo Hua hadn't expected that even when calculated separately, this kind of "divination" involving Heaven and Earth still demanded an enormous amount of spiritual awareness.

Above, the heavens held sun, moon, stars, clouds, mist, snow, ice, wind, rain, Lei Ting—day and night alternated, the four seasons differed, each change unique.

Below, the earth held mountains, rivers, streams, grass, trees, soil, stone, tigers, leopards, fish, insects—myriad life forms multiplied, lived, died, and transformed; earthly phenomena were vast and intricate.

And human intent held a thousand faces: poverty and wealth, nobility and lowliness, greed, anger, delusion, obsession, joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure—countless variations.

Even though Mo Hua had already narrowed the scope as much as possible.

He calculated only this valley, only the next three days, only the source of the Bi Fang tribe's murderous intent.

But even these three karmic threads, when intertwined, made Mo Hua's head throb with a sense of spiritual exhaustion.

He had calculated some things.

Including heavenly timing: whether wind would blow, whether rain would fall in the coming days.

Including geographical terrain: the shape of mountains and rivers, the growth and movement of plants and animals.

Including human hearts: many in the Bi Fang tribe were thinking what, including the flow of their malice and the release of their wrath, and so on.

But when combined, these utterly failed to form a clear "cause and effect."

Even Mo Hua doubted whether the things he had calculated were all "false."

They were merely his own mental speculations about such matters—highly subjective judgments that contained no objective operation of cause and effect.

They were merely his "taken-for-granted" assumptions.

Mo Hua looked at the dense, intricate map he had derived on paper—charting the movements of heavenly timing, geographical terrain, and shifts in human hearts—and felt a quiet helplessness, even some confusion.

These calculations had consumed him a full two days.

After these two days of derivation, he had indeed glimpsed a sliver of the profundity and vastness of the "Heaven, Earth, and Man" triad.

But the final result was utterly useless.

The concept of Heaven, Earth, and Man was far beyond what he could currently "awaken" and apply.

Without years, decades, or even centuries of study and contemplation, he could never, by his own power alone, unravel the structure of the "Heaven, Earth, and Man" triad.

The gap to actual application would only grow wider.

Mo Hua frowned.

The Dao Court's monopolized lineage was indeed unimaginably profound.

Even Mo Hua was unsure whether the "taken-for-granted" things he had contemplated were truly the true path of the "Heaven, Earth, and Man" triad.

After all, no one had ever taught him—he could only "guess blindly" based on his own experience and intuition.

But the situation did not wait.

Mo Hua had "wasted" these two days with no gain.

During these two days, the Bi Fang tribe launched another ambush, killing two Dan Que tribe barbarian soldiers and wounding seventeen others.

The Dan Que tribe was furious, but the situation had already stalled.

The valley where the Shu Gu sect was stationed was remote and enclosed, far from the main mountain territory.

In the short term, neither side could receive reinforcements—they could only settle this here.

Now the Bi Fang tribe was encircling and slaughtering, while the Dan Que tribe was being steadily eroded.

The only solution was to abandon the Shu Gu tribe's storage, travel light, and retreat quickly.

The Bi Fang tribe, eager to seize the storage, would surely not continue the pursuit.

As long as the men lived, the barbarian armor—though painful to lose—could only be discarded.

Most importantly, preserving the barbarian soldiers' combat strength and ensuring the safety of Zhu Shaozhu came first.

This decision was proposed by Elder Bachuan and approved by the barbarian general Chifeng.

As a barbarian general, Chifeng naturally hated to lose such a large stockpile of barbarian armor and smelting materials—but Zhu Shaozhu's safety mattered more than anything.

Seeing Dan Zhu cherished the lives of the barbarian soldiers and refused to let these hundred-plus Dan Que soldiers suffer further losses for the sake of armor.

In comparison, Mo Hua was the one who least wanted to lose this batch of Shu Gu barbarian armor.

Mo Hua had no choice—he could only become even "harsher."

His Dao cultivation was eclectic; he mastered many techniques, but some carried heavy costs, and Mo Hua disliked using them lightly.

Now, in this situation, the crudest option was to deploy "Spiritual Mind Transformed into Sword."

But Bi Jie was at the mid-Jin Dan stage; his spiritual awareness should surpass Mo Hua's.

Using Spiritual Mind Transformed into Sword against a cultivator with stronger spiritual awareness had unknown effects, but Mo Hua would certainly suffer backlash.

Mo Hua remembered vividly.

Long ago, in the Dragon King Temple of Qian Xue Province, while ambushing Water Yanluo, he had once used Startling Spirit Sword against the Jin Dan cultivator "Smiling Tiger" Xiao Zhenhai.

Xiao Zhenhai had indeed been "stilled" by Mo Hua's Startling Spirit Sword.

But Mo Hua's eyes had bled, and he had suffered temporary blindness.

That was still "Startling Spirit Sword"—if he used "Slaying Spirit Sword" to strike a Jin Dan cultivator with stronger spiritual awareness, the backlash might be even worse.

Because his spiritual mind exiting his body used his "eyes" as the "medium." This backlash would strike directly at his eyes.

His spirit sea might not be damaged, but his eyes would very likely be ruined.

Even if he truly managed to kill Bi Jie with spiritual mind, there would still be the hidden danger of disturbing the Fate Calamity.

Aside from Spiritual Mind Transformed into Sword, the other option was to use arrays.

Among arrays, the killing array could not be used for now.

Defensive arrays, which only defended and did not attack, held little significance.

The remaining option was the Yuan Ci Array.

Scatter small Yuan Ci Arrays throughout the forest to provide early "warnings," avoid Bi Fang ambushes, and seek opportunities to ambush and kill them.

Mo Hua had used this tactic before.

But now he was reluctant to use it again, because the valley outside the Shu Gu tribe was complex in terrain and too vast.

If he truly laid small Yuan Ci Arrays on every path, the consumption of spirit ink would be enormous.

The spirit ink used in small Yuan Ci Arrays was particularly rare.

Now they were in the barbarian wastes; once used up, it would be hard to replenish.

Mo Hua could not bear to waste so much spirit ink all at once.

Moreover, he did not have enough "array mediums" for the small Yuan Ci Arrays—he could only draw the arrays directly on the ground.

This meant that these "small Yuan Ci Arrays" were all single-use.

Once used, they had to be entirely discarded.

This made Mo Hua's heart ache even more.

But now, since divination had failed, he must choose one: either Spiritual Mind Transformed into Sword or the small Yuan Ci Arrays.

Either consume a large amount of spiritual awareness and risk backlash.

Or consume a large amount of spirit ink.

Compared this way, using the "Small Yuan Magnet Array" is clearly the safer option.

Mo Hua sighed.

Too many methods are troublesome; making a choice is difficult.

After deciding, he sought Chifeng and requested a map of the surrounding mountain terrain.

Chifeng frowned, "Mr. Wu, what are you…?"

Mo Hua replied, "I'm thinking of a way to repel the Bi Fang tribe and preserve this batch of barbarian armor."

Chifeng's expression immediately grew solemn.

He was a barbarian general; naturally, he wanted to protect this batch of barbarian armor more than anyone.

Now that Mo Hua said this, Chifeng dared not delay and quickly handed the map to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua glanced at the map and shook his head slightly.

The mountain map Chifeng provided was far too crude.

It might suffice for troop movements, but for array deployment, it was far too simplistic.

There was no choice—he'd have to find his own solution.

Mo Hua could only leave Shi Dian and venture into the valley outside Shu Gu's territory to personally survey the terrain, create a map, and consider the placement of the Small Yuan Magnet Array.

Chifeng, worried for Mo Hua's safety, followed closely behind him.

He also wanted to know what method this Lord Wuzhu could possibly devise to resist the Bi Fang tribe's assault.

Entering the forest, Mo Hua released his spiritual awareness, walking while observing the mountain contours and pondering the structure of the Small Yuan Magnet Array.

Chifeng, trailing behind Mo Hua, could faintly sense a subtle and profound consciousness, and inwardly marveled:

"This Mr. Wu's spiritual awareness is… so powerful?"

He had never noticed it before.

"Could this be… a sign of the Divine Lord's blessing?" Chifeng glanced deeply at Mo Hua, his eyes narrowing.

Mo Hua paid no mind to Chifeng's thoughts.

His spiritual awareness had always been restrained; now, to observe the terrain and construct the array, he had no choice but to release it fully.

Chifeng was at the mid-stage of Jin Dan—he wasn't an outsider, and could be useful later.

Thus, he needed to reinforce in Chifeng's mind the extraordinary image of himself as "Lord Wuzhu."

He needed Chifeng to know of his "strength" in the path of spiritual thought.

Only then would he hold authority before Chifeng.

Mo Hua glanced at Chifeng, sensed the activity within his mind, nodded slightly, then turned his full attention to arranging the Small Yuan Magnet Array.

To deploy the Small Yuan Magnet Array, one must understand the mountain terrain, holding within the mind a complete system of the mountain's topography.

Only then could the Small Yuan Magnet Array resonate with one another and form a unified whole.

This was Mo Hua's intent.

He had come here personally solely to deploy the array technique.

Yet as Mo Hua himself walked among the mountains, with heaven above and earth beneath, a subtle feeling suddenly arose in his heart.

And this feeling grew deeper.

Mo Hua couldn't help but look up at the sky, then down at the ground.

The sky was crimson, the forest desolate, the terrain tangled. They walked through the mountains. Cause and effect stirred.

As he gazed, Mo Hua's heart suddenly jolted.

He suddenly realized his understanding of "Heaven, Earth, and Man" was fundamentally wrong.

Even his comprehension of cause and effect contained a core error.

(End of Chapter)