Chapter 349: Changing Fate

"You lied to him?"

"I didn't lie," said Mr. Zhuang, confidently. "I only said the grand array starts at one-grade, ten-rune. I never said the array I gave him was ten-rune."

"An eleven-rune grand array still counts as starting at ten-rune!"

Mr. Zhuang argued vehemently.

The puppet elder's face twitched; he found Mr. Zhuang's conduct utterly absurd, and now found it even harder to believe:

"So what he drew wasn't the core of a one-grade, ten-rune grand array at all… but… a one-grade, eleven-rune one?"

Mr. Zhuang sighed. "That's why I was shocked."

"The array jade slip was given by you—why are you shocked?"

"Precisely because it was given by me that I'm shocked," Mr. Zhuang sighed. "It's extremely difficult. Most second-grade array masters can't even learn it."

And Mo Hua drew it in just one month…

If we lose the bet, we'll be utterly destitute.

It was a gamble.

The issue now isn't whether we're willing to expend so little manpower and Xi Wuli to build a small array.

Very few cultivators, even from many Zuhuoshi Sects, spend their entire lives without ever seeing a small array activated.

Why is that?

Tong Xiancheng turned to look at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua stretched out his hand, pointing toward Shenshan, indicating the towering yet faintly trembling blood aura.

Building a small array demands such immense resources and such complex procedures—no wonder, after living so long, I've never seen one, let alone anyone daring to build one.

"As for Mr. Zhuang's cultivator, without your care, he'll just give up."

But that child still went to great lengths for us.

"Besides, he came to you—he's already thought it through. He understands the small array better than you. Why waste more effort?"

Low probability of killing.

Mo Hua relaxed and said, "Then I'll go find someone else."

Elder Yu stood immersed in the boundless night, his whole body shrouded in pitch black; the bleak moonlight spilled onto the ground but failed to touch his face.

With Tong Xiancheng's help persuading them, things would've gone more smoothly.

Dao Ting Si holds great authority, Dao Bing Si has weak offensive power, but the Hunter of Demons has the fewest members, is most familiar with Mo Hua, and is intimately tied to this matter—even life-or-death.

Mo Hua counted them out loud for Tong Xiancheng to hear, so he'd have a clear sense:

Tong Xiancheng looked stunned. "Small array…"

At most, it changed Cheng Guigui's cultivator's fate.

"If he can learn and construct an eleven-rune grand array, he can trap and kill great demons. If he can't, he'll naturally give up—no point wasting manpower and Xi Wuli on such useless struggles."

…

"Seven-Row Demon-Slaying Small Array!" Mo Hua declared with authority.

Relocating to an unknown, desolate land, living hardship, and likely enduring oppression.

Building a small array to fight Wu Xiaoyao is a gamble.

And that journey across mountains and rivers—how much safety remains? Will those spirit stones even stay in our hands? Unknown.

If it's a gamble, we're destined to leave our homeland.

"Truly admirable," Elder Yu said to the puppet elder, smiling faintly. "You're just risking death once more."

At that moment, Tong Xiancheng suddenly felt reluctant.

Tong Xiancheng froze, frowning as he carefully studied Mo Hua's expression.

He first found Tong Xiancheng and said at once:

Though I thought the small array was hard to draw, since Mo Hua said he could, I believed he could—Cheng Guigui didn't doubt it for a second.

We cultivators can't even use special arrays, let alone a small array.

Those who dare to gamble themselves might not be the ones who dare— they simply lack the opportunity.

But he still worried, "Can it really kill?"

Thinking of his small array, he must have been neglecting sleep and meals to draw it.

We simply lack the foundation and strength.

Even now, we could still relocate the city—just with scarce supplies, life would be harder.

"Take these spirit stones, go to a distant state border, find a good path, settle down peacefully to establish your Foundation—and with your ability, you'll surely become a revered small array master."

Tong Xiancheng wanted to say something, but glanced at Mo Hua and fell silent.

In matters of arrays, Tong Xiancheng wasn't worried—he had blind faith in Mo Hua.

Only at a moment of existential crisis would Cheng Gui ever activate the sect's protective small array.

Tong Xiancheng grew even more conflicted; he began pacing in the hall, tugging at his beard, his heart full of hesitation.

He'd never heard of a small array before—but this was the first time in his life he'd heard the words "build a small array."

Cheng Guigui jumped in shock. "Don't talk nonsense!"

Once we relocate, I won't know if I'll ever see Mo Hua again.

Though I valued him because he's an array master, I truly care for that child deep down.

Now it was Elder Yu's turn to be silenced; he hesitated long before sighing, "I've said it—I won't take another disciple in this lifetime."

But Mo Hua had spent so long with Elder Yu, heard his teachings—that nothing in this world is ever one-hundred-percent certain—so he spoke more cautiously.

In matters of arrays, whatever Mo Hua says, is.

"So what if I said it?" Mr. Zhuang said coolly.

Mo Hua nodded and said directly: "You cannot build a small array to kill Fengxi!"

For a cultivator without a sect, toil a little or toil tenfold makes no real difference.

I held both hands behind my front, paced in circles within the hall, thinking deeply, yet still could not make up my mind for a long time.

Gui Lao frowned and asked: "Can an eleven-line small array kill it?"

Dao Ting Si was torn.

"Decide swiftly or suffer the chaos," Dao Ting Si said. "When action demands decisiveness, you must act decisively!"

Mr. Zhuang turned his head, gazing into the deep mountains stained crimson by blood, his eyes profound.

Even so, it was enough to shock Cheng Guigui.

If not, Elder Yu wouldn't have let me learn it.

Dao Ting Si frowned, recalling a question:

Such a thing was practically a fantasy.

Not to mention personally "building a small array."

Dao Ting Si's heart trembled—he made an instant decision.

"Who will draw this small array?"

"What is needed to build a small array?"

Elder Yu hesitated, then sighed:

"Being a registered disciple is fine, but taking me as your direct disciple would harm me—and harm you too…"

Over countless millennia, there has never been a great array master like Mo Hua—who could draw a small array, who was willing to draw one for us, and who was willing to help us scattered cultivators fight for a chance to change our fates…

"Good." Mo Hua nodded.

"Why didn't you say so from the start?" Gui Lao asked.

"Moving south is hard, but as long as you can be self-reliant, hardship is hardship—what's there to fear? After all, scattered cultivators fear nothing more than hardship."

"Elder, you want to slaughter this pig!"

"Building a small array requires vast manpower and material resources."

Cheng Guigui stared at Mo Hua's back, lost in thought, then sighed.

Dao Ting Si thought, as expected—but still found it hard to believe:

"Talking to him is interesting—he's even had his weak points exposed."

Elder Yu muttered under his breath: "At his age, still so unforthcoming—what's the point of pretending to be profound?"

"This great demon isn't an ordinary great demon; a first-rank, ten-line array cannot trap or kill it—only an eleven-line array can kill it."

Yet even with those spirit stones, sitting on one's wealth won't last long.

Elder Yu thought of Mo Hua, and his heart grew hazy.

This is Fengxi—the legendary great demon said to devour an entire Xiancheng—how could it possibly be killed?

Dao Ting Si walked a few circles, then suddenly stopped and asked:

"Is he truly thinking of taking a direct disciple?"

Dao Ting Si tried to comfort Mo Hua.

Mo Hua's eyes were hesitant and dim, yet his figure had grown noticeably thinner—those days must have drained him utterly, consuming countless reserves of heart and mind.

"An eleven-line, seven-row demon-slaying small array, purely in terms of destructive power, is sufficient to trap and kill a great demon. But great demons are Dao corruptions, anomalies of Heaven's Dao—ultimately, no one knows what will happen…"

Cheng Guigui froze in shock: "What pig?"

"What if you can't kill it?" Gui Lao asked again.

Mo Hua said solemnly: "There's a slim chance to kill it—if no unforeseen events occur."

Elder Yu smiled faintly: "Is there anything in this world that is certain? Even if an array collapses, it still leaves a sliver of escape—how could there ever be a truly fatal trap?"

But such words were only heard, not taken seriously.

I knew inside: Mo Hua did not wish to leave Mr. Zhuang, nor did he wish for us to be uprooted from our homeland.

Dao Ting Si asked—he knew only that small arrays were extremely hard to build, but not precisely why.

The only advantage is that I still have some spirit stones.

Alchemy workshops, pill-making halls, and all other industries are present—our lives will grow better.

Dao Ting Si grew more and more astonished.

"A full-strength great demon, no one dares provoke—but a wounded great demon, no one is interested."

Mo Hua did not hide from Dao Ting Si: "The critical parts are already known; the rest can be learned quickly, but the preparation for building the small array must begin early—otherwise, time will run out."

If you delay and hesitate, a hardship of one unit will inevitably become a hardship of ten.

Dao Ting Si felt a pang of bitterness, patted Mo Hua's shoulder, and said solemnly:

"Don't worry," Elder Yu said. "Even if you ultimately fail to kill the great demon, successfully building the small array will drain half its vital energy, leaving it severely wounded."

"Dao Ting Si, major clans, and sects will all find ways to act—after all, this is a living… Dao corruption."

"Even if all the demon hunters give their all and use up every spirit stone, it still won't be enough to build the small array…"

Mo Hua patted his own broad chest: "Me!"

"He… can draw a small array now?"

"It can be killed!" Mo Hua insisted.

Moreover, the brushwork was extremely fluent—as if he had drawn it countless times…

Gui Lao ignored me.

I cannot leave—I don't have to suffer like you scattered cultivators; I can settle down peacefully to establish my Foundation, find a powerful faction to rely on, and my cultivation future is limitless.

Gui Lao fell silent, then sighed and asked me again:

I want to bet on that one!

But if we win this bet, we will truly change the fate of the lone cultivators.

Even if it can be killed, it's not our place as lone cultivators to do it.

Old Kui said coolly, "You can't even count how many times he's broken his word—what's the point of pretending to be a man of four cauldrons?"

Cheng Guigui fell silent for a moment, then sighed to himself:

"After all, the number of people who want to kill you is beyond count…"

"Xi Wuli first includes spirit stones, but I also have various cultivation materials—like refining iron for artifacts, construction stone and earth, spirit ink, and so on…"

Cheng Guigui's heart leapt; he couldn't help asking, "He… really has no way?"

"Whether it's ten patterns or eleven patterns, if Mo Hua has made up his mind, he will learn it anyway—so what kind of great array doesn't really matter."

Only after Xiancheng has first refused can the great array have a foundation to be built upon.

Xiancheng was stunned; the name of that great array alone sent a surge of slaughterous energy crashing toward him.

That was Wu Xiaoyao—a catastrophe so great, according to the ancestral records of Mr., that no one could ever resist it—and yet Mo Hua said "there's a small chance to kill it…"

Mo Hua nodded, "So we still need to find other ways—but only after you've refused can I go speak to others."

But Mo Hua shook his head seriously, "Elder, I truly have a way to kill Wu Xiaoyao!"

Before returning home, Mo Hua had already begun seriously considering the establishment of the great array.

We don't want to leave, but we can't stay.

Cheng Guigui stared blankly for a long while, then finally pulled himself back to reality and muttered, "What great array?"

Mo Hua's expression was intense, steady yet confident—not like he was joking, nor like he was speaking from wishful thinking.

Later, I'd heard rumors of great arrays—how in some province, some sect or clan, with deep roots, had even built powerful protective great arrays that stood unshaken for a thousand years…

Mo Hua rose to take his leave and went to Dao Ting Si.

And just hearing it, it sounded like it could suppress and slay Wu Xiaoyao…

Old Kui lowered his gaze, stood with hands clasped, and in his downward glance flickered a hint of sharpness.

When the catastrophe arrives, we lone cultivators have no choice—we can only drift with the tide, forced to abandon our homeland and seek another path.

Since Elder Yu gave me this array, in his estimation, the Seven-Row Butcher Demon Great Array could suppress and kill Feng Xi; even if it couldn't kill it, at best it could only stand against Wu Xiaoyao.

If it had been before, I would have taken that disciple in without hesitation—but now, times have changed…

Xiancheng nodded and said, "Bring the person to me—we'll talk together."

"Human power includes artifact-refining masters and craftsmen to forge the array media, the chief array master to paint the array core, and other array masters to help fill the individual arrays; even body cultivators who can lend strength are better in greater numbers…"

"One body in exchange for one Dao tribulation—is still worth it."

Mo Hua's expression brightened, yet he hesitated slightly and said:

"Won't you consider it again?"

If we win, we can live in peace and contentment under Mr.

Even those who told me about the great array had only heard of it—they'd never seen one with their own eyes.

Xiancheng nodded solemnly, "Good—we'll build the great array!"