Chapter 390: Drawing on the Ground

The alignment with the Earth's divine consciousness lasted only an instant.

Then it severed completely.

In the imagery, the vast earth vanished; the phenomena of all things flourishing and withering, blooming and falling, faded away.

That understanding of the Earth's "Dao" was but a fleeting glimpse.

Mo Hua himself gained much, but when he turned back, he saw that the Dao Stele had turned gray.

Mo Hua was startled.

Dammit, did I overuse it?

Mo Hua frowned in thought.

He used the Dao Stele to visualize the Earth's divine consciousness.

The Dao Stele was what directly bore the ancient, boundless divine consciousness of the Earth.

Though the Dao Stele was peculiar, it was not so extraordinary as to communicate with the Earth's divine consciousness and remain unharmed.

Of course, there was another possibility: Mo Hua's spiritual awareness was too weak.

Thus, as the medium of communication, the Dao Stele had to endure immense pressure.

Otherwise, he could never have successfully connected with the Earth's Dao and aligned with it.

"It's possible the load was too heavy, so it shut down…"

Mo Hua felt a pang of regret.

He touched the Dao Stele and worried: "Don't you have any damage…"

The Dao Stele remained silent, unresponsive, its surface now entirely gray.

Mo Hua tried drawing a formation pattern on the Dao Stele.

The pattern flickered, intermittent, dimming and brightening.

Mo Hua exhaled in relief.

The Dao Stele was still functional—its divine consciousness load was simply too heavy, so it was temporarily "poorly connected" and needed rest.

Mo Hua sighed again, resolving to take this as a warning.

His realm was too low; without firm control, he should avoid attempting to communicate with divine consciousness or visualize the Dao again.

Even if he didn't harm himself, harming the Dao Stele would be bad.

Mo Hua felt guilty and patted the Dao Stele again, saying:

"You've worked hard—rest well now."

The Dao Stele still gave no response, as if it didn't want to acknowledge Mo Hua.

…

Exiting his spiritual sea, Mo Hua felt invigorated and began drawing the Thick Earth Formation again.

This time, drawing the Thick Earth Formation felt entirely different.

Having communicated with the Earth's divine consciousness and visualized the Earth's Dao, his perception of the Earth's qi was now crystal clear.

Though without the Dao Stele, his own spiritual awareness could not deepen further into the Dao.

But with this clear perception, Mo Hua could effortlessly draw the Thick Earth Formation upon the earth.

And he did so with ease, effortlessly.

Previously, even when he could use his spiritual awareness to connect with the Earth's qi and draw the Thick Earth Formation on the ground,

the formation patterns had felt as if drawn through mud.

The patterns failed to align properly; the spiritual energy flowed sluggishly.

But now, Mo Hua could truly treat the "earth" as "paper"—the patterns he drew were clear, stable, and fused with the earth itself.

It seemed as if the patterns had always been part of the earth.

Wherever his brush touched, the land existed, the pattern existed, the formation existed.

This was the benefit of visualizing the Dao.

But the consequence was that the Dao Stele had "gone on strike."

For the short term, he could not use the Dao Stele to practice formations again.

"There's no choice…"

Mo Hua felt helpless.

For now, he could openly slack off.

The next day, Mo Hua went to see Mr. Zhuang again.

He had mastered the Thick Earth Formation and wanted to ask the master whether his drawing had any flaws.

But as soon as he entered the courtyard, he noticed Mr. Zhuang was staring at him.

Not just Mr. Zhuang—Master Puppet was watching him too.

As if observing some rare object, their gazes sharp and intense.

Mo Hua was baffled and asked softly:

"Master, what are you looking at?"

"You…" Mr. Zhuang hesitated, choosing his words carefully, then asked: "Last night, did you perceive something?"

Mo Hua was surprised.

No wonder Mr. Zhuang—he missed nothing.

Mo Hua briefly recounted last night's events, again omitting the Dao Stele.

He only said that while learning the Thick Earth Formation, he realized one must use spiritual awareness to connect with the Earth's qi to draw formations upon the ground.

But after connecting, in a daze, he had sensed an ancient, immense divine consciousness.

But it lasted only an instant; afterward, he could no longer sense it.

Mr. Zhuang's eyelids twitched as he listened.

Communicating with the earth's qi differs from perceiving the earth's divine thought by a distance of a hundred thousand miles.

For example, climbing a mountain: one person is at the base, just taken two steps, unable to see the mountain's full form.

The other has nearly reached the mid-slope, catching a glimpse of the peak's view.

These two forms of perception are utterly incomparable.

They sound similar, but between them lies a vast chasm, a great heavenly abyss.

This chasm is spiritual awareness; this abyss is the Dao.

Even Old Puppet, in his blank expression, showed clear, visible shock.

Mo Hua saw the two men's expressions and felt a sudden unease, asking:

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

Mr. Zhuang sighed. "It's a good thing—but it could also be a disaster."

"A disaster?"

Mr. Zhuang smiled faintly.

"You're just a child, yet you can visualize the Dao. If others found out, they'd surely try to capture you, crack open your mind sea, and see what's inside…"

Mo Hua jumped in fright, involuntarily clutching his small head.

"So remember this," Mr. Zhuang patiently warned, "you've said this only once here—never tell anyone else!"

"Mm-hmm!"

Mo Hua nodded vigorously.

Mr. Zhuang sighed inwardly.

His little disciple's undisclosed secrets seemed to be growing ever more numerous.

Mo Hua, however, asked curiously:

"Master, what exactly was that divine thought I sensed? Is it the earth's divine thought? Why would the earth have divine thought? Is it alive?"

Mr. Zhuang's gaze shifted slightly as he explained to Mo Hua:

"All things under heaven and earth possess thought; where there is thought, there is awareness."

"Humans have spiritual awareness; demons have demonic awareness; all other things—birds, beasts, insects, fish, plants, trees—also possess a kind of 'spiritual awareness' in their own way."

"This 'thought' is primitive and simple, far less complex than human spiritual awareness."

"But when such 'thought' grows vast enough, due to its singularity and longevity, it returns to simplicity and truth, often drawing closer to the Dao than a cultivator's spiritually selfish awareness."

"The earth's thought is just like this."

"We generally call this vast divine thought within heaven and earth, imbued with the Dao, 'Dao Yun'!"

Mr. Zhuang spoke slowly, his expression filled with awe.

"Dao Yun…"

Mo Hua was deeply shaken.

So the divine thought I sensed through the Dao Stele, the Dao I visualized—that was… the earth's Dao Yun!

Mr. Zhuang gazed silently at Mo Hua. "Remember what I just said."

Mo Hua quickly nodded. "Don't worry, Master—I won't tell anyone!"

Mr. Zhuang finally nodded.

Mo Hua asked quietly again: "Master, does experiencing the earth's Dao Yun mean I can now draw the Thick Earth Array?"

Mr. Zhuang shook his head.

Mo Hua blinked. "Not so?"

"No."

Mr. Zhuang said, "As long as you can slightly sense the earth's qi, you can draw the Thick Earth Array."

"If you required full experience of the earth's Dao Yun, hardly anyone could draw the Thick Earth Array…"

Mo Hua rubbed his chin, pondering:

"Then isn't my experience a bit wasted?"

Mr. Zhuang couldn't help but tap Mo Hua's small head.

"Don't act like you're being cheated after getting a gift."

"Oh."

Mo Hua rubbed his head and smiled sheepishly.

Mr. Zhuang sighed helplessly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Experiencing Dao Yun isn't just about drawing the Thick Earth Array on the ground—it means you can draw any array on the ground."

"Wherever you draw your array, the array exists."

"This is an extremely advanced technique for an array master."

Mo Hua was startled, then after thinking it over, gradually understood.

"The land belongs to Dao Yun; originally, cultivators weren't allowed to draw arrays on it."

"Because they didn't know each other—Dao Yun wouldn't give them any face."

"Now that I've 'seen' it once, it's like saying hello, getting familiar—so things become easier. Dao Yun now permits me to draw arrays on its territory."

Now that I've "seen" it once, I've said hello and gotten familiar, making my actions easier—and the Dao's essence now permits me to draw arrays on its territory.

Mr. Zhuang was stunned by Mo Hua's explanation. He fell silent for a long while, then murmured:

"If you understand it that way… fine."

"If you want to understand it that way… that's fine too."

Mo Hua's heart leaped with joy.

He could draw any formation on the ground!

This also meant that, between heaven and earth, formations could be drawn anywhere — as long as there was earth, there was a formation medium.

And beneath the sky, all is thick earth.

More importantly—

From now on, when he drew formations, he'd save the cost of paper!

In other words, he could save quite a few spirit stones!

Mo Hua said silently to himself:

"The Dao Stele getting a little hurt seems to have been worth it after all…"

Then Mo Hua asked Mr. Zhuang in a small voice, "Master, this Thick Earth Formation must have quite an origin, right?"

It was an ultimate formation, one that required communing with the breath of the earth, and could even be used to visualize the Dao's essence within the earth.

Although the visualization of the Dao's essence was mainly thanks to the Dao Stele.

Still, to serve as a medium between cultivator and Dao essence, this Thick Earth Formation was no simple matter.

Mr. Zhuang also whispered:

"It's the Earth Sect's ultimate art — don't you go telling anyone."

Mo Hua asked again in a small voice:

"But what if someone finds out?"

"Then learn it on the sly and don't worry about its origins."

"Will that really work?"

……

Old Gui watched this big-and-small pair of master and disciple whispering to each other, somewhat speechless…

Mr. Zhuang continued to Mo Hua:

"You came to this place, 'happened to glance' at it, 'accidentally' learned it — no stealing, no robbing, all open and aboveboard. What can they do to you? Even if you argue it to the skies, you're still in the right."

"Besides…" Mr. Zhuang went on, "if you don't say anything, they might not even know that what you're drawing is the Thick Earth Formation."

"How could they not know?" Mo Hua was taken aback.

"Because their own formation masters might not necessarily be able to learn it."

Mo Hua was a little surprised. "Their own thing, and they can't learn it themselves?"

Mr. Zhuang corrected him: "It's not their own thing — it was merely passed down from their ancestors. They're just basking in their forebears' lingering grace."

"Besides, this is an ultimate formation, an absolute art of formations. Even though it's only first-rank, it contains the laws of the Great Dao, and it's not something an ordinary formation master can comprehend."

"You say this formation is yours? Then draw one and show me?"

"If you can't draw it, what makes it yours?"

"Although the Earth Sect rose to prominence through formations, most of the cultivators within the sect still couldn't possibly master an ultimate formation."

"They themselves can't even do it — what grounds would they have to accuse you?"

Mo Hua said weakly, "Isn't this… my face being just a little… too thick-skinned…"

"No matter. Sometimes, being thick-skinned solves problems."

Mr. Zhuang wore the expression of one who wouldn't change color even if Taishan crumbled before him, who would disdain the rebukes of ten thousand men.

Mo Hua looked at Mr. Zhuang, his face full of admiration, and couldn't help but touch his own little cheek:

"Looks like my own face still needs to be a little thicker…"

Old Gui, off to the side, couldn't help sighing.

Such a good child, about to be led astray again…

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