Chapter 527: Keeping the Secret

It's clearly a sect, and a sect that established itself through array formations, yet the disciples' attitude toward learning is far too poor.

These Wuxing Sect disciples don't study array formations every day—they only think about gossip.

No wonder the Wuxing Sect's array formations have fallen into decline…

But what puzzled Mo Hua was that although these female disciples were praising him and his senior brother, their autumn-water gazes were all directed at his senior sister.

Mo Hua turned his head and glanced at his senior sister.

To make moving around easier, Bai Zixi was dressed in men's clothing, her hair tied in a ponytail—handsome and dashing, her gaze crystalline, her lashes long, a kind of piercing beauty.

But she hadn't deliberately tried to disguise herself as a man.

Although she wore men's clothes, at a single glance she was still clearly a woman.

"But why are all the female cultivators of the Wuxing Sect staring at my senior sister?"

Before this, the female cultivators in the Hundred Flowers Tower on Jinhua Street in Nanyue City had seemed to show the same sign.

Mo Hua frowned, deeply puzzled.

At first, he had thought it was just his imagination.

Over the next few days, Mo Hua secretly observed and found that it really was so.

These female cultivators dared to look openly at his senior brother, but the moment their eyes fell on his senior sister, their cheeks flushed and their gazes shimmered.

When his senior brother looked at them, they smiled sweetly, one and all.

But when his senior sister looked at them, they hastily shifted their gazes away, tidied the hair at their temples, and lowered their eyes in shyness.

After that, there were even female cultivators who secretly sent invitations, fresh flowers, pastries, jade hairpins, or calligraphy and paintings to his senior sister.

Now Mo Hua was truly baffled.

Was it because he was too young and naive, or because he had too little experience and was ignorant…

What on earth were these female cultivators thinking?

Unable to figure it out, Mo Hua finally decided to ask his senior sister.

"Senior sister…"

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was around, while Bai Zixi sat in the pavilion, watching the fish in the pool in a daze, Mo Hua spoke softly.

Bai Zixi turned her head, looked at Mo Hua, and said gently:

"What is it?"

Mo Hua chose his words carefully: "Why do those female cultivators only send things to you?"

Bai Zixi was a little startled, her expression somewhat complicated.

"Is it not convenient to say?" Mo Hua asked in a small voice.

Bai Zixi was silent for a moment, as if she had made up her mind; her eyes brightened slightly, and she said slowly:

"This matter, I haven't told anyone else yet…"

Mo Hua was just about to say, if it's not convenient, then forget it.

But Bai Zixi had already spoken: "It's my bloodline…"

Mo Hua was stunned. "Bloodline?"

"Mm." Bai Zixi nodded gently. "My bloodline… is somewhat special…"

Special?

The kind that women tend to like?

What use could this bloodline possibly have?

Mo Hua was a little dumbfounded.

"The specifics, I can't tell you…"

The corners of Bai Zixi's mouth curved up slightly, carrying a faint smile, as she said softly:

"Mother told me about the bloodline and forbade me from telling anyone, so…"

Bai Zixi glanced at Mo Hua. "You must keep it a secret for me."

Mo Hua nodded rapidly:

"Senior sister, don't worry—even if you killed me, I wouldn't let it slip!"

For a moment, Bai Zixi's eyes held a springtime-sunlight-like, bewitchingly clear beauty.

Mo Hua's heart couldn't help skipping a beat.

At the same time, his feelings were a little complicated.

Senior sister had told him her secret, so by the principle of reciprocity, wouldn't it be a bit… inexcusable of him not to share a secret of his own?

Secrets are meant to be exchanged!

But what secret did he have?

He definitely couldn't mention the Dao Stele…

But apart from the Dao Stele, there didn't seem to be anything else…

Bloodline…

He didn't have any special bloodline either… his parents were just ordinary loose cultivators.

Being born with a weak body… didn't count as a special bloodline either.

After thinking for a long time, Mo Hua suddenly remembered something; his eyes lit up, and he whispered:

"Senior sister, I'll tell you a secret too—one I haven't told anyone else yet."

Bai Zixi smiled lightly, leaned closer to Mo Hua, curious to hear what secret he could possibly share.

Mo Hua pointed at the sky and said with a serious little face:

"Senior sister, there really are array formations in the sky."

Bai Zi Xi blinked in slight surprise, furrowed his brow, and said, "Didn't you say that before?"

Mo Hua shook his head, "It's different…"

"When I told you before, I was repeating what my master said."

"Now I'm telling you because I actually saw it myself!"

Bai Zi Xi's beautiful eyes widened slightly; after a moment of thought, he realized:

"When you saw the Lei Jie?"

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

His little senior sister was too clever…

Mo Hua nodded and said, "Yes—when the thunderbolt descended and then receded, I saw the array patterns inside, through the clouds!"

This time, Bai Zi Xi was genuinely startled.

He hadn't expected real arrays to exist high above the nine heavens—and that Mo Hua had actually seen them with his own eyes…

The Heavenly Dao Array…

Bai Zi Xi looked at Mo Hua, lips pressed together, and smiled faintly:

"Fine. I'll keep your secret too."

"Mm!" Mo Hua nodded.

Now each of them had a secret—it was fair.

Thinking of Mo Hua's words, Bai Zi Xi automatically looked up at the sky.

The sky over the Wuxing Sect was clear and boundless, a flawless blue—no trace of any array could be seen—but Bai Zi Xi still gazed upward.

Mo Hua also instinctively looked up.

When he had nothing else to do, he would often raise his eyes to the heavens.

Wondering when he might one day comprehend the true Heavenly Dao Array.

Though no array was visible now, simply gazing at the vast expanse of the sky, he faintly felt the boundlessness of the Dao, the profundity of the Great Way.

He would also feel his heart expand.

All gains and losses, all hardships, would no longer cling to his mind.

Inside the small pavilion.

Mo Hua and Bai Zi Xi sat side by side, both looking up at the flawless blue sky.

After a while, Bai Zijin rushed over, full of excitement.

He had just sparred with disciples of the Wuxing Sect and returned victorious, eager to boast to Mo Hua—but found Mo Hua sitting by the railing, gaze distant, staring at the distant sky.

Bai Zi Xi was the same.

Bai Zijin sat down too, tilting his head up to look at the sky.

After a while, the sky still showed nothing.

Bai Zijin couldn't help asking, "Younger brother, what are you looking at?"

Mo Hua replied lazily, "The sky."

"The sky?"

"There's nothing there—why look?"

Bai Zijin was baffled, yet couldn't help himself—he sat with his sister and his junior brother, staring at the clear sky for a long time…

……

After sitting for so long, Bai Zijin finally grew bored and said:

"Younger brother, I'll teach you a Dao art!"

Mo Hua blinked, "Dao art?"

"Mm." Bai Zijin nodded, beaming with pride, "It's my own creation—a Dao martial art!"

"No." Mo Hua said firmly.

Bai Zijin froze. "Why not?"

Mo Hua sighed, "One, I don't cultivate the body; two, I don't learn martial arts; three, anything you create yourself is definitely useless."

Bai Zijin frowned. "Why can't something I created be good?"

"You're only at Qi Refining—what powerful Dao art could you possibly create?"

"I'll show you!"

Bai Zijin gripped his long spear, ready to demonstrate for Mo Hua.

Mo Hua waved his hands frantically. "Forget it, forget it—take a break…"

"No way!"

Mo Hua sighed in resignation. "Fine. Show me then."

The three found an open patch of ground, surrounded by artificial hills and green waters, serene and quiet.

Bai Zijin's expression turned serious; he held his long spear, gathering his aura. The wind howled around him, grass and trees swayed.

Mo Hua's expression grew slightly more serious.

"This is a spear technique that descends from heaven!" Bai Zijin declared.

After gathering his spiritual energy, he leapt high into the air, striking a dramatically imposing pose, and shouted:

"Flying Dragon in the Heavens!"

Then his spear shot downward like a rainbow, plunging hard into the ground—raising only a puff of dust…

Mo Hua stared blankly for a long time, utterly embarrassed, his whole body itching.

As if ants were crawling over his skin.

Bai Zixi also covered her mouth, holding back a laugh.

After the demonstration, Bai Zisheng had lost his earlier smugness and said, a little sheepishly:

"Isn't it good?"

Mo Hua said helplessly:

"The charge-up time is too long, the movements have too many openings, the spiritual power consumption is too great, and once you actually use it, the power is too small…"

"If you fought a spiritual cultivator, the moment you leap into the air, you'd be a living target."

"If you fought a body cultivator, by the time you finished charging up, you'd already have taken a blade."

"And then there's this name…"

Flying Dragon in the Sky…

A Daoist technique move at the Qi Refining stage, given a name like that—Mo Hua was so embarrassed he didn't know what to say.

Bai Zisheng insisted, though: "This name is the very essence of it. You can criticize everything else, but this name is off-limits!"

Mo Hua asked, puzzled: "You didn't… specifically invent this flashy-but-empty move just for the sake of this name, did you…"

Bai Zisheng said, a touch guilty: "How could that be possible?"

In truth, it was precisely because he thought the name was cool that he had, on the spur of the moment, invented such a move.

Bai Zisheng added: "This move isn't really that bad, is it… When I used it against those inner disciples of the Wuxing Sect, every thrust landed true—I basically had no opponent who could last a single exchange!"

Mo Hua said helplessly: "That's only because your cultivation is too high. Even without using a Daoist technique, they'd have a hard time withstanding you…"

Although Bai Zisheng was only at Qi Refining, he was already capable of fighting a Foundation Establishment cultivator head-on.

The Qi Refining disciples of the Wuxing Sect naturally were no match for him.

Moreover, the Wuxing Sect was rich in spirit stones, too comfortable and at ease, its disciples' Dao hearts scattered, and their strength quite ordinary.

That was why Bai Zisheng could rely on this Daoist technique that was all "flashy show" to cut a swath through all sides…

Bai Zisheng was a little unhappy at being lectured by Mo Hua.

Mo Hua paused, then comforted him: "It doesn't work yet, but if you keep refining it, who knows—maybe one day it really could become a technique that inspires awe across the land and is passed down for generations!"

Bai Zisheng's eyes lit up, and he immediately said:

"Then I'll teach you!"

Mo Hua waved his hand: "I don't need to learn it. I'm a spiritual cultivator—I use spells…"

"More skills never weigh you down!" Bai Zisheng insisted.

"I already know more than enough—I can't afford to learn a messy mix of things…"

Bai Zisheng said: "There are benefits to learning this move."

"What benefits?" Mo Hua asked, puzzled.

Bai Zisheng's face turned solemn: "It's very impressive-looking!"

Mo Hua: "…"

"I'm doing this for your own good," Bai Zisheng said with perfect seriousness:

"In the future, you'll definitely need to find a Dao companion. Although, well, your looks aren't bad—fair and clean-cut—but after all, you're not from a noble clan. If you really want to find a good Dao companion, it's going to be very difficult."

"You don't know this, but women from noble clans are mostly very mercenary. They look at your background, your spiritual root, your family fortune in spirit stones, whether you have a cave dwelling…"

"On all these counts, you're at a serious disadvantage."

"And the Daoist techniques you've learned are all concealment arts, water prison arts, that sort of thing—rather underhanded."

"When you fight others, you also hide your body, stay far away tossing fireballs—a style of fighting that doesn't put you in the spotlight."

"Although it's very effective in a fight, not being in the spotlight puts you at a disadvantage."

"If you're not in the spotlight, you're not impressive enough; if you're not impressive enough, it's not easy to win a woman's favor."

Bai Zisheng's gaze burned bright. "That's why I'll teach you this move!"

"In the future, when the time comes to be a hero saving a beauty, first use a fireball spell to cripple the enemy so he has no power to resist, then use the move I'm teaching you—Flying Dragon in the Sky—and take the opponent down with magnificent flair!"

"That way, it's both impressive and cool."

"Who knows, you might just find yourself a Dao companion."

Bai Zisheng had planned it all out very thoroughly.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, wore a speechless expression. "Why do you spend all day thinking about this sort of thing…"

"I don't need that kind of scheming…"

Bai Zisheng clapped Mo Hua on the shoulder. "This is your senior brother's well-meaning effort—I'm planning for your future!"

Mo Hua still didn't want to learn it.

Bai Zisheng said unhappily: "You're my junior brother, that's the only reason I'm teaching you. If anyone else wanted to learn, I still wouldn't teach them…"

Mo Hua stubbornly refused to learn, so Bai Zisheng resorted to both coaxing and pestering.

In the end, Mo Hua couldn't hold out against Bai Zisheng and could only reluctantly learn it for a bit.

The move was called Flying Dragon in the Sky.

But in truth, it had nothing whatsoever to do with a dragon, and its power wasn't great either. Apart from leaping into the air and being a "conspicuous target," it had no other use…

Mo Hua wasn't a body cultivator, so when he used this move, its power was even more mediocre.

Still, he didn't want to brush off his senior brother's good intentions, so he learned it earnestly—but not as a cultivation martial art, purely as a way to train his movement technique.

He activated Flowing Water Steps, leaped into the air, then came down spear in hand.

Because of this, when Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng performed it, they looked completely different.

Bai Zisheng was majestic and imposing, bold and sweeping, like an azure dragon tossing its head.

Mo Hua, on the other hand, was light and nimble in his footwork—graceful as a startled swan, agile as a wandering dragon.

On a stretch of scenic, beautiful grassland.

Bai Zixi took out a book and read quietly, occasionally looking up to gaze at the two figures, imprinting their silhouettes in her eyes…

…

Time flowed by like a mountain breeze—neither hurried nor slow, drifting gently along.

A few days later, Mo Hua had already visited every place in the Wuxing Sect that could be visited.

The rest were either inner disciples' quarters, elders' cave dwellings, the Scripture Pavilion, the Pill Pavilion, the Array Pavilion—places not open to outsiders.

Or they were sect strongholds and restricted areas, locked up and heavily guarded by cultivators.

Apart from all that, there was the Wuxing Sect's grand formation.

If Mo Hua wasn't mistaken, a grand formation had been laid within the Wuxing Sect!

Moreover, this grand formation was ancient, with a deep, profound aura and tightly woven array patterns.

Mo Hua had tried to derive it, but couldn't derive anything at all.

So Mo Hua ran off to ask Mr. Zhuang:

"Master, is there a grand formation inside the Wuxing Sect?"

Mr. Zhuang nodded. "There is."

"Isn't it first grade?"

Mr. Zhuang's eyes flickered slightly. "It's second grade."

A second-grade grand formation!

Mo Hua's heart gave a jolt.

Up to now, he hadn't even seen many second-grade formations, and now he'd run into a second-grade grand formation!

And the fact that they could build a second-grade grand formation showed just how profound the Wuxing Sect's ancestral heritage was, and how deep and extensive their mastery of array studies.

"Master, what's the name of the Wuxing Sect's grand formation?"

Mo Hua asked curiously.

Mr. Zhuang's gaze grew solemn. "The Five Elements Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation."

"The Five Elements Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation…"

Five Elements…

Mo Hua's heart chilled slightly. "Master, is this grand formation related to the Five Elements Demon-Slaying Grand Formation?"

Mr. Zhuang paused briefly, then laughed. "Calling them relatives isn't wrong…"

"The Five Elements Demon-Slaying Grand Formation focuses on offense; the Five Elements Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation focuses on defense. Both formations are built upon the Five Elements, and both have some connection to the Wuxing Sect…"

"The predecessors of the Wuxing Sect once laid down a Five Elements Demon-Slaying Grand Formation, completely eradicating a demonic sect of the unorthodox path and slaying the demon cultivators within."

"But the current Wuxing Sect probably doesn't have that ability anymore."

"When a sect flourishes, it can take the offensive; when a sect declines, it can only play defense…"

Mr. Zhuang sighed softly. "This Five Elements Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation can also be considered the blessing left behind by the predecessors of the Wuxing Sect…"

"In a third-grade state boundary, laying down a second-grade grand formation like this is basically enough to ensure the Wuxing Sect stands undefeated amid the storms of the cultivation world."

Of course, generally speaking, that's how it is.

No matter how impregnable a grand formation may be, that's only against outsiders. If it rots from within, there's nothing to be done…

Mr. Zhuang's thoughts stirred, and his gaze grew meaningful.

Mo Hua also looked thoughtful.

"Mo Hua, let me test you," Mr. Zhuang said suddenly.

Mo Hua nodded. "Master, please go ahead."

"Take some time and try to deduce the hub structure of the grand formation…"

Mo Hua was taken aback. "Master, this is a second-grade formation…"

Mr. Zhuang nodded slightly. "It's time for you to begin coming into contact with second-grade formations."

Mo Hua was stunned.

Coming into contact with second-grade formations… starting from a second-grade grand formation…

Trying to fly before learning to walk?

Does Master think… too highly of him…

Mr. Zhuang saw what Mo Hua was thinking and said with a gentle smile:

"Compared to first-grade formations, second-grade formations will have a qualitative change in their array patterns, but the hub structures share common ground."

"You don't need to deduce the array patterns—just observe the structure and grasp the overall framework."

Mo Hua's eyes lit up with sudden understanding. "Alright, Master!"

After Mr. Zhuang finished giving instructions, Mo Hua ran off eagerly, dragging his senior brothers and sisters along to study the Wuxing Sect's second-grade Five Elements Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation.

The room fell quiet for a moment.

Elder Kui materialized, frowning:

"You really aren't worried at all."

Mr. Zhuang's gaze was clear and bright as he looked at the rolling mountains in the distance, the rows of cave dwellings, and the grand formation hidden among them, and said calmly:

"Let's wait—wait until all the measures I should set up have been set up…"

Mr. Zhuang glanced again at Mo Hua, who had gone off into the distance, and said silently in his heart:

"And let me spend a little more time with these children…"

(End of chapter)