Chapter 712: Vulnerability

Demons surged like a tide, endless and unceasing.

The aura of malevolent spirits also flowed without pause.

The chilling yin energy within the room grew heavier layer upon layer, rich with countless variations—fierce, cunning, treacherous, or solemn—as if the varieties of malevolent spirits were inexhaustible, and their assault resembled the ocean.

Amidst this furious sea of demons, Mo Hua's small frame stood unmoved.

Wenren Wei's gaze was uneasy, his palms already slick with cold sweat.

He worried for Mo Hua, and also for Yu'er.

After an unknown length of time, just as Wenren Wei was consumed with dread, all malevolent auras suddenly vanished.

The inexplicable coldness receded, the oppressive gloom lifted abruptly; Wenren Wei looked around again, though still seeing nothing, he felt all malevolent spirits had ceased to exist.

Wenren Wei immediately turned toward the inner chamber and saw that Mo Hua had opened his eyes.

The Tree of Divine Authority had fallen silent; the demonic army had been entirely consumed.

In that instant, his divine perception opened fully.

Mo Hua felt his consciousness sea had expanded slightly, his divine awareness grown much deeper.

……

With divine awareness realm as foundation and its quantity as support, his calculations and deceptions now flowed far more effortlessly than before.

Like a river bursting its dam, surging wildly, forward without pause.

Their demeanor toward him had grown considerably more respectful.

Wenren Wei glanced again at Yu'er.

The range of his divine awareness had also increased significantly.

Mo Hua slowly exhaled, his eyes brightening.

"Thank you, Young Master Mo!"

Moreover, his divine awareness realm could no longer be contained.

Mo Hua's divine awareness finally advanced, breaking through the bottleneck between the sixteenth-pattern Foundation Establishment mid-stage and the late-stage, successfully ascending to the seventeenth-pattern!

Mo Hua returned a polite bow, then rose and departed with light steps.

He could finally learn seventeenth-pattern array techniques now!

Within his consciousness sea, Mo Hua focused intently, beginning to re-refine the many malevolent thoughts he had swallowed whole and not yet digested—stripping away their impurities, extracting their essence, then absorbing them one by one to strengthen himself.

"Miss Wan was right—Young Master Yu'er truly met a little benefactor…"

Mo Hua's divine awareness surged rapidly.

Wenren Wei, relieved, bowed deeply and said:

"Thank you, Young Master."

On the other side, Mo Hua had just returned to his room and immediately sat on the bed, meditating, his divine awareness sinking into his consciousness sea.

As long as he got the chance to set up arrays, even a Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivator would be left reeling!

But the matter of arrays could wait for later.

Wenren Wei recalled Wenren Wan's words, his gaze filled with relief and his heart stirred with wonder:

Although it was only a second-rank seventeenth-pattern array, still short of the nineteenth-pattern, not yet a true "high-level" one.

More importantly, it was the array!

Mo Hua felt his spine had grown stiffer still.

Wenren Wei cautiously glanced at Mo Hua, seeing his gaze clear and his expression calm, with no trace of malevolence or madness; he exhaled slightly, yet still probed:

As if the previous gloom and oppressive malevolent aura had all been a fleeting illusion.

Yu'er still lay on the bed, his breath long and steady, lips slightly parted, occasionally smacking as if eating in his dream.

Wenren Wei bowed again to Mo Hua.

Truly… nothing remained.

After Mo Hua left, Wenren Wei looked up again at the room's walls, his heart shaken.

"Young Master, you…"

In but a moment, the refined demonic mental force filled the gap in his divine awareness realm, shattering the long-standing bottleneck.

He had gorged himself recklessly, "swallowed" too many demons—his consciousness sea was too full; he had to digest it quickly.

He had slept soundly the entire time.

But at least it was an entry into high-level arrays.

Foundation Establishment early-stage, learning a second-rank high-level array!

A seventeenth-pattern array could inflict considerable damage even against ordinary Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivators.

Threads of pure divine perception merged into Mo Hua's divine perception avatar.

Mo Hua did not mince words; he nodded and said:

"Yu'er is fine. The hour is late—I'm going back to rest."

Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivation, seventeenth-pattern Foundation Establishment late-stage divine awareness!

Mo Hua smiled brightly, "I'm fine."

Because Mo Hua realized this "takeout" wasn't finished yet.

The demons he "ate" this time were even more than he'd expected.

His divine awareness was already seventeenth-pattern, even stronger than seventeenth-pattern.

Yet more and more refined demonic mental force continued to be swallowed, merging into his divine perception avatar.

Mo Hua's divine awareness continued to grow…

"Could it… reach eighteenth-pattern directly?"

The bottleneck from seventeen-pattern to eighteen-pattern is a minor realm bottleneck, not as large as the one from sixteen-pattern to seventeen-pattern.

Mo Hua's little heart trembled, then he couldn't help but break into a beaming smile.

Eighteen-pattern!

One step, two realms!

Mo Hua's heart leapt with joy, then immediately calmed himself, focused on meditation, and devoured mental force to strengthen his spiritual sense.

His spiritual sense, as he wished, grew at a visibly clear pace, steadily strengthening step by step.

Finally, just a hair's breadth remained before reaching the eighteen-pattern realm…

Even, Mo Hua could clearly feel the eighteen-pattern spiritual sense bottleneck slowly loosening, disintegrating…

A smile spread across Mo Hua's face.

But at that moment, everything abruptly stopped.

Somewhere in the void, something seemed to tremble.

This feeling was strangely similar to the Dao Stele—somewhat like…

The Dao of Heaven?

Mo Hua's heart jolted, then he faintly sensed that some supreme will had glanced fleetingly from the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth, observed him once, and then realized he seemed…

…to have a problem.

And then a temporary law descended upon Mo Hua.

His spiritual sense still grew, but the bottleneck no longer loosened; all the increasing spiritual sense vanished somewhere, sinking without trace.

His spiritual sense realm no longer advanced.

Mo Hua froze.

"What's going on…"

"Where did my eighteen-pattern spiritual sense go?"

"I was so close…"

Mo Hua looked around and discovered that, at some unknown time, a strange crack had appeared out of nowhere in his mental sea.

This crack was pitch-black and profound, containing deep Jin Se.

As if some manifested great Dao law had taken form.

This law appeared out of nowhere, yet fused seamlessly with his mental sea.

All the spiritual thoughts he had gained from assimilating demons and devouring mental force were swallowed by this crack.

As if the Dao of Heaven refused to let his spiritual sense grow further, so it had temporarily imposed a law to patch the loophole…

This law manifested as a pitch-black void crack containing Jin Se.

Whenever Mo Hua's spiritual sense increased, it "confiscated" that growth to suppress his spiritual sense's enhancement.

It limited his spiritual sense within a certain boundary, preventing it from breaking through some ultimate limit…

Mo Hua was dumbfounded.

What does this mean?

Was he now a "loophole" of the Dao of Heaven?

So the Dao of Heaven had temporarily imposed a law to repair this "loophole" of his?

That can't be right…

Mo Hua couldn't help but feel a twinge of resentment.

He was just a lowly Foundation Establishment cultivator—why would he be so "targeted"…?

This seemed to be the second time.

Mo Hua remembered, when he first broke through to Foundation Establishment, his spiritual sense had surged rapidly, but later exceeded the limit and was suppressed by some Dao of Heaven law in reverse.

Combined with the Tian Yan Jue's Mi Tian Array, his spiritual sense had been restructured—forced to shift from "quantity" change to "quality" change.

And now it was happening again…

Right at the final step, just about to reach eighteen-pattern, and now another law had been imposed to restrict him.

Mo Hua couldn't help but pout, muttering inwardly:

"The Dao of Heaven is so stingy…"

After muttering, Mo Hua sighed.

The "composition" of his mental sea had become very complex.

His mental sea was his own, containing his spiritual thought avatar.

Besides that, there was the mysterious Dao Stele, the Thunder Mark of Annihilation, and now, this inexplicable Dao of Heaven law.

Especially this Dao of Heaven law…

Mo Hua's head ached.

He consumed more demon mental force, used his own spiritual sense to manifest arrays, and tried this several times—gradually he understood the purpose of this law.

This law was meant to deduct spiritual sense.

His spiritual sense could be used normally, consumed normally, restored normally—but it could no longer "grow."

Once it grew, the void crack-like law would "deduct" it.

Mo Hua was troubled.

Deducting some spiritual sense wasn't a big deal—but how long would this deduction last?

Would it deduct for his whole life…?

Or would it vanish once his cultivation level caught up, once his realm balanced—or at least no longer wildly mismatched—his spiritual sense?

Or would it vanish only when the deducted spiritual sense reached a certain threshold?

The Great Dao is aloof, the laws silent; no one can give Mo Hua an answer.

Mo Hua sighed deeply.

"Let's leave it at that for now…"

One must be content to find joy.

Seventeen patterns? Fine, seventeen patterns it is.

And my spiritual sense, if counted, should be at the peak of seventeen patterns, just a hair's breadth from eighteen patterns…

This spiritual sense is "barely" sufficient for my realm.

As for what comes later…

Mo Hua pondered, deciding that no matter how long this law would continue to "withhold," it didn't matter.

Because he had no way to stop it…

Who can truly say what the Great Dao's laws will do?

If so, he would simply follow the routine, cultivate earnestly, and continue honing his spiritual sense as always.

When his cultivation advances, or his spiritual sense is replenished, he will eventually break free of this law's restriction.

Mo Hua stared again at the Great Dao law in his spiritual sea, that crack-like fissure, and suddenly felt puzzled.

"What exactly is a law?"

"Why does it manifest in this form?"

"Black, with traces of Jin Se, like a rift in empty space… why can it devour spiritual sense?"

"Empty space, a rift… could it be connected to the rules of the Void-Piercing realm?"

Mo Hua suddenly felt it was profoundly mysterious.

He decided that when he had time, he would study this "law," to see if he could uncover some secrets, learn something.

Since this "uninvited guest" had appeared out of nowhere in his spiritual sea, he might as well find a way to extract some benefit—otherwise it would be such a waste.

With this thought, Mo Hua's mood instantly improved.

The Great Dao law!

He had never seen it before.

Or rather, this was not something a Foundation Establishment cultivator, or even an ordinary cultivator, could ever encounter.

Now, a clear, tangible Great Dao law had manifested and remained in his spiritual sea, continuously draining his spiritual sense.

Though it drained his spiritual sense and restricted its growth, it also gave him a chance—to witness directly the manifestation and operation of the Great Dao law.

All things carry misfortune and fortune together, benefit and harm coexist.

Mo Hua nodded, his spirit lifting.

But for now, he had no time to study—he must first "consume" the demons.

The demon offerings he had summoned on the altar still remained; he couldn't waste them.

Mo Hua continued "eating" the demon's psychic energy.

But this time, it tasted "bland."

Because these evil thoughts never reached his belly—they were all seized by Heaven's Law.

Mo Hua felt a slight pang of grievance, but adhering to the principle of not wasting, he finished consuming all the demon's evil thoughts.

After finishing, Mo Hua clearly felt the restriction of Heaven's Law in his spiritual sea had loosened slightly.

It had also "eaten" its fill.

"Of course…"

Mo Hua sighed, his resolve hardening—he must extract more of Heaven's wool in the future, to vent his rage over stolen food.

His "snacks" were not so easily snatched!

Mo Hua hummed softly, then calmed his mind and began reviewing the array patterns on the Dao Stele.

He needed to prepare.

In the days ahead, he would officially begin learning the seventeen-pattern arrays!

…

Grand Void Gate, back mountain forbidden zone.

A rift in empty space appeared out of nowhere.

Master Xun, his hair entirely white, stepped forth from the void.

He had been in the Elder's residence, shutting out all distractions, deeply calculating karmic threads—but just now, he had suddenly sensed a powerful sword intent stirring; he could not ignore it.

Yet just as he had calculated halfway, the divination disc would not stop.

Master Xun could only endure the patience to complete the disc's derivation, then immediately rushed over to investigate.

In the Sword Tomb, the bearded elder sat motionless, staring blankly.

Master Xun did not know what had happened; he looked around, his expression solemn:

"Brother, did you draw your sword again?"

The bearded elder touched the broken sword beside him, then shook his head slightly, lost in thought.

"Halfway out…"

Master Xun frowned.

What did "halfway out" mean?

The sword was drawn, but not swung?

Master Xun glanced again at the bearded elder, seeing his mind elsewhere, as if burdened—he felt a chill and asked:

"Brother, what happened?"

The bearded elder's sharp gaze revealed a hint of thought, then he asked a strange question:

"Has our Grand Void Gate been keeping a divine beast?"

"A divine beast?"

Mr. Xun blinked in surprise, his heart filled with confusion.

Why would his senior brother suddenly ask such an odd question?

Could it be…

Mr. Xun's gaze sharpened.

Has demonic thought contaminated him? Has the sword intent turned against him? Has his injury worsened, piercing his soul sea, leaving his thoughts muddled and unclear?

Mr. Xun fell silent.

He looked at his senior brother—who had spent his entire life exhausting his mind and spirit for the Grand Void Gate, his body and soul shattered, forced to live alone, guarding the Sword Tomb alongside the mountain of broken swords and rusted iron—and his heart ached.

Mr. Xun let out a deep sigh, suppressing the bitterness in his chest, and shook his head softly:

"Such things as divine beasts… where could they still exist today?"

The bearded elder, unaware of Mr. Xun's thoughts, remained lost in thought. "Then recently, has any high-level cultivator stayed at our Grand Void Gate?"

Mr. Xun thought back, then shook his head.

"No."

There had been guests seeking lodging, but none his senior brother would call a "high-level cultivator."

The bearded elder frowned, pondered for a moment, then asked slowly:

"Then… in recent years, has our Grand Void Gate taken in any disciple with extraordinary talent?"

Extraordinary talent?

Mr. Xun was startled, and paused to think.

Over the years, there had indeed been disciples with high talent—this generation alone had many top-grade spiritual roots, of exceptional quality.

But even with fine spiritual roots, they might still not catch his senior brother's eye.

At his senior brother's realm, near the limit of a cultivator's potential, the "extraordinary talent" he spoke of could not mean ordinary talent.

It must be someone astonishing even among prodigies.

Mr. Xun's mind stirred, and suddenly he thought of Mo Hua.

That boy, Mo Hua…

His array art was indeed astonishing, but beyond arrays, every other skill—he failed at every single one…

He was impossibly one-sided.

And array art… has nothing to do with his senior brother.

His senior brother didn't master arrays; he wouldn't care about an array prodigy.

Still, to be safe, Mr. Xun asked: "Extraordinary talent… what kind of 'talent' are you referring to?"

The bearded elder's eyes darkened with thought.

If it were one of our disciples… then this person must possess an extremely potent soul-nimble killing ability…

The bearded elder said: "Has there been any disciple with sword Dao attunement, innate sword intent, or innate soul-nimble manifestation, skilled in combat?"

Innate sword intent, soul-nimble combat…

Mr. Xun nodded slightly.

That had nothing to do with Mo Hua.

That boy was an array master, not a swordsman—he struggled even to wield a sword, and he was gentle and frail; how could he ever engage in combat?

None of the other disciples seemed to fit either…

The Grand Void Gate had sealed soul-nimble sword transformation as a forbidden technique.

Other sword arts were hardly top-tier.

If a true prodigy with innate sword intent existed, why would he join the Grand Void Gate to learn such mediocre sword lineages?

In Qianxue Province, there were countless sword sects for him to choose from.

And even if soul-nimble sword transformation hadn't been sealed, no one would dare let such a "innate sword intent" prodigy train in it—unless his life was so unbreakable he simply couldn't die.

"No."

Mr. Xun declared firmly.

The bearded elder closed his eyes and sighed, visibly disappointed.

Mr. Xun frowned. "Senior brother, why are you asking these questions?"

The bearded elder opened his eyes, looked at his brother—whose hair had turned white from worrying for the sect—and recalled how, in his youth, this man had been elegant and full of vigor. He could not bear to burden him further.

"Nothing," the bearded elder said calmly. "Just curious."

Mr. Xun didn't believe him, but seeing his senior brother had closed his eyes and appeared unwilling to speak further, he sighed helplessly.

He'd been stubborn all his life, and now half-buried in the grave, his temper hadn't changed a bit.

Mr. Xun shook his head, reproachfully warning: "Hold on to your breath—don't draw your sword again…"

Then he turned, extended a finger, and sliced open a rift in empty space, leaving without another word.

After Mr. Xun departed, the bearded elder slowly opened his eyes again. He turned his head, taking in the entire ancient and majestic Grand Void Mountain, and murmured with a frown:

"Who exactly… is it?"

Grand Void Mountain stretched vast and misty, its lush Lin Mu trees concealing everything.

The bearded elder's gaze sharpened. "Next time you strike, I'll catch you…"

(End of Chapter)