Chapter 716: The Bottleneck

After returning to the sect, Mo Hua pondered Master Gu's words again.

Ignoring the细分 of cultivation industries, in a certain sense, array media are spiritual artifacts, and spiritual artifacts are array media.

As his own cultivation advanced and his spiritual sense grew stronger, his understanding of arrays deepened, and his method of using "earth" as a medium to draw arrays on the ground became increasingly refined.

His dependence on ordinary "array media" was not particularly high.

Spiritual artifacts—when available, use them; when not, it doesn't matter.

Mo Hua was not especially reliant on them either.

But if he wished to expand arrays broadly or push their functions to their utmost limits, he could not avoid considering the compatibility between arrays and external "media."

This scope was very broad.

It included ordinary array media, standardized spiritual artifacts, and most crucially, customized spiritual artifacts.

Mo Hua recalled the small fishing village.

The fishing cultivators of the small village lived in hardship, struggling to survive; their fishing boats, nets, and spears were all crudely forged, let alone their arrays.

The cultivation world had already flourished for over twenty thousand years, and the arts of forging and arraying were already highly mature.

Yet less than one or two in ten of these cultivation arts were actually accessible to these bottom-tier cultivators.

The cultivation world had progressed, but its heritage had been monopolized.

The arts had iterated, yet were used to exploit.

Not just the small fishing village—Xiancheng, Nanyue City, and the bottom-tier conditions Mo Hua had witnessed in every Xiancheng during his travels—all were much the same.

Mo Hua's expression was complex, his heart stirred.

Cultivators comprehend the Dao of Heaven and benefit all living things.

Arrays are the manifestation of the Dao of Heaven.

Born from humble origins, he had received so many opportunities along the way, comprehended so many arrays—he naturally ought to uphold the will of Heaven, using all he had learned to benefit heaven and earth, all living beings.

This was the "Dao" he had currently comprehended.

It was the Dao of cultivation, and also the Dao of arrays.

Mo Hua looked up at the sky.

The sky was vast, embracing all things, nurturing countless lives, endless, self-strengthening without pause.

In some deep, unseen way, Mo Hua felt this too must be the Dao of immortality.

But this was only a faint insight within him; whether it was truly so, he still needed to verify it through personal practice.

The Great Dao must be personally practiced.

This was what his master had taught him.

To comprehend the Dao but not practice it is no different from not comprehending it at all.

Only by personally practicing the "Dao" one has comprehended can one know whether that "Dao" is truly correct.

If correct, persist; if wrong, correct it.

Step by step, continuing to comprehend and practice, only then could one ultimately attain the true Dao of immortality.

Mo Hua's gaze was clear, his Dao heart suddenly illuminated.

From then on, whenever he had spare time, he began contemplating in his mind the issue of array-media compatibility.

He considered how to widely apply arrays to standardized spiritual artifacts, and how to maximize array potency through customized spiritual artifacts…

Mo Hua drafted many array blueprints, but unfortunately he could not leave Qianxue Province, and he also needed to focus on learning arrays.

Thus, all these blueprint drafts remained at the conceptual stage, with no chance to test them in practice.

Mo Hua felt a touch of regret.

Time slipped away slowly, and before he knew it, several more months had passed.

Mo Hua's spiritual sense showed no increase whatsoever.

Because the Dao's法则, spanning his dantian, continuously "collected taxes," holding his spiritual sense firmly below the Eighteen Mark, preventing his spiritual perception from growing without limit and breaking through some threshold.

Mo Hua felt somewhat helpless.

In his spare time, he had studied the fissure法则 in his dantian, but such things were too profound—he had never seen anything like them, and in the short term, could discern nothing; he could only let it be for now.

There would be time enough later; harvesting Heaven's wool was not something to rush.

While his spiritual sense was stuck, his cultivation had clearly progressed.

Mo Hua could now clearly feel his spiritual energy had gradually saturated, reaching a mid-realm bottleneck.

Several days later, one morning, as Mo Hua sat in meditation, his dantian suddenly trembled, and an extraordinary phenomenon arose.

As before, his dantian full, spiritual energy suddenly transformed into mercury-like filaments, overflowing from the meridians, wandering through the collateral channels, converging toward the Baihui point atop his head.

When passing through the Tianmen point, the spiritual filaments wove like threads, seeping into his dantian, ultimately weaving into a spiritual curtain within his dantian.

This spiritual curtain was denser than the one formed during Qi Refining.

During Qi Refining, the curtain had been like mist; now it resembled a water curtain.

And within the spiritual curtain, array patterns flowed.

These array patterns were all second-rank, glowing faintly, intricate and complex, forming a vast labyrinthine array.

This entire process was familiar to Mo Hua.

It was the ordinary process of the Heavenly Evolution Scripture generating a "labyrinthine array" bottleneck.

But differently, Mo Hua noticed that the spiritual energy in his dantian now glowed a pale silver-white, like real mercury.

This was a sign of spiritual perception's qualitative transformation.

Mo Hua remembered Huang Shanjun saying that silver was the color symbolizing the beginning of spiritual essence.

Mo Hua exhaled slightly, feeling relieved.

His guess had been correct: reaching Foundation Establishment, breaking through the Heavenly Evolution Scripture's bottleneck required not only spiritual sense as a foundation and array mastery as a method, but also spiritual perception rank as a qualification.

The puzzle array before him was entirely formed from silver, godlike essence-like mental force, like flowing molten silver spilling across the ground, dazzling in radiance yet inwardly profound.

Without sufficient Divine Rank, one has no资格 to solve the puzzle array.

If one's mastery of array techniques is insufficient, one cannot unravel the puzzle array.

If one's mental awareness realm is inadequate, one likely lacks even the ability to confront this bottleneck.

These requirements are truly unbelievable.

Mo Hua couldn't help but sigh:

"What kind of Divine Art have I even learned…?"

The demands of this Divine Art are too harsh—it doesn't seem meant for humans at all.

But it also doesn't seem meant for "gods."

Gods are born of the Dao, inherently knowing all; Mo Hua has never heard of gods needing to learn Divine Arts.

Then… what being is this Divine Art meant for?

Mo Hua frowned.

Demons? Monsters?

No matter how he thought about it, Mo Hua found it impossible, so he simply gave up.

"Forget it. I've already boarded this pirate ship—there's no turning back. I can only close my eyes and keep practicing."

Mo Hua had long prepared for breaking through this bottleneck.

Solving arrays was second nature to him.

He had already met the Divine Rank requirement.

All he needed was time—methodically, one by one, he would unravel the puzzle arrays, and the bottleneck would naturally shatter.

Yet Mo Hua was slightly surprised—the puzzle array's color was silver…

Silver is the color of godlike essence, symbolizing Divine Rank.

Mo Hua had devoured vast quantities of godlike essence; over half his mental awareness avatar had merged into his pale gold blood, with tiny strands of pure gold.

Compared to silver, he was far ahead.

This Divine Rank requirement for the Tian Yan Jue bottleneck seemed monstrous, but for Mo Hua now, it felt almost too low.

Mo Hua felt a slight disappointment.

Just silver…

If I'd known this was enough, I wouldn't have gone to such lengths—exploring the dry well, storming the fishing village, entering the River God's temple, slaying the River God, "eating" the demon god.

All that worry for nothing.

I planned ahead—but too far ahead.

Yet this is only the beginning of the transformation of my mental awareness; using silver as the threshold seems perfectly normal.

What comes after will likely not be this simple.

"What comes after…"

Mo Hua pondered, and his heart tightened.

Will the next bottleneck's Divine Rank requirement be pale gold, pure gold—or even higher, jade and lapis?

What level of godlike essence would that be?

Where could I even find godlike essence of such quality to devour?

More importantly—could I even defeat these terrifying gods?

Mo Hua's scalp prickled.

"Looks like I still need to eat more godlike essence—if I can't get the good stuff, I'll eat more of the ordinary, accumulate bit by bit, or else breaking future bottlenecks will truly become a nightmare…"

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

But for now, the Foundation Establishment mid-stage bottleneck isn't difficult.

With a bit of time, unraveling the mental sea puzzle arrays one by one, he would break through the bottleneck and successfully ascend to Foundation Establishment mid-stage.

At Foundation Establishment mid-stage, he could keep pace with his sectmates and avoid being held back.

Otherwise, if his cultivation lagged, he'd be held back. Then this little senior brother, who'd held the title for barely over a year, would forever sink back to junior disciple.

Fortunately, his cultivation had kept up…

Mo Hua slowly exhaled.

Thereafter, Mo Hua cultivated steadily, gradually breaking through the bottleneck, his progress firmly under control.

Soon, the holiday season approached.

Mo Hua's second year at the Grand Void Gate was coming to an end.

After the annual year-end examination, the Grand Void Gate would grant its winter break.

Mo Hua's results were the same as last year: one Jia, six Bing—stable as ever.

For arrays, he could only earn Jia.

For other subjects—alchemy, artifact forging—he could barely earn anything beyond Bing.

This report card was entirely unsurprising—and held no anticipation whatsoever.

Mo Hua had expected it; his mind remained calm as still water.

After the holiday began, most disciples returned to their clans for the New Year.

Mo Hua remained at the Grand Void Gate.

Lyu Province was too distant, mountains and rivers endless, clouds and seas vast—he could not return, so he stayed alone in the sect, daily reading array texts, studying arrays, breaking bottlenecks.

Though lonely, it was fulfilling.

Yet he still granted himself two days off.

Twenty-eight days ago, the Gu family held a family banquet.

Xu Wanyi called him over to play, to relax a bit, to look at the colorful lanterns and eat some good food.

Mo Hua was initially hesitant.

It didn't seem right for me to go to the Gu family's banquet.

But Yu'er, beside him, tugged at his sleeve, his wide, watery eyes gazing up at him pleadingly.

Mo Hua's heart softened, and he agreed.

Soon, the twenty-eighth arrived; Mo Hua prepared to leave the sect and head to the Gu family, so he went to bid farewell to Mr. Xun.

Mr. Xun was surprised to hear Mo Hua was going to the Gu family's banquet.

He knew Mo Hua had ties with the Gu family, but he hadn't expected those ties to be this deep—that he could even join their New Year's Eve family meal.

The Gu family, the Wen family, the Shangguan family…

Mr. Xun's thoughts shifted; he paused briefly, then looked at Mo Hua's empty hands and asked:

"You're going to the banquet like this?"

Mo Hua scratched his head.

It wasn't that he didn't want to bring a gift.

The problem was, he had nothing worth giving.

The Gu family and the Wen family were ancient clans with countless years of accumulation—wealthy, powerful, with mountains of spirit stones, lacking nothing.

His modest resources held nothing impressive enough to offer.

He had once given Xu Wanyi a golden lotus three-color carp, but that was a stroke of luck—he'd gotten it by chance, it was hard to come by, and expensive.

And in the end, half of that three-color carp ended up in his own stomach, the other half was eaten by Yu'er, while Xu Wanyi only drank the soup…

Mr. Xun nodded slightly. "Wait a moment."

He rose, took out paper and brush, and personally wrote a few characters, then handed them to Mo Hua.

"Take this. Consider it your gift."

Mo Hua froze, startled and humbled.

In recent days, he'd come to realize that although Mr. Xun seemed merely an "old instructor," his insight, breadth of mind, bearing, and that faint yet undeniable aura of authority were far from those of an ordinary cultivator.

Though it was just a few simple characters, they must be extremely valuable.

"Mr. Xun…"

Mo Hua hesitated to accept.

"It's fine," Mr. Xun said, his expression soothing, even carrying a hint of gentle amusement as he looked at Mo Hua, his tone implying something deeper: "Come to think of it, Grand Void Gate owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude."

A tremendous debt of gratitude…

Mo Hua nodded.

So that's why… there was this layer of reason behind it.

It was said the Shangguan and Wen families had long-standing ties with the Three Sects—Tai'e, Chongxu, and Grand Void Gate. Mutual favors between them were only natural.

But he wondered—what exactly had been done to make Grand Void Gate owe them such a debt?

Mo Hua was deeply curious.

But such matters of favor-exchange between sects and clans were beyond his reach to investigate.

Mo Hua respectfully accepted the scroll and smiled:

"Thank you, Mr. Xun!"

Mr. Xun stroked his beard and nodded in satisfaction.

Then Mo Hua boarded a carriage, left Grand Void Gate, and headed to the Gu family.

The Gu family's estate was adorned with lanterns and decorations—opulent yet not ostentatious, lively and festive.

Gu Changhuai was still occupied with Dao Ting Si affairs and wouldn't return until evening.

With the New Year approaching, Xu Wanyi was also busy, and Mo Hua didn't get to see her.

Instead, Yu'er, upon seeing Mo Hua, burst into delighted shouts and flung himself into Mo Hua's arms.

Nearby, Wen Wei said:

"Miss Xu is detained with matters and will be free for the banquet. Young Master Mo, why not take Young Master Yu'er around? Qingzhou City is especially lively during the holidays."

Yu'er looked up at Mo Hua eagerly.

Mo Hua smiled and nodded.

In just a few days, the New Year would arrive, and Qingzhou City was indeed bustling, thick with festive spirit.

Mo Hua, who had been drawing arrays daily for a long time without rest, suddenly felt playful.

He took Yu'er and wandered through the bustling streets of Qingzhou City all day.

The streets teemed with carts and crowds like flowing rivers; market stalls lined the roads in dense rows; red lanterns hung from street to street corner.

Occasionally, dazzling fireworks burst in the sky; toys filled every display; and snacks of varied flavors tempted the senses.

As Mo Hua wandered, the vibrant scene around him stirred a quiet sadness.

Amid the clamor, he remembered his days in Tongxian City.

He remembered his parents, his childhood friends, and that eccentric Uncle Zhang.

He remembered his kind master, the mysterious Uncle Gui, his clumsy Senior Brother, and his beautiful Senior Sister…

The Dao is long; mortal life ebbs and flows.

He didn't know when he'd see them all again.

Mo Hua couldn't help sighing; as his expression grew wistful, he suddenly noticed a string of tanghulu before him.

Mo Hua turned and saw Yu'er, one small hand gnawing on a long string of tanghulu, the other hand offering him another string—crystal-clear, glossy, red and sweet-tart—like a treasure, in a tiny, babyish voice:

"Brother Mo, candied hawthorn!"

Yu'er had taken two skewers in total—she ate one herself and gave the other to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua couldn't help but smile. He patted Yu'er's little head, then took the candied hawthorn, took a bite, and sure enough it was both sour and sweet, very tasty.

After eating the candied hawthorn, Mo Hua's mood inexplicably brightened quite a bit.

"Let's go, I'll take you out to play."

Mo Hua took Yu'er's little hand and, along the streets, wandered about for an entire day.

It wasn't until night fell, the lanterns first lit, and the family banquet was about to begin, that Mo Hua brought Yu'er back to the Gu family.

It was just that the road was crowded, which delayed them a little.

Upon arriving at the Gu family, Mo Hua suddenly noticed that the atmosphere seemed a bit off.

What had been cheerful and lively during the day had, by evening, become much more solemn. The cultivators coming and going were also far more reserved, not daring to speak loudly.

Mo Hua found it a little strange. By chance he saw Gu An passing by, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly waved. "Little Brother An."

Gu An gave a start, saw Mo Hua, immediately came over, and greeted him.

Mo Hua asked in a low voice, "Did something happen?"

"Not exactly," Gu An glanced left and right, and also lowered his voice. "Someone from the Shangguan family has come."

"The Shangguan family?" Mo Hua was taken aback. He glanced down at the bewildered Yu'er, then asked Gu An in confusion, "So what if the Shangguan family came? Isn't the Gu family's relationship with the Shangguan family quite good…"

Why was the atmosphere so tense?

Gu An shook his head. "I don't know either, but the person the Shangguan family sent this time seems to be of very high status—someone we can't afford to offend. That's why the family head has instructed the clan's disciples to be careful in word and deed."

"Oh." Mo Hua nodded.

But this didn't seem to have anything to do with him anyway.

He was just here to freeload a meal.

Besides, he was just a little Foundation Establishment cultivator—the Shangguan family probably wouldn't even bother to look at him.

Soon, the family banquet began.

Most of those present were members of the Gu family—either elders, or some Diansi, Zhisi, or ordinary disciples.

Mo Hua often came by the Gu family to visit, so he was familiar with most of them.

Some elders, like Uncle Gu's aunt, Elder Gu Hong, seeing that Mo Hua was well-behaved and cute, would often chat with him.

Most of the other elders also knew Mo Hua.

Among the ordinary disciples, quite a few were fairly close with Mo Hua.

Most of them held posts in the Dao Ting Si, and some had even "fought side by side" with Mo Hua.

As Mo Hua walked along, people kept greeting him—some saying hello, some making small talk, some chatting idly.

Mo Hua felt as if he had returned to his own home…

Gu Changhuai, who had just finished his duties and hurried home, sat nearby watching, his expression very complicated.

Even he had almost forgotten that this child, Mo Hua, bore the surname "Mo," not "Gu"…

Xu Wanyi smiled lightly and waved at Mo Hua from afar.

Mo Hua then took Yu'er and walked over to Xu Wanyi's side.

Yu'er once again threw herself into Xu Wanyi's arms and called out affectionately, "Mother."

Xu Wanyi's face was full of smiles. She pinched Yu'er's cheek, then turned her head and said to Mo Hua with a smile:

"Later you just sit here, there's plenty of good food."

"Mm-mm!"

Mo Hua nodded repeatedly.

Xu Wanyi studied Mo Hua's face for a moment, then said gently:

"You seem to have thinned out a bit compared to a few days ago—probably from cultivating too hard. Later I'll have them brew some more soup to nourish you."

Mo Hua smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie Xu."

Xu Wanyi gave a gentle, lovely smile, then pulled Mo Hua to sit down and brought him some fresh spirit melons and spirit fruits to eat.

Mo Hua settled down comfortably, took a bite of the melon, and looked up toward the head of the hall. Not far away, on the high platform of the chief seat, two people sat side by side.

One was the Gu family head.

Mo Hua had seen him before, but had never spoken to him.

The other had a deep, imposing aura, a dignified appearance, and great authority. Though past middle age, with slightly white temples and faint crow's feet at the corners of his brows, one could still see that he had been exceedingly handsome in his youth.

Mo Hua guessed that this person was Yu'er's grandfather.

In other words, the current head of the Shangguan family—Shangguan Ce.

(End of chapter)