Chapter 724

Mo Hua accepted the bounty, but since he couldn't leave Qian Xue Province, he passed it on to Cheng Mo and had Cheng Mo lead the team.

But Mo Hua didn't reveal the bounty's contents.

Not until the night before departure did Mo Hua gather everyone and tell them some key precautions about the bounty.

"This bounty is to assist Dao Ting Si in surrounding and exterminating a large group of demonic cultivators in Qingping City!"

A large group of demonic cultivators!

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts tightened.

Indeed, this was a major task—no wonder the merit reward was so high.

The disciples felt nervous, yet their excitement was unmistakable.

Though born into noble families, they were young, inexperienced, and had devoted themselves entirely to cultivation, untouched by family interests; they still cherished the ideal of "wielding swords across heaven and earth, exterminating demons and evil."

Possessing righteous qi, they naturally recoiled from demonic and heretical paths.

In past bounties, they had encountered some heretical cultivators, but those heretics often had weak lineages; though cruel in method, their actions were petty and insignificant.

Unlike now, where they must face off against a "large group of demonic cultivators."

Mo Hua continued: "For this extermination, remember just one thing…"

"Eliminate evil thoroughly?" Cheng Mo asked.

"No. Preserve your lives!"

All the disciples were stunned.

"Don't underestimate demonic cultivators!" Mo Hua looked solemn. "Demonic cultivators are evil, but not stupid. Even if they're not as clever or gifted as you, they have vast cultivation experience, act without scruples, and possess base, shameless natures…"

"When fighting demonic cultivators, one slip-up can lead to grave losses—or even death!"

"Eliminating evil thoroughly is noble, but you must assess the situation and act within your limits," Mo Hua sighed. "I want you to earn merit, not lose your lives."

The disciples all nodded earnestly. "Little Master's consideration is thorough."

Their hearts warmed.

"So," Mo Hua concluded, "when you act, form groups of five, watch each other's backs, and prioritize survival."

"Let Dao Ting Si handle direct combat with demonic cultivators."

"You all are to provide support from the perimeter and mop up stragglers."

"Remember: don't chase glory, don't rush ahead, don't linger in battle, don't fight overwhelming foes, and don't pursue desperate enemies."

"Go out safely. Return safely."

Mo Hua sighed again. "If any of you are harmed, the sect elders will blame me—and then I won't be able to assign you to any future Dao Ting Si missions…"

Upon hearing this, the disciples immediately bowed and pledged:

"We'll proceed with utmost caution, Little Master—rest assured!"

Mo Hua nodded, then added more reminders: "Carry your protective spiritual artifacts, wear your armor and robes properly, bring plenty of healing and life-saving pills…"

After finishing, under cover of night, Cheng Mo led the fifty-strong team away.

Mo Hua waved from the sect gate, watching them depart.

The moon was bright, the stars sparse, the mountains dark.

Tai Xu Mountain was swallowed by thick night.

A group of Tai Xu disciples followed the mountain path, leaving Tai Xu Gate, stepping onto their first-ever large-scale extermination of demonic cultivators.

Mo Hua let out a quiet sigh, a touch of worry in his heart.

He didn't know whether they'd make it through the Qingping City extermination of those demonic cultivators bent on annihilating the sect.

But with Uncle Gu holding the line, it should be fine.

Besides, Mo Hua had already performed a calculation.

Though his divination method was still immature and couldn't reveal clear karmic threads, he hadn't sensed any "heart-pounding, flesh-trembling" omen.

Thus, this extermination likely held no great danger.

Mo Hua relaxed slightly.

Since he couldn't leave the province, he could only wait for Cheng Mo's updates—rushing wouldn't help.

And he had other matters to attend to.

Uncle Gu, during Mo Hua's ten-day break, brought him a suit of armor.

It was the one specially customized to Mo Hua's specifications, designed to match the Five Elements Source Array.

Mo Hua named it:

Five Elements Source Armor.

Five-element enhancement arrays are ultimate arrays—extremely rare.

Spiritual artifacts compatible with them are even rarer, with no established models to reference.

Mo Hua could only rely on his own understanding of arrays and Uncle Gu's forging advice, feeling his way forward, testing and refining step by step.

This set of Source Armor was merely a prototype; Mo Hua himself wasn't sure if it would even work.

It might require constant testing and improvement.

That was exactly what Mo Hua had expected.

During his break, Mo Hua had free time, so he devoted some to testing the Five Elements Source Armor's functions.

First, he inscribed a Five Elements Fire Source Array inside the armor.

Then he rented a Dao Chamber to test spell potency.

Inside the Dao Chamber.

Mo Hua wore the armor, clearly one size too large; though his expression was serious, he looked somewhat comical.

There was no help for it—the armor was made for an adult's frame, so it hung loose on him.

But the Dao Law Chamber is sealed, and no one will see it.

Mo Hua, clad in armor, began casting Fireball Spell at the distant magical golems.

A flash of red light appeared on the armor, enveloping Mo Hua's entire body.

Mo Hua pointed a finger, and a Fireball Spell shot forth, carving a sharp streak of flame that struck the distant magical golem.

A boom erupted, flames raged wildly.

The magical golem bore a charred mark where the fire elemental force had scorched it, but under the array's effect, it gradually restored to its original state.

The Fireball Spell's power was not weak.

Yet Mo Hua slowly furrowed his brow.

"Wrong…"

The armor wasn't working.

He took off the armor again, disassembled it, and carefully inspected the array.

The Grade-One Thirteen-Stripe Five-Element Fire Source Array was etched perfectly in Mo Hua's mind, stroke by stroke, without the slightest error.

The array was correct.

He compared it again with the armor's design.

Master Gu was a third-grade artificer, with abundant experience and refined technique; this outer armor was also flawless.

The array was fine, the armor was fine.

But this Five-Element Fire Source Armor had not activated.

His elemental force had not been amplified; the Fireball Spell's power had not increased.

Mo Hua was puzzled.

Where exactly was the problem?

He memorized the entire armor's spiritual artifact structure, then mentally traced every path of spiritual force flow within the array—finding not a single flaw.

Mo Hua racked his brains but found nothing; he simply lay on the ground, legs crossed, pondering slowly.

This Five-Element Fire Source Armor was forged according to standard spiritual artifact structure.

But standard spiritual artifacts correspond to standard arrays.

The Absolute Array must be different.

Or at least, the Five-Element Absolute Array was different.

"How did I draw my previous Five-Element Fire Source Array?"

"Why does it work on the ground but not on armor?"

Mo Hua recalled faintly how he had previously drawn the array on the ground, summoning the Five-Element Fire Source Array.

After comparing the two, he formed a hypothesis.

Between drawing the array on the ground and the Five-Element Fire Source Armor, apart from the different "array medium," the only difference was the flow of array power.

When drawn on the ground, the Five-Element Absolute Array was activated by spiritual awareness, blending spiritual awareness with elemental force in flow.

In the Five-Element Fire Source Armor, the Five-Element Absolute Array was driven purely by elemental force—pure elemental flow, lacking spiritual awareness integration.

Mo Hua remembered.

The Five-Element Fire Source Array fundamentally used the array to achieve "spiritual awareness transformation," thereby amplifying Five-Element elemental force.

The amplified portion of elemental force was not generated out of nothing—it was transformed from "willpower."

At this thought, Mo Hua's heart trembled.

Spiritual awareness transformation, amplifying elemental force…

The logic of the Five-Element Fire Source Array bore resemblance to the Dao of Spirit arrays.

Both contained the principle of "spiritual awareness transformation," though their ultimate purposes differed.

The Five-Element Fire Source Array transformed it into amplified elemental force.

The Dao of Spirit arrays transformed it into amplified spiritual awareness.

Mo Hua's gaze trembled, as if drenched in enlightenment—he faintly felt he had discovered something profoundly important.

But when he tried to grasp it clearly, he suddenly could not articulate what he had understood.

Perhaps his current cultivation level was too low, his experience too limited—he had only received a hint, not a deep understanding…

Mo Hua slowly nodded.

Since he could not figure it out for now, he let go of the thought and turned his attention back to the Five-Element Fire Source Armor.

The principle was clear, but solving it practically would be troublesome.

It involved the fundamental rules of power flow within spiritual artifact arrays and array-medium arrays.

Once activated, an array is controlled by spiritual awareness.

Once activated, a spiritual artifact operates autonomously.

Simple arrays, like the ones Mo Hua had drawn before—those under nine stripes, not graded earth-fire arrays—were easy to activate.

Generally, elemental force alone sufficed.

Crush a spiritual stone, let the elemental force flow into the array lines, and the array would naturally circulate.

But this applied only to arrays with few stripes and simple structures.

The more advanced the array, the more array lines it had, the more complex its structure, and the more refined its functions.

For example, compound arrays, grand arrays, or single arrays of second grade or higher.

These arrays embed an array core in advance, charged with spiritual stones to supply elemental force.

They also contain complex array pivot structures, activated and controlled by spiritual awareness, allowing regulation of elemental force's opening and closing, direction, strength, and suppression.

Controlling an array through spiritual awareness requires a certain foundation in array theory and relatively abundant spiritual awareness.

But spiritual artifacts are different.

Spiritual artifacts are usable by all cultivators, so their threshold must not be too high.

Moreover, their operation cannot be complex.

A spiritual artifact requires only spiritual energy to function.

The arrays within a spiritual artifact operate automatically once supplied with spiritual energy, requiring no additional mental control.

But the problem is, the Five Elements Source Array requires "mental transformation."

Drawing a circle to form an array is an array logic that can be manipulated via spiritual sense.

With spiritual sense manipulation, one can inject mental energy to transform spiritual energy.

And the Five Elements Source Armor is a spiritual artifact.

The arrays inside a spiritual artifact cannot be manipulated by spiritual sense, so naturally, mental energy cannot be injected, transformation cannot occur, the Five Elements cannot be strengthened, and spiritual energy cannot be amplified.

Mo Hua's head ached.

Indeed, problems that seem simple always spawn unexpected complications once applied in practice.

Thus, the Five Elements Source Armor cannot adopt the "internal sealed array" structure like ordinary spiritual artifacts.

The array of the Five Elements Source Armor must be "open-sourced."

Only if spiritual sense can intervene can mental energy be transformed, and only then will spiritual energy be amplified.

But this certainly violates the standard specifications of a spiritual artifact; it resembles instead a special "array device" intermediate between a "spiritual artifact" and an "array medium."

The matter became complicated…

Yet this difficulty doesn't even qualify as a setback.

Mo Hua had long prepared himself mentally, so he felt no discouragement—on the contrary, his resolve soared.

After all, once the "Five Elements Source Armor" is developed, it will remove all restrictions of location and array engraving, greatly enhancing the power of Dao techniques.

With the Five Elements Source Armor's amplification, even if one's cultivation is slightly inferior, proper strategy will still allow one to fight across ranks.

Mo Hua looked forward to it with great anticipation.

"Take it step by step…"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, and had no choice but to return to the forging blueprints of the Five Elements Source Armor, attempting to "open-source" the sealed array within the spiritual artifact and redesign its structure.

At the same time, he also thought of Qingping City.

He wanted to send a message to Uncle Gu, asking how things were going.

But he knew that wiping out demonic cultivators was a matter of great importance; Uncle Gu's message seal would certainly be "locked."

Even if he asked, Uncle Gu would not reply.

Anyway, he would know the outcome in two days.

Mo Hua calmed his mind and continued studying the Five Elements Source Armor; less than two days later, Cheng Mo and the others returned.

Mo Hua counted the number of people and found exactly fifty—neither more nor less—finally feeling at ease.

Cheng Mo and the others all bore some injuries, but their expressions were unmistakably excited.

"Eleven suffered minor wounds, two had broken arms, and one was stabbed through the flesh, but none were seriously hurt."

"After taking pills and resting for a few days, they'll be mostly recovered."

Cheng Mo reported to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua nodded in satisfaction, then asked:

"What about the demonic cultivators?"

Cheng Mo said: "The demonic cultivators were either killed or captured, but there were many of them, and some escaped in their desperate fight to the death."

"Do you know which sect they intended to exterminate?"

Cheng Mo shook his head. "We don't know. The moment they showed themselves, Director Gu ordered us to act. The captured demonic cultivators have been locked up in Dao Ting Si for strict interrogation."

"Director Gu looked grim—I didn't dare ask further…"

Mo Hua nodded. "Understood."

He looked around at everyone and warned: "Don't spread word of this—otherwise, trouble may come."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Cheng Mo added: "Director Gu gave the same order."

Then Mo Hua dismissed them to rest. "Once Dao Ting Si finishes the tally, your merits should be credited."

The disciples beamed with joy and bowed respectfully:

"Thank you, Senior Brother!"

…

Mo Hua returned to the disciples' quarters and sent another message to Gu Changhuai:

"Uncle Gu, do you know which family the demonic cultivators intended to exterminate?"

He waited a long time, but Gu Changhuai did not reply.

It seemed Uncle Gu was very busy…

Mo Hua thought silently.

The next day, Gu Changhuai still did not reply.

Mo Hua grew puzzled.

On the third day, Gu Changhuai replied: "Extinct."

Mo Hua froze. "What?"

Gu Changhuai sighed deeply. "Someone… was exterminated."

Mo Hua's pupils contracted. "Qingping City wasn't overrun—so it wasn't Qingping City?"

Gu Changhuai said: "It's…."

He fell silent for a moment, then slowly said to Mo Hua: "These demonic cultivators… they split into two groups and struck simultaneously. Qingping City was only one of them."

"We tracked down Qingping City, gathered forces, and disrupted their plan—but we overlooked the other one…"

Mo Hua's gaze was solemn. "Where was the other one?"

Gu Changhuai said: "By the Yan Shui River, at the Yu Family Water Fortress."

"The Yu Family Water Fortress?" Mo Hua looked puzzled.

Gu Changhuai nodded: "It's a remote water fortress near the Yan Shui River, situated on a solitary island, surrounded by water on all sides. The inhabitants are all fishing cultivators, but they're reclusive and rarely interact with outsiders."

"Last night, the entire water fortress was slaughtered by demonic cultivators…"

"But no one knew at first. A day later, a fishing cultivator passed by in a boat, smelled a foul stench and a strong reek of blood, drew closer to look—and saw the river surface outside the fortress turned entirely crimson with blood. Every single fishing cultivator in the fortress had been killed, not a single survivor left…"

Gu Changhuai sighed.

Mo Hua's heart turned cold, and he asked: "Do we know who did it?"

Even if they were outsiders, they must have some identity.

Gu Changhuai said: "We're still investigating. We should have news in a few days—but there are no witnesses. It will be hard to trace."

"What about the demonic cultivators captured in Qingping City?" Mo Hua asked.

"Though there were many, most were minor thugs. We interrogated them under torture, but uncovered no useful leads."

Mo Hua frowned.

Gu Changhuai's expression was grim, but after a moment's thought, he said: "Don't concern yourself with this. I'll handle the investigation. Focus on your cultivation."

After that, Gu Changhuai ignored Mo Hua.

Mo Hua's mood grew increasingly solemn.

He had a strong premonition: the footsteps of the Great Wilderness Demon God were drawing nearer, and the hidden schemes were accelerating…

But what exactly was His plan?

Resurrection?

How would He resurrect?

Mo Hua's brow tightened further.

And since the Yu Family Water Fortress was wiped out, did that mean another altar had been built somewhere hidden along the Yan Shui River?

Who were these demonic cultivators who slaughtered the Yu Family Water Fortress?

And who was their leader?

Mo Hua let out a long sigh.

Unfortunately, he couldn't leave at all—he couldn't investigate even if he wanted to.

Mo Hua suppressed his turbulent thoughts and tried to sketch a few arrays to calm his mind.

But as he drew, Mo Hua suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

Then, as if guided by unseen forces, he took a jade slip from his storage pouch.

This jade slip was Jiang Laoda's list.

Now, the cultivators on the list were dead, escaped, or captured—most names had turned gray.

Even Huo Fotuo, the name blazing with fire and stained with bloody consequences, had dimmed.

This list was useless.

Yet Mo Hua always felt that, somewhere in the cosmic weave, some karmic thread remained unbroken.

And just now, it seemed another karmic shift had occurred…

What could it be?

Mo Hua stared at the list for a long time, but saw no sign of change.

Just as he was about to set the list aside, he suddenly froze, his expression tightening slightly.

His eyes deepened instantly—celestial patterns, arcane Daoist markings, and divine golden hues merged together.

Looking thus, the jade slip had indeed changed.

Huo Fotuo's name had vanished completely.

Then his vision blurred, karma shifted.

The fire sea receded; the tide surged violently.

The tide turned blue, then, as if drenched in blood, became half-blue, half-red—a sea of blood.

The blood sea drowned the fire sea.

Within the jade slip, the three characters "Huo Fotuo" were erased, slowly revealing another name, entwined with the taint of blood and evil:

Shui Yanluo.

(End of Chapter)