Chapter 796: The Deceitful Shadow

"Record it under Mo Hua's name?"

Xun Ziyou froze.

The old master Xun gave him a cool glance. "What? Not allowed?"

"No," Xun Ziyou said awkwardly, "it's not that it's not allowed—this time, discovering the Ten Thousand Demons Valley, wiping out these demonic cultivators, and rescuing those three children, Linghu Xiao, all owe to Mo Hua—but…"

Xun Ziyou looked troubled. "Still, this goes against protocol—it might not win the others' approval."

The old master Xun's expression darkened slightly. "Whose approval? The capable should bear more burden; those who labor should reap more. Didn't our Grand Void Gate carve fat from the Broken Gold Sect precisely because of this boy, Mo Hua? If anyone objects, let them come to me—I'll see what excuse they can muster."

Xun Ziyou smiled bitterly. "Yes…"

The old master Xun said: "When the time comes, you choose some cleaner, less entangled cultivation industries, first place them under my name, then transfer them to Mo Hua's."

"If anyone asks, say it was my decision. But if no one asks, don't volunteer it—better to avoid trouble than invite it…"

After speaking, the old master Xun let out a faint sigh and mused:

"It's hard for lone cultivators to advance, especially without Spirit Stones—without them, not a single step forward is possible."

"Right now, his realm is low, so it's not obvious—but when his cultivation rises, every inhalation and exhalation will consume vast quantities of Spirit Stones. How can he manage without a foundation?"

"You're right, Elder," Xun Ziyou said.

Yet inwardly, he still harbored reservations.

If others heard you say this, they'd think Mo Hua is your own grandson—otherwise it'd be strange…

Still, Mo Hua's contribution in the Ten Thousand Demons Valley was immense; granting him a share of the spoils is perfectly reasonable.

Xun Ziyou bowed and said:

"Once we've settled matters with the Broken Gold Sect, I'll follow your instructions—select some industries and transfer them to Mo Hua's name, and direct all annual profits in Spirit Stones straight to him…"

But the old master Xun cut him off: "Not now."

"Not now?" Xun Ziyou was startled.

The old master Xun nodded. "Hold onto it. Don't give it to him yet."

Seeing Xun Ziyou's confusion, the old master Xun continued: "He's still young. What does he need so many Spirit Stones for?"

"Too many Spirit Stones make one lazy, corrupt, and forget how to strive."

"When he truly needs them for cultivation someday, then give them to him."

"A gift in the snow is always better than silk added to brocade."

The same favor—given in the snow, people remember your kindness.

Added to brocade, sometimes people barely notice.

This was the old master Xun's small private motive.

He wanted Mo Hua to remember more of the Grand Void Sect's grace.

Of course, he also had another concern.

That was the "Deceitful Daoist…"

Mo Hua's spiritual sense talent was too strong—even possibly stronger than the "Deceitful Daoist." If he strayed, the consequences would be catastrophic.

He might even become a demon lord more terrifying than the "Deceitful Daoist."

So this stash of Spirit Stones must wait until Mo Hua has truly grown, until he has firmly anchored his Dao heart, before he can be trusted with it.

Otherwise, it would be a great sin.

The old master Xun did not voice these words.

Xun Ziyou did not understand the full truth, only nodded and said:

"Your Elder's consideration is sound."

Afterward, the two spoke for a while longer.

With matters largely settled, Xun Ziyou bowed and said: "It's getting late—I'll take my leave now."

"Mm." The old master Xun nodded.

Xun Ziyou fell silent for a moment, a question weighing on his mind—but after much hesitation, he still did not ask.

A fifth-rank Void Array…

He didn't ask. The old master Xun didn't mention it either.

As if everyone had forgotten.

But Xun Ziyou knew clearly—this was the most critical point. Yet this level, involving fifth-rank arrays and Void-Perceiving experts, was far beyond his ability to inquire about, let alone touch.

Even if the Elder uncovered something, he could never speak of it.

It was Mo Hua…

"Elder," Xun Ziyou said slowly, "this boy, Mo Hua—his Dao, isn't it quite different from ordinary cultivators'?"

The old master Xun's expression remained calm. "How is it different?"

Xun Ziyou frowned. "His spiritual sense seems far stronger than peers of the same realm. Moreover, he can infiltrate certain contemplative objects—and he appears deeply familiar with the ways of malevolent spirits…"

"Surely you didn't teach him these?"

Xun Ziyou's expression grew solemn. "What is his origin? Where did he acquire this lineage?"

The old master Xun gave no direct answer, only said:

"Don't ask further. Keep it to yourself. And don't mention it to others."

"Elder…" Xun Ziyou was puzzled.

The old master Xun spoke with deep implication: "If you don't ask, you won't know. If you don't know, there's no karmic entanglement."

"Sometimes, no karmic entanglement… is the best karmic outcome…"

Xun Ziyou was stunned, then solemnly nodded.

The old master Xun waved his hand. "Go attend to your duties."

"Yes." Elder Xun Ziyou bowed and said, "Your disciple takes leave."

After Elder Xun Ziyou left, the old Mr. Xun fell silent.

He knew certain things about Mo Hua, but had never asked about them.

That man surnamed Zhuang had nearly perfected the Art of Heavenly Mechanism Calculations.

Before his death, he must have manipulated this child, using the Veil of Heavenly Mechanism to obscure certain critical karmic threads.

As long as Mo Hua does not speak of his secrets, they remain safe.

But if he speaks—even to himself—they may no longer be safe…

The old Mr. Xun's gaze was deep; he sighed slowly.

The night was profound.

In a secret chamber of a great hall.

Mr. Tu was undergoing "Shen Shouxing."

The Ten Thousand Demons Valley had been wiped out; over the years, its cultivated demons were nearly annihilated, and the demonic spawn it nurtured were devoured entirely.

A fragment of his soul was erased; his primordial energy was severely wounded.

He had come within a hair's breadth of losing the Young Master's divine soul forever to the nightmare.

This was, thus far, the most brutal loss.

Losing the Ten Thousand Demons Valley within the Demon Refining Mountain meant losing an inexhaustible treasury.

The supply of countless demonic cultivator "claws and fangs," demonic beast materials, demonic flesh, demonic malevolent thoughts, and more, had been cut off.

Though the cause was understandable, a divine punishment was unavoidable.

This was, thus far, the harshest "Shen Shouxing" Mr. Tu had ever endured.

He had witnessed, and personally experienced, the myriad tortures of the Three Thousand Great Wilds, where the mortal realm was a hell.

After the punishment ended, Mr. Tu's skin was shredded, bones exposed, slumped on the ground, nearly devoid of Shi Renxing, like a mangled mass of "flesh."

At the same time, even greater agony was his divine soul.

After an unknown length of time, Mr. Tu finally emerged from the endless pain.

The agony of the divine punishment was seared into his divine soul.

His flesh and skin, however, were gradually reviving, regaining Shi Renxing.

Mr. Tu trembled as he knelt before the pale white goat-bone divine statue, his voice shaking: "This guilty servant thanks… thanks the Divine Lord for His mercy…"

The Divine Lord had inflicted brutal punishment.

The divine punishment had been unprecedentedly severe.

But Mr. Tu knew clearly: the Divine Lord had still held back.

The Divine Lord had shown him mercy.

The defeat in this battle, at its root, was because the opponent was a "Fierce God."

How could a mortal rival a god?

It was not that he was too weak—it was that the Fierce God was too strong.

Before a god, even the most meticulous preparation and the most careful plan could be utterly futile.

Yet this battle, despite its heavy losses, had also yielded great gains.

Mr. Tu prostrated himself, his voice trembling with fear:

"The true enemy of the Divine Lord has revealed his face before this guilty servant…"

"He is a young, newly hatched Fierce God!"

"This god's divine art is a Jin Se divine sword, but its form is ancient and crude, resembling a sword yet not quite a sword."

"To wield a sword as divine art reveals his overwhelming murderous nature!"

"The myriad demonic spirits within the Demon Refining Diagram were slaughtered clean—revealing the depth of his ferocity!"

"This god must be a Fierce God among the evil deities."

"And his claws and followers, foremost among them, are the Grand Void Gate!"

"Even the Chong Xu Gate and the Tai A Gate are not innocent!"

"Within this triad of sects, there must be high-level cultivators secretly worshipping this 'Fierce God,' serving under his command, scheming meticulously to protect this young Fierce God as he grows, and ruling a region."

"And this Fierce God's goal…"

Mr. Tu bowed his head, his teeth chattering, "Is the Divine Lord himself!"

The chamber darkened abruptly.

Fearing, Mr. Tu spoke faster: "The Divine Lord sleeps; His divine awareness is Guan Chenji; His divine might is unseen."

"This Fierce God dares to be so audacious, seeking to take advantage of this moment, coveting the Divine Lord, secretly stealing His authority, plotting to usurp His rank, even…"

"To lay hands on the Divine Lord's divine essence!"

A chilling wind surged; the chamber turned heavy with blood-red hue, as if an incomparable pressure descended, causing Qi Zhixi.

The Divine Lord was enraged!

Mr. Tu knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head.

Moments later, all vanished.

Mr. Tu felt a "divine omen" within his heart.

It seemed the Divine Lord had granted him some revelation.

For an instant, Mr. Tu's eyes grew hollow and cruel, revealing an eerie majesty—then returned to normal.

After a moment of stunned silence, Mr. Tu's expression turned ecstatic.

He suppressed the shock and excitement within, and reverently knelt, saying:

"By the grace of the Divine Lord, this old servant will spare no effort to lay down a heavenly net and capture this 'Fierce God'."

"Let this young Fierce God become the most bountiful 'sacrifice' at the Divine Lord's revival ceremony!"

"Let Him know: those who defy the Divine Lord's majesty—even gods—shall surely die!"

After Master Tu finished speaking, the crimson hue in the room gradually faded.

The oppressive atmosphere vanished completely.

Master Tu slowly rose to his feet, yet his expression was exceedingly solemn.

Hunting the 'Fierce God'... would inevitably be extraordinarily difficult.

How many sacrifices would be required? How many lives would be lost? How many demons and evil spirits would be reduced to ashes...

But all of this would be worth it.

Moreover, that Fierce God is still in infancy, its divine rank merely second-grade, its divine abilities not yet fully developed; no matter how strong, its power is limited.

If we do not kill it now, it will surely become a great threat in the future!

That Fierce God...

In Master Tu's mind, unbidden, the scene his own lingering soul had witnessed at its final moment reappeared.

Golden light filling the heavens, a tiny divine body, a crude yet terrifying 'Divine Sword'.

This image was what he had 'calculated'.

After a lingering soul perishes, everything related to it also vanishes.

He should not have known this.

He had borrowed the Divine Lord's mental force to deduce his own fate, and thus saw the scene his lingering soul had witnessed before death.

He dared to deduce only himself.

Even with eighteen more pairs of courage, he would never dare to deduce a Fierce God.

And what he saw by deducing his own lingering soul was precisely this scene.

Beyond this, not a single clue remained.

He could not see the Fierce God's face, nor its form.

This was not unusual in itself; what truly troubled Master Tu was that, faintly, he seemed to have seen the Fierce God's eyes.

Those eyes were as deep as a frozen pool, shimmering with shifting light, complex and strange, as if containing many layered forces.

And the most chilling of them was a 'shadow'.

This was no ordinary shadow.

Within the Fierce God's eye, that shadow faintly contained a peculiar divine-narrative algorithm.

A name surfaced in Master Tu's heart.

He felt ice-cold all over.

Master Tu immediately shook his head: "Impossible. Even if that person's Dao is terrifying and bizarre, his hand could never reach so far..."

"Not to mention, not under the Divine Lord's very gaze."

"Impossible..."

Master Tu murmured.

In the unseen, karmic currents stirred, and Master Tu cast aside this suspicion, forgetting it.

Yet he never realized whether he had forgotten it willingly—or been forced to forget it...

Across Qianxue Province, hidden currents surged.

Mo Hua's days, by contrast, grew peaceful.

He lit calming incense every day and visualized the 'Grand Void Diagram' given to him by Master Xun—Mo Hua did not even know the diagram's true name, so he used his own talent and named it arbitrarily.

Visualizing the Grand Void Diagram purified his Dao heart.

Aside from this, classes, cultivation, and learning arrays remained unchanged as ever.

After several days, the lingering mottled and chaotic evil desires in his mind-sea were nearly purified.

Mo Hua also took some time to consolidate his mind-sea.

Thus, his spiritual awareness realm was finally stabilized.

Nineteen patterns!

Mo Hua felt delighted inside.

For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, spiritual awareness typically peaks at this level.

Even his senior classmates from the year above did not surpass his spiritual awareness.

Some even among the Inner Sect disciples at Foundation Establishment peak, if they did not study arrays or pursue the path of spiritual awareness, still had weaker spiritual awareness than his.

Mo Hua was very satisfied.

Moreover, though his cultivation level had not increased, thanks to his spiritual awareness breaking through two realms, his mental force had grown stronger, and most of his Dao methods—including arrays, spells, and even the rudimentary 'mental force forming sword'—had noticeably improved.

Yet...

Thinking of 'mental force forming sword', Mo Hua slightly frowned.

His mental force forming sword was 'disabled'.

It could only be used within the mental world—in visualized diagrams, illusions, dreams, or nightmares.

It could not be used in reality.

But the orthodox 'Grand Void Mental Force Sword Formation True Scripture' should not be like this...

Mo Hua recalled the sword cultivator elder from the small fishing village.

That elder's mental force forming sword could be used in reality.

Relying on the sword scripture, he projected his mental force, condensing it into sword intent, merging it with sword qi, capable of slaying flesh-and-blood demons and exorcising ghosts and evil spirits.

But mine doesn't work.

Mo Hua had tried many times, and no matter how he tried, it never worked.

Foundation Establishment cultivators can indeed project their spiritual sense outward.

But this projection can only passively perceive; it cannot actively attack.

At best, one can actively "command objects."

Yet commanding objects themselves does not rely on spiritual sense to strike down, but rather on the objects being commanded—such as spirit swords or other spirit artifacts—to carry out offense and defense.

Mo Hua sighed.

"Exactly how can one learn true 'spiritual sense sword command'?"

"Is my spiritual sense not strong enough?"

Mo Hua froze—he suddenly remembered that long ago, Huang Shanjun had indeed said the spiritual sense requirement for spiritual sense sword command:

"At least Golden Core, twenty patterns or more..."

"And even Jin Dan might not be able to cultivate it..."

"After all, spiritual sense transforming into a sword is sword qi giving birth to sword intent, and sword intent manifesting as sword qi—not merely using 'spiritual sense' to manifest sword qi..."

Mo Hua scratched his head.

Twenty patterns, Golden Core spiritual sense—how many years would that take?

Those who cultivate spiritual sense know that breaking through a major realm's single pattern of spiritual sense requires an utterly terrifying amount of spiritual energy.

From nine patterns to ten patterns, he had labored for a long time.

From nineteen patterns to twenty patterns, let alone—the gap between them was probably as vast as the sea.

Mo Hua thought again:

"Since my spiritual sense is special, maybe I don't need exactly twenty patterns—what if I try again once it's slightly stronger than nineteen patterns?"

But this raised another problem.

How could he break through beyond nineteen patterns?

Reaching nineteen patterns now was, to some extent, pure luck.

Mr. Tu had raised, in the Ten Thousand Demons Valley, an enormous number of demonic spirits over many years—and in the end, they benefited him, as he swallowed them all in one gulp.

After refining so many evil spirits, he had finally satisfied the Heavenly Dao seal, allowing his spiritual sense to break past eighteen patterns and surge straight to nineteen patterns.

But there was only one Ten Thousand Demons Valley.

No matter how powerful Mr. Tu was, he could not create a second "demonic spirit land" within the Qianxue State border.

If so, he would have to leave the state border.

But he was still under house arrest...

Mo Hua's thoughts stirred, "Maybe I should ask Old Master Xun, when I have time, if he can lift my house arrest?"

"But what excuse should I use?"

Mo Hua was troubled.

Just as he hesitated, unsure what "legitimate reason" to give to persuade Old Master Xun, Old Master Xun came to him first.

"Here is the eighteen-pattern array diagram."

Old Master Xun handed Mo Hua a thick stack of array diagrams containing various Five Elements and Eight Trigrams formations, and warned:

"Though your spiritual sense has already reached nineteen patterns, you must still learn array techniques step by step—start with eighteen patterns, master it thoroughly, then move to nineteen patterns. Don't reach too high too soon."

"Yes, Old Master," Mo Hua replied respectfully.

Old Master Xun glanced at Mo Hua, then asked suddenly: "Can your spiritual sense become even stronger?"

Mo Hua froze.

Nineteen patterns isn't strong enough?

"You mean... twenty patterns?" Mo Hua whispered.

Old Master Xun replied irritably:

"How could it possibly be twenty patterns? Even with the best fortune and most incredible talent, you cannot reach twenty patterns in Foundation Establishment!"

Having Foundation Establishment mid-stage spiritual sense versus having Foundation Establishment realm spiritual sense—is that the same thing?

Between Foundation Establishment and Jin Dan lies a great chasm.

Both in cultivation level and spiritual sense.

"Oh oh," Mo Hua nodded.

Old Master Xun looked at Mo Hua, his gaze revealing a faint, hidden longing: "Just a little stronger than now would be enough."

A little stronger means safer.

This concerns the sect's future—the safer, the better.

"A little stronger?" Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "I can!"

Then Mo Hua feigned difficulty and whispered: "But within the Qianxue State border, it's probably impossible—I'd need to travel outside, seek some opportunities, undergo some 'training'..."

He didn't say what these "opportunities" were, nor what these "trainings" entailed.

Old Master Xun didn't ask—he merely gave Mo Hua a meaningful glance, then nodded:

"Fine, I won't hold you back. After the New Year, go wherever you like."

He wanted to see just how far this boy could "train" his spiritual sense once freed...

Thanks to the tip from someone who doesn't like fish~

(.)

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