Chapter 1008: Support
“If this keeps up, our ranking will drop again. I need to think of a way…”
Mo Hua pondered for a moment, opened the participants list of the Sword Debate Grand Assembly, and discovered that in the dozens of upcoming matches in the Xuan Division, the greatest opponent for the Great Void Sect was actually—
The Broken Gold Sect.
The Yin Water Sect and the Broken Gold Sect were newly promoted among the Eight Great Sects.
So, they could be considered the “gatekeepers” of the Eight Great Sects.
Encountering them often in the Xuan Division was only natural.
In the following matches, at least one-third of the Great Void Sect’s disciples’ duels in the Xuan Division would be against the Broken Gold Sect.
Mo Hua’s eyes glimmered in thought.
The Broken Gold Sect was an old rival…
When he had first entered Monster-Hunting Mountain, Mo Hua and his fellow Little Junior Brothers had their earliest conflicts with disciples of the Broken Gold Sect.
Over time, they had clashed many times.
The grudges between them could not be summed up in a few words.
Mo Hua’s eyes brightened slightly.
Since it was the Broken Gold Sect, that actually made things easier.
The “Broken Gold Armor” he had designed long ago could now be put to use again.
Not only that—
Mo Hua now possessed two of the Broken Gold Sect’s core inheritances.
The Broken Gold Sword Control Art and the Broken Gold Sword Array—both had been stripped of their “Sword Dao Laws” by him and fused into his Divine Sense Sword Manifestation.
Although in reality, his Broken Gold Sword Qi was nothing noteworthy,
Within his divine sense, especially in comprehension of the Broken Gold Sword Laws, he was unfathomably deep.
In other words, at least for the Foundation Establishment level, the Broken Gold Sect’s most core inheritance was already firmly in Mo Hua’s grasp.
By using these inheritances to improve the “Broken Gold Armor,” then crafting a “Gold-Breaking Sword,” his odds against the Broken Gold Sect’s disciples would rise by at least twenty percent.
With their core inheritance in the hands of this formation master, the Broken Gold Sect would have little chance of victory.
“No wonder people say, once a sect’s inheritance is leaked, the consequences are endless…”
Mo Hua nodded in agreement.
Right now, he himself was the Broken Gold Sect’s “disaster.”
After that, Mo Hua began working on iterating the “Broken Gold Armor” and refining the “Gold-Breaking Sword” specifically to counter the Broken Gold Sect.
But after planning for a moment, Mo Hua couldn’t help but think of someone.
He flipped through the Sword Debate participant list several times before finally finding a name—
Song Jian.
Ever since the Myriad Demons Valley incident, the Broken Gold Sect had been in turmoil. Internal power shifted, the Jin family collapsed, and the Song family rose to power. Afterwards, trouble followed one after another, and Mo Hua had been too busy to contact Song Jian much.
But now that the Sword Debate had them facing the Broken Gold Sect again…
Mo Hua thought for a moment and sent Song Jian a message.
The two of them had a special message talisman.
Mo Hua had obtained it through Gu Changhuai’s connections, from the Dao Court’s stores.
After getting it, Mo Hua had been uneasy, so he “modified” the magnetic patterns himself, making it specifically for secure communications.
Between Xuan Division duels, there was usually a day left free for disciples to rest and prepare.
Mo Hua happened to have that day free.
The next day, Mo Hua went to a secluded grove in Monster-Hunting Mountain.
This was their agreed meeting place.
Mo Hua squatted in a tree, bored, waiting for a long time before Song Jian finally arrived, moving furtively like a thief.
Mo Hua whistled.
Song Jian looked up, saw it was Mo Hua, and finally relaxed. Using his movement technique, he leapt onto a branch in a few steps, sitting across from Mo Hua.
“What do you want with me?”
Song Jian asked.
After several years apart, Song Jian was taller, his face fairer, his complexion healthier.
After experiencing the Myriad Demons Valley incident, he had learned how treacherous the world and human hearts could be. His demeanor was more composed,
But in front of Mo Hua, he still couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
After all, Mo Hua’s actions in Myriad Demons Valley had left him deeply shocked, a memory he could not forget.
“You’re taking part in the Sword Debate, right?” Mo Hua got straight to the point.
“Yes…” Song Jian nodded.
“I’ll do you a favor,” Mo Hua said. “Do you have any enemies or rivals in your sect? Tell me all of them, and I’ll ‘suppress’ them for you.”
“You’ll help me?” Song Jian froze.
“Who else?” Mo Hua replied as if it were obvious.
Song Jian frowned. “Do you… have some kind of request?”
He knew he couldn’t outplay Mo Hua in scheming.
Since that was the case, he might as well be direct and ask clearly.
Mo Hua nodded. “Just a small request… Tell me all the details about your opponents—what cultivation arts they practice, their best sword moves, their habits, their hidden trump cards…”
Song Jian had never seen such brazen shamelessness—openly asking him to “betray” his sect.
“That’s… not really appropriate…” Song Jian said tactfully.
“What’s inappropriate about it?” Mo Hua replied. “The Sword Debate isn’t just about duels in the arena—it’s also about intelligence gathering.”
“Information warfare is still warfare.”
“Your Broken Gold Sect is also digging for intel on my Great Void Sect’s disciples, isn’t it?”
Song Jian silently nodded.
That was true—he couldn’t refute it. Before any duel, both sides would gather intelligence. The Broken Gold Sect’s methods were probably even “dirtier” than Mo Hua’s.
“Exactly,” Mo Hua continued. “I already have ways to counter your Broken Gold Sect—the intel is just icing on the cake…”
That was true enough.
With the Broken Gold Sect’s core sword array in the hands of a formation prodigy like Mo Hua, they were already doomed.
He was only gathering information to make absolutely certain.
If he could get it, great. If not, it wasn’t a big deal—just slightly harder to win.
Song Jian had suffered too many losses at Mo Hua’s hands to doubt his capability.
But as a Broken Gold Sect disciple, he still hesitated.
“Wouldn’t I be… aiding the enemy?”
Mo Hua looked serious. “Aren’t we friends?”
Song Jian was stunned. He wanted to say no, but didn’t dare in Mo Hua’s presence, so he reluctantly nodded.
Mo Hua nodded. “Since we’re friends, helping a friend can’t be ‘aiding the enemy.’”
“Helping me is helping yourself. And if it’s helping yourself, how can that be aiding the enemy?”
“Your fellow disciples may be strong, but they’re narrow-minded, small in vision. They’ll never amount to much.”
“Suppress them, and you’ll have a better chance to rise.”
“When you rise, you can lead the Broken Gold Sect to become stronger step by step.”
“This is good for you, and good for the Broken Gold Sect. How can that be called aiding the enemy?”
Song Jian was left dazed by Mo Hua’s persuasion.
It was clearly aiding the enemy, but Mo Hua made it sound like a win-win for everyone—even for the Broken Gold Sect.
Song Jian knew he was being manipulated,
But Mo Hua’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
The Broken Gold Sect was pragmatic. Disciples were divided and scheming; everyone was calculating and opportunistic.
If you were strong, they would praise you. Once you were weak, even your parents wouldn’t bother with you.
No one else’s success mattered as much as your own.
Besides, with Mo Hua’s cunning, if he didn’t get the information from Song Jian, he would get it from someone else.
So he might as well go along.
At least Mo Hua always gave tangible benefits in return.
“Alright!”
Song Jian nodded and told Mo Hua about all his rivals in the Broken Gold Sect, their cultivation methods, habits, and trump cards—one by one, in full detail.
Mo Hua took a jade slip and recorded everything.
With “insider” intel from Song Jian, things were even more certain now.
After recording, Mo Hua stored the jade slip, then suddenly remembered something and asked:
“How’s your Broken Gold Sword Control Art coming along?”
Song Jian didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”
Mo Hua said, “Go down there and practice—I want to see your level.”
If he was going to “support” Song Jian’s rise, then Song Jian couldn’t be too weak, or else it would be wasted effort.
Song Jian reluctantly went down and performed the Broken Gold Sword for a while.
After watching, Mo Hua had a grasp of his level, then called him up. “Your Broken Gold Sword isn’t bad, but it’s too superficial—you’ve got the form, not the essence. Let me give you some pointers…”
Song Jian was stunned.
He thought he’d misheard.
A Great Void Sect disciple was going to teach him, a direct heir of the Broken Gold Sect, how to practice the sect’s signature Broken Gold Sword Control Art?
What kind of logic was that?
What a joke…
But soon, Song Jian realized Mo Hua wasn’t joking. He pointed out every flaw in his swordsmanship.
Even small details about spiritual energy circulation and sword intent manipulation—things his parents hadn’t bothered to teach, elders had withheld out of pride, and mistakes he’d made out of negligence—Mo Hua corrected one by one.
This cultivation world was absurd.
Song Jian truly felt like he’d been played by fate.
And so, the Broken Gold Sect’s direct heir received an afternoon of “Broken Gold Sword Control Art” guidance from a Little Senior Brother of the Great Void Sect in a secluded grove—before returning to his sect in disbelief.
After that, things were simple.
The Broken Gold Sect’s prodigies’ “foundations” were completely mapped out.
With the upgraded “Broken Gold Armor” and “Gold-Breaking Sword,” and a little strategic arrangement, the Great Void Sect cut through the Broken Gold Sect like bamboo.
The Broken Gold Sect was furious.
In past Sword Debates, they’d been targeted by “Broken Gold Armor” and “Gold-Breaking Sword”-type spirit tools before, but no sect’s tools had ever been this troublesome.
This was a total counter from weapon forging down to underlying formation design.
The Broken Gold Sect’s upper echelon concluded that their core inheritance must have been leaked—there was no other way they could be countered so thoroughly.
They even suspected that someone in the Great Void Sect had been plotting in secret to steal their inheritance through various means,
Including the sect’s signature Broken Gold Sword Art and Broken Gold Sword Array.
But they couldn’t hold the Great Void Sect accountable—
Because, “on paper,” the Great Void Sect really did have part of their inheritance.
After the Myriad Demons Valley incident, the Broken Gold Sect had, to make peace, been forced to “cede territory and pay reparations,” handing over part of the Broken Gold inheritance to the Great Void Sect.
Those were shallow inheritances, heavily vetted by the Broken Gold Sect elders, and theoretically wouldn’t reveal any true core secrets.
But now, these inheritances became a convenient “justification” for the Great Void Sect to use parts of the Broken Gold Sect’s techniques and formations against them.
This arrangement had been made by Venerable Elder Xun specifically for Mo Hua.
And the Myriad Demons Valley incident was an unhealable scar for the Broken Gold Sect.
They didn’t dare mention it, let alone confront the Great Void Sect, so they could only swallow the bitter fruit.
This generation’s Broken Gold Sect prodigies largely fell in the Sword Debate, defeated by the Great Void Sect. Their win rate dropped, and hopes of advancing dwindled.
The Broken Gold Sect’s hatred for the Great Void Sect deepened.
But this turn of events made Song Jian the “lone survivor.”
By luck, he had rarely faced the Great Void Sect in the duels.
With other sect disciples “taking the hits” in the remaining matches,
He was more relaxed—and with Mo Hua’s guidance in swordsmanship, he grasped the essence, performing beyond his usual level. He unexpectedly won many matches in the Xuan Division.
His results, though not the best in the Broken Gold Sect, still ranked him in the top three among his peers.
In adversity, he had withstood the pressure and excelled.
Song Jian’s performance made the sect master nod, the elders pleased, and his parents beam with pride.
No one had expected the usually overlooked Song Jian to perform so well in a critical moment.
Being from the Song family, his “roots” were pure and loyal. With his Sword Debate achievements, the upper echelons took notice and remembered him.
Song Jian became increasingly valued, his reputation growing in the Broken Gold Sect, until he was considered a “prodigy” among his generation.
Yet no one knew—this “prodigy” of the Broken Gold Sect had been nurtured by their sworn enemy: a “puppet master” from the Great Void Sect…
…
On the other side, with the Broken Gold Sect delivering so many points, the Great Void Sect regained much momentum. While they didn’t reclaim first place, their second-place ranking was gradually stabilized.
Everyone in the sect breathed a sigh of relief.
Mo Hua had already done everything he could. From here on, there would be no second “Broken Gold Sect” to hand them points.
They could only rely on their fellow junior brothers to perform on their own, winning as much as they could.
As for him, he now had to focus all his attention on his own matches.
There were many spectators for the Sword Debate — and many who didn’t know what they were watching.
But there were certainly some who did, especially those elders from various sects.
Mo Hua knew that as long as he showed a certain level of strength, he would definitely draw attention.
And the later matches would only become harder and harder.
…
A few days later, another Sword Debate match began.
Mo Hua’s opponent was the Hundred Refinements Sect of the Twelve Streams.
This was a sect specializing in artifact forging, and it was also the first one to truly and deliberately prepare against Mo Hua.
Every single one of them wore a suit of armor.
It was a set of “Fire-Repelling Armor.”
Specifically, it was a set of Fire-Repelling Armor optimized against Mo Hua’s Fireball Technique, with specially refined materials that combined impact resistance, disruption resistance, and flame resistance all in one.
They even had helmets to guard against headshots from flames.
This was inside the arena.
Outside the arena, near the Great Void Sect’s seating area…
Murong Caiyun swept her gaze around, her expression slightly grave.
She had participated in the Sword Debate before and had been the Great Void Sect’s “prodigy” in the last tournament. So with just a glance, she spotted something unusual.
Around the spectator stands, there were now many more special cultivators.
Most of these cultivators were at least in the Golden Core realm, with deep auras and swift spiritual power circulation — likely elders in charge of Daoist arts instruction in their respective sects.
These elders held jade slips, eyes sharp and cold as they stared at Mo Hua on the arena’s Sky-Painting Mirror, occasionally recording notes in their jade slips.
Some even held “Image-Tracing Scrolls,” sketching Mo Hua’s every move and expression in the arena without missing a detail.
Previously, Mo Hua hadn’t received this kind of attention.
But as he continued to display his strength — especially after ending sword genius Qin Cangliu with the Fireball Technique — it was clear that every sect had started to take him seriously.
Some even began to specialize in studying him.
Perhaps the public did not acknowledge the sophistication of his Fireball Technique, but it could not escape the eyes of those experienced Daoist arts elders who had taught for many years.
It might look like he was just tossing out a fireball.
But when he threw it, where he aimed it, whether it was fast or slow, accurate or off, ruthless or merciful, decisive or hesitant… within all of that was a wealth of combat experience and Daoist mastery.
The simpler the thing, the harder it was to do it well — and harder still to perfect it.
Mo Hua’s Fireball Technique was far from as simple as it looked — it had to be guarded against…
The wheel of fortune turns.
In this match, Mo Hua got his first taste of what it felt like to be “countered.”
When his Fireball Technique struck the Hundred Refinements Sect disciples’ Fire-Repelling Armor, it was like “scratching an itch.”
Not only was most of the fire damage reduced, but the explosion’s impact and the flame’s burn were both absorbed by the armor.
The armor even had an embedded “Flame-Conversion Array.”
When a fireball hit, part of the fire damage would be absorbed and converted into spiritual power, recharging the armor and powering its mechanisms.
Mo Hua couldn’t help but sigh.
Truly, what goes around comes around.
He had just used “Broken Gold Armor” to counter the Broken Gold Sect.
Now someone was using “Fire-Repelling Armor” to counter him.
Mo Hua could somewhat empathize with the bitterness the Broken Gold Sect disciples must have felt.
By the end of this match, although it was a tough fight, the Great Void Sect still won.
That was mainly thanks to Linghu Xiao.
Linghu Xiao was a “growth-type” genius. His defeat at Qin Cangliu’s hands had made him reflect deeply.
With Mo Hua’s guidance, he abandoned the obsession with victory and defeat, focused instead on honing his skills, and with no distractions, his swordsmanship improved even further.
Almost all the damage in the match came from him.
As for Mo Hua…
He couldn’t say he contributed nothing — at least his Fireball Technique provided the Hundred Refinements Sect disciples’ armor with a little spiritual power.
Unfortunately, Linghu Xiao was too strong.
That little bit of extra energy didn’t help the Hundred Refinements Sect at all.
After this match, Mo Hua realized that his Fireball Technique was basically useless now.
Well — not useless, but it no longer had much impact.
So in the next match, against the Danqing Sect disciples of the Twelve Streams, Mo Hua switched to using the Water Prison Technique.
The formation was the same as before:
Cheng Mo defended, Situ Jian guarded, Linghu Xiao led the offense, Ouyang Xuan acted as the vanguard, and Mo Hua coordinated the entire battle with supporting spells.
Only now, instead of the single Fireball Technique, his supporting spell was the “Water Prison Technique.”
When both sides met, they clashed immediately.
Without a word, Linghu Xiao activated a Golden Body Talisman and began charging his Void-Dissolving Sword True Art.
The Danqing Sect disciples froze, somewhat confused.
Going all-out right from the start?
They weren’t stupid — of course they ran.
If they could make him waste his Golden Body Talisman and dodge the massive sword strike, then for a while, Linghu Xiao wouldn’t be much of a threat.
Without Linghu Xiao as a major danger, their victory would be almost certain.
The Danqing Sect disciples turned to flee.
Mo Hua’s fair palm stretched out, grasping at the air. Waterlight gathered from the void, forming chains that transformed into a prison, binding each Danqing Sect disciple one by one.
Mo Hua’s moves were swift and precise, and with his powerful divine sense locking onto them, there was no way to defend against it.
Bound by Mo Hua, the Danqing Sect disciples’ faces showed shock.
Linghu Xiao’s killing strike swept out, sending them all “off the stage.”
Outside the arena, the audience erupted in an uproar.
Within the Yin Water Sect, some older, well-informed elders who knew the inside story were visibly shaken:
“Water Prison Technique?!?”
“That thing from the old Water Prison Sect… how does this kid know it?!”
(End of this Chapter)