Chapter 1278: Wishing You Dead

Chapter 1277: Wishing You Dead

Why… why did I suddenly lose sight of karmic threads…?

The Grand Elder’s aged fingers couldn’t help but pinch together, then slowly loosen, then pinch again, then force himself to let go once more.

He really wanted to calculate it.

But now he was “retired” and had no intention of plunging into the murky, black-tinged waters of the Great Wilderness.

Reaching in to calculate would be like dipping his hand into murky waters to scoop up the threads of causality and examine them.

Easy to dirty the hands, and just as easy to be noticed.

But not calculating was impossible.

A chill crept faintly through the Grand Elder’s heart. He didn’t know what had happened.

At the same time, a thousand ants seemed to crawl beneath his skin, itching unbearably, urging him to know the truth.

“This formation is an ancient Yin-Yang Formation. Its origin is far too great. I had no choice but to make a few minor tweaks to hide the causality. Giving it to him was meant for him to study it, to comprehend it…”

“What on earth did this kid do with it…”

“After all, he’s just a Foundation Establishment realm kid. What could he possibly do with such a formation? Surely he couldn’t…”

The Grand Elder shuddered violently in his heart.

What could a Foundation Establishment disciple do with this formation?!

What could only a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator do?!

The Grand Elder, whose heart had long been as calm as an ancient well, suddenly felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat.

“He… he wouldn’t… he shouldn’t… he couldn’t, right…”

Finally, he could no longer restrain himself.

He didn’t care about dirtying his hands anymore. Three fingertips pressed together. With just an instant of calculation, the Heavenly Secret Mental Art flowed, and Causality turned within his mind.

And the Grand Elder’s heart completely died.

That ancient formation he had personally tampered with… had actually… truly… been refined into a Life-Bound Formation?!

How was this even possible?

The Grand Elder’s expression turned grave, his brows furrowing.

The cultivation world was vast, full of countless geniuses. Life-Bound Formation-type treasures weren’t unheard of; quite a few lineages had passed down such methods.

But refining a formation into a Life-Bound treasure wasn’t something one could accomplish just by talking big.

It required understanding the essence of formations, proficiency in its application, deep analysis of the human body’s structure, and extensive experience in “modifying” the body.

It involved numerous arts and complex methods.

Five Elements, Eight Trigrams, Three Talents, Four Symbols, Six Lines, Seven Stars—across different systems, each specific formation required entirely different inheritances and techniques to become a Life-Bound Formation.

Even Five Elements and Eight Trigrams–type Life-Bound Formations were already extremely complicated.

The Grand Elder simply couldn’t imagine what kind of cultivation insight was required to refine an ancient Yin-Yang formation into a Life-Bound Formation.

This Yin-Yang Rebirth Formation was something sealed by Heavenly Pivot Pavilion—ancient, obscure, unfathomably profound. Even as the Grand Elder, he himself hadn’t fully understood it.

Even if the kid had extraordinary talent and comprehension, he was still only at Foundation Establishment, with limited vision and experience. At most, he might comprehend a little—there was absolutely no way he could master such an ancient Yin-Yang formation.

“Could this kid… be some other kind of being?”

“Maybe he isn’t even ‘human’?”

“But even if he were a heaven-born deity, this is still too ridiculous…”

And then…

The Grand Elder quickly realized another problem.

It probably wasn’t just about refining the “Yin-Yang Life-Bound Formation.”

Judging by Mo Hua’s style in Qianxue Prefecture, and the insights from their previous brief encounter, the Grand Elder knew Mo Hua’s temperament.

This was a child who was righteous at heart, yet happened to not follow “rules.”

One who looked reckless, yet was meticulous to the extreme.

Often, his actions were bold enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

Yet at the same time, every act he undertook was carefully thought through, deeply considered, and meticulously planned.

If he treated other matters this way, then with his own “Life-Bound Formation,” even more so.

The Grand Elder could almost be certain that Mo Hua, at this point, absolutely did not know the true secrets of the Yin-Wood Rejuvenation Formation.

Because he was the one who planted those secrets within it.

At most, the boy might have some suspicions—it was, after all, a reward from the Sword Debate Grand Assembly; it couldn’t possibly be ordinary.

If he used the formation to save people normally, performing acts of healing, then during its activation he might gain some insights and slowly begin understanding its inner laws.

That would greatly benefit his future cultivation.

What he could ultimately comprehend depended entirely on his own fortune. This was the Grand Elder’s original assessment of Mo Hua’s progress after receiving the formation.

In a short time, Mo Hua should not be able to “see through” the formation—much less comprehend it.

A thing one cannot see through could be studied by someone as “cautious” as Mo Hua.

But to truly use it as a Life-Bound Formation was absolutely impossible.

Which meant Mo Hua must have chosen something else as his true Life-Bound Formation.

And this ancient Yin-Yang formation was most likely something Mo Hua had—for whatever reason—tossed in “incidentally”.

Incidentally!

It was “incidentally”!

He had incidentally refined this awe-inspiring, world-shaking Yin-Yang Rebirth Ancient Formation into his Life-Bound Formation…

The Grand Elder’s emotions were a tangled mess.

At the same time, he found it simply unbelievable.

This kid… how on earth does his brain even function?

What inheritance, what motive, what reasoning, What method was he using to refine his Life-Bound Formation?

And what… exactly has he created?

The Grand Elder felt as if tens of thousands of ants were crawling in his heart.

He very much wanted to use the “Yin-Wood Rejuvenation Formation” he had given Mo Hua as a karmic thread, follow it down to the root, and unravel the entire foundation and underlying structure and laws of Mo Hua’s Life-Bound Formation to understand it fully.

His fingers almost pinched together again.

But he forcibly restrained himself.

Peering into someone’s Life-Bound foundation was a grave taboo on the path of cultivation.

Of course, for someone like the Grand Elder, it wasn’t a huge “taboo.”

He had lived too long, cultivated too high, his Divine-Sense too strong, and his experience too deep. He could peer into heavenly secrets and the workings of karma.

Often, someone passing by him, with just a glance, could reveal the entirety of their Dao—their temperament, foundation, inheritance, path, and choices—clear as day.

But Mo Hua was no ordinary person.

His Dao-heart was pure; he treated others sincerely, like an unpolished jade. Yet once you tried to look deeper, it was as if he were a bottomless abyss, with karma too vast and secrets too deep…

The Grand Elder thought for a moment and finally gave up.

“I’m retired, I’m retired, I’m retired…”

He silently repeated this three times before dispelling his curiosity and obsession.

But the ripples in his heart remained hard to calm for a long time.

He sat by the pond, eyes deep, watching the faint ripples on the water, watching the fish swim, quietly reviewing every cause and effect in his mind.

But the more he reviewed, the clearer his heart became…

The calamity in Qianxue Prefecture had originally been a dead-lock.

Far more people were supposed to die. Countless factions would have been dragged into it—numerous clans and sects would have been destroyed.

Most people had no real concept of what the word “disaster” meant.

They don’t understand what “disaster” truly means.

They didn’t understand the terror of the Evil God.

They didn’t know Qianxue Prefecture had once been hanging by a thread.

They didn’t know their lives had once truly hung on a single hair.

Now, Qianxue Prefecture seemed “calm” again. Clans continued to vie for power, sects continued to fight for profit, building their prosperity atop fame and interests—appearing lush and flourishing.

People’s memories of that great calamity were fading.

Forgetting pain once the wound heals—this was human nature.

But the Grand Elder, the one orchestrating it all, understood better than anyone.

If no one had broken the deadlock, if no one had silently taken on the responsibility, guiding events, risking themselves to foil the Evil God of the Great Wilderness’s schemes, then the Qianxue Disaster of several years ago would have been the apocalypse of Qianxue State.

But matters of the Divine Dao are obscure and perilous.

Even Grand Elder didn’t have good “pieces” at the start to break the deadlock, to minimize the casualties of countless people in the state during the Evil God’s disaster.

Fortunately, there was Mo Hua.

But at first, Mo Hua only wanted to be a “couch potato,” not get involved too much.

That was why Grand Elder had to take risks, even flouting the Dao Court’s taboos, using the “Yin-Yang Rebirth Formation” as bait to draw out Mo Hua, the “little golden dragon fish,” to stir the waters, break the deadlock, and ultimately ensure the survival of Qianxue State.

Such matters were highly dangerous, extremely risky.

But when the stakes were this high, Grand Elder naturally had no hesitation.

Only, the Yin-Yang Rebirth Formation carried immense causal weight. If it were ever discovered, even he, the Grand Elder, could not escape responsibility.

So he “resigned” and made his escape first.

Of course, this wasn’t just about this “golden dragon fish.”

Having served as Grand Elder for so many years, perceiving heavenly secrets, planning strategically, he had already carried countless major karmic debts.

And a far more terrifying karmic consequence was still waiting for him.

To preserve all lives under the heavens, and to step out of the game to observe it objectively, “retreating with the current” was the best choice.

Yet now, as he traced the causal line, he realized a serious problem.

The problem lay with this very “golden dragon fish.”

In Qianxue State, this fish had bitten the “bait” he threw, followed the causal line, and disrupted the deadlock.

That had been expected.

But the “bait” was too large, too hard, too old—the little golden dragon fish couldn’t possibly swallow it.

As long as the “bait” remained, the line connecting to it remained.

This was also a precaution, the hidden causal line Grand Elder had prudently left behind.

If, in the future, the Dao Court elders ever came to “audit” him, he could follow the line and retrieve the “bait.”

But now, something was wrong…

The golden dragon fish had swum out of Qianxue State, all the way to the Great Wilderness. It had somehow gotten hold of something and even managed to “swallow” the bait, ready to digest it.

This bait had become the key to the fish shaping its life-bound formation.

In other words, his own actions were helping this golden dragon fish “condense its core” and transform into a dragon.

The karmic consequences… could be catastrophic.

Grand Elder’s mind raced as he traced the chain of cause and effect and felt his heart sink deeper with every thought.

He felt as if he were fishing on the shore, only to have the fish swallow the bait, pulling him into the water along with the line.

And he could offer no explanation.

After all, the Yin-Yang Rebirth Formation had truly been “gifted” by him, the Grand Elder.

And now this Yin-Yang Rebirth Formation was being used as a Life-Bound Formation by that brat…

Such an outrageous turn of events…

Even a cunning, calculating Grand Elder like him couldn’t say with certainty that he hadn’t done it on purpose—though who would believe him anyway?

Convincing the suspicious old timers of the Dao Court? That would be nearly impossible…

Grand Elder hardly believed it himself.

He didn’t believe that any fish could actually eat this ancient “bait.”

He didn’t believe that after a lifetime of fishing, he could be pulled into the whirlpool of karma by a little fish.

The Grand Elder’s briefly relaxed brows furrowed deeply once again:

“This… is a huge problem…”

“If a catastrophe happens later, I’ll never have a peaceful life again…”

Grand Elder thought for a moment, then twiddled his fingers lightly, calculating a bit further.

He tallied what Mo Hua had done in the Great Wilderness and whether he could extricate himself from this karma…

But the more he calculated, the paler his face became, his pupils twitching sharply:

“This kid… really can stir up trouble…”

“He’s… in the Great Wilderness… creating some colossal rebellion?!”

Perhaps… not just a rebellion against humans, but against “gods” as well?

Grand Elder drew a cool breath, his heart skipping a beat.

The situation in the Great Wilderness was chaotic, heavenly secrets muddled, schemes overlapping. Many high-level figures were plotting, deceiving, hiding—the truth was hard to discern.

Had Grand Elder not personally met Mo Hua, played chess with him, and held the causal line of the Yin-Wood Rejuvenation Formation, he might never have realized what Mo Hua was doing.

Or rather, might never have realized that the one doing all this… was Mo Hua.

Who would have thought a junior disciple of the Great Void Sect could run to the Great Wilderness, oppose its schemes, oppose the Dao Court’s plans, even oppose the will of the wilderness gods?

This child could really create chaos…

Grand Elder’s chest tightened, and he couldn’t utter a word.

After a long while, his gaze grew heavy, and he slowly exhaled, softly saying:

“Doing this… do you realize how many people… would want you dead?”

“Gods would want to kill you, the Great Wilderness would want to kill you, the barbarians would want to kill you, the Dao Court would want to kill you, the noble families would want to kill you… even your own divinity… could kill you…”

For a moment, Grand Elder even considered letting the boy “die” in the Great Wilderness.

If he died there, the chain of cause and effect would be severed.

All that Grand Elder had done would remain unknown.

Bodies destroyed, traces erased, accounts wiped clean.

So that in the future, he, the proud Grand Elder , wouldn’t become an accomplice to a “terrorist” creating rebellions against gods, the Dao Court, and the Great Wilderness… and who knows what else.

Thousands of years of reputation, destroyed in an instant.

Grand Elder fell silent.

The thought of “better dead” floated in his mind like a mischievous imp, surfacing again and again.

Yet at the same time, that charming, approachable smile, those eyes clear as water, the jade-like quality of his Dao heart…

And even the brief moments of mutual respect and admiration during their chess games, all lingered in Grand Elder’s heart.

Finally, he let out a deep sigh.

“A lifetime of toil, unable to bear even a bit of leisure…”

Grand Elder slowly rose, looking at the chessboard beside him.

The pieces were sharply divided between black and white, with gold glinting here and there. It seemed fairly balanced, yet it was already nearing the “endgame,” the point where victory and death would be decided…

…

Third-rank Green-Marsh Mountain Realm.

In a hidden mountain cave.

Mo Hua opened his eyes.

A flash of gold shimmered in them, but this light was no longer clear and lively—it was deep. cold and indifferent.

Like a god opening its eyes to gaze upon the world.

At the same time, a deep blue glow suddenly flared around Mo Hua. The Taotie patterns, like subdermal “formation creatures,” lit up along his bones, circulating through all twelve principal meridians.

Within the blue light, faint golden jade radiance shone.

This was the Wood-White-Gold-Jade Bone.

And mixed into this golden jade light were strands of Yin-Wood energy.

This was the Yin-Wood Rejuvenation Formation.

At this very moment, Mo Hua’s Life-Bound Formation System was finally complete.

His aura also rose slightly.

The peak of Foundation Establishment.

Creating a Life-Bound formation Treasure inside his body, nurturing its embryonic stage, marked a cultivator truly entering the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment.

Once the treasure was fully nurtured and the foundation solid, he could attempt the Golden Core stage.

Upon reaching Golden Core, the Dao would transform, a total rebirth.

Mo Hua’s gaze carried authority; his aura already showed signs of an initial “transformation.”

But just as he was about to rise, he froze.

Because he discovered that, while focusing inward to forge his Life Formation, something “strange” had appeared alongside his physical body.

These things had sharp snouts and fangs, small eyes and long tails, pupils like coins, radiating an unnatural gold light, like malevolent spirits or demons, secretly gnawing at his Dao Body…

This was…

Mo Hua’s pupils constricted slightly.

“Gold Coin Mice?”