Chapter 1284: Bone-Engraving Extraction

Chapter 1283: Bone-Engraving Extraction

Within the Hua Clan’s stronghold, inside the grand hall.

Staring at the densely piled bone-engraving secret arts—collected from various mountain realms, various tribes, and various eras across the Great Wilderness—Mo Hua’s gaze tightened slightly.

He flipped through each method one by one, carefully comparing them, yet found nothing particularly unusual.

In the Great Wilderness, “bone-engraving” was used to carve formations.

According to wilderness tradition, the usual practice was to carve the wilderness “Sacred Runes” onto the bones of demon beasts, unleashing the killing power of the Four Symbols Formations.

The formation core of the Arhatian Blood-Sacrifice Grand Formation that Mister Tu constructed was exactly like this:

On a colossal ancient demon beast’s skeleton, blood-sacrifice runes were carved to activate the grand formation’s power.

Mo Hua was extremely familiar with this—after all, he was the one who drew that blood-sacrifice formation core for Mister Tu.

Besides using demon bones as the medium, some tribes also had bone-engraving secret arts that carved various demon runes onto human bones.

That method, Mo Hua was even more familiar with.

His Taotie Twelve-Meridian-Spiritual-Skeleton Formation was carved on his own skeleton, drawing the Taotie Absolute Formation.

One could say that whether demon-bone engravings or human-bone engravings, no one in the Great Wilderness understood them better than Mo Hua.

Yet even so, he still couldn’t figure out why the Hua Clan was collecting these “bone-engraving” secret arts.

The only odd thing was this: all the demon-bone engravings from the Great Wilderness had been left untouched by the Hua Clan.

But all the human-bone engravings—those, the Hua Clan had carefully selected, flipped through, and even marked key passages of inheritance. They had clearly invested effort.

“Human-bone engravings…”

At first Mo Hua thought the Hua Clan had the same idea he did—engraving formations or other secret patterns onto human bones, either for cultivating a life-bound formation or matching certain human-bone inheritance arts.

But after researching these bone slips for a while longer, he realized something was wrong.

The Hua Clan did not seem to be planning to carve anything onto human bones.

Rather, their research into Great Wilderness bone-engraving techniques seemed to be aimed at something directly opposite—something like…

Extracting human bones—along with certain meridians—from the human body intact?

(TN: If I’m not remembering wrong, his Master, Mister Zhuang’s, bones were dug out too, right?)

“Extracting human bones… from the body?”

Mo Hua’s brow furrowed. His heart grew heavy. He faintly sensed this might be the edge of some great karmic event surrounding the Hua Clan, yet he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

He could only gather all these bone-engraving secret arts for later study.

Just then, Lu-Gu returned to report.

“Lord Divine-Shaman, everything has been counted. This stronghold contains a vast number of Fasting Pills—around ten million bottles. Other than that, there are tribal inheritances, barbarian armor, beast bones, and various war supplies… as well as one million and sixty thousand spirit stones…”

Mo Hua’s gaze dimmed.

Fasting Pills, barbarian armor, beast bones—these were within his expectations.

But just over a million spirit stones… that was a bit too little.

This was, after all, a major Hua Clan stronghold. After clearing it out, to find only a bit over a million spirit stones was hard to accept.

Moreover, he couldn’t simply pocket them all.

As the Divine-Shaman, he had to invest at least half of these spirit stones into the Great Wilderness formations and the construction of the barbarian troops.

He was only keeping the other half because he was on the verge of Core Formation and needed a huge amount of spirit stones.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken even a single stone for himself.

Ever since studying Heavenly Secrets and touching upon karmic arts, Mo Hua understood that worldly exchanges were entangled with causality.

Spirit stones were not something one could owe lightly.

And benefits were not something one could take casually.

Otherwise, one would incur karma.

Normally, it was fine. But if Heaven shifted and suddenly required repayment… disaster could strike.

Elder You was a prime example.

Mo Hua was now the Divine-Shaman, seeking fortune for the Great Wilderness for its survival. His cultivation also concerned the future of the Great Wilderness. So pocketing half the spirit stones to refine his life-bound formation wasn’t excessive—but he could take no more.

“Half… only a little over fifty thousand…”

The amount didn’t satisfy him.

But thinking it over, it made sense.

The Hua Clan came to the Great Wilderness to earn spirit stones through Fasting Pills. They wouldn’t bring large amounts with them.

Meaning the spirit stones in the stronghold were ones they had extracted from the tribes.

And the Great Wilderness was already spirit-stone poor.

So having over a million was actually not bad.

Mo Hua kept only fifty thousand spirit stones; the rest he handed to Lu-Gu and Dan-Zhu to further power the Profound-Earth Grand Formation and build the Divine-Shaman Army and Divine-Slave Division.

Afterward, Mo Hua took time to refine all fifty thousand spirit stones.

Of course, a large portion he simply “snacked on.”

But after consuming fifty thousand stones, his mood grew heavy.

Because he didn’t feel his Taotie Twelve-Meridian-Spiritual-Skeleton Formation had made much progress.

Up until now, he had already devoured over a million spirit stones—and yet even that wasn’t enough to “fill” the Taotie rune on the first meridian: the Hand-Tai-Yin(Greater Yin) Lung Meridian.

And there were twelve meridians total.

Each meridian would only grow more difficult to feed, requiring even more spirit stones.

To fully “feed” them all… would take until the Year of the Monkey—if ever.

(TN: “The Year of the Monkey, the Month of the Horse” is an idiom meaning “an indefinite time; a lifetime; or never.”)

Even Mo Hua, whose divinity kept his emotions calm and cold, felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

He felt like he had two black holes in his body.

One was the Celestial Evolution Art, a black hole devouring Divine-Sense.

The other was this Taotie formation, a black hole devouring spirit stones.

These two black holes lay right across his cultivation path, merged with his Dao itself.

Mo Hua sighed softly.

“No wonder… it’s called the ‘Taotie’ Spiritual-Skeleton Formation…”

Since it followed the law of the Taotie, he should’ve been prepared.

The Taotie’s appetite was endless.

Which meant fully feeding all twelve meridians was practically impossible.

At least in the spirit-stone-starved Great Wilderness.

Mo Hua could follow the Hua Clan’s example—using his Divine-Shaman authority to carry out extreme exploitation, seizing all the spirit stones in the Great Wilderness for himself to aid his Core Formation.

The Dao of humans: take from the surplus to fill the lack.

The Dao of the Taotie: take from everyone, give to oneself.

Perhaps this was also the Dao of the Taotie.

But it was not his Dao.

Even now, having stepped onto the path of divinity—able to regard all beings, even himself, as straw dogs—this kind of act, draining the land and the people for personal gain, violated his original Dao-heart. He refused to do it.

Moreover, if he truly stripped the Great Wilderness of all its spirit-stone resources…

Then, when the great calamity came, all his preparations would collapse, and the tribes would be devastated.

Even his foundation for proving the Dao would vanish.

After long contemplation, Mo Hua decided he must suppress his own “desires,” and suppress the Taotie’s instincts.

He would raise only one meridian.

Not only could he not afford the spirit stones, he didn’t have the time either. If he waited until all twelve meridians were complete, he’d probably already be buried.

Thus, he would fully nourish only the first meridian—the Hand-Tai-Yin Lung Meridian—and then begin Core Formation.

As for the remaining eleven, he would handle them slowly after forming his Core.

After forming the Core, he could spend years gradually raising the Taotie skeleton to completion.

Right now, he had neither the time nor the conditions.

So he only needed to “feed” one meridian…

Mo Hua exhaled lightly.

…

But even feeding one meridian wasn’t easy in the current Great Wilderness.

The Wilderness was the land of common tribes, the barbaric and “uncivilized” region—not Dao Province or Qianxue Province, those lands overflowing with wealth and spirit stones.

Especially during the famine year, obtaining a large number of spirit stones was nearly impossible.

Thus, Mo Hua had no choice but to continue shearing Elder You’s wool.

He had to pursue Elder You to “collect his debt.”

One million eight hundred thousand spirit stones was a colossal debt.

This karmic debt was a chain of iron law: one end tied to Elder You, the other held firmly by Mo Hua.

So Mo Hua resumed his pursuit, using curses to lock onto him, tracing him through karma.

After that, in the Ghost-Wailing Mountain Realm(3rd-Grade), the Hundred-Insects Mountain Realm(3rd-Grade), the Red-Tomb Mountain Realm, the Withered-Sand Mountain Realm… in all the end-stage realms, Elder You’s figure appeared—fleeing in his Flowing-Wind robe, eyes wide in panic.

The corpse, Shi-Gu, clung to him like a maggot on bone, relentlessly chasing him.

Mo Hua followed behind, using Elder You’s trail to break each mountain realm in turn, wiping out every Hua Clan stronghold.

The Hua Clan’s hidden foundation in the Great Wilderness—once impossible to detect—was now completely destroyed by Mo Hua.

All their supplies, manpower, spirit stones, and business profits became losses beyond measure.

And all their losses flowed into Mo Hua’s hands—the hands of the “Lord Divine-Shaman” who intended to unify the Wilderness.

Part of it became his territory and strength for conquering the Great Wilderness.

Another part was absorbed by the Taotie Formation, aiding his path to Core Formation.

…

Several Months later.

In an underground chamber of a small mountain realm.

Elder You, exhausted from days of fleeing and with bloodshot eyes, sat before a Nine-Petal-Jade divination disk—an extremely precious Heavenly-Secret Disk—frantically calculating and deducing…

His talent in karmic-causality was shallow.

This was the Ancestor patriarch’s judgment.

Those who love desire too deeply… see little of Heavenly Secrets.

Elder You loved spirit stones too much.

Loved business too much.

Loved the feeling of “making money” far too much.

Thus, his grasp over the grand currents of karmic events was far inferior.

The Ancestor, as the power-holder of a great clan, could cultivate the Dao through “profit,” harming others to benefit himself. Elder You could not—he did not yet have the breadth or fortune for that.

Thus, to deduce karma, he could only rely on the Heavenly-Secret Nine-Petal-Jade divination disk gifted by his ancestor.

These past days while fleeing, Elder You had clearly realized—he was being “locked onto.”

Locked onto by that Divine-Shaman.

No—even more accurately… completely dead-locked.

Elder You couldn’t understand, simply couldn’t understand.

He was an elder of the Hua Clan, carried a Heavenly-Secret treasure, and his ancestor-patriarch was shielding him—concealing his karma, severing his fateful ties.

That he was weak—fine.

That the treasure malfunctioned—also understandable.

But what about his ancestor?

How was that explained?

His ancestor-patriarch was no ordinary expert. His realm was profound, his grasp of Heavenly Secrets unmatched, his mastery of Karmic-Causality extraordinary.

His ancestor was protecting him.

So how did this Divine-Shaman manage to conceal everything from his ancestor, lock onto his karma in a “deadlock,” and even bypass the ancestor’s Nine-Petal Heavenly-Secret Sword?

Was this Divine-Shaman’s Causal attainment greater than his ancestor’s?

No… impossible. Absolutely impossible…

Elder You, red-eyed, reviewed his past karma through the jade disk:

“He’s only Foundation Establishment. No matter how strong his Heavenly-Secrets talent, he can’t surpass Ancestor. Even if he truly has a deity behind him—if that deity personally acted—Ancestor’s Nine-Petals Heavenly-Secret Sword would have some reaction…”

“It must be… this Divine-Shaman learned some hidden secret, slipped past Ancestor’s sword-arts without anyone noticing, and locked onto me silently…”

“But… what method? What karma…?”

Elder You replayed his past again and again—reviewing everything from his arrival in the Great Wilderness to all possibly related ‘business deals’. He sorted them one by one, traced every cause and effect, thinking long and hard—yet still found not a single clue.

He didn’t know this Divine-Shaman at all.

Their only connection began here, in the Wilderness.

Outside the Wilderness, he had never crossed paths with this youth.

His dealings were always in shady “major business,” and his clients were all major villains.

Among all those customers, none matched the age of this “little cultivator.”

No familiarity. No karma. No connection…

Elder You wracked his brain and still couldn’t understand how he ended up locked onto.

Surely it couldn’t be… debt?

That was even more absurd. Elder You prided himself on being a high-level merchant—never leaving loose ends.

Debts—he either repaid immediately…

Or the creditor died, and he didn’t have to pay.

Balancing the books was basic merchant training.

And besides, this Divine-Shaman who suddenly appeared—he had never seen him before, not spoken a single word to him—how could he possibly owe him anything?

“Why… why… WHY?!”

Elder You scratched his head in frustration—almost tearing his scalp off.

But right as he did so, a chill rose from beneath his feet. The ground trembled faintly.

Elder You cursed: “Damned thing—haunting me like a soul-reaping debt-collector ghost…”

Cursing as he moved, he hastily stuffed the Heavenly-Secret Nine-Petal-Jade divination disk and everything in the chamber into his storage bag.

Then he wrapped himself in flowing-wind robe, transformed into a streak of clear radiance, and fled at once.

Barely ten breaths later, the ground bulged upward; earth and stone cracked, and a corpse’s clawed hand thrust out from below.

The massive, sinister body of Shi-Gu slowly emerged.

Sensing that icy killing intent, Elder You’s fear had long become instinct—he could only flee toward open ground at greater speed.

But he knew that at this rate, this would never end.

The Hua Clan’s secret bases in the Great Wilderness had been almost completely “devoured” by that damned Divine-Shaman, following the karmic thread tied to him.

Elder You understood—the Divine-Shaman was playing the long game to catch a big fish.

And Elder You himself was the “bait” tied to the end of that long line.

The Hua Clan’s Great Wilderness foundations were the fish being caught.

He was being used like a chess piece by that Divine-Shaman.

Elder You burned with fury—but was helpless. Only by fleeing into Hua Clan bases could others block the undead Shi-Gu’s pursuit.

If he didn’t flee into a base, no one would cover him—and he would certainly fall into the Divine-Shaman’s hands.

Between two harms, choose the lesser.

Elder You would definitely choose survival.

But at this rate, the Hua Clan’s foundations would soon be eaten clean by that Divine-Shaman.

Elder You’s gaze turned cold… then hateful.

“If that’s how it is, then I have no choice…”

“If you want to go all the way… then I’ll accompany you to the end…”

…

Half a month later.

Mo Hua once again traced the karmic thread and found Elder You’s hiding place.

He sent Shi-Gu and several Golden Core barbarian generals to encircle it.

But this time—they ran into an unexpectedly powerful ambush.

And the ones ambushing him—Mo Hua knew them well:

The Young Chieftain of the Wujiao Tribe.

The very same Young Chieftain Wujiao who had suffered defeat at the Vermilion Bird Mountain altar—now, after recuperating and annexing many tribes—had returned in force, his momentum even greater than before.

And this time, their meeting could only end in a battle to the death.

At the same time, Mo Hua sensed a premonition stirring in his heart.

What came next might very well be the final battle to unify the Great Wilderness…

After this war—once the Wujiao Tribe was destroyed—he would become the one and only supreme, “Divine-Shaman Lord” of the entire Wilderness.

And the endless tribal chaos of the Great Wilderness would finally… come to an end.

…

Author Notes:

The storyline in the Great Wilderness section needs to be wrapped up in phases. A major plot twist is coming up, and many details need to be carefully considered in advance.

I’m taking a day off to sort everything out.