Chapter 1352: Dragon Hall
Chapter 1351: Dragon Hall
Royal Court, Four Symbols Palace.
Inside the grand hall, Mo Hua sat at a nodal point of the formation core, holding a jade slip as he silently deduced.
Within the maze, the Dao-Protecting Elders of the great clans from the Nine Provinces—each with profound cultivation—were being “tricked” by Mo Hua into constantly attacking the Four Symbols Sacred Beast Formation. This stimulated the formation’s operation, making it easier for him to analyze.
Yet after only a short period of calculation, Mo Hua could already deeply sense, from scattered traces, the astonishing difficulty and complexity of these Four Sacred Absolute Formations.
It was, in itself, a Sacred Beast Absolute Formation of the Four Symbols type, its formation patterns ancient and obscure to the extreme.
At the same time, it was also a composite formation compatible with the sacred patterns of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, profound, exquisite, and immensely difficult.
As for the concrete construction of the formation structure, this Great Wilderness Four Symbols Sacred Beast Palace Formation used Third-Grade Absolute Formations as its main framework and Second-Grade Absolute Formations as its branches and leaves. The Four Symbols fused seamlessly into a single whole, mutually compatible in pairs. Though it appeared complex and chaotic, it was in fact orderly, displaying bizarre ingenuity and unfathomable mastery in the reconstruction of Absolute Formations.
After calculating for a while, Mo Hua realized, this was simply not something his current level of formation mastery could fully comprehend.
All he could do was try his utmost to deduce scattered fragments. Before the Royal Court fell, before everything settled into dust, he would learn as much as he possibly could.
While Mo Hua was “secretly learning,” tremors continuously echoed through the Four Symbols Maze, disrupting his calculations.
Mixed in were surges of blood qi, wails of agony, and even the aura of death.
Mo Hua knew that some people had not listened to him—standing in the wrong positions or violating the taboos of the Four Symbols laws—and had died inside the maze.
If you don’t obey, you would die.
Mo Hua had repeatedly warned them before.
But clearly, some had not taken his words to heart, choosing instead to use their lives to test for mistakes.
Yet the power of a reconstructed Four Sacred Beasts Absolute Formation was no joke.
They tried. They were wrong. Then they died.
Mo Hua felt regret.
However, after several people died in succession, with bloody examples right in front of them, the remaining elders were not fools. They finally understood that not a single word of Mo Hua’s earlier warnings—nor any of those taboo laws—had been false.
They no longer dared to be half-hearted. Instead, they meticulously and strictly carried out Mo Hua’s orders.
After that, the tremors in the maze lessened, the formation’s fluctuations smoothed out, and no one else died.
Judging that these elders were now truly being “obedient,” Mo Hua nodded and continued focusing on his deductions.
The Great Wilderness was on the brink of destruction. The time left for him was very short.
Within this limited time, he had to calculate more, learn more, whatever he could.
And he could only learn selectively.
A Third-Grade Absolute Formation was impossible for him to master completely, so he could only sketch and reconstruct the general framework of the Four Sacred Beasts.
As for the complete laws of the Four Sacred Beasts, he couldn’t fully comprehend them in such a short time either.
Thus, he could only use the “power of Taotie” to crudely break down some fragmented insights and fill them into his own model of laws.
Other supporting Second-Grade Absolute Formation patterns, however, were within Mo Hua’s ability to calculate.
These formation patterns were the most practical.
Whether Azure Dragon patterns, White Tiger patterns, Vermilion Bird patterns, or Black Tortoise patterns…
As long as he could deduce a sacred pattern, Mo Hua recorded them all at top speed with his Divine Sense, scribbling them onto the jade slip in strokes so messy that only he himself could understand them.
…
Time passed bit by bit.
Just like that, Mo Hua exhausted the computing power of his Sea of Consciousness and used every method at his disposal, analyzing and recording every mystery of the Four Sacred Beasts that he could comprehend.
To the greatest extent possible, Mo Hua absorbed nourishment from these Four Sacred Beast Absolute Formations to strengthen himself.
And as his vast Divine Sense was nearly depleted, all the parts of the Four Symbols Palace that could be deduced had been calculated by him.
What remained were deeper, more core principles of the formation.
These secrets even involved laws above the Golden Core realm—higher-level principles that, once sensed, were like black holes, instantly devouring enormous amounts of Divine Sense calculation power.
This was no longer something the current Mo Hua could pry into.
What he could do, what he could calculate, had already reached its limit.
Mo Hua let out a deep sigh. Though unwilling in his heart, he could only accept this reality.
He tidied up the jade slips he had just recorded on and solemnly stored them in his Storage Ring.
Later, if he had time, he would use the knowledge recorded in these jade slips to complete his Four Symbols formation system, perfect his Four Sacred Absolute Formation framework, and draw upon the experience of constructing these Absolute Formations to further expand his ability to perform deeper “reconstruction” of single Absolute Formations.
He would even attempt to reconstruct multiple Absolute Formations together to create entirely new Absolute Formations.
Of course, that was on the premise that he could form his Golden Core here in the Royal Court and escape safely…
…
Afterward, Mo Hua gathered his thoughts and sat in meditation on the spot, restoring most of the Divine Sense he had consumed in deducing the formation. Only then did he open his eyes and instruct an elder beside him, whose clan he didn’t even know:
“Alright. Call everyone back.”
The elder was momentarily stunned, inwardly resistant.
But Mo Hua’s “authority” was so overwhelming that he subconsciously felt as though he were being ordered by his own clan head.
In the end, the elder yielded to instinct and went to pass on the order.
Before long, all the elders who had been breaking the formation returned. At their head was Elder Xuanyuan from Dao Province.
He glanced at Mo Hua and said sternly, “The formation hasn’t been broken. Why did you call us back?”
Mo Hua replied, “The formation’s broken. We can leave.”
Elder Xuanyuan froze, frowning. “The formation is clearly still running. The killing intent remains, the maze is still here. How can you say it’s broken?”
Mo Hua said, “If I say it’s broken, then it’s broken.”
Elder Xuanyuan’s expression turned cold. Suppressing his temper, he said, “Boy, are you playing us for fools? This formation is nothing like what you described.”
Mo Hua shot him a glance. “What, you want to talk formations with me?”
Elder Xuanyuan sneered. “Youthful arrogance isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you really don’t take us elders seriously at all, do you? Just because you’re the top of Qianxue’s formation path, you think your formation mastery is unmatched in the world? You’re only at Foundation Establishment. You’ve just learned a few second-grade formations and you’re already this smug. Isn’t that a bit too arrogant…?”
Mo Hua didn’t get angry. Instead, he asked, “Among you, which elders are best at formations?”
Several clan elders stepped forward.
These elders had high cultivation and abundant Divine-Sense. At a glance, one could tell they were the type who used their brains often.
At the same time, their auras were relatively weak, clearly the kind who spent years buried in formation studies, neglecting combat, with low battle strength.
Mo Hua asked them, “Elders, are you third-grade formation masters?”
They all nodded. “That’s right.”
Mo Hua took out a sheet of white paper and casually sketched some extremely complex second-grade Four Symbols formation patterns on it. Then he asked, probing,
“These… can you understand them?”
The few third-grade formation masters glanced at it and fell silent.
Mo Hua studied their eyes, confirmed they didn’t understand, nodded, and felt reassured.
With formations, either you understand or you don’t. The clear, bewildered look in their eyes—the kind that comes from not understanding at all—couldn’t be faked.
This also matched Mo Hua’s prior judgment.
The Dao Court’s formation inheritance was overly formalized.
Formations themselves were already obscure and complex, and the barriers between different schools of formations were far too strict.
Most formation masters specialized in only one field. Those who studied the Five Elements might not understand the Eight Trigrams. Those who studied the Eight Trigrams were even less likely to research the Three Talents, Six Harmonies, or Seven Stars.
Not to mention that the Great Wilderness “Four Symbols” formations already differed from the Dao Court’s formation framework.
As for what Mo Hua himself excelled in, it involved even deeper formation principles related to Taotie, the Four Sacred Beasts, and Absolute Formations.
Ordinary formation masters truly would find it hard to understand.
Since they couldn’t understand, Mo Hua could confidently start talking nonsense:
“The Four Symbols Palace uses an ancient formation system passed down in the Great Wilderness. This system originates from the Four Symbols and transcends ordinary grade classifications. The different formation patterns interweave, combining entrapment and killing into one.”
“This formation system is extremely tight. Completely breaking it is impossible…”
“What I had you do just now was use the mutual generation and restraint laws between the Four Symbols, supplemented by Eight Trigram directions and Five Element cycles. From the formation hub nodes, we restrained the movement of the Four Symbols, thereby guiding the Four Sacred Beasts to make way within the complex maze and opening up a path of survival…”
Mo Hua casually sketched a formation hub on the paper.
Beside it, with messy strokes, he drew some Four Symbols Sacred patterns, then randomly traced out a “path of survival,” and continued,
“The overall Four Symbols structure is roughly like this.”
“Fully breaking the formation is impossible. We can only make use of partial breaks to guide the Four Symbols, thereby finding a path of survival and leaving the maze…”
After speaking, Mo Hua looked at the elders. “Understood?”
Their gazes were still as dazed and bewildered as ever.
Mo Hua nodded. “Good. As long as you understand.”
No one had the nerve to admit they didn’t understand a single thing, nor did they know what Mo Hua was even talking about.
So they could only tacitly accept that Mo Hua was right.
Elder Xuanyuan was equally muddled, deeply confused inside.
Second-grade formations… were like this?
Why did this look a bit off…
Why was it that the second-grade formations they usually saw and learned weren’t that difficult, yet the sloppy second-grade lines Mo Hua casually drew looked like heavenly script, impossible to trace?
Was this the true weight of Qianxue’s top formation genius?
Just what kind of formation education had Qianxue Prefecture been conducting all these years?
Were these the things they taught their disciples?
Elder Xuanyuan frowned deeply and said nothing.
If it were something else, he could have argued with Mo Hua. But this was formations—Absolute Formation patterns related to Taotie and the Four Symbols. Just looking at them made his eyes spin and his head ache. He didn’t even know where to begin refuting.
In the end, Elder Xuanyuan could only nod slightly. “Since the formation is broken, let’s go.”
The others also nodded. “Right. If the formation issue is settled, we should set off as soon as possible…”
Mo Hua glanced at everyone and nodded. “Alright, I’ll lead the way.”
At the same time, he sighed inwardly:
“Formations really are the easiest way to fool people…”
Formations were obscure, with strict barriers. Even if you deceived them right in the open, they still couldn’t figure it out.
They couldn’t even tell whether you had deceived them at all, or how you did it.
“In the future, I must be wary of formation masters. Can’t let myself be fooled by one…”
Mo Hua looked silently at these people who didn’t understand yet pretended they did, taking it as a lesson learned.
…
Afterward, Mo Hua led the group into the maze.
Although the Four Sacred Beasts Absolute Formation inside the Four Symbols Palace was extremely powerful, it had no one controlling it and ran entirely on its own.
Therefore, if one could see through the formation’s circulation and calculate the nodes of the formation hub, it was entirely possible to find a way out.
This wasn’t difficult for Mo Hua, who was proficient in Four Symbols formations.
He could already do it before. Now that he had fully deduced the entire Four Symbols Palace formation and understood it more deeply, finding a path was even easier.
Mo Hua led the group through the maze, following various Four Symbols Sacred patterns to judge directions, turning left and right, sometimes detouring, sometimes even doubling back.
The elders were completely lost.
Yet strangely, the journey was indeed safe. No traps were triggered, nor the laws of the Four Sacred Beasts were activated.
Just as Mo Hua had said, this truly was a “path of survival.”
After winding around for a long time, the group, led by Mo Hua, walked out of the Four Symbols maze as casually as if they were taking a stroll.
Once outside, the magnificent walls of the Royal Court came back into view.
The blood-red sky, carrying the scent of flames and blood, filled their noses. Everyone felt a sense of disbelief.
Quite a few elders looked at Mo Hua’s back, unable to hide the shock in their eyes.
“So this is… Qianxue Prefecture’s top formation genius?”
“He really did lead us out of the Four Symbols Palace…”
“In the path of formations, this kid… truly is a monster.”
Mo Hua, meanwhile, looked calm, as if he had done something utterly trivial.
A trace of jealousy flashed through Elder Xuanyuan’s eyes. Then he looked at the crowd, his expression indifferent, and said in a deep voice:
“Beyond the Four Symbols Palace lies the Great Wilderness Dragon Hall.”
“The Great Wilderness Dragon Hall is where the Royal clan of the Great Wilderness resides.”
“The Dao Court has decreed that the Great Wilderness Royal clan overstepped the sovereign system, defied the Heavenly Dao, betrayed the Dao Court, violated Dao law, and brought war and calamity upon the land of Ancient-Li Province, plunging the common people into misery. Their crimes are punishable by death a thousand times over.”
“Today, we shall wipe out the entire bloodline of the Great Wilderness Royal descendants, leaving no future trouble.”
“Everyone, we have been loyal to the Dao Court and fought our way here. We must now work together and eliminate the remaining evils, completely severing the fate of the Great Wilderness!”
Elder Xuanyuan’s words were grand and stirring, upholding the righteousness of the Dao Court.
The elders of the various clans, regardless of their individual stances, all cupped their hands and responded:
“We obey the Dao Court’s command. We shall join Elder Xuanyuan in united effort and eradicate the remaining remnants!”
Elder Xuanyuan gave a slight nod. “Good.”
His gaze was cold; he did not even spare Mo Hua a glance.
The others also no longer paid attention to Mo Hua, as if they had completely forgotten that it was he who had led them out of the Four Symbols Palace.
In their minds, there was only one thought: charge into the Dragon Hall, slaughter the Great Wilderness Royal clan, storm into the Dragon Pool, and extinguish the fate of the Great Wilderness.
Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened slightly.
He said nothing, only slowly stepping back and blending into the crowd.
He knew that on this road through the Royal court, the Four Sacred Beasts Absolute Formation had merely been the appetizer. The real danger would begin when they encountered ShenTu Ao.
Because ShenTu Ao was a “piece” of the Daoist.
No one knew what kind of scheme his Martial Uncle—the Strange Daoist—was laying out by using Shentu Ao.
Once they stepped into the Dragon Hall, a single misstep could mean death for all, even Golden Core or Feathered Ascension cultivators might not survive.
Yet the opportunity to form a Golden Core lay just ahead…
Mo Hua took a deep breath, suppressing the unease in his heart, and said to Bai Zisheng, Dan Ling, Situ Fang, Situ Jian, and the others,
“Later, stay close to me.”
Mo Hua’s expression was grave.
Bai Zisheng and the others nodded.
Afterward, with Elder Xuanyuan leading the way, the group continued advancing toward the Great Wilderness Dragon Hall.
Between the Four Symbols Palace and the Great Wilderness Dragon Hall lay a long flight of steps.
The steps were forged from ancient massive stones, majestic and imposing, extremely wide, stretching straight upward toward the Dragon Hall above.
At a glance, it looked like a path to the heavens.
The Dao Court’s forces followed the enormous steps, walking upward toward the higher Great Wilderness Dragon Hall one step at a time.
There was not a single person around them, no Royal guards, no Royal soldiers, not even the slightest trace of life. The ancient surroundings were desolate, the silence terrifyingly absolute.
A dark cloud seemed to hang over Mo Hua’s heart, an indescribable sense of oppression weighing down on him.
At the same time, he concentrated his Divine-Sense to the utmost, guarding against some sudden, unforeseen, and sinister killing intent that might erupt at any moment.
But nothing happened.
Nothing at all occurred along the long staircase.
And so they continued upward like this. In the dead silence and stifling pressure, no one knew how long they walked, until at last they reached the end of the steps and arrived before the Great Wilderness Dragon Hall.