Chapter 1372: Endless Abyss Marsh
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Chapter 1371: Endless Abyss Marsh
The Imperial Celestial Bureau had sealed the gates of the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court with a Fourth-Grade Seven-Star Formation.
The formation was not especially intricate. It seemed hastily arranged, clearly True-Person Zhuge had been pressed for time and was unable to refine the formation to perfection. As long as the gate was sealed, it sufficed.
He had only done it as a precaution. He likely never imagined that, at this late hour, someone could slip through the Royal Court Palace, the Four Symbols Palace, and the Dragon Hall’s layers of security, uncover the Dragon Pool’s secret, and reach the ancestral gate sealed by his Seven-Star array.
One could only blame Mo Hua for being absurdly inhuman.
Even so, a Fourth-Grade formation was still far too difficult.
Mo Hua frowned and sat down to meditate, restoring his divine sense.
Earlier, inside the Four Symbols Palace, he had used the Yin-Wood Rejuvenation Formation to invoke the laws of life and death and reverse Qing Zhu’s fate.
Even those few fleeting moments had nearly drained his Sea of Consciousness.
Afterward, pressed for time, he had no chance to recover.
Now, standing before the Ancestral Court and blocked by a Fourth-Grade Seven-Star formation, Mo Hua was anxious, but he forced himself to calm down, meditate patiently, and restore his divine sense to a relatively “abundant” state before studying the formation.
After an unknown length of time, once most of his divine sense had recovered, Mo Hua slowly opened his eyes.
Golden light surfaced within them; black and white energies revolved.
His freshly restored divine sense began flowing rapidly again, transforming into computational power to support his calculations and insight into the Fourth-Grade Seven-Star formation before him.
He had secretly derived and studied Seven-Star formations before.
But those had all been in Second-Grade Mountain realm, involving only Second-Grade formations, and at the time, he had still been at Foundation Establishment.
Now he was Golden Core. His divine sense had reached the peak of twenty-nine patterns—the absolute limit of the Golden Core realm.
His derivation capacity was fuller; his comprehension of formations deeper.
Yet the Seven-Star gate before him was a Fourth-Grade formation, far beyond his current realm.
Mo Hua did not have much confidence.
But the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court stood before him… he had to try.
And encountering a Fourth-Grade formation, created by True-Person Zhuge and belonging to the Dao Court’s monopolized Seven-Star system exclusive to the Imperial Celestial Bureau, was an opportunity he could not possibly ignore.
He steadied himself, then began expending divine sense, activating the Heavenly Secret Derivative Algorithm to deduce and study the formation left behind.
Fourth-Grade Seven-Star formations were exceedingly difficult; the computational drain during derivation was immense.
After more than half his divine sense was consumed, Mo Hua cut off the process. His expression grew strange; he frowned and sank into thought.
From his deductions, the Seven-Star gate before him appeared to use the Jade Balance Star of the Northern Dipper as its core, drawing StarForce to form a “seal.”
The Jade Balance Star governed law and order, perfect for sealing.
But that was as far as he could calculate.
As he had predicted, a Fourth-Grade Seven-Star gate—regardless of its specific stellar configuration—was beyond his current realm to fully derive.
The gulf of cultivation stood firm.
Yet what truly felt strange was this:
His inability to calculate further was not because the Fourth-Grade formation was incomprehensible.
On the contrary, within the Jade Balance Star formation, many structural elements of the Feathered Ascension level array gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
That familiarity came from laws.
He vaguely sensed that beyond Fourth Grade, the core of formation structures operated according to logic that pierced through surface mechanics and connected directly to deeper fundamental laws.
As a “humanoid Taotie,” Mo Hua could perceive laws.
During his time in the Desolate Wilderness, he had accumulated extensive experience in comprehending, deriving, and simulating them.
His understanding of formations was completely beyond the syllabus.
But the problem was…. he had skipped too far ahead.
He hadn’t even studied Third-Grade formations.
At the Feathered Ascension level, he possessed extraordinary insight into the elusive laws tied to formations.
What he lacked instead was the foundational, transitional knowledge of normal Third-Grade formations.
Not long ago, he had still been Foundation Establishment, limited to learning Second-Grade Formations and Absolute Formations.
Now newly in Golden Core, although his divine sense had reached the realm’s peak, he had not studied even a single Third-Grade formation.
Without Third-Grade foundations, he could not cross that threshold to comprehend Fourth-Grade laws.
He could grasp some of the truly abstruse Fourth-Grade principles.
But he hadn’t had time to learn the basic Third-Grade formation structures at all.
It left him with the absurd feeling that a gold mine glittered before him, yet he had brought no pickaxe, forced to stare helplessly, unable to dig.
Mo Hua wracked his brain but couldn’t find any solution.
Formations were like that: what you don’t know, you don’t know. Third-Grade formations, if you haven’t learned them, you simply haven’t learned them.
Now the Third-Grade foundation had become the threshold he could not cross.
After much thought, the only thing he could do was perceive fragments of Fourth-Grade Seven-Star laws, memorize the trajectories of StarForce operations, and internalize them as experiential knowledge.
Beyond that, he could do no more.
The Seven-Star sealing gate left by True-Person Zhuge could not be opened.
Mo Hua sighed softly.
A Fourth-Grade formation laid by the man who invoked the Central Ziwei Heaven formation, walked the Seven Stars, and annihilated Dao-Sin calamities, how could it be easily broken…
“If the gate can’t be opened… then what?”
Mo Hua frowned slightly and looked up at the Ancestral Court, his gaze obscure.
He had no idea what was happening inside the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court at this moment.
What exactly True-Person Zhuge of the Imperial Celestial Bureau was plotting.
And whether his Martial Uncle was truly inside…
If he left without understanding these questions, the unease in his heart would never dissipate.
“Since I can’t break True-Person Zhuge’s formation… is there another way?”
Mo Hua carefully observed the star-radiant Jade Balance gate before him.
Soon his gaze sharpened. At the formation’s core, he caught sight of several extremely faint star-scars.
As an experienced formation master, he instantly judged them to be traces of severed formation power.
Severed formation power meant this Seven-Star Gate had been opened and closed after its completion.
If the gate had opened and closed, someone had entered and exited.
And if someone could pass through, then there was an opportunity…
To be safe, Mo Hua performed a quick finger calculation to confirm his deduction. Only then did he release a quiet breath of relief.
Afterward, he ceased his calculations and stopped expending divine sense. Finding a secluded spot, he sat in meditation to restore his Divine Sense.
He did want to continue studying True-Person Zhuge’s formation… such an opportunity was rare.
But studying formations consumed divine sense.
What lay ahead was unpredictable. He needed to conserve as much divine sense as possible to face the unknown.
Time passed little by little. The Seven-Star Jade Balance Gate continued its silent rotation, sealing the entrance to the Ancestral Court.
Mo Hua steadily recovered his divine sense.
After an unknown length of time, his heart stirred. He opened his eyes immediately and saw the Jade Balance Star Gate trembling.
His eyes lit up. Instantly, he stilled his breath and concealed his presence without making a sound.
Moments later, a figure emerged from within the Jade Balance Array Gate.
It was a cultivator clad in the robes of the Imperial Celestial Bureau, late-stage Golden Core cultivation, fair-faced and refined in bearing.
Amid swaying starlight, the Bureau cultivator passed through the Jade Balance Gate and stepped out of the Ancestral Court.
Mo Hua’s sharp eyes immediately noticed a jade token in his right hand, it appeared to be the access key to the Jade Balance Star Gate.
The cultivator clearly understood the gravity of the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court and remained extremely vigilant.
The jade token appeared in his hand for only an instant. After opening the gate, he swiftly withdrew it into his sleeve.
Mo Hua caught only that brief glimpse.
After exiting the Ancestral Court, the cultivator walked straight outward.
After a moment’s thought, Mo Hua followed silently behind him.
One ahead, one behind… the Bureau cultivator remained unaware.
He first arrived at the Dragon Pool, then proceeded directly to the Dragon Hall. He issued several instructions to the Dao-soldier commanders, stating they were orders from True-Person Zhuge.
Soon, Dao soldiers brought several storage bags bearing the seal of the Dao Court and handed them to him.
The bags were heavy, clearly filled with numerous items. From Mo Hua’s experience, they were likely formation materials.
After accepting the bags, the Bureau official sternly warned everyone:
“No one is allowed inside. Not even a fly. Ruin the True-Person’s great undertaking, and both you and I will suffer the consequences.”
“Yes, Lord Sili.”
(TN: Sili = Records officer/Records Administrator)
“Sili” was an official rank within the Imperial Celestial Bureau. This fair-faced middle-aged cultivator clearly wielded considerable authority.
He then departed the Dragon Hall, returned to the Dragon Pool, passed through the dragon-bone cavern entrance, and headed deeper toward the Ancestral Court.
Mo Hua’s eyes sharpened. Concealing himself, he moved ahead and lay in ambush before the Jade Balance Array Gate.
The Bureau official arrived, retrieved the jade token from his sleeve, and opened the sealed gate.
As Jade Balance starlight trembled and the gate began to open, his vision suddenly blurred.
He seemed to see a pair of clear, beautiful eyes.
They were brilliantly bright—holding the clarity of youth, yet an indescribable demonic depth. Within the pupils flickered faint golden light.
At the same time, a sharp sting pierced his Sea of Consciousness.
The Bureau official felt a splitting headache and stood dazed for several moments.
When his awareness returned and the haze cleared, he looked again. The Jade Balance Star Gate stood unchanged. Nothing seemed amiss.
He frowned, looked around, and swept the area with his divine sense. He detected no abnormalities, only lingering dull pain and heaviness within his Sea of Consciousness.
“Divine sense overexertion… too fatigued, perhaps…”
He rubbed his forehead.
This stabbing pain from divine sense exhaustion was common for formation masters of the Imperial Celestial Bureau.
In recent days he had been calculating at intense levels without rest. Coupled with the oppressive gloom of the Ancestral Court and constant mental strain, irregularities were inevitable…
He sighed, shook his head, cast aside distracting thoughts, and swiped the jade token again.
When the Jade Balance Star Gate opened, he stepped into the star-filled portal.
The gate closed swiftly behind him.
All was silent. No one noticed that someone had slipped through using his access…
…
After crossing the star gate, the Bureau official stepped once more into the Ancestral Court, familiar, yet never comforting.
What rushed toward him was the stale, decayed air of ages past, as though countless years of dust and death had settled here. Each breath brought the suffocating sensation of drowning in buried history.
This was… the burial ground of the Great Wilderness ancestors.
The only fifth-grade sacred land in the entire Great Wilderness.
A lost and forbidden place within its long history.
Yet what made this moment truly horrifying lay in the distance.
There spread a pitch-black force—like weeds, like flames, like an ocean—an unnamed chaos.
This black power stretched from earth to sky.
As if black fire had descended from heaven and burned the world.
As if sinful seas had surged upward from the earth into the heavens.
Vast as the sky, immense as the land, boundless in terror, an expanse of black chaos.
This was the legendary… Endless Abyss Marsh.
The wellspring of all barbarian mysteries; an ancient, sinister abyss; the origin encompassing all greatness and all sin of the Great Wilderness.
Now the Endless Abyss resembled a black ocean of flame, covering the heavens and burning fiercely. Though slow, its spread was visible to the naked eye. It had already devoured more than half of the Ancestral Court.
Each time one beheld this sight, an indescribable dread surfaced in the heart.
It felt as though every soul would be swallowed by that chaotic black abyss…
The Bureau official shuddered involuntarily, a chill spreading through his body.
Such a malevolent spectacle was rarely seen beneath heaven, something a person born in the Nine Provinces might never witness in a lifetime.
Fortunately, it was not his first time.
Since entering the Ancestral Court, he saw this terrifying vision whenever he looked up. By now, he had grown somewhat accustomed to it.
Even so, he did not dare stare for long.
This was the Endless Abyss. Who knew what horrors might occur if one gazed too long?
He took a deep breath to steady himself, lowered his gaze, and avoided the abyss. Watching only the ground, he proceeded step by step deeper into the Ancestral Court.
It was not his first time facing the Endless Abyss.
But for someone else… it was.
Not far ahead, Mo Hua had entered first, staring blankly at the boundless pitch-black abyss before him, as if a sea of fire and darkness spanned heaven and earth. His emotions churned, and an indescribable shock gripped him.
He had never imagined that such a vast place of malevolent energy truly existed in the world.
It was as if it were an abyss stretching across the heavens and earth.
What frightened Mo Hua even more was that this “abyss” seemed to be calling him.
His bones, his flesh, even his soul… it was as though all were being drawn toward this endless abyss.
It was as if he himself were one of the “monsters” born from this abyss.
And this endless abyss was the true destination of his life.
Mo Hua knew that this was the instinctive law of the ferocious beast Taotie at work within him.
But that wasn’t all—his fate pattern churned violently, the accumulated murderous energy, the demonic spirits he had slain—all seemed to scent the essence of “origin,” struggling and howling, backlashing against his mind.
This was… the call of the “Strange Daoist.”
Mo Hua’s face turned pale.
Fortunately, he had now reached the Golden Core stage; his divine sense had surged, giving him greater control over his mind. With a single thought, his overwhelming divine sense surged, forcibly suppressing the rampaging beasts and vengeful spirits within his heart.
Yet this was not a good sign.
Mo Hua let out a soft sigh to calm himself, then lowered his gaze, avoiding the endless abyss, and stepped carefully along the ancient stone stairs, following the path the Imperial Celestial Bureau official had taken, deeper into the Ancestral Court.
The path ahead was empty and deathly silent.
The ancient stone steps, worn by time, were fragile, like the dust of history itself.
The ancestral tombs of the Great Wilderness lay all around. Bones scattered everywhere, desolate and weathered.
Unfamiliar, eerie sounds echoed through the area, sending shivers down the spine.
After a while, Mo Hua suddenly sensed the presence of many living beings ahead.
In the midst of the ancient and deathly Ancestral Court, these bustling energies felt jarringly out of place.
Mo Hua held his breath and focused, moving forward, and soon reached a vast plaza of bones.
There were at least dozens of Golden Core cultivators in Imperial Celestial Bureau robes, hastily drawing formations and coordinating with one another.
True-Person Zhuge was among them.
Nearby, True Person Huá and several other Dao Court True-Persons were discussing something.
Within the plaza, a colossal structure was being constructed, the embryonic form of a Daoist building Mo Hua had never seen before.
The unfamiliar yet potent formation energy he had sensed earlier emanated continuously from this magnificent structure…