Chapter 1461: Four Billion
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Chapter 1459: Four Billion
(TN: The raw Chinese is 四十亿. While 四十 means “forty,” 亿 does not mean “billion,” it means 100 million. Therefore:
四十亿 = 40 × 100,000,000 = 4 billion
四百亿 = 400 × 100,000,000 = 40 billion
The confusion comes from treating 亿 as “billion” instead of its actual value of 100 million.)
Has the portrait been spread everywhere?
Mo Hua frowned, “It can’t be that exaggerated, can it?”
“Not exaggerated at all,” Wu Ming said, then glanced at Mo Hua and shook his head with a sigh. “How can you be so unaware? So many women are watching you, and you don’t feel it at all?”
“Well… I can sense a little,” Mo Hua said hesitantly.
When he first entered Kun Province and lived with his little senior sister in the minor blessed land, he could already feel many women “watching” him.
Many young women also handed him “love letters.”
However, that seemed like a different matter.
Most of these love letters were filled not with affection but with “killing intent.”
Mo Hua hadn’t considered that there might be women watching him for other reasons.
Seeing Mo Hua’s “oblivious yet widely admired” demeanor, Wu Ming felt inexplicably jealous and irritated, though he dared not show it. After all, Mo Hua was a monster in human skin.
If he was polite to you, you shouldn’t take it for granted.
Mo Hua asked, “What exactly do the Kun Province aristocratic clans want from me by proposing marriage?”
Wu Ming pursed his lips slightly, “Who knows?”
Maybe they want your body, maybe your talent, or perhaps your unfathomable background.
Those old foxes in the higher-ups each have their own schemes, and Wu Ming knew he was still inexperienced and couldn’t guess them.
“Anyway,” Wu Ming glanced at Mo Hua, “you’re about that age now. You should start considering the matter of a Dao Companion.”
Mo Hua let out a soft “oh,” then turned to Wu Ming and asked curiously: “What about you? Who will your Wu Clan’s higher-ups have you marry? The Lu Clan?”
Wu Ming shook his head, “It won’t be the Lu Clan… It’ll be the Earth Sect.”
“The Earth Sect?” Mo Hua was slightly taken aback and asked again, “The Eldest Senior Sister of the Earth Sect?”
Wu Ming nearly rolled his eyes and said coldly, “What are you thinking? Am I worthy?”
This Wu Ming was far too self-aware. Mo Hua didn’t know what to say.
Wu Ming said, “The Eldest Senior Sister of the Earth Sect is the most core direct disciple of the sect, with unparalleled talent and beauty. With my status, how could I possibly be worthy?”
“Besides, the Eldest Senior Sister of the Earth Sect is notoriously domineering. I wouldn’t dare get involved with her, or else getting beaten black and blue would be the least of my worries.”
Mo Hua was surprised, “Domineering?”
Wu Ming nodded, “Very domineering.”
Wu Ming added, “Think about it. The Earth Sect is so large, with so many disciples and such complex power dynamics. For a woman to rise above everyone else and become the Eldest Senior Sister, you can imagine how strong her methods and abilities must be.”
Mo Hua thought for a moment and had to nod in agreement, “Indeed.”
The Earth Sect was a “giant” in its own right. This Eldest Senior Sister was truly no ordinary person.
The main thing was that within the entire Earth Sect, Mo Hua had only heard of this “Eldest Senior Sister,” and even that was from the unreliable Bai XiaoSheng. He hadn’t heard of any other women from the Earth Sect.
Mo Hua then asked Wu Ming, “So who from the Earth Sect will you marry?”
“How would I know?” Wu Ming shook his head. “It’s up to the elders to decide. I have no say in the matter.”
After a moment of thought, Wu Ming suddenly asked Mo Hua, “You wouldn’t also marry into the Earth Sect, would you?”
Mo Hua shook his head, “How could that be?”
No one had ever brought this up to him.
Wu Ming nodded, “It’s better not to form a marriage alliance with the Earth Sect. The Earth Sect is too large and too powerful. Marrying a woman from the Earth Sect isn’t easy—even if you’re relying on her support, it can be quite miserable.”
“Relying on a woman’s support may look appealing, but it’s actually very difficult. I’ve seen plenty of it in my clan,” Wu Ming sighed.
Upon hearing this, Mo Hua also nodded, “Indeed.”
Relying on a woman’s support truly isn’t easy.
He often felt guilty for relying too much on his little senior sister’s support.
Mo Hua thought for a moment and suddenly found it strange. He asked, “Does it have to be the Earth Sect?”
Wu Ming was surprised, “What?”
Mo Hua said, “Do you have to form a marriage alliance with the Earth Sect?”
Wu Ming nodded.
“Can’t it be another aristocratic clan?” Mo Hua frowned. “The Lu Clan, the Jìn Clan, or the Zhū Clan?”
“It seems not.”
“Why?” Mo Hua asked.
Wu Ming pondered, “The specifics, I’m not entirely sure… Actually, at first, judging from my parents’ hints, it seemed they wanted me to marry a girl from the Jìn Clan. The Jìn Clan girls are more gentle.”
“But later, for some reason, the direction changed, and it became the Earth Sect.”
“Moreover, it’s not just me. I inquired around, and it seems the marriage arrangements for other aristocratic clan heirs have all shifted direction. Now, when it comes to marriage alliances, the priority is all on the Earth Sect’s direct descendants.”
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
What is the Earth Sect… trying to do?
Are all the aristocratic clan heirs in Kun Province only allowed to marry into the Earth Sect?
Is this to… create deeper bonds of interest between the Earth Sect and the aristocratic clans?
While this is understandable from the perspective of clan and sect interests…
But as Wu Ming just said, the shift happened suddenly, and the timing is somewhat delicate.
What exactly does the Earth Sect want to do?
Mo Hua thought for a moment and asked, “Can’t you refuse the marriage arranged by your clan?”
Wu Ming said, “I can express my own wishes, but that’s all they are—just wishes. In the end, who I marry is decided by the clan.”
Mo Hua asked, “What if you go against it?”
Wu Ming sighed, “If you go against it, you’ll have to pay a huge price. An individual’s strength is ultimately insignificant. In the face of a powerful clan’s overwhelming interests, it’s like a mantis trying to stop a chariot—there’s no good outcome.”
“Besides, the clan has raised you for so many years; it can’t be for nothing. If you go against the higher-ups’ wishes in a matter like marriage, it’s unreasonable both emotionally and logically.”
“Not to mention, the higher your cultivation level, the more resources you need, and the more you rely on the clan’s support.”
“If you fall out with the clan over marriage, your cultivation path will be fraught with difficulties, and you’ll struggle at every step. No matter how bright your future might have been, it’ll be gone.”
Mo Hua nodded slightly.
Put that way, going against the wishes of an aristocratic clan in marriage is indeed extremely difficult.
“Marriage alliances are a big deal,” Wu Ming glanced at Mo Hua and said casually, “But there are some things I can only say this much about. Anyway, be careful yourself.”
Before he could finish, Wu Ming suddenly froze, shocked inwardly:
What the hell was I just saying?
Was I warning Mo Hua?
Am I out of my mind?
Why did I tell Mo Hua everything? How could I…
Wu Ming glanced at Mo Hua, took a deep breath, and felt that this Mo Hua was truly bizarre and terrifying.
Seeing Wu Ming staring at him, Mo Hua was puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Wu Ming mumbled. “I’m full. I’m heading back.”
“Is that all you’re eating?” Mo Hua asked. “How about ordering two more fish?”
Wu Ming immediately replied, “No more.”
He absolutely couldn’t stay long with this strange Mo Hua—prolonged exposure might affect his own mind.
If he ate two more fish, he might even forget his own surname.
Wu Ming said seriously, “Don’t tell anyone what was said today, and especially don’t mention it came from me. I’ll take my leave now.”
With that, Wu Ming hastily stood up and left without a moment’s delay, looking rather apprehensive and fleeing in a panic.
Mo Hua, however, remained seated, leisurely sipping the wine in his cup, his eyes flickering thoughtfully as he murmured: “An arranged marriage…”
The words “arranged marriage” gave Mo Hua much to ponder.
After leaving HóngYùn Pavilion and returning to the Little Luan Mountain Blessed Land, Mo Hua inadvertently caught sight of his little senior sister’s figure. For some reason, his heart trembled violently.
Bai Zixi was reading a book in the courtyard. Sensing something unusual in Mo Hua’s gaze, she softly asked: “What’s wrong?”
Mo Hua remained silent for a moment. He had been about to ask, “Little Senior Sister, are you also going to be part of an arranged marriage?” But the words never left his lips. Instead, he shook his head and said: “Nothing.”
Yet, his eyes involuntarily revealed a complex mix of emotions.
Seeing Mo Hua like this, Bai Zixi’s clear, icy eyes also trembled slightly.
The two unconsciously locked eyes for a while longer. For some reason, Mo Hua felt a bit guilty and said, “Senior Sister, I… I’m going to go cultivate.”
Bai Zixi said nothing, only nodding gently.
Back in his room, Mo Hua felt inexplicably restless.
This was an extremely rare occurrence for him.
Having proven the Dao through Divine-Sense, his Dao Heart had always been firm. Through years of practicing the Meditation Technique, his heart remained as calm and clear as ice, and few things could stir his emotions.
It took Mo Hua a full half-hour to calm his mind.
Feeling restless was useless in many situations.
When faced with a problem, the only thing to do was solve it. Any other emotions were merely unnecessary distractions.
With that, Mo Hua settled his mind and resumed his study of Formations.
The night was quiet. After focusing on drawing Formations for a while, his mind grew calm and peaceful. Only then did Mo Hua take out the five hundred thousand Spirit stones he had just won from Wu Ming and feed them to his Taotie Spiritual Skeleton.
These five hundred thousand Spirit stones, combined with the over one million he had saved from drawing Formations for Manager Zhao and other miscellaneous tasks, meant that his third meridian, the Hand Lesser-Yin Heart Meridian, was nearly half-fed.
Mo Hua estimated that feeding another two million or so Spirit stones would complete the third Spiritual Skeleton.
This progress was already quite fast.
Sensing the increasingly abundant and powerful Spiritual Rune Patterns on the bones within his body, Mo Hua felt somewhat reassured.
Though slow, both his Formations and his Life-Bound Formation were gradually growing stronger.
Cultivation was inherently a process of perseverance—accumulating vast amounts of incremental progress to achieve a qualitative leap.
And this incremental progress was something Mo Hua engaged in almost every day.
In the long years of arduous cultivation, what truly tested a cultivator was their ability to maintain their Dao Heart amidst loneliness and monotony.
Thus, the night passed. The next day, the bright morning sun streamed through the window, casting its light on Mo Hua’s face.
Mo Hua opened his eyes, feeling somewhat refreshed, and began his decades-long routine of daily cultivation.
This was an ordinary occurrence.
What was unusual was that when Mo Hua, as usual, channeled the absorbed spiritual energy through the Minor Heavenly Cycle into his Golden Core…
His Golden Core seemed to emit a faint dragon’s roar and began to tremble slightly.
Along with it, Mo Hua’s meridians and the spiritual energy surrounding his body also grew restless.
Mo Hua was taken aback.
Was this… the bottleneck of the mid Golden Core stage?
“Could it be… a breakthrough?”
Mo Hua was overjoyed and immediately focused his mind, refining Spirit stones to accelerate the circulation of his Minor Heavenly Cycle.
For Golden Core Cultivators, breaking through a realm was an arduous task.
It could take as little as three to five years, or as long as a decade, or even several decades, to reach the next bottleneck.
Many Golden Core Cultivators would even remain stuck at the threshold of the Early Golden Core Stage for over a century.
This was especially true for those who practiced high-difficulty or obscure Cultivation Methods.
Although their methods were powerful, breakthroughs were difficult, and each advancement required immense effort.
They would fight desperately, even risking their lives, for one or two rare spiritual treasures, just for a chance to advance.
The Celestial Evolution Art that Mo Hua practiced was also an extremely high-difficulty and obscure Puzzle Formation, with an almost impossible level of cultivation difficulty.
Fortunately, the Celestial Evolution Art only constrained Divine-Sense and had no particular demand for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures or rare spiritual items.
Mo Hua had expected his advancement in the Golden Core Realm to be relatively smooth.
But he never imagined he would reach the threshold of the mid Golden Core stage so quickly.
“Mid Golden Core stage.”
Mo Hua’s eyes lit up, and he immediately took out all his Spirit stones. Following the cultivation method of the Celestial Evolution Art, he refined them all and channeled them into his Golden Core.
Within his dantian, that peculiar Inferior-Grade Five True-Dragon-Qi Golden Core Lock began to glow under the nourishment of spiritual energy.
The five strands of True Dragon Qi on the Golden Core seemed to slowly open their eyes.
Though they appeared useless, they exuded an indescribable aura of dominance.
As spiritual energy was infused and the Celestial Evolution Art circulated, the luster on Mo Hua’s Golden Core grew brighter, and the crystallization within became more stable.
Mo Hua’s Golden Core spiritual energy was also being purified and condensed toward a higher realm.
Mo Hua felt deeply gratified.
But just as he thought his Golden Core would be satiated with spiritual energy and smoothly break through…
The ferocious Taotie patterns on his bones flickered, unexpectedly bypassing Mo Hua’s control and competing for the spiritual energy in his body.
The deep-blue Taotie Formation emitted an eerie glow, wildly devouring spiritual energy.
Meanwhile, within his dantian, the True Dragon Golden-Core Lock was also spinning continuously, absorbing spiritual energy.
It looked as if a Taotie and the Five True Dragon Qi were fighting over food inside Mo Hua’s body.
Mo Hua’s Inferior-Grade Golden Core, with its depleted True Dragon Qi, naturally couldn’t compete with the powerful and domineering “Lifebound Taotie” within his body.
Thus, the spiritual energy that should have been channeled into the Golden Core for a breakthrough was snatched away by the Taotie, “stealing food from the dragon’s mouth.”
The Golden Core, locked by a full five strands of True Dragon Qi, was simply no match for the Taotie.
Mo Hua felt a bit annoyed and wanted to grab the Taotie’s head to stop it from “stealing food,” but it was useless.
He couldn’t catch the Taotie, and at this moment, driven by its insatiable nature, it simply wouldn’t listen to him.
And so, Mo Hua could only watch helplessly as the Taotie in his Life-Bound Spiritual Skeleton devoured every last bit of spiritual energy meant for his breakthrough.
Without the supply of spiritual energy, the Golden Core remained stuck at the bottleneck, unable to advance. The Dragon Qi gradually weakened and retreated to the bottom of the Golden Core.
This breakthrough had failed.
Mo Hua had no choice but to interrupt his cultivation process, withdrawing his Divine-Sense from the state of internal observation. He took a deep breath, a heavy sense of helplessness welling up in his heart.
This was the consequence of reckless cultivation.
All sorts of messy techniques had been crammed into his body, and who knew when they would clash with one another.
But from another perspective, the current situation wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Mo Hua had anticipated earlier that breaking through to the Golden Core Realm wouldn’t be simple.
The most critical issue lay in the “Life-Bound Formation.”
When other cultivators formed their Golden Core, they began nurturing the embryo of their Lifebound Magical Treasure during the Foundation Establishment stage—or even as early as the Qi-Refining stage.
Only after the Magical Treasure was properly nurtured would they seek a breakthrough.
Due to his humble origins, Mo Hua’s “Life-Bound Formation” was something he only began nurturing during the late Foundation Establishment stage—or, to be more precise, at the peak of his Foundation Establishment.
By the time he formed his Golden Core, his Lifebound Taotie Formation had only been nurtured to one-twelfth of its full potential.
He had skipped the nurturing of a Magical Treasure and directly formed his Golden Core.
The Heavenly Dao could sometimes be annoyingly fair.
Now that he had reached the Golden Core stage, he had to repay the “debt” of nurturing his Life-Bound Formation.
Judging from the recent situation, if he didn’t first satiate the Lifebound Taotie Formation, the Taotie would continue to “steal sustenance,” forcibly seizing the spiritual energy meant for his breakthrough.
Mo Hua simply couldn’t break through to the mid Golden Core stage.
But surely he didn’t have to fully satiate all twelve Spiritual Meridians just to break through to the mid Golden Core stage, right?
Mo Hua frowned.
After pondering for a moment, he attempted another breakthrough.
He channeled spiritual energy into the Golden Core, which was restrained by the True Dragon Qi. As expected, the True Dragon Golden Core had barely tasted a bit of spiritual energy when the Taotie emerged, forcibly snatching all the spiritual energy from the True Dragon Golden Core’s grasp and supplying it to itself.
Mo Hua wasn’t surprised. Instead, he used his Divine-Sense to calculate the spiritual energy requirements involved.
After calculating for a while, Mo Hua stopped cultivating and cut off the supply of spiritual energy. Only then did the Taotie Formation and the True Dragon Golden Core settle down.
Mo Hua also breathed a slight sigh of relief.
“It’s not that outrageous.”
He had just used his Divine-Sense to perform a Derivative Algorithm. To break through from the early Golden Core stage to the mid Golden Core stage, even if the Taotie stole sustenance, it would likely only consume around ten million Spirit Stones.
In other words, once four Spiritual Meridians were fully nurtured, he could break through to the mid Golden Core stage.
This amount of Spirit Stones wasn’t small, but it wasn’t excessive either.
Compared to other Golden Core Cultivators, who had to rack their brains searching for rare spiritual treasures of unknown whereabouts to break through to the mid Golden Core stage, his reliance on devouring Spirit Stones to advance his cultivation was already quite “generous.”
But the problem lay ahead.
If his Derivative Algorithm was correct, then by extension, to break through to the late Golden Core stage, he would need to fully nurture a total of eight Spiritual Meridians.
And if he wanted to advance from the late Golden Core stage to the peak Golden Core stage, and even achieve Feathered Ascension soaring to the heavens, he might truly have to fully satiate all twelve Spiritual Meridians.
The amount of Spirit Stones required for that would be terrifying.
Mo Hua sighed.
The good news was that the mid Golden Core stage seemed within reach—just ten million Spirit Stones away.
But the bad news was that if he wanted to achieve Feathered Ascension and soar through the skies in the future, it seemed a bit out of reach.
Because Mo Hua had roughly calculated earlier that satiating all twelve Taotie Spiritual Meridians would require…
Over Four Billion Spirit Stones.
Mo Hua sighed deeply, feeling his scalp tingle and his entire body turn cold.
Feathered Ascension for Four Billion Spirit Stones?
Was this amount of Spirit Stones something a human could actually earn?
Even Mo Hua couldn’t help but feel a sense of despair. He flopped down on the ground like a salted fish that had lost all its dreams, muttering to himself: “I’ve been tricked by that Great Shaman Priest.”
Mo Hua strongly suspected that after the Great Shaman Priest had developed this Taotie Spiritual Skeleton Formation, had he ever actually “tested” it himself?
And fundamentally, could that godforsaken place, the Great Wilderness, really gather Four Billion spirit stones to nurture this Lifebound Taotie Formation for a single person?
This spirit stone consumption was clearly extremely unreasonable.
Could it be that he had messed something up again?
Had his Taotie Formation gone awry somewhere again?
But where exactly had it gone wrong? What mistake had caused this Absolute Formation to devour Four Billion spirit stones?
Mo Hua’s eyes were blank with confusion. After a long while, he finally let out a slow sigh.
“Thinking about this now is pointless anyway.”
“Time to go out and earn some spirit stones.” Mo Hua got up, slung his storage bag over his shoulder, and left the minor blessed land with a dejected expression.
At the same time, he secretly swore in his heart:
If one day I truly manage to earn these Four Billion and fully feed this Taotie Absolute Formation, I want to see just what miraculous wonders this Taotie Absolute Formation, nourished by Four Billion spirit stones, is capable of.
If after feeding it Four Billion, it still looks like this sorry state,
“I will definitely return to the Great Wilderness and blow up your Great Shaman Priest’s ancestral graves.”
Mo Hua gritted his teeth and vowed.