Chapter 387: Hidden Formation

These hundred-odd acres of spiritual fields, connected in patches, perhaps were a formation in themselves!

Mo Hua suddenly felt enlightened.

Previously, he had only been fixated on the form of formations, limited to individual formation runes, seeing only the surface-level patterns, and thus had been unable to perceive the full picture.

Whether it was the Soil-Nurturing Formation or other formations, they were merely minor branches and leaves, not the essence of the Absolute Formation.

The essence of this Absolute Formation was the spiritual fields themselves.

Mo Hua then felt a bit puzzled.

If the spiritual fields were the formation, then what were the formation medium, runes, formation pivot, and formation core that the formation relied on as a reference?

He sat back down on the ground and began to think carefully.

If the spiritual fields were the formation, then the formation medium would not be the stone ridges of the fields but the soil in which the spiritual rice was planted.

Soil is generally difficult to use as a formation medium.

Its texture—soft or moist, or prone to drying and erosion—makes it unstable, difficult to hold formation runes.

“Why would this Absolute Formation use soil as a formation medium?”

“Or rather, is this precisely part of the formation’s subtle brilliance?”

Mo Hua thought for a moment but had no clue, so he temporarily set it aside and continued thinking.

If soil is the medium, then the formation’s runes would be the intersecting and dividing ridges of the spiritual fields.

The formation pivot would be the overall layout of the spiritual fields.

Then what about the formation core?

How is the formation maintained?

Within the spiritual fields, there was no special spot that could serve as a formation core.

Mo Hua looked up at the rolling, wave-like spiritual fields and the crisscrossing ridges, and suddenly froze.

This wasn’t a large formation or a complex formation, but just a single formation.

There was no special spiritual-gathering formation or complex spiritual-gathering formation to provide energy.

The single formation drew its energy from its own runes.

The natural absorption of spiritual energy by the runes supplied power to the single formation.

In other words, these crisscrossing ridges were both the runes and the formation core.

But how did they supply energy?

Mo Hua frowned, thought for a moment, and then realized.

It was the Soil-Nurturing Formation!

The function of a single formation is relatively simple.

Even an Absolute Formation, no matter how powerful, cannot cover everything.

Thus, supplementary formations are needed to enhance its effect.

The Soil-Nurturing Formation was such a supplementary formation, used to assist the Absolute Formation by nourishing the soil.

But if the Soil-Nurturing Formation is built together with the Absolute Formation, it becomes a complex formation containing the Absolute Formation.

Such formations require a strong spiritual insight, complex runes, and once damaged, no one but the Sun family’s patriarch could repair them.

So the Sun family patriarch, with his unparalleled understanding, separated the two types of formations while keeping them interconnected.

The Soil-Nurturing Formations were drawn separately, not connected to the complex formation, making them easy to draw and repair.

Even the half-baked formation masters among the Sun family descendants could handle them.

Yet at the same time, they were related to the Absolute Formation.

Whenever the spiritual farmers provided energy to the Soil-Nurturing Formation, a portion naturally overflowed to supply the large Absolute Formation.

Thus, the Soil-Nurturing Formation was both a supplementary formation and, in a sense, an alternative “formation core” of the Absolute Formation.

The spiritual energy provided by the Soil-Nurturing Formation was actually very little.

But this Absolute Formation relied on soil nourishment, not on killing or trapping enemies.

What it needed was a steady, long-term supply of energy, a small but continuous flow.

From another perspective, the Sun family patriarch also did this to help the spiritual farmers save spiritual stones.

Mo Hua felt deep admiration.

The Sun family patriarch’s understanding and ingenious use of formations, along with his benevolent heart, were extraordinary.

No wonder, for hundreds of years, the scattered cultivators of Qianjia Town had been grateful for his grace.

Comprehending the Way of Heaven, benefiting all living beings.

Perhaps this was what a true formation master was…

Mo Hua felt a deep sense of awe.

Nearby, Ding Miaor, seeing Mo Hua lost in thought and silent for a long time, whispered:

“Brother?”

Mo Hua came back to his senses, smiled, and patted Miaor’s head.

“Thank you.”

Without Miaor’s simple diagram, he would never have noticed the clues.

A great person never loses the heart of a child.

The more innocent a child, the more naturally clear their vision, free of preconceptions, making it easier to see the truth.

Miaor tilted his little head, puzzled:

“Did I help?”

Mo Hua praised him: “You helped a lot.”

Miaor immediately brightened, though he didn’t know exactly how.

Mo Hua gave him a piece of pastry.

Miaor grabbed it with both hands and happily ate it.

“Brother said I made a great contribution, so this isn’t just for nothing.”

Miaor nodded, thinking silently.

…

Understanding the essence of the formation meant he had to try to restore the original formation map.

Mo Hua instructed Miaor not to run around, then climbed to a high peak to view the spiritual fields in their entirety.

He began, using the layout of the spiritual fields and his formation master’s thinking and rune techniques, to reconstruct the original formation from the fields arranged as a formation.

While calculating, Mo Hua suddenly stopped.

Something was wrong.

He couldn’t figure it out…

Mo Hua frowned.

Much of the spiritual fields’ layout was too square and orderly, not arranged according to the formation.

Thus, the reconstructed formation was fragmented and incomplete.

Mo Hua sighed.

Troubles just kept coming one after another…

He went down the mountain and asked Ding Miaor:

“Miaor, in your village, who has lived the longest and knows the most?”

Miaor furrowed his little brow, then his eyes lit up:

“The Elder!”

Indeed, Dongshan Village had an elder, but he was old, no longer managed affairs, and his cultivation was only Qi Refining, not Foundation Establishment.

He was called elder more for his seniority and ability to command respect, like a village chief.

Little Miaor led Mo Hua to the elder.

Mo Hua explained his purpose, wanting to ask a few questions.

The elder, seeing Mo Hua, showed gratitude:

“Young master has helped us. Ask anything, and this old man will answer everything.”

“You’re too polite, Elder.”

After some small talk, Mo Hua politely asked:

“Elder, over the past few hundred years, has the layout of the spiritual fields been changed?”

The elder paused thoughtfully, then slowly nodded:

“Yes, it has been changed.”

“Why was it changed?” Mo Hua asked.

The elder said:

“The ancestral lands are generally left unchanged. The layout of these spiritual fields had been maintained for over a hundred years…”

“But later, the Sun family reorganized the fields to make it convenient to draw formations, adjusting some of the original fields.”

“Now many fields are in a grid pattern, square and orderly.”

“Did the spiritual fields change after the reorganization?” Mo Hua asked.

“No major changes, except that the soil has become less fertile year by year.”

The elder sighed:

“I’m old, but I can still sense this. The children born later in the village know nothing.”

“I remember when I was young, my grandfather told me that centuries ago, the soil was much more fertile than now.”

The elder’s eyes gleamed with nostalgia:

“At that time, as long as people farmed steadily, everyone could have enough to eat…”

Mo Hua’s expression darkened as he gradually understood.

The purpose of this Absolute Formation was to keep the soil fertile and the spiritual fields rich.

The layout of the spiritual fields was the formation pivot itself.

After the Sun family patriarch passed away, the lazy descendants, for their convenience in drawing formations, reorganized the fields, altering the layout.

This disrupted the formation pivot, gradually rendering the Absolute Formation ineffective.

Later, the Sun family descendants, to exploit the spiritual farmers, drew some poor-quality formations on the ridges, which often broke and needed repair.

Because the formations were constantly breaking and being repaired, the energy supplied to the Soil-Nurturing Formation was intermittent.

Thus, the energy supply to the Absolute Formation was also interrupted.

Decades or even centuries later, the Absolute Formation was completely defunct.

Mo Hua sighed.

The Sun family patriarch had once established a family rule:

No Sun family member shall ever occupy a single plot of land in Qianjia Town; otherwise, their surname would be revoked, their genealogy erased, and they would be expelled from the family!

This rule was to ensure the spiritual farmers had a livelihood.

It also restrained the descendants, preventing them from disturbing the spiritual fields’ layout and thus preserving the formation pivot.

But he could not have imagined that the Sun family descendants would be so incompetent.

Their greed led them to commit foolish acts, destroying the formation’s benefits and breaking the legacy of the formation.

When the spiritual fields changed, the formation pivot shifted.

As a result, the complete formation map could no longer be deduced.

Mo Hua frowned, then suddenly had an idea:

“Elder, do you have the old spiritual field maps from hundreds of years ago?”

The elder hesitated briefly, then nodded:

“Yes, we do…”

“May I see them?”

The elder looked troubled. These maps were confidential and normally not shown to outsiders.

Mo Hua said:

“I want to find the formation drawn by the Sun family patriarch.”

The elder was stunned, trembling:

“The Sun family patriarch… his formation?”

Mo Hua nodded.

The elder quavered:

“But the Sun family patriarch was a Second-Rank Formation Master…”

He looked at Mo Hua in disbelief.

This young master could comprehend the formations of a Second-Rank Formation Master?

Mo Hua said:

“He was Second-Rank, but the formation he left behind is actually First-Rank, just a bit difficult to draw.”

The elder didn’t fully understand but was impressed.

To comprehend such a formation was remarkable.

After pondering, he said firmly:

“Alright, I’ll give you the maps!”

If this young master could truly uncover the formation drawn by the Sun family patriarch, it would be a tremendous blessing for the spiritual farmers.

A few maps were of little value otherwise—they could barely survive, so why hoard them?

The elder went into the inner room, opened a box at the very bottom of the corner, and pulled out a stack of yellowed parchment, handing them to Mo Hua.

On each parchment were patches of spiritual fields drawn like fish scales.

The spiritual fields were naturally distributed, with orderly intersecting ridges.

The papers also recorded the Dao calendar years.

Records of the spiritual farmers, land allocation, soil fertility… everything was clearly documented.

This was indeed confidential information.

No wonder the elder had hesitated earlier.

Mo Hua looked through them, compared them with the maps, and, based on the old layout of the spiritual fields, made some deductions. His eyes gradually brightened.

He had guessed correctly.

The true Absolute Formation was hidden here, in these centuries-old maps!

(This chapter complete)