Chapter 390: Dao Essence
In the vast spirit fields, in a secluded corner of the land,
Mo Hua sat on the ridge of a field and began practicing the Profound-Earth Array on a patch of empty ground before him.
He had already grasped the formation of the Profound-Earth Array itself with the help of the Dao Monument.
The only problem was that, after drawing it, the formation had no effect.
Profound Earth: vast virtue carrying all things, nurturing all life.
This array required the land itself as the medium to truly take effect.
Mo Hua dipped his brush in ink and began drawing the Profound-Earth Array on the ground.
After a while, an intricate, ancient-looking array, containing eleven formation patterns, was completed.
He poured his spiritual energy into it, attempting to activate the formation.
But the energy flowed into the array like water into a leaky bucket—instantly spilling out.
He wiped the formation patterns with his hand, and they vanished effortlessly.
Mo Hua sighed.
Failure.
Unwilling to give up, he began drawing again.
As expected, the second attempt also failed.
The third attempt didn’t succeed either…
…
After exhausting his Divine-Sense, Mo Hua meditated. Once replenished, he continued drawing.
No matter how he drew, the patterns couldn’t merge with the earth, and the spiritual energy wouldn’t circulate.
Frowning, Mo Hua thought:
“It seems Master was right. The principle is simple to explain, but actually practicing it is a completely different matter…”
“No matter how I draw, the patterns cannot remain on the ground, and the energy cannot harmonize with the earth.”
“And even after drawing so many attempts, there’s still no progress…”
“Should I go ask Master again?”
He hesitated, then shook his head.
Better to continue pondering on his own.
If Master wanted to tell him, he would have already.
Since Master didn’t say, there must be a reason—he wanted Mo Hua to figure it out himself.
As the saying goes: a master can guide you to the door, but cultivation is up to the individual.
What one can comprehend independently is better learned and thought through personally; the insight is deeper that way.
Nodding, Mo Hua pondered further:
“I probably haven’t drawn enough yet.”
“Draw a formation a hundred times, and its meaning will naturally emerge.”
“Let’s try a hundred times first. If there’s still no clue, then I’ll ask Master.”
He focused and continued drawing the Profound-Earth Array on the land.
From morning to afternoon, from afternoon to evening.
At night, he didn’t even need to sleep.
Whenever his Divine-Sense was exhausted or he felt fatigued, he sank it into his Sea of Consciousness.
After a brief meditation in front of the Dao Monument, his Divine-Sense was replenished, and he became invigorated.
Mo Hua practiced the array tirelessly.
Bai Zixi, carrying Miao’er, brought him meals.
Seeing him completely absorbed, they didn’t disturb him—just quietly placing the food beside him.
When he grew tired, Mo Hua would eat a few bites, then continue drawing.
Several days later, he had drawn the Profound-Earth Array eighty or ninety times, yet the patterns still couldn’t harmonize with the land.
Doubt crept into his mind.
Was his method wrong? Or was his comprehension insufficient?
Could it really require a hundred attempts…?
But even at this pace, a hundred attempts seemed unlikely to yield progress.
Mo Hua frowned, resting his chin on his hand, thinking silently.
Had he overlooked something?
Array elements: the medium, the patterns, the pivot, the array eye.
He had considered all these…
Beyond that: ink, spiritual energy, Divine-Sense…
He recited these silently, suddenly pausing in thought.
Divine-Sense…
To comprehend an array, a cultivator must use Divine-Sense.
But he himself was using Divine-Sense to comprehend the array… Could it be that what he needed to comprehend wasn’t just the array?
The array was drawn on the earth, embodying its vast virtue… Could it be that he needed to comprehend, besides the array, the “earth” itself?
With a mindset of “let’s give it a try,” Mo Hua sat cross-legged, held his breath, and began using his Divine-Sense to connect with the land.
Half an hour passed.
Nothing happened…
He felt both dejected and confused.
Suddenly, he slapped his forehead, remembering something.
Elder Zhuang had said:
“A cultivator’s Dao comprehension, focusing only on insight, tends to be vague, superficial, and formalistic, lacking substance.”
“An array is the manifestation of the heavenly Dao, a bridge connecting the cultivator with the void Dao.”
The array is a bridge connecting cultivator and Heaven-and-Earth Dao.
So it shouldn’t be idle meditation, but using the array as a bridge—drawing while comprehending the great Dao.
Mo Hua’s eyes lit up. He dipped his brush again and began drawing the Profound-Earth Array, this time simultaneously expanding his Divine-Sense to communicate with the land.
With each stroke, he vaguely felt his Divine-Sense being stirred.
It was as if the vast earth held a faint aura, slowly emerging with the tracing of his patterns.
Each additional stroke made the earth’s aura heavier, and his perception clearer.
Once the array was complete, Mo Hua felt certain he had truly sensed something.
It was a vast, deep, compassionate aura.
Yet it remained only a perception.
The earth remained silent, seemingly unmoved.
Looking at his drawn array, he saw that some patterns had begun to merge with the land, though only superficially, able to absorb only faint spiritual energy.
Still, he felt invigorated.
This proved his approach was correct.
Comprehending the Profound-Earth Array wasn’t merely understanding the formation—it also required understanding the Dao contained within it.
Only then could the array and the Dao combine, using the earth as the medium to draw this ultimate array.
He had glimpsed some profundity, but he had drawn too little, and the comprehension time was short; the conditions weren’t yet ripe.
All that remained was to continue practicing.
His eyes shone brightly like starlight.
He focused and continued practicing the Profound-Earth Array using the method he had just grasped.
The results were noticeably better.
With each completed array, the patterns merged more with the land, and the earth’s aura became clearer.
It was as if the vast earth had its own will—eternal, silent, yet nurturing all things.
Mo Hua connected with this timeless will, gradually harmonizing his Divine-Sense with it.
His understanding of the Profound-Earth Array deepened.
Finally, after an unknown period, he successfully drew his first Profound-Earth Array on the land.
The patterns merged with the earth.
He activated it with spiritual energy.
In the deep night, the array radiated a warm, gentle glow.
The energy within took on a subtle transformation, developing a life of its own, becoming finer, gentler spiritual energy.
Like soft spring rain, it merged with the earth, nurturing life endlessly.
Mo Hua could even feel the thriving vitality from the soil.
“The earth’s form is Kun, vast virtue carrying all things… so this is the Profound-Earth Array…”
He felt a deep resonance and momentarily became lost in thought.
He finally understood why an ultimate array was called ultimate.
Because the circulation of energy in an ultimate array differed fundamentally from ordinary arrays—it approached a deeper layer of the Dao.
Mo Hua now commanded two types of ultimate arrays:
The Reverse-Spirit Array, and the Profound-Earth Array.
The Reverse-Spirit Array reverses spiritual energy; the Profound-Earth Array generates and nurtures it.
Reverse-Spirit destroys, silent and lethal.
Profound-Earth nourishes, continuous and life-giving.
Both are transformations of spiritual energy—completely different, yet originating from the same source, evolving through the Dao.
Mo Hua experienced an epiphany, his mind clear, deepening his understanding of the Dao.
“Mastery of arrays, and yet so close to the Dao…”
Elder Zhuang’s words etched deeply into his Sea of Consciousness.
Past midnight, the night sky blanketed with stars,
Moonlight like gauze draped over the spirit fields.
Mo Hua relaxed, exhaling deeply.
After so much time, he had finally mastered the Profound-Earth Array.
He wanted to rest but felt a surge of energy and joy—rest seemed unnecessary.
Better to reinforce his understanding.
He drew the array again on the ground.
But this time, he felt something amiss.
Though the patterns merged with the earth, there were occasional breaks; the energy didn’t flow smoothly.
Thinking it over, he realized:
Though he sensed the earth’s aura, his comprehension was still shallow.
Hence the perception was intermittent, and the array incomplete.
It could only be considered a rough mastery, not true proficiency.
At least compared to the Sun Family Patriarch, he was still far behind.
To match the Patriarch, reconstructing the spirit fields with the Profound-Earth Array was even further out of reach.
He frowned.
The problem lay not with the array itself.
After drawing so many times, he could reproduce it blindfolded.
The issue was perceiving the earth’s aura.
If his Divine-Sense lost touch with it, the patterns couldn’t merge with the land.
Closing his eyes, he again reached out with his Divine-Sense to connect with the aura.
This time clearer, yet still vague, elusive, unable to penetrate deeper.
No matter how hard he tried, it was as far as he could go.
He rested his chin on his hand, brow furrowed, thinking quickly.
He needed a solution…
Without perceiving the aura clearly, Divine-Sense couldn’t communicate with the land, and the array couldn’t be perfectly drawn.
Spirit fields couldn’t be built either.
In this case, he couldn’t claim to have truly mastered the Profound-Earth Array.
“What if I use the Dao Monument to assist?”
He thought, his gaze flickering, then sank his Divine-Sense into the Sea of Consciousness.
The Dao Monument appeared.
Mo Hua drew the Profound-Earth Array on the monument while using it to sense the earth’s aura.
Suddenly, he felt the monument tremble slightly.
As if the heavenly consciousness descended, resonating with the monument.
In an instant, his mind shook.
It felt as though his Divine-Sense had perceived an ancient, eternal consciousness.
Vast, compassionate, boundless as the ocean.
His own Divine-Sense was minuscule, just a speck in the vastness.
And the aura of this consciousness felt faintly familiar.
Suddenly, Mo Hua understood.
The aura he sensed while drawing came from this consciousness.
His own Divine-Sense was too weak, perceiving only the faintest trace.
Now, aided by the Dao Monument, he perceived the vast consciousness!
This was the consciousness of the boundless earth!
It contained no notions of good or evil, no joy or anger, no selfish thoughts of mortals.
Like the earth itself, it bore all things, nurtured all things, yet allowed the cycle of life and death without interference.
More than a consciousness—it was the “Dao” of the earth.
Enlightened, Mo Hua drew the Profound-Earth Array on the Dao Monument.
This time, it was immensely profound.
Every stroke seemed imbued with the power of the earth.
The completed array, serving as a bridge, connected him subtly with this consciousness.
His Divine-Sense harmonized further with the earth’s Dao.
From it, he directly experienced the “Way of the Earth.”
Even a moment of comprehension was profoundly deep.
All life originates from heaven; the earth nurtures all things.
Plants flourish and wither; fruits ripen and fall. Life continues, generation to generation.
On the earth, the cycle of all things unfolds.
Mo Hua seemed to sense it all.
“The way of humans follows the earth; the way of the earth follows heaven.”
He felt as though standing on the vast land, glimpsing its Dao.
His Divine-Sense resonated with the Dao of the earth.
He faintly realized that one day, he could truly use thought as brush, the earth as paper.
What heaven covers, what earth reaches, wherever Divine-Sense moves, he could draw the land into arrays!
…
At the same time, Elder Zhuang, resting with eyes closed, suddenly opened them and saw Elder Kui, equally shocked.
In that instant, they both felt a stirring in the void.
Zhuang murmured in disbelief:
“Who… has stirred the Dao Essence?”
Both then turned sharply, looking southeast toward the spirit fields.
There, the little disciple Mo Hua had been contemplating the array all along.
And at that moment, the spirit field exuded a profound, inexhaustible energy.
Elder Zhuang’s gaze grew even more incredulous…