Chapter 540: Awe
Chapter 542: Awe
Including the first rank, and even beyond—the complete inheritance of the Five-Element Absolute Formation!
And not just any inheritance, but the ancient legacy of the Five Elements Sect, once a first-class formation sect!
Mo Hua was overwhelmed with excitement.
After watching Mo Hua’s joy, Mister Zhuang finally gave a faint smile:
“Of course… it’s not that simple.”
“I knew it…” Mo Hua muttered to himself. After some thought, he asked Mister Zhuang:
“Master, this foundation… it must be hidden very deeply, right?”
Mister Zhuang nodded solemnly:
“Obtaining the foundational inheritance of the Five Elements Sect isn’t easy…”
“First, as I mentioned earlier, you must have a way to suppress the ‘Source Rune.’ If you can’t suppress it, recklessly attempting to compute it will allow the ‘Source Rune’ to parasitize you, leading to death and annihilation of your consciousness…”
“Even if you can suppress it, you must be extremely cautious.”
“This Source Rune is far too ancient, and the divine-sense computing power it contains is limitless. Exactly what anomaly occurred within it, no one knows.”
“Back in the day, the Five Elements Sect was so powerful, with countless formation masters and such profound formation knowledge, yet even they could not handle it.”
“So if you truly want to comprehend and compute the ‘Source Rune,’ you must be careful, careful, and have absolute confidence!”
Mister Zhuang’s expression was grave.
Mo Hua’s small face turned serious as he nodded. “Master, I’ll be careful. I’ll ‘chicken out’ if I have to!”
Mister Zhuang couldn’t help but smile, then continued:
“The second requirement is your divine sense.”
“Source Runes involve computations, and computations consume divine sense greatly.”
“Moreover, this is reverse computation, and the computation involves this Source Rune, which condenses innumerable computing powers. Therefore, the requirements for your divine sense are extremely high.”
Mister Zhuang glanced again at the “Five-Element Formation Flow Diagram,” staring at the five closed-eyed, five-colored Source Runes, and slowly said with a deep gaze:
“This ‘Source Rune’ contains all the treasured formations of the Five Elements Sect, including the Five-Element Spirit Formation—it is like a formation ‘Dao Treasury.’”
“But most of the formations inside are ‘encrypted’ through variations of formation patterns.”
“If your divine sense is insufficient, you cannot compute them.”
“With your current divine sense, even if you attempt to compute it, what you see is only the tip of the iceberg…”
“The rest of the ‘Dao Treasury’ is endless. You’ll need to wait until your cultivation improves and your divine sense strengthens before you can explore and comprehend it.”
Mister Zhuang folded the Formation Flow Diagram and placed it in Mo Hua’s hands.
“This Source Rune encompasses the myriad phenomena of the Five Elements…”
“It is the most core formation inheritance of the entire Five Elements Sect. Across the cultivation world, it is exceedingly rare and priceless…”
“You must keep it safe. Do not let anyone see it, or others will covet it!”
Mo Hua felt as if the diagram in his hands weighed a thousand pounds and nodded solemnly.
Mister Zhuang patted Mo Hua’s head and exhaled lightly.
“There’s one more thing…” Mister Zhuang continued, “The Five-Element Spirit Formation needs a new name.”
“A new name?” Mo Hua was startled. “Does it sound bad?”
Though he thought the Five-Element Spirit Formation lacked grandeur and style, seeming like a common, slightly rustic formation, he didn’t think it required a renaming…
Mister Zhuang shook his head with a smile. “The name of a formation relates to its principles; it’s usually not chosen lightly.”
“The ‘Spirit’ in the Five-Element Spirit Formation may sound ordinary, but a knowledgeable formation master would recognize that this formation involves the essence of Five-Element spirit energy, making it vastly different from normal formations.”
“I want you to rename it to avoid any connection with the Five Elements Sect.”
“The Five-Element Spirit Formation is closely tied to the sect. If you know it, it inevitably implies a connection to the sect.”
“Displaying a treasure in public invites danger.”
Mo Hua suddenly understood, nodding repeatedly:
“Master is right!”
“Quietly amassing wealth is best!”
“Even though we’re on the right path, being too flashy invites envy and trouble.”
“Moreover, that elder is old and petty. If he knew I mastered their sect’s signature formation, he’d probably be furious. To avoid making him angry, I won’t tell him!”
Mo Hua spoke thoughtfully.
Mister Zhuang chuckled and, after a moment’s contemplation, added:
“The cause and effect of the cultivation world are in every action and inaction. This Source Rune, though obtained by your own skill, is still a benefit received from the ancestors of the Five Elements Sect.”
“If the opportunity arises in the future, you may repay that debt by doing some good for the sect, but not now…”
“Mm.” Mo Hua nodded. “I’ll remember.”
Then he asked, “Master, what should the Five-Element Spirit Formation be renamed to?”
Mister Zhuang said gently, “You decide. Few formation masters understand this formation. What others don’t have, you do—that’s your foundation. Even if the name is odd, it’s for your own use.”
Mo Hua frowned.
This was indeed a serious matter, requiring careful thought, not hasty decisions.
But it wasn’t urgent.
The immediate priority was to see if he could suppress the Source Rune and reverse-compute all the Five-Element formations, including the Five-Element Spirit Formation.
After bidding farewell to Mister Zhuang and returning to his room, Mo Hua wanted to start studying the Source Rune.
But after a moment, he hesitated.
He promised Master to be a bit cautious.
Mo Hua set up some formations around the room to block external sensing, preventing anyone from noticing, and set control formations to prevent the Source Rune from running wild if it attempted to parasitize him.
The formations in the room were dense like a spiderweb.
Mo Hua clapped his hands, feeling considerably reassured.
Still uneasy, he went next door and knocked.
Bai Zixi opened the door, looking puzzled.
Mo Hua said, “Senior Sister, later, if I act abnormally again, restrain me and then go get Master.”
Bai Zixi’s eyes lit up. “Restrain you… knock you out?”
The back of Mo Hua’s head ached slightly, but he gritted his teeth. “Knock me out!” Then he added,
“But… can it be a little gentler?”
Bai Zixi nodded. “I’ll be gentler.”
Having entrusted this, Mo Hua returned to his room and placed the Five-Element Formation Flow Diagram containing the mutated Source Rune before him.
He hesitated before opening it, deciding he could “chicken out” a bit more…
Looking at the sky, it was already the hour of Hai; soon it would be the hour of Zi.
By Zi, the Dao Monument would appear in his Sea of Consciousness.
With the Dao Monument as support, he could study safely.
“Sharpening the knife doesn’t delay the work, wait a bit more…”
Mo Hua sat cross-legged, calming his mind.
As soon as Zi hour arrived, he opened his eyes, then the diagram, concentrating fully on reverse computation.
The Source Rune was closed-eyed, showing no anomaly, just ordinary formation flow.
It was the formation source summarized from formations.
Mo Hua followed the sect’s method of reverse computation.
Sure enough, at the edges of the Source Rune in his Sea of Consciousness, bits of formation patterns gradually separated, changed, and eventually formed complete formations.
These formations were very familiar to Mo Hua.
All were first-rank, commonly used Five-Element formations.
Though the old inheritance caused some variations in strokes and pattern, overall they were the same.
Mo Hua’s spirits lifted.
Master was right; reverse computation was feasible.
This Source Rune was truly a Dao Treasury, containing countless Five-Element formations.
As long as one could compute, one could reverse-analyze to obtain all sorts of Five-Element formation diagrams.
Mo Hua’s eyes brightened as he continued computing.
His Sea of Consciousness was silent; his mind entirely focused.
Late into the night, Mo Hua finally realized another point.
Reverse computation depended on divine sense strength.
The stronger the divine sense, the higher the rank of formations one could compute.
His current divine sense was at the peak of thirteen marks, so the formations he computed were below thirteen marks.
Formations above thirteen marks, he could not “decode.”
As for exactly which formations would appear, it depended on fate.
Currently, the formations Mo Hua derived from the Source Rune, though all Five-Element in nature, were diverse: from three- or four-pattern formations to nine-pattern first-rank formations.
It was like drawing lots; whatever came, came, with no apparent order.
Mo Hua frowned.
He reasoned that computing the Source Rune and deriving formation flows was a massive project; it must have rules and procedures.
These patterns were surely organized systematically to form the Source Rune; they could not be random.
But he couldn’t figure it out yet; he would need time to gradually comprehend it…
Mo Hua couldn’t help but marvel.
Thousands of years of accumulated legacy…
How many formations could there be in this Source Rune?
If completely computed and fully “decoded,” what would it look like?
What if he learned all the formations inside?
Mastering both formations and computations—
Wouldn’t he become a “human Source Rune”?
Mo Hua thought idly, full of anticipation.
Lost in thought, he suddenly felt drowsy; prolonged computation had exhausted him, consuming much divine sense.
His eyelids fluttered, his little head nodding off…
“Let’s sleep a bit…”
Mo Hua thought, but suddenly jolted awake.
Sleep?
He was in his Sea of Consciousness, in front of the Dao Monument—he never felt sleepy here!
“Something’s wrong!”
Opening his eyes, Mo Hua saw that the Source Rune on the Five-Element Formation Flow Diagram had, unbeknownst to him, opened its eye!
Mo Hua’s heart skipped a beat; he immediately went on full alert, divine sense scanning.
Sure enough!
Within his Sea of Consciousness, dense formation patterns appeared.
The Source Rune was restless, secretly scheming. Taking advantage of his overuse of divine sense, it had created an Earth-type sleep formation, trying to make him drowsy.
Simultaneously, its patterns, like ants or tentacles, secretly infiltrated his Sea of Consciousness!
“It wants to parasitize me too?”
Mo Hua’s gaze hardened.
No! Something was off!
Mo Hua followed the pattern with his eyes and was startled:
“The target of the Source Pattern… is the Dao Monument?”
“Daring to the extreme, it wants to parasitize the Dao Monument?”
Mo Hua frowned, his thoughts racing. After a moment, his expression darkened:
“No, it wants… to assimilate with the Dao Monument?”
Suddenly, it all clicked.
The Dao Monument was void, aligned with the Great Dao, radiating the aura of the Dao itself.
This “Source Pattern” wanted to harmonize with the Dao and merge into the monument?!
“This Source Pattern wants to be a… concubine, attached to the Dao Monument?!”
You wish.
Mo Hua raised an eyebrow and attempted to use derivative calculation to reorganize the formation, forcing the Source Pattern back into the Five Elements Formation Flow Chart.
But his calculations were slightly too slow. Several streaks of five-colored formation lines had already spread along his Sea of Consciousness, climbing onto the central Dao Monument.
The five-colored lines imprinted themselves onto the monument’s ethereal surface.
The Source Pattern’s “eyes” suddenly widened.
The ancient, unadorned aura of the Dao made it shiver, yet it seemed wildly excited.
It was being gradually eroded by the Dao, yet simultaneously approaching the elemental source of the Dao, transforming bit by bit…
Mo Hua wanted to suppress the pattern with derivative calculation, but his Divine-Sense was limited, and his speed was still too slow…
A shadow fell over his heart.
At that moment, a desolate, annihilating aura suddenly rose from the Dao Monument.
This aura was equally ancient but far more domineering, carrying an icy, deathly silence that could obliterate all things.
On the Dao Monument, a blood-red formation lit up!
It was the celestial pattern Mo Hua had glimpsed from the celestial calamity while dismantling the great formation and erasing Feng Xi—containing the calamity lightning!
The celestial aura appeared, and on the Dao Monument, scarlet thunder manifested.
The lightning flashed, and in an instant, erased every formation line the Five Elements Source Pattern had spread!
The Source Pattern’s vital energy suffered greatly. Its eyes trembled, filled with inexplicable terror.
Celestial Pattern?
Calamity Lightning?
If the Dao Monument represented the all-encompassing Dao, then the calamity lightning represented pure “Path of Killing,” obliterating all things.
The Source Pattern clearly never imagined that Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness had recorded a single celestial pattern, engraved a strand of calamity lightning, hiding a catastrophic killing calamity!
With a “whoosh,” the Source Pattern, at lightning speed, shrank back into the Five Elements Formation Flow Chart.
Its “eyes” shut even tighter, becoming a thin line, trembling in fear, not daring to open for even a moment, lest it see something horrifying again.
Mo Hua shook his head in exasperation.
“You’re shameless—won’t learn unless you get hit…”
Now, the Source Pattern didn’t even dare to be angry; it could only hide in the chart, pretending to be dead.
Mo Hua shook his head again but breathed a sigh of relief.
With the Dao Monument suppressing it and the celestial pattern intimidating it, this Five Elements “Source Pattern” should now be completely obedient, no longer scheming.
From now on, deriving Five Elements formations would be much safer.
But at the same time, a question arose in Mo Hua’s mind:
The Celestial Pattern… what is its relationship with the Source Pattern?
Could the Celestial Pattern itself be a higher-level “Source Pattern”?
If that’s the case…
Deriving the Source Pattern allows him to access the compiled Five Elements formations within…
Then, if one day his Divine-Sense grows stronger, could he derive a Celestial Pattern? And what would be calculated from a Celestial Pattern?
Heavenly calamity?
Lightning formation?
Mo Hua’s little heart pounded.
But these were just speculations; he couldn’t be certain yet.
Only when his cultivation level was higher, his Divine-Sense stronger, and his formation mastery deeper could he confirm…
He sighed.
His cultivation wasn’t high enough. His Divine-Sense not strong enough…
He would need to focus on training, reach Foundation Establishment sooner.
So many powerful formations were waiting for him to learn!
Mo Hua’s spirit lifted, and he nodded.
…
Meanwhile, in front of the divine altar, the Grand Elder frowned.
Mo Hua and his companions had been “frustrated,” Mister Zhuang had been “thwarted,” and the Grand Elder had felt quite pleased for a few days.
But as the days passed, something felt off.
Mister Zhuang… was meticulous and resourceful, not someone to fail so simply…
As for his three disciples:
He knew little about that pair of siblings, so he set them aside for now.
The little pattern master surnamed Mo was undeniably talented, with extraordinary formation talent, but the biggest problem was a lack of virtue!
His mind was far too cunning!
Would such a little pattern master really feel dejected just because he couldn’t learn a formation?
Or, if he couldn’t learn it normally—but with his talent, was completely incapable—that would be unusual…
The Grand Elder felt it was very possible he had been played by Mister Zhuang and his disciple!
And the worst part—he had believed it!
His blood boiled.
He lit incense again before the divine altar.
This time, the incense burned normally, completely, without anomaly.
Yet the Grand Elder’s frown deepened.
No anomaly meant no guidance.
Where was the hint?
Where had the little spirit in the divine altar gone?
The Grand Elder inspected the altar again and suddenly froze.
Nothing seemed unusual at first, but below, a dark space appeared… as if a door was missing?
Who had broken open the divine altar’s main door?
No way…
Inside the altar was the Five Elements Sect’s inheritance.
The main door broken, the little spirit gone.
The Grand Elder felt a shiver in his heart, an incredible thought forming:
“Could the foundation of the Five Elements Sect really have been emptied…?”
“Impossible…”