Chapter 559: Secret Learning
Chapter 561: Secret Learning
Planting demonic seeds in the Dao heart?!
“Senior Brother, is this… going to… eradicate him completely?!”
Bai Qingcheng’s heart trembled.
What a ruthless heart!
At that moment, several other Nascent Soul masters arrived as well.
Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi, though instructed not to move, couldn’t help worrying and followed.
They all saw Mo Hua.
They saw the unusual expression, the pitch-black and hollow pupils, the youthful face, and the aura of strange energy emanating from him.
Master Situ’s eyes flickered.
“Deeply seeded with demonic intent!”
How long had this young cultivator been in contact with the Strange Daoist?
How could he have such deep demonic seeds planted?
And this demonic seed…
Even carried traces of primordial demonic essence…
Master Situ’s heart raced.
What kind of deep karmic bond could the Strange Daoist have with this young cultivator, that he would go so far as to plant such a deep demonic seed—to completely destroy him?!
Other Nascent Soul masters also looked grave.
“Senior Situ, what should we do?”
“This young cultivator… carries a demonic seed…”
“To prevent its spread and avoid future calamities, should we… eliminate him first?”
A hint of killing intent flashed in his eyes.
Bai Zixi’s gaze turned icy, her voice sharp:
“Who dares?!”
The Nascent Soul masters were all taken aback. They were intimidated by Bai Zixi’s aura, momentarily stunned, then increasingly annoyed.
They were all veteran masters of their sects, each a head patriarch. When had a mere Qi-Refining girl ever dared to disrespect them so brazenly?
They scowled at Bai Zixi.
Bai Zisheng stepped forward to shield his sister, voice fierce:
“Who dares bully my sister? Who lays a hand on my junior brother?”
“Rude child! You—”
One Nascent Soul master, enraged, wanted to scold him immediately, but was pulled back by another.
Turning his head, he saw Bai Qingcheng, face like frost, eyes like swords, silently swallowing her words…
He could not offend the Bai family—or this Bai master.
And these two children were said to possess Heavenly Spirit Roots.
Do not underestimate the poor young…
One cannot speak rashly and bring disaster upon oneself.
Yet this young cultivator could not be ignored either…
“Senior Situ, what do you think…”
He left the question to Master Situ.
Bai Qingcheng also looked at Master Situ, her gaze restrained but clearly asking if there was a way to save Mo Hua…
Master Situ was in a dilemma.
Save him… how could he?
The Strange Daoist’s Dao-heart demonic seed corrupted the Dao heart, damaged the Divine-Sense. No medicine could heal it, no one could rescue him…
The best solution, of course, would be short pain over long pain—kill him early to prevent the demonic seed from spreading…
But…
Master Situ tugged his beard.
To kill a young cultivator—he simply could not bring himself to do it.
Not killing him could cause endless trouble.
And even if someone must kill him, who could do it?
Though this child seemed of low birth, without background, he was the disciple of Mister Zhuang…
Though his spiritual root was inferior, his talent average—likely just a filler disciple—any link to Mister Zhuang carried enormous karmic weight.
He dared not strike truly…
Moreover, if this child were so simple, the Strange Daoist would not have gone through such effort—using Dao-heart demonic seeds, feints, to target a mere ten-year-old…
Bai Master was right; the Strange Daoist’s actions always carried intent.
There must be something suspicious.
Master Situ frowned, glanced at Mo Hua, and sighed helplessly:
“This child, though deeply seeded with demonic intent, does not seem insane; his mind is not lost. And being only at Qi-Refining, his cultivation limited, even if he went mad, he could kill no one…”
“In my view, we should first contain the child and observe…”
If necessary, the demonic seed could be suppressed in its cradle…
Master Situ did not speak this aloud, but everyone understood.
Bai Qingcheng’s eyes hardened slightly. She sighed: “Then we’ll follow Senior Situ’s plan.”
She truly had no way to counter the Dao-heart demonic seed, and could only stall.
She hoped that Mo Hua, this child, would be protected by fate, that calamity would turn to fortune…
Master Situ’s Universe‑Clear Light Lamp was used to light the area. Bai Qingcheng raised the Splendid Mountains and Rivers Parasol, enclosing Mo Hua and isolating his aura.
This was both to prevent him from going mad and releasing the demonic seed, and to protect him.
Around Mo Hua, Master Situ drew the Mystic Secrets Valley’s Deity-Sealing Formation, trapping both Mo Hua and the Strange Daoist’s demonic seed, preventing unexpected developments.
“Zisheng, Zixi, you two return first…” Bai Qingcheng said softly.
Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi shook their heads.
They would stay, guarding their junior brother!
They had promised their master to take care of him!
Bai Qingcheng had no choice but to stay with the two children in front of Mo Hua.
“Junior Brother…”
Bai Zixi looked at Mo Hua’s pitch-black pupils, her heart aching. She pressed her lips tight, face pale.
…
Mo Hua was confined under the Splendid Mountains and Rivers Parasol, quiet, peaceful.
The surrounding Deity-Sealing formations blocked his aura. His pupils were pitch-black, expression blank, seemingly unaware of anything.
Yet in his Sea of Consciousness, Mo Hua frowned.
He sensed an immense terror.
A powerful, dark, strange, black‑gray shadow—like drifting ink in water—suddenly appeared in his consciousness.
Then, a void and twisted human figure gradually materialized.
Its face was unfamiliar, blurry, with faint remnants of features.
Yet its aura was unmistakably familiar.
Mo Hua knew without looking:
This was his senior uncle.
The true… Strange Daoist!
Or rather, a fragment of a near-primal Strange Thought!
Mo Hua felt nervous, but not panicked.
At this moment, the Strange Daoist remained outside the boundary of his Sea of Consciousness.
Between him and the Strange Daoist lay an immense, multi-layered, intricate, cocoon-like…
Enigma Heaven Grand Formation!
The bottleneck of the Heavenly Evolution Art—normally a limitation in Foundation Establishment—now served as a natural shield in Mo Hua’s consciousness, keeping the Strange Daoist “at bay.”
Strange energy swirled. The Strange Daoist gradually took form, from ethereal to solid.
As soon as he solidified, he looked up—thousands of formations lay stretched between him and Mo Hua, leaving him stunned.
“Enigma Heaven Grand Formation?”
“How could it be… the Enigma Heaven Grand Formation?”
How could a cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness manifest such a formation…
This was utterly beyond his expectations.
Through the Enigma Heaven Grand Formation, the Strange Daoist’s deep eyes looked at Mo Hua. Amid his cold gaze, a trace of doubt appeared.
Who had laid this Enigma Heaven Grand Formation…?
Who had the skill to set such a formation within a cultivator’s consciousness?
And why?
He looked at Mo Hua, frowning.
At such a young age, he could manifest his divine sense body…
His Sea of Consciousness was resilient, his spiritual sense formidable…
To be accepted as a disciple by his junior brother, he must possess extraordinary talent.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, there must be a tremendous secret…
The junior brother…
To conceal this secret, to protect his little disciples, to prevent me from seeing the truth, he went to great lengths and laid down this Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation…
He intended to use this Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation to safeguard his little disciple’s secret…
“I see now…”
“His Heavenly Secret Derivative Algorithm… he’s using it here…”
“To… construct the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation!”
The larger the formation, the greater the secret it conceals…
The black pupils of the Strange Daoist trembled slightly, his expression filled with excitement.
Mo Hua didn’t know what he had realized, but he also understood that he was no match for this master uncle, so he said:
“Master Uncle, you can see, the grand formation separates us—I cannot leave, you cannot enter.”
“I won’t entertain you then. The sooner you go, the sooner you return…”
The Strange Daoist sneered, “A mere first-grade Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation trying to block me? Junior Brother, you really underestimate me!”
Mo Hua was stunned.
Did that mean his master uncle could break the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation?
But… this is the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation…
Even if he solved it layer by layer, wouldn’t it take years, if not decades, to completely unravel it?
Could it be that his master uncle intends to just linger in his Sea of Consciousness indefinitely?
And he certainly couldn’t afford to host him…
At that moment, Mo Hua’s expression changed. Fixing his gaze, his heart shook.
The Strange Daoist’s features gradually blurred, twisted, and coalesced into a shadowy phantom. This phantom then split and transformed into several distorted, dark humanoid shapes.
These shadowy figures spread outward, and then…
They began to erode the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation!
Mo Hua was stunned.
What was this?
This is… Dao-Heart Seed Demon?
No, that’s not right…
According to Mo Hua’s previous observations and understanding, Dao-Heart Seed Demon is essentially a special method of utilizing divine sense.
Mo Hua looked more carefully.
Since this was within his Sea of Consciousness, without external objects to obscure it, everything appeared in its purest divine sense state, and Mo Hua could see clearly.
These differentiated shadows were derivatives of the spiritual algorithm…
“Dao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things…”
Moreover, these differentiated shadows weren’t “eroding” the formation. At their core, they used the formation’s patterns of mutual restriction, strength, and cancellation to devour and neutralize…
Essentially, they were…
Breaking the formation!
The Strange Daoist, right before his eyes, was unraveling the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation!
And the basis for this unraveling was that special Strange Dao Algorithm…
Mo Hua recalled overhearing Uncle Bai and that old Mister Situ talking about it: his master uncle’s spiritual algorithm came from the same school as their master’s but differed in approach.
This spiritual algorithm was…
Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm!
In other words… his master uncle was using the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm to break through the bottleneck of his own Celestial Evolution Art—the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation!
Mo Hua’s heart shook, and a thought struck him.
Could it be…
That this was arranged by his master…
His master thought his own progress too slow, so he had his master uncle help him unravel the formation, remove the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment!
To help him reach Foundation Establishment sooner…
Mo Hua’s heart ached, his eyes stinging.
“Master…”
Mo Hua whispered.
Suddenly, another thought struck him, and he paused.
No, it’s not that simple…
Perhaps his master’s intention wasn’t only to have his master uncle help him break the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation and overcome the Foundation Establishment bottleneck, but also… to teach him…
The Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm?!
Mo Hua’s heart trembled, then raced wildly.
Learning the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm, knowing oneself and one’s opponent, would mean that when he faced his master uncle later, he wouldn’t be clueless, wouldn’t be manipulated…
Moreover, the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm could break the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation!
Then he could use it himself to unravel the formation in the future!
Mo Hua was slightly dazed.
Had his master really thought this far ahead for him…?
He felt both saddened and inspired, his expression brightening.
He must not disappoint his master!
He must carefully study as instructed, learning every bit of his master uncle’s skill!
Mo Hua’s eyes grew bright, shining like stars.
This was the perfect opportunity to learn the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm!
Within his own Sea of Consciousness, his master uncle was freely unraveling the formation, differentiating shadowed thoughts, right before his eyes.
The Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation contained tens of thousands of arrays.
Breaking each one meant tens of thousands of steps…
Each array unraveled by the Strange Daoist was a live demonstration of how to master the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm and apply it to solve the world’s formations!
Tens of thousands of times!
Even a fool could grasp the general method.
But Mo Hua wasn’t a fool.
He had extraordinary divine sense, was the direct disciple of Mr. Zhuang, skilled in derivative calculation, versed in formations, deeply understanding formation principles, and had experienced Dao essence and Absolute Formations.
Having previously traveled with the Strange Daoist and witnessed the Dao-Heart Seed Demon, Strange Dao Heaven Sealing, etc., he had effectively “pre-studied” it, gaining a foundation in the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm.
Learning now would be far more efficient.
The Strange Daoist, before his eyes, unraveled the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation.
It was as if the meal was served directly in front of Mo Hua…
Even placed directly into his mouth.
Mo Hua’s spirits surged, his gaze fixed on the shadowed thoughts “eroding” each formation.
He imprinted every detail into his mind, memorizing, comprehending, calculating, reproducing…
Until he finally achieved thorough understanding.
Mo Hua learned with intense focus and hunger.
Like a big cat that fell into a fish tank, voraciously devouring, wanting to fill its belly…
…
The Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation was intricate and vast, and breaking it was no simple task.
Even the Strange Daoist had to concentrate fully while using the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm to differentiate thoughts and erode the formation.
Occasionally, he glanced up and saw Mo Hua, frowning.
This little one looked… strange…
His small face was tense, focused, not knowing what he was looking at or thinking about, but his eyes sparkled as if he was “calculating”…
Yet at times, his expression seemed fearful.
The Strange Daoist paused.
An illusion…?
A mere ten-something cultivator, how could he perform derivative calculations?
How could he learn methods of divine sense?
Even his brilliant junior brother needed Heaven-Blood and Innate Dao Bone to do this…
What right does this little one have?
The Strange Daoist’s gaze turned cold.
“No matter what, once the Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation is broken, a glance into this little one’s Sea of Consciousness will reveal everything…”
“And I’ll know why my junior brother hid this little disciple so deeply…”
The Strange Daoist moved his divine sense, strange energy surging.
Countless shadowed thoughts accelerated, “eroding” the silken cocoon-like Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation…
Each array pattern, each formation, was completely dissolved under the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm.
The more he solved, the more Mo Hua saw, learned, understood, and comprehended…
All the variations of the Strange Daoist, all the transformations, were laid bare.
The devious mechanisms of the heavens, the rise and fall of the Dao, all entered his divine sense.
Time passed…
Outside the Sea of Consciousness, Bai Qingcheng, Bai Zisheng, Bai Zixi, and the other Nascent Souls waited anxiously…
Mo Hua remained quiet, pupils black.
The situation didn’t worsen, but it didn’t improve either.
Inside the Sea of Consciousness, the Strange Daoist unraveled the formation, and Mo Hua studied…
After countless days,
Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness trembled, his divine sense brightening.
The Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation, with its thousands of arrays and myriad techniques, was swept clean; even the fine silken threads like cocoons were all gone.
Mo Hua clearly sensed that the bottleneck to Foundation Establishment… had vanished!
The strange energy in the air coalesced back into human form.
The Strange Daoist stepped into Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness, standing before him.
Before Mo Hua could even feel relieved, his gaze sharpened, and his heart tensed.
This was the Strange Daoist…
This was the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithmic Strange Daoist…
The complex and vast Mysterious Heaven Grand Formation had just been unraveled…
The grand formation that he himself would have spent years, even over a decade, deciphering had been solved just like that… by “Senior Uncle”…
The Strange Daoist’s face was cold. He lightly raised his right hand, and a long sword of antique bronze materialized.
It was the very same sword that had pierced Mister Zhuang’s chest, extracting the innate Dao-bone—the Sumeru Sword.
Mo Hua’s eyelids twitched.
Senior Uncle… truly wanted to kill him!
If his Divine-Sense body died, his spiritual awareness would vanish; even if his body remained, it would be merely living in form, not in substance, an empty shell.
The Strange Daoist’s killing intent emerged.
Mo Hua didn’t waste words. He raised his hand and cast a Fireball Technique directly at the Strange Daoist.
The Strange Daoist’s Sumeru Sword swept through, splitting the fireball and nullifying the spell, yet his expression revealed slight surprise.
A spell manifestation…
Moreover, the spell’s power was considerable, which meant that this little thing’s Divine-Sense strength and method of use were far beyond an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Mo Hua continued his relentless assault. Concentrating his mind, he pointed, forming a fiery red array pattern, which then exploded.
The Earthfire Formation detonated, flames roaring, engulfing the Strange Daoist, yet it didn’t harm him in the slightest.
Still, the Strange Daoist was momentarily taken aback.
Array manifestation…
He glanced at Mo Hua, frowning.
Who had taught this little thing all of this?
How young was he, yet capable of using such Divine-Sense techniques?
No wonder his junior disciple valued him so much…
It seemed he had underestimated this little one…
“Though… the methods are still too immature…”
The Strange Daoist’s expression was cold.
This demonic seed was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment.
It was both to conceal himself from the eyes of the Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators, and to prevent a too-powerful demonic seed above Golden Core from instantly shattering Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness upon planting.
If his Sea of Consciousness shattered, Mo Hua would die, and he himself would lose the chance to uncover the truth.
It didn’t matter if this little brat died, but if the Sea of Consciousness were destroyed, he wouldn’t be able to discover what secrets his junior disciple had hidden in Mo Hua.
This peak Foundation Establishment demonic seed contained a trace of his own Strange Daoist essence.
Using it against this little thing was overkill—more than sufficient!
“Just manifesting formations, showing off in front of an expert…”
The tip of the Strange Daoist’s sword pointed, spreading a sinister aura. Black-gray Strange Daoist array patterns suddenly appeared, locking Mo Hua in place, gradually eroding his Divine-Sense!
This Strange Daoist formation was strong, endlessly generating, impossible to break free from.
Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense was also being slowly “eroded”…
Mo Hua’s heart turned solemn. Catching sight of the array patterns out of the corner of his eye, inspiration struck. With his Divine-Sense, he manifested his own array patterns, neutralizing the Strange Daoist’s patterns one by one, then seized an opening and immediately broke free…
Once free, Mo Hua exhaled in relief.
The Strange Daoist, however, froze in place, utterly incredulous.
“Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm?!!”
He stared at Mo Hua, his pitch-black pupils trembling, as if witnessing something incomprehensible. “How could you… know the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm?!”
Mo Hua felt slightly guilty and said, “My Master taught me!”
“Nonsense!” the Strange Daoist ground his teeth. “Even your Master doesn’t know it!”
The Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm was the supreme Divine-Sense method, a forbidden art, known only to him in the world.
The Strange Daoist’s gaze turned fierce. He wanted to speak further, but the previous scenes replayed vividly in his mind.
Mo Hua’s focused little face, his bright, spirited eyes, his thoughtful expression…
And all the little moments along their journey…
The Strange Daoist’s pupils jolted, thinking in disbelief:
“You actually… learned the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm?!”
“I didn’t ‘steal’ it!”
Mo Hua corrected firmly.
He had learned it openly and honorably, right in front of Senior Uncle!
Something done with honor and in the open cannot be called “stealing,” can it?