The Great Elder had already stood up hastily, his expression grave, and hurried towards the fourth floor. Mr. Zhuang’s gaze sank slightly, and patterns of calculation and derivation appeared within his pupils, profound and mysterious. At the same time, he formed a Dao formula with his hand and waved his sleeve, seemingly erasing something from the air…

Heavenly mechanism was broken, cause and effect erased.

The crowd of sect masters and elders of the Five Elements Sect suddenly stopped in shock. The Great Elder also suddenly stopped in his tracks, blankly lost in thought. After a while, he was bewildered and puzzled, mumbling to himself:

“What’s the matter?”

“I just seemed… to have forgotten something?”

“What did I forget…”

The Great Elder’s mind was blank. He frowned and thought hard, yet could not figure it out. It was as if something very shocking had just happened to him. But it also seemed… that all this was just his illusion? Like an afternoon nap, suddenly waking up at midnight, everything was just the lingering dream of waking time. The rain had passed without a trace, hazy and completely gone.

The Great Elder suspiciously looked at Mr. Zhuang. Mr. Zhuang was still drinking tea, his posture leisurely, composed and elegant, with a style of immortal wind and Dao bones, as if nothing had happened. Sensing the Great Elder’s gaze, Mr. Zhuang raised his eyes and asked as if nothing were amiss:

“What happened?”

The Great Elder was startled and began to doubt himself. Did Zhuang surname do something? But it didn’t look like it… What could he have done? The Great Elder looked around again. All the scenery, furnishings, tables and chairs, teacups, screens, and the array tower were exactly the same as in his memory, without the slightest change. There were no traces of any external force influence. The Great Elder shook his head slightly.

“It must be an illusion…”

These past few days, dealing with difficult situations, guarding against this Zhuang surname, and the wood-like old man, he also had to worry that the Five Elements Sect’s inheritance would be stolen and learned by others. His heart was too heavy with worry, so he produced illusions. The inheritance was learned by others… Thinking of this, the Great Elder’s heart trembled. He wanted to go and look in front of the divine shrine, but just as he took a step, he suddenly stopped again.

The Great Elder turned his head and looked at Mr. Zhuang, saying quite displeasedly: “Mr. Zhuang, it has been more than an hour already, it’s about enough…”

Mr. Zhuang pretended to be difficult.

The Great Elder glanced at Kui Lao with apprehension, but only dared to glance once before withdrawing his gaze and looking back at Mr. Zhuang, insisting:

“More than an hour, my Five Elements Sect has already made concessions. Please, sir, know when to stop…”

Mr. Zhuang thought for a moment, then sighed:

“Well, whether they learn or not is up to these children and their own opportunities, it cannot be forced.”

The Great Elder cupped his hands and said: “Mr. Zhuang deeply understands righteousness…” Then he extended his hand and made a “please” gesture:

“Please, Mr. Zhuang, follow me to take a look.”

Mr. Zhuang nodded, “Good.”

The Great Elder then led the way, leading Mr. Zhuang to the fourth floor of the Hidden Array Pavilion. Slightly uneasy, he opened the door and looked inside. The cushion position was unchanged, and at first glance, there was nothing abnormal with the divine shrine. The incense in the incense burner had also burned out, leaving only cold incense ash. The three young cultivators, Mo Hua, Bai Zi Sheng, and Bai Zi Xi, were all inside. Bai Zi Sheng and Bai Zi Xi were alright, but Mo Hua was covering his little head, frowning, his expression somewhat pained. It seemed he had… excessive divine sense consumption?

“He didn’t learn?”

The Great Elder was somewhat expectant.

Mo Hua raised his head and saw Mr. Zhuang. He wanted to speak but stopped, not knowing what to say. Mr. Zhuang immediately sighed and said:

“Well, if you didn’t learn, then you didn’t learn…”

Mo Hua was startled, and immediately put on a “lost” expression, lowering his head, “Master, I… I disappointed you…”

Mr. Zhuang had a look of regret and did not speak. Seeing Mr. Zhuang’s expression, the Great Elder was startled, and then let out a long sigh of relief. Afterwards, he suddenly felt his eyebrows raise and exhale, his old face blooming like a chrysanthemum, unable to suppress the smile in his intent. The Great Elder chuckled a couple of times and pretended to console:

“The Five Elements Spirit Array is my Five Elements Sect’s town sect array, thirteen patterns of the first grade, contributing to creation. If you want to comprehend it, it is as difficult as ascending to heaven…”

“Although these several high disciples of yours have outstanding talent and quite high comprehension, after all, their age is still young, and they are still learning the profound array laws of my Five Elements Sect. It is normal not to comprehend, no need to take it too much to heart.”

“The path of cultivation is long, and the future road is still very long…”

“Suffering some setbacks can better temper one’s nature.”

The Great Elder stroked his beard.

Mo Hua also learned from Mr. Zhuang, sighed, cupped his hands and said: “Great Elder is right.”

The Great Elder raised his eyebrow and looked at Mo Hua. This heaven’s pride talent, with a face full of arrogance, this little array master who had defeated the genius array masters of the Five Elements Sect, no, the entire Da Li Mountain state boundary, was now facing a blow in front of their Five Elements Sect’s inheritance, with a face full of loss. The Great Elder’s heart was like drinking honey. He had rarely been so happy in his life.

The Great Elder even said:

“If Mr. Zhuang does not dislike it, you can stay in my Five Elements Sect for a few more days, and also let my Five Elements Sect exert more hospitality…”

Mr. Zhuang’s interest waned a bit, “Let’s talk about it again.” He waved his sleeve and left. Mo Hua and the other three simply bowed, cupped their hands towards the Great Elder, and followed Mr. Zhuang out. The Great Elder looked at the backs of the several people, the smile on his face fading, and hummed a sound, laughing coldly to himself:

“Ate a bitter head, didn’t you?”

“How can the inheritance of my Five Elements Sect be something anyone can learn?”

On the way back, there were no Five Elements Sect people around. Mo Hua’s lost expression changed, and he couldn’t help but grin and laugh. As he laughed, Mo Hua frowned again, rubbing the back of his head, and said strangely:

“My head, why does it hurt a bit?”

Bai Zi Xi paused, and said with slightly red cheeks:

“It was me who hit you…”

“Ah…”

Mo Hua stopped in surprise.

Bai Zi Xi said in a small voice with a bit of apology: “You woke up before, but you didn’t look right. I just hit you unconscious…”

Mo Hua thought for a moment and then understood. Before, he was trapped in the divine shrine’s dojo. The Five Elements little ghost escaped into his sea of consciousness, trying to usurp his nest, definitely wanting to take the opportunity to escape. Fortunately, little senior sister was smart and hit him unconscious… Mo Hua nodded and said: “It doesn’t matter.” But he still couldn’t help but rub his head, muttering in his heart: Little senior sister hits people really hard… She cultivates spells, but she doesn’t also refine her body, does she…

Bai Zi Xi saw Mo Hua rubbing the back of his head non-stop, and realized that she might have hit him a bit hard, so she said with some heartache:

“Does it still hurt?”

Mo Hua shook his head, “Not very much…”

Bai Zi Xi thought for a moment and said softly: “I’ll help you rub it.”

Mo Hua’s small face was slightly red, “No need…” But before he finished speaking, he felt little senior sister’s fingers rubbing on his forehead, cool and soft, and the pain instantly disappeared. Mo Hua’s heart couldn’t help but tremble, and his face became even redder. After a moment, Mo Hua found that there was another hand on his head. He turned his head to look and saw Bai Zi Sheng also rubbing.

Mo Hua was startled, “What are you doing?”

Bai Zi Sheng said: “I’m also helping you rub.”

Mo Hua refused, “No need!”

Bai Zi Sheng was rough and clumsy, not light and not heavy, messing up all his hair. Bai Zi Sheng said displeased: “This is the care of a senior brother to his junior brother!”

“No need…”

“Ignorant of good fortune! You actually still dislike it?”

The two of them were arguing noisily.

Mr. Zhuang walked in the back, looking at his three disciples, his gaze gentle, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned. A clear wind blew over, Mr. Zhuang slightly raised his head, looked at the Five Elements Sect’s mountain protection great array, and the smile in his eyes gradually converged. A moment later, his gaze became gentle again. But in this gentleness, there was both regret and disappointment.

After returning to the guest room and resting for a while, Mr. Zhuang then asked Mo Hua:

“Did you learn the Five Elements Spirit Array?”

“Um!”

Since the Great Elder was not present, Mo Hua no longer concealed it and nodded with a smile. “Not only that, I saw other things inside the divine shrine…”

Mo Hua recounted everything he had seen and heard in the divine shrine to Mr. Zhuang in detail. Mr. Zhuang was also quite surprised:

“Source pattern?”

“Yes.” Mo Hua nodded, then asked:

“Master, is this source pattern the Five Elements Array Flow? Do all Array Flows have ‘source patterns’?”

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua and sighed slightly:

“Reasonably speaking, I shouldn’t tell you about Array Flow matters right now…”

“But since you’ve seen it and learned the derivation and calculation method, I’ll just briefly tell you…”

Mo Hua sat up straight and listened attentively. Mr. Zhuang said: “The so-called Array Flow is fully called ‘Array Law Source Flow’, and it seeks the commonality and essence of a certain class of array laws.”

“The form of Array Flow is diverse.”

“Some are a set of general-purpose array styles. This array style is like a skeleton. After learning it, if you draw the same class of array laws, you will achieve twice the result with half the effort;”

“Some are a Dao essence. After comprehending this Dao essence, all the same class of array laws can be deduced by analogy;”

“Also some are carried by real objects: there are swords, maps, sculptures, even mountains and rivers…”

“Of course, there are also, as you said, a Dao array pattern.”

“Simplifying complexity, integrating many into one, condensing ten thousand array laws to form a ‘source pattern’.”

“This kind of Array Flow inheritance is more difficult and also more complex. The divine sense consumed by derivation and calculation is also the most.”

Mr. Zhuang said here, shook his head, and expressed emotion:

“I also didn’t expect that the ancestors of the Five Elements Sect would have such great courage, exhausting the power of the entire sect to derive and calculate the ‘source pattern’, open the Array Flow, desiring to make the Five Elements Sect’s array law prosperous and become a giant of the Array Dao.”

Mo Hua couldn’t help but ask:

“Master, what is the difference between the Five Elements Array Flow and the Immortal Heaven Array Flow?”

“Does our sect’s Immortal Heaven Array Flow include the Five Elements Array Flow?”

Mr. Zhuang pondered for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth and explained:

“Array Flow means Array Law Source Flow.”

“But the so-called ‘source flow’ is not necessarily the true ‘source flow’.”

Mo Hua was startled, frowned, and suddenly his eyes lit up:

“The source flow is comprehended by people, even if it is close to the Great Dao, it is not necessarily the true Great Dao?”

Mr. Zhuang’s gaze was pleased, and he nodded and said:

“Yes, so the so-called Array Law Source Flow is not necessarily the true source flow, but rather the array master’s comprehension and summary of the Array Flow ‘source flow’.”

“The Immortal Heaven Array Flow is like this, and the Five Elements Array Flow is also the same principle.”

“In other words, the Five Elements Sect derives and calculates the Five Elements Array Law, and the Array Flow formed is called the ‘Five Elements Array Flow’.”

“Other sects, comprehending the origin of the Five Elements Array Law, can also be called the ‘Five Elements Array Flow’.”

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua again, and said meaningfully:

“One day, if you yourself comprehend the origin of the Five Elements and create your own Array Flow, you can also call it the ‘Five Elements Array Flow’.”

Mo Hua suddenly understood:

“So, the Immortal Heaven Array Flow includes all the array law source flows of the heavens. These source flows, even if they include the Five Elements Array Law, may also be different from the Five Elements Array Flow of the Five Elements Sect, and may even be completely different?”

Mr. Zhuang nodded and said:

“Array Flows have their own merits and demerits, but they also have drawbacks.”

“The Immortal Heaven Array Flow includes extremely profound array law comprehension, even enough to be regarded as a standard by ordinary array masters.”

“But no matter how profound, it is still just one family’s words.”

“Complete belief is worse than not believing.”

“Therefore, I just told you not to rush to learn Array Flow, but to comprehend and learn the array laws of the world step by step, learn to use them, and integrate them, so that in the future you can form your own Array Flow, and use Array Flow to seek the true Great Dao.”

Mr. Zhuang said meaningfully:

“Borrowing the law to attain the Dao.”

“Ten thousand laws are all rafts.”

“Array Flow is just a ‘law’, it is a ‘raft’, not the ‘Dao’.”

Mo Hua felt he understood something, but not completely, so he carefully remembered Mr. Zhuang’s words in his heart, and would verify them when he had enlightenment, slowly comprehending. But after listening to Mr. Zhuang’s words, Mo Hua also roughly had a cognition of “Array Flow”. Array Flow is a summary and comprehension of Array Law Source Flow. All Array Flows in the world, including the Immortal Heaven Array Flow and the Five Elements Array Flow, all involve the origin of array law. On the one hand, they are extremely profound and mysterious, and on the other hand, they may each have their own strengths, and at the same time, the truth and falsehood are hard to distinguish.

One must learn it oneself, and use it. Knowledge and action are united, learn to use it, discern it one by one in practice, and turn it into one’s own use. Blindly revering “Array Flow” will become a puppet of Array Flow, regarding the “raft” as the “Dao”, standing still, and seeking the Dao without hope. Mo Hua’s eyes became brighter and brighter. Mr. Zhuang couldn’t help but nod.

Mo Hua thought he understood something, suddenly frowned, and asked about another matter:

“Master, will the ‘source pattern’ have its own will?”

Mr. Zhuang’s gaze condensed, and his tone sank slightly, “Its own will?”

“Um.” Mo Hua thought for a moment and said: “It can derive itself, spread itself, can parasitize, can dominate, although it cannot speak, the array pattern is like eyes, with human-like emotions…”

Mr. Zhuang’s expression was solemn, “What you are talking about is that Dao ‘Five Elements Source Pattern’?”

Mo Hua nodded.

Mr. Zhuang’s face was as dark as water, and he tapped the table with his finger. For a while, his thoughts fluctuated. After a long time, he finally opened his mouth and said:

“Generally, source patterns do not have this.”

“Inheritance is just inheritance. This is a cultivator’s cognition and comprehension, it is a method, it does not have will.”

“What has will is the person who controls the inheritance.”

“The ‘source pattern’ is abnormal…”

Mr. Zhuang frowned and pondered:

“Did the Five Elements Sect make some mistake that year, an error in derivation and calculation, which caused the source pattern to mutate?”

“Or did it encounter a disaster, and was invaded by evil?”

“Or was it calculated to cultivate something…”

“The decline of the Five Elements Sect is perhaps precisely because of this Dao ‘source pattern’…”

Mo Hua nodded continuously. He also thought so. He was indeed Master’s disciple, thinking along with Master!

Mr. Zhuang’s gaze sank, and he asked Mo Hua: “Where is that Dao source pattern?”

“I hid it in a painting.”

“Painting?”

Mo Hua took out the visualization map. Before, this visualization map was the Zhang family’s zombie ancestor map. Now there is no zombie, there is the source pattern, which has inherited the array law, so it has become the “Five Elements Array Flow Map”. Mr. Zhuang took out several coins, placed them on the table, arranged them into an array that Mo Hua did not understand, then put the map in the array, and slowly opened it. On the map, there was a Dao five-color array pattern. The array pattern was sealed, its luster converged, but its aura was ancient.

“Master, be careful, it will open its eyes.”

Mo Hua reminded in a low voice.

Open its eyes? Mr. Zhuang was slightly startled, looked at the Five Elements Array Flow Map, but found that the array pattern did not move, there was no sign of “opening its eyes”, it was very quiet, even one could say it was… Well-behaved?

Mr. Zhuang said doubtfully: “How is it?”

“It probably injured its origin by moving from the divine shrine to here, so it doesn’t dare to show its head.”

How it injured its origin involved the Dao Stele, so Mo Hua did not explain in detail. Mr. Zhuang also roughly understood, and did not investigate further, but still silently looked at Mo Hua, thinking in his heart that although this little disciple of his looks harmless, when bullying “people”, he doesn’t seem to be soft-hearted… This way he can rest assured.

Mr. Zhuang again sized up the “Five Elements Array Flow Map”, his thoughts moved, and he slightly derived and calculated. The more he calculated, the more surprised he was, and he said with some disbelief:

“This is really… the old capital of the Five Elements Sect ah…”

“Old capital?” Mo Hua was puzzled.

Mr. Zhuang’s expression was complex, and he looked at Mo Hua, saying helplessly:

“Thousands of years of foundation… may not be just ‘old capital’ ah…”

Mo Hua opened his mouth, somewhat unbelievable. Thousands of years of foundation… He pointed to this Dao Five Elements Source Pattern, and said with difficulty in understanding:

“Just this thing?”

The Five Elements Source Pattern trembled slightly with anger, but in the end it still did not dare to “open its eyes”. Mr. Zhuang nodded, “Integrating many into one, deriving and calculating the source pattern. The Five Elements Sect, in order to calculate the Array Flow, ‘compiled’ all the array laws of the entire sect into the reason of this Dao source pattern…”

“In other words, this Dao source pattern includes all the array law inheritance of the Five Elements Sect for thousands of years…”

Mo Hua was stunned. Although he knew that this Dao source pattern was derived from the Array Flow and should not be ordinary, he never thought it would be “not ordinary” to this extent!

“But…” Mo Hua was a little doubtful, “How do you use this ‘source pattern’?”

He was actually completely ignorant of Array Flow. He was not too clear about the use of this Dao source pattern. He couldn’t just treat it as a “pathogen” and infect others’ sea of consciousness, could he…

Mr. Zhuang said: “There are two situations…”

“The first kind, if you cannot suppress the will of the ‘source pattern’, then don’t go to look at it, don’t go to learn it, otherwise once you are parasitized by the ‘source pattern’, your sea of consciousness will change owners, the consequences are unthinkable…”

“The second kind…”

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua, “Suppose you have a way to suppress this Dao ‘source pattern’, then you can try to reverse derive and calculate, disassemble the ‘source pattern’…”

“Reverse derive and calculate, disassemble the source pattern?”

Mo Hua was startled.

Mr. Zhuang nodded and continued:

“You have learned the Five Elements Sect’s derivation and calculation method, which can summarize array patterns and simplify complexity. Conversely, you can also simplify to complexity, and disassemble the summarized array patterns…”

Mr. Zhuang sighed:

“Among this Dao source pattern, it includes the inheritance of all the Five Elements Array Laws of the Five Elements Sect. After you disassemble it, you can get the array diagrams of these array laws…”

Five Elements Sect… all array law inheritance… Mo Hua nodded, then thought of something, and his heart suddenly trembled, “Isn’t that…”

Mr. Zhuang smiled slightly and nodded:

“Correct, this naturally also includes… the inheritance of the Five Elements Spirit Array!”

“Moreover, it is not general inheritance…”

Mr. Zhuang’s tone was hard to hide his surprise:

“It is very possible that it is a whole set of invaluable, nearly lost, ancient absolute array inheritance, from the first grade, to the second grade, even the third grade, and above the third grade!”

“This is the true foundation of the Five Elements Sect for thousands of years!”

(End of this chapter)