In the twelfth year of the New Great Wilderness Calendar, the fourth year of Shenzhu, in October, winter arrived.

The first to rebel was the Bifang tribe.

The Great Elder of the Bifang tribe first betrayed his faith in the Divine Master, taking half of the Bifang tribe’s high-ranking officials and one-third of their elite to join the previously defected Young Master Bi Jie, aligning themselves with the Wu tribe.

The Bifang tribe had always been close to the Hua family, engaging in many transactions and having deep-rooted interests.

However, the Bifang tribe had many past feuds with the Shugu tribe, with Lugo, and even with Mohua himself.

Mohua, as the Shenzhu, being magnanimous, did not dwell on the past grievances with the Bifang tribe.

But the Bifang Great Elder feared Mohua’s “vengefulness,” fearing that one day, if he made a mistake, the Shenzhu’s wrath would bring divine punishment, and he, the Great Elder, would meet a bad end.

Therefore, he defected.

He defected to the side of the Young Master Wujiu, who could contend with the Shenzhu, and whom even the Shenzhu himself could not harm.

In October of the fourth year of Shenzhu, the Bifang Great Elder defected. Seven days later, in the name of the Great Elder, he enthroned Young Master Bi Jie as the new Great Chieftain of the Bifang tribe. At the same time, he announced the alliance between the Bifang tribe and the Wu tribe, denouncing the so-called “Shenzhu Daren” as a puppet of the divine path, spreading heresy and being an anomaly of the Great Wilderness.

This incident was extremely serious and had a profound impact.

The Shenzhu’s army was momentarily in a state of alarm.

However, in less than a month, the rebellious Bifang Great Elder suddenly dreamt one night that the Shenzhu Daren had personally arrived.

The Shenzhu’s divine power was immense, and under its accumulated might, the Bifang Great Elder involuntarily knelt.

Mohua pointed at his forehead, declaring that he would inflict “divine punishment” upon him.

The Bifang Great Elder awoke, his back soaked in cold sweat, his limbs weak and numb, and his spiritual consciousness scattered and unable to concentrate.

One of his life souls, enshrined on the altar, had been crushed by Mohua.

The Bifang Great Elder did not know, but from then on, he suffered a severe loss of vitality, falling gravely ill. He was utterly incapable of managing affairs, often confined to his bed, living in constant fear.

Bi Jie, whom he had enthroned, seized the opportunity to take sole control, opposing the Shenzhu, and at the same time marginalized the Bifang Great Elder.

In November of the same year, Great Chieftain Yanyi rebelled.

Great Chieftain Yanyi was dissatisfied with Mohua’s favoritism towards the Danque tribe, especially his reliance on Danlie and Danzhu, and had long harbored resentment.

The Hua family sent people to approach Great Chieftain Yanyi, secretly offering him substantial benefits, even promising him the position of “Vermilion Bird Tribe Alliance Leader.”

Great Chieftain Yanyi could not help but be tempted.

Thus, he echoed the Bifang tribe’s claims, stating that Mohua, the Shenzhu, held a “false title and position.”

The so-called Divine Master was merely a fabricated “illusion.”

The War to Unify the Wilderness was nothing more than an invasion disguised as a “divine war,” a lie woven from ambition.

The Shenzhu’s faction was enraged.

In December of the fourth year of Shenzhu, Danlie, the Great Chieftain of the Danque tribe, proactively volunteered to suppress the rebellious Great Chieftain Yanyi.

The two sides engaged in over twenty battles outside Wujiu Peak, with neither gaining a decisive advantage.

Until one night, Great Chieftain Yanyi dreamt that the Shenzhu Daren pointed at his forehead, bringing down divine punishment. He was filled with terror and drenched in cold sweat.

When he awoke, he heard battle cries outside his camp. Great Chieftain Yanyi emerged from his tent to see Danlie leading his troops to attack.

Great Chieftain Yanyi fought Danlie.

However, a wisp of his life soul had already been extinguished by Mohua, leaving his spirit severely damaged and his head throbbing with pain. In less than a hundred rounds, he was slain by Danlie.

Before dying, Great Chieftain Yanyi knelt towards the east, repenting aloud.

With this, the Yanyi tribe’s rebellion was quelled.

But at the end of December, the Danque tribe itself experienced a rebellion.

The Third Young Master Danbie, along with some high-ranking officials of the Danque tribe, chose to betray and defect to the Wu tribe.

Their betrayal was due to Danzhu.

Mohua was the Shenzhu, possessing immense power. Danzhu was Mohua’s most trusted “disciple” and was destined to be the “appointed” Great Chieftain of the Danque tribe in the future.

This left Danbie with no place for himself.

Moreover, he was not simply a “young master.”

Tribal interests were complex and full of intrigue. Many high-ranking officials had placed their “bets” on him, the “Third Young Master.”

He carried “debts”; if he became the Great Chieftain, he could repay these “debts,” but if not, his situation would be extremely difficult.

Therefore, he could only gamble, only fight for his life.

He absolutely could not allow Danzhu to become the Great Chieftain.

That would mean that he, the “Third Young Master,” would become a complete and utter failure and would entirely lose his identity as the Young Master of the Danque tribe.

Therefore, he could only “rebel.”

But Danbie’s “defection” lasted only about a month.

In the spring of the fifth year of Shenzhu, the thirteenth year of the New Great Wilderness Calendar, Mohua calculated Danbie’s whereabouts. After locking onto him through karma, Lugo personally took action, slaying all high-ranking officials of the Danque tribe who supported Danbie, breaking Danbie’s limbs, and bringing him back.

Danbie knelt before Mohua, willing to die to atone for his sins.

His father, Danlie, was unmoved, merely stating: “A rebellious son is guilty, his crime deserves death, and he cannot be indulged.”

Danzhu, however, knelt down to plead for his brother, hoping Mohua would show leniency, offering to bear his brother’s罪.

Danzhu’s words were sincere, and Mohua agreed, stripping Danbie of his young master status and demoting him to a commoner, sparing his life.

Mohua also relieved Danzhu of some duties and deprived him of part of his military authority as a form of punishment.

Danzhu remained deeply grateful.

Danbie felt a mix of emotions. He understood many things in his heart and knew that he was merely a “pawn” in the hands of the Shenzhu Daren, to be manipulated as he pleased.

But regardless, he had ultimately survived.

And without the “young master” status, he felt a sense of relief, and harbored a trace of gratitude towards his younger brother, Danzhu.

Thus, the internal strife of the Danque tribe was quelled.

The cost was Danbie’s young master status and the lives of some high-ranking officials.

Afterward, the Gaotu tribe and the Guiku tribe also experienced small-scale unrest.

Within various tribes, some individuals with divided loyalties also surfaced.

From early autumn of the fourth year of Shenzhu until summer of the fifth year of Shenzhu.

For nearly half a year, within the Shenzhu’s forces, rebellions were frequent, and internal attrition was constant.

These rebellions were all eliminated by Mohua one by one.

All rebellious individuals were either executed or punished as deserved.

External pressure would expose internal conflicts.

Leading an army in battle, once a strong enemy was encountered, internal rebellions would arise.

But only through rebellion could loyalty be tested and faith be refined.

Mohua, using the pressure from Young Master Wu, this half-human, half-dragon Golden Core monster, and the Hua family’s infiltration and seduction of the Shenzhu’s faction, purged a large number of ambiguous and two-faced individuals.

Seemingly, their strength was damaged, but those who endured the “test” and remained became even purer in their faith in the Divine Master.

And more loyal to Mohua, the Shenzhu Daren.

Thus, Mohua’s power became even more cohesive.

And after half a year of intense fighting, a large amount of “war data” had been inputted into Mohua’s Sea of Consciousness.

The complex terrain of the entire Wujiu Mountain Realm, the脉络 of its mountains and rivers, and the seasonal changes of the Wufeng.

As well as the customs of the various tribes in the Wu Alliance, their troop types, preferred tactics, ambush procedures—everything transformed into material for Mohua’s causal deductions.

Causal deduction of war, combined with the numerous changes in timing, geography, and human factors, was the most complex, profound, and variable type of causal art.

At the same time, this was also the most effective causal path for honing one’s skills.

Real combat tempers a person, and war hones one’s perception of cause and effect.

Coupled with the absolute cold rationality of his divinity, after such a long period of war, Mohua’s understanding of causality had ascended to another level.

The war in the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm also had a clear causal framework in Mohua’s mind.

He could finally clearly see the flow of victory and defeat.

Based on his causal judgment, Mohua launched the most crucial battle for conquering the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm:

The Battle of Wujiu Peak.

The outermost mountains of the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm were the first gateway.

Hundreds of li inwards was Wufeng, the second gateway.

These two gateways, plus hundreds of li of natural barriers in between, were why the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Now, after half a year of skirmishes and struggles, the Shenzhu’s army had approached Wufeng.

As long as Wufeng was breached, it would be equivalent to breaking through the second gateway and overcoming the natural barriers of the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm.

After that, they could proceed directly into the heartland of the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm, directly threatening the Wujiu tribe’s main settlement.

Therefore, whether Wufeng could be breached, to some extent, determined the direction of this war.

Mohua squeezed every ounce of his divine computational power.

He utilized his celestial mechanism calculations for karma, and his intricate strategies for troop deployment, to their utmost limits.

All the troops Mohua could muster were committed to this battle.

This battle was almost the pinnacle of Mohua’s causal calculations.

The Wu tribe’s troop movements were almost entirely within Mohua’s predictions.

The victory, defeat, advance, retreat, gathering, and dispersion of any front on either side could not escape Mohua’s detailed and subtle causal deductions.

In this battle, the Wujiu tribe seemed truly to be fighting against a “god,” encountering obstacles everywhere, and everything falling within the god’s calculations.

At the same time, Mohua also tried his best to “calculate” the death of Young Master Wujiu in this battle.

He utilized all the “experts” and “killing moves” at his disposal.

He also forced Young Master Wujiu’s “karma” into a dead end, causing Young Master Wujiu to fall into an isolated and desperate situation, heavily surrounded and attacked.

But he still failed.

Under the heavy encirclement and attack of numerous Great Chieftains and generals, Young Master Wu activated the Great Wilderness Dragon Array, his body adorned with dark dragon patterns. Relying on his powerful, dragon-like physique, he suppressed the barbarian masses, brutally fighting his way out, like a true son of a black dragon, the master of the wilderness.

All of Mohua’s calculations came to naught.

This truly proved the saying: in the face of true strength, all conspiracies and schemes are futile.

After assimilating the dragon patterns, Young Master Wujiu’s physical strength had indeed reached an astonishing level.

Even Mohua, despite all his efforts, could not harm him.

And after Young Master Wujiu broke out of the encirclement, his fighting spirit surged. He even wanted to infiltrate the Shenzhu’s rear alone and personally slay Mohua.

Young Master Wujiu knew better than anyone that Mohua, this young-looking Shenzhu, was the most crucial figure in the entire Shenzhu’s forces.

Unique!

In a sense, this walking Shenzhu was even more important than the distant Divine Master, whose existence was unknown.

If the Shenzhu was killed, the entire Shenzhu’s forces would crumble, and the Wu tribe could win without a fight.

Sensing Young Master Wu’s hostility towards Mohua, the Great Tiger roared and immediately pounced.

The third-grade Diao Jing Xuanhu also joined the Great Tiger in battling Young Master Wujiu, who bore the dragon patterns.

The Taotie corpse, Yi Shigu, also stood in front of Mohua.

Lugo, Danlie, and a host of other generals and Great Chieftains also gathered around.

Holy beasts, demonic beasts, corpses, and late-stage Golden Core generals formed an encirclement.

Young Master Wujiu was heavily besieged and had endured many fierce battles. Although he would not be killed, he was powerless to kill Mohua.

He could only cast a cold glance at Mohua, who sat calmly on his high seat, like a living god, before ultimately turning and fighting his way out through a bloody path.

Not long after, the battle came to an end.

The Battle of Wujiu Peak, after all, not only failed to kill Young Master Wujiu but instead enhanced his renown.

After this battle, almost everyone in the entire wilderness knew that the “undefeated and invincible,” “unmatched in the wilderness” Young Master Wujiu was a descendant of the Great Wilderness Dragon. His divine might was unstoppable, and his physical body was immortal.

But Young Master Wujiu was, after all, only one person. Even if he was the foremost hero of the wilderness, he could not stop an army of thousands, nor could he stop Mohua, the Shenzhu, from advancing.

Ultimately, Wujiu Peak was still breached by Mohua.

The Shenzhu’s army surged into the interior of the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm.

In this battle, Mohua achieved a strategic victory.

And Young Master Wujiu established his bloodline and identity as the “Son of the Great Wilderness Dragon.”

In the autumn of the fifth year of Shenzhu, the thirteenth year of the New Great Wilderness Calendar.

One month had passed since the Battle of Wujiu Peak.

The Shenzhu’s army had pushed into the heartland of the Great Wufeng Mountain Realm, beginning a desperate war of conquest and slaughter against the Wujiu Alliance.

The war entered a white-hot stage.

But at this time, Mohua, as the Shenzhu Daren, was not leading the overall situation. Instead, accompanied by the Great Tiger, he appeared in a desolate mountain range north of Wujiu Peak.

This was a mountain range near the main settlement of the Wujiu tribe.

It had always been under the rule of the Wujiu tribe until today when Mohua ordered his men to attack and capture this barren mountain.

And at this moment, dusk was approaching.

Mohua stood alone on the barren mountain, watching the sunset in the sky, with only the Great Tiger accompanying him.

After an unknown period, a figure appeared faintly in the distance.

This figure was tall and slender, dressed in a barbarian robe woven from black feathers. He appeared to be an elder of the Wu tribe.

Mohua did nothing, simply watching the man approach with a calm expression.

When the man, who looked like a “Wujiu Elder,” drew closer, took off his bamboo hat, and his face changed, he transformed into the appearance of “Tie Shugu,” bowing to Mohua and saying, “Shenzhu Daren.”

Mohua nodded slightly.

“Tie Shugu,” wearing the Wujiu barbarian robe, continued, “For the past half-year, I have been lurking in the Wujiu tribe, following your orders to search for traces of the ‘Great Wilderness Chugou Life Art’…”

Tie Shugu turned and pointed to the barren mountain before them, “This mountain is the clue…”

Tie Shugu sighed softly, “As an elder, I have been dormant in the Wujiu tribe, going through some ancient barbarian texts written by the Wujiu tribe. These texts are too old, even older than myself. There are probably only a few people in the entire Wujiu tribe who can understand these characters…”

“According to the ancient texts in these records, and after my verification over the past half-year by comparing them with changes in mountain and river terrain, I finally learned that this mountain is the ancient Wu forbidden land. Within the forbidden land lie some ancient secrets…”

“There is one more thing I have also found out…”

Tie Shugu slowly said, “It is said that Young Master Wujiu received the blessing of the Great God Wujiu here, where he learned of his destiny as a ‘true dragon’ and that he is destined to unify the Great Wilderness in the future…”

Upon hearing this, Mohua’s thoughts stirred.

During the battle that day, he clearly saw that the dragon patterns on Young Master Wujiu were a variation of the “Four Symbols Dragon Array.”

And this variant formation seemed very familiar to Mohua.

Even Young Master Wujiu’s appearance with the dragon patterns was very similar to that of the Demonic Sect Master of the Qianxue Province Realm, Prince Aohuang of the Great Wilderness.

If his guess was correct, these two dragon arrays were likely created by the same person—

Tujun.

Young Master Wujiu’s dragon diagram was Tujun’s work.

The Great Wilderness Chugou Life Art was also very likely to have been taken by Tujun.

These two clues, secretly verified by Tie Shugu, who was the ancestor of the Shugu tribe, converged at one point.

Mohua raised his gaze, looking at the barren mountain before him.

He stood for a long time, already faintly sensing the aura of an “old friend” related to karma emanating from the barren mountain.