Afterward, everyone discussed the military arrangements for Daoting’s attack on the Wangting for a while, exchanging information. Mo Hua quietly committed all the news to memory.

When the banquet ended, Bai Zisheng, full and satisfied, stood up, looked at Mo Hua, and said coldly, “If I get free, I’ll kill you.”

Mo Hua returned his cold smile, “A defeated foe, worry about yourself.”

Bai Zisheng’s gaze was icy, but he said no more. Clad in chains, he swaggered away. No one dared to stop him.

Feng Zichen looked at Mo Hua with concern and couldn’t help but say, “Mo Hua, this Bai Zisheng, he’s holding a grudge against you. Be careful.”

Mo Hua waved his hand and sighed, “Many lice, no itch; many enemies, no worry. There are too many people who hold grudges against me. I’m used to it.”

Feng Zichen pondered for a moment, then nodded. “That’s true.”

Among all the Tianjiao of Qianxue present, who didn’t harbor a grudge against Mo Hua? Those without a grudge against Mo Hua weren’t even worthy of being called Tianjiao. Everyone else nodded in agreement, deeply convinced.

However, a certain gravity settled in their hearts. After all, Bai Zisheng was no ordinary Tianjiao. His background was too lofty, his bloodline too strong, and his three-stage transformation was truly terrifying. Mo Hua had humiliated him repeatedly and publicly with words; this enmity was likely quite deep. If Mo Hua ever fell into Bai Zisheng’s hands, who knew how he would be tortured? The thought of Mo Hua being captured and tormented by Bai Zisheng one day struck these Tianjiao as dreadful, yet the image of Mo Hua suffering also brought a strange, secret satisfaction.

As night fell, Mo Hua and his “enemy,” Bai Zisheng, slept in the same room. Bai Zisheng leaned by the window, guarding his junior martial brother. He knew that although his junior martial brother was clever, his physical body wasn’t strong, and his defenses were weak, unlike himself, whose strength lay in his physical body.

Mo Hua lay on the bed, deep in thought. The matter of the Wangting still bothered him. The anticipated brutal warfare also made Mo Hua feel a pang of pity. As he thought, a wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over him. Mo Hua inexplicably drifted off into a hazy sleep.

In a dreamlike state, Mo Hua saw a figure again. It seemed to have endured many years; the figure was very blurry, its face unclear and even cracked. Mo Hua could only sense that this person was the Second Elder of the Demon Sect, and it was he who had revealed the secret of the Shi’er Jing Taotie Linghai Array to him. As always, he bowed to Mo Hua and said, “Please, Shenjun.”

“Please, little Shenjun…”

“Save my Dahang, save the bloodline of my Dahang…”

“Please, little Shenjun, extend the lifespan of my Dahang…”

Mo Hua frowned and asked, “Who is the bloodline of your Dahang? How can I save him? And how is it my turn to extend the lifespan of your Dahang?”

The Second Elder did not answer, merely continued bowing, saying, “Please, little Shenjun, please, little Shenjun…”

“Only you, little Shenjun, can extend the lifespan of my Dahang…”

Blood tears flowed from the Second Elder’s eyes. “This old man kowtows to you, kowtows to you…”

The Second Elder then knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly to Mo Hua. Mo Hua hastily said, “Don’t kowtow, tell me clearly.”

But the Second Elder didn’t respond, continuing to kowtow until his body seemed to weather away into flying sand, dissipating into time and space. Mo Hua reached out to grasp him, but caught nothing.

Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard a voice say, “Junior martial brother, junior martial brother… what’s wrong?”

Mo Hua opened his eyes to find Bai Zisheng beside him. Mo Hua was startled. “I…”

Bai Zisheng said, “You’ve been waving your hands in the air for a while, mumbling something incomprehensible… You…” Bai Zisheng’s eyes were full of concern. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Mo Hua nodded, then shook his head. “It’s nothing… just some thoughts…”

Seeing Mo Hua’s reluctance to elaborate, Bai Zisheng didn’t press him, merely saying gently, “Don’t overthink things, and don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Whether it’s the Wangting or Longchi, in the end, they are just stepping stones to forming a Dan.

Bai Zisheng thought for a moment, then added, “When we break through the Wangting, I’ll lead you into Longchi, and I’ll kill anyone who tries to stop us. Even if this trip to Longchi is unlucky and we can’t form a Dan, there will be other opportunities later.”

“I know you’ve been smart since childhood, but precisely because you’re too smart, sometimes you overthink things. Sometimes thinking too much is useless; just push through it.”

Mo Hua was taken aback, then couldn’t help but smile. “Alright.”

Bai Zisheng cautioned, “Pay attention to yourself, don’t think too much, conserve your brainpower.”

Mo Hua said “Alright” again.

Bai Zisheng nodded, then sat back down on the ground, meditating to heal his injuries. Mo Hua lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He tried to clear his mind, but his spiritual consciousness was too strong, and overthinking had become a habit; with just one thought, various ideas flooded in. Daoting, aristocratic families, his martial uncle’s schemes, the brutality of war, and the complex people and events within the Wangting always left Mo Hua’s mind in turmoil.

What puzzled him even more were the Second Elder’s words, and even the “existence” of the Second Elder himself. Mo Hua learned array formations and achieved enlightenment through spiritual consciousness, making him a “demigod” with a Pixiu covenant. Although his divinity was sealed, the power of his divine sense remained. No demons, evil spirits, ghosts, or monsters could touch him. In a nightmare realm, no evil spirit was his match. Yet, when he entered the dream just now, he didn’t sense anything. He had no idea what form the “Second Elder” in his dream took. Neither human, ghost, nor god, he seemed merely a fragment in the long river of time.

And what exactly was the “bloodline of Dahang” that the Second Elder repeatedly asked him to save? How could he extend Dahang’s lifespan? The Dahang Wangting was a fourth-grade land, where Eclosion cultivators vied for supremacy and the lives of the populace hung by a thread. In such a situation, how could he possibly extend Dahang’s lifespan? Mo Hua frowned deeply, his forehead even throbbing. Then he immediately remembered his junior martial brother’s admonition not to “overthink things” and forced himself to stop thinking altogether. At this stage, he only needed to focus on one thing: breaking into the Wangting, entering Longchi, and forming a Dan. Nothing else.

Mo Hua forcefully collected his thoughts through meditation, feeling his mind clear a little. Then, feeling bored, he immersed his mind in his Sea of Consciousness, continuing to practice various array formations on the Dao Stele.

The next morning, Mo Hua got up and headed to the nearby wilderness to gather wild grass. Bai Zisheng, feeling uneasy, followed him. However, after watching Mo Hua run around the mountains, pulling up some seemingly useless wild grass, Bai Zisheng finally couldn’t help but ask, “Mo Hua, are you gathering these grasses to feed horses?” He vaguely remembered that when they were children, Mo Hua especially loved to gather all sorts of grasses to feed their family’s big white horse. Strangely, their big white horse specifically loved to eat the grass Mo Hua gathered. The horse would ignore the grass he gathered himself. From then on, Bai Zisheng knew that his junior martial brother had a somewhat peculiar talent. But this was Dahang, and the grasses Mo Hua was gathering were just ordinary wild plants.

Mo Hua said, “These are for weaving Chu Gou.”

“Chu Gou?” Bai Zisheng was somewhat puzzled.

Mo Hua nodded. He hadn’t intended to say more, but then he remembered that Bai Zisheng was his only junior martial brother, so he thought for a moment and said, “Junior martial brother, what do you think humans look like in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao?”

“Heavenly Dao?” Bai Zisheng frowned, quickly realizing, “Are you saying, ‘Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as Chu Gou’?”

Mo Hua nodded, pointing at the wild grass covering the ground. “In the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, all of us, regardless of cultivation level, wealth, status, gender, beauty, or ugliness, might be just like these wild grasses before us—no different at all.”

“Strength, weakness, wealth, poverty, nobility, lowliness, beauty, ugliness—these distinctions are made by humans.”

“In the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, these are all ‘false,’ illusory.”

Bai Zisheng was startled.

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up slightly as he continued, “Man models himself on Earth, Earth on Heaven, Heaven on the Dao. Since man seeks the Dao, he naturally must contemplate what humanity looks like in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao.”

“No matter how high one’s cultivation, how great one’s power, or how wealthy one is, in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, these are all worthless.”

“A person is, after all, just a person, from birth to death, just like all living beings under heaven. They are no different from the most common Chu Gou between Heaven and Earth.”

“This is the original intention of the Dao, and also the true heart of man,” Mo Hua said solemnly.

“A person is, after all, just a person, just like all living beings under heaven…”

Bai Zisheng was lost in thought, somewhat bewildered. Although he didn’t fully grasp what Mo Hua was saying, he vaguely sensed that his junior martial brother seemed to be imparting some very important truth to him. Bai Zisheng knew that when it came to fighting, he was very strong. But when it came to intelligence and insight, he simply couldn’t compare to his junior martial brother. His junior martial brother’s intelligence was something even their master acknowledged and cherished.

Bai Zisheng silently committed Mo Hua’s words to heart, nodding, “I understand.”

Seeing that his junior martial brother understood, Mo Hua smiled gently.

Bai Zisheng asked, “How much more wild grass do you need?”

Mo Hua replied, “A lot more… the more, the better.”

The more wild grass he had, the more Chu Gou he could weave, which meant a greater chance of survival and, equally, more opportunities to take action. One Chu Gou represented one life—it could save his own life or take someone else’s. In the upcoming journey to the Wangting, the number of Chu Gou would be his greatest reliance.

Bai Zisheng didn’t understand the principle, but since his junior martial brother found it useful, he said, “Tell me what kind of grass you need, and I’ll help you gather it.”

Mo Hua nodded, “Okay.”

In the following days, Mo Hua continuously gathered wild grass to weave his fated Chu Gou, while also planning the Wangting’s war efforts. At the same time, he continued to find ways to expand the Wangnu Mountain Realm and gather more Barbarian Slaves. As the war progressed and the Daobing advanced on a large scale, more and more tribes in the Wangji region were conquered by Daoting. With the defeat of tribes, the number of displaced and scattered Barbarian Slaves also increased. Mo Hua had to gather as many of these Barbarian Slaves as possible, saving one whenever he could.

Concurrently, he was secretly observing the movements of a Barbarian Slave youth named Huainu. He felt relieved when he saw the boy studying array formations diligently day and night, following his guidance to display small-scale miracles as a “Divine Favored One,” uniting most of the Barbarian Slaves in the Wangji region, and attempting to use array formations to cultivate crops so these Barbarian Slaves could have food.

Of course, for Huainu, this process was also accompanied by various dangers. He attracted the attention of aristocratic families, faced ostracism from within the Barbarian Slave community, and oppression from more vicious Barbarian Slaves. Huainu, using his own abilities, managed to solve these problems one by one. For those he couldn’t solve, the Barbarian God in his Sea of Consciousness would lend divine power to help him. Only if the Barbarian God also couldn’t solve a problem would Mo Hua intervene to help the youth. However, he never revealed himself, merely controlled the development of the situation from the shadows, using various setbacks and difficulties to temper this young man burdened with a difficult mission. Heaven prepares great responsibilities for such people, and suffering and torment are inescapable.

Meanwhile, Daoting was also accelerating the pace of the war. The progress was even faster than Mo Hua had anticipated. In just over a month, the Wangji region was completely pacified by the various aristocratic families. Although some scattered barbarian tribes still fought independently, resisting Daoting, it no longer affected the overall situation. The “pre-conditions” for attacking the Wangting had been met. Array masters wearing Qin Tian Jian Daopao began to enter the Wangji region in large numbers, escorted by Daobing.

Feng Zichen’s war arrangements were largely accurate. The purpose of these Qin Tian Jian array masters was to construct a path using the Qixing Array, spanning the entire Wangji region. This Qixing Array would sever cause and effect, isolating certain curse and念术 (nian shu) attacks. Once the passage was stable, Daoting’s Yuhua cultivators would use this “Qixing Path” to directly traverse the Wangji region, heading straight for the Wangting, with the Yuhua as the vanguard. This marked the true beginning of the decisive battle.

Daoting did not allow any outsiders to participate in the construction of the “Qixing Path.” Mo Hua wanted to help but couldn’t, even with his connections, even as the head of the array dao in Qianxue. Mo Hua could only regret inwardly that if he could have helped, he might have even mastered the Qixing Array during the time it took to build the path. But even without his direct involvement, he wasn’t without options. He could still observe from afar and deduce secretly.

For the next period, Mo Hua had an additional task: secret deduction. As the Qin Tian Jian laid out the Qixing Path, Mo Hua found a cliff in the distance, spread a blanket, brewed a cup of tea, then released his spiritual sense to perceive the array fluctuations during the path’s construction. At the same time, he activated Tianji Yansuan to reverse-engineer the basic composition and operational rules of these arrays.

This kind of deduction was certainly not as fast as “personally participating.” Just like with the Huangtian Xueshi Great Array, Mo Hua had personally participated in its construction and learned a great deal. However, opportunities for “personal participation” were rare and not always available. Conversely, being able to secretly observe from afar and deduce some basic array patterns and underlying logic of the Qixing Array was already quite remarkable. Mo Hua didn’t even dare to speak of it. Because if it were taken seriously, according to Daolü regulations, secretly observing the secrets of the Qin Tian Jian’s Qixing Array was a grave taboo of Daoting, and in severe cases, could lead to execution. Therefore, Mo Hua understood that contentment was key, to know when to stop, and never to be too greedy. He had to learn as much as he could secretly during this time.

Because this was a war, and time was of the essence, everyone worked overtime. The entire Qixing Path, from drawing lines to laying it out, was completed in just over half a month. Mo Hua felt a pang of regret. If there had been more time, he could have deduced even more array patterns. Under normal circumstances, the Qixing Array was something one rarely encountered. Zhenren Zhuge knew it, but even he, a Zhenren, could not teach it without Daoting’s permission and Qin Tian Jian’s approval.

But now, there was no time for regret. Because Mo Hua knew that once the Qixing Path was laid, it would be the day the Yuhua descended.

Two days later, Mo Hua saw countless Daoting armies enter the territory, advancing along the Qixing Path. Their golden weapons and iron horses stretched endlessly, a vast and mighty sight. The murderous aura caused the very earth to tremble. Within the army, on the Qixing Path, seven Daoting Yuhua, including Zhenren Zhuge and Zhenren Hua, walked side by side.

The Yuhua had entered. This meant that the true bloody battle for the Wangting was about to begin…

(End of Chapter)