What could this thing be?

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then suddenly a thought struck him. He found Dan Zhu and Chi Feng and said,

“Stop fighting for now. Form a defensive line, and everyone retreat into the stone temple.”

Bi Jie had now rallied other tribes and surrounded the Shugu Valley. Their numbers were vast, and continuing to fight like this would put the Dan Que Tribe at a great disadvantage.

Dan Zhu and Chi Feng understood this as well. They immediately followed Mo Hua’s instructions, withdrawing their troops to defend.

Afterward, Mo Hua asked, “Are all the Shugu Tribe’s supplies packed?”

Dan Zhu nodded. “The food, Man Jia, and materials for casting armor have all been counted and packed into storage boxes.”

Mo Hua said, “Take all the Man Jia out and dismantle them one by one.”

Dan Zhu was startled, asking in confusion, “Mister, why is that?”

Mo Hua simply said, “There might be something wrong with these Man Jia. Let’s dismantle them and take a look.”

Dan Zhu thought for a moment and then nodded. “Alright.”

Over the past few days, the various “miracles” performed by Mister Wu had deeply impressed Dan Zhu and the others.

They knew that Mister Wu always had his reasons for doing things.

So Dan Zhu passed down the order.

A portion of the Dan Que Tribe’s barbarian soldiers, along with Chi Feng and others, guarded outside the stone temple, vigilant against attacks from the Bi Fang Tribe and other enemies.

Meanwhile, Dan Zhu, accompanied by Mo Hua and dozens of barbarian soldiers, took out all the Man Jia from the Shugu Tribe.

Then they dismantled them one by one and laid them out in the great hall of the stone temple.

Most of these Man Jia were not finished products; their components were also incomplete. It seemed they had only been half-cast, and the final quenching and “packaging” had been interrupted before they could be completed.

Mo Hua hadn’t paid much attention at first.

But now, thinking it over carefully, he felt there was a significant problem.

Why were all these Man Jia “half-finished”?

Why were they only half-cast and then stopped?

What kind of Man Jia was the Shugu Tribe trying to cast, and why exactly did they stop casting them?

One by one, the Shugu Tribe’s Man Jia were roughly dismantled and laid out.

Mo Hua meticulously examined them one after another.

These Shugu Man Jia were a batch of very old armor, not particularly fine, and they used very rudimentary, even somewhat primitive, casting techniques.

The casting style was quite ordinary.

They included some Si Xiang array patterns, which, in Mo Hua’s eyes, were all fragmented and not particularly advanced.

Because of this, Mo Hua had only given them a quick glance before, and hadn’t thought much of them.

But the more Mo Hua looked now, the more he felt these Man Jia hinted at an inexplicable strangeness.

After “inspecting” most of the Man Jia, Mo Hua’s expression became even more peculiar.

Without exception, all these Man Jia were carved with array patterns.

But these array patterns, also without exception, were all “incomplete.”

From beginning to end, not a single array pattern on any piece of Man Jia was “complete.”

This was the problem.

A few incomplete ones would be fine.

Most of them being incomplete would also be fine.

But for all the Man Jia array formations to be incomplete was highly abnormal.

Mo Hua glanced again at the Man Jia filling the entire hall, and the incomplete array patterns on them, and for a fleeting moment, he had an illusion.

These dense, fragmented Man Jia, piled up in large sections, seemed to be like—

The “corpses” of array formations, “dismembered.”

They exuded an inexplicable strangeness and cruelty.

“The array patterns are the severed limbs left after the array formation was dismembered,” Mo Hua frowned, muttering to himself.

“What Bi Jie wants is not actually this batch of Man Jia, but these incomplete ‘array patterns’ on this batch of Man Jia?”

“What use are these array patterns?”

Mo Hua carefully examined these array patterns one by one again. He could only roughly discern that these patterns were a relatively old type of “Beast Mark.”

The patterns were somewhat ancient, and upon closer inspection, they indeed appeared to be common Si Xiang demon marks, with nothing too profound about them.

However, Mo Hua intuitively judged that these array patterns could absolutely not be ordinary.

Where was their extraordinary nature?

Mo Hua frowned in deep thought, and within moments, he thought of something:

“Wan Yao Hua Long!”

Using fragmented Si Xiang demon marks to piece together and fuse into a more powerful Dragon Mark array formation.

This was what Mister Tu had painstakingly done in Wan Yao Valley of Lian Yao Mountain in Qian Xue Zhou Jie.

Mister Tu wanted to extract the essence of ten thousand demons and fuse them into a true “dragon.”

And Mister Tu had indeed succeeded.

He had ultimately fused a Si Xiang Qing Long formation.

Then—

Mo Hua looked at the fragmented Man Jia in the great hall, his pupils constricting slightly.

“Could it be that the Shugu Tribe is also doing something like this? Do they also want to—Wan Yao Hua Long? Create a ‘Dragon Mark formation’?”

“Impossible, right—”

Mo Hua thought for a moment and felt that the Shugu Tribe couldn’t possibly be so audacious.

This was a dragon.

How could a third-grade tribe dare to even conceive of a dragon?

But then Mo Hua reconsidered, thinking it might not be impossible.

He, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, dared to scheme for a “dragon,” and had even swallowed a “dragon soul” back then.

Why wouldn’t a third-grade tribe like Shugu dare?

If not openly, then covertly?

Mo Hua felt somewhat uncertain and turned his head, quietly asking Dan Zhu,

“Have you ever seen ‘Long Jia’?”

Even Dan Zhu was startled and quickly shook his head, saying, “Only the imperial court and direct royal lineages dare to wear Long Jia.”

“What if others wear it?” Mo Hua asked.

Dan Zhu replied, “Anyone not of the Great Wilderness imperial lineage or direct royal line, whether they privately forge Long Jia or wear it, commits a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of their family.”

Mo Hua’s heart skipped a beat, thinking, this is not good.

It seemed he was now not only the “number one grand rebel” of the Dao Ting.

But also a great criminal of the Great Wilderness, subject to “extermination of nine generations.”

Mo Hua’s face paled slightly.

Dan Zhu asked strangely, “Mister, why are you asking about Long Jia?”

Mo Hua glanced at Dan Zhu, pondered for a moment, then looked around to confirm no one else could hear. Only then did he lower his voice and say,

“Could the Shugu Tribe—be forging ‘Long Jia’?”

Dan Zhu was once again startled, his face full of disbelief.

Mo Hua saw Dan Zhu’s expression and knew that this young man had clearly never entertained such a thought or considered such a possibility.

In the Barren Lands, tribes could contend and fight amongst themselves, but they were still quite “loyal” to the royal court and the imperial family of the Great Wilderness.

They generally wouldn’t harbor thoughts of “rebellion.”

They also maintained sufficient reverence for the “dragon,” which symbolized the Great Wilderness imperial family.

But while Dan Zhu might show reverence, what about Bi Jie?

Would he show reverence?

Based on his interactions with Bi Jie during these past few days, Mo Hua felt that given Bi Jie’s ambition, he would most likely not hold reverence for the “dragon.”

What he would likely hold in his heart was only “power.”

Mo Hua put himself in Bi Jie’s shoes and considered the situation.

If the Man Jia of the Shugu Tribe truly contained the secret method of “Hua Long” (Dragon Transformation) for casting armor, then as “Bi Jie,” he would certainly have to acquire this batch of Man Jia at all costs.

Fighting to the death would be considered a mild approach.

In fact, Mo Hua felt that Bi Jie’s current actions were already “mild.”

If it were him, no, if it were his former self.

If someone dared to contend with him for an array formation, he would directly use a disintegration spell and blow up the entire stone temple. Once everyone was dead, he would then enter to search for items.

Of course, now that he had “reformed,” he couldn’t do that anymore.

Mo Hua wondered,

“So, the secret of the Shugu Tribe is ‘Dragon Mark Man Jia’?”

“And that’s why Bi Jie is clinging to it like a hungry wolf, refusing to let go?”

“After all, this kind of opportunity only comes once. He doesn’t even dare to tell others, not even his own tribe?”

Mo Hua felt this was a possibility, but couldn’t confirm it, so he decided to verify it himself.

He took out paper and brush, meticulously copied down the incomplete array patterns from the Shugu Man Jia one by one, and then began to derive them on his own.

This was a very complex and profound array pattern technique.

It was also something Mo Hua had gradually explored and figured out himself, inspired by Mister Tu.

Dan Zhu, standing by, was instantly captivated and lost in thought after just a glance.

He was a genius who had been exposed to “Sacred Marks” in his youth, and even possessed a certain level of skill in them.

But seeing Mo Hua personally drawing array formations and deriving the chaotic patterns, he suddenly realized what it truly meant to “master Sacred Marks.”

“Could it be that only by mastering Sacred Marks to Mister Wu’s level can one become a Wu Zhu?”

“The threshold for a Wu Zhu is actually so high. No wonder there are only a handful of people in the Barren Lands qualified to become a Wu Zhu—”

Dan Zhu was secretly amazed and couldn’t help but observe Mo Hua’s array formation techniques from the side, marveling at Mo Hua’s consummate skill.

He was even entranced by the various profound changes within the Sacred Marks.

But as he watched, Dan Zhu suddenly felt a slight prickling pain in his spiritual sea.

Dan Zhu was startled, and upon realizing it, he suddenly understood that this was a sign of excessive spiritual energy consumption.

Excessive spiritual energy consumption?

Dan Zhu was somewhat incredulous.

Mister Wu was deriving a second-grade Sacred Mark, so why would it cause him, a Golden Core cultivator, to show signs of spiritual exhaustion—

Moreover, Mister Wu was doing all of this with ease and familiarity, clearly accustomed to it.

Was Mister Wu’s spiritual sense stronger than his own, a Golden Core cultivator?

Dan Zhu was quite shaken for a moment. Then he remembered a sentence Mo Hua had once said:

“Those who serve the gods, their mighty spiritual power comes from the divine lord.”

Bearing the power of a god. Dan Zhu gazed deeply at Mo Hua, his conviction growing stronger, and his expression becoming more pious.

He stopped watching Mo Hua draw Sacred Marks, instead dismissing everyone else, ensuring no one else could see. He himself stood guard nearby, “protecting” Mo Hua.

Mo Hua remained single-minded, calmly deriving the Si Xiang residual patterns of the Shugu Tribe.

But after deriving for a while, he noticed an anomaly.

These “residual patterns” of the Shugu Tribe, while appearing to be demon marks, had a derivation path completely different from the “Hua Long” (Dragon Transformation) form.

At least, it differed significantly from the method Mo Hua had previously attempted for deriving “Qing Long array patterns.”

This meant that the final path derived from these residual patterns was very likely not “dragon.”

And there was a significant distinction here:

Is it not a dragon, or is it not a Qing Long?

“Not a Qing Long” means it could still be other kinds of “dragons.”

Back then, Inspector Xia of the Dao Ting had told Mo Hua that the dragons in this world came in various forms, and their categories were also divided into different grades.

There were true dragons, karma dragons, and jiao dragons.

The barbarian cultivators of the Great Wilderness might be superstitious about “Qing Long.”

But Mo Hua knew that truly looking across the Nine Provinces of the cultivation world, the Qing Long of the Great Wilderness was merely one type of “karma dragon” in the world.

Moreover, it was entirely possible that in the Barren Lands, besides Qing Long, there were other “karma dragons.”

What was hidden here in the Shugu Tribe might be other categories of “dragon mark” Man Jia.

And if it wasn’t a dragon, then there were even more possibilities.

It could be other Si Xiang sacred beasts in the Great Wilderness, or divine beasts of heaven and earth different from the Great Wilderness legends, like the Pixiu, or even some powerful demon beast—

This was like searching for a needle in a haystack, making it even harder to determine.

Mo Hua had no choice but to be patient, thinking of first “deriving” a portion to see if he could, through the “Si Xiang form patterns” of the array patterns,

Inversely speculate which type of beast these array patterns were related to.

To figure out what kind of Sacred Mark research the Shugu Tribe was engaged in.

And what kind of Man Jia they were trying to cast?

These were not good to guess wildly; he had to follow the array patterns step by step to find clues.

Mo Hua continued to derive.

On the paper before him, Mo Hua drew dense, chaotic lines, like “heavenly script,” illustrating the paths and changes of the array pattern evolution.

An ordinary array master would feel their spiritual sea tingle after a few glances.

But after researching for a while, Mo Hua suddenly realized that his “derivation” couldn’t proceed at all.

The array patterns were too fragmented, with too many changes, and too many possibilities.

Without being able to “anchor” a target, it was impossible to find a specific direction to carry out such a vast and complex derivation.

This kind of “derivation” clearly exceeded his current capabilities.

Mo Hua’s brow furrowed, but unwilling to give up, he continued to scribble and derive for half a day.

His spiritual sense was depleted several times and replenished through meditation, only to be used up again by Mo Hua until not a drop remained.

Yet, he still couldn’t “derive” any results.

The “residual patterns” before him still resembled dismembered limbs and fragments, covering an entire large sheet of array paper,

Like a “mass grave” formed by array patterns.

“Shugu Tribe, Man Jia, residual patterns—what could it possibly be?” Mo Hua’s brow was tightly furrowed. After much hesitation, he couldn’t help but ponder, “If I can’t derive it, then as a last resort, I’ll use causality to calculate,

“See if there are any other clues?”

He wasn’t sure if this matter could be calculated.

Would it involve certain unknowable karmic consequences?

But the curiosity and confusion in his heart burned like a wildfire, tormenting Mo Hua and making him restless.

“Just a simple calculation, just a quick one—”

To prevent any accidents, Mo Hua sat in meditation, restoring his spiritual sense to a full state.

Then, in the name of “praying for divine lord’s revelation,” he had Dan Zhu guard the door for him.

Finally, Mo Hua used the demon bone divination technique to make a simple calculation, but the divination results were very strange; he could only see a vast darkness before his eyes, and nothing else.

Mo Hua didn’t quite understand and was unwilling to give up.

He then used copper coins to calculate again, and the result was largely the same, still a dark blur.

Mo Hua still found it perplexing.

He then used the recently comprehended method of San Cai (Heaven, Earth, Man) derivation. In his spiritual sea, he reconstructed the stone temple with his spiritual sense, simulating the time and environment, with himself as the “Man.”

Then, the San Cai operated, and causality flowed. This time, it was indeed different. Mo Hua could see the passage of time, seeing himself in the next moment,

Lying on the floor of the stone temple, looking up at something.

But that was all; the scene quickly vanished, and the causality was directly cut off.

As if it had been swallowed by something.

“What am I—looking at—”

Mo Hua’s face changed, and a strong premonition suddenly arose in his heart.

Following the premonition in the causality, he lay down on the floor of the stone temple and looked up. Naturally, he saw the enormous white bone barbarian god statue.

Barbarian god statue—

More precisely, it was the huge, grim white bone skull of the barbarian god statue.

In a flash, Mo Hua’s heart trembled, and he suddenly thought of something.

Second Elder, Mister Tu, the Blood Sacrifice Great Hall, the Human-Faced White Bone Evil God statue———

And before him was a barbarian god statue, or more accurately, a “quasi-evil god” statue.

“The head of the statue—”

“Could it be…”

Mo Hua gasped, abruptly jumped to his feet, and his body flowed like water, stepping on the statue two steps at a time until he reached the head of the barbarian god statue.

Mo Hua fumbled around the head of the barbarian god statue for a moment. In an unfamiliar yet relatively “familiar” position, he found a crack.

Mo Hua’s gaze trembled slightly as he reached his hand into the crack.

There was nothing inside the crack, but the tactile sensation revealed traces of chiseling by knives and axes.

“These chisel marks—”

Mo Hua ran his hand over the chisel marks, carefully sensing their patterns, his pupils constricted. He felt both relief and an undeniable tremor in his heart:

“It truly is—Tao Tie—”

Inside the head of the Shugu Tribe’s barbarian god statue, Tao Tie patterns were carved.