In the desolate wilderness, where vegetation withered, Mo Hua used his divine consciousness to control his ink brush and painted the first array that merged both array and dharma: the “Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen” (Thick Earth Reconstruction Ultimate Array) across the vast land.

This was a very strange array.

Ordinary array masters, operating within traditional frameworks, could not comprehend what system of array this belonged to.

Even highly knowledgeable array masters, who recognized that it incorporated elements of ultimate arrays, as well as certain compatible arrays from the Five Elements and Bagua, were generally unable to decipher the underlying principles of its composite construction.

They certainly could not fathom the array logic changes that Mo Hua, through painstaking effort, conveyed using array patterns—changes only Mo Hua himself could understand.

This was a two-tiered structure.

The surface-level construction of array patterns, hubs, and eyes was already difficult to understand.

Even more challenging was the operation of the underlying principles beneath the surface.

Principles are intangible and elusive. Even if others wanted to learn or copy them, they would not know where to start.

This array was different from the existing array schools of the Dao Ting (Dao Court), and also distinct from the sacred patterns passed down in the Great Wilderness. This was an array system Mo Hua had devised himself.

It was a “transformation” in his understanding of arrays, achieved through years of continuous learning, painting arrays, thinking, and comprehending.

And this “Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen” lived up to Mo Hua’s expectations.

The array began to circulate, with interweaving emerald green and earthy yellow spiritual energy.

This was visible to the naked eye.

But unseen, through Mo Hua’s golden-eyed divine vision, various “life” principles were continuously manifesting.

These principles, using the array Mo Hua designed as a bridge, flowed slowly along predetermined paths, branching out, then merging at fixed nodes. In this way, they followed Mo Hua’s will, producing various mysterious transformations.

This was the drawing of principles through an array.

In a sense, this was also the manipulation of principles.

At its core was the dao (Tao) essence of the earth, contained within the Hou Tu Jue Zhen (Thick Earth Ultimate Array).

Principles of life—such as the growth of plants, the nurturing of soil and water, the generation of earth and wood, the decomposition of burials, and so forth—were arranged around the dao essence of the earth, with clear priorities and complementary effects.

Ultimately, within the “furnace” of the “Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen,” they collectively merged into a vast, powerful principle of vitality.

A vibrant aura spread out from the Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen.

Upon contact with this life force, the withered Qi (energy) of famine still boiled violently, dissipated, and emitted white smoke, just as before.

But this time, the famine Qi did not devour the life force.

The two forces stood in opposition, and even on a small scale, the famine Qi was suppressed by Mo Hua’s array.

This meant that Mo Hua’s hypothesis had been effective.

He had initially grasped a method to curb famine.

It also meant that for the first time in his life, he had truly comprehended and mastered the fundamental logic of array dao, where arrays generate dharma and principles generate and overcome each other.

Not far away, Ba Chuan, who was fully alert and guarding Mo Hua, now saw an extremely complex sacred pattern, shimmering with green-wood light, before Mo Hua.

And under the illumination of this sacred pattern, the continually decaying earth stopped withering, and even showed faint signs of regaining vitality.

Within a mere blink of an eye, some plants in the ground cracks even began to sprout anew…

Ba Chuan understood none of it but was profoundly shocked.

“Wuzhu (Shamanic Priest) Daren (Master) is trying to… counter the eternal natural disaster of the Great Wilderness?”

“Wuzhu Daren wants to… save the Great Wilderness from the depths of famine?”

Ba Chuan’s eyes widened.

At that moment, his heart trembled, and his reverence for Wuzhu Daren was as vast and inexpressible as gazing upon a towering mountain.

Meanwhile, Mo Hua continued his research with unwavering focus.

This was just the beginning.

Now he had a deeper understanding of the relationship between “array” and “dharma,” and he had personally practiced and constructed a set of “Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen” to act as a medium for drawing upon the earth’s life principles to counter the force of famine.

But the reconstruction and derivation of array and dharma was only the first step.

The second step was to observe this “confrontation” of principles.

The power of Hou Tu (Thick Earth) represented “life.”

The power of famine, in a sense, also the power of Tao Tie (a mythical gluttonous beast), represented “death.”

When the power of Hou Tu was applied to the power of Tao Tie, the two obstructed each other, existing in the same state, thus opposing, fighting, and annihilating each other.

During this struggle and annihilation, there was also a transformation of principles.

When “death” defeated “life,” it was the transformation of “life” into death.

And when “life” saved “death,” it was the transformation of “death” into “life.”

Life and death were distinctly separate, yet they depended on each other, permeated each other, transformed each other, and ultimately became one.

This was an extremely profound “principle transformation,” and also a “principle model” akin to a “law.”

Not just life and death.

Mo Hua intuitively judged that all principles in this world likely followed this law, permeating and transforming each other in a state of “generation and overcoming,” forming a unified whole.

This could even be called the fundamental model of the “dao.”

But this kind of evolution involving the dao was much more difficult.

Mo Hua could not yet grasp it thoroughly.

However, this did not prevent him from using this fundamental “dao” model to study principle transformations.

Without knowing its reason, one could at least use it simply.

This was also his current main objective, and the third step of his plan:

To use the “generation and overcoming” of principles to “analyze” the Qi of famine, which was to study the power of Tao Tie.

For Mo Hua, this principle was not difficult to understand.

When “generation and overcoming” was not occurring, the power of Tao Tie was complete in its inherent nature, relatively intact.

Mo Hua naturally could not discern the essence of this power.

To discern its essence, he needed to apply another principle force to engage in “generation and overcoming” with the Tao Tie force, creating a “contradiction.”

Once the Tao Tie force was obstructed by an external force, internal contradictions would arise, revealing its essence.

This was the best time to “analyze” the Tao Tie principle.

Not just the Tao Tie principle, but all things in the world operated on the same principle.

A Daoist practitioner who always had smooth sailing might appear “perfect,” but only when encountering failures and setbacks, feeling pain and torment, would their inner weaknesses and various fundamental contradictions be exposed.

These “contradictions” determined a person’s essence.

Whether one could overcome these contradictions also determined a cultivator’s capacity and future Dao path.

Beyond individuals, tribes were also like this.

If a tribe was developing and growing, and everything went smoothly, it naturally seemed strong and problem-free.

But once development was hindered, encountering strong enemies or various disasters, internal problems would be exposed.

Various class contradictions would also become sharp.

Wu Sha of the Wu Lu tribe was loyal to him before because he could lead troops to conquer and constantly expand territory.

But later, when conquests were hindered and there were no more battles to fight, Wu Sha’s inner ambition began to swell, his desire for power deepened, exposing his true nature, and ultimately leading to his own demise.

Although the Wu Lu tribe still existed, Wu Sha’s Wu Lu tribe was already dead.

Extrapolating this, cultivators, Great Wilderness tribes, families under the rule of the Dao Ting, sects, various forces, and even the entire Dao Ting and the Jiu Zhou (Nine Provinces) world, were largely the same.

All things in the world also followed this “law.”

And precisely because it encompassed everything, all things and all methods, perhaps it was a model of “Dao Gui Yi” (all paths lead to one).

Mo Hua felt a profound understanding.

Then he continued his research into “principles” according to his own ideas, using this concept akin to a “Dao model.”

He generated dharma through arrays, created a conflict of principles, allowing the Hou Tu force and the Tao Tie force to generate and overcome each other.

Generation and overcoming meant mutual struggle, mutual penetration, and mutual transformation.

During this process, intense principle transformations would also occur within the Tao Tie force.

At such a time, he would analyze the inner logic and essence of the Tao Tie force, which symbolized “famine.”

Of course, these things were simple to say but extremely arduous to do.

Because this entire process involved multiple layers of principle changes simultaneously.

It included the mutual deconstruction and reconstruction of array and dharma.

It included the generation and overcoming, penetration, and transformation of principles.

It also included the analysis of the internal contradictions of another principle.

Mo Hua, with the fearlessness of a “newborn calf,” did not think too much, nor was he constrained by the framework of inherited knowledge.

Anyway, these principles were entangled, presenting a state of “coexistence and interconnectedness,” so he simply studied and comprehended them all together.

Following his heart, seeing what was there, comprehending what he could.

Single-mindedly seeking the Dao, being authentic and unpretentious, was enough.

Of course, the price was a more intense consumption of divine consciousness.

And the comprehension of principles became more difficult.

Mo Hua’s sea of consciousness was constantly revolving, thinking, and comprehending.

What he did every day was to continuously paint the Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen to counteract famine, to observe the generation and overcoming of principles, and to analyze the Tao Tie force.

He repeated this mechanically.

It seemed monotonous, energy-consuming, and painful.

But Mo Hua felt as if he had opened the door to a new world, finding joy in it.

In the eyes of others, he was merely drawing arrays on barren land, nothing more.

But apart from Mo Hua himself, almost no one knew what astonishing and mysterious changes he saw beneath these monotonous arrays and the superficial spread of famine.

Nor did they comprehend the profound mysteries of principles that ordinary people could not understand.

This was the vast chasm between the surface and the essence of the world.

Mo Hua also had a more tangible, wondrous feeling of having seen through the surface of things and grasped the essence of all laws of the myriad phenomena.

Though this feeling was still as faint as a firefly.

And to deepen this understanding, Mo Hua still followed the “clumsy method.”

He tirelessly repeated the deconstruction and reconstruction of arrays, over and over again.

Again and again, he observed the generation and overcoming of principles and analyzed the Tao Tie force.

Comprehending the Dao was actually very simple.

Find the right thing to do, then repeat it, repeat it, and keep repeating it…

As long as he repeated it enough times—thousands or tens of thousands of times—this controllable deconstruction and reconstruction of array and dharma, the generation and overcoming of principles, and the analysis of principles, would eventually lead to a day when his comprehension of principles would be as natural as breathing.

His control and application of principles would be as simple as eating and drinking.

Even the most profound and obscure principles would be instantly understood before him.

Doing “difficult” things, making “difficult” things simple, he would naturally become powerful.

In a sense, this was also a transformation of the “difficulty and ease” principle.

And in the continuous process of deconstruction, reconstruction, and comprehension…

Mo Hua was completely immersed, tireless, sometimes even forgetting everything, even ignoring the passage of time, lost in the “ocean” of array logic, principles, and even the Great Dao, unable to extricate himself.

He did not know who he was, where he was, or what he was supposed to do.

He simply painted arrays, observed arrays, and studied principles, over and over again…

His concentrated, almost “mad” demeanor seemed terrifying to Ba Chuan.

But Ba Chuan dared not disturb Mo Hua, fearing that his rashness might affect Wuzhu Daren’s communication with the “Shen Zhu (Divine Master) Daren,” and ruin Wuzhu Daren’s grand plan to fight the natural disaster.

Just as Ba Chuan was worried and at a loss, Mo Hua suddenly closed his eyes and fell to the ground.

Ba Chuan was startled, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat.

If anything happened to Wuzhu Daren, he would be guilty of ten thousand deaths.

Ba Chuan immediately stepped forward, gently and respectfully helped Mo Hua up, checked his breathing, and felt his pulse. Only then did he slowly sigh in relief.

“He’s fine… he fainted from hunger.”

Ba Chuan was somewhat at a loss for words, but at the same time, he was deeply shocked.

For a cultivator to actually “faint” from hunger, how long had he gone without food, or how long had his mind been so intensely focused…

Ba Chuan sighed.

He helped Mo Hua into the tent, brought some elixirs and meat broth, fed them to Mo Hua, and then attended to him meticulously.

Mo Hua’s complexion clearly improved, but he was still unconscious.

He hadn’t just fainted from hunger; his divine consciousness was also excessively depleted. However, his comprehension of principles had put him in a mysterious “flow state,” allowing his divine consciousness to operate for a long time even in a state of “drainage.”

And this comprehension of principles made Mo Hua utterly single-minded.

His Ming Sha (Life Malice) was even suppressed, not daring to retaliate.

As a result, Mo Hua slept soundly for a full day and night.

Upon waking, Mo Hua’s mind was blank for a moment, as if he couldn’t remember anything, the world was a vast emptiness, devoid of all.

In the void, only faint principle forces flowed slowly.

For an instant, Mo Hua had a delusion, as if he was no longer human, but had invisibly become a “vessel of the Dao,” and his sea of consciousness had become a “Dao field” where principles bred.

Mo Hua was startled, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He quickly tried to recall who he was, but his mind was still blank, as if “short-circuited,” remembering nothing.

Fortunately, this kind of danger was not new to him.

Cultivating the Tai Shang Zhan Qing (Supreme Emotion-Severing) technique and being retaliated by Ming Sha would both have similar side effects.

Mo Hua’s mood gradually calmed down, reassuring himself, “It’s fine even if I’m not human,” “The most important thing for a person is peace of mind,” “Don’t be nervous,” “Relax, and you’ll be safe”…

Sure enough, after a moment, Mo Hua’s heart settled.

A settled heart brings peace, a peaceful heart brings tranquility, and a tranquil heart brings smoothness.

Gradually, all memories slowly “replicated” from Mo Hua’s mindscape.

Mo Hua remembered who he was, his parents, his master, his junior sister, his junior brother, the elders and fellow disciples of the Tai Xu Men (Great Void Sect), and so on.

Once all memories had returned, Mo Hua finally let out a long sigh of relief.

At the same time, he began to reflect. After a long while, he gradually realized that he had been too deeply immersed in the profound comprehension of the Great Dao principles, to the point of being almost assimilated by the “Dao” and losing his human heart.

An ordinary person would naturally not encounter such a situation.

The main reason was that Mo Hua’s immersion was too “excessive.”

And soon, Mo Hua roughly realized why it was excessive.

Because others comprehended principles mostly through “opportunities” and “inspiration.”

Mo Hua was like this before, occasionally having an epiphany. If it lasted a bit longer, it wasn’t a big problem.

But his current comprehension was “controlled” by himself.

He painted arrays himself, evolved principles himself, then created principle conflicts himself, and comprehended himself.

One comprehension wasn’t enough, so he kept painting, kept comprehending, doing this day and night, filling his mind with “principles.”

Naturally, the Great Dao wouldn’t indulge him.

He was almost directly “assimilated,” almost made into a vessel for principles, prevented from being human.

Fortunately, Mo Hua had been physically weak since childhood and fainted from hunger first.

Also fortunately, his “heart tempering” was sufficiently advanced to timely pull back his “humanity.”

Otherwise, what he would be like now was really hard to say.

Thinking of this, Mo Hua couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

No wonder people said, “Excessive intelligence is bound to lead to harm.”

Being too intelligent, too clever, was sometimes not a good thing; it was easy to encounter misfortunes and harm one’s own life.

But then Mo Hua felt a hint of indignation.

Master said, “People fear fame as pigs fear fattening, a tree standing out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind,” which was indeed true.

Being too outstanding would incur hatred from others.

But that was hatred from “people”!

It shouldn’t be like himself, being targeted by the “Heavenly Dao,” right?!

Mo Hua was too lazy to count them one by one…

When he was establishing his foundation, his divine consciousness was supposed to “double” according to the plan.

At least upon establishing his foundation, he should have had divine consciousness of eighteen or nineteen纹 (layers/patterns).

But it was suppressed by the Heavenly Dao.

His divine consciousness realm went up, then was forcibly pressed down again.

Later, when he was establishing his foundation, his divine consciousness was too strong, and he was targeted by the Heavenly Dao again.

A seal was placed on his sea of consciousness, forcibly sealing his divine consciousness for a long time, making it impossible to break through.

Now, there was even less to say.

He had only comprehended a little bit of principles, and the stingy Heavenly Dao started acting up again.

This time it was even more excessive, almost turning him into a “vessel.”

If his divine consciousness attainments weren’t profound, he would have almost lost his humanity.

Mo Hua thought about it, and his teeth ached with anger.

But after being angry for a while, he sighed again.

The Heavenly Dao was targeting him, but what could a small foundation-establishing cultivator do besides “take the abuse”?

Moreover, the Heavenly Dao was just a general term for the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, the unified will of myriad principles, not a specific person. There was no point in being angry with the Heavenly Dao.

Mo Hua rationalized it to himself for a while, and then felt better.

He was a magnanimous person and would not dwell on the “Heavenly Dao’s” faults.

But in that case…

Should the deconstruction and reconstruction of arrays continue?

Should the Tao Tie principles continue to be comprehended?

Should the generation and overcoming of principles continue to be observed?

What if, during comprehension, he was not careful and the Heavenly Dao “brainwashed” him again, turning him into a vessel for principles?

Mo Hua’s expression was somewhat serious.

For him, this was an extremely grave problem.

After pondering for a moment, he felt that the path of seeking the Dao inherently required courage; the bold thrive, while the timid starve.

It was impossible for him to stop just because the Heavenly Dao had tricked him once.

His comprehension of principles should also be correct.

It was just that there was a problem with the “quantity.”

Perhaps this self-deconstruction, self-construction, self-control, and self-comprehension approach was a little too much, exceeding the Heavenly Dao’s limit.

If so, he just needed to control it a bit.

As long as he didn’t comprehend excessively, he probably wouldn’t be targeted by the Heavenly Dao.

Mo Hua nodded.

Of course, this was just his own “wishful thinking”; whether he would be “punished” would depend on how the Heavenly Dao specifically “sentenced” him.

Mo Hua’s body felt better, his spirits were more invigorated, so he set off again for the frontline of the famine.

Ba Chuan wanted to stop him but dared not, so he followed behind Mo Hua with a worried expression.

Mo Hua reached the front line, hesitated for a moment, then cautiously began to repeat his previous actions.

He painted the Hou Tu Fu Gou Jue Zhen, drew upon the “life” principle to counteract the Tao Tie force, observed the process of their confrontation, and analyzed the core of the Tao Tie force.

This process was too profound, too mysterious; the changes in various principles were captivating.

Mo Hua quickly became “addicted” again.

About an hour later, the sound of metal and stone clanging suddenly echoed.

This was the “sundial” Mo Hua had set to remind him that it was almost time, and he should stop observing.

Mo Hua woke up, reluctantly rose, walked around, stretched his limbs, and after his divine consciousness was replenished, he continued to observe arrays and comprehend principles.

In this way, he observed little by little, stopping immediately if anything seemed amiss.

This was to test the Heavenly Dao’s attitude towards “punishment.”

Mo Hua always had a premonition that, given his “virtues,” he might be “punished” by the “Heavenly Dao” from time to time in the future.

Since that was the case, he had to adapt in advance to how to get along with the “Heavenly Dao.”

Flexibly grasp the Heavenly Dao’s “sentencing” and learn to walk on the edge of the Heavenly Dao’s “punishment.”