The awakened Mr. Tu surveyed his surroundings with dark eyes, observing the trembling grand array and his own bloody, yet slowly healing, chest, his expression cold.

The hoarse voices of countless wronged spirits, a mix of men, women, the elderly, and children, rose:

“Who… disturbed my grand array…”

Mr. Tu released his divine sense, connecting with the Taotie Grand Array. He immediately sensed a “little thing” frantically escaping from the array and intended to control the array with his divine will to capture it.

However, when his divine will moved, it was like mud sinking into the sea, without any response.

Mr. Tu’s gaze narrowed slightly: “The grand array… is out of control?”

After a brief thought, Mr. Tu’s pupils deepened. “No, it won’t allow me to catch that little thing…”

“The Taotie Grand Array has rebelled and is protecting him…”

“Who… is this child…”

The blackness in Mr. Tu’s eyes grew even more sinister.

At the same time, strange patterns flickered in his eyes. Before long, the flickering of the strange Dao patterns stopped, and Mr. Tu’s eyes became as deep as an abyss.

He softly murmured a name:

“The Great Barren’s… Shenzhu.”

At the same instant, within the Taotie Grand Array, Mo Hua felt his heart suddenly constrict, and his hair stood on end. He immediately put aside all other thoughts, activated the Swift Water Steps to their extreme, and applied a Wind Walking Talisman. The combined power of wind and water accelerated his escape from the array.

A long line of water and wind light flashed across the sky and vanished.

Fortunately, there were no other dangers along the way.

Even the Taotie Grand Array was unexpectedly calm, with some array pattern “blood vessels” intentionally spreading out, seemingly to provide cover for Mo Hua.

After fleeing for an unknown period, Mo Hua finally left the confines of the Taotie Grand Array, then passed through the land of demons and the ghostly territory of the Wujiu Tribe.

The lingering power of the divine path was still present, and not a single ghost or demon dared to block him along the way.

Thus, Mo Hua, in one breath, burst out of the ancient forbidden land of Wujiu. He then took off the Wujiu Death Eye, chanted the incantation taught to him by the Great God Wujiu, closed the stone door, and locked everything behind him within the forbidden land.

As for whether it was truly locked, Mo Hua wasn’t sure, nor could he worry about it much.

“Lord Shenzhu…”

Tieshu Gu saw Mo Hua emerge, his expression subtly pleased.

But seeing Mo Hua’s hurried figure, and his usually solemn and calm face filled with gravity and seriousness, Tieshu Gu’s heart skipped a beat. He knew that there was likely something within this forbidden land that even this lawless Lord Shenzhu found troublesome.

“Lord Shenzhu, inside here…” Tieshu Gu said gravely.

Mo Hua shook his head, only instructing: “Send people to seal this place off. No one is allowed to enter, otherwise… kill without mercy.”

Mo Hua’s expression was stern.

Tieshu Gu’s heart tightened, and he immediately said: “As you command.”

Mo Hua turned and glanced back at the ancient Wujiu forbidden land.

All auras, whether Mr. Tu’s or those of the Famine Grand Array, and that chilling strange thought, seemed to be completely isolated within the forbidden land, not a trace leaking out.

But Mo Hua’s heart remained heavy, without any sense of security.

“Martial Uncle…”

Mo Hua always felt that the distance between him and his Martial Uncle was growing ever closer…

In the Great Witch Fengshan Realm, Wajiu Peak.

In the temporarily constructed Shenzhu Grand Hall, Mo Hua sat alone on the high seat, frowning in thought.

The big tiger lay by the door, guarding it for Mo Hua.

The night was deep and dark, as if strange thoughts were always spreading in the shadows.

But Mo Hua knew that there was nothing outside the night, no strange thoughts; everything was just his own illusion.

Although he had escaped that forbidden land, his Martial Uncle’s shadow still loomed over his heart, making him feel a certain tension and oppression whenever he saw the dark night.

Mo Hua activated his divine nature, forcing himself to calm down, then pondered the various things he had seen during the day, his mind filled with thoughts.

“Did my Martial Uncle… notice me after all?”

Before, Mo Hua had been busy launching the divine war, constructing grand arrays, liberating the barbarian slaves, unifying the barren lands, and resolving internal tribal conflicts. His divine sense had been operating at a high level, nearing exhaustion.

He hadn’t seriously considered whether his becoming a “Shenzhu,” doing so many things, and causing such a big stir, had been noticed by his Martial Uncle.

Or rather, subconsciously, because of his fear of his Martial Uncle’s strange Dao, he had never dared to think in that direction…

Because if his Martial Uncle truly made a move, he would be utterly helpless.

All his efforts would be destroyed in an instant.

But now, having truly encountered Mr. Tu and sensed that chilling strange thought, Mo Hua no longer harbored any illusions.

He finally had to seriously consider the issue of his Martial Uncle.

“What schemes has Martial Uncle laid out in the barren lands?”

“How deep do Martial Uncle’s hands reach?”

“Are Martial Uncle’s eyes truly fixed on the barren lands?”

Mo Hua had been silently pondering this question for a long time and had some answers in his heart, but he still dared not draw a conclusion.

His Martial Uncle took “strangeness” as his Dao, and “Dao” as his name. His actions were so bizarre, and his thoughts so profound, that they were difficult to fathom.

What he guessed might not truly be objective fact; it was also very possible that it was an illusion Martial Uncle deliberately made him believe.

But Mo Hua couldn’t possibly not try to speculate.

At least from the current facts, his Martial Uncle had indeed not made a move against him. In fact, in the overall chess game of the barren lands, his Martial Uncle only intervened “indirectly.”

Spreading famine, constructing the Taotie Grand Array, creating disasters, and so on… these were all done through Mr. Tu’s hands.

His Martial Uncle himself had not made a direct move.

Not even a trace of the strange Dao’s aura had been revealed in the barren lands.

As for why…

Mo Hua speculated that it was most likely because the ancestors of the Hua family had used certain means to restrain his Martial Uncle.

Mo Hua pondered quietly.

The game his Martial Uncle was playing was certainly larger than he imagined.

With his Martial Uncle’s scope, it was absolutely impossible for him to focus only on the “small” place of the barren lands.

The barren lands might just be a corner of his Martial Uncle’s chess game; he had a larger chessboard and more places where he was making moves.

His Martial Uncle’s true opponents were never a small Foundation Establishment cultivator like himself.

Instead, they should be the Grand Council elders, the Great Barren Royal Court, the Hua family, and the various great noble families of Daozhou, old monsters at the Void Glimpse realm.

His Martial Uncle was formidable, unfathomable, a mysterious demonic Daoist. But in the end, he was still only an Ascension cultivator, not yet at Void Glimpse.

Even if he was stronger and could split his strange thoughts to contend with the hidden manipulators of the Grand Council and the ancient noble families of Daozhou, it would inevitably consume a large amount of divine sense and computational power. He might even be collectively suppressed by these ancestors.

After all, the noble family ancestors were not to be trifled with.

Given this, his Martial Uncle could not devote too much attention to the barren lands, constantly monitoring it.

Thinking this, Mo Hua gently let out a sigh of relief.

This was also a good thing for him.

When powerful dragons contend, they have no time for other concerns, and a small loach like him below could also catch a breath.

Then he couldn’t help but wonder:

“What is the true purpose of these schemes Martial Uncle has laid out in the barren lands? Is it really to nurture Dao孽 (Dao Niez)?”

“Martial Uncle wants to nurture Dao Niez to enter Void Glimpse? Is this truly the path for Martial Uncle’s strange Dao to advance?”

“What about the purpose of the Famine Grand Array?”

Mo Hua had previously thought that the Famine Grand Array was purely for spreading famine, but when he actually entered the array, he realized that his thinking was somewhat simplistic.

This Famine Grand Array was definitely not as simple as just spreading famine.

Especially, that ancient and terrifying “eye” hidden in the cracks of the Famine Grand Array.

“What is this eye?”

“Is it the core of the Taotie Grand Array?”

“Is its true form an eye of the actual ferocious beast Taotie, or… some kind of Taotie’s essence?”

“Is this Taotie Famine Grand Array truly a ‘Famine’ Grand Array?”

“A grand array purely composed of the Taotie ultimate array, so obscure and profound—what is its origin, and what will be its use after construction?”

All sorts of conjectures instantly flooded Mo Hua’s mind, but he couldn’t determine which one was correct.

His experience was not yet sufficient to delve into the foundations of such a grand array.

And then there was… Mr. Tu…

Mo Hua looked at the “straw dog” in his hand, still stained with Mr. Tu’s flesh and blood.

His previous conjecture was largely confirmed.

The outline of Mr. Tu’s story was gradually taking shape in Mo Hua’s mind.

Mr. Tu was indeed controlled by his Martial Uncle; he was constructing the Taotie Grand Array for his Martial Uncle.

The current Mr. Tu was already a puppet of the strange Dao.

But Mr. Tu’s state was somewhat different; he seemed to retain a trace of his original consciousness.

Normally, this would be impossible; no one could maintain sanity under his Martial Uncle’s Dao Heart Seed Demon technique.

But Mr. Tu was also different.

He had once been the Great Barren God Lord’s first witch priest, the邪神 (Xie Shen)’s number one henchman, having studied the divine path for a lifetime. Therefore, it was not impossible for him to retain a trace of sanity under his Martial Uncle’s influence.

However, this trace of sanity was extremely fragile in the face of the terrifying strange thought, constantly on the verge of extinction.

Once sanity died, Mr. Tu would be completely “dead.”

So, Mr. Tu sought self-salvation.

And his method of self-salvation was the ancient karma inheritance of the Great Barren, specifically an ancient secret technique from the Shugu Tribe:

The Great Barren Straw Dog Fate Art.

Mr. Tu wanted to use karma transference to escape from his Martial Uncle’s grasp!

In other words, according to Mr. Tu’s judgment, karma transference was his only way to contend with the strange Dao.

The small straw dog Mo Hua now held was the medium for the inheritance of this ancient karma art.

This must have been something Mr. Tu painstakingly obtained, after countless efforts and careful concealment from his Martial Uncle, using various covert means.

But after getting it, he realized he had overthought things.

He had no chance to comprehend it at all.

The strange thought was parasitic in his mind. If he cultivated the karma art too much, or for too long, the strange thought would inevitably detect it, and all his previous efforts would be in vain.

Of course, there was another possibility: Mr. Tu simply couldn’t learn it either.

The ancient inheritances of the Great Barren were abstruse and difficult to learn.

Especially when it came to profound karma principles like karma transference, it was not something that could be easily understood.

Therefore, in his final moments of despair, Mr. Tu handed this straw dog to Mo Hua.

And Mo Hua, in fact, had no choice.

He absolutely had to learn it.

Mo Hua had a premonition that one day, he might very well encounter a similar situation as Mr. Tu.

He might very well face his Martial Uncle again.

If so, then this “karma transference” technique could save his life karmically.

Or at least, it could buy him some time.

Moreover, if his deduction of karma principles was correct, then this karma transference technique would have other greater uses for him.

Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened, a faint sword gleam in his eyes.

Afterward, he discarded all distracting thoughts, looked at the straw dog in his hand, and began to study the mysteries of the Great Barren Straw Dog Fate Art.

The Great Barren Straw Dog Fate Art had no written records, no mental cultivation techniques, no insights—the only tool of inheritance was this straw dog.

This was a very ancient ritualistic small dog.

At first glance, Mo Hua didn’t find it particularly special.

But when he truly activated all his divine sense, focused his mind, and observed it intently dozens of times, he finally discovered a clue within the straw dog.

From the outside, this straw dog was woven from greenish-yellow wild grass, and aside from being old, it was ordinary, without any unique features.

But at the karmic level, Mo Hua could see that when these straw grasses were woven, the laws of various karmas were also woven in, using an extremely intricate and complex technique.

Using straw as a medium and karma as the Dao, the two merged to create this straw dog.

This was a fusion of grass threads and karmic threads.

But that was all.

Mo Hua could not perceive the deeper mysteries at all.

Mo Hua’s gaze was indifferent. After a moment of thought, he suddenly said: “Call Tieshu Gu.”

The big tiger at the door perked its ears, immediately got up, and after walking out the door, returned a short while later, with the respectful Tieshu Gu following behind it.

Tieshu Gu bowed to Mo Hua: “Lord Shenzhu.”

Mo Hua asked: “Do you have a custom of making straw figures in the Great Barren?”

Tieshu Gu paused slightly and asked: “Lord Shenzhu means…”

Mo Hua said: “Straw dogs used for sacrifice.”

Tieshu Gu’s eyes trembled, seemingly understanding something, then he lowered his head and cupped his hands: “Yes, we do.”

Mo Hua looked at Tieshu Gu.

Without waiting for Mo Hua to ask further, Tieshu Gu slowly said:

“In ancient times, in the Great Barren, the early people were few. When sacrificing to heaven and earth, they would use plants and trees to fashion human figures or pigs and dogs as offerings to the gods of heaven and earth.”

“But this is an ancient method. Later, as the people of the Great Barren multiplied, there were more people, more selfish desires, more wars, more barbarian slaves. Gradually, to demonstrate piety and to increase the power of faith, they began to use ‘living people’ as sacrifices to the gods.”

Mo Hua’s gaze shifted slightly. “You mean, as the Great Barren proliferated, civilization became more backward, and people were no longer treated as human?”

The ancestor of the Shugu Tribe, in Tieshu Gu’s skin, calmly said: “I have lived for so long and seen so much. Dao cultivation techniques can be passed down through generations and develop over time. But the human heart has always been the same, always sinking in desires, never free from killing, exploitation, and persecution.”

“Time will pass, history will progress, but the human heart will not. The human heart will always struggle in desire and cycle through foolishness.”

Tieshu Gu’s words seemed to have a deeper meaning.

Mo Hua’s gaze deepened, but he didn’t dwell on the issue too much. Instead, he asked: “Do you know how to make straw dogs for sacrifice?”

Tieshu Gu nodded. “Yes, back then… to sacrifice to heaven and earth, my Shugu Tribe also sought out the wall paintings of the early people and learned the techniques from the paintings to make some straw dogs…”

Mo Hua nodded: “Then make one for me to see.”