In front of Mo Hua, Tieshu Gu wove a straw dog.

He used a precious type of ceremonial grass called Renyi grass. Its leaves were green with a subtle golden hue, and their shape resembled clothing, as if a person was dressed in splendid attire, “adorned with gold and jade.”

Tieshu Gu stretched out his bony fingers, cutting the grass into fine strands. Then, using an ancient and traditional weaving technique, he began to meticulously weave the delicate grass strands one by one.

The entire process appeared simple, but each strand had to be stopped at a specific weaving point.
At certain points, another strand had to be connected.
The order, direction, and type of knot for different strands, and how they were woven together—not a single detail could be wrong.

All the grass strands looked identical.
But in Tieshu Gu’s hands, they were all different. Each similar strand had a completely distinct position and purpose.

The Great Dao is simple, yet extremely complex.

Thus, it took the Golden Core realm Tieshu Gu, or rather, Ancestor Tieshu Gu, a full two hours to weave a seemingly simple “straw dog.”

However, within this simple straw dog were thousands of lines formed from Renyi grass strands.

Tieshu Gu presented this straw dog to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua took it, examined it for a moment, and then placed it on the table.
Afterward, he too began to follow Tieshu Gu’s example, taking Renyi grass, drawing out strands, and weaving them one by one.

As an array master, who drew formations daily, his fair and slender fingers were exceptionally supple and agile, making the weaving of the straw dog feel natural and effortless.

One by one, the grass strands were twisted and intertwined by Mo Hua’s fingers.
Initially, Mo Hua’s pace was slow, and he wove meticulously. But gradually, as he became familiar with the weaving technique, he grew faster and faster.
Within his eyes, Tianji Yansuan circulated, “replicating” Tieshu Gu’s weaving method from moments before.
At the same time, a dark grey wisp surged, as Tianji Guisuan also ran in parallel, reconstructing the straw dog’s weaving process.

Mo Hua’s hands moved faster and faster, almost blurring into afterimages.
And in his hands, a straw dog’s shape gradually formed with astonishing speed and orderly precision…

Tieshu Gu looked stunned, momentarily forgetting to breathe.
By the time Mo Hua finished weaving a complete straw dog, it had only taken him a little over an hour.

Tieshu Gu looked at the two almost identical straw dogs, speechless for a long moment, then shook his head with a bitter smile and sighed:
“This old man… has studied for most of his life, yet he cannot compare to Lord Shenzhu’s brief enlightenment. I am truly ashamed…”

Mo Hua’s expression was calm.
With Tianji Yansuan combined with Tianji Guisuan, spiritual consciousness dao-transformation, and his current pure divinity, learning these basic “Shu” (art/technique) level skills was not difficult.

Mo Hua asked, “And then?”

Tieshu Gu shook his head. “That’s all. That is everything.”

Mo Hua’s gaze deepened slightly.

Tieshu Gu said, “All this old man knows is the weaving method for straw dogs. The straw dogs woven in this way are used for sacrificing to heaven and earth. As for whether they have other karmic uses, this old man has not delved into the ancestral legacy, so I do not know.”

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then asked, “The grass you use to weave the straw dogs is called Renyi grass?”

“Yes,” Tieshu Gu replied. “This grass, when clad in human clothing and woven into a straw dog, can act as a substitute sacrifice for a person. Of course, there is another saying…”
Tieshu Gu’s gaze narrowed slightly, and he slowly said, “Humans are merely ‘straw dogs’ clad in human skin.”

Humans… are merely straw dogs clad in human skin…
Mo Hua’s heart trembled.

He remained silent for a moment, then nodded and said, “I understand. You may go now.”

Tieshu Gu hesitated, wanting to speak, but seeing Mo Hua’s cold expression, he dared not ask too much. He merely cupped his hands and said:
“This old man takes his leave. If Lord Shenzhu has any commands, this old man will not shirk his duty.”

Tieshu Gu departed.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, looked at the two straw dogs on the table, lost in thought.
After pondering for a moment, Mo Hua took out the straw dog that Mr. Tu had given him and compared them. He found that the appearance of these straw dogs was largely similar.

However, the two straw dogs woven by Ancestor Tieshu Gu and himself were clearly much more ephemeral than the “straw dog” given to him by Mr. Tu, which contained the profound mysteries of Ming Shu (fate techniques).
They lacked that sense of ancient vicissitude and the profound weight of karma.

This suggested that while the weaving method of the straw dog might be correct, it was missing certain more profound methods for shaping karma.
And this karmic method was the core of this straw dog, and the key to karmic transference.

“Karmic transference…”
Mo Hua frowned, then mentally replayed the weaving method of the straw dog.
He recalled it over and over, trying to see if there were any other, hidden clues within.

After thinking about it forward nearly a hundred times, Mo Hua replayed it in reverse in his mind.
As he pondered, a strange sense of “familiarity” suddenly arose in Mo Hua’s heart, as if subconsciously, he had seen something similar before…

Mo Hua concentrated deeply, and then his pupils suddenly contracted.
Weaving it forward was “shaping” the “flesh and blood” of the straw dog.
Disassembling it backward was “dissecting” the “bones and frame” of the straw dog.
The flesh and blood, and bones of the straw dog, were all simulated from Renyi grass strands.
This seemed to be a form of “creation,” but unlike formation creation, it was more like karmic creation.
Using plants as a medium, imparting a certain “karmic” life to them.

And this reverse process of “dissecting” the straw dog’s bones was also very familiar to Mo Hua.
Because when he carved the “Twelve Channels Taotie Skeleton Array” within his own body, he also dissected his own flesh and bones.
This similarity should not be a coincidence…

“Karmic transference… Since it’s transference, that means…”
Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened, and he immediately set to work, “dissecting” in reverse the straw dog he had just woven.
After dissection, some special grass strand nodes inside the straw dog became clearly visible.
When Mo Hua wove it, he followed Ancestor Tieshu Gu’s method, merely imitating, without much thought. But now, upon dissection, he realized that these “nodes” inside the straw dog all held special significance.
These intricate “nodes” were actually acupoints, which, when strung together, formed a complete network of the Twelve Regular Meridians.
This was a human meridian network.
In other words, a human’s Twelve Regular Meridians were woven into the interior of the straw dog.
Therefore, in the sacrificial customs of the Great Wilderness, the straw dog could substitute for a “person,” and a person, in a certain sense, was also a “straw dog.”

Mo Hua took a deep breath, feeling both shock and a sudden enlightenment.
He felt that all the sights he had seen and all the legacies he had learned in the Great Wilderness:
Taotie, formations, bone carvings, the Twelve Channels, straw dogs, divine path sacrifices, karma, life, Ming Shu…
These intricate cultivation methods all seemed to have countless connections, even somewhat like a continuous lineage.

“Taotie is related to hunger disasters, to laws, to formations, and to the spiritual skeletons of a person’s Twelve Channels…”
“And a person’s Twelve Channels are related to straw dogs, to karma, and to Ming Shu…”

The Great Dao encompassed myriad phenomena, and Mo Hua’s mind was a tumultuous swirl of thoughts. Countless karmic details connected and intertwined, making his head messy.
Mo Hua vaguely felt that he seemed to have comprehended something.
But those insights were all entangled in his mind, a chaotic mess, preventing him from forming a clear logic.
Seeing his thoughts grow increasingly chaotic, his divine sense in conflict, and his Sea of Consciousness in pain, Mo Hua knew he was “overreaching himself” and could only temporarily calm his mind, no longer dwelling too deeply on these complex mysteries.

He withdrew his thoughts and focused on the straw dog Ming Shu.
“Karmic transference means transferring my karma onto this straw dog. Let the straw dog bear some calamities for me.”
“If the straw dog can bear calamities for me, it means the straw dog is ‘me’.”
“How can the straw dog be ‘me’?”

Mo Hua looked at the inside of the straw dog again. “The Twelve Regular Meridians…”
“I need to imprint my Twelve Regular Meridians onto the inside of the straw dog, exactly as they are.”
“This way, the straw dog and I can be considered inextricably linked by fate.”
“But how do I draw these meridian pathways?”

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then carefully examined the ancient straw dog Mr. Tu had given him. His spiritual consciousness permeated it, revealing some reddish-brown nodes.
This meant there had been traces of blood on the nodes, and this blood, unlike ordinary blood, should have been the essence blood of a cultivator.
Using essence blood, following the nodes and meridians, one could outline the Twelve Meridians, thereby connecting the straw dog to one’s own life and substituting for karma.

Mo Hua’s gaze was profound. He performed mental derivations dozens of times until he had a clear idea.
Only then did he take out the Renyi grass again and, following the method Ancestor Tieshu Gu had described, wove a new straw dog.
However, this time during weaving, he followed the previously derived path, sequentially dabbing his own essence blood onto each grass strand node of the straw dog, thereby proportionally simulating his own Twelve Regular Meridians.

Mo Hua’s Twelve Regular Meridians were fused with the Taotie spiritual skeleton.
Therefore, the meridians inside this straw dog also looked a bit like “Taotie” meridians.

After completing all this, Mo Hua thoroughly sealed this straw dog, allowing its grass strands and his own meridian blood to fully merge.
After the fusion, Mo Hua indeed felt a faint connection, a blood link, with this “straw dog.”
But Mo Hua was not overly happy, because this sense of connection was not that strong.
This meant that his karmic binding with this straw dog might not be that deep.
This straw dog might not be able to ward off disaster for him.

Mo Hua frowned, called Tieshu Gu, and asked him to perform some incantations to curse him from a karmic perspective.
Tieshu Gu’s face paled, and he hurriedly said he dared not.
Mo Hua pondered for a moment and realized it was a bit inappropriate.
He knew his own fate was extraordinary, with some “dirty things” hidden within.
If Tieshu Gu were to curse him and accidentally trigger the malevolence in his fate, suffering a backlash, Tieshu Gu would surely die.

Mo Hua said, “Use some ‘minor curses,’ ones that don’t involve fate or life and death, just small arts that only harm the skin.”
Tieshu Gu still hesitated, but seeing Mo Hua’s expression, he couldn’t refuse. Finally, he dared to use some “minor arts that only harmed the skin,” causing Mo Hua to lose a single strand of hair.

While Tieshu Gu was casting the spell, Mo Hua could sense a very faint karmic “malice.”
He did not stop it, nor did he use karmic arts for defense. Instead, he calmly accepted this “malice” and endured the hair-loss curse directly.
The curse’s damage was very slight; Mo Hua only lost one strand of hair.
But the straw dog remained completely unharmed, not a single strand of grass fell off.
This meant that the karmic transference had failed.
He still hadn’t grasped the true mystery of the Great Wilderness Straw Dog Ming Shu.

“There’s still a big problem…”
Mo Hua frowned.
In the following days, he confined himself to the Shenzhu Grand Hall, researching the Great Wilderness Straw Dog Ming Shu day and night.
He meticulously analyzed the straw dog strand by strand, performing derivations to deduce the changes in karma within it.
At the same time, he repeatedly consumed his own essence blood to weave Great Wilderness straw dogs, thereby trying to comprehend the unknown mysteries within.
Throughout the entire Ming Shu process, countless karmic errors were eliminated by Mo Hua one after another.
But no matter how hard he tried, how many attempts he made, Mo Hua ultimately failed every time.
The straw dogs he painstakingly wove could not withstand any “calamity” for him—not even a minor curse as trivial as “losing a single strand of hair.”

Moreover, Mo Hua also realized a crucial issue:
That is, the consumption of his spiritual consciousness during the weaving of the straw dog was negligible.
This did not conform to the general laws of karma.
Drawing formations required a large amount of spiritual consciousness.
Karmic arts were also a spiritual method, and their execution also required a large amount of spiritual consciousness.
The more advanced the karmic art, the more spiritual consciousness was required.
The Great Wilderness Straw Dog Ming Shu involved karmic transference. It was a forbidden art of Ancestor Tieshu Gu’s tribe, a method Mr. Tu had painstakingly sought to “escape” from his senior martial brother. Its profound and difficult nature goes without saying.
Under normal circumstances, cultivating such a high-level Ming Shu would undoubtedly consume an immense amount of spiritual consciousness.
But in reality, it didn’t.
This indicated that his cultivation method still had problems.
There was still a crucial aspect of this straw dog Ming Shu that he had not yet comprehended.
It was like drawing a “絕陣” (ultimate array); if one didn’t grasp its essence and only obtained its superficial form, the result would merely be some shallow patterns that, without containing a large amount of spiritual consciousness, could not form a true ultimate array.
The same principle applied to this Ming Shu.

However…
Mo Hua had studied this straw dog Ming Shu repeatedly, yet he still couldn’t understand what other secrets in this karmic art he had not comprehended.
What else should he comprehend?
Mo Hua frowned in thought. Inside the grand hall, the atmosphere was extremely solemn, deadly silent.
The big tiger dared not disturb Mo Hua, quietly lying in a corner, seemingly sensing the unusual atmosphere and not daring to breathe loudly.
In front of Mo Hua lay a pile of “straw dogs.”
The oldest and most unique one was the one Mr. Tu had given him.
Another was the one woven by Tieshu Gu.
The remaining pile, nearly a hundred of them, some complete, some with their meridians “dissected,” and others “dissected” into shattered pieces, were all the ones Mo Hua had woven himself for research during these days.

Mo Hua’s face was also very pale.
He silently looked at the straw dogs before him.
As he watched, a flash of inspiration struck him. He thought of the four characters “Dao, Fa, Shu, Qi” (Path, Law, Technique, Instrument) and suddenly remembered a level he had always overlooked:
“Qi.”

For a long time, he had focused on shaping his “Dao Heart,” comprehending “Laws,” and cultivating various formations, spells, and karmic “Shu.”
“Qi” (instrument/tool) was merely the medium for carrying formations and spells.
When Mo Hua was young, his family was poor, and he had no wealth or savings. He never came into contact with any precious material “Qi.”
Therefore, Mo Hua had always paid little attention to the concept of “Qi,” usually considering it sufficient as long as it could be used.
However, the “Great Wilderness Straw Dog Ming Shu” was an extremely profound karmic method, using the “straw dog” as a medium, and even named after the “straw dog.” This indicated that on the level of “Qi,” there were extraordinary mysteries.

“Qi… Renyi grass…”
Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then said to the big tiger, “Call Tieshu Gu.”

This sentence broke the silence of the hall.
The big tiger perked up its ears, looked up, and saw Mo Hua, who had been in seclusion for so many days and had become somewhat “withdrawn,” finally speaking. It finally relaxed, wagged its tail, and went to call Tieshu Gu over.

(End of this chapter)