Only five years after the first year of Shen Zhu, the barren lands, ravaged by famine, achieved unification. This was unprecedented in the history of the barren lands. The title “Shen Zhu” also left an indelible mark on the history of the barren lands, and even the Great Barrens, achieving immortal accomplishments.

After the unification of the barren lands, Mo Hua’s personal power and prestige reached their peak. Coupled with the faith he controlled as the divine proxy and the “Divine Punishment” power he possessed after unsealing his divine sense with a sword, all the divine and secular power in the famine-stricken barren lands lay in Mo Hua’s grasp. Mo Hua became the true supreme ruler of the barren lands. He was the “God” in faith and the “King” in the secular world.

With this supreme power, Mo Hua, now in full control, began to comprehensively drive reforms in the barren lands. All Man Nu in the barren lands were liberated and incorporated into the “Shen Nu Bu” (Divine Slave Department). From then on, no tribe or individual in the entire barren lands was allowed to privately keep Man Nu. People could only be “slaves of the gods” and servants of faith, no longer slaves to any power or any “person.” Mo Hua subtly replaced the concept of divine consciousness with the worship of gods, temporarily suppressing the conflicts in the barren lands and severing the relationship between Man Nu and tribes. The Man Nu system, prevalent in the Great Barrens, was essentially abolished.

The liberation of a large number of Man Nu, transforming them into “Shen Nu,” also meant the liberation of a vast amount of manpower. These Shen Nu held the most devout faith and fervent gratitude towards the Divine Master and Mo Hua, the Shen Zhu. Mo Hua thus rapidly accelerated the construction of the Hou Tu Da Zhen (Thick Earth Grand Array). Throughout the barren lands, spanning various mountain ranges, Shen Nu dedicated to building the Great Barrens and array Wuxiu (Shamanic Cultivators) engraving sacred patterns according to Mo Hua’s instructions were everywhere. The Hou Tu Da Zhen spread, the famine was somewhat contained, and the death qi in the sky began to dissipate. Near the Hou Tu Da Zhen, some plants also began to grow, and crops like soybeans and millet were planted one by one. Life began to emerge in the barren lands, gradually taking on a new appearance.

At the same time, Mo Hua also broadly promoted faith reform throughout the barren lands, placing the worship of the Divine Master above secular power. He used divine power to replace the power of chieftains. He also incorporated valuable qualities such as “fairness, righteousness, ethics, morality, fraternity, harmony, and selflessness” into the worship of the Divine Master in the form of doctrines. In this way, through divine warfare and a comprehensive faith in the Divine Master, he achieved a complete “enlightenment” of the barren lands. This gave the barbaric, selfish, and cruel barbarians a certain level of faith and morality, and a desire for fairness and righteousness.

Afterward, Mo Hua established several academic departments. All young barbarian cultivators were required to attend these departments for study. The first thing they learned was not barbarian cultivation techniques and inheritances, but rather basic ethical enlightenment, understanding human principles, and shaping the heart of seeking the Dao. Children were the future. In this way, Mo Hua, from top to bottom, from old to young, restructured faith and reshaped the “Dao Heart” throughout the barren lands. Although this “Dao Heart” was still very weak at this time, only in its nascent stage, under Mo Hua’s promotion, it indeed took root, sprouted, and continued to grow on the barren lands…

For a period thereafter, Mo Hua successively issued a series of reform measures for the barren lands, gradually making the entire region焕然一新 (reborn). But at the same time, rebellions in various places emerged one after another. There were those who opposed the systems Mo Hua implemented, those with heinous crimes who feared Mo Hua’s post-harvest reckoning, those whose interests were severely cut by Mo Hua and were enraged, and those who had achieved merit but indulged in excessive luxury and were punished by Mo Hua, thus harboring resentment…

Among these were remnants of rebellious tribes from various regions, including the old chieftain of the Wujiu Bu, the young master Bi Jie of the Bifang Bu, the son of the former great chieftain of the Gaotu Bu, the young master of the Guiku Bu, and so on. Of course, the most important factor was the covert support from the Hua family. When the Wujiu Bu was defeated, Elder You, seeing the unfavorable situation, escaped early. Afterward, it was unknown what methods he used or what other backing he had; the causality was obscure, and Mo Hua temporarily couldn’t find him.

While Mo Hua was reforming the barren lands and cultivating the Dao Heart, the Hua family continued to fund rebellious forces everywhere, instigating many rebellions. Although the entire barren lands were temporarily unified, undercurrents surged in various regions, and the hidden danger of division still existed. Mo Hua could only send troops to continue the suppression. Dan Zhu was responsible for governing internal affairs and promoting the Shen Zhu reforms, while Lu Gu was responsible for suppressing rebellions. Lu Gu led the barbarian soldiers of the Shugu Bu to launch a pacification campaign, and the previously unified barren lands once again ignited with the flames of war. The enemy was in the dark, and they were in the open, leaving Lu Gu constantly constrained. Coupled with the interference of powerful aristocratic families like the Hua family, the battle situation was extremely difficult for a time.

It wasn’t until two months later, when Mo Hua freed up his hands, that he once again personally led the campaign as Shen Zhu. At the same time, he brought two “great generals” with him. One was the undying general “Shigu,” whose body was like a mountain and whose flesh was indestructible. The other was the “Young Master Wujiu,” covered in dragon patterns, like the embodiment of a black dragon, with noble bloodline and a physical body so powerful it was almost “invincible at Jin Dan stage.”

In the previous battle, Young Master Wujiu’s divine soul had been annihilated by Mo Hua’s divine sense sword, and his physical body naturally fell into Mo Hua’s hands. Young Master Wujiu was also a generation’s hero. Originally, if there had been no war and the barren lands were stable, Mo Hua would not have wanted to harm his physical body again. But now, the remnants of the Wujiu Bu and some other rebellious tribes repeatedly caused trouble, disrupting the overall situation, and Mo Hua could no longer afford to be polite. Shigu was a killing machine that could strike terror into the hearts of enemies. Young Master Wujiu, even more so, was an invincible god of war, with a dragon-like physical body, sweeping all before him, his strength widely known.

Therefore, when the deceased, invincible Young Master Wujiu, in the form of a “slave,” submitted to Mo Hua’s commands and continuously eliminated enemies before Mo Hua, the blow to the morale of the rebel army was almost devastating. His body covered in dragon patterns alone could deter all sides. No one dared to be an enemy of Young Master Wujiu. Not to mention, behind Young Master Wujiu stood that terrifying Shen Zhu, who possessed the dreadful power of “Divine Punishment.” A single cold glance from Mo Hua made a group of Jin Dan rebel generals tremble in fear, their souls terrified, losing all will to fight. They could only flee; if they didn’t, there was only death. Wherever Mo Hua went, the rebel army fled at the sight of him, collapsing without a fight. In less than a month, Mo Hua crushed the rebels with overwhelming force, pacifying the rebellion in the barren lands. Afterward, the barren lands enjoyed a brief period of peace.

After suppressing the rebellion, Mo Hua returned to the Zhuque Shan Jie (Vermillion Bird Mountain Realm). Another month later, after initial preparations, he was ready to form his Jin Dan. In the fourteenth year of the Great Barrens New Calendar, the sixth year of Shen Zhu, in spring. In the Sanpin Zhuque Shan Jie, in the Divine Altar Great Hall. Mo Hua was alone, contemplating the matters of Jin Dan formation. The bones of wood, white, gold, and jade were already sculpted. The Yi Mu Hui Chun Zhi Zhen (Wood Revival Array), though having an indescribably strange quality, was functioning normally, nourishing Mo Hua’s vitality. After continuous effort during this period, Mo Hua spent millions of spirit stones and finally successfully nurtured the first regular spirit bone for the Shi Er Jing Taotie Linghai Zhen (Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Bone Array): the Shou Taiyin Feijing (Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian). Mo Hua tried the subsequent regular meridians, but they couldn’t be sustained at the current stage. With the barren lands’ current spirit stone reserves, it was impossible to nurture even one more Taotie spirit bone.

If he were to extensively “exploit” resources under the name of Shen Zhu and acquire large amounts of materials, he might be able to nurture one or two more. But this would greatly delay the reform of the barren lands’ system and the construction of the Hou Tu Da Zhen. Moreover, if he were to truly profit from the barren lands for his own selfish gain, he would be no different from the Hua family. Mo Hua did not want to make excuses for his selfishness. Furthermore, from the current perspective, nurturing an additional Taotie meridian would not bring him any “essential” improvement. Therefore, Mo Hua could only use a single Shou Taiyin Feijing—which was only one-twelfth of the Taotie Linghai Zhen—as his innate array for forming his Jin Dan.

Aside from the innate array, Mo Hua had already prepared everything else. In fact, as early as his time at Taixu Men, Elder Xun had prepared them for him. High-quality spirit liquids, heart-protecting jade pendants, pills for restoring qi and primordial essence, calming sandalwood… and so on. These were all essential items for a typical Jin Dan formation. Elder Xun had arranged everything meticulously, like caring for his own grandson. He had never been so attentive even to his own grandson. This greatly relieved Mo Hua’s worries. With these, it was basically enough. He cultivated the Tian Yan Jue (Heavenly Evolution Art), and its breakthrough bottleneck was in divine sense, not requiring too many heavenly and earthly spiritual objects, which saved a lot of trouble. Mo Hua himself chose the “money-saving” Tian Yan Jue as his cultivation method precisely because he was “poor” and lacked heavenly and earthly spiritual objects. As it turned out, the Tian Yan Jue saved “money” but not “divine sense,” still being a bottomless pit. Fortunately, Mo Hua had already formed his Jin Dan with divine sense beforehand, breaking the Tian Yan Jue’s bottleneck at the Jin Dan stage. As long as he resolved the issue of the innate array, he wouldn’t need to endure too many further hardships in forming his Jin Dan.

In addition, there was a crucial issue of “Dan Pin” (Pill Grade) regarding Jin Dan formation. However, this was a very, very important issue for other cultivators, especially the core prodigy disciples of major sects and aristocratic families, but for Mo Hua, it was insignificant. “Dan Pin” refers to the grade of the Jin Dan formed when a cultivator breaks through a realm, as well as the appearance of the Jin Dan. Dan Pin is closely related to a cultivator’s spiritual root and cultivation method. Mo Hua knew that in the current cultivation system, spiritual roots determine the upper limit of cultivation methods. A spiritual root of a certain grade can only cultivate cultivation methods of the corresponding grade at most. For example, Mo Hua himself had a mid-low grade spiritual root, so he could only cultivate “mid-low grade” cultivation methods at most. He could cultivate lower grades, such as lower-high, lower-mid, lower-low… But he could not cultivate upward, cultivating mid-mid grade or above, or even some high-grade cultivation methods. This was the limitation of his spiritual root at birth. If one’s spiritual root at birth was poor, then the cultivation method grade would be poor, and naturally, their path of cultivation would also be limited.

In the cultivation world, especially in some major aristocratic families and large sects, there had always been serious “spiritual root discrimination” and “cultivation method discrimination.” Mo Hua did not feel this much at Taixu Men, partly because Elder Xun advocated “education for all,” and the atmosphere of Taixu Men was pure. Secondly, because Mo Hua was so popular at Taixu Men, his identity was too special, and his array formations were too heaven-defying. No one discriminated, and no one dared to discriminate against him. But outside Taixu Men, in the vast Qianxue Zhoujie (Qianxue Continent Realm), among the major sects, discrimination based on spiritual roots and cultivation methods was an extremely common phenomenon. There was severe competition among disciples. If one’s spiritual root was poor, they were naturally considered inferior. If one’s cultivation method was poor, they could not even lift their heads. If prodigy disciples were like this, then it goes without saying for rogue cultivators. Within truly major sects, the admission rate for rogue cultivators was lower each year, almost “extinct.”

Mo Hua had been somewhat ignorant of this issue before. Now that he was in the Great Barrens, having encountered many tribal inheritances from top to bottom and personally promoted cultivation education, this issue gradually became clear to him. This was likely a method for aristocratic families to monopolize inheritances and construct academic barriers. This was an entire “system” of cultivation society. First, spiritual roots were bound to cultivation methods. What kind of spiritual root could only learn what kind of cultivation method. Then, based on spiritual root genetics, within the aristocratic families, marriages were arranged to continuously “cultivate” descendants with high-grade spiritual roots. Aristocratic family descendants had increasingly better spiritual roots. Rogue cultivators, on the other hand, could only marry among mid-grade, and more often low-grade spiritual roots, so their aptitudes naturally became worse and worse. Given time, it would truly achieve the situation where there were no poor families with high-grade spiritual roots, and no aristocratic families with low-grade spiritual roots. Even if high-grade cultivation methods were to circulate, rogue cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots would not even be qualified to learn them because their spiritual root grade did not meet the standard. The grade of a cultivation method directly concerned the number of cultivation cycles and the upper limit of the cultivation realm. Coupled with the discrimination against spiritual roots and cultivation methods spread throughout the cultivation world, rogue cultivators at the lower level would forever only marry among rogue cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots and could only learn low-grade inheritances. Spiritual roots themselves were a class. Cultivation methods also formed barriers. The upper and lower strata of the cultivation world naturally formed “isolation” from marriage, childbirth, spiritual roots, cultivation methods, and various cultivation inheritances.

This was the issue of spiritual roots and cultivation methods. The issue of Dan Pin was actually consistent with this. Spiritual roots determine the upper limit of cultivation methods, and cultivation methods determine the upper limit of Dan Pin. Mo Hua himself had a mid-low grade spiritual root, and the Tian Yan Jue he cultivated was equivalent to “mid-low grade,” so the Jin Dan he formed would at most be “mid-low grade.” This was still the most ideal situation. Because this was the “upper limit.” If he wasn’t careful, if the Dan Pin slipped, it was not impossible to form a low-grade Jin Dan. Of course, Mo Hua didn’t think his luck would be that bad. Moreover, he didn’t really care much about this issue. Because his spiritual root basically determined the upper limit of his Dan Pin, there could be no breakthrough. He just needed to be careful to prevent the Dan Pin from slipping to the low-grade; he couldn’t hope for anything else. Although he also wanted to form a “high-grade” Jin Dan, his aptitude did not allow it; it was simply impossible to form one. In ordinary cultivation, Mo Hua knew that he would never be able to catch up with those true prodigy disciples. Even ordinary prodigies with high-low grade spiritual roots, he couldn’t catch up to. So, in terms of spiritual energy cultivation, he always had a “don’t care” attitude; as long as he could form a Jin Dan, whether the Dan Pin was poor or not didn’t really matter.

But his indifference did not mean others were indifferent. Basically, all prodigies were extremely cautious, even “panicked,” about the matter of Dan Pin. Especially the high-high grade and high-low grade prodigies. The top-tier prodigies, with high-high grade spiritual roots, cultivating high-high grade cultivation methods, absolutely had to form high-high grade Jin Dans and would never allow failure. Even a slight flaw in appearance, even if it dropped one grade, would be a nightmare for these top-tier prodigies. A high-high grade Jin Dan and a high-mid grade Jin Dan were completely different concepts. One was the top-tier Jin Dan, the other could only be considered a “middle-grade” prodigy Jin Dan. Therefore, top-tier prodigies who possessed high-high grade spiritual roots and wanted to form high-high grade Jin Dans were all under immense pressure, even fear, when forming their Jin Dan. The Dan Pin could not drop at all! And prodigies with high-low grade spiritual roots were equally nervous. Because if high-low grade dropped another grade, it would fall to mid-high grade. This single grade was the boundary between high-grade and mid-grade, an even greater difference. If their luck was too bad and it really dropped, then the foundation of being a “high-grade spiritual root prodigy” would be completely gone. This point was equally severe. Therefore, no prodigy forming a Jin Dan would not rack their brains, exhaust their efforts, and feel uneasy because of the “Dan Pin” matter. On the contrary, Mo Hua, whose spiritual root was already poor, didn’t care as much.

(End of Chapter)