“Orphan?” Mo Hua said, finding it hard to believe. “Is the ‘Gu’ of Gu Shan City the ‘Gu’ for orphan?”

“Not entirely,” Gu Shifu explained. “Gu Shan City is next to Gu Shan, and this Gu Shan’s original name should have been called ‘Gu Huang Shan’.”

“The mountain was rich in bright yellow copper ore. This ore was golden-yellow and pure, with a colorful and dazzling light, very beautiful. When inlaid on spiritual tools, treasures, or palaces, it was even brighter than gold, and therefore highly esteemed by influential families in the world.”

“Later, this bright yellow copper ore was excessively mined, mined until it was completely depleted, leaving behind only this eyesore, a dark and black mine. And because the mine declined, the number of cultivators sharply decreased, and the number of orphans sharply increased. Therefore, this mountain was called ‘Gu Shan’, and this city also became ‘Gu Shan City’……”

Mo Hua looked around and saw dozens of thin, weak, and dark-skinned orphans carrying mine stones. He was silent for a moment, then sighed.

Some people are born into wealth and nobility, living lives of luxury.

And some people seem to be born just to endure hardship.

This hardship will only grow, and they will continue to endure it until they die…

Mo Hua frowned, his mood complex.

Suddenly, a child carrying a bamboo basket slipped and fell to the ground. The mine stones in the bamboo basket, which were as black and coarse as charcoal and not worth much, scattered everywhere.

The child didn’t care about the wound on his knee. He immediately scrambled up and panicked, picking the scattered mine stones back into the bamboo basket, seemingly afraid they would be stolen.

These mine stones were mostly not worth a single wen.

But this child still regarded them as treasures.

This was his only means of survival. Only by picking up these worthless mine slag could he have a bite to eat.

If he were outside, perhaps other children would indeed bully him and snatch them.

Fortunately, this was near the refining workshop, and everyone still followed the rules. No one snatched his mine stones.

The child picked the mine stones back into the bamboo basket and then, with difficulty, hung the basket on his shoulder again.

The heavy bamboo basket instantly bent his small, thin body. The ropes of the bamboo basket dug two bruises into his back.

At this time, the child was just carrying the bamboo basket while lining up.

He could have clearly put down the basket and rested for a while, but he didn’t know if it was habit.

He didn’t know if it was because, once he put it down, his heart would be uneasy, and he wouldn’t know if he would have a bite to eat.

He just remained like this, always bending at the waist, numbly carrying this heavy burden.

It wasn’t just him. All the children nearby were like this.

Mo Hua, unable to help himself, walked over.

The child sensed someone approaching, looked up, and saw a young master as fair as jade, with eyes as clear as water and a graceful, ethereal demeanor. For a moment, he was stunned, then somewhat ashamed of his own rough appearance, he lowered his gaze.

Mo Hua’s gaze was filled with pity. He reached out and took the bamboo basket from his back.

The child trembled with fear, but after a moment, he still didn’t resist and let Mo Hua take the bamboo basket.

Mo Hua was naturally weak, but that was relative to Foundation Establishment cultivators, not to the extent that he didn’t even have the cultivation of an ordinary Qi Refining level.

The bamboo basket was very heavy, filled with black mine stones.

Mo Hua weighed it for a while, his heart stirred, and he took out an array brush.

He wanted to draw an array on the bamboo basket, but as soon as he moved the brush, he stopped again and fell into deep thought.

He couldn’t draw a difficult one.

The bamboo basket was made of poor material and was easily damaged, unable to bear complex array structures.

He couldn’t draw a high-grade one.

The consumption of spirit stones was too great, and these children couldn’t use them.

Even an ordinary one, a first-grade array containing nine patterns, would be too “luxurious” for these children.

After deep consideration, Mo Hua slowly lowered his brush.

He only drew one array pattern.

The simplest first-grade array pattern.

An eight trigrams wind system array pattern.

As the array pattern was drawn, a faint light illuminated and fused with the bamboo basket.

Mo Hua said warmly, “Try carrying it again.”

The child, still somewhat bewildered, hung up the bamboo basket and put it on his back again. He suddenly froze, looking at Mo Hua with disbelief.

As he lifted the bamboo basket, the array pattern lit up, and a gentle wind force from below gently lifted the bamboo basket.

The entire bamboo basket seemed to become lighter, no longer that heavy burden.

His shoulder would not be strangled so painfully.

His waist was also a little straighter.

This was only the lowest-level first-grade array pattern, not even truly an array. The power of the array pattern was also extremely weak, but for these children, it was enough to allow them to catch their breath from the heavy pressure of their fate.

Mo Hua looked at this array pattern and suddenly understood the reasons Elder Zheng had told him.

Heaven and earth encompass all life, regardless of status.

The way of arrays includes all laws, without distinction of high or low.

High-grade arrays are profound and complex, capable of exhausting the principles of arrays and seeking the heavenly way.

But only low-grade arrays, spread throughout the world, can truly benefit the common people.

Sometimes, an array is not even needed, just a simple, a single or two array patterns are enough.

In a flash of inspiration, Mo Hua’s heart trembled.

The simpler, the easier to learn, to spread, to apply, the more it can, in the broadest possible range, change the situation of the lowest common people.

Perhaps this was also the ultimate form of the “Way”?

Using the most “simple” form to encompass the most vast and infinite Great Way, making the will of the Great Way spread throughout heaven and earth, making all living beings share the same heart, and heaven and earth the Great Same?

Was this the true simplicity of the Great Way, returning to plain truth?

Mo Hua’s heart was deeply moved.

Suddenly, he thought of the Five Elements Sect’s inherited technique, the “Returning to Source” algorithm.

Turning the complex into simple, ten thousand arrays returning to one.

Reducing voluminous arrays to a single “Source Pattern” containing the laws of the five elements. Was it following this principle?

Starting from the simple and entering the complex, learning all the arrays in the world.

Then from the complex, entering the simple, returning ten thousand arrays to the source.

Only in this way could one exhaust the mysteries of arrays and truly seek the Way and become immortal?

Mo Hua stood in place, suddenly lost in thought. A profound aura emanated from his body, and in his pupils, several wisps of the Great Way’s will flowed.

Gu Shifu, standing to the side, was inwardly shocked.

He didn’t understand exactly what Mo Hua had realized, but he knew that arrays were a manifestation of the Way, and array masters were closest to the Way.

Array masters could realize things that ordinary cultivators could not.

But even so, this was the first time he had ever seen an array master’s sudden enlightenment accompanied by such a profound aura.

“I don’t know if all array masters are like this, or if Young Master Mo is special…”

Gu Shifu said silently in his heart, but he also knew better than to disturb him with noise.

After a moment, Mo Hua returned to his senses, the aura around him dissipated, and the flowing light in his eyes also subsided.

“Let these children bring their bamboo baskets over. I will draw an array pattern for them,” Mo Hua said gently.

“Okay.” Gu Shifu nodded.

After giving instructions, he had the children carrying bamboo baskets line up and come over one by one.

Mo Hua used his array brush to draw a first-grade wind pattern on their bamboo baskets one after another.

This wind pattern was too simple for Mo Hua. With a light touch of his brush tip, he could draw one in just a few breaths.

In about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, each child’s dirty bamboo basket had an additional bright white array pattern.

A clear wind followed their bodies.

When they carried the bamboo baskets again, carrying the heavy mine stones, it wasn’t as difficult.

After drawing the arrays, Mo Hua didn’t say anything. He just looked at the group of children, smiled gently, then turned and left.

All the children looked at Mo Hua.

Their faces were black and thin, still carrying a sense of humility and numbness, but in the depths of their eyes, a light of yearning gradually brightened.

Inside the refining workshop, in the living room.

Gu Shifu personally poured a cup of tea for Mo Hua.

Mo Hua was still thinking about the orphans. After a moment, he spoke, “These orphans… is there no other way?”

Gu Shifu understood Mo Hua’s meaning and sighed, “This matter is actually very troublesome.”

“Give them more spirit stones?”

“That won’t work.” Gu Shifu shook his head. “Human hearts are sinister. Once these children are given more spirit stones and have a surplus, even just a little broken spirit stone, they will be robbed clean.”

“They will rob each other. Some adult cultivators will also rob them.”

“Some despairing and deranged cultivators will even coerce them to beg for spirit stones.”

“The irony is, when these orphans have no profit to be exploited, no one cares about them, and they live a miserable life. But once they do have profit to be exploited and are targeted, they will live even more miserably.”

“I also want to give them more to eat…” Gu Shifu shook his head. “But there are too many orphans in the entire Gu Shan City. Once this opening is made, everyone will swarm in, and we simply can’t feed them all.”

“Moreover, this refining workshop of mine has only recently turned things around. The masters and disciples under my command haven’t had enough to eat for long, and we simply don’t have the ability to care for these children.”

Gu Shifu’s expression was bitter.

Mo Hua sighed.

Human hearts are unpredictable.

Sometimes seemingly simple good deeds become abnormally complex as soon as people are involved.

In this world, doing good deeds is really much more difficult than doing bad deeds…

Mo Hua thought for a while and then asked Gu Shifu again, “Are there array masters in the refining workshop?”

“That depends on what kind of array master… There are some who can casually draw a few arrays, but one who can catch the eye of Young Master Mo, definitely not…” Gu Shifu said.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as they can draw simple arrays.”

Mo Hua took out a piece of paper from his sleeve. On the paper was drawn an array pattern, exactly the wind system array pattern he had just drawn on those bamboo baskets.

“This array pattern is a first-grade eight trigrams wind system array pattern. Among eight trigrams arrays, wind system arrays are very rare, and generally only big sects can pass some down. But a pure first-grade wind system array pattern is not that difficult. Find some who have an array foundation and practice more.”

“Gu Shifu, find someone to learn this array pattern.”

“Afterward, when those orphans come to exchange their broken spirit stones by carrying bamboo baskets, just draw this wind system array pattern on their bamboo baskets.”

“A first-grade array pattern has a low and subtle effect, so the spirit consumption is also low. You only need to mix a little spirit stone powder into the spirit ink, and it will be enough to operate for a long time. These orphans can also afford it.”

Gu Shifu received the thin array paper from Mo Hua’s hand, his hands trembling slightly.

He couldn’t help but look up at Mo Hua, whose appearance was as beautiful as a heavenly person, his eyes clear and refined with pity. He sighed in his heart, realizing that in this world, there really were people born with kind hearts.

And… He lowered his head to look at the array paper in his hand.

It looked like just a simple array pattern, but Gu Shifu knew clearly in his heart that this was the most difficult part.

To use the simplest, lowest-cost and cheapest way to solve the most tricky problem.

Without extensive array experience and a deep array foundation, it would be simply impossible.

Gu Shifu solemnly put away the array pattern and bowed his fists to Mo Hua, saying,

“On behalf of the thousands of orphans in Gu Shan City, I thank Young Master Mo!”

In the evening, Gu Shifu specially arranged a banquet to entertain Mo Hua and invited the masters and disciples of the refining workshop to have a big meal.

Outside the refining workshop, Gu Shifu also set up a food stall. Each child could receive two steamed buns and a bowl of porridge.

Naturally, he couldn’t do this every day.

But since Mo Hua had come, it was naturally an exception. Treating them to one meal was nothing.

Just like this, inside the refining workshop, the bonfire was bright and unusually lively.

Outside the refining workshop, smiles also appeared on the children’s faces.

Mo Hua sat in the seat of honor in the large courtyard, eating spiritual meat.

This spiritual meat was a special product of Gu Shan City. It tasted good and wasn’t particularly famous, but then he thought of the children outside, who were overjoyed just eating a steamed bun.

The spiritual meat in Mo Hua’s mouth suddenly became flavorless.

But he wasn’t a hypocritical person. What’s more, the spiritual meat itself was innocent and couldn’t be wasted.

Mo Hua still finished all the meat in front of him.

After eating the meat, he also drank a little wine, watched the masters in the refining workshop play drinking games and wrestle, made some noise for a while, felt tired, and then returned to his room to rest.

The room Gu Shifu had prepared for him was also a high-grade guest room.

Mo Hua lay on the bed, closed his eyes slightly to recuperate for a while, dispel a little of the alcohol, and was about to get up to draw arrays, but unexpectedly fell into a hazy sleep again before Zi Shi.

He had that dream again.

In the dream, a pair of black, empty, blood-streaked, eerie and terrifying eyes stared at him.

Countless miserable dead people with broken limbs seemed to climb out of the abyss, struggling and climbing towards Mo Hua, tearing and biting his divine sense “flesh body”.

Mo Hua experienced that feeling of weakness, powerlessness, and despair again.

This time the feeling was more real, clearer, and more helpless.

This also meant that the power of the dream nightmare’s rules was stronger.

But Mo Hua’s expression was cold, without a hint of hesitation or fear.

While being submerged by ten thousand wronged souls and being gnawed and bitten, Mo Hua stood firm, relying on his powerful divine sense and will, believing that everything in front of him was just an “illusion”.

In his palm, a wisp of divine sense sword light was intermittently condensing.

He didn’t know how long passed, when a sharp light bloomed in Mo Hua’s pupils, and the divine sense between his hands turned into a condensed sword. He broke free from the illusion of the “small self” in the dream nightmare, and with a wave of his hand, a single sword, vast with golden light, then buried all the countless ferocious wronged souls in front of him.

The gloomy and bloody, eerie gaze of the evil embryo disappeared.

Mo Hua awoke from the nightmare.

This time, he was more certain.

The true evil god nightmare carried a certain “rule” power, which could distort one’s cognition of one’s divine sense, thereby suppressing, and even to a certain extent, erasing one’s divine sense power, causing one to fall into a nightmare that was difficult to break free from.

The power of the first dream nightmare was not strong.

This time, it was obviously much stronger than the last time.

Why?

Was it because… he was closer to the source of this dream nightmare?…

Mo Hua turned his head and looked out the window.

Outside the window was the endless Gu Shan, covered by the night, dark, silent, empty, and gloomy, like a terrifying huge thing, silently swallowing Gu Shan City.

Mo Hua’s gaze narrowed slightly.

The next day, he got up early, ate breakfast, and then said, “Gu Shifu, can you take me to stroll around Gu Shan?”

“Gu Shan?” Gu Shifu was startled.

“Yes.” Mo Hua nodded.

Gu Shifu pondered and said, “Gu Shan is rugged and chaotic. Because of excessive mining, most of it has been abandoned, and there’s nothing good to stroll about.”

Mo Hua said, “It doesn’t matter, I’ll go take a look.”

Gu Shifu thought for a moment and nodded, “Okay.”

He arranged the matters of the refining workshop and then, alone, took Mo Hua along several abandoned and rugged mountain roads to enter Gu Shan.

Although it was early morning at this time, there were already scattered cultivators on the mountain, some of whom were still children.

They carried bamboo baskets, their heads lowered, picking out possibly useful mine slag in the black, chaotic mine pits.

Cultivators rely on the mountain to eat.

Gu Shan was originally the wealth left by their ancestors, sustaining the children and grandchildren of Gu Shan to continue to survive.

But now the mine veins of Gu Shan have been exhausted.

These descendants of Gu Shan can only pan for some remnants in the “remains” of Gu Shan, exchange for some broken spirit stones, barely make a living, and live a hard life.

Mo Hua saw all of this and then continued to walk forward.

As Gu Shifu said, Gu Shan was already desolate to the extreme.

Abandoned mine shafts were everywhere, unbearable in their disorder. The black and dark mine mouths were spread throughout the mountain, simply not knowing where they led.

Some mountain roads were damp and gloomy. The mine slag underfoot emitted a strange smell and was also accompanied by mine poison.

Mo Hua strolled for a long time, still without any gain.

Here in Gu Shan, he did not find the clue he wanted to find, nor did he detect any eerie signs.

Mo Hua couldn’t help but turn back and look at the vast Gu Shan:

“It shouldn’t be wrong…”

Yu Er had said, a cunning rabbit has three burrows, one mountain, one water, one person.

This one water should be referring to the Yan Shui River.

Then this one mountain, according to his guess, was very likely referring to “Gu Shan”.

But nearby, there was fundamentally no sign of evil spirits.

No claws and teeth of an evil god, no traces of demon cultivators, no aura of demon monsters.

No altar.

No killing intent.

And no arrays…

Looking up, it was just a remote mine that had been abandoned after its value had been squeezed dry.

Mo Hua’s brow gradually furrowed, and he continued to walk forward.

But after only a few steps, he was stopped by Gu Shifu. “Young Master, you can’t go any further. Any further is the Shen family’s mountain.”

Mo Hua’s pupils shrank, and he suddenly turned back, “Shen family?”

Gu Shifu nodded.

“Which Shen family?”

“The Qian Xue state boundary, a fifth-grade top-level world family, one of the four major sects, the Qian Dao Sect, has hereditary positions within it… that Shen family.”

Gu Shifu’s tone carried fear. He moved forward a little. “The area for nearly a hundred li in front is all the Shen family’s mountain. That year, the Shen family bought such a large piece of mountain to mine bright yellow copper ore. After the mining was finished, this piece of mountain was abandoned, and other cultivators were not allowed to enter.”

Mo Hua’s eyelids twitched slightly. He turned his head and took in the large expanse of continuous mountains in front of him.

This piece of mountain was no different from other places.

If Gu Shifu hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have thought that this would actually be the Shen family’s…

“Young Master, how about… we go look elsewhere?” Gu Shifu said tactfully.

The Shen family’s power was too great. He simply didn’t dare to offend them.

Mo Hua thought for a while and also nodded.

The two then changed direction and continued to walk to the right, just walking in a big circle, still with no discoveries.

Seeing that it was getting late, Gu Shifu then said, “Young Master, how about we go back first?”

Mo Hua also did not refuse.

The two then walked back along the chaotic mountain road.

This time the mountain road they walked on was even more remote.

After walking for a while, Mo Hua’s eyes were sharp, and he suddenly saw a not-so-conspicuous corner not far from the roadside with some fresh stone chips and some special axe and chisel marks.

Mo Hua asked Gu Shifu, “Is this mountain still being mined?”

Gu Shifu said strangely, “Impossible ah…”

He walked to the pile of stone chips, pinched some in his hand for a while, and then examined the special axe and chisel marks. His brow gradually furrowed:

“This doesn’t look like mining, more like… tomb raiding…”

Mo Hua froze for a moment, “Tomb raiding?”