Immortality Through Array Formations

Chapter 2547: Chapter 36: Mo Hua

In the cave sealed by layer upon layer of Formations, Mo Hua’s face became incomparably cold and austere, ethereal, without a trace of humanity, as if he were a demon monster born of Heaven and Earth, chilling to behold.

This was, so far, the strongest backlash Mo Hua had ever faced.

And this time, the backlash also manifested an unexpected situation.

The Evil Qi was devouring his memories, erasing his humanity.

All the people, all the events of the past were gradually blurring, to the point that Mo Hua even began to doubt his own existence.

”Who... am I...”

”What is my name...”

”Am I really ’me’?”

”Has this whole life of mine been nothing but my illusion, and in truth I... never existed at all, and all the people I have seen, all the places I have been, all the things I have experienced, everything, everything, was all illusion, a dreamlike bubble that vanishes in an instant?”

”If all this is illusion, then what... am I?”

”What am I? Where am I now? What am I to do?”

”I want to...”

In Mo Hua’s pitch-black eyes there was a haze of confusion, and then, from within his Taoist Heart, he sought out two words:

”Become immortal?”

”I want to become immortal...”

Mo Hua’s Taoist Heart grew clear for a brief instant, then sank once more into a deeper bewilderment:

”Why do I want to become immortal?”

”To share the same lifespan as Heaven and Earth? To live forever?”

”But... how does one become immortal? By constantly cultivating? Constantly growing stronger? No, that’s not it... my path is... Divine Sense Proving the Dao.”

”Cultivate Divine Sense to Prove the Dao, save all living beings to attain longevity...”

”Save all living beings...”

”But why should I save all living beings? Why? Do they need me to save them? What is there that is worth my saving?”

”Why can’t I... just kill them?”

”Kill them all... kill all living beings...”

”So what if I do?”

”The human heart is greedy, selfish, base, ugly, vain, debauched... chaos without end, war without cease, the root of all calamities under Heaven and Earth; since it is the root of calamity, why let it remain?”

”Slaughter all living beings, kill every human, leave not a single one... leaving only clear skies and pure air, a vast earth utterly cleansed.”

”From then on, Heaven and Earth will endure forever, sun and moon bright and clear, unchanging through the ages—would this not also be the Great Dao?”

”Would this not also be attaining the Dao?”

”Yes... this too is Dao.”

”Life is Dao, death is also Dao; Proving the Dao with Divine Sense is Dao, Proving the Dao through killing is also Dao.”

”Kill all humans, let all humans die... that too is attaining the Dao...”

”One could also... become immortal...”

Mo Hua’s pupils began to deepen further into pitch-black, and within his Life Chart, further ”inverse transformations” began.

In this very moment, he seemed like a true ”Little Devious Path Person.”

He was about to step onto another path of seeking immortality altogether, utterly different, from which there would be no return for ten thousand kalpas, to fall forever into the Abyss.

...

Li State, Tongxian City.

Inside a food house.

The mother-and-son–linked Liu Ruhua suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her heart.

Without knowing what had happened, the image of Mo Hua in her heart suddenly began to blur, to turn pitch-black, as if she were about to lose forever that kind and lovable son of hers.

Tears involuntarily welled up in Liu Ruhua’s eyes.

Inside Big Black Mountain.

Mo Shan, who was in the midst of Monster Hunting, likewise felt a sudden, inexplicable jolt of alarm, then lifted his head and looked in the direction where Mo Hua had departed, his brows tightly knit.

...

Meanwhile, across mountains and seas, at the Qianxue State Boundary, countless tens of thousands of li away.

Elder Master Xun’s heart also gave a sudden lurch, his expression changing.

He had a premonition that what he feared most had, after all, come to pass.

The Evil Qi on Mo Hua’s body was like a ”gunpowder mountain”; any shift in killing intent, any karmic thread of slaughter, could become a ”spark” and ignite that mountain-mass of ”gunpowder,” thereby triggering certain unfathomably terrifying changes.

Originally Li State was stable; relatively speaking, that had been better.

But now the Great Wilderness had rebelled; Li State, being the closest to the Great Wilderness, would inevitably be swept up by the flames of war, plunging into ceaseless strife.

Mo Hua, this ”gunpowder mountain,” had ”sparks” all around him.

Sooner or later, it would be set off.

But Elder Master Xun had no recourse; he could hardly ”strangle” Mo Hua in advance just to eliminate this hidden danger.

Nine years of transmitting the Dao, day and night together—he truly cherished this child; how could he bear to strike him down?

Leaving Mo Hua in Taixu Gate was even more impossible.

If Mo Hua, this ”gunpowder mountain,” exploded, the entire Tai Xu Mountain Gate would likely be dragged into disaster.

Elder Master Xun’s brows furrowed tightly.

”I can only think of a way to use the Tai Xu Yin Yang Lock to protect his thoughts...”

Elder Master Xun began to chant incantations, guiding the Heavenly Mechanism Compass, manually forcing a long-distance activation of Taixu Gate’s supreme Treasure, the Tai Xu Yin Yang Lock, to help the ”lost-souled” Mo Hua suppress the Evil Qi.

Once the Evil Qi was suppressed, if Mo Hua’s mind could regain even a shred of clarity, he might then find a way to ”save himself.”

As for whether Mo Hua could indeed save himself, that would depend solely on his own fortune.

The distance was too great; Elder Master Xun truly could not do much more.

The Heavenly Mechanism Compass began to spin; Elder Master Xun used it as a ”key,” to draw upon the Tai Xu Yin Yang Lock on Mo Hua’s body, far away within Li State’s borders.

Yet after several attempts, though his qi-response had been sent out, the Two Qi Lock did not budge in the slightest.

Elder Master Xun frowned. ”Too far?”

That shouldn’t be; this was, after all, Taixu Gate’s supreme Treasure...

Ordinary Heavenly Mechanism Treasures naturally could not span nine Great States to perform a Heavenly Mechanism linkage.

But the Tai Xu Yin Yang Lock passed down from his ancestors could; otherwise it would not be qualified to be revered as the Treasure of the Fifth Grade Taixu Gate.

Elder Master Xun tried a few more times, all to no avail, then abruptly realized something, his face changing sharply.

”This is... locked?”

”Who... locked the Tai Xu Yin Yang Lock?”

A strand of sinister, bizarre qi flickered faintly in the void.

Elder Master Xun’s expression turned, in an instant, grim to a frightening degree.