Immortality Through Array Formations

Chapter 2739: Chapter 99: Taotie Law_3

And Mo Hua finally had time and a stable environment to do his own thing.

Which, as of now, was the most important thing for him:

Comprehending the Taotie Formation.

He held two sets of the Taotie Absolute Array in his hands.

One of which was the unknown Taotie Absolute Array with twenty-three patterns, extracted from the head of the Barbarian God statue from the Shugubu.

The other was the Twenty-four Pattern Twelve Scripture Gluttonous Spirit Corpse Extremist Formation.

Mo Hua was currently learning the twenty-three patterns Taotie Absolute Array.

During his previous campaigns with Dan Zhu, amidst their divinations and battles, he had sporadically gained some insight into it.

He was already quite familiar with the Formation Patterns on a basic level.

But the Formation Patterns were merely the form, only the surface lines.

For Mo Hua, who incessantly painted formations day and night and had extremely solid basics in Formations, foundational Formation Patterns posed no real difficulty in essence.

The real difficulty lay in the flow of the Formation Pivot, the design of the Formation Eye, and the comprehension of the inherent Laws within the formation.

Especially in an Ultimate Formation.

Learning, painting, and practicing formations were all clear actions.

But ”realization” was more mystical.

There may be an epiphany in an instant, bringing sudden clarity about Formation principles.

Or, one might comprehend for ten days, half a month, or even a year with no sign of progress, not knowing what has been understood.

Mo Hua had previously tried to comprehend it but had not realized much.

The Taotie Pattern was an ancient, powerful Formation Pattern, with archaic and ferocious outlines, transcending the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams formations Mo Hua had mastered, even differing significantly from the Four Symbols Formations.

Mo Hua deliberated for a long time yet grasped nothing substantial.

He hesitated about the direction he should take in understanding the Taotie Formation.

Previously so, and now, having calmed down, Mo Hua hesitated to grasp the Laws contained within the Taotie Formation or how the insights should be found.

Ten entire days passed like this, with progress being close to nothing.

Mo Hua fell back into that cycle of continuous comprehension but not understanding anything for a long time.

He wrestled with the thought of whether to continue or not.

Mo Hua pondered and felt that such empty contemplation was rather ’idealist’; it was very challenging to find direction with pure guesswork.

Mo Hua engaged in silent contemplation.

He recalled his past experiences learning the Reversed Spirit, Thick Earth, Spirit Pivot, and other Ultimate Formations, arriving at an approach:

Paint more.

If clever ways couldn’t be found, then start with the most foolish.

”Draw the Formation a hundred times, and its meaning will reveal itself.”

Not comprehending deeply enough often indicates not having painted enough.

Paint sufficiently and something will eventually be understood, like grinding an iron rod into a needle.

Sometimes the simplistic approach is the best one.

Life’s truths are often very simple.

The challenge is to act and persist.

Mo Hua gradually revisited his initial heart when learning formations.

No matter what the Ultimate Formation is like, no matter what Laws are contained, start by drawing the Formation Patterns tirelessly, over and over again.

Drawing until everything is familiar, and only then consider other matters.

Mo Hua discarded all distracting thoughts and retained only a single notion, remembered only one word in his mind:

”Draw.”

Continually drawing formations.

Drawing during the day, continuously on the Taoist Stele at night, considering nothing else, not caring whether he would ultimately master the Taotie Formation or understand the mysteriousness of the formation, just drawing continuously, treating the Absolute Array as an ordinary formation to reach an extreme, undistracted state.

Thus, drawing relentlessly...

Neglecting food and sleep, day and night blurring together, not knowing how much time passed, how many times he drew, how many times he practiced...

Mo Hua truly achieved a state where all the Formation Patterns were integrated into his mind, reaching the point where ”reverse painting flows like water.”

These ancient and fierce Formation Patterns no longer appeared foreign to Mo Hua’s eyes, more like his own blood, his own hands, his own bones, a part of himself.

When the Formation Patterns spread across the paper, it was as natural as breathing.

And these Formation Patterns finally began to ”respond” to Mo Hua.

Heavenly Dao rewards those who toil.

They finally unveiled a corner of a certain mystery to Mo Hua.

The Taotie Patterns faintly connected into a whole, no longer appearing as rigid Formation Patterns, but more like a living entity, continuously swaying, seemingly carrying a certain ”Dao” as a vessel, undergoing profound transformations.

Mo Hua suddenly fell into a ”state of flow,” seemingly dream-like, semi-real and semi-illusory.

In this state, looking at the Taotie Pattern again, he saw a completely different picture.

He saw an expanse, a land of despair filled with corpses as mountains, a desolate wasteland.

Countless corpses filled up the heaven and earth.

They starved to death, with skin and bones, bodies charred black, boundless hunger, resentment, and grievance surged skyward, enveloping the entire landscape.

The corpses and the grudge brewed, fermented, and entangled together, seemingly altering the Laws of heaven and earth.

The corpses, who died of starvation, began to vanish, fade, transforming into dense, black lines, piling up one atop another.

The world started to twist, abstract, deform, merging into one...

Corpses were the Formation Patterns.

The Formation Patterns were likewise corpses.

All the corpses, under the extreme hunger grievances, blended with heaven and earth, their flesh akin to dust.

And all the black Formation Patterns, under the distortion of Laws, ultimately integrated into a certain Dao of Heaven and Earth.

Corpses, the earth, the sky, Formation Patterns, Laws, the Great Dao...

As if merged in a grand furnace.

A myriad of voices converged, a soul-crushing scream capable of tearing hearts echoed throughout heaven and earth.

Dense black aura permeated the world.

Pitch-black lightning tore through the skies as if heralding the apocalypse.

Within this apocalyptic wrath and pervasive black aura akin to the ”Purgatory Furnace,” a colossal silhouette vaguely emerged.

This figure was exceedingly fierce, powerful, and terrifying, symbolizing the supreme disaster of the world, driven by countless extreme hunger grievances, yearning to devour everything in the heavens and earth, returning the entire realm and all living entities to chaos...