Immortality Through Array Formations

Chapter 2661: Chapter 73: Bone Engraving Array_3

”It’s fine,” Mo Hua said with a straight face. ”I’ll go easy with my hand. You guys go do your thing.”

”Mm...” Dan Zhu hesitated for a moment, didn’t ask more, and then left.

Chi Feng only looked at Mo Hua, his expression involuntarily carrying a trace of fear.

After the two left, Mo Hua looked at the unconscious Iron Shugu and couldn’t help muttering in his heart:

”Drawing a Formation on bone... is it really that painful?”

He was a bit unconvinced.

So he fed Iron Shugu a few Blood-replenishing and painkilling Pills, used a few minor tricks, and woke Iron Shugu up again.

Iron Shugu woke up, his mind still hazy.

Mo Hua drew another stroke of Formation Patterns on his bone.

The extreme agony reappeared in an instant. Iron Shugu let out another ”awww” like a howl, eyes almost splitting, and fainted from the pain.

Fortunately, Mo Hua had set up a Sound Isolation Formation in advance, so this pig-slaughtering scream didn’t spread out.

But Mo Hua’s ears were still shaken until they hurt.

Looking at Iron Shugu’s appearance, Mo Hua clicked his tongue twice and shook his head. ”Looks like I was right. It really is very painful.”

Otherwise, this Golden Core Realm head of the Shugubu, a fanatic in his faith and no stranger to pain, this iron-boned ”Iron Shugu”, couldn’t possibly have passed out from the pain just like that.

”So, drawing a Formation on bone is actually this painful, practically like ’torture’...”

”Then what am I supposed to do?”

Mo Hua was dumbfounded.

When he undergoes Core Formation, he has to draw a Second Grade, twenty-four-pattern Twelve Scripture Taotie Spirit Remains Formation on his own bones.

Just one stroke and Iron Shugu couldn’t take it.

For his own Core Formation, he has to draw a full twenty-four Taotie Patterns; how many strokes is that?

Wouldn’t that hurt him to death?

Mo Hua sucked in a breath of cold air, his teeth chattering.

Fortunately, he had the sudden idea to test it on Iron Shugu’s bones first. Otherwise, if he foolishly drew a Formation on his own bones when the time came, he’d probably be in so much pain on the spot that his very life would be gone...

”What do I do?”

”Take some anesthetic Pills? Is there even such a thing?”

”Or... I should just let myself faint from the pain, and once I’m unconscious, then draw my Lifebound Formation on my own bones...”

”But... I still need to draw the Formation. If I pass out, who’s going to draw it for me?”

Mo Hua’s head hurt badly.

Tao Cultivation is far too arduous. Even forming a Core is way too difficult.

Mo Hua sighed, looked at Iron Shugu, and after pondering for a moment, he didn’t wake him up again, and didn’t make him experience the torture of ”Bone Carving Formation” anymore.

After all, he wasn’t truly some villain who enjoyed tormenting others for fun.

Taking advantage of Iron Shugu’s unconsciousness and lack of sensation, Mo Hua carved some Formation Patterns into his bones.

After that, Mo Hua planned to wait for Iron Shugu to wake up.

But soon Mo Hua discovered another problem. It seemed that because a Formation had been carved onto the bone, Iron Shugu’s Blood Qi was draining especially fast.

Even his vitality was continuously ebbing away.

Mo Hua frowned.

He realized an even more severe problem:

Carving a Lifebound Formation onto the bones, the harm it does to the Dao body seems far greater than he had anticipated.

Not only is the whole process accompanied by unbearable agony.

It also breaks the natural pattern of the innately formed bone meridians and, to a certain extent, causes a massive loss of Blood Qi and vitality.

The more Formation Patterns, the deeper the pain, the greater the damage to the bones, and the faster the Blood Qi and vitality are likely to drain away.

Mo Hua’s frown grew tighter and tighter.

This was no longer at the level of ”troublesome”; it had practically become a ”deadly calamity.”

If he doesn’t solve the problem of Blood Qi deficiency and loss of vitality, carving a Life Formation Map onto his own bones would be no different from ”suicide.”

By then, if he loses his life, what Core Formation is there to talk about?

Mo Hua let out a deep sigh.

Only practice can test one’s understanding.

If he hadn’t used this Iron Shugu as an experiment, he wouldn’t have realized this problem at all.

No wonder some Elders of Taixu Gate always stressed that cultivation must be steady, that the ancient methods should be respected, that there should be references, and that one should follow a mature, stable Cultivation System.

Why is it that the inheritance of a Great Sect makes so many cultivators flock to it?

It’s not only because the inheritance of a Great Sect is of higher Grade and more powerful.

It’s because a Great Sect’s inheritance has been passed down for a long time, studied by many, encompassing all kinds of Spiritual Roots, backgrounds, Grades, and different kinds of geniuses and cultivators.

With such a massive sample of cultivators and cultivation practice, practically every problem and hidden danger encountered in the process of inheritance would be ferreted out.

Then the Sect’s ancestor and experts would research and resolve them one by one.

That way, when the Disciples cultivate, the path before them is naturally smooth; they won’t make one misstep and be left with regret for all eternity.

If one walks a reclusive path of cultivation, where few people practice it, experience is scarce, and there’s no one to guide them, the road ahead is shrouded in fog.

It’s possible that a moment’s carelessness will lead to stepping into a pit and wasting a stretch of time.

Step into two pits, and you waste twice the time.

Step into a few more pits, and you might end up stuck your whole life, wasting an entire lifetime.

It might even happen that the chosen cultivation path looks great in the early stages.

But the next step abruptly ends; you run straight into a dead end, with no Dao left to cultivate, nowhere left to go.

And Mo Hua’s situation is even more extreme.

He’s walking the path of Divine Sense Proving the Dao, and a special kind of Divine Sense Proving the Dao at that.

There are almost no precedents he can reference or borrow from.

His path forward is nearly all fog, and within that mist, no one knows where the thorns are or where the dead ends lie.

He can only grope forward on his own.

And now, with one attempt, he’s already stumbled into a giant pit.

If this giant pit can’t be filled, never mind Core Formation—he might not even keep his life.

”Bone Carving Formation, Blood Qi loss, loss of vitality...”

Mo Hua felt a bit irritable and for the moment had no time to think it through. Suddenly sensing a change in the Evil Qi, he looked down and saw Iron Shugu’s Blood Qi flowing out, his vitality dissipating, his glabella a lifeless gray; he was on the verge of death.

Mo Hua’s heart gave a slight jolt.

This Iron Shugu can’t die yet.

He still has uses for him.

Besides, once he dies, Mo Hua will be shouldering a ”fateful evilness.”

Mo Hua stuffed a bunch of Pills into Iron Shugu’s mouth all at once, then used a twig to poke them down his throat.

Then he sprinkled some medicinal powder over Iron Shugu’s arms and legs to stop the bleeding, and scattered some ”Bone-growing Powder” to help Iron Shugu’s bones heal.

After a while, Iron Shugu’s life was indeed pulled back from the brink.

Iron Shugu slowly let out a breath, and when he opened his eyes again and looked at Mo Hua before him, it was as if he were looking at an ”Evil Ghost.”