The Quest for Immortality

After circling around a few times without any gain, Mo Hua had no choice but to go back.

If he kept circling, and was caught by the Inner Mountain Elders again, he would truly find it hard to explain.

The Elders aren’t fools; they might turn a blind eye once, but to overstep the bounds would indeed be offensive.

Mo Hua sighed, turned to leave, and after a few steps, couldn’t help but look back.

The ancient and vast Taixu Mountain lay like an Azure Dragon, hibernating in the Qian Learning State Boundary.

The Outer Mountain stretched out like a dragon’s tail, but the back mountain was the true source of the mountain range, the real ”dragon head”.

Except this dragon head soared into the clouds, hidden in deep fog, looking mysterious and enigmatic, the high altitude especially cold.

Divine Sense perceived nothing at all, not even an inference of cause and effect could reach there.

Mo Hua had no idea where the Sword Tomb was, nor where Patriarch Dugu might be guarding.

He had a faint feeling in his heart, as if some Formation had isolated everything, forbidding outsiders from peeking, holding the most secret things in the depths of the clouds, on the ethereal mountain peak.

”The Taixu Gate may still have many secrets hidden...”

Even, lurking with great dangers...

One needed a sufficiently high Realm to come into contact with them.

Mo Hua stood still, gazing deeply at the back mountain, not knowing how long had passed before he silently turned around, leaving along the Green Stone Mountain Path.

...

Inside the Disciple’s Residence.

Mo Hua sat alone.

Patriarch Dugu was unresponsive now, and no one was there to privately teach him the Sword Dao anymore.

A sense of loss, coupled with worry, filled Mo Hua’s heart.

But the back mountain was a Forbidden Land, and except for tearing open the void, he had no way to enter it.

Even now it seemed the back mountain may already be sealed off, its space locked tight, so even if he really could tear open the void, probably he still couldn’t get in. ŕÁ𐌽ȎꞖЁꞩ

Mo Hua sighed.

”I hope the Patriarch, with his blessed fortune, will be safe and that one day I might see him again...”

Mo Hua silently wished in his heart.

Then he could only temporarily set this matter aside and begin to focus again on his own Cultivation.

After all, the first priority of a Cultivator is Cultivation.

As long as a Cultivator is alive, they must cultivate.

A Cultivator who doesn’t cultivate is worse than death.

”I’m already in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage now, and the next step is the Golden Core...”

”But I recently just broke through, and my Cultivation is not mature enough yet; there is still a considerable distance to a true Golden Core.”

”Moreover, forming a Golden Core is not that simple...”

Mo Hua considered this and realized that in order to form a Core, there were many things that needed doing.

He was walking the path of Divine Sense Proving the Dao, forging a Divine Thought Dao Foundation, so before his Cultivation could break through to the Golden Core, his Divine Sense must form a Core first, reaching Twenty Patterns.

Thus, once the Cultivation breaks through to the Golden Core, the Divine Sense will further multiply, even undergo a Quality Change.

Before officially forming a Core, the stronger the Divine Sense, the better.

Above Twenty Patterns, each additional pattern deepens the foundation of his Divine Thought by a fraction.

And now his Divine Sense was only a hair’s breadth from the twenty-patter Golden Core.

But this hair’s breadth seemed not something that could be achieved simply by training, or consuming Evil Spirits, but required some chance, or a Sudden Enlightenment, or consuming something special.

But specifically how to accomplish this, without opportunity, Mo Hua wasn’t quite sure.

Divine Sense Core Formation requires an opportunity.

On the other hand, another issue stood urgently before him, pressing to the point that he had to consider it now:

”Magical Treasure!”

Essential for breaking through to the Golden Core, bound to a Golden Core Cultivator’s life and spirit, determining to a certain extent the combat power of a Golden Core Realm Cultivator— one’s own Magical Treasure!

Previously, the matter of his own Magical Treasure could still be delayed, but now Mo Hua was already in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and the next step involved Core Formation, truly leaving no room for further delay.

If he didn’t come up with a solution, to delay any longer might mean never forming a Core in his lifetime.

But the problem was that it wasn’t as if Mo Hua actually wanted to delay, he simply had no means to.

Thinking over and over, he couldn’t figure out what he should choose as his ”own Magical Treasure.”

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then immersed his Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness, approaching the Taoist Stele, harboring the slightest hope, and asked softly:

”Would you be willing to be my ’own Magical Treasure’?”

The Taoist Stele didn’t even bother to acknowledge him.

Mo Hua then glanced furtively at that ”Robbery Thunder” on the Taoist Stele, and before he could speak, immediately dismissed this presumptuous thought.

Using Robbery Thunder as a Magical Treasure, he feared he would be struck into ashes before even forming his Core.

Besides, the Robbery Thunder isn’t a Spiritual Artifact and cannot be used as a Magical Treasure.

Withdrawing from his Sea of Consciousness, Mo Hua retrieved the Taixu Bamboo Sword given to him by Patriarch Dugu.

This Bamboo Sword looked ordinary, but contains the Ancient Sword Intent of the Taixu Gate, the heart and soul of the successive generations of Taixu Gate Gentlemen, forged into the source of Sword Dao.

”Use this Bamboo Sword as my own Magical Treasure?”

Mo Hua thought it over again, then shook his head.

”This was a gift... no, it was ’loaned’ to me by Patriarch Dugu...”

In it lies the pinnacle Sword Stream of the Taixu Gate, how could he rightfully refine it into his own Magical Treasure?

Moreover, he wasn’t a pure Sword Cultivator to begin with.

In the Divine Thought World, he relied on Divine Thought into Sword and Divine Thought Taoism; the Swordsmanship could engage in close quarters or long-range combat, perhaps invincibly strong.

But in the real world, his authentic Sword Cultivator techniques were very weak.

Though he had a knack for ”Sword Control,” this Sword Control would blow up a Spirit Sword every time he used it.

He couldn’t very well blow up his own Magical Treasure...

”No... the Sword won’t do, then...”

Mo Hua rummaged through his Storage Bag and took out a Copper Coin.