The Quest for Immortality

In the year 20,037 of the Taoist Calendar, late spring.

Li State, north of the Third-Grade Azure Cloud State boundary, Cloud Crossing City.

An old Cloud Ferry, after months of voyage, slowly docked at the harbor.

Cultivators of various kinds lined up in a long queue, descending one after another from the Cloud Ferry.

Among the crowd was the inconspicuous figure of a young man with a concealed aura.

This young man was Mo Hua, who had been away from home for a long time.

At fifteen, he left for Qian State to study, experiencing the vicissitudes and hardships over ten years. Now he had finally returned to Li State, to the long-lost homeland.

Ten years of study, nine years of cultivation.

Now, at the cultivation age of twenty-five, he was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, with a Divine Sense of twenty patterns Golden Core.

He was the unique Junior Brother of the Taixu Gate, a second-grade high-level Formation Master, and a Double Champion of Qianxue Formation Path.

The Mo Hua of today was no longer the same as before.

However, with restraint and a return to simplicity, no one could see those remarkable identities.

At this moment, he was just a wanderer returning home.

Mo Hua raised his head, gazing at the vast sky of Li State and the undulating reddish-brown mountains in the distance.

The sky of Li State was different from that of Qian State.

The sky in Qian State was high, far-reaching, and unending.

The sky of Li State, on the other hand, was complex and hot, with red clouds on the horizon, appearing like flowing fire.

And this was the familiar aura of his homeland.

Mo Hua took a deep breath, feeling a surge of emotion, and then he followed the crowd, descending from the Cloud Ferry.

The Cloud Ferry, after delivering Mo Hua to Li State, embarked again, amidst the whistling cloud whistle, parting clouds and waves, continuing towards the next destination.

Thus, the road he came from was completely severed.

The karma between Mo Hua and Qianxue was also temporarily separated.

Mo Hua watched the Cloud Ferry depart, bidding farewell to every bit of his life in Qian State, then turned around, calming his mood, and headed towards home.

”Going home...”

Mo Hua tread on the land of Li State, with its sky overhead. After a few steps, waves of heat hit him.

The earth and sky of Li State swept across Mo Hua’s body, as if performing a ”dust-off welcome” for him.

The residual Qian Path aura, which Mo Hua carried from the distant cloud journey, was gradually washed away.

At first, it was not obvious, but soon, a change arose.

The more Mo Hua walked, the more he felt the surrounding heat.

In contrast, his meridians and blood felt a bone-chilling cold.

This cold wasn’t an external cold, but one of deathly stillness.

It was the overwhelming killing karma he had created, causing the chilling coldness.

Mo Hua’s eyes turned black, his brow emanating evil qi in reverse, like black ”blood threads,” covering the whites of his eyes.

A surge of murderous intent rose in his heart.

Mo Hua suddenly wanted to kill, desperately wanted to kill...

Only by killing, by obliterating many lives and slaughtering beings, could he dissolve the hostility in his heart and relieve the vexation, letting his thoughts become clear.

Mo Hua gritted his teeth, trying his best to activate the divinity of Taoist transformation, guarding the human essence, even using the Heavenly Demon Slash Emotionless Path in reverse, to cut away all emotions, to cut away the ego, to cut the ”killing thoughts,” to cut away the vexation brought by hostility, and then calmly meditate.

”No killing, no killing...”

Mo Hua silently chanted in his heart, and after an unknown period, he slowly calmed down, suppressing his murderous intent.

Once his mood was calm, the killing intent retracted, and the evil qi dissipated, Mo Hua took a deep breath and then furrowed his brow.

”Is this...the evil qi backlash?”

Because he left Qian State, the blessing of Qianxue’s fortune weakened, breaking the delicate balance between righteous and evil karma, causing the evil spirits and deadly karma to backlash, triggering a reversal of the Life Chart?

Mo Hua’s gaze turned solemn.

These things were told to him by Elder Master Xun.

True Man Situ had also specifically mentioned it to him.

The two had repeatedly and earnestly warned him that after leaving Qian State, he must remain calm in any situation, never act impulsively, never kill...

Mo Hua had previously thought Elder Master Xun and the others were making a fuss over nothing.

How could a good, upright, and kind young man like himself kill for minor disagreements?

But now it seemed that something was indeed amiss.

”Will I really become a... bloodthirsty Great Demonhead in the future?”

Mo Hua frowned tightly, then sighed softly, concealing his figure, moving away from the crowd.

If the evil qi counterattacked, he could not continue to walk in the bustling crowd, lest he would, in a moment of inadvertence, truly twist his essence and indiscriminately kill the innocent...

Cloud Crossing City, above the streets, after Mo Hua’s figure disappeared,

The surrounding cultivators were then belatedly aware that there had been a terrifying chill enveloping their heads.

But this chill, coming suddenly, left just as quickly, soon vanishing without a trace, leaving only a lingering unease in their hearts.

...

Beyond the Azure Cloud State boundary, outside Cloud Crossing City.

In the quiet and desolate mountain forest.

Mo Hua walked alone, traveling while re-establishing a connection with the Earth Dao Meaning of Li State, sensing the Heavenly Dao aura of Li State, adapting to this land, while constantly adjusting his mindset, balancing the murderous intent in his heart.

The silent mountain forest calmed Mo Hua’s heart.

And a calm heart also quelled the murderous intent lurking within.

The murderous intent dissipated, and the evil qi quietly receded into the Life Chart.

Away from Qian State, with the weakening fortune of Qianxue’s blessing, Mo Hua could only attempt to withstand the backlash from the endless deadly evilness by relying solely on his own power.

In other words, the ”deadly evilness” path ahead, he could only endure it slowly on his own.

After walking alone in the mountain forest for most of the day, the evil qi completely subsided, and the murderous intent was buried deep in the heart.

Mo Hua silently recited in his heart once again: