Chapter 1064: Beheading
At the center of the Blood Sacrifice Formation, within the labyrinth of flesh and blood— Mò Huà was still studying the human skin given to him by Master Tú, trying to learn the formation core of the Great Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Formation that was branded on the skin.
While watching, Mò Huà gestured with his hands, his brow furrowed tightly.
This time, he did not have to pretend he couldn't learn it, because the formation core was indeed somewhat difficult for him.
He was quite familiar with the Heaven-Obscuring Formation.
But the formation core before him was not simply the Heaven-Obscuring Formation. More precisely, it was a "grafted" ritual formation passed down from the Great Wilderness lineage, integrated with the Heaven-Obscuring Formation to realize the Great Wilderness Blood Sacrifice.
At the same time, it was an evil formation used for "sacrifice."
Although its basic principles related to divine laws, its methods were cruel and bloody—not "purely" sinister, but beyond the scope of normal formations that Mò Huà studied.
Furthermore, he had to be wary of Master Tú.
Although now he and Master Tú were teacher and student, and their relationship was relatively harmonious,
Mò Huà did not believe Master Tú's goodwill was out of mere "love for talent" that prompted him to teach without reservation.
One must always guard against others.
Thus, while carefully discerning the cruel and sinister parts within the blood sacrifice formation core, Mò Huà was cautious not to fall into Master Tú's trap.
At the same time, he had to thoroughly study the framework of the Blood Sacrifice Formation.
Even further, he needed to reason by analogy, to deeply consider how the core of this Blood Sacrifice Formation connected and aligned with the Heaven-Obscuring Formation—how the inner formation power operated, completed its cycle, and ultimately closed the loop.
He needed not only to learn and master it, but to stand above Master Tú, even above "divine" level, to understand the complete blood sacrifice deification ritual, and to control the unified formation principles merging the Great Wilderness Blood Sacrifice with the Heaven-Obscuring Formation.
This required a powerful divine awareness, profound formation knowledge, and consumed a vast amount of mental energy.
There was much to contemplate and comprehend, so naturally, learning took longer.
Master Tú occasionally glanced at Mò Huà, seeing him focused on learning the blood sacrifice formation core, and did not disturb him—his eyes flickered thoughtfully before he slowly left.
Mò Huà immersed himself in the world of formations, paying no mind to Master Tú for the moment.
Time passed.
Mò Huà pondered deeply, studied and drew repeatedly, but failed repeatedly. When his divine awareness was exhausted, he would meditate, then continue practicing and researching...
He poured enormous effort into it.
However, after all, this was an evil formation core of the dark path, with a vast pattern.
And Mò Huà's "ambition" was also too great. The principles he tried to grasp were too profound, resulting in countless failures in a short time...
Once again, after repeated failure and divine awareness depletion, Mò Huà stopped for a moment and sighed.
At that moment, his expression froze. He turned his head to find Master Tú standing beside him, unnoticed before.
Master Tú glanced at the large pile of discarded formation drafts Mò Huà had drawn in failure but said nothing. Instead, he extended his long, pale hand, handing over several items:
A wax-yellow human skin.
Bright red human blood.
And a brush made from human bone.
Mò Huà's face changed upon seeing these.
Master Tú said, "I won't force you, but if you cannot learn and your efforts fail to yield insight, these items can save you time and effort, helping you comprehend the formation."
Seeing Mò Huà's puzzled expression, Master Tú explained in a calm voice:
"Humans are the rulers of all living things, born with spirit."
"Everything on the human body—skin, flesh, bone, blood, meridians, veins, organs—all are valuable. Used in refining instruments, pills, or making talismans, they all have wonderful effects."
"The same applies to drawing formations."
"Holding a bone brush awakens divine awareness; dipping it in blood ink makes the mind feel affinity; drawing on human skin makes brushwork smoother... Whether learning, understanding, or drawing formations, all become twice as effective."
"Especially when your divine awareness and formation skill reach a bottleneck, using a human bone brush, human blood ink, and human skin paper to draw formations can help you temporarily break through that bottleneck and glimpse the subtlety of the next realm."
"What you couldn't understand before becomes easier; what was once perplexing suddenly becomes clear..."
Master Tú's originally hoarse voice was now gentle like aged wine.
Mò Huà bit his lip, showing a look of struggle.
Master Tú noticed and said faintly:
"If I'm not mistaken, your divine awareness is only one level away from twenty '纹' \[patterns]... right?"
Mò Huà panicked and quickly shook his head denying it:
"No, I'm still far off."
Master Tú's pupils tightened, suspecting that some senior from the Void Gate had specifically instructed Mò Huà to keep his true divine awareness level secret.
Yet, he really was only one step away...
The gap between nineteen and twenty '纹' was like a chasm.
No one understood this gulf better than Master Tú.
Now, at the late Foundation Establishment stage, Mò Huà was truly just one step away from reaching the twentieth '纹' level in spirit formation.
Master Tú was amazed and puzzled in his heart.
"How much 'divine blessing' did that fierce god of the Void Gate actually give him, to let his divine awareness grow to this degree..."
Calling him a son of the gods would not be an exaggeration.
Master Tú felt a deep envy he dared not voice.
He, treated like a dog by the Divine Lord, still considered it a great honor.
Yet this kid was cherished as a progeny by a god, receiving boundless favor?
Soon, Master Tú forcibly dispelled his resentment, turning instead to smile faintly and said to Mò Huà:
"The Great Wilderness Blood Sacrifice is a quasi-Third Grade formation. Its Second Grade core is complicated and profound. Although it doesn't reach twenty lines in rank, it's not far off."
"With your current divine awareness, trying to comprehend it will be extremely difficult."
"But if you can let go of some 'prejudices' and borrow some 'external forces' to enhance your divine awareness and comprehension, you might truly be able to grasp the core of the Great Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Formation."
"Moreover, with these external forces, you may even temporarily glimpse realms beyond Foundation Establishment."
"Even, with the aid of these external forces, it might… allow you to temporarily experience the realm beyond Foundation Establishment."
Mr. Tu's words were full of temptation.
"Don't you want to know what it really feels like—having twenty Spirit Mark formations condensed into your Divine Sense?"
Having already condensed his Divine Sense into a formation core, Mo Hua's mood suddenly grew extremely complicated, but he forced himself to show an expression of "longing." The next moment, his expression twisted with inner conflict.
Mr. Tu finally said calmly, "I said, I won't force you. These things are yours; whether you use them or not is up to you."
After saying this, Mr. Tu left, leaving Mo Hua alone, frowning deeply, struggling inside.
Afterwards, Mo Hua continued to study the Blood Sacrifice Array Core.
But this time, his state was not so calm.
Because human bones, human skin, and human blood were placed right within his reach.
Every time Mo Hua studied the formation and got stuck in thought, he couldn't help but look up at the nearby evil formation brush—blood ink and the formation medium—with a tortured gaze.
Several times, he even reached out his hand, wanting to grasp that bone-white brush, but in the end clenched his teeth and forcibly stopped himself.
A little impatience ruins the grand path. One wrong step, and there's no turning back.
Thus, this inner "struggle" repeated for a long time. Only when Mo Hua noticed that Mr. Tu's cold gaze had relaxed considerably did he finally breathe a sigh of relief and stopped pretending.
Drawing formations was exhausting, and "acting" was no easier.
Especially performing in front of an old "monster" like Mr. Tu — it was an even greater challenge to his acting skills. Of course, it could also be called a form of training.
This was also a kind of experience accumulation.
The more one acted, the more one learned to use Divine Sense to control inner emotions, facial expressions, and even subtle physical changes, perfecting one's acting so that all emotional responses appeared natural. Then, dealing with similar old monsters in the future would be much easier.
This was the Tianyan Technique, an alternative use of Divine Sense control.
It was something Mo Hua had slowly explored over many years dealing with various cultivators and demons.
Life is like a play; it all depends on acting skills.
It seemed trivial but was actually very useful.
"This Mr. Tu is truly cunning."
"First he teaches me formations, making me feel overwhelmed and struggling, then offers me a 'shortcut'—trying to get me to 'laze' about. If I'm not careful, I'll stray down his path…"
Mo Hua shook his head.
Sensing that Mr. Tu's watchfulness had relaxed, Mo Hua could now fully focus on researching the Array Core according to his own ideas.
He only occasionally "acted" a little, glancing at the human skin and blood with a look of longing to fool Mr. Tu.
But the longer he "acted," looking at the human skin and blood, Mo Hua suddenly had a sincere thought rise up from his heart:
"If I use this human skin and blood, my formations would definitely be stronger, and learning absolute formations would be easier…"
"Maybe… I should try?"
"Try drawing formations with human blood and skin… to see what it really feels like…"
Once this thought emerged, it spread like wildfire in Mo Hua's heart, occupying all his attention.
Driven by curiosity and desire, Mo Hua even really stretched out his hand, wanting to grab that bone-white brush, wanting to dip it in blood and draw formations on the human skin, to feel the changes in Divine Sense and the power of the formation…
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the bone-white brush, a chill suddenly surged through his heart.
He seemed to hear the sound of an ancient, pure bell ringing in his ears.
Startled, Mo Hua immediately snapped back to clarity and quickly withdrew his hand, feeling a deep fear inside:
"That was close—I almost 'acted' myself into it."
Every time he acted, it was a kind of suggestion, both deceiving others and deceiving himself.
After repeated suggestions, one might start to truly believe it, and inner evil thoughts and desires would arise.
Mo Hua's heart grew stern.
"Next time I encounter something like this, I must be more vigilant. I must not truly be seduced or influenced by evil desires."
"A gentleman is cautious when alone, does not deceive in dark rooms. The more solitary one is, the more one must restrain oneself and guard the heart."
"Only if one's Dao heart is truly firm can one be truly impervious to all evils."
"Definitely, definitely, I must take this as a warning."
Mo Hua nodded solemnly and then continued to draw the formation…
...
Meanwhile, in the center of the flesh-and-blood labyrinth.
Dark and gloomy, flesh writhing.
In the middle of the clustered skeletons stood an altar.
On the altar rested a huge sinister god statue—human-faced with ram's horns, ferocious fangs, bloodstained, pale white.
Holding a skull in his hands, Mr. Tu knelt before the altar and slowly looked up at the pale skull.
A crack appeared on the skull.
His Great Wilderness Bewitching Shaman Art had been broken.
Mr. Tu frowned.
Such a subtle hint, yet it was perceived and self-corrected?
Such a young age, and the Dao heart could be so firm?
This perseverance was far stronger than that old thing Shangguan Wang, who had lived for hundreds of years...
Mr. Tu felt some regret but more admiration, and a trace of joy shone in his eyes.
"This is a good thing…"
Mr. Tu slowly stood, respectfully bowed to the human-faced ram-horned god statue, then stepped back from the altar to a nearby bone-white desk, spreading out a scroll of human skin paper.
The human skin paper was yellowed with age, recording the method of refining demons.
A series of cruel illustrations showed how to dismember humans and demon beasts, maintain a certain vitality, and sew them together according to a certain pattern. Finally, using human resentment, demon ferocity, human spiritual power, and demon demonic power to hatch and fuse into a brand new, malformed, sinister, and powerful demon…
"It's time to change to a new body…"
Mr. Tu murmured.
His tracks had been exposed, and his existing bodies all had karma, would be traced and detected.
Moreover, this body he was using had been worn too long, already pale and deathly gray.
A cunning rabbit has three burrows; now it was time to prepare another body.
Mr. Tu flipped the illustrations to the last page.
The last page was a manuscript.
The manuscript depicted a body wrapped in human skin, pieced together from various demons and beasts, with dragon scales and claws—like a half-demon, half-dragon, half-human flesh body.
This was Mr. Tu's planned powerful "body."
But this body had only a torso, no head.
"When the Divine Lord revives, all things under heaven will be sacrifices."
"The Divine Lord devours the fierce gods of the Void, and I shall devour the hosts of those fierce gods…"
"The body is too weak, spiritual roots too poor, yet comprehension extraordinarily high, Divine Sense extremely strong… Then discard the dregs, keep only the essence, sew his head onto the powerful demon body—this is the perfect shell…"
Mr. Tu murmured, then took out a bone brush, dipped it in blood ink, and drew a head on the powerful but malformed demon body in the manuscript.
This head was that of a handsome young boy.
His eyebrows and eyes were like a painting, but painted with blood...
This head was Mo Hua's head.
...
Inside the flesh-and-blood prison, Mo Hua was still studying the formations.
Translation:
Inside the prison of flesh and blood, Mo Hua was still studying formations.
Over the next few days, Mr. Tu would occasionally come to check on him. Though he claimed not to pressure Mo Hua, he would from time to time offer "encouraging" words, subtly trying to persuade and brainwash him.
"Right and wrong are merely prejudices..."
"To accomplish great things, one must not be bound by methods or morality."
"Those who cling to hypocritical conscience for self-comfort will never amount to anything."
"These human bones, blood, and skin may come from people, but you didn't kill them. They're dead. Once the body dies, the Dao dissipates. What's left—flesh, bones, blood—is merely dead matter of heaven and earth. What harm is there in putting it to use?"
"There's no need to feel guilt or sin."
…
Yet no matter what Mr. Tu said, Mo Hua only appeared conflicted on the surface. In reality, his heart was firm, calm as still water. He never once touched the bone pen made of human skin and bones that Mr. Tu had given him.
Mr. Tu didn't get angry—in fact, he was somewhat pleased.
Only a cultivator with such unwavering conviction was worthy of becoming the head of his new body.
Since Mo Hua was learning slowly, he was patient enough to wait.
But a few days later, just as Mr. Tu was teaching Mo Hua how to draw formation diagrams, his expression suddenly changed. Without saying a word, he abruptly left.
Mo Hua didn't understand, but he didn't ask.
Less than an hour later, Mr. Tu returned—his face grim. He instructed Mo Hua:
"I have to leave this flesh-and-blood labyrinth for a while. Keep studying formations on your own—and don't cause trouble."
Mo Hua was a bit surprised, but still nodded seriously.
Mr. Tu turned to leave but suddenly seemed to remember something. In the end, he wasn't fully at ease. He extended his finger and touched Mo Hua's forehead. A line of blood traced out, and he reactivated the white-bone head clamp, resealing Mo Hua's sea of consciousness.
Mo Hua was startled and quickly protested:
"If my divine sense is sealed, I won't be able to study formations!"
But Mr. Tu ignored him entirely.
Clearly, whether Mo Hua could learn formations or not wasn't the real concern.
Sealing him off—eliminating this unstable factor—was far more important.
Mo Hua had no choice. He reached up to touch the bone clamp embedded tightly on his skull, locking his sea of consciousness. Seizing the chance, he asked:
"Mr. Tu, what exactly is this clamp?"
In the past, Mr. Tu would never have answered.
But now, their relationship was relatively cordial—and Mo Hua's "head" was already designated as Mr. Tu's future possession, practically his property.
So Mr. Tu was a little more patient than usual.
"This is a sacred artifact of my Great Wilderness Sect. It was refined from the tooth-bone of a divine beast. It can seal divine sense and ward off evil," Mr. Tu said indifferently.
Divine beast?
Mo Hua was curious and asked, "What divine beast?"
Mr. Tu's gaze flickered with a trace of reverence. He replied slowly, word by word:
"Pixiu."
(End of this Chapter)