Chapter 287: Devoured
Chapter 287: Devoured
Just a wisp of spreading aura was enough to make the Blue-Faced Demon tremble in fear, his entire being shaken by the overwhelming terror of impending annihilation.
This faint aura seemed to carry the rejection of the Heavenly Dao itself.
The Heavenly Dao suppresses all evil and corruption.
At the same time, Blue-Faced Demon felt a searing pain engulf his body.
Looking down, he saw that his hands, feet, and body were being slowly incinerated by an unseen molten fire, causing him to shrink and gradually reveal his true form—the small blue-faced fiend he once was.
"Run if you want to live! Or you will surely die!"
The little blue-faced fiend was terrified, shrieking and struggling with all his might to escape from Mo Hua's sea of consciousness.
But Mo Hua wasn't about to let him get away.
His eyes lit up, and he seized the opportunity to employ the Flowing Water Step, taking three steps in two, and appearing before the little fiend in an instant, grabbing him firmly.
Before, when the little fiend's aura was powerful, Mo Hua had been unable to get close.
But now, after being blasted by Mo Hua's earth fire array and burned by the aura of the stele, his true form had been exposed, and the remnants of his divine sense had weakened significantly.
Mo Hua effortlessly restrained him.
The little fiend continued to struggle, shrieking, "Let me go! Let me go!"
Instead of releasing him, Mo Hua questioned, "What exactly are you?"
The little fiend didn't answer. Instead, his expression turned sinister as he threatened, "Let me go now… or one day, I will eat you!"
Mo Hua's eyes narrowed, his young face hardening.
How dare you threaten me when you're about to die?
He tightened his grip on the little fiend's throat and said coldly, "If you keep acting so arrogantly, do you believe me if I say I'll eat you first?"
Mo Hua was just making a threat, but to his surprise, the little fiend's face suddenly paled in fear.
"Don't… don't say 'eat'…"
The little fiend was both frightened and apprehensive.
But it was too late. As soon as Mo Hua finished speaking, a more powerful aura emanated from the stele, directly incinerating the little fiend into a shadow.
The shadow of the little fiend howled, twisted, and struggled, its shrieks piercing the air, but to no avail. It was crushed by the aura of the stele and soon refined into several strands of green qi.
These strands of green qi then penetrated Mo Hua's mouth and were swallowed into his abdomen.
In an instant, the little fiend was "eaten" by Mo Hua.
Mo Hua was stunned.
He had just been speaking casually, but now he had truly "eaten" the little fiend.
He hadn't actually meant to eat it…
Mo Hua thought of the little fiend's sinister appearance, his blue face and fangs, and couldn't help but mutter, "I hope it doesn't upset my stomach… no, my brain, rather."
Before his words had even faded, Mo Hua's expression changed.
He felt his mind opening up like a kaleidoscope, filled with countless images.
Deep in the mountains, a young Taoist acolyte was learning the ways of immortality from a Taoist master.
The master was reading a strange book, and as the acolyte watched, their expressions gradually became strange, and they both developed a craving for human flesh.
The acolyte and the master conspired, deceiving traveling cultivators and indulging in their new appetite.
As they continued their grisly feasts, their human forms began to distort.
One transformed into a red-faced, fanged demon, and the other became the blue-faced, fanged little fiend.
Later, a white-robed swordsman arrived, riding the clouds. With a single stroke of his sword, he slew the red-faced demon, but the blue-faced fiend escaped and hid within a painting, where it remained sealed in a Taoist temple for years.
Many cultivators would come to possess this painting.
Those with shallow insights, unable to see its true nature, believed it to be a high-level cultivator's acolyte.
Those with profound divine senses, who saw through its disguise, recognized it as an evil and depraved creature.
And there were those who were unaware of its true nature and would meditate on the painting, borrowing its divine sense.
But all borrowing comes with a price.
It would slowly consume their divine senses in return.
This continued until an elder from a sect sealed it away, hiding it from the world and starving it for a long time.
Eventually, a sect disciple stole it away.
This disciple had a youthful appearance and eyes filled with ambition.
He was none other than the third leader of Black Mountain Fortress…
Visions and memories flooded Mo Hua's mind, layer upon layer, filling his thoughts with chaos.
Mo Hua's mind was in disarray, and before he could process everything, a sudden impulse rose within him.
He wanted to eat people!
Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat.
He had "eaten" the little blue-faced fiend, and now his mind was filled with these evil thoughts.
If this continued, his heart would surely be consumed by darkness, and he might even develop a taste for human flesh.
Mo Hua endured the pain and quickly sat down in front of the stele to meditate, using the meditation technique Master Zhuang had taught him to calm his mind and eliminate these intrusive thoughts.
The evil thoughts surfaced in Mo Hua's mind, only to be dispelled one by one, rising and falling in an endless cycle.
At the same time, Mo Hua recalled Master Zhuang's words.
"Let your heart follow its natural course, and do not deceive yourself."
Even when evil thoughts arose, he should not fear or shy away from them but instead, face them head-on through self-observation, clarifying his thoughts and freeing his mind from its mental cage to roam boundlessly.
The mundane thoughts of the world are inherently empty; a calm heart is like a clear mirror, untouched by dust.
Tendrils of green qi, tainted with sinister intent, emanated from Mo Hua's body, only to be utterly crushed and eradicated by the aura of the stele.
After an unknown amount of time, Mo Hua finally opened his eyes.
The myriad of evil thoughts that had surfaced were completely dispelled, leaving his mind clear and his divine sense lucid.
Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief and was about to stand up when suddenly, an exceptionally pure divine sense emerged in his sea of consciousness.
This divine sense was what remained of the little blue-faced fiend's sinister thoughts after they had been purified.
The pure divine sense filled Mo Hua's sea of consciousness.
Originally, the little fiend's divine sense had been stronger than Mo Hua's, and now, after being refined, its power had become even more formidable.
Mo Hua didn't know what to do.
He had never encountered such a situation in his cultivation manuals or in Master Zhuang's teachings.
As Mo Hua hesitated, the pure divine sense continued to grow, like a tidal wave, surging into his sea of consciousness and pressing against the walls of his consciousness.
Mo Hua's sea of consciousness throbbed with pain, and there were even signs of it rupturing.
"Not good!"
Mo Hua's heart lurched with alarm.
There was too much divine sense; it would rupture his sea of consciousness.
Enduring the excruciating pain, Mo Hua quickly began to draw array formations on the stele to counter this influx.
Drawing array formations consumed a large amount of divine sense, and Mo Hua hoped to use this method to deplete the excess divine sense and prevent his sea of consciousness from being overwhelmed.
Using his fingers as a brush, Mo Hua swiftly traced the intricate patterns.
He drew various elemental arrays, the Sinan Mother and Child Reconnection Array, the First Grade Molten Fire Reconnection Array, the Concealment Array, and more, without a moment's hesitation.
His speed was astonishing, his fingers blurring as he poured his divine sense into the formations, layer upon layer, on the surface of the stele.
However, no matter how fast Mo Hua drew, he couldn't keep up with the rate at which the divine sense was increasing.
Just then, Mo Hua thought of the Reverse Spirit Array.
The First Grade Ten-Pattern Reverse Spirit Array was something he couldn't possibly draw in its entirety with his current level of divine sense.
But that also meant that attempting to draw it would consume a massive amount of divine sense.
Mo Hua began to recall the patterns of the Reverse Spirit Array, and then he started to draw it on the stele.
The first attempt failed.
The second attempt also ended in failure.
...
Mo Hua continued relentlessly, drawing the array over and over.
At the same time, the rate at which he was consuming the divine sense finally reached a balance with its growth.
The divine sense no longer oppressed his sea of consciousness, and the pain gradually eased.
With the pressure relieved, Mo Hua felt rejuvenated and focused his efforts on consuming the divine sense, devoting himself entirely to practicing the Reverse Spirit Array.
Again and again, Mo Hua drew the array.
One formation after another was layered on the stele, each one building upon the last, an endless cycle.
With each attempt, he drew a little more, consuming more of the divine sense and strengthening his own in the process.
Countless trickles formed a mighty river.
Finally, Mo Hua's last stroke fell, his divine sense was completely depleted, and the Reverse Spirit Array blossomed with a profound radiance.
The array patterns lit up, and the formation activated.
This meant that Mo Hua had successfully drawn the Reverse Spirit Array in its entirety.
It was a miraculous occurrence, transcending the boundaries of mortal comprehension—the First Grade Ten-Pattern Reverse Spirit Array! Through this serendipitous encounter with the divine sense within the painting, Mo Hua had managed to grasp an array that was originally beyond the reach of a first-grade formation master.
(End of Chapter)
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