Chapter 437: Disdain
Chapter 437: Disdain
When in doubt, it's better to ask Master Zhuang instead of pretending to know.
Mo Hua then ran to the bamboo room to see Master Zhuang.
Master Zhuang sat in a bamboo chair, sipping tea and enjoying the breeze blowing through the room, his eyes half-lidded in contentment.
Mo Hua waited outside for a while, then suddenly looked up and, seeing that Master Zhuang was looking at him, his eyes lit up. He ran up to him and handed over the formation he had reconstructed, asking, "Master, can I learn this formation?"
Without even glancing at it, Master Zhuang nodded and said, "Yes."
Mo Hua was slightly taken aback. "But isn't this an evil formation?"
Master Zhuang's gaze deepened as he asked, "Do you know the difference between an evil formation and a regular one?"
Mo Hua furrowed his brows in thought, then honestly shook his head. He hadn't studied evil formations and had only briefly seen a few of their patterns; he wasn't clear on the distinction between the two.
It was better to admit ignorance than pretend to know.
"What about their similarities, then?" Master Zhuang asked.
Mo Hua pondered for a moment before cautiously replying, "Whether it's a proper formation or an evil one, the basic framework is the same. They both consist of a medium, eye, pivot, and patterns..."
"It's just that the specific makeup of evil formations is different; they're more bizarre and employ bloody and cruel methods."
Master Zhuang nodded slightly in approval. "Indeed."
He then picked up the reconstructed twelve-patterned supreme formation that Mo Hua had presented to him, and his eyes glinted with appreciation as he explained, "So, aside from the medium of bones, the patterns of blood, and the eye of human hearts, the rest of this formation's principles are indeed manifestations of the Dao and fall within the scope of regular formations. In other words..."
Master Zhuang paused, looking at Mo Hua.
Mo Hua's eyes gradually lit up, and he continued, "In other words, this is actually a proper supreme formation, just drawn using bizarre and evil methods?"
"Precisely," Master Zhuang said with satisfaction.
Mo Hua frowned again. "If it's a proper supreme formation, why not use it properly? Why resort to these demonic and heretical methods?"
Master Zhuang's gaze turned enigmatic as he replied, "Because he couldn't draw it properly..."
Mo Hua was taken aback once more.
After a moment of silence, Master Zhuang sighed and said, "Walking the righteous path is indeed difficult..."
"Among those in the world who are called righteous cultivators, while there are those who seek fame and put on a facade of righteousness, there are also those with truly upright and steadfast hearts."
"These cultivators possess hearts, methods, and breadth of mind far surpassing ordinary people, and their efforts, tempering, hardships endured, and criticisms faced are likewise extraordinary."
"The same is true for formations."
"The deeper you delve into the righteous path of formations, the harder it becomes to learn. Even if you put in ten times the effort, the results you see may only be one or two-tenths of your expectations."
"So, many cultivators start looking for shortcuts."
"And that shortcut is evil formations."
"If your spiritual sense is lacking, you blindly borrow the divine thoughts of others without discernment or refinement."
"If your mastery of formations is insufficient, you draw them on human skin, which has an affinity for spiritual power, to reduce the difficulty."
"If you haven't deeply understood the pivot of a formation, you use human blood as ink and human hearts as the eye, forcibly stimulating the flow of the formation's power..."
"These so-called evil formations follow the same principles as regular formations."
"It's just that some cultivators don't want to think, learn, practice, or contemplate, so they resort to clever tricks, using human lives and flesh as the framework and core of formations to create something they originally couldn't."
After finishing his explanation, Master Zhuang looked at Mo Hua, his tone earnest as he said, "That's why I didn't teach you the principles of evil formations before. I wanted you to be patient in learning formations, to practice repeatedly without impatience or seeking shortcuts."
"You have excellent talent and high comprehension, and once you start down the path of evil formations, your progress might be astonishingly rapid."
"But once you taste that sweetness, you won't want to put in the hard work of practicing formations anymore, and you won't be able to glimpse the true Dao."
"Learning evil formations is like forcing growth—it won't last."
"In front of a true master of the Dao of Formations, these so-called evil formation masters are nothing but petty tricksters..."
"These evil formations are merely tainted by blood and filth, superficial imitations. Evil cannot overcome righteousness; they are easily crushed!"
Master Zhuang's gaze sharpened, and his entire being seemed to transform into a concealed celestial sword, exuding an astonishing aura.
"Remember this," he said. "We cultivators don't delve into demonic and heretical paths, not because we can't, but because we disdain to do so!"
Mo Hua's heart and mind were deeply shaken, and he felt immense admiration.
Not entering the demonic path, not because we can't, but because we disdain to do so!
Master Zhuang's words resonated deeply within him.
It was as if someone had inscribed those words upon his heart with a sword.
Mo Hua's gaze gradually firmed, and his expression became resolute.
Looking at the evil formation in his hand, he felt a sense of peace wash over him. Even though it was a demonic and heretical formation filled with bizarre and evil elements, his heart was calm, free from worry.
"Disciple understands!" Mo Hua said, his young face serious as he nodded.
In the following days, Mo Hua began to study this supreme formation.
He took its principles and discarded the dregs.
He focused only on the formation's most fundamental essence, ignoring the human skin patterns, the fleshly pivot, and the heart eye, all of which were clever but demonic tricks.
By doing so, the difficulty of the formation increased tenfold.
A twelve-patterned formation was something Mo Hua's spiritual sense could barely handle.
And spiritual sense was just the beginning.
With this level of spiritual sense, he would also need to practice the formation's patterns, analyze its structure, and comprehend its principles, all of which would require a lot of time and practice.
As the Dao Stele had not yet fully recovered, Mo Hua could only rely on his own abilities, taking more time and expending more mental energy as he practiced and comprehended the formation bit by bit.
He kept Master Zhuang's teachings in mind, maintaining a calm and patient demeanor despite his slow progress.
Cultivation emphasized the power of perseverance, akin to water droplets gradually penetrating stone.
This was especially true when practicing formations.
Each practice session was like a drop of water, and every moment of reflection was like a raindrop falling on stone.
As long as one persevered, the droplets would eventually penetrate the stone.
The principles of the formation would be unveiled, and the formation itself would be thoroughly understood and mastered.
After days of such contemplation, Mo Hua gradually grasped the essence of the formation, which appeared to be a "Refine Corpse" evil formation on the surface.
However, his understanding was not yet profound; it was vague, as if veiled by a layer of mist, obscuring a clear view.
"It seems I need to practice and ponder more to gain deeper insight..."
Mo Hua sighed inwardly.
Just as he thought he would need more time, his sea of consciousness trembled, and the Dao Stele began to stir, slowly recovering.
Mo Hua's heart leaped with joy, and he quickly immersed his spiritual sense into his sea of consciousness.
The grayish color on the Dao Stele gradually faded, and the ancient and profound aura it exuded became more robust.
Mo Hua tested it by drawing a few formations and found that the Dao Stele was functional again, although its performance was still not as good as before.
After drawing and erasing the formations, he could only retrieve half of his spiritual sense.
Mo Hua felt a twinge of regret.
It seemed that the Dao Stele had not fully recovered yet.
Nevertheless, it was still usable, which was better than nothing.
Mo Hua caressed the Dao Stele and said gently, "I won't put you through that again."
The Dao Stele remained as silent as ever, almost as if it was sulking and not accepting Mo Hua's apology.
Even with the partially recovered Dao Stele, Mo Hua's daily practice sessions with the supreme formation doubled or tripled.
His comprehension of the formation also accelerated.
After a few more days, Mo Hua was finally able to draw the supreme formation.
Within the formation, spiritual power transformed into fine strands, drifting independently yet resonating and converging with each other...
However, at the same time, Mo Hua frowned.
Something was amiss...
"This supreme formation... it's incomplete..."
Or, to be more precise, it was only a part of the entire supreme formation.
Mo Hua had drawn it, but he still felt that something was missing. The spiritual power could flow and undergo special changes, but it felt disjointed, as if it was a discarded fragment.
"How can it be incomplete?"
Mo Hua was perplexed.
The formation eye, pivot, and patterns all seemed intact.
Moreover, what effect did this formation have?
The spiritual power within the formation was further divided into finer strands, like silk threads twisted together, each with its unique flow.
It was fascinating yet perplexing...
What purpose did this formation serve when drawn on a zombie's heart meridian?
Mo Hua couldn't quite figure it out, so he decided to seek the opinions of Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi.
Bai Zixi furrowed her brows slightly and said, "Perhaps it's for controlling corpses..."
"Controlling corpses?"
Mo Hua asked, "Don't corpse refiners have their own methods of controlling corpses? Why would they need to use a supreme formation?"
If one had to rely on a supreme formation to control corpses, there wouldn't be many corpse refiners in the world, and even fewer cultivators capable of corpse refining.
After all, cultivators who could master supreme formations were extremely rare.
On the other hand, corpse refining was a relatively prominent sect within the demonic path.
Corpse refiners were not uncommon among the cultivators of the demonic path.
Bai Zixi thought for a moment before replying, "Controlling a single corpse is easy, but the number of corpses is the issue."
"Number?" Mo Hua was slightly taken aback.
But Bai Zisheng nodded in agreement. "That's right. Generally, corpse refiners can control only a handful of zombies. It's strange that Zhang Quan can control so many zombies with such ease. He might have refined even more zombies, which is not right..."
Mo Hua's eyes widened as he understood.
If a corpse refiner could control so many zombies, their "sea of corpses" tactic would make them virtually unbeatable by cultivators of the same level.
It seemed too powerful.
Bai Zixi explained, "Usually, corpse refiners control a small number of corpses, ranging from a few to a dozen or so. It's impossible to control as many as several dozen."
Mo Hua's eyes narrowed slightly.
In that case, Zhang Quan was likely relying on the supreme formation to control such a large number of zombies.
Where was the other part of the formation? Mo Hua pondered for a moment, and his eyes lit up. "The copper bell?"
Bai Zixi and Bai Zisheng nodded slightly.
If the supreme formation was incomplete, it was highly likely that the other part of the formation was inscribed on the copper bell that Zhang Quan used to control the corpses.
As for the principles of this formation, they would have to wait until Mo Hua found the complete formation and studied it to understand it fully.
"It seems we still need to find Zhang Quan..."
Mo Hua nodded, murmuring to himself.
At the same time, he had another question.
Was this supreme formation for controlling corpses, with its twelve patterns in the first tier, the same as... the Spirit Pivot Formation of Lingyin Sect?
Mo Hua frowned, thinking carefully.
First-tier twelve-pattern formations that exceeded the limit were extremely rare.
It was unlikely that a small border state like this would coincidentally have two first-tier twelve-pattern supreme formations.
Moreover, the Spirit Pivot Formation—with "spirit" and "pivot" in its name—seemed to fit the effect of controlling corpses.
If this formation was indeed the Spirit Pivot Formation, who had drawn it?
Who could master a supreme formation and draw it for Zhang Quan to control corpses?
Could it be the traitor from Lingyin Sect?
Or... was it Yan Jiaoxi?
Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat, and his expression became complex.
(End of Chapter)
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