Chapter 455: Unveiling the Diagram
Chapter 455: Unveiling the Diagram
After Mo Hua left, Kui Lao slowly reappeared in the quiet room and glanced at the indifferent Mr. Zhuang with a hint of displeasure in his eyes.
"Why do you always teach him such treacherous things?" he asked.
Mr. Zhuang raised an eyebrow, "Treacherous? That's right. It's better to be treacherous yourself than to have your enemies be treacherous."
Kui Lao frowned, his mind stirring with thoughts, "This child, Mo Hua... If he continues down this path, I'm afraid I won't be able to understand him anymore."
Transcendent spiritual sense, ruthless divine thought, innate talent, and array manifestation... Just thinking about it made Kui Lao feel a sense of foreboding. He couldn't decide if cultivating spiritual sense in this manner was a good thing or not.
Suddenly, Kui Lao thought of something that made his heart twitch. In a solemn tone, he asked, "Aren't you afraid that he will follow in your elder brother's footsteps and become the second Guidaoren?"
Mr. Zhuang fell silent, his eyes clouded with a hint of gloom. After a long while, he slowly replied, "Who can predict the future?"
"A cultivator's lifespan is long, and so is their journey."
"In this long life, one will encounter many people and face numerous choices. Whether he can remain true to his original heart and steadfast in his Dao-heart depends on him. I... I cannot accompany him for that long."
Mr. Zhuang's expression turned melancholy as he sighed, "He is my little disciple."
"All I hope for is that he lives well, continues to cultivate, studies arrays, and stays true to his heart, pursuing the Dao of Heaven..."
"As long as he lives..."
"Even if he becomes the second 'Guidaoren', it's better than becoming a 'Daoist' corrupted by Guidaoren's tricks, having his spiritual sense obliterated and turned into a puppet."
Becoming the second Guidaoren at least meant that he was still alive.
But if he became a "Daoist," he would have fallen victim to Guidaoren's sinister schemes, his spiritual sense erased, and his body turned into a lifeless puppet.
Kui Lao understood, and silence filled the room.
After a moment, he sighed and gradually faded from view.
...
Mo Hua, on the other hand, returned to his room and began to learn about spiritual sense manifestation.
His room was not large, but it was well-appointed, exquisite, and elegant, situated next to the rooms of his senior martial brothers and sisters, with a similar layout.
Mo Hua sat cross-legged on the bed and carefully read through the "Divine Thought Manifestation Key" given to him by Mr. Zhuang, gaining a general understanding of the technique.
The key to manifestation, it turned out, was visualization.
First, one had to observe and understand external objects through visualization and then, within the sea of consciousness, use spiritual sense to manifest their form.
Having grasped the basic technique, Mo Hua began to attempt manifestation.
He tried to manifest other people first but found that he couldn't.
No matter if it was his parents, Mr. Zhuang, his junior martial brothers and sisters, the Elder Yu from Tongxian City, or Dahu and Dazhu, he couldn't manifest their forms.
It seemed that people were out of the question...
No, it was people other than himself that he couldn't manifest.
At least not at the moment.
If he couldn't manifest people, what about beasts?
Mo Hua thought of the little cat demon he had caught and how it had later transformed into a large tiger. However, he still couldn't manifest it.
Mo Hua then thought of Fengwei... but quickly dismissed the idea.
If he couldn't manifest the little cat demon, there was no point in trying with a powerful demon beast.
If beast manifestation didn't work, what about spiritual beasts? Mo Hua thought of Daba.
He tried, but Daba's form remained elusive.
Mo Hua sighed. It seemed that, for the time being, he could only manifest inanimate objects.
He tried to manifest the bench, table, screen, array brush, array paper, teacup, and other objects in the room, but to no avail.
It was probably because he wasn't familiar enough with them.
After some thought, Mo Hua decided to manifest the Thousand Jun Rod.
He was very familiar with the Thousand Jun Rod, having watched its forging process and painted the arrays on it himself. He had also used it to deliver countless covert blows.
Mo Hua took out the Thousand Jun Rod, stared at it intently, and carefully studied its shape, structure, and arrays, committing them to memory.
Then, he closed his eyes and sank into his sea of consciousness, attempting to manifest the Thousand Jun Rod.
After a while, a shadowy rod appeared in Mo Hua's hand.
Mo Hua was overjoyed.
Although it was just a shadow, it was a clear sign of progress.
Now he could strike people covertly within his sea of consciousness.
Mo Hua waved the shadowy rod a few times, practicing the "Sweep a Thousand Troops" and "Weight of a Thousand Jun" techniques, and found that they were even more effortless than when he used the actual rod.
Mo Hua played with the manifestation for a while before reluctantly putting away the "Thousand Jun Rod."
Over the course of the day, he had tried to manifest various objects and people, and the only thing he could manifest a vague semblance of was the "Thousand Jun Rod."
The next step was to attempt to manifest his own spiritual power, spells, and arrays.
Mo Hua started by trying to manifest his spiritual power.
He visualized his body, simulating the flow of his meridians, and soon felt a mysterious aura flowing within him.
Mo Hua's spirit was uplifted, and he focused his attention, further visualizing and manifesting his spiritual power.
Several hours later, within his sea of consciousness, Mo Hua opened his eyes to find his body enveloped in a faint aura of spiritual power.
This spiritual power wasn't actually spiritual power per se.
It was a manifestation of his spiritual sense.
On the surface, it appeared as spiritual power, but in essence, it was still spiritual sense.
Although it was spiritual sense, its effects were almost identical to spiritual power.
It was as if it were both real and illusory, substantial and insubstantial.
It evoked a sense of seeing the mountain as a mountain, then not seeing the mountain as a mountain, and yet, it was still the mountain.
Spiritual power was the foundation of spells.
After manifesting spiritual power, Mo Hua began to try to use it to simulate spells.
Through his spiritual sense manifestation, he could see through his skin a faint blue spiritual power flowing along his meridians from his dantian to his arms, gathering at his fingers, and finally forming a spell.
However, the fireball spell he created flickered a few times before extinguishing.
His first attempt had failed.
But Mo Hua was not discouraged.
He tried several more times, improving with each attempt.
After countless repetitions, Mo Hua found that his spiritual sense had been exhausted.
With his spiritual sense depleted, there was no spiritual power, and thus, he couldn't use spells anymore.
Mo Hua meditated to restore his spiritual sense and then continued practicing.
For two days, he practiced tirelessly, forgetting to eat or sleep, until finally, he successfully cast his first fireball spell.
It wasn't very powerful, just an ordinary fireball spell.
But its significance was profound.
He could finally use spells within his sea of consciousness!
Now, if any sinister thoughts or evil spirits invaded his sea of consciousness, he had a basic means of offense.
Mo Hua's spirit was greatly lifted.
After that, he practiced the Water Prison Spell, the Flowing Water Step, and the Concealment Spell.
The Flowing Water Step proved to be effective.
However, it was hard to tell with the Concealment Spell since he couldn't perceive himself within his sea of consciousness to know if he had truly concealed himself. He would have to wait for an opportunity to test it.
Having manifested these spells, Mo Hua's heart was finally at ease.
Now, if he encountered danger, he had offensive options at his disposal.
The next step was to manifest arrays.
The pale blue spiritual power flowed on its own, winding and twisting on the ground of his sea of consciousness to form the array.
However, after drawing just three lines, he made a mistake.
Mo Hua's spiritual sense wavered, and he failed to control the trajectory of the spiritual power, causing the array to fail.
"Purely controlling spiritual power with spiritual sense does seem rather difficult..."
Mo Hua frowned and muttered.
He knew how to draw the array, but his spiritual sense just couldn't control the spiritual power to flow and condense according to his will.
Mo Hua tried a few more times, but with little progress.
Moreover, drawing the array this way was also very slow.
Mo Hua furrowed his brows.
This didn't quite match what Mr. Zhuang had said...
Did he miss something?
Mo Hua connected the key points before and after, reviewing them in his mind.
The Heaven's Derivative Technique, the Spirit Pivot Array, spiritual sense derivation...
Could it be the Spirit Pivot Array?
Mo Hua recalled Mr. Zhuang's words:
"The Spirit Pivot Array is about control, but control is just the surface. The essence of the Spirit Pivot Array is to analyze the structure of spiritual power."
Controlling corpses and objects might just be superficial applications.
Its essence lies in understanding the structure of spiritual power.
Mo Hua decided not to focus on using his spiritual sense to control spiritual power to draw the array.
Instead, he calmed his mind and contemplated the Spirit Pivot Array, using his spiritual sense to perceive the essence of spiritual power.
After a cup of tea's time, Mo Hua's heart trembled, and his mind suddenly understood.
He noticed a change in his spiritual power.
The spiritual power manifested by his spiritual sense had become more refined, as thin as a silken thread.
These threads of spiritual power were the finer constituents of the structure of spiritual power.
Moreover, these threads seemed to resonate with his spiritual sense, merging as one.
As his mind moved, so did his spiritual power, as if they were extensions of his body, acting in perfect harmony.
Controlling the threads of spiritual power with his spiritual sense became as natural as breathing.
Mo Hua was shocked.
He had just realized the profound principles contained within the Spirit Pivot Array.
Although he had learned the Spirit Pivot Array before and had even applied it, he had never deeply comprehended the mysteries within.
No wonder it was the Little Spirit Seclusion Sect...
No, perhaps it should be said that it was the closely guarded secret of the Great Spirit Seclusion Sect in the past...
Using such an array for corpse control was truly a waste of its potential.
Mo Hua couldn't help but feel a sense of regret.
Afterward, he tried again to control spiritual power with his spiritual sense, transforming the spiritual power into threads, and then using the threads to draw the array.
This time, the flow of spiritual power became much more flexible, precise, and swift.
With a mere thought, in just a few breaths, the threads of spiritual power condensed on the ground, forming a Seven-Line Earthfire Array!
Without brush or ink, with just a thought, the array lines formed, creating the array.
It was both fast and convenient.
From now on, his sea of consciousness would appear devoid of arrays, but with just a thought, arrays could appear anywhere!
Mo Hua was so astonished that he was left speechless.
This was a bit too powerful.
Although it was just a seven-line array, the speed at which he could draw the array was truly astonishing.
Soon after, Mo Hua felt a sense of regret.
This method could only be used within his sea of consciousness and not outside of it.
"I wonder if there will come a day when I can also instantly form arrays outside of my sea of consciousness, relying solely on the power of my thoughts..."
Mo Hua couldn't help but indulge in such aspirations.
Of course, for now, he could only dream...
Having mastered the methods of manifesting spells and arrays, all that was left was to continuously practice and improve.
The power of the fireball spell was still insufficient and needed more practice.
As for arrays, while he could draw the seven-line array quickly, it became much slower with more complex eight or nine-line arrays.
Mo Hua decided to find some first-grade nine-line arrays to practice within his sea of consciousness.
Forgetting to eat or sleep, he practiced tirelessly for a week or two, and Mo Hua's mental attacks finally achieved some minor success.
The next step was to test his newfound skills.
Mo Hua took out the ancestral master painting of the Zhang family.
As a precaution, Mo Hua also called upon Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to protect him.
"Little Senior Brother, Little Senior Sister, you must not look at this painting!"
"No matter what sounds you hear, do not believe them!"
Mo Hua instructed them first, and then continued, "After I sneak a glance, I will close the painting..."
"If everything remains normal, you don't need to do anything."
"If I stare at the painting in a daze and don't close it, help me close it and then throw it to the ground and stomp on it a few times."
"If my expression changes drastically while looking at the painting, knock me unconscious and then go get Master."
"If there are any abnormalities with the painting or if something tries to come out, burn it immediately and scatter the ashes!"
...
Mo Hua considered various possibilities and gave clear instructions.
Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi were a little confused but nodded in agreement.
After making all the necessary preparations, Mo Hua unfolded the ancestral master painting of the Zhang family.
As he opened the painting, Mo Hua's gaze flicked across it like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water.
In that brief moment, he took in the entire painting.
It was a group portrait depicting the ancestral master teaching his disciples.
A solemn, ancient tower stood tall, with fragrant incense curling upward.
Seated in the center was an elderly man with white hair and a dignified, revered appearance, imparting his teachings.
Below him were rows upon rows of disciples, seated according to their seniority.
They all wore white robes and sat with respectful and dignified postures.
It was a solemn scene of the ancestral master imparting his wisdom.
However, in that same instant, the scene within the painting suddenly changed.
The people in the painting seemed to come to life.
Mo Hua heard the voice of an old man whispering temptingly:
"You are gifted with exceptional talent..."
"You possess an extraordinary root bone..."
"Join me, and I will help you attain the Dao..."
"Join me, and I will help you become immortal..."
"Join me..."
...
At the same time, the disciples seated below the old man turned their heads simultaneously and looked toward Mo Hua.
Their faces were like zombies.
Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat.
Was this Zhang family ancestor teaching zombies, or had the entire Zhang family become zombies?
Before he could figure it out, the zombie disciple seated farthest from the ancestral master suddenly revealed a vicious expression, leaped from his seat, and pounced toward Mo Hua's mind's eye, drilling into his sea of consciousness.
Mo Hua's gaze flickered with a momentary lapse in focus, but it quickly brightened again.
Just as the other zombies were baring their fangs, about to invade his sea of consciousness.
Mo Hua's eyes and hands moved swiftly, and he closed the painting.
Trapping the group of zombies within the painting.
And confining one zombie within his sea of consciousness.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
