Chapter 563: One Divination, One Deception
Chapter 563: One Divination, One Deception
The celestial thunder rune, erasing all existence!
With just a glance, Guidao Ren felt his entire body tremble as fear gripped his heart.
This was the fear that came from the Great Dao itself.
At the same time, the black-souled Daoist robe he wore, impervious to spells, divine senses, and formations—a robe that embodied heavenly secrets and treacherous souls—was instantly shredded by the calamitous thunder, turning to ashes before his very eyes.
"Senior Brother, I told you not to look…" Moke sighed, but his face held a mischievous smile, like that of a little fox.
"...You would turn to ashes!" Guidao Ren couldn't believe what he was seeing.
This innocent-looking, harmless little creature was actually...
A little trickster!
And not just him...
There was also his junior brother...
Guidao Ren finally understood.
His junior brother, who had feigned a look of having exhausted all schemes, his heart cold and lifeless, indifferent to the world, and accepting death...
Had, in fact, calculated everything clearly from the very beginning!
Guidao Ren was stunned. His junior brother's final words before his death once again echoed in his mind: "Senior Brother... For the sake of our brotherhood, please spare my few disciples..."
Initially, he had only felt contempt for his junior brother, who had once aspired to reach the heavens.
With his life nearing its end, instead of striving for improvement, he wanted to entrust his disciples' lives to the mercy of others.
Having already fallen into demonic ways, Guidao Ren had become cold and ruthless, and he knew that if he intended to kill, pleading would be of no use.
But now, he realized that his junior brother had most likely been well aware of all this.
Pleading would have been futile...
So, his junior brother's words were not a plea for mercy but a ploy to lure him in?
By specifically mentioning "disciples," he was actually warning me: He cared deeply for his disciples, and they held a secret...
He deliberately led me to plant demonic thoughts in his sea of consciousness, allowing me to unravel the heavenly mysteries and help his disciples overcome their bottlenecks in formation cultivation.
He even foresaw the tribulation within my divine sense! He may not have known the specifics of the tribulation, the remnant stele, or the calamitous thunder, but he must have calculated that once I entered, I would perish in his disciple's sea of consciousness!
Knowing full well that he was doomed, he played his part to the very end...
It seemed like he had calculated everything, but it was all a deception.
"So this is where the heavenly divination was leading to..." Guidao Ren's black eyes turned cold, his face bearing a mix of anger and lingering fear, but a slight curve lifted the corners of his lips...
"Even in death, he still schemes against me..." Guidao Ren murmured, his gaze then shifting to Moke.
Moke's various talents surfaced in his mind: powerful divine sense, meticulous control, refined spells, manifested formations, diligent and thoughtful, astounding comprehension, and cunning schemes...
His junior brother was gone, but there was still this little creature...
Guidao Ren's Daoist robe crumbled, his physical body disintegrating bit by bit.
He took one last look at Moke, his strange face holding a faint smile, and in a distant, shattered voice, he said, "Little Junior Brother, we will meet again..."
"Yes, we will."
Before he could finish his sentence, Guidao Ren was completely eradicated by the calamitous thunder, his demonic thoughts vanishing without a trace.
Moke furrowed his brows and released his divine sense, perceiving his sea of consciousness to confirm that the demonic thoughts planted by his "Senior Brother" had been obliterated by the calamitous thunder, shattered, and utterly destroyed. Only then did he plop down on the ground and breathe a sigh of relief.
His Senior Brother's demonic thoughts had been incredibly powerful.
This was probably the strongest divine sense Moke had ever encountered, and perhaps would encounter for a long time to come.
Despite being merely at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, the oppressive feeling was all-encompassing.
In a direct confrontation, he wouldn't stand a chance.
So, Moke had no choice but to put on an act and deceive his Senior Brother into looking at the celestial thunder rune.
This was a lesson he had learned from his "Senior Brother" himself.
At Dalisan Mountain, on Kumu Cliff, within the Wanmo Hall.
His Senior Brother had used the calamitous thunder to execute the demon right before his eyes.
Moke remembered it vividly.
"The celestial tribulation is also a weapon!"
And now, he had put that lesson into practice, using the celestial rune imbued with calamitous thunder to eradicate his Senior Brother's demonic thoughts.
"There's still a lot I can learn from Senior Brother."
Whether it was planting demonic thoughts or heavenly machinations, or the idea of using the rules of the heavens to suppress powerful enemies, Moke had benefited immensely...
He would never forget the lessons his Senior Brother had taught him through his actions.
Moke nodded solemnly.
Then he blinked and turned his gaze towards the drifting, abundant divine sense within his sea of consciousness, unconsciously licking his lips.
Although the demonic thoughts from the planted Dao heart had been eradicated by the calamitous thunder and their intent shattered, what remained was a thick and exceptionally vast divine sense of Guidao, tainted but not pure.
This Guidao divine sense was dark gray in color.
It had been tempered by the Great Dao and eradicated by the calamitous thunder, containing the variations of the treacherous path—a powerful divine sense without an owner.
Moke's eyes gleamed.
"Since Senior Brother 'gave' this to me, it's naturally mine now!"
"Senior Brother is truly kind!"
Moke felt gratitude in his heart, and his two eyes sparkled.
If he could refine this powerful Guidao divine sense, would his own divine sense be able to break through the long-standing bottleneck...?
Moke's heart stirred with excitement, and he immediately began to meditate.
He started to slowly devour those treacherous thoughts.
Since the stele had tempered them, and the calamitous thunder had eradicated them, these treacherous thoughts should be safe, and he wouldn't need to manifest a formation to incinerate them again...
The thick and vast divine sense hanging in the air permeated the surroundings.
Moke calmed his breath and focused his mind, opening his small mouth.
Strands of dark gray divine sense, carrying a hint of strangeness, were sucked into Moke's abdomen.
Moke's heart shook, and he involuntarily opened his eyes.
Within them, there seemed to be some variations of heavenly machinations and insights into the Dao of treachery...
These insights... they belonged to Senior Brother.
Although Moke didn't know what use they would be, he figured that since Senior Brother was so formidable, these insights must be extraordinary as well.
Even if they couldn't immediately grant him great enlightenment, they would definitely deepen his understanding of heavenly machinations.
Moke's heart stirred with joy, and he began to calm his mind, absorbing and refining these insights while comprehending their profound mysteries.
He slowly assimilated these ineffable and ever-changing insights, allowing them to settle in his heart and condense upon his Dao heart...
Time passed bit by bit.
The divine senses left behind by Guidao Ren were gradually being devoured by Moke.
Moke's divine sense was growing stronger with each passing moment.
His comprehension of the Dao of treachery was deepening...
Moke felt his sea of consciousness becoming "full." He felt like he had consumed too much, but he persevered, calming his mind to continue the refinement process.
This was a rare opportunity.
Senior Brother wouldn't give him gifts like this every day.
The next time Senior Brother tried something, he might not dare to accept it.
This time, the timing, location, and circumstances were just right, catching Senior Brother off guard, which led to his downfall.
Next time, he wouldn't be so lucky...
So, when it was time to feast, he must not hold back! Moke was "hungry and thirsty," constantly refining the divine senses and strengthening his own divine sense.
The endless divine senses flowed into Moke's sea of consciousness, filling the immense gap between the thirteen and fourteen spirit patterns.
After an unknown amount of time, the gap was finally bridged.
The abyss between the early and middle stages of Foundation Establishment had been completely filled!
As the heavenly chasm vanished, Moke's divine sense soared to new heights.
His sea of consciousness trembled, and his divine sense abruptly expanded, becoming even more robust.
It had finally crossed the threshold, reaching the middle stage of Foundation Establishment—
A fourteen-pattern divine sense!
...
At the same time, outside of his sea of consciousness.
The moment Moke's sea of consciousness broke through, his divine sense suddenly overflowed, causing a violent disturbance. The power of his fourteen-pattern Foundation Establishment divine sense rippled outward.
All the Feathering Realization cultivators present were startled.
"What was that just now...?"
"A Foundation Establishment divine sense?"
"Foundation Establishment... middle stage?"
They simultaneously turned their gazes toward Mo Ke, who was sheltered under the Brocade Mountain and River Parasol.
To these Feathering cultivators, the power of a Foundation Establishment divine sense wasn't particularly impressive, one might even say... insignificant...
However, it also depended on who was emitting that divine sense...
"The divine sense fluctuation just now... was it from that little monk?"
A Feathering cultivator murmured in disbelief.
"I think so..."
The others weren't entirely sure.
If they said it wasn't, with so many Feathering cultivators present, there was no room for error.
But if they said it was...
A middle-stage Foundation Establishment divine sense...
They glanced at the tiny Moke once more.
Was this the strength of divine sense one would expect from someone his age, cultivation level, and tier?
Even Bai Qingcheng was astonished, her eyes wide with surprise, and her expression dazed for a moment.
As for Shi Tu, his face turned grave.
The divine sense fluctuation just now was undoubtedly that of the Foundation Establishment stage.
But when the fluctuation dissipated, Shi Tu probed again with his divine sense, only to find that Mo Ke was shrouded in mist, chaos, and strangeness, making it impossible to perceive anything.
Obviously, something or someone was obscuring his qi and causal laws.
If it were Mr. Zhuang, that would be fine, but if it were... Guidao Ren...
Shi Tu's expression turned solemn, his eyes narrowing.
There was no reason for a divine sense fluctuation to occur out of thin air.
Unless something abnormal had happened within the little monk's sea of consciousness.
Now that he was afflicted with the Demon Heart Imprint, the only abnormality could be...
"Could it be that Guidao Ren devoured this child's divine sense?!"
Shi Tu's heart sank as he realized the gravity of the situation.
Just then, Moke began to stir.
He clutched his head, his face contorting with pain, discomfort, and confusion...
Everyone was taken aback, their expressions changing drastically as they prepared for battle! Guidao Ren... was awake?
Some drew their blades, others unsheathed their swords, and a few even summoned their magical treasures...
But in that moment, intimidated by Guidao Ren's aura and fearful of the unpredictability of the Demon Heart Imprint, none dared to make the first move.
The room fell silent, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
Under the Brocade Mountain and River Parasol, Moke's pupils remained pitch-black.
In full view of everyone, he shook his head, recovering some of his divine sense before raising his small hand to rub his eyes.
When he opened them again,
The blackness in his eyes gradually faded, revealing clear and lucid eyes once more.
Everyone froze.
"What...?"
"What's going on?"
The Demon Heart Imprint was supposed to be fatal, with mild cases resulting in loss of sanity and severe cases leading to the destruction of both body and mind, leaving no place for burial.
How could he be unscathed? Shi Tu stared at Moke's eyes, noticing their clarity, the distinct separation of black and white, their purity, liveliness, and cunning. He couldn't help but draw in a cold breath.
"How... is this possible...?"
"Can the Demon Heart Imprint heal itself...?"
This was truly unheard of! Shi Tu's heart trembled.
Who exactly was this little monk?
Shi Tu's gaze flickered with unease and confusion before landing on Moke again, only to see something amiss.
Moke's face remained innocent and pure.
However, his eyes were deep, half clear and half mysterious, the two aspects blending harmoniously.
One true, one false, a natural fusion...
(End of Chapter)
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