Chapter 765: Control
Chapter 765: Control
The Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Formation is a second-grade formation with seventeen patterns.
The Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Composite Formation is a second-grade composite formation with eighteen patterns.
Mo Hua's divine sense was just at the peak of seventeen patterns, a hair's breadth away from eighteen.
Technically, even a tiny gap is still a gap.
Without an eighteen-pattern divine sense, one couldn't learn an eighteen-pattern composite formation.
But Mo Hua was a special case.
His divine sense had undergone a qualitative change, and with a solid foundation, his daily practice of drawing formations had honed his spiritual will. Thus, he could occasionally surpass his limits and learn formations that were originally beyond his capability.
Moreover, the Primordial Magnetic Composite Formation in the Demon Beast Valley had a foundation.
They had built it first and then destroyed it.
As long as he could rebuild upon the existing foundation and perfect it according to his needs, it would be fine.
The first issue was the formation core.
For large-scale integrated formations like grand formations and composite formations, the core was crucial.
The formation core determined the layout, structure, system, and spiritual power flow of the formation.
Controlling the formation core meant controlling the overall structure of the composite formation.
"Let's first find the core..."
Based on several discarded Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Formations, Mo Hua deduced in reverse, using the pattern layout to infer the flow of spiritual power.
Following the spiritual power flow in his mind, Mo Hua's gaze wandered along the stone wall until he finally found a seal in a corner.
Mo Hua pointed with his finger, and the spiritual ink, controlled by his divine sense, condensed into silk threads that crawled up to the corner and formed the Stone-Dissolving Formation.
The Stone-Dissolving Formation was an Eight Trigrams formation of the Gen series, capable of silently dissolving rocks.
The rocks dissolved, turning into powder that fell in a rustling heap, revealing a passage inside.
This passage had been specially excavated to serve as the formation core of the Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Composite Formation, ensuring its connectivity and reach into every corner of the Myriad Demon Prison.
With the Primordial Magnetic Composite Formation abandoned, this passage had also been concealed.
Ordinary cultivators who weren't formation masters or those formation masters who weren't proficient in Primordial Magnetic Formations and unfamiliar with cultivation architecture and composite formation structures wouldn't be able to discover these things.
But it was clear that they couldn't hide it from Mo Hua.
Mo Hua thought for a moment before slowly crawling into the formation core passage.
The Demon Beast Valley was vast.
Thus, the Primordial Magnetic Composite Formation built to monitor the entire valley would also be massive, and the formation core passage would be relatively wide.
A demon cultivator definitely couldn't squeeze into this passage.
But Mo Hua could.
Although he had grown a bit and was now a young boy, he was still weak and slender, which made it convenient for him to squeeze into such passages.
The passage was narrow, gloomy, and had a foul smell, with lots of dust.
Mo Hua's body soon became dirty as he crawled along the passage.
Even his fair face was smeared with dirt.
But he didn't mind.
After crawling for a while, Mo Hua took out some paper and a brush to record the direction and layout of the formation core, and then he simulated the formation's structure around the entire Myriad Demon Prison in his mind.
Then, based on the layout in his mind, he continued to explore forward bit by bit.
Whenever he encountered a passage blocked by soil and stones, he would draw the Stone-Dissolving Formation to slowly clear the way.
Mo Hua ventured deeper and deeper...
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, a spacious passage where one could almost walk upright appeared before him.
Inside were countless intricate Primordial Magnetic Formation patterns.
This was almost the central hub of the Primordial Magnetic Flow.
Mo Hua's spirits lifted.
"Found it!"
Formation Core Chamber.
The heart of the Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Composite Formation, where all formation cores were summarized and controlled.
However, this chamber was completely sealed off.
Not only was it filled with soil and rocks, but it was also reinforced with several layers of formations.
Mo Hua sighed softly.
"This will take some effort..."
However, he had examined the formations, and they didn't seem too difficult. The soil and rocks could also be slowly eroded using the "Stone-Dissolving Formation."
It would just take some time and patience.
Formation masters were never lacking in meticulousness and patience.
Mo Hua took out the Grand Preceptor's Token and sent another celestial stem-terrestrial branch combination, "Ding Mao," to Elder Xuan. After receiving a reply, he calmed himself and began to slowly unravel the formations and break through the walls...
In the pitch-black passage, Mo Hua's expression was focused, and his eyes shone brightly.
After more than a watch's time, the formations before him flashed, stone chips flew, and the sealing wall crumbled like paper.
Mo Hua covered his mouth and nose, his body once again covered in dust.
When the dust settled, Mo Hua opened his eyes and saw a chamber filled with formations—strange yet somewhat familiar.
It was strange because he had never been to this chamber before.
It was familiar because he had seen this kind of chamber layout before.
In the Devilish Mountain's Demon Grotto, the "Primordial Master's" formation core chamber was almost identical to this one.
This should be the work of the same person.
At the very least, it belonged to the same category of construction.
Now, Mo Hua could also roughly confirm that this Demon Beast Valley was one of the lairs of the Evil God's minions.
"I wonder why they set up an entire set of Primordial Magnetic Composite Formations for surveillance, only to abandon it completely..."
Mo Hua shook his head and jumped into the formation core chamber.
The chamber was dark and gloomy, covered in dust.
The core formation and all the other formations inside had been deactivated.
The door leading to the outside world was also sealed more tightly, as if they intended to permanently seal this formation core chamber, never to be entered again.
Mo Hua felt relieved.
Fortunately, he had entered from the formation core passage; otherwise, he might never have gotten in through the front door.
Now, everything was ready.
The basic framework of the Primordial Magnetic Formation core had already been set up by others.
He just needed to rebuild it bit by bit.
Mo Hua took out some spirit stones, ground them into powder, and injected pure spiritual power into the formation core to stimulate the circulation.
The formation core lit up for a moment before dimming again.
Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, it can still be used..."
He sat there, pondering for a moment, and gradually came up with a plan.
This formation core was too large, even bigger than the one in the Devilish Mountain's Demon Grotto.
With his solitary power, he couldn't possibly rebuild it all under the eyes of the demon cultivators.
Since that was the case, he could only activate it on a small scale, one part at a time.
Mo Hua took out the formation map of the Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Composite Formation from his storage bag and "reviewed" it once more before beginning to activate the master control formation core in the chamber.
"Success!" Mo Hua exclaimed, his dirty face breaking into a bright smile. This hands-on experience with the formation had deepened his understanding.
"Now for the next one!" he continued, determined to bring more of the abandoned spirit-sight formations back online. He wanted to expand his surveillance, bringing a larger portion of the Myriad Demon Prison under his watchful eye.
It was like a game of monitoring and control, and Mo Hua found himself increasingly engrossed, almost forgetting the dangers that lurked within the valley—the bloodthirsty demon beasts and the cunning demon cultivators.
After reactivating close to twenty spirit-sight formations, covering almost half of the Myriad Demon Prison, Mo Hua reluctantly decided to call it quits. He was exhausted, his spiritual sense and spiritual power depleted, and his physical energy flagging.
"I might be the first formation master to run out of spiritual power before spiritual sense," he mused to himself.
Sending another celestial stem-terrestrial branch combination to Elder Xuan, Mo Hua informed him of his plans to get some rest. "Elder, I'm feeling sleepy. I'll take a break for three to four hours... I'll message you again afterward..."
Outside the Vast Demon Beast Valley, Xun Ziyu anxiously awaited news from Mo Hua, her heart filled with worry as she gazed upon the blood-colored valley. "How can he be so carefree? He's in the middle of the Myriad Demon Prison!" she fretted. "At his age, with his cultivation at the Qi Refining stage, and in his precarious situation, how can he even think of sleeping?!"
Xun Ziyu sighed deeply, feeling helpless in the face of Mo Hua's nonchalance.
As Mo Hua slept soundly within the valley, unaware of the passing time, he couldn't enter his sea of consciousness to practice formations at the Dao Monument. Upon waking, he felt refreshed, his spiritual sense, spiritual power, and physical energy fully restored.
Inspecting the primordial magnetic composite formation with satisfaction, Mo Hua acknowledged the valuable lessons he had learned during the reactivation process. It had been a fruitful endeavor.
With the initial setup complete, it was time to move on to the next step. "But... what should I do now?" he wondered, momentarily stumped. There were many things he wanted to accomplish, but his current capabilities and lack of familiarity with the valley limited his options.
"Know yourself, know your enemy, a hundred battles, a hundred victories," he mused, deciding to bide his time. "First, I'll observe and learn more about these demon cultivators and their daily activities before deciding on my next move."
Sending a polite greeting to Elder Xuan via the Grand Preceptor's Token, Mo Hua settled in to monitor the demon cultivators' activities through the spirit-sight formations.
But after observing for a while, he gradually began to understand its intricacies.
After briefly glancing at over twenty yuan magnetic spirit-sight diagrams, he could immediately discern what was happening in the corresponding spirit-sight image and the events transpiring within.
Thus, Mo Hua indulged in "spying" for most of the day, eventually discovering an unusual trace.
This was a demon cultivator.
Within the yuan magnetic spirit-sight formation, he could only see a blurry yuan magnetic image of the demon cultivator and not his facial features, but he could vaguely discern that the figure was tall and distinct from the other demon cultivators.
The other demon cultivators were either patrolling, guarding the prison cells, excavating caves, or feeding the demon beasts; they all had their tasks.
This particular demon cultivator, however, did nothing and seemed to be a "leader" of sorts.
Moreover, his aura felt familiar to Mo Hua.
Mo Hua guessed that he was the same demon cultivator "manager" who had severed the little fingers of Xiao Muxu and the other two, and who had looked fierce and formidable.
As far as Mo Hua could monitor, there seemed to be only this one "manager" in the vicinity.
"Manager..."
Intrigued, Mo Hua quietly fixed his gaze on this manager.
He spent some time observing and deducing the manager's daily routine, and based on this information, he further refined the nearby yuan magnetic spirit-sight formation.
With that, every move of the manager came under his "surveillance."
However, the yuan magnetic spirit-sight formation could only provide visual information and not audio.
Mo Hua, therefore, chose corresponding formation nodes within the interconnected formation hub and stealthily positioned himself nearby, hoping to eavesdrop on any conversations.
But these demon cultivators were abnormal, to say the least.
Having cultivated demonic arts, they constantly faced the issue of demonization, which could occur both voluntarily and involuntarily.
Their spiritual sense was also continuously affected.
Their humanity gradually eroded, giving way to their demonic nature.
Consequently, they couldn't communicate normally.
Sometimes, in the middle of a conversation, they would start to coldly smile, drool, bite each other, or even go into a frenzy for no apparent reason.
This demon cultivator manager, being in a position of authority, considered himself superior.
Most of his utterances were commands, and he rarely provided explanations.
Eavesdropping from the side, Mo Hua managed to gather some information, but it wasn't extensive or crucial to his advantage.
However, after observing for a long time, Mo Hua found himself plagued by another question: How exactly did this demon cultivator manager "manage" the others?
These demon cultivators were erratic and unruly.
When they weren't in a frenzy, they would behave themselves and follow orders.
But once their madness took over, their rationality diminished, and their demonic nature took control—how could they possibly "obey" then? It would be impressive if they didn't wreak havoc.
Putting himself in their shoes, Mo Hua thought, "If I were a demon cultivator, why would I tolerate such treatment and willingly submit to someone else's control? I'd unleash my feral nature, kill whoever I wanted, and eat whoever I fancied.
Death be damned."
"These demon cultivators have clearly lost much of their humanity due to their transformation into demon beasts, yet their submissive nature remains so strong?"
"There's definitely something amiss..."
Mo Hua narrowed his eyes at the managing demon cultivator.
The secret must be hidden with this managing demon cultivator.
Since he was the manager, he must have a means of controlling the other demon cultivators; otherwise, how could he "manage" them? After patiently observing for a long time, Mo Hua noticed that even some of the more powerful demon cultivators at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage were subservient to this manager, further cementing his suspicions.
There was definitely something fishy about this manager.
Finally, after closely observing for almost an entire day, Mo Hua uncovered the secret.
One of the demon cultivators had an episode.
While on patrol, the cultivator suddenly began to convulse, curling up on the ground and contorting uncontrollably while emitting incoherent, ferocious roars.
Then, he demonized, transforming into a "werewolf" with crazed eyes and pus dripping from his mouth.
This werewolf possessed formidable demonic might, and the pus that covered its body was highly venomous. It went on a rampage, attacking other demon cultivators and causing chaos.
The other demon cultivators struggled to restrain it initially.
Just then, the manager arrived, brandishing a black banner. With a surge of demonic power, the banner became inscribed with blood patterns.
Simultaneously, the afflicted werewolf's body also flashed with red patterns.
These patterns resembled a spider web, densely covering the werewolf's back before searing into its flesh like a hot iron brand.
The "werewolf" seemed to endure excruciating pain, emitting heart-wrenching howls.
Its demonic power transformed into a cage, binding itself.
The werewolf collapsed, writhing on the ground and clawing furrows into the earth with its fingertips.
After a while, the demonization subsided, and the werewolf fell unconscious.
The manager sneered and coldly remarked, "He must have eaten too much demon beast meat, causing an excess of demonic power that surged to his head, resulting in his loss of control..."
Another demon cultivator chimed in, "Without human meat to balance it out, this is bound to happen. If he ate more human meat, it might alleviate the demonic power somewhat..."
"Human meat? I could go for some myself..." The manager coldly smiled and ordered, "Lock him up in the prison and brand him with a hot iron. Let him suffer a bit and come to his senses."
"Yes, Manager."
After giving the order, the managing demon cultivator left with his hands behind his back.
The other demon cultivators dragged the "afflicted" werewolf to the prison to be tortured.
But Mo Hua paused, struck by a realization.
"The black banner..."
Within the Myriad Demon Valley, with so many demon cultivators, it turned out that they were being controlled by that pitch-black demonic banner.
The banner was used to forcibly restrain the demon cultivators, preventing them from going berserk, rebelling, or disobeying orders.
When the manager had activated the banner, Mo Hua had clearly sensed a very familiar aura emanating from it.
"Four Symbols Formation!"
Moreover, it was a more advanced and complete Four Symbols Formation compared to the demonic patterns on the other demon cultivators' bodies!
He had finally found it! Mo Hua's heart leaped with joy, and his eyes gleamed faintly as he silently vowed to devise a way to obtain the demonic banner and study it...
(End of Chapter)
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