MTLNOVEL Chapter 14: Chapter 565: Foundation Establishment
Chapter 565: Foundation Establishment
Little Senior Brother and Little Senior Sister had both left.
Mo Hua was all alone now.
No master, no Grandpa Puppet, no Little Senior Brother, no Little Senior Sister—the road ahead would have to be walked alone…
After a brief period of feeling lost, Mo Hua quickly gathered his spirits.
It was time for him to start preparing for Foundation Establishment.
Having gone through so many upheavals, Mo Hua now deeply understood that cultivation was the true foundation of a cultivator.
To learn formations that could "steal yin and yang, seize creation itself, and defy life and death," he needed a high enough cultivation level.
Only with a solid cultivation base could he pursue the Great Dao and study formations—seeking a sliver of hope within the severed path of fate, changing his master's destiny, and turning death into life...
And Foundation Establishment was the first step toward that path.
Before attempting Foundation Establishment, Mo Hua thought everything through carefully. He even made a checklist to ensure he'd prepared every detail…
First was spirit stones—he needed an ample supply.
Mo Hua already had quite a few spirit stones.
There were tens of thousands in total—some saved by his parents over the years, some earned by drawing formation diagrams, and some secretly given to him by his Little Senior Brother and Little Senior Sister.
The better one's spiritual root and the higher-grade the cultivation method, the more spirit stones Foundation Establishment would consume.
Fortunately, Mo Hua's spiritual root was poor, so he'd need fewer stones. This stockpile would be more than enough.
In addition, Mo Hua had purchased some pills and spiritual items from Liyuan City, just in case.
These weren't for breaking through the bottleneck itself, but for emergency use—remedies for blood and spiritual damage, for nourishing the meridians and stabilizing the foundation in case anything went wrong during the breakthrough.
To others, these preparations might seem excessive.
But his life was the only one he had—he couldn't afford to be careless.
Next, he had to find a safe, quiet, undisturbed place for Foundation Establishment.
Once the breakthrough was complete, he would return to Tongxian City to give his parents a pleasant surprise.
But before that, there was one thing still bothering Mo Hua...
He turned his head and looked at the old man beside him, who was leisurely sipping tea, and asked curiously:
"Senior Situ, why are you still here? Aren't you going back to Profound Secrets Valley?"
Perfected Situ took a slow sip of tea and let out a long sigh:
"No rush. It's rare to come out—I want to relax a bit before heading back. The valley's stuffy and full of troublesome matters. No need to hurry…"
It had been decades since he'd come out. Of course he'd want to take a break and enjoy the scenery.
But the real reason?
He'd lit the Profound Secrets Valley's sacred "Heaven-Earth Clarity Lamp" like an eternal flame and sent it to Master Zhuang to extend his life...
Most likely, within a few decades—or at most a century—it would be completely spent.
That lamp was a treasured artifact of the Profound Secrets Valley…
He needed to think of an excuse first, muddle through the consequences, and only then return.
No need to rush.
"Oh." Mo Hua nodded.
Perfected Situ glanced at Mo Hua's meticulously written list of pills and spiritual items and asked:
"You're planning to establish your foundation?"
"Mm." Mo Hua looked at him and saw how idle and carefree he seemed. Thinking he wasn't busy, Mo Hua asked in a small voice:
"Senior Situ, are you free right now?"
"More or less. Why?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up. He took out his checklist and respectfully handed it over with polite manners:
"This is my Foundation Establishment preparation list. Could you take a look? See if I've missed anything or if something's lacking?"
His big eyes sparkled with clarity, and every word was courteous.
Perfected Situ nodded slightly, not at all annoyed.
He had a strong impression of this child.
To be honest, he rather liked him…
Though his spiritual roots were weak, he was cute, well-mannered, pleasant in speech, intelligent, and respectful to his elders—truly a good kid.
Otherwise, those two proud disciples of the Bai family wouldn't go to such lengths to support and protect their Little Junior Brother…
And he was free anyway.
"Let me see…"
Perfected Situ took the list from Mo Hua. With just a glance, he understood most of it. With a few casual strokes of his finger, words appeared on the paper without ink—he added a few more spiritual items and several pill formulas to the back.
"These are for unblocking meridians, activating the body, calming the mind. Though auxiliary, they're greatly beneficial to Foundation Establishment—and not expensive."
Mo Hua glanced at them and said gratefully, "Thank you, Senior!"
Perfected Situ hesitated, then said, "Just 'Senior' is enough—don't add the 'old' part…"
As people age, they get a little sensitive to being called "old"...
"Oh, okay."
Mo Hua nodded repeatedly, though inwardly he grumbled: Senior Situ sure is odd… I'm giving him the respect due to an elder, but he doesn't like it…
Perfected Situ took another sip of tea but found it bland—it was only third-grade spirit tea from a third-grade province, after all. Tasteless.
Then he paused, frowning as he looked at Mo Hua.
"You didn't include anything for breaking through the bottleneck…"
"Mm," Mo Hua nodded.
He'd already broken through.
His Martial Uncle had helped him.
But he didn't explain, just said vaguely, "My spiritual root is bad, and the cultivation method isn't that special. I don't cultivate much spiritual energy, so the bottleneck was simple—I broke through it without much effort…"
Perfected Situ nodded and didn't press further, but his thoughts churned inwardly…
That's unlikely!
This kid is definitely hiding something…
He's Master Zhuang's disciple. No matter how bad his spiritual root is, with Zhuang's "quality over quantity" standards, there's no way he'd let him choose a method where bottlenecks were trivially easy to break.
That's too careless—not like something Master Zhuang would do.
Unless… the cultivation method doesn't require spiritual items or pills to break through bottlenecks…
If no pills or spiritual items are needed, then the bottleneck likely isn't in the qi sea or the meridians…
Not in the qi sea or meridians? Then where is it?
Surely not in the divine sense… Perfected Situ froze.
He was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and also the Grand Elder of Profound Secrets Valley. Well-versed in divination, long-lived and experienced. Suddenly, an obscure and rarely mentioned, but absurd concept surfaced in his mind—
"Proving the Dao through divine sense…"
Divine sense… to prove the Dao?!!
Perfected Situ shuddered and his eyes widened in shock.
Could it be?
Was there really someone in this world ambitious enough to attempt to prove the Dao through divine sense—something that can't even be cultivated through normal methods?!
He looked at Mo Hua.
Poor spiritual roots, weak blood and energy…
Why would Master Zhuang choose such a disciple?
With Zhuang's world-shaking brilliance, what kind of Dao path would he lay out for this boy?
There could be only one answer— Proving the Dao through divine sense!
There's only one answer...
Divine Sense Dao Attainment!
Perfected Si Tu once again recalled that day—when from Mo Hua, he sensed a powerful divine sense that absolutely did not belong to someone of his age or cultivation realm...
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
"Divine Sense Dao Attainment..."
Perfected Si Tu was inwardly shocked.
Seeing Perfected Si Tu widen his eyes and stare in a daze without responding for quite a while, Mo Hua grew confused and asked with concern:
"Senior, are you alright? Did the hot tea choke you?"
Perfected Si Tu returned to his senses, glanced at Mo Hua, and silently muttered in his heart:
"No, it wasn't the tea... it was you who startled me…"
Divine Sense Dao Attainment…
One dares to teach, and one dares to learn...
This kid's not acting like a human anymore.
Could he really become the second "Eerie Daoist"...?
Perfected Si Tu felt a faint chill in his heart, but after thinking it over, he shook his head.
Divine Sense Dao Attainment and the demonic, deceptive path of the Eerie Daoist were still fundamentally different...
And if this child truly had any flaws in his character, with Mr. Zhuang's personality, he would never have taught him Divine Sense Dao Attainment.
"Let things take their course... and quietly observe…"
Perfected Si Tu said inwardly.
Suddenly, he clicked his tongue and grew curious again.
"Could this child really attain the Dao through Divine Sense?"
He truly wanted to see it for himself…
He'd lived so long, and yet had never actually witnessed a cultivator achieving something remarkable through Divine Sense Dao Attainment.
Perfected Si Tu suddenly became enthusiastic and said to Mo Hua:
"If there's anything you still don't understand about Foundation Establishment, feel free to ask me."
Mo Hua was delighted, but still asked politely, "Would it be a bother to you?"
Perfected Si Tu waved his hand and said, "Not at all. I've got nothing better to do anyway."
Mo Hua didn't hold back, and proceeded to ask about all the details and concerns he had regarding Foundation Establishment—thoroughly and without skipping a thing.
Perfected Si Tu, being of the Feather Transformation realm and an Ancestor-level figure, was long familiar with Foundation Establishment matters.
Though Mo Hua lacked formal inheritance and asked mostly basic questions, Perfected Si Tu still exercised patience and answered him diligently and with care.
He even told Mo Hua:
"Foundation Establishment depends not only on effort—but even more on fate…"
"That said, every refinement of detail raises your chances of success just a little more."
"So this so-called 'fate'—if you understand it deeply enough—can also be altered by human hands…"
...
Mo Hua benefited greatly.
And he recalled overhearing Perfected Si Tu and his martial uncle speaking before— That the one who helped his master lock down karma and extend his life was using the Heaven-Earth Luminous Lamp of the Mysterious Valley.
Mo Hua greatly benefited from it.
He recalled overhearing Real Person Situ and his martial uncle discussing how the Qiankun Pure Light Lamp from Mysterious Machine Valley had been used to help his master lock down karma and extend her life.
The Everlasting Profound Fire Formation had also been personally arranged by Real Person Situ.
Without Real Person Situ, his master might truly have had not even a sliver of hope…
Gratitude filled Mo Hua's heart. He solemnly bowed and said:
"This great kindness and virtue from Senior, Mo Hua will never forget!"
Real Person Situ looked at Mo Hua—so young, yet so earnest and serious—and couldn't help but smile faintly.
You're just a little Qi Refining kid. What use is your gratitude to me…?
But he didn't say that aloud. Instead, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Mo Hua bowed.
And in that moment, Real Person Situ felt a tremble in his heart, as if some karmic thread had begun to shift and turn in the unseen…
"Attaining the Dao through divine sense…"
"No way… Could it really be that strange…?"
Real Person Situ opened his mouth, then immediately changed tone:
"Good! Very good! Knowing gratitude and repaying it—you're a good child!"
He spoke as if unaffected, but emphasized the words "knowing gratitude and repaying it" heavily, worried that Mo Hua might not have heard clearly and might one day forget him…
From that point on, whenever Mo Hua had any doubts, he would go ask Real Person Situ.
Real Person Situ answered every question patiently.
Once all his questions were answered and he had all the spiritual herbs and pills prepared, Mo Hua officially began his Foundation Establishment in a rented cave residence in Liyuan City.
The cave was large, quiet, and even luxurious.
It was a place Mo Hua could not afford on his own.
It had been specially rented by Real Person Situ for the sole purpose of Mo Hua's Foundation Establishment.
Mo Hua felt a bit embarrassed.
Real Person Situ, however, put on a stern face:
"I'm your senior—a grand Real Person of Ascension, a Grand Elder of Mysterious Machine Valley. Such a small thing is just lifting a finger. Why are you being polite with me?"
"Thank you, Senior!"
Mo Hua smiled and silently engraved this kindness into his heart.
Real Person Situ nodded in satisfaction and gave another reminder:
"There's really not much to say about Foundation Establishment. Just be well prepared. If things go smoothly, the process is natural. If not, don't be discouraged—just try again next time."
"For disciples of great clans, Foundation Establishment isn't difficult. What is difficult is establishing a solid Dao foundation."
Mo Hua asked, "When establishing a good Dao foundation, will there be phenomena?"
He'd heard of Foundation Establishment Phenomena from others—things like disciples from great clans or sects being so talented that when they established their foundation, heaven and earth responded, auspicious signs filled the skies, dragons and phoenixes circled, and they directly touched the Great Dao...
"It's not that exaggerated…" Real Person Situ said helplessly. "Those tales are mostly embellished by those clans to hype up their own disciples. Most of it is just smoke and mirrors…"
"Foundation Establishment phenomena do exist, but they're usually subtle."
"Generally, as long as your foundation is solid and your Dao base is complete, you will indeed experience some special phenomena…"
"Just focus on building your foundation. Don't think about all that nonsense."
Real Person Situ advised.
"Mm, I understand." Mo Hua nodded.
After that, Mo Hua began meditating and building his foundation in the cave.
He steadied his mindset, calmed his breath, and followed the process step by step…
First, he took some medicinal pills to nourish his meridians and loosen his joints. Then he burned incense, calmed his mind, and once his body and spirit were aligned and focused, he began refining spiritual stones.
As Foundation Establishment began, his Qi Sea surged wildly like a gaping maw, endlessly devouring spiritual energy.
One spirit stone after another was instantly refined.
Streams of spiritual energy flowed into his Dantian and Qi Sea.
Tens of thousands of spirit stones were consumed like flowing water.
Mo Hua's spiritual power grew with each circulation, and his Qi Sea thickened little by little…
Thanks to Real Person Situ's guidance and Mo Hua's meticulous preparation, the process was extremely smooth.
No one knew how much time passed.
Eventually, Mo Hua's Qi Sea stabilized. His spiritual power grew dense and viscous, like flowing mercury.
Refined spiritual energy, spiritual power like mercury!
This was Foundation Establishment spiritual power!
Mo Hua opened his eyes and felt the mist-like energy in his Qi Sea flowing like water, heavy as mercury. He was overjoyed.
He had finally achieved Foundation Establishment!
He was now officially a Foundation Establishment cultivator!
But Mo Hua knew—that wasn't enough.
For him, the real Foundation Establishment had only just begun…
He was walking the path of attaining the Dao through divine sense—strengthening divine sense was the true core.
According to his master, during Foundation Establishment, one's spiritual power undergoes a qualitative transformation—and divine sense doubles.
His spiritual power had now transformed.
Next came the doubling of divine sense!
With his current 14-stripe divine sense, after the doubling, he might break past the limits and advance rapidly to reach 17-stripe divine sense, the late Foundation Establishment level!
That was the true Dao foundation Mo Hua sought!
He was a little anxious, but even more excited.
Moments later, his Sea of Consciousness trembled, and Mo Hua felt his already strong divine sense—marked by 14 stripes—begin to grow rapidly!
It was as if from the boundless Dao itself, infinite divine sense began to emerge. As Mo Hua gained sudden insight, his spiritual awareness flowed like a spring, continuously streaming into his Sea of Consciousness, strengthening it!
His Sea of Consciousness also expanded bit by bit.
Stronger divine sense must be matched by a wider Sea of Consciousness.
Only a vast sea could contain more divine sense.
Mo Hua hadn't felt this clearly before because his previous growth had been gradual.
But now, with his Foundation Establishment breakthrough and doubling of divine sense, he could distinctly sense his Sea of Consciousness rapidly expanding…
At the same time, more and more divine sense flowed into it.
A hundred rivers flowing to the sea…
Mo Hua's divine sense realm began to climb—
From 14 stripes to 15.
Then to 16 stripes.
16 stripes was the peak of mid-stage Foundation Establishment divine sense…
Further growth would touch the bottleneck of late-stage Foundation Establishment.
This bottleneck was like a great chasm—not easily crossed.
But Mo Hua's divine sense was exceptionally solid. After doubling, it surged like a mighty river, crashing against the bottleneck.
His Sea of Consciousness began to throb with pain.
But he gritted his teeth, meditated deeply, cleared his mind, and held firm to his Dao heart.
He was going to attain the Dao through divine sense!
At last—who knows how much time passed—Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness suddenly cleared.
The bottleneck shattered, and the chasm was filled in.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Mo Hua's sea of consciousness suddenly cleared.
The bottleneck shattered, the gaps filled.
His surging divine sense flowed into his sea of consciousness—Mo Hua's divine sense had reached... seventeen lines!
Seventeen lines—this was the level of late-stage Foundation Establishment divine sense.
And it didn't stop there.
Mo Hua's divine sense continued to grow, continuously climbing, bit by bit, strand by strand, converging like rivers, building like sand into a towering pagoda...
In the end, it settled at eighteen lines!
Late-stage Foundation Establishment, eighteen-line divine sense!
Mo Hua was shocked in his heart, followed by great joy, and he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
His master had been right.
It was truly possible... to use divine sense to prove the Dao...
He had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage, yet already possessed eighteen-line divine sense—just one step away from the nineteen lines of perfection!
"I finally didn't let Master down..."
Mo Hua was filled with both joy and a hint of melancholy.
Eighteen lines—this was already incredibly powerful!
He nodded slightly. Just as he was about to end his meditation and complete his Foundation Establishment, his expression suddenly changed.
He felt something... off.
A chilling aura of the Great Dao filled his sea of consciousness—as if he had committed some kind of offense, touched upon some "taboo" of the Dao...
He had felt this same sensation when he broke the Five Elements Demon-Slaying Grand Array and killed Feng Xi, when the tribulation lightning loomed over his head.
What taboo?
Was his divine sense too powerful?
Mo Hua froze. Before he could think further, he felt his divine sense had touched upon a barrier—a limit of the Heavenly Dao.
The Great Dao... did not permit him to have such powerful divine sense...
Soon, the restriction of the Heavenly Dao descended. Mo Hua's previously expanding sea of consciousness was suddenly compressed—as if squeezed by an unseen force.
A splitting headache struck him, but what shocked him even more was that his divine sense realm began to plummet.
From eighteen lines—down to seventeen...
From seventeen—down to sixteen...
And it didn't stop...
Sixteen, fifteen... all the way back down to his original fourteen lines!
A chill filled Mo Hua's heart.
But it wasn't over yet.
After the drop in level came something worse—his sea of consciousness began to crack, and his divine sense began to shatter in agony!
Mo Hua suddenly realized that although his sea of consciousness had shrunk and his divine sense had fallen in level, the power of his divine sense remained!
But now it was being compressed by the contracted sea of consciousness.
As a result, the sea of consciousness was cracking under the pressure of divine sense, and the divine sense was fracturing under the pressure of the sea of consciousness...
What should he do?!
In a flash of desperation, Mo Hua gritted his teeth and endured the searing pain. While meditating to stabilize his mind and cast away suffering, he used Heavenly Pattern Deduction to preserve his shattered divine sense, and simultaneously used Heavenly Trick Calculation to speed up its consumption.
But this wasn't a real solution...
At this rate, his sea of consciousness would eventually be destroyed, and his divine sense would be obliterated!
Just at the critical moment, within Mo Hua's sea of consciousness, countless vast, intricate, overlapping array patterns suddenly began to emerge.
These array lines flickered in and out of view, forming a single cohesive whole, as if branded into his sea of consciousness—profound and mysterious.
This was... the Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array?!
The bottleneck of the Heavenly Pattern Scripture?
Mo Hua was stunned.
The moment the Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array surfaced, the divine sense—restricted by the Heavenly Dao, squeezed by the sea of consciousness, with nowhere to go—began to flow along the array lines, coalescing strand by strand.
Line by line, piece by piece—within Mo Hua's sea of consciousness, with his divine sense as the thread—it began to weave a complete formation:
The Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array!
Mo Hua was astounded and slowly came to a realization.
"So this is... the true mystery of the Heavenly Pattern Scripture..."
"So this is the real meaning of the Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array, the bottleneck to the scripture?"
"Divine sense... reconstruction?"
"Reconstructing divine sense with the Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array?!"
What kind of godlike technique was this?
Mo Hua had never even heard of it—never even imagined such a thing...
The Heavenly Dao limited him, his sea of consciousness contracted, his divine sense was crushed and shattered, but then it automatically merged into the formation lines of the Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array, forming a formation to rebuild his divine sense...
It was a completely passive process.
The only problem was—rebuilding divine sense hurt like hell...
And the Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array was enormous—it was too slow to form this way...
Mo Hua gritted his teeth to endure, but he was still young, and feared he wouldn't be able to hold on.
"I need to come up with something..."
"We need to think of something…"
Mo Hua endured the pain, his thoughts stirring.
The passive generation was too slow, so… what if he actively constructed the Heaven-Obscuring Formation himself?
This Heaven-Obscuring Formation had been deciphered by his Martial Uncle through the Art of Fate Calculation. What if he reversed the process and used Fate Calculation to actively construct it himself?
The formation was enormous in scale and would consume a vast amount of divine sense.
But right now, within Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness, he had divine sense reserves equivalent to a fourteen to eighteen-pattern level—plentiful, nearly inexhaustible. There was no need to fear running out.
And during the construction process, if he also used Fate Deduction to perceive the structure of the Heaven-Obscuring Formation?
That would mean he was "learning by doing," mastering the endlessly complex and profound Heaven-Obscuring Formation in reverse?!
The Heaven-Obscuring Formation!
Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat, and then his eyes lit up.
There was no time to waste. He immediately began, using clumsy and unfamiliar methods, trying to apply the Art of Fate Calculation, splitting his divine sense into multiple threads, progressing in parallel—to accelerate the construction of the formation, and at the same time, accelerate the reconstruction of his divine sense!
While he constructed, he also learned.
Using Fate Deduction, he gradually deduced, comprehended, and saw through the core essence of the Heaven-Obscuring Formation.
Within Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness, a magnificent, ancient, and obscure Heaven-Obscuring Formation condensed from divine thought was being passively generated on one side, while on the other, actively constructed by Mo Hua himself…
Mo Hua's divine sense was being consumed like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea—at an astonishing rate.
The pain in his Sea of Consciousness, however, was like spring rain nourishing the earth, slowly easing away.
Meanwhile, Mo Hua's divine sense was undergoing strange and unimaginable changes…
No one knew how much time passed. The Heaven-Obscuring Formation was completed, then gradually dissolved, merging into Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness and vanishing without a trace.
Mo Hua opened his eyes.
He found that his Sea of Consciousness was still at the fourteen-pattern stage.
But within the sea, there was a faint, misty fog swirling about.
Mo Hua circulated his divine sense—and discovered something unbelievable. His divine sense had become incredibly refined, like misted water vapor, as if it had been compressed, restructured by the Heaven-Obscuring Formation, and had undergone…
A qualitative change?
A divine sense transformation?!
Mo Hua was struck with awe. After a moment of contemplation, a flash of insight struck him.
The true strength of the Heaven's Evolution Manual lay in… causing a qualitative change in the divine sense?!
Once divine thought underwent this transformation, its foundation became deep and solid, its control naturally sharp.
Control of divine sense was just a byproduct.
And the Heaven-Obscuring Formation, though it appeared to be a bottleneck, was actually the key to divine sense reconstruction and achieving qualitative transformation!
Divine sense transformation…
Mo Hua looked at his tiny hand.
Divine thought was ethereal—no matter how tangible it appeared, it was, by nature, an illusory phantom.
But now, the small hand of divine thought he had manifested was misty and hazy, lightly veiled in water vapor, as if infused with… the texture of condensed blood…
This chapter is not over. Please click next page to continue!
"This is… divine sense transformation…"
Mo Hua stood in a daze.
From this moment on, his divine sense was entirely different.
And through this, he had laid the foundation for a peerless path of divine sense cultivation!
Outside Mo Hua's Foundation Establishment cave-dwelling, Immortal Master Situ wore a puzzled expression.
"What's going on…"
Earlier, he had sensed a surge of divine sense fluctuation—not particularly strong by his standards, but so excessive for a Foundation Establishment cultivator that it confirmed his suspicion:
"Proving the Dao through divine sense."
But strangely, that wave of fluctuation had quickly subsided, vanished, and disappeared without a trace…
Mo Hua's divine sense aura didn't seem to have grown stronger.
"Did he fail?"
Immortal Master Situ frowned.
So he waited… and waited…
No one knew how much time passed. Eventually, Mo Hua came out, light-footed—almost bouncing with each step?
Clearly, he was in a great mood…
Immortal Master Situ couldn't help but ask, "You built your foundation?"
"Mm!" Mo Hua nodded with a bright smile.
Immortal Master Situ carefully observed him.
His aura had become more solid…
But his spiritual power? Average. His blood vitality? Pitifully weak…
As for his divine sense—he couldn't see through it, but from the feeling, it seemed no different than before Mo Hua's Foundation Establishment…
This… is Foundation Establishment?
And also…
"How come there wasn't a single phenomenon…"
Immortal Master Situ was baffled.
Proving the Dao through divine sense should have at least triggered something—even the tiniest bit of anomaly would have left a trace he could detect.
But there was absolutely nothing.
Situ shook his head. He couldn't understand.
Mo Hua, however, was preparing to bid farewell:
"These days, thank you for your guidance, Senior. I've been away from home for a long time—tomorrow, I'll be heading back…"
Immortal Master Situ nodded. "It was no trouble at all. Don't worry about it."
But he still gave a reminder, "The path of cultivation is long. If you ever pass by the Mystery Valley again, remember to send a visiting card. I'd love to host you and show you the true foundation of our Mystery Valley…"
Mo Hua beamed brightly. "I definitely will!"
They chatted casually for a while longer.
The next day, Mo Hua set out on his journey. The small figure walked down the great road, turning back to wave at Immortal Master Situ from afar.
Immortal Master Situ watched Mo Hua's tiny figure, feeling a sudden sense of reluctance. He lingered a while longer, silently seeing Mo Hua off.
Mo Hua walked alone along the road—his figure small, but his Dao heart resolute, fearless, moving ever forward.
In his heart, Immortal Master Situ silently thought:
"I hope this child's path is boundless."
"If fate allows, we shall meet again…"
...
After sending Mo Hua off, Immortal Master Situ prepared to return to the Mystery Valley.
Yet even before he left, something still lingered in his heart…
Translation:
Immortal Master Situ, having finished sending off Mo Hua, should have already returned to the Mysterious Mechanism Valley.
But before leaving, he still couldn't shake a lingering concern in his heart.
"How could this be… not even a single anomaly?"
"Did I misjudge him?"
He hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked into the cave residence where Mo Hua had undergone Foundation Establishment.
Inside the cave, the furnishings were luxurious.
Elegant wooden tables and chairs, auspicious cloud-patterned screens, spirit-embroidered porcelain… everything was complete. But all of it appeared as usual, no different from before.
"No… something's wrong…"
Immortal Master Situ swept his divine sense over the place—and suddenly froze.
He reached out and gently touched a spirit porcelain vessel, glazed in green and red using refined spirit stone and red copper techniques.
The moment he touched it, the porcelain shattered instantly.
At the same time, cracks appeared across the surrounding bricks, stones, and furnishings—all of them had already been reduced to dust inside.
There was no trace of blood Qi.
No external force.
No lingering spiritual power.
Then… could it be divine sense?
Each brick, each tile, each porcelain artifact—had they been crushed by an unconscious overflow of divine sense?
Immortal Master Situ drew in a sharp breath.
Divine sense… crushed things…
Just what kind of Foundation… did this young cultivator establish?!
——
At this very moment, in an unknown void.
Wailing spirits howled, and eerie energy filled the air.
All around, broken souls wove together into a colossal, world-shrouding net.
This massive net covered the heavens and earth like a terrifying death array, filled with endless ghostly calculations and a deathly stillness that sought to extinguish all life.
Right now, a terrifying black shadow opened its eyes.
In those eyes—complete darkness.
As if countless strange formation patterns were condensed within them.
"The Netherworld Celestial Burial… is in my hands now…"
"But my Dao Heart's Demon Seed… is missing… a sliver of origin…"
"Who… erased it…"
"Or… devoured it…"
Though he didn't open his mouth, it was as if countless resentful souls spoke in his place.
Their overlapping, jumbled voices twisted together—neither male nor female, eerie and indistinguishable—piercing and disturbing enough to damage one's spiritual mind.
"Evil God? Or Heavenly Demon… dared to devour… my demonic intent?"
The black shadow pinched his fingers in calculation, and a void robe surfaced upon his body—engraved with flowing, dense, sinister patterns.
A name emerged…
"Mo… Hua…"
"…Who is that?"
The shadow's pitch-black gaze narrowed. He tried to calculate again, but fate was now obscured—clouds veiled the heavens, mist obscured clarity. Everything became vague, impossible to divine.
"Is it… my junior brother…"
"But you… are already dead… this cannot be hidden…"
The black shadow's eyes sharpened. Countless resentful souls around him were devoured by the void robe in fear and struggle, turning to ashes. With that, the mysterious calculation advanced a step further.
Faintly, he was about to glimpse a delicate human face—
At that instant, a corpse king—whose aura had twisted into monstrous corruption—leapt out from the depths of karma. Its eyes were blood-red, its face vicious, and it bit down hard on the black shadow.
That bite consumed countless resentful souls and severed karma itself.
The black shadow froze, a trace of disbelief flickering across his expression.
"This is… the karmic aberration I raised?"
"It's… biting me?"
This corpse king, hidden deep within karmic threads, seemed both like it was "protecting its master"… and "guarding its food."
It wouldn't allow anyone to covet its "master."
Nor would it allow anyone to covet its "meal."
A trace of murderous energy flickered in the black shadow's eyes—yet gradually faded.
A karmic aberration… was a mutation of the Great Dao.
Both aligned with the Dao… and defied it.
Hidden in karma, unfathomable and impossible to control.
And this one he had personally nurtured—couldn't even be killed now…
The black shadow fell into silence. The heavens were deathly still. Then, the eerie patterns faded from his robe as he retracted it, returning to normal.
"We'll meet again…"
His pitch-black pupils shimmered with strange patterns, alternating between light and dark.
In the void realm, countless resentful spirits howled, their expressions savage, all crying out in unison:
"Mo Hua."
(End of this Chapter)
(End of the Wandering Arc)
Thank you to Windy Chocolate, The Burned Flame Mage, Overseer of Wind, katiestar, and Lazy Yet Hungry for the tips.
Thank you all for your monthly votes.
This was an 8k-word mega chapter—the second volume is finally complete!