Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 2083 Chapter 990: Rebirth (3)
Previously on Immortality Through Array Formations...
"She's my very own sister, and I simply can't shove her straight into that fiery trap..."
"Fine, fine, fine— as fellow brothers, you owe me an explanation today on exactly what this 'fire pit' means!"
...
In the midst of the boisterous uproar, the dining hall's ambiance turned all the more vibrant.
Nearby, Mo Hua slipped into profound reflection.
Even if most of it rang with humor, the words from these disciples held a kernel of truth.
"Why exactly am I joining the Sword Discussion Conference?"
Such a query demands serious mulling over and a crystal-clear answer.
That night, back at the Disciple's Residence, Mo Hua continued wrestling with this dilemma.
Fellow disciples chased top spots in the Sword Discussion Conference for glory, clan advantages, contribution credits, entry into the Inner Sect, or a solid union...
So what drives me?
Glory? I've got plenty of notoriety already.
The tallest beam rots first; the fattest hog gets butchered next. For someone like me, too much spotlight could spell trouble.
Contribution credits? I'm set there, and the Inner Sect holds no appeal.
As a Loose Cultivator, I've got no clan stakes to fight for, no heirship to a family throne.
Marriage...
That's a distant prospect, nothing to fret over yet.
Plus, knowing the little senior sister as Mo Hua does...
Should I dive into the Sword Discussion Conference, she'd probably fret more over my safety than any prize I snag.
My spot as her junior brother stays unchanged no matter the rank.
After tallying it up, Mo Hua saw he truly wanted for nothing.
The sole potential draw could be the top prize from the Sword Discussion Conference.
Yet those prizes stood fixed, and Mo Hua had already eyed them.
First off, a pick of elite cultivation technique legacy from the Four Great Sects and Eight Great Gates.
Next, a similar selection of supreme Taoist skill legacy from the Four Sects and Eight Gates.
On top of that, sect treasures like high-grade elixirs and talismans.
Without doubt, these goodies ranked supreme, yet they suited the real "heaven's favored" ones. For Mo Hua and his shaky base, they offered little real use.
Those cultivation techniques and Taoist skills didn't match his Spiritual Root either.
Beyond that, the last motive for entering the Sword Discussion Conference might just be aiding Elder Master Xun and bolstering Taixu Gate through this tough patch.
After all, he owed immense favors to Elder Master Xun and Taixu Gate.
Naturally, it'd also save the Sect Leader from shedding more locks of hair...
Still, that alone wouldn't justify pouring in massive toil.
What's more, Mo Hua weighed that this venture carried real peril.
Elder Master Xun had nailed it before; stepping into the Sword Discussion Conference meant exposure under everyone's gaze, slowly unveiling all his secret edges.
That flaw proved deadly.
Many of his secrets couldn't see the light of day.
Without deploying those secrets, he lacked the chops to compete in such a massive Sword Discussion spectacle.
The Sword Discussion Conference wasn't kid stuff; it drew heaven's prodigies and endless powerhouses.
This stretched into a grueling, drawn-out clash.
Mo Hua wasn't foolish enough to believe he could snag a decent rank without total commitment.
Even pouring out every ounce and baring all secrets, hanging on to the finish line stayed iffy...
Steep challenge, hefty danger, meager payoff.
Mo Hua mulled it over endlessly, only to ruefully note the harsh facts lined up that way.
The smart move was treating the Sword Discussion Conference lightly.
Push to lift Taixu Gate a notch or two higher.
Leave the rest aside.
Mo Hua let out a quiet sigh.
He chewed on it a few more rounds, even tapped causal divination for a light forecast, seeing that no angle or inference pointed better than "letting things unfold naturally."
A wave of disinterest washed over Mo Hua.
Yet facts were facts, causality was causality.
No defying the world's flow.
Mo Hua released his grip, his spirits settling into calm detachment toward the Sword Discussion Conference.
As peers hustled in frantic prep for the Sword Discussion Conference, Mo Hua stuck to his routine of drilling the Ultimate Formation and delving into array tenets.
Time drifted on like soft ripples...
...
Over in Taoist State.
Heaven Shu Pavilion.
The lofty tower, veiled in fog and beyond reach, sheltered a white-haired elder lost in slumber.
Amid swirling vapors, the elder slumbered in bliss.
Ages seemed to slip by before the elder stirred from his doze, lifting his lids languidly to eye the board before him.
Crafted from withered timber, the chessboard held no standout features, yet under the elder's murky, bottomless stare, it gleamed with subtle glows, harboring cosmic mysteries where threads of fate wove tight.
Fixing on the board, the elder's tone rang like a fading chime, murmuring deliberately:
"The board... stands arranged, the stones placed right, yet... one element lingers absent."
These stones lay inert, marching solely along preset paths.
Thus the game hung static, serene and plain.
It craved a wildcard, a "live stone" to spark the entire field alive...
Then... who could fill the role of this "live stone"?
The elder's gaze plunged deep, Divine Thought swelling as fate's currents streamed without cease.
At once, his gnarled digits dipped into the stone bowl, groped briefly, and plucked a plain black piece.
A flicker of wonder crossed the elder's look, striking him as odd.
"In this vast game of strategy, might someone truly serve as that live stone?"
Intrigued, the elder probed to divine this "live stone"'s essence.
Yet moments later, he halted the effort.
For a "live stone" by nature defied prediction; pinning it down would render it a "dead one."
"No matter, let it be..."
"With a live stone comes the catch; for the catch, 'lure' must draw it forth unaided..."
What sort of "lure" to deploy?
The elder resumed his divinations, scheming the "angling" method.
Heaven Shu Pavilion's vast cultivation legacies paraded through his thoughts like a steady stream, though fate stirred not a ripple...
Skipping the cultivation arts, the elder shifted to probing Taoist skills, elixirs, talismans, arrays...
But round after round of trials, even dangling rare legacies as "lure", failed to hook this "catch."
The elder stayed unruffled, expecting as much.
In a scheme this immense, anyone fit to be the variable "live stone" couldn't be commonplace—a genuine "prize catch".
And for a prize catch, commonplace "lure" fell short.
Escalating, the elder drew from Heaven Shu Pavilion's hidden reserves for the "lure."
This round, fate indeed quivered.
Yet that proved the limit.
This "prize catch" merely nosed the faint scent, stirred a touch by longing, but soon clung to its essence, shunning avarice, retreating to the shadows, and hunkering down.
At last, a hint of shock touched the elder.
"Not even this could tempt it?"
"Such impressive 'standing'..."
"Am I angling for a mere fish, or perhaps a dragon?"
A twinge of regret stirred within as the elder mused: "Spare the babe, snare no wolf..."
Clenching his jaw, his finger tore through space, questing into Heaven Shu Pavilion's locked-away primal legacies.
Scanning a torrent of wondrous titles, the elder hunted briefly before unearthing a legacy pulsing with radiant golden fate.
Bathed in fate's golden sheen, this legacy promised to surely draw forth the "prize catch" if cast.
The elder revealed the ancient legacy.
It took form as a relic jade slip, etched with five archaic, singular runes:
"Yin Yang Rebirth Formation."
These five runes exuded chaotic origins, yin and yang whirling, life and death flipping, suddenly thickening the air in the chamber.
The elder's face hardened bit by bit, his eyes turning eerily vast.
Yin Yang Rebirth...
Whose "rebirth"?
Could it possibly...
A steadfast mind quaked with surging dismay.
The elder's gaze delved like an endless void.