Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 2274 - 1050: Taoist Heart (3)

This Evil Path Great Formation had been established right in the Qianxue State Boundary, concealed from the Great Families and Great Sects. Upon activation, the overwhelming Blood Qi would surely ignite a fierce retaliation from every force across Qianxue, the Taoist Court included.

Mr. Tu might cope with it somehow, yet he’d be pushed to his absolute limits.

Mo Hua didn’t even need to ponder to realize this Evil Path Great Formation’s goal tied directly to reviving the Master of the Great Wilderness.

Resurrecting the Master of the Great Wilderness demanded a colossal dark god ritual.

Serving as the "chief array master" for the Evil Path Great Formation and the "chief ritualist" in the dark god ceremony, Mr. Tu had to be swamped beyond measure, unable to watch every detail.

The spot where they stood was merely a fragment of the full Evil Path Great Formation.

An Evil Path Great Formation couldn’t possibly be so confined. The withered forest and Blood Swamp before them formed just a sealed subsection within the vast Evil Path Great Formation.

Moreover, this zone was utterly "sealed"; else, Mo Hua’s various moves would’ve been spotted long ago.

The evil god’s minions ought to have swarmed in by now...

This "sealing" probably stemmed from the dark god ritual itself.

The evil god’s "feeding" wouldn’t tolerate any onlookers.

Yet the total seal obscured certain formation patterns and array setups, rendering them elusive and tough to breach right away.

Escaping as a group proved equally challenging.

"This is getting tricky..."

Mo Hua steadied his thoughts, drawing on his array expertise to analyze methodically:

"Corruption merely masks it; the formation’s core logic remains unchanged..."

"The Great Formation’s inner arrays can’t be fully isolated—connections must exist between them..."

"If this compound formation belongs to the larger Great Formation, an array pivot must link it to the main pivot..."

"That array pivot requires specific formation media."

"The Evil Path Great Formation’s media should be..." Mo Hua’s heart jolted, "White Bone Stele?"

The very White Bone Steles he and Elder Xun Zixian had encountered at Yanluo Mountain?

Mo Hua’s gaze brightened.

He dropped into a cross-legged seat on the ground, extended his divine sense, and meticulously computed, tracing the evil power’s flow, pinpointing array nodes and circulation paths. Moments later, he rose, strode to a barren tree at the forest’s edge, indicated a blood-tainted withered trunk, and directed the group:

"Chop the tree, yank out the roots, dig three feet deep—uncover a bone stele..."

Though puzzled, the others followed Mo Hua’s orders without question.

They skipped asking for explanations, knowing his words might baffle them anyway.

The prodigies united their strength, felled the massive tree swiftly, incinerated the roots, then excavated three feet to reveal the buried White Bone Stele.

Scarlet hues stained the earth veins.

Immersed in blood and cloaked by the earth veins’ evil power, the White Bone Stele evaded detection by typical cultivators.

Mo Hua scrutinized the writhing blood-red patterns on the White Bone Stele; soon, his pulse raced as he recognized them as derivatives of the Four Symbols Monster Pattern, with some even twisted from the Four Symbols "Dragon Pattern".

Mr. Tu’s signature work, without doubt.

Through his ongoing studies of Dragon Map regression, the Four Symbols Monster Pattern, and Four Symbols Dragon Pattern had become "old acquaintances" to Mo Hua, easing their breakdown and tracking immensely.

Though unable to inscribe the Evil Formation himself, Mo Hua had no trouble locating the formation pivot via pattern links.

Mo Hua progressed onward, continually computing to expose every White Bone Stele anchoring the formation pivots in sequence.

After unearthing over a dozen bone steles and grasping the pivot flow, Mo Hua reached the "source" of these steles—the nexus tying into the Evil Path formation pivot.

A nondescript, ordinary cave.

Mo Hua swept it with divine sense, deemed it secure, and stepped inside.

Narrow confines pressed in, stone walls enclosing all sides.

A brief probe led Mo Hua to the correct wall; he sketched large "X"s with a brush, then addressed Ao Zheng and the body cultivators:

"Smash it down for me—keep the noise low."

Reluctant yet obedient, Ao Zheng executed Mo Hua’s directive.

Second only to Ao Zhan in Longding Sect’s talent, Ao Zheng mastered the Dragon Cauldron Body Refining Skill to great depths, his might immense; even solid stone walls crumbled like "tofu" under his assault.

Ao Zheng and companions thus shattered the stone wall.

As rocks collapsed in a heap, crimson brilliance erupted—a terrifying blood-red maw of a monstrous evil spirit pounced ferociously at them.

Ao Zheng sensed no sight but a bone-chilling dread, frozen on retreat.

Mo Hua, fully primed, tapped his brow; keen radiance gleamed in his eyes as his divine sense forged a sword that cleaved forth.

Golden light blazed—the evil spirit vanished in an instant.

Crimson faded, the chill dissipated; Ao Zheng pivoted slowly toward Mo Hua. Uncomprehending the event, awe filled his shocked gaze.

"I’ll scout inside," Mo Hua declared.

Ao Zheng and the rest stayed silent.

Linghu Xiao and Situ fretted, "Junior Brother, we’ll accompany you."

Mo Hua refused with a headshake, "No need to worry—it’s safest solo. Remain here, don’t budge."

With orders issued, Mo Hua’s figure blurred, vanishing before their eyes.

Grim looks etched the group’s faces, tension mounting.

Meanwhile, Mo Hua delved the passage behind the walls, facing hordes of grotesque, savage evil spirits.

Any other cultivator would’ve had their Sea of Consciousness ravaged the instant they entered.

But roles inverted here.

Mo Hua masked his presence, posing as a weak, unthreatening youth brimming with pure, enticing divine sense.

Myriad evil spirits, crazed with hunger, barreled toward his exposed Sea of Consciousness.

Yet Mo Hua’s golden spirit seized them all within, snuffing them out and refining into pristine divine sense to bolster his own.

Thus, Mo Hua baited them like "fishing enforcement," slipping undetected to the tunnel’s depths.

After an indeterminable trek, Mo Hua arrived at the passage’s terminus.

An array sealed the end.

Divine sense guided the ink unseen; Mo Hua silently dismantled the array, peering ahead to a Formation Core Hall adjoining the tunnel.

The vast hall loomed eerie and blood-soaked, thronged with Evil Path Formation Masters clutching Human Bone Pens, dipping into Human Blood Ink to etch ghastly crimson formations onto human skin as canvas.