The Quest for Immortality Chapter 2274: Taoist Heart (3)

Within the Qianxue State Boundary, this Evil Path Great Formation had been set up right beneath the watch of the Great Families and Great Sects. Upon activation, the overwhelming Blood Qi would surely trigger a fierce response from every faction in Qianxue, even the Taoist Court.

Mr. Tu might manage it somehow, but he'd be pushed to his limits.

Mo Hua could easily guess that the goal of this Evil Path Great Formation was tied directly to bringing back the Master of the Great Wilderness.

Reviving the Master of the Great Wilderness demanded a huge dark god ritual.

Serving as the "chief array master" for the Evil Path Great Formation and the "chief ritualist" for the dark god ritual, Mr. Tu had to be swamped, with no assurance he could watch over it all.

The spot where I'm standing isn't the full scope of the Evil Path Great Formation.

An Evil Path Great Formation couldn't be so limited in size. What surrounded them now—the withered forest and Blood Swamp—was merely a segment of a sealed compound formation zone inside the larger Evil Path Great Formation.

On top of that, this zone was genuinely "sealed"; if not, his various moves would have been spotted long ago.

The evil god's minions ought to have rushed in by now...

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

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

Still, the total seal made certain formation patterns and array setups rather hidden, tough to spot, and challenging to break right away.

Our group wouldn't escape easily either.

"This is getting tricky..."

Mo Hua steadied his thoughts and, drawing on his formation expertise, started analyzing bit by bit:

"The corruption is merely surface-level; the core formation logic stays the same..."

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

"If this compound formation belongs to the larger Great Formation, an array pivot linking to the main one has to be present..."

"That array pivot needs matching formation media."

"The formation media for the Evil Path Great Formation ought to be..." Mo Hua's heart jolted, "White Bone Stele?"

Were those White Bone Steles he and Elder Xun Zixian had spotted at Yanluo Mountain?

Mo Hua's gaze brightened.

He dropped into a cross-legged seat on the ground, extended his divine sense, and carefully computed, feeling the evil power's currents, probing the array nodes, and tracing the evil power's pathways. Moments later, he rose, headed straight to a barren tree by the forest edge, indicated a blood-tainted withered tree, and told the others:

"Chop the tree, pull out the roots, dig down three feet, and you'll uncover a bone stele..."

Though puzzled, the group followed Mo Hua's directions.

They skipped asking for explanations, knowing they might not grasp it anyway.

The prodigies teamed up, felled the massive tree swiftly, incinerated the roots, then excavated three feet deep to reveal the buried White Bone Stele.

Scarlet hues stained the earth veins.

The White Bone Stele lay soaked in blood, concealed by the earth veins' evil power, beyond detection by most.

Mo Hua examined the writhing blood-red formation patterns on the White Bone Stele intently. Soon, his pulse quickened as he realized these evil patterns stemmed from the Four Symbols Monster Pattern, with some even twisting from the Four Symbols "Dragon Pattern".

Mr. Tu's signature work, without doubt.

Thanks to Mo Hua's long study of the Dragon Map regression, the Four Symbols Monster Pattern, and Four Symbols Dragon Pattern had become familiar territory, easing breakdown and tracking immensely.

Though he couldn't sketch the Evil Formation, pinpointing the formation pivot via pattern links posed no trouble.

Then, as Mo Hua progressed, he continued his calculations, exposing every White Bone Stele anchoring the formation pivots in their path.

After unearthing more than a dozen bone steles, Mo Hua grasped the formation pivot's flow and reached the "root" of these steles—the node tying into the Evil Path formation pivot.

A simple, nondescript cave.

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

Narrow confines defined the cave, stone walls enclosing it.

After a light probe, Mo Hua located the correct stone wall, drew large "X"s on it with a brush, then faced Ao Zheng and the body cultivators, instructing:

"Tear it down for me, quietly."

Reluctant but obedient, Ao Zheng carried out Mo Hua's order.

Second only to Ao Zhan in talent at Longding Sect, Ao Zheng excelled in the Dragon Cauldron Body Refining Skill, his strength immense; solid stone walls turned to "tofu" under his assault.

Ao Zheng and companions thus demolished the stone wall.

As stones collapsed, a crimson gleam burst forth, and a terrifying blood-red maw from a monstrous evil spirit shot toward the group.

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

Right then, prepared Mo Hua tapped his brow, eyes flashing sharply, divine thought forging a sword that cleaved through.

Golden light blazed; the evil spirit vanished in a flash.

The crimson faded with the chill; Ao Zheng pivoted slowly to Mo Hua. Unaware of details, awe filled his shocked eyes.

"I’ll check inside," Mo Hua declared.

Ao Zheng and 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 safer solo. Wait here, unmoving."

With orders issued, Mo Hua's figure blurred and vanished before them.

Somber looks crossed the group's faces, tension rising.

Inside, Mo Hua navigated the tunnel behind the walls, facing hordes of grotesque, savage evil spirits.

Any other cultivator entering would lose their Sea of Consciousness instantly to the devourers.

But roles reversed here.

Mo Hua masked his aura on purpose, posing as a weak, innocent boy cultivator, divine sense rich, pure, and enticing.

Myriad evil spirits, driven frantic, swarmed his open Sea of Consciousness.

Yet Mo Hua's golden spirit inside captured them all, snuffing them out and refining into pure telekinesis to bolster his divine sense.

Playing bait for "fishing enforcement," Mo Hua sneaked toward the tunnel's terminus.

After an indefinite trek, Mo Hua arrived at the end.

An array sealed the tunnel's close.

Divine sense guiding ink unseen, Mo Hua silently undid the array, peered forward, and beheld a Formation Core Hall at the tunnel's termination.

The vast hall loomed eerie and blood-soaked, packed with Evil Path Formation Masters clutching Human Bone Pens, dipping into Human Blood Ink, inscribing ghastly blood-red formations on skins of humans used as canvas.