One cannot act detached from reality.
Mo Hua let it go, his mood also calmed greatly, becoming somewhat indifferent to the matter of the Sword Discussion Conference.
While the disciples were all trying their utmost to prepare for the Sword Discussion Conference, Mo Hua, as always, practiced the Ultimate Formation and studied formation principles.
The days flowed by like gentle water...
...
Meanwhile, in Taoist State.
Heaven Shu Pavilion.
The high pavilion, shrouded in mist and inaccessible, housed an elder with a head full of white hair, still dozing.
In the hazy smoke, the elder slept contentedly.
It was unknown how long had passed when the elder finally awoke from his nap, slowly raised his eyes, and looked at the chessboard in front of him.
The chessboard, made from dead wood, bore no special traits, but in the elder’s cloudy yet abyss-like gaze, it flickered with faint light, as if containing heavenly secrets, with causality intertwined.
The elder stared at the chessboard, his voice like a twilight bell, slowly musing:
"The chess game... is set up, and the pieces are in position, but... something is still missing."
The chess pieces are lifeless, progressing only in the established direction.
The chess game is naturally stagnant, calm and unremarkable.
It needs a variable, a "living piece" to enliven the whole situation...
So... who has the capacity to be this "living piece"?
The elder’s eyes were deep, and as his Divine Thought surged, causality flowed uninterruptedly.
Simultaneously, his withered fingers reached into the chess pot, felt around for a moment, and pinched out an ordinary black chess piece.
The elder’s gaze showed slight surprise, finding it peculiar even to himself.
"In such a grand chess game, could there really be someone to act as this living piece?"
Curious, the elder attempted to deduce the identity of this "living piece".
But after a moment of trying, he gave up.
For if it is a "living piece", it must remain undetermined; to calculate it would turn it into a ’dead piece’.
"Forget it, never mind..."
"Once there’s a living piece, there’s a fish; when there’s a fish, there must be ’bait’ to get it to move on its own..."
What "bait" should be given?
The elder began deducing again, pondering how to "fish".
The myriad cultivation techniques of Heaven Shu Pavilion, like running water, flowed through his mind one by one, but causality showed no fluctuation...
The elder passed over the cultivation techniques, then began calculating Taoist skills, pills, runes, formations...
But after calculating over and over, even some exquisite inheritances as "bait" still couldn’t lure this "fish".
The elder remained indifferent, unsurprised.
In such a grand scheme, one who can act as a "living piece" representing the variable is surely not an ordinary person, but a true "big fish".
If it is a big fish, then ordinary "bait" cannot entice it.
The elder then raised the stakes, choosing the "bait" from Heaven Shu Pavilion’s secret heritage.
This time, there were indeed fluctuations in causality.
But that was all.
This "big fish" seemed merely interested in sniffing the ethereal aura, slightly moved by desire, but quickly adhered to its core, dismissing greed, swimming back to the depths, and lying dormant.
Finally, the elder appeared somewhat astonished.
"Even this couldn’t entice it?"
"What a considerable ’status’..."
"Is this really fishing for a fish, or a dragon?"
The elder felt a pang as he lamented inwardly: "Reluctance to part with a child won’t catch a wolf..."
He gritted his teeth, and his finger split the void directly, beginning to seek from Heaven Shu Pavilion’s sealed ancient heritage.
Through a stream of extraordinary names, the elder searched for a while before finally uncovering a heritage imbued with glowing golden causality.
The heritage, with causality shimmering like gold, indicated that using this to fish would definitely lure this "big fish" out.
The elder unveiled the ancient heritage.
The heritage was an archaic jade slip, upon which five ancient and unique characters were engraved:
"Yin Yang Rebirth Formation."
These five characters carried an aura of primordial chaos, where yin and yang rotate, life and death reverse, causing the room to suddenly stifle.
The elder’s expression gradually solidified, and his eyes grew frighteningly profound.
Yin Yang Rebirth...
Whose "rebirth"?
Could it be...
An unwavering heart rippled with layers of shock.
The elder’s gaze was deep like an abyss.