The night was peaceful, the moonlight scattered, casting a faint silver glow over the mountain scenery and the bamboo forest of the mountain dwelling.
Mr. Zhuang in the bamboo room, slowly opened his eyes, gazing at the moonlit mountains before him, lost in thought.
Before long, Old Kui appeared silently, his voice as dry and hoarse as ever:
“Your injury has worsened.”
“It was always this severe,” said Mr. Zhuang calmly, without any hint of pain or joy.
Old Kui was silent, then said indifferently:
“If your injury has worsened, it is time to leave.”
Mr. Zhuang didn’t reply.
“Are you reluctant to leave?” Old Kui’s voice was wooden.
Mr. Zhuang stretched lazily and smiled noncommittally, “Yeah, the scenery here is nice, the days are carefree, with plenty to eat and drink. It truly would be a bit hard to leave.”
“Is it these things that you can’t part with?”
Mr. Zhuang continued to stare at the dark mountains in the distance, remaining silent.
“Don’t get too entangled in karma,” Old Kui reminded again.
“Let’s wait a bit longer,” Mr. Zhuang pondered for a moment, sighed, “once I’ve taught you everything you should know… It’s hard for me to rest easy just leaving like this.”
Old Kui frowned, “If you stay in one place for too long, once they calculate your position, your life or death is unpredictable.”
“I have a sense for these things; there’s still time,” Mr. Zhuang’s demeanor remained very calm.
“As long as you’re sure, that’s fine. After all, it’s your own life,” Old Kui stated flatly, and then said no more.
Silence fell upon the bamboo room.
The night grew deeper, and the moonlight became ever clearer and colder.
After an unknowable span of time, Mr. Zhuang spoke up,
“Old Kui, what do you think… how much longer can I hide?”
The room was still silent.
Old Kui was nowhere to be seen, whether he was not there, or couldn’t hear, therefore gave no answer; or perhaps he heard but didn’t know how to respond, so chose to remain silent.
Mr. Zhuang’s gaze was profound, and he laughed at himself with a hint of mockery.
Mo Hua returned home, had dinner, went back to his room, and sprawled over the small desk to begin drawing the Reversed Spirit Formation.
He had already mastered this formation. Now, practicing it again, he aimed to refine his Divine Sense and to increase his proficiency, so that he could better grasp the intricacies of this formation.
The First-grade ten-pattern Reversed Spirit Formation was difficult to learn and equally challenging to practice.
Mo Hua could only barely manage to draw it; his brushwork was unpolished, the Formation Patterns not sharp enough, his understanding of the Formation Pivot superficial, and his Divine Sense just adequate. Therefore, there were still many areas he needed to work on and many more repetitions required before he could claim complete mastery.
Mo Hua hunched over the desk, focused intently as he held the pen in his small, slightly strained hand, drawing the Reversed Spirit Formation.
Once he finished a complete drawing, his Divine Sense nearly depleted. He would sit quietly and meditate to replenish his Divine Sense.
At the same time, evil thoughts would emerge, proliferate, and attempt to disturb Mo Hua’s state of mind.
Following Mr. Zhuang’s advice, Mo Hua used these evil thoughts to temper his mind.
Whenever evil thoughts arose, he did not fear or flee from them but reflected on himself with a mind as clear as a mirror, counteracting the evil thoughts while also steadfastly consolidating his original intention amidst the chaos of mixed desires.
After meditating for a while, the evil thoughts gradually subsided, and Mo Hua’s Divine Sense began to refill.
Mo Hua practiced another Reversed Spirit Formation, then rested for a bit before starting to think about his plan for Foundation Establishment.
Previously, he had been focused solely on the idea of Foundation Establishment without knowing how to go about it or what preparations were necessary.
After consulting Mr. Zhuang, he had a clearer understanding.
In short, before Foundation Establishment, one must fortify one’s Divine Sense as much as possible so that after Foundation Establishment, with the multiplied Divine Sense, one can lay the grounds for proving the Dao with Divine Sense and building the Taoist Foundation.
The first thing to do was to keep practicing, all the way to the Qi Refining Ninth Level.
Mo Hua had been impatient to reach Foundation Establishment before, but now he aimed to polish his state and consolidate his Divine Sense, and he wasn’t in a rush anymore.
Maintain a normal state of mind, persist in daily Cultivation, and let things take their natural course—there’s no need to rush for quick success.
Besides Cultivation, the most important thing was Divine Sense.
Currently at the Qi Refining Seventh Level, Mo Hua was due for two minor realm breakthroughs. Each breakthrough should enhance his Divine Sense a bit more.
By studying the Reversed Spirit Formation and practicing using the Taoist Stele, his Divine Sense would continue to grow steadily.
Once he mastered the Reversed Spirit Formation, Mr. Zhuang had said he’d teach him other things as well.
If Mo Hua’s guess was correct, it should involve using the Reversed Spirit Formation to induce a Formation Collapse.
Mo Hua remembered Mr. Zhuang saying,
“Upon a Formation Collapse, Spiritual Power within the framework of the formation follows the pattern of the Formation Patterns in reverse, clashing and continuously arising and extinguishing, producing extremely strong fluctuations of Spiritual Power, possessing unimaginable might…”
Mo Hua was utterly astounded and intensely curious about the power of a Formation Collapse and just how formidable it could be, so much so that even Mr. Zhuang found it beyond comprehension.
Once he finished all of that, Mr. Zhuang should also introduce some of Heavenly Dao’s anomalies for his contemplation.
Mo Hua was very eager to know if the effects and power of the other Heavenly Dao’s anomalies were also beyond the capacities of ordinary cultivators.
How different were these formations to learn compared to the Reversed Spirit Formation and other conventional First-grade formations?
Lastly, there were the Contemplation Maps.
If the Divine Thoughts within the Contemplation Maps weren’t too sturdy, could he actually enhance his Divine Sense by “Eating Map”?
“Eating Map” to refine Divine Sense, evil thoughts to refine the mind.
With the Taoist Stele for suppression, the risks shouldn’t be as big as imagined.
However, “Eating Map” could only be an alternative. Firstly, Contemplation Maps were rare; Mo Hua didn’t know where to find them or even where to start looking.
Secondly, without seeing through their true nature, Mo Hua wouldn’t know if the Divine Thoughts in the maps were evil or ghostly, strong or weak. It wasn’t safe to act rashly.
“Let’s leave the Contemplation Maps for later…”
Even without relying on Contemplation Maps, completing the tasks above should be enough to further refine his Divine Sense upon Foundation Establishment, making it even stronger.
With a stronger Divine Sense, learning Second-Grade formations would be a breeze, and becoming a Second Rank Formation Master would be within reach in no time.
How powerful were Second-Grade formations, and what effects could they have?
If he mastered Second-Grade formations, would he be considered the youngest Second Rank Formation Master?
The Cultivation World is vast, full of geniuses. Among Second Rank Formation Masters, he might not be the youngest, but at least he should be among the youngest few, right?
Mo Hua felt a surge of aspiration and couldn’t help but feel grateful to Mr. Zhuang.
Without Mr. Zhuang’s guidance, his mastery of formations couldn’t have improved so well or so quickly, let alone learning formations above the First-grade.
Upon this reflection, Mo Hua’s brow furrowed unconsciously.
Mr. Zhuang has seemed a bit off lately.
He appeared to be more prone to sleepiness than before, and seemed more easily fatigued during cultivation… Mo Hua wondered if there was something amiss with his Cultivation.
Although he still seemed as lazy and composed as ever on the surface.
But Mo Hua, who was perceptive and had spent so much time with Mr. Zhuang, could sense that something was not quite right with him.
“Could it be that the gentleman… is unwell?”
Mo Hua was somewhat worried.