First was an Early Warning Formation, followed by a Concealment Formation, a defensive Earth Stone Formation, and lastly a counterattacking Di Sha Formation.
After setting up the formations, Mo Hua pulled out some dried meat to fill his belly.
He followed it with a few gulps of fruit wine.
Once fed and hydrated, he pulled out a soft blanket, wrapped himself like a cocoon, and fell into a long, peaceful sleep…
Elder Xun, standing outside, was utterly dumbfounded.
Wait a minute…
This is a Monster Beast’s lair! How on earth do you treat it like your own home?
Under such conditions, how are you able to sleep so soundly?!
Your heart is really something else…
Elder Xun let out a deep sigh, lost for words. Eventually, he resigned himself to silently standing guard at the cave entrance.
He didn’t dare rest, merely closed his eyes to meditate.
What if a Monster Beast really returned to its den and swallowed this wildly audacious kid whole? That would be a disaster.
The ancestor would skin him alive…
The night grew deeper, the mountain winds colder.
Mo Hua slept peacefully inside.
Elder Xun kept watch outside, anxious and on edge.
And so the night passed until dawn arrived, the east lightened, and Mo Hua opened his eyes and sat up slowly. He stretched and looked invigorated.
Outside the cave, Elder Xun’s gaze was dull, his face weary.
The hour was no longer early.
Mo Hua got up, tidied his blanket, erased the formations, and marked the location of the lair with a small “campfire” icon on his map.
He thought about how he could return here in the future if he ever needed to stay overnight in the mountains again.
After eating a quick breakfast, Mo Hua packed his gear and continued on his way.
Time was tight, and he aimed to map out at least another quarter of the area by the end of the day.
Elder Xun rubbed his brow and sighed helplessly, then began silently trailing Mo Hua again.
And so, Mo Hua spent another day exploring Refining Demon Mountain.
Elder Xun diligently followed him throughout the day.
Yet Mo Hua remained completely unaware.
By the end of the day, Mo Hua had completed nearly half of his bespoke map of the mountain, achieving his goal.
Once his week-long field break was over, Mo Hua returned to Taixu Gate.
After cultivating for eight days, another field break arrived.
This time, Mo Hua returned to Refining Demon Mountain, spending another hundred Spirit Stones to purchase the Demon Refining Command and re-entered the mountains.
With his familiarity of the area—the terrain, threatening Monster Beasts, miasma, poisons, and more—Mo Hua advanced rapidly in his survey.
Two days later, the map was fully completed.
Now it was time to start designing a hunting strategy, combining formations and spiritual artifacts into a comprehensive plan.
The goal was to prepare for leading his Junior Brother Cheng Mo and the others into Refining Demon Mountain.