Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 868 – Alarm Raised

Mo Hua led a big white dog, swaggering openly into the disciples' quarters, drawing stares of surprise from the disciples along the way.

"Senior Brother, according to sect rules, disciples aren't allowed to raise spirit pets…"

"This isn't a spirit pet," Mo Hua corrected. "It's the Sect Master's guard dog. I borrowed it."

"The Sect Master's…?"

Everyone was dumbfounded.

And people say he doesn't have backing?

Borrowing the Sect Master's dog like it's no big deal—even the direct grandson of an elder wouldn't get this kind of treatment!

The crowd whispered amongst themselves.

The big white dog, meanwhile, held its head high and proud.

When following behind Mo Hua, it had been happily prancing.

But now, walking through the disciples' quarters with everyone watching, it was all swagger and arrogance, lifting its head high and looking down its snout at everyone.

Truly worthy of the title: "The Sect Master's Dog."

"Senior Brother, why'd you borrow this dog?" a curious disciple asked.

"Important matters," Mo Hua said seriously.

"Important…?" Everyone was confused.

Mo Hua couldn't explain.

Tonight was delivery night for the demonic takeout—this dog was his special guest for the banquet.

It was getting late. He needed to start preparing.

Seeing that the disciples were still peppering him with questions, Mo Hua put on a stern face:

"Have you finished your formation homework?"

The disciples all felt guilty and instantly scattered like frightened chickens.

Mo Hua shook his head and led the big white dog to Yu'er's room.

Wenren Wei looked visibly stunned.

"Young Master Mo, this is…?"

"I have a premonition," Mo Hua said gravely. "Something dangerous might happen to Yu'er tonight. Demons may try to invade his dream-sea at midnight, so I'm taking precautions… I brought this dog to guard the place."

Wenren Wei's face turned solemn.

"Are you certain?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"I am."

—Because he was the one who invited the demons.

Wenren Wei nodded slowly but still looked puzzled.

"This dog, though…"

What could a dog do against demonic invasion?

Mo Hua replied,

"It's the Sect Master's dog. It's really powerful!"

The Sect Master of the Great Void Sect…

Wenren Wei immediately straightened up—thoroughly convinced.

He nodded.

"I understand."

The Sect Master's dog was clearly no ordinary mutt.

And after all these days, Wenren Wei had come to completely trust Mo Hua.

Especially when it concerned Young Master Yu—Mo Hua had never made a single mistake. Every warning had proved true.

Yu'er's current health, cheerfulness, and safety were all thanks to Mo Hua.

If Mo Gongzi said this dog was important, then it was.

"I'll do whatever you ask, Young Master Mo. Just give the word."

"Thanks, Uncle Wei," Mo Hua smiled.

Then he naturally began giving orders.

He instructed Wenren Wei to keep guard outside the room, explaining in detail what to watch out for—going over every precaution without the slightest impatience.

Wenren Wei memorized everything carefully, taking up his post with utmost diligence.

Mo Hua then led the big white dog into the room.

Yu'er was inside, diligently reviewing formation techniques.

Upon seeing Mo Hua, his eyes lit up—but the moment he noticed the giant white dog, he froze, his joy turning into fear.

The big white dog also paused upon seeing the small, delicate Yu'er.

Then, almost instinctively, its eyes turned fierce—it bared its teeth and let out a low growl.

Yu'er, frightened, quickly hid behind Mo Hua.

Mo Hua hurriedly pressed down on the dog's head.

"Be nice."

The white dog, head pinned by Mo Hua, didn't dare act up—but it still glared fiercely at Yu'er.

Mo Hua frowned in puzzlement.

This dog didn't like people, sure—but if unprovoked, it normally just gave a snobby look and ignored them.

So why was it acting like Yu'er was its mortal enemy?

Could it be…?

Mo Hua looked thoughtful—then shook his head.

Either way, this couldn't go on.

He brought the dog to protect Yu'er, not bite him.

If it lost control and hurt the kid, that'd be a massive backfire.

Seeing that the dog still showed hostility even under his grip, Mo Hua leaned in and whispered,

"Still want that big meal?"

The dog froze. Its rage faded. Confused.

Mo Hua pointed to Yu'er.

"Whether you get to eat or not… all depends on him. If you keep acting like this, not only will you miss this meal, you'll be starving from now on."

The big white dog looked a little lost. Then, wisely, it nodded.

It still didn't understand the connection—but for the sake of food and face, it reined itself in and stopped growling at Yu'er.

Mo Hua was satisfied.

He began setting up formations.

First, around the room's walls, he placed divine mist formations—meant to block perception through divine sense.

This was to avoid drawing attention or unwanted spying.

Also to conceal karmic traces—to keep Mr. Tu or any other dark gods' minions from messing with him.

In the inner room, centered on Yu'er, Mo Hua constructed three layers of divine formations.

The outermost was the Divine Gate Formation.

It was a gate for divine consciousness.

Any demons invading through karmic chains would be blocked at this Divine Gate.

The gate's only opening… was Mo Hua himself.

This meant any demons trying to invade Yu'er's dream-sea would have to first pass into Mo Hua's sea of consciousness—becoming his "meal."

But there were too many demons this time—one gate might not be enough.

So Mo Hua added a second gate.

This one… guarded by the big white dog.

A beast that could spar with him clearly wasn't ordinary.

Any demons that slipped past the first gate would go straight into the dog's mouth.

A one-way trip. No refunds.

At the very center was the Divine Lock Formation, tightly surrounding Yu'er and keeping him safe.

These three meticulously arranged divine formations were like towering floodgates.

Mo Hua guarded the front, the big white dog guarded the back—man and beast, fully fortified, waiting for the flood of demons to arrive.

Time slowly passed.

The sun set. Night fell.

Mo Hua lit incense, gently coaxed Yu'er to sleep, then sat cross-legged on a cushion before the Divine Gate, eyes closed in meditation.

The big white dog, following instructions, lay on another cushion nearby.

The floor was covered in intricate formation patterns drawn by Mo Hua's own hand.

The room was silent, save for the flickering of candlelight.

No one knew how much time passed.

The big white dog, head resting on the floor in boredom, suddenly opened its eyes wide—startled.

Mo Hua, still meditating, also opened his eyes slowly—his gaze brightening.

What he had been waiting for… had finally arrived.

The room suddenly chilled. Cold wind rose.

A sinister, oppressive aura filled the air.

Something… was beginning to stir in the darkness.

In Mo Hua's black, white, and gold eyes, evil heavenly patterns appeared—half filthy, half bloody. Black and red intertwined like a web, spreading across the walls from the void.

The branches of the Tree of Divine Authority, like karmic chains, emerged once more.

Upon the branches, dark water condensed. No flowers bloomed, but fruits formed—embryos.

And from the embryos—summoned by Mo Hua using stolen divine authority—demons hatched one after another.

Ox heads, horse faces, human bodies with monstrous heads—grotesque demons, eyes crimson, struggled to crawl out from the void.

The big white dog's eyes widened.

It had remnants of divine beast blood—an extraordinary creature.

It could see things ordinary cultivators couldn't.

Even so, it had never seen so many monsters.

It was like a sheltered child seeing a bustling city for the first time.

It drooled.

The air was heavy with blood, evil, and gloom.

But Mo Hua… smiled.

Sensing the mockery in his smile, the countless demons roared, transforming into a terrible crimson gale, rushing toward him—

"At last… dinner is served."

...

Meanwhile, in the forbidden grounds of the Great Void Sect—

Within the Sword Tomb, sealed tightly by layers upon layers of formation arrays, a long-bearded elder who sat in still meditation suddenly opened his eyes.

"At last… it's happening again…"

He had been waiting for this day.

He wanted to see, once and for all, just what sort of creature it was that kept stirring up chaos within the Great Void Sect, summoning demons and gathering monsters time and time again.

Was it a demon-devouring beast?

A commander of malevolent forces?

Or… a cultivator who had practiced demonic arts, harboring ill intent, plotting to undermine the sect from within?

He had endured long enough.

This time—whether demon or petty villain—none would escape his sight!

A flash of golden light glinted in his eyes.

Within them, a sword-shaped divine rune—formed from stagnated, crystallized, sublimated and shattered divine intent—flashed and flickered like an illusion.

Then—a surge of divine consciousness, vast and boundless, brimming with terrifying sword intent, swept down from the peak of Great Void Mountain.

This sword intent was so profound that ordinary disciples couldn't detect it at all.

Only a few—old ancestors at the Cave Void Realm and a handful of late-stage Nascent Soul powerhouses with exceptional talent and sharp divine sense—could sense the tremor.

And the moment they did, their faces changed dramatically, cold sweat dripping from their foreheads.

This was divine sense refined into a sword—its sword intent sharp and overwhelming.

Fortunately, it merely passed in a sweeping glance.

If it had carried killing intent—if it had truly descended like a divine blade upon the Great Void Mountain—countless disciples would have perished on the spot.

"That was from the forbidden grounds… it's Patriarch Dugu…"

"What's going on?"

"Don't tell me… the Patriarch's Dao Heart is fracturing again?"

"His divine sense is unstable?"

"This is bad…"

"The Patriarch has occasionally swept the mountain with his divine sense before… but never like this—not with such speed, nor such fury…"

"What about the formation sealing him? Did it fail? Is it no longer holding back his inner demons…?"

For a moment, all the top elders of the Great Void Sect—those above the Nascent Soul Realm—were filled with dread and unease.

Even the Sect Master of the Great Void Sect, who had been calmly reading ancient tomes in the scripture pavilion, was no exception.

Yet, amidst his heavy expression, he was also… puzzled.

Patriarch Dugu had voluntarily submitted to being sealed within the Sword Tomb.

He had remained there in peace for many years.

There had been no recent upheavals.

So why would his divine sense suddenly erupt with such frightening force?

The always-composed Sect Master furrowed his brow deeply.

He set down his jade slip, waved his sleeve to extinguish the lamp, and stepped out of the pavilion.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly paused, turning his head toward the direction of the disciples' quarters.

If there was something unusual today…

There was only one small matter that stood out.

Mo Hua had borrowed the sect's exotic beast.

Mo Hua's sudden request to borrow it had sparked some curiosity in the Sect Master, so he had quietly sent his divine sense to trail him—watching as he led the beast into the room of that direct-line child from the Shangguan family, the one named "Yu'er."

At the time, the Sect Master had more or less figured out what was going on.

Divine beasts repel evil.

Beasts with traces of divine beast bloodlines could also ward off malevolent forces.

That was, after all, the original reason he had brought that exotic beast from his family into the sect.

Mo Hua, sharp and spiritually sensitive, had likely realized this—and borrowed the creature to protect the Shangguan child.

A disciple brave enough to ask the Sect Master for help—not for himself, but to protect someone else?

Mo Hua was… a good kid.

The Sect Master had felt reassured, and hadn't thought more of it.

But now, with the eruption of divine sense from the back mountain, a strange feeling crept into his heart…

Somehow… these two events seemed connected.

But after thinking carefully, the Sect Master shook his head.

Mo Hua was merely a Foundation Establishment stage disciple.

What kind of earth-shaking stunt could he possibly pull off to provoke an old ancestor from the forbidden grounds?

And this was no ordinary old ancestor…

If that one left seclusion, the entire Qianxue Prefecture would tremble.

His divine sense could turn into a sword.

Even in the Cave Void Realm, few dared to face his blade.

The Sect Master's heart grew heavier at the thought.

He quickly used a movement technique to arrive at the Elder's Hall and paid a visit to Venerable Elder Xun.

But just as he stepped through the door, he found that nearly every Nascent Soul elder and senior leader of the sect was already there.

Everyone greeted each other and stated the same concern.

Venerable Elder Xun frowned slightly.

"Don't worry," he said. "The seal is still intact. That senior brother of mine… should be fine. I'll go to the back mountain to take a look. You all stay here—no need to stir up panic."

"Venerable Elder… but what if…" The elders were anxious.

Venerable Elder Xun felt uneasy too, but still waved his hand.

"It's alright."

Then, with a flick of his finger, he tore open a rift in the void and stepped through, arriving directly in the forbidden back mountain.

He entered the Sword Tomb and laid eyes on the long-bearded elder.

Instantly, his expression grew guarded.

He scrutinized the elder's form—proud and sharp like a sword, yet fractured and desolate like a tomb.

After a long moment, Elder Xun finally breathed a sigh of relief and spoke slowly:

"Senior Brother…"

The long-bearded elder replied calmly: "What are you doing here?"

The long-bearded elder asked, "Why are you here?"

Venerable Elder Xun replied helplessly, "Senior Brother, haven't I told you already? You mustn't use your divine sense so recklessly…"

The elder's gaze darkened slightly.

He had originally planned for a swift resolution—no need to restrain his divine sense. One sweep across Mount Taixu would be enough to expose the rat stirring up trouble.

But unexpectedly, that single sweep revealed nothing.

He guessed that the source of the turmoil—some petty trickster hiding in the dark—had used some method, most likely an array, to conceal their aura and block divine perception.

That array… was exceptionally well-crafted.

He hadn't anticipated such precision. A casual sweep had been fooled.

But he was in the Cave Void realm, his divine sense formidable. No trick could truly deceive him. If he just released his divine sense again for a more thorough search, he would definitely catch the culprit and reveal the hidden hand behind all this.

Just as he was preparing to do exactly that—

Someone came knocking.

Venerable Elder Xun earnestly advised:

"Senior Brother, you know your condition. Your soul can't handle any more strain. And your divine sense—it must not be used lightly."

"Especially yours, which has been cultivated into a sword. If something goes wrong and the sword intent loses control… the consequences would be unimaginable."

The long-bearded elder said nothing.

Then Elder Xun furrowed his brow, sensing something.

"Senior Brother… did something happen in the sect?"

Knowing this man as he did, Elder Xun was certain: the elder would never have acted so rashly unless something significant had happened—something urgent.

The long-bearded elder's eyes narrowed slightly. He wanted to speak, but in the end, he stayed silent.

He was proud and stubborn by nature. He disliked involving others in his personal affairs.

More than that—he hadn't even figured out the full truth himself.

Besides, this junior of his, with hair already white, had already shouldered too much for the sake of the sect.

So, the long-bearded elder merely said with a calm face,

"It's nothing."

Then he closed his eyes, not saying another word.

Elder Xun could only sigh. At least his senior was unharmed, and the Sword Tomb was still stable.

He let out a long breath, tore open a rift in space, and vanished with a Void Step.

Back at the Elder Hall, Elder Xun addressed the waiting crowd:

"It's fine. Senior Brother was likely tired, momentarily careless, and failed to suppress his divine sense. It's nothing serious."

The crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"That's good…"

"Just a false alarm…"

"Everyone, disperse," Elder Xun said.

"Then we'll take our leave." The Sect Master bowed and exited along with the others.

Soon, only Elder Xun remained in the hall.

He stood there for a moment, lost in thought. The more he reflected, the more suspicious he became.

There was definitely something going on. His senior was hiding something.

But if his senior wouldn't say it, there was no way he could force it out of him.

And besides…

He glanced toward the desk. Stacks of jade slips, documents, and flying sword messages were piled high.

The divination with the spirit compass was only halfway done…

The Dao Discussion Conference following the sect's recent reforms was now less than a year away.

All kinds of undercurrents were surging, and the situation was impossibly complex.

This Dao Conference might well determine the rise or fall of the entire Great Void Sect.

There were simply too many matters demanding his attention.

He couldn't afford to get sidetracked.

Elder Xun sighed deeply, sat back down, and buried himself once more in the endless sea of jade slips—trying to trace, from this tangled web of cause and effect, that one fleeting thread of hope…

Meanwhile, in the forbidden grounds of the back mountain—

After Elder Xun left, the long-bearded elder reopened his eyes.

He was not willing to give up.

His junior's warnings were all correct… but he had to investigate this.

In fact, he had a strong premonition—this might be his last chance.

If he didn't find the truth about this demonic entanglement now… who knew how long he'd have to wait for another opportunity?

But he also knew—he could no longer release his divine sense on a large scale.

He couldn't make too big a scene.

He couldn't alert anyone.

And most importantly, his own divine soul couldn't handle another mistake.

So, he quietly and subtly released just a tiny wisp of divine sense—silent, unseen—beginning a slow and careful search from the back mountain toward the front.

Naturally, this meant his pace… slowed considerably.

Back at the disciples' quarters, inside Yu'er's room— Blissfully unaware of all this, Mo Hua was feasting.

Countless demons surged into his sea of consciousness— Only to be slain, one after another, by his hand.

(End of this Chapter)