NOVEL NEXT Chapter 335: Chapter 885: Shock in All Directions
Chapter 885: Shock in All Directions
Mo Hua set down his brush and ink, sitting upright, his gaze fixed silently on the gilded jade "Final Test" jade slip. He stared at the final array inscribed upon it, his expression still and motionless for a long time.
From the looks of it, he truly had been stumped.
The gathered examiners all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Finally! He's stuck..."
"About time too..."
"He has to be stuck now."
"If he kept going, I'd start suspecting the heavens were broken."
"I mean, honestly, anyone would be stumped by this, right?"
"Nineteen-pattern peak! And the rule of Spiritual Reversal woven into it—let alone a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even a typical Grade-3 Golden Core array master might not be able to draw this properly…"
"At best, they'd mimic the form without grasping the spirit."
"Great Dao principles aren't things that can be taught. They must be understood, and even then, they're murky and elusive…"
"To be honest, I used to think the whole 'Final Test' array thing was excessive. But now… the ancestors were wise. We younger folks just haven't seen enough to appreciate their intent…"
"Right? Imagine if this 'Final Test' actually got cracked today—how humiliating would that be?"
"It'd make us examiners look incompetent, make the competition seem trivial, and make it seem like our Ganxue Prefecture's array knowledge lacked any real depth."
"Exactly, exactly…"
"Truly… wise were the ancestors."
The examiners all sighed in agreement.
Master Wen also let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Sometimes, being meticulous really did pay off.
This was his first time as the chief examiner. The last thing he wanted was for his inaugural test to be shattered clean through. That would be a first in Ganxue Prefecture history—and not the kind he wanted to be known for.
Worse, rumors might spread: favoritism, leaked test questions—it would've been a mess.
Luckily, this final test had finally halted the progress of this "monster" from the Great Void Sect.
Only then did Master Wen realize his palms were soaked in sweat.
He used to think students felt the most pressure during an exam. Turns out, when you're the examiner, it can be just as nerve-wracking…
Time slowly passed.
Mo Hua still sat motionless in the arena, staring at the jade slip's array diagram.
The examiners, seeing this, gradually began to relax.
"Once time's up and he hasn't drawn it, that's it. He's technically 'defeated.'"
"Well, even if he's 'defeated,' he still takes first place. But only first place."
"What do you mean, only first place?" a senior elder protested indignantly.
"Yeah, do you think first place grows on trees?"
"So many sects, so many years—we haven't had a single first-place win!"
"We'd be thrilled just to land second or third, let alone first!"
"Are you mocking us right now?"
The examiner who had spoken hastily apologized, "My bad, my bad! I'm just too stressed. Words came out wrong…"
…
As the elders chatted idly, Master Wen's brows gradually furrowed.
He stared silently at Mo Hua, sitting motionless in the middle of the arena.
The more he looked, the more unease welled up in his heart.
"Wait… something's not right!"
This junior from the Great Void Sect seemed stumped by the array, unable to proceed.
But his expression… was too calm.
And in his eyes, light flickered—like he was…
"...Calculating?"
Master Wen drew in a slow, cold breath.
He's calculating?!
He's deducing. He's learning.
Right here, in the middle of the Grand Array Conference, he's analyzing a pinnacle-level nineteen-pattern "Final Test" array containing the obscure rule of Spiritual Reversal—on the spot?!
Learning it live?!
Master Wen's pupils shrank. His heart trembled.
Who taught him deduction?
The Great Void Sect?
In a setting like this, facing a test this obscure—he can still learn?
How?!
Master Wen's heart suddenly tightened once more.
"…No way. Right? That's not possible…"
…
In the grand arena—
Mo Hua was learning on the spot.
He had studied the array. It was an unknown Grade-2 formation containing the entry-level principles of Spiritual Reversal.
Spiritual Reversal...
Reverse-Spirit Array!
Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat.
The very first absolute-grade array he had ever learned was the Grade-1 Ten-Pattern Reverse-Spirit Array, taught by his master.
Now that he was at peak Foundation Establishment, his divine sense had grown tremendously, and his control over Grade-2 formations had become flawless. He never imagined that, through sheer coincidence, he would encounter another "Reverse-Spirit" array—right here, as the final test of the conference.
Though this array was merely a "nineteen-pattern peak" and not a true absolute-grade formation, its core logic mirrored that of the Grade-1 Reverse-Spirit Array: destabilizing a formation by manipulating and reversing the flow of spiritual energy.
But this time, the reversal applied to Foundation Establishment–level spiritual energy, dense and mercury-like—far more dangerous than the Qi Refining energy targeted by the Grade-1 version.
And though incomplete, the embedded Spiritual Reversal principle was just shallow enough to be Mo Hua's perfect entry point.
He couldn't handle a true Grade-2 absolute array yet.
But a "half-step" absolute array—like this—was the ideal stepping stone.
Back then, Mister Zhuang had taught him the Reverse-Spirit Array starting from the ninth pattern.
Now Mister Zhuang was gone.
There was no one left to teach him.
But Mo Hua… could now teach himself.
"A master leads you to the path. But cultivation is your own to walk."
During their travels, Mister Zhuang had passed down more than just techniques—he passed down the Way itself: the desire to seek, to understand, to master any formation under heaven.
Even without inheriting Mister Zhuang's Celestial Heaven formation lineage, Mo Hua had inherited his master's burning passion for the Dao of Arrays—and the experience, the methods, and the determination to comprehend even the most terrifying of absolute arrays.
He could now deduce any array.
Learn any array.
That was the greatest gift Mister Zhuang had ever given him.
Mo Hua's eyes gleamed with radiant light. Fate-weaving deduction, divine calculation, golden light of the Dao—all danced in his gaze.
The myriad phenomena of the world unfolded before him, broken down and restructured.
The array's spiritual reversal lines slowly became clear.
The changes in spiritual energy—every subtle trace—were laid bare.
The patterns of reversal—complex yet resonating with the Great Dao—were unraveled, one by one, within his mind.
To outsiders, Mo Hua merely seemed lost in a daze.
Only a rare few skilled array masters could see: he was calculating.
He was comprehending.
He was learning, live and in real time, this difficult, obscure, nineteen-pattern peak array—one that would stump most Grade-2 masters.
To others, it was a nightmarish exam problem.
To Mo Hua—it was a monumental opportunity.
The key to his understanding of Spiritual Reversal.
Because this tournament… wasn't about defeating others.
It was about surpassing oneself.
"To endlessly study harder arrays, to grasp deeper array principles, to transcend one's limits, to chase the Dao of Arrays—"
"Perhaps this… is the true meaning of the Grand Array Conference…"
At that moment, Mo Hua experienced a sudden realization.
His heart and mind aligned in perfect clarity.
Everything else faded from his awareness.
In his eyes, there were only array lines, array logic, and the lingering laws of spiritual reversal born from energy distortion.
These laws were chaotic and jagged—like shattered void stitched together with darkness, spiraling with spiritual energy, endlessly disintegrating… until they collapsed into nothingness.
A terrifying aura of annihilation lingered within.
Yet to Mo Hua, it felt… familiar.
Because he had sensed it before.
This array merely expanded upon the principle of the Grade-1 Reverse-Spirit Array—more variation, wider scope.
And Mo Hua… was intimately familiar with it.
He had once used that very array to collapse a formation—and slay a demonic beast born of Dao corruption.
These laws—he had truly grasped them. He had practiced them with his own hands.
A glimmer of understanding flashed in Mo Hua's eyes.
The principles of collapse… were now etched into his heart.
And around him, a subtle yet unsettling aura of annihilation began to form.
This was the sign of comprehending a law—an instinctive, momentary phenomenon.
Not only Master Wen—but all the other examiners—began to feel something was off.
The relief they had just felt…
Was rapidly turning to tension again.
"Is it just me, or is something not right…"
"That kid from the Great Void Sect… why does he look a little off…"
"It's like… he's comprehending something."
"Comprehending… what?"
Everyone exchanged glances.
A terrifying thought slowly rose in their minds.
"Surely… he can't be that much of a monster, right?"
No one answered.
And just then, Mo Hua—who had been sitting in complete silence—moved.
He extended a pale, delicate hand and picked up his array brush.
The examiners' nerves instantly tensed.
Then they watched, eyes wide, as Mo Hua—calm-faced, without joy or sorrow—began to write on the array paper before him, unhurried and composed.
It looked exactly like before.
But all the examiners knew—this was completely different!
This was no ordinary formation.
This was a nineteen-pattern peak "Final Test" array, imbued with the profound principle of Spiritual Reversal—one of the most abstruse formations ever used in the Grand Array Conference!
And just moments ago, Mo Hua had never even seen this array before—much less known how to draw it.
The crowd of examiners cried out in disbelief.
Even Master Wen's pupils trembled.
Whether they understood array formations or not—whether they recognized exactly what Mo Hua was doing or only felt the pressure of something extraordinary—the entire audience fell silent, not daring to breathe too loudly.
On the array paper, pattern after pattern flowed from Mo Hua's brush.
And in those lines, a subtle resonance began to swirl…
It was a difficult process—but nothing obstructed him.
No one knew how much time had passed before Mo Hua finally put down his brush.
In front of him was a complete, profound, and deeply complex array diagram—far beyond the grasp of any ordinary Grade-2 array master.
Because it was his first time drawing it, the lines showed a bit of hesitation—less steady, less perfect than his usual elegant and precise strokes.
Yet despite that, the formation felt cohesive, seamless, and entirely unified.
One of the examiners stepped down, took a look, and was at first shocked—then frowned, clearly unsure.
Carefully, he presented the array to Chief Examiner Master Wen.
At first glance, Master Wen felt a storm of disbelief crash through his heart. He murmured in astonishment:
"He really… drew it…"
His expression grew serious as he examined the formation carefully from start to finish. The more he looked, the harder it was to believe.
"There's some shakiness, but not a single line is wrong. And more than that…"
"There's spirit in the strokes."
This wasn't some shallow imitation of form—this was a real comprehension of the array's inner principles, a true integration of rules into the formation, which gave rise to that flow of resonance.
The array contained law.
Though faint—it undeniably showed signs of rule manifestation.
"Master Wen, this…" one of the examiners asked nervously.
Everyone turned to him.
Master Wen took a deep breath, then sighed and said:
"It's all correct. He drew it."
The moment he spoke those words, every single examiner's heart… sank.
"He drew it?!"
"He actually—how… how is this even—this…"
Someone began rambling, utterly unable to accept it.
Most of the examiners were so stunned, words couldn't describe it.
He cracked it.
In their lifetimes, they never imagined they would see a student completely clear every single array in the Ganxue Prefecture's Grand Array Conference's question bank.
From start to finish—not missing a single array, not even a single stroke!
Even the final test—the most difficult formation—couldn't block him.
And more horrifying—he learned it on the spot!
He just looked at it once, then spent the time it takes to drink a few cups of tea, and fully comprehended both the diagram and the embedded principles.
He knew all the test formations.
The ones he didn't know—he learned on the fly?!
What kind of "monster" even was this?
Could such a genius actually exist in this world?
The examiners stood there, stunned and hollow.
They had studied formations for a lifetime—only now did they realize how narrow their understanding truly was. Even their imagination was lacking.
Even if they daydreamed, they wouldn't dare dream this far.
The main hall erupted in quiet chaos.
And finally, at that moment, Mo Hua spoke for the first time since the competition began:
"Are there any more?"
He asked it calmly.
After all, this was already a nineteen-pattern peak array, with Spiritual Reversal embedded—extremely difficult.
Anything harder, he likely couldn't draw.
Not to mention—he had started from the sixteen-pattern array and worked his way up to here.
This last formation had drained much of his divine sense for deduction.
Even with his exceptional spirit sense, he was running dry.
If there were any more formations—he wouldn't draw them.
Knowing your limits was also something Venerable Elder Xun had taught him.
But those three simple words—
"Are there any more?"
—made all the examiners go completely silent.
That light, crisp voice carried immense pressure and overwhelming weight, causing these senior elders—array masters from major sects, experienced and revered—to nearly suffer an emotional breakdown.
"Are there any more?"
"Any more?!"
"Any mo—"
A few elders turned red in the face, nearly coughing up blood from sheer rage.
But no one dared to answer.
Because…
There weren't any.
He had drawn everything.
Even the Final Test array—he had cracked it.
Not one was left.
They couldn't shamelessly pull out a random Grade-3 array and test this freak on the spot, could they?
Master Wen sighed.
As chief examiner, no matter how heavy his heart, he had to say it:
"That was the last one."
"Then…" Mo Hua asked.
"You win," Master Wen replied.
Mo Hua's face lit up with joy—his smile reached his brows.
But then he remembered Venerable Elder Xun's reminder to control his emotions and remain composed, so he quickly straightened his expression, stood calmly, and respectfully bowed toward the hall of examiners:
"Thank you, esteemed seniors."
The examiners were a bit surprised.
They had assumed someone with such monstrous talent would be arrogant, prideful, and dismissive of others.
But to their surprise—he was polite.
The examiners who had nearly spit blood moments ago… felt oddly comforted by his bow.
Even Master Wen felt his frustration ease slightly. He composed himself, then straightened and activated his cultivation, projecting his voice powerfully across the mountains:
"Ganxue Prefecture Grand Array Conference—hereby concludes."
"The champion of this year's array contest, first under Heaven's Dao—"
"Great Void Sect's Mo Hua!"
With the support of his Nascent Soul–level spiritual energy, Master Wen's dignified voice thundered across the entire Dao Discourse Mountain, resonating for a long time, refusing to fade.
Great Void Sect, Mo Hua!
First in the Grand Array Conference! Head of the Array Dao!
In that moment, the entire Dao Discourse Mountain erupted—a thunderous, deafening roar of voices.
The disciples of the Great Void Sect cheered wildly.
Some even had tears in their eyes, unable to express their excitement in words.
Before this day, no one could've imagined that the Great Void Sect—a sect ranking dead last among the Eight Great Sects, teetering on the edge of irrelevance, with a lackluster reputation in the Dao of Arrays—would somehow… seize first place in the Grand Array Conference?!
Even now, it all felt like a dream—utterly unbelievable.
Some of the normally stern and solemn elders were shouting like ordinary disciples, faces filled with awe.
A few were even so moved… they ripped out their own beards.
In the high pavilion of the Dao Court Division—
Inspector Xia, at the Nascent Soul Realm, was frozen in shock.
He stared at Mo Hua again and again, unable to hide the storm in his heart.
"I… misjudged him…"
That inconspicuous little brat… actually… actually...
He couldn't even finish the sentence.
Not far from him, Magistrate Xia was equally stunned.
She had only come to attend the conference as a routine matter, never expecting to witness something like this.
She'd known Mo Hua was talented in arrays—but this level? This was… beyond anything she could've imagined.
The one standing on the arena now—the emotionless, domineering "array demon" who had just crushed a mountain of prodigies—was that really the same Mo Hua she knew?
The cheerful, innocent, polite boy with the sunny smile?
Magistrate Xia's thoughts lagged, completely unable to catch up.
Inspector Xia glanced at her and sighed inwardly.
"One's fate and fortune… really are impossible to predict…"
On the noble families' grandstand—
Wenren Wan covered her mouth, eyes wide with disbelief.
"The Head of the Array Dao… is Mo Hua?!"
She had hoped for this—but now that the impossible had become reality, it still felt like a dream.
Little Yu'er didn't care about any of that.
He didn't understand what the Grand Array Conference meant—he just clapped and cheered with joy:
"Brother Mo won! Brother Mo is number one!"
"No one's stronger than Brother Mo!"
The three family heads—Shangguan, Wenren, and Gu—including their highest-ranking elders—were all frozen in place, thoroughly shaken.
"He really… got first place...?"
Even if you beat them to death, they wouldn't have guessed this would be the result of the Array Conference.
The Gu Clan was the first to rejoice.
Many of their elders knew Mo Hua personally.
Some had even shared food with him, given him small gifts, sat down for tea and conversation.
Now, thinking back, those moments seemed gilded in gold, shining with brilliance—bringing them a deep sense of shared glory.
This was the Array Champion, after all.
First in Ganxue.
Something worth bragging about for a lifetime!
Even the usually stone-faced and array-ignorant Gu Shouyan couldn't help but feel comforted.
After all, Mo Hua had freeloaded meals at their Gu household.
That's basically a divine blessing!
Even Shangguan Ce began reviewing whether he had treated Mo Hua too coldly in the past.
Perhaps it was time to find a way to subtly curry favor.
Meanwhile, Wenren Jingxuan stood stunned, his expression turning strange.
He glanced sideways at Shangguan Wang and couldn't help but ask:
"You're telling me… my daughter pulled some strings, burned through her favors, and shoved the Array Dao Champion of Ganxue Prefecture—first among thousands of sects— into the Great Void Sect?"
"Do you think, once the sect finds out, they'll put her on a pedestal and worship her?"
Shangguan Wang's face turned as red as a pig's liver.
Utterly unspeakable.
At Hundred Blossom Valley's spot—
Hua Qianqian looked at Mo Hua, eyes wide and mouth covered in shock.
And above, standing tall in radiant robes, the mistress of Hundred Blossom Valley—a woman of icy beauty—gazed down at Mo Hua's figure, equally dazed.
"That child… he seems like…"
After a long moment, her frosty face twisted into a strange, unreadable expression.
Elsewhere—at the Myriad Array Sect—
A certain elder's eyes were completely bloodshot.
This time, he wasn't just shocked—he was consumed by jealousy.
"He crushed the Four Great Sects and seized the title of Array Champion…
Such dazzling talent—how could he possibly end up at the Great Void Sect?!
Our Myriad Array Sect is ranked first in the Dao of Arrays aside from the Four Greats—
That boy should've been ours!"
Beside him, a Myriad Array Sect instructor hesitated, then quietly said:
"He… was supposed to be."
The elder blinked. "What?"
The instructor whispered:
"Don't you remember? A few years ago, a young disciple from outside the region tried to join us. Great talent in arrays, just… his spiritual roots were a little poor."
"Sect rules said we couldn't take him. I thought it was a shame, so I checked with you again."
(And got scolded for it, per usual.)
"You told me: two-legged frogs are rare, but two-legged array masters? There's plenty.
Rules are rules.
One more or one less low-rank array master wouldn't make a difference. Not worth breaking precedent for."
"That rejected disciple…"
He pointed discreetly toward the arena.
"Is him. That's the boy… the one who just took first place."
The elder's face went pale, as if struck by lightning.
"I… rejected him?"
He—who had once wanted to join their sect—was the number one in Ganxue. The Head of the Array Dao.
And they had turned him away.
The elder's vision darkened, blood rushed to his brain, and regret surged through every organ.
Even his guts were turning green.
His stomach churned with bitterness that threatened to erupt.
Among the crowd, Elder Zheng stood frozen.
Others might not understand—many array elders wouldn't have recognized what Mo Hua had done.
But he was different.
He had once been an elder of the Heavenly Dao Sect—one of Ganxue's Four Greats—and carried the legacy of the Zheng Clan's ancient Thunder Array heritage.
He knew very well just how terrifying Mo Hua's performance had been.
His divine sense? Unfathomable.
His knowledge of arrays? Deep and vast.
His spiritual perception? At least three whole stages above his cultivation realm.
At mid-stage Foundation Establishment, he had crushed the Four Great Sects' geniuses…
And even comprehended the rules of spiritual reversal in mere minutes.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.
This freak… was the very same rogue cultivator he'd once met.
That determined youth, steady of heart and grand in vision.
Elder Zheng stood unmoving, dazed.
But in his eyes, a fire ignited—a blazing storm of hope, like crackling thunder…
As the chaos slowly settled…
Amid stunned gasps and voices full of disbelief— The Grand Array Conference had finally ended.
Everything had been decided.
Mid-Foundation Establishment. First in the Array Conference.
Crushed the Four Great Sects. Seized the title of Head of the Array Dao.
The name "Mo Hua of the Great Void Sect"— like a great bell echoing through the mountains— shook the entire Ganxue Prefecture Realm.
The winds shifted. The heavens stirred.
(End of this Chapter)