Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 892 – The Demonic Path

The nature of Demon Sects was entirely different.

Since entering the Ganxue Province, Mo Hua had often worked with the Dao Judiciary Office to collect bounty rewards, and by now he had developed a clearer understanding of the distinctions between criminal cultivators, demonic cultivators, and demon sects.

Criminal cultivators (罪修) referred to those who violated Daoist laws.

These cultivators might originally have followed the orthodox path, practicing legitimate Daoist techniques, but due to personal greed or a moment of impulse, they committed crimes such as murder, theft, robbery, defilement, or forced dual cultivation—and thus became wanted by the Dao Judiciary.

These cultivators operated in the gray area. Based on techniques alone, it was often difficult to distinguish good from evil.

Some criminals, despite having committed serious offenses, could still mask themselves with righteous appearances and continue living glamorously in public—as long as their crimes weren't exposed, and the Dao Judiciary failed to track them down.

Demonic cultivators (邪修) were more overtly corrupt, distinguishable even in their techniques and Daoist practices.

Demonic cultivators were those who had gone astray in their cultivation, suffered qi deviation, or deliberately learned certain heretical, demonic arts.

They usually acted alone. Sometimes they'd temporarily band together, but their paths and methods remained fundamentally different.

But Demon Path cultivators (魔修) were a different beast entirely.

They gathered with purpose, had unified leadership, and committed atrocities in an organized and systematic fashion.

These cultivators shared a systematic inheritance, practiced the same types of demonic techniques, refined the same kinds of evil artifacts, and cast spells that originated from the same core teachings.

This structured inheritance system was the clearest distinction between Demon Path cultivators and ordinary demonic cultivators.

At first, Mo Hua didn't think much of it—but after encountering them repeatedly, he began to sense something disturbing in their cultivation techniques.

He consulted Gu Changhuai and some frontline officers of the Dao Judiciary and finally grasped the truly insidious nature of the Demon Path's legacy...

Regardless of whether one walked the righteous or demonic path—cultivation required resources.

For orthodox cultivators, the resource was spirit stones.

But for demonic cultivators of the Demon Path—their resource was people.

Or rather, people were their spirit stones.

Righteous cultivators relied on hard work to refine spirit stones, absorb spiritual energy, and gradually step onto the Dao.

This process was just and proper—but slow, monotonous, and difficult.

So the Demon Path took another route: they killed, robbed, and stole the blood essence and spiritual power others had worked so hard to cultivate.

This kind of cultivation was faster, and the resulting power more lethal.

But once a demonic cultivator reached a certain level, they'd hit a bottleneck.

Because even if one person went on a murder spree—the speed still wasn't fast enough.

So the more powerful demon lords began to recruit underlings.

They passed down their demonic techniques to several disciples, then sent these disciples out to kill, rob, and absorb blood and spirit power.

The blood and spirit power these disciples gathered—some they kept, but most was offered upward to their demon lord.

Because these demonic arts came from the demon lord himself, their cultivation progress, spell strength, and even life or death were all under his control.

They had no choice but to obey.

And if one of these disciples wished to grow stronger, they had to recruit their own disciples.

Pass down the arts, train new followers, and start siphoning blood essence and spiritual power from them to increase their own cultivation.

Their disciples would also take in disciples...

Layer by layer, the wider the spread of the demonic arts, the more disciples the Demon Sect gained, and the more righteous cultivators they drained of vitality and power.

As a result, the original demon lord—the one at the top of the pyramid—grew ever stronger through this cascading supply of offerings.

This was the "Dao Transmission System" of the Demon Sects.

There were exceptions, of course, but the general structure remained the same:

Layer upon layer of exploitation, layer upon layer of blood extraction, layer upon layer of spiritual drain, all feeding upward.

The end stage of a demonic cultivator was to become a demon cultivator who could pass down his teachings.

The end stage of that was to form a Demon Sect.

And the end of the Demon Sect… was a monstrous Great Demon Palace, ruled by a Demon Lord, standing above billions, raising endless "blood slaves" and "spirit slaves," devouring people to the bone, and monopolizing everything.

This was a terrifying truth Mo Hua only uncovered after combining sect records with careful investigation.

Of course, nowadays, under the unified rule of the Dao Judiciary, the righteous path prevailed.

Demonic techniques and texts were burned, and demon cultivators were executed without mercy.

That kind of Great Demon Palace had long since been wiped from the pages of history.

But as long as people still harbored greed, anger, or delusion—there would always be demons.

And Demon Path cultivators could never truly be eradicated.

So their "Dao Transmission" system survived as well.

Compared to gray-area criminals, lone demonic cultivators, or scattered minor demonists—

A Demon Sect—with scale, shared inheritance, tight structure, and a plague-like ability to spread via Dao transmission—

Even a small Demon Sect possessed greater coordination, higher destructive power, and was far more dangerous...

"The Demon Sect that recently surfaced in Ganxue Province practices a blood-based demonic cultivation art," Gu Changhuai said solemnly.

"Its members absorb the flesh and blood of cultivators, and they've already committed three major crimes:

Wiped out a second-rank family.

Destroyed a small village outside an Immortal City.

And during a cultivator gathering… slaughtered nearly a thousand cultivators."

Gu Changhuai's expression was grim.

Mo Hua also frowned deeply.

"And it's not just that," Gu Changhuai continued.

"These Demon Sects are actively developing new recruits, spreading their demonic techniques, and expanding their influence.

The Dao Judiciary is finding it harder and harder to contain them..."

"The leader… is a Golden Core-stage demon cultivator?" Mo Hua asked.

"Yes," Gu Changhuai nodded grimly. "And not just one.

The sect is estimated to have more than ten Golden Core elders."

More than ten Golden Cores…

Mo Hua sucked in a breath.

In the surrounding region of Ganxue Province, that was an overwhelming force.

Among the major cultivation factions, Void Refining elders were revered as ancestral figures, rarely acting or even traveling.

Those who operated in the outside world were usually Nascent Soul (Feathering Stage) cultivators.

Back during the siege in Lishan City, the strongest cultivators—both righteous and demonic—who showed up to encircle his master were Nascent Soul level.

At the time, Mo Hua had low cultivation and limited perspective, so he didn't quite grasp the significance.

But now he understood—Nascent Soul cultivators were essentially the pinnacle combat strength most large factions could mobilize.

Mo Hua even suspected that "Mister Tu," the shadowy figure behind the Great Wilderness cult, was no more than Nascent Soul as well.

Mo Hua had seen quite a few Nascent Soul cultivators by now, so they didn't seem so intimidating.

But he was still just Foundation Stage.

If he had to climb that path himself—it would be like running to a distant mountain until his horse dropped dead. Practically hopeless.

Below Nascent Soul was Golden Core.

Even in major clans, Golden Core cultivators were the backbone.

And in these second- and third-rank Immortal Cities surrounding Ganxue Province—

Even peak Foundation Stage figures like Fire Buddha or Water Yama could dominate entire regions.

A dozen Golden Core cultivators from a structured, organized, inherited Demon Sect?

That was a catastrophic threat.

Mo Hua sighed.

But this was a Golden Core-level battle—as a Foundation cultivator, he was completely outmatched.

If he dared to step in, he'd get slapped to death in minutes.

It had taken everything he had just to fight the peak Foundation Fire Buddha—how could he deal with over ten Golden Core demons?

"Will the Dao Judiciary send reinforcements?" Mo Hua asked.

"I can't tell you specifics," Gu Changhuai replied, "but yes—the Dao Judiciary has already begun mobilizing Golden Core officials from nearby provinces to assist.

After all, the rise of a Demon Sect is a major event no matter where it happens—

Let alone here, in sect-dense Ganxue Province..."

Mo Hua nodded, then looked at Gu Changhuai with concern.

"Uncle Gu… you be careful too."

Demon Sects weren't something to take lightly.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Gu Changhuai said.

Though his words were calm, his expression was deeply solemn—this wasn't something he could take lightly.

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

Uncle Gu had always been like this—prideful to the core, suffering silently, never asking others for help if he could carry the burden himself.

"Alright then. Just… watch your back," Mo Hua said.

A Demon Sect that sucked blood… ten-plus Golden Cores… There really wasn't much he could do.

Gu Changhuai nodded.

"Don't worry."

...

After the Year-End Banquet, the Gu Family Head personally arranged a carriage to send Mo Hua back to the Great Void Sect.

A few more days passed, and the New Year festivities came to an end.

A new year had begun.

This marked Mo Hua's seventh year in the Great Void Sect.

And from this year on, it was officially time for the late Foundation Stage curriculum.

But Mo Hua… was still at mid Foundation Stage.

Thus, he officially became the first—also the only—disciple in the history of the sect to enter the late Foundation Stage program while still at mid Foundation Stage cultivation.

Naturally, this made him feel a little… out of place.

Even more awkward was the fact that a group of late Foundation Stage disciples had to address him as "Senior Brother". That pressure was immense.

This so-called senior brother wasn't leading by example—he was dragging the class average down and clinging to the bottom like dead weight.

He'd only managed to avoid being held back thanks to connections.

What hit harder was that all the disciples Mo Hua knew—Cheng Mo, Situ Jian, Hao Xuan, Yang Qianjun, even Linghu Xiao and Little Wooden Dummy—had all smoothly broken through to late Foundation Stage.

Only he was stuck in mid stage.

Mo Hua felt... defeated.

So, from that moment on, his number-one priority became breaking through to late Foundation Stage—as quickly as possible.

From then on, Mo Hua dedicated himself fully to cultivation.

Finally, one early morning, about a month later...

He was going through his usual cultivation routine.

Spirit stones were refined into pure spiritual energy, flowing along his meridians, circulating through his great heavenly cycle, gathering in his qi sea, and gradually condensing into silvery, mercury-like spiritual power.

Cycle after cycle, Mo Hua cultivated steadily—calm and unhurried.

Eventually, the saying "dripping water wears through stone" proved true.

Mo Hua's qi sea trembled.

His spiritual energy surged.

His meridians and acupuncture points all felt hot and agitated.

A classic sign of hitting a breakthrough bottleneck.

Mo Hua's spirit stirred.

But the bottleneck for the Heaven's Evolution Art (天衍訣) was not like that of ordinary techniques.

After all, this was an ancient and obscure cultivation method, one that didn't follow conventional paths.

After the spiritual power surged, it didn't immediately break through. Instead, it released thin threads of energy that seeped from his meridians and flowed through subtle inner pathways, gradually converging at his Baihui acupoint (crown chakra).

When it reached the Heaven Gate acupoint, those threads of spiritual energy began to weave together into a veil of sorts, like strands of silk.

They pierced through the barriers of flesh and bone, beginning to infiltrate inward—into his Sea of Consciousness.

There, the spiritual energy began to intertwine with the Sea of Consciousness, forming layers of intricate formation runes that assembled into complex, obscure arrays.

These arrays fused and interlocked, like rivers converging into the sea, or a dragon-spider spinning webs, forming a massive, curtain-like maze of spiritual arrays.

Mo Hua had seen this phenomenon back in the Qi Refining stage—many times, in fact.

Now that he saw it again, the process was mostly the same...

But something was different about this bottleneck.

The formation runes were more advanced, the arrays more complicated, and the overall scale was much larger.

But that wasn't the most important part.

The critical change was this:

The color of the maze-like array was now pure gold.

That was the color of Divine Essence (神髓).

In other words—it represented Divine Sense Ascension.

Mo Hua compared the color of his own divine sense projection to the golden array.

His golden glow looked faint and dull next to the pure brilliance of the formation.

Which meant—his Divine Sense hadn't reached the required level for the Heaven's Evolution Art.

Mo Hua attempted to interface with the formation maze using his willpower to break through it.

But this formation, floating within his Sea of Consciousness, woven from spiritual power and mental energy, was as though forged in gold—every rune weighed a thousand pounds.

Mo Hua gave it his all, but with his current divine sense, he couldn't move it at all.

This meant… he wasn't even qualified to attempt breaking the formation.

Mo Hua took in a sharp breath.

He had mentally prepared for the Heaven's Evolution Art to be abnormal, but this was beyond expectations.

Even with his current level of Divine Sense cultivation—he still didn't qualify to attempt a breakthrough?

Just what kind of beings was this ancient technique meant for?

Was this designed for divine beasts? Or gods?

Or were ancient cultivators all walking divine-sense monsters?

Mo Hua was speechless.

He sat down and stared at the golden array maze filling the sky of his mindscape.

A wave of helplessness washed over him, and he couldn't help but sigh.

Still—difficulty was no excuse. He had to find a way through. Sighing wouldn't break bottlenecks.

Besides—this was the late Foundation bottleneck, the final hurdle before Golden Core.

Once he overcame this... He'd be stepping into the realm of Core Formation.

Golden Core!

Mo Hua's eyes lit up. He calmed his mind and began planning his strategy.

From what he could tell, the Heaven's Evolution Art's bottleneck had two primary requirements:

A qualitative transformation of Divine Sense —this was what Lord Huangshan referred to as the realm of "Divine Sense Ascension (神識道化)"... This realm was reflected through the color of one's Divine Essence. The second requirement… was the vast maze-like spiritual array curtain, formed from spiritual energy and divine sense.

But for the current Mo Hua, the maze was actually the easier part.

His understanding of Grade-2 arrays, especially those within the realms of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, had already reached an expert level—even Venerable Elder Xun had praised him.

So he could break the formation—it would just take some time.

The only real problem was… his Divine Sense hadn't yet reached the required level of Dao Transformation.

And to raise the level of Divine Sense Ascension, to enhance the degree of spiritual metamorphosis, he had to consume Divine Essence.

And judging by the current situation, a mosquito-leg-sized nibble of Divine Essence wouldn't cut it.

He needed a lot.

Here we go again—Divine Essence…

Mo Hua's head started to ache.

He thought it over. If he wanted to get his hands on more Divine Essence, the first route was the usual one: start with the Great Wilderness Evil Gods.

Find an altar, slay a god remnant, refine the Divine Essence, and then use it to push his divine sense to ascend.

But things had changed.

He had used the identity of the "Evil Embryo" and the altar authority of Dragon King Temple to erase his name from the Blood Pact List, destroying the soul imprints of all the Evil God minions on it.

So now, Mr. Tu had gone full mad-dog mode.

With all his Grade-2 underlings wiped out, he had directly mobilized Grade-3 Golden Core-level monsters.

And a Golden Core-level game... Mo Hua couldn't even join the queue.

On top of that, he still carried the hidden danger of the Evil Embryo inside his soul.

Even if he didn't have it, now wasn't the time to go running around the world.

After all, he was now "Drylearn's Number One, the Grandmaster of Arrays" — in short, a minor celebrity.

And everyone knows what happens when pigs get too fat...

He was now very fat, metaphorically speaking, and eyes were watching him from all directions.

Mo Hua himself had never imagined that one day, his once-nameless little self would be shackled by fame, unable to move freely.

Because of that, for the foreseeable future, he had to lay low in the Great Void Sect, avoid going out as much as possible.

Which meant... after calculating every option, he had only one real path left:

Slay the Evil Embryo.

Only by cutting out the Evil Embryo embedded in his soul, refining its Divine Essence, could he enhance his divine sense, break through the bottleneck of the Heaven's Evolution Art, and reach late Foundation Stage.

But—he'd thought of this a lot of times already.

The issue wasn't whether he wanted to kill it.

The issue was—his God-Slaying Style wasn't complete yet.

With his current methods, he simply couldn't sever the Evil Embryo.

He had been diligently practicing the Great Void God-Slaying Sword.

Every day, he would slice at his own soul with that sword.

Every strike weakened the Evil Embryo just a little bit more.

But even after all this time, although it appeared weaker day by day, it still clung to his soul like spiritual duct tape—unyielding and annoyingly tenacious.

Mo Hua had no idea how many more strikes it would take to finally kill the thing.

Sure, he could accelerate the process—strike it multiple times a day.

But doing so would drain his soul faster, which meant he'd need even more Divine Essence to repair the damage.

And so he'd entered a perfect loop of doom:

He needed Divine Essence to enhance the God-Slaying Sword, to kill the Evil Embryo.

But he could only get Divine Essence by killing the Evil Embryo.

No Divine Essence → can't kill it.

Can't kill it → no Divine Essence.

A full-blown cultivation paradox.

A deadlock.

Mo Hua sighed. He spent the next few days brooding over this exact issue.

But this "dead knot" wasn't something that could be untied so easily.

A few days later, it was time again for his weekly training.

Mo Hua finished drawing some formation diagrams, reviewed his swordsmanship lessons, then sat in his disciple quarters—waiting for Ancestor Dugu to come fetch him.

A moment later, a rift in the void shimmered open.

Mo Hua's vision blurred.

When it cleared, he was already back in the forbidden mountain rear, surrounded by the weathered remnants of countless Sword Graves.

As always, Ancestor Dugu first demonstrated sword techniques, then tested Mo Hua's progress, and finally handed him a bamboo sword to hack away at a log tougher than stone.

Mo Hua, without fail, obediently chopped away.

While he chopped, Ancestor Dugu frowned slightly, watching him quietly.

After half an hour of chopping, Dugu suddenly shook his head and said:

"No good…"

Mo Hua blinked and turned around.

"Ancestor, did I chop wrong?"

"You didn't chop wrong," Dugu said.

"But you're way too slow. At this rate, if you want to achieve anything with your swordsmanship, you'll get there in, what, the year of the monkey?"

"And by the time you master it and can start learning 'Sword Manifestation via Divine Sense,' I'll probably be dead from waiting."

Mo Hua: "…"

"Ancestor, you're in the Void Severing Realm! You'll definitely live ten thousand years!" he quickly said.

Dugu's expression was calm.

"Don't flatter me. I know my own lifespan better than you."

"Then…" Mo Hua scratched his head, "...should I stop training?"

Dugu shook his head.

"I've been thinking about this. You need to change your method of training."

"Change methods?"

"Mm." Dugu's gaze was razor sharp, as if he could see through everything.

"You are not like others. You must walk a different path—otherwise, your brilliance will be buried in dust, and your talent wasted."

(End of this Chapter)