Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 985: God-Slaying Astral Projection

In the northern residential region of the Great Void Sect, a secluded forest stood still and serene.

Sunlight filtered down through towering ancient trees, painting the lush green leaves with golden edges. A faint mist drifted through the forest, giving the scenery a quiet, ethereal beauty.

Amid the woods, Mo Hua was alone, practicing the art of turning divine sense into a sword.

On the outskirts of the forest, the big white dog sat upright, eyes sharp and alert as it stood guard for Mo Hua.

In its heart, Mo Hua had already become its "Big Brother."

With that recognition came self-awareness—it had willingly taken on the role of Big Brother's little sidekick, stationed outside the grove to keep intruders away and let Mo Hua train in peace.

…Of course, that was only part of the reason.

The other reason?

The divine sense fluctuations Mo Hua emitted during his sword practice were just too terrifying.

The big white dog couldn't handle it, so it made a tactical retreat outside the grove.

—

Within the woods, before a towering tree…

Mo Hua stood focused, divine will flashing through his eyes and condensing into dazzling sword intent that cleaved through the air, striking the ancient tree in front of him.

Killing intent surged as he launched sword after sword.

In the quiet forest, waves of divine sense rippled like invisible tides, intense enough to make the air feel thick.

But divine sense was subtle—beyond the range of mortal sight.

So from the outside, it looked like nothing was happening. The sun shone, the breeze rustled the leaves… all appeared calm and peaceful.

Only the big white dog occasionally shivered, a wave of terror passing through it.

After a long while, Mo Hua sat down to rest. He mentally reviewed his progress and shook his head.

"Still not good enough…"

He had predicted it earlier—only after divine awareness had formed a core could he properly externalize the God-Slaying Sword.

Now that his divine core was formed, he could indeed release the sword from his sea of consciousness and wield some divine-sense killing power.

But the technique was still crude. And the flaws?

Plentiful.

First, the sword strike was too slow, and the divine sense consumption was enormous.

The God-Slaying Sword was the final form of the Great Void Sect's divine-sense sword arts—far superior to the Divine Dread Sword.

And Mo Hua's version?

It was a chaotic fusion—a sword-salad, if you will—

Combining Broken Gold, Mountain-Cleaving, Fire-Severing, Yin Water sword arrays… with Great Void Sword Intent, and even a hint of the Grand Emotion-Severing Dao.

So many sword laws merged together, and the result?

Slow as molasses and devoured divine sense like a starving ghost.

At best, Mo Hua could fire off two swords, then he had to rest.

Also… his eyes hurt. A lot.

Releasing the sword required using the eye apertures as conduits for the divine-sense sword.

Mo Hua's body was weak. Though his divine awareness had formed a core, his cultivation realm and physical body were still only at Foundation Establishment.

Divine sense was strong. His body? Fragile.

So every time he released the sword, the pressure on his eyes was unbearable.

Plus, the sword light of divine sense was inherently sharp—holding it in the eyes was like stabbing needles into them.

And finally—there was the consistency problem.

Since morning, Mo Hua had practiced over a dozen times…

But not every attempt succeeded.

He had to condense the sword, then release it—multitasking mentally.

Sometimes, the technique just… fizzled out.

His sea of consciousness had barriers between illusion and reality, and the eye apertures had thresholds between inside and out.

The divine-sense sword would sometimes get stuck, blocked, or simply fail to emerge.

Even if it came out, if his divine sense wasn't steady, the sword intent might vanish before it even struck.

Mo Hua sighed slightly.

The God-Slaying Sword, when successfully released, could use an illusory divine-sense weapon to slay real, physical enemies. Sounds cool, right?

But in practice?

Problem after problem.

And if it's not reliable in training, don't even think about real combat.

Still, Mo Hua wasn't discouraged.

That's cultivation for you.

Every technique was just a method—an external art.

Learning it wasn't enough—you had to refine it through practice, test it in battle, correct it over time…

Only by doing this could you fully master the method and wield it fluently when life was on the line.

Only when something was truly integrated into your instinct could it come out smooth and swift in life-or-death battle.

Mo Hua calmed his heart and began to focus.

Relying on his Dao knowledge, cultivation experience, and insights into divine sense, he began analyzing how to optimize and improve the God-Slaying Sword technique.

The forest was tranquil, greenery dense.

Sunlight filtered through leaves and dappled Mo Hua's body in scattered light.

He sat quietly, divine awareness focused, gradually blending with the forest itself.

And as he thought… inspiration struck.

"Since the sword formed from divine sense is too complex, and I've merged too many arrays and sword laws—it's overburdened. I need to simplify…"

"Only fuse the Five Element Sword Array—for the externalization."

"Add in some Great Void Sword Intent as needed."

"As for that Grand Emotion-Severing Dao… let's put that aside."

That path had come from the mouth of Ancestor Dugu.

But Mo Hua wasn't even sure if the one who taught him was the real Dugu Ancestor.

The events on the back mountain were shrouded in mystery—he couldn't see through it.

So, even though the Grand Emotion-Severing Dao was powerful, its source was suspicious and carried a sinister air.

Better not use it for now.

Once those elements were trimmed, the difficulty of externalizing the sword dropped by nearly half.

Sure, the power was reduced.

But a technique fully under his control was the true strength.

Besides, even at half power, a divine-sense sword was still plenty deadly.

Removing the Emotion-Severing path, and cutting down half the Void Sword Intent, meant fewer laws were fused—less burden, faster execution.

Which meant better practical combat effectiveness.

"Among all the techniques in the world—nothing beats speed."

That's what Grandpa Puppet had taught him long ago.

"Better to be one step faster than one inch stronger."

The sword formation problem was basically solved.

Next issue: releasing the sword.

To release it, it had to pass through the eyes, breaking the boundary between the sea of consciousness and the physical world.

Only then could the sword formed from divine sense be truly externalized.

In a way, this was even more critical.

If, in the heat of battle, the transmission of divine sense was blocked—or if the boundary wasn't broken—then the sword wouldn't emerge.

And that would be fatal.

Like two sword cultivators dueling:

If the opponent's blade is already at your throat, but your sword won't come out of its sheath…

You're just standing there like an idiot, waiting to die.

Mo Hua's expression turned grim.

He definitely didn't want to "idiot-die."

"I need to find a way… to guarantee 100% release of the divine-sense sword…"

But sword externalization techniques were never meant for someone at his realm.

He'd gone so far off-script, there were no references left.

He had to forge his own path, customizing everything from scratch.

Mo Hua paused, recalling some of Ancestor Dugu's past teachings.

According to orthodox Great Void Sword Doctrine, the divine-sense sword needed a physical sword as a medium for externalization.

Mo Hua wasn't a traditional sword cultivator—he didn't even have a sword embryo.

So he used his eyes instead.

But using eyes as the channel was clearly more advanced and complex.

With his current cultivation and sword mastery, he couldn't maintain stability.

And if it wasn't stable—it would fail.

And failure meant… death.

"I need an additional medium… to stabilize it."

But what?

He had no life-bound artifact, not even a nurtured embryo.

And aside from his eyes, his body wasn't sturdy enough to serve as a conduit.

Mo Hua furrowed his brow and racked his brain— Until finally, relying on his deep and profound knowledge of array formations, he drew inspiration from the laws of the Five Elemental Source Array of the Thirteen-Mark First Grade.

Spiritual Energy!

The core of the Five Element Source Array was the use of divine sense to activate an array, transforming and amplifying the power of the Five Elements—thus enhancing Five Element–type techniques.

Which meant that although spiritual energy and divine sense seemed like two entirely separate forces in cultivation, at their roots, they shared a level of interoperability.

Spiritual energy could be fused with divine sense.

And that also meant, at least to some extent—spiritual energy could serve as a medium for divine sense.

Of course, this process was incredibly complex and undoubtedly involved profound laws of the Dao. Otherwise, the Five Element Source Array wouldn't be the signature ultimate formation of the Five Element Sect.

But Mo Hua didn't need to perform such intricate conversions.

He only needed to use his spiritual energy to guide his divine awareness.

After all, both his spiritual energy and his divine sense were his own—they shared a natural affinity and wouldn't clash with one another.

"Spiritual energy guiding divine sense…"

Mo Hua pondered for a moment—then his eyes widened in realization. He thought of his cultivation technique: Heaven's Evolution Art (天衍诀).

When cultivating the Heaven's Evolution Art, every breakthrough involved spiritual energy flowing in reverse, converging at the Heavenly Gate, pouring into the sea of consciousness, and then merging with divine sense to weave a "spiritual screen" composed of mysterious formations—used as a barrier for the breakthrough.

Did this mean…?

That the operation of the Heaven's Evolution Art actually involved resonance—or even fusion—between spiritual energy and divine sense?

Mo Hua's expression shifted subtly, his heart stirred.

This touched on something deeper—the fusion of the most fundamental forces within a cultivator.

His master hadn't lied—this ancient technique truly hid tremendous secrets.

Unfortunately, Mo Hua's current cultivation was still shallow. He could only faintly grasp the outer workings and had no way to fully comprehend the deeper nature of Heaven's Evolution Art yet.

"I'll keep cultivating. Maybe one day, when my cultivation deepens and my knowledge broadens, I'll gradually uncover the true essence of this ancient art…"

Mo Hua shelved the questions about the Heaven's Evolution Art for now and returned to his focus: perfecting the externalization of the Divine-Sense Sword.

After another round of deep contemplation, he had found answers to most of the problems. Using his knowledge and experience, he had pieced together a practical method.

Now, all that was left… was to try it.

Mo Hua calmed his breath, cleared his mind of distractions. His eyes grew sharp, his entire presence transforming into a sheathed sword brimming with hidden killing intent.

Inside his sea of consciousness, Mo Hua raised both hands high.

The Four Sword Arrays—Broken Gold, Mountain-Cleaving, Yin Water, and Fire-Severing—flowed endlessly, converging in his grasp.

A sliver of Great Void Sword Intent was also woven into the mix.

Because he had only used part of the full sword dao, the God-Slaying Sword took shape with remarkable speed.

Once formed, its sword intent radiated ferocity, ready to be unleashed.

Mo Hua's eyes gleamed, sharp and radiant.

He extended two fingers and tapped between his brows.

At his fingertips, a strand of spiritual energy flowed, connecting to his sea of consciousness—gently guiding his divine sense outward.

Mo Hua could clearly feel the boundary between illusion and reality.

Using his eyes as apertures, and spiritual energy as a tether, the divine-sense sword slowly began to breach the wall between those realms.

He focused completely, sensing the flow of energy—the interplay between spiritual and divine forces.

He precisely traced the path, direction, and target for the sword's release—grasping the transformation of real and unreal within the dao of swordsmanship.

Finally, the moment came.

His eyes flared with light, and from within the void, a sword radiance of Five Elements and vast Great Void power condensed into form.

The sword was tethered by the strand of spiritual energy at Mo Hua's fingertip.

Then—his finger pointed forward.

The spiritual energy surged, pulling the sword of divine sense along as it pierced the boundary between illusion and reality, transforming into a beam of divine light and shooting outward.

In the emptiness, sword intent blossomed like a crystal lotus.

A stronger wave of divine sense than ever before burst forth, vibrating in the form of sword intent.

As light flickered, the God-Slaying Sword pierced clean through the towering ancient tree in front of him.

Then—seemingly nothing happened.

But a moment later, the ancient tree suddenly shuddered.

The entire forest went still.

The big white dog on watch outside the grove had its fur stand straight on end.

This was the first time Mo Hua had successfully pulled his Great Void God-Slaying Sword from his sea of consciousness and unleashed it in the real world.

That surging, violent sword intent—even from a distance—brought a spine-tingling sense of pressure, like a blade at the back.

In shock, the big white dog's mouth hung open.

It hadn't expected that Mo Hua, who was already strong, could still get even stronger.

In such a short time, his strength had become something the dog could no longer even dream of catching up to.

It narrowed its eyes, quietly watching Mo Hua.

It was now seriously suspicious of Mo Hua's "species."

It strongly suspected… that Mo Hua wasn't a normal human at all—

He might be a divine beast, just wrapped in a gentle, harmless-looking human skin…

As the storm of divine sense faded…

Within the forest, Mo Hua's face lit up with a bright smile.

"It worked!"

The God-Slaying Sword had finally been drawn forth from his sea of consciousness and slashed into the real world.

From this moment on, his terrifying divine-sense-based killing move—so unstoppable within the domain of spiritual thought—could now break through the boundary of illusion and reality and be used in actual combat.

But then, Mo Hua turned to look at the towering ancient tree before him, at the nonexistent divine-sense sword scar left behind. His brow furrowed again. After pondering for a moment, he still wasn't quite satisfied.

He had indeed released the sword.

But its power fell far short of his expectations.

He had "cut corners" when merging the sword dao, removing nearly half of it.

On top of that, drawing the sword from his consciousness and projecting it outward was a complicated and taxing process.

He had to breach the barrier between illusion and reality, pass through the heavenly gate of his sea of consciousness, guide it with spiritual energy, anchor the sword path…

And through all of that, the power of the divine sense was constantly being diminished.

Not to mention, the sword dao he used was already a "discount version."

As a result, the final output of the externalized God-Slaying Sword…

Mo Hua estimated that it only had about one-tenth of the power it would have if unleashed fully within the sea of consciousness.

The sword that had once been overwhelming in the spiritual realm…

When brought into reality, it could only exert about 10% of its true strength.

Mo Hua felt a bit conflicted.

But there was no helping it.

The Divine Sense Sword technique really wasn't something a cultivator at his level was supposed to be playing with.

His cultivation was too low—being able to just barely launch the sword at all was already impressive. He couldn't ask for more right now.

He could only keep practicing, step by step, improving his proficiency with "God-Slaying Projection" until he could eventually draw out the full might of the Great Void's God-Slaying Sword.

At that thought, Mo Hua paused.

Another question rose in his mind:

"Just how lethal is my God-Slaying Sword?"

Cutting down a tree with divine sense was just practice.

But the tree was a plant—its life was purely instinctual, with almost no spiritual awareness. It was essentially a lifeless object.

He couldn't use a tree to measure the lethality of the God-Slaying Sword.

After all, there wasn't much divine sense there to slay.

If he wanted to really test the sword, he needed to use it on a living creature.

"A living target…"

Mo Hua glanced around, and—involuntarily—his eyes landed on the only living thing nearby…

The big white dog.

The big white dog froze.

Then, instantly understanding Mo Hua's intent, it widened its eyes in shock and righteous outrage.

It barked twice at Mo Hua.

The meaning was clear:

"Don't you dare!"

"Don't bite the paw that watches over you!"

"Know your limits, man!"

"Don't get cocky and use me as a guinea pig just because you pulled off a flashy sword move!"

"You think anyone can just take a hit from that thing?!"

Mo Hua also realized how inappropriate that idea was and gave an apologetic smile.

Then he said, "I'll buy you something tasty."

The big white dog gave a reluctant "hmph."

Mo Hua got up to take it to the dining hall. But before leaving, he turned back and looked at the ancient tree he'd been slicing up—one that had silently endured all the abuse with no way to complain.

He felt a tinge of guilt.

He raised a finger and, using spiritual ink, drew several Earth-Nurturing Arrays and Water-Earth Arrays on the ground near the roots.

A small token of compensation.

Then he gently patted the ancient tree.

"I'll draw you more next time if I have time…"

The towering ancient tree remained silent. But its "wounded heart" seemed… ever so slightly comforted.

After that, Mo Hua took the big white dog to the dining hall.

It was mealtime, after all—and he was hungry too.

The hall was filled with delicious aromas and bustling disciples. Mo Hua sat side by side with the dog. He gnawed on a chicken leg, the dog tore into a pork knuckle.

Man and beast—identical eating postures.

After the meal, Mo Hua walked the big white dog back to the study hall. On the way, he sneakily handed it a bone sealed with a demon spirit.

The dog was thrilled—tail wagging nonstop, massive head rubbing joyfully against Mo Hua's cheek.

Once the big white dog was sent home, Mo Hua returned to his residence.

But his mind was still occupied with one thing:

Sword testing.

Problem was, it wasn't easy to find a good target.

He couldn't use a human.

If he slipped up and killed someone, that would be a huge problem.

Some evil cultivators or demonic ones might've been acceptable…

But he was still staying in the sect right now, focused on training. He didn't have the time to go gallivanting around the wilderness just to find a demon cultivator to "test a sword on."

After some thought, he landed on the best option— A demon beast.

Humans had divine sense. Demon beasts had "demonic sense."

While demon beasts had less intelligence and simpler minds, their instincts were more intense—and they often showed crafty or vicious traits.

Demon beasts' physical bodies and demonic energy were far stronger than those of most cultivators.

But in terms of pure divine sense strength, they weren't too far off.

And when a beast's demonic sense was destroyed—it died.

Mo Hua nodded to himself, decision made.

Two days later, once he had time, he headed to Demon Beast Mountain, ready to find a worthy target to test his sword.

(End of this Chapter)