Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 1114: Scrambling for Food

Three days later, at dawn before the sun had risen, Mo Hua had already packed his belongings.

He handed a jade slip to his mother, Liu Ruhua, and said:

"Mother, this jade slip contains some insights I've compiled about Foundation Establishment. I've summarized them all. Take a look when you have time and cultivate properly. Father has already reached Foundation Establishment, but you're still at the ninth level of Qi Refining. You must've been slacking off and not putting enough effort into your cultivation. That won't do. Cultivation is like rowing upstream—if you don't advance, you fall back. If you slack off, you'll fall behind at every step..."

"You must work hard on your cultivation. Your cultivation is the foundation of being a cultivator. The stronger you are, the healthier you'll be, and the longer your lifespan will be. That way, I won't have to worry about you all the time..."

Mo Hua earnestly reminded her, face solemn.

Liu Ruhua blushed.

Beside her, Mo Shan also looked a bit helpless and amused.

In most families, it's the parents who push their children to cultivate. But in Mo Hua's family, it was the other way around—he was the one urging his parents.

After saying all that, Mo Hua didn't have anything else to instruct.

He double-checked his storage pouch, making sure the meat jerky and snacks his mother had prepared were all inside. Then he turned back to glance at his room and his home, feeling reluctant to leave.

Liu Ruhua, looking at her child who was about to leave home, felt her heart ache. She couldn't help but pull Mo Hua into a hug, softly reminding him:

"Make sure to take good care of yourself."

"If you run into danger, don't try to be brave. Run if you can—your life is the most important thing. Nothing in this world is more precious than your life."

"If you ever get too tired, come back home. I'll always be here waiting for you..."

"Mm..." Mo Hua nodded softly.

Liu Ruhua looked deeply into his eyes, hesitated for a moment, then asked:

"Zisheng and... Zixi, those two children—I miss them quite a bit... Did you run into them while studying in Qianzhou?"

Zixi especially loved the pastries Liu Ruhua made.

Bai Zisheng was a glutton and always dreamed of calling Liu Ruhua his godmother.

The brother and sister had once visited Mo Hua's home.

What's more, they were Mo Hua's senior brother and sister from the same sect, and the three of them had a bond like siblings.

Liu Ruhua was also very fond of those two children and often thought of them.

Hearing this, Mo Hua paused, and in his mind appeared the image of a graceful, vague female figure he'd glimpsed while riding the Cloud Ferry out of Qianzhou, at the split in the cloud currents. That veiled face, fleeting like a blooming epiphyllum, stirred thoughts in his heart:

"That person... could it have been my senior sister?"

"Probably, right?"

"So that means... when the Heavenly Secrets guided me to choose that old Cloud Ferry—saying I'd regret it if I didn't—was it so I could catch a glimpse of Senior Sister?"

"Since the Cloud Ferry was slower, I arrived just in time to see her?"

"Unfortunately... the ferries only passed each other for an instant. I only had time for one glance—I didn't even get a clear look at what she looks like now…"

A sense of wistfulness stirred in Mo Hua's heart.

"Hua'er?"

Liu Ruhua noticed him zoning out and gently called.

"Oh," Mo Hua came back to his senses and shook his head. "Haven't run into them yet…"

"Is that so..." Liu Ruhua's eyes dimmed. After a while, she looked up at Mo Hua again and asked with some concern, "Zixi… her family background isn't simple, right...?"

As the saying goes: "The child shows the man."

Even when they were little, one could already tell there were some feelings between the two.

They'd grown up together as childhood companions and might not even be aware of it themselves, but how could a mother like Liu Ruhua not see it?

But the difference in their backgrounds was just too great.

Liu Ruhua felt a mix of guilt—that she hadn't given Mo Hua a better family background—and sorrow, afraid that even if those two children were truly fond of each other, they would eventually be worn down by worldly customs and hardships.

Mo Hua seemed to understand what she was thinking and softly reassured her, "Mother, don't worry. You don't need to trouble yourself with things like that..."

Liu Ruhua nodded, but her lowered eyes showed she still couldn't let it go.

Mo Hua looked at her, then at Mo Shan, and after thinking for a moment, suddenly said:

"Father, Mother, how about... having another child? A little brother or sister for me. That way, the house would be livelier too…"

Liu Ruhua's face instantly turned bright red. "What are you saying, child..."

Even the usually calm Mo Shan showed a helpless expression.

Still, the sorrow of parting was somewhat lightened by the moment of levity.

Mo Hua finished packing, took one last look at his parents, and bowed deeply:

"Father, Mother, I'm heading out to temper myself and seek Foundation Establishment. Please take good care of yourselves and stay well."

"Mm." Mo Shan nodded.

Liu Ruhua's eyes were wet as she reminded again, "And you must also take good care of yourself."

"Mm!"

Though reluctant in his heart, Mo Hua turned firmly and left home.

Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua stood at the gate of their old home, supporting each other as they watched Mo Hua walk off into the distance.

Mo Hua could feel the lingering gaze of their affection still resting on him.

He felt a pang of guilt.

As the saying goes: While parents are alive, don't travel far. Yet he had no choice but to keep leaving home behind, wandering and cultivating in distant lands.

But there are no perfect things in this world.

One must constantly make choices.

Since he was determined to walk the Great Dao, he should remain focused, cultivate with all his heart, and not let down his parents' expectations—to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible, and become the first ever Core Formation cultivator in the history of Tongxian City.

"Core Formation..."

"Golden Core…"

Mo Hua calmed his heart, gradually firming his resolve. He buried the longing for his homeland and the concern for his parents deep inside, and alone, set foot on the path to forming his core.

Before dawn, the remnants of night still cloaked the sky in haze.

Most of the cultivators in Tongxian City were still deep in their dreams.

Without many people noticing, Mo Hua had already quietly left Tongxian City, embarking on another cultivation path full of thorns and hardships.

Who knew when he would next return home?

After leaving Tongxian City, Mo Hua first took a detour to Nanshan to visit Mr. Zhuang's former residence.

But everything that once was—was now gone.

The bamboo grove, the pond, the big pagoda tree, Master, Old Puppet, Little Senior Brother and Little Senior Sister—gone…

Like a dream, like an illusion—returned to nothingness.

Mo Hua stood for a long time, letting out a quiet sigh before continuing southward into the Dahei Mountains.

The sky was still dark, the forest dense and shadowy. Inside Dahei Mountain, the low growls of demon beasts echoed continuously.

Alone, Mo Hua walked through the dangerous terrain and complex paths of the Dahei Mountains.

Yet, not a single demon beast in the mountains could detect his presence. Even the stronger ones who vaguely sensed a trace of aura didn't dare approach this unknown shadow, instinctively filled with fear.

Mo Hua wandered deep into the mountains, eventually stopping before a certain peak. He bent down, pinching the soil between his fingers, sniffing at the faint, nearly vanished scent of blood, and began to deduce in his heart.

Fragments of black and white, broken and scattered scenes flashed through his mind.

It seemed that a cultivator had been hunting a demon beast.

The beast roared and tore open a cultivator's chest.

Then, with an enraged roar, both sides clashed in a fiercer battle…

But it had been too long. The images were too blurry, too torn to make out any more details.

Mo Hua wanted to expend more spiritual sense to strengthen the deduction, but suddenly, pain shot through his mind and a surge of baleful energy rose.

It was as if vengeful ghosts were howling beside his ears.

Mo Hua's eyes turned gray and his heart went cold. He forcibly stopped the deduction.

"No… this won't do…"

Spiritual sense couldn't be overused. Techniques involving fate or divine sense must also be used sparingly—otherwise, one's mind could become unstable, leading to backlash from the baleful aura.

Mo Hua frowned.

This complicated things.

He had no idea where his big tiger had gone—or whether it was even alive.

Truthfully, he had a deep bond with that tiger.

Back when they were both young, the tiger had been skinny and small like a kitten, caught in Uncle Chu's trap. Mo Hua had taken it in to practice movement techniques with, and kept his promise to release it back into the wild.

Later, at Black Mountain Stronghold, he had saved the tiger again, and the tiger had helped him kill evil cultivators.

He even took time to feed it plenty of dried fish…

And when he left home to study in Qianzhou, that big tiger had sent him off with a lonely expression.

With that history, Mo Hua couldn't bring himself to ignore it.

But the problem was—the situation now was quite murky.

Who was trying to capture it?

And what had become of it?

Had it escaped? Or been caught?

If it escaped, that was fine. It might have just left Dahei Mountain and gone to claim another peak for itself.

But if it had been captured… given the usual dynamic between demon beasts and cultivators—it likely wouldn't have survived till now…

Mo Hua's eyes darkened slightly.

"Just who is trying to capture my tiger…"

After a while, Mo Hua sighed lightly. With fate deduction limited and no other leads, he could only ask around as he continued along his path to see if any new clues surfaced.

Moreover, there was another matter…

Mo Hua continued heading south, into the more dangerous depths of the Dahei Mountains. He walked for over half a day.

There was no one around—not even demon beasts were common in this place.

Mo Hua used spiritual sense to manipulate his brush, laying down a few mid-grade Tier Two formation arrays on the ground.

Within the Dahei Mountain region, especially in such a remote area, high-tier Tier Two formations were practically the pinnacle of cultivation. It was nearly impossible for any cultivator or beast to break through them.

Mo Hua sat within the formation and took out the Pixiu Fang Talisman.

It was time to "eat."

In Qianxue Prefecture, he had refrained from consuming it to avoid exposing the karma tied to the evil god.

In Lixian Prefecture, inside Tongxian City, he had feared that something might go wrong during consumption—that the evil god might go berserk, that evil thoughts might leak and affect his loved ones—so he hadn't eaten it then either.

Now, as he was about to set off alone on his journey, traveling through remote mountains and wilderness with no one nearby—there was no longer anything to hold him back. He could finally enjoy his "feast."

Heaven and earth are heartless, treating all beings as straw dogs.

So are the gods, treating mortals as straw dogs.

And so is Mo Hua—he treats the evil god as his straw dog.

The evil god was his "offering"—this was the pact he had made with the Great Wilderness Evil God. He must not go back on it.

Besides, if he wanted to form his core, use spiritual sense to attain the Dao, and forge a life-bound magic treasure—his spiritual sense needed to reach the second tier, with twenty-four patterns.

That meant an immense gap in spiritual sense that had to be filled.

To form his core sooner, he had to do whatever it took to fill that gap.

And to do that—the true form of the evil god was a huge chunk of fat meat.

That was why Mo Hua had used the divine beast Pixiu to seal the evil god's true form in the first place.

That had always been his plan.

This was also Mo Hua's original intention— to use the divine beast Pixiu to seal the true form of the evil god.

That had been his plan all along.

And at first, the idea seemed perfectly reasonable.

But what Mo Hua didn't expect was that he had overlooked one very crucial point—

Pixiu was extremely unwilling!

Holding the Pixiu fang pendant in his hand, Mo Hua sank his divine sense into the sea of consciousness, entered the sealed hall of the divine beast, and tried to slice off a piece of the evil god's true form as "meat" to replenish his spiritual consciousness.

But the originally calm and cooperative Pixiu suddenly flipped out—its golden fur bristling, baring its fangs at Mo Hua.

Only then did Mo Hua realize the old legend was true:

Pixiu became the divine beast of warding and sealing not because it was generous—but because it was greedy, stingy, and notoriously tightfisted.

This big-headed Pixiu was, at heart, a miserly penny-pincher!

Once meat went into its mouth, don't even think about getting it back.

Mo Hua had a massive headache.

He had planned everything—except for this.

Though he had sealed the evil god's true form, it was now practically a gift, handed over to Pixiu.

But Mo Hua was also a miser at heart—

so there was no way he could accept that.

Especially not when he needed to form his Golden Core.

If he didn't devour the evil god, how was he going to succeed?

So he tried to reason with Pixiu, persuading it with words and logic.

But Pixiu was as stubborn as a bronze bell—completely unmoved.

Mo Hua, enraged, gave Pixiu a punch.

Pixiu became furious too, and the two of them started fighting.

The little boat of friendship capsized in an instant.

One big-headed divine beast.

One young godling.

The two of them brawled back and forth—clawing and biting— neither able to gain the upper hand.

In the end, it was Pixiu who compromised.

Perhaps it realized it had gone a little too far— After all, both "prey" were caught by Mo Hua.

It couldn't be that stingy.

So, as an exception, it allowed Mo Hua to slice off one piece of meat from the evil god's true form.

Mo Hua was still very dissatisfied, thinking Pixiu was being unreasonable.

But what he didn't know was— This was already an enormous concession for Pixiu,

a creature that would never part with a single coin.

Had their relationship not been that good— Had they not signed a contract— Had Mo Hua not possessed a piece of Pixiu's horn (essentially making him half a Pixiu himself)— There was no way Pixiu would let anyone steal food right under its nose.

Still wanting more, Mo Hua tried to bargain.

But Pixiu's big head shook like a rattle drum, fiercely refusing to give in.

Mo Hua had no choice but to agree.

Finally, using divine sense to shape a blade,

Mo Hua carved off a piece of flesh from the evil god's true form.

That single cut made the evil god roar in fury and pain— To it, this was a blatant humiliation.

Mo Hua used divine thought as butcher's knife, treating a god as meat on the chopping block— a deed that violated the laws of Heaven.

But if the evil god's pain was bad, Pixiu's emotional pain was even worse.

It was like someone had cut off its own flesh.

If not for his bond with Mo Hua— If not for their signed contract— If not for the fact that Mo Hua held part of its horn— Pixiu would never have allowed this to happen.

After cutting the piece of flesh, Mo Hua returned to his sea of consciousness, used tribulation lightning from the Dao Tablet to purge the evil god's will—detoxifying it— and swallowed it whole, refining it on the spot.

His divine sense grew stronger—just a bit.

But that tiny increase was far below Mo Hua's expectations— and to reach the divine sense level of twenty-four marks, it was a drop in the ocean.

And trying to take another bite from Pixiu?

Harder than slaying that big fool outright.

Mo Hua sighed, his gaze stretching across the vast lands of Lì Prefecture, and couldn't help but mutter to himself:

"Looks like I'll still have to find another way… to strengthen my divine sense."

"I wonder if the Great Wilderness has anything else… worth 'eating'."

(End of this Chapter)