Chapter 9: Five Elements Diagram

Chapter 1391: Five Elements Diagram

“Five Elements Formation Flow Diagram…”

Mo Hua gently rubbed the ancient scroll in his hand. His expression paused slightly as he fell into deep thought.

It had been a very, very long time since he last took this diagram out.

After entering the Great Void Sect, he no longer lacked ordinary formations.

Later, when he stepped into the chessboard of the Great Wilderness, whether as a Divine-Shaman unifying the Desolate Wilderness, or attacking the royal court in pursuit of forming his Golden Core, or venturing deep into the Endless abyss, there had simply been too many matters and karmic entanglements. He had almost forgotten this diagram entirely.

Back when he stored the Five Elements Source Pattern into the Zhang family’s ancient scroll, Mo Hua was still young, his cultivation not high. Coupled with the recklessness of youth, he hadn’t thought too deeply, nor had he delved into the many secrets within the diagram.

He had merely treated this Five Elements Formation Flow Diagram as a simple repository of Five Elements formations.

Whenever he had no formations to study, he would use it like a “lottery,” seeing if he could decode one or two high-grade formations.

But now, things were different.

He had entered the Golden Core realm, his cultivation was higher, his experience broader, and his understanding of the Divine Dao much deeper. Thinking carefully now, he suddenly realized that this diagram carried an intensely bizarre aura.

After pondering for a while longer, Mo Hua could no longer resist. He finally opened the Five Elements Formation Flow Diagram.

The long-sealed diagram slowly unfolded before him once more.

Within the painting, the once incense-filled Zhang ancestral hall—prosperous through generations—was now completely empty. All the ancestors were gone.

In their place was a five-colored “eye,” formed by countless intricate formation patterns densely layered together.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth... five narrow, petal-like eyes clustered together. Within each eye were ancient, profound patterns, both exquisite and eerie. At times, they even trembled, as if they possessed a life of their own.

This was the “Five Elements Source Pattern.”

Mo Hua gazed at it, his expression growing solemn, his heart increasingly astonished.

Time had passed, and now, as the Five Elements Source Pattern appeared before him again, it was no longer what it once seemed.

Within those eye-like patterns, the flickering lights, the deep aura, the ever-shifting obscure markings…

What once appeared mysterious and incomprehensible to Mo Hua, now, under the gaze of the Divine Dao, were clearly defined “Five Elements Laws.”

This was an “Eye of Laws,” condensed from the calculation and convergence of Five Elements formation patterns.

And this “eye” even seemed to possess a faint trace of life…

Mo Hua frowned slightly.

If this reasoning held true, then this Five Elements Source Pattern was not merely a formation-related inheritance, nor just the crystallization of the Five Elements Sect’s thousand-year foundation in formations.

It was very likely… some kind of creation of laws.

“Back then, was the Five Elements Sect trying to gather the strength of the entire sect to create something extraordinary?”

“Or… did they not even know the truth themselves? Were they merely formation masters trying to systematize Formation Flows?”

“But someone else secretly inserted something into their Formation Flow, using the immense Divine-Sense computational power of the entire sect… to nurture this Source Pattern monster?”

“And did the Five Elements Sect suffer calamity because of this, ultimately declining?”

Mo Hua’s gaze darkened.

The clues he currently had about the Five Elements Sect were far too few to uncover the full chain of cause and effect.

The truth remained uncertain.

All he could offer now were instincts and conjectures based on causality.

“If I get the chance in the future and encounter someone from the Five Elements Sect, I must properly ask about what happened back then…”

The origin of this “Source Pattern” was likely extremely complex, hiding many secrets.

And the method of “poisoning” a Formation Flow to incubate a Divine Dao creation…

Mo Hua found it quite intriguing. He very much wanted to study it.

With that thought, he couldn’t help but reach out and poke the eye of the Five Elements Source Pattern.

The pattern trembled. The five eyes shut tightly, not daring to move at all.

Mo Hua couldn’t tell whether it truly feared him, or was merely “playing weak,” waiting for an opportunity to devour its master.

Human hearts were already treacherous, let alone something like this of unknown origin.

No one could know what intentions it harbored.

To be safe, it would be best to seal this “Five Elements Source Pattern” within the diagram and avoid acting rashly until he fully understood its nature.

But after thinking carefully, Mo Hua realized he currently needed a large number of formation diagrams.

He had already begun studying Third-Grade formations. According to his learning habits, he urgently needed a massive foundation of basic formation diagrams.

For formation theory and insights, he could consult his Little Senior Sister, she was meticulous and knowledgeable.

But for sheer quantity of diagrams, he would have to find his own way.

His Little Senior Sister did have quite a few diagrams.

However, what she studied were all “elite” formations, carefully selected examples from the Dao Court and great clans.

They were highly representative, but few in number. He could finish studying them quickly.

What Mo Hua needed was an enormous, all-encompassing variety of formation diagrams.

In terms of quantity, his Little Senior Sister simply couldn’t satisfy his needs.

Moreover, he felt embarrassed to keep asking her for things.

Although circumstances had forced him to rely on her support, he couldn’t keep doing so forever, otherwise, he would never be able to hold his head high in front of her.

Problems he could solve himself… should be solved by himself.

Having made his decision, Mo Hua lowered his head and looked at the Five Elements Formation Flow Diagram. After a moment of contemplation, he began using his old method, consuming Divine-Sense to perform reverse derivation, decoding Five Elements formation diagrams from the Source Pattern.

The grade of formations derived from the Five Elements Source Pattern depended on Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense realm.

His Divine-Sense had now reached twenty-nine patterns.

In other words, the Five Elements formation diagrams he could decode now almost encompassed all Third-Grade Five Elements formations.

This greatly alleviated his urgent need.

However, such decoding consumed a tremendous amount of Divine-Sense.

His injuries had not yet fully healed, and his Divine-Sense was still damaged, so the number of formations he could decode each day was limited.

Moreover, the decoding was entirely random, what kind of Five Elements formation he obtained depended purely on luck.

Fortunately, Mo Hua wasn’t picky.

As long as it was a Third-Grade formation diagram, he needed it badly.

Inside the guest room, Mo Hua thus began once again to attempt decoding the Five Elements Formation Flow Diagram.

Decoding Third-Grade Five Elements formation diagrams was quite taxing. With his injuries not yet healed, Mo Hua didn’t dare to fully unleash his computational power, and could only proceed slowly, deciphering while simultaneously recording the formation patterns on paper beside him.

After about an hour, two formation diagrams had appeared at his side.

One was a Third-Grade, twenty-two-pattern “Nurturing Earth Formation,” which could be used to nourish soil and cultivate spiritual plants.

The other was a Third-Grade, twenty-four-pattern “Metal Blade Formation,” a common Five Elements killing formation, and not of low grade either.

Mo Hua felt quite satisfied. Then, with a slight stir of thought, he couldn’t help but murmur:

“I wonder… if it’s possible to decipher the Five Elements Source Formation…”

The Five Elements Source Formation was the Five Elements Sect’s ultimate sect-guarding Absolute Formation, capable of amplifying the power of spells, profound beyond measure.

Back at the Sword Debate Tournament, Mo Hua’s Five Elements Source Formation had been of great help.

Now, in Mo Hua’s possession, there was only the First-Grade Five Elements Source Formation. The higher Second and Third-Grade versions were still hidden within the Five Elements Source Pattern.

But since this deciphering was random, it seemed that obtaining higher-grade, rarer Five Elements Absolute Formations would depend purely on luck.

“The Five Elements Sect’s sect-guarding Absolute Formation…”

Mo Hua let out a soft sigh, feeling a bit reluctant.

Still, haste makes waste. He would slowly decipher it when he had time.

Afterward, Mo Hua stopped deciphering and once again stored the Five Elements Formation Flow Diagram back into his Storage Ring.

However, as he was putting it away, he couldn’t resist rummaging through the Storage Ring, only to discover that there were still quite a few good things inside, all piled together in a messy heap.

So Mo Hua took them out one by one and examined them.

The ancient jade slip of the Celestial Evolution Art: it recorded the cultivation method of the Celestial Evolution Art. His master had once said that there was only this single jade slip. If lost, it could never be found again.

A copper coin containing the power of Heavenly Secrets, which also seemed to have been left in the Storage Ring by his master.

Water-Prison Forbidden Diagram: an item belonging to the Water Prison Sect of the Qianxue Prefecture Realm, containing the sect’s core spells and forbidden arts.

The Great Wilderness Dragon Banner: the very first beacon dragon banner igniting the Great Wilderness rebellion against the Dao Court. Mo Hua didn’t dare take it out, lest others accuse him of treason.

Treasure-Searching Talisman: a prized item once fought over by grave robbers when he entered the Shen family’s corpse mine in the Qianxue Prefecture Realm. It seemed related to the hidden branch inheritance of the Earth Sect, and it was something he had “picked up” from the body of the deceased Mr. Pi.

Elder Yu's Jade Slip: containing Elder Yu’s… soul-touching verbal techniques. Unfortunately, Mo Hua had been too busy and hadn’t studied them for a long time, his mastery of such verbal attack techniques had grown quite rusty.

Grandpa Feng’s Alchemy(Dan) jade was also there.

In addition, there were miscellaneous items like the Heavenly Pivot Ring symbolizing his identity as a formation master, Thunder-Magnetic jade tubes, and many others.

Around Mo Hua’s neck still hung the Taixu Yin-Yang Lock given to him by Old Mister Xun, as well as the Pixiu tooth he had pried off from Mister Tu’s Great Wilderness sacred artifact.

When he had been captured by the Earth Sect, these two items had already been hanging around his neck.

Yet now, they still remained there intact. It was unclear whether the Earth Sect couldn’t remove them, or simply didn’t dare to.

Mo Hua tidied up the Storage Ring, then glanced at the Yin-Yang Lock and Pixiu tooth on his neck, unable to help but sigh inwardly.

The karmic ties on his body… really were quite numerous.

But karma was like lice, the more you had, the less you itched; the more debt you carried, the less you worried. As long as they didn’t find out, Mo Hua couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.

Inside the Pixiu tooth, beneath the claws of the big-headed Pixiu, were still sealed a True Embryo of an Evil God, a Little Faceless Heavenly Demon, and a Wujiao Great Deity.

Mo Hua somewhat wanted to go inside and take a look, to see how the big-headed Pixiu and those three troublesome beings were doing now.

And whether anything unusual had happened when he encountered Martial Uncle.

But Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness had not yet truly recovered. It was a chaotic mix of black and white, muddled and disordered.

He didn’t know what exactly had happened to his Sea of Consciousness, nor whether there were hidden dangers. So before fully recovering, he didn’t dare let his Divine-Sense leave his body casually to come into contact with other Divine Dao entities.

Not to mention the True Embryo of the Evil God, the Little Faceless Heavenly Demon, and the Wujiao Great Deity, none of them were harmless, and all bore grudges against him.

Besides, there was something even more crucial.

Mo Hua searched his Storage Ring for a moment and took out an ancient broken sword.

The Dugu Broken Sword.

This was the gift given to him by the Dugu Ancestor at the time of their parting... and also the Ancestor’s own life-bound sword.

Mo Hua had always kept this broken sword as a memento and had never taken it out.

But that day, at the bottom of the abyss, when he clashed with Martial Uncle, he was already exhausted, and when even the Divine-Slaying Sword could no longer harm his opponent, this broken sword had suddenly appeared in his hand, allowing him to unleash a strike so astonishing that even he himself found it unbelievable.

That sword strike contained the power of Divine Dao annihilation. Its might was immense... it directly erased Martial Uncle’s avatar.

Even recalling it now, Mo Hua couldn’t help but feel his heart tremble.

“Taixu Divine Sense True Art Sword Manifestation technique… have even stronger sword forms…”

Was this the gift the Dugu Ancestor had left him?

And also…

Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened.

That special, powerful Sword-Dao Strange-slave he had seen at the end, the one capable of using Strange Thought to manifest a Divine-Sense sword…

Could it be the sole disciple of the Ancestor Dugu, the senior from Great Void Sect who had left behind karmic traces of the Sword Dao in the small fishing village… Dugu Xuan?

Holding the cold, rusted broken sword, Mo Hua felt its heavy weight in his hand, his heart filled with complex and bitter emotions.

How was he supposed to comprehend the Divine-Sense sword techniques within this broken sword?

And how was he supposed to stand against Martial Uncle?

Dugu Xuan had fallen into becoming Martial Uncle’s puppet. Was it… impossible for him to ever turn back?

Next time, if he encountered Martial Uncle again, would he truly have any chance of victory? Or would he end up like Senior Dugu Xuan, reduced to a Strange-Slave under Martial Uncle’s control…

For a moment, Mo Hua’s thoughts surged chaotically, rising and falling, before he finally let out a sigh.

“I’ll study all this slowly after my injuries are fully healed…”

He had too many secrets on him, and the karmic ties involved were far too great, there was no way to sort them out in a short time.

For now, it was better to steadily master Third-Grade formations, and only then consider matters concerning Martial Uncle.

...

And so, the days that followed returned to normal.

During the day, Mo Hua recuperated, taking the pills refined for him by Little Senior Sister.

At dusk, he would go to consult Senior Sister on formation insights, while also tempering his Dao heart and self-restraint.

At night, when he had free time, he would attempt to decipher Five Elements formation diagrams from the Five Elements source patterns, using them to broaden his mastery of formations.

Though his days were leisurely, they were fulfilling.

After more than a month passed like this, Mo Hua felt his body had recovered significantly. A thought stirred in his mind, and he couldn’t help but want to go outside for a look.

Ever since arriving in Kun Province, the moment he opened his eyes, he had already been inside the XiaoLuan Mountain Blessed Land, enjoying the comfort of being taken care of by Little Senior Sister.

What Kun Province was truly like, where the Earth Sect was located, what the world outside the small blessed land looked like... he knew none of it.

Curiosity welled up within him. After thinking for a moment, he went to ask Little Senior Sister, “Senior Sister, can I go out?”

“Go out?” Bai Zixi raised her head to look at him.

Mo Hua nodded. “I want to take a look outside the small blessed land.”

Bai Zixi hesitated slightly.

Mo Hua added, “Not far. Just a glance, walking around within a one-li radius is enough.”

Bai Zixi guessed Mo Hua was feeling a bit stifled and wanted to see the surroundings.

If it was only nearby, within her sight, there shouldn’t be any major problem. So she nodded. “You may.”

She took out a golden token and handed it to Mo Hua. “This is the access token for the small blessed land.”

Overjoyed, Mo Hua smiled. “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

Bai Zixi’s gaze softened. “Go on.”

Mo Hua tucked the token away and headed out of the small blessed land.

He had already lived in the XiaoLuan Mountain Blessed Land for some time. With nothing much to do on ordinary days, he had wandered around quite a bit and was already familiar with the mountain paths.

Before long, he arrived at the main gate with ease.

The small blessed land was a place of seclusion. The gate itself wasn’t large, but the formations were extremely tight, and they were unmistakably Fourth-Grade formations.

With his current ability, Mo Hua could not break this formation.

Activating the access token, he opened the formation. The aura of the outside world instantly rushed in. Though it lacked spiritual energy and was somewhat turbid, it carried a dense, profound earthly presence.

Kun Province, within the Eight Trigrams, corresponded to the Earth trigram, bearing all things with great virtue.

Its earth energy was the most intense.

For Mo Hua, who could commune with the Earth Dao intent, this was a familiar and intimate aura.

Taking a deep breath, a smile appeared on his face as he stepped forward and walked out of the small blessed land.

But the moment his foot touched the ground outside, his entire body jolted. His face turned pale.

Mo Hua paused, then silently withdrew his foot, obediently closed the gate, and returned to the bamboo room in confusion.

Seeing that Mo Hua had just left and suddenly come back, Bai Zixi was a little curious. “What’s wrong?”

Mo Hua sat across from her, his expression complicated and somewhat puzzled. Frowning, he said:

“I feel like… a whole bunch of people want to kill me.”

Bai Zixi was taken aback. “Want to kill you?”

Mo Hua nodded. “The moment I stepped out, I felt in the threads of karma a wave of sinister killing intent rushing toward me. It’s like… a lot of people, heavy with yin energy, hate me to the bone, wishing nothing more than to kill me as quickly as possible…”

“But that doesn’t make sense…” Mo Hua frowned in confusion. “I just arrived at the Earth Sect. I haven’t done anything, haven’t made any enemies. Where would so many people who want me dead come from?”

Bai Zixi was also puzzled. After a moment, she seemed to recall something. Her expression turned subtle as she spoke softly:

“Junior Brother…”

Mo Hua looked up at her. “Yes?”

Bai Zixi’s gaze was complicated as she reminded him:

“You… should be careful of women.”

Mo Hua froze.

At this moment, he still didn’t quite understand what his Senior Sister meant by telling him to “be careful of women”…

(End of Chapter)