Mo Hua's heart trembled.
The ancient formation diagram—composed of primordial aberrant patterns, obtained from the endless wilderness abyss, later refined by a grand shaman of the Great Wilderness, and eventually sealed by the royal house of Shentu—was engraved within a white-boned evil god statue with a human face and sheep horns...
This was what the Second Elder of the Demonic Sect—also a Great Wilderness shaman—told Mo Hua before his death.
Now, Mo Hua found himself deep within the Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation of the Wilderness, at the heart of the flesh-and-blood labyrinth, atop the altar where the true form of the Evil God was to descend.
This altar was a forbidden domain of the Evil God, where mortals were strictly prohibited from stepping foot.
Even Mister Tu himself likely wouldn't dare ascend this altar, lest he profane his divine lord.
Therefore, this human-faced, sheep-horned white-boned evil god statue before Mo Hua was very likely the one the Second Elder spoke of—the statue that concealed the ancient formation diagram of the Great Wilderness.
Time was short; there was no room for hesitation.
"If I don't fleece this wool now, I might never get another chance..."
Mo Hua immediately leapt onto the white-boned statue in a few quick strides. He unleashed his divine sense, scanning the statue inside and out, inch by inch, with extreme care.
The statue still radiated the terrifying pressure of the Great Wilderness Evil God.
But the Evil God's own "crown prince" had already been captured and sealed by Mo Hua. This lingering divine pressure meant nothing to him.
Just like that, Mo Hua treated this bloodstained, eerie statue as a "toy," studying it up and down, over and over. After who knows how long, Heaven finally rewarded his effort—within the statue's skull, he detected a faint, abnormal fluctuation.
It was a trace of energy—subtle, deep, nearly imperceptible.
It seemed as if a master had planted a divine karma to obscure the hidden secrets within.
Such "god-concealing" methods were incredibly advanced.
If not for the fact that Mo Hua was half-divine—his divine sense transformed, unique from others—and that he had learned the Tianyan Art and cultivated the Heavenly Calculation Method, granting him a keen divine perception and strong karmic intuition, plus prior knowledge of the secret from the Second Elder…
He absolutely would not have sensed the earth-shattering secret hidden inside the skull of this evil statue.
And now, this secret was about to fall into his hands.
The life-bound formation diagram he needed for Core Formation was beckoning to him.
Mo Hua, thrilled, couldn't wait any longer. He jumped onto the statue's head and scanned it carefully with divine sense. Sure enough, behind the sheep-horned skull, he found several cracks—dark, narrow openings that led directly into the cranium, where the karma inside was obscure and mysterious, clearly concealing something.
Ancient and fierce energy stirred silently within.
Mo Hua pressed his face to the skull, reaching a hand into the back of the evil statue's head, probing around to see what he might retrieve.
Just then, a disturbance arose inside the grand hall.
A mangled lump of flesh—chewed to near unrecognizability by demonic and monstrous cultivators—began to tremble and twitch. It absorbed the fresh blood on the ground, slowly regenerating into a tall, thin, deathly pale humanoid figure, looking more like a demon than a man.
Once formed, its aura was faint and its face pale as paper, exuding wickedness and deathly stillness. Eventually, its twisted features resolved into a human face—
Mister Tu's face.
His blood-soaked ritual had been interrupted by Mo Hua.
His soul lantern had been extinguished by Mo Hua, causing a backlash to his divine soul.
His physical body had been devoured into a bloody mess by crazed demonic cultivators, manipulated by Mo Hua's Dao Heart Demon Seed.
In every way imaginable, he had suffered a catastrophic blow.
Yet he still hadn't died.
He had undergone spiritual transformation (feathering), and long since abandoned his human form to become a true demon, offering everything to the Evil God of the Great Wilderness—there was no way he could die so easily.
His body and soul were indeed gravely damaged, leaving his consciousness dazed.
But his vitality was extraordinarily strong. After a period of recovery, he had finally stabilized, his consciousness returned, and he managed to temporarily reconstruct his body.
Mister Tu finally opened his ashen, demon-like eyes again.
But in the next instant, he froze, his heart filled with indescribable shock and rage.
All around him were flesh and blood, mangled limbs.
Hundreds of demonic cultivators—none had survived. All were dead, their corpses horrifically mangled, as if tortured to death.
The grand hall was thick with evil intent, fear, and despair.
For a brief moment, Mister Tu almost thought he wasn't in the sacrificial temple—but in the infernal prison of the Great Wilderness.
"What happened while I was gone?!"
"Why are all the demonic cultivators dead?!"
"How did they die? Who did it?!"
"Who extinguished my soul lantern?!"
"Who is ruining my grand plan?!"
Mister Tu's eyes bulged with rage, his dark pupils popping. He was overwhelmed by fury and confusion.
Moments later, as his anger ebbed and his reason returned, Mister Tu suddenly realized—someone else was in the grand hall!
"Who?!"
He snapped his head up, gaze like a blade, landing on Mo Hua atop the altar—and then his pupils shrank in disbelief.
Mo Hua?!
That brat—he was still alive?!
The blood sacrifice blade had sealed his body.
The sacred artifact of the Great Wilderness had locked his soul.
He had even arranged for four Gold Core demonic elites to stand by, with orders that once the Evil God awakened, they would decapitate Mo Hua, use his sea of consciousness and skull to graft a new demonic form for Mister Tu.
With such layers of sealing and careful guarding—how could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator still be alive?
How was that even possible?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
A storm surged within Mister Tu's heart. Only after a few moments did he finally register Mo Hua's actions—and realize what he was doing.
Rage surged from his chest. Mister Tu's eyes turned bloodshot. His mind buzzed, and his chest nearly seized from fury.
That damn brat deserving a thousand cuts—
What was he doing?!
He was sitting on the divine lord's head… and digging around in its brain?!
This divine statue was one of the oldest idols of the Great Wilderness.
Even Mister Tu usually knelt in reverence before it, not daring to look directly at its face—let alone touch it.
Yet now, Mo Hua was straddling it, violating it.
Mister Tu was so enraged he nearly passed out. A mouthful of blood surged up, almost spilling. He wanted nothing more than to charge up and tear Mo Hua into a thousand pieces.
But a sliver of reason held him back.
This was the Evil God's altar—the birthplace of his divine lord—a forbidden ground. He didn't dare recklessly set foot upon it, lest he commit sacrilege.
This is the altar of the Divine Lord, the "forbidden ground" where the Divine Lord was born. He didn't dare rashly ascend it, as doing so would be an offense against the Divine Lord.
Mr. Tu took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, but his voice was hoarse and trembling:
"You… come down…"
Mo Hua blinked. Not only did he not come down, he even dug his arm deeper inside. From within the skull of the evil god statue, he felt something cold, moist, and sinister—like a piece of bone. His heart skipped a beat. He pried it out with his fingers and silently placed it into his spatial ring.
Mr. Tu's eyes turned bloodshot, and he looked as if he wanted to devour Mo Hua alive.
"Come down…" he repeated.
Mo Hua lay on the evil god statue's head in silence, but his mind was spinning.
Mr. Tu had reached the Feathering realm—far too powerful. He stood no chance against him.
The demons in the great hall had all been toyed to death by Mo Hua using his Dao Heart Seed Demon technique. Without those puppets and "playthings," he had no way of restraining Mr. Tu.
But the altar he stood on seemed to be Mr. Tu's "forbidden ground." Mr. Tu didn't dare step onto it, so the most dangerous altar of the evil god was, ironically, the safest place for Mo Hua.
If he left the altar, Mr. Tu, enraged and losing control, would probably tear him limb from limb on the spot.
At the moment, Mo Hua had no way to escape from Mr. Tu. So there was no way he'd leave the altar—much less the statue.
The scene had entered a stalemate.
Mr. Tu kept his gaze locked on Mo Hua, eyes brimming with killing intent.
The two faced off like this.
After a while, Mr. Tu finally calmed down a bit. A sudden realization struck him, and his expression turned pale.
The altar was saturated with the Divine Lord's aura.
By all rights, the blood sacrifice had succeeded, and the Divine Lord should have already descended.
Yet this boy, Mo Hua, was sitting atop the Divine Lord's head, digging into His skull—an act of supreme blasphemy. He should've been struck down by divine punishment, yet the Divine Lord had not reacted at all, and Mo Hua remained completely unharmed.
Why?
Where was the Divine Lord?
What had happened to Him?
Mr. Tu's gaze shifted to the center of the altar—to Yu'er, still unconscious on the white bone throne.
A faint trace of the Divine Lord's aura lingered on Yu'er's body.
Though faint, it was unmistakable.
The true fetus of the Lord of the Great Wilderness had indeed been incubated within Yu'er's divine soul embryo.
Mr. Tu frowned, reverent and confused. He looked at the unconscious Yu'er, then back at Mo Hua—still sitting atop the Divine Lord's head, unharmed. A jolt ran through his heart as a thought struck him. His gaze grew cold, mixed with deep dread, and he said:
"You… you're not human. What did you do to the Divine Lord?"
Mo Hua's eyes narrowed slightly. In an instant, he understood the logic running through Mr. Tu's mind.
He thought Mo Hua was a malevolent god.
And he mistook Yu'er for his Divine Lord!
A flash of inspiration struck. Mo Hua let out a cold, eerie laugh.
That laugh carried three parts strangeness, three parts demonic, three parts divine—and one part innocence and mischief.
It was not the laugh of a human being, but the cold sneer of a "god."
Then, in a blink, Mo Hua vanished from the top of the evil god statue and reappeared atop the white bone throne.
Mo Hua grabbed Yu'er by the neck, the corner of his mouth curled into a mysterious, unreadable smile of a deity. From his high position, he looked down at Mr. Tu and said mockingly:
"Your Divine Lord has descended."
"But now… He's in my hands."
"Whether His fleshly vessel lives or dies… is entirely up to me."
Mr. Tu gritted his teeth. He couldn't tell whether it was true or false, nor did he dare make a rash move. With a serious expression, he asked:
"Who… exactly are you?"
Mo Hua couldn't ignore the question, but he couldn't answer it carelessly either. He simply kept the mysterious smile on his lips and replied with a question of his own:
"Where was your Lord born?"
Gods speak only in hints—understanding the rest depends on your own insight.
Mr. Tu's expression shifted slightly. He thought to himself:
The Divine Lord was born in… the Abyss of the Endless Great Wilderness…
This fearsome god from the Great Void Sect deliberately mentioned this… Could it mean that he too came from the Abyss of the Wilderness, a god of the same origin as the Lord of the Great Wilderness?
Mr. Tu's heart trembled. The more he thought, the more sense it made.
Otherwise, why would this fearsome god oppose the Divine Lord at every turn, and why would he understand the Divine Lord's plans so clearly?
Mr. Tu grew increasingly uneasy.
He was the Divine Lord's servant, blessed by the Lord. If it were just an ordinary cultivator—even a Void Piercing realm expert—he wouldn't be this afraid.
But inside this Foundation Establishment brat's body… dwelled a god.
And not just any god—one with deep ties to the Divine Lord, and seemingly malevolent.
Mr. Tu's eyes toward Mo Hua now carried a trace of reverence. He didn't even dare meet Mo Hua's gaze directly.
His expression darkened, and he asked, "What is your true goal?"
Mo Hua answered coldly, "You are not worthy to know."
The words carried divine authority. Upon hearing them, Mr. Tu instinctively felt a moment of submission.
This was the reaction of a deeply indoctrinated servant of an evil god—an almost reflexive response when facing a divine being.
Matters of the divine should be met with obedience to the Lord's will.
If a god does not speak, you must not ask—nor dare to.
But Mr. Tu was no ordinary servant.
He had lived too long. His mind was sharp, filled with suspicion. After a short while, he sensed something was off and looked at Mo Hua warily.
Mo Hua noticed the change in Mr. Tu's expression and felt a slight jolt in his heart—he suspected that Mr. Tu was starting to doubt him.
If Mr. Tu truly grew suspicious, he would become harder to "control."
From that point, things might spiral out of Mo Hua's plan.
Mo Hua kept his composure. His eyes flashed, becoming deep and unreadable. He stared at Mr. Tu as if trying to peer into his soul.
Then Mo Hua gently caressed Yu'er's cheek, a strange and smug expression on his face:
"The Lord of the Great Wilderness chose this child as His divine vessel. You think I wouldn't know?"
"You, in order to avoid karmic entanglement, had the low-cultivation Old Jiang snatch the vessel. But something went wrong, and this divine vessel was rescued by a passing, unknown little cultivator…"
"You don't really think that was just a coincidence, do you?"
"Can you guess… who saved this divine vessel?"
Mr. Tu's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Mo Hua.
"You can probably guess…" Mo Hua said, eyes gleaming with amusement, "That's right—it was me. I personally saved the divine vessel."
"After that, I infiltrated the Great Void Sect…"
"The Shangguan clan, wanting to protect the vessel from nightmares, sent it into the Great Void Sect. And as luck would have it… they placed it right by my side."
"In other words… for nearly ten years, your so-called 'Divine Lord' grew up by my side."
"Put another way—these past ten years, your so-called 'Divine Master' has grown up by my side."
"He obeyed me, relied on my care, ate and lived with me. It was I who dispelled his nightmares, who devoured the demons that tormented him. Even the divine remnants of evil gods—those too, I personally severed..."
"Moreover—Bishan Demon Cavern, Ten Thousand Demon Valley, the Bloodstained Fishing Village, Rouge Boat, Dragon King Temple... all of them were my doing from the shadows."
"I used the Divine Master's authority to draw countless demons to assault the Divine Embryo's dreams. When the Divine Embryo was tormented by dreams, mired in mortal peril, alone and helpless, I would appear—slaying the evil spirits and monsters one by one..."
"From beginning to end, all the causes and consequences, every incident—they were all part of my grand scheme."
"This Divine Embryo regards me as its dearest kin."
"And now, your Divine Master's true form has descended into this Divine Embryo. They are now one and the same. In other words, He too will regard me as 'family'. Perhaps now He's just been born and still feels unfamiliar toward me, but the Divine Embryo's instincts remain—the karma remains. As long as I nurture Him carefully, sooner or later, He will fall into the palm of my hand..."
"And once your Divine Master completely trusts me—becomes wholly controlled by me..."
Mo Hua smiled faintly, leaving the rest unsaid.
Mister Tu was instantly struck with a chill that seeped into his bones.
His mind suddenly cleared. All of the confusion that had plagued him before—resolved in an instant.
It was all... all a scheme by this so-called "Fiend God"!
From the very beginning, every event, every twist—had all been calculated. Every hidden hand behind the scenes... was Him.
And the vessel of this Fiend God was none other than this seemingly unremarkable little Foundation Establishment cultivator before him.
No wonder...
No wonder that no matter how deeply he investigated, how many calculations he performed, all he found was mist and confusion, with not even a thread of a clue.
He had been trying to divine a god. Of course the results were terrifying and inscrutable.
And the target he was pursuing was just a lowly Foundation Establishment brat—so naturally, he dismissed him without a second thought.
No matter how thorough or meticulous he was, he could never have imagined linking a god to such a minor figure.
And this Foundation Establishment brat—no, this Fiend God of the Great Void—had foreseen everything, even going so far as to enter the game personally, descending into the mortal world just to approach the Divine Master's reborn Divine Embryo. His schemes were profound, his calculations terrifyingly precise.
Everything now... was under this Fiend God's control.
Fear welled up in Mister Tu's heart.
Seeing Mister Tu clearly shaken—utterly convinced by his words—Mo Hua quietly let out a sigh of relief.
The truth was, many of the events in the Dry Xue Province had simply been him following one clue to the next, combined with some coincidences, a bit of bluffing, and a fair amount of blind luck. Things had only escalated to this point through sheer accident—not some grand plan of his.
If he were truly capable of such precise prediction and long-term plotting, the Blood Sacrifice Array of the Wilderness Heaven would have been dismantled long ago.
And Mister Tu? He would have been "calculated" to death by now.
But in matters of fate and karma, sometimes all it takes is a sharp tongue. If you can talk convincingly and sound consistent, then you're as good as a seer.
At least for now, Mister Tu looked like he believed it.
More than just believed it—his gaze toward Mo Hua was already tinged with fear, as though terrified that Mo Hua had foreseen this very moment, and had already arranged a deathtrap just for him.
When your cultivation is inferior, even if you die, at least you die knowing why.
But when your understanding of fate and karma is inferior—sometimes, you die without ever knowing how.
In that moment, Mister Tu developed a deep, trembling fear of Mo Hua, this so-called "divine being."
Seeing the timing was right, and Mister Tu's mental defenses starting to waver, Mo Hua's heart gave a jolt. He immediately put on a solemn and divine expression, adopting the tone of a cultist preacher:
"Kneel, submit to me—and I shall spare your life."
And within those words, Mo Hua subtly laced a trace of Heart-Demon Seeding.
Mister Tu furrowed his brow deeply, caught between two urges: to strike Mo Hua down, or to kneel before him. His very faith was undergoing the most severe trial it had ever faced.
But sadly, the gap in their realms was far too great.
Even though this Heart-Demon Seed carried only the faintest bit of bewitchment—planted in the soil of fear and shaken belief—it still couldn't overwrite Mister Tu's own will.
As Mister Tu hesitated, conflicted, repeatedly struggling to make a choice...
A commotion suddenly erupted outside the grand hall. Moments later, several powerful auras surged inside.
Nirvana Realm cultivators!
Mo Hua's expression changed slightly. This is bad.
The arrival of such strong energies immediately broke the spell. Mister Tu snapped back to his senses, shaking off the lingering effects of Mo Hua's Heart-Demon Seeding.
The presences rapidly approached.
With a deafening crash, the doors of the grand hall were blasted open by brute force. A group of cultivators stepped inside.
Leading them were three Nirvana Realm beings:
The traitor of the Shangguan clan, Shangguan Wang.
The old demonic cultivator of the Yin Corpse Valley.
The Sword Thrall from the Demonic Sword Sect.
Adding Mister Tu, who was also Nirvana Realm…
That made four of the strongest demonic Nirvana cultivators—all gathered now within this hall.
Mo Hua felt a chill creep into his heart.
(End of this Chapter)