Chapter 1093: Taotie
Mo Hua's expression shifted subtly.
That dream omen he could never make sense of resurfaced in his mind all of a sudden.
That day, while deducing the evolution of his life-bound treasure, he had inexplicably fallen asleep.
In his slumber, he had a dream.
In the dream, a majestic Azure Dragon appeared.
Then, fate suddenly changed—as if something bizarre had intruded into his dreamscape, causing it to collapse inch by inch.
The Azure Dragon became furious and let out a deafening roar.
Moments later, a hazy, black fog-like entity surged toward the Azure Dragon like a storm.
A deformed, indescribable being enshrouded the Azure Dragon, tore it apart—then actually... swallowed it whole.
Mo Hua looked down at the Great Wilderness bone slip in his hands and focused on that infamous ancient barbarian formation:
"That monster in my dream that devoured the Azure Dragon... was it Taotie?"
"The Twelve Meridian Taotie Spirit Remains Formation... this is my Foundation Establishment—life-bound formation?"
"Taotie… is my life-bound beast?"
Mo Hua drew a sharp breath, his heart filled with disbelief.
It was actually… Taotie?!
The history of the Great Wilderness was vast, dating back to a time long before the establishment of the Dao Court. In those ancient traditions, there were four mighty divine beasts.
But also, four ominous beasts that could not be named.
Of those fearsome beasts—especially Taotie—records were rare. Not only in the Great Wilderness, but even in the broader Qianxue Province, even within the Scripture Repository of the Great Void Sect's inner sanctum, information was scant.
This was a type of ancient, obscure, brutal, and extremely savage beast—greedy beyond reason, hidden in the long river of cultivation history. Unknown to most cultivators, and absolutely beyond the reach of ordinary practitioners.
"How could a fearsome beast like Taotie be related to me?"
Mo Hua frowned in deep confusion.
He was clearly a righteous youth—upright, kind-hearted, always helping others, universally beloved!
"Could it be... because I usually eat too many evil spirits?"
"Or is it because I've slain so many demons and devils that I've incurred heavy karmic retribution, attracting sinister forces, and so my life-bound being has become a beast of calamity?"
Mo Hua let out a faint sigh, then lowered his gaze again to reread the annotations beside the formation. His heart couldn't help but shudder once more.
"Grade Two, Twenty-Four Inscription Ancient Barbarian Ultimate Formation."
Grade Two. Twenty-four inscriptions!
That was a whole four more than the twenty inscriptions typical of a top-tier Foundation Establishment-level formation.
Such a formation count was simply absurd.
And precisely because it was absurd—this formation had to be heaven-defying in nature.
A heaven-defying formation—suited him perfectly!
After a moment of thought, Mo Hua acknowledged that while something like Taotie didn't really fit his image or temperament, a Grade Two, Twenty-Four Inscription Ancient Ultimate Formation was a perfect match for his title as "Foremost in Qianxue Province Array Dao."
Only a formation with such a number of inscriptions would be worthy to be his life-bound formation as an array genius.
"This is it, then!"
This Twelve Meridian Taotie Spirit Remains Formation had been given to him by the Second Elder—clearly tied to fate.
He had also gone through great effort to obtain it.
More importantly, Mo Hua truly had no other formation that could serve as his life-bound array.
He simply had no choice.
But there was a problem: this fearsome beast formation had twenty-four inscriptions, far exceeding the current limits of Mo Hua's divine sense.
If he wanted to refine it into his life-bound formation diagram, he would have to think of every possible way to rapidly raise his divine sense realm.
Besides that, the formation itself was exceedingly strange.
"Twelve Meridian Taotie Spirit Remains Formation… does the 'Twelve Meridians' refer to the twelve main meridians of the body?"
"And Taotie… does it suggest that this formation involves Taotie's blood, or perhaps its flesh and bones as the formation medium?"
"Or maybe... it requires the divine soul of Taotie to imbue the array with spirit?"
"Or does 'Taotie' here actually refer to Taotie Inscription Patterns—a kind of fearsome array inscription evolved from the Four Symbols, possessing terrifying power, from the ancient barbarian era?"
"And what about 'Spirit Remains'? What does that mean...?"
…
Mo Hua frowned deeply. He felt that this Twelve Meridian Taotie Spirit Remains Formation not only had a fearsome name and absurd grade, but its internal logic, array theory, and inherited techniques were all incredibly profound and hard to comprehend.
But thinking about all that now was premature. The most pressing matter was to decode all the ancient Great Wilderness script on the bone slip.
After all, he had struggled this far and only managed to decipher the name and annotation.
The deeper secrets of this ultimate Taotie formation were still buried in the yet-to-be-deciphered, obscure characters of the Great Wilderness script.
He hadn't even seen what the formation diagram actually looked like.
"First, I need to concentrate fully on decoding this entire bone slip…"
Mo Hua calmed his thoughts—but excitement still welled uncontrollably within.
His life-bound formation diagram finally had a lead!
No matter what specific effects this Twelve Meridian Taotie Spirit Remains Formation might have, its high rank—Grade Two, Twenty-Four Inscriptions—its origin from the hand of a once-in-a-lifetime genius barbarian shaman, and the fact that it was once even sealed by the royal clan of the Great Wilderness—made it clear this was no ordinary formation.
Once refined into his life-bound formation, it was bound to hold endless wonders.
Mo Hua's spirit soared. His body, still weary from recent recovery, was instantly filled with boundless energy.
He began dedicating himself fully to the task of decoding the ancient script.
In the days that followed, Mo Hua poured his heart and soul into the task.
But this ancient script was so obscure and riddled with errors that each correction and verification demanded immense mental effort and took up a lot of time.
Though the decoding steadily progressed, he could only manage a line or two per day—far too slow.
The treasure was right in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't take a bite.
Mo Hua was truly anxious.
Moreover, Mr. Xun had warned him to restrain the use of divine sense—no reckless consumption, no overexertion—lest his soul sea dry up and the fated calamity return.
So, Mo Hua didn't dare to use his powers of heavenly deduction or uncanny calculations. He didn't even dare stay up late deciphering.
The speed of progress couldn't be improved.
But he had no other choice—he could only be patient and take it one step at a time…
That day, as usual, Mo Hua rose, cultivated, then left the rear mountain. With the brilliant morning sun overhead and the weathered mountain path beneath his feet, he made his way to the inner mountain's Scripture Repository—to patiently consult ancient texts, verify Great Wilderness script, and decipher the secrets and diagram of his life-bound Taotie formation.
Halfway there, he passed several inner mountain elders and inner sect disciples, all of whom greeted him kindly.
Mo Hua responded politely, returning each greeting with due respect.
After the last Array Dao Conference, and especially following the recent Sword Dao Conference, with Mo Hua's achievements, reputation, and status, there was now no one in the entire Great Void Sect who didn't recognize him—only people he didn't recognize.
Whereas other disciples would stand respectfully and bow when encountering elders, Mo Hua would often be greeted first by the sect elders themselves before he even noticed them.
The final rankings of the Sword Dao Conference were still being argued over among the various sects—but one thing was certain:
The Great Void Sect's ranking would not be low.
It might even be the highest in history—so high that these elders hadn't even dared to dream of such glory.
And everyone in the sect knew exactly whose achievement that was.
There was not a single elder or disciple who did not feel indebted to Mo Hua.
If, in the past, someone mocked Mo Hua as the "Crown Prince" of the Great Void Sect, elders might've felt compelled to defend him.
Now? The elders were thrilled to have him.
They only regretted that Heaven hadn't sent this "Crown Prince" to the Great Void Sect sooner.
As for Mo Hua—he didn't dwell too much on it.
Mo Hua didn't take it too seriously.
He simply abided by the principle that if others treated him well, he would treat them well in return; if others were courteous to him, he would be courteous back. Toward the inner sect elders and disciples, he was extremely polite and respectful, occasionally even saying a few pleasant words.
The inner sect elders were all delighted.
Talented, responsible, well-mannered, spoke nicely, and even looked handsome—who wouldn't like someone like that?
Originally, the senior brothers and sisters in the inner sect weren't familiar with Mo Hua, but with time, they all blended together naturally.
Whenever Mo Hua went to the Scripture Pavilion, elders would already have a seat prepared for him.
If he couldn't find a particular text, a senior inner sect disciple would personally lead him.
Some thoughtful senior sisters even brought him tea they had brewed themselves, along with exquisite pastries or delicious candied fruits.
"Junior Brother Mo, feel free to read at ease. If you need anything, just let us know," said a gentle-looking senior sister dressed in the inner sect robes of the Great Void Sect, smiling at Mo Hua.
Her words immediately gave Mo Hua an idea.
"Senior Sister, are you all free right now?" Mo Hua asked.
The senior sister was briefly surprised, then smiled and replied, "We are. Is there something you need, Junior Brother?"
"Mm," Mo Hua nodded, then spread out a sheet of paper. "Lately I've been studying some ancient Great Wilderness texts, but the language is too old and hard to understand. My progress is very slow on my own…"
"I was wondering if you senior brothers and sisters could help me cross-reference and annotate it."
"Sure, let me take a look…" The senior sister took the paper, glanced at it, pondered for a moment, then called over a few more senior sisters.
Those inner sect senior sisters, in turn, called over a few senior brothers.
One of the senior brothers examined the text and said, "Ziling is interested in this kind of ancient cultivation script. I'll call him over."
Not long after, a tall, scholarly inner sect disciple arrived. After reviewing the ancient text Mo Hua had provided, he hesitated and said:
"My master has done extensive research on this. I'll go ask him to come take a look."
A little while later, the senior brother named Ziling returned, leading an inner sect elder with childlike features and white hair.
"This is my master, Elder Chu," said Ziling.
"Greetings, Elder Chu," Mo Hua bowed.
Elder Chu looked at Mo Hua with some surprise, nodded slightly, and returned the greeting. "Hello."
Then he looked down, scanned the ancient Great Wilderness text on the paper, and became immediately intrigued. He asked Mo Hua:
"You want to decipher these cultivation-era ancient texts?"
"Yes," Mo Hua nodded.
"Is it urgent?"
"Very."
"Alright," Elder Chu said after a pause. "I have a group of inner sect students under me. They've studied ancient linguistic annotation and interpretation of cultivation texts from the Nine Provinces. Their foundation is solid…"
Elder Chu looked at Mo Hua and spoke concisely:
"Here's what we'll do. Break the text down line by line and give it to me. I'll assign it to them, and they'll go over it word by word, correcting and annotating it, and then provide you with the interpreted version."
"This way, it's both efficient and reliable."
Ancient cultivation texts often involve obscure and secret Daoist traditions.
Since they are secret, they shouldn't be carelessly exposed.
By breaking them down line by line and deciphering word by word, they could help Mo Hua without leaking any sensitive information.
Elder Chu, being experienced, had considered everything thoroughly.
Mo Hua was overjoyed and deeply grateful. He cupped his fists and said, "Many thanks, Elder Chu."
Elder Chu stroked his beard and nodded with satisfaction.
From then on, things became much easier for Mo Hua. He simply split the vast and complex Great Wilderness text into small lines and handed them to Elder Chu, who then distributed them to his disciples in the inner sect for careful examination and interpretation.
All the resulting annotated translations were collected and handed back to Mo Hua.
Mo Hua would then connect the context and piece together the full meaning of the Great Wilderness text.
During this time, Mo Hua also worked on deciphering the text himself. Whenever he encountered difficult linguistic or interpretive problems, he consulted with senior disciples from a few cohorts above him. If they were unsure, he would ask Elder Chu for guidance.
"In a group of three, there is always something to learn from someone."
Mo Hua, after all, had only been cultivating for a short time and hadn't yet studied many of the Daoist disciplines. So whenever he had the opportunity, he asked questions humbly and sincerely, learning diligently and looking for ways to broaden his knowledge and vision.
For a cultivator, raw cultivation power is only one kind of strength.
Knowledge and understanding are equally vital.
As Mo Hua studied and deciphered, he immersed himself in the scholarly atmosphere of Daoist research, fully focused and feeling as if he were drinking sweet dew.
Elder Xun, still uneasy about Mo Hua, would occasionally check in on him—only to see that Mo Hua was thriving in the Scripture Pavilion like a fish in water.
Several inner sect elders, along with a group of senior brothers and sisters, bustled around Mo Hua, studying something together.
Everything they worked on still had to be approved by Mo Hua before moving on.
It made this outer sect junior disciple look like an inner sect "chief senior brother."
Elder Xun sighed lightly, unsure of what to say.
"This kid… wherever he goes, he somehow becomes 'instantly at home' with everyone…"
Elder Xun shook his head.
Still, the fact that Mo Hua was managing so well even in the inner sect was a good thing.
As for what exactly Mo Hua was studying—he had his own plans, and Elder Xun wouldn't pry.
If he encountered a problem, Mo Hua would handle it himself.
And if he couldn't, eventually he'd come ask anyway.
Elder Xun wasn't worried.
He silently glanced at Mo Hua again, confirming that Mo Hua's sea of consciousness was stable, his emotions normal, and no signs of calamity in his fate. Only then did he nod slightly and silently disappear.
In the Scripture Pavilion, Mo Hua continued his research into the Great Wilderness texts.
With the erudite Elder Chu leading the way and a whole group of inner sect senior brothers and sisters "working under him," the pace of deciphering progressed at lightning speed.
In less than half a month, the ancient Great Wilderness script within the Evil God Bone Tablet had been largely translated.
In less than half a month, the ancient Great Wilderness characters within the Evil God's bone slip had been roughly translated.
Mo Hua was naturally deeply grateful and thanked Elder Chu and all his senior brothers and sisters profusely.
Through the efforts of these past days, Mo Hua had also managed to grasp the basics of the ancient Great Wilderness script and learned the origin of this savage and ancient formation:
As the Second Elder had said, this ancient ultimate formation indeed came from a great shaman of the Savage Wilderness many years ago.
This great shaman was versed in astrology and skilled in sorcery. He had mastered the various formation lineages of the Great Wilderness and integrated them into one cohesive whole. He was a peerless genius.
Later, he accidentally entered the Abyss of the Savage Wilderness. Though he narrowly escaped death, he encountered great fortune at the edge of despair—he obtained a "Ferocious Gluttonous Formation" from ancient times.
However, this Gluttonous Formation was made from ferocious beast patterns and was never meant to be used by humans.
Moreover, the Gluttonous Formation was ancient, deadly, and utterly alien. It contradicted the orthodox cultivation systems—be it the Dao Court's traditions or the inheritance of the Great Wilderness. No path could accommodate it or unleash its true power.
The great shaman was unwilling to give up. He poured his heart and soul into his work, exhausting his lifetime of spiritual energy and divine sense, and finally used the Gluttonous Formation as a foundation to modify and create a formation that cultivators could inherit and use.
Thus was born—the Twelve Meridians Gluttonous Spirit Bone Formation!
But the problem was, this formation was anything but simple.
Despite the great shaman's efforts, the difficulty of a Grade Two, Twenty-Four Pattern formation was still absurdly high—enough to deter even the most skilled formation masters.
So over time, this formation was buried in obscurity.
The records in the bone slip only went so far.
The account wasn't exactly detailed.
There were clearly deeper secrets not included—for instance, why the royal family of the Great Wilderness had chosen to seal this ultimate formation. The bone slip said nothing about it.
But those matters weren't what mattered most to Mo Hua. What he most wanted to know was the meaning and diagram of the Twelve Meridians Gluttonous Spirit Bone Formation.
Mo Hua continued flipping through.
The bone slip's internal structure was layered, like the joints of some colossal beast—very strange indeed.
All of the content was shrouded in a layer of pitch-black mist.
Only by fully understanding the previous layer of ancient Great Wilderness script could one unlock the next, revealing deeper writings and diagrams.
After the origin came the formation's theory and essence.
Mo Hua only glanced at it and understood some of the basic principles—but even that made his scalp tingle. He was shaken to the core.
This was a formation design unlike anything he had ever imagined—full of wild, fantastical concepts, craftsmanship like that of gods and ghosts, and techniques as elusive and untraceable as a gazelle's horn.
Some of his earlier guesses had been correct.
The "Twelve Meridians" referred to the twelve main meridians within a cultivator's body—connected to the triple burners, the five internal organs, and the proper energy of the body, cycling in harmony with the twelve hours of the day and the natural circadian rhythm.
"Gluttonous" referred to that ancient, savage, and greedy beast formation. It was the root of the formation.
In "Spirit Bone," spirit referred to the cultivator's spiritual energy, and bone referred to the cultivator's skeleton.
Together, "Spirit Bone" meant: a skeleton of spiritual power.
The formation fused the Gluttonous Beast Formation with the twelve meridians and the skeletal system of the cultivator to create a kind of external spiritual exoskeleton capable of storing tremendous spiritual power.
At that point, spiritual power could be stored within the Gluttonous Spirit Bone.
Then, in a battle, when one's spiritual energy was exhausted, the formation's seal could be broken, releasing the vast reservoir of spiritual power stored in the Gluttonous Spirit Bone.
Devour spirit power. Transform into Gluttony.
This savage ancient formation would turn a person into a terrifying "ferocious beast" with boundless magical power.
Mo Hua was filled with surging emotion.
If he could make this Twelve Meridians Gluttonous Spirit Bone Formation his life-bound formation, fusing it with his twelve meridians and skeletal system, then he could entirely make up for his weakness of limited spiritual reserves.
His magical power would become as vast as the sea, without end.
In that case…
With the Gluttonous Spirit Bone Formation as support, all spells would become accessible to him—not just the cyclic generation and overcoming of the basic Five Elements.
He would be able to learn and use mid-tier Dao arts too, without worrying about spiritual exhaustion.
Even the powerful and energy-hungry high-tier Dao arts might become possible.
Mo Hua's heart burned with excitement.
"Among all spells under heaven, speed is unbeatable."
This was a principle Grandpa Puppet had once taught him.
The stronger the divine sense, the better the control—and the faster the spellcasting.
But back then, Grandpa Puppet had only been referring to low-level spells like Fireball.
But if high-tier spells… could also be cast with the same speed as Fireball… then wouldn't that mean—
"Instant-cast high-tier Dao arts?"
And if the Twelve Meridians Gluttonous Spirit Bone Formation stored enough spiritual power, then such instant-cast high-tier Dao arts might not stop at just one.
Master of all spells. Circulation of the Five Elements.
And what's circulating… are instant-cast high-tier spells.
And not just instant-cast—but rapid-fire instant-cast high-tier spells.
Mo Hua inhaled sharply.
The image this conjured was so terrifying he didn't dare to imagine it.
He would become… a true "spell cannon"… no—more like a ferocious spell beast, as savage and unstoppable as the Gluttonous Beast itself.
(End of this Chapter)