Chapter 1569: Heaven-Human Resonance

Chapter 1569: Heaven-Human Resonance

"No resonance... I can't even perceive it?"

Mo Hua's brows knitted slightly. "...Is there a problem with the land of the Qingchou Region, or is the problem with me?"

One perceives the Dao essence, and the Dao essence resonates with the person; only when both harmonize can communication occur.

Having no resonance was disappointing, but still within reason.

Yet, being unable to even perceive it at all was simply bizarre.

Could communing with Dao essence be just like the Meditation Technique, where the younger and purer one is, the better?

Mo Hua recalled that the times he had genuinely communed with the Great-Earth Dao Essence through Sudden Enlightenment were all when he was around thirteen years old.

Back then, he was still a child, his mind clear and pure as an infant's.

Now, as worldly affairs shifted, he had not only experienced far more, but also understood more knowledge, learned more arts, and entangled himself in far more cause and effect, which inevitably cluttered his mind.

Though his Divine-Sense was powerful and his insight into Heavenly Secrets razor-sharp, could it be that by tangling with so many worldly affairs, fame, and fortune invisibly, his perception of Heaven and Earth had actually dulled?

That shouldn't be...

Mo Hua felt that he hadn't accumulated much fame or fortune, and his thoughts remained rather pure.

Refusing to believe it, he pressed his hand against the earth again and tried several more times, but the results were abysmal. He couldn't help but frown in deep contemplation.

Bai XiaoSheng had watched for quite a while from the side. Seeing Mo Hua remain utterly silent, pressing his palm to the earth looking rather peculiar, he couldn't resist asking:

"What are you doing?"

"I..." Mo Hua hesitated, then said, "Nothing."

Afterward, he kept his gaze fixed on the ground. After a moment of pondering, he said to Bai XiaoSheng, "Step back a bit."

Bai XiaoSheng was taken aback. "What?"

Mo Hua said, "Step back a little further. I'm... testing something..."

Testing something?

Displeased, Bai XiaoSheng said coldly, "Don't get too big for your boots. I may be your protector in name, but that doesn't mean you can order me around as you please."

Mo Hua nodded, his voice becoming slightly more sincere: "Please, Lord Protector Bai."

Only then did Bai XiaoSheng's expression soften slightly. He rose, flicked his sleeves, and walked a hundred zhang (333.3m) away before asking, "Is this good enough?"

Mo Hua nodded. Then, shielding the sight from Bai XiaoSheng, he sketched a first-grade [Profound Earth Absolute Formation] on the ground with his hand.

Once the Absolute Formation was drawn, Mo Hua pressed his palm atop it, closed his eyes again, held his breath, focused his spirit, and quietly sensed the fluctuations beneath the earth.

With the Profound Earth Formation serving as a medium, his perception of the Great-Earth Dao Essence indeed grew somewhat clearer.

Yet the aura underground remained chaotic and muddled, exceedingly difficult to distinguish.

It was as if a turbid barrier stood in the way, blocking the earth's Dao essence, preventing Mo Hua from perceiving it properly.

Calming his heart once more, Mo Hua used the support of the Profound Earth Formation to continue his contemplation.

At the same time, he did his best to recall his childhood mindset, entering a state of complete selflessness.

Discarding all mundane knowledge, forgetting all secret arts, and activating no technical calculations, he maintained only the pure heart of an innocent child, imagining himself as that ignorant youth who once knew nothing and had only Heaven and Earth in his eyes.

In this near-selfless, innocent state, Mo Hua continued to commune with the earth using the Profound Earth Formation as a bridge.

This process was rather lengthy.

...

In the distance, Bai XiaoSheng watched Mo Hua with a solemn expression, his eyes not blinking once.

Seeing Mo Hua act so seriously—chasing him off, drawing formations, looking like he was up to something he couldn't reveal—he had assumed Mo Hua was about to conduct some grand experiment, the kind that would shake heaven and earth, which had left him somewhat uneasy.

Yet after watching for a long time, Mo Hua remained still as a block of wood, eyes closed, feeling the earth. His aura might have seemed a bit strange, but that was just how Mo Hua always was, mysterious and evasive, his aura drifting unpredictably. Whatever he turned into wouldn't be surprising.

After staring for a while longer, Bai XiaoSheng grew bored.

Not a single change, not a single special omen. Boring...

Bai XiaoSheng simply flopped down onto the ground.

The ground was filthy, but neither the bloody water nor the mud could touch even a corner of his clothes.

Meanwhile, he pondered in his heart.

What on earth is this kid Mo Hua tinkering with now...?

Wasn't he looking for a formation? Where is the formation? Can you find a formation just by standing still like that? Is this some quirk of his?

Geniuses always had their quirks, let alone a freak of nature like Mo Hua.

Lying on the ground, bored out of his mind, Bai XiaoSheng crossed his legs, tilted his head toward the sky, dozed off for a long time, and then glanced down at Mo Hua again.

Seeing Mo Hua still with his eyes tightly shut, unmoving for who knew how long, he felt astonished.

This kid... his focus is truly formidable... To remain motionless for this long.

What the hell is he doing?

Looking at him... is he touching the earth?

What's the use of that? What can you get from touching the earth?

Bai XiaoSheng frowned, his mind suddenly recalling what Mo Hua had said earlier:

"The earth is alive..."

The earth is alive... And then? Could he actually talk to the earth?

Is he a child? Doing something so childish?

"The earth is alive... so you're making friends with the earth?"

Bai XiaoSheng couldn't help but chuckle out loud. But then, his smile vanished bit by bit, his complexion slowly turning pale as ancient cultivation lore passed down through the Bai Clan from ancient times inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

"This Mo Hua... he... could he be..."

"Could he be trying to commune with 'Dao Essence'?!!"

In his agitation, Bai XiaoSheng shot upright, nearly biting off his own tongue, his eyes bulging as he stared fixedly at Mo Hua.

Wait...

In this world, can someone truly face Heaven and Earth directly to commune with Dao essence?

The unity of Heaven and Man?! Is that something an Early Golden Core Stage cultivator can do?!

Don't play this kind of heaven-defying joke on me!

Bai XiaoSheng's face twitched, his eye sockets throbbing wildly. He stood frozen, staring intensely at Mo Hua. And as he watched, he discovered that Mo Hua, who had previously appeared completely ordinary, seemed to genuinely...

Merge into one with the Great Earth.

It was as if a certain aura welled up from deep underground, surfacing above the soil to brush against Mo Hua's palm, fusing together with it.

It was like a tiny mortal shaking hands with the vast earth...

Bai XiaoSheng's heart nearly leaped out of his throat, his mind on the verge of exploding.

"You bloody... you can't be serious, right?!"

You just pressed your damn hand to the ground, and you can directly commune with Dao essence?!

Are you the Heavenly Dao's own biological son or something?!

And just as Bai XiaoSheng was drowned in shock, bewildered and in utter disbelief...

Mo Hua, having painstakingly reconnected with a wisp of the Great-Earth Dao Essence after so many years, saw his expression subtly change as well.

Because this time, the aura of the Dao essence he felt had changed.

From the earth's Dao essence, he faintly detected a strand of... coldness and fury?

The negative emotion carried by such an ancient and mighty will made even Mo Hua's soul shudder, raising a dense layer of goosebumps across his skin.

The Great Earth is enraged...

And the source of that rage...

With a solemn heart, Mo Hua followed the earth's fury, his Divine-Sense flowing underground, gauging the direction of the Dao essence amidst various unknown auras.

Finally, after who knew how long, Mo Hua snapped his eyes open and gazed toward the northwest, his gaze profound.

"It's over there..."

Mo Hua swept his right hand across the ground, erasing the Profound Earth Formation, habitually destroying any traces.

Then, he executed his Movement Technique, his body shifting like a watery shadow, turning into a streak of watery light as he fled toward the northwest.

Bai XiaoSheng remained behind where he was, his expression blank, an intense conflict raging in his mind. Struck by such an unfathomable phenomenon, his common sense and very understanding of cultivation had been thoroughly warped.

Only when Mo Hua was already far away did he gradually come to his senses.

Yet Bai XiaoSheng did not immediately give chase. Instead, wearing a face of utter disbelief, he walked over to the spot where Mo Hua had just been sitting.

On the ground was a patch of soil where something had been drawn and then wiped away.

Bai XiaoSheng's eyelids twitched violently. Slowly crouching down, he imitated Mo Hua, pressing a hand to the ground, closing his eyes, and quietly attempting to perceive the earth.

After sensing for a while, Bai XiaoSheng slowly opened his eyes again, looking even more bewildered.

"There's... nothing here."

"Why can't I sense a single thing...?"

"Is Mo Hua tricking me again?"

Bai XiaoSheng frowned deeply, but what he had seen and felt just now couldn't be wrong—Mo Hua truly seemed to have become one with the earth.

He just didn't know what on earth Mo Hua had comprehended.

Bai XiaoSheng looked around, seeing only the desolate expanse of blood-red land, Mo Hua's figure already nowhere to be seen. He let out a helpless sigh:

"Oh, my Little Grandaunt, just what kind of 'thing' did you pick... to be your junior brother..."

Bai XiaoSheng shook his head, tucked away his wandering thoughts, and activated his Movement Technique, transforming into a streak of sword light as he shot toward the direction Mo Hua had vanished in.

...

Mo Hua hadn't traveled very far.

When Bai XiaoSheng caught up with him, he saw Mo Hua standing before a barren, dead field, gazing at the rotting ground in deep contemplation.

A thousand thoughts and doubts churned in Bai XiaoSheng's mind, his Sea of Consciousness still buzzing. Not knowing whether to speak, let alone how to start, he ended up squeezing out just one sentence after much hesitation:

"What are you looking at?"

His thoughts interrupted, Mo Hua pointed at the ground. "I'm looking at the soil."

Bai XiaoSheng thought to himself, Isn't that obvious?

"What's wrong with the soil?" Bai XiaoSheng asked.

"There's a problem..." Mo Hua turned to Bai XiaoSheng and asked, "Could you dig a bit for me?"

Bai XiaoSheng frowned. "I told you, I'm not your lackey..."

Mo Hua's tone became notably more courteous: "I request Lord Right Protector to dig the ground for me."

For Mo Hua to speak like this was already showing immense face; a person had to know when to be content.

Bai XiaoSheng was tactful enough and asked, "How deep?"

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then said, "Three zhang wide. First use the Hanging Sword Stance to dig six zhang down, then follow up with the Sword-Brandishing Stance. Be gentle. Use thirty percent of the power of the Early Golden Core Stage with an attribute-less sword art, and keep digging straight down..."

Bai XiaoSheng was taken aback. "You know swordplay?"

Mo Hua said flatly: "Obviously."

His swordsmanship—especially his basic sword forms—had been personally taught to him hand-by-hand by Dugu Ancestor himself back then, extremely standardized and solid.

In the entire Great Void Sect, who knew if even a handful of people enjoyed such treatment.

It was just that Mo Hua truly lacked a Sword Dao Foundation and wasn't on the path of a Sword Cultivator. Having learned these sword forms, he couldn't put them to practical use in reality, only able to manifest swords within the Divine Sense World to slay demons and indulge himself.

Just because he couldn't use them in reality—and even if he did, their power would be lacking—did not mean he lacked the vision or discernment.

Bai XiaoSheng asked no further questions. Following Mo Hua's instructions, he unleashed the Bai Clan's sword art and began to dig.

The soil here was foul and the bloody water putrid; naturally, he couldn't use his natal treasured sword for digging. Thus, he took out a spare Third-Grade Spiritual Sword. Adhering to the specifications Mo Hua had laid out, he first delivered the Hanging Sword Stance to dig down six zhang, then shifted into the Sword-Brandishing Stance, flourishing the sword to shave away the earth bit by bit...

Bai XiaoSheng's swordplay was formidable; such sword stances posed no difficulty to him whatsoever.

Yet he did not act clever or play any fancy tricks just because of his consummate sword skills.

Though Mo Hua was lawless and loved causing trouble, he was actually exceedingly meticulous when executing tasks.

Especially when he spoke in earnest, his words carried absolute weight, one had to follow them to the letter without a single mistake.

It was as if he were a true Esteemed Master, discerning cause and effect, possessing divine foresight.

If a mistake were made, no one could tell what unforeseen calamity might arise...

This was the conclusion Bai XiaoSheng had reached after observing Mo Hua from the sidelines during their time together.

Therefore, every strike of his sword was executed with meticulous precision, without the slightest deviation.

Amidst flying bloody soil and filthy water, the pit in the ground grew progressively larger. Yet no matter how deep he dug, the interior remained pitch-black; aside from dirt, tree roots, and some insect carcasses, there was nothing else.

Bai XiaoSheng released his Divine-Sense to investigate, yet detected nothing unusual within the earth.

He couldn't fathom what Mo Hua was actually trying to dig up...

Whatever. If Mo Hua told him to dig, he would just dig. Wasn't that the life of a laborer anyway?

However, the deeper he dug toward the earth's depths, the stronger the land's oppressive weight became, and the thicker the various chaotic, baleful energies grew, drastically increasing the difficulty of digging.

Fortunately, Bai XiaoSheng's swordplay was masterful. Just like that, he dug blindly for a full half-hour, still reaping nothing.

Mo Hua suddenly said, "Stop."

Bai XiaoSheng ceased the flourishes of his blade and caught his breath, feeling weary, not physically, but mentally exhausted.

Looking up at Mo Hua, he asked, "My Great Esteemed Master Mo, is this enough?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"So," Bai XiaoSheng said, "what exactly are you digging for?"

Mo Hua seemed slightly surprised. "You can't see it?"

"See what?" Bai XiaoSheng asked, somewhat dumbfounded.

Mo Hua's gaze shifted down slightly, his pupils glowing faintly. "Three inches to your right, slash with your sword."

"With what strength?" Bai XiaoSheng asked.

"Golden Core middle stage will do," Mo Hua replied.

Without hesitation, Bai XiaoSheng swung his arm, slashing out a beam of white sword light.

It appeared to strike empty, pitch-black space, yet a shattering sound rang in his ears, accompanied by the sloshing of liquid, as an astonishing, putrid stench permeated the air.

Bai XiaoSheng looked toward the sound. There, to his right side, an clay figurine had appeared at some unknown point, standing half the height of a man with a bizarre silhouette.

His strike just now had cleaved the figurine clean in two, causing some unknown filthy water and fleshy paste to spill out.

Even Bai XiaoSheng felt nauseated.

And with the destruction of the figurine, as if an illusion had been ripped apart and the path between Yin and Yang forced open, a Ghost-Head Stone Gate emerged. Drenched in grim Yin Qi, its appearance sent an inexplicable chill down one's spine.

Bai XiaoSheng's expression changed subtly.

This Ghost-Head Stone Gate seemed to have been standing right beside him all along, less than a fathom away, yet he hadn't seen it at all.

It was as if an illusion had veiled it, or perhaps... this gate was never meant to exist in the mortal world, never meant to be seen by him.

Bai XiaoSheng scrutinized the Ghost-Head Stone Gate, an uncontrollable chill still rising from the depths of his heart. Frowning, he asked:

"This structure... is it a tomb?"

Had someone died, their corpse buried within?

Mo Hua also stared at this Ghost Gate, his pupils darkening slightly as he murmured, "I'm afraid it's not merely a tomb..."

(End of Chapter)