Chapter 1144

In a cave sealed by multiple layers of formations, Mo Hua’s face became extremely cold and ethereal, devoid of any humanity, as if he were a demon born of heaven and earth, a truly terrifying sight.

This was the strongest backlash Mo Hua had ever encountered.

This backlash also brought an unexpected turn of events.

The malevolent energy was devouring his memories and erasing his humanity.

All people and events from his past gradually blurred, and Mo Hua even began to doubt his own existence.

"Who... am I...?"

"What's my name...?"

"Am I truly 'me'?"

"Has my entire life been nothing but an illusion? In reality, I... never existed? Are the people I've met, the places I've visited, the experiences I've had—is everything merely an illusion, a fleeting dream, destined to vanish in an instant?"

"If all of this is an illusion, then what... am I?"

"What am I? Where am I now? What am I supposed to do?"

"I want to..."

Confusion filled Mo Hua's dark eyes, and then, from within his dao-heart, two words emerged:

"Become an immortal?"

"I want to become an immortal..."

Mo Hua's dao-heart was clear for an instant, then plunged into even deeper confusion:

"Why do I want to become an immortal?"

"To live as long as heaven and earth? To achieve immortality?"

"But... how does one become an immortal? Through continuous cultivation? By constantly growing stronger? No, that's not right... My path to the Dao is... proving the Dao through divine consciousness."

"Cultivate divine consciousness to prove the Dao, save all beings to achieve immortality..."

"Save all beings..."

"But why do I need to save all beings? Why? Do all beings need me to save them? And what among them is worth saving?"

"Why can't I... just kill them?"

"Kill them all... Kill all beings..."

"What then?"

"Human hearts are greedy, selfish, base, ugly, vain, and lustful... There is endless strife and ceaseless war. These are the roots of all calamities in heaven and earth. Since they are the source of disaster, why keep them?"

"Kill all beings, all humans, leave no one... Only clear skies and a vast, pristine land will remain."

"From then on, heaven and earth will exist eternally, the sun and moon will shine clearly, unchanging through the ages. Isn't this also the Great Dao?"

"Isn't this also achieving the Dao?"

"Yes... this is also the Dao."

"Life is the Dao, death is also the Dao. Proving the Dao through divine consciousness is the Dao, and proving the Dao through killing is also the Dao."

"Kill all people, let all people die... that too, is achieving the Dao..."

"And also... becoming an immortal..."

Mo Hua's pupils darkened further, and his very fate began to undergo a "reversal."

At this moment, he seemed like a true "Little Devious Daoist."

He was about to embark on a completely different path to immortality, one from which he would never return, forever falling into the abyss.

***

Lizhou, Tongxian City.

Inside an eatery.

Liu Ruhua, whose heart was connected to her son's, suddenly felt a heart-wrenching pain.

She didn't know what was happening, but the image of Mo Hua in her heart suddenly began to blur and darken, as if she was about to lose her kind and lovely son forever.

Tears uncontrollably welled up in Liu Ruhua's eyes.

***

Inside Great Black Mountain.

Mo Shan, who was hunting demons, also felt an inexplicable tremor in his heart. He raised his head, looked in the direction Mo Hua had departed, and frowned deeply.

***

And across countless mountains and seas, untold thousands of miles away, in Ganxue State.

Old Master Xun's heart also twitched, and his expression changed.

He had a premonition that his worst fear had, after all, come to pass.

The malevolent energy within Mo Hua was like a "mountain of gunpowder." Any shift in murderous intent or karmic consequence of killing could become a "spark," igniting this enormous "gunpowder mountain" and leading to unpredictable and terrifying changes.

Originally, with Lizhou being stable, things were relatively better.

But now, with the Great Barrens rebelling, Lizhou, being the closest state, would undoubtedly be engulfed by the flames of war, leading to ceaseless conflict.

Mo Hua, this "mountain of gunpowder," was now surrounded by "sparks."

Sooner or later, it would explode.

But Old Master Xun was helpless; he couldn't possibly "nip Mo Hua in the bud" just to eliminate this hidden danger.

Having taught him for nine years and living side by side, he genuinely cherished this child. How could he bear to harm him?

Leaving Mo Hua at the TaiXu Sect was even less feasible.

If Mo Hua, this "mountain of gunpowder," exploded, the entire TaiXu Sect would likely suffer.

Old Master Xun frowned deeply.

"I can only try to find a way to use the TaiXu Liangyi Lock to protect his mind..."

Old Master Xun began to chant incantations, guiding the Heavenly Secret Compass to manually and forcefully activate the TaiXu Sect's supreme treasure, the TaiXu Liangyi Lock, from afar, hoping to help the "entranced" Mo Hua suppress the malevolent energy.

Once the malevolent energy was suppressed, if Mo Hua's consciousness could regain a sliver of clarity, he might be able to "save himself."

As for whether Mo Hua could save himself, it would depend entirely on his own fortune.

The distance was too great; Old Master Xun truly couldn't do much more to help.

The Heavenly Secret Compass began to spin. Old Master Xun used it as a "key" to remotely activate the TaiXu Liangyi Lock on Mo Hua, which was far away in Lizhou.

But after several attempts to activate it, with the qi flow transmitted, the Liangyi Lock remained completely still.

Old Master Xun frowned. "Too far?"

That shouldn't be; this was the TaiXu Sect's supreme treasure...

Ordinary Heavenly Secret treasures naturally couldn't cross nine major states for a Heavenly Secret activation.

But the TaiXu Liangyi Lock, passed down by their ancestors, could. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of being revered as the supreme treasure of the Fifth-Rank TaiXu Sect.

Old Master Xun tried several more times to no effect. Suddenly, he realized something, and his expression drastically changed.

"It's... locked?"

"Who... locked the TaiXu Liangyi Lock?"

A strange-colored qi aura was faintly discernible in the void.

Old Master Xun's expression instantly became terrifyingly grim.

***

The malevolent energy was still growing stronger.

The qi aura around Mo Hua's body was still being permeated by the malevolent energy, growing darker and darker. Even his eyes held not a trace of color.

But this malevolent energy did not forcefully attack Mo Hua's divine consciousness.

Or rather, it dared not.

They didn't even dare to invade the "main palace" of Mo Hua's divine consciousness, which was where the Dao Stele was located.

Instead, it was "indirectly" fading Mo Hua's memories and transforming his dao-heart, making him willingly and actively complete the reversal, "voluntarily" stepping onto another, darkened path to "immortality."

The Liangyi Lock on Mo Hua's neck was trembling, but it couldn't break free from a grey, chain-like qi aura.

Mo Hua had not truly encountered a "life-or-death crisis."

What he had encountered was merely a choice of "Dao."

Even if his memories were erased, his fate altered, and his dao-heart reversed, Mo Hua himself would not die.

What would die was merely the "Mo Hua" of the past.

But for Mo Hua, if the past him died, it might also mean that his true self would "die"...

However, there was nothing he could do now.

He had lost his memories, and thus lost his "anchor point."

Forgetting his past meant forgetting himself.

Instead, his mind was completely controlled by the emotion of "killing life."

His understanding of the Dao also completely turned to the opposite.

Mo Hua's "Dao" would also complete its reversal.

And just as Mo Hua was about to truly "darken" and become another "Mo Hua,"

A pure white, incredibly profound heavenly secret pattern suddenly lit up above his forehead's palace of destiny, protecting his heavenly fate.

This white heavenly secret pattern automatically calculated and transformed, beginning to "reset" Mo Hua's fate and "reverse-engineer" his heavenly secrets.

It allowed Mo Hua's heart, memories, karma, and understanding of the Dao to recompile, returning him to the moment just before he was "polluted" by the malevolent energy:

"Who... am I...?"

"What's my name...?"

Mo Hua began to ask himself again.

But he had already asked and answered this question once before, and remembering it now gave him a strong sense of "déjà vu."

The quick-witted Mo Hua immediately realized something was wrong. How could someone as intelligent as him ask such a foolish question? And twice?

Something must have gone wrong somewhere...

What went wrong?

Mo Hua began to self-reflect.

"Who... am I...?"

"What's my name...?"

Mo Hua was stunned for a moment. "Right, what was my name again?"

He had completely forgotten his name, but no matter how hard he thought, his mind was a blur, with no trace whatsoever.

Mo Hua could only calm down and try hard to recall.

Vague images in his mind merged together, like watercolors, indistinguishable between reality and illusion. Only fragmented voices echoed, as if many people had repeatedly called him by the same name:

Mo Hua.

Mo Hua paused. "My name is Mo Hua?"

"But... who is Mo Hua? Why can't I remember anything at all?"

"Am I truly Mo Hua?"

"Is it possible that everything is fake? That I'm not actually Mo Hua, then who am I...?"

"No, that's not right..." Mo Hua gradually became certain of one thought. "I am Mo Hua. In this world, there is only one Mo Hua. Any other 'Mo Huas' are fake. If they exist, they are merely fragmented thoughts of myself..."

Mo Hua's divine consciousness became increasingly clear.

Suddenly, a strange surge of malevolent energy erupted.

In Mo Hua's ears, it was as if countless wronged souls were ceaselessly screaming and roaring, demanding his life, crying, scolding, cursing, threatening, pressuring, and mocking him.

Mo Hua's mood grew increasingly irritable.

His murderous intent grew stronger.

"If you keep making noise, I'll... kill all of you..."

As the murderous thought arose, the "Dao" that had been reset by the heavenly secret pattern's calculation earlier began to re-evaluate in Mo Hua's mind:

"Kill them all..."

"Kill all beings..."

"Why can't I... just kill them?"

"Save all beings... Why do I need to save all beings? Why? Do all beings need me to save them? And what among them is worth saving?"

"Human hearts are greedy, selfish..."

Mo Hua realized his heart was growing colder and quickly stopped his thoughts, cutting off the flow of all impulses.

"No..."

"I must retrieve my memories, retrieve my self..."

Mo Hua began to discard distracting thoughts and contemplate his origins.

"If I am Mo Hua, then I should have parents. After all, I didn't just pop out of a rock..."

"My parents..."

A resolute face and a gentle, loving face appeared in Mo Hua's mind.

"They... are my parents."

"Then, do I also have... a master? After all, cultivation needs guidance..." Mo Hua's expression was dazed, "Master..."

A figure with an immortal bearing and unrestrained elegance appeared in Mo Hua's mind, a handsome face smiling at him, full of expectation.

"My... Master..."

The heavenly secret pattern between Mo Hua's brows emitted a white light, dispelling a large area of malevolent energy and illuminating a vast expanse of the strange mist of memory.

"The bamboo courtyard, the small pond, the great locust tree, Master, Puppet Elder, Little Senior Brother, and also..."

"Little Senior Sister!"

"Little Senior Sister is my..."

Mo Hua frowned, pondering for a long time, until two words suddenly popped into his mind:

Anchor point.

But...

"Anchor point... what is that?"

Mo Hua frowned deeply, and then a familiar sense of memory arose.

At the TaiXu Sect, while cultivating the TaiXu Divine Sense Sword Transformation, the "Grand Superior Heavenly Demon Severing Emotions" Dao that he also cultivated surged into Mo Hua's mind almost instinctively, like "muscle memory" of the divine consciousness.

Grand Superior Severing Emotions required severing all distracting thoughts, worldly attachments, and mundane desires, but one couldn't truly sever humanity itself.

Therefore, an "anchor point" was needed to maintain humanity.

At this very moment, with Mo Hua's memory lost and his "humanity" blurred to the point of indifference, he perfectly suited the Grand Superior Severing Emotions Dao's method for balancing "heartlessness" by using an anchor point to retrace memories and reshape humanity.

"Little Senior Sister..."

Mo Hua habitually recalled the image of Little Senior Sister in his mind.

First, he recalled their initial encounter in Tongxian City, her enchanting beauty as if Nuwa had sculpted her from wind and moon.

After that, her serene elegance as they read and cultivated together under the great locust tree.

And then, the countless moments of their travels, enduring wind and dew together.

Following that, their parting amidst the vast sea of clouds.

And that fleeting glimpse in the hazy sea of clouds...

Mo Hua's cold and indifferent heart gradually gained a touch of "human" warmth.

He began to continue recalling his past, remembering many people and events: his parents, Master, Puppet Elder, Little Senior Brother, Little Senior Sister, childhood playmates, Elder Yu from Tongxian City, Instructor Yan, Master Chen, and the uncles and aunts from his neighborhood...

And many people he had met and parted with during his travels.

In Ganxue State, Old Master Xun, Aunt Wan, Yu'er, Uncle Gu, the sect master, elders, Cheng Mo, Situ, Xiaoxiao, Little Wooden Head... and other junior disciples.

As well as all sorts of people from the Dao Court, various aristocratic families, various sects, and rogue cultivators from different regions...

Everyone, one by one, reappeared in Mo Hua's mind.

In an instant, Mo Hua felt profoundly enlightened and suddenly realized.

This was also "all beings."

"All beings" was not an abstract concept.

His parents, his master, his Little Senior Brother and Sister, his relatives and friends in Tongxian City, old acquaintances in Ganxue State, the TaiXu Sect Master, elders, junior disciples...

All these people he had met along the way—all those who had cared for him, helped him, and worried about him—were "all beings."

How could such "all beings" be killed?

Saving all beings and killing all beings, how could they possibly be the same?

At this thought, Mo Hua's heavenly fate pattern glowed, his dao-heart returned to its place, the Great Dao he sought was re-anchored, and his divine consciousness became completely clear.

He also, once again, retraced his original intention.

From the confusion, indifference, heartlessness, and cruel murderous intent, he found his original memories and humanity.

Mo Hua became "Mo Hua" once more.

***

And in the instant he suppressed the malevolent energy, guarded his original intention, and achieved clear divine consciousness, Mo Hua finally saw the true face of the "malevolent energy" within his fate.

This malevolent energy was not purely malevolent energy.

Or rather, the malevolent energy was merely a vessel.

Within the malevolent energy, truly hidden, were "malevolent spirits"—deep as an abyss, vast as the sea, densely packed, and terrifyingly hideous in form.

Each of these malevolent spirits was grotesquely evil, with faces streaming with blood and tears, roaring and howling at Mo Hua.

These were the "wronged souls" of the demonic cultivators Mo Hua had killed in the blood sacrifice array.

Now they had all transformed into "malevolent karmic spirits," hidden by the malevolent energy, lurking within Mo Hua's fate. They were constantly cursing, reviling, and mocking him, stirring up the murderous intent in his heart, leading him astray and into an abyss from which he could never return.

And this was also the root cause of the turmoil in Mo Hua's heart.

Mo Hua's pupils constricted slightly. Only at this moment did he truly understand what exactly the malevolent energy in his fate truly was.

No wonder...

He had felt that mere malevolent energy shouldn't be able to integrate into his fate and pollute his dao-heart on a karmic level.

It turned out the malevolent energy was just the surface.

These extremely heinous demonic cultivators, transformed into karmic malevolent spirits after death, were the true essence.

It was just that the malevolent energy had been too dense before, obscuring everything.

If he hadn't forcefully used his divine sense to form a sword and brutally killed a Golden Core cultivator, inciting an extreme backlash from the malevolent energy that caused the karmic malevolent spirits to manifest and "avenge" themselves against him—attempting to devour his memories, blur his humanity, and completely pollute his original intention—otherwise, he would never have been able to discern this truth.

"Karma... malevolent spirits..."

But immediately, Mo Hua sensed something amiss.

After death, people don't just casually turn into malevolent spirits.

Even if someone dies and turns into a malevolent spirit, it's impossible for a large-scale "transformation" to occur, let alone for them to merge with malevolent energy, transform into karmic obstacles, and lurk within one's fate.

As the saying goes, every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor.

For malevolent spirits to demand a life, they need to know who killed them. Only then can they seek revenge from the "culprit" according to karmic principles.

But the question was, why would these demonic cultivators know that he had killed them?

Mo Hua frowned, feeling it was very strange.

He always acted on principle.

Those who deserved to die, if he could kill them, he would do so without a single wasted word. Moreover, he always acted very covertly.

Many cultivators didn't even know they had been killed by him until their last breath.

And the Great Barren Blood Sacrifice Array had suddenly collapsed, killing so many demonic cultivators.

These demonic cultivators had all died suddenly and violently, the vast majority inexplicably.

Of all these deceased demonic cultivators combined, those who truly knew how they died, or by whose hand, could probably be counted on one hand.

"Since they didn't know that I killed them, then why would they turn into 'malevolent spirits' to seek revenge on me?"

Moreover, these weren't malevolent spirits in the ordinary sense.

Malevolent spirits in the ordinary sense are remnants of divine consciousness, evil thoughts.

But the malevolent spirits in this malevolent energy were karmic obstacles.

Had it been before, Mo Hua wouldn't have understood, but ever since he acquired the "Great Barrens Demonic Bone Divination Technique" and gained some karmic knowledge, he knew that "karmic transformation" was by no means a simple matter.

To transform the souls of the deceased into malevolent karmic spirits.

This must involve a technique that is extremely profound, even unique, in the way of karma.

This also meant...

Mo Hua's heart froze.

"Someone secretly used a karmic technique to transform the wronged souls and malevolent spirits who died in the Great Barren Blood Sacrifice Array, forging them into malevolent entities and integrating them into my fate?"

Also...

Mo Hua suddenly remembered the deaths of the four Ascended cultivators within the array.

Mister Tu, Shangguan Wang, the Golden Corpse Elder of Yin Corpse Valley, and the old Sword Slave of Demon Sword Sect.

None of these four Ascended cultivators were easy to deal with; they absolutely wouldn't die easily. Yet, they died effortlessly in the tribulation lightning.

Mo Hua frowned deeply.

"What exactly happened in the blood sacrifice array back then?"

"Why did these four Ascended cultivators die?"

"Could their deaths also be related to me...?"

"Was someone secretly plotting against me...?"

"Who... was it?"

It was...

Mo Hua's heart trembled, and a terrifying chill spread throughout his body. He dared not speak of it, nor even think of it.