Chapter 1095: Taotie

Mo Painting's expression changed slightly.

That "dream sign" that had puzzled him for a long time instantly resurfaced in his mind.

That day, he had fallen asleep inexplicably while deducing his Natal Magical Treasure.

After falling asleep, he had a dream.

In the dream, there was a majestic Azure Dragon.

After the heavenly mechanisms suddenly changed, it seemed as if something strange had invaded his dream realm, causing his dream realm to collapse inch by inch.

The Azure Dragon roared in anger.

However, in an instant, a vague, black fog-like entity, like a fierce wind, pounced towards the Azure Dragon.

Some deformed, strange, unnameable thing wrapped around the Azure Dragon, tore at it, and then actually… swallowed it alive.

Mo Painting lowered his head to look at the Desolate Bone Slip, looking at that infamous barbarian ancient array:

"The monster that swallowed the Azure Dragon in the dream, is it... Taotie?"

"Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array... Is this my core Natal Array?"

"Taotie, is this my Natal?"

Mo Painting took a deep breath, somewhat disbelieving.

It's actually... Taotie?!

The history of the Great Desolation is very long, traceable to the ancient years before the establishment of the Dao Court. In its ancient inheritance, there are the powerful Four Divine Beasts.

Similarly, there are also the unspeakable Four Ferocious Beasts.

But records related to the ferocious beasts, especially the ferocious beast Taotie, are scarce not only in the Great Desolation but also in the border of Qianxue Province and even in the Scripture Pavilion of the Tai Xu Gate Inner Gate.

This is a type of extremely obscure, extremely ferocious, extremely violent, extremely greedy ancient ferocious beast, hidden in the long river of cultivation history, not known to the majority of cultivators, and even less accessible to ordinary cultivators.

"Ferocious Beast Taotie... How is it related to me?"

Mo Painting frowned, very puzzled.

He was clearly a righteous youth full of integrity, kind and friendly, who helped others and was liked by everyone.

"Could it be because I usually eat too many evil spirits?"

"Or is it because I slayed demons and exterminated monsters, incurred great killing karma, and suffered from vicious evils, so my Natal also became a ferocious beast?"

Mo Painting sighed slightly, then his gaze shifted downwards, looking at the notes of this array again, and his heart immediately couldn't help but tremble.

"Second-grade twenty-four patterns barbarian ancient absolute array."

Second-grade twenty-four patterns!

Compared to the twenty patterns of the Golden Core, there are four more patterns.

The number of patterns in this array is simply quite absurd.

Precisely because the number of patterns in this array is quite absurd, this array is definitely also quite heaven-defying.

This kind of heaven-defying array is just right for me!

Mo Painting pondered slightly, feeling that although the "Taotie" thing didn't quite fit his image and temperament, the "second-grade twenty-four patterns ancient absolute array" did fit his identity as the "leader of the Qianxue Array Path."

Only this kind of absolute array with such a number of patterns is qualified to be his "array path genius" Natal Array.

"Just it!"

This Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array is something the Second Elder told him about, indicating a destined connection in the dark.

He also spent a lot of effort to get it.

Most importantly, besides this barbarian ancient absolute array, Mo Painting really has no other arrays in his possession that can serve as his Natal Array.

Mo Painting simply had no choice.

But the problem is that this ferocious beast absolute array has a full twenty-four patterns, far exceeding Mo Painting's current Divine Thought realm.

If he wants to refine it into a Natal Array Diagram, he still needs to think of every way and desperately raise his Divine Sense realm.

Besides, this array itself is also very strange.

"Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array... Twelve meridians, referring to the twelve meridians?"

"Taotie... Does this array foretell that it is related to Taotie? Does it require Taotie's blood, or some bones and flesh, as the array medium?"

"Or does it require Taotie's Divine Soul to give the array a soul?"

"Or does the so-called 'Taotie' actually refer to 'Taotie patterns'? Is it a type of ancient barbarian ferocious beast array pattern derived from the Four Symbols patterns, possessing terrifying might?"

"What does the spirit remnant mean..."

Mo Painting's brows furrowed tightly, feeling that this "Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array" is not only ferocious and strange in name and absurd in grade, but even its inherent array logic, array path principles, and array stream inheritance are profound and complex, extremely difficult to understand.

However, considering these now is still too early. The urgent matter at hand is still to decipher all the Great Desolation ancient texts on the entire bone slip.

After all, he has been tossing and turning until now, only deciphering one line of name and notes.

More secrets related to this Taotie Spirit Remnant absolute array are still hidden within the bone slip, among those undeciphered, obscure Great Desolation ancient texts.

Even what the array patterns look like, Mo Painting cannot see now.

"First, concentrate all my strength and decipher this bone slip completely..."

Mo Painting calmed his heart, but he couldn't suppress the excitement within.

His Natal Array Diagram finally has a clue!

Regardless of the specific effect of this Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array, being a second-grade twenty-four pattern array, coming from the hand of a world-shaking talent great witch shaman of the Great Desolation, and even being an absolute array once sealed by the Great Desolation royal family, it is absolutely not simple.

Once refined into a Natal Array, it must have infinite wonderful uses.

Mo Painting's spirit lifted. Infinite power surged through his body, which was originally still somewhat tired from "just recovering from a serious illness."

He began with all his strength to decipher the complete Great Desolation ancient texts.

After several days, Mo Painting put all his energy into this matter.

However, these ancient texts were too obscure, and there were many errors. Checking and correcting them one by one was truly exhausting and time-consuming.

Although the deciphering progress was steadily advancing, deciphering one or two lines a day was really too slow.

Good things were right in front of him, but no matter how hard he thought, he just couldn't get them into his mouth.

Mo Painting was really anxious.

And because Elder Xun had admonished him to restrain his Divine Thought consumption, not to abuse it, not to overdraw it, lest his Sea of Consciousness dry up and the fate evil reappear.

Therefore, Mo Painting did not dare to use his heaven-mechanics deduction and strange calculation abilities too much, and he didn't even dare to stay up late to decipher the ancient texts.

The deciphering speed simply couldn't be increased.

But he also had no other way, so he could only endure his temper and take it step by step...

Walking to the midway, Inner Mountain elders and Inner Gate disciples successively greeted Mo Painting with goodwill.

Mo Painting also returned the courtesy one by one politely.

After the previous Array Discussion Assembly and this Sword Discussion Assembly, with Mo Painting's war record, identity, and status, now at the Tai Xu Gate, only Mo Painting doesn't recognize people, yet no one doesn't recognize Mo Painting.

Other disciples, upon seeing the elders, all bow and stand, and first cup their hands in salutation.

When it came to Mo Painting, often before he could react, the sect elders would already greet him warmly.

The final ranking of the Sword Discussion Assembly was still being debated by each sect and had not been finalized.

But the ranking of the Tai Xu Gate would absolutely not be low.

It was even possible that this would be the highest ranking in history since the establishment of the Tai Xu Gate, reaching a degree that even these elders dared not dream of.

Who obtained this ranking was clear to the Tai Xu Gate from top to bottom.

No elder, no disciple, was not grateful for Mo Painting's favor.

If someone had mocked Mo Painting as the "Crown Prince" of the Tai Xu Gate before, the Tai Xu Gate elders would still argue a few sentences.

Now the Tai Xu Gate elders were eagerly hoping.

They only regretted that heaven hadn't sent this "Crown Prince" to the Tai Xu Gate earlier.

Mo Painting, on the other hand, didn't take these things too seriously.

He only adhered to the principle that if others treated him well, he would also treat others well, and if others were polite to him, he would also be polite to others. He was very polite to a crowd of Inner Gate elders and disciples, and occasionally said some pleasant words.

The Inner Gate elders were all delighted.

Talented, responsible, polite, pleasant to talk to, and handsome, who wouldn't like such a person?

The Inner Gate senior brothers and sisters were originally not familiar with Mo Painting, but they also became friends through these interactions.

When Mo Painting went to the Scripture Pavilion, the elders had already reserved a good spot for him.

If he couldn't find documents, the Inner Gate senior brothers would lead the way for him.

Some considerate senior sisters would also personally bring him brewed tea water or some exquisite snacks and preserved fresh fruits.

"Junior Brother Mo, read your books at ease. If you need anything, just tell us," a female senior sister wearing a Tai Xu Gate Inner Gate Daoist robe and with an elegant appearance said to Mo Painting with a smile.

This sentence instantly reminded Mo Painting.

Mo Painting then asked, "Senior Sister, are you free?"

The female senior sister was slightly stunned to hear his words, and then smiled and said, "I'm free. Junior Brother, what's the matter?"

"Um," Mo Painting nodded, then unfolded a piece of paper. "I've been researching the Great Desolation ancient texts recently, but these texts are too ancient and too difficult to understand. My progress is too slow researching by myself..."

"I don't know if I can trouble various senior brothers and sisters to help compare and check them."

"Okay, let me see..." The female senior sister took the paper, glanced at it, pondered for a moment, and then called several other Inner Gate senior sisters.

These several Inner Gate senior sisters, in turn, called several Inner Gate senior brothers.

One of the Inner Gate senior brothers, after examining it for a while, said, "Zi Ling is interested in these cultivation ancient texts. I'll call him over."

After a moment, a slender, quite scholarly Inner Gate disciple walked over. Seeing the ancient texts given by Mo Painting, he was somewhat uncertain and pondered for a moment, saying:

"My master has quite a bit of research on this. I'll go ask him to come and take a look."

After a while, this Inner Gate senior brother named "Zi Ling" led a child-faced, white-haired Inner Gate elder over.

"This is my master, Elder Chu," Zi Ling said.

"Greetings, Elder Chu," Mo Painting bowed.

Elder Chu looked at Mo Painting, somewhat surprised, nodded, and said, "Greetings."

Then he lowered his head, swept his gaze across the Great Desolation ancient texts on the paper, immediately became interested, and then asked Mo Painting:

"You want to decipher these cultivation ancient texts?"

"Um," Mo Painting nodded.

"Urgent?"

"Very urgent."

"Good," Elder Chu pondered. "I have a group of Inner Gate students under me who follow me in the research of the ancient texts and philology of the Nine Provinces. Their foundation is not bad..."

Elder Chu looked at Mo Painting and said concisely:

"How about this? You break your ancient texts into lines and segments, and give me one line at a time. I will have them check and correct them word by word and provide interpretations for you."

"This way is both fast and steady."

Cultivation ancient texts generally involve some ancient secret Dao lineages.

Since they are secret, it is not convenient to reveal them.

Breaking them open and deciphering them word by word both helps Mo Painting and does not reveal secrets.

Elder Chu was experienced and considered things very thoughtfully.

Mo Painting was overjoyed, his heart filled with gratitude, and he cupped his hands, saying, "Many thanks, Elder Chu."

Elder Chu stroked his beard and nodded with satisfaction.

After that, Mo Painting felt much more relaxed. He simply broke the large piece of obscure and complex Great Desolation ancient texts into small lines, then handed them over to Elder Chu. Elder Chu then distributed them to his Inner Gate disciples, who checked and deciphered them one by one.

Finally, the deciphered "interpretation texts" were all summarized and returned to Mo Painting.

Mo Painting then connected the context and sorted out the meaning of the entire Great Desolation ancient text.

During this period, Mo Painting also deciphered himself. When he encountered problems in ancient texts and philology, he would ask the senior brothers and sisters who were several sessions ahead of him. If he was unsure, he would ask Elder Chu to guide him.

If three people walk together, there must be a teacher among them.

After all, Mo Painting's cultivation age was small, and he had not yet researched much cultivation knowledge. Therefore, whenever he had the opportunity, he wanted to ask humbly, learn seriously, and find ways to broaden his knowledge and vision.

For cultivators, strong cultivation power is only one kind of strength.

Strong knowledge and cognition are equally important.

Mo Painting learned and deciphered at the same time, immersed in the atmosphere of cultivation knowledge research, his heart undisturbed, feeling like drinking sweet dew again.

Elder Xun was not at ease about Mo Painting and occasionally came to look at him, only to see Mo Painting in the Scripture Pavilion, blending in like a fish in water.

Several Inner Gate elders, along with a group of Inner Gate senior brothers and sisters, surrounded Mo Painting, busy researching something.

The things that were researched still needed to be "overlooked" by Mo Painting.

Making Mo Painting, this Outer Gate little disciple, like an Inner Gate "senior brother."

Elder Xun sighed slightly, for a moment not knowing what to say.

"This child really, no matter where he goes, can blend in like a 'familiar stranger'..."

Elder Xun shook his head.

However, Mo Painting also mixed well in the Inner Gate, which was a good thing.

As for what Mo Painting was researching exactly, he had his own plan, and Elder Xun would not ask too much.

Anyway, if he encountered a problem, Mo Painting would solve it himself.

If he couldn't solve it, he would eventually come to ask.

Elder Xun was not worried.

Elder Xun silently looked at Mo Painting again, confirmed that Mo Painting's Sea of Consciousness was stable, his emotions were normal, and his fate did not show vicious evil, then nodded slightly, and then quietly disappeared.

Inside the Scripture Pavilion, Mo Painting was still researching the Great Desolation ancient texts.

With the knowledgeable Elder Chu leading the team and a crowd of Inner Gate senior brothers and sisters "working," the deciphering progress naturally advanced by leaps and bounds day by day.

In less than half a month, the Great Desolation ancient texts inside the evil god bone slip were roughly translated.

Mo Painting was naturally endlessly grateful, repeatedly thanking Elder Chu and the crowd of senior brothers and sisters.

And after these days of effort, Mo Painting also finally initially mastered the Great Desolation ancient texts and knew the origin of this barbarian ancient absolute array:

This absolute array, as the Second Elder said, indeed came from the hand of a barbarian great witch shaman many years ago.

This great witch shaman was proficient in astronomy, skilled in witchcraft, and fused all the source stream arrays of the Great Desolation, forming a single entity. He was a world-shaking talent.

Later, he mistakenly entered the Barbarian Abyss, but luckily did not die. In a desperate situation, he encountered a stroke of luck and obtained a "Taotie vicious array" left from the ancient era.

But this Taotie array was a ferocious beast array pattern, fundamentally not something that "people" could use.

Moreover, the Taotie array was an ancient array, a vicious array, a heterodox array, which contradicted the orthodox cultivation path system. Neither the Dao Court lineage nor the Great Desolation inheritance could be compatible with this Taotie vicious array and unleash the effect of this array.

The great witch shaman was unwilling, so he racked his brains, exhausted a lifetime of Divine Thought, and exhausted his Divine Sense calculation power, finally improving an array based on this Taotie ancient array that could be inherited and used by cultivators.

This is precisely the Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array!

But the problem is, this array is also fundamentally not simple.

Although the great witch shaman did his best, the difficulty of a second-grade twenty-four pattern array was still too absurd, enough to make all array masters look and fear.

Therefore, this array, like the passage of years, was sealed in darkness.

The origin recorded inside the bone slip is only this much.

This record is not detailed.

There are definitely more secrets involved, at least why the Great Desolation royal family wanted to seal this absolute array is not mentioned inside the bone slip.

But these are not important. What Mo Painting wants to know most is the meaning and array diagram of this Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array.

Mo Painting continued to turn back.

The internal structure of this bone slip is layered, like the bones of some giant beast, very strange.

And all the records are covered in a layer of black fog.

Only by understanding the Great Desolation ancient texts of the previous layer can one continue to turn back and see the texts and graphics of the deeper layers.

After the origin, there are array principles and essentials.

Mo Painting just roughly glanced at it, understood the preliminary array reason, and immediately felt his scalp tingle slightly, his heart extremely shocked.

This was a kind of shocking array concept he had never imagined.

It had bold and unconstrained concepts, miraculous creations, and unconventional methods like an antelope hanging its horns.

Some of his previous guesses were not wrong.

Twelve Meridians refers precisely to the twelve main meridians inside cultivators, communicating the vital energy of the Three Burners and other five zang-organs and six fu-organs, following the twelve double-hour changes, flowing according to the great natural cycle.

Taotie refers exactly to that greedy and ferocious ferocious beast ancient array, which is the source of the array.

Among the spirit remnants, 'spirit' refers to the cultivator's spiritual power, and 'remnants' refers to the cultivator's bones.

The so-called 'spirit remnants' refer exactly to the spiritual power remnants.

It is the fusion of the Taotie ancient array with the cultivator's twelve meridians and the great cycle bones, forming a "spiritual power outer bone" that can accommodate more spiritual power.

At that time, spiritual power can be stored among the Taotie spirit remnants.

Once fighting with enemies, if spiritual power is exhausted, the array seal can be unlocked, releasing the vast spiritual power accumulated inside the Taotie spirit remnants.

Swallow spiritual power, person turns into Taotie.

This barbarian ancient absolute array will turn people into a terrifying "ferocious beast" possessing infinite magical power.

At the bottom of Mo Painting's heart, emotions instantly surged.

With this Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant absolute array as his Natal Array, fusing it into his twelve meridians and great cycle bones, he can greatly make up for his lack of spiritual power.

Then his magical power will be like a vast sea, boundless and infinite.

Then...

With the addition of the spirit remnant array, he will be able to cast all ten thousand laws, and will no longer be limited to the generation and overcoming cycle of the small five-element spells.

He can also learn middle-grade Dao methods, and he can cycle through them without worrying about spiritual power overdraft problems.

Even powerful upper-grade Dao methods, which consume an extremely large amount of spiritual power, are not impossible to learn.

Mo Painting's heart became hot.

World spells, only fast are not broken.

This was the truth that Puppet Grandpa taught him back then.

The stronger the Divine Sense, the stronger the control, and the faster the spells.

But what Puppet Grandpa said at that time was about the fireball spell and some low-end spells being "only fast are not broken."

But if he could make his upper-grade spells also achieve the same "only fast are not broken" as the fireball spell, wouldn't that mean he could truly achieve...

"Instant cast upper-grade spells?"

And if the Twelve Meridians Taotie Spirit Remnant Array swallows and accumulates enough spiritual power, would it be possible to cast not just one such "instant cast upper-grade spell" at the same time?

Ten thousand laws all pass, five elements cycle.

The cycle is instant cast upper-grade spells.

Moreover... it is "continuous casting" of instant cast upper-grade spells.

Mo Painting took a deep breath.

He dared not even imagine how terrifying this scene was.

Then he would also become a genuine "spell big cannon"... no, he should be a brutal "spell ferocious beast" like Taotie.