Chapter 672: Bottleneck

Within Tai Xu Sect, disciple residences.

On the second floor of the dining hall, in an elegant room.

Cheng Mo, Si Tu Jian, and others were treating Mo Hua to a lavish meal.

Outside the window, green mountains and waters lay before them, with clouds and mist swirling.

Inside the room, spiritual fruits, fine wine, and rare delicacies abounded.

This meal cost a considerable amount of spirit stones, but Cheng Mo and the others were disciples from influential families and were not short on spirit stones, so Mo Hua ate with a clear conscience.

Little Yu Er also sat beside Mo Hua, joining in the feast.

The dishes on the table were all things Mo Hua loved to eat.

Even if he didn't particularly like something, seeing how expensive it was made Mo Hua eager to eat it.

There were an abundance of chicken legs on the plates, from brocade chickens, pine chickens, cloud chickens, and other various spirit chickens...

These were specifically "offered up" to their little senior brother by Cheng Mo and Si Tu Jian.

Mo Hua, holding a chicken leg in each hand, ate with great satisfaction.

Cheng Mo and the other five were using this meal to express their gratitude for Mo Hua's "life-saving" kindness.

At the same time, they were also grateful to Mo Hua, who, though through some serendipitous events, had indeed helped them earn a large sum of merit points.

More than twenty black-clothed human traffickers had died, with only the black-clothed leader seemingly having "escaped."

The abducted cultivators were also rescued.

These trafficked cultivators were not old, mostly between ten and fifteen years old, all with superior spiritual roots, and were all from influential families.

However, they were not from families within Qian State, but from small and medium-sized families in various states outside of Qian State.

They had come to the Qian Xue State border early, seeking opportunities to join a sect.

And because they were not local family disciples from Qian State, investigating their abduction was very difficult, often ending with no results.

Now, although the human traffickers were dead and their appearances completely altered, leaving no evidence.

It was still fortunate that these children could be rescued.

Dao Ting Si did not disclose the names of Mo Hua and the others, fearing they would be targeted by other human traffickers, but the fact that they had rendered a great service was undeniable.

So Dao Ting Si rewarded them with some spirit stones.

Furthermore, they were exceptionally transferred three hundred merit points each.

These merit points were indeed "exceptional," something Mo Hua understood very well.

Because these merit points arrived very quickly.

And the merit points Uncle Gu had promised him for surrounding the demon lair and slaying the Fire Buddha were still "processing" at Dao Ting Si, God knows where they were stuck, not a trace of them seen yet.

Three hundred merit points!

Mo Hua, on the other hand, was relatively calm; although he was happy in his heart, he was no longer a novice just leaving home, not like the entry-level disciples who had never seen merit points.

His account still had over a thousand merit points.

Moreover, having killed so many human traffickers and saved quite a few people, three hundred merit points was not considered much.

Dao Ting Si had always been stingy, so it was good to get something.

What's more, Dao Ting Si also added twenty thousand spirit stones as compensation, which could be considered barely satisfactory.

But Cheng Mo and the others were different.

These few children had never seen so many merit points.

Guarding the gate, sweeping the streets, these could only earn a few points.

Going out to do an initial Foundation Building stage task, after dividing the rewards, one person only got dozens of points, sometimes even only ten or so points.

Merit points were good things that even spirit stones couldn't buy.

Having these three hundred points was undoubtedly a huge sum.

Cheng Mo and the others were all beaming with joy, saying they absolutely had to treat Mo Hua to a big meal.

At the banquet, Cheng Mo passed chicken legs to Mo Hua, Si Tu Jian poured fruit wine for Mo Hua, Yang Qian Jun and Yi Li toasted Mo Hua, and Hao Xuan busied himself serving dishes.

The group was lively and boisterous.

Mo Hua ate very happily.

Little Yu Er also imitated Mo Hua, holding a chicken leg in her small hand and happily gnawing on it.

They were all from the same sect, had experienced the battle against the black-clothed human traffickers together, one could say they had "shared life and death" once, so the atmosphere at the table was very good, with both hosts and guests enjoying themselves.

After eating for a while, Si Tu Jian couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Mo Hua... what exactly did you do before?"

How could someone so young be so skilled in concealment, detection, ambush, combat techniques, assassination... all of these?

This simply didn't seem like something a small array master would do...

Mo Hua was startled.

Si Tu Jian then said slightly apologetically, "If it's inconvenient, you don't have to say anything."

Although he was indeed curious, cultivators always had some secrets they didn't want others to know.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, feeling that since everyone was from the same sect and might help each other in the future, he could say some things appropriately to save them from being constantly curious.

"I'm a demon hunter by origin!"

Mo Hua said with righteousness.

Cheng Mo and the others looked at Mo Hua's fair and tender appearance, his small arms and legs, and their expressions were somewhat doubtful.

His appearance didn't resemble a demon hunter at all...

"Really?" Yi Li asked curiously.

Mo Hua said unhappily, "Of course it's true!"

His dad was a demon hunter, so naturally he was too.

It was just that his physical body was weak, and when hunting demons, he couldn't charge forward and fight like other demon hunters.

But physical combat was also killing, and using traps and arrays was also killing.

If he could hunt demons, he was naturally a demon hunter.

What's more, even the great demon Dao Nie had been hunted and killed by his arrays, if he wasn't a demon hunter, who was?

Mo Hua explained to them:

"Physical combat is just a small part, the basic principle of a demon hunter is to prepare for the unexpected, not to fight unprepared battles..."

"Everything planned stands, unplanned perishes."

"Whether hunting demons or fighting against people, before engaging in combat and killing, you must have a plan, a strategy, patience, use traps if possible, ambush if possible."

"Act steadily, ambush deeply, strike ruthlessly..."

"These were all taught to me by my dad initially..."

Mo Hua had a proud expression on his face.

"Oh..."

Cheng Mo and the others saw Mo Hua's words were so logical and sounded very reasonable, and they couldn't help but nod.

Yu Er, though she didn't understand, also nodded with a look of worship.

"Then..." Yang Qian Jun was also somewhat curious, "Detection, tracking, eliminating... cough, eliminating demons and protecting the Dao, not alerting the enemy, how did you know about these kinds of things?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then simply said, "Uncle Gu taught me!"

Yang Qian Jun was startled, "Uncle Gu?"

Mo Hua said, "A benevolent *dian si* uncle from the Gu family of Dao Ting Si, he taught me!"

Mo Hua sighed, and said somewhat gratefully:

"He was afraid I would suffer losses in the sect, and also afraid I would encounter danger when doing tasks, so he told me all the experience of Dao Ting Si in tracking and apprehending criminal cultivators."

"These were all taught to me by Uncle Gu!"

Mo Hua said emphatically, emphasizing it again.

"Dao Ting Si, Gu family, Golden Core realm *dian si*..."

The expressions of Yang Qian Jun and the others all became solemn.

They then looked at the child named Yu Er, who was following beside Mo Hua, and all secretly nodded.

This child named Yu Er, who was following beside Mo Hua, was a direct descendant of the Shang Guan family.

The Shang Guan family and the Gu family had very close interactions.

It was reasonable for Mo Hua to have a good relationship with the Shang Guan family and a connection with the Gu family.

And the Gu family had served in Dao Ting Si for generations, acting according to the laws of the Dao, and were naturally most familiar with matters of tracking and apprehending criminals.

It was also reasonable for an uncle from the Gu family to teach him these things.

Although the methods were a little "ruthless."

But when dealing with demon cultivators, if you weren't a little ruthless, others would be ruthless to you.

Yang Qian Jun and the others suddenly felt enlightened.

No wonder Mo Hua, although an array master, was so skilled in matters of tracking, assassination, pitting, and so on.

It turned out someone had taught him all this...

Some of the doubts and knots in their hearts also gradually disappeared.

The few of them ate for a while longer, and the atmosphere became even more harmonious.

Mo Hua ate his fill and drank his fill, lying down to digest his food, when he heard Cheng Mo and the others muttering, discussing how to spend their three hundred merit points.

Cheng Mo said he wanted to buy some kind of golden earth or stone.

Si Tu Jian said he wanted to save more to buy a Tai Xu Sect specially made fire spirit sword.

Yang Qian Jun and Yi Li then said they wanted to buy some spiritual objects used for breaking through bottlenecks...

Mo Hua was somewhat doubtful and asked:

"You are all disciples from influential families, right? Don't you get things for cultivation from your clan? Do you still need to exchange for them from the sect?"

Si Tu Jian and the others were all startled.

Cheng Mo said, "Didn't you also... oh right, you didn't..."

He scratched his head and explained:

"Cultivation resources, the more the better. Spirit stones aside, things like spiritual objects needed to break through *gongfa* and spiritual tools needed for *dao* methods, these are all things where more is better."

"When cultivating *gongfa*, each additional spiritual object can make your spiritual power a little stronger."

"When forging spiritual tools, each more precious material can make the quality a fraction higher."

"The cultivation of top disciples from influential families is about spending massive resources to achieve refinement to perfection."

"The family never gives too much, and it's also limited. After all, there are so many disciples in the clan. Unless your spiritual root is truly heaven-defying, not all resources will be supplied for you alone."

"Especially disciples with superior spiritual roots who cultivate superior *gongfa*, the spirit stones and spiritual objects needed are not cheap."

"One or two is fine, but with many disciples, famous spiritual objects just aren't enough to go around..."

Si Tu Jian nodded and continued:

"Generally speaking, the resources the clan supplies to disciples only account for seventy to eighty percent."

"These resources are enough for you to cultivate, but not enough for you to 'refine to perfection'..."

"If you want to temper a deep foundation, if you want to cultivate your *gongfa* to the extreme, if you want to refine spiritual tools of even more extreme quality, if you want to stand out among heavenly talents, you need to aim for the best in everything, pursue perfection as much as possible..."

"These all require spending massive resources."

"Oh..." Mo Hua listened somewhat bewildered.

Si Tu Jian was afraid Mo Hua wouldn't understand, so he gave an example:

"Without considering specific spiritual root limitations, assume full aptitude can cultivate one hundred *zhou tian* spiritual power."

"General disciples from influential families, relying on family supply, cultivate to seventy or eighty percent, condensing seventy or eighty *zhou tian* spiritual power, that's enough."

"But if you want to go further, cultivate to ninety *zhou tian*, even above ninety *zhou tian* spiritual power, you need extra resources."

"Above ninety *zhou tian* spiritual power, each *zhou tian* is extremely difficult to cultivate and consumes an enormous amount."

"It's possible that the spirit stones and spiritual objects needed for that one *zhou tian* of spiritual power from ninety to ninety-one are more than the resources needed to cultivate from the beginning to eighty *zhou tian*."

"The closer to the extreme, the more so."

"If you want to stand out in the sect, you must find every way to refine yourself to perfection, cultivate to the extreme, reach perfection."

"Merely these extra cultivation resources require you to find ways yourself."

"Your parents, grandparents, or direct relatives who are high-ranking ancestors, if their realm is high and their status in the clan is prominent, they will solve a part of it for you."

"The rest you need to strive for in the sect."

"It's the same for *gongfa*, some *dao* methods, spiritual tools, etc., all are like this..."

"And sect merit points, which can be used as 'hard currency' to exchange for various resources and inheritances, are naturally extremely scarce, never enough..."

Mo Hua opened his mouth wide, endlessly shocked.

Never at any moment had he felt the gap between the rich and the poor in cultivation was actually so large.

The cultivation of heavenly talented disciples and his cultivation as a loose cultivator were completely different, like clouds and mud.

He himself was just making do, barely getting by.

According to this rule, his spiritual power, let alone eighty *zhou tian*, was barely sixty *zhou tian*, let alone thinking about 'reaching perfection' at ninety or one hundred *zhou tian*.

He simply couldn't afford it.

It was really too expensive...

Even selling himself... no, even selling himself from this life to the next one hundred and eight lives, he simply couldn't afford it.

Mo Hua sighed, his mood a little low.

But then he had a change of thought and remembered that he was cultivating the 'Divine Consciousness Proving Dao'.

His own *dao* foundation was not in flesh and blood and spiritual power, his whole body's strength did not depend too much on famous spiritual tools, there was no need to 'compete' like them.

Otherwise, even if he twisted himself into knots, he couldn't compare to them...

Mo Hua inexplicably became happy again.

But he was still a little doubtful, so he quietly asked:

"Spending such a huge price to cultivate one or two more *zhou tian* of spiritual power, is it really meaningful?"

"How could it be meaningless?" Cheng Mo sighed, "If you have one more *zhou tian* of spiritual power, you're just stronger than others."

"Even a little stronger is still stronger."

"Moreover, don't underestimate this point, your *gongfa* is a little different, your *dao* methods are a little different, your spiritual tools are a little different... everything is a little different, added up it's a big difference..."

"This is still only Foundation Building, the gap will be even bigger later on..."

"And also..." Hao Xuan also hurriedly explained to Mo Hua, "When sects accept disciples, and when some Featherization or Cave Void great abilities accept disciples, they all pay close attention to the number of *zhou tian* of spiritual power."

"Spiritual root indicates potential, but potential is only potential."

"Suppose you have no resources and can't cultivate enough *zhou tian* of spiritual power, it means you've wasted your potential."

"So the better the spiritual root, the better the *gongfa*, the more *zhou tian* of spiritual power cultivated, the more promising the future."

"These three are indispensable."

"Family marriage alliances are also like this."

"Even if you're a waste, foolish and clumsy, only knowing how to cultivate, but if your spiritual root is superior, your *gongfa* is superior, and you cultivate to ninety-five *zhou tian* or above spiritual power, the clan will still value you."

Mo Hua didn't understand, "Only knowing how to cultivate, what does the family value?"

Hao Xuan blurted out, "For breeding ah..."

Si Tu Jian slapped him on the back, reminding him not to talk nonsense.

Hao Xuan grinned in pain, then said awkwardly, "No, no, it's... marriage alliance..."

"Marriage alliance?" Mo Hua was startled.

"Um." Hao Xuan nodded, "My mother secretly told me that the bigger the family, the less human feeling there is, and the more utilitarian they are in handling things."

"Even if you're a waste, as long as your aptitude is good and you have many *zhou tian* of spiritual power, the old ancestors won't mind, they will still select a good marriage for you, so that you can give birth to descendants with even better aptitude."

Hao Xuan sighed, "It's like people raising pigs, matching good pig seedlings..."

Si Tu Jian glared at him again.

Hao Xuan immediately covered his mouth, thinking to himself:

Close call, almost slipped up again...

Yi Li beside him also sighed:

"So sometimes, I also feel that the high-level, profound old ancestors don't treat the disciples within the family as 'people'..."

Hao Xuan said strangely, "Isn't your Yi family's old ancestor still okay? I haven't heard of any forced marriage matters..."

Yi Li muttered, "I didn't say my old ancestor..."

Mo Hua listened from the side, and couldn't help but frown.

Yang Qian Jun saw the situation, his mind moved slightly, and then he said, "Of course, this is in Qian State, where they are particular about these things..."

He knew Mo Hua's spiritual root aptitude wasn't good, and his entire body's spiritual power *zhou tian* was also very... shabby, afraid Mo Hua would be sad, so he said comfortingly:

"But our Yang family is less particular about these things..."

"Our Yang family originated from Dao Soldier Si. Although we also pay attention to aptitude, we value military merits more. Whoever achieves great military merits will be valued by the family."

"Conversely, if you're only talented but don't dare to fight on the frontier battlefield, you'll still be looked down upon."

Yang Qian Jun looked at Mo Hua and said enthusiastically, "Mo Hua, how about you come to the Yang family as a guest with me during the holiday next year?"

Mo Hua was stunned.

At that moment, he seemed to feel Yang Ji Yong and Yang Ji Shan, both possessing Yang Qian Jun's body.

It seemed that the four words "pull people in" were engraved in the Yang family's bloodline.

Cheng Mo was unhappy, "Yang Qian Jun, don't talk nonsense, which family doesn't value spiritual root aptitude."

Yang Qian Jun corrected him, "It's not that they don't value it, it's just not that particular..."

Cheng Mo stubbornly said, "This is still the same meaning. No matter what, you still have to look at spiritual power, being stronger by one *zhou tian* is still stronger..."

Yang Qian Jun shook his head, "Words are true... but if your ninety *zhou tian* spiritual power can't beat others, can having one more *zhou tian* spiritual power beat them?"

"If others don't engage in head-on combat but secretly set up ambushes and kill, even if your spiritual power is much more, it's useless."

"On the battlefield, facing the slaughtering knife, with spiritual power killing everywhere like a meat grinder, what use is that one or two more *zhou tian* of spiritual power?"

"If it's really a matter of life and death, unless you've planted a life-extension talisman, you'll die whether you have eighty *zhou tian* of spiritual power, ninety *zhou tian*, or even a hundred *zhou tian* of full aptitude."

"In my opinion, the Qian Xue State border has been peaceful for too long, so they waste massive cultivation resources on this kind of not-so-meaningful place."

"So many spirit stones and spiritual objects have been spent, cultivating that one or two more *zhou tian* of spiritual power, yet they don't kill on the battlefield, don't eliminate demons and protect the Dao, don't go to resist the barbarian tribes, all stay in Qian State to enjoy blessings..."

Yang Qian Jun was indignant for a moment, and then his words became unstoppable.

Si Tu Jian also patted Yang Qian Jun's shoulder.

Yang Qian Jun was startled, then sighed and said helplessly:

"I misspoke..."

Cheng Mo thought of the Yang family's recent battle in the Southern Wilderness and poured him a cup of wine, consoling him:

"Focus on cultivating for now, we can't help with the Southern Wilderness matters yet."

Yang Qian Jun took the wine, drank it, and nodded.

Afterwards, everyone didn't talk about other matters, and the atmosphere also relaxed. They just chatted about some sect news, tasks, and some hearsay trivial matters, then finished eating and drinking, and each said their farewells and dispersed.

However, Mo Hua remembered all these words.

Yang family, Southern Wilderness, resisting barbarian tribes.

Could these barbarian tribes also be related to that so-called "Great Wilderness Lord"?

But Southern Wilderness...

It should refer to the Great Wilderness land south of Li State?

It seemed very far from Qian State...

Mo Hua shook his head.

These matters seemed very far from him, so he wouldn't consider them for the time being.

Mo Hua took Yu Er for a walk, digested his food, and then returned to his own disciple residence.

He lay on the bed, just wanting to rest for a while, but thinking of Cheng Mo and their words, he suddenly realized a problem again:

Realm breakthrough!

Cheng Mo and their *dao* foundations, whether blood energy or spiritual power, needed to consume quite a few spiritual objects when breaking through bottlenecks.

The more spiritual objects, the better.

So they wanted to save more points to prepare early.

He cultivated the "Heaven Derivation Art," which didn't require extra spiritual objects to break through bottlenecks. This was a good thing.

But this didn't mean his bottleneck would necessarily be simple.

The bottleneck of the "Heaven Derivation Art" was in divine consciousness.

The Qi Refining period bottleneck was about solving arrays step by step, from shallow to deep, finally solving the Mystery Heaven Great Array, and breaking through the Foundation Building bottleneck.

What about the Foundation Building realm bottleneck?

Still solving arrays?

The Mystery Heaven Great Array was already solved, what else was there to solve?

A second-grade mystery array?

Mo Hua frowned.

"Possible..."

Generally speaking, it seemed to be so.

But a trace of doubt remained in his heart, was the Foundation Building bottleneck really that simple?

After all, his divine consciousness was already very strong.

Sixteen patterns of qualitative change in divine consciousness, solving a second-grade mystery array at the initial Foundation Building stage should not be difficult.

But what if it wasn't? What other changes could there be?

Mo Hua frowned in thought.

"Breaking through from Qi Refining to reach Foundation Building... the sea of consciousness being reconstructed through the Mystery Heaven Great Array, divine consciousness compression and qualitative change..."

"Qualitative change..."

Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat.

"The bottleneck shouldn't be... 'qualitative change' of divine consciousness?"

"Require me... to further 'qualitative change' on the basis of divine consciousness reconstruction?"

How to further qualitative change?

Mo Hua thought, currently the only method for "qualitative change"... seemed to be just like before, by killing Yang Jiao's followers and killing Yang Jiao demons, obtaining pale gold 'divine marrow', to make divine consciousness further 'divinize'...

Doesn't this mean...

Mo Hua thought.

He needed to continuously "devour" divine marrow, make divine consciousness "divinize," and further qualitatively change, in order to break through the *gongfa* bottleneck and advance his cultivation realm?

Mo Hua was startled, then couldn't help but take a sharp breath.

Could it be?

This world shouldn't have such a deviant *gongfa*?

Need to "eat" gods to break through realms?

(End of this chapter)

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