Chapter 933: Dream Omen

The divine punishment was still intensifying, a concurrent punishment for multiple sins.

Mr. T’s bones were breaking inch by inch, his flesh twisted like hemp flowers, and blood seeped into the floor. But Mr. T dared not resist, dared not beg for mercy; he could only endure it all. His hatred towards Tai Xu Gate, along with this pain, constantly penetrated into his marrow. If not for Tai Xu Gate... Myriad Demon Valley wouldn't have been exterminated, Rouge Boat wouldn't have been cleared out, and his plans wouldn't have been restricted everywhere. Now, the Demonic Sect was being exterminated, and the main force was still those twenty Golden Core elders of Tai Xu Gate! Mr. T hated to the point of madness, almost biting his teeth to pieces.

At the same time, the divine punishment was also nearing its end. After a round of bone-grinding and ash-raising pain, and the various tortures of the three thousand hells of the Great Wilderness added to his divine sense punishment, Mr. T finally caught his breath a little. As the master of the Great Wilderness, he had plotted for a thousand years. The "divine punishment" he had received during these thousand years was nowhere near as severe and cruel as it had been in these past few short years. All of this was due to that ferocious god of Tai Xu Gate. This enmity, he would not forget.

Mr. T's flesh writhed, white bones grew meat, and meat grew skin again, transforming back into human form. He prostrated on the ground, kowtowing towards the giant sheep bone statue in front, devoutly reporting: "I have exhausted all efforts, but the evil dragon raised for master's divine fetus has escaped. He has developed a different heart, feeling his bloodline noble, unwilling to dedicate everything to you, divine master."

"I will find him and peel his skin."

"Blood Refining Gate, Myriad Demon Mountain... I borrowed their Dao inheritances, spread the divine master's prestige, and aroused their coveting. They also want to touch the Qian Xue state boundary, to get a share..."

"This matter is harmless. Once the great calamity approaches, letting these true Demonic Sects stir up trouble will also offer more abundant sacrifices for the divine master's revival..."

"At that time, believers will live, and non-believers will die. These Demonic Sects are no exception."

"These demonic cultivators kill people like hemp, accustomed to lawlessness. They fundamentally do not know that this world has things they cannot imagine, truly great terror."

"The divine fetus of Dragon King Temple is silent..."

"The ferocious god of Tai Xu Gate is worthy of being the divine master's great enemy, actually capable of suppressing the power of the divine fetus. Truly fearful, but only to this extent."

"I still have a fallback plan. I will have a more suitable 'divine fetus' as the 'container' for your descent."

"The situation is also more urgent..."

"Dao Court has noticed, the world's families are starting to be vigilant, Tai Xu Gate is even more directly opposing us, and the ferocious god is also eyeing us covetously."

"Now, the Demonic Sect has not yet developed and has just been completely exterminated..."

"Someone is forcing me, making me have to push the plan forward."

"Since that's the case... then I won't wait."

Mr. T’s expression was ferocious. "The next Lun Dao Assembly..."

"I want the Qian Xue state boundary to flow with blood, slaughtering ten thousand cultivators completely, turning this heaven and earth into purgatory, welcoming the divine master's descent!"

Mr. T’s expression was fanatical. Along with the injuries all over his body, he was also recovering rapidly, as if the dark evil god, hearing the good news of revival, was "rewarding" his loyalty. Mr. T knelt prostrate on the ground, trembling. Under the reflection of the dim green candlelight, his face was sinister and terrifying, like a demon.

"The next Lun Dao Assembly... Blood flowing into a river..."

Tai Xu Gate, disciple residence.

Mo Hua suddenly woke up, breaking out in a cold sweat. He felt as if he had foreseen something very terrible. Even though he was clearly awake, his heart was still filled with lingering fear. "What happened? Did I... have a nightmare?" Mo Hua murmured.

"That's not right. I didn't dream again, and..."

"Who would dare to give me a nightmare?"

Mo Hua frowned, touching his forehead. He found his forehead was ice-cold, still seeping cold sweat. He felt something was wrong and wanted to trace the source of the cause and effect, but his heart stirred. It was as if he was personally in a vast, boundless sea, fundamentally not knowing where to seek this cause and effect that filled his heart with lingering fear. Even more, he didn't know what this cause and effect was exactly.

"Illusion? Or... am I too tired?"

Mo Hua was silent for a moment. Still without a clue, he lay back down on the bed, wanting to sleep a bit more. But he didn't often sleep in the first place, and having been woken up without reason, he couldn't fall asleep anymore. "Whatever, I'll practice array methods then..."

When his mind was unsettled and a matter was undecided, he would first practice array methods. Mo Hua was already accustomed to this.

He sank his divine sense into his sea of consciousness and began consolidating the nineteen-pattern and even nineteen-pattern peak array methods he had practiced on the Dao stele. Everything requires practice to become perfect, and array methods are the same. Mo Hua, according to his plan, practiced some second-grade nineteen-pattern high-level array methods about ten times to warm up, and then began practicing the second-grade twenty-pattern Reverse Spirit Array. He couldn't master this array method yet, couldn't completely draw it out, but he could practice it first. Anyway, his current array method level had already reached a bottleneck. Besides practicing absolute arrays, there were no other array methods to learn.

Just like this, he practiced until dawn, and then Mo Hua opened his eyes. Facing the rising sun, wearing the morning light, he routinely cultivated his merit law for a while, refined a week's worth of heaven spirit stones, accumulated a bit of spiritual power, and then went to class as usual. He sat in the preaching room, listening to the elder teach. Mo Hua had again turned from the "behind-the-scenes black hand" pushing the extermination of the Demonic Sect into a diligent little disciple of Tai Xu Gate.

Several days later, Mo Hua went to find Gu Changhuai to inquire about the follow-up to the Demonic Sect extermination. The two of them were drinking wine and eating at a restaurant in Tai Xu City. The restaurant belonged to the Gu family. Mo Hua had put in effort in the matter of exterminating the Demonic Sect, and Gu Changhuai had specially invited him for another meal to reward him. Mo Hua was not polite either. He knew that Uncle Gu was "very rich," so he wouldn't save spirit stones for him.

While Mo Hua was eating, Gu Changhuai took a sip of wine and said to Mo Hua: "That leader of the Demonic Sect escaped. The Dao Court Department has sealed off third-grade state boundaries and is fully pursuing him, but..."

Gu Changhuai frowned. "He can't be caught, right?" Mo Hua said.

Gu Changhuai nodded, "A Golden Core late stage Demonic Sect leader, carrying the power of the evil dragon, even several Golden Core late stage elders of Tai Xu Gate couldn't kill him. It's truly as difficult as climbing heaven to pursue him."

These words didn't sound too smooth to Mo Hua's ears, so he defended Elder Xun Ziyu and the other elders: "It's because this demon head is too strong, not because our Tai Xu Gate elders are weak!"

Gu Changhuai also admitted it. This Demonic Sect leader, carrying the power of the evil dragon, swallowing vast blood qi, was frighteningly strong. He was indeed not someone ordinary cultivators could subdue. Conversely, it was also fortunate that Tai Xu Gate had several elders who joined forces to suppress this Demonic Sect leader, even forcing him to escape. Otherwise, if this demon head had rampaged, the Dao Court Department didn't know how many cultivators would have died and been injured, with unthinkable consequences. They hadn't anticipated this point before.

Gu Changhuai nodded and said: "Tai Xu Gate has deep foundations, and a crowd of elders hold righteousness in their hearts. Their cultivation is extraordinary. We owe it to them this time that we were able to suppress the Demonic Sect and exterminate the demonic cultivators."

Mo Hua then nodded with satisfaction. Uncle Gu had been "mixing" with him for a long time and was also starting to say good things.

"What about the other Demonic Sect elders? Did they all die? Are there any who escaped?" Mo Hua asked again.

Gu Changhuai counted them one by one: "As you said before, that greedy and gluttonous Ninth Elder died. The short and thin demonic cultivator elder like a snake was chopped by Elder Xun. The oldest Second Elder died. Almost all the other elders also died. The only ones left are a Bear Demon Elder and the 'You Elder' you mentioned..."

"I ordered people to check, but we didn't find the corpses of these two Golden Cores near the Demonic Sect. The Bear Elder at least showed his head and had his arm injured by Elder Xun Ziyu's sword. As for that You Elder, there was no trace of him from beginning to end."

Mo Hua's speed of gnawing on his elbow slowed down involuntarily. This You Elder was indeed a bit unusual... Had he received wind from the Dao Court Department in advance? Or did he suspect that "Mister Yuan" in disguise had a problem and investigated some clues through the thunder magnetic array method, so he escaped in advance? How did he escape? Where is he now? For a time, Mo Hua had numerous doubts and was lost in thought.

Gu Changhuai looked at him, took a sip of wine, and said: "Alright, stop thinking. This is originally a matter for the Dao Court Department." Then he thought for a moment and added: "If there are any traces of these two people, I will tell you."

The implied meaning was, don't waste your time on this kind of matter. Cultivate properly and leave the matter of searching for the remaining Demonic Sect members to the Dao Court Department. If there is news, they will tell you.

"Mhmm." Mo Hua nodded.

"And one more thing," Gu Changhuai said, "The merits for exterminating the Demonic Sect are already being calculated by the Dao Court Department. Everyone who participated in the surrounding operation will have a share, and naturally, you will too. After the calculation is finished, it will be issued by the Dao Court Department and transferred to your disciple token via Tai Xu Gate. Exterminating the Demonic Sect is a big matter, so this sum of merits should also be quite abundant."

Mo Hua, however, didn't have much reaction. Mainly, he was already a "big household of merits," so much so that he couldn't even see how many he had. Whether there was one more sum or one less, he didn't feel much. Moreover, he knew the efficiency of the Dao Court Department very well. It would truly be God knows how long until this sum of merits arrived.

After the two finished talking and eating, Mo Hua wanted to return to the sect to attend class. Before parting, Gu Changhuai said: "Cousin asked me to tell you something. If you are willing, come to the Gu family for the New Year's Eve dinner this year again."

"New Year's Eve dinner?"

Mo Hua was startled, then suddenly remembered that it would be New Year again in another month. This year had passed unknowingly again. Mo Hua vaguely had a sense of urgency, as if time was passing too quickly and something was about to happen, but it was just a feeling. He couldn't figure out the reason. "Uncle Gu, you shouldn't be busy with the New Year's Eve dinner this year, right?" Mo Hua said.

Gu Changhuai looked at Mo Hua and slowly exhaled: "Thanks to your blessing, the disaster of the Demonic Sect has ended ahead of time, and the Dao Court Department can also have a break and a good New Year."

"No need to be polite," Mo Hua nodded with satisfaction, "Then I'll go to the Gu family to find you during the New Year."

Gu Changhuai was silent for a moment, then sighed and said: "Alright."

After bidding farewell to Gu Changhuai, Mo Hua returned to the sect. In the evening, at the disciple residence, Mo Hua lit a lamp to read, looked at a book for a while, and when he was tired of looking, he lay on the table and began to ponder. The Demonic Sect disaster had temporarily come to an end. Except for the initial planning, acting as a bridge, he had put in quite some thought. In the end, during the actual surrounding, he didn't need to make a move at all. No Golden Core realm demon heads came to find him to fight desperately. He had prepared many means, all unused. Mo Hua felt a little regret.

But conversely, this was also a good thing. After all, when cultivators cultivate the Dao, they should be cautious. It's good to be a bit more cautious. And the Demonic Sect was exterminated, the demonic cultivators were dead and injured, and those who weren't dead were locked in the Dao Prison. After that, innocent cultivators could avoid the killing calamity and the harm of the Demonic Sect. This also counted as a piece of merit.

The only problem was still the life-bound magic treasure, which was that set of Four Symbols Azure Dragon array methods... Thinking of this, Mo Hua couldn't help but sigh. It was really too difficult to get his hands on this set of array diagrams... Now the ferocious and powerful Demonic Sect leader had escaped like a flood dragon entering the sea. He truly had no clue. Moreover, seeing the actions of the Demonic Sect and that vast pool of blood, Mo Hua couldn't help but start to suspect whether this Four Symbols Azure Dragon was proper or not. If it wasn't proper, how could he take it as his life-bound magic treasure? Was his fated "life-bound magic treasure" really going to be this set of Azure Dragon arrays?

Mo Hua's brows were tightly knit. "Or... calculate it once?" The situation had fallen into a deadlock, and there were no other clues. Besides fortune-telling, there seemed to be no good method.

Mo Hua took out the copper coin left by his Master, set up the Divine Mist Array to seal off the qi mechanism, then calmed his heart and mind and cast Heaven Machine Derivation. The copper coin was thrown into the air, pulling the cause and effect qi mechanism, then the dust settled and fell into his palm. Mo Hua silently recited in his heart: "What is my life-bound magic treasure..." Then he opened his eyes and looked at the copper coin in his hand.

The copper coin lay quietly in his palm, with no trace of omen, not even a trace of cause and effect stained on it. What did this mean? Mo Hua frowned, puzzled. "Can't calculate it?"

Mo Hua stared at the copper coin, looking for a long time without seeing any anomaly. Just as he was about to give up and put down the copper coin, his sea of consciousness suddenly felt a pain, and a large amount of divine sense surged towards the copper coin like a tide. At the same time, the heavenly mechanism floated and sank, and cause and effect flowed. But this time, the cause and effect flow qi mechanism was too large, and even with Mo Hua's divine sense, he couldn't support it at all. In just a moment, Mo Hua's divine sense was sucked dry. His eyes rolled back, and he fell onto the table with a "thump."

The cause and effect on the copper coin, without the supply of divine thought, also stopped flowing. The divination was unsuccessful, but even so, there was still a thread of omen transmitted to the depths of Mo Hua's divine thought. Between the daze, Mo Hua seemed to have another dream. The dream was about an Azure Dragon. But this dream was fragmented. He could only see the shadow of the Azure Dragon, perceive its boundless majesty and vast power, and in his ears, there were the clear sounds of dragon roars, one after another.

Mo Hua's heart was filled with a feeling. "Is this the dream realm of cause and effect divination? Dreaming of an Azure Dragon... Does it mean that my life-bound magic treasure should be the orthodox Four Symbols Azure Dragon array?" Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief. In this way, as long as he firmly adhered to his initial idea and continued to find that Demonic Sect leader, thinking of a way to get the Four Symbols Azure Dragon array diagram from him...

While Mo Hua was thinking this, the dream realm suddenly changed abruptly. It seemed that some strange thing had invaded his dream realm, causing his dream realm to collapse inch by inch and leading the Azure Dragon to roar angrily. In just a moment, a vague thing like black fog, like a gale, pounced towards the Azure Dragon. Deformed, strange, and indescribable, this thing wrapped around the Azure Dragon, tore at it, and then actually...

Swallowed it.

In a flash, the dream realm completely shattered. Mo Hua suddenly woke up, recalling the scene in the dream realm, and set off stormy waves in his heart. "A dragon... was swallowed by what thing..."

"What does this mean again?"

"This dream, is it my cause and effect omen?"

"Then my life-bound magic treasure... what exactly is it?"

Mo Hua murmured in a low voice. For a time, he was even more confused in his heart.

In the following days, it calmed down instead. Mo Hua still remembered the "swallowing dragon" omen in his dream, with a hundred thoughts but unable to solve it, but he only thought about it occasionally. He also went to ask some elders, beating around the bush, as if casually asking what exactly in this world could "eat a dragon." But this question was too absurd. The elders were also baffled, only thinking that Mo Hua was "still childish" and asking some whimsical questions.

Mo Hua couldn't ask anything, so he still calmly cultivated and attended class. Just like this, one month passed, and another year ended. In the sect assessment, Mo Hua made unprecedented progress. From the eternally unchanging "first class six third" (first grade six third, meaning first-tier six, third-tier for all others), he turned into "first class one second five third" (first-tier one, second-tier one, third-tier for the remaining five). His Dao method had changed from "third" to "second." It was estimated that Elder Yi had recognized Mo Hua's body movement attainment after playing "hide and seek" and sparring body movement with him, and therefore exceptionally gave him a "second." Solely on body movement, Elder Yi felt that giving him a "first" was more than enough. Even if he suppressed his cultivation to the initial stage of Golden Core, there were few disciples in the entire Tai Xu Gate who could last more than twenty rounds under his hands, let alone spar with him back and forth like Mo Hua. Giving him a "second" was purely for the sake of being low-key. Moreover, no matter how good Mo Hua's body movement was, it was only body movement after all. The weakness of his spiritual power was destined to make it difficult for him to achieve too high an attainment in spells—at least by the standards of the sect assessment, it was difficult to get a good evaluation.

Mo Hua didn't care too much about this "second" instead. He just felt a little uneasy. An abnormality must indicate something strange. The originally eternally unchanged results suddenly had a change, which made Mo Hua, who could roughly understand cause and effect, suddenly feel that a change was imminent.

Then, it was the New Year festival again. This was his seventh New Year at Tai Xu Gate, and Mo Hua had gradually adapted. Moreover, Uncle Gu had already invited him in advance, so he just went with the flow and went to the Gu family, preparing to free-load a New Year's Eve dinner and eat a good meal. There was still some time before the New Year's Eve dinner. Mo Hua just brought Yu Er to stroll in Qing State City. Qing State City was very lively, and Yu Er also laughed very happily, but faintly with a trace of worry in his smile. This subtle expression, perhaps others couldn't see, but it fundamentally couldn't escape Mo Hua's eyes.

Mo Hua bought several strings of candied hawthorn, handed them to Yu Er, and then softly asked: "Yu Er, are you worried about something?"

Yu Er's smile stiffened involuntarily, then became heavy-hearted. He was young and couldn't hide his thoughts. Mo Hua looked at him gently. Yu Er hesitated for a long time, then stammered: "Brother Mo, I... had a dream again."

Mo Hua was slightly startled. Dream again...

"Nightmare?" Mo Hua asked.

Yu Er nodded, then shook his head, "Not exactly... It's not the same as the nightmares before..."

"What dream?"

"I..." Yu Er was a little timid, but looking at Mo Hua's gaze, he still slowly opened his mouth and said, "I dreamed of myself."

Mo Hua was a little surprised, "Yourself?"

"Mhmm..." Yu Er's gaze trembled slightly, and he said somewhat incoherently, "It's me, but not like me..."

"Then?"

"Then... These three me, one is in the mountain, one is in the water, one is in my heart. They all look at me silently. I am very afraid. They say, say..." Yu Er looked at Mo Hua with tears in his eyes, "They say mother will die, they say Brother Mo you will also die..."

These words seemed to have been pressed in his heart for a long time. Pure and kind Yu Er wanted to say it but always didn't dare. Mo Hua looked at Yu Er's double pupils containing worry, fear, and tears, smiled kindly, and said gently: "Demons and evil spirits will transform into human form to confuse people's hearts. Those three of you are all transformed by demons. They are scaring you."

Yu Er's tears were not dry, "Really?"

"When have I ever deceived you?"

Yu Er thought for a moment, then nodded. Brother Mo was very good to him and never deceived him. Mo Hua touched Yu Er's head and said gently: "You don't need to be afraid of anything in your dream. No matter what they are, as long as they dare to show their heads, I will kill them one by one with my sword."

No matter what, kill them one by one with the sword... This sentence gave Yu Er enormous courage. Yu Er's eyes gradually brightened, and a smile appeared on his small face. He nodded heavily towards Mo Hua: "Mhmm!"