The Quest for Immortality

This hundred-acre Spirit Field, connected together, might itself be a Formation!

Mo Hua suddenly saw the light.

He had previously been preoccupied with the form of the Formation, limited to certain Formation Patterns, only seeing the surface patterns, hence was unable to see the forest for the trees.

Whether it was the Cultivating Soil Formation or other Formations, they were all minor details, not the essence of the Ultimate Formation.

The essence of this Ultimate Formation was the Spirit Field itself.

Mo Hua then felt some doubts.

If the Spirit Field is a Formation, then what are the corresponding Formation media, Formation Patterns, Formation Pivot, and Formation eye?

Mo Hua sat back down on the ground, carefully pondering again.

If the Spirit Field is the Formation, then the Formation media is not the stone embankments, but the soil where the Spirit Rice is planted.

It is generally difficult for soil to serve as Formation media.

Because of the texture being either loose or moist and because it is prone to erosion from dryness, it lacks a fixed shape and is not suited to carry Formation Patterns.

“Why would this Ultimate Formation use soil as its Formation media?”

“Or could this be the very mystery of the Ultimate Formation?”

Mo Hua thought for a while, found no clue, and decided to temporarily set this aside and continue pondering.

If soil is the Formation media, then the Formation Patterns should be the embankments that crisscross and divide the Spirit Field.

The Formation Pivot would be the layout of the entire Spirit Field.

Then what is the Formation eye?

How can the whole Formation be sustained in operation?

Within the Spirit Field, there is no special area that might serve as the Formation eye.

Mo Hua looked up at the sprawling Spirit Field with its crisscrossing embankments and was suddenly struck.

This is not a Large Formation or Compound Formation, but a Single Formation instead.

There are no special Spirit Gathering Arrays or Gathering Spirit Formations to provide Spiritual Power.

The source of Spiritual Power for a Single Formation is the Formation Patterns themselves.

The natural attraction of Spiritual Power by Formation Patterns provides the energy for the operation of a Single Formation.

In other words, these intertwined embankments are both Formation Patterns and the Formation eye.

So how is Spiritual Power supplied?

Mo Hua furrowed his brows in thought and soon understood.

It’s the Cultivating Soil Formation!

The function of a Single Formation is relatively simple.

Even if it’s an Ultimate Formation with extremely strong effects, it cannot be all-encompassing.

Hence, additional Formations are needed to enhance the effect.

The Cultivating Soil Formation is such a supplementary Formation, used to assist the Ultimate Formation in nurturing the soil.

However, if the Cultivating Soil Formation is integrated with the Ultimate Formation, it becomes a Compound Formation that includes the Ultimate Formation.

Such Formation has high Divine Sense intensity and complex Formation Patterns; once damaged, besides the Old Ancestor of Sun Family himself, no one would be able to, or would even know how to, repair it.

Hence, the Old Ancestor of Sun Family, with his independent Taoist Heart, separated the two types of Formations yet linked them together.

The Cultivating Soil Formations and such were separately drawn and not connected to the Compound Formation, they’re easy to draw and easy to repair.

Even the half-baked Formation Masters of the later generations of Sun Family would be able to repair them.

Nonetheless, it is related to the Ultimate Formation.

Whenever the Spirit Farmer provides Spiritual Power to the Cultivating Soil Formation, a portion of it naturally overflows, in turn supplying the large Ultimate Formation.

Therefore, this Cultivating Soil Formation is both a filler Formation and an alternative “Ultimate Formation eye”.

The Spiritual Power provided by the Cultivating Soil Formation is actually quite limited.

But this Ultimate Formation is an Earth Series nourishing array; it doesn’t prioritize slaughter or entrap powerful enemies.

Thus, it requires a constant trickle of energy—a small but long-term supply of Spiritual Power is sufficient.

From another perspective, the Old Ancestor of Sun Family’s purpose was also to save Spirit Stones for the Spirit Farmers.

Mo Hua couldn’t help but admire him.

The Old Ancestor of Sun Family’s deep understanding of Formations, cunning use, and his broad-minded character, were all exceptionally extraordinary.

No wonder that for hundreds of years, the Loose Cultivators of Thousand Families Town have been grateful for his benefaction.

Grasping the Heavenly Dao to benefit all living beings.

Perhaps this is what truly defines a Formation Master…

With mixed feelings, Mo Hua thought to himself.

Seeing Mo Hua standing there in a daze for quite a long time without speaking, Ding Miao couldn’t help but call out softly:

“Brother?”

Mo Hua returned to his senses, smiled, and patted Miao’s head, saying:

“Thank you.”

Without Miao’s simple drawing, he would not have discovered the clues.

The greatness in someone lies in not losing the innocence of childhood.

The more naïve a child is, the more pure and natural is their gaze, devoid of color, better able to see the true nature of things.

Miao tilted his head in confusion:

“Did I help?”

Mo Hua praised, “You’ve been a great help.”

Miao immediately became happy, even though he didn’t know what help he had provided.

Mo Hua gave him another pastry.

Miao held it with both hands and began to eat it, feeling completely justified.

“Brother said I made a significant contribution, so this time I am not eating in vain,” Miao nodded to himself in his mind.

…

Knowing the essence of the Formation, one must try to restore the Formation Diagram.

Mo Hua told Miao not to wander off and went to a high peak to take in the full view of the Spirit Field.

He then began to re-calculate the Spirit Field, structured like a Formation, back into its original Formation, using a Formation Master’s mindset and Formation Patterns’ penmanship.

While calculating, Mo Hua stopped.

Something was wrong.

He couldn’t figure it out anymore…

Mo Hua furrowed his brows.

Many layouts of the Spirit Fields were too square and ordered, but they were not based on Formation principles.

Therefore, the Formation that was calculated turned out to be intermittent and fragmented.

Mo Hua sighed.

One trouble followed another…

He ran down to the bottom of the mountain again and asked Ding Miao:

“Miao’er, who in your village has lived the longest and knows the most?”

Miao’er furrowed her little brow, and her eyes suddenly lit up:

“The Elder!”

East Mountain Village indeed had an Elder, but he was old and did not manage affairs, and his cultivation was only in Qi Refinement, not Foundation Establishment.

The people had elected him Elder because he was of old age, with seniority, and able to command respect.

Calling him Elder, was actually more like the “Village Chief”.

Little Miao’er led Mo Hua to the Elder.

Mo Hua stated his purpose, saying he wanted to ask a few questions.

Upon seeing Mo Hua, the Elder showed a grateful expression and said:

“The young gentleman has been a benefactor to us, feel free to ask anything, this old man will leave no words unspoken.”

“The Elder is too kind.”

Mo Hua exchanged pleasantries briefly and then asked respectfully:

“Elder, has the layout of the Spirit Fields changed over the past few hundred years?”

The Elder pondered for a moment before slowly nodding:

“It has been changed.”

“What was it changed for?” Mo Hua asked.

The Elder said, “The land passed down by our ancestors, we generally wouldn’t change it. This layout of the Spirit Fields has also been maintained for over a hundred years…”

“But later, the Sun Family reorganized some of the fields to facilitate their Formation Painting, so they reorganized some of the fields.”

“Now many fields are in a checkerboard pattern, each one neat and orderly.”

“After the reorganization, was there any change in the Spirit Fields?” Mo Hua inquired.

“No major changes, just that the land has become poorer year after year,”

The Elder sighed, “I am old and can still feel these things, but the children born in the village after me don’t know anything at all.”

“I still remember, when I was young, my grandfather told me, he said the soil hundreds of years ago was much more fertile than it is now.”

After speaking, the Elder’s eyes showed longing, “At that time, everyone just had to quietly farm the land, and they could all have had enough to eat…”

Mo Hua felt complicated and then his gaze grew heavy as he gradually figured it out.

The purpose of this Ultimate Formation was supposed to make the soil fertile and the Spirit Fields abundant.

The layout of the Spirit Fields itself was the Formation Pivot of the Formation.

After the Old Ancestor of the Sun Family died, the incompetent descendants of the Sun Family, for the sake of convenience in their Formation Painting, reorganized the Spirit Fields, changing the layout of the fields.

As a result, they affected the Formation Pivot, causing the Ultimate Formation to gradually fail.

Latterly, the Sun Family descendants, in order to exploit the Spirit Farmers, drew some inferior Formations on the field ridges, which constantly broke and needed repairing.

Because the Formations were constantly breaking and repairing, the Spiritual Power supplied by the Spirit Farmers for the Cultivating Soil Formation was intermittent.

This led to the Spirit Power supply of the entire Ultimate Formation also being unsustainable.

Decades, even a hundred years later, the Ultimate Formation was completely ineffective.

Mo Hua sighed.

The Old Ancestor of the Sun Family had once established a family rule:

Any descendant of the Sun Family must not encroach upon a single field in Thousand Families Town for their entire life. Otherwise, they will be stripped of their surname, eradicated from the family records, and expelled from the household!

This rule was first to ensure that the Spirit Farmers had a means of livelihood.

Secondly, it was to restrain the descendants from changing the layout of the Spirit Fields after encroaching upon them, which would consequently disrupt the Formation Pivot of the Formation.

But he probably never imagined that the Sun Family descendants would be so incompetent.

Out of greed, they did so many foolish things that they forfeited the benefits of the Formation and also cut off the transmission of the Formation.

As the Spirit Fields changed, the Formation Pivot shifted position.

Consequently, it was impossible to calculate a complete Formation Diagram anymore.

Mo Hua frowned, but then his eyes flashed with inspiration, and he asked again:

“Elder, do you have the diagram of the Spirit Fields from hundreds of years ago?”

The Elder hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “There is, indeed…”

“May I see it?”

The Elder found it difficult, as such documents are considered confidential and are generally not shown to outsiders.

Mo Hua then said, “I want to find the Formation that the Old Ancestor of the Sun Family drew back then.”

Upon hearing this, the Elder was startled and exclaimed in a trembling voice:

“The Formation of the Old Ancestor of the Sun Family…?”

Mo Hua nodded.

The Elder quaveringly said, “But the Old Ancestor of the Sun Family, he was a Second Rank Formation Master…”

He looked at Mo Hua, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Could this young gentleman comprehend the Formation drawn by a Second Rank Formation Master?

Mo Hua replied, “The Old Ancestor of the Sun Family was a Second Grade, but the Formation he left behind was actually First Grade, it’s just a little difficult to paint, that’s all.”

The Elder did not understand, but was greatly shocked nonetheless.

Just being able to comprehend such a Formation was already a remarkable feat.

After thinking it over for a long time, the Elder said with determination, “Alright, I’ll give you the diagram!”

If this young gentleman could indeed find the Formation the Old Ancestor of the Sun Family had painted, it would be an immense blessing for them, the Spirit Farmers, and naturally, they would be immensely grateful.

A few diagrams were not enough to fill their stomachs; they were barely surviving, so what was there to treasure?

The Elder went into the inner room, opened the lowest box in the corner of the wall, and then drew a stack of yellowed parchment from the very bottom, handing it to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua saw that each piece of parchment depicted segments of Spirit Fields in a scale-like pattern.

The Spirit Fields were naturally distributed, with orderly intersecting ridges.

In addition, the parchment also recorded the Taoist Calendar years.

Details such as the Spirit Farmer household registers, the distribution of fields, the fertility of the Spirit Fields, etc., were also clearly documented.

This information indeed belonged to confidential records.

No wonder the Elder had been hesitant before.

Mo Hua flipped through a few more pages, compared the diagrams with the former layout of the Spirit Fields, and after some consideration, his expression gradually brightened.

He hadn’t guessed wrong.

The real Ultimate Formation was hidden within these, within the centuries-old Spirit Field diagrams!