The Quest for Immortality

”Formation Flows each have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all share common drawbacks.”

”The Immortal Sky Formation Flow contains an extremely profound understanding of formation arts, so much so that it could be held as a standard by any Formation Master.”

”But no matter how profound, it is still just one perspective.”

”Blind faith is worse than no faith at all.”

”That’s why I urged you not to rush into learning Formation Flows, but to step by step comprehend and learn the world’s formations, to apply what you learn, and to integrate and understand them. Eventually, you will form your own Formation Flow and use it to seek the true Great Dao.”

Mr. Zhuang said with profound meaning:

”Using the law to attain the Dao.”

”All laws are but rafts.”

”Formation Flows are ’laws’, they are ’rafts’, not the ’Dao’.”

Mo Hua felt he understood some but not all, so he carefully remembered Mr. Zhuang’s words. When he had an epiphany in the future, he would verify and slowly comprehend them.

But after hearing Mr. Zhuang’s words, Mo Hua also roughly understood the concept of ”Formation Flows.”

Formation Flows are the summary and understanding of the origin stream of formations.

All the Formation Flows in the world, including the Immortal Sky Formation Flow and the Five Elements Formation Flow, touch on the source of formation arts. On one hand, they are extremely profound and mystical; on the other hand, they each have their own strengths, and it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false.

One must learn and use them on their own.

Unity of knowledge and action, to apply what you learn, to discern and adopt in practice.

Blindly venerating ”Formation Flows” will make one a puppet of the Flow, mistaking the ’raft’ for the ’Dao’, and enduring a self-imposed confinement with no hope of seeking the Dao.

The gleam in Mo Hua’s eyes grew brighter.

Mr. Zhuang nodded slightly.

Mo Hua had some clarity, then he frowned and asked about another matter:

”Master, do ’Source Patterns’ have their own will?”

Mr. Zhuang’s gaze sharpened, his tone grew heavier, ”Their own will?”

”Yes,” Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, ”They evolve on their own, spread on their own, can parasitize and dominate. Though they cannot speak, the Formation Patterns are like eyes, possessing human-like emotions...”

Mr. Zhuang’s expression became solemn, ”Are you speaking of that ’Five Elements Source Pattern’?”

Mo Hua nodded.

Mr. Zhuang’s face was grave, his fingers tapping on the table, his thoughts turbulent. After a long while, he finally spoke:

”Generally, Source Patterns don’t have that...”

”Legacy is simply legacy, which is the understanding and perception of Cultivators. It is a spell point, it has no will.”

”The ones with will are the people who control the legacy.”

”An ’aberration’ in the Source Pattern...”

Mr. Zhuang frowned and pondered aloud:

”Did something go wrong with the Five Elements Sect back then, a miscalculation that caused the Source Pattern to mutate?”

”Or did they face a catastrophe, with evil spirits invading?”

”Or perhaps, were they schemed against, nurturing something...”

”The decline of the Five Elements Sect, could it be because of this ’Source Pattern’...”

Mo Hua nodded repeatedly.

He thought the same.

He was truly his master’s disciple, thinking alongside him!

Mr. Zhuang’s gaze turned sharp and he asked Mo Hua, ”Where is that Source Pattern now?”

”I’ve hidden it inside a painting.”

”A painting?”

Mo Hua took out the Contemplation Map.

Previously, this Contemplation Map was the Zhang Family’s Zombie Ancestor Picture. Now, without the zombie but possessing the Source Pattern, imprinted with the legacy of formation, it had become the ”Five Elements Formation Flow Map.” Ɽ𝘈ΝổBĚs

Mr. Zhuang took out a few Copper Coins, arranged them on the table in a formation pattern that Mo Hua could not understand, and then placed the map within the formation, slowly unfolding it.

On the map, there was a Five-Colored Formation Pattern.

The Formation Pattern was sealed, its luster subdued, but its aura was ancient.

”Be careful, Master, it will open its eyes.”

Mo Hua whispered a reminder.

Open its eyes?

Mr. Zhuang was slightly stunned, looking at the Five Elements Formation Flow Chart, but noticed that the Formation Patterns were completely still, showing no signs of ”opening their eyes,” very calm, even one could say...

Obedient?

Mr. Zhuang asked in confusion, ”What’s wrong with it?”

”It probably moved home from the shrine and hurt its vitality, so it doesn’t dare to surface.”

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How its vitality was hurt, it concerned the Taoist Stele, and Mo Hua did not elaborate.

Mr. Zhuang also had a rough understanding and did not delve deeper but still glanced at Mo Hua silently, thinking to himself that his little disciple, though seemingly harmless to humans and animals, did not seem to go easy on ”people” when bullying them...

That put his mind at ease.

Mr. Zhuang took another look at the ”Five Elements Formation Flow Chart,” his thoughts stirring, he performed some calculations, and the more he calculated, the more surprised he became, finding it somewhat incredible:

”Is this really... the bedrock of the Five Elements Sect...”

”The bedrock?” Mo Hua was puzzled.

Mr. Zhuang’s expression was complex as he looked at Mo Hua, saying helplessly:

”The foundation of thousands of years... isn’t that the ’bedrock’...”

Mo Hua’s mouth opened slightly, in disbelief.

The foundation of thousands of years...

He pointed at the Five Elements Source Pattern, struggling to understand:

”Just this thing?”

The Five Elements Source Pattern quivered with indignation, but ultimately it still didn’t dare to ”open its eyes.”

Mr. Zhuang nodded, ”Turning the many into one, with the Calculation Method of the Source Pattern, the Five Elements Sect compiled the Formation of the entire sect into this Source Pattern theory...”

”In other words, this Source Pattern contains all the Formation heritage of the Five Elements Sect over thousands of years...”

Mo Hua was flabbergasted.

He knew that this Source Pattern was a product of Formation Flow evolution and should be extraordinary, but he never imagined it would be extraordinary to this extent!

”But...” Mo Hua was a bit puzzled, ”How is this ’Source Pattern’ used?”

He really didn’t understand Formation Flow.

What the purpose of this Source Pattern was, he also wasn’t quite sure.

It couldn’t possibly be used as a ”pathogen” to infect someone else’s Sea of Consciousness...

Mr. Zhuang said, ”There are two possibilities...”

”First, if you can’t suppress the will of the ’Source Pattern,’ don’t look at it, don’t study it, because once the ’Source Pattern’ settles in, changing the master of the Sea of Consciousness, the consequences would be unimaginable...”

”The second...”

Mr. Zhuang glanced at Mo Hua, ”If you have a way to suppress this ’Source Pattern,’ then you can try to reverse calculate and disassemble the ’Source Pattern’...”

”Reverse Calculation, disassemble the Source Pattern?”

Mo Hua was taken aback.

Mr. Zhuang gave a nod, continuing:

”You’ve learned the Calculation Method of the Five Elements Sect, which can deduce Formation Patterns, reduce complexity to simplicity; conversely, it can also turn simplicity to complexity, and disassemble the deduced Formation Patterns back out...”

Mr. Zhuang remarked with a sigh:

”Within this Source Pattern lies all the Five Elements Formation heritage of the Five Elements Sect, by disassembling it, you would obtain the Formation Diagrams of these Formation methods...”

The entire Formation heritage of the Five Elements Sect...

Mo Hua nodded, then as if remembering something, his heart suddenly trembled, ”Doesn’t that mean...”

Mr. Zhuang smiled slightly, giving an affirmative nod:

”Indeed, this includes the heritage of the Five Elements Spirit Formation!”

”And it’s not just any heritage...”

Mr. Zhuang’s tone revealed his amazement:

”It’s very likely a complete set of precious, nearly lost, ancient Ultimate Formation heritage from First Grade to Second Grade, and even Third Grade and above!”

”This is the true foundation of the Five Elements Sect accumulated over thousands of years!”