The Quest for Immortality

Half a day later.

Canglang Mountain, Luopan Mountain Road.

Mo Hua and a few others came to a rugged rocky area beside the mountain path.

It was here that the three family disciples had died.

The bodies had already been collected, but some fragments of rock and vegetation still bore faint traces of blood.

These bloodstains were concentrated, clearly indicating that the victims had not panicked or struggled, instantly killed in one strike, their blood draining away as they rigidly fell.

Moreover, according to the Taoist Court officials, the disciples were mysteriously gutted post-mortem, making their deaths particularly grisly.

Of course, in Mo Hua’s eyes, this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

He was a Monster Hunter, used to bloody scenes since childhood.

Mo Hua curiously stared at the stones on the ground, looking back and forth with a puzzled expression.

Murong Caiyun inquired with confusion:

”Junior brother, what are you looking at?”

Mo Hua pondered, ”According to my experience, this Hidden elder-second definitely didn’t just decide to kill these disciples on a whim…”

”He had been tracking them for a long time, waited until they reached this secluded spot, then suddenly attacked, killing them in one blow…”

”After killing them, he gutted them…”

”This might be a habit of Hidden elder-second…”

”Or maybe, he was trying to cover something up…”

Mo Hua held his chin, a very ”professional” look on his face.

Murong Caiyun and the others had subtly nuanced expressions.

”Your experience…”

”Junior brother, do you often do this kind of thing?”

Mo Hua nodded, then suddenly paused and immediately shook his head: ”I am a serious cultivator! ’Killing and looting,’ how could I possibly do such a thing?!”

Don’t slander me!

”Alright then…”

Murong Caiyun didn’t press further, knowing her junior brother was cleverly mischievous and sometimes scheming—asking further would be pointless.

”Can you tell where Hidden elder-second went?”

Murong Caiyun asked everyone.

Ouyang Feng scanned the area with his Divine Sense and slightly shook his head, ”A few days have gone by, the remaining Spiritual Power is faint, can’t make out anything…”

Shangguan Xu also said, ”This is still the mountains, where mountain winds, mists, and various energies mix, making it even harder to distinguish a cultivator’s traces of Spiritual Power…”

”That Hidden elder-second probably considered these factors when choosing to strike here.”

Murong Caiyun frowned.

This made things difficult, leaving no clues to pursue further.

Mo Hua also knitted his brows.

His Divine Sense perceived the same as everyone else—the bloodstains held faint Spiritual Power mingled with mountain mists and various energies, creating a jumbled mess.

Mo Hua’s Divine Sense was sharp, and he could discern these energies clearly, but that was of no use.

The traces of Spiritual Power left by Hidden elder-second were indeed too faint.

At this rate, they had no idea where Hidden elder-second might have fled.

”The traces are too faint…”

Suddenly, Mo Hua’s heart jumped, and he unconsciously thought of the Secondary Thunder Pattern.

There are things in the world that truly exist, only invisible when a cultivator’s Divine Sense isn’t strong enough.

Just like the Secondary Thunder Pattern.

Embedded in magnetic flow, these Thunder Patterns are minute and obscure.

Ordinary cultivators can’t detect them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Similarly, just because traces are faint doesn’t mean there are no clues…

All things in the world come from one energy.

Spiritual Power is one of these things.

Formations contain the principles of all things in the world.

So, if formations can be calculated, couldn’t the tracks of a cultivator’s Spiritual Power also be ”calculated”?

Mo Hua’s thoughts shifted, secretly using the Heavenly secret Calculation to perceive that faint trace of Spiritual Power.

But moments later, he couldn’t perceive anything…

Spiritual Power was still just Spiritual Power.

No change whatsoever.

Mo Hua was undeterred.

He believed that within Spiritual Power, there must be some mysteries that one couldn’t sense not because they didn’t exist, but simply due to insufficient Divine Sense Calculation Power…

Mo Hua’s pupils darkened slightly as he again initiated the Heavenly secret Tricky Calculation, forcibly amplifying his Heavenly secret Calculation.

A dozen breaths later, Mo Hua was visibly shocked.

He discovered that the trace of Spiritual Power left by Hidden elder-second started to undergo strange changes.

That tangible Spiritual Power began to produce inexplicable, illusory patterns…

These patterns linked together like karmic chains…

Much like those horrifying nightmares that coveted Yu Er, those grotesque, twisted monsters and spirits emerging from the void, attached by karmic chains, appeared remarkably similar…

The difference being, the monsters’ karmic chains were gray-black, sinister and foul.

The karmic traces Mo Hua now saw were pale blue, with fine intricate patterns linking cyclically…

Mo Hua was stunned in his heart.

Could this truly be…

The real Heavenly secret Calculation?

Heavenly secret Calculation, calculating all things under the heavens, penetrating the ultimate principles of the world…

Starting from the manifested formations of the Great Dao, then to the essential Spiritual Power of formations;

Spanning across all things and the spiritual essence of everything under heavens;

And even up to the karmic destiny of all people and objects in the world, ultimately calculating the Heavenly secret, comprehending the Heavenly Dao?

Could this be… Heavenly secret Calculation?!

For an instant, Mo Hua felt spiritually enlightened, his thoughts suddenly clear, gaining a sliver of insight into the Heavenly secret.

But it was just that instant. As his Divine Sense depleted, the sliver of insight gradually faded, and in his perception of the Divine Sense, those Heavenly secret patterns and karmic traces also faded.

”Not good…”

Mo Hua’s heart chilled, he hurriedly seized the moment, continuing to extrapolate Hidden elder-second’s Spiritual Power.

Hidden elder-second’s remaining Spiritual Power gradually peeled away from karmic, the overlapping patterns cycling together, turning into a strand of qi, rising from the Spiritual Power, then like a guiding path, it extended towards the distance…