The Quest for Immortality

This monster is a demon cultivator, not just any demon cultivator.

Aside from practicing evil skills and possessing a body capable of ”demonization,” it also bears mysterious Four Symbols Monster Patterns upon its flesh!

Mo Hua lightly licked his lips.

The Four Symbols Formation!

This is a formation system distinct from the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams systems.

The Taixu Gate keeps it strictly forbidden.

It’s so rare that even most sects don’t possess the Four Symbols Formation inheritance.

”I must capture this monster, strip off its hide, and copy down the formation patterns...”

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up as he pushed the Water Passing Step technique to its limit, his footsteps swift as the wind, following the blood trail to pursue the heavily injured demon cultivator.

The demon cultivator had lost an arm, its half-bloodied body crawling on the ground, leaving behind a distinct blood trail.

However, being a demon cultivator, its physical recovery was rapid.

The blood trail, which initially gushed like a spring, gradually became a trickling stream and eventually left only scattered marks.

But no matter how faint the blood stains became, they couldn’t escape Mo Hua’s divine sense.

Especially since he could rely on his calculations.

With the guiding threads of causality, this demon cultivator had almost no chance of escape.

After pursuing for thirty minutes, the blood trail had faded to near imperceptibility, leaving only a faint metallic scent lingering in the air.

Mo Hua could only rely on the faint reddish threads of causality to continue the chase.

But after another fleeting moment, the causal threads suddenly broke.

Frowning, Mo Hua looked up to realize he had unknowingly wandered into the depths of the mystical forest.

The dense trees stretched endlessly before him, shrouded in veils of mist.

On all sides, there was no recognizing where he was.

At a glance, it was impossible to discern his surroundings.

What was even more unsettling was when he extended his divine sense—at first glance everything seemed normal, but upon careful scrutiny, he realized his divine sense ”saw” nothing...

It was as if something was silently absorbing the probing of his divine sense.

Or perhaps the entire forest had woven an invisible veil of divine thought ”mist,” obstructing a cultivator’s divine sense.

The heavily wounded monster had vanished into the woods, as if it were a fish diving into the sea, a fierce tiger returning to the forest, and had disappeared completely.

”Lost the trail?”

Mo Hua’s expression froze momentarily, his frown growing deeper and deeper.

With his refined divine sense and meticulous calculations, he almost never lost a trail—especially not of a severely injured cultivator...

This forest...

Mo Hua stood still, staring at the dense woods for a long time, his thoughts churning. Suddenly, a realization struck him, his pupils trembling.

What could block divine sense?

Such a vast area of divine sense obstruction must be the result of formations!

But ordinary formations are actually incapable of ”blocking” divine sense entirely.

Most secretive formations are designed to block sound and impede divine sense.

However, these so-called ”blocking” formations don’t truly obstruct divine sense; rather, they rely on chaotic spiritual power generated by the formations to create a ”barrier” that disrupts divine sense perception.

At the core, the principle lies in spiritual power confusion, not the isolation of divine thought.

When divine sense probes such formations, it perceives a distinct, obstructive ”barrier.”

But this mystical forest had no such barrier.

No obvious ”barrier” could be perceived, yet divine sense was entirely blocked, preventing any discernment.

A formation that could truly ”block” perception on the level of divine thought must involve some application of divine thought power.

In other words, the formation within this mystical forest must be...

A Divine Path Formation?!

Mo Hua took a sharp breath, his face tinged with astonishment.

Could it really be...

Buy one, get one free?!

Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that here, in the seemingly ordinary outer Refining Demon Mountain, under his very nose, such rare formations would coexist in secrecy.

The Four Symbols Formation on the demon cultivator’s body.

And now, the Divine Path Formation integrated with this mystical forest...

Mo Hua released his divine sense again to probe. Yet, as soon as his divine sense entered the dense forest, it was as though it dove into the ocean—utterly silent, with no response.

Had his divine sense not been exceptionally refined and transformed, his acute perception of divine thought honed to the extreme, he wouldn’t have even noticed that when probing this mystical forest, his divine sense was effectively ”seeing” nothing.

The divine sense ”sees yet sees not”...

In his divine sense, this mystical forest both existed and yet did not exist.

Mo Hua was inwardly full of awe.

What an exquisite technique.

What a formidable formation!

Mo Hua instinctively wanted to step into the forest to study the Divine Path Formation further. Yet, as soon as he lifted his foot, he hesitated.

”This forest feels dangerous...”

The injured demon cultivator had fled into these woods.

This suggested that the forest was likely its sanctuary. f

Such a vast tract of forest and such an advanced Divine Path Formation couldn’t have been created by an ordinary cultivator.

The depths of this forest very likely harbored allies of that demon cultivator.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Anyone associating with a demon cultivator would undoubtedly be other ruthless demon cultivators—or worse.

Their cultivation realms were likely no lower than Foundation Establishment, and perhaps even had Golden Core experts among them.

As a solitary mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, without protection, rashly venturing into the forest would indeed be far too risky.

Mo Hua sighed deeply.

After hesitating at the forest’s edge for a long time, weighing his options repeatedly, all he could do was temporarily abandon his pursuit.

”Such a pity...”

With the Divine Path Formation right before him.

Yet under the current circumstances, he couldn’t afford to recklessly gamble on entering. It was better to retreat and make thorough preparations before returning.

After all, the forest wasn’t about to suddenly sprout legs and run away.

Mo Hua glanced back at the mystical forest wistfully, as though beholding his own private vegetable patch.

”Once I’m ready, I’ll come back and harvest my crops!”

Mo Hua nodded to himself before reluctantly turning to leave.

...

After Mo Hua left, Xun Ziyou watched his departing figure, estimating Mo Hua’s likely trajectory. Once certain that Mo Hua wouldn’t face imminent danger, Xun Ziyou stepped forward into the mystical forest.