The Quest for Immortality

”But... what if?”

”What if it really is the Pavilion Elder? Then what is his intention?”

Mo Hua frowned and thought back again, when his heart suddenly jolted. He couldn’t help recalling that back then, when he used Heavenly secret Calculation, he had once slightly calculated the causality of this Wood Revitalization Formation.

And then, in the haze, his master’s figure surfaced before his eyes.

Proud between heaven and earth, insolent and unruly beyond compare.

Yet whenever he looked at Mo Hua, his expression would soften, his brows and eyes carrying a hint of a smile, and a deep reluctance to part.

”Master...”

The Wood Revitalization Formation was tied to his master’s causality.

Could it be that the Pavilion Elder knows of this as well?

A chill rippled through Mo Hua’s heart.

Could it be... precisely because he knows of this matter, that the Pavilion Elder of Heaven Shu Pavilion set this Wood Revitalization Formation as the reward for the Sword Discussion Conference?!

Was all of this something that Pavilion Elder had already calculated out?!

Mo Hua drew in a sharp breath.

If it were before, he might not have thought this way; he wouldn’t be so self-important as to believe the whole world is targeting him.

That so many lofty experts were scheming against a small fry like him.

But because of the fateful evilness, having suffered a huge loss at Uncle’s hands, Mo Hua had grown an extra layer of caution.

When you pry into causality, causality is also prying into you.

Very likely, every move he made had long been noticed by certain high-level figures.

Only he himself remained utterly ignorant of it.

Yet...

Pavilion Elder? Scheming against me?

Mo Hua kept feeling that he was being a bit ”overly sentimental.”

That is the Pavilion Elder of Heaven Shu Pavilion; would someone of that level scheme against him?

What is there in a little Foundation Establishment like him that’s worth a Pavilion Elder scheming for?

Mo Hua shook his head.

Besides, in the end, he didn’t even know who the Pavilion Elder of Heaven Shu Pavilion was, nor what he looked like; he’d never had any contact with him. So how could...

At this thought, Mo Hua’s heart suddenly skipped, and a figure emerged in his mind.

It was an old man with snow-white hair, looking as though he might doze off at any moment.

Back when leaving Cloud Crossing City of the Qian Learning State Boundary, he had played chess with this old grandpa.

The two had met as evenly matched opponents, playing a delightful game.

Mo Hua froze.

No way...

This old grandpa couldn’t... be the Pavilion Elder, could he?

Impossible...

Mo Hua shook his head again and again.

A dignified Pavilion Elder, with nothing better to do, going down to the ferry to play chess with him? How could that be?

Mo Hua simply didn’t believe it.

”But... what if it is?”

Mo Hua’s heart quivered slightly.

That would mean that he truly was within the Pavilion Elder’s sight.

Everything he did within the Qian Learning State Boundary very likely had always been within the Pavilion Elder’s Insight.

Looking further ahead.

Everything he did had been ”indulged” by the Pavilion Elder.

The chain of conflicts triggered by this, and the transformations in the Qian Learning State Boundary’s structure, were also all within the Pavilion Elder’s control.

Even the final outcome of the Blood Sacrifice Array might also have been within the Pavilion Elder’s expectations—or at least... it was something he was happy to see?

And at the moment of parting, the Pavilion Elder came to take a look at him, actually wanting to personally confirm the mental state of this ”chess piece” who had resolved the Evil God threat?

He himself was in fact... a ”chess piece” used by the Pavilion Elder to manipulate the Qianxue situation?

Mo Hua linked all of this together, and couldn’t help but feel a bone-deep chill.

The air in the Stone Palace seemed to turn cold with the mood.

But after secretly pondering for a while, Mo Hua slowly let out a breath.

He felt that perhaps he really was being a bit ”overly sentimental.”

It wasn’t necessary to think people’s hearts so ”sinister.”

The Pavilion Elder should be very busy.

Sitting at that height, where the cold is piercing, he must oversee the Nine State and grasp the overall situation, needing to see everything. It’s impossible that he truly focuses all his attention on a minor Foundation Establishment like Mo Hua.

He might know about Mo Hua, but at most he just knows.

As for ”scheming” against him, at most it’s just occasional Calculations.

As for being a ”chess piece,” it’s likely no more than going along with the situation, tossing out a ”bait” to hook him; everyone gets some benefit.

The Pavilion Elder probably never intended to harm him.

If he had, then back in Cloud Crossing City, when Mo Hua was about to leave the Qian Learning State Boundary, the Pavilion Elder wouldn’t have appeared in person to play chess with him.

Of course, Mo Hua didn’t know that the Pavilion Elder had never planned to ”appear,” nor had he intended to ”accompany” him in a game of chess.

It was Mo Hua himself who ”brazenly struck up a friendship,” going up to challenge the Pavilion Elder to a game.

”Besides, all of this is just my own speculation...”

Mo Hua thought to himself.

That old grandpa who played chess with him wasn’t necessarily really the ”Pavilion Elder.”

Even if he truly was the Pavilion Elder, he probably bore no malice toward Mo Hua.

This much, Mo Hua could still feel.

Moreover, someone whose chess skill could rival his own—someone like that, just like him, could be at most preternaturally clever, and absolutely could not be a vile and sinister person.

Mo Hua nodded, feeling that this made a lot of sense.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the Wood Revitalization Formation before him.

Everything just now had merely been his ”Calculation” based on bits and pieces of clues.

Whether it was true or not, there was currently no way to verify it.

But if by chance it was true, then this Formation was absolutely far from ordinary.

Blood of wood surging, life and death flowing—the Formation not only was closely bound to his master’s causality, but even contained some kind of unfathomable Law of Formations.

He had to study it well, and work it out clearly.

Just by looking at the structure of the Formation Patterns and the Formation Pivot, he couldn’t see much; he still needed to learn by putting it into practice.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then went to Ba Shan to request a clean stone room, after which he pretended to pray to the Divine Lord, beseeching the might of the Divine Lord.

But there was no ”Divine Lord’s” blessing.

Because Mo Hua simply had no ”Divine Lord.”

He could only rely on his own strength and draw six more Wood Revitalization Formations.

Once they were drawn, Mo Hua had Ba Shan and the others carry in the rest of the wounded and lay them on the Wood Formation for treatment.